Hello, everybody! It's time to begin the Freedom Saga of the story! Probably one of my favorites because, well, lots of stuff is going to happen, and, everything starts to heat up. I mean, we're almost halfway through the story since we're looking for the 4th Firstborn.
Chapter 48: Separated
G.U.N. H.Q.
"You've seen nothing… you hear me?" The GUN Commander, Brett Gunkan, in his mutated, two-headed form, spoke grimly as he gripped the neck of a soldier with his monstrous claw. "If you tell ANYONE what you saw here-"
"It'll be your head." The tree-stump head threatened.
"Y…Yessir." The soldier spoke through chokes.
There was a loud bang at the door. "'ey, Bretty, it's Boba! What's goin' on, let me in!"
The Commander threw the trooper against the wall as he reverted back to human form, sitting in his rotatable chair as he pressed the button and let the hunter in. "Where've you been, Boba?"
"Hey, Brett!" Boba greeted perkily, walking in. "Ol' Boba was up in space with his old bounty hunter friends. We wanted to nab that Mo'gan, but we 'ad a little trouble."
"We've been letting them slide too long, Boba! It can only be a matter of time before those monsters have the means to put this entire planet under their control. We have to destroy all of them. NOW. Starting with those psychicbenders!"
"Okay, okay, don't get your head tied in a nut, Gunny. Ol' Boba wants them psychos gone as much as you. We'll stop them! Mah friends are even workin' on a new battle-armor suit that'll REALLY waste 'em!"
"I should hope so. I've sent a message to all my soldiers. Ever since those freaks killed Rourke, I've put everyone on high alert and stuck wanted posters everywhere. If anyone is caught bending or doing something unnatural, they are ordered to be captured immediately, dead or alive!"
"Oh hoho, great thinkin' there! Ain't no way those freaks can hide, now. We'll be through with all of 'em before ya know it! Catch ya later, Bretty!" The bounty hunter waved and ran off.
The soldier that was choked then stood up and scratched his still-aching neck. "Er, but Sir: aren't Boba's friends aliens, too… Sir?"
"They are, Soldier. But their efforts are useful in tracking down and stopping those monsters. All troops are ordered to let them assist. But they'll be joining the rest of the monsters soon enough. Now, go, Soldier. And remember our talk."
"Yessir." The troop saluted and ran off.
"Ugh… this job's a real pain." Brett sighed, resting his head on his hand. "But when this is over… hopefully, I'll have a cure."
Final Brain
The Brotherhood villains returned to the base after the intense dimensional battle. Lehcar and Scarlet were in their room, happily watching an episode of SpongeBob, and laughing when a bunch of people started trampling on Plankton. It was then that Ganondorf angrily kicked the door down and stepped in. "Oh, Father!" Lehcar smiled nervously as she stood up from her bed. "If you're wondering where I was, we sort of traveled to Planet Kateenia and decided to do a little stomping! It didn't go very well, but I WAS able to turn that black hedgehog against his- OOF." Ganon just smacked her across the face and knocked her into a wall.
"You fool." He hatefully grabbed her by the shoulder and lifted her back on her feet. "The two parts of the Triforce were right there… but you were nowhere in sight."
"I-I didn't know they would both be there, F-Father, I-I would have if I did, I-"
Ganondorf grabbed her by the neck and said, "Tell me, what good you are as my daughter if you can't even stay put?"
"A…ack…ack…"
"GANONDORF!" Lord Gnaa suddenly came, still in Harvey's little body, and touched the tip of the Keyblade to Ganon's neck. "That's enough. Even YOU can make me mad."
"Ehhh…" The desert man just threw Lehcar against the wall beside Scarlet. He decided to exit the room, followed by his 'master' as Lehcar gasped for breath.
"Wow… talk about an abusive father." Scarlet said.
"My apologizes, Lord Gnaa. But a father must deal discipline." Ganon stated after leaving the room, approaching Monsieur Mallah and Brain.
"No matter. It truly is a joyous occasion." Gnaa smiled. "Thanks to Eggman Nega's plan, my darkness has increased. By the time the next Firstborn is found, I may no longer need this vessel."
"But our enemies have captured another Firstborn." Brain reported.
"And according to ze data ve collected, going out of zat hyperspace has caused everyone to scatter across ze world. Zey are separated, Sire." Mallah replied.
"A defeat is often the gateway to many victories." Gnaa assured. "My minions are on the verge of conquering this planet, with the unknown help of those worthless GUN Troopers. The Darkness will RISE before long. According to Vaati's predictions, the fools will likely search for the Firstborn, Mew next. A time could not be more perfect… to retrieve my queen."
"I'm sure that will go swimmingly." Mallah replied, sarcastically. "On another subject, Bowser has sent us two 'special agents' vith some vital information."
"Send them in." Brain ordered.
General Immortus stepped in, with King Dedede and Escargoon by his side. "Bowser claims that, during the assault on Nightmare Land, his soldiers found these two asleep in the factory. Apparently, the Nightmare King is not fond of them."
"That's because we have information Mr. Darkrai doesn't want us to leak." Escargoon said.
"Yeah, and it's somethin' that involves some sorta Nightmare Princess." Dedede followed.
"Could you be talking about Virginia Sims?" Ganon asked.
"Heck if Ah know. But all y'all need to know is, Darkrai cast a li'l spell on her when she was born. Apparently, she has the power to free a dangerous Nightmare. It's the most powerful Nightmare ever constructed by Darkrai I, an entity of Yellow Fear that drains the hearts of millions with its gruesomeness."
"Monsieur Mallah… do they speak of…?" Brain inquired.
"I believe zey do, Master." Mallah replied, his eyes narrowing. "Parallax."
"The Cloud of Fear… The beast that caused terrible damage in the Nightmare Wars of ancient times."
"Yep!" Dedede perked up. "And we know just where it's buried, too!"
Barren region; somewhere in Europe
After the battle in hyperspace, the Sector W team had wound up in a rocky field with little grass, and grey, depressing clouds fogging the sky. Angie was the first to regain consciousness, rolling onto her stomach as she shook her head awake. As she awakened, she moved her left foot aside and noticed something go behind a little pebble. She gently gripped the pebble with her fingers and picked it up. There was a very teeny, tiny creature, about ant-size, with pointy ears, a green dress made of small leaves, a red pointed hat, and a feather tail.
Angie gave a bright smile at the creature and said, "Awwwe! Don't be shy!"
"Ohh…" the being smiled and spoke with a squeaky voice Angie could barely hear. "Tell me: are you an earthbender?"
"Yeah! How did you know?"
"I could tell by how you wore no shoes on your feet, and your clothes were green. I saw you and your friends fall from the sky moments ago and rushed over. What is your name?"
"I'm Angie! Who are you?"
"Nice to meet you, Angie! My name's Chiri. I come from the Minish Tribe."
"The Minish Tribe?"
"The Minish are a race of us very tiny beings. We're creatures of the earth. We're a tribe that secretly cares for the Earth, too small for most humans to see. In fact, we can only be seen by children with good hearts. Like you, apparently."
"Wait: I've seen a few of you before! You snuck into my room one night when I was five and gave me my Captain Planet Rainbow Monkey!"
"We like to grant gifts to good little boys and girls. We're like mini Santa Clauses. We're also very good friends with the Kids Next Door. We secretly deliver items, such as 2x4 wood, candy, soda, and even guide hamsters to your treehouses. We've been doing so for generations."
"Cool!"
"So, Angie, could I ask where the five of you fell from?"
"Oh, well, we were flying through hyperspace, trying to fight this freaky Nightmare guy, but he blew up our ship and we fell, and I guess we ended up here. There were a lot more of us, but I don't see them anywhere." She looked around.
