Chopper, Vivian, and Scrub were able to unlock the door and go to the storage room instructed by X. They didn't know what was going to be in there, but once they made it inside, they saw gray crates that resembled Stone Blocks. Actually, they were Stone Blocks!
"Interesting room here..." Chopper trailed until he noticed someone else in the room. "Wait a second... It's you! You're Ms. Mowz, aren't you?"
"Ms. Mowz?" Scrub gawked.
"Oh, it is her!" Vivian gasped.
Ms. Mowz turned around and noticed them come in. "Oh! Mmmm hmm hmm hmm! If it isn't the little cheese I met before! How are you doing with the Crystal Star hunt now, dear?"
"Ms. Mowz? What are you doing here?" wondered Vivian. "Are you still stealing badges like you usually do?"
"Why yes, I was looking for some badges, but now I'm done around here," the mouse thief assured. "You needn't worry about me now."
"Oh, interesting! …But a security guard heard you in here." Scrub mentioned. "Were you making any noise in here, mouse-burglar person?"
"Oh, please! No one heard ME! I'm the best mouse-burglar of all time! I'm silent! It's quite obvious that someone else must have been monkeying around in here…"
"Maybe it was a real monkey monkeying around here!" Chopper gaped only to be ignored.
"But to be honest, I don't know who else came in here."
"So somebody else was here before you? Dang, we could've gotten some good information if you saw who came in here. But oh well. You just came here for badges, so you probably wouldn't know if anybody came in here anyway."
"Yes, that's true. But now that I've got what I needed, I'll be on my way. As for the rest, help yourself to whatever you like." Ms. Mowz jumped off the crate and was about to leave, but she just remembered something. "I almost forgot, little pale green cheese... This arena holds many secrets, you know. You should be very careful, lest you end up like those poor souls upstairs. And with that, good-bye small antennae boy! Perhaps we shall meet again!"
Ms. Mowz left stylishly through the door, but what she told them about these "souls" confused the three.
"Did she say 'poor souls that are upstairs?'" Vivian wondered. "Umm… I don't think that this pit sounds safe with something like that..."
"No kidding... That does sound a little scary..." Chopper shivered until he heard his Mailbox SP go off. Groaning, he took it out and read the message.
"You really need to get a different ringtone for that," Scrub suggested. "That really does creep me out!"
"I can agree," Vivian nodded.
"Let me just read this message first," Chopper suggested.
fInD tHe StAiRcAsE sWiTcH tO rEaCh ThE aTtIc
FrOm X
"Staircase switch? What is this X person talking about?" Scrub wondered. "Man, I wish I knew where the switch is. Wait, Contadre! Those blocks! How about you break 'em with your hammer!"
"Good idea!" Chopper pulled out his Super Hammer and smashed all of the Stone Blocks in the room. He found a Charge P badge over to the right, and to the left, he found a blue ! Switch on the ground.
Paper began to flip down and stairs appeared. Everyone looked confused, but they went up the stairs. They found a locked door to the right, and to the left, a big yellow block. Unfortunately, a bunch of crates were in the way. Luckily, there was a small crate next to a large one that Scrub could use to flutter over.
"All right, Scrub! Let's get over there!" Chopper declared as he got on Scrub when they got onto the crates and fluttered over to the crates. Vivian sank into the shadows to get to the block as well.
"Go ahead, Chopper. Smash the block with your hammer." Vivian suggested. Chopper took out his hammer and spun it around, smashing the block to pieces. They found a hole the block was on.
They went down the hole and were now in an air duct. They could hear a voice all the way to the right down a small hole. It was WAY too small for them to fit through. To the left was an air conditioner that Chopper could fit through if he turned sideways.
"Hmm? I can hear something through this hole. Let's listen and see what's going on down there." Chopper said quietly. He knelt down and began to listen carefully, as well as his two friends.
It appeared to be Grubba's Office down below. Grubba was busy talking to Jolene about something shocking.
"...So, you didn't find hide or hair of nobody in the storage room, that what yer sayin'?" Grubba deduced.
