Super Paper Mario X
Chapter 24: Into Outer Space
"Space…the Final Frontier…or at least one of them."
"Well, what do you think?" Tippi asked, floating in front of everyone with their helmets. "Can you breathe now?"
"Oh, oh yeah. I can breathe! But now my nose itches! Man, I hate space!" boomed Bowser, struggling to scratch said nose but failing terribly.
"I'm sure we're all feeling a lot better, Tippi," Peach assured. Tippi nodded.
"Very well…let's go then! The Pure Heart is somewhere in this sea of stars…"
"Yeah…how do we find one little tiny Pure Heart in the vastness of space?" Link questioned. "Where would we even begin to look?"
"We'll probably end up stuck floating around in space forever," Ganondorf put bluntly, receiving glares for his casual negativity. Both Link and Ganondorf did have a point, Mario deduced. Where could a Pure Heart be found in space? They could be searching the vastness of it all forever…and possibly get stuck there forever! He noticed he wasn't the only one feeling tense about the situation- his friends were discussing in full detail about what they should do and what could possibly happen. But overall, everyone was clueless.
"Well, we are in space…" Sonic trailed, somewhat cautiously. "Maybe there's a chance that we could, um…"
"What are you trying to say, Sonic?" Amy asked.
"Yeah, spit it out!" exclaimed Kirby. Sonic scratched the back of his head.
"I was just thinking that there may be a chance we could find Samus…she might have some info related to where we could look, since she knows more about space than anyone else- it's her world, after all. And even if she doesn't have a clue, I'd feel much safer knowing we'd be traveling space with someone who knows what they're doing…"
"Who knows what happened to her…" Zelda trailed. "No one's had contact with her…"
"And what if something happened?" Eggman inquired, pointing out all the possibilities. "There's a chance she may not even be around, or perhaps she got all caught up in the Void like Meta Knight, or it's most likely that she isn't even around these parts-"
"Okay, okay…" Sonic grumbled, now annoyed. "I was just trying to get some ideas going- why can't anyone think about anything as if nothing bad ever does happen?"
"Because not everyone is optimistic," huffed Ganondorf.
"Not everything is bad, though," Peach said. "Just change your perspective on things and you can be a better person!"
"I don't need to change- I'm already the best I can be!" Bowser cheered. Everyone sweat dropped.
"Great to hear, Bowser…"
"If that's the best he can be, then there's still something left to be desired," Amy whispered under her breath.
Mario, on the other hand, was hoping they would locate Samus soon too. It was almost impossible that they wouldn't, considering she must have seen the Void and tried to do something about it, plus, this really was her world. As he thought it over, Mario heard a faint pinging noise. He honestly thought he was hearing things. With more focus, it turned out that there was a sound- accompanied by green SOS's floating around.
Mario: …am I the only one seeing this?
"I see it too…" Link replied slowly, watching the SOS flash before his eyes.
"Freaky- where's it coming from?" Amy wondered, catching on as well. Eggman was quick to the response, whipping out his laser and hitting a small switch located on the bottom of it. Everyone simply stared.
"Uh…what're you doing?"
"I'm pretty sure zapping whatever's sending out that SOS isn't a good idea."
"Hush, all of you," Eggman grumbled, hitting the trigger and moving the gun around. "I've just put my laser on its scanner setting to see if I can detect the source's direct location."
"We could just follow the SOS's-"
"This is much more efficient!"
"How much energy is that thing using?"
"…not necessarily energy efficient."
Nevertheless, the group hoped Eggman knew was he was doing, and followed him in a down-right direction. This went on for a bit until they hit an invisible…something. With sparkles!
"The source is right here but there's nothing there!" he squalled, checking his readings over and over again.
"Sparkles! Sparkles! Golden sparkles…"
"Kirby! Stop poking at the cute sparkles!"
"But it's fun! Poke-poke-poke-poke-"
"Maybe…" Peach began, looking thoughtful. "There's something here after all…"
"What do you mean by that?" asked Zelda. Peach grinned brightly, pointing at the set of sparkles. Before Zelda could even comment again, Tippi broke into several triangles with her powers, circling the sparkling area Peach was pointing at.
