breath20k
You're so gonna love the Hooktail battle.
CVGWJames
Me too!
James Birdsong
Thank you, James!
LiamTheYoshi
There may be no water, but let's hope Team Mario can "swim" to victory.
mariobroultimate
I made Hooktail's weakness frogs because it was depicted that way in the Japanese version.
Mario bros fan4ever
That part is actually key to the story.
Nataly Guardado
Yes, the Black Chests are dumb. They think they're evil and all when it's the opposite.
…
Chapter 11: Vs. Hooktail
"Ready?" Mario asked Koops.
"Um…" Koops hesitated for a few seconds. "Yes. Yes, I'm ready."
Luigi stepped up and opened the two fuchsia doors, letting in Mario and Koops first; he was the last to go in the open dormitory. The dormitory was completely empty and quiet.
"Where's Hooktail?" Mario whispered.
"I don't know," Luigi answered.
Suddenly, an ear-piercing roar sounded from above and the dragon Mario and friends saw earlier landed in front. It was Hooktail.
"Who dares step into my place?" Hooktail boomed.
Everyone stood in shock, hearing the feminism in Hooktail's voice.
Wha- Hooktail's a female?! Mario said to himself.
"So… You are friends of the strange-garbed one who came earlier? I didn't expect more to come to steal the treasure I protect! Such rashness and foolishness!" Hooktail said.
"Look who's talking!" Luigi argued. "You're the foolish and rash one! Not us!"
"Because you killed this boy's father!" Mario added in, pointing to Koops.
"And what are you going to do? Kill me too?" Hooktail questioned. "There's no point at all!" She stared at the group for a few seconds and started to drool. "You're so small, yet you don't appear tasty."
"You wouldn't eat us!" Mario said.
"Oh, I'm thinking about it. I suppose you might make a good snack. And the bottoms of your feet smell like they might make a good sauce with some spices. What I'll do is sauté you to crispy goodness and gobble you down. HEADFIRST!"
"N-no! We taste l-like spoiled milk…!" Koops stammered. "Y-you'll puke i-if you eat us…!"
"Not after I fry you first!" Hooktail retorted. She leaned her head back to charge up her fire breath while Mario gave Luigi his hammer.
In quick succession, Hooktail lunged forward and Luigi threw the hammer at her left eye, preventing her from breathing fire.
"AGGH!" Hooktail immediately laid her left paw on her eye. "You smart aleck!"
"Go, Mario!" Luigi declared.
Mario took out his Frog Suit powerup and jumped toward Hooktail's snout. He crushed the powerup in his hand, turning into Frog Mario.
"Ribbit!" Mario croaked as he did a Drill Kick on the area between Hooktail's nostrils. All at once, Hooktail recoiled back a small bit and gagged.
"That awful sound…!" Hooktail moaned. "It…sounds like a frog…! How did you know…?"
"One of your victims wrote something about your weak point!" Koops replied.
Hooktail gagged again upon seeing Mario in front of her again. Her left eye had a black and blue bruise under it.
"Ugh…! I got really bad…food poisoning when I once ate a frog…! I hate that stupid croak…!"
"Come on, Hooky! Did you know frog legs are good for you?" Luigi teased Hooktail. "The fat in them can energize your body like a Red Bull!"
Before Hooktail could say anything else, Koops retreated into his shell, prompting Mario to pick him up and leap at Hooktail again. Mario threw Koops sideways at Hooktail's left ear, letting out a croak; he then did a sideways Ground Pound in between Hooktail's eyes, croaking again.
Hooktail fell on her stomach, letting out a stream of fire. Luigi barely jumped out of the way in time.
"At least…I can still…cook you…!" Hooktail said in a woozy voice.
Koops and Mario quickly rejoined Luigi. By now, Hooktail's limbs were feeling numb, making it hard for her to stand up.
"Come on! Get up, Hooktail!" Koops told Hooktail. He was feeling relieved now that Hooktail was getting weaker. She tried squinting her eyes to pretend Mario was not wearing his Frog Suit.
