CHAPTER 15

Castle DeDessia. DeDessian Capital Building. Residence of the highest ranking members of the DeDessian military leadership and symbol of the DeDessian military might that stores tens of thousands of battle-ready troops. Currently undergoing a massive invasion by Amerikirb.

Deescow, DeDessia, 1800 hours

A two-front war against the DeDessian empire finally turned the tide in favor of the Amerikirban invaders. Millions of men lost their lives on both sides of the conflict. The use of super weapons directly on DeDessian soil seemed pointless as it only discredited them. Their main population centers were falling into utter disrepair and left at the mercy of their invaders. It was kill or be killed. The paramilitary hardliner forces were unable to rally the population. The Deescow Capital Building has long been known for being a fortress inside a city. It stood imperiously as a testament to the success of the former DeDessian Empire of centuries past. The corrupt kakistocracy of a regime would finally be leveled by Amerikirban hands alone. Even with the city ruined, the fortress remained. The dictatorship was on the verge of total annihilation at the hands of not only the Amerikirban military but a major ultranationalist uprising against the territory of the regime along with other defectors and traitors to their cause. The invasion of the DeDessian motherland seemed suicidal for the Amerikirbans to undertake, but they ultimately saw it as worth the cost. When they finally reached the capital, and destroyed its latest experimental weapon, the Deehemoth, they narrowly lost everything. The Amerikirban forces were forced to dispatch their bravest warriors to the battlefield and bring down the military leadership from inside its largest compound. It was clear to the Amerikirban generals that the most capable of those battalions, namely Destined Providence and Malevolent Spirit, had to bring everything down. They were given one last mission to undertake for the sake of their country and the world. They were ready to receive the code name for their mission, Operation Fallen King, and hear the instructions from their superiors.

The last stronghold of tyranny against complete democratic liberation reared its ugly head.

Seginorishippu eyed the opposition as he readied his weapon for battle, carefully loading each round into his assault rifle and cocking the trigger when ready. The others listened intently as he increased the volume on his phone. The message was just a voice recording.

"This is a message of utmost importance from the President of the United States of Amerikirb...to Commander Seginorishippu of Destined Providence...your nation thanks you and your company for this tremendous undertaking...Operation Fallen King will be your chance...you and your men are to lead the assault on the castle and capture the man in charge...doing so will bring an end to this war...we will provide the intel...may the will of the ancients be done..."

Seginorishippu's eyes almost teared up as he heard the voice of the most powerful man on the planet give the orders.

"Yes sir, mister president, sir!" The soldier hollered along with his loyal brothers and sisters.

The voice of the president died away. They knew what they had to do.

"Amerikirb! Fuck yeah!" They repeated themselves as they boarded their heavily-armed carrier aircraft. They could hear the pounding of several anti-air guns and booming rockets become more intense as they made their approach over the castle atop a large mountain.

The castle was quite large, occupying much of the space on the top of the mountain.

A small squadron of fighter aircraft had just taken off to intercept Destined Providence, yet were destroyed by incoming Amerikirban jets. The situation was becoming more precarious. Ten warriors aboard the plane readied their entry for a high altitude low opening jump, where they would reach terminal velocity and puff up like parachutes until they descended to a landing zone. Pinkobashi could especially hear the pounding of the cannons and the shrieking of the jet engines zooming over the battlefield. The idea of stealthily dropping over enemy territory, directly into the heart of the enemy's command center when it was already being attacked by the regular army seemed like a reckless move, but the situation was desperate.

"60 seconds to drop..." The commander hollered as the carrier plane lowered its rear door.

The cold winds were blowing in their faces as soon as it opened. They could see a few Amerikirban helicopter gunships launching their payloads of air to ground missiles at the numerous turrets and artillery pieces and tanks positioned all around the premises. Heavy tank battalions were facing each other as cannons boomed over the horizon.

"45 seconds to drop..." Hikariowataru drew a soft breath.

