"Hmmm… This looks interesting." Grodus was reading a book on how to take over the universe and found some interesting things in it. "Yes… This does look interesting. But I don't think it exactly fits for what I'm trying to do. There must be something about the Crystal Stars in here!"

He began to flip through a couple of pages until he reached the table of contents. Sadly, he found nothing about them, so he tossed it away. "Great… I was hoping that I could find some information on the twenty Crystal Stars."

While he groaned, an X-Naut walked in and gave him a salute.

"Sir! I come with some big news." the X-Naut declared.

"Speak at once, X-Naut!"

"OK then… Ahem!" he cleared his throat, despite being nervous. "Well you see, sir… That kid Chopper got the first Crystal Star. Our ships went over to Toy Kingdom and found the Shadow Sirens beaten up by him!"

"What?! So the Shadow Sirens failed to defeat Chopper? Sigh… How pathetic of them. They wanted to come back to me and I actually gave them a chance. Now they can't beat a ten year old!"

"Calm down, sir! We were able to get a picture here. This might be a little interesting for you to see, sir…" the X-Naut handed Grodus a picture, which showed a picture of Chopper and Vivian. When Grodus noticed Vivian on it, he was enraged.

"X-Naut… Do you see something on here that gets your attention?" Grodus growled. "You can see a traitor on here, right?"

"No idea, sir. All I see is a picture of Chopper and... Wait, this girl seems familiar..."

"Yes... Familiar... You realize who that is?"

"Let me think. Hmmmm… Is she…my cousin?"

"You fool!" Grodus roared, bonking the X-Naut's head. "That's Vivian who's on this picture! She betrayed me once again… That foolish girl! Get the Shadow Sirens! Now!"

"Uh… Gotcha, sir." the X-Naut quickly left, and after a while, Beldam and Marilyn rose from the shadows.

"Is there anything you need from us, Grodus?" Beldam asked as Grodus showed them the picture.

"Explain this to me, Beldam! Did you sister betray me once again?"

"Look, let me explain to you, sire! We sent her to go after the Magical Map you desired oh-so much. When we found the Crystal Star, we also found that boy and Vivian with him! My apologies. We never expected her to leave again. But, you see, we don't REALLY need her. Oh no. She'll just get in the way of our plans!"

"Are you sure about this? She has the ability to use fire, and that's probably the strongest magic of the three of you. For now, you're going to need to find someone else to replace her for right now."

"Mmmmmmwee hee hee hee! Oh, don't you worry. We know who we can replace Vivian with! He's been with us before, and I'm sure he'll want to come back again. He hasn't even been doing much for these past few months anyways! So! Marilyn! Let us go for now!"

"Guhhhhh…" Marilyn grunted as they both sunk into the shadows. Grodus was beginning to think if their replacement would be as good as Vivian.

"I wonder if they're going to use that replacement..."

Sublevel 4-

Down on Sublevel 4, a princess in a pink dress with blonde hair was sitting on her uncomfortable bed, sighing because she was kidnapped once again.

"Oh, dear… Here we go again…" the princess named Princess Peach sighed. "I can't believe I've been kidnapped again…by these people! I don't understand what they want with me, nor do I know why they kidnapped me. Mario and Toadsworth must be worried sick. Again. But how am I supposed to let them know I'm kidnapped?"

At that moment, the door to her right opened up. "The door! Maybe I can see if TEC is still around? He helped me in this place while I was here. I hope he remembers me, because you never know what might happen."

Peach walked through the door and walked through the hallway to the door all the way to the right. She found herself in a small computer room. It was kind of dark in here, until the lights turned on.

"Hello, Princess Peach," a computerized voice greeted as Peach looked up at a camera above the terminal.

"TEC? Is that you? It's me!" Peach smiled.

"My apologies, but I don't know what you're talking about. Sir Grodus has sent his X-Nauts to take you here. He is the greatest. And yes, I am TEC. My full name is TEC-XX. It was I who constructed Sir Grodus a new body."

