In this chapter, our heroes will face the Antiquitree!
I hope our heroes are ready to do some lumber work.
Alena and Prince Peasley will meet the Starshade Bros. I figgured Mario and Luigi aren't the only ones who could benefit from their teachings. I figured Alena and Peasley wouldn't use Splash Bros and Bounce Bros though.
But a team attack isn't off the table.
Chapter 5: Root of the Problem
So far, Alena and Prince Peasley had gathered twenty coins.
The Bowser Baddies didn't appear to have a lot of coins though.
"You think we should keep fighting?" asked Alena. There might be other ways to get coins.
"We are getting fighting experience." reminded Peasley.
"True. I'm not sure why I got reduced to Level 1." noted Alena.
Though she got the feeling it had happened to somebody once before.
Suddenly, the two came across the Starshade Bros.
"Who are you?" asked Alena.
"Is that Prince Peasley?" questioned Red.
He was pleased to see him.
"It looks like he brought a friend with him!" exclaimed Green.
"We're searching for coins." nodded Alena.
"Would you like to learn some techniques?" asked Red.
It would help them for the trials ahead.
"Sure." spoke the princess. It would give them a better chance of repelling the Koopa King.
"Alright then. Ladies first!" exclaimed Red.
He began to teach Alena some fighting techniques.
"It's nice to remember some of our old moves." noted Alena.
She had forgotten them.
One of the techniques she learned was Flying Fist. She had used that in Dragon Quest Heroes.
"Huh. Now I won't be at a disadvantage against flying enemies." spoke the princess.
It was hard to hit a flying enemy with her fists.
It was fortunate that she hadn't encountered them so far.
Likewise, Prince Peasley learned some sword techniques.
It was surprising what you could do with a sword.
He also gained the power to heal.
"The enemies aren't hitting me hard, but I appreciate that." noted Prince Peasley.
"You'll appreciate that when you end up in a boss fight." claimed Green.
"I bet I will!" nodded the prince.
There were mushrooms as well, of course. Even in the Beanbean Kingdom they grew in abundance. But using healing spells saved coins. And they needed to save some so that they could pay off Tolstar, anyways.
"We appreciate your help." spoke the prince.
"It's the least we can do for the prince of the Beanbean Kingdom and his loyal companion. But in exchange, could you help us fight off the Bowser Baddies?" asked Red.
"We were planning to do that anyways." explained Alena.
Meanwhile…
RISE OF THE PIRANHA PLANTS
"Wait a minute…there are no Piranha Plants here." questioned Jessica. They were working for a different overlord.
"Maybe-a you should change the title!" exclaimed Mario.
Very well…
RISE OF THE PESKY PLANTS
"That's better. Though it doesn't sound as menacing by comparison, doesn't it?" asked the girl.
This is still the first world. You're not facing strong foes. Though you are nearing the end. I'm not sending the big guns yet.
"True." nodded Jessica.
This level was filled with pipes.
Some Funghouls appeared. And yes, they came out of the pipes.
They were sticking their tongues out.
"You're just like the ghosts we encountered at that tower!" exclaimed Jessica.
"But we're more…lively." spoke a Funghoul.
"Well, you are a plant." noted Jessica.
She cast Sap to lower their defenses.
However, they used Sweet Breath to put Jessica to sleep.
"That sure comes in handy when fighting multiple adventurers, doesn't it?" asked one of the Funghouls.
As cute as Jessica looked when she was sleeping, it would probably be best for Mario to wake her up.
"Wake up!" exclaimed Mario.
He clapped his hands together.
Jessica woke up.
"I remember that breath. It's surprising how sweet it smells." noted the mage.
She needed to be careful. Even if Funghouls didn't hit very hard.
Some Fright Bulbs appeared. They too came out of the pipes.
They began to scream.
'Ow! My ears!" exclaimed Jessica.
'Mamamia!" shouted Mario.
These slimes were very loud.
But fire worked well.
"They're using fire! Oh no!" bellowed the fright bulb.
"Sorry, but I had to get you to stop." apologized Jessica.
Some Stump Chumps came out of from the pipes.
"The Antiquitree said that if we tried hard enough, we would become champs!" exclaimed a Stump Chump.
"That was nice of him." noted Jessica.
The Stump Chumps had a habit of giving medicinal herbs to other monsters.
"Here you go!" exclaimed one of the chumps.
