[TheSpatialWeeg]

With some parting words and advice from Storo, the crew moved towards the direction pointed to them, in hopes of finding Kirby and maybe Daroach. Dedede, of course, followed, though he was a bit bummed he wasn't leading the group this ti-- 

Oh, wait. Never mind, he was now actually grateful he was spared a bomb to the face.

"Looks like we got ourselves some bad company!" Dedede said, glancing at the two unwelcome figures...to the Mario Bros anyway, but these guys sure looked like bad news regardless. The king's eyes widened as they revealed they had Kirby with him, ironically being gulped down by the three-headed snake. In any other circumstance, this would elicit a bit of a chuckle from the king, if only because of the high level of irony involved.

Not this time though. Dedede was even angrier than before.
Mario told him to go help Kirby, and Paula signaled him to go.
Oh boy, is he gonna go.

"You let go of Kirby now, you Hydra wannabe! I'll squash you so flat, even a piece o' paper will look thicker than you!!" Dedede yelled in fury, Dad mode activated. While Paula plucked the snake with her magic, Dedede rushed to get up close and personal and tried to strike Tricylde with some fast yet brutal hammer swings.

nbL7L8jXp_1d20+3 (DEDEDE, CALM DO--er, I mean, Dedede's Hammer Strike @ Tricylde! 19x1.5=29% damage!)
p_1d20+3 (Another Hammer Strike @ Tricylde, this one not a crit, but still pretty dangerous. 19% damage)

---

King Dedede 0% Jet Charge: [///]- Dad Mode has been activated. Beware.

1d20+3·1d20+3

[Coolshaymin]

Tryclyde easily dodged the first PSI Thunder with little effort, only to be zapped by the second, so it seemed to hardly effect the snake as he merely slithered path the third. "Why sssssssshould we lisssssssten to you?" Tryclyde's other heads questioned, mocking Paula. However, this mockery would not stand long as the snake was slammed by a really powerful hammer strike. This hammer of Dadede rage being so forceful, Tryclyde had no choice but to gasp for breath with all three heads, giving Kirby the opportunity to jump free and pull out his hammer for a simultaneous hammer slam with Dedede to send the snake flying back into the wall of the Japanese Castle.

"I've never been so glad to see you, Dedede. Usually I am the one saving you," Kirby remarked cheerfully with a pose and a star coming out of him. The puffball certainly seemed cheery for one almost gulped by a snake. He was pretty use to it oddly enough. "Thisssssss isssssss not over! Take this!" Tryclyde called out as he got to his feet and each head fired a fireball towards a different one of it's assaulters.

(Dedede, Kirby and Paula! Tryclyde is attacking all three of you with his Tri Fire! Roll a 12 or higher to evade the Fireballs. Failure results in taking 20 damage with a 50% chance to burn)

U1k48577p_1d20+4

Kirby managed to evade the Fireball and a green spark flowed through his body as he did so. The puffball nimbly jumped towards the snake and went for to grab him by the tail.

p_1d20+3(Kirby's tail grab)

Meanwhile, Mouster was under assault by both Mario Bros, Luigi throwing fireballs at him now. Mouster got hit by one, but jumped over another, just to get nailed by the third. As if that was not bad enough, he flinched to get hit by Luigi's Green Missile technique. Mario reached into his overalls and pulled out three Green Shells that were grouped together, which then started to circle him on the ground, taking aim, the plumber kicked his shell at the sunglasses mouse.

p_1d20+4
p_1d20(Mario's Shell Roulette. Triple Green Shell)
p_1d20+1\(Mario's Kick)

Unfortunately, the shell missed and Mouster laughed. "You really thought that a Green Shell could hit me? Well, I have a present of my own!" Mouster stated as he pulled out a very large bomb. "Take this, Mario Posers!" the mouse declared, however, before he could toss the bomb, there was a cry from his partner. "Moussssssser! Incoming!" Trycylde's voice called as Kirby finished spinning and tossing the snake into the mouse, which was already too late as Tryclyde landed on Mouster who dropped the bomb into the air to land on them both, still active. "This is-a not good," Mario stated before bringing out F.L.U.D.D.

p_1d20+1(Mario's defusal)

Utilizing Fludd's water, Mario managed to successfully put out the bomb. Thankfully, it looked like the team's combined efforts did manage to knock out the duo. "Nice-a work, bro. You three, too!"  "Mario, Luigi... Someone! Hiiiiiiii~!" Kirby called before realizing something. "Draoch is still under mind control, we need to go help him!"


