The Battle at Ricco Harbor (pt. I)
The sun set across the ocean. A thousand miles from anywhere. In another moment it would've been a welcoming sight, but for now it transmitted a feeling of uneasiness, dreary and uncertainty. He looked at the sky as a raindrop landed on his face. The sky was an odd mix of red, orange, grey and yellow; a storm wasn't too far. "A battle under the rain, how cliché", he thought to himself. His thoughts wandered to the X-Nauts. And to Crump. If his threats were true, the entire X-Naut army would be coming sooner rather than later to try and grab the skull gem and keep them from reaching Noki Bay; "and the Crystal Star", Mario said to himself.
He stood up and stretched his legs. The inn they were staying was located in one of the higher streets of the harbor, which gave them a nice view of the sea, for any enemy ship that could attack. Mario knew the place well, having saved it from Bowser a couple times now. He looked down and saw some merchants and salesmen were packing up for the night, completely ignorant from what was waiting on the horizon; from the rooftop he was standing they looked no bigger than a Buzzy Beetle, and they knew him, who didn't?
Placed in-between Sirena Beach and Delfino Plaza, Ricco Harbor was located in the southern part of Isle Delfino (on the "dolphin"'s belly fin). It was made up of 7 shipping docks, each named after a Star Spirit; out of these, the two biggest were Eldstar and Midsstar - those were the two that received the biggest cargo ships and had five cranes each. The rest of the docks had two. A century old crane, named by the locals as Sole, was located on the harbor's eastern side, which is where the main square was located. Not many people lived in Ricco Harbor but the few that did - mostly captains, merchants and loaders- had their homes at the foot of Sunnyside Hill, a small resident town located at the southeast part of lower Corona Mountain. Sunnyside Hill overlooked the entire harbor, giving its inhabitants a full on view from the north and southeast perspective. This meant, Mario soon realized, that an enemy could easily attack from behind and had a four Pianta sailors patrol on the fields and be on the lookout.
Mario stretched one more time and decided to call it a night. He entered the inn and went straight to bed; the rest of his partners were staying in two rooms on the lower floor while he, Koops and Bobbery slept on the second floor. FLUUD was laying on the room next to a rusty old desk; Mario knew than when the time came, he would have to use his old buddy to fight Crump's army and eventually reach the bottom of Noki Bay. He quickly stripped down and got into bed, sleep came rather quickly: in his dream, he was running down one of the many underwater tunnels hidden beneath Noki Bay. His partners were nowhere to be found, which concerned him greatly; nonetheless, he kept running. As he ran, a blinding blue light bathed him and the walls and floor of the cave: he could clearly see the strange inscriptions and carvings from a different era as he knew the Crystal Star was near. Then, he heard it. It was calling out to him "Mario, Mario, Mario". The floor was shaking. "Mario, Mario, Mario..."
"Mario wake UP!" Koops was standing before him and seemed more nervous and shaky than usual. Mario insisted he tell him what was going on but the words seemed to be stuck and unable to escape the young Koopa's mouth.
"Wha is it, Koops? Tell me"
"T-t-t-t-they're he-here".
Oh no. Mario quickly darted out of bed, put his overalls and boots as fast as he could; he strapped on FLUDD and shook Bobbery to get him awake.
"For goodness' sake, me boy, what in heaven's..."
"They're here Admiral! No time to waste. Koops, wake the rest of the gang up. Meet me in front of the fountain".
Koops did as he was told and gathered the rest of the gang; little Yoshi was a tad too excited and couldn't seem to remain still; the girls on the other hand, knew what they were in for so their spirits weren't as cheerful but instead more worried. They all meet Mario in front of the fountain that was in the main square of Sunnyside Hill; two leaping Lunge Fish staring at each other in between a water stream. It was here where Mario had installed the sailor patrol. One of the Piantas, the youngest one, was the one who had spotted the oncoming ship. Mario looked through the telescope and was able to see it. A relatively big looking cargo ship was entering the harbor from the west.
"Oooh! Let me at 'em! C'mon Gonzalez, let's swim down there and open a can of whoopass on those guys, c'mooooon!", little Yoshi couldn't contain his excitement. Mario knew they needed a plan.
"How many X-Nauts do you think are on that ship? Could we take them all on?", asked Mario, to which Goombella, the ever genius, responded: "There's no exact way of knowing how many are in that ship, hell we don't even know how big it is! I think we oughta get closer and take a look"
"Right you are!", interrupted Ms. Mowz, "but we got to come up with a plan first! We can't risk facing those dirtbags without a strategy!"
