CHAPTER 4
-Darkness Within the Twilight-
Once they all came out of the pipe, they looked up at the sky to see a full moon and an orange sky. Not to mention there were no leaves on the trees either. The houses look a little red because of the red orange, dirt ground, and by some of the trees, there were some black crows with white eyes. More villagers similar to Darkly were in the town.
"Ugh, this place gives me the creeps. Is this Twilight Town?" Scrub asked.
"I think you're right, Scrub," Chopper nodded. "This is most likely Twilight Town. I mean, look at the place! The sky looks orange and twilight-like, and we're probably going to expect werewolves and vampires to come out here and…"
"Poyo! (OK! We get it already!)" Kirby cut in.
"Sorry... Well, anyway... We're in Twilight Town now. So I think we should... Hold on a minute, is that a pig?" Chopper paused when he saw a pig off at the distance. "What're pigs doing here? Is this place a pig farm?"
"Well who cares? I'm kinda hungry!" Scrub grinned as he licked his lips. "So how's about we eat bacon tonight? Vivian can cook 'em up with her fire!"
"No!" Vivian cried.
"What? Aren't you hungry?"
"Well... It's not a good idea... I think I remember..."
"Hey…" Vivian was cut off when they saw a villager walk over to them. "It's been like...um... Five months since anyone's come from...outside. You've all come from far away, haven't you?"
"Whoa, get away from me, creep..." Scrub trailed as he backed away from the villager.
"Scrub, that's not how you greet people from this town," Chopper scolded before turning back to the villager. "Yeah, we're from far away. Especially me."
"Poyo, (And me,)" Kirby added.
"I could tell from how you all look..." the villager trailed. "Are you...adventurers? Because if you are, I think you picked the wrong time to come here. To be honest, I think it's best if you turn back and leave before…he gets you. Wait, but you're adventurers! …Maybe it's the perfect time. Hold on a minute…"
The villager began to look at Chopper, who looked a bit confused. "Hey! What're you doing? Is there something bothering you?"
"I don't believe it! It's…you! Why have you returned to this village to haunt us with your powers?!" the villager gasped as he stepped back in fear. "Just…stay away from us! Please! We don't have much money because of how poor we are, but take anything and leave us alone!"
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Chopper gawked. "Why are you saying that I'm here to hurt you all? I just came here!"
"Don't turn us into that foul creature! Please!"
"Foul creature? What do you..."
They all paused when they heard a bell ring from a tall-looking evil steeple. "Oh no! You… You did it again! I bet you used one of your powers to make it ring! Now who's going to be it this time?"
The villager was immediately surrounded by purple smoke, and when the smoke was gone, they saw a pig in front of them, making their eyes widen (Scrub's mouth hit the floor). The pig oinked as it ran away from Chopper.
"WAAAH!" Scrub cried. "So the pigs are actually people transformed into them?! Now I feel like I lost my appetite..."
"So this is where all the pigs are coming from..." Chopper trailed.
"Oh, badness... Now poor Freddy got turned into a pig... This is not good." an old man with blue green skin, thick gray eyebrows and a mustache slowly walked over to them with the help of his cane.
"Are you going to mistake me for someone else too?" Chopper asked.
"Most of these people are colorblind…except for me and the woman in the shop," the old man informed. "I can most definitely tell that you…cough…are not the one responsible for this. You look more light than dark to me."
"Who are you, Gramps?" Scrub asked.
"Poyo... (Yeah, nice nickname you gave him, Scrub...)" Kirby trailed sarcastically.
"I'm the mayor of this poor town. Some call me Dour. I'm not the sharpest fellow, but you must be adventurers, right?"
"Yes, we are," Chopper nodded.
"That's why we're here, I suppose..." Vivian trailed.
"Adventuring is my thing! ...When you're not in creepy, dark places, that is..." Scrub trailed.
"Poyo! (I'm definitely one!)" Kirby answered cheerfully.
"I see… But I can't tell the tale right now. This isn't the place for telling tales, sadly." Dour informed. "Come. Come to my home. I can tell you everything there."
Dour walked over to his house, where everybody else followed him in, despite it not looking exactly nice. "My traveling friends... Welcome to Twilight Town. Well, I'd LIKE to welcome you... But 'welcoming' people is usually a good thing, but it has become nothing but a bad thing now."
"Poyo? (Out of curiosity, what's with all of the pigs? And why are people mistaking Chopper for somebody else?)" Kirby wondered while Chopper translated to Dour.
