In this chapter, our heroes will face Lemmy.
If they can defeat him, they'll collect their first Beanstar piece.
So it will be two accomplishments in one.
As for the rest of the heroes, they'll be fighting plant enemies again.
I don't think I'm overusing them though.
The boss won't be a plant enemy, however.
Chapter 47: Double Lemmy
Walking Piranha Plants
"Wait, Piranha Plants can walk?" questioned Luigi.
"Well, there is one that can fly." noted Peach. So maybe it wasn't too surprising.
"Anyways, haven't the Piranha Plants left?" questioned the plumber in green. He wasn't sure how given they were usually rooted in the ground, but they seemed to be absent.
They sure have. You could say that they walked away.
"Very funny." answered Jessica.
How about this then?
Walking Plants
"All you did was remove the piranha part." noted the mage.
Yeah yeah yeah.
There were Mental Pitchers hopping around.
They had the power to fire acid.
"I thought the level said walking plants." questioned Jade. These plants didn't even have legs. Though they did have arms.
Some of them walk.
Some Morphean Mushrooms sprouted from the ground.
Sometimes they decided to flee from battle.
It seems morale among the Dragonlord's minions were decreasing.
Some Zumeanies joined them as well.
As their name implied, these vegetables did not play nice.
Some Ram Raiders appeared.
It seemed appropriate that they were in a mountain level.
They had to be careful not to get rammed.
And there were also Carnivines.
These plants bore many similarities to Piranha Plants.
So it seemed appropriate that they were in this level.
Our heroes encountered a Metal King Slime.
Bianca's eyes widened with astonishment.
That was not a slime that you saw every day…though she did seem to see slimes every single day.
"Holy smoke! That's a King Metal Slime!" exclaimed Bianca.
"A king metal slime?" asked Luigi.
"It gives you enormous amounts of experience if you catch one. But it's hard to do." noted Jade.
Sure enough, the King Metal Slime ran away from them. He certainly wasn't planning to make things easy for them.
It was impressive how fast the king was.
Metal King Slimes just might be the fastest slimes in existence.
However, he did not watch where he was going and he fell into a pit.
"I really need to pay attention to my surroundings!" exclaimed the king as he fell in.
As such, our heroes were awarded the experience.
"I feel like a million gold coins!" exclaimed Jessica.
This time, the boss of the level was Sir Roseguardin.
It made sense considering what his name sounded like.
Though they were expecting a plant boss.
It seemed that there weren't a lot of plant bosses in Dragon Quest.
"Sir Roseguardin? I thought he was one of the good guys." questioned Jade. As his name implied, he was always protecting Rose from those who would try to harvest her tears by causing her misery.
It seemed that the Dragonlord had used dark magic to persuade him to turn evil.
Hopefully they would be able to bring him back to his senses.
Unfortunately, the Dragonlord had decided to give him some upgrades, knowing the track record the guardians had against the heroes.
Personally he felt like they had gotten too far. Why hadn't the generals and their armies defeated them yet?
He wondered if they were going to show up on their front doorstep.
He attacked the heroes with a Blossom Shower attack.
"Who would have-a thought flowers-a could be lethal?" questioned Luigi.
Then again, he had fought against flower enemies before.
Sir Roseguardin summoned Lethal Armours to aid him.
The Lethal Armours approached our heroes.
As their name implied, these armours were dangerous.
Jessica summoned Morag, who attacked the armours with magic.
"You really shouldn't have betrayed the Dragonlord!" exclaimed one of the Lethal Armours.
This seemed to be effective.
But the dark knights began to summon Cureslimes to heal themselves.
They sure weren't making things easy for our heroes.
Luckily, Mario was able to take down the Lethal Armours using a blue shell.
Bianca then zapped Sir Roseguardin.
But he slashed her in retaliation.
"Ouch!" exclaimed the blonde.
Jessica hit Sir Roseguardin with a fireball.
"Now things are really heating up!" exclaimed Sir Roseguardin.
"You're making puns when you're being attacked? Ok." answered Jessica.
Peach whacked Sir Roseguardin on the head with a frying pan.
This restored him to his senses.
"What happened?" asked Sir Roseguardin.
"That's a relief. He's no longer in his brainwashed state." noted Bianca.
"Brainwashed state?" questioned the green knight.
"You were mesmerized by the Dragonlord." explained Jessica.
"I was? Oh no!" exclaimed Sir Roseguardin. It looked like he had ended up becoming an evil villain.
He felt bad that he had done the work of an evil overlord.
"It happens." noted the sorceress.
"Well, I'd like to make up to you." spoke Sir Roseguardin.
He joined our heroes as a summon.
On the way back to Lemmy's Sand Castle, our heroes encountered Hermie III.
"That's the biggest crab I've ever seen!" exclaimed Ashlynn.
Of course, they already knew that Cheep Cheeps could grow to big sizes.
So perhaps it wasn't too surprising that crabs in the Mario world could grow giant as well.
He had a request for them.
