In this chapter, our heroes will fight the blue dragon.
I was originally going to go with Feeling Blue but I ended up coming up with this pun.
Chapter 23: Felling Blue
Wario wondered for a moment if he should sit this one out.
That blue dragon scared him.
It was the biggest monster that he had seen yet.
But on the other hand, he was pretty sure the blue dragon was guarding some of his treasure.
He wasn't going to let the dragon hoard it for herself.
That was his job.
So he decided to help the heroes take down the dragon.
He had gotten an emerald from the Abominable Showman.
He was happy about that.
Freezing Rain Tower
As the name implied, there were icicles falling from the ceiling that our heroes should be concerned about.
Jessica could melt them with her flames, however.
So as long as they paid attention, they would be safe.
There were more Slimecicles in the tower as well.
But of course, they did not like fire.
"Could you turn down the heat?" asked one of the slimecicles.
That would be appreciated.
Some Bloody Hands appeared. It looked as if the Dragonlord had decided Muddy Hands weren't enough for the job.
"I'm starting to question the E10+ rating of this fanfic." noted Jessica.
"Well, we did appear in the remake of Dragon Quest IV, which was also rated E10+." pointed out a Bloody Hand.
"Don't tell anyone about this, but we're actually made of cherry filling!" exclaimed a Bloody Hand.
"Oh, really?" asked Jessica.
The Bloody Hand nodded.
If so, perhaps this fanfic wasn't so violent after all.
Like the Moai that was in the Guffawha Ruins. Why did those rumors about him being a monster spread again? A talking moai head was unusual but still.
Like the Muddy Hands, water worked against them.
Some Infernal Armours appeared as well.
The Dragonlord had decided Restless Armours weren't strong enough to take on our heroes. So he sent stronger armours.
These armours could control lightning.
Our heroes had to be careful not to get zapped.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Jade.
Those lightning bolts stung.
Wario hit one with his fist.
"Ow!" exclaimed an Infernal Armour.
He was knocked back a few feet.
The Infernal Armor summoned a Sootheslime.
It seemed that he decided that he needed a medic.
The Sootheslime prepared to cast Moreheal.
But Wario punched her.
"Hey! Don't undo our hard work!" exclaimed Wario. It was frustrating to have an enemy heal your opponent when you had just finished assaulting them.
The Sootheslime was left stunned from the blow.
"Can somebody summon a medic for me?" asked the Sootheslime.
Jade roundhouse kicked the Infernal Armours.
"How are we losing to someone who is unarmed?" questioned one of the armours. She wasn't wearing a suit of armor either. Though her attire did provide her with some protection.
Jessica then blasted the armours with Bang, finishing them off.
The Sootheslime pulled out the white flag.
"Would you be willing to join us?" asked Jade.
"You spared me, so yes!" exclaimed the Sootheslime.
She joined the heroes' summons.
Our heroes then found themselves face to face with the Blue Dragon.
Wario trembled before the enormous reptile.
"If you're looking for a princess, you'll have to search another tower." spoke the blue dragon.
"That sounds familiar." noted Mario. It would have been nice if the Toads told him where he could find the princess instead ofnjust saying she was in another castle.
But he supposed he shouldn't leave the Toads to their fates.
Baramos suddenly appeared.
"Round three with you? What are you up to this time?" asked Jessica.
Baramos cast a spell.
The Blue Dragon breathed fire.
"I wasn't-a expecting that!" exclaimed Mario. It was the opposite of what he was expecting, to be precise.
"I figured you would equip equipment that protected you from ice, so I decided to prepare for it!" exclaimed Baramos.
"Good move." noted Jessica. She decided not to specialize in fire only, as there were monsters that resisted it. Fire was a common spell of hers though.
"I'll be seeing you again in the tower at World 5…if you can make it there, that is." informed the magician.
As usual, he disappeared after casting his spell.
Our heroes wondered when they would get to fight him directly.
Well, for the time being, they would be fighting the dragon instead.
OST: Hooktail Battle
Unsurprisingly, ice did not work well against the dragon. And she was neutral to fire attacks.
However, the blue dragon was weak against rock attacks.
Fitting, since that worked against both fire and ice.
Wario figured out the weakness when he tried throwing a rock at her.
It seems he was associated with earth, just as Mario and Luigi were associated with fire and thunder.
"Oh great! They figured out one of my weaknesses!" exclaimed the blue dragon.
This certainly made things harder.
Still, Krystalinda was counting on her to make sure that the heroes didn't make it further.
She would feel bad if she disappointed the witch. Did she not treat her with affection?
