In this chapter, Jr. Troopa is going to return! And yes, he's coming back. You probably remember him from the beginning of the story where he antagonized Mario.
And yes, they'll be seeing him again after that. Jr. Troopa does not stay down.
Afterwards, they're going to try to figure out a way to get to Mt. Rugged.
Chapter 14: A Bad Egg
"I'm glad that we managed to rescue the first Star Spirit." remarked Lincoln. Now Star Haven would start to go back to normal.
"Yeah. I wonder how Star Haven is doing now that we managed to rescue the first Star Spirit." questioned Goombario.
"Hopefully things are going better for them." remarked Kooper.
Meanwhile at Star Haven...
"Gee, it sure is lonely here without the other Star Spirits." remarked Eldstar.
He was sure that Mario and the others would rescue the other Star Spirits eventually...but it looked like it might take a while. He heard that Bowser had hid Mamar in a desert somewhere. They weren't going to get far unless they prepared accordingly.
As for the other Star Spirits, he wasn't exactly sure where they were. There were varying reports. Some said that one of the Star Spirits was in a valley. Another said that a Star Spirit was in a volcano. Another said that the Star Spirit was in a palace somewhere. Any guess was as good as another.
At that very moment, Twink showed up.
"Yes, Twink?" asked Eldstar. Eldstar had heard about Twink ever since he said that he wanted to be part of the Star Spirits someday. He was a big fan of theirs.
"I'm going to tell Mario and Lincoln where to find the second Star Spirit!" exclaimed Twink.
"Good, I wouldn't mind the company." answered the elder Star Spirit.
Twink went to go look for the two.
We now return to our heroes.
"Yay!" cheered Lily. Now they were closer to getting back home...though home was still a long way.
"Now that we've rescued the first Star Spirit, we should try to find the second one. I get the feeling that Bowser hid it somewhere." noted Lisa.
"Good advice...maybe Princess Peach can tell us something?" suggested Goombario.
"Why do people think that I look like Princess Peach?" asked Lola.
"Well, people think that I look like Mario...maybe if he married Princess Peach, I'd be what his daughter would look like." suggested Lana.
"Huh. That's a good point." nodded the pink princess.
"Hey, Mario! Hey, Lincoln! Remember me?" inquired a familiar voice.
"Uh-oh..." said Lincoln.
"Mamamia!" exclaimed Mario.
"What's the matter?" asked Kooper.
"It's that bully that wouldn't let us be in his playground...it looked big enough for the two of us and Goombario's grandpa..." said Lincoln.
"I've seen it once. I'd play in it if Jr. Troopa wasn't such a bully." noted Goombario.
At that very moment, Jr Troopa appeared...and tripped on his face.
"Did you think that you had seen the last of me, Mario and Lincoln? Well, guess what! I have returned! And now I'm going to humiliate you!" exclaimed Jr. Troopa.
"You already humiliated yourself." pointed out Bombette.
"Grrr!" shouted the young Koopa.
"Hey Jr. Troopa! Before you challenge us, you should know that there are nine of us and only one of you!" exclaimed Lincoln. He wasn't intending to take them all on by himself, was he?
Jr. Troopa noted that he wasn't actually expecting Mario and Lincoln to make so many friends so quickly. However, he had a plan for that.
"Oh yeah? Well, I brought help too!" exclaimed the bully.
Immediately, he pulled out a whistle.
As soon as he blew on it, Goombas and Bullet Bills appeared.
"Let's get him!" exclaimed Jr. Troopa.
"You do realize we've already faced those, right?" asked Lisa.
"You did? Well, this makes me feel sheepish...but I can fix that!" shouted Jr. Troopa.
Jr. Troopa blew on his whistle again.
"Try manning the Bullet Bill cannons!" ordered Jr. Troopa.
The Goombas nodded, and they hopped on top of the Bullet Bill cannons like Jr. Troopa had said.
"This is new." noted Lincoln.
