In this chapter, the Dragonlord will launch his attack!
Oh no!
But I bet you were expecting that.
Still, if you're worried about the Toads, I don't blame you.
Chapter 2: The Dragonlord Attacks
Now that Dragonlord knew Baramos' formula worked, it was time to find a population source.
Luckily, he discovered a sign.
"This way to Toad Town!" exclaimed the sign.
"This sounds like the perfect place to begin our conquest, wouldn't you agree?" questioned the Dragonlord.
"Yes, master!" shouted Baramos.
The two went to Toad Town.
Unfortunately, the Toads did not see him coming.
Jessica was currently enjoying a mushroom.
"These Toads have interesting diets…but I'm glad I decided to try it." spoke Jessica. These mushrooms tasted surprisingly good.
She was warned that some mushrooms were poisonous. But they were typically easy to distinguish from normal ones.
A Toad suddenly came in.
"The town is under attack!" exclaimed a Toad.
"Is is the Koopa Troop again?" questioned the mage.
"No! It's a Dragonlord and his dragon partner!" explained the dude in distress.
"The Dragonlord? From the original Dragon Quest?" asked Jessica to herself. That sure was a blast from the past.
What was he doing in the world of mushrooms?
Then again, he might have something to do with the portal she got sucked in.
"Have you considered fighting back?" questioned Jessica. That worked surprisingly well against the Koopa Troopa.
"We tried, but he has a formula that turns us into monsters!" exclaimed the Toad.
"That's a problem." spoke the girl.
Suddenly, three slimes broke in.
"We're in the house!" exclaimed one of the slimes.
"It seems a lot of Dragon Quest games start with an easy tutorial encounter." noted Jessica.
The slimes were no exception.
(OST: Mudholes)
The slimes lunged towards Jessica, hoping to ram into her.
However, she countered by launching fireballs at them.
"Ouch!" exclaimed the slimes.
Jessica was more than they bargained for.
"That was too easy." noted the sorceress. And she hardly expended any MP, too.
Although, she seemed to be back to Level 1.
Was this a side effect of entering this new world?
Luckily, there was a way for her to level up quickly.
If she fought metal slimes, she could regain her lost levels.
She just had to find a way to catch them.
For now, she decided to defend Peach's Castle.
Something told her that this was where the villains had gone.
Luckily, all was standing between her and the castle were more slimes.
And none of them seemed to have the formula that she was warned about.
Meanwhile, the Dragonlord and Baramos broke in.
The royal guard gasped.
"For the princess!" exclaimed one of the royal guards.
However, Baramos sprayed them all and they became restless armours.
They saluted the Dragonlord.
"Now then, where were we?" questioned the lord of evil.
He went to the throne room where the princess was.
"Your armies have fallen, princess!" exclaimed the Dragonlord.
Princess Peach pulled out a frying pan.
"Not another evildoer that wants to kidnap the princess!" shouted Toadsworth. A lot of evildoers seemed to want the princess these days. Koopas, evil witches…aliens…the list went on.
"I don't want to kidnap the princess. I want to make her my minion!" exclaimed the Dragonlord.
"What?!" shouted the elder Toad. That was a change of pace.
Baramos poured his potion on her.
But it had no effect.
"Huh?" asked Baramos.
"It appears that your potion doesn't affect humans. A minor setback…but it shouldn't stop my plans for world domination!" exclaimed the Dragonlord.
"World domination? Oh no!" exclaimed Toadsworth.
Baramos tossed a potion at Toadsworth and turned him into a grandpa slime.
"He turned into a grandpa slime…why doesn't that surprise me?" questioned the Dragonlord.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Peach. Was there any way to change him back to normal?
Luckily, she knew an escape route.
She decided to escape while the Dragonlord let out an evil laugh.
"I think we're done here. To the desert kingdom!" exclaimed the Dragonlord.
"Not so fast!" shouted Jessica.