"Hm. But quite a fascinating tale." Chiri smiled. "It reminds me of the prophecy that's told in my village."
"By any chance, does this prophecy relate to the Dark Master?" Angie asked, putting hands on her hips.
"Yes, actually." Chiri nodded. "It says that one day, when the Dark Master returns, he will need a troubled heart to serve as his vessel for his mission to find the Eight Protective Gods. Five young children will fall from the sky, and one of them will be the tiny-footed earthbender who will bring light to the Dark One's vessel and free him from his dark grasp."
"You think MY feet are tiny? I have a feeling they're a lot bigger than your people. But that prophecy sure sounds an awful lot like us."
"But it also says that first, the earthbender must speak with the mighty Earth God, who stands high and tall, watching over us. The Earth God it's talking about is Regigigas."
"Hey, I've heard of him somewhere!"
"Well, he is the one who chooses the earthbenders."
"Can you take us to your village, Chiri?"
"I'd be happy to, Angie." She nodded.
"Okay!" Angie cheered. She held her pinky finger beside the creature and allowed Chiri to climb on her nail. She stood up and said, "Let me just wake the others up." With that, she stomped the ground and made a quake that startled everybody awake.
"Gyuh, no more pickle-cream!" Lee exclaimed. "…Huh?"
"Hey, everybody!" Angie called. "This is my new friend, Chiri."
The others ran over and observed the Minish in Angie's pinky nail. "Awww. She's cute!" Sonya smiled.
Chiri then noticed the unconscious Paddy Fulbright. "Um… that boy didn't wake up."
"Oh…" Sonya frowned, going over to lift him up. "Paddy's heart was taken by Har-"
"-Lord Gnaa!" Angie shouted. "Harvey wouldn't do it, okay? It's Lord Gnaa that's controlling him!"
"Yeah, but he's still a- Ow!" Angie stomped and flung a rock at Lee's cheek.
"Well, your faith in him is strong." Chiri observed. "But don't worry. I'm sure we can recover your friend's heart. Let's hurry to my village first. I think you'll like what you see." The tiny Minish pointed the direction in which to walk as they followed that path, with Sonya and Lee carrying Paddy the whole way.
Unknown area
The Junior Prospectors had fallen into a barren canyon area, waking up and recovering from the fall. "Ow… my head hurts." Tommy groaned.
"I think I lost my Rainbow Monkey lunch in Zero-G…" Mushi held her aching stomach, her skin green with illness. The 5-year-old's cheeks puffed as she threw up behind her.
"Duuuh… my head hurrrts." Big the Cat landed several feet away, the bulky animal leaving a crater as he woke up.
"WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?!" all the Prospectors screamed.
"Duuuh… I was looking for Froggy and I got loooost…" Big looked down and spotted something flat stuck to his stomach. Big pulled off and straightened the flattened object, seeing it was Mario, placing the plumber on the ground. Mario noticed FLUDD on the ground beside them and went to put him back on. "Where's Froggy?..." Big asked.
"Up your bum, mayhap?" Luvbi replied, wittingly.
"I guess I better go find him again." And so, the dimwitted cat walked away.
Shaunie suddenly heard some mumbling and peeked from behind a boulder to see a squad of Koopa Troopas, dragging Jessica into a small fortress surrounded by lava. "Look! It's Jessica!"
The others peeked beside him as this happened, and Mario instantly noticed a familiar pink-dressed girl on the fort's roof. "Mama Mia! Princess Peach!"
"Well, that's convenient." Tommy replied.
"Verily." Luvbi said. "Mayhap we canst rescue yon Jessica whilst Mario saves his fair princess. Soundeth good, yea?" (Play "Not Roy" on YouTube.)
Stage 41: Roy's Fortress
Mission: Save Peach and Jessica.
The red plumber started his venture into the fortress, first jumping across giant gears over a lava river. Mario used FLUDD to hover across some lava and reach a platform with three Drybones. The Koopa skeletons tossed bones that Mario spun-punched and hit back, knocking the Drybones' heads into the lava, where their bodies followed them. Once they were gone, more giant gears came down from the ceiling and made a staircase to a higher ledge.
The plumber jumped the gears to that ledge, then quickly jumped his way up a staircase as a bunch of Thwomps came down to crush him. He escaped the Thwomps, but found a dead end at the top of the stairs. He noticed another pathway above the Thwomps and Wall Jumped atop the crushing stones, walking across them to reach the hallway.
He arrived at another river of lava, having to grab onto a metal fence that led over it to climb across. As he did so, some fireballs came at him from a distant room, so he kicked off the fence and dodged them, then used FLUDD's hover to float back and grab the fence. He made it to the path on the other side and continued, but gasped and quickly rolled to the side as a row of giant drills shot down from the ceiling and nearly pierced him. When they rose back to the ceiling, Mario sprayed water in front of him and slid along the slippery floor on his belly, making it to a ledge to hide under when the drills pierced down again.
He reached the end of the drilled path, but the rest of the hall had a bottomless chasm. The plumber saw one of those moving block paths he used to ride across in previous adventures and decided to jump on, letting it carry him across the pit. He kept himself on as the blocks moved up, down, left and right, dodging as buzz-saws rolled off from the ceiling and tried to slice him. More fireballs came out of a door at the end of the hall and homed in, but Mario shot water out of FLUDD and put them out.
The block path moved down into the chasm after it reached the red door, the plumber hopping off and entering a room to find none other than Roy Koopa, the afro-wigged Koopaling turning and smirking at him through his sunglasses. "And despite what this song is telling you, this is, in fact, my castle. Well, actually it's a fortress, but, you get the point. But I see you're back from space sooner than I expected. Come here to save your princess I bet."
Mario only glared at the turtle.
"Anyways, if I were you, I'd get my blue overalls offa this planet. It's not safe for you here anymore. The planet's military force is leading the Anti-inhuman Revolution, and I assume your little fireball powers qualify as something they're against."
"Hmm?" Mario cocked a brow at him.
"What's that? You're asking why we aren't leaving this planet because of that? Well, because we got the most powerful people on our side. Lord Gnaa, Ganondorf, and especially Lord Bowser. Your little jump tricks won't stand a chance. And I'm afraid the princess is staying with us, too. So, why don't you get your little jumpy self outta here, and take yo' little friends, and we can avoid anymore trouble, hu- OAF!" The ceiling above Roy suddenly crumbled and crushed the Koopaling, with Tommy and Mushi above the rubble.
"Oww… I didn't think I was heavy enough to fall through." Tommy groaned.
The rest of the Prospectors smiled at them from the hole in the ceiling, jumping down beside them with Jessica. "Hoo. Thanks for rescuing me, guys." Jessica smiled, holding Sammy's hand. "They captured Annie, too, but I'm not sure where she is. But I think they said they were holding Peach up there." She pointed to a door on the other side of the room, which they entered and found a small staircase leading to a light.
They proceeded up and found their selves on the roof of the fortress, and Mario smiled when he saw his princess standing by the edge across from them. The plumber approached the pink-wearing princess, but was disappointed when it turned out to be a cardboard cutout, falling over. "Oh?"
"It's a fake." Tommy observed.
The kids heard some muffling and looked to see a shaking bag on their left. Shaunie walked over and pulled it open, allowing Toad to gasp for air. "Oh, thank heavens. Thanks, guys. But I think the princess is in another castle."
"Aw, come on! THAT crud again?" Tommy whined.
"He he he."
"Uh-oh. I know that laugh." Toad frowned. (Cue Mr. L's Theme.)
The black-and-green plumber in a mask dropped down from a higher tower. "So, fell for the old Mario 3-D Land trick, eh?"
"Luigi!" Mario exclaimed.