"What in the world is this…?" Tippi gasped, her powers showing all. "Why was this hidden here?"
"It's space ship!"
"No…it looks more like a capsule!"
"Maybe it's a space capsule?"
"I'll make it appear…" Tippi finished, reverting back to butterfly form as the space capsule became visible. Sonic instantly went over to it and stood on top of it, peering down.
"Huh…wouldn't it be weird if it came from the future or something?"
"Hey, a convenient red button-"
"Not the button!" "Don't push that, Kirby!"
Push.
Sonic toppled over backward as the lid slid off, a cool, brief, gust of air whooshing out along with it. Everyone gawked at what resided inside- a small little green alien squid thing.
"Sqeeeeeeuuuuurrrp…Squirple sqeeple squinks! Mornin' SQUIRP!"
"Oh crud…" "I already don't like him." "I think he's adorable!" "ZOMG it talks!"
"Good gravy, you're ugly!" yelped Bowser, flinching from the sight. "What in this world ARE you? And what're you doing here?"
"You're the ones looking for the Pure Heart, squirple? Hm! Cuter than I thought!"
"Get this thing away from me."
"How do you know about the Pure Heart? And about us?" Tippi asked, obviously since everyone else was too appalled to do so. "And are you allied with Count Bleck? I demand answers…"
The creature shook his head. "Noooo… No scary faces! You can call me Squirps! I'm your captain, squoooork! And if you want the Pure Heart, we need to work together, squoop!"
Even Tippi was confused. "Whatever do you mean? Please, explain yourself…"
"Squirps can't tell much now, but you must trust Squirps. Now, follow me, Squinks."
"As much as this guy gives me a weird vibe, it doesn't seem like a trap," Sonic shrugged.
"We won't be doing that. We just met you and-"
"SQUACK! You! You heed the captain! You are a space grunt now, and that is the ONLY rule!"
"I'll give you a space grunt…" Ganondorf grumbled, being held back by Kirby, Zelda, and Link.
"You're only responses should be "Yes, Sir!" and "Gotcha!" Understand, squirple?"
"Gotcha!" called Sonic.
Everyone else: *reluctant* Yes, sir…
"Squeh squeh squeh squeh…looks like you understand your place, SQUIRP!"
"Yeah, now if only we could put you in your place-"
"Take a chill, Ganondorf!"
"Seriously! It does wonders!"
Tippi turned to everyone hesitantly. "Are you okay with this?"
Mario: Oh yeah.
"It's fine with me- he seems nice," Peach stated. "Plus Sonic said it wasn't a trap."
"Whatever…but the second this kid crosses me, I'll munch him like a green corn niblet!" Bowser growled.
"If you say so…"
"He repulses me," Ganondorf said bluntly.
"Too bad you don't get a say in that," Link huffed while rolling his eyes.
"Great! Let's get ready, then…Squarp formation, squoogle!" he floated over to Mario, and everyone crowded around. "We'll 'squarp' directly to the Pure Heart. It's like warping, except Squirps invented it. In order to squarp, we'll need a lot of energy, squeeeeeerk. You're all brimming with power-up power, right? You must give it to Squirps!"
Everyone: ?
"I'm not really sure how to comment on this-"
"Unh! C'mon, power to Squirps! Power to Squirps!" Kirby chanted, trying as hard as he possibly could to give power to Squirps. Needless to say, it wasn't working, which meant Squirps' method of "squarping" was ineffective.
So Mario pretended to give power to Squirps in hoping he'd be able to teleport them anyway.
"SUCCESS!"
He shot a small beam in front of them all, which somehow created a small wormhole. Kirby let out a screech and cowered behind Amy.
"I-is that another V-Void?"
"It's a Squarp hole!" Squirps explained. "Here we go…SQUARP!"
He forged onward, taking his "space grunts" along with him. They kept spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning…
…until they emerged out the other side.
Where there most certainly was not a Pure Heart.
"…squoh? We're…not even close to our destination…" groaned Squirps. "Is that all the power-up power you have, squirp? Good-for-nothing space grunts…Squirps was an idiot for thinking you had more…"
Ganondorf let out a deep growl and propelled a fire blast at Squirps, which was reflected by Zelda with Nayru's Love while glaring at him in return.