"Oh look, a hero has showed up to stop us!" shouted Baramos. It seemed only a matter of time.
"Make that a heroine!" exclaimed the lord with a staff.
"You're not conquering this kingdom if I have anything to say about it!" yelled Jessica.
"Your courage is admirable. But you must obey the laws of this land!" exclaimed the Dragonlord.
"The laws of this land?" questioned the sorceress.
"In order to challenge me, you have to first go through eight different worlds…and vanquish my seven generals!" shouted the dragon lord.
"Aren't you violating the law by conquering the land?" reminded the mage.
"Even evil overlords have laws they must obey. Like how I can't hoard all the powerups in this land and put them somewhere where nobody can get them!" explained the Dragonlord.
That was how this world worked.
"I see." answered Jessica.
Things were different than they were back home.
"Will I get a chance to fight her?" asked Baramos. He was looking forward to that.
"If she makes it to World 8, then yes!" exclaimed the lord.
"Sounds fun!" cheered the horned dragon.
"This sounds like it's going to be a long journey." remarked Jessica.
"That's what makes it exciting!" shouted the Dragonlord.
"If you say so." spoke Jessica.
The Dragonlord and Baramos disappeared in a puff of blue smoke, as they had met their quota for transformed citizens.
They then reappeared in the Koopa Kingdom.
"It was nice of that evil overlord to leave a villain base for us, wouldn't you say?" asked Baramos.
A Peeper had explained to them that Bowser and his army had left, leaving the castle with little defenses.
Those defenses too had been transformed into monsters. Though Bowser's army was a bit monstrous to begin with.
"If he comes back, we can fight him for it." spoke the Dragonlord.
It seems the thought of someone conquering his kingdom while he was away never occurred to Bowser.
Since the Dragonlord and Baramos were gone, Peach decided to return.
"Thanks for standing up to him." thanked the princess. Jessica was doing well defending her kingdom. He was still out there, of course, but at least the citizens of Toad Town didn't have to worry about him for the time being.
"You're welcome…but now I need to go through eight worlds to get rid of him for good." noted Jessica.
That was not going to be an easy task.
"That does seem to be how things work around here. I have faith in you." spoke Peach.
She'll see if she could find some allies to help her in her quest.
She would go with Jessica herself, but somebody needed to calm the Toads after the attack. Though if she succeeded in getting them to calm down, maybe she could go on this journey.
"I was hoping to find a way home, but it seems that I should try to help the kingdom for the time being." spoke the sorceress.
"If you save the kingdom, I'll work on getting you a way back home." spoke Peach.
Although, she had chosen to stay in the world of mushrooms despite not being born there.
The minions had left, but many of them were missing.
It seemed half of the town's population had been transformed into monsters.
On the lighter side of things, the slimes that had attacked the town had made peace with the Toads.
They decided to form a truce after Jessica overwhelmed them.
"That's right. Not all monsters are evil." noted the sorceress. Typically the slimes were the ones that were most cooperative.
"What I wonder if there is a way to turn the Toads that were transformed back into their true selves…" thought Jessica.
Suddenly, a Toad came by covered in slime.
"What happened? The last thing I remembered was entering a house…and then getting hit by a fireball!" exclaimed the Toad.
"It seems if I defeat the monsters, I'll change them back to normal." noted Jessica.
That was pretty convenient.
Suddenly, she received a letter from Peach.
"Since you're still getting used to this world, I'll send someone to help you." read the letter.
Jessica wondered who that was.
Suddenly, a warp pipe appeared.
It was none other than Mario.
"So you're the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. Where were you when the slimes attacked?" questioned Jessica.
"The messenger got turned into a mushroom!" exclaimed Mario.
A Funghoul, to be precise.
Otherwise he would have been there defending the town. And by extension the castle.
Peach could fend for herself, of course, but he still wanted to be helpful. And there was only so much she could do by herself.
"Oh. Well, it's nice to meet you." spoke Jessica.
