Thunder and lightning popped off at their arrival. The main characters faced down the antagonist team. Lava splashed up around the bridge, lightning ran wild above, and the wind howled to add drama to Gamer's finger point and words, "Cum at me, bro!"
"I knew you'd return for a rematch! Nobody can resist the magnetic attraction of a virgin gamer!" Gamindorf yelled.
Due to the distance and atmosphere, however, Gamer couldn't quite hear him, "What?!"
"Huh?!" Gamindorf cupped a hand around his ear.
"Get d – I friggin' can't hear him – come down here!" Gamer tried increasing his volume above the storm and volcano.
"What's he yelling about a commodore? I said..." thunder ruined the rest of Gamindorf's shout.
Samira popped up, "I can turn on dialogue boxes if you want (╹ -╹)?"
"Screw it," Gamer didn't care. He pulled out his magnum and took aim at Gamindorf. However, the Dark Dickness met his speed, pulled out his wand of courage, and fired a plasma shot. It cut through the magnum, and singed his hand. While Gamer flapped his hand about in pain, a phantom darkness appeared behind Gamindorf. Its silhouette appeared very Shade-like. Gamindorf laughed at Gamer's agony, and the phantom laughed from the abyss of despair.
"Son of a..." Gamer rubbed the burn mark.
"Cheaters never win..." Gamindorf leered. He nodded to Lord Shellie, and moved his power glove. The lord of the fortress leapt from the balcony and flew over the bridge with a psychic boost. In virtuality, Gamindorf increased his jump distance. Once over the group, Lord Shellie butt bombed and blazed down like a glorious, big-assed meteor.
"Not again!" Gamer gasped. Persica tackled Sam to protect her, Ripley flew up out of the way, and Gamer, Minnie, and Asterion dove out of the way. Lord Shellie cratered the ground and dislodged the bridge. It crumbled down, but was caught by some of the volcanic rock. It now tilted down near the front, and ramped up near the courtyard. When the dust settled, Lord Shellie himself sustained no damage from the fall.
"Damn! How tough is his shell?" Gamer found himself next to Persica. Sam thanked her, and helped the princess up. Gamer glared at Persica; he was obviously jealous.
"He's the strongest and toughest of all shellies. Even more so than blue shell shellies," Persica said.
"That's the power of Wheaties, I guess," Gamer did a kip-up. He then noticed missing teammates, "Where's Minnie and Asterion?"
"They spilled over there," Sam pointed. Sure enough, two lines that dragged through the soot and rock denoted where the two allies went. It didn't lead to a lava pit, but they were no longer with the group. Gamer wanted to check on them, but Ripley and Lord Shellie pressed in. Both readied their fire breaths, and convinced Gamer to stay by their sides, instead.
Down one of the trails, Minnie tucked into her shell for some extra padding. Her shell eventually bumped into something, and she heard somebody grunt on the outside. She popped her head out and gasped. She rolled into a billie, who glared down at her. She came across the numerous troops Gamindorf shoved out of the fortress. Many were still alive, but licked their wounds in this small valley. They all approached when she arrived. Minnie searched for Asterion and Gamer, but they weren't there. She was on her own.
"More discarded trash. We really are defective..." a shellie with a bowtie sighed. Depression settled into the group. Even the billies and sniffers were downtrodden.
Minnie rejected the notion. She hopped up onto a volcanic rock for a vantage point, and to help project her voice, "What are you doing?! Lord Shellie needs our help! We can't just abandon him now!"
"What can we do? Gamindorf is too powerful," a sniffer sniffled.
"He tossed us like used tissues!"
"I fell on my weenus!"
Other, similar complaints were given. They barraged Minnie with negativity, and it took her back to how she used to think. That's when one, cranky old lady yelled, "And why should we listen to you?! You're the traitor who works with Gamer!"
Kammy and Qammy emerged from the masses. They used their magic staves to limp forward. Qammy squawked, "Let us remind everybody that Gamer snuck up behind us and viciously pummeled us into unconsciousness. He also called us really mean names, and stole our coin purses. He is nothing more than a barbaric villain!"
The minions turned on Minnie and booed her, hated her, and told her off. The two shellie mages crossed their arms and smirked with ill-fitted pride.
Minnie removed her shell and leaned on it. Gasps and disgust plagued the crowd. However, Minnie reversed their logic, "A shellie without a shell is nothing but a lie!"
The crowd jeered in agreement, and told her to kill herself.
"Yet we all take orders from those who don't wear shells," Minnie pointed at the shellie mages. The old ladies gasped, and the crowd's emotions were stirred. Minnie drilled in, "Gamer and I overthrew Cammy, and that's when I discovered the truth. They don't wear shells beneath their robes."
"Is this true?" the bowtie shellie and his companions circled the shellie mages.
"She's...obviously lying. She isn't wearing a shell, after all," Kammy deflected.
"Show us!" a billie asked.
A sniffer went up and nudged Qammy, who cried and shooed her away. However, the sniffer felt no shell, "Egad! The traitor is telling the truth!"
Animosity formed for the mages, and an uproar began. They swarmed the mages and demanded answers and blood. Kammy and Qammy cowered against one another, and prepared to release magic on their fellow kin.
"Listen!"
Minnie used her newfound voice to reach them. The crowd gave the mages room to breathe. All eyes were on the traitor.
"I used to have only a tepid understanding of this world and a green shell. Now, I have so much more!" Minnie put on her blue shell. When her arms emerged, she held a hammer in one hand and her boxing shell in the other. She wowed the crowd, "We have all felt useless our whole existence. We threw ourselves at Lord Shellie because of his capabilities, and never learned to grow ourselves. But we can all grow. We can all be better. None of us are defective!"
Minnie's words silenced the discord. Shellies lowered their hostility, billies refrained from blowing up, and the sniffers controlled their breathing.
"Together, with Princess Persica and Lord Shellie, we can make a better Chanterelle. We can find peace, like at Sunshine Resort. Who..."
"Oh, shut up!" Kammy crowed. "We get it! You don't..."
"Bitch, I wasn't done," Minnie snapped. It stunned the mages. She channeled Gamer, and snorted, "Who the heckadoodle ding dang wants to beat the ever-living tar out of that dingus Gamindorf?!"
"I do!" the bowtie shellie yelled.
"Let's blow him up!" a billie agreed.
"We have a wedding to save!" a sniffer cheered.
Minnie won them over. A genuine smile conquered her face, and a new feeling of pride lifted her heart. The whole gaggle of them hyped one another up. They prepared to make the climb back to the fortress. Kammy and Qammy approached, timidly, with dejected expressions.
"Color me surprised, but I guess we agree. It'd be best to help Lord Shellie out," Kammy grumbled. Her usual krank was absent.
"You and Gamer better not lead us astray!" Qammy remained qranky. "If you do anything to oppose our lord, we'll get you."
"Of course! Let's go!" Minnie led the charge.
A myriad of pixels formed between Minnie and the shellie mages. At first, she expected Asterion to materialize. However, it was somebody new. A dark-skinned, muscular wall of a man. He wore a weathered karate gi, with a strange symbol on the back. His black, curly hair was done up in a stylized topknot. He faced the mages and remained stoic.
"Who are y..." Qammy began. The man cut her short, because he sliced a kick that bisected her. The kick carried through and decapitated Kammy. The mages' corpses crumbled backwards and instilled a stilling fear in the crowd.
Minnie immediately put her guard up, but found it hard to fight the quiver in her voice, "Who are you?"
The man gradually looked over his shoulder, and the eyes of a demon bore into Minnie. He spoke with a guttural bass, "The strongest under heaven."