In this chapter, our heroes will work on escaping Yoob's belly.
I will admit I had some writer's block with the last chapter. I've probably already said this, but I might want to change the schedule.
The chapters are approaching 3000 words, after all.
Though to be fair I was writing about 900 words for this fanfic before.
Minor spoiler: Dhuran is going to appear in this chapter.
Let me know what you think of my portrayal of him.
Chapter 53: Indigestion
Seesaw Shrooms
This time, our heroes used seesaw mushrooms to get around.
It was a nice change of pace compared to the last level.
But the threat of falling off was still present.
Mario remembered there being a lot of seesaws in Bowser in the Dark World. Towards the end of the level, anyways.
That level was a bit tricky. It was the first Bowser level in Super Mario 64, after all.
Some Boreal Serpents were flying around the level.
They possessed powerful icy breath, so our heroes needed to be careful.
It was surprising what shapes dragons could come in. They could be either big or small. Some flew around but some walked on foot.
Some Tantamounts were roaming the level as well.
For some reason they could fly without wings.
These horses attacked with flames. Scorching hot flames.
And yes, it was a contrast to the Boreal Serpents.
This time, the boss was Dhuran.
It wasn't a big surprise, considering they had fought Jamirus in the last level.
Now the set was complete. The Dread Fiend set, that is.
"Salutations, brave heroes!" exclaimed Dhuran.
"He sure is polite." noted Jade.
"I'll say!" exclaimed Bianca.
"I see that you defeated my fellow Dread Fiends. That should be commended." noted Dhuran.
"Weren't they your-a comrades?" questioned Luigi.
"Well, we were competing to see who could become Mortamor's favorite." spoke the demon. Personally he didn't fight with his fellow fiends often though.
They had also competed to be one of the generals as well. Gracos won that one. Or was it a descendant?
"I see." noted the plumber.
"After hearing stories about you, I figured I would test your strength myself." answered the demon.
"We had to be strong to get here." acknowledged Jessica.
"People say that I resemble Nokturnus." spoke Dhuran. He was pretty small potatoes compared to him though. Nokturnus was one of the mightiest demons in existence.
"I can see the resemblance." noted Bianca.
Dhuran got ready to fight our heroes.
He pulled out his dual blade.
Luigi zapped him with lightning.
Dhuran flinched.
But he swung his dual blade in retaliation.
Luigi ducked underneath it.
Jessica struck him with his whip.
"Not bad! But you'll have to do better than that to defeat me!" exclaimed Dhuran.
Luigi psyched himself up.
And so did Jade.
But Dhuran used Disruptive Wave.
It seemed he had a counter to that strategy.
Of course, it wasn't the first time Disruptive Wave had been used on them.
"We can't rely on tension." noted Jade.
Dhuran then hit Jade with his dual blade.
"Ow!" exclaimed the martial artist.
"Are you sure you're prepared for this fight?" asked Dhuran.
"I'd like to think that we are." answered Jade.
"Good!" exclaimed the demon.
Jade kicked Dhuran and knocked him back a few feet.
Dhuran rushed towards our heroes.
It was impressive how fast he was.
Maybe they needed to slow him down.
But how could they do that?
Luckily, Peach had an idea.
She pulled out an Ice Flower and began to chill Dhuran.
This made Dhuran attack much slower, which made him much more manageable.
"You are a clever fighter!" exclaimed Dhuran.
Mario then whacked him with his hammer.
Dhuran fell on his knees.
"Well done, heroes! You can pass!" shouted Dhuran.
"Who would have thought demons could be so polite?" questioned Jessica.
It was a refreshing change of pace.
If only Baramos were that polite.
"It's pretty impressive that we managed to defeat the four Dread Fiends." noted Jade.
Defeating one was no small accomplishment in itself.
Of course, it would be a bigger accomplishment if they defeated Baramos.
He was still waiting for them.
"Don't keep me waiting!" exclaimed Baramos.
Though if they fell on the way to him, that would be worth a laugh.