"Must…not…gag…" Hooktail murmured. "My poor stomach…" Unbeknownst to her, Mario threw his hammer at Hooktail's other eye. She burped out another stream of fire upon feeling the impact; Koops wasn't quick enough to dodge the fire breath, which set the back of his sweater on fire.
Luckily, Mario lunged at Koops and rolled him along the floor, smothering the fire.
"Thanks, Mario," Koops sighed.
Luigi took out his Frog Suit powerup and entered a battle pose, ready to try a finishing move.
"W-wait! Hold up a moment!" Hooktail cried, seeing Luigi in his pose. "I give up! Please! I won't be so bad anymore! I promise! In fact, I'm sorry for everything!"
"There's no being sorry, Hooktail," Koops said. "What's done is done."
"No! I can change! Spare me!"
"Absolutely not," Mario replied.
"How about I give you 1,000 Coins to prove it?" Hooktail offered.
"First off, you don't have any Coins. Second, that message one of your victims said-" Luigi started to say.
"I don't care what my victim said before I killed him!" Hooktail interrupted Luigi. "But if you don't want my Coins, then how about I make you a tasty lunch? Like, an actual feast with real food! I swear!"
"Not listening, liar," Mario said, holding his hand in front of Hooktail's face.
"I'm not a liar!" Hooktail whined. "I mean everything I say!"
"Whatever. Anything else you want to say before we finish you?"
"Well… I suppose I could apologize by letting you smell the bottoms of my feet. People pay good money to do this."
"Eegh! Hell no!" Luigi replied. "You'll make us sick more than you are now!"
"Come on! I insist! It shouldn't hurt for you to take a whiff-"
"Enough!" Mario interrupted Hooktail. "I'd rather be chased by a bald-headed teacher slapping a ruler in his hand!"
"Wow. You aren't very trusting fellows, are you?" Hooktail asked. "It's important to be able to trust someone, you know. I guess I'd better…"
"You'd better do what?" Koops questioned. "Give us the treasure you've been keeping?"
Hooktail didn't respond immediately as she was supposedly thinking about what to do.
"Hey! I'm talking to-"
Hooktail interrupted Koops by swiping Mario away, turning him back to normal.
Right as Mario hit the door, Hooktail grabbed him and swallowed him whole.
"NOOOO!" "MARIO!" Luigi and Koops shouted, respectively.
"Oh, that hits the spot!" Hooktail said with excitement. She immediately stood back up with an evil smile on her face. "That tasted fruity!"
"That's just not right!" Koops scolded Hooktail. Luigi started sobbing, thinking Mario was gonna be killed in Hooktail's stomach.
"You f-freaking murderer…!" Luigi cried.
"Now you'll never beat me!" Hooktail stated. "Those frogs I've been dealing with? Not my problem anymore!"
Luigi's sadness immediately turned to anger; he looked at Hooktail with his "death stare". Simultaneously, he took out his Frog Suit powerup and turned into Frog Luigi. Because of how angry Luigi was, his suit's eyes glared as well.
"'Oh no! You're scaring me with your face!'" Hooktail taunted Luigi. "There's no saving your blue and red-clothed friend now! Hahahaha!"
"Pull yourself together!" Koops told Luigi. "We need to save Mario! I know he might be still alive!"
"Is he…?" Luigi asked in a frustrated tone of voice.
Koops didn't answer because Hooktail was about to use her fire breath again. "Let's finish her!" he said.
Luigi grabbed Koops and jumped above Hooktail's fire breath. Koops launched himself toward Hooktail's mouth and held both her jaws open.
"What are you doing?!" Hooktail demanded.
Luigi took the short opportunity and leaped inside Hooktail's mouth, grabbing her uvula while croaking aggressively. Hooktail started gagging again, making it hard for Koops to keep her mouth open.
"Stop it…!" Hooktail gasped. "I'm gonna throw up…!"
While Luigi continued beating the inside of Hooktail's throat, he heard a loud gurgling beneath him.
"Get out of there, Luigi!" Koops yelled, sensing the worst.
"Not yet!" Luigi screamed. He let out a croak just as loud as Hooktail's roar, making her vomit all over the place; Koops and Luigi were washed out of Hooktail's mouth. Luigi's Frog form wore off a few seconds later.