"Can you give me a claw?" asked Hermie III.
"A claw?" questioned Ruff.
"I think he means a hand." answered Meena.
"Yeth!" nodded the crab who dressed like a Christmas tree. Sometimes he forgot that not everyone had claws like he did.
"He reminds me of Princess Lisette." noted Ruff. For whatever reason, she also spoke with a lisp.
"What do you need help with?" asked Alena.
"I'm looking for a thtar to complete my Chrithmath tree!" exclaimed Hermie III.
"But it's not Christmas." pointed out Meena.
"Maybe, but decorating my thell is what I find enjoyable!" shouted the crab.
"I see." answered Maya.
She liked to dress up herself, so she understood.
Now that she thought of it, a Santa dress wouldn't be such a bad idea during the winter holidays.
"Tho can you help me?" asked Hermie. He would greatly appreciate it if he did.
"Why not?" answered Captain Toad. He figured that they had the time.
"But where will we find a star?" questioned Ashlynn.
"Maybe I can sniff one out." noted Ruff. He used to be a wolf, after all.
He decided to do just that.
He ended up sniffing out a starfish.
Perhaps that would meet Hermie's expectations.
This starfish happened to be a…star.
As it turned out, this star also wanted a favor.
"Hey there! I'm looking for a new stage for my performances!" exclaimed the starfish. He figured that he would mix things up every once in a while.
He wore sunglasses and he was carrying a guitar.
His name was Spangle.
"I think we just might know where you can find a stage." noted Alena.
Our heroes directed him to Hermie.
"Will this starfish do the job?" asked Maya.
Personally he reminded her a bit of herself. She too liked to perform in front of her fans.
"Yes!" cheered Hermie.
"A Christmas tree? I don't remember it being Christmas." noted Spangles.
But it was stylish enough to be his new stage.
Now that Spangles was on top, his Christmas tree shell was complete.
"You guyth rock!" exclaimed Hermie III.
"And so does Spangles." noted Ashlynn.
As a reward, Hermie III could now be used as a summon.
He was a decent fighter, though it wasn't normal for him to fight someone unless provoked.
He could poison their enemies, so he would definitely be a useful summon.
Spangle began to perform.
It drew attention from all sorts of beachgoers.
Perhaps Hermie and Spangle made an ideal team.
After finishing that sidequest, our heroes approached the sand castle.
"Are you back? Good luck getting past the gate!" shouted the smallest of the Koopalings.
He had designed it well, if he said so himself.
Alena and Peasley used Fire Bros. to break down the gate.
Luckily, for some reason, using Fire Bros. did not result in either of them being burned.
It seemed video game logic had kicked in.
"What? How did you do that?!" exclaimed Lemmy.
It looked as if the front gate had failed to fend off the intruders.
Luckily, his minions were ready for a fight.
They were hoping that the heroes would come.
Inside the sand castle were Spikes.
No, not the ones that were hazards.
The enemies.
Because they attacked from a distance, it was a good idea to try getting close to them.
Despite their names, they did not have spikes on their shells. So it was safe to jump on them when they were not carrying their spiked balls.
There were also Thwacks inside the sand castle.
It seemed appropriate given that they resembled toy blocks. And Lemmy's love of toys.
They had the ability to summon more of themselves.
They didn't have to worry about the battle dragging on for too long, however.
Eventually, they would turn yellow and fire themselves at the party.
Then they would leave the battle altogether.
Sometimes, they would merge together to become Thwack Totems.
When that happened, they became more powerful.
So they needed to watch out when they merged together.
There were also Love Bubbles.
They were similar in behavior to Troopeas, in that they healed other enemies.
However, they were not related to Koopa Troopas.
Our heroes had to be careful not to get dive bombed by them.
They could move very quickly.
It was also a good idea to target them first, since they were healers.
And there were Coconutters.
They wielded spears, and were in possession of poisonous blow darts.
They behaved similarly to the Chuck Guys in the Chucklehuck Woods and the Guffawha Ruins. Which seemed appropriate sinc ethey were also from the Mario and Luigi series.
Though in the Coconutters' case, they could also use their spears to protect themselves from jumping attacks.
"I heard that we bear some similarities to Cocoknights." noted one of the Coconutters.
Those beings only appeared in people's dreams, however.
Last but not least were the Handfakes.
They attacked using cardboard cutouts.
And yes, it was unusual.
For some reason, the Bob-Omb cutouts were explosive.
Lemmy was waiting for them in his playroom.
There were a variety of toys scattered around.
As well as a rug with a Koopa Shell on it.
Ruff wondered if he could play with some of them.
But perhaps now wasn't the time to be playing. Did he not have a Koopaling to fight?
"Hahahahaha!" laughed Lemmy.
He had been looking forward to fighting the heroes.
So he hoped that it was worth the wait.
Lemmy used his wand to summon his ball.
It was big in size. It seemed Lemmy had found a way to compensate for how small he was.
He then began to bounce around the room.
It seemed that Lemmy was a hyper Koopaling.
