In this chapter, Alena's team will fight Commander Shroob.
I found that boss fight memorable despite the commander having little screentime. Probabky because the commander looks like a Shroob version of Mario.
So I'll be taking a few pages from it. It's a creative liberty fight but the Shroob-Ombs will still be there.
I also found the Elder Shrooboid's fight memorable but maybe I'll feature an elder Shrooboid in another chapter.
I've probably written a chapter called Mother's Day before. But I probably don't need to explain why I'm using it for this chapter, either.
Chapter 57: Mother's Day
Bouncy Cloud Boomerangs
As the level name implied, this time our heroes would be using bouncy clouds to get around.
It was rather fun, but our heroes didn't have time to play with them. They had an evil overlord to take down.
And besides, they could fall off if they weren't careful. Though Angelo could use Zing if they needed it.
There were also some monsters that had boomerangs.
These were Dread Dragooners.
And yes, they didn't have boomerangs in the source material.
But why not have the level live up to its name? And the author had already established they take creative liberties.
Some of them still had swords though, in case they felt like attacking at close-range.
There were also Red Dragons, the stronger cousins of Jade Dragons. As usual, our heroes needed to watch out for hot fire breath.
Luckily, our heroes had plenty of experience fighting dragons. Though these dragons could spit out homing fireballs. And Mario had plenty of experience dealing with enemies that breathed fire.
This time, the boss was Alizarin. A monster that was known for terrorizing mermaids. Why couldn't he leave those attractive ladies alone? Was Mordegon making him do it?
Well, he was working for a different overlord now.
The flag next to him was red and had his face on it. But it seemed rather small by comparison.
"Mamamia! Look at the size of him!" exclaimed Luigi.
Then again, they had met Khalamari.
This boss was more aggressive than he was, however. And he had a lot of sharp fangs too.
"Yeah…Alizarin happens to be the biggest of the Spectral Sentinels. He's not the strongest though." noted Jade. That sentinel was Jasper.
"Well well well. It looks like some heroes are trying to make their way to Belial." noted Alizarin.
"That's what we're here for basically." noted Jessica.
Once Belial had been defeated, they could assault the Dragonlord's domain.
"Well, you're not going to Belial! You're going into my belly!" shouted the giant sea monster.
Elsewhere, Alena and her team felt an unpleasant sense of deja vu. They had been eaten by an alien Yoshi not long ago.
Was there a way to escape Alizarin's belly, as was the case with Yoob's belly?
Alizarin opened up by attempting to swallow them by sucking them in.
It was a creative liberty, but it was inspired by Kirby. Though Kirby was not a servant of the Dragonlord. He was much too heroic for that.
Our heroes scrambled to avoid it.
It reminded Luigi of the time that he had fought Captain Fishook.
He didn't think he could vacuum up Alizarin though. Not only was he not a ghost, but he was much too big.
But the Poltergust still had options that could be used against the sea monster. Professor E. Gadd should be proud of himself for designing a versatile weapon. It could be used for lighting campfires, for one. And yes, there were camps that were haunted by ghosts.
He decided to try using the ice element.
"Brrrr…" spoke Alizarin. This meal was proving to be chillier than he hoped.
He slammed the ground with his hands, creating a shockwave.
The sea monster certainly was a strong boss, even if he wasn't one of the generals.
Luigi zapped Alizarin with Thunderhand.
"Ouch!" exclaimed the sea giant.
Alizarin spat out a red mist in retaliation.
It began to fill up the arena.
"What's going on?" asked Luigi.
"I don't know, but this mist makes me feel more vulnerable to attack." noted Jessica.
What was that mist made of?
Sure enough, they started taking more damage from attacks.
It was going to be harder for the healers to keep up.
Was there something that they could do about it?
Luigi had an idea.
He turned on the vacuum and started blowing away the mist.
"What are you doing?" asked Alizarin.
As soon as the mist cleared, our heroes felt like their defenses were back to normal.
They collectively let out a sigh of relief. They had been in a bad situation. But Luigi had gotten them out.
Was it any wonder that Luigi had a year after him?
Alizarin roared in frustration. It seemed that his tactic of increasing the damage he dealt hadn't worked out. The heroes had found a way to counter it.
He was starting to see how Tyriant and Booga had failed. These heroes were…resourceful.
Oddly enough, Booga hadn't used his ability to drain MP during his fight. Perhaps the author felt like he had written enough for that fight already.
Alizarin decided to cast Maelstrom.
The team was hit with geysers.
"Mamamia!" exclaimed Luigi as he was knocked off his feet.
"Oof!" shouted Peach.
Quickly, she healed up the team.
Jade kicked Alizarin as hard as she could.
He lost several of his teeth.
"Ouch! Well, at least they grow back fast." noted Alizarin. He was a lot like a shark.
Luigi then finished him off with the Fire Element Medal.
"My stomach hurts..." murmured the fallen Alizarin. It looked like he had bitten off more than he could chew this time.
The rest of the heroes applauded Luigi. He was of great help in taking Alizarin down.
Luigi pulled on the flagpole.