"30 seconds!" The commander shouted.

"Nice knowing you guys!" Tetsunoishi remarked.

"20 seconds to drop!" He shouted again.

"10...9...8...7...6..." The commander repeated. They could hear the explosions get louder.

Pinkobashi jerked at the sound of a searing trail from an incoming heat seeking air-to-air missile. The explosion from the impact tore through the left wing and the pilot was already jerking his flight stick in various directions, unable to regain control. There was no way to generate lift. Even the autopilot was disabled. It was clear to them that there was one option.

"JUMP! Damn it! Go! Go! Go!" Seginorishippu ordered while the rest of the party descended over the plane. As soon as they all jumped, they heard the sound of their carrier plane exploding in midair. Another missile that impacted with the cargo hold of the carrier plane caused it to disintegrate and burn near an enemy airbase, the igniting fuel yielding a gigantic explosion that could be seen from a mile away. They could hear the booming sounds of cannons in the air and ricocheting missiles flying in their direction. The explosions resounded around them and were complicating their landing plan. Pinkobashi saw the flaming debris of the fuselage of the plane fall near his comrades. He followed all of his comrades by puffing up and landing on the mountain. Much to their surprise, they landed on the top of the giant castle itself, where they faced heavy resistance from the enemy.

"We have all landed! Let's go!" The commander shouted as they breached a door, massacring a whole group of heavily armed Waddle Dee regular soldiers that were defending the castle.

The puffballs kept moving, firing their machine guns and leaving pools of blood in their wake. They were all relatively unfazed by the echoes and ricochets of the bullets. Alarms were blaring throughout the base.

"Hikariowataru...status report..."

"We're reaching the main chamber in a few minutes..."

The room ahead of them was surprisingly dark. The warriors quickly turned on their floodlights and walked close together in unison. They were ready to conquer anything in their way.

Powerful shots rang out from the hallway, a few more Waddle Dee regulars pouring in. Meinoyonoken pulled the pin of a frag grenade when he ordered his friends to get down when the explosive was about to go off. None of the Kirbies were injured by the attack. Seitekinasagi sprayed much of the mag of her assault rifle to eliminate a single soldier. There was no sign of the enemy when the chamber was free of enemies in the area.

Suddenly, the group heard the sound of a heavy tank battalion headed their way. They were easily identifiable as D95 main battle tanks. Ten tanks lumbered toward them and readied their cannons. Seitekinesagi readied his weapons and opened fire. The heavies fired their rocket launchers to destroy the giant death machine on the far left, two blasts disabling the tank and causing the weapon to explode, burning the crew alive in a matter of seconds. The spy of Destined Providence fired her shotgun at the gunner of the other tank at close range. She was caught off guard by one of the tanks aiming their main gun toward her. She jumped out of the way as the cannon missed to destroy another tank and reduce it to a pile of burning metal. Another tank's main battle cannon aimed in the spy's direction but the aim miscalculated and took out another tank and stopped its movement, making it easy prey. Suifutosenko aimed his sniper rifle at the gunner for a headshot and pulled the trigger without missing. He tried to pull off a second quick kill but missed his chance when he was noticed, forcing him to find a different vantage point. The swordsman took advantage of the chaos to leap inside the last enemy tank and slice through the crew of one of the tanks. Unfortunately for him, the tank was inoperable and it triggered a self-destruct sequence that forced the group to get out of there. The smoke and burning fire from the charred remains was difficult to bear. Pinkobashi grabbed his gun and shot the remaining crew without mercy.

"Enemies eliminated." the commander of Destined Providence announced to his subordinates.

"Move out!" The commander of Malevolent Spirit informed his soldiers in tow.

The group silently moved through a giant corridor which led them to a large area with doors suspended from tall platforms. There were five specifically marked steel doors each leading into different passageways. Each of the doors had a different logo, but they were identifiable by the icons showing emblems of past opponents the group faced. There was a main door at the top which read in DeDessian but it could not be accessed. They were encountering some sort of collection of enemies past. Pinkobashi kept having flashbacks of the confrontations.

