"We're in the air duct, right? Where does it lead, Contadre?" Scrub asked as they continued through the air duct. Chopper walked over to the other door and ended up hearing the voice. He made a signal for Vivian and Scrub to come over to him and they listened quietly to the voice.
"Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk! Well, THAT'S in perfect condition, as usual!"
"Hey, that sounds like Grubba's voice!"
"Shhhh! Keep quiet, Scrub!" Chopper shushed.
"He might hear us like last time!" Vivian whispered.
"Oh... Sorry."
"Yep, long as I got THAT baby workin' fer me, this ol' bod ain't NEVER gonna get weak! But I'm gonna have to watch my tootsies here fer a little bit... First I let that King K. ijit walk in on me when I was with...THAT... An' now I can't shake the feelin' that Jolene may be onto me. I don't know why I decided to rehire her, but a job's a job! And that Contadre... He's a real mystery. There's definitely somethin' suspicious about him. Well, I can always just disappear 'em when I get the chance!"
"Wait... That sounds strange of Grubba to say..." Chopper trailed. "What does he mean by 'disappear'?"
"Shhhh! Chopper! Stay quiet! You don't want to get Grubba's attention!" Vivian shushed. "We barely made it out of there and we may not get out of this one if we make so much noise!"
"I better lock this room up tighter 'n a peanut butter jar at a squirrel convention. An' I'll just go ahead an' hide the paper relatin' to THAT in the desk drawer..." the three heard a drawer being opened and closed before Grubba's voice continued on. "There we go! Y'know what, though? Since I'm thinkin' aloud, here... Good fighters ain't nothin' to mess with. This new champ might have to disappear purty soon before he discovers what I'm plannin'. Heck, I wouldn't even be here now if it weren't fer that demon! So I shouldn't worry too much! ...Then again, that demon did warn me about someone with antennae. Maybe I should go out an' stretch my legs fer a moment."
They could hear the door shut, but Vivian's eyes widened. "…Evil demon? What does he mean?"
"I don't know… But let's not worry about that… Let's bust through the door first." Chopper brought out his hammer and used his Super Hammer attack to knock the small door away onto the ground, which led into Grubba's office Thankfully, he wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"I think he's gone… Let's check out that desk drawer of his…" Scrub suggested. Chopper nodded and walked over to the desk drawer and opened it, where he noticed a paper with some blueprints on it.
"Hmmm… What's this?" Chopper picked up the blueprints and began to look at them thoroughly. He noticed something on it that made him gasp. "Guys! Apparently there's a machine under the ring using a Crystal Star! I guess the Crystal Star powers this thing up…"
Vivian floated over to Chopper and looked at the blueprints too. "It can suck the power out of people and it can even wipe away their memories on what happened. It says it can be from any incident…"
"Wipe away memories? That doesn't sound good..."
Grubba came back into the office and noticed the three in his office. When he saw Chopper holding the blueprints, he jumped up in shock.
"GREAT GALLOPIN' GULPITS!" Grubba exclaimed. "How in tarnation did YOU get in here, son?! Well, slap me an' call me Sassafras! Yer starin' at my secret paper, too!"
"You don't have any right to talk!" Chopper exclaimed, giving Grubba a glare. "You should tell us what's going on right now!"
"Whoa, nelly! This ain't good!" Grubba gulped, making a run for it.
"Hey! We can't let him get away!" Scrub growled. "He's going to pay for all of this!"
The three followed Grubba out of the office and into the hallway. They happened to notice him going into the ring.
"OK, so he's going into the ring. He better get ourselves prepared!" Chopper tightened his headband and then hit the Save Block. They walked over to the arena door, where the Security Guard let him through for some reason.
Once they went into the arena, they saw nobody around except for Grubba up on the ring. Chopper jumped into the ring, along with his three friends as they prepared to confront the villain.
"Bravo, Contadre. Bra-vo. But y'all made a big mistake by lookin' through that paper..." Grubba trailed, sounding more serious. "Now you know my big secret, I'm afraid yer gonna have to take a li'l ol' dirt nap!"
They all felt the ground shake as four poles rose up in the corners of the ring, making an electrical fence so they couldn't get out. Grubba sank into the ring and came back up, but with a red and black machine. The Crystal Star could be seen at the top.
