Clash of the Smashers

Chapter Eight: An army of pointy turtles. Yippee.

The Smashers go into what they assumed to be the final chamber, the one with Bowser. They were correct about one of those assumptions…

The room they entered in was smaller than the last four massive rooms, but it was still a king-sized area. And speaking of king, on a throne near the back of the forty foot long area sat Bowser, King of the Koopas! He was a large turtle-like creature, basically like all other Koopas only larger. He had two horns on either side of his head, short but powerful arms and legs as well as a brilliant shock of red hair. At the sides of the room were several…things that looked almost like doors. There were six, three on each side of the square room. Bowser glared mockingly at the Smashers as they walked towards him, but they stopped when he started talking, still thirty feet away from the tyrant.

"So you fools made it here. Congratulations." he said in a monotone voice.

"What's wrong Bowser? What happened to your 'Gwa ha ha'? Frightened?" Falco mocked referring to Bowser's laugh that he used whenever he entered or won a battle.

"SILENCE!" Bowser said with such ferocity that all the Smashers froze, "You have killed my Kings, the Koopa Kids and even my baby self. You have destroyed a large number of my forces but even that pales in comparison to the cold-blooded murder of my CHILDREN!" he thundered.

"I'd just like to make a point…uh we were kind of battling in self-defense there and well…it was an uh…hot-blooded murder…," Diddy said, slightly in shock at the sheer rage that was emanating off of Bowser.

"I…DON'T…CARE! They are DEAD! And that is all that matters! Now for payment…YOU shall die!" Bowser said.

"You may be tough Bowser but Mario can usually beat you on his own. What makes you think you stand a chance against all of us?" Bario asked.

Instead of making Bowser nervous all the comment seemed to incite in the monstrous king was a smile.

"You're right…Bario. I don't stand a chance," he said.

"Wha?! How'd you know my name?!" Bario demanded, looking a little shaken.

"You don't think you fools could attack my castle and I wouldn't know who you are? I've been keeping track on you guys with some magic Kamek taught me."

"Fine. But why do you think you can win?" Bario asked, seemingly more in control.

"Simple. There are nine of you…one of me…and thirty of them," Bowser calmly stated.

"Thirty of who…," Falco started before the six doors opened and five Koopas came out of each one. They were heavily armored, with spikes spaced over their backs and head. Five were darker and had glowing red eyes.

"What are those?" Raichu asked.

"Those? Those are Bowser's elite troops. They are the Koopatrols, heavily armored, powerful and well-trained Koopas. They have the ability to focus all of their energy and unleash a freakishly strong attack. The red eyed ones are Dark Koopatrols. They are almost three times as tough as a regular one, making them probably one of if not THE most dangerous creatures in Bowser's army," Bario informed everyone.

"Heh…you're clever, but it won't do you any good when you're crushed between my claws…Koopatrols…ATTACK!" Bowser roared.

The twenty-five regular Koopatrols got into their shells and rolled fast at the Smashers. The Dark Koopatrols hung back, almost as if they were protecting Bowser.

Mario used his cape to suddenly twist a Koopatrol about and this caused it to hit three more Koopatrols. They were spun around and hit each other and eventually crashed into a wall, knocked unconscious.

"Hey! Alright Mario! That was-Agh!" Falco started to say before being whacked by a spinning Koopatrol.

"Pay attention!" Bario yelled as he dodged a Koopatrol. He tried to hit it with his sword but it merely bounced off the armored shell. The Koopatrol kept going for a bit before coming around for another pass.

Raichu dashed to the side of a spinning Koopatrol while Diddy activated his jetpack and flew up. Confused by the sound of the jetpack the Koopatrol popped out, just in time to be pelted with peanuts. Annoyed the Koopatrol brushed at his face and didn't notice Diddy land right in front of him. At least, he didn't notice until Diddy slammed him in the throat with his tail. Then the Koopatrol noticed Diddy, although by that point he was too preoccupied with trying to breathe to care. Soon, he too passed out.

Meanwhile Raichu continuously dodged the charging Koopatrol. His method of attack was simple, but fast and dangerous. Raichu didn't want to get hit even once by this vicious Koopa. He wasn't too sure what to do; after all he was pretty much completely safe in his shell from physical attacks…oh. That's right. Raichu can shoot electricity. Raichu would have slapped himself for not thinking of it earlier, if he wasn't trying to find a good time to do it. He leapt over another attack, which momentarily confused the Koopatrol. Seeing an opportunity he shot an electric wave at the creature which was amplified by the metal armor that it was wearing. It traveled right through the shell and quickly fried the soft turtle inside.

