Sailor Moon Chronicles R

Thwomps, Thwimps, Whomps, Whimps, and Fire!

Bowser's Castle of Traps and Monsters!

Meanwhile, there was a great hall in the castle. Parallel from each other and nearly spaced from the walls, were tall columns of bone-colored stone. They spouted up out of the green and grey tiled stones on the floor up to the black-grey ceiling. A path was made by a scarlet carpet that ran all the way from the grand oak doors down along the checkered tile floor and then up the short steps to the occupied throne. Atop that seat, which was decorate to look like a castle with each armrest ending at a battlement for the king's hands to lay and rest. A hulking monster sat as the lord of this castle and the fiery wasteland and rivers and lakes of fire. Being a Koopa in species and a colossal and more severely-shaped version of his son in appearance, he was nothing to really laugh at upon first glance. Though he was shaped like a green and yellow turtle with a spiked shell, the rest of his features were far more akin to that of a dragon's. His snout was sculpted like a dog's, and he was decorated by two devilish horns on either side of blazing vermillion, flame-shaped hair. He wore a black collar lined with silver spikes and two matching bands on each arm. Thick, brushes of fiery red hair rested above both of his big, crimson eyes. The sharpness of the spikes on his shell was outdone by his class and mouth of fangs.

In a whirl of smoke, a Koopa draped in a baggy, blue wizard's robe and matching cap appeared. His eyes were hidden behind the thick, round-rimmed glasses on his nose. He was a Magikoopa. He was quite diminutive next to the bulbous dragon he knelt before and had a bit of hump."My lord," he said. "Kaorinite requests an audience with you."

Bowser gasped; his eyes widened. He reached behind and pulled out a small hand mirror and inspected his hair and teeth. "Uh… yes… Kaorinite. Send her in, Kamek."

Kamek disappeared in a swirl. A moment later, the grand oak does opened. From the increasingly growing gap in the seam of the doors, Kaorinite's dark and pale Dathomirian figure developed. The voluptuous dark witch in her form fitting black dress and bountifully displayed cleavage walked along the scarlet trail to the king with her long and gorgeous bright crimson hair billowing behind her. Bowser straightened himself upright in his throne and looked at her with all the composure he could muster while his eyes bopped up and down between her eyes and her breasts.

"Lord Bowser, I am pleased to announce that my associate, Asajj Ventress, and your son have successfully capture Princess Peach," she said.

"That's great!" he bellowed in laughter.

"Unfortunately, they were followed by several pests, some of who I believe you have encountered in the past."

Bowser stopped laughing immediately and lowered his head, staring at her in displeased anxiety. "Who exactly?"

"The plumber brothers Mario and Luigi," she answered. "They have already made it on the castle's grounds.

Bowser roared angrily. "I'm sending my units to squash these pests!"

"Allow me to provide the services of my associates to assist you," Kaorinite added coolly, "for the plumbers are accompanied by agents who will cause you more harm than you will anticipate."

"Alright," he agreed.

As Kaorinite left, Bowser stared after her. When the grand doors close behind her, she stopped walking. "You know what to do."

"But of course," said a sultry voice from the shadows. Lust, one of the seven Homunculi under Kaorinite's employ, stepped forth into the light of a nearby touch. Long, wavy, flowing ebony hair, snowy pale skin, tight, blackish brown-red, latex dress with matching high-heeled boots and shoulder-length gloves, an Ouroboros tattoo above her stunning cleavage: she was a monster scalped into a beautiful woman. "Gluttony and I will take care of those Sailor Soldiers." She gave Kaorinite a peculiar look, which Kaorinite noticed.

"What is it?"

"It isn't much," Lust answered with a shrug. "I'm just surprised by your choice of pawns."

"I know that the Koopa Troop doesn't look like much, but their sheer numbers and gullibility makes them quite useful. Also, Bowser has a lot of potential. He wields powerful magic that we can use. Besides, it's fun to string men along with a carrot on a string."

Lust snickered and flipped her hair with her hand. "I definitely agree."

