Scene #8254: Mario and Luigi In Math Attack! Fudge The Exposition Scene!

Owner	Pose
Bowser	The Mushroom Kingdom actually has a number of very fine transportation vehicles. There is an airport, a blimp company, a dock. Mass transit in the Mushroom Kingdom is very wide spread, and there are almost no cars at all! However, one must travel over the Mushroom Kingdom sometimes. And while it does have a very extensive Pipe Network, not everyone is comfortable moving through pipes. Thus, there is a bus. It is more of a large camper. A tour bus. A PR trip bus for a princess. It's not quite big enough to hold everyone who might be trying to save the Mushroom Kingdom, but it is comfortable and air conditioned, and there's snacks, and a working bathroom. A Toad sits at a very tall chair, driving the bus, while Toadsworth sits at the center table in the Tour Bus, looking down at the TABLET. The object that was used to COMPLETELY DELETE Mario and Luigi from existence, leading to this crusade. It is a stone tablet, almost like a book. One side of the tablet is simply stone, while the other side has a more rough surface to be drawn on. "Well, it won't do anything until we have a cube. And we probably need all four to bring Mario and Luigi back. But, it did, at least, give us a direction to go. The Dry Bones Desert." One of the many various desert locales within this plane, butting up against each other which nearly no rhyme or reason or care for geological sense. "Hopefully Princess Saguaro is handling thing well without the Brothers to deal with every little upstart."
Sleek Shimmer	Having learned that an epic quest is needed to resurrect sibling heroes (or something like that), Sleek Shimmer has finally stumbled across a good way to earn some good karma and a fair amount of gold coinage to boot. Upon learning that this land is also full of all sorts, she became even more enamored with seeing it up close for herself. And so she's on the bus, steadily depleting the supply of snacks with a grab here and a grab there. To her standards, that's decent food and hospitality! The young foxlady's dressed in her minimalist warrior attire. Every now and then some desert sight out the window draws her attention to dash over and get a closer look, like a little child, but she returns to the table soon enough each time. "Losing the hero brothers sounds like a big upset. If news like that gets out, wouldn't every troublemaker across the countryside be emboldened?" She asks of Toadsworth. Another glance over at the windows as the bus rolls along... "And... somewhere specific in the desert, I hope? Traipsing around without clues in the sand is a great way to waste time. Deserts are a whole lot of sandy nothing... there's bound to be some kind of clue about where the cube is. Maybe the Princess knows?"
Kukuru	Today, Kukuru takes a bus. The strange situation with the two local heroes being erased from existence is just strange enough to pique her curiosity without being too weird on its face to keep her away, so she's here with the Toads, draped halfway across the central table to get a better look at that tablet while also foregoing the use of a proper bus seat. She has no idea what she's looking at, but that does't stop her from giving the tablet a few gentle nudges to see if that's enough to set it off. "Do we know where it's.. Um. Where it came from? Is it that desert you just said?" She pauses, then sits up to dig arund in her pockets. "Oh, but if we're going to the desrt, I might need something with more airflow.." Indeed, Kukuru's outfit today (the dark one with the jacket and shorts) is not suited for the desert in the slightest. It's dark, it's tight-ish, and it leaves enough skin exposed that sunburns could be a serious problem if they're going to be outside for long. As she heads to the bathroom to get changed, she keeps poking her head out every now and then to try and get some more questions answered. "Who's Princess Sagu? Is she aaaa... Someone that lives out there? Oh, maybe she can give us a tour~ And if things are really that bad without those two.." Wait. she's supposed to be here without putting more heat on Bowser, right? Pursing her lips, she strains to come up with some other idea, then slowly slides back into the bathroom. "... Do they have any family that can help?"
