CHAPTER 5
-Eels and Islands-
Chopper was relaxing outside in a chair while wearing sunglasses on the ship. Scrub was sitting in a chair right next to him. He, too, was wearing sunglasses and he held a tropical drink in his hand with a little lemon hanging from the cup.
"Man, this is the life, I'll tell you!" Scrub smirked as he looked over at Chopper and thought he saw a lot of girls around him. A lot of them were pretty, and even girls like Bow and Vivian appeared around him as well. But when he rubbed his eyes, he noticed they were gone. "What in the world...? That was so weird..."
"Uhh… Scrub… Is there anything wrong? Why are you looking at me in a confused way?" Chopper asked, which made Scrub jump up a bit.
"I thought I saw something. Er… Never mind that." Scrub began to lie down again. Kirby was just sleeping on the ground, and Vivian was looking at the ocean, with her hair blowing through the wind. She sighed as she looked out at the beautiful ocean, which looked as clear as she remembered it to be.
"Y'know, nothing really has been going on lately," Vivian realized. "How far are we from Unagi's Cave anyway?"
Bobbery got up onto look-out and began to check what lied ahead. "Well, I do see an island nearing us. But I can see the cave further ahead past a few islands! Yes! That must be it! Unagi's Cave! Chopper, my boy! We must make haste if we are to get to the cave!"
Chopper sprang up and saw the cave a little further away, but he stopped when a giant reddish purple eel with purple and green stripes on its fin flew up in the air and took a bite out of a piece of the ship.
"Ack! What's going on! The ship! It's…" Shadower could see the ship tilting, and they could hear a voice, too. The sound of Unagi and his size alone was enough to make most of the crew's eyes shoot wide open.
"Why… This ship has a good taste to it!" Unagi hissed as Bobbery jumped down from the look-out. "It's a good thing I'll sink it, because I'll be having another meal!"
"What? Who dares attack my ship?!" roared Cortez as he appeared outside of his ship. "…Unagi! Well you seem rather hungry! But it's too bad you won't be having any meals today!"
"Ah... So you're the legendary Cortez! I heard so much about you... 'Tis a shame that your ship will be going!"
Cortez had other plans, however. He made his ship surrounded in blue flames and managed to reach the island. They had to stop right by the beach because it would sink by the docks because of the damage.
"Phew… We barely made it out of there. Is everyone safe?" Bobbery asked. Scrub was shivering, while Kirby got up, noticing that they were on an island rather than a cave.
"Poyo? (Huh? What's going on? Are we at the cave?)" Kirby took a look by the edge and saw the sand. "Poyo! (This isn't a cave! It's some kind of beach! Hey! Can someone tell me what's going on?!)"
"Well, Kirby… Unagi made his move." Chopper sighed. "He attacked the ship and now we're stranded on…Pudgy Island? What's so pudgy about this island?"
"Hold on a second..." Scrub paused. "You were able to somehow use your magic to get us over here... So, why can't you do that to get us to the cave?"
"My magic is limited, amigo," Cortez explained. "If I were to try that, I'd be very exhausted. I'm connected to this ship, you know, so what ever I do affects me as well! And right now, I've used up a lot of my power to bring this ship over here. You didn't expect some consequences to my power?"
"Oh... Well that makes sense..." Chopper trailed. "I'm going to get off the ship now. It's weird that this place is called Pudgy Island..."
"Where'd you hear that from?" Shadower asked.
"Over there," he pointed to a sign by the green grass that was by the sand as he jumped down. He could feel the water rising up to his feet. Scrub jumped down with him as well, but he didn't enjoy the water.
"Brrrr! This water's cold!" Scrub's teeth began to chatter until he got out. It was warm on this island, but the water wasn't. The nice weather around the area was nice, though.
"It's really nice here! I wonder what could be around here anyway?" Vivian wondered.