"That was intense!" Koops coughed. "We really showed her!"
Hooktail burped one more time before fainting. The burp expelled Mario, who rolled onto his stomach. Luigi immediately ran up to him.
"Mario?" Luigi murmured, waiting for Mario to wake up. A moment later, Mario slowly pressed his right hand on the floor to lift himself onto his knees.
"Ugh…" Mario groaned.
Hearing Mario's voice, Luigi cried tears of joy. Koops let out a sigh of relief.
"Mario…!"
"Huh? Is that…?" Mario looked up and saw Luigi standing in front. It took a few seconds for Mario to realize Luigi saved his life; he leaped onto his feet and hugged Luigi tight. "LUIGI! YOU SAVED ME, BRO!"
"I can't b-believe you're okay…!" Luigi cried. "You don't u-understand…how scared I w-was…!"
"Me too! I thought I was gonna die in there!"
"Are you sure you're fine, Mario?" Koops asked.
"Yeah. I guess so," Mario replied after letting go of Luigi.
Just then, the group heard another groan coming from Hooktail's mouth. A blue-shelled Koopa with brown eyebrows and a brown goatee crawled out and laid on his stomach.
"It… It can't be!" Koops gasped, recognizing who the Koopa was. "Dad?!"
"Eh?" The Koopa stood up, hearing Koops's voice. Before he knew it, Koops jumped into his arms.
"Dad! You're alive!" Koops exclaimed. He felt himself getting emotional but held back his tears.
"Is that you, Koops?" Koops's dad asked. "Did you just…?"
"I did! I came to avenge your death, or so I thought!" Koops said.
"Well, I'm perfectly fine. Surprisingly." Koops's dad looked at Koops, realizing how much he grew. "Wow! Look at how big you've gotten since I saw you last!"
"I guess I have. What happened to you, though?"
"Well, I came here a while back to deal with Hooktail, and all was well and good... But just before my finishing blow, she played a trick on me and gobbled me down whole. I've been hiding in my shell for ten years since then... Inside Hooktail's belly!" Koops's dad explained.
"Wow. Some story," Luigi said from behind Koops.
"Oh. Hi there," Koops's dad greeted Luigi, who was standing next to Mario. "Who are you?"
"I'm Luigi and this is my bro, Mario." Mario waved hello. "We helped Koops save you from Hooktail."
"Well, thank you too, Luigi and Mario! The name's Koopley," Koopley introduced himself.
"I almost got eaten too," Mario said. "But at least it wasn't for ten years."
"You're very lucky, sir," Koopley responded. "The good news is all of us are together again. Speaking of which, what are you all doing here?"
"Oh, come on, Dad! I came here to defeat Hooktail, who's been wreaking havoc in town. And Mr. Mario and Mr. Luigi here are looking for a gem called the Crystal Star," Koops replied.
"The Crystal Star? This wouldn't be what you're talking about, would it?" Koopley took out a star-shaped gem with a diamond texture all over.
"That's it!" Mario exclaimed. "That's what we've been looking for!"
"How'd you find it, anyway?" Luigi asked.
"I found it down there in Hooktail's belly, and I kept it as a souvenir," Koopley answered.
"We need that, please," Mario requested.
"Of course! Here you go!" Koopley handed the Crystal Star to Mario, who looked at it in his right palm.
Suddenly, giant sparks rose out of the Crystal Star and exploded outward, engulfing Mario and Luigi briefly. Then, a faint red-orange dot appeared below the orange dot on their right arms.
"Wow… This must be another Star Spell," Mario remarked. "But we'll have to go to the Thousand-Year Door and figure out how to use it."
"What's a Star Spell?" Koops asked.
"I'll explain later. First, let's-a go back to Petalburg. I'm sure your mother will be happy to see your father again," Mario replied after stowing the Crystal Star in his overalls pocket.
And so, the group left the open dormitory to venture out of Hooktail's castle. Hooktail continued to lay on her stomach unconscious, but she would eventually wake up to find herself alone again.