"No, you fool! I told you, it's Mr. L. You oughta remember that by now. But you didn't really think we'd put your princess in such easy reach, eh?"
"You better give her back or else!" Tommy demanded as they all glared.
"Hmm. A group of bratty kids against the Green Thunder. If my presence didn't surprise you enough, maybe this will." With that, the green plumber pushed a button on a remote and instantly caught the 6 kids (minus Shaunie, who was by Toad) inside a cage. A couple airships lowered metal claws to grab the cage and start carrying it away.
"GUYS!" Shaunie yelled.
"Whoa-oh!" Mario gasped.
"Heh heh heh. And it looks like you bratty kids fell into another one of our brilliant traps." Mr. L laughed as he Super Jumped atop the cage.
"Uck! Thou greasy, greasy man!" Luvbi shouted at him.
"It's too bad we don't have any Minish Dust to capture you easier. But oh well. We can bring you to the base and minimize you later."
"Hey! You forgot to capture me!" Shaunie yelled.
"Ha ha ha! Capturing you would be a waste of space. I still question why Bowser wanted those Stormtroopers sent after you. You're too cowardly to even squish an ant. What has Bowser got to worry about a whiny little brat like you?"
"HEY! I am NOT whiny!"
"AHHH HA HA HA HAAAA!" Mr. L and some Koopas on the airships burst into laughter. One of them tossed a small firecracker down, making the boy yelp and jump into Mario's arms, only for the firecracker to give a tiny explosion. "Something like that would be threatening to Minish, but you should have nothing to fear. Thus proves your cowardice. Catch you later, Red Wonder! Next time, lose a little weight!"
"Shauniiiieeee!" Luvbi cried in the distance.
Mario, Toad, and Shaunie looked worriedly in their direction. (End song.)
Nugget River
Nigel Uno groaned as he awoke from the crash, weakly opening his eyes and finding the mariachi band standing over him. "AHH!" he yelped, jumping to his feet.
"Relax, Amigo! It is just us. Checking if you were dead… which you were not."
"Yeah, thanks." He shot them a glare before looking around, finding himself in a grassy area by a clear river. "Where is everyone?"
"Hey! Numbuh 1!" The sector leader looked behind and saw Abby and the rest of Sector V running toward him.
"Guys!" Nigel smiled and ran to them as well.
"Numbuh 1. What happened to Magolor?" Abby asked.
"Oh. He's dead. And Dimentia captured Jirachi."
"What happened to Marx?" Kuki asked.
"He died, too."
"Aww." She frowned.
"Where are we?"
"We're back in Cleveland, I think." Numbuh 4 answered. "I recognize this river. It's when I ended up in that cruddy Western place with the gold nuggets."
"We think we were separated from the others after falling out of hyperspace." Hoagie explained. "But since we were headed for Earth, most of everyone else should've landed somewhere else on the planet… I think."
"And that's not all, Numbuh One." Numbuh 5 continued. "Numbuh 5 was actually downtown earlier… the military's sticking wanted posters of your Quadruplet cousins all over the place!"
"And they've put everyone on high alert for any benders or metahumans." Hoagie followed. "Our friends could be in real trouble."
"Hmmm… sounds like GUN is getting desperate." Nigel figured. "Alright: we have to look for the rest of our friends and start looking for the next Firstborn."
"But how do we know where to go?" Kuki asked.
"Maybe we can visit mah uncle." Abby suggested. "He's probably back in his voodoo parlor by now. He could probably use his magic to detect the others or somethin'."
"Sounds good to me." Nigel agreed. "Let's go."
Dr. Facilier's Voodoo Emporium
While everyone else had gone on their galactic adventure, Facilier and Grim, however, stayed behind. Facilier went back to work in his voodoo emporium while Grim went back to the Underworld. The witch-doctor was currently in his shop, humming a merry tune as he dusted off artifacts on his shelves. "I wonder how Abby and the others are doin' up in space?" the man asked himself. His shadow gave a shrug. "Oh well. Hopefully they ain't gotten into too much trouble." He went back to dusting off items, sparing a glance to the black genie lamp in the dark corner of one of his shelves. He then heard a knock at the door and yelled, "Sorry. Shop don't open 'til seven."
"Oh, but surely you can let a friend in early." A sweet-sounding voice said.
Facilier furrowed his eyes and walked over to open the door, glaring down at the grinning Rumpel. "Well, Ah would, Rumpel, but you ain't mah friend."
"Oh, come now, Harvey, can't we put all those high-school days behind us? I just wanna little look around."
"Hmm." He grumbled and shut the door, but Rumpel stuck his foot in and held it open, walking in anyway.
"I must admit, it's a nice shop you got here, Harvey." Rumpel said, wiping his finger on a few dusty items. "Almost as good as my magical deals."
"It's BETTER than yo' magical deals. 'Cause all your magic is good for is mischief 'n' mayhem."
"Well, I only learned from the best, Harvey."
"You and I both know that Lucinda wasn't the best. She was cruel and conceited. The biggest criminal on Avalar."
"She was only misunderstood."
"She got what she deserved!" Facilier turned and shouted. "And the only reason you learned from her was so you can be the big bully you always were. Good thing those spirits saw the bad in you and suspended yo' timebending powers."
"Oh, but is it really cruel to try and help a poor old woman?" Rumpel asked, walking closer to him by the table. "Her shadow has been unjustly taken away. Wouldn't that just upset you if someone took away that lonely little shadow of yours?" At this, Facilier's shadow shot up and hissed in his face. "Don't get angry at me, it's called breath mints. Don't you get shadowy versions of those?"
"Look, Rumpel, I'm sorry about yo' teacher, but she was far too dangerous to keep around. Her shadow's gone and they ain't no chance of finding it."
"Oh ho, I beg to differ, Harvey! Surely you must have a… few spare genie lamps lying around here." He grinned maniacally.
Facilier's eyes widened as he spared a quick glance to the black lamp on his shelf. "Er, sadly, Ah do not."
"Oh, I think you do, Harvey." Rumpel glared. "Oh, Yuki?"
The spike-haired icebender walked in, leaving his usual trail of ice as he blew Ice Breath at the right wall of the emporium, Facilier gasping as it froze completely solid. "Now gimme the Genie Lamp or I'll have Yuki turn you to a Facilier-cicle."
Facilier grabbed the lamp from behind the shelf and held it away from Rumpel. "Forget it, Rumpel! No way y'all are getting this lamp. Mother Talzin can stay and rot on Dathomir for all Ah care."
"Oh, Harvey. Ever since we went to Hogwarts, you've acted so much like the bratty children Lucinda and I so endlessly despise. By the time she's freed, she'll have taught all you children some respect. Yuki, you may freeze him now."
The witch-doctor quickly countered with spells from his cane as Yuki stepped closer and tossed ice balls. Shadow slithered around and grabbed him from behind, but ended up freezing solid. Facilier tried to whack Yuki with his cane, but he simply grabbed the cane, slowly freezing it into ice, the voodoo man's mouth and eyes widening as he froze completely solid himself. Afterwards, Rumpel leisurely walked over and pulled the black lamp out of his cold, frozen fingers.
"Well, that couldn't have gone any easier." Rumpel smiled as they started to walk out. "Let's get this back to Talzin, Yuki. Once she's powered, you'll have all the coldness you can muster."
Somewhere in space
Death's Head was knocked out in the depths of space after being forcibly sucked from that shattered dimension. He awoke suddenly and shook his head, observing the lonely space around him before calling Kent Nelson, the spirit doctor appearing on a hologram. "Ah, there you are, Death's Head. I've been awaiting a call from you."
"I must thank you for the wild goose chase, no? Yes, no. Almost ruined everything, yes?"