Bowser	"Oh yes!" Toadsworth says in his grandfather/butler voice. "With Mario and Luigi gone, there could be trouble. Not just for Bowser, but from other problems. But, it's only been a week or two, surely things can't have gotten that bad yet. It's not like there's a trapped power EVERY MONTH!" He lets out a quiet chuckle to himself before he nods to Kukuru. "Oh yes! I had nearly forgotten. I was so focused on finding the first cube that I forgot to explain what I found." The scene darkens as it focuses in on the strange booktablet with only two pages. Utilizing a little pointer, he taps it with the utmost care, lest it accidentally go off in some way. "It is something from the Vault... an ancient vault where the objects of History are stored. Objects that only Princess Peach has seen in her childhood. I would NEVER go there. Do you know how many terrible things could be locked in there. There could be at least... five!" The fine forest road doesn't transition. Instead, you can see that the desert is coming up, and the border between green lands and desert is simply where the grass stops and the desert immediately starts. "Oh yes! Princess Saguro is a wonderful princess of the desert. She is a bit distant, but she is very much a princess. Courteous and courtly!" Toadstool looks at Kukuru, "Family? Oh no. Nope!"
Bowser	You can also see, that just over the meridian is an oppressive sun that is MUCH closer than it should be. And has an angry face on it.
Bowser	To match all the eyes on the trees and hills.
Sleek Shimmer	Seeing the attention Kukuru's placing on the tablet, Shimmer regards the ominous thing again, focusing her qi senses on it. She's hoping that it and the strange cubes related to it might have a similar signature, assuming it gives off any sort of energies she can sense. Having something to search for may make locating the other cubes much easier, after all. Finally, the desert is in view though. A harsh transition with little warning. A bit strange, but something Shimmer's no doubt experienced her own equivalents of, given her world's vagaries. "Normal people, if they're smart, they travel deserts by night, and bring wrappings for their face to keep blowing sand out." She explains to Kukuru, softly. "The sun is too strong, the heat tires you and dries you out. The glare on the sand is blinding and hurts your eyes. Nights are chilly, but kinder." And here they are, going straight into the desert by day. "Thankfully not a problem for us! It's nice and cool in here." At least that's what she declares at first, until she gets a closer look out the window at that big angry sun. That, at first, draws a few blinks. Then a frown. "... th-though if I lived here, I'd travel by night anyways... the sun doesn't look happy to see us..."
Kukuru	"That bad, huh...? Oh, dear. If it's gonna be trouble for him too, then..." Kukuru trails off, so distracted by changing into her lighter and fully-covered white and green getup that she just forgets to finish that thought by the time she comes back out of the bathroom just in time to see the screen changing what's on display. She looks over at Toadsworth instinctively when he starts explaning, then back at the screen to consider the Vault and the things that could be inside. "Terrible things, huh...? Oh, that could be dangeorus, too. But if we can get our hands on them, maybe we can use that to bring those two back. Or..." A pause. "To get those cubes? Do we know if those cubes are gonna be a pain to pick up, or can I just..." Trailing off again, Kukuru actually keeps her train of thought as she pantomimes shoving something into her pocket. "If they're not gonna explode, I could keep them in here for a while. And then..." Again, she trails off, but this time it's because of the rather sudden shift from grasslands to desert. Also, a big angry sun when Shimmer brings it up. Peering out the window herself, Kukuru does the highly intelligent thing of staring straight at the sun, squinting after a while before grinning brightly and waving at it from behind the safety of the window. "Aw, maybe it's just hungry. Suns... Wait. Do suns eat?" A beat. "Should suns have faces?"
