Through the door was anything they would not have expected to see in this place. No longer was there red all over the ground and walls, but now the ground was gray and made out of stone, and there was a small bridge going over a small river. To the south, there was a dark blue statue with three stars on it. To the north, there was also a tower.

"Man, we get out of one strange room just to find another…" Chopper trailed. "Yeesh, this place sure is big. It's like some big underground city! Vivian, do you have any ideas on what this place might be?

"Well… All I know is that this is the garden area." Vivian explained before pointing up at the tower. "You see that big tower in the middle of this place? That's Riddle Tower. It's got some strange puzzles in there. But, I don't necessarily remember what's in there. There has to be something around here… Mmmmmm…"

"What about that door up ahead?" Scrub asked, pointing to the door up ahead. "It looks like it leads to somewhere. Let's go check over there!"

"Whoa, wait a moment," Shadower stepped in, pulling Scrub away before he could move on. "Are you being serious? We're not splitting up! And it's not safe for you to be going on when there are two Chain Chomps here!"

"Yeah, I just noticed them a moment ago," Chopper realized. "Those things should've been mentioned so we would've been aware of them!"

Chopper was about to continue onward with his unnecessary speech, but Kirby tugged on his arm and pointed at a blue pipe up ahead. Chopper stopped and noticed it too. There was a statue of a Chain Chomp on there, which gave Berry the idea of smashing it. She slowly approached the statue and brought her Ruby Hammer down on it. Sadly, it had no effect.

"Well, smashing it with a hammer is out of the picture," Berry sighed, putting her hammer away. "Hey, Choppy, maybe your hammer might do the trick! Can't Ultra Hammers smash stuff like this?"

"Hmmmm... Well, I might as well give it a try!" Chopper smiled, despite being a tad annoyed with the nickname she continuously gave him. He jumped over Berry and landed in front of the pipe. Readying his hammer, Chopper used his Ultra Hammer ability and spun his body, along with his hammer. Unfortunately, that didn't appear to do the trick.

"I don't think that's going to work..." Vivian trailed. "From what I can remember, that might be destroyed by an explosion."

Bombette's face suddenly perked up while she approached Chopper. "Ah! This sounds like somethin' I'm capable of! Chopper! Matey! Throw me at that statue and I'll let 'er rip!"

"Hmmm… Let me check what's down here…" Chopper jumped into the pipe, and he found himself in the background with a blue ! Switch. Rather than jumping or hitting it with his hammer, he chucked an ice ball and let it hit the switch. The statue itself began to fall apart and reveal a surf panel.

Chopper went back into the pipe and gestured everyone to follow him. Across the bridge, a Chain Chomp tried to lunge at them. Scrub took action by eating it and then spitting it out, and followed up was Shadower's Shadow Smite, which helped bring the enemy down. Despite using FP, Chopper was able to find a Heart Block across the next to recover all his HP and FP - at the cost of 10 coins, of course.

The other Chain Chomp across the bridge tried lunging at them too, but they kept a safe distance while Chopper threw an ice ball at the enemy. Surprisingly, it only did 1 damage, but they soon discovered it had a Defense of 5. Berry quickly finished it off with her Ruby Throw, which was more than enough to defeat the Chain Chomp.

"Man, if we have enemies with this much defense again, I don't know what I'm going to do!" Scrub complained.

"That's why we have attacks to help pierce through their defense," Shadower mentioned. "Anyway, I'm guessing we have to go into that tower. But I think that statue is in the way..."

"Chopper, matey! Another Chain Chomp statue!" Bombette noted, taking notice of the statue on top of another blue pipe. Chopper threw her into the statue's mouth and blew it up, allowing him to go into the pipe.

"I wonder what happens when I hit the next switch…" Chopper tossed an ice ball at the blue ! Switch to make the statue blocking the tower go away, revealing another surf panel. Afterward, he returned to the others.

"Poyo... (So we managed to find a way to that tower...)" Kirby trailed as he slowly approached the door ahead. "Poyo? (But what about this door?)"

"I suppose we should check out, Kirby."

"Normally I'd rather stay here because it's not as creepy as the other rooms," Berry said before looking at Chopper with a smile. "But I probably wouldn't feel as comfortable if you weren't here, Choppy..."

"You're saying you're scared, aren't you?" Scrub asked.

