#eny

[Luigi]

At the top was a ruined temple-like structure, with red sigils and symbols on the walls near it. They matched the feather or leaf ones from before, and also featured a tornado too. With that, though, were also small lightning bolts and clouds. Lifting an eyebrow, I rubbed behind my neck, still totally puzzled by this.

"None of that makes sense to anyone else either, right?" I turned as the others shook their heads too. "Ok, just wanted to check in on that again."

Entering the structure, which seemed a bit more like a colosseum arena, we stood just within its tunnel and observed the sight ahead. If we had thought there were a lot of leaves before, that would soon pale in comparison to the terrain before us. So many decorated the floor that I couldn't tell what was supposed to be down below us, if it continued the alabaster concrete or had red tinted clouds from the prior trail instead. Piles of leaves were stacked higher up too, in various spots around the area. Cyclones seemed to pillar up from the ground, leading to some cloud platforms and blocks above. In the circular center stood two sets of solid blocks parallel to one another. There seemed to be a soldier in blue armor standing on each one.

"Was that pieced together by Bowser's army, or did this exist how it is and now they're occupying it?" Toadette tilted her head, her braids swaying a bit as she did so.

"We're just all going to ask questions that none of us know the answers to, huh?" Birdo lifted her hands up and tightened her bow, lowering her eyes into a glare. "Doesn't matter. We're just going to take down whoever is in our way."

"How, exactly?" Yoshi frowned and pointed out ahead. "They've likely been waiting for us. Rushing in would be the exact opposite approach to take."

"While I agree, what other approach can we really take?" Toad shrugged, and then bounced up and down while rolling his head. "Asking nicely isn't going to work, and we can't just will our prize into coming over to us. Planning will only lead to fighting."

"Ooh, love that you're ready to brawl, Toad." Birdo cupped her hands together in delight. "I knew we were friends for a reason."

"He's my friend too," contested Yoshi. He placed a hand on Toad's head, settling him. "Come on, we think things through, you and I. Do you see another approach to take?"

"Honestly, I'm not opposed to just rushing in," piped in Toadette. "Even if you two think of a strategy, Birdo and I have the optimal role running."

"It's too easy."

Everyone held off on their debates as they turned to me. I stared ahead at the two enemies in the distance: they looked like Hammer Bros., but those guys wear green armor, which would make this pair…

"Just two Boomerang Bros., and no other guards? Set up in a classic stand-off like how Mario and I encountered them ages ago?" I shook my head. "There has to be more to it than that."

"Like what?"

"This place is too big to not make use of it." I rubbed below my chin for a bit and considered carefully.

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There's a lot that leads up to that potential battle, and plenty of story beyond that too.

So, if you want to catch up on ENY's latest and haven't done so already, click the link above!

(Or you can wait for AO3 to come back too. Whichever works!)