All three of them woke up and looked around.
High above them was a mountain in the shape of a spiral. Fields of wheat and flowers surrounded them, a waterfall and lake was at the back, up against cliffs. A carved witch head was built into the cliff high above their heads, and across the way, past the spiral mountain, was a blue stone house.
However, it soon became apparent that no living thing was here. The atmosphere was depressing, the sun seemed nonexistent. The mountain appeared to be cut in half, the blue stone house was in ruins, the water dim and colored dark.
"What happened here?" asked Ryu. "It feels like we only slept for a moment and Master Mumbo's home was destroyed. Who could have done this and why?"
Mumbo gazed at the ruins of the mountainous area in silence. He knew this was a fake reality, but it was a well made one. "Hard to discern as of now." He said quietly. "Let us see if there are somehow survivors."
Ryu frowned. He'd forgotten that what he was seeing wasn't real. Just a creation of the bear's imagination. "Agreed. We should begin with Banjo's home."
"I'll keep a lookout in the meantime. Something about the aura here makes me uneasy and we should be ready." said Lucario with a guarded expression.
The three walked through the dead wheat fields and across cracked stone and dirt over to the ruined house.
The silence was distressing. The normally cheery and lively environment now only occupied by the sound of the wind. Neither of the martial artists had ever seen anything like it, and neither wanted to speak as a sign of respect for any who might've perished there.
Real or not, this place probably is of high sentimental value for master Mumb,. thought Ryu.
Once they arrived at Banjo's residence, Lucario broke the silence. Looking inside, he spoke up "I don't sense anyone. However it is difficult to tell when magic like master Mumbo's is involved, so be wary."
The house was unoccupied. It wasn't able to be lived in anyway, with the structure torn in two and the roof collapsed. As the group lingered at the destroyed house, a mole wearing red spectacles walked up to them. "Finally decided to leave the relative safety of that hut of yours and see the destruction for yourself, Mumbo?" The mole turned to Ryu and Lucario. "I've never seen you two before, who are you?"
After eyeing the newly arrived for a second, the aura Pokemon decided that it was safe enough to answer. "My name is Lucario. I'm an apprentice of master Mumbo here. Same as my acquaintance Ryu." to which the named fighter nodded in agreement. "Who are you, and why do you treat our master with such lack of respect?"
"Bottles." Mumbo confirmed the mole's identity as he looked the bespectacled creature up and down. "Mumbo and friends from outside world. This just dream - nightmare. Mumbo and friends want help bear and bird." He had relapsed into his old way of speaking, but he didn't mind.
"I see." said Ryu.
"Bottles. Would you happen to know where we could find Banjo and Kazooie?" he said, facing the mole.
The mole eyed the blue dog. "They're at my house."
Mumbo nodded. "Then we shall go there." The shaman led everyone down the left path over to a hole into the cliff face. There were tank treads embedded in the ground that led into this cave.
Ryu raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Is there some sort of army here?" Not what I was expecting to see in a world like this, but at this point nothing seems to make sense...
Lucario, on the other hand, said nothing. He was too focused in trying to understand what it was that waited for them inside.
The group continued deeper into the cave. Bottles tried to adjust his spectacles. "There was one, some time ago, in Jingo Village, but everyone was scattered when the hag found the base and destroyed it. I don't know where anyone is now."
"You speak as if this place was filled with life, but now I feel none aside from ours and... whatever waits for us inside." replied the aura-sensing Pokemon.
Bottles nodded. "Yep. The whole world was alive and such, until the witch somehow was resurrected. Now there's practically nothing left."
The group caught some sort of movement from deeper within the cave.
When Lucario decided to approach the strange aura, he could see the silhouette giant green creature. Its form was misshapen and seemed to be hunkered down and meddling with... something and mumbling something about his... mistress?
"Klungo! What are you doing here?" asked Bottles
Before Mumbo or Bottles could stop him, Ryu decided to join in. Keeping his guard up, he tapped the giant in the back. "Excuse me, could you tell me where I could find a bear with a bird in his backpack?"
The creature turned around and gazed down at Lucario with misshapen green eyes. "Bear and bird are nemesisssss' of Klungo." He was holding a strange potion bottle, one that held a multicolored liquid of mixed red, blue, and green.
"We seek no hostilities with you" said Ryu in a calm but respectful tone "so if you'd just tell us where to head off to, we'll leave you to your business."
In the meantime, Mumbo Jumbo and Bottles looked like they wanted to say something, but they kept quiet.
Klungo reached out and grabbed Lucario by the throat, then yanked the dog creature close. "No one tells Klungo what to do." He said threateningly, shaking the potion bottle with his free hand.
"It seems I have no choice." said Ryu, somewhat disappointed, although not much.
Putting both of his hands back, he screamed "Shakunetsu!" as he pulled them forward as a fireball the size of his body was expelled from them, hitting Klungo in the stomach and burning him.
Klungo blinked, then threw Lucario towards Ryu and downed the potion, seeming to not care about his burns.
First, he grew giant, then, he split into three versions of himself; one real, two clones; then he became invisible.
The duo were taken aback by the new situation, but at least one of them was able to quickly recover.
I used to consider Blanka and Dhalsim strange. I'll need to apologize to them when next I see them. thought Ryu, trying to make heads or tails of what he'd just seen. "Lucario! Do you know how to defeat such a foe?"
Lucario coughed and wheezed, holding his throat. "I-I'll need a moment to regain my focus."
Klungo merely rampaged across the room a bit while under the effects of the combined potions, then stopped and began to throw filled glass bottles at his foes.
Lucario was forced to dodge the upcoming projectiles while attempting to recover his concentration.
Ryu did the same, disconcerted that he couldn't tell where his foe was, and was fuming. How could a warrior fight so dishonorably? Even Akuma and M. Bison could be somewhat respected in their battle tactics!
With his head finally on straight, Lucario could do more than evade. "Ryu, one of the clones is a few feet to your left and another is behind you!"
Not wasting any time, Ryu quickly dispatched them with a Mule Kick and a weak Shoryuken. As I thought. Our enemy might be tricky, but he's also weak. Making himself bigger only made him an even easier target.
The clones vanished, leaving only the single Klungo as he ran around the arena while still being huge and invisible.
Waiting a second with his focus regained and eyes closed, Lucario grabbed what was apparently empty air and used one of his signature moves, Force Palm.
Klungo turned visible again but was still huge. He tried to punch Lucario away from him.
Being a master of fighting, Lucario was able to read Klungo's clumsy swing and dodge it with ease. He followed up by summoning a bone staff and jumped to eye-level with Gruntilda's henchman. He then swatted the giant hard enough to send him tumbling to the floor, where he landed with a loud "Oomph".
"Don't get up, unless you want this one-sided fight to continue" warned the Pokemon "you have no hope of defeating either of us"
Klungo decreased in size until he was completely back to normal and he punched the ground a few times. "Grr… Dog and human beat Klungo, Klungo accept defeat…"
"Wise choice, Klungo" said Ryu, joining the Pokemon "Now answer me: where are Banjo and Kazooie?"
Klungo pointed towards a light shining from another cave entrance before be got up and wandered off.
Bottles and Mumbo reappeared from this cave exit.
"The cost is clear, you two, come on!" The mole called to them.