The castle's interior was unkempt. Spider webs hung from the ceilings, surrounded my mildew and crumbling stone work. All the while, the recently deceased koopas worked their bones off to stop us from getting any farther. Unfortunately, I was a master of koopa shell kickball and sent them soaring with one swift kick of my padded boots. Peach was quick to stick any koopa shell on the end of her parasol and swing them back quickly. Goombella took the simpler option of colliding with her enemies head first, bashing their skulls against her hard hat and watching them move around disjointly. Koops stayed mostly in the back of the group, only use his own shell to charge of Drybones that came towards him.
"Geez, these things are relentless!" I commented as the Drybones we had taken out turned back into a pile of random bones.
"We'd better move quickly." Goombella chirped up. "Unless you burn them then those bones will come back up and be on us again." Unfortunately, I'm not the specialist when it comes to fire attacks.
"Then let's move quickly. I'd rather not have to deal with regenerating enemies."
"I wonder why they're even stopping us. Wouldn't they want Hooktail gone?" Peach asked smacking another drybones apart.
"Maybe they're just malevolent." I offered smacking away at the skeleton enemies that approached. "Doomed souls who wander unending forever until they are put to rest."
"Ah how poetic." Peach replied swooning.
"Not as poetic when you see them up close." Koops commented trying to stay close to us.
"Let's just get through them before they grab us with their boney hands." Goobella added…hehe, bony hands.
We stepped into what seemed to be a cell room. More koopa skeletons scattered the floor, but to our left side I could see barred off areas where prisoners might be placed, as punishment for their crimes.
"All empty." I said kicking the bars of one of the cells. "Waste of a prison."
"Guess Hooktail doesn't like to wait to eat his victims." Goombella commented. The sound of Koops screaming had us turn to see Peach and Koops looking over one of the piles of Koopa bones. The only difference with this one was the blue boots that stood out from the usual dark green the others had, and the letter in its bone grip.
"OH NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Koops crouched down, looking ready to cry, "These bones…they remind me of…m-my father…there's no doubt about it…these bones are my father!" With that, Koops let out a guttural yell, "DAAAAAAAAD!" I moved over to put my hand on his shell as he sobbed. As I did, Peach reached for the letter in the dead koopa's grasp and opened it up to read it aloud.
"I came to this castle to destroy Hooktail, but I am stuck and can go no further. So in this letter, I shall note Hooktail's weakness for those who follow. The dread Hooktail cannot tolerate creatures that stalk the darkened grass, singing their lonely song to the silence of the night." Cryptic. "Hidden somewhere in this castle is an item related to Hooktail's weakness. If one is to have any hope of defeating Hooktail, one must first find that item. One last thing: if faced with ultimate doom, the fiend will use any trick to save itself. If you hope to defeat it, do not give in to your kinder nature and fall for its tricks. Alas, I do not have the strength to continue writing. Already, mist veils my eyes. My last words go to my son-" Peach stopped there suddenly and gave a small giggle, making Koops look up in confusion. "Kolorado: I love you, and I'm proud of who you've become." Suddenly, the atmosphere of depression and forlorn feelings vanished from the room as we all just stared at Peach who looked quite amused with herself.
"K-Kolorado?" Koops asked. "Not…Koops?" Peach shook her head. Goombella and I turned to Koops who's cheeks were looking a bit redder.
"So…I guess this isn't my father after all." He bashfully chuckled as I rolled my eyes and helped him back to his feet.
"Don't worry, I'm sure the next pile of bones will be your dad." I teased, patting him on his shell.
At the end of the hall stood a door forward, but before it sat a pile of pink koopa bones, clutching what looked to be an ornate key for the castle. As I reached to take the key from its hand, it began to rattle, making all of us back up as I put my hand around my weapon.
