"Tipral… For some reason, I'm starting to feel like I DO know him from somewhere…"
It was at this point that Tippi had started to regain her sight, and something had suddenly struck her mind, as if she remembered something.
"Wait… I think I remember something happening the last time I was…myself! Tipral… He… He injured me and sent me to this world! Yes… Now I remember that… But I still can't shake the feeling that I recognize his face from somewhere else…"
While Tippi began to mutter to herself, she noticed where she was. They were back on Flipside Tower, right next to the dark blue door that they were in…which was still standing.
Before Tippi could nudge Chopper, she heard the elevator door open up. Meta Knight appeared to walk out, now feeling much better.
"Hmmmmmm?" Meta Knight made his way over to the heroes. He looked down at Chopper. "Chopper… Chopper! Wake up, Chopper!"
After a couple of nudges, Chopper slowly got himself up. "Where am I…? Am I dead?"
"No, you're not dead, Chopper," the knight replied. "I don't know why you were lying on the ground like that, but something must've happened. Do you remember what happened before you were on the ground?"
"Ugh… All I can remember is…volleyball. We won the game…but we were too late to get to the Pure Heart. It's gone…"
Kirby, Sonic and Blade slowly rose from the ground. They too were surprised to see that they were still alive.
"Urgh… Whuzzat? Whozere? Ugh… What's going on here?!" Blade exclaimed.
"I'm a little discombobulated myself, so it's hard to say…" Tippi trailed uncomfortably. "At the very least, we seem to have returned to Flipside…"
"Poyo? (You mean… There's no more of Desert Oasis?)" Kirby whimpered.
Tippi fluttered over to the blue door. …The door leading to that world still exists, it seems… I wonder… Do we dare go back in… Yes. Yes, I think we should go through…"
"If you plan on going through that door again, I should come with you," Meta Knight suggested.
"No, Meta Knight. You stay here." Chopper ordered. "You don't have Galaxia in your hands. You're probably going to be in some huge danger if you walk through that door!"
"Chopper, you barely escaped that world. I'm not going to let you die this time. I should come with you just so you're not in harm's way."
"Meta Knight, don't be so overprotective. This is my mission, not yours. I need to finish what hasn't been finished. You should go back to Merlon and tell him we'll be there…hopefully."
Meta Knight didn't glare at him or say anything rude. "Hmph… Very well. If you need to finish what needs to be finished, then I won't stop you. You're becoming rather strong independently. Ever since I brought you to Clara, you weren't being dependent on so many people. I admire that."
"Thank you, Meta Knight," Chopper walked over to the dark blue door. "OK, guys… Let's head on in…"
After everyone nodded, they followed Chopper through the door. "Good luck, Chopper… You're going to need it."
CHAPTER 6-1
As everyone walked through the door, they all frowned at what they saw. Everything was all blank. The ground only had a white outline, but that's about it. The blue door disappeared as everyone entered through the World of Nothing.
"There's…nothing left," Tippi stated.
"I can't believe this is what kind if destruction Tipral is causing to the universe… Why would he do something like this? This is just so…depressing." Chopper frowned, trying to fight away the tears.
"Poyo? (But what about the Pure Heart? With that gone, there's nothing we could do…)" Kirby's voice trailed through the echoes. Because of nothing being around, their voices were echoing through the world.
Tippi began to feel something coming from far ahead. "Wait… I can feel something very faint. It's the Pure Heart! I can't believe anything is left here, but we have to go take a look."
"This is just so depressing," Sonic stated – although Chopper already stated it. "Is this what might happen to our worlds?"
Chopper immediately lifted his head and clenched his fist. "There's NO way Tipral is going to do such a thing to our worlds! Tippi, I need you to lead us to the Pure Heart. I don't understand how something like that could survive the end of the world, but we might as well check it out. Come on!"
The pale green hero immediately began to take off through the World of Nothing. Since they knew it would take them a while to move through here, Kirby jumped on Carrie so she could manage to move a bit faster. Blade also jumped on Carrie so he could catch up to Chopper and Sonic.
While they were moving, they noticed the ruins of some small sand castles. Chopper thought that he could use his shovel to find anything hidden, but when he flipped, he frowned.
"Even when in 3-D, it all feels so blank…" he trailed as his voice echoed through the world.
"I wish there were people alive in this world… It just feels so heartbreaking that everyone's dead." Sonic frowned.
"Poyo? (What's that?)" Kirby pointed to a broken mask. It looked like something a Bandit would wear, to their surprise.
"It's one of those masks that the Bandits wear!" Chopper gaped. "But could they really be alive?"