"Contadre! Up there! That's the Crystal Star, right?" Scrub asked.
"Yeah! You're right! That is the Crystal Star!" Chopper gasped.
"We can't even leave this ring… He's got us trapped." Vivian noted as Grubba chortled.
"Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk! How you like my machine? Pretty dang nice, huh? Yep, I've been suckin' power from fighters with this baby! SLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURP! Yer darn tootin'! An' you know why? 'Cause it keeps my bod forever young, son! An' if I don't manage to suck yer energy out, then I can just use a nice ol' flash with this thing. BANG! Yer memory's gone! Good thing that a demon gave me a chance at comin' back here! I warned you before about them Crystal Stars, but ya'll seemed to just ignore my warnins'!"
"I can't believe it! So you were sending us those nasty e-mails? !" Chopper quickly got in his fighting stance. "Listen, Grubba, you've gone TOO far now!"
"Oh, just shut yer traps, now! I'll use MY Crystal Star however I dang please!" Grubba declared. "Now, I know how tough you can be, Contadre. You took out Rawk Hawk pretty quickly. But with the power I can get a hold of, you won't stand a chance! Check THIS out! HRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH! MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSCLE-UP!"
Grubba began to absorb some power from the Crystal Star and began to grow bigger. His skin changed to dark gray and his hair became spiky and black. His teeth became sharper, and black spikes appeared on his tail. He was also surrounded by a dark mist.
"ULTRAAAAAAAAAA GRUBBA! Hoo-wee! I'm gonna smoosh you guys into guacamole an' snack on yer energy, too!" Ultra Grubba stomped the ground, which made the electric fence turn green.
"Ultra Grubba? This doesn't look too good…" Chopper trailed. "But I'm not afraid of you!"
"ULTRAAAA! I'm a powerhouse now, you pesterin' li'l pieces of prairie piffle! So long's I have this here machine, my bod'll be rough, tough, an' machobuff!"
Tattle: That's Ultra Grubba. He's Grubba all souped-up on Crystal Star power. Max HP is 60. Attack is 4. Defense is 0. His attack pattern is simple: first he increases the number of times he can attack... Then he powers himself up with all sorts of crazy power-uppy moves. So, it's pretty important to pay close attention to how he's powered himself up. The craziest thing about this meathead is that he used to be that chubby Grubba. I guess the Crystal Stars really ARE powerful!
"He's got 60 HP? That's outrageous!" Vivian gaped. "This is only Chapter 2 and we're fighting a boss with 60 HP? This could be tough…"
"Then it's time to use my Power Bounce to soften him up a bit!" Chopper began to stomp on Ultra Grubba, and after seven times he stopped. He allowed Scrub to use his Mini-Egg, allowing him to throw three eggs at Ultra Grubba, shrinking him and lowering his attack by 2.
"That should work out well!" Scrub smirked. "He's got a high attack, so it was probably best if I did that anyways."
Ultra Grubba allowed himself to use two abilities per turn, which left him open for an attack. He got beaten down a bit by Chopper's Vulcan Jab, leaving a couple of bruises on him.
"Oof! Man, I didn't know you were such a harder hitter!" Ultra Grubba cringed.
"You know, I can play as hard as I want. This isn't like the other battles. This is REAL." Chopper noted after landing one more punch on Ultra Grubba, knocking him back at the electric fence and electrocuting him.
"Great hoppin' Koopas! If this keeps happenin' to me, I'll become fried Clubba!"
"Uhhh... What?" Chopper gawked.
Vivian used her Shade Fist on Ultra Grubba so she could leave a burn on him. But he didn't seem so worried right now, because he was still in perfect shape from all of those hits.
"Oh yeah! Keep it spicy! You know I love a good tussle, Contadre! Keep on scrappin', son! 'Course, it ain't gonna do you much good in the end..." Ultra Grubba raised his attack by 3 and then stepped back and came down on Chopper with a stomp, which dealt 5 damage (because he's small), but he also got hurt from being burnt.
"Ooh! That did a lot…" Scrub cringed as Vivian helped unflatten Chopper while he used his Ground Pound on the tubby Clubba. Chopper was able to use an Air Kick attack afterward.