"Yes, Mr. Grubba. It appeared to be secure." Jolene assured. "Don't worry about it, sir. I've taken the necessary precautions. It was most likely just a rat or something."
"Well, no big deal either way. Ain't nothin' in there we'd miss too much anyway. Thanks fer stayin' on top of this, Jolene. Hey, an' by the way, any word on King K?"
"I'm afraid we still don't know the whereabouts of King K, Mr. Grubba. We couldn't find him anywhere. Since I couldn't find him anywhere, I had no choice but to delete his spot on our roster per regulations. The Glitz Pit no longer has any official connection to KP Pete, a.k.a. King K, I'm afraid. I have, of course, taken the same steps with all fighters who have gone missing."
"Hoo, fighters have sure been goin' missin' a lot lately! How many is that overall this year? Five? What in tarnation's goin' on? I even heard some security ijit sayin' the Pit's cursed!"
"I doubt that, sir, but I certainly don't understand the disappearances."
"Well, fer the time bein', tell the other fellas that King K headed on home for a spell. If word gets out about missin' fighters, it sure ain't gonna be good for business, no siree! Nasty rumors have a way of sendin' folks runnin' to the hills, know what I mean?"
"I understand completely, Mr. Grubba. I'll take care of everything, sir." Jolene made her way to the door, but Grubba's voice stopped her.
"Y'know, Jolene... Yer a dang fine manager, but you just plumb disappear sometimes... I gotta know! Where in the world do you go, darlin'?"
"Uh... Th-That's..." Jolene stammered while her face froze. "Mr. Grubba, I know you're my boss, but I don't believe that's any of your business. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you where I go. That's utmost secrecy."
"Easy! Didn't mean to pry, now!" Grubba gawked as he stepped back. "How 'bout this, then... Heard of the Crystal Star?"
"N-No... I've never heard of such a thing, Mr. Grubba. I never heard that in my entire life."
"Okeydoke, well, I 'preciate yer time, Ms. Jolene," Grubba smiled, a bit relieved. "You go ahead an' run along, now, y'hear?"
"Thank you, Mr. Grubba," Jolene sighed as she adjusted her glasses and left the office. She mumbled something as the door slowly closed, which Grubba didn't appear to hear.
"Well, if you ain't a fine how-do-you-do! Seems like good fighters are a dyin' breed." Grubba frowned as he leaned back on his chair. "That wild child Contadre is just about the only draw I still got 'round here. I don't know why, but after I came back here, them fighters have lost their memories on what happened! But I guess that's not too much of a big deal, ain't it?"
"Whoa, Contadre! WHOA! Did you hear that? Fighters are going missing, dude! That ain't cool!" Scrub gaped, shocked to hear these news. "Was that guy talking about King K, the minor-leaguer? I thought he retired!"
"I thought so too," Chopper agreed. "But didn't Grubba say that the fighters lost their memory? Something's really fishy around here…"
"I'll say! I had a feeling something wasn't right about this pit." Vivian mentioned. "It's like…everything has just repeated itself. Well, I wouldn't exactly say that, but you know what I mean, right?"
"What in the hey?!" Grubba exclaimed, hearing the voices from above. "Dang ceilin' is spookin' me! HEY! Somebody up there?!"
"Um… Belch?"
"...Hoo, nelly! Just a little burpin' beetle... Here I am, thinkin' someone's up there a-peepin'! I gotta relax...take some yoga classes or somethin'... Yep. Well, back to the ring!"
Grubba quickly got up from his chair and left his office to prepare for some more fights in the Glitz Pit.
"Whoa! Whoa, man! We dodged a bullet there!" Scrub sighed. "I thought it was going to be game over for us there!"
"Yup! I'll say!" Chopper gasped..
"Hey, but did you hear that guy blabbing about the Crystal Star? That Jolene lady acted pretty guilty when he let that one slip out... Well, whatever. For now, we better bail before someone finds us here!"