"Yes, yes, I'm aware of the tale now. But we've got bigger problems. Ever since Galacta Knight left Planet Wisp, he's been going on a rampage! That Dark Galaxia Sword constantly gives him the urge to fight, and he must be stopped!"
"No worries, yes? Galacta Knight will be found in time." The robot assured before ending transmission. "But perhaps Meta Knight will like a swing at things. Best to find him, no? No, yes." With that, the robot flew off.
Somewhere outside Langley Falls
Morgan awoke and found herself by a road in another barren desert. She held her head as she awakened to study her surroundings. She heard the rumbling of a car and turned around, seeing a familiar blue Camaro driving from down the road. She smiled widely, and was happier than she'd ever been on this journey. "Guys!"
Noah parked her Camaro as Morgan's brother and sisters jumped out to embrace her in hugs. "Morgan! You're okay!" Athena exclaimed.
"Ha, how did you guys find me out here?" she asked excitedly.
"We heard about some crazy revolution thing the military was doing." Buddy replied.
"Mewtwo let us go to find you. But we had no idea where you were, until suddenly, we just got the… sensation… that you were out here." Sophie explained. "Our psychic must be getting good."
"Hah, I'm just really happy to see you again." She couldn't let go of her excitement. "Where did I end up, anyway?"
"Oh, that's easy." Buddy nodded. "We're in the middle of nowhere."
"Well, that much is true." Morgan looked at him disbelieved. "But where's everyone else?"
"We were gonna ask you that. Or are you slumping on psychic training?" Buddy smirked.
This earned him a smack from Morgan, making Noah giggle. "We aren't actually sure where we are," Noah said, "but there is a town nearby. We'll drive down and find out from there."
"I still wonder how a 10-year-old can drive." Sophie noted.
"Don't question it, and let's just roll." Noah told them as she started the car and started driving down the road.
They could only keep going until they reached a gas station, when the car suddenly ran out of gas. "Well, that was short-lived." Athena said.
"Alright, Athena and Buddy, you two get the gas." Morgan ordered. "The rest of us'll go in and see if this place has anything good to eat."
She, Sophie, and Noah went into the mini gas station store and started browsing around. Morgan approached the guy at the counter and asked, "Hey, you got any of those white-powdered donuts? My brother'd probably like those. And maybe some Skittles?"
"Oh, yes!" the man smiled. "Let me just look around here…" While the man crouched and dug beneath his shelf, Morgan gasped when she noticed the wanted poster of her and her family, which read, Wanted: Psychicbending Siblings, dead or alive. Beware of possible horns and scales.
"Oh, seriously?" Morgan said to herself after reading that bottom part.
The man came back up with the donuts. "Well, here they are. Now let me just grab those Skittles-" He was about to turn around and grab the candy behind him.
"NO, WAIT!" Morgan stopped him before he turned and noticed the poster. "Uh… maybe we'll just go with M&Ms." He was about to turn and grab the M&Ms. "NO, WAIT! Uh, we'll take Licorice." He was about to turn again. "NO, WAIT! Uh… got any of those creamy cupcake things?"
"Oh, sure, but they're buried pretty deep down here. May take a while."
"Oh, that's okay." While the man began digging below his shelf again, Noah quietly sidled along the counter behind him with a black sharpie, making little drawings on The Quads' pictures so that they look like different, sillier people. She quickly sidled away when the man stood back up.
"Oh, here they are!" he perked, showing Morgan the cupcakes with cream inside.
"Great! Um, I think we'll take that Licorice, too."
"Sure." When the man turned to grab the candy, he gasped when he saw the wanted poster. "AHA!" Morgan flinched when the man shot around and pointed, but then noticed he was indicating behind her, where there was another group of siblings with the exact same looks as the silly picture.
The gang piled in the car and drove away from the station, leaving the other family to get arrested by police. "O-kay, that may actually come back to bite us later." Buddy guessed.
"Look, we'll bail them out later." Morgan told him. "But it looks like Boba finally had those GUN Troopers stick posters of us everywhere. We need to start looking for the next Firstborn fast."
"But where are we supposed to go?" Athena asked.
"Wherever's convenient. Preferably where there are no military troops."
"I… don't think we'll have much luck at that." Buddy already knew.
Nighttime; African Citadel
"Ohhh…" Rachel groggily awakened inside an old, damp room. The Supreme Leader stood up and looked around, spotting Fanny and Patton sleeping in a corner, their arms wrapped around the other. The two commanders slowly awakened and noticed their position, immediately pushing the other off. "Hehehe." Rachel giggled. She put her leader-face back on as the three of them walked over to a prison cell door. They peeked through the bars and found several Bulblin troops patrolling outside.
"We're in some kind of demon jail." Patton pointed out.
"Wow, I'm surprised it didn't take ya another 10 minutes to figure that out." Fanny remarked.
"It won't take me more than 10 seconds to kick your butt, Fulbright."
"Ugh. Is this really the time, you two? Honestly, you'll start a war if you keep fighting like this." Rachel stated. "And I prefer to deal with this war first. Or at least get out of this cell. Which I will have us out of here in a couple of…" Rachel felt around behind her back for her sword, but could find nothing, to her dismay. "Uh-oh."
Fanny threw her hands out in attempt to burn the wooden cell, but realized she was handcuffed. She tried to shoot fire, but the handcuffs prevented her. "Ugh! What the heck are these? !"
"I think they're chi-blocking cuffs." Patton observed. "Cancel out bending."
"Er-herm, attention!" an Irish voice announced through the PA. "Everyone in the prison wing, report to the cafeteria for unicorn blood and bull hide!"
The demons excitedly made muffled cheers and exited the hallway. Once they cleared out, Rachel looked to the left to see General Bulblin walk over with part of his left horn cut off, the chubby demon stopping in front of their cell and facing them. "Hey! You're that demon from the horse battle!" Rachel recognized.
"Shhh." The Bulblin hushed her before looking around for anymore guards. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a raggedy piece of paper. "Here." He handed her the paper, which Rachel unfolded to see it was the Marauder's Map. The demon then took out a key which he used to unlock their cell. He also slipped a key inside, which Patton picked up and used to unlock Fanny's cuffs, the girl rubbing her wrists. "But I wouldn't really firebend too recklessly." Bulblin mentioned.
"What? What is this?" Rachel asked, surprised.
"Listen, you're in a demon fortress in Nigeria, and they took your items and hid them throughout this place. Ganondorf is aiming to attack the Sky Realm of Skypia. There's an area with a sandstorm a few miles northwest of here. Use that map to find your way through the storm and you'll reach the Sky Pillar, the only pathway to the realm. But you'll need an airbender to help your way up. I think your blue hedgehog friend landed around this area, too. Now, I have to go. Be careful you aren't spotted." With that, the general proceeded down the hall.
"Wait!" Rachel called. "Why are you helping us?"
Bulblin turned to her and answered, "I never liked Ganondorf. In fact, my true loyalties lie with Link. And I can sense his spirit in you." On that note, he continued and left them.
"O-kay. Nice to know we have someone on our side." Patton whispered as Rachel slid the door open.
"Come on, guys, let's get my stuff back and find a way out of here." Rachel whispered. "I wanna see what this Sky Pillar is about…" (Play "Eldin Eruption" from Skyward Sword.)
Stage 42: African Citadel
Mission: Retrieve Rachel's items and sneak out of the fortress.
The trio quietly snuck down the rest of the hallway and made it to an outside path. It was nighttime, so the fortress was lit up with torches, and the African sky was very clear and lit up with stars. They saw a couple Moblin patrolling the path, but found a few empty barrels beside them, putting them over their selves and using them to hide as they stepped a bit closer while the first Moblin was turned. When the monster turned back, Rachel gave a worried look when he snuffed her barrel. The Moblin shrugged it off and walked past them.