"Well, that question, pink one, is because our town has become cursed," Dour explained. "We never saw who this monster is, but we definitely saw his figure, and it does look very similar to this boy right here. He's the reason why this town has a curse."
"Whoa! Cursed?" Scrub gaped.
"Yes, cursed. That is the right word, right? Yes, of course it is. You see... There is a forest beyond town, and in its heart is an ancient building, the Creepy Steeple. The good thing was that the person responsible for cursing us was now gone…but that only to make things worse for us. This new monster is perhaps one of the most evil things we have ever set our eyes on. He has turned the Creepy Steeple into a nightmare and called it the Dark Steeple. Whenever that dark creature rings the bell at the top of the steeple, one of the Twilighters at random will become a pig… He even plans on…feeding us to dragons when everyone has become a pig!"
"What? Whoa, that's TERRIBLE!" Chopper gasped. "Why would this person want to do all of this? Is this some kind of prank? And WHY are some people thinking that I caused this whole thing? I'm getting confused."
"Will my loved ones become swine? Will I, too, become a curly-tailed oinker? I'm very worried, I can't sleep at night." Dour shuddered. "Though night and day are similar here... If this happens...well...the village will be one giant pigpen. Which would be bad. Let me give you advice. Leave us! Leave before you, too, get...piggified!"
"Sorry, Dour, but we can't leave," the pale green boy objected. "I don't care if people take me as the monster! We NEED to get what's somewhere in this place. We can't leave without a star-shaped gem called a Crystal Star!"
"Uh... I don't know about any Crystal Star thing...but in Dark Steeple... There's a glittery red stone shaped like a star..."
"Poyo? (Really? If that's the Crystal Star, then it's DEFINITELY in the Dark Steeple! I can't believe we know where to go now!)" Kirby cheered while jumping up and down.
"Uh... You people... You aren't thinking of going to the Dark Steeple, are you? Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ... Unthinkable..." Dour shivered as he felt the air around him getting cold as he shivered in fear.
"Well we're going there. We need to get that Crystal Star!" Chopper declared. "…Plus, if I defeat that monster, everybody should turn back to normal."
"Hmmmm... Yes, that is true... But going through that forest is dangerous!"
"No worries! I think I've been through worse... I'll be back when we fixed your problem!" Chopper left the house along with his friends and walked to the next area to find some more trees and crows.
"I can't believe we're back here..." Vivian trailed as she looked up at the moon in the sky.
"'Back here'...?" Scrub gawked. "What do you mean by that? We just got here!"
"...I think I worded it wrong. I meant that I'm back here."
"Vivian... Is there something bothering you?" Chopper asked.
"Chopper... This is the place I was born." Vivian confessed, making everyone's eyes widen.
"What?! You were born here?!" Scrub gaped.
"Poyo?! (How is that so?!)" Kirby cried.
"Hey, guys! Shouting while our eyes are widened isn't going to help us!" Chopper shouted, making them stop. "Honestly... It's not a big deal. I live in a jungle. Kirby lives on a star-shaped planet, and Scrub lived in an egg."
"HEY!"
"Well, actually, that's not all..." Vivian trailed. "There's one thing I actually just realized by now once we came here."
All three were listening to her carefully, eager for her answer. "…I actually have a brother. I know what you're thinking. It's not 'The Three Shadow Sirens' if I have a brother. I don't know if he was actually born from my mother. He might be some sort of...creation from my mother and father's DNA..."
Scrub looked at Chopper and Kirby…and then he began to laugh. "Bah ha ha ha ha! Great story, Vivian! What a GREAT joke! …You're serious, right? Because I thought you weren't."
"Uhhhh... I think she is serious." Chopper replied with a blank look.
"...Oh. Well I guess that was unnecessary, wasn't it?"
"Poyo... (It was...)" Kirby groaned.
"Listen, these crows might have something to say," Vivian informed as she floated over to Chopper. "I can help you listen to them if you want me to. Actually, we should try it out!"
"Hey! Wait a minute!" Chopper was cut off when Vivian grabbed his hand and brought him over to a tree with two crows.
"Say, Kirby… What do you think is going to happen?" Scrub asked.
"Poyo! (Well, I have a feeling that they're going to make out!)" Kirby answered. "...Poyo. (…Though they're probably going to listen to the birds.)"
"…I have no idea what you just said."
Vivian pulled Chopper into the shadows and they began to hear voices that sounded like a crow. Unfortunately, Scrub and Kirby couldn't understand them and only heard the word "caw" from them.