Chopper decided to whack at one of the trees and a coconut came down. He gave it to Scrub to eat because he liked coconuts. Chopper gave one to everyone else too. Kirby put his coconut in his mouth, but Chopper pulled it out and smashed the coconut to crack it open.
"Just drink the milk that's in it. Don't eat the whole coconut." Chopper suggested as Kirby drank the milk from the coconut.
"Poyo, (Not bad, I suppose,)" Kirby commented.
"So… Wait, we're just going to stay at this ship and do nothing? I don't know if that's really fun… Bobbery, what do you plan on doing?" Shadower asked as Bobbery jumped down from the ship.
"Well, there's not much I can do. I explored this island once. I already know what's here, so I'll leave you five to explore it." Bobbery declared. "I'm sure you'll meet some nice people there! There's a small village if you need to buy some items too! I'm going to be helping Cortez fix this ship while you guys go out. So, good luck!"
"Thanks!"
Just before Chopper could walk into the jungle, he decided to take a little detour to his left. There wasn't much there, but Chopper did want to get a few more coconuts. As he was about to hit one of them, a blue mole popped out of the floor.
"Whaaack-hoo! I'm Whacka! This is some nice weather, isn't it? It makes me feel like nothing bad could happen on a day like today, whack-a-doo!" Whacka said cheerfully.
"Oh... Hey! I don't know why, but you look like someone I once met." Chopper said. "Want some coconuts?"
"Do I? Sure!"
"OK!" Chopper swung his hammer at the tree, causing coconuts to fall down. One, unfortunately, had hit Whacka in the head, giving him a bump that came off and turned into a lump of bread.
"Whack-OWWWWWWWWWW!" Whacka cried, retreating back into his hole.
"Here! I've got coconuts for..." Chopper paused when he found no sight of Whacka. "Hey... Where'd he go? ...Ooh! Food!"
The others, save for Kirby, were left dumbfounded as Chopper picked up the Whacka's Bump and put it away. Afterward, the group headed back to the main path while pretending that they never saw what happened to Whacka.
"OK... Let's go!"
Chopper walked toward the direction the arrow was pointing and headed through the small jungle with everyone else. They could see Spear Guys in this small area, so Chopper simply threw a fireball at them to burn the leaves off them and make them flee.
"I never saw Shy Guys around here…" Vivian trailed. "I wonder why they're here. I never saw them at Keelhaul Key, Riverside Station, Fahr Outpost, and the Palace of Shadow. I guess we might be seeing Shy Guys now."
"The Palace of Shadow?" Shadower gawked, getting his attention. "Isn't that where…"
Chopper instantly gave Shadower a sign not to say another word, and he just nodded. They went off with defeating the Spear Guy with a Shadow Punch and they kept going.
"Why don't we check what's in these bushes!" Scrub suggested as he checked one bush and found an Earthquake item, so he held onto it for now. There wasn't much else around here, unfortunately, so they simply headed off to a village with a couple of tents and small houses. Toads, Koopas, and Bob-ombs could be seen here.
"Poyo… (So this is the village, huh? Nothing really exciting here. Is there anything we can do?)" Kirby asked.
But before they could do anything else, they stopped when they saw two blue fire spirits with yellow eyes come into town, making all the people around shriek in terror.
"EEEEEEEEEK! Everyone! They're here!" Everyone in the village ran away as soon as the enemies showed. The two Embers cackled as everyone hid in their huts and were about to burn one of the huts down. However, they were interrupted by Chopper and his friends, who got in their fighting stances. The two Embers turned around and got angry.
"Now now, no need to get all angry. We're the good guys." Chopper assured. "We help people. Just tell us what's wrong and we'll try to help you, OK?"
Embers: ?
"I don't think they're friendly, Chopper…" Vivian trailed before the Embers charged. Chopper jumped back and was about to throw a fireball at them, until Vivian grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Don't! These enemies are made of fire! If you end up using more fire on them, it will just make them stronger! If only we had water. We could take them out easily then…"
"Well if fire won't work, then I guess my hammer will just have to do," Chopper walked over to the Ember and brought his hammer down on it, and then he did a back flip, making the audience go nuts because of his stylish move.