Bowser	Energy in the world of the Mushroom Kingdom is somewhat rare. Magikoopas wield wands that transform things into other things. And the heavens are dotted with Stars and Wish Granters that have quite a bit of power. Most magic seems to come from that. Also the strange energy that surrounds some of the figures of the Mushroom Kingdom, like Princess Peach. This object, this folding in half tablet, has some of that energy. As Sleek suspects, it should be drawn to its other components. But without those components, it simply has power. Power with no outlet, no use. "Oh yes, we will just head over to Princess Saguro's Castle and we will ahve a nice cup of tea and talk about where to go next. It will be RIVETING!" Kukuru has that thought about Bowser, being the outgoing person that she is. BACK IN THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM. The door to Toadstool Castle busts open and Bowser and a huge army of various baddies move in. Toads bring up spears to fight back, but hammers immediately go flying into the groups, grounding many of them quickly. Bowser stomps forward into the main foyer, where Princess Peach stands on a railing, looking down. "NOW PRINCESS PEACH! YOU ARE MINE! WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO ON OUR DATE!" Peach's eyes widen slightly, then she blinks, "Uh, what?" "WHERE SHOULD WE GO ON OUR ROMANTIC DATE?!" BACK TO THE BUS. "Oh, I'm certain the cubes will be fine. I mean, the Mushroom Kingdom is in a relative state of calm! We'll just have to do some looking. And don't worry. The bus is usually faster than the Sun, should it attempt to come down and get us." Time slows down. The clock on the wall of the bus ticks slower. Louder. "Whaat.." Seconds drag into minutes. Each tick becomes a hammering. A resounding smash against reality. "Could possibly..." Time stretches into hours. Days. The noise of each tick is like a cannon shot right next to the ear drum. "Go wroooooooooooooooong...." Time resumes. Another second passes. Then the Toad driving the bus lets out a little squeak, "Uh... YOu should see this."
Bowser	The desert outside is suddenly becoming a whirlwind of dust and sand. But not because of one of the many tornados that dot the landscape, there are certainly many of those. Instead, wheels are hurling sand and dust in front of the bus. The window gets a light tingle tap as sand batters against it. And the drone of engines gets louder. The roar of engines. The sound of metal on metal. And fire. So much fire. Outside the windows, the Go-Karts finally come into view. Thick metal frames, low to the ground, with massive engines strapped where the small lawnmower engine should go. Spikes have been attached to nearly every portion of the frames, as well as the driver's wheel, and sometimes even the wheels themselves. Minions of all sorts sit in both seats. Squat goombas and turtloid Koopas, skeletal Dry Bones and various stacks of the ball cacti Pokeys sit among them. Many of them are horribly scarred, or are wearing eye-patches. A Sumo Koopa sits in what looks to be a hotrod of some sort, wielding a hammer in one hand, swinging it around overhead. "Scrap for the Scrap God!" "SCRAP FOR THE SCRAP GOD!the scrap god" Everyone shouts back. The driving Toad is forced to swerve as a spiked turtle shell rockets towards the bus.
Sleek Shimmer	"They do here." Sleek Shimmer answers Kukuru matter-of-factly. "I'm not about to argue with with THAT sun whether it should have a face or not." The foxgirl pulls her gaze away from the window. Just in time for Toadsworth to mention that the sun sometimes assaults people. Shimmer, unsure if this is a joke or not, briefly gapes, but what happens next has her whole essence vibing poorly, like being pet the wrong way. For those drawn out seconds her eyes have gone wide and panicky until everything snaps back into normal and she stumbles forward clumsily, slamming her hands to the table to steady her perceptions again. In time to see the assault karts on patrol go on the offensive. "See what? Come on, Kukuru!" The martial artist's body glows faintly and space around her ripples. With a VRRRWOOOFP whe's gone, reappearing atop the bus, managing to maintain balance and position despite the winds and the havoc. The variety of goons in this brigade does give her brief pause, and she isn't even brimming with anger... yet. "Hey, you lousy bandits! This bus is our ticket across the desert in comfort. This is the only warning I'm giving!" Both her hands ignite in sourceless, roaring flame, and she swiftly pitches man-sized fireballs this way and that without much regard for where, but most aren't quite aimed with intent to hit anyone... just hit them with the heat when they strike the ground and explode. "You break this bus, then I'll break YOU, and if anything's left afterwards you'll be carrying us instead!"