"It doesn't look like it… There are only remains around here…" Tippi trailed.
"No kidding… I can see some of the ruins of the Sand Castle up ahead!" Blade pointed to the ruined Sand Castle ahead. It looked incredibly small at this point, but all they could do was move on.
A bit later-
After walking through the World of Nothing for quite some time, Tippi stopped when she noticed something up ahead.
"What's that over there?" Tippi noticed a heart stuck to the ground. Instead of it being purple, it looked more like a gray rock.
"Whoa… I don't believe it." Chopper gaped.
"Could that be… It's a Pure Heart! It seems an impossibility, but it somehow survived the obliteration of this world. Something about it seems off, though…"
"So… Do you enjoy this beautiful world?"
Everyone paused after hearing the voice. They gaped as soon as Tipral landed on the ground, but they were soon glaring at him like never before.
"TIPRAL!" they all shouted.
"I can't believe you survived the destruction of this world," Tipral growled. "My plan was FLAWLESS! …But somehow you managed to get out. I don't know how you managed to get out, but thanks to you, my plan has been BROKEN!"
However, when Tipral turned around, he noticed something about the Pure Heart. "What's this? This Pure Heart… It's made of stone! I don't know how it managed to stay in one piece…albeit turning into stone, but it appears that there's no way of using that thing to help you!"
"So you're saying is that it's useless?" Chopper raised an eyebrow.
"Of course! And since you don't need this thing anymore, I might as well take it with me." Tipral grabbed the Pure Heart and put it away. He then turned around, where he saw the four walk over to him.
"All right, Tipral… Tell us now!" Chopper got in a fighting stance. "WHY would you do such a thing to this world?! Don't you realize what you're going to make every single world become?"
"Oh, I already knew what the worlds would be like," Tipral replied. "I knew that the worlds would become nothing, which is what I wanted to happen all this time. You REALLY think I wouldn't have known that?"
"I'm pretty sure you did… But the world doesn't deserve THIS kind of treatment? The WORLD doesn't do anything to you, Tipral. You're just hurting yourself by causing immense destruction with the Dark Prognosticus!"
"Does it hurt to destroy? It doesn't anymore." Tipral pulled the Dark Prognosticus out. "Anything that I don't like can never exist with one blink of an eye! I was thinking about doing that to your home worlds!"
"You wouldn't DARE!" Blade hissed.
"Poyo! (We're NOT going to let you do that to our worlds!)" Kirby immediately got in his fighting stance.
"Hmph! So you wish to fight me, huh? While my plan to destroy you all with The Void was a failure, I suppose doing it myself will be more satisfying." Tipral put the Dark Prognosticus away and pulled his Dark Star Scepter out.
"THIS time, I'm not going easy on you like before! I WILL put an end to you this time with this scepter! There is no escaping the power of the Dark Star Scepter!" Tipral began to float up. After twirling it, he aimed it at the heroes. "Now you'll witness the TRUE power of the scepter!"
"…Says the faker who told me that he would use his true power against me in Dark Subspace World," Chopper muttered. "Do ALL villains have to say that? That's so…clichéd."
Nevertheless, Chopper used Tippi's powers to investigate him.
"That's Tipral. He's the one responsible for turning me into a Pixl… Max HP is 70. Attack is 6. Defense is 4. With the Dark Star Scepter in his hands, Tipral will now fired dark stars at you, or he might even fire ones rapidly… Be careful, Chopper… If you get hit by one of those, you're going to suffer some immense damage… But the worst thing is that not only can he float, but he can also heal himself with the power of his scepter… Also, if you're not fast enough, Tipral will summon a giant void to suck you in and deal double the damage that he usually deals… You simply MUST stop him! This could be the last battle we might ever have to have…"
"TAKE THIS!" Tipral yelled as he began to fire multiply dark stars down at the heroes. "You have NO chance of surviving!"
"Run for it, guys!" Chopper cried as he began to run from the dark stars being fired, but he soon stopped when Tipral reappeared right in front of him.
"Where do you thin YOU'RE going?!" with one swing from his scepter, Chopper was knocked to the ground easily. He had a red mark on his cheek because of the scepter Tipral held.
"You'll be the first one to die, Chopper!"
"I don't think so!" Chopper quickly got up and tossed a couple of fireballs at Tipral, making him cringe in pain from the burn effect.
"Agh! Where… Where did you get this kind of power?!" Tipral exclaimed.
"I got it from these weird Swamint guys," Chopper smirked as he jumped on his head, doing a stylish move while at it.
