I decided to make another pun!
This time Wario is involved.
I could have named the last chapter after him but I decided on Ruff instead.
So I decided to choose this chapter.
Chapter 22: Wario Beware
Wario pulled on the flagpole to unlock the way to the next level.
It was important to remember that.
Even in the chilly glacier, there were Toads living there.
It seemed that they could adapt to a variety of environments.
They had gear if they wanted it.
This time, Peach and Luigi would accompany Wario.
While he might fart sometimes, they appreciated him helping them fight the Dragonlord.
Though it wasn't strictly out of altruism.
Cooligan Fields
OST: Cool, Cool Mountain
"The Cooligans are playing ice hockey." said Jessica.
They seemed to be having fun.
The heroes could join in, but they had a mission to complete.
Maybe once they were done they could have a Mario Party.
Indeed they are. Changing the level name.
Pogoin' Fields
As the name implied, there were more penguins.
The Pogoin' Penguins decided to change their strategy somewhat from last time. They figured a new strategy might work better.
While some still fired snowballs, some decided to slide towards our heroes instead.
They also ate some fish to heal themselves.
"That's a tasty fish!" exclaimed a Pogoin' Penguin.
There were also Powie Yowies in the area as well.
It seemed appropriate for yetis to appear in a snow level.
There was also a Troll as well.
He let out a laugh and marched towards our heroes.
But Wario knocked them down with his fist.
"How'd you get so strong?" asked the troll.
"Garlic works wonders!" exclaimed Wario.
Though it definitely helped that he was a video game character.
There were Bewarewolves roaming the level.
One of them let out a howl.
"I didn't think we would be fighting werewolves." noted Peach.
"To be fair they have appeared in multiple Dragon Quest games." acknowledged Jessica.
When they were hit, they could increase their tension in retaliation.
So it would be a good idea to try to take them out quickly. Before their tension got too high.
On the lighter side of things, one did not need silver to fight the wolves.
It wouldn't be surprising if Wario had some though. He had a lot of treasures. Or he did, anyway.
There were Drackolytes as well.
Seeing as the sun had gone down, it seemed the Drackolytes had decided to assist the other monsters living there.
These Drackies had some experience with magic.
They could cast Bang.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Luigi.
"Ooh!" shouted Peach.
But Jessica could fire spells of her own back at them.
"Ouchies! Back to studying for us!" exclaimed a Drackolyte.
Last but not least were Slimecicles.
It seemed some slimes had adapted to the icy cold.
And yes, they could use ice magic.
This time the boss monster was another named monster.
The Abominable Showman.
"Are you ready for a show?" asked the yeti.
He was holding onto a microphone.
"Two named monsters in a row? How about that." remarked Jessica.
"We seem-a to be encountering them a lot-a recently." noted Luigi.
The Abominable Showman summoned a spotlight.
"What's he up to?" asked Luigi.
The spotlight stopped on him.
"Huh?" questioned the plumber.
"You've been chosen to dive into a shark tank!" exclaimed the showman.
"A WHAT tank?!" shouted Luigi.
That did not sound good.
Suddenly, he found himself falling into a shark tank.
"Mamamia!" exclaimed the plumber.
He fell into the tank, which let out a splash.
"Oh a-no…" spoke Luigi. It was clear that he was in a bad situation.
He took some damage from the sharks.
Quickly, he leapt out of the shark tank.
Luckily, he hadn't lost too much HP. Otherwise he might end up out of the fight. Though he did admit to himself that there were three other party members in reserve.
"I think we should try to avoid that spotlight if we can." noted Peach.
Otherwise bad things would happen to them.
Luigi used his Poltergust to spew fire in retaliation for being attacked by sharks.
"I'm-a turning up the heat!" exclaimed Luigi.
It was a direct hit.
"Ouchies!" exclaimed the Abominable Showman. He did not do well in hot temperatures. Hence him choosing to join the invasion of Frosted Glacier.
However, the spotlight was moving towards Luigi.
He moved out of the way.
But the Abominable Showman licked him with his tongue.
"Mamamia!" exclaimed Luigi.
He didn't mind Polterpup licking him, but having this yeti lick him was unsettling.
Alistair burned it with his fire breath to teach him a lesson.
"Yeowch!" exclaimed the showman.
He stopped for a moment to dip his tongue in some water.
The spotlight moved towards Jessica, but Wario moved her out of the way.
"Thanks!" exclaimed Jessica.
Occasionally, Wario could do something nice. But other times he could be a bit insensitive.