It was quiet mostly, save for the gurgling of the lava lake that surround the castle and the aggravated rumble of the dark clouds in the ochre sky. The black flags with a white faces of the castle's lord billowed sluggishly in the wind. Those faces stared down at the downed ship, keeping their eyes on it as they went about their normal routines, but their intrigue in the crash slowed their proficiency.

"Well, this sucks," said Sailor Jupiter.

"What are we going to do?" gasped Luigi, shivering and with teeth-chattering.

"Yeah!" added Sailor Moon in panic. "What are we going to do?"

"What we were trained to do," answered Mars. "We get out there, bust some a**, raid that castle, and save the princess. We've done it before. Now, stop being a crybaby."

"True," Sailor Moon said softly, scratching her head. She pumped her fists. "Yes! We can do this. Let's get out there and show this turtle king what the Sailor Senshi can do. Galactic Republic, represent!" She grabbed her tiara. "Moon Tiara Action!"

As she flung the tiara turn energy disc at the windshield of the shuttle, blowing it open. She leapt out first and the other girls followed. All of them struck intimidating pose when they stuck their landings, ready for a big fight. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it didn't look like they would get one. In front of them stood scatter clusters of very perplexed Koopa Troopas and Goombas (brown, mushroom-like creatures, standing to the size of an adolescent human child, with faces and feet but no arms). They were all just stood there with gaping mouths, unarmed too. The Sailor Soldiers stood there too, feeling really awkward at the sight of these pitiful guards.

"Uh… is this it?" Venus asked.

Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi leapt out of the shuttle and charged into the crowds of enemy spectators. Mario landed the first blow. Upon stomping down on a Goomba it was defeated and puffed into a small puff of smoke.

"They are a lot of them, and we could use your help!" Yoshi called to the girls.

The girls just stood there, feeling really awkward as they watched those three cartoonish heroes punch and kick and stomp on the cartoonish henchmen. "Yeah." They then dispersed and faced the enemy. It was too easy. They didn't even need to use their powers. All it took were swift kicks and hard punches to knock these Koopas down and make them cower in their shells. The Goombas were even easier, and spun like tops when knocked backwards onto their "heads". Things did become slightly more challenging when Hammer Bros. and Boomerang Bros., Koopa Troopas who wore helmets and wielded the weapon that matched their titles. Though they did seem to have more training and were specialized to a degree, Hammer Bros. seemingly haphazardly chucked their hammers upwards, hoping the hammers' arcs would end on a target. Sailor Mercury was targeted by a pair of them. With an upward swipe of her arms, she sent out two arcs of water that caught the hammers and froze them in place. The two Hammer Bros. gasped as she lunged forth, punching one square in the jaw while jutting her leg back sharply to nail the other one. A Boomerang Bro. threw one of his big boomerangs at Sailor Jupiter. She swiftly bent backwards and caught the boomerang in its arch and then threw it right back at the flabbergasted Koopa, knocking him out cold.

Then, from up on top of a nearby wall, two Koopas began throwing down Bom-ombs, which were sentient, circular, blackish-blue bombs with fuses, windup keys sticking out of their backs, two white eyes, and two orange feet. With their fusses lit, they hobbled towards their enemies.

"Are those walking bombs?" Sailor Moon shrieked.

"Get rid of those guys fast before they blow up near us!" Yoshi hollered.

"I got this!" Sailor Mars announced, readying her attack. "Burning Mandala!" She fired eight rings of fire that disperse into a spray and caught all the approaching Bom-ombs. The flurry of explosions kicked up dust nearly up to the walls, but it wasn't high enough to hide the Koopa Troopas who had been chucking the bombs. Yoshi caught a nearby Koopa Troopa with his tongue and locked it in his mouth. He armed and spit out the shell forcefully and stuck the two Koopas.

"Nice shot!" Sailor Moon cheered. When the dust settled, it was apparent that they had successfully cleared the courtyard. "That was pretty easy." Sailor Moon happily put her hands on her hips and a smile on her face.

"What would the Dark Kingdom want with these guys?" Jupiter said, pondering the answer. "There must be something here we're missing."