"Thanks!" shouted one of the Funghouls.
"Maybe we should take care of them first." spoke the mage. She had a finite amount of MP, after all.
Mario nodded and decided to do just that.
The guardian was a Gnawchid.
"A Gnawchid? Isn't that an obscure Dragon Quest monster?" asked the sorceress.
"Maybe, but it suits the level, doesn't it?" questioned the Gnawchid.
"Yeah..." nodded Jessica.
The Gnawchid spat out seeds at them.
Our heroes took cover.
Jessica hit it with fire.
"Ow! Not fire!" bellowed the Gnawchid. It was times like this when she wished that she wasn't a plant.
In retaliation, she spewed out sweet breath.
This time, Mario fell asleep.
"Ah spaghetti...ah ravioli..." murmured the plumber.
Jessica shook him to wake him up.
"I got to watch out for those plant-a monsters!" exclaimed Mario.
"Some of them do that." noted Jessica.
Mario attempted to jump on Gnawchid, but she bit into him.
"Jumping's a no go." warned the mage.
He hammered her instead.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Gnawchid.
Jessica then launched another fireball.
"Didn't your mom teach you not to play with fire?" asked the plant monster.
'Well, she wasn't always the best mother. But we've patched things up." explained Jessica.
The Gnawchid fired more seeds.
"Ow!" exclaimed Jessica.
However, she finished the Gnawchid off with another fireball.
"My flower power wasn't enough..." said the Gnawchid.
"For what it's worth I think you fought well." noted Jessica.
She pulled the flag.
Now the end of the world was within sight.
"We made it to the castle." spoke Jessica.
Mario nodded.
"Let's take care of the general, shall we? The less generals the Dragonlord has, the less grip he has over the kingdom." noted the sorceress.
LEMMY'S SWINGBACK CASTLE
"Lemmy's not here!" exclaimed Mario.
ANTIQUITREE'S SWINGBACK CASTLE
"There we go." spoke Jessica.
This castle was filled with plants, in addition to Pendulum Platforms. They were certainly helpful getting past the sharp thorns on ground.
Unsurprisingly, the castle had plant monsters. Though it didn't have lava like the original castle did.
Some bad apples appeared.
'I'm not sure if we should eat those apples." noted Jessica. They probably had bad taste.
"How do you like us apples?" asked one of the Bad Apples.
"You don't seem like a nice crowd." noted Mario.
The bad apples began to roll towards them.
One of them also cast a Snooze spell.
"Why do plant enemies keep trying to put us to sleep?" asked Jessica.
Mario shrugged.
Jessica taught the bad apples a lesson with fire spells.
Next up were more Stump Chumps.
They were aiding Stumpkins.
"It looks like these enemies are spellcasters." noted Jessica.
Mario nodded.
He leapt on the Stumpkins, since they could levitate.
A Stumpkin cast a Crack spell.
"Brr..." spoke Mario.
However, Jessica warmed him up.
'Thanks!" exclaimed Mario.
He leapt on more Stumpkins while Jessica kept the Stump Chumps busy with fire spells.
A Leafy Larrikin showed up.
"I'm the last type of enemy before the boss!" exclaimed the Leafy Larrikin.
"Good to know. Anything special we should know about you?" asked Jessica.
"We can call for help!' shouted the leafy larrikin.
He whistled, and another leafy larrikin showed up.
"Anything else?" asked Mario.
"That's about it." noted the larrikin.
"We should probably deal with you quickly then." suggested Jessica.
Though to be fair, extra experience did not hurt.
One of the leafy larrikins kicked Mario, but he hammered it in retaliation.
After defeating the leafy larrikins, our heroes were ready to confront the boss.
The Antiquitree was waiting for them in an arena.
Unsurprisingly, it happened to resemble a garden.
"Welcome to my arena! But don't expect the audience to root for you!" exclaimed the Antiquitree.
"Oh look, more puns." spoke Jessica.
Many monsters were watching the show.
The Antiquitree launched apples at the duo.
But Yoshi ate them.
"I'm glad I decided to adopt him." noted Jessica.
He was proving to be helpful.
Mario hit the Antiquitree with a hammer.
'Ow!" exclaimed the tree monster.
In retaliation, he hit Mario by swiping at him.
"Oof!" shouted Mario. His bark was not worth than his swipe.
Jessica tossed a fire.
"Ow! Quit causing forest fires!" demanded the Antiquitree.