"What? I thought you didn't like what that awful dome-headed person was doing! Don't you remember the times we had together?"

"Sir Grodus is most definitely not awful. He is a very good person. He is marvelous. I don't know what you mean by the times we had together. There was never such thing."

"Well I think he is," Peach remarked. "I don't understand why you brought me here if you don't really remember me anymore. Was your memory…erased? That might be why!"

"I am unsure on both questions. An unusual program deviation occurred when I observed you when you first came into this place. My higher-brain circuitry malfunctioned and nearly overheated upon your image. Also, an unidentified impulse sped through my processors. These events seem to be new to me. There is more to the phenomenon as well. I ran diagnostic programs…and their solution was… I want to know more about you. I want to observe you. That's what I get when I see you. I'm being told that I must know more about you."

"So you're saying you want to observe me again and also know a little more about me? But... If your memory was erased, then that means that... Well, you ARE a computer..."

"What has happened to me? If you know of my malfunction, then you must tell me of it right now."

"Oh, I couldn't, really… I don't think it's necessary to say..."

"Please tell me. Please. I must know about my malfunction if I do indeed have one. If I am not the world's best computer, then you must tell me of my malfunction."

"Well, you know, maybe… I think it's possible that, well…you're...in love…with a certain someone?"

"Does not compute," TEC stated. "What is this 'love' you speak of? Please tell me. Please."

"Wait, you don't know what love is?" Peach gawked. "Well, I guess because his memory was erased, I guess he doesn't know about love... Well… Let me think… Love tells you when you wish to spend more time with a person and stay with them forever. It makes you feel happy just to see that person happy, smiling…having fun. When you love someone, you will do anything to help when he or she is in trouble."

"Happiness? Fun…? I have definitions for these words, but… My programming is insufficient. There should be nothing I cannot comprehend. I am a perfect computer."

"'Comprehend' love? Love's not something you comprehend, TEC. You feel it inside of you."

"…Princess Peach… Will you teach me to feel this thing you call 'love'? I must know about this 'love'."

"No offense, but why would you care about love? You're just a computer..." Peach trailed.

"I am perfect. There must be something I cannot comprehend. Nothing. That is why you must help me understand this thing called 'love.' Please. If you have any wishes that I can grant you in exchange, I will grant them. But, of course, I am unable to grant such a wish as letting you escape…"

"What, are you insane?! Grodus and his X-Jerks kidnapped me like common Koopas! Kind of like Bowser and that evil Maquano… But now you call me in here to teach you the meaning of love? What happened to you, TEC?! And why should I believe you now about granting me any wishes?"

"I understand you are angry. That emotion I comprehend. You need not teach me now. But I must learn of this thing you speak of. There is no alternative. I must be a perfect computer. That is why, if you just consider teaching me, I will grant your wishes. Do you understand me, Princess Peach? Now, tell me your wish."

"Are you sure? Well… I guess I could wish that I could contact someone. The sooner, the better."

"Yes, of course you may. Use my communicator to send wireless mail to anywhere you want. Though, my communicator has been blocked by one named Mario."

"Oh… That's who I was going to contact. This isn't good. I wish I knew someone else to contact…" Peach trailed as she began to ponder. When a red ! appeared over her head, an idea struck her. "Wait a minute! I DO remember that Mario and I got Chopper a Mailbox SP. Since I know what his is, maybe I can get a hold of me. He can warn Mario about it too, if he's around him."

Peach walked up to the keyboard and began to type her message up. Luckily, she knew how to use the computer when she first used it five months ago. After finishing, the screen showed the mail being sent.

"The message has been sent. For the time being, you may return to your room. I will call you in again when I want to ask you something."

Peach walked over to the exit of this room and she turned around to TEC. "Uh… OK then. Good night." She left the room after that.

"Good night, Princess Peach," TEC said before the room became dark as TEC went into sleep mode.