Unfortunately for Wario, the spotlight ended up on him instead.
"You like money, eh? Why don't you have some!" exclaimed the showman.
Money fell on top of Wario.
Heavy money bags.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Wario.
This was very ironic.
Perhaps he should be more careful what he wishes for.
"Who wants to be part of the show?" asked the Abominable Showman.
He received a letter.
"Alright then!" exclaimed the showman.
The Abominable Showman summoned Feralballs.
"Oh boy! I always wanted to be in the spotlight!" shouted one of the Feralballs.
"Don't you usually appear sooner in Dragon Quest games?" asked Jessica. They had a tendency to be starter monsters for novice Dragon Quest monsters to fight.
"We figured it was better late than never!" exclaimed another Feralball.
The Feralballs fired beams from their antennas at our heroes.
And yes, there was a video game where they could do that.
Wario farted on the Feralballs, leaving them stunned.
"Should you really be farting on your enemies?" asked Peach.
"It gets results!" exclaimed Wario.
This time, the spotlight ended up on Peach.
"Have people ever called you the bomb?" questioned the showman.
Bombs rained down from above.
But Peach blocked them with her parasol.
Some of them went towards Abominable Showman instead.
"I can't believe my own attack was used against me!" exclaimed the showman as he was hit by explosives.
Jessica finished off the showman with a fireball.
And yes, she had done that before.
"The show's over…" spoke the Abominable Showman.
Jessica pulled on the flagpole.
The heroes could see a tower up ahead.
This tower was teal, which was appropriate since it was located in an ice area.
"Mamamia!" exclaimed Wario.
He recognized its guardian.
Sure enough, the Blue Dragon was waiting for them.
"Enter my tower if you dare…" said the blue dragon.
Alistair began to whimper.
He thought that dragon was rather scary.
It didn't look much like the cute Yoshis that lived in Yoshi's Island, that was for sure.
Jessica comforted Alistair.
"I guess it's not a named monster this time." noted the redhead.
Still, a blue dragon was not to be underestimated.
Green dragons respected their power.
And so did a lot of other monsters. Though a few of them feared the dragons instead.
If they wanted to beat the blue dragon, they would need to work as a team.
It would be also be helpful if they could protect themselves from her icy breath as well.
Luckily, they sold equipment at the shop that provided ice protection.
It seemed they knew what monsters our heroes would be facing.
Though admittedly it wasn't hard to guess given their environment.
They decided it would be a good idea to buy some.
Jessica bought some anti freeze earrings.
"I imagine this will come in handy against the blue dragon." noted the magician.
It would likely come in handy in the world itself as well.
Jade decided to buy some as well.
She figured that she would lend a hand in the blue dragon fight.
Though she had been in more than a few fights already.
Wario bought some frost overalls.
Admittedly, he didn't like spending money.
But considering how much the blue dragon had scared him, he was willing to make an exception.
Peach bought an ice crown.
It also provided ice protection. And it could be used to cast insulatle.
It looked like they were ready to fight the dragon.
So they entered the tower.
Back at Chateau de Chucklehuck…
"Let us know if Popple comes back, OK?" asked Alena. She would feel bad if he stole something precious from the chateau.
Cork and Cask nodded.
They figured that they could count on the heroes if Popple showed himself around the chateau again. They were a capable bunch.
As our heroes left the chateau, Cork and Cask told them something important.
"By ze way, you can only have four party members." spoke Cork.
"Zat is how Quete du Dragon works!" explained Cask. Dragon Quest players usually knew that. Though if someone was a newcomer to the series, there was always a tutorial of some kind.
"Oh, right." noted Alena. She was familiar with party planning. She did that when the heroes of DQ IV united to take on Psaro the Manslayer.
Apparently, having five party members at once on the field would make things too easy for them.
She would typically called in if an enemy was deflecting magic. Since she was not a magician, she didn't have to worry about shields of magic.
Peasley decided to relax for the time being and eat some Chuckola fruit that had been generously provided by the two caretakers of the chateau.
If he was called upon, he would replace a member of their team.
Our heroes arrived in Chucklehuck Woods.
Now that they had been trained by Cork and Cask, they felt ready to handle it.
It was good that they had been trained, because there were new enemies up ahead.
There were Boo Guys haunting the forest.
"These look like a cross between a Boo and a Shy Guy." noted Alena.
"That they do." spoke Kiryl.
"Ooooooo!" moaned one of the spooky Shy Guys.