Meta and Kirby sliced and smacked with their sword and hammer. Using teamwork they managed to take three Koopatrols out of the fight. The remaining attacking Koopatrols were giving them some space, trying to figure out how to take them out. Meta was being strangely silent, almost as if something was keeping his attention…

Samus rolled into a ball to try and avoid four Koopatrols that were attempting to bash her. After a bit she noticed that she couldn't outrun them so she decided to be sneaky and dropped several bombs behind her. The first Koopatrol ran over one and it exploded, knocking him into the air. As he came down the second one went under him and the top one was skewered by the other's back spikes. This caused the double Koopatrol stack to fall over and smack the third that wobbled out of control and slammed into the third bomb which sent him back into the other two, causing more spiky stickiness. Alright! However as Samus unrolled to finish them off, she forgot there were FOUR Koopatrols. The fourth one smashed into her knees and caused her to fall down hard. As it dashed away so it could build up enough speed for a finishing run, Samus charged her Power Beam…

Link attempted to slice a Koopatrol while it was in its shell and the same thing that happened to Bario happened to him, the sword shaked and the Koopatrol appeared unharmed. Link managed to get his shield in front of him before the Koopatrol hit, although he almost fell back from the sheer force of the assault. However the Koopatrol, upon hitting the shield bashed its head inside its shell, knocking itself out. Link moved his shield to look at the Koopatrol. Strange…it appeared to have just passed out on its own. Shrugging, he pulled out his boomerang and threw it at the Koopatrols attacking Meta and Kirby.

Falco picked himself off the floor in time to jump over an attacking Koopatrol.

"Oh no you don't! I'm not getting hit again-Agh!" he said as he came down right in the path of the speedily returning Koopatrol. Falco was again knocked over. As the Koopatrol came spinning around again for another pass Falco whipped out his gun and although he was on the ground he still fired some random shots. Luckily one managed to sneak inside the Koopatrols head hole, damaging one of its eyes. The Koopatrol screeched and then flew past Falco, missing by an inch before solidly slamming into the fourth Koopatrol that was attacking Samus.

Samus was surprised by the two KO'd Koopatrols, she was just about to finish the last one with her Charge Shot, which had just gotten fully charged. Seeing Bario struggling against a Koopatrol she fired her Charge Shot at it, which blew it into a wall. Bario gave her a thumbs up sign before looking for another Koopatrol to try and defeat.

Link's boomerang smacked the back of a Koopatrol trying to sneak up on Kirby. As it tried to recover it was hit by Kirby's over-sized hammer, which caused it to crash into two more Koopatrols who became hopelessly tangled.

The remaining six Koopatrols, surprised by their depletion in numbers immediately drew back from their respective battles. The Smashers were surprised, but they didn't believe that they were giving up. They were right. One by one, each Koopatrol went into its shell and started spinning, but didn't move in a direction. Instead they just kept steadily spinning in the same spot. Raichu was the first to notice something was happening as eight of the Smashers regrouped. Mario was staying off to the side for some reason…

"Hey…why are they glowing?" Raichu asked.

Bario stared at them in confusion for a second before the realization of what they were doing hit him.

"Oh…guys move! They're going to attack with a charge attack! If that hits you…well, it won't be pretty!"

The eight Smashers all dodged. Bario, Samus, Falco, Raichu and Link all rolled or jumped away while Diddy, Kirby and Meta took off into the air. The Koopatrols shot through where they just were and still glowing they went after the Smashers on the ground. Diddy fired numerous peanuts at the Koopatrols but they just bounced off the hard shells. Kirby came crashing down behind the swarm of Koopatrols, using his Cutter's shockwave ability on them. They were jostled a bit…but they still glowed, and now one broke off to come after him and Diddy, whose jetpack had just given out. Meta just fluttered high overhead, not saying anything.

Mario, having made sure the four Koopatrols that attacked him in the beginning of the battle would stay down turned his attention elsewhere; he started to run for Bowser. He didn't get too far before the five Dark Koopatrols leaped in front of him, apparently not letting him get past to Bowser.