"No! I just think it's better here than the other rooms! With those Chain Chomps gone, I don't think there's anything to worry about!"

"Well, I think we're all afraid of being here..." Vivian trailed. "And I'd probably be careful with that door ahead, Chopper... There might be something ahead..."

"Well I guess that's because of the Heart Block here," Chopper said while hitting the Heart Block. "But even if there was something ahead, I think we can take it! We've taken on worse enemies before, especially me!"

They headed through the red door ahead, and to their disappointment, they were in a small hallway with the red carpet and walls. Already was the group feeling creeped out once again. But regardless, they continued on without complaining. Well, they would've if an enemy didn't get in their way.

"What in the... What the heck is THAT thing?!" Shadower gawked. "I don't know if I've seen anything like this!"

Through the hallway they discovered a floating, purple vaguely bean-shaped creatures with four three fingered floating hands around it. The eyes on the creature were also rather crazy-looking, considering that they were moving in opposite directions. It was discovered to be a Dark Wizzerd.

"A rather unsettling creature, I'd say," Bombette mentioned. "But nothin' too dangerous!"

The pink Bob-omb slowly approached the Dark Wizzerd and blew up, only to notice it hardly did anything. "Shiver me timbers! Me explosion did absolutely nothin'!"

The Dark Wizzerd let out a cackle and fired a laser at her, sending her tumbling back to the group. She was left a little dazed, which made everyone get in a fighting position and turn back to the Dark Wizzerd. It fired a couple more lasers, but Chopper and his friends were quick to dodge them. An ice ball helped deal 4 damage, while Berry's Ruby Throw finished off the creature.

"It's great that my Ruby Throw doesn't take up too much FP," Berry smiled, looking at her hammer proudly. "It might be helpful around these enemies."

"Yeah, I guess so," Chopper replied, unsure of what else to say. Regardless, they continued through the hallway and reached the door up ahead. They were disappointed to find another identical hallway. Only this time, there was a Chain Chomp that tried lunging at them in the middle of the hallway. It didn't take too long to defeat it, thankfully.

With that out of the way, they walked into another identical hallway through the door and found a single Dry Bones throwing a piece of its bone at them. Chopper's fireball and Vivian's Shade Fist helped do away with it and lead them into another hallway with two Phantom Embers.

"How many hallways are we going to run into?!" Scrub exclaimed. "They're all so similar!"

"Poyo? (Maybe this might be the last?)" Kirby hoped.

Regardless of that, they got rid of the two Phantom Embers in their way and made their way to the end of the hallway. There, they all found a Save Block hovering above their heads.

"Hey! That door must lead to the end! I think the Crystal Star is through this room, Choppy!" Berry exclaimed. "And to think this place would be much longer!"

"Well, that is great and all... But I don't know... A chapter like this wouldn't be so short..." Chopper trailed. "But this Save Block does seem to indicate something."

He hit the Save Block before approaching the door. "But let's try to be on our toes!"

Once they stepped foot into the room, they noticed it looked much similar to the room before the torch maze. By that, the room was shaped like a hexagon - only this room was much, much bigger. Not only that, but it was dark. Very dark.

"This place gives me the creeps..." Scrub chirped. "It's difficult to see, too!"

"Who are you?!"

Everyone soon realized they were not the only ones in this room. In fact, they saw a large, black dragon with a lavender belly and the lowers section of his head with small black and yellow wings, large, flat teeth and yellow claws. The dragon let out an enormous roar that was enough to move the seven heroes back because of the sound waves.

"Poyo?! (What IS that thing?!)" Kirby cried.

"It...looks like an enormous dragon!" Berry gaped. "I don't know if I've ever seen something this big before!"

"I have just been reborn and I find people disturbing me?!" the dragon roared. "It's been a long time since I've have visitors…or should I say meals! How did you get into this sacred place?!"

"Whoa… You are some dragon… I've never seen a dragon for a long time!" Chopper gaped. "Hold on… Did you say you were just reborn?"

"Yes. I was just reborn…but I was told somebody would be coming by the name of Chopper," he looked down at Chopper with one of his red eyes. "I suppose you are that boy."

"Ummm… My name is Steve. I'm just a normal person who has no idea where he is right now. There is no Chopper here…"

All the dragon could do was laugh, while the rest of Chopper's friends face palmed.

"Some idea that was!" Shadower thought.

