CHAPTER 1-5
-Monster of the Castle-
"Chopper, I can feel it calling… The Pure Heart is nearby… But, wait… I sense something else emanating from the castle. Be careful, Chopper… Something else is waiting for us ahead…" Tippi warned as they set foot inside of the castle.
Chopper looked at his surroundings. They were both in a room with some stairs going up to a door ahead. That's just about it. It almost felt like a castle Bowser would have back in the old Super Mario Bros. games. It was just…dull. Nothing else.
"So we're getting closer to the Pure Heart? Well that's a relief." Chopper sighed. "But, I don't understand why it has to be in a castle like this. It's…kinda lame if you ask me."
"Yes, I suppose this place is a bit…bland…" Tippi trailed. "But, if the Pure Heart's located in this very castle, then we have no other choice but to make our way through here…"
"Just think about it, hero! There may be obstacles that you might need my help for!" Thoreau said cheerfully. "…Maybe not, but there's a possible chance."
"Yeah, I know that… But I'm still a bit worried about my friends. I haven't seen them in such a long time, but now they're gone once again." Chopper turned back around. "But you're right. Maybe there's some interesting stuff in this castle. Plus, I could probably give a beating to some enemies."
"We'll see what we can find ahead… For now, you should get going…" Tippi suggested.
Chopper nodded and he made his way up the stairs and to the door. There, he found a room with a couple of lava pits and then a pathway up ahead that has Firebars spinning around. In the center of the two lava pits, there was also a ? Block and two Hammer Bros.
"Oh, this should be easy!" Chopper began to use his Speed Dash to speed through the room. "I'll just speed my way through here!"
"No, Chopper! Don't use your Speed Dash just yet!" Tippi cried.
Chopper immediately stopped and turned to Tippi. "What's wrong, Tipps? It sounds like something was bothering you. Can't we just speed our way through here?"
"Although you THINK that that's a smart idea… It's most likely going to get you fried in the end." Tippi fluttered over the Hammer Bros. and over by the lava pits. "You're going to fall in these pits if you did that. Take it a bit slow."
"Oh, fine… Have it your way." Chopper inhaled the Hammer Bro. that was in his way and he spat him out at the other to send them to the Firebar over by the door up ahead. Good thing it wasn't locked.
"OK, let's see what's in this block first things first," Chopper punched the yellow ? above him to make a Mushroom appear. "Mmmmmmm!"
He managed to inhale the Mushroom before it fell in the lava pit. He noticed a little pathway up above him, so he jumped on the block to reach up there. A ladder brought him down to a chest that contained a Life Shroom.
"A Life Shroom? Isn't it a bit too early for these things, though?" Chopper questioned as he put it away.
"Well, I suppose it's better that you hold onto it…" Tippi suggested.
"That's exactly what I'm going to do," Chopper put the Life Shroom away and he made his way up the ladder and over to the door he saw before. It led him into a room with a couple of more Firebars and two doors. One was locked, while the other was floating up at the end of the room.
"Meh, I'll be cheap and avoid these Firebars," Chopper threw his hands up in the air to flip into 3-D. Then he made a dash over by the floating door. He noticed two yellow arrow blocks that were in his sight, plus a Squiglet.
After taking care of the Squiglet with a stomp, he hit both blocks and flipped back into 2-D to reach the door. He found a couple of Thwomps coming down on the ground in order from the one at the front and the one to the back.
"Well, now I believe you can use your Speed Dash for this," Tippi confirmed.
"Finally!" Chopper began to run in place until his feet were in a figure-8 pattern to make a dash through the Thwomps with all of his speed. He made it up to a chest that contained a Castle Key.
"Woo-hoo!" Chopper immediately flipped into 3-D to get past the Thwomps. He knew that a Speed Dash PROBABLY wouldn't work, considering that he might just get hurt instead.
He made his way back into the other room and then he avoided the Firebars to make it to the locked door. There, he unlocked the door and walked into another room with some lava pits, but also there was this large, metallic, square-like net that he could climb on if possible. Koopa Troopas were on it, that's for sure.
"Hey, this is just like one of those things I used to see in Super Mario World! I never knew there were these here!" Chopper smiled as he jumped onto the net and he began to move to his right on it.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Tippi asked.
