Well, it took a while, but here's Chapter 6. It is incomplete, and I'm not going to be completing it any time soon. The reasoning is that I'm ----ing tired of this chapter and I want to move on to the next, which is shaping up to be much more fun to write. Shallow, yes, and I'm not exactly proud of it, but it's better than waiting the extra month, or even longer, it probably would have taken me to write this normally. This chapter seemed like a lot of fun during the planning, but I guess I'm just thirsting for a straight fight, and not the types found in this chapter (excluding the race and fight with Todd, which were a lot of fun to write). All sections between an "R-" and "-R" are rushed sections that are just summaries of what was supposed to happen.
Enjoy… or not.
-I
-I
R-
Kirby and Knuckles meet. Knuckles explains that due to the events in the previous chapter, the Chaos Emeralds have spread all throughout Videoland, and they can be accessed through Special Stages, which in turn can be accessed with Special Rings. Kirby says that he was looking for the Rainbow Shards, which were spread when something crashed into the area where they were kept, but he collected them all and is heading to that area. He has most of the shards with him, but he kept two or three in that area because they were already there. They conclude that a Chaos Emerald crashed into them when Knuckles senses one in the same area. They go to the area to see King Dedede escaping in the distance, and both the shards and the Special Ring are gone. They follow after him.
-R
Now Loading…
LEVEL SIX: The Great Emerald Search
Will Toad tell us about the DS? Who knows…
"So this is King Dedede's castle?" asked the red echidna as he looked at the cartoony castle atop the hill ahead of them.
"Yeah, that's it," answered Kirby. "Let's go in."
"So we can just waltz in?"
"Yeah, I do it all the time. Dedede is actually pretty nice, when he isn't an idiot. He'll probably have the last Rainbow Drops and that Special Ring."
After a couple of minutes, they reached the entrance and walked in without any trouble. "Doesn't he have any security?" asked Knuckles.
"He probably hasn't had enough time to set it up. However, we won't really know until we go through that door up ahead," explained Kirby.
"Why? What's special about that door?"
"If the security hasn't been set up yet, we should go straight to the throne room. If he has, it will send us through a long series of rooms eventually leading to the throne room. That's the way doors work in Dreamland, you can change them as long as they ultimately lead to the original destination eventually."
"This sure is a weird place," commented the emerald guardian as he and the pink puff walked through the door to find themselves in front of a throne. On the throne was a large blue penguin sleeping soundly as the TV played in the background, with a cartoony bubble of snot on his nose. There were two Waddle Dee guards to either side that started shaking the King of Dreamland when they noticed the two.
"King Dedede! Kirby's here!"
The king continued snoring.
"Sir! Kirby's here to see you!"
"Here, use this," said another guard as he handed him a pin. The first guard poked the snot bubble and when it popped, King Dedede jumped several feet in the air, and landed on his feet.
"Ah, Kirby, it's nice to see you! Uh, what are you doing here?" asked the blue penguin.
"Can it Dedede, we know you took the last Rainbow Drops and the Special Ring!" exclaimed Kirby.
"Rainbow Drops? Special Ring? I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"Knuckles, can you sense the ring?"
"Yeah, it's definitely here," Knuckles responded.
"You must be having it confused with my family heirloom," said Dedede as he pulled an object out from behind his throne. It was a giant, spinning, gold ring with two rainbow-colored objects apparently duct taped on at the top-left and top-right.
"… Look, we know you have them, so just give it to us before I use my fists!" Knuckles exclaimed.
"What, are you blind! That 'family heirloom' is what we're looking for!" Kirby pointed out.
"What are you talking about, the Special Ring doesn't have rainbow 'ears'," he responded.
"It's just the Special Ring with the Rainbow Drops taped on!"
"… You sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure!"
Knuckles had a dumbfounded look on his face, and then scowled at the king. "So, trying to pull a fast one on his! I'm gonna kick your ass!"
"Ahhh, I give up, I give up!" King Dedede said as he wildly waves his arms/wings around wildly. "I thought I would get away with this for sure." King Dedede pulled the Rainbow Drops off of the Special Ring, removed the tape, and gave the three objects to Kirby. Satisfied, Kirby and Knuckles walked back outside the castle.
"That was surprisingly easy," commented Knuckles as he took the ring from Kirby. "Well, thanks for your help, but I can handle everything else from here."
"No problem," Kirby responded as he started to walk away with the Rainbow Drops in his invisible pockets.
Suddenly, Knuckles yelled, "Get down!" as machine gun fire came out of nowhere.
They both managed to dodge the blasts and what seemed to be a hoverbike flew right over them and lowered to the ground. "Hah, I've finally found you, Knuckles!" exclaimed the man on the hoverbike, a purple weasel with a cowboy hat. "Robotnik's willing to pay a lot of money for you and your Chaos Emeralds, and Nack the Weasel's here to claim that prize!" Out of the hoverbike a hammer—much larger than the actual craft—appeared, and the bounty hunter fired the machine guns on the bike's sides.
Battle... BEGIN!Both Knuckles and Kirby again dodged out of the way as Nack swooped down and grabbed the Special Ring, shoving it into his invisible pockets. Nack then smashed his hammer towards Knuckles, but he jumped to the side avoiding it, and when Nack tried again, Knuckles uppercut the hammer at the same time and it flew off into the air. With the weapon gone, Knuckles jumped up and punched the craft, but he was deflected by a force field. At that point, Kirby ate the hammer and turned into Hammer Kirby, then using his ability to repeatedly attack the barrier.
"Hey! What the heck! Stay out of this, I'm only after him!" Nack yelled as he pulled out some handguns and fired at Kirby, but Kirby blocked it with his hammer. Kirby's assault made the bike lower to the ground, where Knuckles then used a punch combo, doing two jabs and then a devastating uppercut that sent both the bike and himself into the air, and breaking the shield.
"Crap!" yelled Nack as the weapons on his ship blew apart along with the shield, leaving only the jet thrusters. "Grr, I'll let you guys go this time, but I'll be back!" he announced in a typical villain fashion as he flew away out of range.
"Sonic 3 (and on) Victory Music"
KNUCKLES AND KIRBY WIN!
YOU GOTTEN… SPECIAL RING!
The special ring, sans Rainbow Drops, appeared in Knuckles' hands.
End "Sonic 3 Victory Music"
"It looks like this'll be harder than I thought it would, even if that guy was easy. If you need it, I'd be willing to help," said Kirby, who had now lost the ability he previously had.
"Look, I can do this by myself, you just go combine the Rainbow Drops now," Knuckles replied as he started pulling rings out of invisible pockets, but he stopped once he pulled out fifteen. "Crud, I only have fifteen rings! I need twenty to enter the Special Stage where the emerald is, and I can only get rings on M-Earth!"
Kirby thought for a second. "Wait, let me try something." He sucked up one of the rings, and after swallowing it, he glowed yellow and gained a ring-shaped hat, becoming Ring Kirby. Then, he used his new ability to pull ten rings out of nowhere and gave them to Knuckles.
"Uh, thanks," replied Knuckles in uneasy gratitude. "I guess now you can follow me into the Special Stage if you want, but don't screw anything up."
Knuckles threw all twenty rings, leaving four rings on the ground. There was a flash of light and the Special Ring started glowing multiple colors. "Just jump in to enter," Knuckles said, and did just that, with Kirby soon following him, still in ring form. There was a flash of light, and they found themselves in a new area.
SPECIAL STAGE: S2 Half-Pipe…
They were running down a blue half-pipe with yellow edges and a lighter blue sky, and they saw a message saying, "Get 30 rings!"
"Oh, right, I've heard of this place. Apparently, we have to get a total amount of rings equal to that or more, while avoiding the mines," explained Knuckles. "It looks like here you can move as fast as me, so what we have to do is get every ring that appears. I'll just do most of the work, but you try to get some rings too, just don't get hit. You can run on the walls and even the ceiling, but again, I'll do all—"
At this point, Knuckles realized that Kirby was just using his ability to shoot rings at both of them, getting their total well past thirty.
"Well never mind, then," Knux sighed.
Due to Kirby's ability, they managed to pass all the checkpoints with totals much more than what was necessary, and caught up to the Chaos Emerald, specifically the white one. Once they reached it, there was a flash of light.
"Sonic 1-3 Special Stage Victory Music"
End "Sonic Special Stage Victory Music"
After the flash, the two found themselves back where they were, except the special ring was gone, with the white Chaos Emerald in its place. Knuckles picked it up and placed it into an invisible pocket. "Uh, thanks for the help, but I'll do the rest myself. Now I can sense another Chaos Emerald coming from… the dimensional star in that direction," the echidna said as he vaguely motioned towards a direction in the sky. "Well, I'll be heading for the warpport."
Kirby started speaking. "Actually, I think I have a way to get to that dimensional star without having to figure out where it leads and without paying."
"Really? You do?"
"Yeah, just let me put the Rainbow Drops back together, and then I'll be back with it."
"Well, okay, but don't take too long or I'll just use the warpport."
Kirby then proceeded to walk away.
-I
-I
Meanwhile, at the Main Castle…
"Hey Toad, are there any missions?" Jon asked.
"There was one, but it's just been fixed," Toad responded.
"Oh, okay."
