Elite Trio

The Elite Trio is a group of three enemies that appear in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, but all three members first appeared in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. It is made up of Private Goomp, Corporal Paraplonk and Sergeant Guy. They are fought in Dreamy Driftwood Shore after being found with Kamek, who is disguised as Princess Peach.

Battle
All three troops must be defeated at once, as they can revive each other with only 1 HP, then heal even more HP because of Paraplonk, who has an inexhaustible amount of Mushrooms, in a similar way as the Bowser Memory ML from Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story.

Sergeant Guy may attack by turning Private Goomp's Sub-Goomba horde into copies of the Sergeant, the group then attacking Mario from all four sides, either simply walking by, or trying to smash Mario with a hammer. Hitting the authentic Guy will end the attack. He can also attack by inserting a Banzai Bill into his Sergeant Guy Cannon a turn before launching it, causing a massive amount of damage to be dealt if it hits Mario be it he fails to outrun it by the player repeatedly pressing. This attack can be avoided by attacking the cannon as soon as the bullet is inserted, causing massive damage to all enemies. If Sergeant Guy launches the Banzai Bill, the player needs to press repeatedly to outrun the Banzai Bill.

Corporal Paraplonk can attack by having two Paratroopas place two blocks to either side of Mario each, and zooming while withdrawn in his shell at the block in the background, ricocheting off it and between that and the block in the foreground, the attack ending if either Mario jumps and lands on Paraplonk mid-attack and causes him to damage Goomp, and the first row of the Sub-Goombas in the background, or if Paraplonk succeeds in hitting Mario while ricocheting.

Private Goomp attacks individually by ordering the Sub-Goomba horde to pile up to a rectangular formation, and then sending them to smash into Mario. Mario must stomp on them, to make the pile go back to Goomp, who then stops them, then sends them back again to Mario. If Mario does not stomp on them each time Goomp sends the pile at Mario, they will go behind him, then individually charges into him, inevitably damaging Mario. If Mario succeeds in sending the pile back, Goomp will eventually yet mistakenly be hit by the pile.

The last attack they have consists of Sergeant Guy of getting a huge Bob-omb with the help of Paraplonk, then chases Mario vertically. Goomp will realise this only too late, and will end up behind his horde. He will urge them to go forward, in order to get to safety. Mario must stomp on him and the Sub-Goombas whenever they attempt to escape from the Bob-omb in order to stop them from escaping. Eventually, the Bob-omb will go off, dealing massive damage to Guy, the Sub-Goombas who failed to escape, and possibly Goomp, depending if he managed to escape, as well as Paraplonk who spends the duration of the attack follwing Sergeant Guy watching the attack occur above him. If Mario gets hit by any of the Sub-Goombas or Goomp, he will trip and Sergeant Guy will throw the Bob-omb on him, causing massive damage to only Mario.

Aftermath
After the trio's defeat, Kamek demotes them to to janitors for losing, then teleports them out. Mario and Luigi briefly encounter the Elite Trio again when they are going after Bowser after defeating Antasma for the final time. This time, the three minions decide to roll giant Bob-ombs down the spiraling ramp to prevent the Bros. from getting up to Bowser. During the credits of the game, Private Goomp and Sergeant Guy end up rocking the Koopa Clown Car so much trying to collect coins that it falls into the ocean, prompting Paraplonk (with assistance from Kamek) to rescue them and Bowser.

Battle Ring
The Elite Trio can also be battled in the Battle Ring as the Class 6 boss battle, in the form of Elite Trio X, where they have higher stats than when fought previously. Unlike most X bosses, the Elite Trio does not have an alternate color scheme, but the background is now yellow instead of pink.

Trivia

 * Private Goomp drops an item drop (a Mushroom) inside a large Gift, a rare case of this happening.