Bowser's Castle-

After the events of the Star Spirits and the Star God Staris, Bowser had a rough time for those two years. He spent most of his time trying to rethink plans that became complete failures, while his minions began to make a new castle ever since his old one was destroyed. Thankfully, it was finished about ten months ago, so he and his minions had a home. However, it wasn't as cool as the original, in Bowser's opinion.

Inside of the castle, the bricks were gray like his hold castle, and there was a red rug that extended to the end of the hallway to the door. Hammer Bros. and Koopatrols are right next to the rug, ready for the Koopa King to make his entry into the room.

The two Koopatrols guarding the door could hear stomping, and they knew the time was right. They opened the door, and Bowser himself came out. Ever since those two years, his appearance hadn't changed since.

"Gra ha ha har! Bowser, the mighty Koopa king, has arrived!" Bowser cackled. "Now now, you can hold your applause for later, minions!"

The only thing he could hear was a chirping cricket, which he accidentally stepped on.

"But now that I'm here… Kammy! You crusty old hag! Why did you summon me?" Bowser wondered as the Koopatrols closed the door shut.

"Uh, Great Lord Bowser… The, uh, crusty hag Kammy Koopa will arrive momentarily." one Koopatrol explained. "She had something to do before coming here. I'm really sorry for the inconvenience, but please wait at the rear of the room."

"Is that so? Well then, perhaps I shall!" Bowser began to walk toward the rear of the room, but he stopped when he heard what two Hammer Bros. were talking about. He couldn't help but listen to the conversation.

"So, the other day, I saw Bowser gazing at some kind of Peach doll. Man, the look on his face! Priceless!" the first Hammer Bro. snickered while the other one noticed Bowser was standing right behind his friend and trembled in fear.

"Uh, you may want to put a cork in it, man…" the second Hammer Bro. gulped. "I'm not joking. You REALLY should…"

"Hoo! I tell you, I saw hearts flying over Bowser when he was looking at that doll… Huh?" he turned around to see Bowser in front of him. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK! L-Lord Bowser!"

"Well? I'm dying to hear the rest of your hilarious story, Mr. Comedian! Do share!" Bowser cackled.

The Hammer Bros. looked at each other in a confused way and both whacked each other in the head with their hammer.

"What's with them?" Bowser wondered. In the end, he shrugged and walked over to the rear of the room. When he reached the rear of the room, where he found a painting of himself. The door he previously entered opened up, so he turned around to see a small, old Magikoopa in a purple robe come out of the door.

"Ah! Lord Bowser!" Kammy cried, heading over toward Bowser, but she was all worn out from moving. "Huff… Hoo…"

"I'm sure she could've used her broomstick to reach him," one of the Koopatrols by the door muttered to his companion.

"I've just now returned," Kammy declared. "I'm terribly sorry for keeping you waiting, my lord. I guess it took longer than I thought it would…"

"I bet you are tired, Kammy Koopa! Now, out with it!" Bowser spat. "Why have you called me here? You know I'm busy most of the time!"

"Please, Your Grumpiness! Don't be so impatient with your poor servant. Ahem… It's my displeasure that that boy, Chopper, the one that stopped your plans two years ago, has returned to Earth to a town called Rogueport."

"Pbbbthbtth! THAT'S why you called me here? Just to tell me that that boy Chopper is here? I don't care what he's doing! What am I, his baby-sitter? Are you going to call me every time that fool eats pizza, or what? Sheesh!"

"Yes, well, you see, my lord… Apparently Chopper is hunting for those Crystal Stars that we were trying to find, but ended up failing. You remember those, right, Lord Bowser?"

"Those Crystal Stars?" Bowser pondered. "Oh. Yeah, I remember them. I was hoping to be able to get one of those, but we were just too slow! They really sound like some good world-conquering tools anyway!"

"Yes, they do sound like it," Kammy agreed. "I've been researching them a bit more, and it turns out there are actually twenty of them! I think this is our chance now! If there are twenty, then we'll be able to get our hands on one! I'm pretty sure that floating arena has one too."

