In this chapter, our heroes will face Lava Piranha.
And yes, Iggy will be fought afterwards.
He's the craziest Koopaling of all.
If they can defeat him, there'll be only two Star Spirits left to go.
Ironically enough, one of the guardians is essentially the opposite of Lava Piranha. He isn't weak though, I can say that much. He's basically second to Bowser himself. Though you could say the same for Kammy Koopa.
I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 39: Playing With Fire
Elasto-Piranhas appeared on the way to Lava Piranha's room.
They were like normal Piranha Plants, but more stretchy.
Unsurprisingly, ice was their weakness, namely due to how rubbery they were. They did resist electricity, however, for the same reason. So Luan would have a harder time against them.
Regarding their icy weakness, it also helped that their environment was a volcano. They weren't used to cold temperatures.
One of the Elasto-Piranhas bit Lola.
"Ow! Cut that out!" demanded the girl in the pink dress.
"Shouldn't it be in the past?" asked Lucy.
To her knowledge, they hadn't used a time machine. And this was Paper Mario, not Partners in Time. There were no aliens around.
"I know. It's kind of weird. But then again, perhaps Elasto-Piranhas exist across multiple time periods." suggested Goombario.
She counterattacked by whacking the Elasto-Piranha with a frying pan.
"Yeowch!" exclaimed the elastic plant.
More Fire Bros appeared.
Lynn hit them with a soccer ball.
"Oof!" exclaimed the fiery brothers.
At the bottom of the volcano was none other than Lava Piranha.
That was their target, alright. No doubt his large size was meant to intimidate his foes.
Lily began to cry.
It seemed she was afraid of the giant Piranha Plant.
Lincoln, being the older brother that he was, comforted her.
"So, that's the guardian." noted Kooper.
"It figures that the guardian would be fiery." remarked Lana. They were in Mt. Lavalava.
Luna personally liked how his tongue was sticking out.
This was how she liked to express herself personally.
"Luckily water is my speciality." spoke Sushie.
"Yeah…I'm glad we recruited you while we had the chance." spoke Lincoln.
It was not a decision he had come to regret.
Especially since she was capable of crossing water.
Iggy Koopa was waiting for them as well.
Seemed he wanted to watch the show.
"So, you're here to fight the Lava Piranha? I assure you he's the strongest guardian you've faced yet!" exclaimed Iggy.
"He certainly looks that way." remarked Lincoln. General Guy's tank probably wasn't as big as this foe was.
Perhaps it wasn't such a surprise that Iggy had been stationed inside a jungle.
Though in the not-so distant past, they had taken on someone that was supposedly invincible. It turned out there was more to him than meets the eye, however.
If he was reunited with his heart, he wasn't so tough.
"Of course, it's not hard to figure out his weakness, but he can also be rather deceptive. So watch out!" shouted the Koopaling.
"We should probably take that advice to heart." noted Lisa.
"I'm going to burn through all your mushrooms!" exclaimed Lava Piranha.
"Let's hope not." answered Lincoln.
You didn't get mushrooms for free, even if they weren't out in place in the Mushroom Kingdom.
And they needed them if they wanted to do well against Bowser's forces.
Unfortunately, Mario did not get a discount just because he was a hero. Though he did have a marvelous mustache.
He attacked first, punching the Lava Piranha in the face.
"Ouch!" exclaimed the piranha.
However, he spat out a fireball in retaliation.
Lincoln dodged it.
However, he began to spit out more fireballs.
It became harder to dodge them.
"Ow!" exclaimed Lola.
She of course had been hit by one.
Luckily, Luna was fireproof.
So she didn't exactly have much to worry about.
Lava Piranha probably should have considered using a more versatile arsenal.
Having an opponent that was fireproof was a problem.
Mario leapt on top of the fiery plant.
"Ow! Why are plumbers so heavy?" asked Lava Piranha.
The red plumber shrugged.
Maybe it was all the spaghetti that he ate.
He simply loved pasta.
"Maybe I need to find a way to even the odds." thought Lava Piranha.
Suddenly, he had an idea.
He spat out some seeds.
"Uh-oh." spoke Lincoln.
He had a feeling what those seeds were going to sprout into.
Shortly afterward, Lava Piranha received reinforcements.
"Ha! This ought to even the odds!" exclaimed the piranha.
"That ought to do it." nodded Lisa.
"Are they a piranha or a plant?" asked Luan.
She wasn't sure.
It was on the fence as to how they could see our heroes without eyes.