This was not enough to scare Ruff. In the past, he had fought against Orgodemir. Though he had been drained when he entered the Beanbean Kingdom. It was part of the reason he ate some Chuckola fruit. So he could regain his strength.
"I ain't afraid of no ghost!" shouted Ruff.
"That's a double negative." pointed out Nera.
"Huh?" asked the boy. He did not know what that meant.
"Don't you mean I'm not afraid of a ghost?" asked the blue-haired girl.
"Yeah. Wait, isn't there more than one?" questioned Ruff.
"Boooo!" shouted another Boo Guy.
These Shy Guys could temporarily turn invisible.
"These enemies are a little tricky to hit." noted Alena.
But fortunately for our heroes, they had Ruff on their side.
He could sniff them out.
"How come our cloaking power didn't work?" asked a Boo Guy.
There were Pestnuts in the area as well.
They were the equivalent of Spiked Goombas.
But they were more dangerous than them because they could roll towards our heroes.
And they were rather fast.
So it would be best for our heroes to defend themselves if possible.
Luckily, Nera found that fire worked well against them.
One of them turned out to be a gold Beanie in disguise.
"I've been exposed!" exclaimed the Pestnut.
Ruff decided to grab it.
It dropped a badge.
Apparently this would protect him from spikes.
"I like it!" exclaimed Ruff.
Our heroes noticed there was a Wiggler up ahead.
Wigglers were noticeably bigger than other members of Bowser's army.
And when they were attacked, they turned red and started rampaging.
So it was best to be careful around them. And work together as a team to bring them down as well.
Luckily, they seemed few in number in comparison to the other baddies. Apparently big baddies come in small qualities.
One of the Wigglers began to attack.
"Wazzup!" exclaimed a Wiggler.
He headbutted Ruff.
"Ouch!" shouted the boy.
He bit the Wiggler on the nose in retaliation.
"Ow! My nose!" exclaimed the giant caterpillar.
It certainly was a big one.
There were also Chargin' Chucks.
It seemed that some Koopa Troopas liked to play football.
Their football suits provided them some protection from attacks.
And yes, they liked to charge.
One of them tackled Kiryl.
"Can you get him off me?" asked Kiryl.
Alena nodded and shoved the football player off of him.
"Thanks!" exclaimed the priest.
It was a bit ironic that the princess was protecting him given the reason why he accompanies her.
But he wasn't complaining.
"I wonder where Wendy is." spoke Alena. The woods were fairly large, so it seemed they would have to do some searching before they found her.
She had to be in the forest somewhere.
The Beanstar did not lie.
Though it was possible that she had left the woods.
But judging from the Bowser minions in the area, that wasn't likely.
"Maybe she's in the heart of the forest?" asked Kiryl.
"That would be a good place to search." noted the princess.
Luckily, there was a map of the woods they could use.
Where would Wendy have chosen?
As it turned out, she was inside the largest Chuckola tree.
Which was Mother Chuckolola.
It seemed as fortified of a place as any.
She wondered if the minions could handle things.
But she decided not to worry about it.
She had Wigglers on her side.
And they were big.
There were Winkles living in the woods.
"Hello." spoke the Winkle.
"Is that a talking snail?" asked Ruff.
Then again, he used to be a wolf cub before he turned into a boy.
"Are you here to help us with the Bowser Baddies? We're too slow to outrun them." noted one of the Winkles.
Though they did have shells for protection.
Alena nodded.
The Winkles had equipment they were selling.
It looked as if this would be a good way to spend their money.
Our heroes decided to see what they had for sale.
They also invited Prince Peasley.
They might only have four party members at a time but it was still a good idea to keep everyone upgraded.
Nera bought an oak staff.
It seemed appropriate that the Winkles were selling it considering they were in a forest.
Ruff already got an accessory, so he figured maybe he should save his money for the time being.
Kiryl bought a battle fork.
Alena bought a cloak of evasion.
It would help her dodge her attacks, for sure.
Peasley bought a bean crown.
It would increase his speed.
After they were done shopping, our heroes decided to resume their journey.
If they could drive the Bowser baddies from the woods, they would have done a good deed.
What do you think of this chapter? I figured I would feature some of the bosses from Dragon Quest games aside from the final bosses…or climactic bosses in Baramos' case.
Can our heroes find Wendy?
And yes, the Winkles didn't operate a shop in the actual game.
But I figured that our heroes could buy items in places other than Beanbean Castle Town or Little Fungitown.
They both have good things for sale but I figured our heroes could find other shops to buy from.