Now that DK is part of the party, I decided to make a chapter title including him. And yes, I've come up with similar chapter titles before.
I hope you're looking forward to seeing more of him.
Though if you want him to swap out with a different party member, let me know.
Chapter 33: It's On Like Donkey Kong
Angelo bought a silver shield from the shop.
It matched his hair...and would provide good defense.
Jessica bought some scholar specs.
She figured it would be a good idea to buy an accessory that increased wisdom.
After all, was she not a spellcaster? More wisdom would mean more oomph for her spells.
Besides, she looked cute wearing them. In her opinion, at least.
Jade bought some beast claws.
It seemed appropriate that a shop in the jungle was selling them.
Now her physical strikes would pack more power.
Jessica bought a magic vestment as well.
Now it was time to explore the next level.
Bramball Woods
"The bramballs aren't here." said Luigi.
To be honest, he considered himself lucky.
He considered spiders scary. Unsurprisingly, some of them called the Last Resort home. On the lighter side, they had a tendency to drop hearts, which made it easier to hunt ghosts.
To be fair, there were multiple things he found scary. Like the Scaredy Rats. He found one lurking in Peach's Castle's Library once.
There aren't many spider enemies in DQ…so I'll improvise.
Sentripede Woods
It didn't take long for our heroes to notice how dark the forest was.
It reminded Luigi of the Boo Woods. The same forest that once contained a haunted mansion.
While the forest was not well-lit, they could still make out the monsters.
The Sentripedes approached them. As the name implied, this forest was filled with them.
They had long bodies for sure.
Luigi was reminded of Wigglers.
They had to be careful not to get trampled.
Luigi jumped on top of one.
"Oof!" exclaimed the Sentripede.
Jessica scared off another one with flames.
Luigi pulled out his flashlight.
Now seemed like a good time to use it.
Unsurprisingly, there were ghost enemies flying around the forest.
In this case, they were Fightgeists.
One blew a raspberry at them.
"We're encountering ghost enemies and it's not even a haunted house!" exclaimed Jade.
"I went to a haunted castle once." said Donkey Kong. That had certainly been a spooky experience. He made the right choice bringing his family with him, in his opinion.
One Fightgeist paralyzed DK with his tongue.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Donkey Kong.
Luckily, the paralysis would wear off over time.
Luigi decided to vacuum up the Fightgeists.
"Oh no!" exclaimed the Fightgeists.
Our heroes were attacked by Flyguys.
And no, not the Fly Guys that were part of the Koopa Troop.
These were more like actual flies.
Their buzzing disoriented them.
Since they were insects, fire worked well against them.
They eventually decided to fly away. This was too much heat for them to handle.
Shortly after that encounter, some of the trees came to life.
These were the Treefaces.
"I remember those." noted Jessica. Her partner Yangus didn't feel bad about cutting them down with his axe. Namely because they attacked first.
One of them let out a laugh.
"Mamamia!" exclaimed Luigi. That oddly did not happen in the Boo Woods.
They bore some resemblance to the Antiquitree. Such as their smile.
Luckily, they weren't as strong as he was. Otherwise, they would probably be generals themselves.
But while they were not as strong as the general, their medicinal herbs allowed other monsters to stay in the fight for longer.
As such, it was a good idea to target them first. Cutting off the enemy's supplies would give them an advantage.
Luckily, our heroes already knew what was a good way to fight plant enemies. They had been taught by experience…and logic.
Jessica set fire to the Treefaces.
The Treefaces began to panic.
"Didn't Smokey teach you anything?" asked a Treeface. Where was the nearest pond?
"Normally I wouldn't start forest fires. But the trees are attacking me." answered Jessica. It was in her best interest if she defended herself from the trees.
"She makes a good point." nodded Luigi.
He decided to add fuel to the fire using the Poltergust.
Luckily, the two flames did not cancel each other out. Otherwise using the Poltergust would be counterproductive.
Jade kicked one over as well.
The Treefaces decided to retreat.
Perhaps their stronger Treevil cousins could handle things. They had the power to bring their fallen comrades back to life.
And yes, the Treefaces moved rather fast for trees.
A Skeleton Swordsman approached them.
"I'm a skeleton with six arms! Aren't I awesome?" asked the skeleton. It wasn't every day that you saw one.
"This skeleton has a lot of swords." noted Jessica. She couldn't wield that many if she tried.
This made him all the more effective at close range combat.
But luckily, the same weaknesses undead tended to share still applied.
In this case, their vulnerability to fire.
"Aaugh!" exclaimed the Skeleton Swordsman as he was bombarded with flames.
Perhaps he was expecting too much when he thought that one of them would challenge him to a swordfight. None of the current party members even had swords.
A Great Sabrecat approached them as well.
But Jade sent him packing with her fists.
