Chapter 5
Delfino Duel
BGM: King Krusha K. Rool (Donkey Kong 64)
K. Rool fired two cannonballs from his blunderbuss at Bowser, one after another. Bowser shattered them with his fists in succession, only to be hit in the face by a third one and knocked back. He got back up and picked up the cannonball that hit him. Lighting it on fire with his fire breath, he threw it back at K. Rool with an evil grin on his face.
K. Rool dodged the homecoming cannonball, which hit the deck and threatened to burn the ship with its fire. However, a Koopa Troopa dowsed it with a bucket of water fast.
"Don't you dare destroy my ship!" said K. Rool in anger before firing another cannonball at Bowser.
Bowser caught the cannonball with his hands and said, "I'll be sure to apply reverse psychology to what you told me!" He burned the cannonball and tossed it back to K. Rool again, but the latter used his blunderbuss as as baseball bat to knock it off the ship and into the water.
Bowser charged at K. Rool, and the latter held up his blunderbuss to lock together with him, pushing each other back and forth and even moving in circles. Eventually, Bowser overpowered K. Rool and tossed him into the ship's mast hard, though the mast remained standing.
K. Rool got up and growled in anger before turning around to climb up the mast at a surprisingly fast speed for someone with a large build. Bowser watched him climb to the top and shouted, "Get down here a once!"
At the crow's nest, K. Rool fired from his blunderbuss multiple cannonballs one after the other at Bowser, though he dodged them. The cannonballs somehow did not make holes on the deck, showing how sturdy it is.
Bowser shot fireballs at K. Rool, but the latter's blunderbuss behaved like a vacuum cleaner and sucked them in. K. Rool cackled before shooting fireballs at Bowser, who dodged them. "Don't use my move against me!" said Bowser in anger as he ran to the mast to ram it.
The powerful shaking caused by the impact caused K. Rool to almost fall out of the crow's nest, so he held on tightly. Bowser began punching away at the mast, trying to destroy it. K. Rool's crewmates obviously weren't going to let him get away with things, so they gathered around him and began beating him to stop him.
"Stop it! You'll destroy our ship!" shouted a Hammer Bro as he bonked him in the head with his hammer.
"You mess with the captain and our ship, you mess with us!" said a Kritter angrily as he attempted to strangle him.
"Argh! Get off me!" shouted Bowser in frustration as stopped what he was doing and tried to shake off the enemies, though they clung tightly onto him, refusing to let go. Bowser eventually withdrew into his shell and spun with such a force that he generated a whirlwind around himself, repelling the enemies.
Kudgel, a muscular Kremling holding a large wooden club, approached Bowser and swung his club at him while he was still in his shell. However, Bowser's shell proved to be extremely resilient, as the club shattered upon hitting it. The turtle withdrew from his shell and threw a fast punch at Kudgel, pushing him back. However, the muscular Kremling simply laughed, as the punch did not appear to be much to him due to his massive muscles and build.
K. Rool suddenly fell onto Bowser from behind, pressing him against the deck. Thanks to his belly armor, K. Rool's body was safe from the spikes on his shell. He held back Bowser by his arms and said to Kudgel, "Get him!"
Kudgel winded up a punch and lunged at Bowser to punch him, only for the latter to turn around and expose K. Rool's backside to the incoming fist instead. K. Rool received the punch for Bowser, but the force caused them both to fly forward and crash into the mast, which did not fall over but had cracks on it appearing. "Oops…" cried Kudgel when realized he punched the wrong person.
Bowser flung K. Rool aside before breathing a large amount of fire at Kudgel. The large Kremling screamed in agony as he ran around with fire all over his body, and then he jumped off the ship and into the sea below.
K. Rool got back up and growled in anger. Pointing his blunderbuss at Bowser, he fired purple gas at him. Bowser breathed in purple gas and began to feel dizzy. "Whoa… What the… Everything is… spinning…"
While the turtle was dizzy, K. Rool punched him hard in the face and knocked him back several steps before shooting cannonballs that grew spike as they flew towards him. Bowser was struck painfully and fell on his back, and then K. Rool jumped at him, stomping him hard in the body with his feet.
Still on top of Bowser, K. Rool began hammering his fists against his face over and over. "Take this! Take that! Die!"
Bowser took several hits to the face before managing to catch one of his hands in his mouth, biting down on it hard and making him cry in pain. Bowser also breathed fire at his hand and his face. K. Rool got up and cried in pain, trying to put out the fire on his face. Bowser used this opportunity to give him a powerful punch to sent him crashing into the mast, making more cracks appear on it.