Kukuru	With the plan laid out, Kukuru lets out a satisfied noise as she finally takes a seat on the bus rather than just splaying out on the table again. "That sounds perfect. I've even got snacks in here for everyone for when we get there." She hums softly while considering the sun again, her concerns summarily assuaged by Toadsworth's explanation about the bus' speed. "Oh, that's even better. It'd be really tricky getting everyone out of here if it was faster than us, but..." Kukuru shrugs. "I'm sure we'd be okay. And if not, I can always fix everyone up if it gets too crazy." She covers her mouth as she yawns, coincidentally happening just as time starts to slow down. That yawn takes so long, even, that she might as well fall asleep on the spot, and it's kind of hard to tell if she did or not by the time time resumes. At least, until she jerks up slightly as though she really had just woken up. By the time she does, she looks outside as directed, and she notices so many Go-Karts starting to come into view. "Are those friends of yours?" She asks nobody in particular, although she does look over at Toadsworth, the driver, and Shimmer in quick succession. Yes, she needs it spelled out for her even after they shout about the scrap god and fire a turtle shell right at their vehicle. Yelping lightly at the impact against the bus, Kukuru braces her hands on a seat to right herself, then closes her eyes. "How troublesome... Mmn. O-kaaay, Shimmer. We'll be back~" A wave and a smile at the Toads, and then Kukuru drops down into a cloud of dark energy that appears beneath her. Seconds later, she appears above one of the karts, poised to drop right on top of the drivers! She's probably not heavy enough to flatten them like a certain set of plumbers would, at least, and her skirt's made of a really soft material that might be like getting smothered by a blanket. "Heeey. That's dangerous, you know. Cut that out, or I'm gonna have to punish you~" She's smiling as she says that. It's as pleasant as ever for Kukuru, but it might not come off that way with what she's doing: Reaching for what amounts to a dashboard, then pushing her hand through it like she was handling ground meat rather than a dashboard.
Bowser	"This is UNSQUASHABLE MIKE'S bus now! And UNKILLABLE MIKE is going to outfit it with SPIKES!" bellows the wide koopa from his actual car. "Yea!" shout the various and sundry minions "And FLAME THROWERS!" "YEA!" "AND A JACUZZI!" "Yea? Yea! YEA!" The carts are much more mobile than the bus, giving them an oppurtunity to scatter as the attacking starts. Sleek's searing fire suddenly strikes down, slamming into the ground amongst the Kart Marauders, and spreading out in a shockwave. The ripple of flame upends two karts containing goombas, flipping them end over end and spilling the sorry minions to the ground. The karts topple end over end as they fall behind the bus, wreathing the bus in sudden light as they explode! If one is looking at the time, it does, in fact, say "KABOOM!" over the cloud. "Oh, those aren't friends. They aren't flying the Bowser flag though... I wonder who they are. Step on it, Toadster!" Toadsworth struggles off the ground and scrambles towards a belted seat as pre-packaged muffins go soaring into the air around him. Toadster puts his foot down, pushing the Camper Bus as fast as it will go down the road. A Dry Bones hears the light PAF of DARK ENERGY and turns its skull in an unnatural angle to focus yellow pinprick eyes at Kukuru. Then it squawks as she lands on the kart. There isn't much room, but there isn't much cart soon. Kukuru's strong clawed hands slide through metal and glass, rending through the kart and the engine block. The Dry Bones lets out a horrified dry scream as its Pokey companion dives away from the car. Kukuru has mere seconds to react as the kart goes up in a mighty KABOOM! "PROVE YOURSELF TO THE SCRAP GOD!" Unsquashable Mike points at Sleek with a hammer. "GET HER!" Two karts ride up towards the bus, carefully matching speed with it. Two Koopas, wielding big hammers made of scrap, leap, scrabbling up the bus to the top! Both of them have eyepatches and the look of someone who isn't using enough lotion in this hot desert. They wipe around both hammers at Sleek, big heavy masses of scrap tied to normal hammer handles!
Sleek Shimmer	Shimmer hasn't nearly had her fill of melee in most of her encounters adventuring in the Multiverse, so when the Koopa duo clamber up the bus to join her, she makes no move to stop them. As long as they're up here, she can hope that the kart krew won't bombard it too hard and risk the friendly fire. Hopefully. That assumes they're smart or give a damn... "Two of you, just for me?" She speaks in a playful tone which almost sounds concerned for herself. Almost. But when they come in swinging, she moves like her nimble namesake, sidestepping, ducking, and weaving with ease. "Are you sure you're enough?" The hammers very nearly clip her at several times, as staying on the bus's top has become far more difficult while evading, but in her final dodge she drops down, plants her feet on the ground and engages in a stunning sweep kick that's aimed to knock the Koopas off their feet with the first revolution and perhaps send them shell-rolling away on the second. A problem magnified by the bus's already decent speed!