Bario back flipped over the Koopatrols. Momentarily confused by the maneuver they stopped, just in time for Raichu to suddenly blast them with electrical balls and for Samus to pelt them with missiles. They took massive damage and their glowing charge faded. However their determination to kill the Smashers wasn't diminished in the slightest and all five spun towards Link. He raised his shield and all five bounced off of it, temporarily stunning them, but the sheer force of their attack caused his shield to bounce back and slam him in the face, knocking him down and causing him to struggle to stay conscious.

Kirby dodged the Koopatrols vicious charges, but the turtle kept coming. Suddenly Meta came crashing down in front of the Koopatrol, stuck his sword under it and flipped it, causing it to crash into the tight cluster of Koopatrols that were temporarily stunned. Seeing an opportunity six of the Smashers finished off the weakened Koopatrols, except for Raichu who was checking on Link.

"Link? You okay?"

Link's eyes were still glazed over but when Raichu said his name he seemed to come to and after a second, gave an emphatic nod to Raichu who helped him up.

Mario got into a fighting stance as the Dark Koopatrols started to encircle him. However before any of the six could make a move, Bowser interrupted.

"Go. Fight the others, I believe they are almost through with your inferior brethren," Bowser told the Koopatrols, "I shall take on this one."

The Dark Koopatrols nodded and ran for the Smashers who had just finished off the last Koopatrol.

Bowser got up and removed himself from his throne and walked within ten feet of Mario.

"So Mario, it comes down to this, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom…and the villain. I'm always the villain Mario! Always. And you are always the hero. Do you ever tire? Are you ever sick of being the sole savior of the Mushroom Kingdom? I know I'm sick. Sick of losing countless times against you! Of becoming a laughingstock…a fool! I've been regarded as an oaf and an idiot! And at times I've served those roles I admit. I have made stupid mistakes and errors. But it's all your fault! I haven't successfully kidnapped Peach for ages! And even when I do succeed…you're there. Ready to stop me. No more! You've killed my children, my armies, and my dignity, practically everything I have! This is it Mario. The battle begins now!" Bowser roared at Mario, "Have you anything to say for yourself?!"
"It's-a me-a Mario!" Mario said in his classic fashion.

"Don't give me that! I know…there's more to you than the fake cheerful hero look you give out. You don't battle a person dozens of time and not get a feel for who they are! But fine. If you're going to mock me than let's just finish this."

At those words Bowser belched a stream of fire at Mario. He would have been charbroiled if he didn't jump over the blast. Bowser stopped the fire when he saw Mario jump and watched him come down. Mario's feet were poised to slam into Bowser's head but Bowser swiped with his clawed hands and Mario was knocked to the ground. Mario quickly rolled upon hitting the ground and when he got back on his feet he pulled out his hammer and ran for Bowser. Bowser smirked at Mario's obvious ploy and right before Mario reached Bowser he leapt into the air again and threw his hammer down. Before it hit Bowser got into his spiked shell and the hammer merely bounced off. As Mario came down to grab his hammer Bowser shot forward and slammed into Mario with his shell. Mario was sent flying back before skidding roughly on the ground. Bowser came out his shell and laughed at Mario.

"Gwa ha ha! Don't tell me that's your best? You're too predictable. I've seen everything you have and I know what you're capable of. Heh those tricks may have worked on my minions, but they're nothing compared to me! I can't believe I lost to you before! I may not even need him…," Bowser said.

Mario glared at Bowser and got back to his feet. Picking up his hammer and putting it away in that mysterious place it always seems to disappear to he crouched low to the ground.

"Fine." he said before shooting off five fireballs at blazing speeds at Bowser's face

Bowser eyes widened in shock as the fireballs slammed into his face before he could react. As he stepped backward from the pain Mario ran up to him and upper-cutted Bowser in the chin and then jumped into him with his fist up. This caused Bowser to be bounced up from Mario's fist and then as gravity dragged him down he landed on Mario's surprisingly strong fist again. This repeated for seven hits and as Mario reached the apex of his jump he took his hammer out again and slammed Bowser into the ground before coming down and landing, feet-first on his head. Mario then gracefully leapt off of Bowser and glared at him from a few feet away.

Bario and the rest of the Smashers were looking around trying to find any leftover Koopatrols as the ones they were fighting were…indisposed. They saw Mario being smacked around by Bowser and were about to help him until the five Dark Koopatrols rolled up.

"Oh yeah, those guys, I almost forgot about them," Bario said, "This might be bad…"

"Why? The Koopatrols were tough, but not that bad. These guys may be stronger but there's also a lot less of them. We can take them!" Raichu said.