"I don't know why you're complaining," said Sailor Moon dismissively.

Suddenly, they all heard a loud stomp. And then another one sounded; this one seemed to come closer and was accompanied by the sound of cracking bricks.

"Look!" called Luigi, pointing up to a battlement.

Up, raising high up into the sky was huge rectangular hunk of wall that was wobbling close to edge before…. POOM! It fell to the ground and landed on its feet. Standing twenty feet-tall was… a wall, a perfectly rectangular segment of wall with two fists extending out of the thin, vertical sides and flat, block feet poking out from the bottom edge. Nearly from edge to edge was a gaping mouth, which took up half of the wall's surface, bearing five crooked, seemingly bashed out of a prettier place, square teeth. The top half of its face was dominated a pair of big, red, crisscrossing eyes and eyebrow cravings carved into an angry look. It wobbled toward the heroes. With feet but no legs, it was as slow and hulking movement of left corner, right corner, and repeat.

"Holy cr*p!" Sailor Moon gasped. "We're getting attacked by a wall? Really? A wall?"

"It's a Whomp," said Luigi, quivering.

"Stand back, ladies," said Mario, staring up at that wall of angry face. "I'll take care of this." The stalky man dash forward and stopped in the shadow of the Whomp.

"What is he doing?" said Mercury.

"Oh, I think we have more problems," said Mars.

Up out of the ground popped miniature versions of the same monster. These were the size of a person with all the features of the full-size monster tuned down to cute levels. However, these were faster, much faster. Yoshi leapt onto one and bashed to pebbles with repeated flurries of kicks. Luigi shot like a rocket and smashed one with his head. Since those two seemed to have things under control, the girls shifted their attention to Mario and the Whomp. The Whomp did a short hop up and then came slamming down onto its own face with Mario right there.

"Mario!" screamed Sailor Moon.
"Get out of their!" called Sailor Mars.

The Whomp came down and made a loud, aggravated "erg" sound. The girls watched in shock. Suddenly, Mario, walking up the incline of the Whomp's foot, appeared on the Whomps back. On the center of the Whomps back was a symbol decorated with cracks. Mario jumped up into the air and then slammed down onto the Whomp with his bottom. The Whomp groaned with an "ugh" and then shattered into puffs of white smoke. Wide-eyed were the Sailor Soldiers. Luigi and Yoshi returned after cleaning up the smaller monsters.

"We took care of the Whimps," Yoshi said to Mario. "Now, that's all of 'em. Let's get inside the castle now and save the princess."

Mario nodded and led his brother and friend to a nearby door with the Sailor Soldiers staring after them in bamboozlement for a few seconds before apathetically following them. Eyes were watching them enter the castle from a window in an adjacent tower.

"I still don't understand what Kaorinite wants with these pathetic saps," said Lust, leaning her arm against the stone windowsill. "What a sad display?"

"So sad," complimented Gluttony, who knelt beside her with his big, round nose on the windowsill.

"It looks like we're up."

"Oh goody! I'm so hungry."

"Luuuusssttt…" wailed a cackling voice.

Lust turned around nonchalantly. "Oh. It's you." Her tone reflected her boredom. "What do you want, King Boo?"

The voice of the cloaked owner answered. "Bowser thinks it is best for a trusted associate to accompany you into battle against the Mario Brothers."

This plucked at Lust's nerves. "Does he now?" She folded her arms under her bosom. "It doesn't seem like it matters whether or not Bowser's forces are there since those plumbers have trounced the Koopa King and his forces time and time again, and that includes you."

"You don't have to be so negative," the voices said with a tinge of embarrassment. "Perseverance can do wonders, you know?"

Lust gave him a pity smile. "Come along if you want. Like I said, it won't matter if you are there or not. Come, Gluttony."

"Yes, Lust."

The voice grew agitated. "I'll show you, missy."