Kukuru	With the bus speeding along ahead, Kukuru's left to consider both the words of Un____able Mike's troops and those in the cart she's parked herself on. "Oh, a jacuzzi sounds nice... I haven't been in one of those in a while." She comments idly, a vacant smile forming on her face even as she feels her hands digging into the vehicle's engine block. Looking over again as she Dry Bones freaks out and the Pokey flees, she looks down just in time for the kart to explode, sending her flying back and rolling across the sandy ground in a smoking heap. "OW... Oh, that wasn't good. Okay... That's a good thing to learn now, then." Undeterred, Kukru claps her hands together as she sits back up, turning slowly to get a better look at where the rest of the attackers are. Spotting the karts by the bus and the Koopas rushing for Sleek, she considers her options and Toadsworth's confirmation that these are, in fact, not friends. Once again, Kukuru disappears into an inky cloud. Unlike before, though, she reappears on top of the bus, but she leaves those two hammer-wielders to Sleek as her attention instead goes to where the karts tailing the bus are. Two spots, two attempts. Okay. She jumps off the bus on one side, trying to land in just the right spot that her hands can catch onto the back of the kart to try and just tear that back end off. Instead of landing as she does that, though, she keeps going through another teleportation cloud to bring her to the back of the second kart to do the same thing again, albeit with the possibility of dragging through some of the first kart's rear components with her in the process.
Bowser	There is a glimmer in the distance. Some sort of structure at the end of the road. It does appear to be, at least, squat and stonish, hopefully a castle of some sort. Inside, Toadsworth desperately holds onto the table, struggling to pour himself a cup of tea. "These elites surely have it, they are surely skilled, everything is fine." Tea splatters everywhere as Sleek jumps around overhead. Outside, Kukuru gets imparted with an explosion. Toadsworth picks up the tea pot to start drinking directly from it. BACK AT TOADSTOOL CASTLE. "Excuse me? Are you not going to... you know?" Peach lifts her eyebrows imperiously. Bowser grips his hands into fists, then relaxes them, then grips them again, working out the agitation. "NO! Not because I can't. But because... you..." Bowser struggles for words, "Deserve a date! And I am a great date!" Peach looks on, goombas and Toads now wrestling on the ground. "No." "PLAN B!" The Klown Kar bursts through the glass window, and Bowser leaps up to grab Peach into it! "MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!... okay but seriously, where do you want to go to eat." BACK IN THE DESERT. Hammer bros aren't nothing to sneeze at, highly skilled in putting out a covering array of hammers. Thankfully, Sleek is much dodgier than Mario, able to combat roll into place and quickly move into a wide sweep. The leg upends a turtle, and once his feet are up in the air, the koopa is gone in an instant, going over the back of the bus. But the other one steps back at the right moment, only to kick forward, tucking into itself. It rockets forward at Sleek, becoming a whirling bullet of death! Kukuru disappears. Kukuru reappears on a kart being driven by a Piranha Plant, which has the wheel in its teeth. The passenger, a boo, immediately slaps its hands over its eyes in surprise as Kukuru appears. The sound of metal is horrific, a torture scream of pain that only a metal frame can make as it pulls apart. Luckily, the back half is not where the engine is, there is no reason it shoul- BOMB!!! Kukuru appears again, but this time, the shy guy driving it has a read on her, twisting to one side, only swerving out into a circle! A lakitu comes by to hook onto it with a fishing pole and carry it off before Kukuru can put out another one. "HEY! YOU ARE BUSTING UP MY TEAM OF GOONS! ALRIGHT! TIME FOR THE JUNK YARD DOG!" Unflattenable Mike shouts from the biggest car. "JUNK YARD DOG!yard dog JUNK YARD DOG!yard dog JUNK YARD DOG!yard dog." Mike hits the back of his car, simply slapping the trunk hard enough to get it to pop open. A mighty Chain Chomp, bigger than the bus itself, suddenly springs out of the trunk. "ARF! ARF!" "SIC HER!" It turns huge eyes on Kukuru, hopping at speed with the rest of the karts until... FULL CHARGE!