"Blaarf harf harf HARF! You clearly don't value your lives much if you've come to this castle and steal from the dead. You will go no further, and from this moment on…you'll be nothing but bones!" Before any of us could react, the ground suddenly darkened and I looked up to see a shower of drybones rain from above us. As I scrambled to break the grasp of the undead koopas, I looked to see Goombella and Peach being pushed back to the way we came in. Koops had already receded into his shell in fear, making the other Drybones disregard him. I whacked and swung at the drybones, trying to get them off me but finding it difficult as every one I took out was replaced by two more. They were slowly pushing me back despite my best efforts, if I could just hit that one pink guy maybe they would disperse. But these things are all over me. I need to shoot something at him…or someone…
"Hey Koops! Stay in your shell, but when I say, jump up!" I wrestled out of the grip of the drybones and rushed for where Koops was. Once I was next to him, I gave a quick spin, dispersing the drybones around me and readied to swing my wooden blade like a bat, "NOW!" Koops leaped up his shell, meeting me at swing level and making it perfect as I swung at his shell, sending him flying towards the pink drybones, knocking through every other drybones along the way. Once I had swung, I rushed to follow Koops trajectory, being close by to catch my HEAVY friend and place him down as the pink drybones head spun around its body. I followed up with a strike at its ribcage making it rattle wildly. I looked closer and noticed the spot I had struck full force was looking cracked. "Maybe I can't burn you, but turning you to dust should suffice!" I wound up and gave another bat strike, smacking against the drybones and reducing the entire skeleton to dust that floated into the air as the key I saw earlier clanked against the ground.
As soon as the pink drybones was destroyed, the others just looked at me in shock before scattering out of the room, leaving me, a slightly disheveled Peach and Goombella, and a dizzy looking Koops.
"Those drybones." Peach said in a huff, straightening her skirt and clothes. "You'd think they'd never handled a lady before."
"Considering they're dead-" Goobella replied putting her hard-hat back on and readjusting her pack. "-I'd think they haven't seen women in years.
"Ooooh." Koops groaned looking downright queasy. "I think I'm going to hurl."
"Keep it in buddy." I said helping him back on his feet before stepping back to stay out of his vomit range. "We've still got to deal with Hooktail." I looked down to find the key still sitting on the gorund. Grabbing it and stuffing it into my pocket, I turned to the door the pink drybones had been in front of. "They tried to push us out…" Are these drybones just trying to protect us from Hooktail? I turned to see Peach right next to me.
"They must really be afraid of Hooktail if they're trying to keep us out." I could only nod in agreement. Seems even the dead fear the dragon.
Moving through the castle didn't get any easier after that. If anything, the drybones became more aggressive, leaping at us from rafters and from under carpet. Moving up the castle was a trial in its own right, leaving us exhausted as we hit another dungeon room. The only difference being the one badge in an open cell. It was a badge that had the picture of a cricket on it.
"Strange badge."
"Maybe it gives you hopping powers." Peach offered. I clicked the badge onto my jacket and crouched to do a big jump off the ground…only to jump a few inches up and crash to the ground.
"I don't think it does that." I replied with a groan.
With the new badge pocketed we kept moving up, eventually coming to a locked door. Luckily, the key from the drybones was what we needed to get through. Although once it was put into the lock and clicked, the key broke in half, with the key end staying jammed in the now open lock.
"Damn old keys." I muttered tossing the handle end away and opening the door. The room inside was obviously some kind of armory/treasure room with the amount of stuff just crammed into it. Even more impressive was the amount of treasure chests that was scattered around the room. I looked over to see Goombella looking at the room with glee.
"It's amazing." I chuckled at her comment and turned back to see someone rummaging through various crates and chests. They were tall as they had to bend over to reach into the box that came up to their hips. They wore red heel boots and had very womanly hips around what looked to be a dark red jumper with a hole for…their…tail. When they came out of the box, I got a better look at the woman who was pocketing the badges she seemed to collect. Her eyes were covered by a red mask with white lenses; her hair was a pure white that fell down her back elegantly and she had healthy pink skin that bordered on rosy. As I suspected she wore a full red suit that was slightly zipped down to reveal her ample bosom just enough to distract anyone foolish enough to be distracted by them. Her tail was thin and a hairless black while on top of her head were a pair of white mouse ears. She just giggled before moving closer to us.
"I didn't expect company. Especially such cute company." As she said that last line she leaned in and put all her attention on my face. Before I could reply, I was surprised to see Peach put her parasol between me and the mouse girl.