"Hmmm… You got a good point, Kammy! Perhaps we should head on over there! That Crystal Star will be ours! Oh, yes!"

"Indeed, Lord Bowser! I will continue researching on those Crystal Stars for you. By the way, Lord Bowser… What do you think of Fried Mushrooms?"

"Fried Mushrooms? Bleh!" Bowser gagged. "I could never eat those! That's probably something Mario would have! Why are you asking me this?"

Kammy began to giggle. "Well, I stopped by at Music Kingdom. I was planning on taking everyone there for a picnic, having some foods… Of course, I wouldn't think of sending out invites without asking you first, Lord Bowser!"

"WHAT?! A PICNIC?!" Bowser roared. "You MORON! This is no time for fun, Haggy! See, THIS is why my evil plans always derail! Because you clods always good off! AAARGH!"

Bowser stomped the ground angrily, which caused the whole room to shake and make Kammy gulp.

"Oh, dear… Lord Bowser… Please calm down… Remember your blood pressure…" Kammy trembled until she felt a Magikoopa tap her shoulder and mutter something to her. "Hm? What's that, you say?"

"Mumble…"

"Whaaaaat? Is this TRUE?" she turned back to the angry Bowser. "Lord Bowser! Terrible news! Some bold fool abducted Princess Peach while she was in her castle!"

"HUHHH-WWWHHHAAATTT?!" Bowser gaped. "Tell me you're lying, Kammy! How? When? WHERE?! Who'd do such a thing? Besides me?"

"I'm afraid we don't have that information quite yet… The investigation's ongoing. One thing has certainly been confirmed, however: the princess has been kidnapped...again."

"Under NO circumstances is ANYONE allowed to kidnap her without MY say-so! I will NOT stand for this! I'm going to Rogueport, NOW! And then we'll head to that floating battle arena for the Crystal Star! I've gotta find Peach and kidnap her back!"

Bowser stomped his way out of the room with Kammy following, but then she saw Bowser get on his Koopa Clown Car and fly back to the rear of the room. He then flew out of the castle, ripping through the wall like it was paper. Thankfully, Kammy was able to get her broomstick before following.

"But… Your Grunginess! Wait up!"

She flew after Bowser, through that hole. One thing for sure was that there were several people hunting for the Crystal Stars at this point.

?-

Out in a sandy desert, there was a secret base underneath. The strange robot that tried to attack Vivian in Rainbow Train stepped on a hidden switch, which revealed an entrance that was cloaked. He headed into the base, and it showed the inside was a silver, with a glassy green floor. It looked futuristic and out of place compared to the desert.

Down at the bottom floor in a huge room, a robot that looked similar to the Phi was looking away from the door. This one was black, with his arms being silver. A strange, yellow pointy fin-like object was on his head, with two other fins protruding outward almost like a V. His feet had a yellow stripe too with pointy fin-like objects, along with a small one on his arms.

However, when he suddenly became mobile, his eyes became a light blue, just like the small oval-shaped orb on the fin-like object on his head.

"Upgrade fully complete," a computerized voice stated as the evil robot looked around and then at his arms and feet, just to make sure he was OK. After looking at himself, he grinned.

"Ah... So the upgrade is now complete! Perfect..."

"Located! Located! Help! I need help!" the Phi barged in while shouting, but the robot leader punched it in the face, making the robot spin around until it was able to regain its conscience.

"You can speak now, you idiot," the robot leader groaned. "You have an upgrade to allow you to speak properly, so speak like yourself and not the robotic way that you Phis usually spoke in. That's the whole reason why you were upgraded in the first place!"

"Sorry, Master Gemerl," the Phi apologized while rubbing its head. "My apologies, but I couldn't get the Crystal Star in Rainbow Train. I was about to attack a cute ghost girl, but then a pale green kid came in and whacked me!"