1d20+4·1d20+3·1d20+4·1d20·1d20+1\·1d20+1

[Deleted]

"You probably won't since you might be under mind control." Paula counter to the snake, Kirby was soon free thanks to her and Dedede's efforts and together the three waited for the snake's next attack, which was him shooting fire towards the three. Paula tried to jump out of the way of the fire blast and allow Kirby to finish off the snake.

B8iqQlXop_1d20+2(And she did!)

Paula got out of the way and cheered Kirby on as he threw the snake towards Mouser. "Great job Kirby!" She cheered for the wonderful pink boy before following him and Dedede back to Mario and Luigi, who had just finished defusing a bomb, well Mario did and since the duo that the group were facing were now knocked out they can proceed onward into the castle. "Don't worry Kirby, we'll save him. We all haven't failed to save someone before." Paula reassured Kirby before following the group.1d20+2

[TartoonHand94]

Pulling his nose off the ground and shaking the dirt out of his moustache, Luigi came to his senses just in time to see a green shell sailing right in his direction.
“Whoop!” With a gracefully agile back flip befitting of an Olympic trampoline champion, Luigi backflipped out of the way, successfully dodging the shell and allowing it to…also miss Mouser.

Luigi landed beside Mario just in time for Mouse to pull out…a great big bomb!
“Waaah!” Luigi wailed in fright, flipping through a host of panicking poses.
Before Mouser could toss the bomb at the Mario Posers, Tryclyde came crashing into him the way the shell couldn’t.
“Phew.” Luigi sighed in relief, only to immediately take it back and resume his panicking poses when it turned out the bomb was still active. What to do? What to Do? Fire Luigi was super combustible. He couldn’t throw another fire ball at the bomb that’ll just ensure it’ll explode faster! Vacuuming it with the Poltergust 5000 would just blow it up!
With no alternative fresh to mind, Luigi ducked and covered behind Mario, trembling in anticipation of their seemingly inevitable demise.

But much to Luigi’s surprise and much more to his relief, when he opened his eyes, there was no explosion to be seen. When he uncovered his ears, there was no kaboom to be heard.
What he did see was Mario’s answer to his Poltergust, F.L.U.D.D. on his back and the bomb’s fuse put out like a wet candle.

“Phew again!” Luigi sighed in more assured relief. “Way-a to go bro!” Luigi congratulated his brother with a high five. “You’s-a number one!” He thumbed up Paula, King Dedede and Kirby. “…or number three?” He second guessed himself looking at his two thumbs.
But it looked like the job was far from over. Luigi picked his precious chest back up and reassumed his place in the adventuring line.


Luigi
Damage: 0%
Status: Fire Luigi, Carrying the chest again

[TheSpatialWeeg]

"Hehe, guess you can say I'm returnin' the favor!" Dedede replied, proceeding to turn back to Tryclyde and return to clobbering. Of course, the aforementioned Hydra wannabe wasn't through with it, and spewed some fireballs at the crew! The king of Dreamland, noticing the fireballs were too fast to react with a dodge, opted to shield the blow instead. After that, Dedede dashed to close the space between him and the three-headed snake...only to see Kirby pummeling the snake already. Something told him there was no need to act now.