Bowser didn't stop there. He ran towards K. Rool and attacked with a drop kick, hitting him hard and also damaging the mast even more. In fact, the mast received too much damage and finally collapsed. The entire thing fell lean towards one side, frightening all the crewmates greatly, until it crashed onto the deck with such a force that the boat rocked and tilted.
"MY SHIP!" gasped K. Rool when he saw what happened. He then glared at Bowser. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" He began firing spiked cannonballs from his blunderbuss nonstop at Bowser, who withdrew into his shell for protection.
Bowser spun in his shell and slid all over the deck, knocking over anyone in the way and even sending them overboard. K. Rool was hit and let go of his blunderbuss, which flew into the air and into the sea.
Bowser eventually stopped spinning and got back out of his shell, as he was starting to feel dizzy and had to take a break. K. Rool angrily lunged at him, and the two reptiles wrestled against each other and rolled around on the deck, all the while punching each other. They tumbled all over the place until they entered one of the cabin rooms and went all the way into the prison room where Peach is, and she was surprised to see the two entering the room. "What the?!"
Bowser got up and saw her. "Peach! You're all right! Wait for me! I'm here to…" He was interrupted by K. Rool strangling him from behind. "Gack!"
Bowser struggled to get him off, and they ended up crashing through a door and into another room that contained several crates, indicating that it was likely a storage room. Bowser was able to get K. Rool off, and the two proceeded to throw punches at each other in what was basically an intense boxing match.
Punches were thrown all over the place, hitting each other different parts of the body. This went on for quite a while, with neither side willing to relent. "Why won't you give up?!" said K. Rool in anger and frustration.
"The same can be said for you!" replied Bowser. The turtle took a deep breath amidst the punching and breathed a large stream of fire that sent K. Rool flying back through the room and into another room. When Bowser closed his mouth, he saw a sign next to the room K. Rool flew into.
GUNPOWDER ROOM
NO FIRE ALLOWED!
"Uh oh… Peach!" gasped Bowser, realizing the seriousness of what would happen. He rushed back to the prison room and towards Peach in her jail just as a massive explosion was created.
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
BGM Ends
The entire pirate ship was blown into pieces, and anyone still on the ship were blown sky high. K. Rool could be seen shooting out of the explosion and flying high into the air like a rocket, screaming loudly as he did so.
The explosion died down, and what was left of the ship was nothing but piles of wooden pieces drifting on the sea, some of them burning. K. Rool's crewmates could be seen scattered around the place, drifting on the sea with burns all over their bodies.
Bowser and Peach could both be seen on a large wooden board. The former had used his body to keep her safe from the explosion, though she still suffered burns. He let go of her and asked her, "Are you all right?"
"I'm all right… Thanks!" Peach said to him.
It wasn't the first time Bowser was thanked by Peach, as there were a few times he reluctantly teamed up with Mario to fight greater evil, and he received thanks and praise from Peach during those times. Even so, it was something that didn't happen often, so he was still filled with joy to hear her say it to him, even if this Peach might not be the one he knew.
"I'm just glad you're all right!" Bowser happily said to her. "You can always count on me to protect you! Maybe you should consider dropping your engagement with Luigi and marry me instead!"
Peach stared at her in silence for a few seconds before scooting away fast from him to sit at the edge of the wooden board, while tears of sadness flowed down Bowser's eyes when he saw her response.
A large amount of police and even military people, most of them being Pianta and Noki, were gathered at Ricco Harbor, watching as Kraken came closer and closer to the place. The ones that just arrived were shocked at what they saw and had many things to say about it.
"What on earth is that?!"
"Is that a Blooper?!"
"It's a giant robot squid!"
"What are you waiting for? Shoot it already!"
The soldiers aimed their weapons, such as machines guns and rocket launchers, at Kraken. Most of their shots ended up in the water around it, and the ones that manage to hit the water-based Rapture didn't appear to do anything to it. Kraken kept on approaching the harbor like nothing was stopping it.
But that didn't mean it didn't retaliate. Kraken fired energy beams out of the tips of its tentacles, blasting various parts of the harbor and mostly aiming at places that had people. Many of the police and soldiers were blown away, while some ran for their lives.
As the chaos went on, Rapi, Helm, and Donkey Kong came running into the place just in time to see what was happening, and they were shocked, obviously. "Those poor people! We have to stop Kraken now!" gasped Helm.
"That monster! I won't let it get away with things!" said Donkey Kong in anger before thumping his chest and angry making gorilla sounds.
When Kraken stopped bombarding the place with lasers, the three ran forward and began helping those who were injured. "Are you all right?" Rapi asked a Pianta who appears to be the commander of the army present.
