Everybody saw a huge lump in the upper far right of the room. In fact, there were piles of bones everywhere in the room, which made Scrub shiver.
"WHOA…" Scrub covered his mouth before he could go screaming again. The only one who didn't look afraid was Bombette, who began to sniff the air.
"Ah! Do ye all smell that?" Bombette asked.
"Ummmm... I don't smell anything..." Chopper trailed.
"That's the smell of the dead! It smells so good! As a pirate, this is what ye be findin' in caves an' down at the sea! …Oh, and also some pirate battles, but I'll just blow things up instead. After all, I am a Bob-omb."
"Um… Chopper… I don't like this place." Vivian said worriedly as she went down to his size and went behind him, while Kirby's eyes went white in fear. "Bombette, I understand you like this, but I don't think we do."
"Kirby?" Chopper began waving his arm in front of his face. He than smacked him lightly to get his attention, which made him jump up in fright.
"Poyo! (AGH! I'm being attacked!)" cried Kirby.
"Calm down, Kirby! It's OK! It's safe right now… Well, I wouldn't SAY that right now. There's a pile of bones around here." Chopper took a deep breath and walked around the room. Small splashes could be heard from his movement, and the Cave Bones simply lied there. These bones had blue boots instead of green, like the Dull Bones.
Chopper looked up at the top of the bone pile and saw something that interested him. There was a Black Key sitting on the top, which made him smile, but he knew that he had to go up those piles of bones.
"Climbing up those bones might not be safe. You could get stabbed or even stub your toe." Shadower mentioned. "There's NO way you're going to do that, Chopper. I mean, you've gone through a lot of pain, especially when you were beaten up by Meta Knight."
"Arr! Leave this to me!" Bombette climbed up the pile of bones and once she got to the Black Key, she realized something: she had no arms to carry it. "…This be a problem now... I've got no arms to help me!"
"Then try to bring it down here," Chopper suggested.
"Hold on a second..." Vivian trailed, realizing something. "Goombella could carry a book around her, and she had no arms. Yet... Bombette here can't carry something like a key down?"
"Y'know, Vivian makes a good point there," Scrub agreed as one of the Dry Bone's eyes began to glow blue and swatted Bombette off the pile of bones and into the shallow water. "Oh, crud! Those bones are alive!"
"Are you all right, Bombette?" Shadower asked, helping Bombette up, but she merely pushed him out of the way with a bold look.
"I don't need ye help!" Bombette scoffed. "I'm a pirate! Pirates are capable of doin' things themselves!"
"Ummmm... Yeah..." Chopper sweat dropped.
Three Cave Bones rose from the pile of bones with its scary blue glowing eyes. What else did these Cave Bones have? Well, their heads looked a little cracked because of being in the pile for so long.
"Join usssssssss…" the three Cave Bones moaned as they pulled their leg off to use it as a weapon. Bombette stepped back and got in a fighting stance, her fuse ready to go off. Of course, explosions could defeat these guys, as well as fire.
"Whoa! Wait, these guys are affected by fire and explosions." Scrub realized. "So… I guess Contadre, Vivian and Bombette can take care of these creepy guys! Give 'em all ya got now!"
"I think these guys will go down in no time!" Chopper unleashed his fire breath upon the Cave Bones that was at the front, burning it down because fire could destroy bones in the Paper Mario universe somehow (unlike in the Mario games, where fire doesn't work).
"Now it be me time to show ye me moves!" Bombette's fuse began to go off and she ran toward the next Cave Bones and exploded right in front of it, destroying it as well. Everyone's mouth was left agape as she landed on the ground.
"Poyo… (Holy… That was really cool!)" Kirby gasped.
"Indeed!" Chopper Superguarded the last Cave Bone's bone and then defeated it with his fire, giving them 6 Star Points and also dropping the Black Key. After getting it, they headed back to the black chest.
"Yeah, yeah. Whoop-de-doo. You got the key." the Black Chest said sarcastically. "Let's have a little party. Now just get me outta this stupid chest already."
"OK! Sheesh!" Chopper sighed as he unlocked the Black Chest. "No need to be rude."
"All right. Here we go… Since you're just itching to get this over with… A-HEM! WHEE HEE! FOOOOOLS!"
The chest opened up, and as usual, Chopper found himself in the blue background with the yellow eyes and mouth above him in the background.