"What do we do? Split up?" the heavy of Destined Providence blurted out a question.

"No! We stand together against anything!" the spy shouted.

"Alright, let's go!"

They entered a room through a door which included a giant tree and they found themselves in a forest. It was quiet and dark. The group quickly found the massive tree which revealed a menacing grin on its face. The beast bellowed and flailed its roots about like an octopus. It was menacing much more than the time they previously encountered it. It looked at them.

"WHISPY WOODS!" the pink blur shouted while he showed no fear. The bio weapon reared its ugly head once more

"Take it down!"

"Sir! Yes sir!" the group shouted

The team unloaded on the creature with all of their weapons. The bullets concentrated fire on the branch near the trunk, blowing it apart. The tree shook itself and dropped down dangerous apples that rolled on the grass of the battlefield. Muhanseinoshotto fired his sniper rifle directly at the face of the monster, briefly stunning it for a few seconds while Meinoyonoken attacked another one of its roots. After several hits, the root was destroyed and blasted off the body. Seitekinasagi tossed a grenade at the beast, merely stunning it, only to be grabbed by the leg by its branches and thrown to the ground. She was alright, only angered more at her enemy.

The group then split up and targeted the two other roots with as much firepower as they could muster. Both teams had to reload and cover each other as they dodged the attacks. Whispy Woods became more relentless in its attack patterns when it was damaged each time. Each time it lost a root or an appendage, it became angrier and more erratic and unpredictable.

Pinkobashi readied his grenade and tossed it down the throat of the beast, setting it ablaze and causing it to explode, setting nearby trees ablaze and causing alarms to set off. There was no way to stop the fires from spreading. They immediately had to flee the scene before the entire forest was consumed in flame. As soon as they all left the door immediately closed and locked itself. It seemed like a process of trial and error. One down, four to go.

The team quickly recovered their senses and proceeded to enter another door.

"So what do we do next?" the spy of Destined Providence questioned her officer.

"Let's go in the order in which we fought them before. We know how we beat these cretins before. The strategies we employed before should work."

"Good idea. I like your strategy. Come on!" The two teams then entered into the second door where they came across a base with two platforms and bridges connecting them. Two pairs of eyes greeted them from the darkness.

"Commanders Lololo and Lalala!" the close quarters expert shouted the names of the foes.

They were confronted by Commander Lololo and Lalala with their pushing objects including military grade heavy storage crates and Gordo metal barriers that only they could wield by their gloves. The team had to move quickly to avoid being crushed. The only way that the duo could be harmed would be when their backs were turned. Each time the teams shot at one of the commanders they became more erratic in their movements. The commanders had to quickly adjust their tactics on the fly to get a proper viewpoint to target them. The heavies of each group dealt the most damage with their rocket launcher and heavy machine gun. Lololo exploded when Pinkobashi quickly loaded his rifle and pulled the trigger for a shot to the head. Lalala tried to take revenge while the murderers took chase. Lololo readied for a desperate finishing charge to crush the spy with a Gordo at the bottom corridor. Seconds made the difference in this encounter. The foolish enemy commander was unable to turn around and emerged from the corridors at random points but was surrounded and outgunned. The commander of Destined Providence quickly chased and blew Lololo away with a shot from his gun. Lalala clicked a button on a handheld detonator, triggering the self-destruct sequence of the base before perishing through a blackout. They had seconds before the entire place was going to vanish out of existence. The explosions were booming throughout the base. Their hearts were racing. The group quickly moved through the steel blast doors before they closed and sealed them from the aftershocks of the annihilation. They were relieved to have escaped the brief nightmare. They had two more to deal with.

They quickly floated up to the second platform where they entered a door with the logo of a giant blimp. They found themselves on what looked like an artificial island while a giant blimp narrowed on their location from several feet in the air. They would recognize the face anywhere. It was the menacing giant aerial battleship Kaboola readying its cannons in their direction. They had never encountered the flying monstrosity a second time.

