AN: Hey everyone! Now, some of you might be confused over what exactly is happening here, so let me explain. When I uploaded this chapter on Wednesday, whenever someone clicked on the chapter, it took them straight to an error message. This was the case for EVERYONE, and there really wasn't a way to fix it. So, I deleted the chapter and decided to try reposting it again today.
Thank you for your patience with this :)
Chapter 8: Metallica vs The Koopa Force Part 1
Metallica and General Bronze rushed out of the castle. Metallica couldn't take her eyes off the horizon, which was a shame as the sight caused her to sweat like a pig. The ships were closing in. There was no telling how much time they had until the Koopas were literally right on top of them, but that didn't matter. It didn't matter how much time they had; the point was that it was nowhere near enough.
"Oh boy." Metallica and Bronze both came to a stop to catch their breath. The ships were still getting closer; in fact, they were practically hanging over the island's shoreline. Metallica, while wiping her brow, didn't know how she should be feeling in regards to this. "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…"
"Princess Metallica," Bronze said from right beside her, giving her a furrowed brow. "Perhaps you should go back to the castle and find a place to hide. I've heard through the grapevine that King Bowser likes to kidnap princesses."
Metallica's stomach did a flip-flop when she heard that, but she ignored that feeling and gripped her hand into a fist. "I don't care." She gave Bronze a stern look. "I've been training for over a year now, and I do NOT intend to let that go to waste."
"I know, I know. I just…" Bronze bit his lip. "We lost your parents. We can't afford to lose you too."
A pang rang through Metallica's heart, both sharp and stinging. "I… I know, but…" She shook her head. "I know how you feel, but I'm not just gonna sit idly by. That's not me. Or, at the very least, that's not who I want to be." She stepped closer to Bronze. "Besides, don't you know?" She gestured for Bronze to come closer to her. "The Metal Star is being held in the castle."
Bronze's eyes grew wide. "The Metal Star? As in the legendary artifact forged in the fires of…"
BOOM! Metallica and Bronze shriek as a cannonball came shooting down toward them. They were pushed back by the impact of said cannonball, flying in opposite directions. Metallica landed in the dirt, wincing as she tried to pick herself up. She looked skyward, deciding while looking upon the airship that now was the time to be brave. Now was the time to fight.
"Princess Metallica!" A crackly voice called down from up on the ship. Despite the distance, it could be heard as clear as day, and as such. Metallica gripped her hands into fists and glared at the ship. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance!"
"It certainly is!" A big booming voice called out. Laughter rang all throughout the island, only igniting more rage within Metallica's soul. "I won't blame you for not knowing this, but I have a real affinity for princesses. And YOU are certainly a princess and a very beautiful one at that!"
Metallica backed up so that she could get a better view of the ship. She saw ten people standing near the edge of the airship's deck. Eight of them were Koopas, one was a green boo, and another was a dry bones in a wizard hat. Despite never seeing any members of ANY of these species, Metallica didn't let these new scary sights get the better of her.
"Bronze," she said sternly to the general, who was looking at her with apprehension in his eyes. "Get back to the castle."
"What? Your Highness, I can't leave you…"
"I wasn't asking Bronze." Metallica glared at him now. "Get back to the castle and guard it with all your might. We can't let these guys get the Metal Star."
Bronze gawked, his eyes telling tales of a thousand types of worry before he sighed. "Of course, my dear princess." With that, he turned and ran in the opposite direction he had been running in.
All the while, Metallica cleared her throat and looked back up at the ship, this time with more ire than she had felt in quite a while. "Koopas!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. "I don't know why you're here or why you decided to attack my Kingdom, but let it be known that I won't stand for any nonsense! If you fight, I'll fight back! If you attack my people, I will make you regret it for the rest of your kingdom's existence!"
The dry bones in the wizard hat laughed, the sound far more haunting than any sound Metallica had heard previously. "Oh, you are just too adorable!" He sneered down at her, the expression visible to Metallica even from so far away. "You will not be getting away from this scot-free, dear princess. As the Koopa Kingdom's new royal advisor and army commander, I will not allow it!"
"Wait!" One of the Koopas said from up on the deck. "Royal advisor and army commander? Since when! When did we decide on that? Does Kamek know about this? Does ANYONE know about…"
"Ludwig, shut your yap!" the largest Koopa, no doubt the king, said. "You're making us look bad in front of Princess What's Her Face!"
Metallica's face grew warm. "MY NAME IS METALLICA!" She felt ready to give every single person riding on that ship a broken nose. "This is your chance, Koopas! Turn back now! I'm not giving you any other options!"
The dry bones chuckled again. As a chilly wind whipped through Metallica's hair, she started to shake. She knew what a laugh like that meant. She knew EXACTLY what it meant.
"Well then." He pointed his wand down at her. "KOOPA TROOP! ATTACK!"
A thousand different enemies flew out from either the airship's deck, its cannons, or its bottom. Metallica's eyes grew wide, and her shaking got even worse. Bullet bills that were on fire, goombas who were sparkling as if they had just used superstars. Metallica shook so much that she almost collapsed.
But she didn't. She was going to stand her ground. Neither her kingdom nor the Metal Star were going to fall into the wrong hands.