"I think we can use that airway to get out," Vivian pointed to the airway, where air seemed to be going down to the storage room. Chopper turned sideways, along with the other two and they went back into the room.
"We better go reserve a match right now. There's nothing else we can do, I'm afraid." Chopper suggested. They all agreed and returned to the major-league locker room and went to the terminal to reserve a match.
"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well alrighty then! Lemme just see here... Yer next will be... Ranked 3 in the Glitz Pit... Hamma, Bamma, and Flare! Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to void usin' any items! Empty them pockets! Real men don't need no trinkets to help 'em hand out a proper whuppin', you hear? No get out there and knock some heads the old-fashioned way, will ya?"
A Security Guard called Chopper and he and Scrub went to the arena. They found a Hammer Bro., a Boomerang Bro., and a Fire Bro waiting for them.
"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Headbanded Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Big Bad Brute Bros…" Grubba announced. "Yep, a fight to the finish with Hamma, Bamma, and Flare!"
"You think you three dudes can take us on? Ha! We're gonna taken you down the old fashioned way!" Scrub scoffed.
"My grandpappy's hammer is gonna strike you down, man! Here it comes!" the Hammer Bro. grinned.
"Get yerselves ready to... BAAAAAATTLE!"
When the gong rang, the fight began with Chopper using a Vulcan Jab on the Hammer Bro., along with Scrub using his Gulp to spit the Hammer Bro. at the Fire Bro. To their relief, the Hammer Bro. was finished.
The Fire Bro. attacked by spitting a fireball at Chopper, which he managed to guard, and the Boomerang Bro. threw his boomerang, hitting the two twice. To finish up the fight, Chopper used a kick attack on the Boomerang Bro., and Scrub used his Gulp to finish up the fight, giving them 22 Star Points.
"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Grubba announced.
"Is that the best you've got?" Scrub scoffed.
They returned to the locker room, where they received 14 coins and rising up to rank 3. Once Jolene left, they began to relax for a minute.
"Man, I can't believe we're getting so close to the end!" Vivian smiled. "We're almost going to be up against the champ! I think that's great!"
Chopper heard his Mailbox SP going off again. "Well looks like X needs us to do something. …Again."
He pulled out his Mailbox SP and began to read the message, but it wasn't a message he appreciated.
"Oh, no... Not this guy again."
"What is it, Contadre?" Scrub asked.
"Take a look for yourself."
This is your last warning! Stop snooping around about the Crystal Stars! If you don't, you'll suffer the same fate as the others who have gone missing...
"That's certainly not X..." Vivian trailed.
"It's that guy again!" Scrub gaped. "How does he know so much about this Crystal Star? Why would that chicken want us to stop looking for the Crystal Stars? Plus, he sure must know about these missing fighters too! Man, when we find that chicken I'm sure gonna butt stomp him!"
"I have a feeling that it's not Rawk Hawk," Chopper pondered. "He wouldn't have an idea on the Crystal Stars, to be honest. I have a feeling that this is someone else… But if it IS Rawk Hawk, then we'll get him to confess. For now, let's just reserve a match."
Chopper walked over to the terminal again to reserve a match. And of course, he got the usual.
"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well all righty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 2 in the Glitz Pit... Chomp Country! Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to win BEFORE you take 20 HP of pain! Our fans don't wanna see a battered hero win by the skin of his teeth, son! Now get in there 'an show me some grit, pard!"
However, before the Security Guard could call him to the ring, Jolene walked into the room first.
"Pardon me, Mr. Contadre. Another gift arrived from one of your admirers. I'll just leave it over here, if that's OK? Do with it what you will."
She took out a slice of cake and placed it on the table. When she left, Chopper rushed over to the cake, along with Scrub. However, he paused for a moment.
"What's wrong, Chopper?" Vivian asked.
"I don't know why, but this cake looks so...different. It doesn't seem like it was like the other cake... Maybe we should get a better look at this after our fight."
"What? Are you serious?" Scrub gaped. "Oh, fine... That cake is probably delicious, though."
A Security Guard came in and led the two to the arena. Once they were gone, the Shady Koopa walked over to the cake, licking his lips.