"Very funny, little boy! I swear, that had to be the dumbest excuse I've ever heard..." the dragon finished laughing. "As for me, I am the mighty dragon known as Gloomtail! I guard the ancient treasure that has been here for aeons!"

This instantly caught the young Shadow Siren's attention. "Wait… You guard an ancient treasure? Chopper! Gloomtail MUST have the Queen's Star! That's what we've been looking for! …But the answer is… Where is Peach? Did he…eat her?"

"If that's true, then we're going to be dissecting this freak!" Scrub exclaimed.

"No one stepped into this place, so therefore, no. The only people who showed up are only you seven that will make some tasty meals!" Gloomtail cackled, making the room echo. "The Queen's Star, however, is not here, nor will I tell you its whereabouts! Once I'm done with you, I will gnaw on your bones!"

"Ummmm... OK..." Chopper said with uncertainty. "How am I supposed to take on a giant dragon?! Am I crazy?!"

"GWAAAAH HA HA HA HA! Now I'll finally have some fresh meat! Allow me to take my time… And toy with you awhile!" Gloomtail squinted down at Chopper and his friends with a devilish grin. "So... Who wants to be the first one on my menu?"

The only response he received were seven fighters getting ready for battle.

"So what if you're a big dragon? I've taken on worse!" Chopper shouted, though Gloomtail could tell he lacked confidence by the sound of his voice. "And nobody's going to be eating another during this fight!"

Tattle: Omigosh! Gloomtail was revived? But… How is that possible? That's just… Not right at all! Well, Max HP is 80, Attack is 8, and Defense is 2. He's still the same as before, so that's not a bad thing. His breath can poison you, and it reeks! Great… When is HP gets low, he'll boost his attack up and unleash his strongest move. You should use Vivian to avoid that!

"Go ahead, mortals. Make your move!" Gloomtail taunted. "I'd like to see what scrawny little attacks you can pull off!"

Chopper drew his hammer and added in a little bit of his ice powers to it, leaving it surrounded in an icy white glow. Gripping his hammer tightly. Chopper approached Gloomtail's paw and brought his Ultra Hammer down, delivering an Ice Smash that dealt 4 damage. Gloomtail quickly shut his eyes and let out a screech of pain.

"Gwargh! So, it looks like a scrawny thing like yourself can deliver pain after all..." Gloomtail grunted while Chopper landed safely back to his partners.

"Let's see what I can pull off," Shadower decided, firing a shadowy wave in the shape of a fist at Gloomtail. This only dealt 4 damage, but at the same time, it managed to bring his defense to 0. "

Gloomtail decided to show mercy and unleashed his poisonous breath. The seven quickly brought their guard up and managed to guard the attack, only taking 7 damage, which prevented them from being poisoned. Gloomtail was left disappointed by this, but this was just the beginning of the fight.

"All right! Spring Jump time!" Chopper cried as he began to fold up and sprung into the air. He landed on top of Gloomtail's nose and performed a Spin Jump, which helped deal 12 damage. Bombette followed with an explosion to take 6 away from the dragon.

Hissing, Gloomtail got a bit closer to the group and chose to bring his paw down on Chopper to flatten him. He backed away afterward, while Chopper was able to stand up.

"Hmmmmm... You know, I'm wondering if ice will do anything... That Ice Smash did manage to do something..." Chopper trailed.

"Poyo? (Did it look like it did a lot of harm?)" Kirby asked.

"Hmmmmm... I don't think so. Well, why don't I try an ice attack, while you hit him with your Stone ability?"

Kirby gave him a nod of approval, allowing Chopper to hurl an ice ball at Gloomtail. The pink puffball followed up by floating above Gloomtail's nose and smashing it by transforming into a stone. Gloomtail was finally able to get back up when Kirby turned back to normal and backed away from him.

"GWAAAAH HA HA HA HA! You are some tough meat, my little tasty morsels! But how will you fare against THIS!" Gloomtail jumped in the air and quickly landed, creating a large earthquake that dealt 10 damage to everyone. However, Vivian and Shadower appeared to be unaffected by this.

"Oh… I guess being able to float does have its advantages..." Vivian trailed before looking back at the knocked down Chopper. "Are you OK, Chopper?"

"I'm OK, Vivian…" Chopper assured, allowing the Shadow Siren to help him up. "Don't worry about me... Now, maybe it's time I tested out my ninja skills!"