"Oh, relax! Just watch what I can do!" When Chopper saw a Koopa climbing to the left on the other side, he knocked him off with a simple punch to the net. It knocked the Koopa off into the lava.
"Ooh… I don't know if that was really a good thing or not…" Chopper said with a guilty look on his face.
"Everything's all right, Chopper," Tippi assured. "Just keep going. We don't have an infinite amount of time here, you know… If we stay here on that metallic net all day, we're going to get nowhere…"
"All right, fine," Chopper moved to his right on the metallic net, knocking any Koopas that were on the other side. He made sure not to get hit by any other Koopas moving by to his left.
"It appears that the red ones go a bit faster than the green ones," Thoreau stated as he watched the Koopas move.
"Hey, at least you're not the one doing this!" Chopper groaned as he kicked a Koopa next to him, knocking him into the lava. "You can fly around, while I have to jump! It's a lot easy for you Pixls!"
"…Yes, it is indeed," the Pixl agreed.
Chopper noticed that there was a pipe up on the ceiling near the door nearby, so he checked the pipe up there first. He was a bit surprised that he can enter pipes from up on the ceiling.
He found a large room with a slope going down to a loop up ahead. It was also leading up to a Boomerang Bro. that was guarding a chest.
"Sigh… Why did I have to be put up to this?" questioned the Boomerang Bro. "First we get sucked into some void thing, and now I'm stuck here guarding this stupid key! When is King Bowser going to give me a promotion?"
Chopper looked off at the distance. All he could see was a loop down the slope. "Oh, whatever. I think I can nail this without a problem! I'm Chopper, for Pete's sake! I practically nailed a demon!"
Tippi sighed as Chopper started to charge up his Speed Dash ability. Thank goodness this ground was made of stone, or else there would be dirt all over her, that's for sure.
"Here we…GOOOOOO!" Chopper made a huge dash down the slope with his feet in a figure-8 pattern. He was easily able to run through the loop and knock the Boomerang Bro. over.
"OOF!" the Boomerang Bro. fell over on his back. "Ah, crap! Don't tell me we have an intruder here!" He managed to get himself up and turned to the wall where Chopper bumped into.
"Wait a sec… You're that Chopper kid Bowser's been talking about! Yeah… You're obviously him! Those antennae and shape shows it…"
"Oooog…" Chopper pushed his face off the wall. "Wait… Did you say Bowser?"
"Well of course I did! Who else do you think I was talking about?" the Boomerang Bro. pulled a boomerang out. "…But, since you're here, looks like I gotta do what I gotta do! Can't let ya get that key from this chest!"
"Oh, this'll be easy," Chopper walked over to him after he ducked one of his boomerangs. He managed to inhale him and gain the Cutter ability, now wearing a yellow cap with eyes and wings that resembled a duck. There was also this large yellow blade on it as well.
"What is that supposed to be?" Tippi questioned.
"This is my Cutter ability," Chopper began to adjust his cape a bit. "Yeah, I know it almost looks like a duck, but I can throw the blade on top of it at anything I want. Plus, I could use it as a weapon if I wanted to!"
"Interesting…" Tippi seemed interested at this as Chopper opened up the chest to find a Castle Key inside.
"Time to make my way back!" Using another Speed Dash, Chopper made his way all the way back to the door. But this time, he was able to brake when he made it over to the red door.
Back in the other room by the locked door-
"Whew… I finally made my way back here." Chopper sighed in relief as he pulled the key out to unlock the door. He walked into a room that had some more lava pits, but with sets of blocks that were floating above the pit.
"Geez! I don't see lava so often! The last time I've seen it was when I was in Tartamos!" Chopper jumped over the sets of blocks to two doors. The one on the bottom was locked, and the other wasn't, so he took the way up into another room.
He noticed a pipe in front of him as he made his way down the ladder. Up on the ceiling was a blue ! Switch floating still.
"Well, I don't see much around here…" He immediately turned around as a Squiglet dropped down from the pipe. "Whoa! Enemy in sight!"
He pulled the cutter off his helmet and he sliced the Squiglet up. It disappeared like smoke for some reason, but he didn't care.