The three moved further away from the guard, closer to the second one. The kids stopped when the Moblin immediately turned, hearing their footsteps, walking over and sniffing the barrels. They were relieved when the Moblin couldn't detect them and walked by, allowing them to enter the small room at the end of the bridge. They pulled off their barrel disguises and placed them beside other barrels, then proceeded to the second outside bridge to the left of them.
Across the chasm beside the bridge were Bulblin archers keeping watch, but they seemed to be barely awake. The three crouched behind some crates until the guards dozed off, then quickly ran to the next set of crates before they woke up. When they dozed off again, that was the kids' chance to make it to the room ahead. They passed the small room to a small field, hiding behind more crates as Bulblin patrolled the area, guarding a chest in the center. Rachel studied the Marauder's Map which pointed out her Hero's Bow inside the chest.
"They have my bow in there." She whispered.
"But how are we gonna get it?" Patton asked.
Fanny then noticed a long fuse beside her leading over to a pile of powder kegs. "Stand back." She smirked, using her firebending to light the fuse, watching it slowly burn over to the bombs. They were nearly deafened when the bombs erupted in a loud explosion, blowing all the Bulblins away.
"That's not stealthy!" Rachel whisper-shouted.
"What? I didn't do well in that training program, Lass."
When the smoke cleared, they saw that the chest was okay, Rachel walking over to open it and grab her bow. "Well, at least we got the arrows."
Patton heard some demon shouting back the way they came. "Great, so let's move."
They quickly passed into the next area, where they only stood on a ledge before another chasm with a tall searchlight tower on the other side. Rachel and Fanny noticed the dynamite pile beside the tower, exchanging smirks as they had an idea. "Fanny?"
"Sure thing, Lass." The redhead said before lighting the tip of one of Rachel's arrows on fire, allowing her to shoot it over and blow up the bottom of the tower. The Bokoblin working the searchlight screamed as it fell over, making a bridge for the three of them to cross. Once across, there was another pathway to their left, guarded by more Bokoblin, facing away, but Rachel aimed her bow and shot them, knocking them out in one hit.
They crossed that bridge and entered the fortress' interior, which was awfully dark, so Fanny held a flame in her hand to light it up enough so Rachel could see the Marauder's Map and see the safe paths in the hall. They had to crouch behind some crates as Bokoblin were patrolling down there as well, wielding torches. Rachel watched their movement on the map and carefully led her friends down further when they walked away. They turned a corner and spotted two Stalfos at the end of the hall guarding a chest, which Rachel studied her map and saw it was the Hookshots.
They quietly crawled closer to the skeletons, staying out of sight from them, wondering how to get past. Patton then tapped their shoulders and pointed upward, indicating a bunch of bats hanging from the ceiling. The Drill Sergeant pulled his right shoe off and tossed it to the bats above the Stalfos, making them all awaken and swarm around the place, the Stalfos desperately trying to shake them off. In the commotion, Rachel immediately ran to grab her Hookshots as Patton slipped his shoe back on, and the three of them headed out the door behind the chest.
They were once again on an outside balcony, overlooking the savannah. They spotted some floating plants with propeller petals, called Peahats, leading up and around to a higher part of the fort. Rachel used her Hookshots to pull herself up to them while Patton held onto Fanny while she used her G.R.A.P.P.L.U.H. to pull them up, making their way up the Peahats until they reached a larger balcony full of searchlights.
The three hid into barrels again and started to sneak through, stopping where they were when the searchlights passed over them. The three made it over the balcony and pulled off their disguises when they reached a snaky pathway where the searchlights didn't follow. They made it over to some ladders and climbed down to the bottom of the base, reaching a small alley on the ground.
They snuck around the corner and hid behind more crates from Bokoblin in a small yard. Once again they crawled behind the crates and hid from sight from the Bokoblin. They made it to a ladder and climbed onto a wall. They spotted a chest on another wall across from them and Rachel used her Hookshot to pull herself over while Fanny used the G.R.A.P.P.L.U.H. to pull her and Patton over. Rachel opened the chest and picked up a strange yellow boomerang. "A Boomerang? Well, it could be useful."
They went down a ladder to another prison yard, which had several towers with Bokoblins using searchlights to guard the area. Rachel used her Boomerang to throw it and hit and stun the demon guards, allowing them to get past without being noticed. They made it to a flight of parallel-sided stairs, going up until they reached the highest point in the base, which had the gates that led out of there, as well as the Master Sword stuck in the center.
Rachel immediately ran to grab her sword, but a Bokoblin on a tower saw this and blew his Monster Horn, summoning tons of Bulblin, Stalfos, and Moblin. Rachel did a spin attack to slice away the first few demons, and Patton and Fanny joined in as she started taking out the rest of them. They easily wiped them all out, leaving only the Bokoblin on the tower, which Rachel pulled down with her Hookshot and stabbed him.
Rachel victoriously twirled her sword before sheathing it as Fi came out. "Master, forgive me for not being around to assist you earlier. It is great to be with you again."
"You too, Fi." Rachel smiled. "Now, let's get out of here." The spirit jumped back in the sword as the operatives pushed the gates open, walking down the long, steep stairs out of the fortress and walking into the desert.
From a wooden branch on a corner of the fortress, the evil bird Ying-Ying sat while his diminutive master, Hannibal Bean, watched them from afar. "Well, lookee at that, Ying-Ying. Sounds like the brats already know where to go. But Ah think Ganon will be on their tail soon enough. Perhaps we should see how mah dear great grandchildren are fairing." With that, the grey bird flapped his wings and took off for the sky. (End song.)
Coastside area
The Kong Family and Team Alien crash-landed on a beach after flying out of hyperspace, with the Heart Star sticking into the ground. Ava sat up and shook her head awake to see the minor wreckage while everyone else woke up as well. Donkey was face-first inside a crater in the ground, that he made upon impact, the big ape pulling his head up to see where they were. He felt a couple mini punches on his chest and heard some muffling as his body was hoisted up by Kami from beneath him, the battered-up Drilovsky girl gasping for breath.
"Would you get off of me… please?" she weakly asked, pushing him over on his back by herself. She sat up and turned around to see the flattened form of Tiny Kong, getting up and allowing the pigtailed ape to stand.
"Couldn't I wait to be squished flat until I actually turn tiny?"
Diddy and Dixie were in a more unusual position, with their butts stuck in craters that they made. The chimps stood up and noticed Kweeb stuck face-first in Dixie's butt cheek, the pink-loving monkey pulling him off as he took a big breath. "Why is it that Tiny and Lanky are the only ones with a decent amount of clothing?" he gasped.
"Sorry." Dixie said as she placed him gently on the ground.
"Well, that was quite the ordeal." Ava said, standing and brushing herself off. "But at least we came out of that unscathed."
"I didn't even get to ride the dragons very long." Kami whined.
"Ah, go ride Donkey Kong through the Jungle Japes later." Kweeb retorted, brushing off. "We need to find out where everyone else went."
At that instant, a Flying Krock zoomed over them in the sky, taking land a few miles away. "Hey, the crocs are here!" Dixie pointed.
"Whaddyou thinks up?" Kami asked.
"One way to find out." Ava said, drawing her swords. "Let's follow 'em." (Play "Bramble Blast" from Donkey Kong Country 2.)
Stage 43: Peaceful Coast
Mission: Get to where the Flying Krock landed!
The aliens and Kongs started into the forest, finding a river and beginning to walk down the opposite direction it flowed. The jungle had a calm atmosphere to it, as the air was filled with strange, soothing mist, and it made the sky look pink. If they weren't trying to rush through this jungle, they would probably stop to admire the scenery.
