In this chapter, five shall become six!
And our heroes will fight Krystalinda.
Perhaps I could also call this chapter Krystal Klear.
Heh heh.
Oh, and I got 1337 words while writing a chapter again.
Chapter 28: Ashes to Ashlynn
Wendy's Shifting Castle
"Didn't Wendy leave and go to the Chucklehuck Woods?" asked Jessica.
"I've had Chuckola Soda before." noted Mario.
It tasted pretty good.
Perhaps he could buy some from a shop. It might restore HP and/or MP.
It looks like it's Krystalinda's time to shine then. As a side note, Wendy's been defeated.
Krystalinda's Shifting Castle
"I guess someone else is fighting the forces of evil." noted Mario.
Some Sculpture Vultures walked towards them.
As their environment would suggest, they had chilly breath.
"Did Krystalinda make these sculptures?" asked Mario.
"She sure did!" exclaimed one of the vultures.
But they were naturally vulnerable to fire.
Mario used his Firehand against them.
"You have no respect for art!" exclaimed one of the sculptures.
"I do! Art makes lots of money!" shouted Wario.
They said a picture was worth 1000 words…but it could also be worth 1000 coins.
There were also Frostburns.
Were they ice or fire enemies?
It was hard to tell. Though the fact that they were in World 4 indicated the former.
But either way, they had to watch out for their chilly fireballs.
Otherwise they would get freezer burn.
They could cast Whack, so there was some luck fighting them. And the occasional 1-Up Mushroom as well.
However, it turned out Mario's Firehand worked well against them.
It seemed they were more ice than fire.
Or did the two flames cancel each other out? There was an origin to fighting fire with fire.
There were Spinchillas in the castle as well.
In addition to their chilly tornadoes, there was also their Crackle spell they needed to worry about.
Mario became dizzy after being spun around by one of the tornadoes.
"People say we look a lot like Cyclowns." noted one of the Spinchillas.
"I can see the resemblance." replied Jessica.
Wario punched a Spinchilla.
"How about you take my fists out for a spin?" asked Wario.
There were also Sham Hatwitchs.
These pigs liked to use magic.
One of them cast Swoosh.
"Mamamia!" exclaimed Mario.
That gust of wind almost blew off his hat.
They could also use fire breath…though that was unusual given their environment.
Perhaps the monsters wanted some warmth here as well.
Wario decided to take their hats.
"Oh no! Our hats!" exclaimed the piggy witches.
There were also Mad Moais in the castle as well.
It seemed they had taken the place of Thwomps.
They had to be careful to avoid being crushed.
But of course, they could fight back against them.
This was based on a role playing game, after all.
Though it was also based on a platformer.
Wario used his strength to tip one over.
"Well, this is just perfect!" exclaimed one of the Mad Moais.
Last but not least, there were Rockin' Rockhoppers.
These penguins threw snowballs faster than their pogoin' brethen.
But they still shared the same weakness.
"We should stay out of the kitchen." noted one of the rockhoppers as he was attacked by Mario's Firehand.
He preferred raw fish, anyway.
Our heroes saw an enormous door.
They slowly opened it. They suspected what was waiting behind that door.
Their hunch turned out to be right. It led to Krystalinda.
She was waiting in her throne room.
The throne was cyan in color.
There were Snowmangler and Powie Yowie statues in the throne room as well.
Also, there was an icy chandelier on the ceiling.
Jade noticed that she had a staff that had a miniature dragon on top of it.
"I see that you managed to make it to my throne room. Allow me to show you the true power of ice!" exclaimed Krystalinda.
Krystalinda fired off a Kacrack spell.
"Brrrrr…" spoke Jessica. That was nothing short of cold.
"I agree with you." noted Jade.
Krystalinda summoned some Picksys to assist her.
The Picksys bowed to her.
"What can we do for you, your icy highness?" asked a Picksy.
They too had the power to control ice. One breathed ice on Mario.
"Mamamia!" exclaimed Mario.
And they could use Acceleratle as well.
This was not good, because this accelerated Krystalinda as well.
As such, Jessica decided to cast Boom to take them out before Krystalinda got too fast for them to handle.
The Picksys were sent flying. They were light on their feet, it seemed.
Wario put on his Metal Cap. Metal was helpful for breaking through ice.
He began to attack Krystalinda.
"That's a decent powerup." noted the sorceress as she was hit by Wario's fists.
"You bet it is!" exclaimed Wario. He was glad that he had bought it from the shop.
"I better do something about it." spoke Krystalinda.
She cast Disruptive Wave.
Wario lost his powerup.
"What happened?" asked Wario. He could have sworn he was made of metal just a few moments ago.
"I remember that attack." spoke Jessica. Dhoulmagus used it to counter their buffs. Afterwards, multiple bosses had it.
