Back in Castle Tipral, O'Chunks, Mimi and Dark were in the meeting room, waiting patiently for Tipral to return. It's been about twenty minutes that Tipral was supposed to come, but he was nowhere to be found in the castle.

"Man, where did Tipral go anyway? He should've been 'ere by now… He's late." O'Chunks began to tap his foot in an impatient manner.

"Where could he have gone? I'm starting to worry about my dear Tippy…" Mimi said in a worried voice. "What if something bad happened to him If something bad happened to him, I wouldn't have a boyfriend!"

"All I know is that he's late," Dark stated. "I don't know if he's going to be showing up here, but he better make his return, or else I'm gonna go off on my own."

"C'mon, Dark! Don't leave us like this! Yer startin' teh become close teh us – as much as an emo person yeh are…" O'Chunks trailed.

"Why do I act like this? Well first off, it doesn't seem like things are working out. I feel like the heroes are still alive…somewhere. And second of all, my life is terrible. That's all I have to say."

"So, you all want to know the news about our dear Tipral?" Dimentio made his appearance in the center of the room.

"And where have YOU been this whole time" Mimi asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Why, I was trying to help Tipral fight the heroes! But, unfortunately… I have some bad news. Our dear friend Tipral…is dead."

Dark's eyes widened. "What? He's dead"

"No… No…" Mimi started to shed some tears. "Tippy can't die! H… How COULD he die He didn't deserve to die like this!"

"Wait, if 'e died, 'ow come yer still 'ere?" O'Chunks questioned.

"While we were fighting, Chopper said he would spare me if I let him have the Pure Heart. As much as I wanted to fight back, I knew that I wouldn't win the battle. …HOWEVER… I happen to know someone who could replace our dear friend. He's an old friend of ours and I'm sure you would like him!"

"Who's the 'friend' that you plan on inviting?" Dark asked.

"Oh… None other than…Count Bleck and Nastasia!" With a snap of his fingers, two people appeared in the castle on the platforms to the right. The blue man was wearing a top hat, a cape and a monocle while the secretary lady was wearing these glasses that you couldn't see through if you tried looking.

"Bleck! Where… Where is Count Bleck?" spat the count.

"'Ey! It's Count Bleck an' Nastasia! Yer all 'ere!" O'Chunks smiled, especially at Nastasia.

"This is Count Bleck?" Dark raised an eyebrow. "Hmph… I believe I've heard about you before…"

"Huh? What's going on here? Where am I?" Nastasia asked.

"Why, you're in your own castle, of course! …Of course, this is no longer Castle Bleck. This is Castle Tipral!" Dimentio explained.

"Dimentio? You're still alive …exclaimed Count Bleck."

"You know the dark boy who summoned The Void? He is the one responsible for bringing me back. But, I DO happen to know where Tippi went!"

"Tell Count Bleck this…" Count Bleck eyed him suspiciously.

"Your dear Tippi is being held hostage by a young boy named Chopper. He is collecting the Pure Hearts and is coming here to stop you."

"Wait, The Void" Nastasia gaped. "'K… I don't think this is such a good idea. We're not into evil anymore…"

"Timpani… My dear, sweet Timpani…" Count Bleck lowered his hat down. "She's being tortured by a young boy who has the power to stop the Chaos Heart. Count Bleck does not approve of this!"

The count opened a part of his cape, revealing the inside to be spacey. "Fine! Count Bleck will do this…but only for Timpani. If the hero thinks he will do something like this, then Count Bleck will do what it takes to end his game and save Timpani. But Count Bleck's watching you, Dimentio…"

"Ah ha ha ha. Excellent! I'm glad you approve of this!" Dimentio chuckled. "Now then… While you plan with your minions, I will go take care of some…business. It has to do with those heroes. Ciao!"

At that moment, Dimentio was out of the castle in no time.


"You… You're a strange little girl… Who are you, exactly?"

"Me? My name's Timpani. What happened to everyone that was working on you? I heard you were supposed to be some sort of project."

"…They're all dead. I destroyed every one of them. I didn't mean to cause any harm to them, though. It just…happened. I couldn't control my powers!"

"Tee hee! It's OK, Tipral. You seem to get a bit nervous sometimes. Why is that?"

