CHAPTER 2-2
-Bogging to Merlee's-
After their long walk, Chopper and Kirby finally made their way to Gloam Valley. No more islands this time. Most of the area was filled with mostly grass and these strange plants. They were curled up in a strange way.
"Those plants look pretty weird..." Chopper remarked. "Why do they remind me of Vivian's hair?"
"Poyo? (Vivian's hair? Why would you think that?)" Kirby asked.
"Beats me," the antennae hero shrugged, turning to Tippi. "Hey, Tippi, how far are we from the Pure Heart?"
"Hmmmm... Its presence doesn't feel too far from here..." Tippi trailed, feeling its power. "It's actually a lot closer than you realize..."
"Really? Then that means we probably don't have to travel so far to get to the heart! Though I like running, we don't have much time."
"You're right... And that means we should probably get going..."
"Poyo! (Yeah, I think we should!)" Kirby agreed. "Poyo! (Come on, Chopper! Let's go find that Pure Heart!)"
After nodding, Chopper moved onward. He noticed a ? Block on a grassy platform nearby. There were two Koopas with red shells with sunglasses, so these guys were obviously Tipral's minions.
"All right, you take care of that Spiky Goomba and I'll handle those two Koopas," Chopper declared. Kirby nodded and he used his inhaling to eat the Spiky Goomba and spit it out – since using Thoreau on it will make him get hurt instead.
"And now… Take this!" Chopper stomped on one of the Koopas, but he stopped when he saw a boxed dotted outline on the third Koopa. "What the… Tippi, what the heck is that thing on that Koopa?"
"That dotted outline?" Tippi looked over at the outline the Koopa had. "If an enemy has that, then they can flip into 3-D, just like you… Don't think you're the only one around here that can flip…"
"Interesting story, there… Well, as long as I'm not in 3-D, he can't get me." Chopper stomped on the closest Koopa and he kicked him at the others, knocking them out and making the Koopa in his shell fall in the water.
When Chopper jumped over to the next grassy platform, he saw that there was a gap. "Hmmmmm… I bet I can jump that!"
After stepping back, he decided to charge up a Speed Dash. When Kirby saw him hit the wall, he began to snicker until he got out of the water and looked at him with a glare.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
"Poyo… (Well… Er… Nothing, really! But, if you want to get across that gap, then I'm gonna have to do something about it. I can float around, you know…)" Kirby smirked as he inhaled a bunch of air and then began to float over the wall to the other side.
"How am I supposed to get up there?" Chopper pouted until Kirby used his Inhaling ability to get him over there. Luckily he didn't go inside of his mouth like in Flipside Outskirts. Oh, the horrible memories…
They came across another pond, but this one had platforms that could very well sink into the water if you stood on them long enough. Chopper took out the Spiky Goomba that was making its way into the water with a Spinning Kick move.
"Poyo? (Wait, you can do that on the ground, too?)" Kirby gawked.
"Why, of course I can! I mean… It's more effective if I use it on the ground anyway…" Chopper replied, making a jump onto the platform. "Careful here, Kirby… You don't want to stay on this one for too long. It'll sink in the water."
Kirby nodded, but instead of jumping on the platforms, he floated over the water to the other side. He seemed to notice some grassy platforms up above Chopper as well, making him land on those instead.
"Hey, Kirby! Where are you going?!" Chopper exclaimed.
"I think he found something…" Tippi looked over across the next pond. She noticed the door ahead was locked. "There's also a pipe above the door… I believe that Kirby might be able to find the key…"
"Well I'm gonna see if I can get up there," Chopper threw his hands up and he flipped into 3-D. He discovered more of those yellow arrow blocks, so he hit them and flipped back into 2-D to jump on them and reach the grassy platforms.
"Wait up, Kirby! Don't leave me behind!" Chopper made his way across the grassy platforms and then followed Kirby into the pipe above the red door.
Underground-
"Poyo! (Hey, look! It's more of these pig guys from Flipside Outskirt! I wonder what they have…)" Kirby grabbed the Squiglet at the front with Thoreau and he tossed it at the other one.