"Well, good-for-nothings have their own ways of moving, squaaaank…well, there's a ways to go before you reach the Pure Heart…you must space-swim! Use me to shoot enemies with my Squirps Squirp Beam. Fire, space grunt!"
Everyone was in unanimous agreement that Mario would be to one to handle Squirps. He groaned, but he figured he'd be the one the little weirdo ended up with anyway. Mario gave Squirps a small squeeze, and a power beam launched out again, hitting Link and making him cry out.
"HEY! Watch where you're aiming!"
Mario: Whoops.
Link winced as he put the small fire out on his tunic while Mario and Squirps carried on. The area they were currently in was filled with Jelliens, jellyfish-like aliens. Mario took aim at an approaching one with Squirps and turned it into toast in no time. The rest of the gang wanted to help out, even if it was just to prevent boredom, and so they started attacking anything that came their way as well.
Space-swimming was much more tedious than anyone had predicted, and it was becoming increasingly evident that it was going to take a long time before they got to the Pure Heart. There wasn't much to speak of, either. Ganondorf would wipe out an ambush of Jelliens with his magic, then everyone else would try and attack any that got away. Kirby flipped into 3-D and found a Foton card, not really sure what the enemy was.
"Huh…" he pondered, following everyone through the next portal. "I wonder what this Foton creature is…"
"I think that's a Foton…" Amy trailed, pointing at the green and purple alien launching blue orbs at them.
"Well now we've got them on a card, they're weaklings! Grah aha hahahah!" Bowser cackled.
Eggman dramatically held his laser out in front of him and put on a smug look. "I've got this one! Just wait until I turn this Foton into Photons!"
"That was terrible," groaned Sonic.
"Please, leave the jokes to the professional," scoffed Link.
"Psh, what professional?" snickered Peach, make Link grit his teeth and Zelda hide a giggle. Eggman just made a face and took direct aim at the Foton. He pulled the trigger…only to scan the Foton instead of "turning it into Photons".
"Oh drat. I forgot to change the set back from "scan" to "kill".
"Heh heh, what an epic fail-"
"Shut up Sonic!"
Eggman adjusted the laser back to the appropriate setting, then finally destroyed the Foton.
"Took ya long enough-"
Eggman gave Ganondorf a murderous look. "I don't need any talk from you either!"
"…does any one else wonder if we're going the right way?" Amy asked, sitting on Carrie as they carried on. "Like we've said, space is huge…how do we know were aren't going in a circle?"
"It certainly is beautiful though, even if the trip may be dragging on…" Zelda trailed. "Just look at the stars! Gorgeous…"
"Not as gorgeous as Link thinks you are," Sonic practically sang, attempting to skip by. Link instantly flushed and tried to chase Sonic, but a cat-and-mouse chase wasn't really possible when you were space swimming. Zelda continued to laugh, amused by the display.
"Anyway, I, uh, bring up the getting lost thing because…we've got a fork in the road." Amy continued. She motioned in front of everyone, where there were two warp portals, and going through the incorrect one could prove to be dangerous.
"If we end up going through the wrong one, we can always just backtrack right?" Kirby asked.
"I would think so," stated Peach. "The question is, which way shall we take?"
"I say the top one! It seems more superior!" declared Bowser.
Mario thought it would be better to go through the second one. However, Bowser charged through the top one anyway, causing Ganondorf and Bowser to follow HIM…but then Peach accidentally got caught up in the second wormhole, and Zelda and Amy followed her. Team Mario promptly face palmed.
"Okay…uh…me and Mario take the first?" Link asked.
Sonic and Kirby shrugged. "It's all the same to us!"
They all split up and went into the wormholes…only to appear in the same area. Team BEG and Team ZAP were confused as well.
"Certainly wasn't expecting that…" Tippi murmured. "How interesting…"
"We were worked up over nothing!" Amy chuckled. "But…now what?"
Mario: Let's go all the way to the right.
"All the way? Why?"
Mario wasn't really sure- but the fact that there were random wormholes floating here and there made him uncomfortable. As usual, no one spoke against Mario's judgment and headed as far to the right as they could go. Sure enough, there was a lone wormhole there, and Mario led everyone through it.