Archer Tikis landed from the sky and began to launch arrows at them, but the group dodged the small arrows as Donkey rolled over to slam two of the drums, while Ava tossed her swords to slice the others. The Kongs noticed a group of Kasplats hauling a Rambi box into the cave where a small waterfall poured into the river. The Kongs furiously chased the Kremlings, leaving Team Alien behind.
"Well, something ticked their fur." Ava remarked.
"Let's just head this way." Kami said, noticing a path to their left.
They followed the trail to a more expansive area of the jungle, where bubbles emerged from swamps below, and more mist filled the air. They had to jump some small, flat-topped trees that swayed back-and-forth. Some were too far apart, so they bounced across the dragonfly Flutters that were floating in between. They reached a small platform where four Krooks leaped up from the swamp below and tossed hooks at them. Kami jumped over the first one's and kicked off its face, pushing him back below. Kweeb swiftly dodged another Krook's gigantic hooks and ran over to shoot lasers at its feet, making him fall back. The third Krook and Ava tossed their weapons at the same time, and while Ava took a hit, so did Krook, and both weapons returned to their holders like boomerangs. Afterward, Kami grabbed Ava's arms and swung her into the fourth Krook, and Team Alien kept going.
The ledge ahead was too far to jump, so Ava tossed her swords into the cliff below it, one at a lower level, the other at a higher level. They were able to jump to the lower sword and bounce up to the higher to reach the cliff, then Ava called her swords back. But the path ahead appeared blocked by a bushel of brambles. Ava swung her swords at the brambles, but they appeared much too thick. "Man, what're these brambles made out of?"
"We'll have to go through them." Kweeb said as he switched his Tri-gun to 'Shrink'. "Buckle up, girls." With that, he zapped the yellow ray at them and shrunk them both to his size.
With their miniscule heights, they were able to cross through a path within the brambles, careful not to touch any of the prickly thorns. They had to jump up some wooden platforms which had conveniently been left for them. They reached a small, thorny chasm with two safe footholds to get across, but a Krook; which was apparently their size, too, was on the other side, throwing hooks. Ava tried to throw her swords at it, but the hooks easily bounced them back. All the Glomourian could do was hop across the small platforms and jump the hooks as they came. She managed to reach the Krook's opening and pushing it back into the thorns, and Ava's friends soon joined her.
They now stood at the base of a wide, windy tunnel, likely formed from the mist. "You think that wind's strong enough to grab us?" Kami asked.
"No, but I can twirl my swords like a helicopter." Ava mentioned. "I learned to do it after me and Nigel's quest. But I can only carry one person at a time; and Kweeb's usually tiny."
"Oh, no problem!" Kweeb perked, zapping himself with the shrink ray and zapping to an even smaller size. He now looked as big to them as he normally did.
"Well, I suddenly feel more confident when I'm like this." Kami smirked at the little alien.
"Don't get your hopes up!" Kweeb squeaked as Ava lifted him on her shoulder.
Kami wrapped around Ava's waist as the Glomourian rapidly twirled her swords above her head, lifting them like a propeller. She floated into the misty tunnel, and was light enough for the mist to push her upward. They listed left and right and up and down to avoid any bramble walls in their path. They finally floated into a vast, wider region of the brambles, in which the swamps loomed below where bubbles floated up from. The bubbles were much bigger from the kids' perspectives.
The mist was fading and they started to sink, so they decided to take land on a low ledge on their left, where a small plant appeared to be blowing the bubbles into the atmosphere. They decided to bounce their way up the stairway of bubbles and reach one of the larger bubbles. From there, Ava was able to twirl her swords and propel them higher enough to float down to another low platform on the right side. They had to jump a few gaps in the path ahead, in which Lockjaws hopped out of the water to snack on them, but they easily avoided. They found another plant blowing bubbles into a misty tunnel ahead, so they bounced the pathway of bubbles as Ava twirled her swords and flew them into the tunnel.
The tunnel was pretty straightforward this time, but they had to swerve and dodge Zingers that flew their way. They finally took land on a ledge at the brambles' exit, so they hopped out of the prickly realm as Kweeb restored them all to normal. They appeared in a straight, narrow path between walls, where suddenly, Rambi the Rhino came bursting through, along with the Kongs. The aliens hopped onto Rambi's back as the rhino charged across the path. The rhino jumped some Zingers to reach some platforms over a small chasm, and once across, he charged into a giant wooden tunnel that led downward; and looked like the fallen remains of a gigantic tree.
Groups of Kuff 'n' Klouts charged at them, but Rambi managed to avoid the twin Kremlings, jumping over any gaps in the floor. At one point, the gap was much too expansive, so Rambi was forced to charge and speed around the swirling walls and ceiling as the path looped. He stopped when the floor was normal again and had no other path to follow, so he had to jump the Tiki Buzzes to get across the chasm. He reached a safe platform on the left side, where a Red Zinger flew between them and the opposite platform. Rambi had to jump onto the Zinger when it came, and carefully stay bouncing over it until they reached the ledge, where they jumped off.
Next, they had to jump into a Barrel Cannon that was available to them, allowing the series of cannons to automatically shoot them out of the tunnel until they were above a thin river between two walls of a tall cave. The cannons began to move up-and-down in the air, forcing the group to time it right and fire when they faced the next cannon. The cave made a right turn into a wide region of the dank cave, where the cannons soon landed them on a ledge on the left side. In the process, they passed over a 'No Rambi' sign, and the rhino suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke and turned into a red Kami balloon.
"Hey! It's a balloon of me!" Kami exclaimed.
Ava smirked as she touched the tip of her sword at the balloon, and popped it. "Cool, now you have an extra life."
"Aw, man." Kami whined, wanting to take the balloon.
On that ledge, a Kannon was shooting barrels over to an opposite ledge, and when Kami was about to attack the Kremling, Ava stopped her and shook her head 'no'. The Glomourian carried Kweeb and demonstrated by using the barrels to hop across to the other side. It was more difficult, seeing as the barrels weren't coming FROM the destination, but Kami repeated the action and jumped across as well.
They found another floating Barrel Cannon, stationed over another thin river between walls, and hopped inside, immediately blasting across the river as Lockjaws leapt up to try and snack them. The next cannon pointed rightward, out of the cave, and into a larger forest of brambles. The barrel moved up-and-down, but they easily shot to the next one. They appeared inside a huge, wide tunnel of brambles, the path leading downward as they shot down more Barrel Cannons, avoiding the Zingers in their path.
They took land on a safe wooden ledge, overlooking an even wider bramble canyon with many Barrel Cannons. They hopped inside the first cannon, and as they went, the variety of cannons formed a confusing maze, as each only pointed to 4 or less cannons at a time. They spent about a good 3 minutes trying to find the right path, until they finally found an order of cannons that led upward. They reached the topmost cannon as it flung them to other automatic cannons, which led up a straight tunnel out of the bramble maze. The final cannon shot them high into the misty sky, seeing the Flying Krock not far in the distance as they landed in the jungle.
Three Gray Krushas stood in their path, and when Ava ran to stab the first one, her swords couldn't penetrate, and the Kremling grabbed and hurled her back forcefully. Kami ran to throw fast kicks at the next one, but it easily grabbed her feet and tossed her back. Kweeb decided to use his shrink ray on one, but even that did nothing as the Krusha ran and kicked him back. With the three operatives down, the Krushas slowly stomped forward to finish them. "Oooh-oooooh!" Fortunately, the four Kong Family members came down from the bramble cannons and CRUSHED all three Kremlings upon their landing.
"Well, that coulda gone better." Kami noted as they stood and brushed off.