And well, his feelings were correct. Kirby took down the two foes with much ease. "Nice work, everyone!" Dedede cheered, before listening to Kirby's plea. "Well, this was in the plan too, to be quite honest. But try not to dart off without us, okay? Gotta bring you back to the Life Sphere too, y'know?" he commented, letting out a hearty laugh.

---

King Dedede 0% 50/80 Shield Jet Charge: [///]-

[Coolshaymin]

"You weren't-a too bad yourself-a bro," Mario said with a comforting pat to his brother's back before looking back to the others. "Alright, I won't run off. Eh?" Kirby tilted his body a bit at noticing Luigi's chest. "Is that treasure?" "It-a won't open, Kirby." "It won't... OH!" After listening to Mario, Kirby... started running off in a direction suddenly. "Wha-?! Kirby, wait-a up! You just said you wouldn't-a run off again!" Mario called out as he began running after Kirby too. This puffball was too easily distracted for his own good, may be best to follow him.

"Puyo!" Kirby declared as he stopped in a room filled with gold and crystals and treasures of all kind. The puffball pointing as a chest similar to Luigi's at the top of a pile of gold. "Oh, you were trying to show-a us a chest you-a found? Mama mia... At least say-a so..." Mario breathed in and out a bit. He was a bit out of shape as leader, just getting back into adventuring. "Yep!" Kirby said... clearly ignoring Mario's lecturing. "Not so fast you greedy nitwits!" a voice squeaked as a short rodent darted past and jumped up the treasure swiftly. "This treasure is the property of Draoach! And your hungry fool and idiot king may not have it!" the rodent declared, a visibly dark energy flowing off of him. He looked kind of like the mouse outside but way smaller and his shades meant business. He probably was not himself like the large oaf.

Spinni, the Speed of the Squeaks stands in your way

[Deleted]

Paula was confused as to why the group stopped and Kirby was looking at the chest that Luigi was now holding. "Huh?" She turned and realised why Kirby was looking at the treasure. "Oh yeah, we found it just as we found you Kirby. Unfortunately, we don't have the key, but surely it would be around here in this hideout. If we found the chest then there has to be a key somewhere right?" Paula asked the group, just as Kirby ran off again.

"Kirby wait, we could get caught if you ran off and have to fight a horde of enemies!" Paula followed after Kirby, even if they do lose track of him, Paula could always try and send him a message through her mind, fortunately the group did not lose sight of Kirby as they entered a new room, which was filled with gold and another treasure stood on top of the pile.

Guarded by a mouse with shades, Paula looked up. "Uh oh, looks like we landed ourselves onto some serious business guys." Paula muttered as the mouse revealed who he was working for. Paula wondered if they can convince the mouse to give them the treasure and so tried to do so.


m7nnzch_p_1d20-2(Paula trying to convince Spinni.)

"Mr Mouse, we are not being greedy, for you see, this treasure fell into our own hands, either way, we did not come here for gold or to hurt you, we are however here to see your boss under important matters. If you let us pass and give us the treasure you are standing on top of, we will happily give you something in return in the near future!" Paula smiled, even though it will probably not convince Spinni in the slightest, it was still worth the shot.

Plus she wanted to make Kirby happy by getting him that treasure, he deserves it for being adorable!1d20-2

[TartoonHand94]

If Luigi’s hands weren’t busy holding up the heavy chest, they’d be covering his face in embarrassment. Speaking of the chest in his arms, Kirby noticed it. Kirby wasn’t going to eat the chest, was he?

Hey where’s Kirby going? Sure, it means the chest is safe from him, but they came all this way to find him!
“Yeah what-a Paula said!” Luigi anxiously agreed. Fighting another horde of enemies was the last thing he wanted now. With this chest not only is he a sitting duck, but a golden sitting duck.
“Yeah you promised too! Plus, this chest is-a kinda heavy.” He grunted against the bouncing weight of the chest as he trailed Mario trailing Kirby into a room full of treasures.