-I
-I
It was about an hour since Kirby left, and Knuckles was getting bored. He was about to leave, but he saw Kirby running towards him with what seemed to be a yellow star-shaped object about his size.
"It's about time, I was about to go without you," said Knuckles with his arms crossed and a scowl across his face. "So we're using that thing? I remember it from the tournament, but what is that anyway?"
Kirby pulled the star in front of him and dropped it onto the ground. However, as soon as he let it go, it started hovering above the ground while slowly spinning. "This is the warpstar. I use it to go places quickly, and despite it's size, it can hold up to five people, assuming two of them hang off the edges, so you should easily fit on it."
Knuckles looked at it a bit longer. "So, uh, where am I supposed to sit?"
"Just grab one of the arms, and its magic will prevent you from falling off too easily. Oh, and you can also breath in space using it."
Shrugging, Knuckles did so and once Kirby got on, the warpstar shot off at an incredible speed, though true to Kirby's words they were both easily able to hang on.
"Holy! This thing is fast! We've already left the planet!" exclaimed Knuckles as he looked around. They were already in space and were flying past the many strange shaped planets in the solar system. "Anyway, I better contact Sonic and Tails." Knuckles pulled a watch out from inside his gloves, though with a video screen, and pressed a button. After a while, a young, orange, two-tailed fox appeared on the screen.
"Oh, hey Knuckles, did you get another Chaos Emerald?" asked the boy genius, Tails.
"Yeah, the gray one, in Dreamland. Kirby's giving me a ride to another emerald right now."
"Well you're having better luck than us. We were attacked by some of Eggman and Wily's robots a few hours ago and our Chaos Radar was damaged. So, with your new emerald, that brings it up to three emeralds for us."
"So you were attacked too?" asked Knuckles.
"Yeah, but it wasn't anything me and Sonic couldn't handle, though Wily's Robot Masters gave us a pretty hard time. Did you have to fight them too?"
"Nah, just Nack, and he went down pretty quickly."
"I'm guessing they must be paying more attention to us because they consider us more of a threat… uh, no offense Knuckles, we all know how much of a threat you can be!"
Knuckles got an annoyed look on his face. "None taken."
Kirby finally took a chance to speak up. "We're approaching the region's limit."
"What, already? Anyway, Tails, I better go now." Knuckles pressed a button and the transmission ended.
The warpstar was approaching a region of space where you could just barely see a bunch of strangely colored stars. After a few second, the warpstar seemed to be caught in something and struggled to get through, shaking violently. After a few seconds, the shaking stopped, and the two found themselves surrounded by several colored stars, with a blue star behind them. They were in the skies of the Main Region.
"So which way should I go?" asked Kirby.
Knuckles pointed to a blue star some distance away, and the warpstar shot towards it, stopping right in front. "Are you sure it's this one?" Kirby asked.
Knuckles nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure. This is where the chaos energy is strongest."
The warpstar flew into the blue star, and after shaking similar to before, they found themselves in a new section of space, and they were already close to a planet. "It's on that planet, the one right in front of us, on the northern hemisphere." The warpstar flew to the hemisphere. "That country." The warpstar flew above the country. "The west part of the country." The warpstar flew above the west part of the country. "That region there." The warpstar flew above a region of the western part of the country. "That city." The warpstar flew above a city. "That building." The warpstar flew above the building and ended up crashing into it, sending both Knuckles and Kirby hurtling to the ground with an explosion. However, due to their gliding and flying skills, respectively, they managed to land safely. "That was one heck of a landing," commented Knuckles.
"Yeah, warpstars are pretty hard to control in small spaces."
"This wasn't exactly a small space."
"Shut up," Kirby ended the conversation.
-I
-I
"What the hell were you thinking, hiring someone like Nack, Todd?" asked a figure.
"Well, Pod, uh—" Todd responded.
"We're supposed to be helping the doctors gather the emeralds, like the shaded figure said!" exclaimed Pod.
"Shaded figure?"
"That's what we're supposed to be calling him! God, don't you remember anything! Seriously, he made that deal with the Space Pirates all those months ago, we should at least try to take advantage of them instead of hiring some small time bounty hunter!"
The third figure spoke up. "Look, can you calm down Claude?"
"Mod, what did I tell you about calling me my real name? Just call me Pod!"
"Look," Todd spoke up. "I told you people to call me Zod, as in 'kneel before Zod' before, but I don't complain about people calling me Todd 24-7 like you do."
"That's because you're stupid!" yelled Pod.
"No, what's stupid is that you two keep coming up with these nicknames, but you never do anything about the fact that all our names rhyme!" pointed out Mod. "Look, Pod, in this case, Todd was actually right about hiring Nack, because they wouldn't think to investigate any further if a small bounty hunter, who has a history with Robotnik, came after them, as opposed to an army of Space Pirates."
"Uh, well, sure, that's exactly what I was trying to do!" claimed Todd. "Anyway, I'm thinking of hiring another group of bounty hunters, okay Mod?"
"Uh, sure, who are you hiring?"
-I
-I
"So, what is this place?" Knuckles asked as he looked up at the very tall building, searching for a sign. "Do you see a sign anywhere?"
"What are you talking about, it's right there," Kirby said, pointing towards a huge sign right in front of them, which Knuckles was looking above of.
"Oh, uh, right."
The sign read, "WarioWare Inc. Headquarters," with, "The place for all of your microgame needs!" below it in smaller text.
"WarioWare?" asked Knuckles, "As in Wario, Mario's cousin?"
Kirby started explaining. "A few years ago, Wario came up with the bright idea of selling games that lasted only a couple of seconds, microgames, for a cheap, yet overpriced, cost. This made him a fortune, and even now he still owns the largest microgame manufacturer in Videoland, even with all the knock-offs. Given how greedy he is, he probably has the special ring with him."
"Yeah, I can sense it at the top floor, so let's just go up there and get it!"
OVERWORLD: WarioWare HQ…The two ran into the building only to crash into a group of people. A man said, "Come on you two, hurry up!" and the two red creatures were pretty much picked up and were carried a couple of yards.
"Not again!" exclaimed Knuckles. Kirby was confused by what he meant, but decided not to ask. They were put down into a group of other people, who were listening to a red-haired girl.
"Hi! Welcome to the tour of the headquarters of WarioWare Inc.! I'm Mona, and I'll be your tour guide for this! In case you're wondering, yes, I am the famous singer, and I'll be willing to give out autographs during the entire tour! So, anyone want an autograph?"
No one responded.
"Anyone?"
No one responded.
"…Okay, moving on. First, we'll be heading towards the offices, where the creative minds behind our incredible microgames work their magic!" Mona explained in an upbeat voice, but added under her breath, "For lower wages than a janitor, that cheapskate." She continued speaking in a cheerful tone. "Along the way, we'll be looking at the various rooms and the art and architecture of each! Please, follow me!"
R-
They go on the tour, meeting several WarioWare characters.
-R
"For the next thirty minutes, we'll be taking a break here in WarioWare's own restaurant, where you'll be able to taste the amazing food and be entertained by our live singers! There's even a karaoke bar, if you feel the need to sing, along with an area purely for discoing!" Mona explained as the group stopped in front of a pair of doors. She opened the doors, revealing a large, empty room filled with tables and chairs. There was another door leading to the dance pad, and at the other end of the room was the stage, where the blue karaoke machine Mike was singing that song from the Little Mermaid, "Under the Sea," except he was using the voice of Batman (from the Bruce Timm cartoons). It was actually quite nice. All of the people in the tour staggered into the room and sat at a table, including Knuckles and Kirby. However, due to lack of room, they were forced to sit with a shyguy.
The shyguy was quite ugly, and to add to it, he had quite a bit of scars. Kirby decided to start a conversation. "So, uh, I'm Kirby and this is Knuckles."
"Oh yeah, you're pretty famous. I'm Sid."
"So, uh, how'd you get those scars?"
"Back during the last SSB Tournament—the one where you were kidnapped, not the one a few months ago—I was attacked by a man that turned into a giant chicken, and then a giant owl."
"Oh… really?" asked Knuckles.
"… Did you just say 'o rly'?" Sid asked in fear.
"Uh, yeah, I guess. Is there a difference?"
Sid ran away screaming in fear, stopped once he reached the door, replied, "ya rly," and continued running away screaming.
"No wai!" exclaimed Kirby, officially ending the conversation.
At this point, the tour guide, Mona, seemed to remember something. "Oh no, I still have to deliver all those pizzas!" After saying that, she ran out of the door, and within a few seconds, you could see her driving away on a scooter.
At this point, Kirby realized something. "Knuckles, with the guide gone, we can go up to the top floor and get the emerald!"
"Hey, you're right, let's go." The red echidna was about to get up, but Kirby told him to stop. "What is it?"
"Do you have any money?"
"Tails left me with 1000 coins, why?" Knuckles said as he pulled a wallet out of his invisible pockets.
"I just took a look at the menu, and there's some food I haven't tried before that looks pretty good. We'll go after I've tried all of it."
"What! We can't think of food now!"
Kirby didn't take this rejection lightly, as he sucked Knuckles into his mouth, leaving the wallet behind on the table. Kirby called a waiter over, as Knuckles tried to break out of his mouth. Trying not to open his mouth, Kirby pointed at all of the items he hadn't eaten before, and the waiter seemed to understand, writing everything down as he went into the kitchen. It was at this point Knuckles managed to break out of his mouth.