Personally he wondered why the Dread Fiends hadn't been up for the task.
Not even Dhuran could win against them.
Back in Yoob's Belly, Alena's team explored the tunnel.
They discovered Napses inside.
These enemies had the power to multiply themselves.
This made them more difficult to deal with.
They also had the power to fire energy projectiles.
Luckily, the projectiles were color-coded for a time, so they could tell who was going to be attacked.
There was also the fact that cloning themselves divided the Napse's HP in half.
So it limited the effectiveness of the clones somewhat.
Attacking multiple Napses at once was the way to go.
There were also Peps as well.
These enemies could shapeshift into three different forms.
Power, Defense, and Speed.
As such, these enemies were versatile.
The downside was that the Peps could not attack while in defense mode.
However, they could defend other enemies with their shields.
"It appears that the Peps are taking creative liberties!" exclaimed Alena.
"It's not a big creative liberty. We could fuse with enemies and increase their stats in Bowser's Inside Story." pointed out a Defense Pep.
Still, if one had a big shield, why not use it to their advantage?
After fighting the baddies that had decided to call Yoob's Belly home, our heroes rescued a purple Yoshi from an egg.
"Thanks!" exclaimed a purple Yoshi.
"Why are the Shroobs putting Yoshis in eggs?" asked Captain Toad.
They seemed safely secured inside Yoob's belly to him.
"I have a pretty good idea." answered Peasley.
"Huh?" asked Ruff.
"I suspect that the Shroobs are trying to turn the Yoshis into more Yoobs." explained the prince.
"What?!" shouted Maya.
That was nothing short of terrible, turning an innocent creature into a malicious one.
Of course, they had also brainwashed two Hammer Brothers…but they had already been servants of the evil Koopa King.
Was there a way to reverse it? She didn't want to have to fight a Yoshi.
For now, they would focus on breaking as many eggs as they could. This would release the Yoshis and ensure that they don't suffer a terrible fate. Aside from the fate of being trapped in Yoob's belly, that is.
"If that's what they're doing, I hope that we can prevent the Yoshis from turning into monsters." noted Alena.
Ruff nodded. One Yoob was bad enough, but several of them? It could be the end of the Beanbean Kingdom.
They had to stop the Shroobs' operation here and now. Before it was too late.
Our heroes discovered there was an egg factory inside of Yoob.
They looked for the means to shut it down.
They saw a SHUT DOWN button.
"That's pretty convenient…but what if it's a trap?" questioned Alena. That button seemed a bit too good to be true.
She wouldn't put it past the Shroobs to design one.
Maybe they should hesitate before pressing the button.
One of the RC Shroobers saw them.
"Darn it! I thought we had them for sure!" exclaimed the light blue Shroob. It turned out the heroes were smarter than that.
That button as it turned out activated an alarm.
Ruff kicked a Green Shell at RC Shroober.
He had found multiple powerups lurking in ? Blocks.
Though he wondered if the RC Shroobers were aware of them.
They did realize that the contents could be used against them, right?
Meanwhile, Kamek cast a spell to summon Fuzzies.
He was going to teach Yoob a lesson about eating everything in sight.
And he wasn't going to get away with eating Koopa Troopas.
The Fuzzies hopped towards Yoob.
Yoob instinctively ate the Fuzzies…
…but that was a decision he would soon regret.
Not long after he ate the Fuzzies, he began to have tummy trouble.
Shortly afterwards, he began to spit out those that he had consumed.
This included our heroes.
"What happened?" asked Ruff.
"I don't know, but it looks like we've managed to escape." answered Kiryl.
Fortune had smiled upon them.
Suddenly, our heroes heard a roar.
"Was that Yoob?" asked Maya.
"No, it's something else!" answered Meena.
As it turned out, there had been an egg monster living inside Yoob.
Perhaps the Shroobs had designed it to make sure that the Yoshis inside did not escape.
It seemed that they learned their lesson from the Vim Factory.