"That monster…! I can't believe my army fell so easily…!" he said as he sat up.
"We'll help you take care of that thing, as we have experience dealing with it before," Rapi told him. "Do you have any ammo? We need them for our guns!"
"My men should've brought a lot in their trucks," the soldier told her while pointing at nearby trucks that did not get hit by the laser beams. "You must be the mercenaries I heard about, right? If you can do something, then please help!"
"That's what we are here to do," Rapi said to him with a nod. "Please get to safety yourself!"
While Rapi and Helm were reloading their guns from the truck, Donkey Kong ran to the edge of the harbor facing Kraken. "Hey you! I'm going to rip off all your tentacles and make fried calamari out of you if you don't back off now!" he shouted at the approaching Rapture.
He then looked to the side and saw a grenade randomly lying there. Assuming that it must have been dropped by a soldier earlier, he picked it up, removed the pin, and winded up his arm multiple times before throwing the grenade at Kraken. It hit the mechanical squid in the middle of the head, causing it to recoil and let out a mechanical-sounding cry.
Donkey pumped the air with his fist and said, "Yeah! How'd you like that?" Responding to being attacked, Kraken fired a laser beam from one of its tentacles at Donkey, who rolled out of the way to avoid it.
Rapi and Helm, having restocked on ammo, came forward and began firing at Kraken. "You take cover!" Rapi called out to Donkey without taking her head away from Kraken. "We'll take it from here!"
"I can help!" Donkey insisted. "I just need a way to get close to it, or something to throw at it."
When Kraken fired laser beams at the Nikke and Donkey, they hurriedly got behind various large objects and structures nearby to avoid getting shot, and when the coast was clear, Rapi and Helm would look out to continue to shooting.
At the same time, soldiers continued to fire from their weapons at Kraken, contributing in taking it down. Donkey ran around the place, looking for something he could make use of. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going as a result and bumped into someone. "Sorry…!" He looked at the person he bumped into and widened his eyes in surprise. "Funky?!"
He bumped into a gorilla wearing a soldier outfit and a pair of shades. Lifting his shades to look at Donkey, the gorilla asked, "How'd you know my name?"
Realizing that this wasn't the same Funky he knew, Donkey tried to come up with an answer. "Um… You just have that… funky look to you…"
Funky burst out into laughter when he heard this. "Hahahaha! That's a good one! My comrades do say I've got a funky style from time to time, like my name!"
"Sorry I bumped into you…" Donkey apologized to him while helping him stand back up.
"It's all right. With all this mess going around, nobody's going to blame you," Funky told him. "What's got into ya, pal? Should you really be in a war zone?"
"I want to help take down that robot squid! But I need a weapon of some kind to hit it! Or maybe even get myself up close to it so I can crush it with my bare hands!" Donkey told him.
"You're the kind who wants to be a hero, huh? I like that spirit! I'm not sure if you are qualified for it or if you're even allowed, but we've got some firepower over there," Funky told him while pointing his hand at a nearby truck. "Grab something that suits ya, and then get funky'!"
BGM: Kraken (Goddess of Victory: Nikke)
Meanwhile, the Nikke and the soldiers continued to fire at Kraken, who was gradually drawing closer and not deterred by the gunfire bombarding it. It eventually got close enough to reach one of its tentacles over to the harbor to attack with. Rapi and Helm ran back as fast as they could when said tentacle swung horizontally in their direction, and then they continued firing from a safer distance.
Donkey Kong came forward carrying a minigun and shouted, "Hey you! Try this one for a size!" He pulled the trigger and let loose a stream of bullets, striking Kraken in the middle of the head nonstop.
"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" said Funky in excitement as he walked up next to Donkey with a rocket launcher to fire at Kraken.
Kraken let out an angry cry from constantly getting hit, and then it bombarded the place nonstop with laser beams as well as occasionally delivering physical blows using its tentacles. Everyone had to run for his or her lives to avoid getting hit by its attacks.
The commander Pianta found himself hiding behind a truck alongside Rapi. "Darn it! That thing is much more dangerous than I thought!" he said as he took out a walkie-talkie. "I'll have to call for reinforcement to bring in the big guns! It's finally time to use THAT thing!" Rapi listened to him calling the person on the other and telling him to bring in support, but one name he mentioned caught her attention. "And tell Sugar that she was permission to use THAT!"
"Sugar?!" said Rapi in surprise.
Kraken made its way the harbor, touching its body against solid ground, and attacked with its tentacles. Due to being at a closer proximity, it is able to reach inwards farther and making it harder for people to avoid its tentacles.