"I'll handle the Squig," Chopper jumped over to the Squig and he finished it with his Spinning Kick attack. This triggered a chest to appear after paper flipped off of the background.
"Poyo! (Ooh! A key!)" Kirby opened the chest to find a Door Key. "Poyo! (Now we can open that door!)"
Outside-
Now with the key in their hands, they trotted through the next area to find some Paragoombas bouncing around the area and also a couple of windmills. It looks like this place seems to save some energy instead of using oil. How nice…
"I can see a pipe in the background… But I can also see a door up ahead…" Tippi fluttered over to the door. "I say we go through here first…"
"Fine by me," Chopper made his way over to the door to a smaller area with some strange-looking guy in a prison outfit. He also had this boulder thing stuck to his leg for some strange reason.
"Poyo, (Hey, this guy looks somewhat like a human,)" Kirby stated while looking at the prisoner.
"We should go talk to him," Chopper walked over to him and greeted him in a polite way. "Hey there, my name's Chopper! My friend and I are trying to find our way to Merlee's Mansion. Got any idea where that could be?"
The prisoner glared at them. "If there's one thing I hate more than anything else, it's little children. So take a hike, you stupid little kids! Go up the road to Merlee's Mansion, will ya?"
"Hey hey! Settle down!" Chopper glared at him. "We were just trying to be nice! …And it's not like we're not old people with mustaches… We're good guys! People that are here to help!"
"You kids always have to be so annoying with your loud noises and such! Those noises are probably worse than what old men are like…just like that man I saw a couple of months ago and that hot babe he had with her… Man, she was just…hot."
Chopper suddenly had an idea when he looked at Tippi. Sure, she may be a butterfly, but maybe she WASN'T… Or, that's what he's betting.
"Well… I do have a girl with me, you know." Chopper stepped out of the way and pointed at Tippi. "Well, I don't know if she's, er, hot or not, but she is a girl!"
"All I see is a stupid butterfly," the prisoner grumbled.
"Chopper, this isn't going to work..." Tippi groaned.
"Whoa! So you are a chick! Awesome!" the prisoner blurted out. "I mean, if you were an actual person, that'd be totally awesome, but this is better than nothing!"
"Look, we don't have much time to be here... If you'll excuse us, we should be going..."
"Where? Merlee's Mansion? I wouldn't go there if I were you! You'll get trapped and bad things will happen!"
"Huh? We'll get trapped there?" Chopper gawked.
"Hey, I wasn't asking you!" the prisoner growled. "Beat it!"
"Poyo! (What a jerk!)" Kirby frowned.
"What exactly is going on in Merlee's Mansion?" Tippi asked.
"Like I'd wanna remember that place! I'm out of there, and I'm going to stop worrying!"
"Thanks... I guess we should go now, Chopper..."
"I guess so," Chopper shrugged, heading back to the door with Kirby.
"Oh, and maybe if you come back here, you should bring a hot girl here!" the prisoner hollered out. "I'm serious! I hardly get any visitors, and I'd really LOVE to see a stunning girl here!"
Ignoring the prisoner, the group had left the area and returned to where they left off before going through there.
"I think I can see one of those flipper things over on a platform," Chopper pointed to the platform across from the green pipe that had a Piranha Plant. "I'll take care of the Piranha Plant."
Chopper sent Hommissile straight at the Piranha Plant, finishing it within seconds. He and Kirby immediately jumped on the pipe and made it onto the platform.
"Poyo? (What the… What the heck is this thing?)" Kirby questioned as he saw Chopper being transported a bit higher up thanks to these weird things.
"These things? Well, I call these things…uh…Flippers! Yeah, that'll work just fine! Basically, they'll take you up here if you stand in that red boxed outline. Don't worry, it's not too bad."
Kirby took a deep breath and he stepped into the red outlined box. The Flippers began to take him to a brown platform. There were other ones, but it looked like only he could get across them.
