Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.
General Guy walked through the castle grounds, humming to himself as he turned his head before looking back straight ahead… but he stopped himself and backed up, seeing an empty lot of airships.
"What in the world…? Where did our airships go?" He wondered as he heard airships coming back as he turned to see Team Yell's airships flying back. "Hmm, I suppose Team Yell went to survey the land." He mused as the airships gently landed on the ground.
"Welcome back, Team Yell! How was your impromptu reconnaissance mission? I assume Princess Peach is doing well?" He asked but no response. "...Guys?" He called out but no answer.
This caused him to be concerned as he climbed up on the airships. "Okay, this isn't funny." He said as he thoroughly looked through the ship as the propellers stopped spinning. "Lady Marnie? Lord Piers? Excess amount of ornery people who worship Lady Marnie a little too much?"
He found all three of them empty, and to make him even more concerned, he would come across all three ships that had "autopilot" engaged, and had turned themselves off. "...Uh, Lady Rei? Are you playing a practical joke on me with your fellow Boos? Because, ha ha, that's pretty funny!"
No response.
"...Lady Rei? Boos?"
A sinking feeling overcame him. "Oh, this is not good." He pulled out a walkie talkie. "Attention all Shy Guys, we have some missing Koopa Troop! Lady Marnie, Lord Piers and their henchmen have disappeared on us and I don't think Lady Rei and her fellow Boos are playing a practical joke!"
"Boss, what do you mean?"
"I'm saying their airships came back from a supposed recon mission and they weren't in their airships. Something is terribly wrong!"
"What do we do?"
"Develop a search party, we have got to go find them before something else finds 'em!" General Guy got in his tank. "Godspeed, gentleman. We are going to search for 'em on the DOUBLE! Move move move!" He ordered as he took off as the Shy Guy Squad ran out.
"What's he doing now?" A Koopatrol wondered.
"Probably a training exercise." Another said.
Meanwhile…
BGM: World 8 Map (Super Mario 3D Land)
"Here we are, the Koopa Kingdom." Ruby said as they stared off into the volcanic region.
Kala sweatdropped. ["I was not aware of the Koopa Kingdom filled with lava and volcanoes. Let alone the heat."]
"These volcanoes are constantly erupting, so you'll have to be careful of debris." Yang said. "Luckily, we've been here enough times to know how to avoid them."
"Pretty much." Blake nodded.
"I remember when I used to complain about the heat… now I'm just used to it." Weiss said.
"Alright… let's see if we can't knock down any Grimm that's dumb enough to get in our way!" Daisy smirked, cracking her knuckles as Mario pulled down his cap with determination and a smirk.
"Let's-a go!" He said as they all headed off while Kala made sure Oran was nearby, the latter being fascinated with the volcanoes, lava rivers and lava falls but would keep on going, staying close to Summer just in case.
"Phew… it's a little warm for my liking." Maia said.
"Same here." Raven agreed.
"Ah, you'll get used to it." Ruby smiled. …Oh gosh, my instincts are going all over the place here, why can't I seem to calm down? She thought, closing her eyes. Okay, stay calm, stay calm… Dark Ruby's probably not here… I hope.
Byleth glanced over at Ruby. She looks on edge… She thought as she walked over and gently took her hand, startling Ruby as she jumped but she looked over to see Byleth who gave her a gentle smile. "It's going to be okay, sis…" She said gently.
"Yeah… of course." Ruby smiled as Pit wrapped his arm around her while Dorothea hummed a little tune to help calm Ruby's nerves. Even Summer, Tai, Rosalina and Yang were near Ruby to help comfort her.
"Alright, let's see what we can knock out." Cloud said as they kept walking.
World 8-1: Typical Welcome to the Koopa Kingdom
BGM: Castle (Super Mario 3D Land)
As soon as they walked up, they would see a fortress of sorts as spike ball launchers shot out at them. "Well, that's new." Daisy said.
"It's a typical welcome." Mario chuckled as they walked around the spiked balls and started to climb up, where a few Grimm Spinies wandered around. One spotted them as it curled up into its shell and started to roll toward them while shooting out its spikes at them.
They all dodged the attack as the Grimm Spiny got back up and charged, only for a spike ball to run it over, and then Mario hammered it into the other Grimm Spinies to destroy the rest of them. They would then climb up and dodge more spike balls that came out of the launchers as they climbed over said launchers after another set were shot out.
A few moving platforms rose up and down as they hopped up and saw a trail of coins, only they were guarded by a few Grimm Fuzzies that were prompt destroyed as the two Knights went ahead and collected the coins and joined them up top as they would see a few flip panels up ahead and they were also greeted by a bigger Spike Ball launcher that rolled over the panels before falling into the abyss below.
"...Fuck that! Are there any other alternatives?" Epsilon wondered.
