The Crystal Keepers

By Pyro Guy

The six remaining Koopalings rode on the Wiggler. It eventually brought them to the farm, or what was left of it. The old farmhouse and two or three crop patches were still there, but not much else.

Ludwig: Okay. The complex is underground, so perhaps in the crops...

He lost himself in thought as Lemmy turned to Larry.

Lemmy: Hey, Larry. You were with Iggy for a bit. Did he seem, off to you?

Larry: Like what?

Lemmy: Well, when Kamek's monster attacked us, he started doing that laugh of his again. And he was acting too brave compared to when we left the castle.

Larry: Well, now that you mention it, he was a bit jumpier than usual.

Lemmy: I thought so too.

Ludwig: Ah-ha!

He had gone into the barn and noticed a trapdoor. He opened it, revealing a trail going underground.

Wendy: This is it then?

Roy: Looks like it.

Wiggler: Let me at 'em. Wait...

Ludwig: Sorry, but you won't fit.

Wiggler: I guess I'll wait out here then.

The six Koopas descended into the passage, but it wasn't going to be that easy. No sooner had they gone in than the door shut behind them.

Morton: This could be bad, problematic, a minor issue- OOF.

He had tripped over a rock. At this point, the walls were metallic instead of rock.

Ludwig: I could get used to a place like this.

Larry: Well don't expect us to stay here with you.

Ludwig: I wouldn't. Now what's this?

They had come to a door. Unfortunately, it required a key.

Larry: I've got it.

He tried to pick the lock with his claw.

Larry: No dice.

Wendy: Hmmm...

She looked through the hole and saw someone she'd been hoping to see.

Wendy: We are breaking this door down, now!

She immediately blasted it with her wand, but the attack just bounced off.

Ludwig: This will take a bit more thought than expected.

Roy: I've got it.

He slammed into the door. It held up though, so Morton joined him. They made no progress whatsoever until Morton leaned back and fell through the wall.

Ludwig: Huh? Wait...

He looked up at a device on the ceiling. It was a projector creating a hologram of the wall that Morton fell through. He broke it with his wand and then stepped through the new passage with his siblings.

Morton: There you, my siblings, Ludwig, Lemmy, Roy, Wendy, Larry are.

Wendy: Come on. We are going in there now.

Ludwig: You seem, angry.

Wendy: You'll see.

They went through and came into a large room with water on the ground. It was raining inside the room. In the center was a Dry Bones with a fedora.

Drystone: Hello. I hope you enjoyed that little test.

He tossed the fedora and it caught fire, despite the rain, and burned up.

Wendy: All right, you're going to pay.

Drystone: Am I now? I think not. Hehehe.

Wendy: You guys go on ahead. This is between us.

Drystone: Oh no, I insist that you ALL stay. Forever.

His eyes flashed and everyone ducked to the side as a portion of the wall turned to stone.

Drystone: Don't worry, I won't miss next time.

Wendy fired a candy ring at him and he fell apart. He reformed two seconds later.

Drystone: A bit testy today, are we?

Ludwig: You know, Wendy, I think we should all stay. He can't fight us all.

Wendy: No. This is between us.

Drystone: I'm touched that you feel that way. Or at least I would be if I had a heart.

Larry: Take him down for us.

Drystone threw a fireball at Larry, who hopped over it. Larry then ran and shell slid under Drystone. His siblings all did the same thing to get past him. They then ran through to the next door. Now it was just Wendy and Drystone.

Drystone: Fine. I'll deal with them later.

Wendy: You won't get the chance, you creep.

Drystone: I'll dispose of you quickly. You may be powerful, but the combos that my elemental magic provides shall win the day.

Wendy: We'll see about that.

She used her powers to redirect the rain in a torrent towards Drystone. He just flicked his hand and deflected it.

Drystone: You'll have to do better than that to defeat me.

Wendy: Really, because you're fighting ME in the rain.

Drystone: And of course you know what comes with rain...

He made a punching motion as a lightning bolt came down. Wendy dove to the side and looked up. There was more lightning coming. And the wind was picking up. Drystone wasn't messing around this time, he was shooting to kill.

Meanwhile...

Wendy's siblings had ended up in a maze. It was big, and they were all a bit confused. Except for Ludwig.

Ludwig: If we just follow this one wall, then we have to reach the exit.

Lemmy: Let's hope so. I hate it down here.

Morton: It's not too bad, horrible, musty- Mphmph!

Roy: We don't need the extra stress, Morton.

Larry: Do you guys think that Wendy is okay?

???: Of course not.

They all turned to see Bonnie.

Bonnie: Hmmm. You really shouldn't have come here. As soon as Paradox and Swaps get back this will be over.

Morton: Ooh! You dirty, filthy, cheap little, pest, sabetour, Koopa cooker, M.D.