"You dopes fell right into my absolutely positively brilliant trap! And now you will SUFFER FOR IT! Oh, yeah! I am so EVIL! Bathe in the foul, awful stench of my armpits! …Wait a minute, what? That wasn't it… Ah! You fools will be cursed forever for you insane stupidity! You knew you would regret it, and now you'll regret it even more with this curse! B-E C-U-R-S-E-D!"
There were a couple of white flashes and Chopper became cursed. "Oh, whoop-de-doo. I'm cursed. I'm sure suffering..."
"Hey! Don't copy me like that! ...Uh, I mean... Whee hee hee hee! Now look at you! You're cursed, but good! Now you'll suffer, suffer, and SUFFER! …Wait, that's maybe a little too much. Are you all right? That didn't hurt, did it? Bah! You're cursed, and that's how it'll be! If you see a panel with a wave, you will be able to surf on the water—but only if you have the Water ability."
"Really? That sounds interesting…" Chopper said sarcastically
"Really? It's that good? ...Oh, excuse me... Whee hee hee hee! That's right! It's interesting enough to make you fall on your knees! Now I must be off, worm! Oh, and hey, listen… Thanks for letting me do my thing. I feel MUCH better now."
The background turned back to normal as the cursed background crumpled up and disappeared. Everyone else was left confused for a moment, as if they were wondering, "What the heck just happened?!"
"Well now… That curse didn't seem bad now, did it?" Bombette wondered.
They couldn't do much now, so they walked over to where the water began to get deeper. They could see a shining light coming from a pathway underwater.
"Let's check through here," Vivian suggested.
Once they went underwater, Chopper's Fire ability was gone, so instead, he inhaled the water. From that, Chopper got himself a golden crown containing a cresting wave on his head.
"Well I guess this can help!" Chopper swam out of the cave and when he surfaced, they were in a small pond right by a pathway going to the beach right by an island up ahead. They didn't ask any questions, so they tried to cross the ocean to the next island, but it wasn't easy.
"Dang it! I hate that I can't stay underwater forever like Contadre! Your so lucky, man!" Scrub grumbled, who was swimming up on the surface, while Chopper was swimming faster due to his Water ability.
"Y'know… This is a really nice ability to be using! I'm liking this!" Chopper smiled, but unfortunately, before he could do more swimming, he bumped into sand, which meant they were right near the next island. Thankfully, the waves were able to bring them all to shore, due to them being big. It even wiped Chopper's ability away, so he was lying on the sand by the shore of the next island without his ability.
"Well, that was nice, wasn't it..." Shadower moaned.
"Arrr! Well at least I ain't seasick." Bombette sighed as she got herself up.
"Mmmmwee hee hee hee hee! Well now! You certainly got yourself washed up on shore down, didn't you?" Chopper raised his head and saw Beldam grinning down at him. Marilyn stood there as if she didn't have any idea what was going on. Oh, and not to mention the pirate Goomba from before was with them too!
"Hey! Look at that! He's even got sand on his face!" the Goomba cackled before Beldam smacked his face to shut him up while Chopper wiped all the sand off him. The rest of Chopper's friends were able to get up as well.
"Sis? What are you doing here? Have you come back to stop us again?" Vivian asked, getting in a fighting stance. "…And have you ever known about Tipral and a possible relation between us? I want answers right now, Beldam!"
"So you kept that girl with you, huh? Fine. Yes. The whole thing about Tipral is true." Beldam admitted. "Now, Vivian… No need to get all fussy with me. However… You DID betray me and went off with your little boyfriend! So there's no point in telling you everything."
"Hey! Vivian's not my girlfriend!" Chopper growled. "You take that back!"
"Well, I'm certainly not going to take that back, Chopper! I'm sure she is!"
"Then who be the pirate Goomba person?" Bombette asked, her attention mainly on the Goomba.
"Oh, him? He's not really a Goomba. He's just that freak-in-a-sheet that I replaced after Vivian left." At that moment, the pirate Goomba was surrounded by purple smoke. When it was gone, a white Duplighost with a blue party hat and bow-tie appeared before them.
"Umm… Yeah… My name is Doopliss… Remember?" he muttered.
"Now then! We were sent to take care of you, and that's what we plan on doing!" Beldam declared. Come my sort-of-lovelies! Marilyn! Freak-sheet!"