"I sometimes feel like I'm going to cause pain to innocent people. That's what I fear mostly."

"It's OK, Tipral. You won't cause any pain to me, because I'll always be a good friend of yours. Plus, those rings might be helpful."

"Yeah… I suppose your right!"


Flipside Tower-

As the four heroes walked out of the dark blue door, a dark blue crystal heart appeared above it.

"It looks like we've cleared that world…at the cost of it being destroyed," Chopper frowned.

"Well, let's not waste our time right now… I think now's the time to head to Merlon's house…" suggested Tippi.

"You're right, let's get going," Sonic nodded as they walked over to the elevator. In no time, they were down the second floor and right next to Merlon's house.

They didn't bother to speak and they walked into the wizard's house. Merlon was surprised to see them return.

"Oh ho! The heroes return! Tell me, do you have the seventh Pure Heart?" he asked.

"Well… Maybe you should take a look at it, Merlon…" Tippi trailed as Chopper pulled the Pure Heart out.

"This thing is a stone… That's all I need to say." Chopper bluntly stated.

"Mmm… Hmm? What… What happened to it?" Merlon asked. "It reminds me of when a friend on mine brought a Pure Heart like this back…"

"The Void had consumed that world…and left the Pure Heart like this…" Tipp explained.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… I do not feel the typical energy from this Pure Heart. Even if you set this in a Heart Pillar, it would do nothing. What to do…"

"Well, not to get off topic here…but to me, that Pure Heart looks like it could blend in with the Heart Pillar." Blade said, imagining the Pure Heart going into the Heart Pillar.

"Blade… That was strangely random." Chopper said with a blank look.

"Poyo? (What does that even have to do with this anyway?)" Kirby asked with a blank look as well.

Chopper turned back to Merlon. "So… If the Pure Heart's like this… Then how are we supposed to save all worlds with a useless piece of rock?"

Merlon sighed. "To stop this prophecy, we must defeat Tipral, who started all of this… But to do that, we will need all twenty Pure Hearts, as the Light Prognosticus says. We are between a rock and a hard place…"

"A rock and a hard place? What kind of hard place, you ask?" Sonic questioned.

"Ah ha ha. The forlorn group of heroes, how they cry! The tears flow like sad chowder!"

"Oh, no… Don't tell me who I think it is…" Chopper groaned.

Dimentio appeared over the heroes, getting their attention. "You again Come on! When do you EVER stop bothering us" Chopper got in his fighting stance.

"Oh, bad news for you! There is no way in this world to restore the Pure Heart… Yes, sadly, your hard work was all…in…vain."

"Poyo? (All in vain? That's not good…)" Kirby trailed.

"So we've been wasting our time collecting all of these Pure Hearts" Sonic's eyes widened in fear.

"Ah ha ha. Yes, it does, and that's why I decided to give you a consolation prize…"

"A prize? What do you mean by…" Chopper paused as soon as Dimentio created four boxes around the heroes.

"What the heck is this?" Blade questioned.

"Oh, no… This is one of Dimentio's more devastating attacks!" Sonic gaped.

With a snap of his finger, the four boxes began to explode from the inside. Merlon and Tippi could hear some loud screams as the explosions occurred. In no time…they were all gone.

"What…just happened" Melron exclaimed.

"Chopper Kirby Sonic Blade CHOPPER! Where'd you go, Chopper" Tippi cried.

Dimentio began to cackle as he floated down to Tippi. "It's quite simple… I fulfilled their wishes! I sent them to the next world! Ah ha ha. You do know who I am, right? I am your enemy, Dimentio! I serve Tipral! Well, as pleasant as this has been, I must leave. Ciao!" He immediately teleported out before Tippi could cry.

"It…can't…be… Chopper… No…"


Yeah, I know. Short interlude and all...but that's what you'd probably expect from this interlude, right? It's MEANT to be short! ...But, hey! We have the return of Count Bleck and Nastasia. If you didn't understand, Count Bleck wants to destroy Chopper because he believes that he's hurting Tippi.

Next up: We find out the location of one of our heroes, and things get a little interesting... It also helps that it's one of my favorite chapters. ^^