After about another five minutes of backtracking, Chopper and Shadower made it to the top of Dark Steeple. They were exhausted from the long walk, and they were lucky to hit the Heart Block below the room. Right now, they could see the moon becoming a darker color. From what Shadow Chopper knew, just because everyone in the village was back to normal didn't mean it was all over.
"Ugh, you are one persistent little boy, coming all the way back up here just to catch me," Tipral groaned as Shadow Chopper and Shadower noticed him standing right by the green rocking chair, just like when they first encountered him.
"This is the end of the road, Tipral," Shadow Chopper declared. "It's either we fight or you give me back my name and body!"
"Fine. Fine. I see now. You want to fight. I was actually HOPING that you would come here to fight, because my powers to erase you no longer work. But that's not going to stop me from crushing you! Now that the curse has been broken, we should be able to hurt each other."
"Then this makes things easier for us," Shadower muttered as Tipral turned to Chopper's friends.
"All right now, everyone. Let's crush these fools and make them regret coming here!" Tipral realized that Vivian, Scrub and Kirby looked confused, so he cleared his throat to try to act somewhat like Chopper. "Ahem! Let's do this!"
"Of course, Chopper! We'll be right beside you!" Vivian assured.
"This faker couldn't take us on himself after what we did to him last time, so he teamed up with one of the Shadow Brothers!" Scrub growled. We're gonna take you down, you hear us, fake Contadre?"
"Scrub? Why… Why are you growling at me? Listen to my voice! I'm Chopper!" Shadow Chopper cried, now being able to say his name with Tipral's curse broken. Shadower, on the other hand, was starting to twitch a bit.
"Poyo! (You're going to wish you've never come here, fake Chopper! I am dead serious!)" Kirby declared.
"Good," Tipral nodded in approval before turning to Shadow Chopper. "You better be ready now, nameless nobody. Four against two isn't going to be helping you here!"
Shadower stepped back a little. "Chopper? The guy who stole your name and body is Chopper… So… Does that mean YOU'RE really Chopper?"
Shadow Chopper paused as he turned to Shadower, but then he sighed, knowing that he had to tell the truth. "OK… To tell you the truth, yes… I'm really Chopper. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you…but I thought it was right to help you, like I helped Vivian."
"I can't believe it… This whole time… I was helping my enemy, Chopper… Mysterious is right. I AM an idiot!" Shadower sighed as he sank into the shadows, leaving only Shadow Chopper.
"Oh no… I'm all alone." Shadow Chopper said in shock, while Tipral noticed Shadower leave the steeple.
"Well, it looks like it's four against one now. There's a big chance that you'll lose now. Now, my loyal minions! We must put an end to this faker once and for all!" Tipral shot a fireball at Shadow Chopper, who managed to out of the way.
"Great… I'm all alone… But I can't attack my friends. That wouldn't be right. If I focus on Tipral, I should be able to become victorious." Shadow Chopper hurled a fireball at Tipral to leave a burn on him. Since he fought him before, he knew his stats were exactly the same.
Tipral brought his hammer out and walked over to Chopper to whack him with it. This did 5 damage as usual. Next up, Vivian used her Shade Fist on him and left a burn on him.
"Ouch! Vivian! Don't you recognize my voice? That imposter's voice is too dark!" Shadow Chopper cried as he stomped on Tipral's head after he got hurt by the burn effect. Tipral was also hurt by the burn effect as well thanks to Shadow Chopper's fireball.
"I wonder if you can actually handle your own fire attacks! Let's see how you deal with it!" Tipral threw a fireball at Shadow Chopper, but then he jumped up and hovered up with his dark shoes. Kirby tried to get him with his Cartwheel and knocked him onto the ground.
"I'm sorry, bro…but I have to be honest. Chopper's really a great kid, and he's been treating me much better than you have. He feels more like a…friend."
When Shadow Chopper got himself up, he heard something coming out of the shadows behind him. When he turned around, he saw Shadower standing right in front of him.
"Chopper! Listen! I'm going to fight on your side!" Shadower declared. "I'm sorry about earlier, but I made my decision now. I ain't turning back now! Let's take down this fake Chopper!"
"Shadower... Thanks..." Shadow Chopper thanked before he turned back to Tipral and clenched his fists.
Shadower used his Shadow Punch and managed to strike Tipral with the shadowy punch. Now that Shadower was on Shadow Chopper's side, he knew this fight would be a little easier.
"So that Shadow Brother came back, huh? Well I'll give him a good butt stomping for ya, Contadre!" Scrub growled as he fluttered over to Shadower and stomped on him twice. Shadower managed to bring his arms up and guard the attack to take no damage.
"Dang it! It didn't do anything!"
"No worries, Yoshi," Tipral assured. "We need to get this faker!"
"Remember, Shadower," Shadow Chopper began. "We need to focus only on Tipral. I'd rather not hurt my friends, y'know?"
"I completely understand, Chopper," Shadower nodded.
Tipral threw another fireball at Shadow Chopper, but he was able to Superguard it and not take any damage. Shadow Chopper threw another fireball because the burn effect wore off both of them. Vivian tried to punch Shadow Chopper, but he was able to Superguard that attack as well, making her take damage instead. Though, admittedly he kind of regretted doing that, but he had no other choice.
Shadow Chopper went with using his Power Smash to whack Tipral to take away 6, and then Shadower used his Shadow Punch afterward. It was good that he was not far from being taken down.