"Might do you good to back up, or you won't see anything cute for a while, especially in the mirror." The mouse girl just giggled at Peach's threat before leaning away from me and standing up straight.
"It's surprising to see other thieves here though. I didn't think anyone would come to this castle."
"We're not thieves!" Goombella yelled.
"Says the girl who lives for treasure and adventure." I shot back.
"Perks of the job." Sure, that's what that is.
"Um, who are you?" Koops asked and the mouse thief gave a pose.
"Ms. Mowz, the globe-trotting thief! Heard of me sweetie?" I looked to see Koops turning a very dark shade of red as he looked away from her. "I heard there was a rare and valuable badge here so I came to collect it. Although I am much more interested in why people like YOU are roaming around such a run-down place.
"We're here to take out Hooktail." I replied. She just smiled and stepped forward again.
"I doubt that's all sweetie. Seems you're looking for something as well." I had to look away as her attention to me directly was making my cheeks heat up. "Won't you tell me?" She reached for my chin and pulled so I was looking directly into her eyes, she was a few inches shorter than me but her intense gaze left me feeling compelled to let her take control as her eyes bore through me for my secrets. Eventually she just giggled and let go making me realize how fast my heart was beating as I gripped my left pectoral. "Well, regardless of what you're looking for, I got what I came for. You're free to whatever you manage to grab. If you can of course." I looked over to get a gauge of the others' emotions only to find Peach giving what I could immediately tell was a fake smile laced with bloodlust, Goombella looking down right pissed as she seemed to snarl at Ms. Mowz, and Koops still avoiding eye contact. In that moment I took to look away, I felt the mouse girl give me a peck on the cheek and quickly turned to see her already leaning out the nearby open window. "Mmmm hmm hmm hmm! As much fun as this has been, I really must be on my way cutie." C-Cutie!? "Oh, but allow me to give you a bit of advice. That cricket badge you found should be useful if you're planning on taking on Hooktail. Well, tata for now handsome. Let's get together again real soon!" With those final words she leapt out the window leaving only the four of us and my close to bursting heart palpitations in the room.
"…Floozie."
"I wonder if I can have the royal army hunt her down?"
"What a bold woman." Those three are going to be stuck in their own little worlds for a little bit I see.
What Ms. Mowz had left behind was more valuable than I expected her to leave. Quite a few recovery items and battle helpful tools that had some kick to them. I even found an extra key to the castle that would let us keep advancing. All the while I could hear all three of my allies still muttering about that thief we had run into earlier. Luckily, they were still cognizant in combat but Peach seemed more aggressive, knocking a few of the drybones through open windows. I'd be worried since we're on the seventh floor but they were already dead so I tucked that worry aside and just prayed we didn't run into anyone living. Eventually we went through another door. Unfortunately, we broke the key I found but it led outside to a large tower with an even larger door. Hooktail had to be behind here.
"Everyone ready. Hooktail has to be behind this door." I turned back to address my team. Peach and Goombella gave confident nods but Koops was shivering in place.
"M-Maybe this was too much for me…I don't know if I can do this."
"Come on man, this isn't just for you…it's for your dad." Koops took a long inhale, followed by a quick but powerful exhale that seemed to push all of the anxiety and fear out of him. He looked ready and gave me a nod. "Alright, let's do this." We all moved forward and pushed the large double doors open, just enough to enter the room and stepped into the darkened room.
We slowly moved in, adjusting to the darkened room. But before our eyes could adjust, something swung over us and slammed the doors we had struggled to open shut with a loud bang. When my eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, we were standing in front of a massive red dragon. As it looked down at us, a puff of smoke billowed from its nose making all of us cough as the smoke covered us.
"Who dares approach me?" The voice that came out was deep yet feminine, like a commanding older queen. "I did not expect more to come to steal the treasure I protect. Such rashness…"
"Protect and hoard are two very different things." I said and the dragon's eyes narrowed on me.
"You are very presumptuous to think I would give it up regardless of why I have it. A foolish move on your end. Do you really think you can beat me?" Peach and I drew our weapons, as Koops and Goombella moved to take up a battle stance of their own. "Foolish beings. You will make tasty additives for my stew. Maybe a few pieces on your feet to truly bring out the flavor." I slightly lowered my weapon in confusion at her comment.