"I remember it too." noted Jade. Though it had debuted much later in her adventure by comparison. It seemed the developers had decided to make Dragon Quest XI easier than Dragon Quest VIII.
Though there were a lot more bosses in that game.
"I suggest we shouldn't rely too much on buffs for this fight." recommended the sorceress.
One buff per round would be fine. But if they overdid it Disruptive Wave would wreak havoc on them.
Jessica fired Frizzle at Krystalinda.
"That's hot!" exclaimed Krystalinda.
As with her icy minions, she was vulnerable to fire.
However, she was not quite as vulnerable as they were, owing to her strength.
Jade summoned the Wight Knight.
He hit Krystalinda with Multithrust.
"You turned on me?" asked the icy sorceress. He had seemed so devoted. And yet here he was, standing with her enemies.
"You brainwashed me!" exclaimed the Wight Knight.
"Ah yes." spoke Krystalinda. She remembered now. It seemed that the heroes had successfully broken her spell.
She turned the Wight Knight into a snowman.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Mario. How unfortunate that this had happened to his comrade.
Krystalinda decided to whip out a blizzard.
All of a sudden, things became a lot colder.
"This isn't good." noted Mario.
Now Krystalinda would receive an attack buff.
She cast Kacrack again.
Mario was frozen.
Wario began to punch the ice to thaw him out.
It would take him some time though. This ice was pretty thick.
Jade kicked Krystalinda in the torso.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Krystalinda. If only her foes didn't have access to fire magic.
She then attempted to grab her staff from her hands.
But Krystalinda won the tug of war.
However, Jessica hit her with Frizzle.
"Aaugh!" exclaimed Krystalinda.
Fortunately, Wario managed to free Mario from the ice.
He ate a Red Pepper to warm himself up.
Incidentally, this also gave him an attack boost.
He decided to attack Krystalinda with fireballs. Since he had eaten a Red Pepper, his fireballs were bigger.
"Maybe I should have brought a fire extinguisher." noted the sorceress. Anything that could counter her weakness would be welcome.
She prepared to cast Disruptive Wave, but at that very moment, Wario decided to try yanking the staff.
He assumed it was valuable, seeing as Jade tried to grab it.
"Let go!" demanded Krystalinda.
The two fought over the staff for a while.
But it eventually flew into the air and landed on the ground.
This caused Krystalinda to return to her senses.
"What happened?" asked Krystalinda.
It felt like she had woken up from a long dream.
"Just as I thought." spoke Jade.
"I remember the Dragonlord giving me a staff…saying that it would give more power…I equipped it and then everything blacked out." noted the sorceress.
"Then you became one of his generals." continued Jessica.
"Oh dear. I must have done evil things." spoke Krystalinda. She had been trying to be a good guy too.
"I bet the Toads will be relieved you won't-a trouble them anymore." noted Mario. They certainly won't have to worry about being turned into snowmen.
"I want to do some good after the evil I committed. Let me know if you want my help." stated Krystalinda.
She could now be used as a summon.
Fortunately for the Wight Knight, he turned back to normal as well.
So he could be summoned again as well.
As soon as our heroes left the castle, they saw an airship.
It looked menacing. And it had Hargon's face on it.
Alistair decided to hide in Jessica's bag. He thought that Hargon was scary.
"I see you defeated Krystalinda. But good luck assaulting my airship!" exclaimed Hargon. He had filled his airship with monsters.
"We released from her brainwashing, actually." noted Jessica. She wasn't sure they had defeated her, per se. She was still glad she had helped her though.
"Whatever. Are you going to face me or not?" asked the enforcer of the Dragonlord.
"An airship? That's new." spoke Jade.
"I encountered them all the time back in Super Mario Bros 3." noted Mario.
Each of them were harboring one of the Koopalings.
Except for the airships that were in World 8. Those were captained by Boom Boom.
Luckily, there was an anchor they could use to climb aboard the airship.
It seemed that Hargon wanted to challenge them.
This time, Peach and Angelo would assist Jessica and Wario.
They figured they could use some time in the limelight.
At the Woohoo Hoonversity…
OST: Woohoo Hooniversity
Our heroes encountered Ashlynn, who was fighting some Troopeas by herself.
Their ability to heal was a bit annoying.
"Is that another DQ hero?" asked Ruff.
"That's who I am." nodded Ashlynn.
"Would you like some help fighting the Troopeas?" questioned Alena.
They seemed like they were causing her a spot of trouble.
"I would appreciate not being outnumbered, so sure." nodded Ashlynn. Something told her she couldn't defend the school by herself.
Peasley cast Zap to Zap the Troopeas.
It seemed a good idea to hit them all at once to help counter their healing ability.
Ashlynn stabbed one with her knife.
He fell over.
The Troopeas decided to retreat.
Perhaps they needed stronger Bowser minions to handle things.
"Thanks!" exclaimed the redheaded mage who wasn't Jessica.