"Hmph! I had enough!" Tipral swung his arm and fired a Star Spear at Shadow Chopper, knocking him down. Vivian, Scrub and Kirby were left looking confused.
"Poyo? (Wait, when did he learn to use a Star Spear?)" gaped Kirby.
Shadower had to make his attack now, so he attacked Tipral with his Shadow Punch, and when Shadow Chopper got back up, he threw a fireball at him. Tipral once again used his stomp to hit Shadow Chopper and then Scrub used his Ground Pound on Shadower again. Nonetheless, the two had the fight in the bag now.
"Shadower… I think we'll need to work together to finish this up." Shadow Chopper suggested. He nodded and then the shadowy Chopper got on Shadower. He jumped up while the Shadow Brother attacked Tipral with his Shadow Punch.
"GAH! …Huh…?" Tipral looked up and saw Shadow Chopper with flames on his feet. He stomped on him with his scorching feet and jumped off of him while performing a Stylish move. This left Tipral exhausted and unable to fight back.
"Impossible! How could I…lose?! I'm supposed to be unstoppable!"
At this moment, Tipral felt dazed and fell over on the ground. His partners stepped back in shock as Shadow Chopper and Shadower got 25 Star Points.
Tipral dropped the Ruby Star he was able to get back, and not only that, but he was transformed back into his dark self.
"What the…" Chopper's partners gawked.
Light energy surrounded Shadow Chopper as he spun around, and then purple smoke surrounded him. After it was gone, Chopper was back in his own body and was smiling as well.
"Yes! I'm finally back to normal!" Chopper cheered.
Tipral got back up, glaring at Chopper. "Fine! You beat me. Big deal. But this isn't the last time you'll ever see me. Next time, you bettered be prepared. For now… Farewell!"
Before anyone could approach the antennae copycat, he had vanished from the room via teleportation.
"Wait… This whole time Shadow Chopper was really you? So we were all being tricked..." Vivian trailed sadly as she floated over to Chopper.
"Don't worry about it! I'm fine!" Chopper assured. "There was a reason why I didn't fight back at Dour's house and why I didn't fight you guys."
"Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't..."
"It's OK. It wasn't your fault."
"OK..."
"Poyo! (I can't believe it. We were hoodwinked!)"
"…So, who's this shadow guy, huh?" Scrub wondered. "Isn't he one of the Shadow Brothers we fought at Boggly Woods? But why would Contadre team up with one of those goons?"
"Well, er…" Shadower stammered before Chopper stepped in to defend him.
"Don't call him a goon! He's one of us now!" Chopper declared.
"Really? But, um… Why would he be on our side?" Vivian asked.
"Because he doesn't deserve to be with his brothers! Did you see how they treated him? Plus, he's my friend, and he's a great guy after what he's done for me!"
"Oh, thanks for sticking up for me, Chopper," Shadower smiled. "That was pretty cool of you to do that."
"Well, I guess thanks to him, you came through this OK…" Scrub trailed as he rubbed the side of his head. "No sweat, right?"
"Yeah, we're cool," the Shadow Brother gave Scrub a thumbs up before he turned back to Chopper. "So… Chopper, I'm sorry about earlier. You don't mind me joining you, right?"
"I don't mind at all!" Chopper answered. "Did you see what you did against some of those enemies? Plus, you can lower DEFENSE! That's GREAT!"
"Poyo?! (He can lower defense?!)" Kirby gaped.
"Whoa... That's impressive..." Scrub gasped.
"Yeah, that can be helpful..." Vivian trailed.
"Oh, wow! That's great to hear!" Shadower smiled.
Shadower has REALLY joined your party!
"Thank you very much, Chopper. In all honesty, being around my brothers made me feel a little uncomfortable. You saw how Mysterious treated me back in Boggly Woods, right? Well, I'm hoping by joining you, things will get a lot better for me."
"Trust us, it's pretty awesome," Scrub smirked.
"I'm sure it will be," Shadower nodded before looking at the Ruby Star and then Chopper. "All right, Chopper... Go ahead! Let's grab the Crystal Star and get out of here!"
"You got it!" Chopper nodded before he walked over to the red Crystal Star, which began to circle him. Once it floated above him, he held it up, and this time, it wasn't a fake Chopper. It was actually him.
You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power is now 5! And Chopper learned the special move Art Attack!
END OF CHAPTER
Chopper defeated the "so-called" faker who stole his name and appearance, and now he has four Crystal Stars. That means he only has sixteen more to find! Now Chopper heads off on his next adventure with his new friend, Shadower... But what about Mysterious and Purple? And what about the evil Tipral? Is that the last time we'll ever see him?
Twilight Town-
"Gah! Where is Shadower? He's late as usual! Purple! Do you have any idea on where he could be?" Mysterious asked as he and Purple were looking around for their brother.
Purple just shrugged, leaving Mysterious to grumble. "Great… If he left us for good, then that means we're the TWO Shadow Brothers! Who's going to replace him now?"
At that moment, they saw Tipral skate by, which made Mysterious smirk.
"Hmmm… Perhaps are search will be easier than I thought it would!"
Meh, it's kind of short, but the boss chapter here wasn't that long anyway. We're going to the interludes, and then we're going to... Well, you'll find out.
The strange thing is, the next interlude has some big fights, and it's a bit of a long one too, so you might like it if you wanted a longer chapter. Plus, we'll be introduced to... *shot to prevent me from answering*