While everyone else was terrified and running around, Donkey had an enthusiastic grin on his face instead. Dropping the minigun he picked up and then running towards Kraken, he said out loud, "This is what I've been waiting for!"
He jumped over a laser beam Kraken fired at him and latched onto the front part of the machine's head. He then unleashed a series of super fast headbutts against the Kraken's head over and over. Kraken reeled back and moved away from the harbor in response, obviously in pain from the rapid headbutting the gorilla was giving it. It shook its head, trying to get him off, but Donkey held on tight and refused to let go.
Donkey then climbed up the head and to the top of it. Jumping into the air, he raised one fist and came falling back down onto Kraken, smashing the top of its head with a powerful punch. The powerful punch sent Kraken taking a dip into the water in a blink of an eye, not to mention kicking up waves that went in every direction.
Those back on solid ground were surprised by Donkey's incredible feat of strength and the fact that he managed to deal significant damage to Kraken with his fists, while none of them appeared to be able to do anything with their weapons.
"Wow! That guy's strong!"
"How did he do that?!"
"I think he can defeat that thing for us!"
"Incredible…! I can't believe he is able to hurt Kraken with just his bare hands…!" said Helm in disbelief.
Funky laughed and then said, "I knew that guy had it in him!"
Donkey fell into the water and began swimming back towards dry land, only to be dragged underwater suddenly. Helm was shocked to see this and knew that Kraken pulled him underwater with its tentacle. Not wasting any time, she ran for the water and dived into it, still holding her sniper rifle. She swam for Donkey, who was indeed getting dragged down by Kraken, as the Rapture intended to go deeper to drown him.
Helm aimed at the tentacle holding onto Donkey and fired, making it loosen its grip, just enough for Donkey to use his strength to push apart the entire thing and then swim away. Helm helped him get back onto the surface, where the latter gasped for air and then thanked her.
They ran deeper into the land just as Kraken resurfaced, making an angry sound. Helm looked carefully at the Rapture and noticed cracks on certain parts of its head. It showed that Donkey's attacks managed to damage it. "We can definitely beat it!" she thought.
Rapi was ready to make a move again when she heard the sound of engine. Looking to the side, she saw more soldiers approaching, but one particular person arriving on a motorcycle surprised her and also confirmed that she didn't mishear the army commander ealier. "Sugar?!"
Sugar, dressed in army camouflage, arrived on a motorcycle that had a side cart, except the cart was equipped with a turret rather than a passenger seat. Sugar talked with her fellow soldiers and also the commander about the current situation.
"I've been wanting to try this for some time now," said Sugar with a nonchalant expression as she looked at the turret attached to her motorcycle. "The Super Star Cannon."
"After all the trouble we went through to get this made specifically for you, this thing better work!" the commander told her.
She moved her motorcycle into a position that allowed the turret in the side cart to take aim at Kraken properly. After pressing a button on her motorcycle, the turret glowed with rainbow-colored light before firing a blast of star-shaped energy.
The projectile struck Kraken, successfully blowing off portions of its outer covering, revealing another layer of head underneath. The commander said in joy, "Yes! It's working!"
This enraged the Rapture, and it began firing missiles. In response, the army used their newly arrive vehicles equipped with weapons to fire their own missiles, blowing away the opposing side's out of the air.
Rapi ran up to Sugar and told her. "Fire that thing again! It seems to be very effective against Kraken!"
"Yeah, about that… You can't use it in succession… You need to give it a few minutes rest… The Super Star inside powering it runs out of juice every single use," Sugar told her while opening up a part of the turret. Inside the turret was a yellow star with eyes and a dimmed appearance. "Give it a few minutes, okay?"
Rapi grumbled internally, but there was nothing that could be done but wait. For now, they had to keep Kraken distracted until Sugar could fire again.
Kraken moved back from the harbor a bit of a distance and then submerged underwater, much to everyone's curiosity. A whirlpool began forming where it submerged, gradually building up speed until the sea became violent. "I have a bad feeling about this…" said Funky, lowering his shades as he watched the phenomenon before his eyes.
Suddenly, the sea erupted into a large tsunami that reached a tremendous height in a second and came rushing towards dry land at a fast speed. Everyone screamed while running as far as they could. The tsunami crashed onto harbor, washing away almost everything and also destroying them. Buildings, vehicles, and stationary objects… They were all uprooted from their spots and sent all over the place.
The water receded relatively fast though, but the damage caused was still damage. Helm was washed some distance into the land, and she got up while coughing out water, glad to know that her body was still in a good condition. When she looked at the damage around her and all the injured people, she was filled with horror and also anger. Glaring at Kraken, she said, "I won't let you get away with this!"