"You're telling me that a kid beat you up?" Gemerl gawked. "How foolish of you to lose to a young boy. You were made to be strong, not to lose to a child! And what about the Crystal Star? You didn't get it because of him?"

"Let me just draw what he looks like. I was badly damaged, so there's no way I could've gotten it without getting repairs." the Phi began to make a sketch of Chopper, and after it finished, it showed the picture of Chopper..

"So… You're telling me that a boy that small managed to take you down? Seriously… That's sad."

"No sir. You don't understand. If you saw the whole thing, you would know what happened! He's very fast and can make some good stomps! He can be flattened, so maybe stepping on him could work, but that's not the point. He's got some tough attacks that I was no match for! I think his name's Chopper. I even overheard him saying that he's looking for the Crystal Stars!"

"What? Did you say he's looking for the Crystal Star?" Gemerl asked before the Phi nodded to him. "So… Then he isn't just an ordinary child. I understand now, Phi. If you're saying he's after the Crystal Stars, then we have a new threat. Ever since we left Mobius, we were hoping to find no threats here and allow ourselves to rule this place. But those Crystal Stars are our key to ruling the world! If he's after them, then we have a problem..."

"Yes, sir. He is indeed a big threat to us." the Phi agreed. "We shouldn't underestimate him. I heard that there's a Crystal Star on a floating town called Glitzville. It has a huge battle arena and I heard that there's one there."

"A Crystal Star in a floating town called Glitzville? Interesting… Hear me out now, Phi! You can take a break for right now. I'll send out two other Phis to go to Glitzville and retrieve the Crystal Star. But we're going to need a plan to get that."

"Umm… About that, master. We actually thought up of a plan. One of the Phis told me to give this to you while coming down here. You should take a look at it for yourself!" the Phi handed the piece of paper to Gemerl, who began to read it.

THE PLAN:

Our first thing that we'll do is go to Glitzville by taking the blimp. We can get a Blimp Ticket if we got to Petalburg. There's a contest over there, and we're pretty sure that we can nail that competition! So, the first thing we'll be doing is get the ticket, take the blimp, and then go to Glitzville and raid the place for the Crystal Star!

"…You gotta be kidding me. This is the worst plan I've ever seen." Gemerl thought as he crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it to the ground. He began to step on it repeatedly.

"Um… Sir?"

"Silence! Can't you see I'm busy with this?!"

"Oh, I'm sorry sir. Was that plan bad?"

"Yes! That was the WORST plan you Phis have ever come up with!" Gemerl roared. "Seriously! I need to put a brain in you guys so you can actually do something besides think of stupid plans! What are you guys? Idiots?"

"No, Master Gemerl. We are not idiots. Just…some of us Phis are not as intelligent, such as myself!"

"I didn't say you were intelligent. Just get out of her for right now."

"Yes, sir!" the Phi quickly flew out of the room with it jetpack. When it left the room, Gemerl looked over at the sketch and picked it up, giving the picture a death glare.

"So... This is the one named Chopper?" Gemerl wondered. "If he really believes he could get in my way of acquiring the Crystal Stars, then he should think again. No one, especially an organic being, will get in the way of my plans!"

?-

When the two came out of the pipe, they were met with green grass, a nice blue sky and a town up ahead called Petalburg. It led them to Petal Meadows, which was considered by many people to be one of the nicest places to go out for a vacation ever since a dragon named Hooktail was defeated by the red plumber none other than Mario. It had become quite a tourist attraction!

"What the… Look at this place!" Chopper gaped. "So that pipe led us to a whole new world? Wow… This is really cool! Too bad the Crystal Star wasn't located around here, because I would take this place instead of those two kingdom places!"

"This place… Oh, yes! This is Petal Meadows!" Vivian realized. "I remember there used to be a dragon around here, but she's no longer here. I think her name was Hooktail. Many people thought she was a he, but I guess her brother said that Hooktail's a girl. But anyway… What do we do now? Do we go to the Thousand-Year Door to find the next Crystal Star?"

