With their guns loaded, Shadow, Peach, Koopski and the rest of the KLSF marched through the forest, eventually making their way to a huge stone bridge that was blocked off by a wrought iron gate and a couple of guard towers and sandbags.
"There's no turning back now, Peach," said Shadow. "Either you're in until the end, or you can kiss the Mushroom Kingdom goodbye."
"I'm in!" said Peach.
"Koopski, are you still in?" asked Shadow.
Koopski nodded. "I'm in."
Shadow readied his M60. "Then let's do this!"
"You heard him, men!" said Koopski. "CHARGE!"
Without further ado, Shadow, Peach, Koopski and the KLSF opened fire on the guard outpost. Within seconds, all of Bowser's men stationed there were blown into the next beyond, and the Resistance forged on ahead. The gate was locked with an electronic mechanism, but it proved to be no match for one of Shadow's kicks, and they moved on. At the other end of the bridge, a huge Berlin-esque wall awaited them, as did some more guard towers. One of the biggest challenges for the Resistance was that there were a couple of automated gun turrets with .50-caliber YakB miniguns installed. Fortunately, Shadow knew just how to handle these…
"CHAOS SPEAR!"
In contrast to the ones he'd used against Morton Jr., Roy and Larry, the Chaos Spear that Shadow fired was powerful enough to take out the sentry guns. A couple members of the KLSF did perish, but the Resistance was still going strong. The way into Koopa Island was blocked off by a huge steel gate, but again, this wasn't anything that Shadow couldn't take down with brute force. With the gate open, the Resistance stormed into Koopa Island. What struck Shadow as interesting about Koopa Island was that it was actually quite modern. Granted, many of the buildings had a Khrushchev/Brezhnev-esque look to them, but even so, this was a surprise for him.
Upon seeing the Resistance rumbling down the streets, various Koopa civilians scrambled about in a mad attempt to get to safer ground. However, some – especially members of the Koopa Federal Police – attempted to fight back. However, their attempts were cut short by a hail of lead, and the Resistance soldiered on. By now, however, the authorities had been alerted to their presence, and the Resistance found themselves facing everything the Koopa Kingdom had to offer: Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Paragoombas, Koopa Paratroopas, Lakitus, Hammer Bros., Fuzzies, Bob-ombs…the lot. Fortunately, with Shadow and Peach leading the charge with their M60 and HK21E, the Resistance was gaining some serious ground. Koopski was no slouch either with his M16A1 + M203 combo, and this proved to be quite effective in taking out various barricades. Harold even laid down some serious fire with his M249 SAW. However, the Resistance found themselves encountering an unexpected obstacle…
"Enemy tanks ahead!" said Shadow.
Somehow, the Koopa Kingdom had gotten their hands on IS-3 heavy tanks.
(Damn! Bowser must've bought surplus Roseinian equipment!) thought Shadow.
Seeing the enemy armor, the Resistance scattered for cover. The tanks opened fire, but the first three shells didn't cause any casualties. Harold drew an M72A2 LAW, and aiming for the lower glacis of the center tank, he fired. Fortunately, the rocket penetrated, and the IS-3 was destroyed. Other Resistance troops with M72s destroyed the remaining IS-3s, and they moved on. Tanks weren't the only threat, for the Resistance also had to deal with a threat from the air: Mi-24 "Hind" and Mi-28 "Havoc" helicopter gunships. Some Resistance troops were equipped with FIM-92 Stinger missiles, and while these did have some success against the attack helicopters, some managed to evade the missiles thanks to their built-in countermeasures.
(Looks like I'll have to mop up!) thought Shadow. "CHAOS SPEAR!"
With the remaining gunships blown out of the sky, the Resistance forged ahead. By now, Koopa Island was in more disarray than the Battle of Stalingrad. With every bullet fired, the Koopa Kingdom was losing ground. Nevertheless, the Resistance still had a ways to go, and Bowser's forces were still putting up a hell of a fight. One intersection proved to be especially problematic, what with some DShK .50-caliber machine guns, BMP-1 APCs and T-55 tanks blocking the way.
"Harold, get me the Grim Reaper!" said Koopski.