"Mmmmmm… Cake… Well, if he's not going to have it, don't mind if I do!" the Shady Koopa grabbed the cake and ate it in one bite. "Mmmmmmm! That was delicious!"
Unfortunately, that was where things would go bad for him.
The ring-
Up at the ring, Chopper and Scrub saw two red Chain Chomps waiting for them. They looked really mad, because they were painted red, according to some of the people in the audience.
"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Headbanded Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Red Ore Fear Orbs... Yep, a fight to the finish with Chomp Country!" Grubba announced.
"Man, I wish I had that cake! I'm starting to feel a little bit hungry…" Scrub trailed.
"I'll get you something later, OK?" Chopper assured.
"ARF! ARF! ARF! ARF! ARF!" one Red Chomp barked.
"Eeeugh... Doesn't look too friendly."
"Get yerselves ready to… BAAAAAATTLE!"
Chopper noticed that their defense was 3, which wouldn't do much against them with his attacks. It'll only do 1 damage to them.
"Hmmm… I guess if I use my Super Hammer attack and you use your Gulp, we might be able to finish this battle!" Chopper deduced. Scrub agreed while he walked over to the Chain Chomps and used his Super Hammer attack on the first one, knocking that one toward the other one, which did 1 damage.
"Sweet! Now to finish this!" Scrub used his Gulp on both of them and it was over. Chopper got 16 Star Points from the battle, and the two Red Chomps were left dazed in the end.
"We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!"
The crowd cheered as the three returned to their locker room, where Chopper got 15 coins, while his rank rose to 2. Once Jolene left the room, they noticed the Shady Koopa lying down on the ground on his back.
"What the… What's with that guy?" Chopper gawked.
"Bluuurgh... Body...went...numb..." the Shady Koopa moaned. "Stupid...cake... Hate...cake... Never...eat...cake...again... Can't…believe…I…didn't…resist…cake… So…good… But…so…bad…"
"So there WAS something wrong with the cake…" Vivian trailed. "It's a good thing we didn't eat the cake, or else we could've been the one lying on the ground like him. But I feel bad for him."
"So do I. Right now, I need to rest. There's only one more fight until the champ!" Chopper walked over to the bed and began to rest to recover his HP and FP. He wanted to make sure he was well-rested for his semi-final fight in the Glitz Pit.
Later-
"So… He has reached Rank 2 now. He is almost up to the champion…but if he wants to get there, he will need to get past me if he wants a piece of that no-good yellow chicken." the dark blue armored Koopa, known as the Koopinator, thought as he looked at the sleeping boy. "Even if this boy is only ten years old, I'm still not going to go easy on him. He's proven himself that he can take all of these fighters in the Glitz Pit, and he can prove that he can beat Rawk Hawk if he defeats me. He's going to need some luck against me. I'm pretty sure he's going to need it against an armored Koopatrol such as myself."
Scrub was sleeping on top of the bed, while Vivian was sleeping right by the bed, thinking about something.
Chopper woke up and got out of bed. Afterward, he poked Vivian and Scrub to wake them up. The former was able to get up just fine, but the latter remained in bed, swatting Chopper's hand away.
"Mmmmm... Five more minutes..." Scrub mumbled.
"So... I guess we're almost there..." Vivian trailed. "I almost feels like yesterday that we were at the lowest rank."
"Isn't Rank 20 the highest, though?" Chopper asked.
"I think it's the other way around in this tournament..." Vivian trailed. That was when they heard a flush, which woke Scrub up.
"Who? What? Where?" Scrub saw the Shady Koopa from come out of the bathroom, feeling much better after the cake incident.
"Ahhhhhhhhh… I feel like a new Koopa!" the Shady Koopa sighed. "But it sure does stink that there's no more toilet paper. I had to tear off a piece of a magazine with the picture of Rawk Hawk!"
"Heh heh... Good idea!" Scrub smirked.
"But I feel much better now. But I better be careful NOT to eat somebody's cake. Like Contadre's. Augh. That cake was delicious, but I went numb!"