Jade wondered if Gyldygga would be next. The Spectral Sentinels seemed to be following the same pattern of Dragon Quest XI.
If that was the case, they would be fighting Jasper last.
She recalled Glydygga having the power to turn her enemies into gold temporarily.
That was something they needed to watch out for.
As a side note, Jade hoped that Wario didn't get corrupted by his greedy ways as Mia did. Otherwise he might end up a minion of darkness.
On the Shroob Mothership…
Our heroes had to admit, the mothership certainly looked like it was out of this world. Would the Beanbean Kingdom have ships like this in the future?
Perhaps Beanbean's scientists could study it…once the Shroobs were out of the picture, of course.
"Alright, we're on the mothership. Now let's find out how to shut it d-"
Alena was interrupted when Guardian Shroobs ran to the heroes.
"Something is wrong! The Shroobs know we are here!" exclaimed Kiryl.
It looked like they didn't have the element of surprise like they had hoped. Sometimes things just didn't go according to plan.
"Of course we do. Who do you think sent that information our mothership would be here?" asked the commander on the intercom.
It looked like our heroes had been outsmarted.
"It's a trap!" exclaimed Ashlynn.
It looked like they were in a very bad situation…like they were when the Shroobs made them fight in an arena. At least the Shroob audience let them know who the Shrooboid Brat was going to attack.
It seemed they had no good choice but to find a way off the Shroob mothership. Shutting it down would have to wait.
The Guardian Shroobs readied their weapons.
They were capable of firing their shots lightning fast. The commander would be proud of them. And they also attacked together as well. Perhaps they were a bit smarter than other Shroobs.
For some reason they were white as a sheet. Had they been playing Luigi's Mansion? It was spooky fun for most but admittedly King Boo was scary.
There were also Piranha Planets on the ship. It seemed the author decided to feature more than one enemy for the mothership.
They had of course been in the Star Shrine in the original. But since our heroes wouldn't be visiting the Star Shrine in this adventure they would be facing them here instead.
These Piranha Plants from space could fire lasers.
Though sometimes they fired themselves instead.
Last but not least were the Soldier Shrooboids. And yes, they had an alliterative name.
These Shrooboids had multiple weapons.
They were a bit like the Heavy Shrooboid. Though there was more than one of them. Was there a particular reason there was only one Heavy Shrooboid? Perhaps no other Shrooboid liked sandwiches as much as he could.
The difference was that for some reason they had shovels.
These could be used to deflect projectiles.
But they couldn't block attacks from above. That was their weak point.
They also had blasters, but these projectiles homed in on our heroes.
This made them harder to dodge.
"Consider yourselves dishonourably discharged!" exclaimed one of the Soldier Shrooboids.
Some of them wielded rocket launchers.
It was kind of ironic considering rockets were used to launch into space. But these rockets would launch them into Kingdom Come.
"Each and every one of you will be sent home to your mamas in a box!" shouted the soldiers.
"Shroobs deliver mail?" questioned Ruff.
Fortunately, our heroes eventually managed to find the escape pods after fighting through many Shroobs. Though the mothership was very big. The Shroobs might want to consider making a map for the ship.
But just as they were about to use the escape pods, the Shroob Commander and his army burst in.
"Finally, we have you at last!" shouted the Shroob with the black mustache.
"Is this how our adventure ends?" asked Captain Toad.
"It's game over for you heroes!" exclaimed the commander.
"We were so close…" noted Ashlynn.
Well, they were going to go down fighting if they went down.
The more Shroobs they took down, the better.
Spyro the Dragon: Scorch Battle
Some Shroobs showed up to aid the commander.
They saluted the red Shroob with respect.
The commander kicked them towards our heroes.
However, Alena kicked them back. Why not give him a taste of his own medicine?
Personally she wondered why he was using his own men as projectiles. That did not send a positive message to his troops.
"Ow!" exclaimed the commander.
He fired his ray gun at the heroes.
He was capable of firing lightning-quick, so this was a strong offense.
Ashlynn launched a fireball.
It hit the commander and ignited his mustache.
"Not my mustache!" exclaimed the commander. It made him feel special. Though the Shropbworths also had mustaches.
He attempted to put it out. Where was the nearest fire extinguisher?
Did they have fire extinguishers on the mothership? That seemed like a good idea.
Some Shroobs came in carrying a Shroob-Omb.
"That's one big Bob-Omb." noted Alena. It was bigger than the ones they had on Mario's world, that was for sure.
It would be really bad if that abnormally sized Bob-Omb from outer space hit them. They would likely lose a lot of HP. And it wouldn't be surprising if any of them were stunned by the blast.
So they had to be careful the Support Shroobs didn't toss it at them.
Sure enough, they were getting ready to do just that.
Ruff tossed a banana peel and the support Shroobs slipped.
The Shroob-Omb rolled away and hit some Shroobs instead, sending them flying.
"We need to watch where we're going." noted one of the support Shroobs.
"I think we really dodged a Bullet Bill with that one!" shouted Ruff. He was pretty sure being hit by that Bob-Omb would hurt.