This time the boss was Thornella.
"Oh look! A Dragon Quest monster exclusive!" exclaimed Jade.
It looked like the author was going a bit outside the box.
"I sure am." nodded Thornella. Some monsters didn't appear in regular Dragon Quest games, it seemed.
To be fair, Dragon Quest Monsters was somewhat different from the source material, similar monsters aside.
"It's a shame we have to fight a pretty lady." noted Luigi.
Though he had fought pretty ladies before. Spectral ones. Though in Hellen Gravely's case, she turned out not to be so pretty.
"You flatter me. I'll give you a chance to turn back." spoke Thornella. Some monsters had honor, it seemed.
"After the spookiness I endured I can't do that." answered Luigi.
After all, if he had given up in Luigi's Mansion, his brother would still be imprisoned in a painting. And he couldn't save the Mushroom Kingdom while he was stuck in there.
"Understandable. Then let's fight." said the plant lady.
She fired sharp thorns at the heroes.
Our heroes took cover from them.
She then attempted to crush them with vines.
She succeeded in striking DK.
"Ow!" exclaimed DK.
Jessica launched a Frizzle at Thornella.
"You're using fire against me? Why doesn't that surprise me?" answered the plant monster.
Next she imagined they'll be using ice.
"It always seems to work against plants." noted Jessica.
"Well, maybe this will work against you!" exclaimed the plant lady.
She launched spores at Jessica.
Unfortunately, she breathed them in.
Jessica fell asleep.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Jade.
It looked like she was going to have to try to wake her up.
Without her, they were at a disadvantage.
Thornella launched more thorns at our heroes.
Luigi jumped over them.
He then activated the Poltergust and used the Fire Element Medal.
"You really like to play with fire, don't you?" questioned the plant lady as she tried to shield herself from the flames.
"Personally I don't consider fire to be a toy." answered Luigi. He was not Bowser the Koopa King. And he thought that Bowser's fire breath was rather scary.
"You're a smart man." noted Thornella.
Since Luigi had complimented her, she decided to compliment him as well.
Jade leapt into the air and struck Thornella in the face.
"I think it's time for me to summon reinforcements." noted Thornella. After all, it was four against one.
"A lot of guardians seem to do that." said Luigi.
She summoned Morphean Mushrooms.
For once, mushrooms were not on Luigi's side. Though poison mushrooms did exist as well.
These mushrooms had stronger breath than their Funghoul counterparts. So that increased the likelihood of them falling asleep.
Luigi used his Ice Element Medal to freeze the Morphean Mushrooms to prevent them from putting his teammates and himself to sleep. Jessica had already fallen asleep, after all. And it would be really bad if the entire party fell asleep.
"Thanks, Luigi." thanked Jade.
But Thornella used a flower to block the Poltergust's suction.
"Oh a-no!" exclaimed Luigi. Now he couldn't use the Poltergust.
Luckily, Jessica woke up.
She cast Sizz and hit both the mushrooms and Thornella.
The plant lady decided that she couldn't fight anymore.
The heroes were simply too strong.
And her mushroom comrades had fallen to Jessica's spell as well.
One of them pulled out a white flag.
"There's no stopping you, is there?" asked Thornella. Perhaps the hydra would be able to handle things. He was a very big monster, after all.
Though she had heard that the heroes had taken on trolls and golems and come out on top.
"I'm sorry for beating up a pretty lady!" apologized Luigi as he pulled on the flagpole. He did what had to be done.
"He sure is a gentleman." thought Jade. She wished she could say the same for Booga. He thought only of how attractive she was and nothing else.
"I appreciate the flattery. I think I'll join your cause." spoke Thornella.
She was hoping to find a level where she could soak up the sun's rays, anyways.
Incidentally, Peach was able to persuade the King Bubble Slime to join them as well.
He was unhappy about failing his duties.
So Peach decided to cheer him up.
Luigi was relieved to be out of the haunted forest.
But perhaps he shouldn't celebrate too early. There was another ghost house in the area. It seemed the Dragonlord was in no shortage of them.
Our heroes could see the Orochi's tower was up ahead.
It was time to face the hydra.
But before they did that, our heroes went to the shop to buy some upgrades.
They were about to face a strong opponent, after all.
So it would be best if they were prepared for it.
Back at Oho Oasis…
Unsurprisingly, the fire temple contained Fire Bros, and the lightning temple contained Amps.
But there were also new enemies.
In the fire temple were Fire Snakes.
"If you can't take the heat, stay out of the fire temple." said a Fire Snake.
"Duly noted." answered Ashlynn.
And in the lightning temple were Tuff Puffs.
"We're going to rain on your parade!" exclaimed one of the Tuff Puffs.
Ashlynn found ice worked against the fire snakes.