Bonnie: Still a bit sore over that shocking, hmm? Well I guess we should settle it.
She pressed a tile on the wall and a trapdoor opened under Morton's family. They fell into a deeper section of the maze and the passage closed.

Bonnie: Beat me and maybe you can save them, but you need to catch me first.

With that, she flew off into the maze. Morton charged off after her.

Back in the woods...

Wiggler: I wonder if they're okay.

Swaps: Nope, they're all doomed and there's nothing you can do about it this time you big bug ‘cause I won't lose and get trampled this time and I should really have just gone with a sneak attack now that I think about it.

He turned into another Wiggler and charged. At the last second he turned into a Thwomp and knocked out the Wiggler.

Swaps: Ha ha I win you lose.

Paradox warped in and saw Swaps.

Paradox: There you are, Swaps. Why can't you just hurry?

Swaps: Because this is fun and stuff and am I really that late?

Paradox: Yes. Now come along.

Back with Wendy, things were going badly.

Wendy: Whoa. Stop it with the lightning!

Drystone: Fine.

He raised his arms and laughed. The rain literally set on fire around him. Wendy could barely summon enough water from her wand to protect herself. She was so distracted by the flames that she didn't see Drystone throw more lightning at her.

Wendy: BLAGIDYBLAGITYBLAGITY!

The flames disappeared as Drystone walked over to her.

Drystone: Checkmate, my dear.

Wendy: No. I. Can. Still.

Drystone: Save it. To stone with you!

His eyes flayed as she gripped something in her shell. She pulled it out at the last second. Drystone could only watch in horror as he realized what she was holding. A mirror.

Drystone: No! I can't-

He was silenced right there. His spell had bounced off the mirror and turned him to stone instead.

Wendy: Stupid Dry Bones.

She concentrated and the rain condensed and blasted Drystone apart as it finally stopped. All that remained were a few pebbles.

Wendy: Now. Where are the others?

She limped off toward the maze where Morton and Bonnie were fighting. ..

In the maze, Morton was looking for Bonnie. He'd quickly realized that this labyrinth had multiple floors. Bonnie and his family were nowhere to be found.

Morton: Where could they be, be located, appear in? Hello! Bon jour! Hola! Where are you, Bonnie, or my family, Ludwig, Lemmy, Roy, and Larry!

???: Here's a hint.

An energy ball slammed into his back and he turned to see Bonnie.

Bonnie: Please just accept that you're outmatched.

Morton: I will never, ever concede, surrender, lose, fail, be defeated by you! Bonnie, first of the crystal keepers, crazy Medi Gal, I will not stand for this disrespect! You have forced my hand and claw, I shall- ARHGGG!

Bonnie: Please do shut up. Now hold still while I finish you.

Morton: Ground pound!

Bonnie: That will never work, you fool. I'm in the air.

The vibrations had caused rubble to fall from the ceiling. It hit Bonnie and her energy sphere misfired at a wall.

Morton: Revenge! Vengeance! Comeuppance! Fireball!

Bonnie: That isn't a syno- Ack!

Morton: You are nothing before I, Morton Bigmouth Koopa Jr, the fifth Koopa prince!

Bonnie: I guess I just have to do this then.

She healed herself and laughed as a pair of flickering clones appeared.

Morton: What?!

Bonnie: I can also make these illusions. Not as good as clones, but can you guess which one is real?

Morton punched one and passed through as the real Bonnie threw another energy sphere at him.

Morton: Grr.

Bonnie: Face it. You can't actually win. You don't have the necessary skills to defeat me.

???: But I do.

Bonnie: How did you- Oof!

???: Drystone isn't that smart, you know.

Morton: Wendy! My sister! Only girl in the family!

Wendy: We get it, Morton.

Bonnie: Spray water on me, will you? Energy blast!

She fired another energy sphere at Wendy, who fainted on impact.

Morton: No! You! She was smart, intelligent, correct in saying, stating, pointing out that she could help me though. Now that you are completely drenched, I can tell the difference between you and your illusions.

Bonnie: Curse that girl.

Morton pulled out his wand and blasted Bonnie with everything he had. Then he used it to amplify his voice.

Morton: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The sound shook the labyrinth and a piece of the ceiling came crashing down on top of Bonnie. She was out before she knew what had hit her.

Morton ran over to Wendy and started shaking her.

Morton: Wendy, oh sister of mine, Koopa princess, fifth child of King Dad Bowser...

Wendy: Augh. I'm spent, Morton, I don't have the energy to shut you up.

Morton: You're alive!

Wendy: Yeah, now can you help me along?

Morton stood back and she leaned on his shoulder as the pair trudged through the maze. A Bullet Bill flew past them as they walked, not that it was actually a Bullet Bill...