Scrub looked at the bathroom, and he felt like he needed to go. "Er... Hold on a minute, Contadre!"
"What's wrong?" Chopper asked.
"Uhhhhh... I've gotta go!" Scrub jumped off the bed and ran over to the bathroom and shut the door and locked it. Many of the competitors started to cringe upon what was going on in there, especially the Shady Koopa.
After the flushing, Scrub came out, feeling much better.
"Ah! Now I'm feeling much better!" Scrub sighed with a grin. "So, Contadre... Are we going to go take down the next competitor?"
"Oh... Sure!" Chopper nodded. "I guess now is the perfect!"
With that, he walked over to the terminal to reserve a match. The Koopinator wasn't paying much attention, but he heard Grubba's voice coming from the terminal.
"Well, boy howdy, Contadre! Fixin' for a fight, huh? Well, all righty, then! Lemme just see here... Yer next opponent will be... Ranked 1 in the Glitz Pit… The Koopinator!"
"I guess this is it. I'll finally have my chance to face off against the so-called Great Contadre." the Koopinator thought. "He is going to see what kind of power I have…for an ex-champion!"
"Now listen, son: in this battle, I want you to avoid switchin' partners out! Gotta go with who brung you! A fight to the end, side by side! Now THAT'S drama! Now get in there 'an stand by yer partner!"
At that moment, the Koopinator left the locker room, and then a Security Gaurd came to pick Chopper and Scrub up to go to the pit. Vivian watched the fight in the audience and when they made it up to the ring, they saw the Koopinator waiting for them.
"Fer our next battle, we got the Red Headbanded Fighter, the GREAT CONTADRE and... The Razor Blade Brigadier… Yep, a fight to the finish with The Koopinator!" Grubba announced.
"So we're finally facing the guy who used to be the champion..." Chopper trailed.
"Hey, this shouldn't be too bad!" Scrub assured. "I mean, he's not even the champ!"
"You. Finally, I get a piece of you. Finally, we'll see who's truly stronger." the Koopinator hissed.
"It's still funny that he got his butt handed to him by a chicken..."
"Get yerselves ready to… BAAAAAATLLE!"
The battle began and Chopper started off with his Vulcan Jab, only to have it do 2 damage to the Koopinator. This made him a little shocked.
"Oh crud… This guy has 2 defense! Not only that, but he's got 5 Attack and 25 HP! This…is not good at all." Chopper gulped, but Scrub was able to damage him a little with his Gulp attack.
"Oof! Not bad. But I'm not like the others, you know. You wish to see my power? Very well, I might as well go for it." the Koopinator got in his shell and attacked both Chopper and Scrub, taking 5 away from them.
"Whoa, that did a lot!" Vivian gasped.
"Yeah, it did…but I got my punches!" Chopper declared as he used his Rising Break on the Koopinator to take away 4 from him and allow Scrub to use his Gulp once again. The armored Koopa was left panting for a bit.
"Hmmm… Very well. I've saved up a special attack for anyone who actually managed to get me down this far." the Koopinator raised his attack up by 5, which was NOT good at all. This left Chopper a bit worried.
"Chopper! Your Quake Hammer! Use it on him!" Vivian cried. Chopper jumped up a little and nodded, using his hammer to pound the ground and flip the Koopinator over, allowing Scrub to Ground Pound him.
"Dang it! Curse my shell and not allowing me to get up so easily!" the Koopinator cursed. Chopper smirked and came down on him with a kick attack, which did 4 damage because of being flipped over, which made him give up while he received 15 Star Points.
"You... You win, Contadre..."
We've got ourselves a winner! THE GRRRRRREAT CONTADRE!" Grubba announced.
Chopper felt relieved, because he did take some damage there, but at least it was all over. There was only one more battle left, and it was against the champ!
Jolene gave Chopper 16 coins for the match at the locker room and his rank rose to 1. Unfortunately, Chopper ended up hearing his Mailbox SP go off when she left the locker room.