"Got it, boss!"
Harold ran over to a drab wooden case that a couple of Hammer Bros. were carrying and pried it open with his KA-BAR knife. Inside was the Grim Reaper – an M202 FLASH rocket launcher – which he picked up and gave to Koopski.
"Thanks!"
Koopski took aim with the launcher and fired at a T-55. The resulting explosion took out not only the T-55, but the rest of the blockade as well, for the rockets were really M1968 "Blockbuster" tactical nuclear rockets. Fortunately, the radiation produced dissipated quickly enough for the Resistance to forge on. As they forged on, the battle got more intense and difficult for them as the most elite troops of the Koopa Kingdom faced them down. However, thanks to Shadow's "never give up" attitude, casualties among the Resistance were minimal.
During the battle, Peach thought about how lucky she was to have the KLSF on her side. She had heard rumors about certain citizens of the Koopa Kingdom defecting and forming their own resistance groups, but up until now, she thought they were just that: rumors. She also admired the KLSF for being able to acquire weapons from the Kingdom of Mobius, and she vowed to send her thanks to the Acorn Family once this quest was done.
Similarly, Koopski thought about how lucky he was that Shadow and Peach had joined him in his fight against Bowser. Outwardly, he had shown confidence in his battle being winnable, but deep down inside, he had some qualms about the KLSF's chances of victory. However, such qualms were swept aside considering: 1. Not many of the KLSF's troops had died during the carnage, and 2. Shadow's Chaos powers had mopped up whatever forces they missed. Eventually, the Resistance came upon another critical objective…
"Castle dead ahead!" said Shadow.
The Resistance headed on to the castle, where the Koopa Kingdom had quite the unwelcome mat waiting for them: IS-3s, T-55s, B-11 recoilless rifles, Mi-24s, Mi-28s and a host of other nasties.
"All right, let's take these bastards head-on!"
Shadow charged at the blockade.
"What is he doing?" said Koopski.
"Is that guy crazy?" said Harold.
"No, Shadow knows what he's doing," said Peach.
As soon as he got in the middle of the blockade, Shadow raised a hand, and…
"CHAOS BLAST!"
The Chaos Blast that Shadow let loose destroyed a good chunk of the blockade, and Koopski destroyed whatever was left using the Grim Reaper. With nothing else to stand in their way, the Resistance charged on towards the castle and made it to the front door.
This castle had the same amount of lighting that the previous seven castles had, only it was warmer than Larry's. Koopski and Harold followed Shadow and Peach inside.
"What are you two doing in here?" said Shadow.
"What else?" said Koopski. "We want to help you stop whoever's in this castle."
"Look, I'm glad you're eager to help, but this fight belongs to Peach and I. We can deal with whoever rules this castle ourselves."
"Shadow, you don't understand! The Koopa Kingdom is my home, and I was the one who started the Koopa Lightning Strike Force! Let me come with you!"
"Yeah!" said Harold.
"Shaddy, I think we should let Koopski and Harold tag along," said Peach. "They've been helpful so far, and this is their homeland."
Shadow looked into Peach's beautiful blue eyes, and then back at Koopski and Harold.
"OK, I'll let you two come with us," said Shadow. "I trust you not to get killed, though."
"OORAH!" Koopski and Harold pumped their fists into the air.
"Let's go."
Shadow, Peach, Koopski and Harold proceeded further into the castle, where they came upon a lava pit with another stone raft.
"Oh no!" Harold slung his M249 and crossed his arms. "I'm NOT doin' this!"
"Why not?" asked Shadow.
"I'm afraid of lava!"
Shadow gestured towards the raft with his hand. "Harold, I understand if lava makes you feel uneasy, but let me ask you a question: what's the one thing in this world that you want more than anything else?"
"Koopski is my main man, and I want him to be happy!"
"Then think about this: if you don't cross that lava pit, you'll never get to save the Koopa Kingdom, and I'm sure Koopski wouldn't be happy with you."
"Shadow's right," said Koopski. "I know you can do this, Harold! We've been through so much together, and I have faith in you!"