Tipral managed to grab Chopper's foot and slam him to the ground. But before he could blast him with dark energy, he felt someone else stomp on his head. It was Kirby sitting on Carrie.
"Argh! You pest!" Tipral turned to Kirby and blasted him with a dark star, knocking him away from him.
"And now, where were we?" Tipral knocked Chopper away with one blast of dark energy, knocking him straight into Blade.
"Ugh… This guy is no pushover, that's for sure…" Blade grumbled as he got Chopper off of him and drew his katana. "All right, Tipral! You wanna fight? Then bring it! I'll take you out in one hit!"
"Go ahead! I dare you!" Tipral taunted, gripping his scepter as hard as possible. Once Blade got to him, he brought his scepter up to block the attack. He then snapped his finger to strike the ninja cat with Star Magic.
"Urgh… I won't give up so easily!" Blade grumbled, successfully striking Tipral with his katana.
Tipral shook off the damage dealt to him by Blade's katana and then turned to Sonic, who was dashing toward him with great speed.
…But Sonic's Homing Attack didn't get to him. The dark being managed to block his attack with his scepter and force him away with a dark blast, knocking Sonic to the ground.
"What the… What was that?" Sonic questioned as he got up. This time, he curled up into a ball and struck Tipral successfully with a Spin Dash.
"Ungh… I should've seen that coming." Tipral growled, floating over the ground and firing a barrage of dark stars. Chopper managed to inhale one, along with Kirby and they both spat them at Tipral, knocking him back a bit.
"You can give up right now, Tipral…" Tippi suggested. "It seems like you're not winning this…"
"I will NOT give up, you useless butterfly!" Tipral swooped down and knocked Chopper. He began to punch him in the face as fast as he could. "So you wanna feel how it's like to get punched so many times?! Well here you go!"
"Ack!" Chopper kicked Tipral off him and got himself up. With his enemy stunned, he used an uppercut kick to send Tipral flying up in the air. Chopper jumped up to him and slammed him to the ground with a slamming kick.
Once Tipral pushed himself up, he swung his scepter once again, firing a dark star toward Chopper. But, as usual, the projectile was inhaled and spat back at Tipral. But he was prepared. He managed to deflect the star back at him by spinning his scepter around rapidly.
"What the… How did he do that?!" Chopper exclaimed, panting as he got himself up.
"I'm not that stupid, Chopper… It was obvious that I would see that coming. But now it's time for a stronger attack! This should definitely decimate you all!" Tipral teleported above everyone and began to charge up some dark power in the Dark Star Scepter.
"What in the world is Tipral doing?" Blade questioned, looking up at the dark being. "Hey! We're down here, you know!"
"Yes, I know that, you idiot," Tipral grumbled as he waved his scepter around and fired a huge, dark beam down at everyone. He was able to strike all four of them, and boy, was the attack powerful.
"Holy… He just took 8 HP out of me!" Chopper gaped as he slowly got himself up, but was soon punched in the face by Tipral's Star Punch – which happened when he floated to the ground.
"Tipral… Stop this!" Tippi cried, seeing Chopper's face look badly injured.
"I have no intention of letting him live. After what he's done to me, death is what he deserves more than anything!" Tipral shouted as he attempted to punch Chopper again…but was soon struck by Blade's katana.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Blade warned, knocking Tipral away with a kick. "You're NOT going to stop us!"
After helping Chopper up, he offered him a Super Shroom Shake. "Thanks, Blade…" Chopper drank the entire can, making him recover 20 HP. He then threw the can at Tipral's face. That even did some damage to him!
"Heh heh heh! I can't believe a can can actually hurt him!" Sonic chuckled, soon getting hit by a dark star.
"I'm going to sew your mouth shut if you keep laughing at me like that," Tipral warned. "Now then…"
He turned over to Chopper, who apparently was gone. "Huh? Where did he go?!"
"Up here!" Once Tipral looked up, he saw a flaming foot coming down on his head. Chopper managed to stomp on him twice while performing a stylish and then avoided Tipral's dark blast.
"Grrrrrrr!" Tipral tossed a shadow ball at him, but it was soon thrown back at his face after he inhaled it. "You annoying little…"
Just before he could attack Chopper again, he was distracted with Kirby once again. The pink puffball's kick caused him to fire a dark star over at Sonic, who got struck instead of Chopper.
"Look what you've done!" Tipral attempted to swing at Kirby, but as soon as he was kicked in the face by him, he resorted to teleporting back up in the air.