"That… was disgusting," Knuckles commented. "Okay, fine, we'll eat for now."
Soon, all the food Kirby ordered was brought to the table, and he ate it all in one gulp. He rubbed his stomach. "Mmm, delicious."
"I wonder, since you could copy the rings, can you copy these coins?" asked Knuckles.
"I don't know, maybe." Kirby then sucked up the wallet, with all of the coins in it, and swallowed it only for nothing to happen. "Nope, nothing."
"Okay, now can you give me back my money?"
"Sorry, once I've eaten it, unless it's alive, it's gone for good."
"But all of my money was in there, now we can't pay for the food!"
"What was that?" asked the waiter who was bringing the tab over.
Knuckles sighed, grabbed Kirby, and ran out of the restaurant at full speed. "Help! Stop those men!" yelled the waiter. "They're eat-and-runs!"
"Okay, the ring's at the top of the building. We'll just take the elevator up there and get it!" Knuckles explained to Kirby as he easily outran the guards. Soon, they managed to find an open elevator and went inside, pressing the buttons to take them to the top floor. The doors closed and they started going up.
"Elevator Stage Music from any WarioWare game you want"When they went up, a huge "1" appeared before them, and the doors opened. There was a nose, with a finger below it moving left and right. Above that were instructions, "Pick nose." At the bottom was a graphic of a bomb with a lit fuse.
"Huh? What is this?" asked Knuckles.
"I guess to advance up in the elevator, you have to beat a microgame for each floor. That's probably what this button here is for," explained Kirby as he pointed to a group of four buttons labeled "A", "B", "L", and "R", arranged like in a Game Boy Advance. "It looks like this is still using the button games, not the new touch screen ones. It must be so any visitors can sample the games while they wait."
"Shouldn't playing the games just make them wait longer?"
"Yes, yes it would. Anyway, we probably have to beat twenty of the games to reach Wario."
At this point, time ran out for the microgame, and they ended up losing one of their four "lives".
"We can only lose three more times, so get ready!" exclaimed Kirby. They lost the next three games, unfortunately, and were thus sent back to the bottom floor.
End "Elevator Stage Music""… Maybe we should just take the stairs," suggested Knuckles.
"Yeah, good idea."
Thus, the two ran up the stairs, and after several minutes, they reached the top floor. They opened the door and ran into a hallway with blue carpet floors and a bunch of strange paintings on the walls—apparently of Wario's ancestors. "Okay, the ring is this way," Knuckles said as he turned to his left and started walking, only for two shurikens to appear before his feet with a "tshnk", sticking out of the ground.
"Hold it right there, shoplifters!" yelled a young girl from out of nowhere.
"Kat, I thought they left the restaurant without paying," said another voice.
"…You sure?"
"Yeah."
"Well, whatever!"
Smoke appeared before Knuckles and Kirby, and as it cleared two young girls were before them. "I'm Kat!" said one with pink hair. "And I'm Ana!" said the other, with orange hair. Then, they spoke together. "We're the elite—and adorable—ninja girls of WarioWare, and we're going to—aww, so cute " they said as they noticed Kirby. They ran up to him and started hugging and poking him, which didn't make Kirby to happy as he ate the two and spat them out the window, making them land on the roof one story below as opposed to crashing onto the ground.
"Were those Wario's body guards or something?" asked Knuckles. Kirby shrugged, when a voice yelled out from the room at the end of the hallway.
"WILL YOU IDIOTS SHUT UP! I'M COUNTING MONEY HERE!"
"That must be Wario," said Knuckles as he and Kirby ran into the room. In the room was Wario indeed counting money, while Jimmy T. and his family were dancing on the dance floor in the same room. Among the money was a large ring.
"Huh! What are you guys doing here!" yelled Wario. "No one's allowed in here without an appointment! Especially not guys from the Smash Bros. tournament!"
"Look, we'll leave as soon as you give us that ring!" explained Knuckles.
"That ring?" Wario asked. "&Hmm, this ring-thing must be worth a lot if he's after it. I better keep it&. Oh, that's just a family heirloom of mine, I definitely didn't find it lying on the street a few weeks ago!"
"Family heirloom? Well, have you seen a ring that looks like that recently?"
"Nope, sorry Mac."
"Well okay, sorry to bother you, it must be somewhere else in the building."
Kirby jumped up and smacked Knuckles in the head. "Are you an idiot? This is the exact same this King Dedede did!"
"Wait… it is?"
"Yeah, it is! No wonder it's taken you so long to find the other ones!"
"Hey! I resent that statement!"
Wario started speaking again. "Look, he's obviously lying! This ring isn't what you're looking for! You would you rather trust: me, good old Trustworthy Wario; or a puny puffball that is pink, despite being male! I repeat, a pink man!"
"Well… wait, aren't you wearing a pink pair of pants?" asked Knuckles. "And come to think of it, my Super form is pink too…"
Wario growled, "Okay fine, I admit defeat, I actually found this ring a few weeks ago on the street. So now, maybe you could tell me what the big deal about this thing is."
"Wait, you were lying to me!" shouted Knuckles as he raised his fist.
"Look, calm down, Mac, I'll give you the ring, just say what's so important!"
Knuckles brought down his fists. "Alright, I'll explain." He explained what happened, which isn't anything you haven't heard before.
"Chaos Emeralds, you say?" commented Wario as he stroked his chin. "Say, I'll make you guys a deal. If you beat me in three laps around the Figure-8 Course in kart racing, I'll give you the ring. If I win, I keep the ring and… you'll have to make three microgames all together for me, all original."
"And what's stopping us from taking it now?" asked Knuckles.
"This is what's stopping you! Jimmy T.!" Wario yelled.
"Aw yeah," Jimmy said as he and his family surrounded the ring. They struck a pose, and a glowing barrier shaped like a disco ball appeared around it. "Funk Barrier."
"Crap, we'll never get through that!" admitted Knuckles.
"How about we make you a deal, too?" Kirby started. "If we lose, we'll get the Chaos Emerald from the Special Stage for you."
"What do you think I am!" exclaimed Wario. "You'll just take it for yourself! Besides, I always do treasure hunts myself. I don't even trust my brother, Waluigi, with my treasure! No deal!"
"Okay, fine, we'll accept. Take us to the track," said Knuckles.
R-
They go to the track and set up for the race. Waluigi is going to be Wario's racing partner, while Kirby and Knuckles are partners. Whichever whole team crosses first wins.
-R
All four karts were lined up along the Start/Finish Line when a lakitu carrying a traffic light flew up in front of them. The first light turned red, then the second. At this point, all four karts started revving up in order to boost at the start. The light turned green, and they were off. At first, Wario and Waluigi were behind Kirby and Knuckles due to their lower acceleration, but their high top speed soon came into play and they started catching up. Wario pressed a button on his dashboard, and all of a sudden, a Bullet Bill cannon appeared in the exact middle of the track, behind them, and started firing towards the two red protagonists. Knuckles and Kirby were forced to swerve away from the blasts, and were passed by the Wario brothers.
"Why you cheap little… you can't do that!" exclaimed Knuckles to Wario.
"Of course I can! Bullet Bills are allowed as obstacles! It's not my fault it's only firing at you two!" Wario pointed out.
Another round of Bills fired towards the two, but Kirby sucked them all up and spit them into the air as a star. "Knuckles, jump up and punch it to the cannon!"
"Well, I'm not the best jumper, but I'll try," Knuckles said as he leaped up from his kart and spiked the star towards the cannon, destroying it, and glided back to his kart.
Wario scowled as he and his brother started drifting around the curves and drove into the outer two item boxes, getting a banana and a green shell respectively, which they held behind their cars for protection from red shells, while powering up a drift-boost. Knuckles and Kirby did the same thing, drifting around the curve, but they stuck to the curve and drove into the inner two item boxes, getting a red shell and a triple mushroom respectively, when suddenly a trap door opened up below Kirby and he was sent falling, but he was pulled out by a lakitu and placed just in front of the item boxes, though he was now far behind everyone else.
"What the hell just happened!" asked Knuckles as he looked back.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you—there're trap doors all around the track, and only we know where they are!" revealed Waluigi. "Oh, and there are also other things, such as this!" With that, the brothers activated their drift-boosts before the curve ended, and right as the boost ended, they started speeding up again.
"Hidden boosts!" Knuckles said as he tried to same thing, releasing the drift boost in the same place, and he too was sped up.
"You know, we probably shouldn't have shown him that boost at this point," Waluigi said.
"Yeah, it's more supposed to be a trump card in the final lap thing," agreed Wario. At that point, a loud whirring sound could be heard. "Aw crap! Come on, we gotta start drifting again! If we boost at the right time, we can avoid it!" It was a Spiky Blue Shell, a supposedly impossible to avoid item that would home in directly on the person in first place, also hitting anyone nearby. It is also impossible to block, making their bananas and shells useless. Unfortunately, despite their efforts, the Blue Shell crashed into Wario and took Waluigi with him. "Gah!" they yelled as the explosion spun them into the air and they were passed by Knuckles, while Kirby—the one who threw the shell—didn't, though he got much closer behind them.