The heroes were inside the castle now. So far, it didn't seem out of the ordinary from other devious, menacing castles owned by megalomaniacs. Light, of course, was something of a luxury and natural daylight was far too much of a froufrou. Torches nailed to the rough, stone walls gave the only light, ochre light. Where they were though had a lot of touches patterned evenly along the walls so it wasn't a gumshoe's mission just to find the next thing a meter or so away. Brimstone was the most pungent smell of all of them, stronger than that of fear. It wasn't a chilling place but instead provided a stifling heat. Perhaps it was a gift from the lake of fire around them? Aesthetically, everything fit the mold.

"Wow," said Sailor Venus without a bit of enthusiasm. "This place is pretty ordinary on the inside."

"Just you wait, Miss," said Luigi, walking close by to both Yoshi and Mario. "This place isn't what it seems."

"All of his castles are like that," added Mario. "Even his children take after their father in interior design."

"Children?" repeated Sailor Moon in shock. "You mean there's more than one."

"Eight in all," popped Yoshi.

Sailor Moon looked at a statuette of the Koopa King that sat atop a pedestal. "I find it hard to believe that he had kids. Maybe Mrs. Koopa has some weird taste?"

"I have an idea of who gave birth to Bowser's children," said Yoshi. "It might be – "

A thud and a shake ended the conversation.

"What was that?" asked Sailor Jupiter.

"I'm guessing a Thwomp," said Mario.

"What is a Thwomp?" asked Sailor Mercury.

"Bowser likes to have them as decoration/guards for his castles," answered Yoshi innocently.

"We don't care if Bowser puts them next to tasteful coffee tables," Sailor Mars said with frustration after feeling the rumble after another thud. "What is – "

SMASH! A stone the size of a person crashed down right in front of the group. It seemed to have an aggravated face on it. Grey and decorated with dulled spikes on the edges save for the "face" edge and the one opposite that one. It jutted up in an arch way from them and landed down the dimly-lit hallway.

"Was that a Thwomp?" asked Sailor Venus.

"No. That was a Thwimp," Mario answered. "Thwomps are bigger, much bigger."

"Thwomps...Thwimps…" When Sailor Mars repeated those words, she felt stupid. "How big is a Thwomp?"

Mario cradled his chin the arch between his gloved thumb and index finger. "Two thirds as tall as a Whomp."

"I should ask Sam for some green eggs and ham," Sailor Venus inserted cutely and jokingly.

The Thwimp slammed down on the same spot it did earlier.

"It seems to hop back and forth to the same places…if we avoid where it lands, we should be fine," Mercury suggested. "We can see the cracks in the floor to see where it lands."

The group of heroes continued to walk forward. Sailor Jupiter felt something tap her shoulder. She brushed her shoulder, and by feeling nothing she dismissed it as nothing. Then, when she felt that tap again, she thought it was Sailor Moon. "What is it, Sailor Moon?" she said, not looking back to see if was really her.

"I'm right here," Sailor Moon answered looking back at her.

At this point, Sailor Jupiter realized that she was at the end of the procession of heroes, which caused her to become nervous. She slowly turned around and found yellow eyes in the sockets of a skeletal Koopa Troopa's face. Sailor Jupiter gasped and kicked it right in the chest. The skeletal body crashed onto the floor in pieces.

"What the hell was it?" Jupiter yelled.

"A Dry Bones," said Yoshi.

"Well," said Jupiter, "at least they are flimsy."

Right at the end of that sentence, the skeletal remains chattered and, like pieces of a puzzle, step by step, danced up back into place to reform the Dry Bones. Now, a few more began to creep out of the shadows; their bones clicking and clacking as they walked.

The team of heroes backed up.

"Oh… this day just keeps getting more annoying," whined Sailor Moon. "There better be cake after this."

When a huge thump sounded, she jumped into the air with a fright. When she saw what made the noise, she screamed highly. With a face so angry and with perfect teeth, a Thwomp, bigger than a Thwimp, but not so big as Whomp, was right near them, staring down at them, eager for them to mosey below it.

"Let's move!" called Mercury, signaling the others.

They ran off away from the Dry Bones and Thwomp only to find more Thwomps in their path as well as what appeared to be links of fireballs in chain, called Firebars, rotating on posts. Jumping, ducking, and running: it was a peril to get down this massive corridor. Even the statuettes of Bowser were deadly, firing fireballs in repeated intervals.