"Whoa, Contadre! That was loud!" Scrub gasped.
"Man, that again! All right, time to check who it is." Chopper opened the Mailxox SP and began to read the message. Thankfully, it wasn't from the guy threatening them before.
rEmOvE tHe GrEaT cOnTaDrE pOsTeRs In ThE lObBy
FrOm X
"What? I have to remove my own poster in the lobby? That's not fair…" Chopper frowned, but Vivian grabbed him and Scrub to go into the shadows to head back into the lobby, where they found two posters of Chopper upstairs.
"All right, time to tear down the posters!" Chopper punched the one on the left and realized that it did nothing. Vivian grabbed the poster and tore it off. A key dropped down to the ground.
"Hey, this must be it! But what could it be for?" Scrub picked it up and decided to hold onto it for now, but then Chopper got another e-mail, so he decided to check the message.
gO tO tHe SeCoNd FlOoR oF tHe StOrAgE rOoM
FrOm X
They headed to the second floor of the storage room and saw the lock on the door.
"Ah! So this is what the key's used for!" Scrub took out the Storage Key and unlocked the door with it, revealing a room with more crates. In the middle of the crates was a Fire Block.
"Oh no… Not this again." Chopper gulped.
"What do you mean, Contadre?"
"It's something you weren't there for..."
Vivian knew she had to do it, and she didn't actually want to do it. She frowned as she lit Chopper's butt, which made him crash into the block, making space for them to see a big stone block.
"I hate that… At least the flame stuff is over for right now. Let's see what's under this block." Chopper could hear some moaning under the block, which made him gawk. "Uh… I don't know if I should. It sounds like there's a zombie down there."
"It doesn't sound like a zombie to me," Vivian responded. "I don't think they exist anyway. I say break it anyway This X person must have a reason why we need to be in here."
"OK, I'll do it," Chopper whipped out his hammer and spun it around to smash it. All three were left shocked when they noticed two familiar people lying on the ground.
It was King K and Bandy Andy, and the three were left shocked.
"Wait... Is that...Bandy Andy and King K.?" Chopper gasped.
"But what are they doing here?" Vivian gasped. "I thought King K. said he retired! …And there was probably a reason why Bandy Andy was nowhere to be seen in the locker room!"
"Oooooooooog..." Bandy Andy moaned, as well as King K. At this point, they could barely move.
"I… I don't believe it! King K and Bandy Andy? But… How could it be?" Chopper walked over to King K., who did nothing but moan, but he did hear something from Bandy Andy.
"Con... Con... Contadre... Come…over here…" Chopper turned around to Bandy Andy and knelt down to listen to his weak voice.
"Bandy Andy! What happened here?!" Chopper cried.
"Contadre…GAH! Listen...to me...URK!...man..." Bandy Andy moaned. "Don't...get...near...the...ring...when...no...one...is...around... Ohhhhhhh..."
"What do you mean don't go near the ring when there's no one around?"
Unfortunately, Bandy Andy did not make any response and fell into unconsciousness. Chopper was about to ponder about this, had he not heard something behind him.
"Hmmm?" Chopper and his friends turned around and caught a glimpse of Jolene quickly shutting them.
"Contadre! You see that? That was Jolene!" Scrub gaped. "This is craziness! What is going ON in here?!"
"I'm so confused! I don't understand what's going on here either!" Vivian agreed. "First we hear that Grubba was talking about the fighters and Jolene losing their memory about what happened around with him, and now we find Jolene spying on us when he see two fighters we haven't found? I don't know what to say…"
"I know… This is all becoming very mysterious." Chopper sighed. "We're going to find out what's going on here! Hopefully we find out who this X person is and who the person sending those threats to us are! All we can do is face off against Rawk Hawk. Hopefully we'll get some information from him."
They all headed back to the major-league locker room, where Chopper took a nap in the bed so he was fully prepared to face…the Rawk.
Yeah, with all this stuff going on later in Chapter 2, things are not looking safe for the group. But, I think it's time to RAWK in the next chapter!