"You're welcome!" answered Alena.
"Want to take down the invaders together?" asked Ashlynn. She figured that she could take them down a lot quicker that way.
Alena nodded.
"Great!" exclaimed the mage with a knife. This would definitely make it easier for her to save the school.
Ashlynn has joined your party!
Nera decided to leave, since Ashlynn was a spellcaster.
She decided she would spend her skill points on different fields of magic than her so that the party was balanced.
It didn't take long for our heroes to encounter some Boomerang Bros.
A Boomerang Bro tossed a boomerang at Ruff.
He ducked underneath it.
"Missed me!" exclaimed Ruff.
The boomerang then hit him on the back of his head.
"Ow! Oh wait, that's right." noted the boy. He had forgotten something important about boomerangs.
Incidentally, they sold some at the weapon shop.
Maybe he could use one as an alternative to his fangs. He could hit multiple enemies at once that way.
Peasley slashed one with his sword.
"This guy's a royal pain!" exclaimed a Boomerang Bro. Other Bowser minions had told him about the prince.
There were Viruses in the Hooniversity as well.
"Something tells me these will make us sick." noted Ashlynn. It was important to stay healthy when you were going on an adventure.
She remembered that some of the researchers had been studying them. Perhaps they were hoping to design a vaccine.
But it seemed they had escaped during the chaos.
One of them (a Blue Virus) attempted to bite her.
But she stabbed him with her knife.
"I prefer to stay healthy, thanks!" exclaimed Ashlynn.
There was a puff of red smoke, and he became a Red Virus.
"Did that virus just change color?" asked the redhead who wasn't Alena.
Alena punched a Red Virus.
There was a puff of blue smoke, and he became a Blue Virus.
"For some reason the viruses change color when we hit them." noted Alena. She wondered why that was the case.
Peasley wondered what would happen if they got three in a row.
He turned them all into Yellow Viruses.
The Yellow Viruses suddenly disappeared in puffs of yellow smoke.
"It seems that if we match 3, we can get rid of them." noted Peasley.
"We'll want to keep note of that in the future." spoke Alena. It would certainly save time fighting these small enemies.
There were also Eekers.
It was on the fence as to why some flasks came to life.
But they could ponder that when they weren't defending themselves from them.
The Eekers wielded hot flames, so they had to be careful not to get burned.
Luckily, they were weak to water magic, which Ashlynn had access to. It seemed she was starting to live up to her name...by reducing fires to ash.
"It doesn't take a scientist to figure out water extinguishes fire!" exclaimed an Eeker.
Our heroes encountered Boom Boom.
It seemed that he didn't want our heroes progressing any further.
"I heard you've been causing a lot of trouble for the Koopa Troop. I'm going to straighten you out!" exclaimed Boom Boom.
"He's in this fanfic? Well, it makes sense considering that he appeared several times in New Super Mario Bros U." noted Alena.
Perhaps Kamek would appear in the fanfic as well. Though Baramos had taken his place in the New Super Mario Bros U levels.
"Of course!" exclaimed Boom Boom.
He charged towards our heroes with his fist.
Alena leapt on top of him.
"Ow!" shouted Boom Boom.
He pounded the ground with his fists.
This produced a shockwave.
"Ow!" exclaimed Ashlynn.
"Oof!" shouted Ruff.
Ruff bit him in retaliation.
"You're not using me as a chew toy!" shouted Boom Boom. Not if he has anything to say about it.
He went into his shell in retaliation.
It seems the Koopalings weren't the only ones that used that tactic.
Our heroes quickly jumped over the shell.
When he came out, Alena punched him in the face.
"Not my beautiful face!" exclaimed Boom Boom.
Peasley slashed his arm with his sword.
He then zapped him.
"This prince means business!" shouted Boom Boom.
He punched Peasley and knocked him down.
He helped himself to his feet.
However, Ruff headbutted him.
"Oof!" exclaimed the larger than normal Koopa.
Ashlynn finished off Boom Boom with a Frizzle.
She was so happy that she had been studying magic.
Maybe she could learn Magic Burst again. That was an advanced spell, however. So it would likely take some time.
She would need to recover her MP after using that spell, as well. You didn't get a spell of that power for free. Though she wouldn't be surprised if there was a shop that sold magic potions.
"Ugh, I can see why the Koopas keep struggling to defeat you…" noted the fallen Koopa.
Perhaps they could defeat his sister, Pom Pom. Where was she again? Maybe he could ask her over the phone.
Our heroes continued forward.
That's four generals down! It looks like I'm about halfway done with completing this fanfic.
I'd say that's a proud achievement for me.
But now our heroes are going to have to fight Hargon!
I also decided to feature Boom Boom in this fanfic since he's a recurring Mario character.
And yes, I think I'll feature Pom Pom as well.
See ya!