"Kabula!"

"That thing's been rebuilt? Holy shit!"

The team dodged the hellstorm of the cannons as they tried to take cover from the barrages.

They quickly found a squadron of armed F25s in an airbase that could take off and confront the airship. It took a few seconds for the planes to boot up and they were airborne in under a minute. The planes were able to accelerate and take off the runway as it was being bombarded by cannonfire. The two groups flew to attack the massive ship from different vantage points. All of the team members were experts and had no problem checking their weapons and guidance systems. They readied their sights on the floating ship and readied to open fire with everything they had. The ship opened its left flank and aimed its many weapons systems. Giant Shotzo cannons and heat seeking missile launchers were spotted along the right side of the ship. In addition, the fighter complement of the machine launched into the sky with unmanned drone jets. The intense battle was about to be the most intense dogfight of their lives. They gripped their flight sticks and performed advanced aerial maneuvers to dodge the missiles and gunfire, blowing up the cannons and downing the jets. They tried to aim for the propulsion system of the ship but the machine quickly turned toward them and closed its gunports. It spun in an erratic motion and tried to ram them. The pilots quickly dodged the attack as it charged toward them. After firing and blowing away at the gun pods, the enemy craft was still in the air despite sustaining heavy damage. The armor was blown off after a couple of shots. The machine kept shooting off large Gordo bombs from its main cannon that had powerful accuracy. There was no way to damage it without attacking the main core inside the battleship. They had to improvise. The aerial groups turned their sights near the machine as it readied to ram them again. The machine appeared to be invincible when it spun around at high speeds. The jets owned by Destined Providence and Malevolent Spirit immediately regrouped and prepared to fire directly at the head. Each missile that slammed into the massive machine yielded great damage. All the volleys of missiles unloaded caused the machine to lose altitude and crash against a mountainside. The planes quickly got out of the way before the giant airship's core malfunctioned and detonated. The impact from the massive explosion nearly knocked them off course. They quickly headed back at the base to land and got out of their aircraft unscathed from the intense battle.

After the Kabula was immediately destroyed, they happened to find a door to a nearby base where they entered the door back and ended up back in square one. All that remained was a cycloptic cloud door on the other side. The teams quickly regathered their strength and fearlessly entered the doorway. All of the puffballs came to an aerial platform on a fortress. They were greeted with a dark and cloudy sky and frequent thunderstorms. The winds were intense and powerful. A shadowy cloud announced its presence behind a cover with an eye and many spikes protruding from its large body. They soon found themselves facing a massive KRACKO Unit showing its ugly face. The team aimed their weapons and prepared to fire on the orders of their commanders. They fired their first volley and the creature dodged them only to close in on them and shoot devastatingly powerful electric beams.

"It's the KRACKO Unit!" shouted Kanashimiobingu.

"That thing's still operational!"

"Destroy it!"

"Let's go!"

Pinkobashi kept seeing flashbacks in the hellstorm. The snipers aimed for the eye of the demonic beast and fired, stunning it for the rest of the team to shoot back while the creature was near the bottom of the base. The creature charged forward and attempted to strike them.

The team quickly dodged the strikes and thundering beams from overhead. Each time they hit the flying beast they would only see that it got angrier. The KRACKO Unit quickly strafed the area and then sprayed the ground with heavy rain only for the team to quickly run out of the way because they didn't want to get shocked to death by close quarters contact. They had to keep their distance and split up on opposite sides of the field to distract the creature. All of the team members fired at the creature from different angles and quickly dodged the attack. The highly accurate bullets pounded into the cloud cover and zipped through the monstrous eye. The spy of Malevolent Spirit was nearly zapped to death and knocked off the ground only to be rescued by Pinkobashi's grip. He stared the beast in the eye and rushed through a lightning volley when he immediately fired a full volley of rounds of his rifle in anger. He nailed the final blow of the creature when it was stunned. After that last attack, he smiled in glee as the creature flashed and vanished in a massive explosion that brightened the dark sky. The explosion disabled the aerial base and unlocked an exit door for a temporary period of time.