Harold stared into Koopski's green eyes and couldn't help but be drawn to his smile, either. Having been friends with him for so long, and having helped each other a lot, Harold wanted to make Koopski proud of him in spite of how much the lava wanted to make him curl up and die. In the end, he only had one choice…
"All right, boss! I'll do this!"
"Great!" Koopski gave a thumbs up.
"Koopski, you and Harold paddle," said Shadow. "Peach and I will take point.
"All right, then let's do this!"
All four members of the Resistance hopped onto the raft, though Harold hesitantly tippy-toed on because of his lavaphobia. However, Koopski encouraged him by gently grabbing one of his hands and allowing him to guide himself on. Still sweating and trembling nervously, Harold grabbed one of the paddles and began paddling along with Koopski. Thus far, the journey was going all right. The main obstacle for the Resistance was that Podoboos would sometimes pop out of the lava, as would some Blarggs. However, owing to the fact that Shadow and Peach were equipped with 7.62mm general-purpose machine guns as opposed to 9mm submachine guns, they actually managed to shoot through the Blarggs' heads and dispatch them for good, which made Shadow feel less guilty about shooting them. However, not all was well, for Shadow's Hedgehog Sense alerted him to the fact that the raft was drifting in an odd direction. He turned around, only to notice that Harold was barely even paddling due to the intense fear he had of the lava.
"Is something amiss?" asked Shadow.
"I-I don't think I can do this anymore!" Harold wrapped his arms around himself. "I wanna go home!"
"You'll make it home. Just keep paddling. That's what Koopski would want."
"Shadow's right!" said Koopski. "Besides, I think we're about halfway there!"
Harold took a few deep breaths to try to calm down. "All right…I'll do this for you, boss, but ya owe me some French vanilla ice cream with Nutter Butters in it!"
"Gladly!"
"OK…here we go…"
Harold did his best to keep paddling, and Shadow returned to take point with Rouge. What proved disconcerting to him was that Fuzzies would occasionally drop from the ceiling. Owing to the M60's improved firepower compared to the M16, it took fewer shots, but the Fuzzies were still pretty tough. At one point, a Fuzzy's corpse landed on the raft, thereby drawing Harold's attention, and he screamed when he saw it.
"GET IT AWAY! GET IT AWAY! GET IT AWAY!"
Harold beat the dead Fuzzy wildly with his paddle, which got everybody else's attention. Shadow simply pushed it off the raft with his foot.
"Are you quite done yet?" said Shadow.
Harold nodded nervously, and then got back to paddling. In spite of the Podoboos, Blarggs and Fuzzies, everyone managed to get across without falling in the lava. In particular, Harold was all too eager to get off the raft that he ran up to solid ground, fell to his knees and kissed the floor.
"I'M ALIVE!" cried Harold. "OH, SWEET MERCY!"
Koopski put a hand on Harold's shell. "You did it, buddy! I'm proud of you!"
"Thanks a million, boss!"
Harold gave Koopski a big hug, which the latter gladly returned. In contrast to his annoyance at the Hammer Bro earlier, Shadow smiled when he saw them hugging, which gave him hope for the citizens of the world. Soon enough, the two Koopas let go.
"All right, let's keep going," said Shadow.
Shadow, Peach, Koopski and Harold entered a door, which led to another hallway. Descending a short flight of stairs, they encountered a couple of Dry Bones, which they shot up along with a Magikoopa before proceeding past a couple of small skewering logs. After blitzing past a Dry Bones and a large Fire Bar, they came to a couple more skewering logs. They also had to deal with smaller lava pits, but having crossed the larger one earlier, Harold was feeling quite confident in his ability to get past these. However, another one of their big challenges was a dodgy-looking bridge over a lava pit, where they encountered more Magikoopas. Thanks to the fact that everybody but Koopski was carrying light machine guns, however, these foes proved easy to dispatch, and after climbing a tall spiral staircase, they emerged onto the castle's rooftop, where they got an unexpected encounter.
"Sorry, Mama Peach, but you and Shadow are too late to stop Daddy from gettin' the book!"
"YOU!" said Shadow. "You must be…!"