"Awesome stylish, Contadre! I guess I'll attack." Scrub walked over to the first Ember and used his Gulp to spit it out at the other, defeating the first Ember, while leaving the other with only 3 HP left. Of course, this one rammed into Chopper, but he was thankfully not burned.
"OK, I guess I'll finish it off," Chopper whacked both Embers with his hammer out of the village and got 6 Star Points from the battle. Now that the Embers were gone, everybody came out and saw them gone.
"They're gone? YESSS!" the Toad cheered. "Now we can enjoy ourselves without them bothering us! Thank you so much, people! We're saved!"
A pink Bob-omb Buddy, a Koopa with a blue bandana with some scars on his head and a strange-looking guy in a purple hat and yellow overalls came out too and noticed them.
"Hey, were you guys the ones to beat those Embers? If so, thanks for doing that!" the pink Bob-omb thanked. "The name's Bambo! This here is Kooplang, and our new buddy here is Four-Eyes!"
"Hey, there, guys! …What's with Four-Eyes? Why does he remind me of someone I know?" Chopper wondered as Four-Eyes jumped up a little.
"Buh huh huh? No! I'm not someone you know!" Four-Eyes cried. "I'm not working for those X-Nauts either! Trust me! I'm just some guy that no one cares about. I'm being honest here. Even ask my buddies!"
"Er… I don't know what you said, Four-Eyes." Kooplang gawked. "Anyway… What brings you people here? You got stranded here because of that eel? That's why we're on this island."
"Poyo… (That turtle guy creeps me out…)" Kirby whispered to Chopper, who nodded in agreement.
"Well, we came here to go defeat that eel," Chopper declared. "He's got the Crystal Star we need anyway! So don't worry, guys! We're going to take care of that eel and make the seas a safe place! I can promise you that."
"Pffffffft…" Bambo began to chuckle and then began to laugh. "BA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Oh, man! Seriously! You actually think you can take down an eel that has gobbled down so many people?! Good one, buddy! That's gotta be one of the best ones I've ever heard so far!"
Kooplang smacked him to get him to stop laughing. "Uh… I think he's telling the truth."
Upon realizing this, Bambo's eyes widened. "Are you CRAZY?! That eel will eat you whole! Do you know what his favorite food is?! Bob-ombs! That's why I can't leave this island! The only safe place now is land! Because of Unagi, we can't go fishing, and we can't go swimming either! He's the reason why foreign fish usually mess up the food chain! He eats ANYTHING in sight!"
"Eats anything in sight?" Scrub gulped. "Oh… That doesn't sound good. I don't know what to think about this…"
"Don't be scared. I fought things bigger than that eel." Chopper assured, giving Bambo a smug look. "I fought a Star God that's stronger than that thing! He even had 1,000 HP and an Attack of 28! I bet Unagi doesn't have THAT much HP! Not to mention I beat a robot and a Clubba!"
"Really? Wow… That's pretty cool. I never knew you could do THAT." Kooplang gaped. "Hmmm… If you want to fight that eel, you'll have to take the safe way. You need to travel through this island and two others. The sea isn't too deep by those areas when swimming, so you won't be a target to that eel. Unfortunately, boats cannot go there, so you can only swim…or surf."
"So we need to do that? That's not really bad. I guess we might as well go for it, Chopper." Vivian suggested as Chopper turned to her and nodded.
"How far do we need to go through this island?" Scrub wondered. "I wanna know so we don't get all lost."
"I still think you guys are nuts," Bambo mentioned. "It's just like with the other people that went out to fight him."
"That's still not stopping us from going," Chopper declared.
"Poyo! (We'll get that eel and the Crystal Star! Come on, guys! We should get going!)" Kirby declared, with everyone else following him into the jungle. There, they found a slope going up to a gap. If they jumped down, they would fall on some sand.