The Blue Dragon roared.
Some Icikillers appeared.
They behaved like their Riptide relatives, but had a chance of freezing with their attacks.
Luckily, they were vulnerable to fire. It was a trend among ice enemies.
"It's time for us to turn down the heat!" exclaimed an Icikiller.
Mario whacked an Icikiller with his hammer.
"Ouch!" exclaimed the Icikiller.
That was a critical hit.
In retaliation, he lunged at Mario with his claws.
The Blue Dragon attacked with her tail.
Jade was knocked down.
"Oof!" exclaimed the martial artist.
It looked like she wouldn't be attacking for a few minutes.
"I have experience fighting dragons before." noted Mario.
"You do?" asked Jessica. It seemed they had a number of things in common.
Mario nodded.
In the past, he had fought Hooktail and Gloomtail. They had been the pets of the Shadow Queen, and had assisted her with her reign of terror.
He might have fought against Bonetail as well. But wasn't he optional? He was all the way at the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials. So getting to him was no easy task.
The difference was that there was no audience this time.
Perhaps they were worried that they would get eaten by the dragon.
It was a reasonable concern. Hooktail did that to heal herself after being injured by Mario and Koops. Though it hadn't stopped the audience from watching the battle with Gloomtail much later on.
The Blue Dragon breathed ice.
Mario was frozen.
Luckily, Jessica had some protection.
She was glad that she had bought those earrings from the shop.
Besides, they were pretty.
She tossed a fireball at the blue dragon.
"Oof!" exclaimed the dragon.
She then got to work thawing out Mario.
Jade kicked an Icikiller to the ground.
"Oof!" exclaimed the icy man.
Wario finished off the blue dragon by jumping on her.
The Blue Dragon wondered how she had lost to the heroes.
To be fair, they had a reputation for being heroic.
And they did have experience fighting dragons.
"I'd like to see you try to fight the guardian at World 5's tower. He's basically a dragon with multiple heads." noted the Blue Dragon. Personally she was content with just one. But having multiple heads did give you multiple weapons for combat.
This made Wario really scared.
His teeth began to chatter…and it wasn't just because of the cold.
Perhaps he shouldn't go to World 5 with the rest of the heroes, assuming that he made it there.
Krystalinda realized what had happened immediately.
She had been watching the fight on her crystal orb.
"It appears that the blue dragon has fallen. It's such a shame. She made for a wonderful pet." noted Krystalinda. What would she replace her with?
Oh wait, she was still alive. Just injured.
Robbin' Hood and Abominable Showman had failed as well. She figured that named monsters might succeed in beating the heroes where others had failed, but they had not succeeded.
Perhaps she needed to deal with the heroes herself. Luckily, she had a powerful staff that she could use to take care of things.
It had been bestowed to her by the Dragonlord himself. So she imagined that it was powerful.
But for the time being, she would let her minions handle things.
Our heroes exited the tower. They were proud of themselves for defeating the dragon.
They decided to do some more shopping.
New weapons and armor would be useful.
Meanwhile, in the woods…
Our heroes noticed Gourmet Guy was blocking the way to the heart of the forest.
"Now I really get the feeling Wendy is in the heart of the forest!" exclaimed Alena.
Nera nodded.
Otherwise, why would Gourmet Guy be blocking them?
He was currently munching on a donut.
Maybe he needed to eat a little less snacks. Or exercise a bit more. Or maybe both.
"Is there any chance you would let us through?" asked Ruff. He would appreciate it if he did.
He didn't seem to want to fight them.
"I'm instructed not to let you pass. But I suppose I could let you through if you gave me some Chuckola fruit." noted Gourmet Guy. He had been itching to try some ever since he arrived in the woods.
He figured that fruit would be healthy for him.
And he heard that Chuckola fruit was delicious. Perhaps he had made a good choice accompanying Wendy to the forest.
"We can do that." spoke Nera. There were Chuckola fruit all over the place.
"I don't want just any kind. I want the colored variety." spoke the big Shy Guy. Each color came with its own flavor.
"That makes sense." noted Kiryl. Up until now, Gourmet Guy seemed pretty lazy. But that didn't seem like a task he could accomplish alone, seeing as they hadn't seen colored Chuckola fruit growing in the forest.
These Chuckola Fruits were rarer than the orange, regular kind.
He handed them a list.
"Red Chuckola Fruit, White Chuckola Fruit, and Purple Chuckola Fruit. Got it." said Alena.
"Where do you think we can find them?" asked Kiryl. Something told him that these fruits were rare. Gourmet Guy certainly liked foods that were valuable.