"Now go left! Go left, squap!" Squirps ordered, trying to pull Mario in that direction.
"Why so eager to pull us in that direction, huh?" Kirby questioned, eyeing him suspiciously. "I bet you're trying to lead us into a trap!"
"Squirps would do no such thing, squoh! Squirps is trying to lead you in the right direction! Listen, squawk!"
"I don't trust him," Ganondorf said bluntly.
"Everyone knows you're always supposed to go to the right anyway," added Amy, still sitting on Carrie. "It's practically a law!"
"I don't think it's a trap though," Sonic stated, staring at the wormhole to the left. "Maybe Squirps is telling the truth and this is the right way!"
"I dunno…it seems fishy…" pondered Kirby.
"What do you think Mario?" Peach asked, turning to the red plumber who was thinking the situation over carefully.
Mario: To the left.
"What? But-but you always go to right! It's like your motto! It's your code!" Link wailed. "And now you want to go left? The world really will come to an end-"
"Link, get a grip!"
"Sorry, sorry…but can you believe this is really happening?"
"I don't see how a simple change in direction is so life threatening," Eggman said plainly.
Mario and Squirps charged through the left portal, with a few members of the group reluctantly following.
. . .
"You want to know a good thing about space that I've realized?" Link asked as soon as they arrived in the next area. "Space doesn't have those annoying red doors."
There was a luxury to this space trip after all.
"Okay, so do we actually head to the right this time?" Zelda asked, using Farore's Wind on nearby Jelliens. Mario nodded eagerly.
"Yep! Yep! We should be getting somewhere soon, squee!"
"How soon is soon, exactly?" muttered Sonic.
"I see a pipe on a planet in the background!" Peach suddenly cried, pointing over to where she was talking about.
"It looks like we can possibly get over there with a wormhole…" Eggman deduced.
"Do you see any around here though?" asked Zelda, hands on her hips.
"I do!" Kirby cried, returning from 3-D that nobody saw him enter into. "It's behind that big rock over there. If Team Mario takes control, we can get to the pipe no problem!"
"Good thinking Kirby!" Link exclaimed, throwing his arms over his head.
"Aw, I try…"
"…"
Mario joined them as well, taking control and bringing his team into the third dimension. Just like Kirby had said, behind a rock was the hidden wormhole.
"Wow, that's something you don't see every day!" Sonic exclaimed.
"A wormhole behind a rock?"
"…yes."
The four of them then ventured into the wormhole, and started spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning…
…until they made it out on the other side, where they floated over to the green pipe on the small planetoid and ventured in.
Once Team Mario popped out of the pipe, they removed control and took a look at their surroundings.
"…this is so not what I expected."
"Does that make it irony?"
Team Mario was quick to take control again- the pipe had lead into a secret room filled with coins! Link hit the single block in the room while Kirby and Sonic scooped up the coins.
"Okay, so this wasn't the way to go…"
"Some things are just too good to be true."
After backtracking back to where they had first flipped into 3-D, Mario told the others that they still had to go right a ways before they'd get to where they needed to go.
"Yes, yes you do, squee!" Squirps chirped. "But now you are richer, no?"
Everyone groaned at Squirps then continued to he right. To Mario's embarassment, if they had gone a little farther they would have seen that the Star Block was just up ahead. However, he was on to something with the pipe and the wormhole, so at least his effort wasn't in too much vain. Ganondorf, Zelda, and Link cleared the way of all aliens and foes, making the path toward the block nice and clear for the group. They were all exhausted- space had really taken a lot out of them! But Mario knew they were closer to the Pure Heart (though not as close as they'd like to be) as he hit the Star Block.
. . .
Mario and the gang cruised through space, led by the young alien Squirps. What kind of creature was it, anyway? And what was with those weird noises? Whenever confronted with a question, he would say, "Squirps is Squirps, SQUAK!"
All they could do was trust that he knew where the Pure Heart was and follow him. They were doing just that when something appeared ahead of them.
It was a teeny-tiny planet.
I despise Chapter 4. My absolute least favorite chapter... (even after Chapter 5, and THAT'S saying something.) The only good part about it is the Boss, naturally. ^^