Kukuru	Kukuru sees a bomb. A bomb! She's no defusal expert, though, so her only solution to that problem is to ignore it entirely in favor of grabbing.... Air? She's a little confused at first when her second target actually gets away from her, and then she's confused again when she sees a fishing pole being used to hoist it even further away. "... Well, if it's not here, that works too." She giggles softly to herself while letting out a relieved sigh, but her relief doesn't last long when she hears Un____able Mike's calls for yet more violence. This time, it's a dog! Kukuru looks quite disappointed when the 'Junk Yard Dog' turns out to not be a dog at all, but a big set of teeth on a wrecking ball. "We've gotta bust them up because you're causing trouble for us. We told you stop, but you wouldn't listen, so... Um." Tapping her chin, Kukuru mulls over what it is they'll have to do, and that distracts her long enough that the Chain Chomp has a rather easy time just slamming into her and biting right into the green-haired woman, pinning one arm to her side while it has here in its jaws! At first, it looks like Kukuru might be in a rather terrible spot, as she doesn't really have much in the way of innate toughness to defend herself. On a second glance, that's... Still pretty true. She still has that one arm free, though, and she knows from her own rows of shark-like teeth that trying to free herself by prying it open is more effort than she'd like to put in. It's easier to just start smashing her hand into its teeth directly, like she's trying to break right through them with brute force. It's not the most subtle way of doing things, certainly, but it does give her chance to get a breather and not have to put more energy into actually chasing anyone down.
Sleek Shimmer	For once in a great while, Sleek Shimmer's plan when fighting goons doesn't go quite as she expected. On the one hand, that brings her a flood of impressed delight! And, on the other, it's a shell to the face. Shimmer takes a mighty blow, absorbing all the force from the spinning tackle. There's no way to keep her footing. She ends up tumbling off the bus, spinning through the air, and hits the sandy dunes in a nasty impact. Sand only slightly softens the blow, after all! But she picks herself up in a hurry, focuses her sights on the Koopa still atop the bus and... And, once again, space distorts around her, and she VWHOOOPS back onto the bus, crouched down low and ready to bolt in any direction or even duck off the edge of the bus if she has to. "Should have seen that one coming. That's a useful trick! I like it." Emerald light flows from her body as she spreads her arms out and the winds pick up into a howl around her body. Then, with some forceful kiais, she swings her arms this way and that, sending spinning blades of wind at the koopa in an intricate pattern that'll be hell to dodge all of them!
Bowser	The Hammer Bros leaps back, only to be harried by a sword swing. Then another. And another. The first one, the Hammer wielding turtle leaps back onto one foot. But in another moment, the next blow comes. And another. And another. They come faster and faster, more than the koopa can possibly even watch! So, they simply pull into the shell. The final blows KNOCK the turtle shell off the back of the bus where it starts spinning. Immediately, two more Karts are knocked up into the air by the shell, spilling their load of baddies to the sand and exploding in midflip! BOMB! Rather than trying to EAT Kukuru(does that thing even have a digestive tract? Does it have an inside?), it is attempting to worry her, hopping after the road battle, bouncing Kukuru along the sand. It's hard to get any leverage here anyways. To pry the teeth apart would be a herculean effort. Instead, there is a sound like a gunshot. Kukuru's fist slams into the white triangle that makes up the Chain Chomp's teeth. It explodes with mighty force. Then again, the next tooth. CRAAAA-AAACK! The tooth explodes with the force of the blow, shattering the steel like material in all directions. In just a couple more blows, almost half the Chain Chomp's teeth are gone. And that is more than enough for it to suddenly drop Kukuru on the desert floor, trailing slightly behind the karts. A huge tear leaks from its eye before it turns around to bound off. "YIPE YIPE YIPE!" Undefeatable Mike snarls from his extra wide seat. His eyes are drawn to the castle they are quickly coming towards. Someone is standing up on the ramparts. Fear enters the huge turtle's eyes and he sets his jaw. "ALRIGHT! I gotta do this myself!" The hotrod pulls forward, charging forward across the bus. Mike hard turns the wheel, grabbing the emergency brake. Sand spins in an arc as he pulls himself into reverse, facing the bus while driving backwards. "I AM MIKE! I HAVE LORDED OVER THE WASTELAND FOR TWO WHOLE WEEKS! MANY HAVE TRIED TO FLATTEN ME AND FAILED!" "All hail Mike!mike" He lifts his other foot within the car and drops it. The Marvel special effects budget comes into play. The ground around the hotrod suddenly erupts. The entire ground turns into a high trough shockwave, sand rippling upward from the ground. Tea splatters everywhere in the Tour Bus as the bus hits the 'wave' of sand and suddenly soars upward, tilting to one side!