"Agreed." nodded Kiryl.
Prince Peasley was hit by one of the commander's blasts.
"Aaarghhh!" exclaimed Peasley.
For a moment his skeleton was visible. And yes, it was similar to a scene near the end of Superstar Saga. The author decided not to spoil that.
Alena's eyes widened in shock…which was a bit ironic considering the prince was the one who had gotten shocked.
Captain Toad hit the commander on the head with a shovel.
The commander was stunned.
Stars were swirling around his head.
The stars were purple, which wasn't too surprising.
However, a Shroob came by carrying first aid.
"You look like you could use a hand, commander!" exclaimed the Dr. Shroob.
For once he was following the hippocratic oath by not blasting the heroes with a ray gun.
"Yes…" muttered the commander. He figured that the heroes' games would have ended by now, and yet here he was.
It would be a bad idea to let the Shroob heal the commander, so Ashlynn tossed a fireball at him.
The Shroob doctor dropped the first aid kit.
Peasley decided to use it to patch himself up.
Some Shroobs opened fire on Alena.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Alena.
Luckily, she was alright. She was made out of some tough stuff, after all.
In retaliation, she knocked them down with an uppercut.
Ruff decided to switch out with Nera. He was running out of MP. And Nera still had plenty.
This ended up working in their favor. Nera could freeze the floor to make it slippery for the Shroohs carrying the Shroob-Omb.
Sometimes changing party members could give one an advantage. Alena happened to be great at taking down metal slimes.
Unfortunately, they weren't present in the Beanbean Kingdom, so our heroes had to find other ways to level up.
But this is getting offtopic, isn't it?
The Shroobs slipped over the ice that Nera summoned, and they hit the commander with the bomb instead.
He was sent flying from the explosion.
"Aaargghh!" exclaimed the commander, who was momentarily covered with ash.
"Oh no!" shouted the support Shroobs. It looked like the commander had been wounded.
Alena rushed towards the commander, and then punched the Shroob as hard as she could.
"Noooooooo!" exclaimed the commander, his eyes widened with shock.
His plan had failed.
He exploded like previous bosses before him.
Why the bosses kept exploding was a mystery. They were not Bob-Ombs. Though the Commander Shroob had used alien Bob-Ombs.
The Shroobs under his command were quite surprised at the occurrence. This was not how they expected the fight to end.
"No! Not the commander!" shouted one of the Shroobs. Even if he did treat some of his soldiers like footballs. Was he a football player before he became the commander?
The Shroobs retreated. Without the commander they didn't feel like they could win against the heroes.
Our heroes decided to evacuate the Shroob Mothership. It seemed too risky to try to find whatever powered the ship with the Shroobs aware of their presence.
They might not have been able to shut it down, but taking down the commander was a very good alternative.
Perhaps they would get another chance to shut down the mothership.
They used the escape pods to escape.
"How did the break-in go?" asked the professor.
"Not too great. It was a trap designed by the commander!" exclaimed Alena. It seemed they knew that the heroes would eventually try to assault the mothership.
The Shroobs were a smart race, that was for sure.
"It was?!" shouted the smart Bean.
"Yeah. We were forced to make a hasty getaway." noted Ashlynn. It was lucky that their games didn't end.
"I'm sorry to hear that." apologized the professor. It seemed the Shroobs had been one step ahead of them.
"It wasn't all bad though. We managed to take down their commander." said Prince Peasley.
The students were relieved to hear that.
They were that much closer to stopping the invasion with the commander gone. No doubt the Shroobs would be a lot less organized without him.
The Shroob Mothership flew away.
Where it would appear next, nobody knew.
But it would be a good idea for people to monitor their skies.
That way they would know in advance when the Shroobs would strike.
Meanwhile, a Shroob told the elder princess what had happened to the commander.
"Mistress?" asked the Shroob.
She was not happy to hear this.
"What?!" exclaimed the elder princess.
The heroes had really done it this time. Now the Shroobs did not have someone to lead them out in the battlefield.
It wasn't going to be easy to find a replacement for the commander.
Besides, how many Shroobs had mustaches aside from the Shroobworths?
She wondered if her younger sister wanted to fight these heroes.
With the commander gone morale was at a low.
The Shroobs wondered if they should retreat like they did in the Mushroom Kingdom. That invasion was a disaster.
The invasion didn't seem to be going well. It seemed the shutdown of the Vim Factory had only been a sign of what was to come.
It wasn't unlike the Dragonlord's invasion back in the Mushroom Kingdom. Though he had been lucky enough not to lose his right-hand, Baramos.
The Elder Princess Shroob decided that she was going to come up with another plan to defeat the heroes.
For now, she and her sister would lay low.
They would need time to strengthen their army after the fall of the commander.
I bet it's satisfying to take down the Shroob Commander, huh?
Our heroes are close to stopping the Shroobs for good!
I suppose maybe I can take a break from the Shroob storyline for now. After all, they took down one of the high-ranking Shroobs.
Though I do like featuring villains from different Mario RPGs.