"It's like everything in this castle is trying to kill us!" cried Sailor Moon. After jumping up and over a stone platform that was preceded by a small set of stairs, she found that the platform was lifting her up, and she screamed.

"Sailor Moon!" called Sailor Mercury, who was ahead with the others. "You're standing on a Thwomp!"

She was. "I know now!" she cried back.

It slammed down onto the ground below, which rattled her, but she was fine nonetheless. She skipped off of it and ran to catch up with the other girls.

Meanwhile, Kaorinite watched the events in her crystal ball, enthralled by the droll plight of the heroes, particularly her nemeses, the Sailor Senshi.

"The obstacles of the castle are proving to give these troublesome pests a run for their money and me with one hell of a show." She laughed. The image in the ball was taken by fog and altered to now display Lust. "Enjoyable semantics aside, it's your time to move."

"Understood," Lust answered.

"Right now, I have an audience with the Koopa King and the Mushroom Princess. Make sure those idiots don't make it to the throne room."

"You're going to have to be more specific than that. The king's men fall under the same category."

Kaorinite laughed and flipped her glorious, scarlet hair. "I'll narrow it down: the ones in the skirts."

Just then, Bowser appeared in the door way. The dark witch eyed him and immediately picked up on his boyish timidity. With arms crossed in front of her bumptious bosom, she looked back at him. "What do you want?"

"Umm… Miss Kaorinite… I was just wondering." As he spoke, his two index fingers bounced off one another at the tips. "I know that I have my feelings for Peach and all…" He looked to the side, away from her gaze. "But you're really pretty."

Kaorinite threw up a little bit in her mouth. "What?"

"You see, I'm a man with a lot of prospects. I have a kingdom, multiple castles, nice galaxy-front property, and eight kids; I'm a busy Koopa."

"Eight?" repeated Kaorinite in dull shock. "You mean there are seven more of your spawn running around this castle."

"I don't know where they are."

"How do you not know where your children are?"

"There are eight of them! Do you really expect me to keep tabs on all of them?"

Kaorinite was really becoming annoyed and nauseous. "If you excuse me, I must contact Mystique. I will see you soon in the throne room to greet the princess. Now, if you please… go away."

Bowser, rosy cheeked, backed out of the doorway and left.

The heroes stood with a door to their backs, panting.

"Okay," said Sailor Jupiter to Mario. "You have fought Bowser before and gone through his crazy castles. What else should we be expecting?"

"Expect anything," he answered. "Every one of his castles is different from the last."

"Great…" said Sailor Moon with defeat in her voice.

"At least this one doesn't have Boos," said Luigi.

"Boos?" repeated Sailor Jupiter. "What are Boos?"

"I hope they aren't what I think they are," said Sailor Mars, annoyed.

Luigi started to quake with fear and bit on the gloved tips of his fingers. "They're ghosts."

"Yeah, I was right."

"Ghosts aren't a big deal for us," said Sailor Venus with a confident wink. "Magic, energy: it doesn't take a lot to get rid of one, a weak on at least."

"We still aren't hoping for ghosts," added Sailor Mercury. "If we should encounter… um… a Boo, what does one look like?"

"S-s-scary," Luigi chattered.

"Ugh…" uttered Sailor Mars, feeling Sailor Moon up against her back. "Don't be suck a crybaby."

"I'm not being a crybaby," she whined. "Scary things are just… scary."

"You don't even know what it looks like."

"I know it's scary-looking."

"I know you're a crybaby!"

"May we please move on?" Sailor Mercury interjected, coming between the bickering girls.

"Fine," they answered grudgingly in unison.

As they progressed down the corridor, the torchlight became scarcer and scarcer until the path in front of them was black.

"I don't think we passed any Bulb Berries or Question Blocks on the way," Yoshi said. "How are we going to see where we are going?"

"Leave that to us," said Sailor Mars, stepping in to the darkness with Sailor Jupiter. Mars opened her palm and created a small flame to sit in her palm. Jupiter created a ball of electricity at the tip of her index finger.