"Why you little! You think you may have gotten us with that shell, but we'll pass you just up ahead!" exclaimed Waluigi.
On cue, a trap door opened up below Knuckles and he dropped in, only to be carried up by the lakitu and dropped back onto the field. Wario and Waluigi passed him and skillfully swerved around the trap door locations. At this point, Kirby has passed Knuckles. "Hey, I think I know a way to get around those traps! Just follow behind me!" Kirby said.
"Well, okay!" Knuckles drove his kart directly behind Kirby and started drafting—a process where you speed up by going behind your opponent, reducing wind resistance, and if you do this long enough, you get a boost. At that point, Kirby sucked in air and puffed up his body to over five times its normal size, causing his pinkness to spill over the sides of the kart—though he was somehow still able to steer. At that point, a trap door opened up underneath Kirby, but his puffed up body prevented the kart from going in and, in fact, bounced him up into the air. Right as he bounced, Knuckles had draft-boosted onto the pink orb and was spent flying into the air, sending him right over that area of the of the track and landing right in front of Waluigi and Wario. While Kirby passed the area too, he was still a bit behind everyone else, and he was now at his normal size.
"What!" the brothers exclaimed as Knuckles started hugging the upcoming curve and crashed into the innermost item box, getting a green shell. The two brothers, however, started drifting into the outer two boxes, and made a sharp turn into the wall just barely getting their items.
"Huh? They'll crash if they do that!" pointed out Kirby as he watched from behind. However, instead of crashing into the wall, they flew right over it and landed on the other side of the track, ahead of Knuckles. "A hidden ramp!" Kirby then checked to see what items they had on his dashboard viewing-screen. "Waluigi has a mushroom, being in third place… but how did Wario get a star when he was in second! The box he used must be a trick item box that always gives good items!" Kirby then drove into the box Wario used, but was caught in a trap door directly ahead of it—that must have been why Wario just barely touched it. Kirby fell in and was placed directly in front of the item boxes.
"Are you kidding me!" Knuckles said as he saw the brothers quickly land just ahead of him, and then drove into a hidden boost just ahead of where they landed. Knuckles followed after them using the same boost and crossed the Finish Line, ending his first lap. Suddenly, Kirby caught up with him—he used the item box to get a golden mushroom and, upon using the ramp and the following boost, boosted like crazy.
"It looks like we'll have to use the ramp here too," commented Waluigi to Wario as he looked back. There was a hidden ramp just as the curve began, and they drifted into it, which made it so that the karts would face the right direction when they landed. Right after where they landed was the boost, which they used the same way they did with the last ramp. However, this proved to be ineffective as Kirby and Knuckles did the exact same thing. "Don't we have any more traps!"
"Well, there were those mini-Bill guns, but those were destroyed with the Bullet Bill launcher… wait, we still have Sir Caliente the Angry Sun!" Wario exclaimed as he pressed a button on his dashboard. Waluigi and Wario then used their mushroom and star, respectively, to boost ahead. At that point, the sun got an angry face and started hovering over Knuckles and Kirby, revealing that the real sun was behind it the entire time. "You know, let's just shut off the trap doors in this part, they'll just slow us down, especially now that those guys can somehow get past them," he said as he pressed another button and did just that.
The Angry Sun started dropping fireballs at Knuckles and Kirby, which they swerved around skillfully, though all the turns were slowing them down. After about ten fireballs, the sun dove down and crashed into Knuckles' kart, knocking it into the wall and setting it on fire. "Knuckles!" Kirby exclaimed. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Knuckles said as he drove the kart back onto the track and the flames disappeared.
"Do you think you could jump up and hit it?" asked Kirby.
"Sorry, that sun's way too high."
"I see… wait, I have an idea!" Kirby then used his suction powers to suck Knuckles and his kart into his mouth, and then spat them at the Angry Sun as a star. The attack hit dead on and the sun fell to the ground, with Knuckles and the kart, back in their original forms, landing back on the track.
"Look, could you ask me before you do that again?"
Wario and Waluigi drove to the outer rim of the road, and skidded into the outermost item boxes—just barely getting them—and drove onto the ramp that boosted them past the curve and straight to the straightaway. They got a triple mushroom and a banana respectively. By this point, Knuckles and Kirby were far enough behind for both item boxes to have regenerated by the time they got there, so they did the same thing the brothers did, getting a star and a Bullet Bill respectively as they flew over the curve. However, as they drove into the curve, Knuckles crashed into the banana, which Waluigi had laid there, and was sent spinning for a second, greatly slowing him down. At this point, both of them activated their items and were sent flying past the finish line, on the final lap.
Knuckles managed to use the hidden ramp to cross over the curve, but Kirby's Bullet Bill item, which prevented him from greatly changing his direction, took him around it, but they both managed to get much closer to the brothers than before. However, Wario then used his triple mushroom to boost ahead. They soon reached they trick item box, with Wario still in the lead, and he ignored the item for some reason, heading straight for the ramp and going across. The reasoning behind this was discovered as Waluigi, who was now only just a bit ahead of Knuckles and Kirby, took the item and prevented them from getting it. The three of them crossed on the ramp, but Waluigi had gotten a Bob-Omb from the item box and the two behind him were caught in the explosion. By the time they recovered, Wario had crossed the Finish Line, with Waluigi soon afterwards. The winner of the race was Team Wario.
"Well crap," commented Kirby as he and Knuckles crossed the line in third and fourth place, respectively. Now that the race is over, feel free to take a look at a map of the track, with all of the non-mobile traps included (See review).
"Well, you guys know the deal!" said Wario. "I'll be waiting for my three games. And make sure they use the new touch screen!"
"This is crazy! You were cheating and you know it!" exclaimed Knuckles.
"Cheating, huh? Don't you mean, 'knowing the layout of the track and taking advantage of my environment?' It's perfectly legal!"
R-
They argue for a bit longer, but they decide to comply.
-R
"Well, we finally managed to make our first game!" exclaimed Kirby.
"After three hours, though," responded Knuckles.
The game in question was a simple game where you tapped a floating Kirby on the touch screen and avoid objects this way.
A whip smacked across their backs. "Work, dammit!" exclaimed a tiny red creature that resembled a devil.
"Red, we just finished a game," said Kirby.
"Good, now make two more, or who knows what Ashley will do to you!" Red then smacked the whip against their backs again and turned to the other slaves/game developers. "And you can't slack off either!" With that, he whipped them too.
"Grr, I'm getting tired of that retarded chao-thing!" exclaimed Knuckles.
"Getting?"
"Let's just hurry up and come up with the next game. Can you think of anything?"
"…"
"Well?"
"I'm thinking… Nope, nothing. You?"
"No. Wait, maybe one where you have to look for a face on a globe—"
"Already been done."
"Damn. Now let's see…"
Red yelled, "Work dammit!" as he whipped them again.
"You know what? Screw this, I'm getting that ring," Knuckles said as he got up and started climbing up the wall.
"Hey, you can't do that! I'm calling security!" cried Red as he flew away. When Knuckles reached the ceiling, he punched a hole straight through it and climbed up to the next floor. Sunlight poured into the room from the windows in the above hallway, and the programmers screamed in horror as the light burned their eyes. "Oh, wait, that's right, Wario had the phones removed so the programmers couldn't call for help. Meh, whatever. All you other guys, keep working!" Red smacked the whip again, despite complaints about the light.
"… I got it! For the next two games, we could—oh wait," Kirby said as he looked around and flew up the hole Knuckles created.
"Great, another one," Red said. He looked around and noticed that, now that they got used to the light, the programmers were piling up on one another to reach the hole and escape. "Jeez, Ashley will be pissed."
R-
They take the Special Ring and encounter Nack outside of the building. Before they can fight, however, Wario comes out of nowhere and knocks Nack into a building. At this point, Kirby makes a deal with him—if he lets them have the emerald, they'll pay him back later with two emeralds. Knuckles initially disagrees, but becomes convinced when Dr. Crygor shows up in a mecha. Wario agrees, but decides to tag along with them to make sure they keep the deal. They jump into the Special Ring.
I actually did have this part written, but it got deleted through a screw-up, so… yeah.
-R
There was a flash of light, and they found themselves in a new area.
SPECIAL STAGE: Break the Targets! …Knuckles and Kirby found themselves in a large open area with several platforms. It would be bothersome trying to describe the locations of all of them, so just take a look at the included picture (See review) which also includes the paths taken by our heroes.
"Break the Targets Theme from Super Smash Brothers Melee""Break the Targets, huh?" commented Knuckles. "Like in the tournament? Then this should be a piece of cake!"
"There seems to be a map of the area on the floor here," Kirby said as he pointed downwards to a copy of the above map, without the paths of course. "I'll take the ones to the right, while you take the ones on the left. Got it?"
"Yeah, whatever."
Kirby started off by filling himself with air and flying up to the small horizontal area where the curvy area bent and kicked the target located there, smashing it into pieces. Then, turning around, he started flying up to a target floating in free space and destroyed it with a burst of air. Without air, he started falling towards the third target, located below the first one he hit and quickly smashed it before he filled up with air again and flew onto the above platform.