"They've got to be in the forest somewhere." noted the martial artist. Was there any other place that Chuckola fruit grew?
Our heroes decided to go to the left first.
There, they found Rexes waiting for them.
One of them let out a roar.
"There are dinosaurs in this forest?" asked Ruff.
That was an unusual sight, to be sure.
Apparently, Bowser had dinosaurs on his side.
Though to be fair, so did Mario.
He had been raised by them in fact.
Rexes had a habit of charging at our heroes.
But being jumped upon weakened them.
"We've been wrecked!" exclaimed the Rexes that had fallen in battle.
"You think Gourmet Guy will honor the deal that he made?" questioned Nera. From what she knew about them, Bowser's minions weren't known to be trustworthy. Though this Shy Guy did seem different from the rest, aside from the extra weight.
"I'll be mad at him if he doesn't." noted Alena. She didn't want to spend her time collecting these Chuckola fruits for nothing.
She decided to ask Prince Peasley where the Chuckola fruit might be.
If anyone knew, it was him.
After all, he grew up in the Beanbean Kingdom.
"From what I heard, red Chuckola fruit grows on the left side of the forest, whereas white and purple Chuckola fruit grow on the right side of the forest." explained Peasley.
"That's good information to know." noted Alena. It would definitely help them find the colored Chuckola fruit.
Perhaps if they continued to search this part of the forest, they would find Red Chuckola Fruit.
Alternatively, they could try asking the locals.
The Winkles might know where they can find some Chuckola fruit as well.
They had lived in the forest their entire lives.
So it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Sure enough, one of the Winkles was slithering by.
He had a blue shell.
"Do you know where any Chuckola fruits are?" asked Alena.
"As a matter of fact, I do. But it's in the clutches of Fuzzies." noted the Winkle.
"Fuzzies?" questioned Kiryl. He hadn't heard of their name. But their name implied their description.
"Mischievous creatures about the same size as us." explained the snail.
It seemed they wanted a taste of the fruit for themselves.
"Good to know." noted Alena.
It looked as if they needed to fight these creatures to get one.
Nera spotted one hopping around.
"I can't wait to drink some Chuckola Cola!" exclaimed a Fuzzy.
"He sure is hyper." noted Nera.
Our heroes followed the Fuzzy.
He led them to a Fuzzbush.
It seemed that was where they hid the Red Chuckola Fruit.
"Hey! Don't take our fruit!" exclaimed one of the Fuzzies.
The Fuzzies descended from the tree to defend it.
"Here we go!" exclaimed one of the Fuzzies.
"How do we find the Red Chuckola Fruit? Any one of them could have it." noted Nera as she cast spells on the Fuzzies.
"I have an idea." spoke Ruff.
He used his nose to sniff out the Chuckola Fruit.
As it turned, their leader had it. He was golden in color.
"Uh-oh." said the leader of the Fuzzies. It looked like they had managed to win the shell game.
He decided to run from our heroes.
But Ruff caught him.
"Ok, you can have the Red Chuckola Fruit! It's too robust for us, anyway!" exclaimed the Gold Fuzzy.
He handed the Red Chuckola Fruit to Ruff.
Afterwards, he and the Fuzzies went back in the tree.
Alena crossed out Red Chuckola Fruit. Now there were two more to go.
"I wonder if it tastes like ketchup." noted Ruff. After all, ketchup also originated from a fruit.
"You shouldn't eat it. Otherwise we'll have to look for another one." recommended Alena.
"I wasn't going to do that. I already got in trouble for taking Chuckola fruit that didn't belong to me." noted Ruff.
"Why'd you do it?" asked Nera.
"I didn't know it belonged to someone else." explained Ruff.
"We all make mistakes." admitted Alena.
"Do you know where we can find the other two?" asked Kiryl.
"Try checking out the eastern part of the forest. But watch out for Bubbles. He's a maniac." warned the Winkle.
Alena nodded.
They would want to prepare themselves for an encounter with him.
The heroes headed back to the center of the forest.
Ans then they went to the eastern side.
Waiting for them were Chuck Guys.
"I guess we're fighting our way through." noted Alena.
It was off to battle.
Our heroes are on their way to Krystalinda!
Can they make it?
I figured I would have our heroes fetch some colored Chuckola fruit. It's a bit of padding but I figured I could feature Bubbles in this fanfic this way.
I'm not sure if I should have Alena's story overtake Jessica's.
I felt like they defeated Larry and Morton rather quickly.
But let me know what you think if you want.