"Bowser Jr.! Glad ya remembered! TTFN!"
Bowser Jr. flew away in his Koopa Clown Car. Everyone attempted to shoot him down, but the vehicle was impervious to 7.62mm NATO rounds. Even a 40mm grenade from Koopski did no good, for he missed.
"What do we do now, boss?" asked Harold.
"Shadow and Peach should lead us to Bowser himself," replied Koopski. "Let's follow them!"
Shadow beckoned Koopski and Harold along. "Then come with us!"
With help from the rest of the Resistance, Shadow, Peach, Koopski and Harold blew up a large formation of troops and armor outside of Bowser's Castle. Though the majority of the Resistance still had fear in their hearts, they soldiered on anyways, knowing that victory was that much more attainable thanks to the Ultimate Life Form, the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom and the King of Mobius. Once again, Shadow was first through the Front Door, and inside, they came to a short hallway with a door marked "1".
"All right, two of you stay behind and guard this door!" said Koopski.
A blue-shelled Hammer Bro with a Heckler & Koch MP5SD6 and a Bob-omb Buddy elected to stay behind, while the rest of the Resistance soldiered on into the first room. There were a bunch of small lava pits with Podoboos jumping out plus a bunch of Whomps to worry about. The Whomps were no match for explosive weaponry, however, and the Resistance was able to make it over the lava pits all right, except for a purple-shelled Koopa Troopa with an M16A1…
"YEOW!" The Koopa had been struck by a Podoboo while jumping over a lava pit. "I'M HIT!"
"Henry, check up on Koopstein!" said Koopski.
"Got it!"
Henry – a red-shelled Hammer Bro with a Heckler & Koch G3A4 – checked up on Koopstein.
"That doesn't look too bad," said Henry. "I'll patch that burn!"
Henry put a cold pack on Koopstein's burn for a bit, put on some Vaseline, and then put on a sterile bandage.
"Try not to move too fast," said Henry.
"Right," said Koopstein.
Fortunately, everybody made it out of this room without dying.
"Henry, you and Koopstein stay behind here!" said Koopski.
"Right!" said Henry and Koopstein.
The rest of the Resistance went through a door marked "2", which was a short room with a chain link fence hanging over a spike pit. They ventilated the Koopa Troopas that were climbing around the fence before jumping up and climbing it themselves. The only real challenge was a couple of Podoboos bouncing around, but unlike the first room, nobody here got hurt.
"All right, I need two more volunteers!" said Koopski.
A yellow-shelled Hammer Bro with a Colt Commando and a green-shelled Koopa Troopa with an Uzi stayed behind to guard door #3, which was a veritable maze.
"What do we do now, boss?" asked Harold.
"We stay together," replied Koopski. "There's strength in numbers."
"Sounds good to me!" said Peach. "What about you, Shaddy?"
"Ordinarily, I'd prefer to split up, but I trust Koopski's judgment, so I'm going with his idea," replied Shadow.
"Great!"
The Resistance forged on ahead into the maze. Here, they came to a new foe: Mechakoopas, which were easily dispatched even by 9mm Parabellum rounds. However, the first route they tried was a dead end, so they tried a different one, which also proved to be a dead end. Though not too sure about Koopski's judgment at this point, Shadow had faith in him and had hope that everyone involved would get home alive and victorious. Fortunately, Shadow's faith was well-placed, and they managed to get out of this maze. After Koopski had two more volunteers stay behind, they entered door #4, where they encountered a rather large room with a bunch of platforms suspended over a spike pit. Adding to the challenge were a bunch of Li'l Sparkies, Hotheads, and Fire Bars.
"Pay careful attention and take it slow," said Shadow. "That way, we'll all get out alive."
Everyone responded affirmatively. With Shadow still taking point, they began to jump from platform to platform. Despite having gone over a lava pit, this part proved a bit troublesome for Harold. Nevertheless, he did his best to get across, as did his fellow KLSF members. Overall, everyone except a blue-shelled Hammer Bro with an M16A1 and a Bob-omb Buddy made it across without a scratch. Then came door #5, and Koopski had a problem…
"Uh-oh, down to four troops! Koopavitch, you and Hans guard this door!"