But they could ponder that later.
After summoning reinforcements, Lava Piranha then bit Mario.
"Mamamia!" exclaimed the plumber.
However, he whacked Lava Piranha with his hammer in response.
"Oww!" shouted the piranha.
Perhaps he should focus his attacks on him.
He was the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, after all.
And he couldn't think of anyone else that had defeated Bowser in the past.
The big Piranha Plant decided to spit out some more fireballs.
Mario's overalls caught on fire.
"Mamamia!" exclaimed the plumber.
He ran around, even though he should be stopping and rolling. Though he at least avoided running straight into the lava.
Fortunately, he had an ally on his side that could use water.
He was putting her to good use.
"Thanks!" shouted Mario as Sushie put out the fire.
Kooper then plowed through the Piranha Plants with his shell.
Lana then whacked Lava Piranha with her wrench.
"Ow!" exclaimed the giant plant.
The giant piranha collapsed and sank into the lava.
"Yes! We won!" exclaimed Lana.
That was something to be proud of to be sure.
Lincoln noticed the lava was bubbling vigorously.
Iggy began to chuckle.
"Um, I'm not so sure if that's true." warned the boy.
Suddenly, Lava Piranha remerged from the lava.
"I guess he's not really down for the count." remarked Lucy.
"It did seem a bit too easy." noted Lincoln.
"You haven't defeated me! That battle was just a warmup! I know I'm warmed up! Now you're really going to be cooked!" exclaimed Lava Piranha.
"I don't like the sound of that." noted Kooper.
"I can't say I do either." agreed Bow. Unfortunately, Boos were vulnerable to fire. Namely because they preferred the darkness.
They quickly noticed that Lava Piranha was now on fire.
It was best to keep their distance from him while attacking.
Jumping on him wasn't going to work anymore.
One thing was for sure, he was stronger than before.
Could they defeat him for good?
The Lava Piranha spat out a stream of lava.
It seemed he could use stronger attacks now.
He was at full power.
"Yikes!" exclaimed Lincoln.
Luckily, it didn't hit anyone.
Except for Bow.
"Ouch!" exclaimed the ghost.
Luckily, she wasn't too badly hurt.
Fortunately, Sushie was still doing well against him.
After all, water was her element.
"It's a hassle that you brought water to this volcano. That doesn't bode well for me." noted Lava Piranha.
And yes, it was ironic that a plant was vulnerable to water.
He wasn't expecting that they would bring a Cheep Cheep with them.
The giant Piranha Plant found himself at a disadvantage.
If only he had a way to counter his weaknesses.
But alas, he did not.
He sent a wall of fire towards our heroes.
This seemed effective at attacking multiple opponents.
"That's a lot of fire." remarked Lincoln.
Unfortunately, not everyone could dodge such a large attack.
Parakarry, Watt, and Lynn were hit.
"Ouch!" exclaimed the electric heroine.
"Man, that's some hot stuff!" shouted Lynn.
It reminded her of the time she ate fries with chili sauce.
That had been spicy.
But at least there had been soda in the fridge.
"I'm cooked!" bellowed Parakarry.
He collapsed on the floor.
"Oh man…" spoke Lincoln.
Sushie pelted Lava Piranha with water.
"Aaaargghhh!" screamed the piranha.
"Keep on doing that." advised Lincoln.
Mario pulled out an Ice Flower.
It seemed like the perfect power-up to use against a foe such as this.
That way he could make Lava Piranha chill out.
However, he retaliated with a lava geyser.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Lincoln.
Kooper was knocked out.
"Oww…" murmured the Koopa Troopa.
"That's not good." spoke Lincoln.
Lava Piranha's lava buds produced Petit Piranhas.
Though they were offspring of Lava Piranha, Bombette was reminded of herself.
It didn't take her long to figure out why.
They exploded on Lynn.
Stars swirled around her head.
"Oh no! Lynn!" shouted Lincoln.
Perhaps he should consider using one of his 1-Up Mushrooms.
This battle was taking its toll.
Fortunately, Mario hammered one of the Lava Buds.
It shriveled up…but it would regenerate.
Still, this would slow down production of the Petit Piranhas, which would make fighting the Lava Piranha easier.
However, he sent Petit Piranhas after Mario in retaliation.
"Mamamia!" exclaimed Mario.
However, Sushie defused the Petit Piranhas.
The plumber dressed in red sighed in relief.
"I've got to do something about her." noted Lava Piranha.