After the KRACKO Unit was destroyed, they quickly escaped and found the starting room. All of the doors were locked but one in the center. It was accessible when a platform activated the door for it to open. They quickly found the final door and moved down the dark passageway. They did not encounter any enemy. Their hearts were racing as they found a dark room. They didn't activate their floodlights for fear of being spotted by a foe in the area. Pinkobashi out of the whole team kept hearing voices. He lived a constant nightmare.

The lights of the facility immediately turned on and they noticed a Waddle Dee with a weapon.

Pinkobashi kept seeing something in the distance and they sprang into action as soon as they ducked from an incoming high caliber sniper round that was specifically targeted for him. The sniper dodged a missile from the rocket launcher belonging to the heavy of Malevolent Spirit. After he withdrew his sniper he wielded a deadly assault rifle. The enemy was traveling at incredible speed as he jumped around. He confronted the shadowy figure in his dreams, only this time the nightmare was real. The enemy was a bulky red bandana Waddle Dee with a powerful sonic sniper rifle capable of shooting armor piercing rounds. He was an elite soldier by his battle weary markings. He knew by looking into the eyes of his foe he slayed the commander of Malevolent Spirit, so only he could avenge his death. Pinkobashi charged at the Dee headlong and fired near his head after kicking him to the ground. The enemy combatant grabbed him and rolled toward the squad while he pulled out a bomb. The Dee was ready to spark an anti personnel grenade in a suicide bombing attempt. The commander of Destined Providence shot the Waddle Dee and pulled Pinkobashi away from the opponent. They then watched the fireworks of the grenade incinerating the enemy's body into ashes. There was no Dee backup.

"We got him." Meinoyonoken noted.

"Area is secure." the team leader aimed their weapons around the area for an inspection.

"Good. Let's keep moving shall we?" Hikariowataru noted.

"Indeed." Seitekinasagi agreed.

"Squads, move out. Our target is there!"

Pinkobashi was extremely happy that the enemy Dee was slain. It was an almost euphoric experience, feeling it in his heart race. It was almost over. They were about to enter a large door as they loaded their weapons to prepare for the final battle. Pinkobashi was excited.

The new world order was about to be established.

The extreme assaults on the facility were increasing as an epic battle was being fought outside the heavily defended fortress. Tanks and fighter jets belonging to Amerikirban led coalition forces were attacking the base with explosive weapons. The fortress was being stormed. Victory seemed inevitable for the side of freedom. Upon their entrance into the facility they encountered they were inside a deadly wrestling style arena marked with the symbol of the DeDessian military in the center of the steel mat. There was an electric cage on top of them which if they touched it would fry instantly. They had to be careful. As soon as they entered, they noticed that the door was locked. The only thing facing them was a giant emperor penguin wielding a massive military grade hammer. It was clear to them that he was the man in charge. The large target was right in front of them. There was a bunch of enemy soldiers outside the arena celebrating the fight in the stands by cheering and saluting their commander. He spoke in the language that the enemy could understand without a translator. The team readed their weapons and aimed at their target but were surrounded on all sides.

"Vermin puffballs of Euelrope and the surrounding domains of our empire, I have followed your progress over the course of this bloody war. You have raided our almighty base and even when cornered still you wish to defy me. I have slain many warriors and your weapons will be fine additions to my collection. My plans will not be thwarted. I appreciate your fighting skills upon reaching here, but now your luck has run out this time. I am the one who is the judge, the jury, and the executioner. I will end you all personally!" his voice boomed as he smiled. He laughed maniacally as he charged up his experimental gravity weapon. The enemy general was determined to smite them out of existence. They had all the power to confront the enemy.

A big battle was about to happen. The stakes could not have been higher.