"Thousand-Year Door? You mean that big red door? No, we're going back to Pop Star! I'm sure you'll find it pretty interesting!" Chopper made a sharp whistle and a Warp Star began to come toward him. He jumped up and landed on the Warp Star, leaving Vivian astounded by the beautiful star.

"That's such a pretty star!"

"There's definitely room for another person, you know! You can get on here too!" Chopper noted. Vivian got on and held onto Chopper just to make sure she wouldn't fall off. With that, they left the place and were back up in space.

"Wow… You aren't from around here, are you? Are you some kind of…alien?"

"Uh… You could say that if I'm not from this world, but I don't consider myself to be an alien. I mean, if people came to my planet, I'd think they're aliens, so we both feel the same way when someone comes to each other's planet."

"Yeah... Some people do think of me as some kind of alien as well, especially my sister." Vivian said, her head lowered.

Chopper looked at her for a moment with a frown. "Well, you don't look like an alien to me, that's for sure."

"Thank you..." Vivian smiled.

Dream Land-

They landed in front of the Mayor's house in Hatty Town. Luckily, the Warp Star didn't blow up. It just flew away on its own, which made Chopper fall to the ground because of his terrible landing.

"Are you OK, Chopper?" Vivian asked. Chopper nodded and got helped up by the Shadow Siren. The Mayor opened his front door to find Chopper, which left him surprised and off guard.

"Chopper! You've returned!" the Mayor gaped before noticing something missing. "But… Where is Kirby? Wasn't he supposed to be with you on this Crystal Star hunt?"

"Well... You see..." Chopper trailed as he began to explain all the details to the Mayor. After his explanation, the Mayor's eyes shot wide open.

"WHAAAT?! You don't know where Kirby went?! Great… Now he's lost. I don't know what we can do now because of him not being here. You can't just LEAVE him there. You need to find him!"

"I'm going to find him. I was actually searching for him this whole time, but I couldn't find him anywhere. Sorry, Mayor. Maybe I'll find him after getting the next Crystal Star."

"Hold on, did you get the first Crystal Star?" the Mayor asked. Chopper nodded and took out the Diamond Star. "My my… So the rumors are true! The Crystal Stars DO exist! …Er, Chopper… Who's that strange ghostly being behind you?"

"Ummmmm... My name's Vivian." Vivian greeted shyly. "I'm a Shadow Siren that's traveling with Chopper. I joined him because of his kindness and the fact that I don't want our world to be covered in darkness and destroyed."

"Oh! Of course! It's great that you joined him! Now then, Chopper. You and your girlfriend must return to the Fountain of Dreams to find the next location of the Crystal Star. It shouldn't be so hard for you anyway."

"OK… Wait a second! She isn't... Oh, forget it." Chopper sighed as he began to head south to the Fountain of Dreams with Vivian following him. Once they made it to the area with the tree, Chopper heard the Gourmet Race theme from his Mailbox SP.

"Hey, what's that noise?" Vivian asked. "Is there something that you have that's going off, Chopper?"

"Hmmmmm... It sounds like it's coming from my Mailbox SP!"

"A Mailbox SP? You have one of those?"

"Uh huh! It's really easy to use - which is good, since I'm really bad with this kind of stuff. Now let's check the message..."

Chopper pulled out his Mailbox SP and began to read the message.

Hello Chopper. It's me, Princess Peach! I send this letter in the hope that it reaches you safely. I am being held against my will in a fortress that's far away. Don't worry, I am safe and unharmed. If you have that map, you must be careful. The fiends who kidnapped me are after it! I don't know what they're planning to do, but it doesn't sound positive. Chopper! Please collect those Crystal Stars before them! You must! They already know you have the map, so please be careful. And please… Don't worry about me.

-Princess Peach-

"What? Princess Peach was kidnapped?! …AGAIN?! What's with villains and kidnapping princesses? …Well my adventures were never about rescuing them before... I guess we also have to worry about Peach... But anyway, we gotta go find the next Crystal Star if that's what we're to do."