Kukuru	Upon being released by the Chain Chomp, Kukuru just sort of falls out of its mouth and rolls onto her back at first. She needs a moment for her healing to kick in, and a small (incredibly small) (practically microscopic) part of her almost feels bad about beating up someone's pet, but at the same time... It's not like she hasn't eaten pets before. She just doe't make a habit of it. As she looks over at how far the bus and its pursuers have gone, though, she realizes that the ringleader of this whole thing is finally getting involved in the chase. Dusting her hands off while ignoring the sand on the rest of her clothes, Kukuru gets up slowly while listening to what Mike's yelling. She only catches maybe half of it, but trying to figure out the rest is interrupted by the special effects budget suddenly attacking her. Even from that distance, the sand getting blasted upwards launches Kukuru right into the air with a startled yelp, and her arc takes her conveniently towards the bus! Which she lands on facefirst. It's a heavy impact, to be sure, but it's probably worse for her than the vehicle, all things considered. Sitting up with a disgruntled pout, she takes several more moments to heal herself up enough that she's presentable again before standing back up slowly. "Michael... You're being really naughty now, you know? What do you think King Koopie's gonna think when he's finishes up with his... Special project?" That's one way to put it. "I'll just have to punish you in his place. Don't look away now~" One more teleportation cloud, and Kukuru appears right in the hotrod's path. Her arms spread out to her sides, not unlike she's inviting Un____able Mike in for a great, big hug... And then her hands come together at the last moment, slamming together like she's trying to catch or crush his vehicle right before it can crash into her.
Sleek Shimmer	In the midst of that assault, Shimmer laughs with genuine delight. It's not malicious at all. She's quite enjoying pushing the Koopa harder and harder to dodge. She's more than confident he can take a few blows... and is proven right when he turns turtle to escape the assault. "Got 'im!" As soon as he's off the bus, Shimmer rushes over to the edge to gaze down at the situation Kukuru's in, tails wagging about chaotically as her ears twitch this way and that to keep track of everything. "Having fun out there, Kukuru?" At a glance, no, no, doesn't look like she is, what with the getting mangled by a Chain Chomp thing. But... the sight of Kukuru beating humility into that strange monster and it running off is JUSTICE SERVED. She's just about ready to dive down and help when... Enter Mike. The foxgirl's attention swoops away from Kukuru, and with a mighty WHUNK she's caught by the bus's violent upheaval, the roof smacking her hard in the face and launching her skywards. While up there, though, she braces herself against the air with a firm blast of power, held aloft there by seemingly nothing. The bus... the bus is now in SERIOUS DANGER of collapsing, and she has no way of knowing if it can be fixed if that breaks it. All Mike's fault. NOW she's pissed. "You ignored my warning... I'm done playing around!" Flames violently engulf the floating young martial artist as she raises a fist for the heavens, clenched tightly. For those who can sense it, her power output shoots up like a rocket reaching for the stars. Turbo overdrive has been engaged. The flames grow in intensity, soon bright enough to become a second sun in the sky... And this one is just as angry. "DRAGON'S SUSPIRE!!" With the mightiest shounen roared attack name she can manage, Shimmer aims her first at the distant Mike and his souped-up hotrod. All her gathered flames leap forth in a shaped, twisting column, the head of which splits apart in burning fangs. She has unleashed a DRAGON OF FLAME, just as wide as the bus and dozens of times longer, and it TURNS as it flies, beelining for Mike and tracking his movements. Should it reach him, the result will be, of course, all of that flame piling into the same place and becoming a grand pillar reaching for the heavens for a few brief moments, leaving the ground in its wake molten - to cool into glass.