She a saw a missile launcher truck nearby that wasn't toppled over by the tsunami, and seeing that there were still missiles, she rushed over into driver's seat and had it fire missiles at Kraken. With precise swings of its tentacles, Kraken managed to deflect a number of them, though a couple of them still managed to hit it.
This did nothing to stop Kraken, as it approached dry land again and began pulling itself onto the ground. Helm tried to fire more missiles, but the truck was out of ammo. "Darn it!"
"Fire me at it!" Donkey shouted at her as he ran towards the truck and tried to insert himself feet first into one of the missiles slots as much as he could. Holding onto the sides tightly, he shouted for her to shoot him like a missile.
"But you'll hurt yourself!" Helm told him.
"Just do it! This ain't the first time I functioned as a gorilla cannonball!" Donkey told her.
Though still doubtful, Helm did as he said nevertheless. When she fired the launch button, Donkey Kong was shot out of the launcher as an incredibly fast speed, flying headfirst towards Kraken at first but then curling up his body into a circle and spinning vertically.
He struck Kraken with such a force that the latter was pushed back and fell into the water, while Donkey himself bounced back into the air and landed on his feet before immediately jumping at Kraken with one fist pulled back and winding up. He slammed down his fist onto the center of Kraken's head, making the Rapture cry in pain.
Donkey bounced back onto the edge of the harbor, and Kraken angrily swung a tentacle at him, only for him to catch it with one hand. When Kraken swung a second tentacle at him from the other side, but he caught it as well. Donkey moved back, pulling the tentacles he caught as hard as he could with the intent of ripping them off. Kraken tried to pull back its tentacles, but the gorilla's strength was surprisingly beyond its own.
Rapi showed up, running at one of the tentacles and firing from her machine gun at it nonstop, hoping to destroy it. When she got up close to that tentacle, she wrapped her arm around it and squeezed it hard while pulling it. As she did so, her hair started to become turn red at the same time her strength seemingly increased. Her grip became stronger, and cracks became more evident on the tentacle. With a loud shout, Rapi successfully crushed and severed the tentacle from Kraken's body.
Spinning in a circle once, Rapi flung the severed tentacle at Kraken, stabbing it with its pointed end. With one tentacle down, Donkey focused his grip on the other tentacle with both hands and, with a powerful yank, tore it off. He then used it as a whip, swinging it down onto Kraken's head hard.
Kraken backed away while letting out a cry that could be described as sounding horrified. With its remaining tentacles, it angrily fired laser beams and missiles at Rapi and Donkey, who fled them. However, Rapi, with her hair still red, amazingly caught one of the missiles and threw it back at Kraken, making it flinch.
Rapi's hair color then returned to being brown, and she looked at her hands and said silently to herself, "Thanks, Red Hood..."
"It's ready!" shouted Sugar when she saw the Super Star inside the turret was now glowing brightly with yellow light. She closed the turret and then positioned her motorcycle in front of Kraken to get a good aim. "Here goes nothing!" A powerful blast was fired from the turret, hitting Kraken and sending fragments and sparks flying all over the place.
The Rapture was badly damaged from the blast, its body cracked all over and its inner circuits revealed and short-circuiting. It flailed its tentacles around, as if trying to stay afloat.
"Yeah! Looks like it's working!" exclaimed Donkey.
Suddenly, they heard someone screaming. Looking up, they saw what might be K. Rool shooting down in flames. The "K. Rool meteor" crashed right into Kraken, resulting in an explosion.
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
BGM Ends
Everyone gathered at the edge of the harbor, in shock and awe at what on earth just happened. Before them was a pile of burning metal that was once Kraken. A few seconds later, K. Rool floated onto the water surface, sprawled on out on his back and unconscious.
Everyone was silent, still trying to process what on earth just happened. Sugar eventually broke the silence. "Well, that happened…"
TO BE CONTINUED
I think I did my best for those two fights. I hope you look forward to the next chapter as I begin to reveal some interesting things that will you give an idea on what the future will hold!
Seeing how Super Stars are easily the most broken items in the Mario series, I think it makes sense for a weapon to be powered up by it to be very devastating.
I'm not convinced Red Hood is dead for good. It's already stated that there is still unknown energy within Rapi's body even after Red Hood was supposedly purged from her for real. Plus, there was at least one moment in one of the sub-quests when Rapi heard Red Hood speaking to her in her head. And let's not forget that Rapi entered Red Hood mode again while fighting Grave. So yeah, Red Hood is definitely coming back to the series. The developers wouldn't hype her appearance since day one, only to kill her off almost immediately after she finally made her proper debut.