"Um, are you sure one tree makes up a forest?" asked Jessica.
"Maybe not, but still!" exclaimed the evil tree.
The Antiquitree whistled.
Some Stump Chumps showed up to provide support.
"He can summon allies? Well, he is a general." spoke the sorceress.
He appeared to be the weakest of the generals, but he was still in a position of command for a reason.
Mario and Jessica worked together to face the Stump Chumps.
The Antiquitree cast a Decelerate spell.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Mario.
That spell had slowed them down.
"This is going to make it harder for us to dodge his attacks." noted Jessica.
The Antiquitree tossed an acorn at Jessica.
It exploded.
'Ow!" exclaimed Jessica.
What were the chances of the Antiquitree having explosive acorns?
Though the fact that it had acorns to begin with wasn't surprising.
Mario handed Jessica a mushroom.
'Thanks." spoke the mage.
A Toad tossed Jessica a Fire Flower.
"Use this!" exclaimed Toad.
"Is he allowed to do that?" asked a Treeface.
"I'll allow it. Why not give the heroes a fighting chance?" questioned the Antiquitree. That seemed fair.
However, with her added firepower, Jessica now had an advantage.
"Ouch!" exclaimed the Antiquitree.
He summoned Bad Apples in response.
"This guy has a lot of techniques." noted Mario.
"He sure does." nodded Jessica.
The Antiquitree then summoned a tornado with Woosh.
"And he has an attack that can hit both of us at once. Great." remarked Jessica.
Mario whacked him with a hammer.
'Ow! Tree gentler!" demanded the Antiquitree.
"Are you running out of tree puns?" asked Jessica.
"Well, it can be hard to think of one." noted the Antiquitree.
'I understand." nodded the girl.
The Antiquitree cast another Woosh spell, but our heroes avoided it.
Jessica finished the Antiquitree with a fireball.
He fell to the floor.
"I've been chopped down!" exclaimed the Antiquitree. It looked like the first general had fallen.
Hopefully the other generals would be warned about the heroes.
"I was hoping that the Antiquitree would win..." pouted a Slime.
"I had fifty coins on the Antiquitree!" exclaimed a Cruelcumber.
As a reward, our heroes got a treasure chest containing gold coins.
And a generous amount of exp.
Jessica learned how to use Crack...which was an ice spell.
"That's going to come in handy in the future, won't it?" asked the girl.
Our heroes received a message from the Dragonlord once they had left.
"Well done defeating the Antiquitree. But don't get too confident. He was the weakest of my generals. Good luck battling the Wight Emperor next." read the letter.
"I guess we should be expecting undead next." noted Jessica.
Mario nodded.
The next level was a desert, so fire enemies would likely be there as well.
Ironically, to get there, they needed to go through a water level.
'Wait...won't I drown if I try to go through there?" asked Jessica.
"The Mushroom Kingdom's waters are surprisingly-a filled with oxygen!" exclaimed Mario.
"They are?" questioned the mage.
She decided to go for a dive.
Sure enough, she could breathe just fine.
'That's great. I think I'll still put on my bikini though." noted Jessica.
Likewise, Mario put on some swim trunks.
Now they were ready to go for a swim.
They would just need to watch out for the aquatic monsters that lived there.
"It's time for us to continue our adventure...in another world." thought Jessica to herself.
Meanwhile...
'Did you hear about the heroes that came to defeat Lord Bowser?" asked a Goomba.
"I sure did!" exclaimed Captain Goomba.
He decided that he would warn Goomboss.
"What? Heroes are coming to defeat Lord Bowser? Not if I have anything to say about it!" exclaimed Goomboss.
He would handle them for sure.
Alena and Prince Peasley were currently fighting Paragoombas. They had 50 coins at this point.
"This Flying Fist technique sure is proving handy." noted Alena.
"I thought we would be safe if we took to the skies!" exclaimed a Paragoomba.
'Sorry, but no. Don't forget, I can fly too." pointed out Prince Peasley.
He was using Flame Slash.
It was helpful to burn his foes.
They took extra damage that way.
The Paragoombas could only hope that Goomboss could take care of them.
As a king among Goombas, he could handle things.
Right?
Yes, Captain Goomba is going to be an antagonist in this one.
I decided to feature him since he's been to the Beanbean Kingdom.
You think Alena and Prince Peasley can win?
See ya!