"Right!" said Koopavitch and Hans.
In the fifth room, Shadow, Peach, Koopski and Harold encountered a tough obstacle: not only was there a series of skewering poles, but in between each pole, there were Thwomps.
"How are we goin' to get past this?" asked Harold.
"Harold, you and Koopski stay here for now. I've got a plan."
Shadow scooped Peach off of her feet, and once the skewering poles were fully retracted, he ran as fast as he could, the "erghs" of the Thwomps echoing throughout the castle. Fortunately, him and Peach made it across all right, and once the skewering poles were retracted, he headed back to where Koopski and Harold were located. He scooped them up together, much to their surprise, and ran back to where Peach was.
Fortunately, everyone made it across all right, and they were able to get to door #6. In this room, there were some ropes to climb, so Shadow took point. This proved to be another challenge for the Resistance, for not only were there Koopa Troopas on the ropes, but Fire Bars threatening to cut off their progress. Shadow was able to take care of the Koopa Troopas easily enough, but the Fire Bars were another matter. However, all four of the remaining Resistance members made it up OK.
Door #7 was simultaneously a relief and a bane for the Resistance. There were multiple Bowser statues shooting fire at them, plus a few golden Bowser statues that would jump around. Koopski and Harold took care of some using 40mm grenade rounds and Mk 2 pineapple grenades respectively, while Shadow punched the remaining statues. However, Door #8 proved to be one of the easier ones. All they had to worry about here was a bunch of Chargin' Chucks that jumped about, which were easily dispatched with 5.56mm and 7.62mm rounds. Having gotten all those previous doors out of the way, the Resistance came to one last door.
"Bowser's getting closer," said Shadow. "I can feel it."
Shadow, Peach, Koopski and Harold entered, only to come to a really dark hallway.
"Crap." Shadow shook his head. "Of all the days I forget to bring night vision goggles!"
"I have a pair you can borrow." Koopski pulled out a pair of AN/PVS-5 night vision goggles.
"Thank you, Koopski." Shadow put the goggles on and activated them. "Everyone, put a hand on the person in front of you and form a line. There should be a switch around here somewhere."
Thus, everybody formed a sort of "conga line" and proceeded carefully through the hallway. Fortunately, this didn't last too long, for Shadow found what appeared to be a light switch. Shutting off his NVGs, he threw the switch. Sure enough, it turned on the lights, but they were rather flickery. Even so, it was better than nothing. Now able to operate independently once again, Shadow, Peach, Koopski and Harold proceeded further into the room. They encountered one new foe here: Ninjis. These proved to be a bit difficult to eliminate due to their sheer agility, but like many of their foes, they were poorly armored, so they were easily ventilated, as were the various Mechakoopas that also populated the room. Probably the biggest challenge – for Harold, at least – were the lava pits that populated this room. However, they didn't elicit as much fear for him this round, because unlike Larry's castle, they weren't ginormous, so he had an easier time getting over them. Eventually, they reached one last red door.
"Peach, if for any reason neither of us gets through this fight alive, I just want to let you know how much of a difference you've made in my life and how incredibly grateful I am to have met you," said Shadow. "You've touched my heart with gladness and wiped away all my sadness."
Peach smiled, but not without shedding a few tears. "Shaddy, that was so beautiful!"
Peach wrapped her arms around Shadow and gave him the most sensual, loving kiss she could muster up. She didn't want to die, but even so, if it did come to that, at least she could rest knowing that she'd loved and been loved. Soon enough, she broke away from the kiss.
"Koopski, Harold, I also wanted to thank you for accompanying us on this journey," said Shadow. "You've given me faith that there is goodness in the hearts of even the most unlikely people and shown me that good deeds can shine in this weary world."
"Hey, you're welcome!" said Koopski. "I realize that being a Koopa Troopa can project a negative image, but that's why I want to work hard and be a good person!"
"You said it, boss!" Harold patted Koopski on the shoulder.
"Now enough talk; let's kick some ass!" said Shadow.
Shadow, Peach, Koopski and Harold charged through that one last door and on into destiny.
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.