"You know, that monster that's causing all of these people to turn into pigs looks quite scary, to tell you the truth…" the first crow trailed. "Those white eyes… MAN, they creep me out, and not to mention the fact that he doesn't smile at all. He seems to always look angry the whole time."
"Really? That's interesting…" the second crow trailed. "I heard he can understand what birds can say! He could even be listening to us now…"
"WHAT? Are you sure? If he's listening to us, then he'll turn us into pigs! I love being a bird and not a pig! I don't want to become bacon, you know! …But I'm sure he's just at the Dark Steeple, doing what he usually does, like watching TV. Not to mention somebody just came here, and now some people are thinking it's him…when he's not the one."
"Yeah, people must be colorblind here. But, I don't think he would be on that television. It doesn't work anymore, remember? Plus, he's not really the television guy. He just wants to turn everybody into pigs instead. You know what I'm saying, right?"
"Yeah…"
Chopper and Vivian rose up from the shadows after listening to the conversation.
"So this monster doesn't smile? Wow… That's interesting." Vivian pondered. "Umm… Chopper, there's also another thing I kind of want to tell you."
Kirby saw them talking, and he heard what Vivian was about to say. "Umm… Chopper… I… …Never mind that. I'll tell you some other time, OK?"
"Ummmmm... OK?" Chopper shrugged.
Kirby looked disappointed, but they all headed into the shop to see a purple lady crying over a pig.
"Oh, a customer… Sniff… I'm sorry… We're not open right now. Sniff…" the lady sniffled.
"What happened here? Why are you crying?" Chopper asked.
"Huh? Why am I crying? Sniff… My husband's been turned into a pig. A pig… Sniff… My husband went to the woods yesterday to collect herbs… But no husband came home… Instead, a pig returned! This pig! We got in a fight before he left, and I had called him a chauvinist pig… And now he really is a pig… Sniff… But he has a sweet side, too, like cooking my favorite food on my birthday, y'know? And…"
Because of how boring the story was, everyone ended up falling asleep for a while until she turned her attention to them.
"…Yeah. So, ummmmmmm… Are you all even listening?"
Chopper and his friends woke up and quickly nodded. "So, hey… Could you figure out some way to restore my husband to normal? I'll do whatever I can to help. You can even take anything in the storeroom that might help you, y'know?"
They all looked at the door, which appeared to be locked. Since they couldn't do much in the shop, they walked outside to the gate, where a villager was guarding it.
"What the… No! Don't hurt me, please!" the gatekeeper cried, backing away from Chopper in fear. "Look, I can't let you through the gate! You need the mayor's permission to do that, whether you're a monster or not! Sorry, but it's my job to guard this gate! Go ask the mayor for permission, monster!"
"I'm not the monster!" Chopper objected. "I know you're colorblind and all, but why would somebody who JUST came here look like the monster? That makes absolutely no sense!"
"I know! This is ridiculous!" Scrub agreed. "They all think Contadre's a monster! Fine, let's go ask the mayor."
"I think that's for the best," Vivian agreed. However, on their way there, they heard the bell ring once again.
"Whoa! The bell rang, Contadre! Doesn't that mean someone's gonna… Boy… I'm psyched it wasn't my turn to get pigged."
"Poyo... (Who could've... Oh no...)" Kirby gasped as they rushed over to Dour's house and gasped at what they saw.
Mayor Dour was a pig!
"…Oh my gosh... I don't believe it!" Chopper gaped. "…Is this the mayor? Uh oh… If he's a pig, then how are we supposed to get through the gate now?"
"…I don't know. I wish there was some way to get through." Vivian sighed. They heard the bell ring again, so they rushed back to the gate…to find the gatekeeper turned into a pig.
"Poyo! (The gatekeeper's gone now!)" Kirby gaped.
"Yeah, he is gone..." Chopper agreed.
"…Oops! Not gone!" Scrub corrected. "The stubborn dude's a pig! Well, hey, that's actually pretty sweet for us! No pig's gonna get in our way!"
"We've got no other choice, so we need to go through here," Vivian declared. "I can lead you through this place, Chopper. I've been through Twilight Trail many times."
"OK, Vivian... Lead the way." Chopper nodded as Vivian led the group out of town. One thing everyone was relieved about was the fact that the villagers wouldn't be screaming at them for being someone Chopper wasn't.
Yeah, I know Chapters 2 and 3 were kind of similar to Paper Mario 2's chapters, but even though Chapter 4 has the same location and stuff, there is something a lot more different here than in Paper Mario 2. You'll find out sooner or later, that's for sure.