"Come ONNNNN! Let's go kick their asses!"
"Yoshi, you are such a baby!"
"Silence everyone!", exclaimed Admiral Bobbery; "the young lady and Ms. Mowz are correct. We need to get closer but also a plan. Going unprepared could be suicide. And this may be our only chance. Who knows what that scumbag Crump has planned".
Mario agreed and decided they needed to get closer. He thought as hard as he could and then got it! They would get closer to the ship... and they would sneak in and destroy it.
"Uhmmm... excuse me but what!?", asked Vivian. "If you think of it, our little Mario's right", interrupted Flurrie. "We sneak in, give that disgusting Crump the beating of his life, destroy the ship, get rid of as many of those slimy X-Nauts as possible, and we keep this harbor safe".
"Right you are Madame!" - exclaimed Mario - "Koops, Vivian, Bobbery and Goombella, you guys are capable of strong physical and fire attacks; so you're coming with me"
"Ooooooooh I wanna come too! I wanna, I wanna!", cried out Yoshi, "I can stomp bad guys and eat 'em and spit 'em up!". Mario had no choice but to give in the baby Yoshi's demands and take him with them. Goombella rolled her eyes; she was annoyed but care deeply for the little guy. The drove all the way to the harbor and parked behind Ricco tower to get a better view of the ship - it wasn't big but certainly not small either. It was dark gray with the X-Naut logo painted in red on one side. Mario noticed that it wasn't really moving, but instead just seem to float along the sea - as if nobody was controlling and driving it. They had to get on board.
"I'm ready to hear the plan now", Goombella broke the silence.
"We sneak in and we beat anyone inside and destroy the ship. I'll use FLUDD to get in and once inside Viv can help you all climb up. Admiral, are you up for this? I'd be honored if you could join me, but I must tell you, I'll have to carry you".
"Don't worry about that, my boy. Sacrifices must be made. Come along now", Bobbery accepted the plan with no issue much to Mario's relief.
"I wanna come too Gonzalez! C'mon!", Yoshi exclaimed. "Be quiet! They'll hear us!", reprimanded Goombella. Mario reassured the little guy he'd be allowed in the ship and to help him beat some X-Nauts. That seemed ro do the trick. Once that was settled, they made their way. Koops had suggested they used a Surfing Blooper but that would've made some noise, as Bobbery explained. They opted for a small boat they got from a Pianta for just 13 coins.
They rowed towards the enemy ship. The night was mysteriously quiet, a little too quiet for Mario's taste. He look up and gave a sigh; "well, here we go. Admiral?". Bobbery nodded as Mario carried him with both arms and held him to this chest. Then he hovered with the help of FLUDD and was soon standing in the deck. It was empty. Not a good sign. Bobbery broke the silence:
"Where is everyone? You'd expect that Crump and his henchmen to be here".
He was right. His attention turned back to the small boat and had Vivian carry the rest of the party one by one. Koops had to practically cover little Yoshi's mouth to keep him from shouting. Once they were all standing on deck Mario had to come up with a plan. He looked around at the seemingly endless metallic boxes that were on deck. If he knew the X-Nauts as he did, there could be a giant robot hiding underneath the very floor they were standing on.
"Mario! look!", Koops interrupted his thoughts; he was pointing at a door. It was locked, but nothing a whack of Mario's hammer couldn't fix. They slowly crept inside. Soon, they were standing on a dark metallic corridor.
"I have a plan", Bobbery said. They were to split up and look for any signs of life; any X-Naut was to be taken out immediately; Mario agreed. Yoshi, Vivian and Koops walked further into the corridor, while Mario, Goombella and Bobbery went down a dark staircase that, judging by the cables and metallic structures and the heat, led to the engine room.
"It sure is quiet around here", said Goombella.
Mario was right, the place was a tad too quiet. He wondered what could Crump and his henchmen be planning by leading them there? Were they aware they had sneaked into the ship. He thought back to his previous adventures: to the last time he had saved Isle Delfino from Bowser and when he had saved the Star Spirits when…
A door opened.
"What are you doing he…", the X-Naut PhD didn't even have time to complete his question. Mario grabbed his hammer and smacked him dead in the face; the hammer making a splat sound when it hit the flesh. They didn't see his partner hiding behind him until the alarm began to ring
WAAAAAAAAH WAAAAAAH WAAAAAAAAH WAAAAAAH, an annoying siren echo engulfed the room. "C'mon we need to get the others". Mario and his partners ran back to the staircase but found it blocked by several X-Nauts, low levels and PhDs, and Yuxes.