"Wait!" Beldam turned around to Doopliss, who blurted it out. "Lemme take him! Don't worry, I got this in the bag anyway!"
"Wait... Him? Take on us?" Chopper blinked as Doopliss glared at him.
"Hey! Slick! You remind me of that guy who threw me outta my home! I don't like you, and I bet you don't like me! So… I'm going to take you on!"
Doopliss walked up to face Chopper, while Beldam face palmed before she and Marilyn decided to let him take care of them. They sank into the shadows, and once they were gone, the Duplighost smirked at turned back to them.
"So now! You gonna run, Slick? Or are you gonna fight?" Doopliss wondered. Chopper got in his fighting stance and so did the rest of his friends. "Yuk yuk yuk! I thought so! All right, let's settle this!"
Tattle: So Doopliss joined back with Beldam? Wow… That's something. He's a Duplighost, if you don't have a clue. Max HP is 40, Attack is 4, and Defense is 0. He's pretty much a pushover, so you can probably beat him down.
"Meh, I guess he's not tough. I can land a burn on him!" Chopper tossed a fireball at Doopliss, which burned him. He would've made a cheesy comment toward him, but he decided not to.
"I guess I should make me attack as well!" Bombette rushed over to Doopliss and exploded in front of him. Instead of walking like some Bob-ombs would do (like Bruce), she dashed straight at Doopliss instead to explode.
"Oof! Man, Slick! You sure got some power in you! I'll give you that! But let's see how you take THIS!" Doopliss flew up and came down at Chopper with a headbutt, knocking him back into the water.
"Poyo! (Uh oh!)" Kirby used his Inhale to get Chopper back onto the beach. After that, the pink puffball used his Cartwheel and rammed right into Doopliss, burying him in the sand.
"Oh, great! Now I can't get outta here…" Doopliss struggled to get out of the sand, but he ended up getting stomped on by Chopper's Jump attack. He needed a new plan to attack them, and this one wasn't working.
"Hmmmmm... I think I have an idea! This should surely work!" Doopliss thought, his W-shaped mouth turning to a grin.
His eyes began to glow and he suddenly disappeared. He then appeared right in front of Bombette and suddenly turned into a thunder cloud. Instead of attacking her, he floated above everyone and struck lightning down on them.
"YEOW! Man! That HURT!" Scrub cried.
"I'll say! I think we need to be extra careful against him…" Shadower suggested.
When Doopliss turned back to normal and laughed, the shadowy ghost punched him with his Shadow Punch, followed by Chopper's hammer.
"OK, time to regroup here… So you think you're all being a bunch of heavies, huh? Well, if you can be heavy, then I'll be heavy! Check this out!" Doopliss's eyes began to glow red and he once again disappeared. Chopper noticed something scanning him before he noticed another Chopper rise up from the ground.
"You gotta be kidding me…" Chopper face palmed. "There's ANOTHER shape-shifter here?! This isn't right. AT ALL!"
"Yuk yuk yuk yuk! Oh, MAN! Am I glad to be in a body like this!" Doopliss cackled. "It makes me feel like I can get all the girls now with a cute appearance! …But now you'll be fighting yourself! Hey, look at me! I'm a hero named Chopper!"
After that, Chopper got stomped on by Doopliss, so he returned the favor with his own jump. Vivian left a burn on him to weaken him a little more with her Shade Fist.
"Just a little more and I got this!" Doopliss went for another stomp on Chopper, but he Superguarded the attack, leaving the fake Chopper with only 4 HP left. That was good enough to take him out now.
"You know what? Go ahead, Scrub! You finish the fight!" Chopper suggested.
"Really? That's awesome!" Scrub smirked and before he fluttered over to Doopliss to beat him down with his Ground Pound. This made the Duplighost turn back to himself and before he became dizzy and collapsed.
"Noooooo! I lost!" he cried as he dropped 18 Star Points. Chopper also gained a level, so he chose to upgrade his BP to 18.
Doopliss slowly got back up, dazed, but he seemed disappointed. "Aw, RATS! I just got beat down by a little ten year old kid! I oughta get back at you with some pranks! …But that will be next time! I'm outta here!"
He ran away…but he went toward the beach instead. "Hold it! This is the wrong way!" Doopliss turned back and turned into a bird, flying away.