Meanwhile, Knuckles had hopped onto the connected platforms below and fell through the thin, central ground into the box containing the target. He quickly punched it and hopped back onto the start platform. From there, he hopped onto the higher platform and destroyed the next target by jumping below the third platform, punching it in midair, and using his unique skill of gliding through the air to attach to the wall. Using his spiky knuckles, his namesake, Knuckles started climbing up the wall and climbed over the top. He then jumped down in order to hit the next target, and reattached to the wall.
From the platform he was on, Kirby used his flying skills to reach the rightmost platform and smashed the target there. He then jumped from there, kicked the rightmost target, and returned to the platform with a single puff. "Wait, I was sure there was one more target in this area…"
Knuckles looked in front of him as he landed on the highest platform. "I think I can take both of the targets out in one attack if I do this…" After saying that, he curled up into a ball and started spinning in place—the Spin Dash, a move he shared with Sonic and several others—and boosted towards the two remaining targets. He crashed through the first target without signs of slowing down, and flew right off of the edge, launching into the last target in mid-air. At that point, a large message appeared saying, "Game!"
There was a flash of light.
End "Break the Targets Theme"
"Super Smash Bros. Melee (Classic and Adventure Mode) Victory Music"
End "SSBM Victory Music"
After the flash, the two found themselves back where they were, except the special ring was gone, with the red Chaos Emerald in its place.
"It's about time you losers got back," stated Wario. "So that's a Chaos Emerald, huh? Funny, I thought they would be green. Well, whatever, it still looks like it'd be worth a lot. Whad'ya say I hold onto that emerald for now?"
"Not a chance!" Knuckles exclaimed.
"Jeez, calm down," Kirby said as he picked up the Chaos Emerald. "Wario will be with us the entire time, and besides, he won't try anything until he has the two emeralds he was promised. Even if he did try something, we could just beat him up."
"Okay fine, but I'm still not letting him hold the emerald," said Knuckles as he took the emerald from Kirby and placed it in invisible pockets. Wario started spinning really fast, until he became a blur, and when he stopped spinning, he was suddenly in his classic yellow outfit.
"Well, I'm ready when you losers are! Where's the rest of the treasure?"
"Hey! The Chaos Emeralds aren't treasure! They're invaluable gems of unknown power that can be very dangerous in the wrong hands!"
"Wouldn't the fact that they're invaluable make them treasure?" asked Kirby.
"Don't tell me you're on his side!" exclaimed Knuckles.
"What are you talking about? I'm just saying its treasure. I think you're acting a bit paranoid."
"Okay, fine, whatever, they're treasure. Anyway, the next emerald is… over there," Knuckles stated, pointing.
"It's in that building?" asked Wario. "Heh, I've always wanted an excuse to smash that place up, and treasure's as good as any!"
"No you idiot, why would two emeralds be so close together, none the less in the same region! It's a dimensional star in that direction. We can reach it using Kirby's warpstar, which is right over there."
"You calling me an idiot, you mutant freak!"
"Look, calm down, let's just go," Kirby said as he, Knuckles, and Wario got on the warpstar. The warpstar flew a foot into the air, shook greatly, and then crashed into the ground.
"Well come on, let's go!" exclaimed Wario.
"We can't! The warpstar won't go!" explained Kirby.
"Well why not!"
Knuckles asked, "Was it damaged in the crash?"
Kirby shook his head. "No, it's perfectly fine. It just has too much weight on it." Kirby and Knuckles looked at Wario.
"Oh, okay, fine, I know when I'm not wanted," Wario said as he got off the warpstar.
"Well, it looks like you can't come with us after all," Knuckles commented with a grin.
"Yeah, you'd think that, wouldn't you?" Wario said as he looked up into the sky and after a few seconds, found what he was looking for—a pink UFO with a pig nozzle on it. Wario picked up a medium-sized rock and threw it at high speeds towards the ship. It hit, and the ship was sent crashing into the ground. Wario ran up to it, jumped in, and threw out the alien riding inside, and after a few minutes, he managed to get the ship running again and it was soon hovering above the ground.
"Crap, I thought we could lose him here," said Knuckles with a sigh. "Well anyway, let's go." The warpstar took off from the ground, and flew into space, followed by the ship. "Hey, wait, we're going a lot slower than before! What's the big deal?"
"I'm going this slow so Wario can keep up with us," explained Kirby.
"You WANT him to keep up with us?"
"Well, yeah. Sure, he's annoying, but we could always use some more help on this search. Besides, you don't have to give him the two emeralds, you could just ditch him after this entire thing's over."
"I guess you're right. Still, I'd like to get this over with."
-I
-I
Meanwhile, at the Main Castle…
"Hey Toad, are there any missions?" Jon asked.
"There was one, but Wario solved the problem," Toad responded.
"Oh, okay."
-I
-I
After several hours, Knuckles, Kirby, and Wario found themselves in a new region and were floating in a seemingly empty area of space. "Yeah, it's right around here. In fact, it's right ahead, past all that junk," Knuckles said, pointing towards a bunch of space debris.
"We'll have to be careful not to crash into anything. Are you ready, Wario?" Kirby asked.
"Hah! Like a bunch of junk would keep me away from my treasure!"
"By the way, how can he hear us?" asked Knuckles. "And how can we hear him? We're pretty far away from each other."
"Oh, the warpstar can also act as a two-way radio for other ships," Kirby explained.
"Strange… but whatever. The ring is in the center of that junk cloud."
OVERWORLD: SECTOR Z…"Sector Z?" Kirby asked. "Now where have I heard that before?"
"Wasn't it one of the stages in the tournament?" Knuckles said.
"Oh, right, from Team Star Fox's world. This was where Andross was building his secret weapon years ago."
"So is it dangerous?"
"Star Fox probably took out most of the enemies here, but there might still be some left."
A small robot flew out from behind some debris and fired a blast of energy towards the warpstar and ship. They both quickly dodged out of the way. "Like that one," Kirby added.
"Stand back, let me take care of that pest!" Wario exclaimed as he turned his pig ship around to face the robot, and fired a gray object at it, surrounded by a green aura. It hit, and the robot exploded, leaving behind more of the green aura.
"…Was that an onion?" asked Knuckles.
"Yes, it was," Kirby confirmed.
As they moved on through the junk, some more robots started flying out. "Great, more of them!" Knuckles exclaimed.
"We'll have to let Wario take care of it—he's the only one with a projectile weapon," said Kirby. The warpstar frantically avoided the blasts as Wario fired his deadly onions at the robots. However, some of the robots were getting dangerously close to them.
Knuckles punched a few of the robots that were near, knocking them away and destroying them. "It looks like we'll have to fight, too."
Kirby sucked in one of the enemies and gained the Beam ability, which allowed his to create basically a whip of electricity, though if he charged it up, he could also fire a powerful energy blast. Kirby did just that, powering up his ability for a few seconds before firing a ball of energy towards an unlucky enemy. Soon, all of the enemies were defeated.
"Well, I guess we're done here," Knuckles commented. "The ring is just up ahead."
"Not so fast," a voice said from the warpstar's radio.
They barely had enough time to dodge a series of laser blasts as a group of ships dove past.
"Wha! Star Wolf!" Kirby exclaimed.
"Star Wolf Theme" from Star Fox Assault"Allow us to introduce ourselves," said a voice on the radio. "I'm Wolf O'Donnell, leader of Star Wolf."
"I'm Leon, the face of your doom!" said another voice.
"And I'm Panther. All who see my rose meet death!" stated the last voice.
"Now, if you just hand over the emeralds you've gathered so far, we'll leave you alone," said Wolf. "If not, we'll blast you straight to hell!"
The three were riding in Wolfens, powerful ships that resembled Star Fox's Arwings.
"You're those clowns from the tournament, right? Like hell I'm going to hand over my treasure to losers like you!" yelled Wario.
"My treasure? Aren't you getting ahead of yourself?" asked Knuckles. "Though, however, I agree with you."
"I guess we should have expected such from you, but in case you haven't noticed, our firepower is far superior to yours," pointed out Leon.
"Just one question: exactly how did you find us?" asked Kirby.
"Your two-tailed friend isn't the only one to have developed Chaos Radar. Dr. Robotnik provided us our own copies of it so we could get the emeralds for him," explained Panther.
"That must have been how Nack was following me," Knuckles realized.
Suddenly, an explosion shook the three Wolfens that were hovering in place.
"What! Did they attack!" Panther asked as his ship, and the others, flew away from the blast.
"You rang?" answered a voice. It was Nack, riding on a larger version of his bike, the Marvelous Queen.
"You again!" Knuckles exclaimed.
"You think I'm going to let some other two-bit bounty hunter get my cash reward!" Nack yelled. "Well you're wrong!" With that, he launched a missile towards the Wolfens, but with a burst of speed, they managed to dodge it. It followed after Wolf, but it was blasted away by Leon.
"Let's take out this loser before our target gets away!" ordered Wolf. The wolfens spread out and came at Nack from three directions. Nack dodged the laser fire and countered with his own.
"Quick, while they're busy, let's go get the special ring," suggested Wario.
"There's no way we can escape them like this!" exclaimed Knuckles. "At least, not with Wario in tow," he added under his breath.
"What was that, you red-haired hippy!"
"Actually, in this world, the warpstar's top speed isn't much faster than what we were going at before," Kirby revealed.
"Huh? Why's that?" asked Knuckles.