"Very well… It looks like it's time for me to resort to a new tactic. Surely this attack will make you beg for mercy!" Tipral began to twirl his scepter as fast as possible. A large void began to appear before him and it started to suck the heroes in.
"Don't let yourselves get sucked in!" Tippi cried. "That attack is a forced to be reckoned with!"
"Argh! I know I can escape this!" Chopper swung his arms around like they were a wheel. His feet were even moving in a figure-8 pattern as he tried to escape. Luckily, the void disappeared and everyone landed on the ground.
"Hmph… So it appears I can only do it for a limited amount of time. No matter… I can still take care of myself." Tipral raised his scepter and he used the dark power in it to help him recover 20 HP.
"Wait… He can heal himself?!" Sonic gaped.
"Poyo! (You've gotta be kidding me!)" Kirby pouted, jumping on Carrie again. "Poyo! (He's probably going to keep healing himself so he can win this fight!)"
"You just gave me an excellent idea, Kirby," Tipral thanked as he raised his scepter again, but Sonic reacted quicker than him and delivered a Homing Attack as he tried to heal himself, knocking him to the ground.
"Ungghh… How did you…" Tipral grumbled as he slowly got up, only to get hit in the back by a couple of shurikens. He was able to get them off of him and toss a Star Spear at Blade, knocking him to the ground.
He then made a dash toward Kirby with his jetted feet, using his arm to hit him straight in the face. Tipral simply snapped his finger to strike Sonic with Star Magic, and then he struck Chopper with a dark blast from his scepter.
"Man… He did that so quickly!" Chopper wheezed, grabbing onto his arm as he limped over in pain. "How in the world did you do that so quickly?! That's… That's just so weird!"
"You can do many things with this kind of power," Tipral frowned at them angrily as he charged up another dark beam. However, he was interrupted once again when Chopper tossed a fireball at him.
"You're not doing that ever again…" the green gumball made a dash toward Tipral and managed to throw him to the ground with a flaming kick, injuring Tipral pretty badly.
"Ugh… So, you DO put up a fight!" Tipral quickly shook his head and tried to strike Chopper by swinging his scepter at him. But, like before, Chopper dodged the attack and struck him with his hammer.
Knowing that he might go down soon, Tipral knocked Chopper back with a dark star and then teleported back up to the air, charging up another one of his intense attacks.
"You can't escape this!" he yelled as he fired a huge beam of dark energy at the four heroes. He started off by getting Chopper first, then Kirby, then Sonic and then last but not least…Blade.
"Man… He just won't give up!" Blade growled as he attempted to jump up at him. While curling into a ball, he spun his sword vertically, hoping to strike his enemy, but he was unfortunate to miss. "Oh, crud… I can't even get to him!"
Knowing that Chopper had to get Tipral down, he tossed a fireball straight at his counterpart. However, Tipral didn't let himself fall, no matter what was being thrown at him. He spun his scepter around and summoned another void.
"This should surely put and end to this battle!" he announced as he successfully managed to suck Sonic and Blade into the darkness. He struck them with a powerful dark attack that did double the damage of his normal attacks.
"Whoa! That attack is so…powerful!" Sonic gaped.
"No kidding, man!" Blade wheezed.
"Poyo! (There's no way I'm going in there!)" Kirby cried as he tried to fight his way out of the dark void. Unfortunately, he too was sucked into the center and was soon struck by Tipral.
"Foolish heroes! You cannot escape my true power! Do you even realize that?!" Tipral exclaimed.
"Urrgghhh… I can't…get out of here!" Chopper was getting closer and closer to the center than he could've imagined. Heck, Tipral was ready to end this battle once and for all.
"Chopper! I KNOW you have something to stop him! Use that!" Tippi cried.
"Yeah… I need to use it!" Chopper reached for his hammer and gripped onto it as hard as possible. "All right, Tipral… You ready for something interesting?!"
"It's too late for that to happen, Chopper!" Tipral was ready to strike Chopper with his powerful dark attack – but it was soon interrupted when his enemy whacked him with his hammer.
"What?!" Tipral immediately fell to the ground, but as soon as he got up, Chopper did a flaming slamming kick to knock him down to the ground. He also dropped the Pure Heart as well.
"No… How… How could I fail to beat you all?!" he exclaimed as he slowly got himself up. Part of his body was covered in some soot from all of the fire attacks Chopper delivered. Luckily, for him, his hand wasn't injured.
As he looked at the heroes angrily, he began to wheeze. "I can't believe this… Even with the Dark Star Scepter, I lose to you guys?! Even with my plan to eliminate you all, it fails to work… Why do I always fail?"