"So Doopliss is back with Beldam again?" Vivian gaped. "I wonder why he chose to side with her… This is something I don't understand…"
"Arr! Who cares! We beat him, and now we can explore this island! Let us go, Chopper! We have some treasure to find!" Bombette headed on into the inner part of the island, so Chopper followed her, and so did everybody else.
Outer part of the island-
Vivian floated over to the sign and read what the island was called. "So this is called Swelling Island? That's…really weird, but I don't know where exactly the name comes from. Do any of you guys know?"
"Well, it might be 'cause of this lump," Bombette eyed at the big lump from far away. "Maybe that's why they be callin' this place Swelling Island! Pirates sometimes had so much acne, the island itself grew acne as well. Yes, I think the island began to swell up, and in the middle is a big pimple! I remember hearin' about this once after I got bombnesia!"
"Pbbbbbbbbbbbbt! Oh, man! THAT has got to be hilarious! The pirates had bad acne or something?" Scrub laughed hilarious until he realized something. "Oh... Pirates with acne? That's kinda gross..."
"Well, what can I say, Scrub? Pirates sometimes have bad acne. It's not their fault." Shadower shrugged. "They're meant to look like that. Well, that's what they were made to look. They're weird, nasty, and they smell."
Bombette instantly gave him a glare, which made him sweat drop. "Though... Not all pirates are like that!"
"So, this place is called Swelling Island, huh?" Chopper pondered. "Weird..."
"I hope things don't swell up here," Shadower spoke, causing Chopper to blink in confusion. "Errr... Never mind. Let's take a look around."
Chopper whacked at a tree, only to find nothing in there. He whacked at the rocks in the jungle area. Sadly, there wasn't much around. The thick grass was a green color, and there were vines around the trees. The only enemies they seemed to notice were Embers.
"Hold on…" Chopper became Water Chopper and squirted some water from his mouth and got rid of the Ember, which seemed to work out just fine for him. They also seemed to noticed some swells around the ground.
"Poyo… (Eugh… I don't like those swells… Is there any chance that it could…pop?)" Kirby wondered.
"I think some of these have cracks in them... Bombette… Can these things…pop?" Chopper asked as Bombette decided to blow it up, clearing the way. "Oh... OK, that works!"
"No lumps are a match fer me!" Bombette declared. "I shall destroy any more lumps that are in the way!"
And that was what she did as the group traveled - and some of the lumps had some coins in them! Along the way, there were a few Putrid Piranhas that tried taking a bite out of them. Thankfully, a few attacks from Chopper and his friends were enough to do them in.
Eventually their travel slowed down when a large gap stood between them. Scrub ran over to the edge to get a better look, but groaned when he noticed the distance.
"Aw, man! This gap's too wide for me to cross!"
"But there is a vine that we can use to swing across," Vivian noted, pointing to said vine in between the gap.
"Yeah, but still..." Scrub lowered his head in annoyance, but the moment he saw a pond below, his mouth opened in astonishment. "Whoa! Is that a pond below?"
"Looks like it!" Shadower took a look as well, and he happened to see some steam too. "No... It's not just a pond... It's a hot spring!"
"What're those?"
"It's water that's warm, and I hear it's relaxing."
"Seriously?! Well, in that case…" Scrub dove into the spring - only to bump his head in the water.
"Good thing that wasn't me," Bombette commented, noticing some large, but short steps heading down to the hot spring. "Ye should've taken the safer way down!"
"Yeah, I guess so," Chopper nodded as he and the rest took the safer way down to the hot spring. Surprisingly, the water was not deep in the slightest. For Chopper and Kirby, they weren't even floating. "Maybe we should help Scrub..."
Grabbing Scrub's foot, Chopper was able to pull him up, allowing him to catch his breath for a moment.
"Man... Why the heck did I do that?" Scrub grumbled.
"Maybe 'cause yer brain's the size of a pea!" Bombette answered.
"Hey! It is not!"
"Poyo, (If it was a pea, I would've eaten it by now,)" Kirby commented.
"Well, whatever. I think I'll just relax for now." Scrub decided, sitting down and stretching his hands to the back of his head. "Man, this is so relaxing!"
"I humbly agree."
Everyone was nearly caught off guard by the new voice, but then they noticed beside Scrub was a yellow guy with a long nose and in a red jacket sporting a white ascot and a white feather on his hat. This person also wore green pants and dark green shoes. Just the sight of this newcomer was enough to make Scrub yelp and splash water at him.