"You see, despite having humanlike animals and such, this region has more 'reals' than both my region and the Mushroom Kingdom's region. Though my warpstar is able to travel in any region, the speed greatly depends on the reals."
"So in other words we couldn't get away even if we abandoned Wario."
"That's right."
"Why I oughta…" Wario grumbled.
"Wait, actually, I have an idea," revealed Kirby. "Let's just head for the ring for now and I'll explain on the way." They did just that and Kirby started his explanation. "Depending on what the special stage is, we don't necessarily have to get the emerald right away, right? Since, from what you've told me, the ring disappears while we're in it, Star Wolf won't know where we are. If they don't see us enter, they'll probably assume that we escaped with the ring."
"That's a great idea!" exclaimed Knuckles. "The special ring is just up ahead."
After traveling for a bit, they, indeed, came up to the ring. Kirby lost his Beam ability to become Ring Kirby and summoned 20 rings. The rings were thrown into the special ring, which started glowing rainbow colors.
Meanwhile…
"Sheesh, that was even easier than I thought it'd be," commented Leon. "As soon as we got the shield down, he ran like a coward."
"Don't look now, but our target's gone," pointed out Panther.
"They should be going for the emerald, so let's head towards that," ordered Wolf.
The wolfens made a sharp turn and boosted at full speed to the nearest emerald on the Chaos Radar, and after a few minutes, they came within range of the other three. "There they are! Shoot to kill," ordered Wolf. He and the others fired blasts towards their foes.
"Crap, it's them!" exclaimed Wario.
"Quick, into the Special Stage!" Kirby advised as all three entered, even though they logically wouldn't be able to fit in the ring.
"After them!" yelled Leon as he and the other two Wolfens flew in the ring too. The Ring disappeared soon after.
SPECIAL STAGE: Star Fox (SNES) Out of This Dimension…
"Music From Aforementioned Level"
"Wait, I just realized," said Knuckles.
"What?" asked Kirby.
"Don't they have Chaos Radar? Even if they didn't follow us in, they still would have realized where we were."
"Oh… oh, right. I forgot they had that."
Team Star Wolf looked at their surroundings. "Wha-What's with this place!" asked Leon. "The sky's all… freaky!"
"I think this is a Special Stage, where the emeralds are being held," commented Panther.
"Leon, you idiot, why did you tell us to follow them! We should have just waited outside the ring until they reappeared!" yelled Wolf.
"Well sorry, but I thought they were using a normal warp. Anyone would make that mistake!" Leon defended himself.
"Well, we need to pull it together. We've been acting really sloppy this mission, and we can't let the target escape now!" advised Wolf.
"Wolf, there's a group of unidentified objects coming in on the radar," Panther said.
"Huh!"
Knuckles looked ahead. "Wha! Is that… paper!"
True to his word, there were several large pieces of paper, that then folded up into paper airplanes and flew towards the ships.
"What? What the hell are those doing here!" Panther asked.
"They won't be here for long!" Leon yelled. Leon started off by firing blasts towards one, and to his surprise, it took multiple blasts to take them down. In response, the paper airplanes started firing back, but everyone managed to dodge. "Annoying pests!" Leon yelled.
"Let's take these things out first!" Wolf commanded. The wolfens flew towards the strange enemies and started attacking, leaving Knuckles, Kirby, and Wario in peace.
"…So, uh, what now?" asked Knuckles.
"I guess we have to reach the end of this path to get the emerald," Kirby suggested. "Let's just continue forward, I guess."
"Hmm… those guys are distracted… the perfect time to strike!" Wario declared. He pulled out an onion from the ammo. "Time to achieve my ultimate form!" He devoured the onion whole and started glowing. Light filled his spacecraft, and it exploded, revealing a shadowy figure in the dust cloud. "Faster than a pretzel, stronger than a piece of cardboard! The one, and only!" The dust cleared, revealing Wario in pajamas and a cape. "WARIOMAN!"
"Huh! And I thought this place was weird enough!" Knuckles exclaimed as he looked at Wario's new form.
"What does he think he's doing!" queried Kirby.
Warioman made several poses, floating through space… until Wolf accidentally crashed into him and got stuck to the window, blocking the engines in addition to that.
"Huh! You idiot, what are you doing! I'm out of control!" Wolf yelled.
Wario yelled, "Aren't you supposed to be a hotshot pilot or something! Why'd ya crash into me!"
"Well forgive me if I was busy with those paper things!"
"…You know, something tells me this wasn't a good idea," Wario said to himself as he and Wolf flew into a wormhole and disappeared from the Special Stage.
"…Where did that wormhole come from?" asked Kirby.
R-
Knuckles and Kirby fight Leon and Panther. They manage to knock them into the exact same wormhole (which Knuckles finds very odd) with Kirby's copy ability and Knuckles' Chaos Emerald Attacks, which are the same as the ones from Sonic Adventure 2 VS Mode.
-R
End "Out of This Dimension Theme"
"When the Saints Go Marching In"
Knuckles saw something ahead. "Huh! Is that…"
Kirby finished, "… a giant paper slot machine?"
There wasn't really much more to say about it in terms of physical description… it was a giant paper slot machine.
"… I guess we have to get a jackpot or something to get the emerald," commented Knuckles. Kirby moved the warpstar closer and Knuckles punched down the lever. They got a bar, and Andross picture, and a seven, which yielded no result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. No result. They tried again. They got three sevens, and the slot machine spewed out coins like crazy. Then, it exploded, engulfing everyone in light.
End "When the Saints Go Marching In"After the flash, the two found themselves back where they were, except the special ring was gone, with the green Chaos Emerald in its place.
"Holy ----, that took forever!" Knuckles exclaimed.
"Okay, I officially hate that place. I never want to go there again," stated Kirby.
Knuckles snatched the emerald and placed it in his invisible pockets.
"You know, even though he was annoying and all, Wario doesn't really deserve to float through that place until he dies, and neither does Star Wolf," commented Kirby.
"Actually, you don't have to worry about that," said Knuckles. "No matter where you are in the Special Stage, you'll end up back in the real world once it ends. I'm guessing that since they used those warps to get off the main path, they were sent off elsewhere."
"Well, I guess that makes me feel better. And by the way, I guess you won't have to give him those emeralds now. Hey, it's almost time for dinner, isn't it?" Kirby then started moving the warpstar towards the region limit.
"Uh, yeah, in the Main Region and most regions' primary nations it is," Knuckles said as he looked at his watch. "Oh, and that reminds me, I have to contact Sonic and Tails." Knuckles pressed a button on his watch, and after a while Tails appeared on the screen. He didn't look too happy.
"Oh, hey Knuckles. I assume you're having better luck than we are? We managed to take one emerald from Eggman since you last called, but that still brings it up to three."
"Actually, I managed to get two more emeralds since I last called!"
Tails' face lit up. "What! Really! Sheesh, it took you months before just to figure out where that Dreamland emerald was, and now you're finding one every few hours! What's going on?"
"Kirby's warpstar is a lot faster than using the warpports, and it's much easier locating them when I can go straight into the dimensional stars."
"Well anyway, that brings up our total to six! We only have one left. However, I have to warn you about something—the last emerald was taken by Eggman and is currently being held in a Space Pirate base. It'll be really dangerous, so you should probably wait for us."
"Don't worry, I can handle this myself."
"Well… if you're confident then I guess you can go yourself. But remember, it isn't a good idea to break in and go on a rampage. Try to be stealthy, at least."
"Yeah, whatever."
"Well, bye." Tails disconnected.
Kirby looked at Knuckles. "So only the two of us are going to take the emerald from the Space Pirate base?"
"Well, you don't have to help if you don't want to."
"You should at least have Jon help. That's what he's there for, after all."
"You mean Captain N? We don't need his help."
"Well, still…"
"Anyway, let's just go to the closest restaurant when we get out in the Main Region."
-I
-I
"Crap! I can't find them anywhere!" complained Todd. "I guess entering the Special Stage must have shorted out the trackers."
"Jeez, can't you even do this right with Star Wolf helping? Anyway, don't you think Fox and Wolf together look so ka—" responded Pod.
"I don't want to hear about your sick fantasies, okay."
"It's not sick, it's sug—"
"Ah! Ah!" Todd yelled as he covered his ears. "I don't want to hear it, Pod!"
"…Ba—"
"Anyway, where's that last emerald again?"
"It's in that one Space Pirate base. Maybe you'll actually succeed in protecting this emerald with so many people helping."
"Look, I'm tired of you looking down on me! I can kick your ass any day and you know it!"
"Like hell you can! I'll show you, right now! Kab—"
"Look, I don't think Mod would approve of us fighting," Todd interrupted. "I'll show you my power by beating up those wankers myself!" Todd turned around and left the area.
Pod just stood there for a several seconds. "Well, I might as well get back to my dou—"
-I
-I
The two landed (crashed) in front of a restaurant. As they were about to head in, Kirby suddenly realized. "Crap, we don't have money!"
"Wait, actually, I think I have some—"
"I ate that, remember? And those coins from the Special Stage disappeared as soon as we left."
"… Oh, right… well, anyway, I'll just get some from that bank account Tails set up for me."
Thus that problem was solved.
-I
-I
Jon walked up to Toad. "Hey Toad, any—"
"NO, DAMMIT!"