"Oh, crud… Looks like I can't make my way through those platforms…" Chopper groaned while face palming.
"Poyo! (Then I'll try to see if I can get us anywhere!)" Kirby began to float over the platforms and over to the pipe ahead that was above the door that led to the previous area (not the one with the prisoner).
Kirby noticed the pipe he was standing on. Without hesitation, he went down it and into the background. He noticed that he was standing on these rocky little mountain platforms, but he didn't care and he made his way over to the blue ! Switch at the end.
"HAVE YOU FOUND ANYTHING INTERESTING OVER THERE?!" Chopper exclaimed, shouting to Kirby in the background.
"POYO! (I FOUND THIS SWITCH! I'M GOING TO SEE WHAT IT DOES!)" Kirby yelled back, hitting the blue ! with Thoreau. A door was being drawn right below the platform with the Flippers.
"OK, KIRBY! YOU CAN COME BACK NOW! I FOUND A DOOR THAT SHOULD LEAD US SOMEWHERE ELSE!" Chopper shouted.
In no time at all, Kirby returned to Chopper and they made their way into another area. There wasn't much else around except for some Brick Blocks and some blocks above those. One of them had a ? Block in the center.
"Now let's see what we're gonna have in here!" Chopper jumped onto the Brick Blocks and then punched the ? Block from underneath. To his surprise, he saw a Mega Star come out.
"Hey… A Mega Star! I haven't seen these since… Lineland Road!" Chopper was shaking in surprise.
"Poyo? (Huh? That's an interesting star.)" Kirby walked over to it and before Chopper could touch it, the pink puffball managed to grab it instead. He started to feel something very powerful in him.
"Oh, man! So close…" Chopper sighed.
He gawked as he saw an 8-bit version of Kirby being drawn in his very eyes. When he was colored, he began to move on, smashing everything in his way by simply walking into it.
"Poyo? (Why do I feel so…lightheaded?)" Kirby questioned as he knocked all of the Koopas, Goombas and Waddle Dee out of there. It felt like he could crush ANYTHING in his path.
"I better follow him…but not too fast. I don't want to get hit by him, that's for sure." Chopper followed Kirby with his speed, but not at full speed.
Unfortunately, for Kirby, when he reached the end of the area, the power wore off, turning him back to his normal self. At least he managed to hit the Save Block, that's for sure.
"All right, we might as well move ahead…" Tippi trailed as they all headed through the door to another area. They were facing another pond, but this time there was a Cheep-Cheep in it. There was also a ? Block beside them.
"Let's see what we got in there," Chopper punched the block from underneath, making a…blue Fire Flower come out? Well, it reminded Chopper of the Fast Flower from Lineland Road, but he took it anyway…and things started to feel…straaaaaaaaange…
This is a Slow Flower! It temporarily slows time to a crawl. You'll also earn triple points and coins while it's active!
"Hooooooooly mooooooleeeeey… Whyyyyyyyy iiiiiiis everyyyythiiiing sooooooo sloooooow?" Chopper questioned as he tried to jump over onto the grassy platforms above him. He noticed that when he stomped on a Waddle Dee, he got some point points.
"Pooooooooooyooooooooo… (I haaaaaaaaaaave noooooooo ideaaaaaaaa whyyyyyy…)" Kirby replied, floating up to the platform to follow him. They made their way across until they came up to a pipe.
There really wasn't anything down there. At least, that's what Chopper found out after going down there. That's when the Slow Flower wore off, bringing the speed back to a normal pace.
"I suggest we move this way…" Tippi trailed as she saw a platform with a bunch of Brick Blocks. Hommissile immediately smirked as he poked Chopper.
"Yeah yeah… I know what I'm gonna do." Chopper jumped onto the brown platform, defeated that dog-like monster that was in his way and he blew up the Brick Blocks in his way, allowing them to go up to the…four doors?
"Wait, why are there four doors?" Chopper questioned as he and Kirby got up to the platforms. "Which one do we take?"