One of the Goombas fired...another Goomba.
"Huh? Where are the Goombas coming from?" inquired Lisa.
"I don't know but I don't want to get hit by one." answered Kooper.
As soon as Kooper said that, one of the Goombas hit Mario.
"Oof!" exclaimed Mario. There certainly was an amount of force behind that attack.
"Hahaha! Revenge is going to be sweet!" shouted Jr. Troopa.
"Have you not heard of forgiveness?" asked Goombario.
"Who needs forgiveness? This is way more fun!" exclaimed Mario and Lincoln's persistent foe.
"But you might lose again..." pointed out Kooper.
"Lose again? What are the chances of that?" asked the youngster Koopa.
"Open fire!" ordered Lincoln.
Immediately, Lincoln's sisters attacked Jr. Troopa.
However, he withdrew into his shell to avoid the damage.
"Hahaha! Let's see you try to damage me now!" exclaimed the young Koopa.
"Dang, it seems he's more prepared this time." noted Lincoln.
"Maybe we need to defeat the minions to make him come out of his shell." suggested Lisa.
"That wouldn't be a bad idea." nodded the boy.
Fortunately, Lily was on top of that. She defeated the Goomba King.
Immediately, she whacked one of the Goombas that was on top of the Bullet Bill cannons.
The Goomba fell off, causing the Goomba Cannon to revert to a Bullet Bill cannon, crippling it.
"Dang it!" exclaimed Jr. Troopa from within his shell.
This gave Bombette the opportunity to blow up the Bullet Bill cannon.
They repeated the process for the other Goomba cannons as well.
Given no choice, Jr Troopa resurfaced from his shell.
"He's vulnerable! Get him!" exclaimed Lincoln.
Lana whacked Jr. Troopa with a wrench.
"Ow! I'm sending more reinforcements!" shouted Jr. Troopa.
"What is this time?" asked Kooper.
"Since you're a Koopa, I'll send in Koopa Troopas!" exclaimed the young Koopa.
Some Koopa Troopas showed up.
"We faced those too." pointed out Lisa.
"Well then, I guess I'll give them some Mushrooms..." said Jr. Troopa.
"Uh-oh." thought Lily. This wasn't going to end well.
Jr. Troopa tossed a Mushroom at one of the Koopa Troopas, causing him to grow big.
"Look at me! I'm huge!" exclaimed the enlarged Koopa Troopa.
However, this caused the other Koopa Troopas to run away.
Jr Troopa sighed as he withdrew into his shell.
The Big Koopa Troopa charged towards the party.
"Fe fi fo fum!" exclaimed the big Koopa Troopa, stomping on Goombario.
"Oh sure, pick on the little guy!" shouted Goombario. Unfortunately, he was vulnerable to being stomped like all the other Goombas, though he was more resilient than most of them.
However, Bombette knocked him over using an explosion.
He fell on his shell.
Apparently, even Koopa Troopas big as he was suffered from this weakness. The bigger they were, the harder they fell. They could thank gravity for that.
The big Koopa Troopa struggled to get up.
"Come on, get up already!" ordered Jr. Troopa.
The big Koopa Troopa struggled harder.
Wanting payback on the big Koopa Troopa for stomping him earlier, Goombario decided to headbonk him on his soft, warm, underbelly.
This worked surprisingly well.
However, the big Koopa Troopa got back up and rolled into his shell.
Fortunately, he was slower than ordinary Koopa Troopas.
However, the bigger size of the shell made it easier to attack the whole party at once.
Fortunately, Lincoln was able to grab onto his shell.
"Can you help me hold him off?" asked Lincoln.
Lana nodded, and she whacked the shell into a tree.
The big Koopa Troopa crashed.
"Oww..." murmured the big Koopa Troopa. He was feeling dizzy.
"So much for making him bigger." noted Jr. Troopa.
Kooper then finished him off with his own shell, causing him to produce Star Points.
Frustrated that his lackey had been knocked out, the shelled Koopa exited his shell once again.
