King Goomba's target was clear, as he focused solely on Mario. He was relentless with his jumping. The ground rumbled every time he landed that Goombario was sure his family back home could hear it. The King was trying to stomp on the famous plumber, to bring about an ironic end no doubt. Mario quickly set to action.
...Dodging endlessly IS taking action. Mario really wasn't looking forward to be stomped on by an overgrown fungus on miracle grow today.
Goombario looked on helplessly, being paid no mind by the large Goomba. Even if Mario was successfully evading the King now, it was only a matter of time before a jump landed on him. Mario would go down and he'd be next, so he had to do something to help before things went downhill! As he anxiously scoured his brain for ideas, the recently defeated duo approached him. "Hey, punk!" Red called out to him before he hopped and gave him a headbonk. "Why don't you just head on home already?"
"Yeah, just run away while the Goomba King is dealing with Mario!" Blue stuck his tongue out.
Goombario seethed at the sharp sting of the headbonk. "You mean like how you two ran away crying once already? I'll pass." The fanboy kicked out at the two and caught Red on his shin.
"OW, you little shiitake!" he yelled, hopping in pain.
Goombario took the opportunity to jump and land a hit on Blue with a headbonk.
"You'll pay for that!" Blue said.
Goombario braced himself, noting that Blue was still well enough to stand on his own. Darn it, and now they were both mad. Red composed himself and Blue glared. The brothers took a step toward him.
Over with Mario, things were going about about the same. He could easily keep up with the giant Goomba's speed, but he had to find a way to damage him. He used up the flower he had, and... the rest of the stuff he had was food. Whoops. After this, he'd make sure to stock up on more useful items for battles.
But for now, he needed a stroke of luck or a good idea. Hmm. The plumber stopped short and hurled his hammer to the Goomba's forehead.
"Owgh!" the King cried, stumbling back. The hammer bounced off and landed toward the trio of mushrooms.
Shaking his head, the Goomba Boss let out a triumphant "HAH!" despite just being hit by it. "That was your only weapon, wasn't it?"
Mario shrugged sheepishly in a lame attempt to bluff.
"You fool!" he boomed out before continuing his chase, even more assured of himself now.
Goombario took notice of the mallet. He could defend himself now! Instead of attacking the two brothers, he dove to the hammer and grabbed unto it.
"What are you planning on doing with that, you shrimp!? Red called out, half tauntingly and half concerned.
Goombario smiled. "Why? Scared because I have a weapon now?" He swung it around to prove a point.
Blue peered over at King Goomba and Mario upon realizing that the hammer was Mario's. It was just in time to see a powerful kick delivered to Mario by their King. Mario was thrown back, looking surprised at how strong the Goomba was. "That's just a taste of what the Star Rod can do, Mario!" King Goomba gloated. "Wait until you encounter great King Bowser! If you can even make it past here!" As if to emphasize his statement, he stomped forward and jumped again.
"Hah! Look there, Red." he elbowed him.
"What?" he asked in annoyance before noting Mario looking worse for wear. As the king jumped over him, however, Mario managed to duck below and ended up further down the trail.
"Ha! Not long now, you tagalong!" he boasted to Goombario. With more panic than he would like to admit, Goombario threw himself at Blue as he flailed the hammer around. It got the younger brother square on his jaw. Blue fell back, dazed.
"Hey-!" Red struggled, kicking and grabbing at Goombario. Goombario looked around frantically, and then up. Ah-ha! A tree that held unripe, spiky Goomnuts high in its branches.
"Mario!" Goombario yelled, jerking the hammer back roughly and throwing it forward. "Hit that Goomnut tree on the side of the road!" The hammer rolled along the ground and skidded to a stop a couple of steps away from Mario. The plumber quickly grabbed it and glanced up. Oh! That was Goombario's plan.
"Get him!" King Goomba commanded.
"Uh..!" Red looked up and glanced at Blue. "Yes sir!" He pulled Blue up to his feet and dragged him along. "Come on, hurry," he muttered to him. Blue stumbled along.
Mario jumped to his own course of action, snatching up the hammer from the ground. King Goomba's plan was to stand firmly to box in him on the the other side but Mario saw through it. He looked back to the approaching Goomba Brothers and decided to use one as a jumping pad. Luckily for Blue, Mario went with Red. With that momentum, the plumber pushed back towards and over the Goomba King. Goombario let out an adrenaline-filled cheer as the heroic legend landed square in front of the Goomnut tree. Mario swung the hammer like a baseball bat.
The grand slam reverberated through the trunk, the branches, and knocked loose a heavier harvest on the lowest branch. It landed straight on the crown of the enhanced Goomba, damaging him. In an almost cartoonish fashion, it rolled off his head, bounced off of Red's, and ended with Blue. With that, the Goomba King's followers were down for the count. The Goomnut landed in the middle of the trail.
The Goomba King glowered at Mario. No way was he going to lose here when he had to work hard to even be noticed! He was no fool, he saw the doubt in Kammy Koopa's eyes. 'What could a mere Goomba accomplish?' This was the chance to prove himself!
... "Nice trick you used," he rumbled. "Let me try it out." With all the strength, anger and drop of power from the Star Rod that he could muster, the Goomba King leaped, and slammed into the ground near the tree.
The strength of the landing rang all the way up to the top of the trees, and a good number of fruit from the highest branches and below began to rain down.