"Well, well, well", one of the PhDs spoke. "What do we have here?". The creature stepped forward holding a lab flask with a red liquid. Fire power.
"X-NAUTS! Get ready!"
"Bella, Bobbery, get ready". Mario took out his hammer and charged at the X-Naut. He swung his hammer at it, knocking the flask out its hand and into the floor. It shattered with the red liquid giving out a strong, sour hedor. He swung his hammer again, aiming at the creature's head, but it simply docked. "Damn!". The creature punched Mario in the stomach, causing him to gasp and stumble backwards. It took out another flask with a blue liquid and launched it at Mario… No! The Yux behind Mario was glowing with a greenish light as a forcefield of surrounded it. Before Mario could hit the Yux with his hammer, it spit out a beam of light that sent him flying across the room, knocking his hammer out of his hand.
Mario struggled to get up and saw himself surrounded by four low level X-Nauts holding scalpels and mazes. Mario tried to reach for something to protect himself with, his hammer was way out of reach. Then he realized, "of course!". He switched FLUDD into squirt mode and launched a high pressure water spray that knocked the creature on its ass. "Ha!". But the victory was short-lived as several other X-Nauts attacked Mario from the back and pinned him to the floor. He tried to switch FLUDD to hover mode, but it was impossible; there were too many of these damned creatures and they were pinning him! An X-Naut with a scalpel lifted his arm and, just when everything seemed lost, a big explosion shook the place, followed by several screams, although Mario couldn't tell if they were coming from his partners or the X-Nauts. Then, the X-Naut dropped the scalpel and fell forwards. Mario noticed two bloody stumps where its legs had been. Bobbery came from behind, covered in gunpowder. "He exploded", Mario quickly noticed. Smiling, he got up and went to find his hammer. He noticed Goombella head bonking and slapping the life away from a Mini Yux and a Yux; Mario quickly sprayed two X-Nauts and kept them from attacking Goombella.
Bobbery's explosion had managed to knock out several of the X-Nauts, but not all. There were some who managed to survive and were covered in gunpowder and blood. Some crawled and weeped for their missing limbs. Two PhDs and three Yuxes still blocked their way. Mario sprayed them with water, knocking a flask from one of the PhD's hands. Whatever was in that flask must have been pretty toxic and corrosive, as it caused an open hole on the floor.
"Let's take care of this inconvenience once and for all, shall we?", Goombella went and bonked the Yux, but it launched a beam at her and knocked her out. Mario rushed to her and turned back at Bobbery. The admiral nodded and smiled. He walked towards the enemies and exploded. The explosion was twice as big as the previous one; Bobbery had used a special technique he called Bob-omblast. This allowed him to take out many enemies at once, but also left him in a weakened state. A fire broke out on. They had to get out of there.
"Mario!", Koops came running followed by Vivian and Yoshi. "We heard an explosion! Are you guys OK?"
"We're fine, except for the admiral". Bobbery looked very weak and shaken. He could barely walk.
"We have to get out of here and get him to safety!", exclaimed Vivian.
But they still couldn't. What about Crump? He had to be hiding somewhere. The fire had to have caught his attention.
"Uhmm Viv, I don't think that's gonna be possible", Goombella pointed out at the main mast. There were X-Nauts everywhere. Coming out from the room they just had been, from a secret manhole on the floor. Even from underneath and behind the cargo boxes on deck. They found themselves surrounded by X-Nauts
"What the…".
"Ooh boy!", exclaimed Yoshi. "It's time to kick some ass!". They had no choice.
"You have a plan, right Mario?", asked Vivian. Mario was still trying to come up with something, but he had nothing. They were completely outnumbered.
"Guys", spoke Mario. "Try to take out as many of those bastards as you can".
"Th-th-that's th-th-the pl-plan?", stuttered Koops.
"For now. Yes. Get ready".
In the blink of an eye the entire X-Naut army jumped in on Mario and his partners. He quickly sped off, took out his hammer and began swinging it around, hitting X-Nauts indiscriminately. The rest of his partners also w Vivian pointed her finger and lit several of the creatures on fire, Koops shellshocked his way through the crowd. He could see little Yoshi, who was actually having fun, ground pounding and swallowing and spitting enemies while Goombella bonked a PhD into submission. But there were too many of them. They were bound to outnumber them! Mario reached into his back pocket as his hammer turned the eye of an X-Naut into a bloody red spot. Luck was on his ride, he still had left a lone fire flower.