He charged straight towards Kooper, knocking him down on his shell.
"Hiya!" shouted Jr. Troopa.
"Not again!" exclaimed Kooper.
Curiously, he heard that there were Fuzzies near Koopa Village that liked stealing people's shells. Fortunately, since the only shell that he had was an eggshell, he appeared to be safe. Sometimes being young had its perks.
Jr. Troopa pulled out his whistle to summon more reinforcements.
This time, Piranha Plants showed up.
"Did you face these too?" asked Jr. Troopa.
"Only once." answered Goombario.
Jr. Troopa tossed a Mushroom at one of the Piranha Plants, causing him to grow bigger.
Fortunately, since Piranha Plants were typically rooted to the ground, he didn't have to worry about them running away. That, and they seemed to be braver than the Koopa Troopas that he had encountered earlier.
"This keeps getting better and better." remarked Bombette.
The big Piranha Plant took a bite out of Lola.
"Ow! Those fangs are sharp!" exclaimed Lola.
This made her sister angry.
"Nobody hurts my twin sister...even if we don't have anything in common!" shouted Lana. Of course, she did manage to win a beauty pageant despite not being traditionally beautiful. Perhaps she just needed to be believe in herself.
In retaliation, Lana burped in the big Piranha Plant's face.
"Yuck!" exclaimed the big Piranha Plant.
The other Piranha Plants began to attack Lana in retaliation, since she appeared to be the biggest threat to them.
"We better do something to protect Lana..." noted Lincoln.
Mario nodded. Fortunately, he brought a Fire Flower.
He used the Fire Flower to power himself up, and he tossed fireballs at the Piranha Plants.
As he struck the Piranha Plants with fireballs, the Piranha Plants began to wilt and produce Star Points. Of course, they would probably be back for future Mario games once somebody gave them fertilizer.
As the big Piranha Plant wondered what had happened to his friends, Lana whacked him with a wrench.
The big Piranha Plant wilted as well.
Frustrated that Mario kept beating up his friends, Jr. Troopa withdrew from his shell again.
This time, he pulled out some Mushrooms. However, these Mushrooms were not something that Mario and his friends should eat.
"Heads up!" exclaimed Jr. Troopa, tossing a Mushroom covered with hearts at Lily.
"Huh?" asked Lily.
As soon as the hearted Mushroom hit Lily, hearts appeared in her eyes.
"Whoa..." said the baby.
"What's the matter with her?" asked Lincoln. She didn't seem quite like herself.
"Oh no! She's been charmed!" exclaimed Goombario.
"She has?" inquired the boy.
"When you're charmed, you won't be able to focus on fighting your enemy...you're more likely to help them instead!" shouted the Goomba.
Lily gave Jr. Troopa some milk.
"Thanks..." stated Jr. Troopa as he drank up.
"What do we do?" inquired Lincoln.
"It should wear off eventually." noted Goombario.
At that very moment, Lily shook her head and came back to her senses.
She then returned to Lincoln.
"Here comes another one!" shouted Jr. Troopa, tossing another hearted Mushroom.
This time, he tossed the hearted Mushroom at Lola.
However, this didn't affect Lola at all.
"You're trying to flatter me? I'm not so easily convinced!" exclaimed Lola.
"I guess Lola is immune to being charmed..." noted Lisa.
"Rats!" shouted Jr. Troopa. It looked like Mario and his friends had ways to counter his strategies.
Jr. Troopa decided to pull out another nasty Mushroom.
"Hey! Why don't you have a taste of a poison Mushroom?" asked the young Koopa.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Mario.
The young Koopa tossed it at Mario, poisoning him.
"Mamamia..." murmured the poisoned Mario.
Fortunately, the poison should eventually wear off for Mario as well.
Even so, he was taking more damage than usual because of it. At least it would be less dangerous to him once he obtained more HP.
"Here comes another one!" shouted Jr. Troopa, tossing a Poison Mushroom at Lincoln.