"Let's just get the Krock." Dixie said rushedly as they hurried along. (End song.)
They finally arrived at another beach area, and watched as Chunky Kong furiously battled the assaulting Kremlings. His victory didn't last as two Krunchas tackled him from behind and had him tied in seconds. Kaptain Kruckers walked up and proceeded to drag the tied-up Chunky Kong into the Flying Krock. "D'arr, that be takin' care of him, then."
"Hey!" Ava yelled as they ran toward the Kremlings.
"Aye?! Not them meddling apes again! Get 'em, ye worthless cronies!" the K. Rool brother ordered before running onto the ship and taking off. Diddy and Dixie easily knocked out the Krunchas before they could attack, giving a high-five.
"Come on!" Ava yelled as she ran back through the jungle, the others following. They made it back to the Heart Star and hopped inside, as Ava started the ship up and flew after the Kremling Kaptain. (Play Kaptain K. Rool's Theme from Donkey Kong Country 2.)
Boss fight: Kaptain K. Rool
The croc ship fired back as the alien ship chased it over the sea, but they easily dodged. Ava hit the boost and shot over, piercing through the Krock's wall and allowing the group to step off and face Kruckers. They watched as the Kremling Kaptain shot Chunky with cannonballs from his blunderbuss, kicking the ape in a corner. "Well, if it ain't be the rotten alien kids and their monkey friends again, eh? Ye'll regret the day ye tangled with the Kremling Krew!" The pirate fired another cannonball, which DK caught in his hands and tossed it back.
Kruckers simply bashed the ball away with his gun like a baseball, making it ricochet all around the room, the team quickly ducking before it could bash them. They dodge-rolled when K. Rool switched the rocket on in his gun and shot over to them. When the cannonball came for Kami, she stood up and started kicking it around like a soccerball before flipping and kicking it right at Kruckers' head. The pirate shook his head from the dizzy and quickly held his weapon in defense when Ava ran and slashed at him, the alien dodging when he fired more cannonballs.
Kweeb ran and shot one of K. Rool's toes, making him yelp, then tried to shoot the little alien on the floor, Kweeb cockily running around and dodging the massive shots. The cannonballs rolled along the floor after making contact with it, and Donkey picked one up and spun around before hurling it at the Kaptain. K. Rool just batted it away again and made it ricochet, but Dixie caught it in her ponytail and tossed it to Diddy, who started twirling it like a basketball on his finger. The chimp passed it to Donkey, who started bouncing it around before tossing it above K. Rool's head. While the croc fired another one and destroyed it, Kami tossed an Orange Grenade and blew him up, the Kremling covered in soot as he fainted.
The Kongs gave a victorious grin, but Kruckers recovered in an instant before sucking Donkey in with his gun's vacuum, firing the ape at the Heart Star and pushing the ship out. "Quick! Activate the autopilot!" Ava yelled.
"OOOH." Donkey shook his head awake and noticed the button in the cockpit, quickly switching it on so the ship kept chasing the Flying Krock. Ava sighed in relief, but was startled when Kruckers started firing spiked cannonballs. The Glomourian swiftly dodged and ducked the weapon, flipping all about the room with K. Rool missing at each shot.
Kami ran and jumped on the Kremling's head, blinding him while Diddy and Dixie ran to try and whack him from behind, but Kruckers grabbed and threw the Drilovsky off before bashing the apes with his blunderbuss. Tiny suddenly tossed an Orange Grenade at him, but Kruckers batted the bomb away, then tried to vacuum Tiny in, but Kami recovered and kicked the bomb over to Ava, who kicked it in Kruckers' vacuum's sucking current, sucking it in and blowing the pirate up.
Kruckers shook the soot off him before firing bouncing spiked balls at them. The operatives quickly sidestepped to avoid the bouncing balls, then rolled away when Kruckers shot over with his rocket. Tiny shrunk, and Kruckers saw her and Kweeb dashing over to him, so he shot more bouncing spikes which the tiny creatures were easily able to squeeze in-between. The tiny kids then crawled up K. Rool's clothes and started biting parts of his scaly body, the Kremling hopping all around and firing cannonballs aimlessly.
Diddy grabbed one as the pirate shook the two out of his clothes, and just as he was trying to suck the shrimps in, Diddy tossed the ball into his gun and blew him up once more. The two scampered away as Kruckers started shooting homing spiked balls this time. Ava ran and swiftly slid past the homing bullets, swinging more slashes that K. Rool fought against. She held his gun back with one sword and tried to swing the other one under the gun to stab him, but Kruckers was able to push the first back and fling it into a wall. He tried to bash her with the blunderbuss, but Kami ran and kicked his shin, then moved away as Diddy charged and pushed him into a wall.
Kruckers grabbed the chimp by the tail and tossed him out of the hole left by the Heart Star, then shot away with his rocket before Dixie could push him out. The girl ape dodged as K. Rool performed spin attacks with his weapon, Ava pulling her sword out of the wall and running to strike his blunderbuss, making the croc wobble off balance and allowing her to strike at his chest, pushing him back and knocking him out.
She twirled the swords in victory, but to her dismay, the Kremling recovered once again. He switched his gun to an ice setting and fired ice blasts at them, missing the operatives but freezing Tiny Kong. He pressed another button and laughed as he became invisible, the group keeping their guard up as they searched around for him. The frozen Tiny was suddenly sucked into the invisible vacuum, which Kruckers spun around before aiming to fire at Dixie, missing the older sister and sending Tiny flying out of the ship, but was thankfully rescued by Diddy on his jetpacks.
Kruckers became visible again and Kami immediately tossed an Orange Grenade, which K. Rool batted away and ricocheted off the walls again, only to come right back in his mouth and blow up. He angrily shook the soot off and switched the weapon to another setting, releasing red gas around the room. The kids inhaled the gas and suddenly began moving in slow motion. Ava tossed a sword, which came at Kruckers very slowly as he fired more spiked balls at Kami, but she very slowly ducked and missed them just in time. She then began a slow slide-kick when Kruckers shot over with the rocket, and was actually able to kick him off his feet. He recovered and looked to see Ava's sword slowly spinning over to him, but the gas wore off right away, allowing the sword to shoot by faster and scratch his back.
Kruckers back-flipped away from Kami as the Drilovsky ran to attack him, but he instantly fired a purple gas around the room, a gas that would make them do the opposite of what they wanted. When Kami tried to punch him, she ended up punching herself, and when Kweeb fired his stun blast at him, it came back and stunned himself. He then started to suck Dixie in with his vacuum, the ponytailed ape trying to run away, but the effects of the gas made her run toward it, allowing Kruckers to catch her and shoot her out of the ship as well.
Since the gas made her reversible, Kami figured, if she punched at herself, she would punch him. She stood up and threw her fist at herself, then smiled when it went for K. Rool instead. The Kaptain growled at the girl as she started kicking his legs and punching his snout. The gas finally wore off, allowing her to jump, spin, and kick him across his cheek, knocking him out once more.
K. Rool was still undefeated as he recovered again. "Man, don't you ever give up?" Kami asked.
"Arr, ya can't keep a good pirate down, Lassie."
"Then it looks like we need an extra punch." Ava said as she stood up and ran to cut Chunky's ropes.
"Nnooo!" Kruckers cried.
The muscular Kong cheered as he jumped behind K. Rool, charging his powerful Primate Punch and punching him with great force in the chest, sending the croc straight through the windshield and falling down below. The kids smirked in victory, but were disappointed once more when Kruckers activated his gun's rocket and started flying in front of them. "Oh, come on!" Kami shouted.
"D'arr, yeh won't have much luck hittin' me out here!"