Equipping his Ninja ability, Chopper ran up to Gloomtail and struck him with his kunai knife. Gloomtail yelped in pain, while Berry approached the monster and bashed his paw with her Ruby Hammer. Since his defense was back to 2, her hammer only dealt 4 damage.

"You'll pay for that!" Gloomtail roared, attacking Chopper with a poisonous bite. Thankfully, he was prepared for it and guarded it to only take 7 damage and avoid being poisoned. To retaliate, he threw one of his kunais at Gloomtail to deal 6 damage. Vivian raised her finger to strike Gloomtail with her Fiery Jinx and leave him with 18 HP.

"Gwuhhh… You are not the easy prey you appear to be…" Gloomtail grunted.

"That's right!" Chopper declared.

"If you whelps bested me, I would never be able to show my face to anyone in the world. Not even my queen…"

"Your queen?" Scrub gawked. "What the heck's this guy talking about?"

"Perhaps now is the time for me to show you all the true extent of my power..." Gloomtail finished his last words with a grin while raising his attack by 8. Everyone was left gaping because of this.

"He can do 16 damage if he hurts us!" Chopper cried. "This isn't good!"

"Why not just have Vivian pull us into the shadows?" Berry suggested. "That worked before, right?"

"Yeah... Back when we fought Gemerl! OK, I'll make my move first, and then you pull us into the shadows, Vivian!"

"OK, Chopper," Vivian nodded, allowing Chopper to dash over to Gloomtail and hit him with his kunai knife. Upon retreating, Vivian grabbed him and pulled him into the shadows. Everyone else was forced into the shadows as well before Gloomtail could take notice.

"MEGABREATH!" Gloomtail exclaimed, unleashing his yellow breath. He cackled as he finished the attack. "Gwah ha! Do you understand my true power now?"

"Oh, yes… We do… We understand it." Gloomtail paused when he saw everyone come out of the shadow, looking unscathed from the attack. Chopper was even smirking. "…But it didn't even hit us!"

"GRRRRRRRR! I'll make you suffer!" the large dragon raised his paw and flattened Chopper, causing him to lose his ability. Vivian looked a little worried to see him flattened, so she took action by appearing in front of Gloomtail and striking him with her Shade Fist to leave him with a burn. When Chopper finally got up, he bashed Gloomtail's paw with his hammer. This left him with about 1 HP.

"You may have brought me down to this point, but I will never fall!" Gloomtail roared, raising his Attack by 8 again. "And I will prove it!"

"Ummmmm... I'm not so sure about that." Chopper said, snickering in the process. In fact, everyone was snickering too.

"And why is that?" the dragon questioned.

The seven let the burn status answer that when it had struck him. Gloomtail hardly took notice of the status ailment that had dealt 1 damage to him ever since Vivian hurt him. With his HP finally at 0, his eyes began to spin around.

"No… No… Is it true? Can I…expire? I've just been reborn… Urrghh…" Gloomtail fell over on his back, causing the room to shake a bit. Thankfully, Chopper received 26 Star Points from that fight and leveled up. He chose to adjust his BP to 30.

"Phew! That was a close call… We barely made it out of that fight…" Chopper panted. "To think Gloomtail would be defeated by a simple status ailment!"

"Yar! That was extraordinarily funny!" Bombette laughed. "This dragon was merely a pushover, though!"

"We did avoid being poisoned too," Shadower mentioned.

Before they could continue talking, they heard a gurgle coming from Gloomtail. They noticed the dragon cough up a chest that happened to be stuck in his belly.

"Hmmmm? What's this?" Chopper wondered as he approached it. Opening the chest, he found a Star Key. "What the..."

"A key in the shape of a star... Cool!" Scrub smiled.

"Poyo? (What do we do with it, though?)" Kirby asked.

"I think we need to go to that tower," Vivian answered. "I remember something that's related to this Star Key in there... Though I wonder why that key was stuck in his body like before..."

"What do you mean?" Shadower asked.

"Ummmm... It's nothing important."

"So I guess this means we're going back to the garden?" Berry smiled. "Well that will be nice!"

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Chopper declared. "...I really don't want to be in here with this dragon."

Chopper quickly exited the room, along with everyone else and began to make their way back to the courtyard area. They all hoped they would never have to run into this kind of room or dragon again.


Defeated by a status ailment. What a humiliating defeat for Gloomtail! :P