"Let's see how.. it works!", Mario said as he held the item above his head as fire was shot in all directions, burning and taking down many an X-Naut. It had done the trick but it still wasn't enough. He had to come up with something soon.. and where the hell was Crump!? He continued making his way through the sea of X-Nauts. He looked around searching for Bobbery but an X-Naut jumped him and threw a flask with green liquid that hit Mario in the face, temporarily blinding him. It was an awful burning sensation and even worse was the beam that him, probably from a Yux. He felt more X-Nauts closing in on him but all he could see was black; quickly, and with the help of his trusted FLUDD, he washed away the pain on his eyes… as he felt a blow hit him on his stomach. He swung his hammer and heard a yelp… and something else bonked him on the head
''Mari-ooooooooo!", it was a female voice screaming for him, but was it Goombella or Vivian? He couldn't tell. His thoughts turned to Bobbery. He was weak from the previous blast, and Mario had no idea if he could last the whole ocean of X-Nauts they were fighting. Suddenly, he heard an explosion and gasped.
His eyesight was slowly coming back and he could see a small explosion coming from the far right of the deck; "how on earth had Bobbery gotten there?!". He made his way through the X-Naut swarm. The floor was slippery from the blood from several X-Nauts - at least he hoped it was from X-Nauts and not his partners. He looked around and could not see Yoshi or Goombella anymore, Vivian and Koops were still fighting strong but he couldn't see the rest. He began to worry as another small explosion occurred. Mario finally spotted Bobbery, he was surrounded by many burned out and bloody X-Nauts. He looked dizzy and weak but was still putting up good fight. Mario hovered with FLUDD to get a faster pace and better view.
"Shit!", he muttered out loud as he saw little Yoshi being trampled by several X-Nauts. He hovered down and swung his hammer around hitting a Yux square in the face. He jumped and ground pounded a PhD; punch another in the stomach, bashed in the head of a low level grunt and grabbed baby Yoshi. FLUDD helped him hover on the air again.
"Th-thanks Gonzalez; that was a pussy move of 'em to attack me all in once!"
"They're the bad guys, kid. Don't expect them to fight fair. Have you seen Goombella?"
"THERE!", the baby Yoshi screamed excitedly as he pointed to the main mast. Goombella was surrounded by two low level X-Nauts and a PhD. She was about to headbonk one of the low levels when the PhD launched at her and grabbed her. Mario quickly hovered with FLUDD and smashed the X-Naut on the head; blood spattered his face.
"Thanks for that Mario"
"How did you even get up there?!", asked Yoshi.
"I must have headbonked one too many of those freaks and, before I knew it, I was up there, tee-hee". Mario and Yoshi both rolled their eyes at the blonde-haired Goomba, both were glad she was OK. Now they had to look for Bobbery.
They saw the Bob-omb almost passed out; Mario hovered faster with FLUDD and swiftly landed next to the admiral; Goombella headbonked an annoying Yux.
"C'mon man!", Yoshi shook Bobbery awake, "we need your help to…", he turned to Mario and Goombella. "What's the plan, Gonzalez?". Mario had an idea but wasn't sure how safe it would be. He looked over to Goombella and the rest. "We need to get Vivian and Koops. You guys try and hold on. I'm gonna go get them". They hid inside a container, as a bunch of X-Nauts punched from the outside. Mario hovered with FLUUD to look for the rest of his partners. He went over the plan on his head; could he really call upon the power of the Crystal Star in the middle of the sea? Could Earth Tremor help him sink this ship and all the darned X-Nauts?
"There's only one way to find out", he said to himself.
It took Mario a while to find those two, as Vivian had hid them in the shadows. When he returned to his partners, they were already there. Mario hammered a couple of X-Nauts before quickly entering the container.
"Finally! Been looking everywhere for you two!", Mario reprimanded them.
"Viv he-he-here hid u-us in th-th-the sh-sha-shadows".
"Well you're here now. I decided we're going to use the Crystal Star power to sink this ship"
"Do you really think an earth tremor will do?"
"Not by itself. Vivian, I'm gonna need you to go back inside the ship, through the funnel, and set it on fire".
"Me?!", Mario's plan took her by surprise. "Yes. I have complete faith in you. You setting the funnel on fire, plus the Earth Tremor - which, if things go according to plan will be a sea tremor - will bring this ship down. And hopefully the X-Nauts too".