And not just because they were based off of reptiles.
"If I wanted cold, I would have gone to Joke's End!" shouted a Fire Snake.
The Tuff Puffs could be blown away as well.
"We're going wherever the wind takes us, it seems!" exclaimed a Tuff Puff.
"That you are." nodded Nera.
Since they had a party limit, the party decided to split up for the time being. Two pairs of three, to be specific.
Alena went with Ashlynn and Ruff to the fire temple.
Peasley went with Kiryl and Nera to the lightning temple.
However, Alena and Peasley ended up being separated from the rest of their group.
It seemed that they should have slowed down a bit.
Alena discovered the fire god, Firebrand.
He was worried about what was happening.
"Please don't tell me you brought the baddies to this temple!" exclaimed the fire god. They were causing a lot of trouble around the oasis.
Alena shook her head. This was not her doing. She would not do such a thing. She had a heart of gold.
Some Fire Snakes came in.
She got to work fighting them.
Luckily, she was able to drive them off.
"I guess you aren't working with them!" shouted the fire god.
That made him very happy.
"I never said I was part of the Koopa Troop." answered Alena. She was fighting against them, not for them.
"Allow me to teach you the ways of Firebrand!" exclaimed the god of fire. It was the least he could do after she defended the temple.
"Firebrand?" asked Alena. This was the first that she had heard of it.
"Touch the orb for me, please." requested Firebrand.
He pointed to a glowing orb in the room.
Alena shrugged and touched the fire orb.
Unsurprisingly, it was hot to the touch.
"That's hot!" exclaimed Alena.
"I know. But rest assured, you won't get burned." assured Firebrand. Using the fire orb was safe.
Alena's hand then ignited.
"What's going on?" asked Alena.
"You've unlocked Firebrand!" explained the god.
"I can control fire now?" questioned the princess.
She thought it suited her.
The fire god nodded. No doubt this would come in handy in certain situations. No pun intended.
"Have a nice day!" exclaimed Firebrand.
He disappeared in a burst of smoke.
"I'm sure this will help me." noted Alena.
Though Ashlynn could already control fire.
Peasley discovered the thunder god.
Thunderhand immediately glared at him. It made the prince feel nervous.
"You're the one who brought the baddies to this temple, didn't you?" asked the thunder god.
Peasley shook his head. He had no intention of causing trouble in Oho Oasis.
"You'd better not. Otherwise you'll have to face my godly wrath!" shouted the god.
Peasley did not like the sound of that.
Some Amps flew in.
He decided it would be a good idea to prove himself to Thunderhand so that he did not get zapped.
He fought them using wind.
The Amps decided to retreat.
"Fine. I guess you're not a minion of the Koopa King." said Thunderhand. It actually made sense considering that Prince Peasley was a Bean and not a Koopa Troopa.
"I never said I was." spoke Prince Peasley. He was a prince, but he was not Bowser Jr.
"Now hurry up and touch the orb." demanded the thunder god.
He pointed to an orb that was blue in color.
Prince Peasley decided that he wouldn't keep Thunderhand waiting. He wasn't the most patient god around, unlike his fellow elemental god Firebrand.
The orb ended up zapping him.
"That was…shocking." noted the prince.
"What did you expect?" asked Thunderhand.
Luckily, Peasley was not hurt by the electricity.
And he could now use electricity to his advantage.
"It was nice meeting you…I guess." said the thunder god. He did appreciate his help fighting off the Bowser Baddies, though he was reluctant to admit it.
He decided to take his leave.
Alena and Peasley decided to show off their new powers.
"I guess we made the right choice coming here." noted Nera. New powers could allow them to gain the upper hand against the Koopa Troop.
Fortunately, it seemed the temples were secured.
The Oho Jees were very happy. Now they could say their prayers in peace.
A red Oho Jee approached them.
He had important information to give them about the Bowser Baddies they were facing.
"Magikoopa nearby!" exclaimed a Red Oho Jee.
"Magikoopa?" asked Alena.
"That sounds like Kamek." noted Peasley. Back in the day, he babysitted Prince Bowser…who was now the Koopa King.
Our heroes noticed a tower up ahead.
It was blue in color.
And it had a magic hat on it.
Apparently, that was where Kamek was.
It looked like they were climbing up that tower.
It seemed like a fairly long climb.
But our heroes could handle that.
After all, did they not climb up Hoohoo Mountain?
Kamek saw the heroes approaching the tower.
He was going to deal with them once and for all.
Or so he thought, anyways.
I feel happy to have featured those two gods in my fanfic.
I found them memorable.
In the next chapter, our heroes will fight Kamek.
And our other heroes will fight Orochi.
You think I should give Kiryl the ability to manipulate ice?
I do take creative liberties with the source material, though you probably already know that.
