Chapter Twenty-Three:

Call In The Guards and The Tanks...

Outside the castle, Luigi and the others were struggling against the demonic goop as the tentacles kept coming at them. Boopkins found himself on the receiving end of being grabbed and pummeled by two of the tentacles before they threw him aside as if he were nothing but trash. Whatever that demonic thing was, it was nothing compared to Zero.

"WHAT DO WE DO?!" Luigi wailed as a tentacle grabbed him.

"That's easy!" Bob exclaimed, pulling out a phone, "Melony will take care of this!"

The former rapper dialed the number and pressed the call button, determined to get through to the very friend who had the power to take down demonic threats.

Meanwhile, Melony was laying upon the sofa at her place with her pet axolotl, Axol Junior, in her arms. On the desk, next to the chibi drawing of her and Axol holding hands, the former watermelon's phone buzzed. Melony slept on, unaware of what was going on, and ignored the phone. Axol Jr. perked his head up briefly, then he went back to sleep.

Back at the castle, Bob put away his phone with frustration. Wherever Melony was, they could use some help right about now, especially since that goopy monstrous entity was insanely powerful and very persistent at that.

Saiko gripped the handle of her hammer in an intense manner. "We're going to need a lot of help." The anime girl remarked.

Right on cue, the group heard rumbling engines and turned to spot a pair of tanks heading their way, someone must have seen the commotion and called in the Mushroom Kingdom military. The tanks rolled in, all guns aimed at the castle, and then, they stopped. The hatch on the lead tank opened up and Swagmaster emerged.

"We heard there was a disturbance in my town." He declared in a mock cowboy voice.

"Your town, Swag?" Chris asked with annoyance as he appeared as well.

"SHUT UP, CHRIS! Let me have my moment!" Swag demanded, "Okay, who ordered the big serving of mass destruction?"

"You can't blow up the castle!" Luigi protested, "Our friends are still inside!"

"Oh, Luigi..." Swag chuckled, "Sometimes we all have to make sacrifices."

"We're not letting you blow up the castle!" Saiko yelled.

"Pfft, have it your way, sweetie." Swag chuckled.

And Saiko became irked. "DID YOU JUST CALL ME 'SWEETIE'?!" She shouted.

More tanks rolled in and the gang stared down Swag and Chris, tensions mounted, even as the monstrous creature corrupting the castle continued to waver its tentacles. Luigi, Bob, Saiko and Tari stood their ground, staring at Swag and Chris, who had their guns ready, as the cold war between both groups seemed to boil closer towards breaking point.

"That's it, that's the answer!" Boopkins suddenly cried, everyone looked at him, "Peace and love."

Saiko was baffled.

"You have got to be f***ing kidding me." Swag groaned.

"Swag, just give the boy a chance." Chris chided.

"Okay, but if it doesn't work, it's boom-boom McBoom time!"

Boopkins walked towards the goop covering Peach's Castle, hoping that his plan would work. He faced the creature and the creature that was the castle stared back at him. Boopkins smiled with hope and then he held out his hands.

"Excuse me, castle." Boopkins said, "I love you!"

BAM! A tentacle whacked Boopkins on the head, giving the aquatic creature a concussion, and then it swatted him away like a fly. Boopkins groaned in agony, but he was still alive and managed to get back up, despite the dizziness. While his effort hadn't worked, he was still hopeful that the whole matter could still be resolved peacefully.

Sergeant Mark emerged from his tank, watching the situation with everyone else, and saw what happened to Boopkins. In that moment, he wasn't hopeful about the matter.

"Hey, Swag!" He shouted with urgency in his voice, "What the heck are we supposed to do? We need to make sure that thing doesn't spread beyond the castle. Lives are at stake here and the safety of the Mushroom Kingdom is very important!"

Swag slapped on some sunglasses. "You're right, Sergeant!" He said, "It's our duty to protect the Mushroom Kingdom, no matter what, no matter the sacrifice!"

The Glitchy gang braced themselves as the tanks' engines rumbled again...