“Mama Miaaa…” Luigi gasped, jaw dropping onto the chest as his eyes beheld the glorious golden spectacle of the room. “Così tanto Oro...”
How was he gonna lug all this stuff back home with him? Welp, he’ll never know until he tried.
His dreamy drooling was interrupted by the dastardly sneer of Spinni. Uh Oh! Without saying a word Luigi scrambled to hide the chest behind his back and wobbling awkwardly to keep his balance, he scooted to hide behind King Dedede, hoping Spinni won’t spot him and confiscate his find.


Luigi
Damage: 0%
Status: Carrying the chest again

[TheSpatialWeeg]

"...'Ey! Get back here, ya pink menace!" Dedede commanded, trying to chase Kirby. "When we tell you to stick around, YA STICK AROUND!" He kept chasing the puffball until they reached a room full of gold. "Whoa ho-ho-ho! Now this is just waitin' to get taken somewhere safe...like my pockets." the king greedily commented as he approached the pile of treasure. However, before he could do much, one of the Squeak Squad members stopped them from trying to nab a bit of it. Dedede briefly bit his lip and had his hammer at the ready, shielding a cowering Luigi as well. You didn't think he wouldn't notice the dark aura? As a possessed connoisseur, he knows a thing or two about it.

"Now, hold yer horses." Dedede said, trying to strike friendly conversation with Spinni. "We're here to help yer boss. Y'see, he got...possessed by an evil entity and he's actin' pretty weird, and we're tryin' to get him back to normal." He continued. "We would 'ppreciate it if ya lay down yer weapon and allowed us to pass without a fight."

---

King Dedede 0% 58/60 Shield Jet Charge: [|||]-

[Coolshaymin]

"Fell into your own hands? Do you just casually walk into a bank vault and say that? Stealin' from thieves is just wrong," the thief declared. "That's-a some backwards honor..." Mario stated plainly as he looked at the treasure. He would sure like to keep a lot of this treasure but... "And how ya know the boss is possessed? Sounds like a trick if you ask m-Hey! Stop nosing around in the coin piles you obnoxious glutton!" the mouse was cut off from his words as he noticed Kirby swimming around in the gold. "I wanted to see if you had more cake," Kirby stated innocently... This boy was sure a handful. "Man, you can make a mad dash but you're sure slow in the... head..." something seemed to click in the thief as he spoke.

"'ight, you want da treasure, right? Well, how about we make a bet? All of you vs me in a race. Winner gets the loser's chest. That alright with you, greenie?" the Spinni stated as he looked towards Dedede.... apparently sniffing out that treasure was hiding in him. At the mention of a bet, Mario seemed practically hopping on his feet until he realized this was a team effort. "What do you guys think?" Mario asked the others to which Kirby jumped out of a coin pile... he wasn't even in 5 seconds ago. "Deal, but only if we also get a cake with the treasure when we win!" Kirby insisted... apparently thinking more with his stomach. "We ain't got any-!... Fine, I'll see what food I can dig up! Are you in on the race or not?" The mouse reluctantly gave in since arguing with Kirby about food was inherently pointless. So he instead looked purposefully to the others. "Yay~"!"

[TheSpatialWeeg]

...A race? Well, it was certainly a more pacific way to resolve this, but they risked losing the only piece of loot they encountered so far. As soon as Spinni called him greenie, Dedede...got a bit flustered as he hesitantly pulled up a measly 3 gold coins he managed to pick from the pile before he threw them back at it. Here was I thinkin' I managed to snag a bonus for me... Dedede bitterly thought to himself.

But back to the racing shenanigans. "Sure, I'm in." Dedede replied with a nod. Truth be told, he was almost certain Spinni had some trick upon his sleeve. It was certainly bold to try to race against 5 people working as a team. "Fair warning though, don't underestimate me. I've been told I'm actually pretty quick on my feet." Dedede chose to boast. He wasn't lying, the king was pretty nimble despite the...weight he carried. Would it be enough to compete against the lil' mouse though? Only one way to find out.