As soon as he said that one of the Dark Koopatrols charged for Raichu…without going into its shell. The pointy spike on the top of its head was pointed right at his heart and because of its speed it probably would have hit if Bario didn't use his swords to slice at the Dark Koopatrols feet a few inches before it hit Raichu. The Dark Koopatrol jumped to avoid the blow but this caused it to miss Raichu.

The other Dark Koopatrols all got into their shells and charged for the Smashers who jumped or rolled away. Kirby wasn't fast enough and was clipped by one of the attacks, causing him to fall to the round hard. As it came around for a second pass Link threw a bomb at it, which appeared to cause some damage…but the Dark Koopatrol kept coming.

Samus fired a missile which, by sheer luck found its way into one of the leg holes of the shell…when the missile exploded the blast was amplified by the small space and the Koopatrol exploded. Diddy and Meta had to dodge falling spikes, because of their closeness to the explosion but remained mostly unharmed. Falco kept using his Falco Phantasm to stay one step away from the largely impervious Dark Koopatrol that was attacking him…

Bowser didn't know what shocked him more…the incredible power and skill that Mario had just revealed…or that he just said something that WASN'T one his ridiculous catchphrases. Well it didn't matter. That speech he just gave Mario wouldn't let him lose now, that was hard to make! Why…it took Kamek fifteen minutes to come up with! Good thing Kamek thought to have Bowser write it on the back of his hand or he might have forgotten it.
Bowser slowly got to his feet and looked at Mario with a mixture of anger and respect…and maybe a hint of fear. Bowser dashed forward and swiped at Mario repeatedly with his claws, while shooting fire at Mario as he dodged. However Mario used his cape to deflect the fire into Bowser's face which although it didn't hurt to bad it temporarily blinded him. While Bowser scrubbed wildly at his eyes Mario snuck up behind him and grabbed Bowser's short tail.

Bowser's eyes bulged as he felt Mario's hands clamp down on his tail in an iron grip. He knew what this was! Mario started to spin around, which spun Bowser in an increasingly faster and faster circle. Soon Mario was spinning fast enough that Bowser was actually off the ground! As Mario gauged what he figured would be the best time to throw Bowser, the giant tyrant closed his eyes in fear of the inevitable pain he was about to feel. Mario let Bowser go at just the right angle…to cause him to crash in the four charging Dark Koopatrols. Bowser's impressive girth crushed one immediately and the other three were slammed into a wall by Bowser's rapidly sliding body.

The other eight Smashers were slightly confused. A giant turtle had just flown right by them. They stayed there motionless, trying to process what happened when they heard a voice.

"So long-a Bowser!" Mario cheerfully said.

The Smashers looked at Mario who had taken off his hat and was waving it at the Smashers.

"Mario…you did that?" Diddy asked.

Mario just nodded his head and started to walk towards them.

Bowser slowly opened his eyes. Ow. It felt like a spike was being driven up his…oh. There was a spike. There were three Dark Koopatrols underneath him (All the other Koopatrols and Dark Koopatrols had disappeared as enemies conveniently do when they die. He slid the barely conscious creatures out from under him. Shoot. Looks like he will have to rely on…him. He was really hoping he'd be able to beat the Smashers by himself, but they and especially Mario were way stronger than he was expecting. So. Plan B it is. That one always seems to work better anyways. The A in plan A must stand for Awful, as that plan never seems to work…agh! Bowser was tired. He better act fast or he'd pass out. He clutched a Dark Koopatrol around the neck…and aimed…

Mario had just about reached the other Smashers, confident that they had all won when a pointy creature slammed into him from the side. Bowser had thrown a Dark Koopatrol at him! Fortunately it had hit Mario with its belly rather than its spikes…which might have hurt. Mario quickly ducked another Dark Koopatrol while the third one, aimed at the Smashers was deflected by Kirby's hammer. They checked to make sure they were all okay (Mario was fine) and to make sure the Dark Koopatrols weren't going to attack. They weren't. They were so heavily damaged that they exploded, which bathed the Smashers in healing waves…but when they looked around for Bowser they saw him dash into a secret doorway behind his throne.

"Dang it! He's getting away! After him guys!" Bario said.

The Smashers nodded and ran into the tunnel, hot on the heels of the weakened Bowser…

(Author's Note: We're nearing the end of the first part in this story. Just one more chapter to go and then the Mushroom Kingdom is done. There is more however…)