She was the biggest threat.
He prepared to breathe fire on Sushie…
…but Luna blocked the attack with a fire shield.
"Thanks!" cheered the fish.
"You're welcome!" shouted Luna.
It seemed she could make her allies fireproof as well.
Lily extinguished the other Lava Bud with milk.
It too shriveled up.
"Oh no…" spoke the giant Piranha Plant
Mario finished off Lava Piranha with an Ice Flower.
The floral beast let out a roar.
How was he doing so well against the guardians, anyway?
"Aaugh! You really got me this time! If only you didn't have that Cheep Cheep with you…" spoke Lava Piranha.
His flames extinguished, and he shrank to the size of a regular Piranha Plant.
At this rate, they were going to obtain all seven Star Spirits.
"I find it scary that there's more than one of them." noted Goombario.
Not many Piranha Plants grew to such a size, however.
Shortly after the party defeated Lava Piranha, Iggy took Misstar, the fifth Star Spirit.
"Hahaha!" laughed the Koopaling whose hair resembled a green geyser.
"I figured we were going to have to fight you too." admitted Lincoln.
It seemed that they were going to have to defeat all seven Koopalings if they wanted a shot at Bowser himself.
"You can fight me, but first you have to escape the volcano!" exclaimed Iggy.
He knew he wasn't planning to stick around, though he was planning to hop aboard his airship to begin with.
Fortunately, the heroes that were knocked out made a quick recovery.
"Huh?" asked Kooper.
The volcano began to shake.
"I think we need to get out of here." noted Goombario.
"Unfortunately, you never knew for sure when a volcano will erupt." remarked Lisa. That was part of what made volcanoes frightful. They made people feel paranoid.
She expected that this volcano would erupt very soon though.
After all, was it not shaking?
Fortunately, Lava Piranha's defeat unlocked a shortcut. Our heroes didn't have much to do in the volcano now that the guardian was gone, anyway.
Though if they wanted to gather Star Points, they could go there later. It would help if they wished to fight The Master. It was surprising how strong a Toad could become with experience. He should consider fighting the Koopa King.
Fortunately for our heroes, they were able to escape Mt. Lavalava before it erupted. Though they certainly worked up a sweat.
"Whew!" exclaimed Lincoln.
"That could have been game over for us." remarked Bombette. Taking a lava bath wasn't her idea of fun.
Parakarry nodded.
"For a moment I thought we were goners!" exclaimed the Parakoopa.
"I thought I was going to be fried fish." noted Sushie.
"That was one exciting adventure. That's for sure. I think maybe I'll go to Flower Fields next, however." proposed Kolorado.
Flower Fields sounded peaceful.
But there was some bad news. He had heard that Bowser's minions had invaded it recently, though it was just a rumor.
He could only hope that rumor wasn't true.
However, even though they had escaped the volcano, there was the small matter of reaching Iggy's airship.
It was already high in the sky.
It seemed he already intended to leave Lavalava Island.
Who knew where he was headed?
Though considering there had been a volcanic eruption recently, perhaps he shouldn't be judged so harshly for leaving.
Fortunately, it seemed he had decided to give them a sporting chance.
There was a hover car nearby.
So they would use that to enter the airship.
"Are you leaving?" asked the red member of the Fearsome Five.
Sushie nodded.
"I'll be back once this journey is over." assured the Cheep Cheep.
"Take care!" exclaimed the yellow Yoshi Kid.
Unbeknownst to the heroes, Jr. Troopa was nearby.
He was looking forward to rematching the heroes, though he hadn't been brave enough to venture inside the volcano.
Maybe he would win this time.
Then again, his track record wasn't something to brag about.
He had lost to the heroes three times.
Why did he have such bad luck against them?
It made him wonder.
"I have to admit, maybe we should have chosen a guardian that wasn't so reliant on fire." noted Iggy inside his airship. A single Cheep Cheep had been enough to turn the tide…which seemed like an appropriate metaphor considering water was Sushie's speciality.
Then again, Crystal King was reliant on ice. Go figure.
The icy monarch was formidable though. Nevertheless.
Did Kammy Koopa have a backup plan by any chance?
If so, he would like to hear it.
Our heroes managed to defeat Lava Piranha, but in order to obtain the Star Spirit, they must defeat Iggy.
Though truth be told, he isn't so different from Lemmy. And our heroes have already defeated him.
Iggy is taller though. It's noticeable in Paper Jam when he's paired up with both Lemmy and Morton.