However, Lana went in front of Lincoln and took the Poison Mushroom...
...which didn't have any effect.
"Not again!" shouted Jr. Troopa. These immunities that Lincoln's sisters possessed were rather frustrating.
Mario then stomped on Jr. Troopa, causing him to be knocked out.
"Woohoo!" cheered Mario.
Afterwards, the poison wore off.
"Darn it! I lost again!" exclaimed Jr. Troopa.
"At least you're a lot stronger than before." pointed out Lincoln.
"You're right, I suppose that's something to be proud of. But next time we meet, I'm going to be even stronger!" exclaimed Jr. Troopa.
"I admire your passion." answered the boy.
"Next time, I'll win! This time, I mean it!" shouted the eggshelled Koopa Troopa.
Jr. Troopa ran off.
Since Jr. Troopa was out of the picture, Mario, Lincoln, and the others decided to head back to Toad Town.
Shortly afterwards, Twink showed up.
"Hey, Mario! Hey, Lincoln!" exclaimed Twink. Twink noted that Mario had made more friends and that Lincoln had found more of his sisters than the last time that he saw them.
"Hey, Twink. Do you have any news for us?" asked Lincoln.
"As a matter of fact, I do. The next Star Spirit is being held in the Dry Dry Ruins. They're in the Dry Dry Desert...seems obvious, I know." nodded Twink.
"I guess we should get ready to enter the desert then." suggested Goombario.
Twink nodded.
"Any ideas as to how to get there?" asked Lincoln.
"Well, there's a train that's headed to Mt. Rugged...you can probably get to the desert from there." advised Twink.
"Good advice." nodded the boy.
Immediately, the party headed towards the train so that they could get to the Dry Dry Desert.
Meanwhile...
"All aboard!" exclaimed the train conductor.
Immediately, several Toads boarded the train. They were excited about going to Mt. Rugged. Mountain climbing was so much fun.
However, someone was spying on the train.
"So, this is the quickest way to get to Mt. Rugged, eh? I better do something about it..." noted Roy.
"I can't wait for Mario to board my train someday!" exclaimed the conductor. He was bound to enter the train somewhere.
"Mario's not going anywhere!" exclaimed Roy, revealing his presence.
Immediately, the Toads gasped in surprise. They hadn't expected one of Bowser's minions to show up here, let alone one of the seven Koopalings. Besides, one of the Koopalings had already been defeated by Mario and Lincoln.
"Oh no! It's one of Bowser's Koopalings!" shouted the conductor.
"You got that right!" cheered the bald Koopaling.
To be honest, the conductor wasn't so surprised. He had heard not long ago that Larry Koopa had caused trouble in the Koopa Village by sending Fuzzies to steal Koopa's shells. They wouldn't be able to get them back unless they enlisted in the Koopa Troop.
Immediately, Roy picked up a nearby boulder.
"What are you doing with that?" asked the train conductor.
"You're about to find out!" exclaimed Roy.
Immediately, Roy tossed the boulder right on the train tracks.
"Oh no!" shouted the conductor.
Roy tossed the boulder very hard, as it left a crack in the boulder once he had tossed it.
"Sorry Toadies, it seems like your train is out of service!" taunted the Koopa that wore sunglasses.
"Maybe I should get a new job driving a boat..." suggested the Toad in charge of driving the train.
"Hahahaha!" laughed Roy as he left in his Clown Copter. It looked like a job well done. Why did Larry lose against Mario and Lincoln again?
"How is Mario going to get to Mt. Rugged now?" questioned the conductor.
Jr. Troopa lost again...but he'll be back. For now, Mario, Lincoln, and their friends and family need to work on getting the second Star Spirit. They'll deal with Jr. Troopa again later.
Unfortunately, it seems that Mario and his friends are going to have trouble using the train to Mt. Rugged...Roy has made sure that the train has gone out of service. Can they find a way to destroy that boulder?