Swaps: See you around suckers there is absolutely no way for you to defeat ow.

He crashed into a wall. He then turned back to normal and ran ahead. Morton and Wendy followed after him, hoping he knew the way out.

Back with the rest of their family...

Larry: How do we get out of here?

Ludwig: Shhh.

He listened and heard footsteps.

Ludwig: There!

He pointed to a wall as Popple walked out.

Popple: I'm impressed, see. You got away from Drystone and Bonnie, but it's the end of the line, see.

Larry: You sound confident. You can't control us without that mask after all.

Roy: Yeah!

Popple: I'm still a fighter, see.

Lemmy: You can't beat us all!

Larry: Leave this guy to me, all right?

Roy: No way, punching bag! Nobody messes with our family like him!

Larry: Ludwig, Lemmy, you two run ahead. We've got Popple.

Lemmy: Good luck.

He and Ludwig ran by. Ludwig had almost figured out the maze and they would escape in no time.

Larry: You ready for this, Popple?

Popple: Ready as I'll ever be, see.

???: Hey guys what are you doing and am I interrupting?

Popple/Larry/Roy: Swaps!

Swaps: Yup! Funny seeing you all down here I just passed your brother and sister I don't have a clue where Bonnie and Drystone are but can we fight ‘cause I really want to help you out okay Popple?

Roy: Good, revenge for the Sockops.

Popple: We'll see about that, see.

Larry: Wendy and Morton are okay?

Swaps: Oops.

Meanwhile, Lemmy and Ludwig had found the way out. They knew that it was a bad idea to keep leaving people behind, but they had no choice.

Lemmy: Now what?

Ludwig: We move on, our brothers can handle a bean.

Lemmy: True. But we're outnumbered. It's you and me against Swaps, Kamek, and Paradox.

Ludwig: If we break out Iggy then it will be even.

Lemmy: Yeah, but do you feel like they've been watching us since we got here? I know that I do.

Ludwig: Yes. Kamek has his crystal ball. He can probably see everything. You think that that might be his second power? The divination?

Lemmy: Could be...

He was lost in thought. Unbeknownst to them, Paradox was in the caves as well, except he had teleported up ahead to Kamek.

Kamek: There's two of them coming against the two of us.

Paradox: But we have their brothers.

They were in a large room with chains hanging down from the ceiling. These chains suspended the cage in which Iggy and Jr. were trapped. There were other cages too, just, empty. The whole room reeked of deceit.

Kamek: I'll try to split them up.

He walked off as Paradox watched.

Paradox: Goodbye, Kamek. I win no matter what happens though. With Dryetone beaten, his second power, the one he didn't know how to use, is up for grabs. It will be absorbed by anyone who wants it. Hehehe.

He teleported to the room where Drystone lay shattered. Wendy had missed it, but there was a faint green mist in the air. Paradox lifted off his mask and inhaled it. He then replaced his mask. No one could see his face.

Paradox: Sweet victory. Hehehe.

He warped out of the room. It would be more fun to watch the fights on Kamek's crystal. He was sadistic like that.

Bowser Jr: Hey! Grr. What's he up to? Good thing he didn't know that I was awake. Iggy? Are you up yet? No. Huh. Someone help us.

Back with Kamek...

Kamek: This. And this. And... Aha!

He had created a duplicate of his old golem. He sent it forward to deal with the eldest Koopalings.

With them...

Lemmy: You hear something?

Ludwig: It sounds like... another one of Kamek's beasts.

He dove to the side as the golem came crashing down the corridor. Lemmy used his ball to bounce over it. The golem stopped and turned around.

Ludwig: GO! I'll deal with it.

Lemmy didn't need to be told twice. He rolled off, just past Kamek, who had hidden in the shadows.

Meanwhile, Larry and Roy were having an issue. Swaps had turned into Midbus. Now he was powerful enough to take them out, and he was just as fast as before. Popple was just slowing them down by throwing things at them. Mostly rocks, hammers, and weak explosives.

Larry: Roy! Get his tail! That's his weakness!

Roy dove for the tail but Swaps morphed into Salvo the Slime, and Roy got stuck in him.

Roy: Aurgh! BWOOSH!

He burned through the gelatinous mass and escaped as Swaps reverted to normal.

Swaps: HOT! HOT! SPICY! SPICY HOT!

He hid behind Popple, who pulled out another smartbomb.

Popple: I'll cave this whole place in, see.

Larry: Uh oh.

Roy: Popple, we can talk.

Popple: You can surrender, see.

Larry: We've reached a stalemate. He won't throw it, but we can't risk it going off.

Roy: So now what?

Swaps: I think I might have picked the wrong fight because I never realized that Popple might be insane ‘cause I knew Paradox was but not him and oh this is going to end so badly.

Read on!

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