"But are you sure it'll work?!", yelled Goombella.
"No. I'm not. But it's our only chance. We're gonna go back out there, and fight those bastards while Viv does her thing; then we'll create the Earth… Sea, tremor".
They all looked at each other with uncertainty and nervousness.
"Any questions? Good. Yoshi, open that door and let's go".
They once again dove into the ocean of X-Nauts: hammering, punching, shellshocking, headbonking and exploding enemies. Vivian sped off, flying and disappearing into the funnel. Mario prayed his plan would work. He jumped and hammered two X-Nauts into submissions when he saw Vivian flew out of the funnel. Smoke started to come out.
"Everyone, NOW!", yelled Mario.
The rest of his team placed beside him; he pulled out a small, clear colored crystal star and held it above his head. A thunder roared, causing the X-Nauts to suddenly stop.
"Let's get out of the ship, NOW!". Mario grabbed Bobbery in his arms and hovered with FLUDD. The rest of the team ran and ran and jumped off the ship.
The waves began crashing and getting bigger and more aggressive. A scream emanated from the ship followed by an explosion.
"Good job Vivian".
"Uhmmm… Mario", said Goombella. "The earth, and water are shaking". A huge wave came crashing down. They had to get to the shore
"Everybody, swim to the boat!", screamed Mario.
Yoshi grabbed Goombella and Koops as they struggled to swim in the crashing waves. The screams coming from the X-Naut ship were getting louder, and Mario could see a fire had begun. "Get to the boat quick!", yelled out Mario just as FLUDD's hover function ended and sent him splashing into the water.
The waves and the sea were getting stronger and shaky, as if an earthquake was around the corner. A seaquake! Mario swam, looking for the boat and for his partners; they were nowhere to be seen; he looked for Yoshi, Koops and Gombella just as a gigantic wave cam crashing down. Mario realized he had dropped Bobbery! He held his breath as he swam to the surface. He dived down looking for the admiral, he would never forgive himself if something were to happen to him. Mario swatch FLUDD to Turbof Nozzle to move faster underwater, he had to find Bobbery.
As Mario ran/swam underwater he came across many creatures: sharks, jellopuses, spray fishes and had to edge a very pesky and large Maw-Ray. Mario was getting nervous; who knew how long till the seaquake occurred. He had to grab his partners and get out of there fast! Mario gasped as he felt something pull on his leg. He was getting ready to attack when he saw it was Goops holding Bobbery in his arms.
The Koopa motioned for them to get out and, grabbing Mario's hand, led them to the surface and to the boat. The waves continued to crash around and move the boat; Goombella and Vivian were already waiting and helped the rest of the party up. Bobbery was unconscious but still breathing.
"We have to get him to a hospital or a bed!", Exclaimed Goombella. Mario nodded in agreement. "But first we have to get out of here"; a wave shook the boat almost tipping it over. In the background, fire consumed most of the X-Naut ship; Mario could see some Yuxes and X-Nauts jumping into the water. The seaquake will take care of them.
Koops, Mario and Goombella rowed as if their lives depended on it; little Yoshi tried to help too but quickly got tired. Vivian held onto Bobbery. Halfway through, a ship almost caused them to capsize. They were almost there.
The minute they reached the dock, a big blast shook the entire place. The dock, the ocean, the air. The tremor was starting. Mario noticed how everything began shaking, the waves got bigger and then… a huge crash was heard coming from the water, it created a big splash that soaked Mario and his team from head to toe.
"L-look e-e-everybo-body!", Koops spoke up as he pointed to the X-Naut ship. The seaquake caused by the Earth Tremor had worked - the fiery ship had capsized and was now sinking, hopefully taking those pesky X-Nauts with it.
"Now we can get to Noki! Bring it on!"
"I don't know", interrupted Goombella. "Am I the only one who thinks that was a little too easy? And where's that bastard Krump?". Mario wondered the exact same thing as he looked at his team and then remembered: "Bobbery!". They had to get the admiral help.
"We'll worry about that later, c'mon! We need to get the admiral to help!".
As they made their way back to the town, they spotted Lady Flurrie and a Pianta captain running towards them, looking worried and out of breath. The Pianta practically crashed into Mario,
"M-M-Mario", panted the Pianta. "There's a-a-another… that one… distraction". He couldn't manage to get the words out of his mouth.
"What is it? Speak!", exclaimed Mario, trying to get up.
"Well, my dear, it seems.. there's a big ship coming into the harbor. And I'm talking huge".