"Oh, heroooooo…" Thoreau sang. "Perhaps now is the time for my power to come into use…"
"You don't need to sing that to me, you know…" Chopper trailed. "And stop calling me 'hero'! Just because you joined me doesn't mean I'm ACTUALLY a hero…"
"Hmmmm… Yes. I see…" Thoreau was sent by Chopper to grab the next Squiglet that came down. When he gave it to Chopper, he immediately threw it at the blue ! Switch above him.
"I wonder what that…" Chopper could feel a bit of shaking before he could finish, "…Never mind."
"Something happened outside of the room…" Tippi predicted.
"You don't need to tell me that. I already know something happened outside of the room." Chopper groaned as he climbed up the ladder back into the other room. He noticed in the sets of blocks that there was a key.
"Ah! There we go!" He made his way over to the key by jumping on one of the brown blocks. Unfortunately, he couldn't fit between two blocks.
"Perhaps I could be of assistance?" Thoreau suggested.
"Yes, you can be," Chopper smirked as he tossed Thoreau between the two blocks. He managed to grab the key and give it to him. Now with it, he went down to the locked door and he unlocked it with the key, entering another room.
"Uh oh… More lava pits! …With fireballs coming out!" Chopper gaped as he saw himself surrounded by two lava pits. He noticed that there was even a Magikoopa that was firing a spell at him.
He managed to duck the spell and throw his cutter blade straight at the Magikoopa. It didn't finish him off yet, but once he jumped over the pit and rushed at him with his blade, he knocked the Magikoopa out of the room.
Chopper took notice of a square outline right nearby, so he immediately flipped into 3-D to check it out. To his surprise, he found a secret passageway leading to another Castle Key.
"These puzzles get easier and easier…" he sighed as he rushed over to the key and flipped back, returning back to the room. The locked door was over to his left, so he rushed over there with his speed and his jumping skills.
"This room is small…" Chopper walked into a room with some steps going up to a floating door. He checked to see if there were any yellow arrow blocks around. Sadly, there weren't.
"I believe there's something hidden around here…" Tippi said.
"Then I better use you then!" Chopper flipped back into 2-D and he let her use her power, making his eyes glow a rainbow color. He noticed a hidden platform that the red door was sitting on.
"There's something here… I'll show it to you…" she said as she revealed the hidden platform, allowing Chopper to walk into another room.
All he found in the next room was a spring leading up higher into the castle. That's pretty much it.
"This is all there is? Meh… I guess I'll just use it." Chopper jumped onto the spring and he let himself soar up to a higher point of the castle, landing on a platform with a red door. There was also a Save Block there too.
"I suppose we're getting closer to the top of the castle…" Tippi trailed. "I'm feeling the Pure Heart from up there…"
"Wait a sec…" Chopper flipped into 3-D to find a hidden Brick Block that revealed a ladder. "Heh heh! Good thing I flipped there!"
Flipping back into 2-D, he climbed up the outlined ladder to a higher platform. He could only find a sign and a ? Block. Of course, he hit the block first to claim a Mushroom. Then he checked the sign.
*** Tips to the Hero ***
Those who fight bigger enemies must watch for the stars that appear. If thou findest a star, thou must inhale it and spit it at thy enemy, smooshing him into tiny bits…if that is possible.
"Weird sign, but it gives some good advice," Chopper jumped down to the door to a small room in height, but a large room in length. He noticed some fireballs coming straight toward him.
"Chopper! Watch out!" Tippi warned.
"I got this, don't worry!" Chopper rushed straight toward the fireballs, sliding under the ones that were a bit close to him and jumping over the ones that were right over by his feet. At the end of the passageway was a bridge…and on that bridge…was Bowser.
"GWAAAAAARGH! I can't believe I've been doing nothing but spitting fireballs all day!" Bowser groaned, feeling a bit exhausted at this point. "All because of that stupid dark weirdo, I'm stuck in this castle! I can't even fit through that pipe ahead! Plus, I'm a bit scared of jumping down through that other room! What am I going to do here?! GAARRGH!"
Bowser stomped angrily as Chopper walked over to him, giving him a nice hello.
"Huh?" Bowser was a bit startled, but he noticed Chopper. "Ch-Chopper?! What are YOU doing here?!"