"Yer makin' this fight pretty interestin', Contadre! Too bad yer not gonna stand a chance. Yer too small fer me!" Ultra Grubba grinned as he raised his defense by three while grinning..
Ultra Grubba stepped back and stomped on Vivian, who managed to successfully guard the attack. The burn effect wore off after taking one more damage from it and he was no longer small. He was also left with only 32 HP.
"OK, now I'll try to do some heavy damage to him while you land another burn effect, Vivian!" Chopper suggested.
"OK," Vivian nodded as Chopper used his Rising Break on Ultra Grubba to make him hold his stomach in pain, and then he got punched in the face by Vivian's flaming punch.
"YEEEEEEEEOUCH!" Ultra Grubba quickly shook himself and then raised his attack by 3 and came at Chopper - only to have him Superguard the attack and deal damage to him. Not only that, but he took damage from the burn as well.
"Yeesh... That fire might fry me up, that's fer sure..."
"Yeah! We're getting him down! We rock!" Scrub cheered as Chopper jumped up and he used a spinning kick attack to hit Ultra Grubba in the face multiple times, while Scrub let himself Ground Pound him.
"Not too shabby, Contadre!" Ultra Grubba complimented. "You got showmanship, an' that's GOLD in this biz! But this here battle's just gettin' started! It's time I showed you some real moves! Back in the day, I had so many rump-kickin' moves, they had to make some illegal!"
"What? Illegal? How's that even possible?" Chopper gawked.
"Oh, trust me. My moves were a real threat! Anyway, I think I might need a little more juice here!"
Ultra Grubba clenched his fists and began to absorb more power from the machine. The three heroes jumped up in shock as they saw Ultra Grubba get even bigger and stomp the ground. The large Clubba used his ability to allow himself to go twice per turn, so this left Chopper and his friends for an open attack, so Chopper used a Vulcan Jab on him and then Scrub used his Ground Pound to leave him with 10 HP.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! I ain't finished yet, Contadre!" Ultra Grubba wheezed. "Ain't over 'til it's over! That's the way it goes in combat sports, son! And lemme tell you somethin': fortune's gonna smile on me in the end, punk!"
He began to pant, but not after making himself dodgy and landing a punch attack on both Chopper and Scrub.
"He's almost down, so we don't need to worry about a thing!" Chopper punched Ultra Grubba, but he ended up missing. Scrub, however, was able to hit him, unlike Chopper.
"Ha! And you thought you could beat us? You're already getting tired!" Scrub scoffed. However, they were also a little battered up too. Vivian's hair was a little messy, Chopper looked dirty, and so did the Yoshi.
"I ain't givin' up yet, punks!" Ultra Grubba hissed as he raised his attack and then he turned around and performed a flip attack on Chopper, making him feel so exhausted and beaten up.
"I'm not done either…" Chopper panted as he began to store up energy in his fists and rushed toward Ultra Grubba, making a huge Rising Break attack on him. This sent him flying up and then to the ground, which he happened to topple over on.
"YAAAAARGH!"
"Just like how you defeated Rawk Hawk..." Scrub realized.
"Uh huh," Chopper nodded.
Ultra Grubba dropped 34 Star Points for Chopper. Thankfully, Ultra Grubba's power was gone and ended up turning back to his regular form.
"Noooo... How'd this happen?" Grubba moaned. "How could a perfect bod like mine lose to some stupid little ten year old kid? Oh...Great...Contadre... Great fight, there, son. Great...fight. Urrrrrrrrrgh..."
Chopper walked over to Grubba and put his foot on his head while raising his arm.
"I'm sorry, Grubba… But this is for your own good." he was about to make another punch attack, but he was too tired to do so. "...I don't think I can do it."
"Why not?" Vivian asked.
"Not only do I feel a bit exhausted, but I don't think it's the best option..."
"Mr. Champion!"
Chopper and his friends turned around to see Jolene.
"Jolene?!"
"...No, I mean... Chopper." Jolene corrected. "Please allow me to offer my earnest thanks for defeating that foul Grubba."
"What? What do you mean?" Chopper gawked. "Did you know what was exactly going on this whole time?"
"I can't really explain much now. I really have to apologize... I'm so sorry I had to get you involved... But you must understand... I had to learn the truth about what Grubba was doing by any means."