Mario pointed to Goombario, prompting him to split up. The young fanboy nodded, keeping an eye on the hailing weapons, but then hesitated upon noting the two knocked out foes. Nasty bruises and probably worse would befall them if they were left there...
Goombario grabbed them both and dragged them away, shuffling a bit awkwardly as he got them to the other side of the trail.
Mario dodged the larger projectiles, hopping about. As if things haven't been chucked at him before. A couple of ones hit him on his shoulder and such, but he was able to brush off the pain for now. Adrenaline played a fair part in that. The goomnuts died down, and Mario stopped in front of a sizable one. He whacked it with the hammer like a golf club and watched it soar up to King Goomba and ricochet off his forehead. His grin at the perfect hit faded as the fruit headed toward...
...Goombario wasn't sure what he heard first: The goomnut smacking against his face, or the rumble at the Goomba King's fall. He just knew his face felt oddly numb and that he was suddenly looking at the sky.
And then Mario was looking down at him in concern, extremely apologetic too.
"I'm fine, I'm okay." Goombario muttered in a daze as Mario helped him to sit up. He didn't feel that okay, but he didn't want to seem like he couldn't hold his own this early on! He shook his head a little bit, and then looked around, not seeing the downed form of the King. Though Red and Blue were still out next to them. "Where is he?" He hasn't been out for long has he? Oh, no... That would be so embarrassing!
Mario pointed to the stone building that was shut tight now. Goomba King had managed to make his way to the small fortress and barricaded himself inside. Mario had decided to stay behind to check on Goombario.
"That... That shouldn't be there." Goombario realized. "It was just the path and then the bridge. It must be something they built recently then. He thought back to when Goomama and Goombaria had gone shopping. Five or six days ago..? Before the grand earthquake. Had they mentioned anything like this? His thought process was cut off, though thinking about it, it wasn't really that important. He hoped that it didn't mean that he had a concussion.
"Mario!" The Goomba King called out to him. "My task is to keep you from going any further! I intend to follow through on Bowser's orders! I was graciously given my strength by King Bowser himself! So don't take me lightly!"
Mario pointed out that he had lost already, and his minions are down, so just let him by.
"You think you're just the strongest around, don't you!?" The Goomba King yelled. "You need to learn a thing about respect, fool! I worked hard to get where I am, and you think you can jump on me like some lower ranked Goomba! How can you go around like that, looking down on us and treating us worse than dirt?"
Mario frowned up at the Goomba King impatiently. Was he really just going to stall? ...
Goombario made a move to stand a bit shakily and Mario helped him up distractedly, wondering about how to bypass this. Blue and Red both started to blink into consciousness around this time.
"Hey, Goomboss!" The fanboy had a thing or two to say. Mario and the king looked over at Goombario. "We don't know your whole story, but it sounds like you made up one about Mario! He saves the princess, and he's the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom! Where do you think that puts you? Yeah, there's the whole joke about us Goombas being.. the small fries, but we all work hard to be where we are today. I trained to be like Mario," he said, a bit embarrassed, "And he respects me. He only fights and beats you because you're in his way of saving our Kingdom yet again! Do you look down on Red and Blue because you got powered up and they didn't? Because it sounds that way to me!"
Goomba King glowered nastily at the fanboy and slammed against the railings of the fortress. "Don't insinuate anything I didn't say, boy! Red and Blue are my loyal subjects and.. friends! If you think for one second that you can put words in my mouth-!" The Goomba King leaned over too much in his anger, and fell over the side of the fortress... and got stuck in a tree. He was angry, he was tired and beaten, and now humiliation added to the heat in his cheeks. The Goomba King screamed indignantly, shouting insults and demanding aid.
Mario and Goombario looked on in surprise. That wasn't at all what they expected. Blue and Red had been listening in to the conflict about choosing sides, but upon seeing their boss fall, scrambled to their feet.
"Goomboss!" Blue cried, scurrying over to help him in any way.
Red stared at Goomboss for a few seconds before he took a few steps forward to stand next to Goombario. "The door locks from the inside. But there's a hidden switch in the grass to the right of the entrance." he mumbled curtly.
Goombario turned to stare at him wide-eyed but Red already dashed ahead to help his panicking brother and enraged boss. The fanboy was dumbfounded, but knew they had to make their leave quickly. "Mario, let's go!" he nudged gently.
Mario startled, but then nodded. They ran to the door, and Goombario gave a quick once-over in the bushes before finding a hidden blue button and pressed it.
The locking mechanism gave an audible click, and the door opened. The duo made a beeline through the fortress, across the bridge, and away from the three bustling Goombas and their mayhem. They didn't stop running until they were a safe distance away, and then some.
Toad Town was their next stop, and so very, very, close now.
"..." Kammy Koopa looked down in disgust at the loss of the incompetent Goombas. Mario made it past and was on his way to Toad Town, where the townsfolk would no doubt regain their morale from simply seeing the hero alive and well.
She had half a mind to summon a block to crush those fools, but she wouldn't break a sweat over them. Instead, she left the scene unnoticed by all present. There were more ways than one to deal with failures.
It was a fun task finding different ways to replace the word 'nuts' in this chapter, let me tell you. The jokes are too easy, but no. ;p Also, Mario seems to have sports on his mind, lol.
It's been a while, but I'm here again! I will finish this fic. And others too. Hopefully.