"… Well okay then…"
-I
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In a nearby region, in deep space, there was a large asteroid floating around a planet. On a small corner of the asteroid was a cluster of domes connected by tunnels both large and small, which several other chambers underneath the ground. This was Space Pirate Base Uyrias Neven-ory (Green Fifty-Six), a large, but relatively unimportant base, and where the last Special Ring was being kept until it could be transferred to a higher-level location. Knuckles and Kirby approached the base and stopped within a mile of it.
"Okay, I've been to Space Pirate bases before. They tend to have an energy shield surrounding them, but they're only strong enough to block the stray dust and rocks flying through space that could crash and damage the base. The warpstar should easily be able to get through," explained Kirby. "Though, it will still be a bit rough, and we'll set off the alarm once we get through."
The warpstar reared back, and dashed into the barrier at full speed. After a second of shaking, they broke through and slowed to a stop as they entered. Since the inside of the shield contained air, they could just barely hear the alarm going off in the base. After a few seconds of stillness, the warpstar reared back again and crashed into the farthest part of the base. Inside the building, the various Space Pirate troops started heading towards the crash site.
Meanwhile, Knuckles and Kirby landed on top of a dome in the nearest side of the base—they had jumped off right as the warpstar started its crash course. "Well, if my sense is right, then the Special Ring should be right here in this dome, towards the center," the echidna stated. Knuckles got on his knees, pulled his fist back, and smashed it into the ground, creating a large hole for the two to enter. They jumped in and landed in a dark room full of machinery, and Knuckles tapped the ground. "Well, this floor's much harder than the one around the dome, so I can't punch through," he explained.
"I guess we'll just have to sneak down. You can tell if we're on the same floor, right?" asked Kirby.
"Yeah, I can."
The two opened the blue-bubble door out of the room and found themselves in a surprisingly bright hallway. There was a group of Space Pirates down the hall, but they managed to sneak into the elevator before they noticed. They used the elevator to go down several floors before Knuckles had them stop. As soon as the doors opened, two Space Pirates came in, stopped once they saw the two, and started firing. Thankfully, they seemed to be low-ranked pirates and went down in a hit each. They went down the hallway and eventually came to a door sealed with a missile shield. "The ring's behind here." Knuckles winded up his arm, and swung his fist into the door, cracking the shield in several places but not quite breaking it. He did it again, and the door turned into a normal blue-bubble door as the shield fell off. The two went inside. "This room is pretty big," Knuckles commented as he looked around, and among several boxes was the Special Ring, floating in the air. "Now that we have the ring, we should head back to the warpstar. With the Space Pirates realizing that there's no one near the crash site, they'll be searching elsewhere for us, so we'll just have to deal with a few guards instead of the entire base." As Knuckles picked up the ring, the door opened up again.
Knuckles and Kirby turned to see someone run into the room panting. It was a red stick figure with what seemed to be a pair of broadswords on his back that were drawn just as simply as he was. He didn't look like Mr. Game and Watch, but was the type one would draw when rushing an English project requiring drawings, though the lines were much thicker. The circle forming his head went in a bit at the top, forming a hair-like strand at that pointed to the figure's left. The head was completely transparent, except for the outline and a curved line forming the mouth—he was missing every other part of the face.
The stick figure stopped two meters from the two and put his hands on his knees, continuing his panting. "Sorry I'm late, I was supposed to be waiting for you here but something came up."
Kirby and Knuckles looked at him for a few seconds. "Uh… is this some kind of Space Pirate experiment or something?" Knuckles asked.
"Maybe this is some project to create a clone of King Game and Watch or something?" Kirby responded. "But he looks way too simple to pass for him."
The stick figure responded, "Well, you can blame my simplicity on my creators! My name is Todd, but you can call me Zod, as in 'Kneel before Zod', and I'm here to kick your… uh… cod, bod, mod, rod—ROD! I'm here to kick your rod!"
"…Jeez, is this the best the Space Pirates here can do?" asked Kirby.
"Hey! Don't you dare talk behind my back right in front of me! I'm a lot stronger than I look! Of the three RPers Todd, Pod, and Mod, I am the ATK, DEF, and SPD master! Fear my might!" Todd pulled out his two broadswords.
"Wait, so there are three of you?"
"Oh, yeah, uh, Claude—err, Pod is the master of MATK, MDEF, and some other thing, and Mod… Mod… crap, what did he do? … Oh, whatever, anyway, due to the way I was made, I'm restricted to turn based attacks. Since you, echidna, have a higher SPD that me, you have to attack first. Then I'll attack, then the puffball will attack."
Battle… BEGIN
"Chrono Trigger Lavos' First Form Battle Theme"
Knuckles blinked. "The music seems… absolutely nothing like the actual situation. So, you're letting me attack first? Uh, sure, whatever." Knuckles ran towards the stick figure so fast that he seemed to teleport and slammed his fist into his nonexistent face, sending him flying into the wall, creating a small crater and a large dust cloud. "Well, that was easy enough," the echidna said as he dusted off his gloves.
"Nice punch," spoke a voice from the dust cloud. Todd walked out of it, surprisingly unharmed, though the outline of his head seemed a little crooked. Knuckles had a look of surprise on his face. "I better make sure to avoid that next time. Now it's time for me to attack."
The stick figure pulled out his swords, bent down, and placed the hilts against his forehead so that they pointed forward. "Bull in China Shop!" he yelled as he charged towards Knuckles at a moderate pace, letting out a high-pitched, "Eeeeeeeeee!" sound as he ran. As soon as he came close enough, Knuckles punched him in the gut, knocked him onto his back and sending him to his starting position. He got up again. "Ah, I see you realized that this combat system allows for counterattacks, so I won't have to explain that."
"Look, we're kind of busy here, and we'd prefer not to hurt you," explained Kirby.
"Ah, you think I'm some kind of joke, huh!" Todd yelled.
"Well… yeah, pretty much."
"Well let's see YOU try to attack me, Jacko!"
"… Jacko?" Kirby raised an eyebrow. Shrugging, he strolled right up to Todd and sucked him up. He ate him, turning into Sword Kirby, and Todd came out behind him. Kirby then walked back to Knuckles.
"That… was disgusting," Todd commented. "Anyway, can you attack already, echidna?"
The emerald guardian cracked his knuckles and ran towards the stick figure with a burst of speed. He jabbed his fist towards the figure's head, only for Todd to dodge to the left and quickly spun around behind Knuckles. He drew his sword and quickly thrust it forward, though Knuckles had quickly jumped out of the way. "Sod-M-E!" Todd yelled as he attacked.
"What the hell! Were you aiming for my ass or something!" Knuckles exclaimed as he landed near Kirby.
"Actually, yes I was," exclaimed Todd. "Though now that I think about it, do you even have one?"
"What kind of sick freak are you!"
"Anyway, it's my turn to attack! You see, while my overall speed is much lower than yours, echidna, and just a bit higher than yours, puffball, when attacking, I can travel using brief bursts of speed roughly equal to your top speed, echidna. In other words, from this standing position, I can instantly go at a speed that would take precious seconds for you to build up. For example…"
Todd dashed with a burst of speed and fully stopped in front of Kirby with his swords drawn above his head, to his surprise. "Ugh Lee!" he yelled as he thrust the hilts of his swords forward, and returned the swords the their previous position. "Disarming Lee!" he yelled as he swung his swords down and out. "Dislegging Lee!" he yelled as swung his swords in, making a slice parallel to the ground. "Form the Love Triangle!" The places where he sliced glowed, forming a triangle. The triangle then shot forward, cutting deep into the wall. He looked down to see that none of the attacks connected. "Well crap, you just HAD to duck, didn't you. That was a four-hit attack! All those Tech Points for nothing!" Todd then jumped back to his original position.
"What! Since when could you do that!" Knuckles said in shock
"Since always. I bet that Bull in China Shop thing threw you off, didn't it?" Todd responded. "Yeah, it does that to people. It's by far my weakest attack."
Kirby looked behind him. "Jeez, if that attack connected, I would have been done for. He's more of a threat than we thought."
"Nice to see you realize that. Now if you can be good little heroes and stay still, I'll kill you nice and quick." Todd snapped his fingers. "Oh, wait, that's right, it's the puffball's turn to attack. Look, can you and the echidna do me a favor and just defend on your turns so I can just kill you both in one attack?"
"Yeah right! Like an attack like that would scare us!" Kirby exclaimed. He turned to the emerald guardian. "Knuckles, let's attack him together!" Kirby then whispered a plan to him.
"Jeez, you guys just won't make it easy for me, will you? You know how annoying it is to fight turn-based when no one else does? Can't you cut me a break?" Todd requested as he scratched his head. "But then again, now that I think about it, this would count as a team attack, which would count as both of you using your turns, so go right ahead, I guess."