"Poyo! (Let's check the first one!)" Kirby suggested. Chopper shrugged and entered the door into another underground room. All they saw was a Spiky Goomba – that got defeated by Chopper's Spinning Kick attack,
"Nothing else here?" Chopper flipped to 3-D, only to find another Spiky Goomba. He got rid of it with his simple attack and then they left that room and checked the second door to their left.
"Uh oh… Not another Shlurp! Quickly! Defeat it, Hommissile!" Chopper threw Hommissile straight at the Shlurp. He destroyed it from the inside, beating it instantly. But there was still nothing around here!
"We might as well try the third door…" Tippi suggested.
As they left that underground room, they jumped over to the third door. But after Chopper pondered, he jumped over to the fourth one instead.
"Screw the third door. We're going through here!" He walked into that door to find a Spiky Goomba in the room. Of course, Hommissile literally obliterated the mushroom with one explosion.
"Poyo? (So what are we supposed to do here?)" Kirby asked.
"Let me check," Chopper flipped into 3-D again to find some Brick Blocks blocking a piece of the floor nearby. "Ahhhh!"
Throwing Hommissile at it, a hole was created. They immediately jumped down to find a blue ! Switch nearby. With one single kick from Chopper's foot, a bunch of shaking started to occur.
"Poyo? (What was that?)" questioned Kirby.
"That was awfully rumbly… Something must have happened outside…" Tippi informed.
Outside-
"Well, you were definitely right when you said something happened outside, Tippi," Chopper stated as he found a fifth door. This one was a bit different from the other ones. Instead of its rainbow-like frame, it was a simple yellow color.
"Poyo? (Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!)" Kirby opened the door as Chopper and the rest of the group made their way to the next area. They could see a large mansion in the background.
"So, we have to make our way into the forest that leads to Merlee's Mansion, is that correct?" Chopper questioned, looking at the trees. "This might not be hard for us to…"
At that moment, Chopper was struck by some pink gas. He couldn't do anything else because the gas caused him to fall asleep.
"Poyo?! (Chopper?! Are you there?!)" Kirby started to shake Chopper, instantly waking him up. "Poyo?! (Why were you suddenly sleeping?! You know this isn't nap time!)"
"I didn't fall asleep on purpose!" Chopper retorted as he turned to a pink enemy that imitated a butt. "I'm pretty sure that thing did. …Say, what is that thing anyway? I think I should use Tippi's power on it."
And that he did.
"That's a Cherbil. It's a nasty gasbag that spews a plume of sleepy gas… Max HP is 5. Attack is 2. That gas will put you to sleep, so don't go sniffing it… Some say the gas comes from their mouths. Some say it comes from elsewhere…" Tippi then realized where it could be coming out of. "…Oh, dear…"
"What do you mean' 'oh dear'?" Chopper asked.
"It's... Well... I'd rather not explain..."
"Oh... Well, it doesn't look like something I'd want to touch..." Chopper trailed.
"Poyo… (Yeah, I second that. I suggest we take these things out with Hommissile. I don't want to touch it either.)" Kirby backed away from the Cherbil as it, well, expelled more gas from its...mouth?
Chopper threw Hommissile at them, defeating them within a second. "Phew… That was a close one. Looks like we don't have to deal with them anymore… I don't know why, but those things looked like something...funny."
"At least we made it to a Star Block…" Tippi trailed, glancing at the Star Block ahead.
"Allow me to do the honors," Chopper rushed straight over to the Star Block and smashed it with one punch, breaking it into twenty stars. He started to wonder if those colored stars meant the color of the Pure Hearts for some reason…
END OF CHAPTER
On the far side of the beast-ridden swamp, Chopper and Co. found an imposing residence. "Poyo! (So this must be Merlee's Mansion!)" squealed Kirby with glee. If our friends could only find the Pure Heart quickly, their quest here would end. But when has fate ever set Chopper on such a simple path? Brimming with anticipation, our plucky heroes plunged into Merlee's Mansion…
Those Cherbils... I wonder who thought of those monstrosities... :P