"Spices won't bring out the flavor, if anything they'll cover it." The dragon seemed intrigued by my words. "You want a method that will bring out our natural flavor and pair it with spices that will enhance the essence of taste…how about a sauté?" The dragon's eyes widened in realization
"Perfect! A sauté in wine will be the perfect thing to cook your meat!"
"That sounds delicious!"
"Doesn't it!"
"Soren." Peach said tapping my shoulder. "Maybe we shouldn't help her learn how to properly cook US?" Oh, right.
"Sorry, my bad." I reaffirmed my battle stance and that seemed to snap the dragon out of its future cooking plans as it roared at us. Time to defeat a dragon!
I rushed in first, smacking the dragon against the large nose, making her yelp in pain before snarling and trying to bite at me. I quickly skid back and Peach moved in, jumping up and stabbing her parasol onto Hooktail's back before opening her parasol and bouncing back to the group. Goombella followed up with a bonk against Hooktail's face and Koops finished with a shell smack against her feet making her pull her paw up in pain.
"Stubborn snacks! Let's see how you look cooked well-done!" Hooktail reeled back, and I saw a flame start to well up in the corner of its mouth.
"Everyone move out of range of her mouth!" We all scrambled to the side as Hooktail whipped her head forward, releasing a powerful flame breath that almost charred my behind.
"You may have dodged my first breath but you won't do so twice!" She was right, we can't keep moving to the side to avoid her…wait, didn't Ms. Mowz say the cricket badge would be useful…might as well try it. I clipped the badge back onto my jacket and rushed in, going for another smack. When it connected she yelped again, but this time it was followed by a look of unease. "Is that the sound of a cricket? The last time I ate a cricket it made me sick for months! Just thinking about it makes me woozy…" Too bad any fire breath now will be blocked by vomit!
"Alright everyone, rush her!" As soon as I shouted that, we all went on the offensive, me keeping up my quickest attacks to keep her woozy. Anytime she tried to strike me with her claws, I backed up and hit her with my blade boomerang.
"Wait wait wait!" Hooktail shouted. "I'm sorry, I've learned my lesson, please let me go! I'll even give you a thousand coins! What do you say?"
"Yeah, that won't work." I replied quickly, leaning on my own bamboo blade.
"Then…how about this ultra-rare super badge I have. I'll give you that!"
"No thanks." Peach replied.
"Really!? Well…I suppose I could apologize by letting you smell the bottom of my feet."
"EEEWWWWWWW!" Goombella shrieked.
"People pay good money to do this. I'm being completely honest right now. Really."
"Yeah, we've all seen the internet." I replied.
"We still won't fall for any of your tricks!" Koops yelled out. Hooktail snarled.
"Fine then, I didn't want to have to resort to this, but I will not lose here!" Hooktail tore at a nearby curtain, opening the room up to the light.
"Soren, look!" Koops yelled as he pointed up to the ceiling. Looking, I could see a net full of koopas directly above Hooktail. Hooktail swung her tai at a rope on the side, disengaging the net. She raised her mouth and swallowed every single koopa as they fell into her mouth. "NO!"
"How horrible!" Goombella said in horror as Peach and I just looked on in complete shock. She didn't care at all. Not too surprising in retrospect but still a terrible thing to see in person. She gave a loud gulp as she swallowed the last koopa.
"Gahahahahaa! Now I'm back to full strength!" Damn! Now we're back to square one. If we could just empty her stomach then she wouldn't have any strength to fight back…hang on. I unclipped the cricket badge and held it up so Hooktail could see.
"Then how about you hit me with your best shot!" Hooktail turned to me and puffed smoke at me. She inhaled deeply, a flame building up in her mouth. "Koops, pink drybones!" Koops looked at me in confusion before his eyes went big and he receded into his shell. I threw the cricket badge at Goombella, "Attach that to his shell!" She nodded and moved over with Peach to put the badge on Koops. When it was attached, she gave a thumbs up, "Peach give it your best hit!" Peach rushed over and smacked Koops shell with her parasol, sending it flying at me. With a powerful swing, I timed it just right and smacked Koops directly into Hooktail's mouth. She stopped her buildup, stunned at what happened before she looked sicker than ever as the sounds of a cricket could be heard from inside her stomach as Koops smacked against her insides.