Bowser	"King Koopa isn't the ONLY GAME IN TOWN NOW! Without Mario around, no one can stop us!" PAF. Mike turns his thick neck at the last second just to see Kukuru appear in the path of his hotrod. He jerks the wheel to one side, pulling from hitting Kukuru directly and falling right into her GRAPPLER TRAP. Only, this grappler got hands. As the car swerves to one side, Kukuru's might still catches the side of the car. Even just the littlest flick of the hands, the car SCREAMS. Metal turns red hot as the fingers slash through it, ripping nearly a third of it off with casual ease. The shell of the car crumples like paper being shredded off a package. Mechanics and wires are lifted up and off the chasis, flying off by the force of momentum from Kukuru. The wheels survive, but only just barely, and Mike only barely avoids the blow. Only for the entire car to be engulfed in flame. The pillar of fire lands against the car, the great maw of the dragon opening up to devour the car, the sand, and ripple up to the sky in a massive pillar of fire that lights up the desert. When it clears, flames devouring themselves until they fade from view, there is only a flat plane of glass where Mike and the car once were. Now closer to the castle, one can see how poorly it has come along. The walls have been battered, the courtyard has dried up to nothing. Desert shyguys and Pokeys all stand around the portcullis as it slowly lifts up, and the Tour Bus begins to limp through the gate. Toadsworth staggers out of the bus, covered in tea, flopping to the ground with a desperate pant. "Oh my stars, we made it. We made it!"
Kukuru	With the threat presented by Mike finally taken care of, Kukuru lets out a massive open-mouthed yawn as she drags herself back into the bus. Mike's safety following the veering and the burning courtesy of Sleek barely even registers as a blip in her mind by the time she's back in, tired as she is of having to move so much so recently. Sadly, she doesn't get much time to rest inside there with as close to the castle they are, and she lets out a weary sigh before following Toadsworth right back out. If nothing else, though, she got to enjoy the air conditioning for a little bit longer. She also doesn't neglect her duties as a caretaker, either, providing Sleek with some of those healing nanites to patch the worst wounds up and also take a bit of the edge off from having moved around so much. "That wasn't very fun at all. We didn't even get to eat anything." She complains with another slumping sigh, then looks up at the castle proper while picking Toadsworth up under her arm so he's not left behind. "I hope they've got some tasty stuff inside, though... And air conditioning. It's really too hot out here."
Sleek Shimmer	Launching that dragon off consumed a considerable quantity of qi, and so as soon as Mike's down, Shimmer floats back to the battered bus - with an eye on Kukuru if she needs any assistance - and will quickly head back in once Kukuru's proven to be okay, too. Not that there's much further to go... soon, they're at the castle, and a Shimmer who's now still a bit winded from the fight. She steps in after Toadsworth, smiling triumphantly and very much hoping the reception will come with some good food at some point. "And we didn't have to walk across all that sand to get here. I'll take a good tussle over traipsing aimlessly over the dunes for hours any day." Looking over to Kukuru, she remarks, tone vaguely admiring, "You sure got brutal with those jerks. Bet they won't be trying anything on the way back."
Bowser	The Shyguys close the portcullis behind the bus once both are inside. One of the Pokeys rumbles, "It has been so long since anything has come to the Dry Bones Desert. We are low on food. And the Air Conditioning has broken. But we will give you shelter while you wait to see Princess Saguro. You are strong warriors, as strong as the Brothers from legends of the ancient past." The Shyguys murmur in agreement, whispering about THE ANCIENT PAST with reverance. Toadsworth groans weakly from Kukuru's arms, still hanging limp. "Jolly good."