Of course, one could say the same for Iggy. There was a reason why he had chosen a jungle world in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
"How are we going to hit him?" asked Ashlynn. He was bouncing all over the place.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Ruff. He had been hit by the ball.
"Perhaps there's a way we can knock him off." noted Nera. Fighting him would be a lot easier that way.
And they wouldn't have to worry about his ball hitting them.
"Try using an ice spell." suggested Alena.
Nera nodded and cast an ice spell on the floor.
This worked surprisingly well.
Lemmy slipped and fell off his ball.
"Oof!" exclaimed the small Koopaling.
Peasley then slashed him with his sword.
Lemmy's ball disappeared.
The Koopaling with rainbow hair tucked into his shell in retaliation for the sword strike.
He then began to spin around the room.
After he was finished with his spinning attack, Lemmy decided to create some copies of himself.
He figured that he would be better off not taking the heroes on by himself.
"Which one's the real Lemmy?" questioned Ashlynn.
Ruff had an idea.
Maybe he could his nose to sniff out the real Lemmy.
It was worth a try.
He decided to do just that.
Like the ice, it worked out pretty well.
Ruff proceeded to headbutt the real Lemmy.
The clones promptly disappeared.
"Ow!" exclaimed the small Koopaling.
How had the heroes figured out which one was the real him?
Perhaps it was time to switch tactics.
He summoned his ball again.
Lemmy used his wand to increase the size of his ball.
Now it was more effective of a weapon as ever.
Lemmy let out a laugh.
Alena pushed against the ball to avoid being rolled over.
"I'd like to see you try to stop me now!" exclaimed Lemmy.
Peasley got the idea of using his sword to deflate it.
Alena was keeping the ball steady, so he had a chance to strike it.
This worked like a charm.
It was great that their strategies were successful.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Lemmy.
Alena punched Lemmy and sent him flying.
He was down for the count.
"Waaahhh!" cried the smallest of the Koopaling.
He was really hoping that he would win.
Though to be fair, this wasn't the first time he had lost a fight. Mario always seemed one step ahead of him.
Alena was reminded of when Bowser Jr. lost to them. He too had been a sore loser.
Lemmy hoped that Ludwig would be able to defeat the heroes.
But considering all the other Koopalings had fallen, he wasn't sure he would be able to win.
"We did it!" exclaimed Ruff.
"Now there's only one Koopaling left." noted Ashlynn.
Peasley had told her how many there were.
"I think it's a bit early to celebrate. We still have three more pieces to collect." reminded Peasley.
The next Beanstar piece was in the outskirts of the Beanbean Kingdom.
So it looked like that would be their next destination.
Meanwhile, at Joke's End, Ludwig heard that Lemmy had been defeated.
A Parakoopa had told him about it.
"Why do those heroes have to keep beating up my siblings?" asked Ludwig.
Morale had been decreasing for the Koopa Army. They wondered if they should find another kingdom to conquer. This kingdom seemed a bit too well-defended.
Maybe they should go back to the Mushroom Kingdom instead.
But Bowser wasn't giving up yet.
Now Ludwig was the only Koopaling left.
How could his comrades have possibly fallen?
Then again, this had happened before with the Mario Brothers. They had managed to defeat all seven of them in the past.
Why did they keep losing? It seemed that they were stuck in an endless cycle.
Anyways, he would want to be extra sure that he wasn't defeated.
Luckily, Joke's End was fortified rather well. Though a few of the minions did complain about the cold. Many of them were reptiles, after all.
He felt he had picked a good evil lair. Though oddly enough the environment was the opposite of Bowser's Castle.
And he had a telescope so he could see the heroes coming.
Perhaps he had a chance of defeating those heroes.
Even if the other Koopalings had failed to beat them.
"I'm going to stop the heroes once and for all!" exclaimed Ludwig.
Meanwhile, Bowser Jr. read in the newspaper that the Beanstar had been split into four.
It also said that the Beanstar had the power to grant wishes.
Perhaps he could use it to make the heroes disappear.
Of course, he would need somebody pure of soul to awaken it…but he didn't know about that.
So he would go on a mission to retrieve the pieces.
Who knows? Maybe he would encounter the heroes again.
Though he wondered if the heroes were looking for the Beanstar pieces themselves.
If so, that could work in his favor.
If he defeated the heroes and they were carrying one or more of the Beanstar pieces, there would be nothing stopping him from taking them.
And he was looking for a rematch with them anyways.
He boarded his Klown Kopter and flew away from his father's castle.
Defeating the heroes would work wonders for the Koopa Troop's morale.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Now there's one Koopaling left to go.
However, there are still three more Beanstar pieces to collect.
When will our heroes fight Ludwig?
As a side note, I've been having a bit of writer's block.
I can try uploading one chapter every five days to see if that helps.
Four days seems to be working fairly well for me though.
In the next chapter, our heroes will do some painting.
Though given my original ideas, they'll probably have to do more than that if they want the Beanstar piece.