"I'm starting to wonder the same thing about you…" Tippi replied.
" Well, I was sucked into a portal by some dark dude that looks just like Chopper and… Huh?" Bowser noticed Tippi beside Chopper. "What the… What're you doing here, Tippi? I thought you disappeared after…well, you know."
"It's a long story. I don't have the time to explain things. Could you just let us through so we can look for the Pure Heart?"
"The Pure Heart? There's a Pure Heart here? How was I supposed to know that? I could've… Wait, hold on a minute!" Bowser glared at Chopper. "Why should I be helping YOU, out of all people?! It looks like you pretty much trashed my castle anyway!"
"Look, Bowser… We NEED to get past here. Could you PLEASE let us through?" Chopper asked nicely.
"NO! I'm NEVER going to let you through here, no matter what! You've ruined my castle twice, but thrice has gone long enough! BWARRRG!"
Bowser stomped on the ground real hard, creating a barrier behind the bridge and up ahead.
"What the… Hey, this isn't fair!" Chopper gaped.
"Since you've ruined my castle for the third time, you're about to enter a fortress of PAIN! Yup! No more sequels! It's gonna end right here, right now. ONCE AND FOR ALL!"
Bowser jumped back and started off by spewing flames in front of Chopper before he could even make a move, turning him black with soot.
"Ack! This isn't good!" Chopper quickly shook the soot off of him, then he used Tippi's power to analyze his foe.
"That's Bowser, the king of the Koopas and archenemy of Mario... Max HP is 25. Attack is 2. Defense is 1. He has spikes, so you can't stomp him. As you'd imagine, his fiery breath and stomp attack do a lot of damage. Your best option is to rely on your Copy Abilities to defeat him..." Tippi informed.
Chopper attempted to grab Bowser using Thoreau, and while he succeeded, throwing him didn't do much. Instead, he listened to Tippi's advise and tossed his cutter blade at the Koopa king, knocking him back a bit. He was also able to jumped out of the way from Bowser's claws.
"ARRGH! Get back here, you coward!" Bowser roared.
"Oh, hang on a moment!" Chopper smirked as he jumped off the wall and then back down on Bowser. "…Ouch! I completely forgot about the horns on his head!" He held his foot in pain as he shed a small tear.
"Gwa ha ha ha! Oh, how sad! One of my horns hurt you!" Bowser brought his arm back and he slammed his fist into Chopper, knocking him back to the wall. His Cutter ability didn't wear off, on the other hand.
"Chopper... Please don't give up..." Tippi trailed.
"Ugh… Don't worry, Tippi… I'm not going to give up the fight just yet." Chopper slowly got up as he saw Bowser spewing out flames in his face. He managed to jump on the wall and jump over Bowser so he was behind him.
"Wait… Don't… AGGH!" Bowser screamed as Chopper slashed at Bowser's tail with his cutter blade. "I'm gonna get you for that!"
Bowser turned to Chopper, but he was struck by his Final Cutter attack, slashing at him twice and then rising up and coming down with his blade.
"Heh heh! I guess this is what it feels like to use a Final Cutter! Wait until Kirby hears about THIS one!" Chopper smirked, tossing his blade at Bowser once again.
"GWARGH! Now you're in for something, Chopper!" Bowser got in his shell and then he rammed straight into Chopper, knocking him back to the wall once again. It didn't feel too bad, considering that he's been hurt by him countless times before.
"If only I had my hammer or Master Shoes… I could take him down!" Chopper remembered that he gave his hammer to his little Yoshi buddy, Scrub, back in Glitzville. Ah, the good memories. As for his Master Shoes… He ended up losing them after an incident with him and the washing machine…
"Well, I still have my cutter blade…" Chopper gripped on it as he tossed it at Bowser once again. It didn't do too much to him except leave a small little scar on his belly.
Enraged, Bowser spewed out more flames, burning Chopper and also knocking his ability away. He gasped as the yellow star containing his ability was destroyed by Bowser's fireball.
"Gwa ha ha ha! Looks like you're doomed now, Chopper! No more abilities to help you this time!" Bowser cackled.
"Oh, yeah? Well I still have my pride!" Chopper retorted.
"What is that supposed to mean?!"