"Stop it! Please!" the yellow man begged, shielding his face of the splashes. "Don't try attacking the Great Flavio! I need to keep this face looking as beautiful as ever! So stop attacking!"
"Flavio? I think I might know of him..." Vivian pondered.
"You do?" Chopper spoke, turning to Vivian.
"Yeah! When I was traveling with Mario, we ended up meeting him. Though, I don't know what he's doing here of all places..."
"Then I'll do the askin'!" Bombette decided, walking up to Flavio. "So... What're ye doin' here in this hot spring? An' why are ye in here with yer clothes on?"
"Well... I..." Flavio pulled out a stopwatch as he grinned nervously. "Oh... Look at the time! Time for me to go!"
Flavio leaped out of the hot spring and used the vine above to make his way across the gap and bolt.
"We should probably follow him," Shadower suggested. Chopper agreed as he and the rest of the gang made their way back up to the gap and used the vine to get across. As they hurried, they spotted a giant rock that was blocking their way.
Chopper decided to pick up Bombette and throw her over to the big rock blocking the way. Once Bombette blew up the rock, they found a more open area ahead with three trees. When Flavio spotted them, he yelped and climbed up the middle one.
"Go away, you nasty pirates! I'm not giving you my precious treasure!" Flavio cried, throwing leaves down at Chopper. He simply smacked his forehead and knocked him down with his hammer.
"We're not pirates!" Chopper shouted. "…Well I guess Bombette is, but she's not a bad guy, er, girl. We're only here because we're trying to find Unagi's Cave. Do you know where it is?"
Flavio stopped squirming and looked up at them. "Ummm… Yes! The cave, you ask? Well, I, Flavio, will be honored to go take you there! But it's going to be a dangerous one because of the thick jungle here. But I'm experienced with this place! …By the way, how did you even get here?"
"Well, Admiral Bobbery was happy enough to let us come to Pudgy Island by using his ship. Well, it's Cortez's, but he gave us permission to let us go on his ship and travel over there. HOWEVER… We got here by swimming. The water's not deep, you know."
"Ah! Interesting! So you've come for treasure…but not from me, right? I'm too rich to let myself get robbed. Don't suppose you're looking for…the Crystal Stars, aren't you?"
"Yeah, we are," Chopper nodded, which made Flavio jump cheerfully.
"Excellent! Then we shall breeze through this no problem! Follow me, if you would!" Flavio headed off to the thick vines that were in the way. "Oh, dear… I don't think I can get through this. Don't suppose you got something to cut through here, right?"
"I can handle that!" Chopper became Sword Chopper and cut through the grass. With a sword in his hand, cutting through stuff wasn't as hard. There wasn't much to cut down except some tall grass up ahead, where some Embers revealed themselves. However, they were sure there was more out there.
"Uh oh… Watch out! An Ember is by one of those swells!" Shadower cried as the Ember popped it - but it got extinguished in the process because of the liquid stuff. It also got on Chopper's sword, which made it all rubbery now.
"What? I didn't know this stuff can make things rubber! MAN…" Chopper removed his ability and then saw some Putrid Piranhas and Lava Bubbles up ahead. They took them down and then found the beach. They could see another island up ahead right next to Unagi's Cave.
"Hey! We're right by the third island! So… How are we going to get there?" Scrub asked.
"With this!" Flavio pointed to the canoe, which made everyone smile as they gazed at it. It was made of gold, and it could stay afloat!
Fifteen minutes later-
"Row faster!" Flavio shouted.
Everyone began to row the canoe with paddles. Well, Bombette couldn't, but she was being used as a paddle, which was NOT pleasant at all.
"I didn't know rowing this boat would be like this…" Vivian groaned.
"Hey, how come Flavio's not doing any of the work?" Scrub whined.
"Because, I don't want to get my clothes wet," Flavio declared.
"...Yet you were fine being in a hot spring with your clothes on?" Shadower questioned.
"You... Just keep rowing!"
Their trip to the next island could be fine, but then a boat further away was gone once Unagi rose from the waters.
"I feel like this won't be a nice trip…" Chopper gulped.
Heh heh heh... A swell island indeed! Dang, I wanted to put in that pirate ship thing, but I guess I'll do it next chapter. Because the next one WILL have an epic battle! I can assure you that!