"Are you ready to save the Mushroom Kingdom?" asked the plumber.
She nodded.
He handed her a map of the Mushroom Kingdom and its different worlds.
"Acorn Plains…Layer-Cake Desert…Sparkling Waters…Frosted Glacier…Soda Jungle…Rock-Candy Mines…Meringue Clouds…Dragonlord's Castle…the environments are all over the place." noted Jessica.
Well, she might as well get started.
The first world was Acorn Plains.
So she made her way there.
She saw a fortress with a troll inside it.
"A troll, huh? I can handle that." spoke Jessica.
However, she found that the road had disappeared.
"Where did it go?" questioned the sorceress.
"You have to complete different levels to progress through-a the world." explained Mario.
"That sounds time consuming." noted Jessica.
But she guessed she might as well get started.
Acorn Plains Way
OST: War Cry (Dragon Quest 8)
The way through the plains contained more slimes.
"Huh. All the monsters here seem pretty weak." noted Jessica.
Mario nodded.
"But they're going to get stronger as I get closer to the Dragonlord's castle, aren't they?" questioned the sorceress.
"Looks-a that way." nodded the red plumber.
Sure enough, there were more slimes.
Mario leapt on them and took them down.
It seemed they were the equivalent of Goombas.
But some Teeny Sanguinis appeared.
"We're thirsty for blood!" exclaimed one of the sanguinis.
Luckily, they too went down easy.
'I wonder if they're related to the Drackies." questioned Jessica.
They seemed to have a lot of relatives.
Up next were some Woebergines.
"Why-a we're being attacked by eggplants?" questioned Mario.
"I don't know. Why does your world have mushrooms with feet?" asked Jessica.
The red plumber shrugged.
Though to be honest, he wasn't from this world either.
There was a flagpole up ahead.
"What's this flagpole doing here?" asked Jessica.
"That's-a how you complete the level!" exclaimed Mario.
"It is? Sounds easy enough." noted the mage.
However, she discovered there was a Cruelcumber guarding it.
He blew a raspberry at them.
"Hmm…these flagpoles seem-a bit more well-defended this-a time around." remarked the plumber.
"I guess the Dragonlord is a bit smarter than Bowser is." noted Jessica.
Still, Cruelcumbers weren't exactly tough.
The Cruelcumber lunged at her with a spear.
The only thing that they had to worry about was that he could use his spear to protect himself from being jumped upon.
"Is there any way for you attack him without jumping on him? I don't think that's a good idea." warned Jessica.
Mario thought about that.
He hit the Cruelcumber with his hammer.
"Ow!" exclaimed the Cruelcumber.
In retaliation, he poked Mario with his spear.
"Oof!" shouted Mario.
Jessica blasted the Cruelcumber with a fireball.
"I guess I'm making fried vegetables." spoke the princess.
The Cruelcumber collapsed on the ground.
Mario then pulled the flagpole.
"I wonder if I should try that." spoke Jessica.
She decided to try that herself.
'That was actually kind of fun.' noted the sorceress.
"I-a imagine we'll be-a doing that a lot!" exclaimed Mario.
"I bet we will." nodded Jessica.
She pulled on the flag and went into the fortress.
The next thing she knew, there was a path to the next level.
"I think I'm getting the hang of this." thought Jessica.
Still, she was lucky that she had Mario on her side.
He seemed rather strong.
Meanwhile...
"Where am I?" asked Alena.
She too had been sucked through a portal.
Only she was in the Beanbean Kingdom.
"Oh look! A human!" exclaimed a Bean.
"You're looking a little green." noted Alena.
The Bean let out a chuckle.
"Welcome to Beanbean Town!" exclaimed the Bean.
'I guess I'll make myself at home." spoke Alena.
I figured that I wouldn't have the Dragonlord kidnap the princess because I figured she could be a bit more than a plot device. And I'm basing her on her movie portrayal.
And yes, I decided to feature another DQ hero.
Let me know if you have any more suggestions.