"That works," Mario affirmed.

The heroes continued onward. Surprisingly but fortunately, they hadn't encountered any adversary.

"It's eerily quiet," commented Venus. "After the last hallway we ran through, I was expecting some more things to come out of nowhere and attack us."

"Something isn't right here," Sailor Mars said looking to each side. "Stay alert. I'm getting some bad vibes."

Again, Sailor Moon fell behind a few steps. The dead air of the corridor was beginning to unhinge her nerves. A creeping, floating menace seemed to be following her, greeting the hairs at attention on the back of her neck with cold air. That chill seemed to be following her at a pace that was gradually shrinking the distance between them. Sailor Moon spun around. Nothing. Nothing was there. She then turned around, and when she did, the Boo became visible. This white ghost, like a bloated, spherical, floating pillow case with grey eyes and a gaping open mouth, letting its big, pink tongue just hide out, stalked the group. Sailor Moon turned around. Putting up the façade of a frightened child, flushed cheeks and little, white arms over its face, the Boo suddenly became intangible. Nothing was there, but Sailor Moon kept looking in the Boos direction, convinced that something was there.

"Sailor Moon, what are you looking at?" asked Mercury.

"Uh… nothing… I think."

When she turned her back to it, the Boo reappeared and returned to stalking her, getting closer and closer. In a quick movement, Sailor Moon turned to the side. Right before the Boo hid himself once again, she caught site of the white figure in the corner of her eyes. Something was there; she knew it. How can I get it to reveal itself? She thought. I know. Down the hall were a few aesthetic columns. Quickly, she slid behind one and waited. To her fortune, the Boo, visible to all, continued to stalk the group, neglecting the hiding girl out of quite possibly simple-mindedness. The moment it passed her, Sailor Moon leapt from behind the pillow and shouted, "Gotcha!" The rest of the heroes turned around and saw the Boo. There were stares exchanged in the silence.

"Uhh... you can see me, can't you?" the Boo uttered awkwardly.

The heroes nodded.

"Well," said the Boo with a shrugged of his stubby, cone-shaped arms, "I guess there's no use in hiding."

Suddenly, swarms of Boos, each one a beach ball in size, manifested behind the Boo out from the darkness, all with menacing faces and slobbering, loose-hanging tongues, all cackling.

"Aw nuts!" gasped Sailor Moon.

Luigi and Yoshi screamed and ran away.

"And you said I was scared crybaby?" Sailor Moon said haughtily to Sailor Mars.

The ghosts came gliding down to attack. It was not hard to beat them away. After all, they merely possessed tiny arms and attacked just by tackling. Sailor Venus bashed one in the face with a swinging kick, sending up back and knocking into Boos, scattering them like billiard balls hit by a cue ball. Upon doing it herself, Sailor Jupiter started to enjoy this.

"This is actually kind of fun," said Sailor Jupiter. "Let's make a game of it, shall we?"

"You got it," cheered Venus. "I can't wait to exercise my volleyball skills a little."

"We should grab Luigi and Yoshi before they get into trouble," suggested Sailor Mercury.

"AAHH!"

"Sounds like they are already in trouble," scoffed Mars.

Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, and Mario continued down the pitch-dark hall while Venus and Jupiter made a sport out of fighting the Boos. Of course, Mars led the way with a flame in her palm. Soon, they came upon the two green pals sitting on the floor in a catatonic state with their eyes transfixed on something.

"Luigi, what is it? Mercury asked him, shaking his shoulder.

"Look!" shouted Mars, pointing up.

They found, hovering up in the darkness, aglow with the foggy white radiance of his ghostly aura, an above-average-sized Boo wearing a crown.

"Welcome to Bowser's Castle, Sailor Soldiers!" boomed the Boo. "I am King Boo, King of the Boos!"

"So, you are one of Bowser's allies?" questioned Mars.

"Give the little lady a prize!" he cheered condescendingly. "And here Kaorinite said you girls have Dotted Line Blocks where your brains should be."

"Ugh, you are rude," said Sailor Mercury, effectively steamed.