Knuckles grabbed Kirby and threw him at the stick man, who jumped out of the way. However, as Kirby passed by him, he quickly pulled out the sword he previously copied and by swinging it, shot a wave of energy at Todd—the sword beam. In the air, Todd used one of his swords to block it, when Knuckles came gliding in above him and dived towards him with his body twirling rapidly—the drill dive. At this point, the sword beam had dispersed, so Todd used both his swords to block the echidna's attack, though he was still forced back onto the ground. Todd was slowly being pushed back by the drill dive when Kirby came up behind him with his sword drawn. Right before the Sword Kirby's blade made contact with his twiggy body, there was a clank—Todd used his left sword to block the attack and was holding off the drill dive with only one sword! Within a second, Todd withdrew his swords and quickly jumped back, making Knuckles crash right into Kirby! The attack sent Kirby skidding a few feet, though due to his nature he didn't get any serious wounds from the attack and managed to get back up.
"You know, that drill thing reminds me. You know how I earlier said Bull in China Shop was my weakest attack?" asked Todd as he jumped back away from the two. "Well what I meant was that form of the attack was my weakest. Here's its normal level." Todd placed his swords on his forehead. "BICS… Deluxe!"
While spinning like a drill, Todd launched himself towards the two with astonishing speed—they barely had enough time to jump out of the way. "Holy!" Knuckles exclaimed. Todd flew towards the wall, but instead of crashing into it, he instead wall jumped off it and launched himself back towards Knuckles. The red echidna took a stance, and at the right moment, let loose a powerful punch with his fist engulfed in flame. It collided with the spinning twin blades and after a few seconds of the attacks fighting back and forth, there was an explosion and both were sent back several feet, skidding to a stop. Knuckles looked down to see his glove torn up and his fist bleeding. "Damn, that never happened before. Kirby, do you happen to have any healing items on you?"
"Yeah, I have some mushrooms," Sword Kirby responded as he pulled some out of his mouth and tossed them to Knuckles, who then proceeded to heal with them.
"Kirby, do you think you could suck him up when he does that attack?" Knuckles asked while looking intently at his opponent.
"Unfortunately, no, I don't think so. Not only can't I suck up objects that are too big or heavy, but if they're moving very fast, they'll escape my suction too."
"Anyway guys," Todd interrupted, "Since the puffball used an item on his turn, it's the echidna's turn to attack."
Kirby turned to the echidna. "Knuckles, I just realized! When it's not his turn to attack, he can't do anything but counter, so we can just go right past him with the ring!"
"But I want to kick this guy's ass!" exclaimed Knuckles.
"We need to get out of here before the Space Pirates get back here!"
"Err… I guess you're right." The echidna grabbed the Special Ring. Knuckles and Kirby attempted to run.
As they headed for the bubble door, Todd turned towards them and started dashing towards them. "Sod-M-…" Todd drew his sword and aimed it right for Knuckles' ass. "…-C!" Knuckles just barely got out of the way as the attack; a Sod-M-E powered up by a running jump; flew past him and collided into the wall creating a small crater. "I'm sorry to inform you, but you can't run from boss fights," he said as the dust cleared.
Kirby looked at the crater. "Jeez, that attack would do way more than make you feel awkward…"
"Anyway," Todd continued, "since you used your turn to run, it's my turn to attack." He started spinning one of his swords.
"Quick, while he's preparing, let's attack!" Kirby suggested. Knuckles nodded.
"Oh come on, can't you guys give me a break!" Todd yelled. Water was starting to collect on the spinning blade.
Kirby whispered a plan to Knuckles and he nodded. Kirby removed his sword ability and sucked up Knuckles. The air seemed to be getting drier. Kirby then spat Knuckles at the stick figure.
"Window Washer Strikes Back!" the stick figure announced as he swung his sword and a large cresent-shaped blast of water shot out. It crashed into Knuckles and knocked him into the wall with a big cut on his chest, and the remains of the attack hit Kirby with a much lesser effect.
"Knuckles!" Kirby exclaimed. Knuckles started to get up and got back into fighting position.
"Jeez, this guy's way tougher than I expected," commented the echidna. "I'll have to finish this quick." He took out a ring. "Kirby, eat this."
Realizing what he meant, Kirby ran up to him and ate the ring, turning into Ring Kirby. He then used the ability to spit a bunch of rings into Knuckles' body. Reaching into an invisible pocket, Knuckles pulled out the red Chaos Emerald. "Take this! Thunder Arrow!" he exclaimed.
A thunder bolt appeared out of nowhere and struck where Todd was, though he managed to get out of the way, tripping over his own feet and falling flat on his face. He got up again. "Crap! Crap! What the hell! Mod never said anything about you knowing magic!"
Kirby had a face of realization. "I see! You said you were master of ATK, or attack power; DEF, or defense; and SPD, or speed: but you never said anything about magic attack or defense!"
"Yeah, that's right. My MATK is 0, and my MDEF is literally in the negatives," revealed the stick figure. "All it takes is one good offensive spell and I'm out cold… wait, crap, did I just say that!"
Knuckles grinned. "So in other words, if you don't give up now, we'll use you for firewood!"
"Now hold on, that last attack caught me by surprise, and even then it didn't connect. Now that I know about it, what makes you think you'll even land a—"
"Thunder Arrow!"
Todd fell over again, just barely dodging the attack. "Dammit, I was trying to act badass! Can't you let me finish!"
Kirby removed his ability. "You should have enough rings now. Let me copy you," he said to Knuckles.
"Uh, sure…" he responded. Kirby absorbed Knuckles and spat him back out. Kirby had turned red and gained both dreadlocks and large white, pointed, gloves: he had turned into Knuckles Kirby.
Knuckles lifted up his Chaos Emerald again. "Thunder Arrow!"
However, this time Todd managed to dodge it without looking like a clumsy fool. "My turn! BICS Deluxe!" Todd charged towards the two, and Kirby took a stance like Knuckles had before. As the drill flew towards him, however, Kirby had quickly dodged to the left and slammed his fist into the stick figure's side, bypassing the blades. Todd crashed into the opposing wall, sending up a cloud of dust.
"Now Knuckles!" ordered Kirby.
He held up the red emerald. "Thunder—ugh," he said as he started kneeling over. "Crap, I shouldn't have been wielding unfocused chaos energy with this chest wound. The emeralds energy only becomes focused when all seven are together."
"Knuckles!" Kirby then ran over to him.
"Okay, that's the second good hit you got in!" Todd exclaimed as he walked out of the cloud. Now, not only was his head dented in a bit, but his stick body was slightly bent too. "I can't lose to you guys! I'M THE HOTBLOODED HERO! And I'll prove it to you!" He placed his blades on his forehead and wind started circling around him. "I'm going to go to the next level of attacks! This isn't enough of a leap for hotblooded screaming, but this situation doesn't call for that." The wind formed into a mini-tornado. "BICS… Special Blend!"
Before he could even move, however, the building started to violently shake, and the tornado around him dispersed. "What the hell?" the stick figure asked as he looked around. "Are all the Space Pirates stampeding here or something? It isn't Moandtalvyx Monday in the cafeteria is it? … Wait, crap, it is!"
At point, there were several sounds of explosions and the three just stood there listening. After several minutes, there was an explosion in the room itself and a black space ship, a Space Pirate fighter jet, crashed into it—coincidently, right into Todd. At his point, Knuckles got up again.
"Are you okay now?" the puffball asked.
"Yeah, I am," he responded.
"Then quick, let's leave while he's down!" suggested Kirby. He grabbed the Special Ring and ran out of the room before Knuckles could respond. The echidna shrugged and followed after him.
A message popped up declaring the end of the match: "KNUCKLES AND KIRBY RAN AWAY SUCCESSFULLY".
As they ran through the base, they found that there weren't any troops inside. "All of them must be handling whatever caused those explosions," suggested Kirby.
They eventually came outside and saw what was causing the brouhaha—several Space Pirate fighter jets were having an aerial battle with three ships, who were launching bombs randomly into the buildings, though they mainly focused on the one Kirby and Knuckles were in. "Is that Team Star Wolf?" the egg-laying mammal asked. "Who would have thought they'd end up here of all places?"
"Either way, this is a great distraction," Kirby noted. "We can just get the warpstar and leave under cover of this fight."
R-
They ran a bit and encountered Wario. As it turns out, Wario paid Star Wolf more money than their former employer did, so they are working for him now. Wario saves them and once they leave the Space Pirates' range, Knuckles and Kirby enter the Special Stage, which is based off of the Special Stages from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Once they exit, however, Wario and Star Wolf force them to give them the two emeralds. Grudgingly, Knuckles complies. On the warpstar Kirby drops Knuckles off on Angel Island, and Kirby returns to Dreamland. Knuckles meets with Sonic and Tails, and they decided to report the RPers' existence.
Meanwhile, Todd meets with Pod and Mod and reports his failure, explaining that a jet fell on him. Pod calls him an idiot. THE END.
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NEXT TIME ON CAPTAIN N: 2005!
"Instrumental Version Of Captain N 2005 Theme Song""It's a desperate situation as the Space Pirates discover the location of the Map Cartridge, and Mega Man, Pit, Julius Belmont, and me are sent to handle the situation. The problem is: we're captured as soon as we get there! Now in order to prevent the Map Cartridge from going into the Space Pirates' hands, we must break out of prison. The biggest problem is, however, not only are we guarded by Space Pirates, but they have also gained several more allies."
"Be sure to read/watch Captain N Level 7: Summer Jailbreak and Eggplant Springs"
"Because more people need to read Shakespeare. The reason you don't understand it is because you take one look at the writing and don't even try to comprehend it. Or at least that's my theory."