"So... Does that mean you were never really secretary-like?" Scrub wondered.
"Let me tell you everything. Believe it or not, the people and fighters you all saw... They weren't what they were. In fact, Mr. Grubba would not even be here had he not wiped out everyone's memories of the previous events. Believe it or not, there was once another champion that found out about Mr. Grubba's plans and beat him. After he was gone, we never heard of him again... But then he came back out of nowhere and wiped out everyone's memories while I was gone. Some even went missing, like my little brother, Mush. He was the first champion of the ring, and wanted to go back, but it turned out to be a bad idea when he never came back. I went out to investigate, and the moment I saw Mr. Grubba, I knew the answer. That was why I decided to investigate and pretend my memory of those events had gone missing so Mr. Grubba wouldn't suspect me. Though, I couldn't have done much to stop him, so I felt hopeless...until you appeared. So I went out of my way to guide you."
"So our mysterious X person was actually…" Vivian gasped.
"Correct… It was me. Once I saw you fight through the ranks, I knew you were the only one who could challenge Grubba and save the Glitz Pit from any evil plans he had up his sleeves."
"Geez... That's a lot for you..." Chopper gasped.
Jolene walked up to the ring, which no longer had the electrical fence surrounded it and looked down at Grubba. "All right, Grubba! I want answers, right NOW! Where have all of the fighters' memories gone? Where is my little brother, Mush?"
"Urrrgh... Them fighters... Their memories ain't comin' back anytime soon..." Grubba moaned. "And yer brother? He ain't around here no more. Not like I care. Couldn't have him gettin' in the way of my plans..."
I had him...urgh...disappear... Any which way you look at it...oooog...he ain't around these parts no more. I got back by taking Prince Mush just to get you back here an' get rid of you. Unfortunately, it didn't look like that all worked out fer me. But yer brother's gone fer good. An' those memories of the other fighters are all gone too."
"...No! This can't be..." Jolene trailed, her head slowly hanging low.
"Oh... I guess we really thought of Jolene wrong." Scrub commented. "All this time, she was doing this to save her bro and all the people in the Glitz Pit."
"Chopper! What's that?" Vivian pointed up to the Crystal Star, which began to fire a bunch of energy out of the ring. It spread throughout the Glitz Pit and went into the fighter's heads, regaining their memories.
"Whoa! What happened?!"
"Hey! I'm not the champ?!"
"Grubba was behind this, wasn't he?!"
Not only that, but a Toad with a hot pink polka dotted cap like Jolene came out of the machine. It was Prince Mush.
"Whoa… Holy… Am I back in the Glitz Pit? Oh, man! This is GREAT!" Prince Mush gasped.
"MUSH! Your back!" Jolene walked over to Mush, having tears of happiness coming down her eyes.
"Sis! Is that really you? What are you doing here? I was just… Well… You know…"
"Don't worry, Mush. Everything's all right. Grubba's finished." Jolene turned back to Chopper. "Now, Chopper...the Crystal Star is yours."
The gold Crystal Star floated down beside Chopper, and he pointed to himself. "You mean, you want me to take the Crystal Star?"
"It's better that you have it...so that nothing like this will ever happen again."
"Gee, thanks, Jolene!" Chopper smiled as he grabbed the Crystal Star, which spun around his head. When it floated above him him, he held it up high.
You got a Crystal Star! Your Star power is now 3! And Chopper learned the special move Power Lift!
END OF CHAPTER
Glitzville's seamy underside was a dark, dangerous place seething with conspiracy... With the help of the lovely Ms. Jolene, Chopper revealed Grubba's evil plans… And acquired the second Crystal Star by defeating the monstrous Ultra Grubba. Grubba had used the power of the Crystal Star to run his power-draining machine... What other hidden powers might these strange and mystical items possess?
Hot-diggity-DANG! Chapter 2 is finally done! It was a pretty long chapter to be honest (though it's not the longest chapter in the story)... But it's over! And yes, I had to put that line there again. I like it a lot...
And yes, according to the title of the chapter, the boss fight was a REAL fight. Anyway, we're headin' back to the interludes next chapter! Hoooo-WEEEEEE!