"Oh, nothing…" Chopper delivered a sweeping kick on Bowser's face as he jumped up to him, leaving a couple of red marks on his face. Bowser managed to knock him back to the wall like a soccer ball with a simple kick.
"It's a good thing you're light, 'cause you make a great soccer ball!" Bowser cackled.
"Well you make a great punching bag! HI-YAA!" Chopper threw his arms up to flip into 3-D before Bowser could fry him with his fire breath. He flipped back to 2-D from behind and he grabbed Bowser by the tail.
"Are you serious?!" Bowser growled. "You can't even hurl me around with arms like that!"
"Urgh… Maybe I can!" Chopper used all of his strength to move Bowser around, but he failed miserably. "…Maybe I can't."
Bowser managed to shake Chopper off of his tail and fry him up once again. Chopper couldn't believe that Bowser was bringing him down so fast! Especially the fact that he's in the fifth part of Chapter 1, for Pete's sake!
"Chopper! I know you still have something in you! Try to win this!" Tippi shouted.
At that moment, Chopper began to remember all of the people that were cheering for him to stop him nemesis five months ago. He clenched his fists and he flipped back into 3-D again.
"BWARGH Now where did that little creampuff go?!" Bowser roared.
"Hey, I'm over here!" Chopper called out.
Bowser turned over to the left where he found Chopper standing right over by the wall. He seemed to be laid back, minding his own business when the Koopa King saw him. The sight of him made him enraged for some reason.
"I'm going to finish this off once and for all!" Bowser growled as he got into his shell. As he charged straight at him, Chopper smirked and jumped out of the way, making him crash into the wall. A yellow star appeared before the hero's very eyes.
Chopper could remember these words from the sign: "Those who fight bigger enemies must watch for the stars that appear. If thou findest a star, thou must inhale it and spit it at thy enemy, smooshing him into tiny bits…if that is possible."
"All right, I guess that I gotta use that!" Chopper used his inhaling ability to suck the star into his mouth, making him looked a bit puffed up.
When Bowser managed to get back up, he roared. "NOW you're finished!" He prepared to unleash his flaming breath upon him, but when Chopper spat the star at his belly, it knocked him over on the ground. Bowser ended up admitting defeat in the end.
"Rrrrrrrrgh! I can't believe I lost that fight!" Bowser pouted. "It's not fair!"
"Well, I guess I managed to defeat the monster of this castle!" Chopper smiled.
"Chopper… I don't know how to say this…" Tippi started. "But… Bowser is not the monster I was talking about…"
"Wait, WHAT?!" Chopper eyes suddenly bugged out. "Are… Are you telling me that there's ANOTHER monster in this castle!"
"I'm afraid so..."
He turned over to the moaning Bowser. "Hey, Bowser. Is there something up on the top of the castle?"
"Grrrghhh… I… I don't know. Last time I checked up there, I didn't see anything but the sky."
"Hmmmmmm…" Chopper pondered a bit. "Well, I do recall Mario saying that you helped him find the Pure Hearts. Do you think you could help us find them, Bowser? I think we could use your strength, if possible."
Bowser slowly got up and glared at Chopper. "No way! This time I'm NOT helping the good! I'm grade A, 100% prime-cut final boss! There's no way I'm going to help you! Now get out of my way! I'm getting out of this place!"
Chopper was immediately pushed out of the way as Bowser stomped his way out of the room.
"Well that was certainly nice…" Tippi commented. "But we don't need his help. Surely you can find that Pure Heart yourself."
"Yeah… Hopefully I can…" Chopper moaned, getting up. He noticed a Save Block, a ? Block and a pipe over at the end of the room. "There's my way out of here, for sure!"
He hit the ? Block first, consuming a Super Shroom that immediately healed all of the damage he took from Bowser. He hit the Save Block next and, at long last, he made his way into the pipe.
Chopper had some feeling that something big was coming up ahead...
At first, I had thought of putting the boss fight with this chapter, since in Super Paper Mario, there is a boss at the end of the fourth part of a chapter. ...But, if I were to do that here, I have a feeling that some chapters would be a bit on the long side... Trust me, it will save some people the trouble of reading some of these chapters. So... That means we have our first boss chapter coming up!