"Well… It might be because you're weak…" Tippi trailed. "Even with that power, it doesn't seem like you're strong…"
Tipral jumped up a little and clenched his fists, being outraged. "WEAK?! Why you little… Fine. I'll admit my fighting style was flawed, but it's not over yet, Chopper… I will be back!"
He jumped over the heroes and used his air shoes to move at a faster speed. Chopper, Kirby, Sonic and Blade waved goodbye, knowing that there's no possible way that he can beat them now.
"Y'know, now that I mention it… Tipral IS somewhat weak. I thought he was going to be a huge threat, but it doesn't seem like it." Chopper smirked.
"Oh, look!" Tippi turned her attention to the rock that Tipral dropped. "He must have dropped it when he ran off. But this Pure Heart, it's…"
"…a rock." Blade finished.
"Poyo. (Yeah, it looks like a rock to me. It's so dull…and rocky.)" Kirby agreed.
"We'd better take it back to Merlon… He'll know what to do…" Tippi suggested.
Chopper raised his arms up as the Pure Heart magically began to float above them. "I still wonder why I'm able to hold this thing up when I'm not even touching it…"
YOU GOT A PURE HEART
END OF CHAPTER
"Ugh… I can't believe that I can't stop Chopper!" Tipral wheezed as he slowly began to walk through the World of Nothing. "Did the Dark Prognosticus lie to me?! It said that I could have the power I need to defeat my foes!"
Tipral stopped and pondered. "Hmmmmmmm… But now that I think about it, I didn't use the Chaos Heart's power to protect me from their attacks. Maybe if I used its power, I could've been victorious. For now, I should return to my castle."
"Aha ha ha. Well now… What's the matter, Tipral? Did those heroes give you an intense beating?" Tipral's antennae perked when he saw Dimentio appeared before his very eyes.
"Dimentio… What on earth are you doing here?" Tipral asked. "You should be back at the castle!"
"Well I felt like I needed to check upon you. It's part of being a good minion, isn't it?"
Tipral turned away from the jester and crossed his arms. "I feel like I'm a disgrace to my family. Even with such power, I can't defeat Chopper… I bet my dead family is laughing at me at this moment. I… I don't feel like I can show my face to my minions after my huge defeat."
"Perhaps that is for the best," Dimentio raised his hands, preparing to use a magic attack. Tipral sensed this and jumped away from the explosion.
"Dimentio! What are you doing?! You realize that you're attacking your own LEADER?!"
"You said yourself. You can't show your face to the world and your minions now. So get lost."
At this moment, Tipral glared at him. "And you're telling this to the one who would give you anything you want if all worlds were destroyed?! I could have your game ended for this… Or perhaps it is YOU that needs to get lost!"
"Such temper! Your eyes, they glow like the eyes of a cat at night!" Dimentio gave Tipral a sinister look. "You never realized it, did you? You're not the only one with a plan of your own. I too have my own plan, and if it is to be successful, then I need to be rid of you."
"So… This is treason, isn't it? Planning on usurping my leadership?" Tipral aimed the Dark Star Scepter at Dimentio. "You're making a foolish mistake, Dimentio… I suppose the others were right about you being a sinister clown."
"And correct they were! You honestly believe that I would change? Aha ha ha ha! Not for someone as sinister as I am! But I'm getting a bit off hand. I believe now is the time to take your final bow…"
Raising his hands once again, Dimentio created a box that surrounded Tipral before he could even strike him.
"Release me NOW!" demanded Tipral.
"Ah ha ha ha ha. Shhhhh. Don't worry. It won't be bad. I promise. Your minions aren't even going to find out about where you'll be going! …And for a special treat, I'll send those heroes just so you can have someone to play with…"
"You… I swear that I'm going to…" Dimentio interrupted Tipral with a snap of his fingers. Just like what he used to fight Chopper, the box exploded. Only this time…Tipral was gone after the explosions.
"Ciao…Tipral!" Dimentio smirked. "Now that I've taken care of him, it's now time for phase two of my plan: getting the count back!"
And with that Dimentio teleported out of the World of Nothing.
The destruction of an entire world was great and terrible tragedy. But Chopper and his allies had survived the cataclysm and found another Pure Heart. The end of that world had dulled the shine of the Pure Heart they had found. Was the Pure Heart's power lost forever? The heroes set out for Flipside to find out…
I think you were all expecting that from Dimentio (well, if you played Super Paper Mario, I'm PRETTY sure you were going to expect Dimentio to betray Tipral at some point). ...But with that, things are starting to become incredibly intense. Yup... We're getting there, people.