"Aha! A ! block!" Caboose spoke up as he hit it, causing several face blocks to appear and acted as a bridge.
"Right on, Caboose-chan!" Ibuki praised as they quickly ran across where they would find a 1-Up as Caboose snagged it for himself and they would find a Warp Box that took them past the flip panels, where they happily went inside it and popped up near a pole where they would see another Warp Box, as they went inside it while Sarge shot down a Grimm Spiny.
Once they hopped out of the other side, they would see more spike ball launchers as they walked ahead and noticed there was an escalator that was going down and giving the spike balls more momentum, which in turn, destroyed a Grimm Spiny that was blissfully unaware of the danger. "You know, i'm not sure if these Grimm are supposed to be smart, but they're sure stupid." Sarge said.
"Count our lucky stars…" Grif shook his head as they climbed the escalator while dodging the spike balls as they soon climbed over it as they would see more flip panels, but they would see an upper platform for them to go up to, where they did so as they walked across and hit as many ? Blocks as they could as Nora hit one with her fist, and it fell down and covered her body.
"Hey! What the heck?! Get this thing off of me!" She exclaimed as she ran around trying to pull it off of her while coins kept popping out.
"Coin boxes, I've heard about these things…" Daisy said, examining it.
"From what I've heard, they're rare." Mario added.
"Hey, congrats Nora, you're wearing a piggy bank!" Donut exclaimed.
"THIS ISN'T FUNNY! I CAN'T EVEN SEE!" Nora yelled as she slammed right into a wall. "Ooof!"
"Hang on." Laxus walked over and pulled it off.
"Ow ow ow ow ow! You're pulling my head off! OOOOOW!" Nora yelled as it was successfully pulled off, and she felt her entire right arm going numb. "Ow… I think I pinched a nerve…" She winced.
"Hang on, let me check it out for ya." Doc said as he examined her arm.
"Hmm…" Nyx looked at the Coin Box as she picked it up and shook it, as several coins came out. "Well, how about that." She turned over to Xena. "Think you could deliver this to Wario?"
"What's the occasion?" Xena asked.
"Oh, I'm feeling a bit generous."
"Fair enough!" Xena said, taking it and teleporting away, then teleported back to them a few moments later. "There we go, he's quite happy."
Nyx smiled. "Least I could do is be friendly to him." She said as Nora rolled her shoulder after the feeling in her arm returned.
"Alriiiight! Let's go!" Nora said as they walked off where they found a Warp Pipe and hopped in, popping out in a new area as they would see a giant slope leading down and would see spike ball launchers, including a bigger one.
"Well, that's not certainly ominous." Epsilon said.
"We got it covered." Rosalina smiled as they started to run down the hill as the spike ball launchers aimed and fired at them where the bigger one launched out and destroyed the smaller ones as everyone hopped down a ledge as more spike balls launched out as the big one rolled closer to them.
Summer spotted some railings up ahead. "The railings! Get on those!" She said as they did so with Summer picking up Oran and placed him on the railing, the latter giving her eyes of gratitude and a smile as the larger spike ball rolled down the slope harmlessly while the smaller spike balls hit the sides of the rails and pinballed down the slope until they fell into the abyss.
"There we go." Pyrrha said as they hopped down and reached the flagpole where Tifa climbed up and snagged it for herself.
End BGM
"Alright!" Tifa smiled, hopping down as they walked ahead and walked toward some cliffs with lava falls pouring out and lava plumes shooting out of the walls.
World 8-2: Ride Around The Falls
BGM: Magma Flows (Kirby Air Ride)
"That's a little extreme." Dark Pit said.
"Eh, it's the Koopa Kingdom. What can you do?" Yang shrugged as they walked straight ahead and found a ! block, where once they hit it, a large magma platform sprung up from the lava where they hopped on, then the rock started to move and flowed across the lava… that picked up rather quickly.
"We must be on a current." Grif said.
"Does lava even have currents?" Epsilon asked.
"Well, technically, lava-"
"No one cares, book brain!" Grif said.
Simmons sweatdropped. "Never mind…" He mumbled as they went through a slope as Summer held on to Oran while Kala did the best she could not to get burnt by the lava as they went down a steeper slope and picked up speed.
As they did, several Parabuzzies flew over head along with some Parabeetles, but on these Parabeetles, they were blissfully unaware of carrying Grimm Hammer Bros as they hopped down onto the platform, although one missed its mark and landed right in the lava.
Mario and Daisy quickly took action and fought the Hammer Bros along with the huntsmen and huntresses, then they passed a rock platform as a Grimm Boomerang Bro hopped on, only to be taken care of by Gloria as she yanked the boomerang out of its hands and shoved it into its gut before kicking it into the lava.