"OK, Scrub! Looks like you'll be of some use here!" Chopper noted as Scrub smirked and let his buddy get on him so he could flutter over the gap. Vivian, Kirby, and Shadower could get over there easily, while Chopper and Scrub were forced to take that way.
"Poyo. (There's not much around here, but I think we can get through this place,)" Kirby stated as he saw the tree ahead that could help them reach a high ledge ahead. "Poyo. (I think that tree can help us go to the next part of the island.)"
"Good idea, Kirby!" Chopper rushed over to the tree and began to climb up it. Scrub did the same thing as well as Kirby. Vivian and Shadower simply floated up instead of climbing up the tree. Now that they did that, they went to the pathway ahead, where they found themselves in an area with a bridge. Below them was a river that led down to the ocean, and a blue bird that had goggles on. They could charge down at them and deal some heavy damage with their beaks. They had 9 HP, from what they could see.
"So… What are those birds? Bird Pilots? We can take that bird!" Scrub scoffed.
Before he could throw an egg at it, Chopper inhaled it and got a Native American headdress on his head and two feathers on the headdress that could be transformed into feathery wings whenever he wanted to fly. He also got small two red lines on the side of his face, just to help those to know that he became Wing Chopper.
"Already taken care of, Scrub!" Chopper assured, showing off his wings. "Now I got this Wing ability to help me in any situations!"
"...Show-off."
"Hey! I'm not a show-off!" he retorted before he walked across the bridge to the other side, where they all found a small mountain to go up to the ledge above them.
"Well, there you go, Chopper! Now you can fly up there! …But how is Scrub going to get up there? Wait a second…" Shadower grabbed Scrub, which made him struggle.
"Hey! Lemme go!" Scrub cried. "You can't just grab me like that! I'm too awesome!"
"Hold still, Scrub," the Shadow Brother groaned as he managed to bring him up onto the high ledge. He let the Yoshi go, who stopped struggling and realized where he was.
"Oh... Well that's one way to solve something. Good work!"
"There's a problem that's solved! Now I just need to go up there!" Chopper jumped and suddenly had wings that allowed him to fly up. Kirby held his breath and he began to float up while Vivian extended her ghost-like tail to reach the high ledge.
"Well, I don't see much around here. We should just…" Chopper turned around and he saw a yellow Piranha with red polka dots, and green lips rise up. They were Putrid Piranhas and had about 10 HP. Not only that, but they could poison them, so they had to be careful.
"Uh oh… This can't be good. Wait… They're plants! I know what to do!" Chopper threw a fireball at the Putrid Piranha, burning it down. Kirby didn't exactly feel good about this.
"Poyo? (Uh… Is it really a good idea to burn plants, Chopper?)" Kirby asked. "Poyo. (I know they're deadly, but this can something cause something bad to happen, you know? The grass could go on fire and burn us all…except maybe Vivian.)"
"Yeah, you got a point, Kirby…but it's not too bad. Let's just see what else is around here." Chopper walked to the next area to find two Embers circling a palm tree. They didn't hear anybody's voice, but they knew there were two circling the tree.
"Huh? Look at those Embers! What on earth are they doing around that tree?" Vivian asked.
"Beats me," Shadower shrugged as Chopper attacked one with his hammer, landing a First Strike on the Embers. After Chopper made his next move with his hammer, the first Ember was gone. Shadower attacked the other Ember with his Shadow Punch, since he didn't actually touch it. It left the Ember with 3 HP left.
"This isn't too bad! We're really bringing the house down right now!" Scrub grinned until he got burnt by some fire from the Ember, taking 3 damage. At least Chopper finished it off with his Feather Gun by shooting a feather at it and getting 6 Star Points.
"Yeah! That was awesome!" the white Yoshi fist pumped. "…To be honest, this island kind of reminds me of Yoshi's Island. I wonder how Yoshis even lay eggs anyway. Don't the females do that kind of stuff? …In fact, how is an egg made for others?"