"Guess again, Kremling Dude!" Suddenly, Funky Kong came surfing by them on his flying surfboard.
"Alright, Funky!" Dixie cheered.
"Not so fast!" Kruckers objected as he drew out two more blunderbusses in both hands, shooting the surfing Kong.
"Whooa!" Funky screamed as the shots hit, blowing him back in the ship and knocking him out.
"I'll handle this." Kami offered as she jumped on the surfboard and started flying after K. Rool herself.
The Drilovsky swiftly dodged as the pirate started firing more cannonballs, doing a barrel-roll and hitting one of them back, knocking the blunderbuss out of his right hand. He then fired homing balls out of the left blunderbuss which Kami turned and flew away from. She U-turned and flew back toward K. Rool as the cannonballs stayed hot on her tail, and the pirate's eyes widened when she reached him and instantly shot down, letting the balls crash into him, knocking away his other blunderbuss.
"Give up yet?" Kami smirked as she flew up and faced him.
"Arrr! Ye may best me, Lassie, but the Kremling Krew shall live on! Me brother has big plans, and yer gonna be helpin' 'im."
"Shyah right. I'm sticking with my aliens."
"Ahh. So it is yeh think. But Kroctus wants his apprentice, and I'll be just the kind brother to deliver her to him." With that, he drew out, charged the Darkness Cannon, and fired directly at Kami, knocking the human out.
"KAMI!" Ava screamed as Kami fell off the surfboard.
"HAR HAR HAR!"
Ava immediately tossed one of her swords and stuck it through Kami's shirt collar, calling the sword back and bringing Kami up with it. Afterwards, she tossed and spun the other sword at Kruckers, slicing the blunderbuss, which he rode as a rocket, in half. The pirate watched with dismay as the rocket engine fell to the sea. He looked up and gulped before he was sent falling himself. "WAAARRRGH!"
Kaptain Kruckers splashed in the sea and swam to the surface. The terrified Kremling then noticed four sharks circling around him, holding up a sign that said 'Not Again' before sinking beneath the sea, the four sharks coming after him.
"Well, that should finish him off." Ava figured as the Kongs got back in the ship, looking worriedly at Kami's unconscious form on the floor. "Poor Kami. What's gonna happen now?..." (End song.)
Kami awoke and found herself surrounded by darkness. "Huh? What's happening?" she asked, frantically looking around. "Ava? Kweeb?"
"Aww, wook at wittle Kami calling out for her wittle fwiends."
"Huh?" She turned and saw, much to her misery, Olivia Johnson. "Oh great. That's just what I need, a dream with you in it."
"And you think I enjoy being here? Talking to a miserable excuse for a human. This entire time, all you've hung out with is aliens and animals, the only type of people your kind can cope with."
"Well, apparently you missed my other conversation with King Whatshisface. I have plenty of other human friends besides them. And besides, Ava and Kweeb are the best friends I could've asked for."
"That's because all you can ask for is freaks and inhumans. Any normal person would know they're no good. Preferably someone like me. But… no. You'd rather hang around with a bunch of freaks. It's too bad, Kami. We could've been friends."
"Friends with you? You're more mutated than any alien could ever be."
"At least I know how to live with humans, and eat human food. Whilst you can't help but dine on that ever-so luscious squidburger. Before ya know it, the military's gonna mistake you for one and lock you up, too."
"That's not true! I can be friends with them and STILL be human!"
"Keep telling yourself that, Kami Dear. Ah HA ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
"Oh, Kami?" Kweeb called, standing on her sleeping face and knocking the spot between her eyes as they opened. "Wake up."
"I'm awake!" she yelled, angrily smacking the tiny alien off. "And get your puny self off me."
"Yep, she's awake." Kweeb said as Ava picked him up.
"You okay? Are you hurt?" Ava asked her.
"Duh. What, you aliens go into panic every time someone gets shot by a harmless gun?"
"Er… well, guns aren't often harmless, so…"
"Well, I'm fine. Don't get your antennas in a tangle."
"O-kay…" Ava replied, feeling unsure. "Well, we rescued Chunky Kong."
"Whatever."
"Uh-huh." Dixie looked disbelieved. "Then all that leaves is Lanky. I say we fly back to DK Isles and see if Cranky knows something."
"We can probably ride this ship there and use it to get past any more Kremlings on our way." Ava suggested as she stepped toward the controls.
"Sounds good to me!" Kweeb cheered, jumping off her hands and kicking back in one of the rotatable chairs. "More room to relax!"
"Tell me about it." Kami replied sassily, jumping in that same seat and crushing Kweeb under her butt, while her feet rested on the control counter.
"OHH. Irk… K-Kami? You're crushing me." Kweeb grunted, reaching his arm out from under her.
"Shouldn'ta been in my seat."
Ava gave a light giggle. "Okay, Kami, you can get up now."
"Nuh-uh. I ain't lettin' that shrimp hog this seat."
"Still can't breathe."
"Kami, seriously, he's suffocating, so you should probably get off."
"Not my fault that he's so tiny. You shoulda got him a dollhouse or something."
"Ack! Kami…"
"Kami, get off of him!"
"Ooh-oh." Donkey quickly ran over and lifted Kami off the seat, allowing Kweeb to take a breath.
"Hey, put me down!" Kami yelled, bashing DK's head and making him drop her.
"What is with you?!" Ava shouted as DK grumpily scratched his head.
"What's with me?! I didn't come on this trip just for a bunch of aliens to tell me what to do!"
"Well, if I didn't 'tell you what to do', Kweeb woulda died under yo' big stanky butt."
"Well, if he was as big as a regular human, maybe I wouldn't've sat on him."
"Well, he's not a human, and frankly I'm glad he isn't, if he were acting like one that you are right now."
"Well, apparently you're glad he's tiny 'cause you probably wanna dine on him, 'cause that's what you aliens do is dine on small living creatures like that squid."
"Actually, I'm a little surprised that you didn't take him to a science lab by now to be dissected, seeing as that's what you humans do in movies."
"You're not so cool either, Big-ears. I'm surprised you didn't use those swords to cut off my brains by now and drink them with a bendy straw."
"Maybe I should, and replace it with the one you clearly lost moments ago."
"And maybe I should take Kweeb to my school's science classroom for dissection, and see what gives his mind the idea that being small is so great."
"Alright, girls, maybe we should head back to shore and-" Kweeb tried to say.
"Shut that li'l mouth of yours before I stick you to some tape!" Kami yelled.
"HEY, don't talk to him like that! It's not his fault you suddenly turned all pissy." Ava retorted.
"I didn't even ask to be teamed with a bunch of aliens in the first place! Let alone hairy apes. You know what, take me back, I want off this garbage truck."
"Fine!"
Cleveland Beach
In a few moments, the ship flew to Cleveland Beach as Kami angrily stomped off. "There! Enjoy living with 'real people that befit you' rather than a couple monsters." Ava shouted.
"I will! Enjoy dining on living squids and eating bug cereal."
"We will! Good-bye!"
"FARE-WELL!" Kami just watched as they took off in the Flying Krock, leaving her to angrily walk away.
"Well, the bad news is, Kami's a jerk." Ava said, going back to the ship's controls. "The good news is, we saved another Kong. So, let's get back to DK Island and talk to this Cranky guy." And as they flew, Kweeb only looked back in Kami's direction with an upset look.
Oi me god, meh butt hurts. So, yes, the main focus of this part of the quest is basically fighting for 'mutant freedom', hence why it's called the Freedom Saga. And the main antagonist will be Commander Gunkan. But the name 'Freedom Saga' actually has another meaning to it, which we won't find out 'til the end (try and guess until then ;) ). So, next time, we will see how the rest of the separated crew is doing, and we'll continue.