A few Grimm Fire Bros jumped in and threw out massive fireballs, but Lea and Isa blocked these as the two swung their weapons and threw them back into the lava, but to their surprise, they were able to manipulate the lava to their advantage and threw it back at them, where Rosalina quickly sprung into action and manipulated the lava herself as it went around the group, then Xion threw out a few pillars of light to destroy the Fire Bros.
"Grimm manipulating lava… there's something you don't see every day." Blake said.
"That's kinda nerve wracking." Weiss admitted as the slope got even steeper as they would come across Grimm Magmaarghs that tried to swallow them, forcing them to move around the platform the best they could where Rosalina would use force fields just in case.
However, they would see a wall of Grimm Magmaarghs charging at them, however a lava geyser activated and launched them high into the air to go over the Magmaarghs as they landed behind them shortly after, a few of them bouncing and landing on their backs while Summer held on to Oran so he wouldn't bounce off.
They continued down the slope as they picked up the pace rather quickly. "Hmm…" Xena closed her eyes. Yagami, do you have any energy left to see what's up ahead?
"Yeah, I've got some energy left. I'll see what's up ahead."
Yagami hopped out of Xena and then flew ahead, dodging the lava plumes that rose up from the lava. She would see up ahead a large dip and once she got closer, she would see a massive lavafall, but would also see some platforms on the side for them to safely get off, and then noticed the flagpole up ahead.
She teleported back to the group. "Okay, I've got some good news and I've got some bad news."
"Let me guess, the bad news is that we're going straight for a large lava fall and we've no chance of surviving?" Laxus asked.
"Pretty much. The good news is that there's a few platforms on the right side a few yards ahead that we can safely get on. The flagpole's dead ahead too."
"So we need to hug the right side? Good to know." Carmen nodded as Yagami went back inside Xena, and then proceeded to hug the right side of the rock until the platforms were close enough for them to disembark safely, where they would head over to the flagpole, though Oran would walk to the safety of the railing and watched the rock go over the falls and disappear into the lava lake below.
With a nod of satisfaction that he was able to watch it disappear, he turned around and caught up where Summer and Ruby were waiting for him as they walked off to catch up with the others.
End BGM
As they kept going, they would see sparks raining down on the ground, where they would also see some volcanoes erupting. "Welp, it looks like we're going to be hit by debris soon." Yang said as they walked further and saw rotating platforms over a large lava lake.
"...Is there a safer way to go around?" Grif asked.
"If you're a pussy." Tucker said. "This won't be that bad!"
"Tucker's right. Chaaaaarge!" Sarge exclaimed as they walked along, while Summer turned her head to see a safer way, which was walking along some charred grass alongside the edge of the lava lake.
"Come on, honey. Let's take a detour." Summer suggested as she, Oran, and Kala decided to take the scenic route, which Grif spotted them.
"No thanks, I choose life!" Grif said as he went after them.
World 8-3: Rotisserie
BGM: Outside Volcano (New Super Mario Bros Wii)
"Yeah, Ibuki can jam out to this." Ibuki grinned as they walked ahead where a volcano nearby erupted and spat out lava, which in turn caused several lava rocks to come crashing into the platforms and shaved off huge chunks of the platforms.
"...Ya know, Grif might be onto something here." Simmons said.
"Nonsense! He's just a pussy." Sarge said as they kept going as a massive fireball struck a Grimm Rocky Wrench. They would also see normal Buzzy Beetles going about their day, not caring about the debris hitting them, while they also latched onto the rotating platforms and kept walking without a care in the world, despite them already upside down.
Once they got closer to the rotating platforms, a few massive fireballs from a volcano came crashing down on some of the platforms and destroyed them, making it more difficult for them. "Ooookay, this is a bit much!" Weiss said.
"I was about to say… this seems overkill!" Blake said as they hopped over the platforms even though some of the smaller platforms put holes in them as they quickly made it across before coming into contact with a larger rotating platform where they ran across, dodging the fireballs and debris while also jumping over on the side of the rotating platform before hopping onto a stationary platform.
"Whew, alright, that's one segment down!" Ibuki said.
"A lot more to go. Stay sharp!" Shovel Knight said as several Grimm Magmaarghs rose out of the lava and chomped down on the rotating platforms destroying them before some of them had a chance to get on it, and then up ahead some Grimm Fire Bros were catching the volcanic debris and threw it at the group, where Mario used his hammer to swing it back at a Fire Bro, but he would catch it without getting crushed, surprising the plumber where Rosalina threw down comets to destroy them.
"These Grimm are getting nastier." Rosalina mused as they jumped over the platforms while keeping an eye on the Grimm Magmaarghs, where one of them proceeded to eat an entire stationary platform, preventing them from getting on it, though Rosalina and Xena teleported them across, then they would see several Grimm Magmaarghs eating everything in front of them.
"...That's enough!" Ruby growled as she used her Silver Eyes, but to her dismay, the Magmaarghs broke free a second later. "Oh, you're kidding me!"