So, taking a deep breath, she grabbed a rock from off the ground. She then jumped into the air, aiming her sights on the flaming bills. She couldn't bounce on them; that would be suicide. But maybe she could hit them.
"YAAH!" She threw the rock at one of the bullet bills. Metallica had a pretty good throwing arm (it was a point of pride with her), and when the rock hit the bullet bill, it left a pretty good dent in its face. The flames went out immediately, and it fell to the ground. Metallica beamed, feeling immense levels of satisfaction.
Of course, she couldn't let that satisfaction get the better of her. She grabbed more rocks and jumped into the air, landing on a koopa paratroopa to gain more height. She threw the projectiles at the bullet bills, and the same thing happened with those ones that it did the first one. They suffered some very severe dents, dropping out of the air like flies. Metallica grinned, gaining more height off another Koopa Paratroopa. Some bills were closing in on her. They were getting closer and closer. She was about to throw the rocks at them when…
"AAH!" A superstar-powered goomba landed right on top of her. She fell to the ground. Thankfully, she managed to get out of the way of the honing flaming bills before they could hit her, so they exploded on the ground. Of course, next to the goomba, they were small potatoes.
And it wasn't just one goomba. A group of four super-powered goombas surrounded Metallica on all sides. Her breathing starting to grow shallow, she knew that no rocks would help her here.
"End of the line, Princess Metal." Metallica felt her face grow warm again, but she didn't have any time to indulge in her anger. She ducked as one goomba jumped at her. She rolled out of the way of some others, leaping over a few that were trying to attack her from down below. This was going well, all things considered… but she couldn't keep this up for long. Her energy could only sustain her for a small period of time, and after that… oh, what could she do? She was already starting to feel tired…
"ATTACK!"
In a blur of colors and sounds, Metallica was swept up in a wave of confusion. Bombs landed on the goombas. While they didn't harm the goombas per say, they did make them fly backwards and land on their heads, thus rendering them unconscious.
As good as this was for her though, Metallica tried to gather her bearings. When she did, she was amazed to see some of her own soldiers rushing into battle. Wearing the silver armor so commonly associated with the Metal Kingdom, they all valiantly charged forward like they had nothing to lose.
"How…" Metallica looked through the crowd, seeing General Bronze commanding the army while writing on an iron vehicle shaped like a horse. Metallica gawked and ran over to him. She felt dizzy and light-headed now that the initial adrenaline rush was done, but managed to get over to Bronze without much issue. "Bronze, didn't I say…"
"I know exactly what you said, Your Majesty." He looked down at her. "And I also know what I said. I will NOT lose you. Your parents didn't leave this Kingdom to you thinking that you would rule it for just a year. They left it to you to rule for a good long while."
Metallica, despite everything, smiled. "Well. You may have disobeyed my orders, but I can't not acknowledge how sweet you are." Bronze smiled at her, and she smiled back before she frowned again. "But with that said, we still need to protect the Metal Star." She looked back toward the castle. "And if no one else will…"
She broke out into a run. Her head was spinning, but she didn't care. She really didn't. There was too much riding on this, too much at stake. That star was the Kingdom's most important, most powerful treasure. Letting ANYONE get it, even a friendly kingdom, would be disastrous. Not that there were very many "friendly" kingdoms Metallica could lend it to, but…
"AHH!" Metallica got pushed back when a new enemy landed right in front of her. Once she recovered, she saw that it was a golden dry bones. She gawked, rising to her feet as the new enemy grinned at her.
"Metallica, right?" He laughed. "Name's MoneyBone." He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "You are as shiny as I am. I know that we're on opposing sides, but maybe we could go out after all this…"
"Hard pass." More on instinct than anything else, she punched the ground. It rumbled and cracked, opening up beneath MoneyBone. The golden baddie didn't even have time to react before falling into the pit, screaming as he did.
Metallica let out a breath. Without any other words, she ran back to the castle.
…
Bone Mage and Bowser stood on the airship's deck. Thanks to a magical telescope Bone Mage had procured, the Koopa King was able to keep his eyes on Princess Metallica. She was running away, which was… weird? In a way; she didn't seem like the type of Princess who would run away.
"What a coward." He chuckled. "Definitely one of the less impressive princesses I've encountered."
Bone Mage flashed him a glare. "She's not running away because she's a coward." He turned back to look at her. "She's protecting something." A wicked grin spread across his lipless face. "Something we want."
"We do?" Bowser said.
Bone Mage nodded. "Remember when I said that the Metal Kingdom has some amazing resources? Well, she's trying to protect one. She clearly values it, and I don't blame her. Considering what it is…" He turned back to Bowser. "We need to go after her."
"We do?" Bowser blinked before smiling. "Right! We do!" He looked back at the Koopalings. "Okay kiddos, we have a new objective?"
Iggy snorted. "Of course we do. And how could we possibly disobey an order from the Koopa Kingdom's new 'army commander.'" He rolled his eyes, and all the Koopalings grumbled in agreement with him.
Bowser just laughed. "That's what I love about you kids; you're so optimistic." He looked back toward Metallica. "Come on, everyone!"