Sunnycide attacked our heroes.
It attacked by launching eggs at them.
It also swatted at them with its tentacles.
And yes, that was a creative liberty. But it made sense, didn't it?
It also attempted to swallow them.
"I've already been swallowed once today!" exclaimed Alena, who punched Sunnycide away. She certainly didn't want it to happen again.
Kamek wondered if he should fight the monster.
But then again, he had already rescued the Koopa Troopas.
Our heroes wondered how they would take down the alien monster that had been living inside Yoob's belly.
It seemed pretty well-defended. Just what was that shell made out of?
However, Meena noticed a weak point inside the monster's mouth.
The only question was how they were going to hit it.
Luckily, the Koopa Troopas decided to help them.
They began to spin into Sunnycide.
Sunnycide lost its balance and fell over.
"Look! Its core is exposed!" exclaimed Ashlynn.
Now was an excellent time to attack.
However, Sunnycide was not defenseless in this state, even with its core exposed.
It pulled a chain and Ruff fell into the pit.
He ended up having a crash landing.
"Ow!" shouted Ruff. It seemed they shouldn't let their guard down, even when Sunnycide was down on the floor.
Ashlynn launched fireballs at Sunnycide.
But it pulled another chain.
This time, everything went dark.
A Boo then swiped her staff.
"Hey!" exclaimed Ashlynn.
Luckily, Alena got it back.
"Thanks!" shouted Ashlynn.
Ruff used a Fire Flower on Sunnycide.
Sunnycide exploded.
The Yoshis cheered.
"We defeated the monster!" cheered Ruff.
"Yeah, but what are we going to do about the big pink dinosaur?" asked Ashlynn.
He was still at large...no pun intended. Which meant that Little Fungitown wasn't safe.
But as it turned out, they didn't have to lift a finger.
Yoob yawned, then suddenly collapsed on the ground.
"I guess after he lost his food he lost his strength." noted Captain Toad.
It seemed that the Shroobs didn't anticipate Kamek finding a way to release his victims.
Luckily, the citizens of Little Fungitown wouldn't have to worry about the alien dinosaur now that he was down for the count.
Though they would want someone to keep an eye on him, just in case he did wake up.
"Darn it! This operation was a failure!" exclaimed the RC Shroober.
He decided to report to Commander Shroob.
"Those heroes will pay!" exclaimed the commander.
"Wait, I just remembered something. Didn't Boddle want us to return the Yoshis to him?" asked Alena.
"Oh yeah." nodded Ashlynn.
"We should tell him that we managed to rescue the Yoshis." noted Meena.
He would be pleased as punch to hear that.
Our heroes went back to Yoshi Theater.
Sure enough, Boddle was very happy.
The Yoshis had already returned to Boddle.
The Yoshi Theater would definitely live up to its name once again.
Though not all of the Yoshis had gone to visit Little Fungitown. One could say they were the lucky ones. Though the Yoshis that had been consumed by Yoob were all lucky to be rescued.
"The Yoshis told me they were eaten by a monster. Thank you so much for rescuing them!" exclaimed Boddle.
He also heard they had taken down the alien Yoshi that had been rampaging across Little Fungitown as well. It was most impressive.
"You're welcome!" answered Alena.
They had stopped another threat to the Beanbean Kingdom.
"As promised, here is the Beanstar piece!" shouted the man who dressed as an egg.
Our heroes considered themselves lucky he wasn't crazy as his brother was.
Otherwise getting the Beanstar piece would be a lot more complicated. Would they have had to face another Chuckolator? To be fair, Boddle was not as fixated on Chuckola Cola as his brother was. Though he did drink it from time to time.
Boddle wondered if he should make a movie based on the heroes' exploits.
"Now, how do we put the Beanstar back together?" asked Maya.
"My mother should know how." answered Peasley.
"Great!" exclaimed Ashlynn.
Our heroes went back to Beanbean Castle.
It was time to restore the Beanstar.