"Can you rapid fire 'em?" Ven asked.
"I think that would just wear me out." Ruby responded.
"Oh… good point." He nodded as they were teleported on a large rotating platform where volcanic debris slammed into the platform to destroy parts of it, forcing them to go around as they moved around accordingly before they were able to hop off and land near a Warp Box as they appeared near the flagpole… that was already melted by a Grimm Fire Bro, where Ibuki smacked it over the head with her guitar to get rid of it.
"Asshole." Ibuki said as Yang took what was left of the flagpole and moved on to where the quad was at.
End BGM
"Glad I didn't take that route." Grif said.
"Are you guys okay?" Summer asked in concern.
"A little burnt and sweaty, but we're alright." Tai said.
Summer sighed with relief. 'That's good." She smiled. "I was honestly worried considering the volcanic activity, plus those Grimm who weren't affected by Ruby's silver eyes."
"Yeah… it's unnerving." Ruby nodded as they walked off, although the more they walked, the more on edge Ruby was getting, desperately trying to block out her instincts yet it kept screaming at her that something was horribly wrong. "Blake… are your instincts usually this… annoying?"
"No, not entirely." Blake said before getting concerned. "Okay, Ruby? You might want to relax… you're looking like a nervous wreck."
"Wh-what gave you that idea?" Ruby grimaced as Byleth and Yang proceeded to hug her to calm her down.
"We should be close to Bowser's Castle. Even so… we need to be on high alert." Nyx said as they nodded in agreement as they walked further along… until they were ambushed by Beowolves, Ursa and even Grimm Lizalfos and Moblins, not only that but they would see Grimm Paragoombas, Grimm Monoeyes and Grimm Metroids.
All of them got into their fighting stances as Ruby prepared to use her Silver eyes, when suddenly a ring of fire surrounded them as streams of fire struck the Grimm to disintegrate them, followed by one Ursa getting picked up and thrown into a Moblin, then the ones in midair were quickly disintegrated.
"Huh?" Ruby blinked.
"Way to go, Lea!" Xion smiled.
"Uh… that wasn't me." Lea said.
"You guys alright?" A voice asked as they turned to see Bowsette approaching them, and was joined by Rei and Cinder, all of them carrying shopping bags.
"Hey!" Umber waved. "Nice to see you guys!"
"Were you guys out shopping?" Mario asked.
"Yeah, we were just heading back. What are you guys doing here… aside from a massive Grimm ambush." Bowsette said.
"I have to say, the Grimm activity is quite concerning." Cinder mused and looked at Ruby. "What's with you? You look completely on edge."
"It's… extremely complicated…" Ruby admitted.
"We're on our way to Bowser's Castle." Tai explained. "Apparently, Bowser kidnapped Peach in the middle of the night two nights ago."
"Huh?" Bowsette tilted her head.
"That… can't be right." Rei said quietly. "Bowser usually doesn't kidnap at night, except for that Star Festival… I heard it was quite lovely."
Bowsette folded her arms. "Bowser reserved this entire week to spending time with Junior, he didn't even have Peach scheduled until next week." She said. "Hmm… and you said Peach was missing?"
"Yeah." Yang nodded.
"That's concerning… so unless Bowser decided to kidnap her on the fly, probably to get her out of the way so he could play ball with his son… no, he wouldn't do that." Bowsette scratched her head.
"Come on, we're actually near the Monster Community. We'll be safe from the Grimm there." Rei spoke up. "Usually they don't accept humans except for those who are part of the Koopa Troop, though they have been accepting humans as of late for refuge. Small villages and towns have been getting ransacked lately."
"Yeah, and even Mushroom City is getting hit hard from it, including Moonview City!" Bowsette said.
Mario closed his eyes. "Why do I have this feeling that Toad Town is getting hit…"
"Come on, we'll sort this out in the community and then we'll figure it out from there." Bowsette said as they walked off to the Monster Community.
"They still haven't come up with a better name for that town?" Gloria asked while rubbing her head. "Good grief…"
Meanwhile, at the Smash Mansion…
"Bro! Bro! Look at this!" Wario exclaimed, holding on to the Coin Box. "Nyx was kind enough to send me an infinite coin box!"
"Wow, really?" Waluigi asked in surprise.
"Yeah! We can refill WarioWare's vault with this!" Wario laughed as he greedily shook it. "Mine mine mine mine mine!" He greedily said… until said Coin Box shattered after the last coin popped out. "WAH?!"
"I should've seen that coming…" Waluigi said as Wario let out a despairing "WAAAAAH!" as he fell on his knees and pounded the ground in dismay. "Come on, bro. We'll cheer you up with garlic ice cream." He said, dragging his saddened brother away.
Gettin' spicy!
Ibuki: Ooof... poor Wario-chan.
Ah, he'll be fine.