"Oooooooh…no…fair." I put my weapon away and rushed to the girls, pulling them to behind Hooktail. What followed was an upchuck of every single koopa Hooktail had swallowed, including Koops. When Hooktail was done, she collapsed to the ground and stopped moving at all.
"Not a way I've ever defeated an enemy before but I'll take it."
"But we never speak of it." Peach said and Goombella and I nodded in agreement.
We quickly regrouped with Koops who looked on the verge of his own upchuck. I rubbed his back as he tried to collect himself.
"I knew what your plan was…urp…but I still wasn't ready for it."
"Thanks for going along with it all the same. That was really brave dude." He smiled at my compliment. I looked at all the other koopas who were trying to collect themselves.
"Any of them your dad?" Koops looked at all the koopas but just looked down with a sad expression.
"No…none of them are." Damn…this isn't fair. Before we could comfort him though, we heard a large gurgling sound. The four of us turned to see Hooktail open her mouth and spit out a blue shell that landed in front of us. When the koopa emerged from it, he gave a long stretch.
"Ooooooh! Man, I haven't been out of there in ten years!" Koops eyes went wide and watery at the koopa.
"D-Dad!?" He rushed towards the rugged koopa who turned and smiled at Koops.
"Son! Is that you? It's been a while. You got a lot taller."
"Among other things." I commented.
"Who cares about that!? Dad, it's been so long since I saw you."
"More importantly, how did you survive for ten years in there!?" Goombella asked looking shocked. It was a good question though.
"It wasn't easy. I'd packed enough rations to last me a while but getting water involved waiting for Hooktail to drink and then standing under it before it hit the stomach acids."
"That's gross." Peach commented.
"Not gross, survival." I corrected.
"Lucky for me, Hooktail's stomach acids couldn't get through my shell! Ahahahahahahahaha!"
"Honestly dad." Koops said with an exasperated breath. "Do you have any idea how worried we all were?"
"Sorry son…but, all's well that ends well!" I like this guy. "Speaking of, what are you doing here?"
"I came to take out Hooktail. And my friends here were looking for the crystal star." He motioned to us and we waved to his dad.
"Crystal Star?" He receded into his shell and came back out, this time holding a large grey star shaped gem, "This thing was knocking around Hooktail's stomach, is this what you were looking for?"
"Yes!" Peach said in glee. "That's exactly what we were looking for!"
"Perfect! Then go ahead and take it. Consider it thanks for defeating Hooktail!" I stepped forward and took the crystal star from his hands, feeling a strange energy well up in me as I held the star in my hands. It felt like I had attained some kind of new power just from contact with the strange gem. A rumbling brought me out of my awe as Hooktail began to stir again. Everyone started to panic as the large dragon turned to me and snarled.
"You think making me vomit means you've won! I will not be defeated so easily! You will all be food in my stomach!" Deciding to trust this new feeling I stepped forward and focused on the energy in my body. On instinct, I slammed my palm onto the ground in front of Hooktail.
"Earth Tremor!" The ground shook below us. Even Hooktail looked shocked before the ground under her rose in a swift motion that sent the dragon flying into the sky too quickly for it to respond. Moving over to the window, I watched as the large dragon flew across the sky before plummeting to the ground far away from here. Considering the distance and height of that fall I think it was safe to assume Hooktail was thoroughly dead if not also a ground pancake. I felt someone latch onto my back and turned to see Peach had collided with me to give me a tight hug.
"That was so cool!" I chuckled in reply as she stepped back from me. This was just the first crystal star, we still had more to find and I was willing to bet our adventure was far from over.
A sigh from Goombella brought me out of my musings as I turned to see a disappointed look on her face.
"What's wrong?" She turned to me.
"I was promised treasure." I looked around at the now dragonless room and didn't see a scrap of any of the items she had tried to tempt us with.
"Maybe next time?" I offered.
"Yeah right…when's the next time we'll see a dragon?" Fair point…maybe I should let her hang onto the Cricket badge as a souvenir.