The Beanbean guard were on standby in case the Shroobs had attacked again.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the Shroobs had figured out that the Beanbean Kingdom was helpless against an attack from the sky.
Or was it until Professor E. Gadd had designed that Sky Cannon that fires massive beans. They would make sure to thank him.
"Did you get all the Beanstar pieces?" asked Lady Lima.
"We sure did!" nodded Prince Peasley.
It was a lot of work. They had to do multiple favors for the resident of the Beanbean Kingdom.
But they had still managed to pull it off.
Lady Lima applauded them.
"Your efforts are to be commended!" exclaimed the advisor.
Queen Bean was pleased with them as well.
"Well done! I knew you could do it!" cheered Queen Bean.
Queen Bean clapped her hands, and the Beanstar pieces began to gather together.
Within a minute the Beanstar was complete again.
"It feels so good to be whole again!" exclaimed the Beanstar.
Our heroes cheered. This was the result of all their hard work.
"Perhaps we can use it to make the Shroobs go away." noted Alena. The Beans would rest easy in their beds knowing that they didn't have to worry about being abducted by aliens.
"I'm still recovering my energy, sorry." apologized the Beanstar. It had just been split into four pieces, after all. It wouldn't be able to stop the invasion.
"Can you at least tell us where we can find more Shroobs?" asked the princess.
They were a bigger threat to the kingdom than the Koopas themselves.
She figured it would be best to focus on them for the time being and not Bowser.
"Of course!" nodded the Beanstar. He had enough energy do that.
As it turned out, there were more Shroobs in Teehee Valley.
So our heroes would be heading back there.
It was close to Little Fungitown, so they would want to make sure it wasn't invaded again. Yoob had caused enough trouble as it was.
It seemed the Shroobs had holed themselves up in a pyramid.
Apparently, the younger Princess Shroob was making a guest appearance.
They could tell by the poster that they had placed on the pyramid wall.
Perhaps if they defeated her, the Shroobs would call off the invasion.
But they got the feeling the princess was powerful.
It was likely that the younger Princess Shroob had taken down any competition to the throne.
Except for her sister. She seemed content having her take the top position, so long as she got to be second-in-command.
It would be best if they approached the younger Princess Shroob with caution.
Though to be honest, perhaps trying to attack her wasn't such a good idea.
There were going to be a lot of Shroobs at the event.
And if they saw our heroes attacking the princess, they would likely rush to defend her.
Perhaps they shouldn't assault the pyramid.
Although, there seemed to be a lot of Shroobs outside.
Maybe it would be a better idea to fight them.
Our heroes decided to do that.
Meanwhile, Kamek went back to Bowser.
"Did you save the Koopa Troopas from that giant Yoshi?" asked Bowser. Normal-sized Yoshis caused enough trouble for the Koopa Troop as it was.
"Yes, I did." nodded Kamek.
The Koopa Troopas were very happy with Kamek for rescuing them.
But now they felt conflicted. Hadn't Alena and her team rescued them as well?
It made them wonder what side they should choose.
To be honest, kidnapping Princess Peach did get repetitive after a while.
Why did so many villains want to get their hands on her, anyway?
They knew that she could awaken the Beanstar, but not every villain knew of its existence.
Speaking of which, they wondered what Peach was doing at the moment.
It seemed she had gone a long time without Bowser kidnapping her.
It was weird.
Peach was currently buying a Queen Slime's Crown.
It enhanced her spells.
She also bought a Starman Dress.
It was powerful armor, as the name implied.
She figured they would spend the coins that they had obtained from Dhuran.
He had dropped a lot of coins.
They would go to the next level when they were ready for it.
Our heroes managed to save the Yoshis! And the Toads. And the Koopa Troopas.
Isn't that fantastic?
Well, technically it was Kamek. But our heroes did their part.
Also, the Beanstar is complete once again!
Let's just hope it doesn't shatter once more.
Do you like how I featured some of the enemies from Bowser's Inside Story? And do you like how I'm giving the Commander Shroob a bigger role?