Chopper and Vivian headed over to the Fountain of Dreams and then he got on the pedestal. "OK, Chopper! You can, um, hold up that Crystal Star!"

"All right! Time to do it!" Chopper held up the Crystal Star, which then disappeared. The light blue light around the fountain appeared, and the first Crystal Star appeared to the north of the pedestal.

"Amazing... It's just like with the Thousand-Year Door..." Vivian gaped. "Perhaps this fountain has a power related to those stars..."

"Ooh! This again!" Chopper squealed as the Magical Map began to float up above Chopper as magic began to go into it while he gaped. And then… The next Crystal Star location was revealed.

It showed a floating town appear up in the sky, and the noticeable thing about it was the Chain Chomp. A gold Crystal Star was revealed to be there. Chopper helped up the map as it flashed.

With that out of the way, he began to look at the map and slowly nodded. "Hmmm… Interesting…"

"The next Crystal Star is there?" Vivian noticed as she took a peek. "Hmmm… I've never been there. Well, I HAVE, but not for a long time."

"We better go see Professor Frankly about this. He knows about the Crystal Stars more than anybody else I know."

"Professor Frankly? I know him!"

Professor Frankly's house-

"Hrmm… Mmmm… HRRRRMMMM… Ah! I see…" Professor Frankly realized as he closed the book.

"So, the next Crystal Star… It's on some floating island?" Chopper asked.

"Ah, yes. That place. It's pointing to the floating town of Glitzville. There's a stunning arena there where great warriors engage in furious battles! Sometimes, families go there on vacation to lounge and enjoy the fights, but… Behind the scenes, the richest people in the world wager on the bouts."

"So the next Crystal Star is in Glitzville?" Vivian deduced. "For some reason, I feel like getting there won't exactly be easy. We can't exactly fly over there..."

"There's a special blimp that departs from Rogueport several times a day. But you need a ticket to take the blimp. Though, I heard in Petalburg that there's a contest, and their prize there is a Blimp Ticket. Perhaps if you go there, you might be able to win the contest and get your ticket."

"OK, but there's something I'd like to do first," Chopper stated as he went over to the house next to Frankly's. He had a feeling that the three Shine Sprites he had could be of some use. He went inside to find a familiar blue hooded person, but with a longer mustache.

"Whoa! Merlon! You changed your look!" Chopper gaped.

"Yes, you are correct about my name, but I'm a different Merlon that you must be speaking of," Merlon replied. "There are many Merlons around the world, you know. The one in Toad Town can tell you where you need to go, while I can upgrade your partners. Yes, I foresaw your arrival."

"Oh… Interesting. Well I'd like to make my friend stronger."

"Are you sure?"

"Uh huh!"

"Very well..." Merlon slowly nodded as Chopper and Vivian got closer to the crystal ball.

"SHA-ZIBBY!"

The blue crystal ball began to float up, making the two heroes gawk.

"SHA-ZOOBY!"

The walls were surrounded in space as power began to envelope in Vivian. After the place returned to normal, she learned Fiery Jinx, with her HP going up to 25 and her Attack being 4.

"Then you may go!" Merlon declared as Chopper waved goodbye to Shaman and he and Vivian went down into the sewers to the pipe where they needed to go to the train. However, the rubble in the way of the doorway was gone, so they went on through.

"Whoa, the rubble's gone? That's good!" Chopper smiled as he found some moving platforms going to a gray pipe above the water. After crossing them, he and Vivian went to Petal Meadows again.

Petal Meadows-

As they were walking, they could hear a strange robotic noise, which got Vivian's attention, considering that she remembered a sound like that.

"Uh oh… I know that robotic voice!" Vivian gulped. "I think that robot's back! We're going to need to hide!"

"What can we do?" Chopper asked.

"We can always do this," Vivian grabbed Chopper and pulled him into the shadows. Two Phis were walking by, not knowing that the two were hiding underneath. They sure looked angry.