"Er… Scrub… I don't know, really…" Shadower trailed. "Well, yeah, I probably DO know… But you just came out of an egg, right? Maybe you should wait until you're older, OK? You can hear this when you're about uh… fourteen."
"Yeah, I'm kinda confused… How exactly do females lay eggs? Do any of you got any ideas?" Chopper asked. Vivian shook her head, knowing that she was a Shadow Siren and all…and that Shadow Sirens never learned this.
"Wait until you're older so…" Before Shadower could continue, they all heard some leaves bristling up in the palm tree. They all stopped and began to listen. Scrub's heart began to race as he looked around his surroundings.
"What's that noise? …Is there some kind of dragon or snake here? I don't like those… If there are, somebody hide me!" Scrub began to get in the fetal position as Shadower sighed and made him invisible in case if there was anything dangerous around them.
"I think it's coming from the tree," Chopper heard the bristling coming from the tree, so he pulled out his hammer. "I'll go take a look at it."
Chopper walked quietly toward the tree, grasping his hammer. He quickly whacked at the tree, and suddenly a bunch of coconuts fell on his head, knocking him out. Not to mention a pink thing came down on the ground, with its head stuck in the ground.
"Poyo! (I got this!)" Kirby smacked Chopper in the face in order to wake him up. He did, and he didn't look happy. But Kirby told him that he was knocked out, and he understood and didn't get angry.
"All right, now let's see what's over here," Chopper saw orange feet sticking out of the pink body, and when he pulled the person out, he saw a pink Bob-omb with a blonde ponytail that was like a fuse. She also had a red pirate bandana with white polka dots and white heart-shaped wings that spun around when she was about to explode.
"Huh? Oh, it's only a pink Bob-omb. Thank goodness! Scrub! It's OK! It's nothing dangerous!" Chopper assured, making Scrub move and become visible. When he noticed the Bob-omb, she slowly got up and shook her head quickly.
"Arrr! It's good to be back up! Thanks, matey!" the Bob-omb thanked. "I be stuck in that tree for hours 'cause of those Embers! I thank ye fer the help, lads!"
"Ummm… Who the heck are you?" Chopper asked, looking confused, along with his friends. "Are you one of the Bob-omb Buddies or something?"
"Arrr! Me name? Me name be Bombette! Or, at least that's what I think." Bombette wondered. "I don't know much now, but I be told that I have bombnesia!"
"Bombnesia?" Scrub gawked. "What's bombnesia?"
"You know, I have no idea..." Shadower trailed.
"It sounds like amnesia, but it sounds like it's for a Bob-omb..." Vivian pondered.
"Wait… I remember Bruce having an ex-girlfriend named Bombette." Chopper realized. "Could this actually be her? I remember she left after being kicked by Koopla. …This is where she came? I don't believe it. Hey, Bombette! Do you know anything about Bruce?"
"Bruce? Who is this Bruce ye speak of?" Bombette wondered. "I was told I have bombnesia. I don't even remember anything. Sorry, matey… I wish I could, but I cannot."
"Well what are you doing here?" Vivian asked. "There must be a reason for you being here. Are you here because of Unagi?"
"No, I came here lookin' fer treasure! Yes, I think that's what I wanted. Have ye seen any treasure around here?"
"No, we haven't found any," Chopper replied, shaking his head. "In fact, the reason why we're here is to go look for a Crystal Star that's in Unagi's Cave."
"Yarr? A Crystal Star? Why, that sounds like treasure! Tell me yer name, little boy! I would sure like to go treasure huntin' with ye!"
"It's Chopper. Not too hard to memorize."
"Chopper, eh? Well, I'll stay with ye fer now. I suppose that's what's probably best. But I'll make sure I'm useful to ye with me explosions!"