[Deleted]

Paula listened to the thief, it seemed his words were not getting through to him and she rolled her eyes. But remained silent as he instead offered the group a chance to race him for the treasure. Which Paula would happily do. "A race, of course we can race you i'm in." Paula smiled, mostly because she was positive that the group would be able to win. After all, it's a psychic, a round boi, a penguin and two plumber brothers against a thief. They can beat one person in a race.

But what kind of race?

"What race is it? Double Dash, Deluxe, a simple race, and where?" Paula asked the thief curiously.

[TartoonHand94]

Cowering behind King Dedede, Luigi had his hands full trying to concentrate his terrified shivering into one area of his body so as not to jiggle the chest and give away his position to Spinni.
He very much agreed to laying down weapons and passing without a fight, especially if it meant not laying his chest down.

But what were they bargaining with? A Race? Well that did beat a shyuriken throwing contest.
Luigi considered himself a seasoned racing veteran: Driven over his fair share of banana peels, got struck by his fair share of Green Shells, been homed in on by his fair share of Red Shells and had been nuked by his fair share of Blue Shells...

…Wait a minute, this was a Terrible idea!


Luigi
Damage: 0%
Status: But hey that's just a theory...

[Coolshaymin]

"Glad you all see it my way. All right, the race will be to the end of that hall. The first one to reach the end gets the chest. We'll line up by the start of the hall and give it our fastest on the count of 3, got it?" the mouse proposed. "Sounds-a fair, let's-a play!" Mario agreed. "Alright, 1....2...." The mouse began to count before suddenly sprinting off down the hall first. "3!" he called. "Hey-a wait! That's-a not fair!" Mario argued as he stumbled to his feet to follow but Kirby ran after him as soon as he ran ahead.

6Rxvqtbwp_1d20+5(Squeak's Dash Roll)

p_1d20+4(Kirby's faster dash)

Kirby despite the odds pulled ahead already. The mouse looked frustrated took out a shuriken before tossing it at Kirby. Looks like he had no plans of a fair foot race.

p_1d20+5

p_1d20+4

The Shuriken hit Kirby and caused him to fall back a bit, but not really enough for the Squeak to catch up.

Kirby Distance: 12/100 meters

Spinny: 11/100 meters

(Minigame Start! As Kirby and Spinny demonstrated, you must roll Dex to keep up with the competition. The  dex roll determines how far you get, and being within hitting range allows you to try and slow them down. Though the farther you are for projectiles make them less likely to hit and you can only melee within 5 meters. Additionally, if you crit the Run Roll, you get a Double Dash, allowing you to roll a second run roll! You may only attack once and getting hit will send them back a distance based on the difference between the dodge and attack roll)

p_1d20+1(Mario's Dash)

p_1d20+2(Mario's Stomp)

p_1d20+4(Spinni's dodge)

Mario ran towards the goal after he corrected himself and then made a jump over the mouse and given a boost by Kirby into the lead.

Mario

Distance: 14/100 meters 1st

Kirby

Distance: 12/100 meters 2nd

Spinni

Distance: 11/100 meters 3rd

1d20+5·1d20+4·1d20+5·1d20+4·1d20+1·1d20+2·1d20+4

[TheSpatialWeeg]

"I knew it." Dedede sneered to himself, glaring at the mouse sprinting away. "Ya won't get away with this, cheater!" Dedede declared, moving out at the same time as both Mario and Kirby did, eyes blazing with determination.

Z|FiA5INp_1d20+1 (Dedede's sprint!)

The king of Dreamland quickly picked up speed, overtaking Spinni, then Kirby, and finally leading the race, with Mario tailing close. Quite ironic how he, possibly the heaviest of the ones available, got a very good head start. "Hehehe! Catch me if ya can!" he taunted as he kept running. It wasn't even a Gourmet Race, and the guy was leading!

King Dedede 0% 60/60 Shield Jet Charge: [|||]- Distance: 16/100, 1st place

1d20+1