"I can't believe it! We go to Petalburg to get the ticket, but we end up scaring everyone away!" the first Phi growled. "Why do we have to be made to do this kind of stuff? We NEED that ticket!"

"Look, Phi #13,335, Master Gemerl told us to fly to Glitzville, not get the ticket!" the second Phi noted. "He said our plan was complete garbage anyway. We need to FLY, not take a blimp!"

"Oh, fine… We'll just fly to the damn place. It's not like we're going to get hurt anyway. What's the harm in doing it?"

The two Phis took off with their jetpacks, unaware that they were being (unintentionally) eavesdropped by Chopper and Vivian, who rose from the shadows.

"So they're called Phis, huh? Well it looks like there are more people hunting those stars." Chopper confirmed. "Vivian, we need to be careful."

"Yeah, we better go to Petalburg right now and get the ticket before they get the Crystal Star!" Vivian suggested. Chopper nodded as they headed over to Petalburg, where there were normal Koopas with green shells and no sunglasses.

"Hello there, travelers!" the Koopa standing by the gate greeted. "Welcome to Petalburg! You're just in time for a contest! An eating one to be exact!"

"Count me in! I can NAIL this competition!" Chopper declared as he saw an empty table with some Mushrooms, so he jumped over to the table where there was a plate of the Mushrooms. Koops's dad, Koopley, was also in the contest.

"Well, what do we have here?" Koopley said as Chopper walked in. "A young boy such as yourself competing in this contest? I'm sorry, son, but you couldn't possibly eat all of these Mushrooms!"

"Oh, yeah? I'll show you what I can do!" Chopper shot back as he looked over at the Goomba and the Bulb-ulb, who were participating. The Goomba, however, was not looking too happy.

"I don't understand… Does eating Mushrooms make me a cannibal?" the Goomba questioned. "I dunno, I'm a mushroom, but eating THIS?"

"On your mark… Get set… GO!" the Koopa fired his gun…and he saw a bird come down. "Uh… Nobody saw that."

Chopper inhaled all of the Mushrooms like a vacuum before the others could even get started and swallowed them all with ease. Thank goodness he had that inhaling ability, or else it wouldn't have gone as well as he thought.

"Well, er, looks like we have a winner! You win, small boy! I guess you get the Blimp Ticket!" the Koopa declared as he gave Chopper the Blimp Ticket after tossing the dead bird into the water. "I can't believe I just did that! That's just horrible! ...I hope a lot of people didn't see that."

"Well I'll be... I got beat!" Koopley remarked. "...Well, maybe next year will be lucky for me. ...Oh wait, I think that was ten years ago, actually."

"Yes! We got the Blimp Ticket, Chopper!" Vivian cheered. "All we need to do now is go back to Rogueport and take that blimp to Glitzville!"

Chopper nodded and summoned the Warp Star to take them back to Rogueport. There, they went to West Rogueport to find a lot of interesting things. There was a building that a Pianta was standing right next to. It looked like it's some kind of small casino.

Up north was a train and blimp, so they headed north and went up the stairs to a Cheep Cheep who was blocking the way of the small gate leading to a pipe, which went into the background and to the blimp.

"Ah, you have a Blimp Ticket? Well, right this way, you two!" the Cheep Cheep said as he stepped out of the way. Chopper and Vivian nodded and headed down the pipe and appeared in the background.

"Whoa, this is kind of weird… But oh well! Let's get a move on!" Chopper shrugged as e and Vivian headed onto the platform that lifted them into the Cheep Cheep blimp, which began to take off…to Glitzville.

I know Glitzville is Chapter 3 in Paper Mario 2, but I felt like mixing it up a little bit to make things a bit interesting. Of course, I'd say the difficulty is a lot more here than the difficulty in Chapter 3 in Paper Mario 2. I mean, Chopper has no upgrades! ...Yet.

So... Chapter 2 should be pretty interesting!