"You seem angry," said King Boo. "How about a dance?" Balls of ghastly blue fire came raining down out of his wide mouth. Sailor Moon screamed, "Hot! Hot!" as she danced around the balls of fire. Mario jumped up onto some blocks to get to one gold-colored one with a white question mark on it. It was a Question Block. Hitting it would reveal a mystery prize. Meanwhile, Sailor Mercury had enough.

"You won't get away with scaring us and insulting us," she announced. "Shine Aqua Illusion!" She fired a stream of water that blocked the spraying fireballs in a stalemate.

Mario jumped up and hit the Question Bow and up from the box sprang a Fire Flower, a flower of red and yellow and a white center with two bright eyes. The moment Mario touched it, it caused his outfit to change color scheme, switching the blue to red and the red to white; he had been transformed into Fire Mario, granting him the ability to throw fireballs from his hands. With his eyes on the prize and his arm cocked back for a fast pitch, fireballs flew from Mario's hand, one at a time with each pitch, and bashed into the Boo, making him scream out in pain. "AAAH! IT'S HOT!" He shoved his flaming arms into his big mouth to extinguish them.

"For a king of ghosts, you are surprisingly lame," Mars said confidently.

"No fair!" he shouted in frustration. "If my Boos were here, I'd be stronger, but you darn Sailor Soldiers kept them away.

Just then, Sailor Venus and Sailor Jupiter returned.

"Did we miss one?" asked Jupiter, looking at King Boo.

"My, my…"

Everyone looked at the doorway. Fighting King Boo had made the heroes completely oblivious to the fact that they had reached the end of the hallway. Before the scarlet door, tall and wide as it stood with its hard-nail fastening, border finish stood Lust.

"Lust!" called Sailor Moon in shock.

"Lust, I was just about to show these pests some real Boo power," King Boo said frantically. "All I need is to – "

"Save it," Lust cut him off.

Yoshi leaned in close to Sailor Mercury. "Umm… Do you know her?" He looked her up and down. "She is awfully pretty."

"You're right with the "awful" part," chimed in Mars.

Lust heard this and became amused for about a second. She honed in her stare at her hated enemy, the Sailor Senshi. "I see that even bamboozling traps and moronic henchmen just aren't enough to kill you girls."

'"Moronic'!" boomed King Boo. He darted down and stopped right in front of her face. He was mad. His eyes were steaming red. His mouth was stretched into wider and more atrocious grimace. "I have had it with you insulting me! I am the King Boo, leader of the Boos!"
Lust just stood there silently with a poker face.

"You think that you can just do whatever you want with your sultry voice, pretty, and boobs – " He was cut off again. This time, he was cut off by the sound of something soft getting pieced by something sharp. Sticking out of his back were two, frighteningly sharp, blood-red nails.

"Well, King Boo, I have gotten sick of your whining," Lust retracted her extendable nails, and the king's body burst in a puff of smoke, leaving only his gaudy crown behind.

"She took him out," said Luigi lowly, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"Thank goodness," said Lust dryly. "Now, perhaps we can get things done." The grand scarlet and bolt door behind her cringed opened, and a fiery blast of window marched through and assaulted all in the corridor. Passed the dark, shape figure that was Lust was a chamber of intense heat and fire. The ground floor of the chamber, which was several meters below the level they were on, was searing lava, yet yellow blocks laid out in rows and cluster were raised up above the lava to make different floors and platforms. Podoboos, small flame creatures shaped like masks made of fire, hopped out of the lava pool and fell back down into it. Columns, complete and broken, ran down the immense hall as though to have been seen as prestigious decoration before the lava over too so much of the aesthetic charm of the hall. Dry Bones patrolled the block-made levels wearily. Lust, aglow from the hellfire backdrop behind her, beckoned the heroes to come through the gate, slowly stepping back through it. "The princess is waiting just at the other end of this hall. Come and rescue her if you can." When she stopped walking, her body continued moving back, for she had stepped on a Snake Block. The four-block-wide, moving platform carried her away, further egging on the heroes to come into the inferno.