Bombette has joined your party! Press X to have Chopper throw Bombette, who will then walk a few steps and explode! Use her explosions to blast cracks open, destroy walls, and activate switches! You can even throw her onto ledges above you! In battle, she can detonate on ground-bound enemies! Or, if you like, you can throw her at an air-born enemy with her Bomb Throw!
"So, now! Now that I'm here, let's search for treasure!" Bombette declared.
"Well, I guess it's good to have another female partner here," Vivian said in a relieved voice. "I felt a little lonely without a girl to talk to, but I guess it should be OK now."
"All right, this is good! Another party member! And one that can explode! Awesome!" Scrub cheered as they moved on to the next area, where they found a crack right near a wall ahead.
"Well, I think this be me chance, Chopper! Throw me at the crack and I'll let it rip!" Chopper nodded and picked Bombette up in order to throw her by the wall. Her ponytail acted like a fuse, and she blew up the wall, making a cave entrance appear.
"A cave? Well this is interesting! Let's see what's in here!" Chopper removed his Wing ability and rushed into the cavern, with Bombette following up ahead. Unfortunately, it was dark, and they couldn't see anything.
"Uh oh… It's dark in here. That's not good. How are we supposed to see what's here?" Chopper then saw a Lava Bubble appear right in front of him, which made him shriek…
Until he inhaled it.
"What kind of shriek was that? That's…a weird shriek…" Bombette trailed.
"But he's ten. What can you expect?" Vivian shrugged, while Bombette was left confused. However, she paused when she saw Chopper change.
He got himself a fiery gold tiara with a green gem in the middle and light red skin with his gloves and feet being a red color. He spun himself around like he was performing a spin attack and the flames made the room light up. The ground was filled with water, but it only went up to part of Chopper's feet. Water was also dripping down from the ceiling.
"Interesting…" Shadower trailed as the drops of water came down on Chopper's fiery head, but they were small, so it didn't get rid of the flames on his head.
"All right… Let's see what's around us." Chopper walked through the water to the next room, where they found a black chest by a shining light from a hole in the ceiling. The sky could also be seen from that hole.
"Hey! You! Over there! Can you hear me?" the Black Chest began to wiggle around as everyone else walked over to the chest.
"Of course I can hear you!"
"Oh, thank goodness! I was hoping that you would be the legendary hero!" it sighed. "Listen, being in this chest for many years, it's cramped up! I can't really do a thing in here except sing songs. Of course, the dead people in the next area won't let me…"
"Dead people?" At this point, everyone began to shiver in fear.
"Yeah, there's a pile of bones in the other room! I guess that's where the people who died in this cave are. Or perhaps that's the remains of the people who got eaten by that eel. Yeah, that's it! Listen here though… I can't really stay in here, and I would like to be outta here before that eel comes here! Could ya give me a hand?"
"Umm… You're basically going to curse me, aren't you?" Chopper wondered.
"Oh… That? OK, I'll admit it. It's some kind of curse, but it HELPS you." the Black Chest confessed. "It's not meant to make you suffer. That's what the others try to do. Don't worry, I'm not like them. I can pinky swear!"
"…But ye don't have any pinkies," Bombette mentioned.
"Oh, yeah, that's true. No pinkies here. It's REALLY dangerous to be here now, and I don't wanna be trapped in here forever. I'll give you a new ability that should help you here! I SWEAR!"
"OK… Fine. I'll believe you for right now." Chopper sighed. "I'll help you find the Black Key."
"GREAT! You might wanna be quick. I heard that the key is by those pile of bones. Go fast!"
They all listen to the chest's words and quickly headed over to the next room before they could let themselves become in grave danger.
Do you REALLY think I was going to leave the whole Bombette story out of the sequel? Nope! Now we know where she is, but now there's a big problem with her... Oh yeah, and a pile of bones in the next room? That's...rather creepy. But whatever. We're going to probably be leaving Pudgy Island next chapter and meeting someone else!
And yes... Bombnesia. I went there. *shot*
...And this is the last update before school, unfortunately. Updates on the story might not be as much now, which is a shame.