As everyone walked out of the elevator door, they saw between them two huge gaps that not even Scrub could get past with his fluttering. Kirby looked up too and saw an air duct that was open, but it was too high for them to reach. Chopper even tried to reach for it but he couldn't get up there, to his dismay.
"Well, it looks like there's a gap to get to the doors to our left and right," Chopper sighed. "The Phis are getting a little smarter with their security now… But how are we going to get over them? Scrub probably can't flutter over there so easily!"
"Yeah, you're right. I can't flutter over there." Scrub grumbled. "Y'think someone else can get you over the gap?"
"Maybe I have an idea..." Berry smirked, taking out her hammer and giving Chopper a wink. "Now hold still!"
"Huh? What are you planning?"
Rather than tell him the answer, Berry acted by bringing her hammer back and then swinging it like a golf club to get Chopper over the gap. In the next room the door led to, there was a Phi Statue and electricity that was circling around the room.
"Oh, geez... This must be a little dangerous..." Shadower gulped, getting a view of the room even from his distance.
"Let's just wait for the right moment to move," Chopper suggested. "I'm sure we'll be able to get through here once the way is clear."
After everyone got across, they were led into a small room with more electricity circling around a pole. A couple of boxes were stacked up to the right and led up to a doorway. Well, more like a small duct than a doorway.
"We can't jump over that electricity. All we can do is hide when it comes toward us." Vivian said as she floated beside Chopper. Once the electricity made it near them when they tried getting to the boxes, she pulled him into the shadows to avoid getting electrocuted.
"I don't think becoming invisible will work, unfortunately…" Shadower trailed. "So all we can do right now is just wait here. OK?"
Berry squinted to see if it was the right moment to go, and she quickly rushed before the green electricity hit her and reached to the boxes with ease, where Chopper and Vivian were.
"Poyo? (So… She got over there? That stinks… I wanted to make it over there!)" Kirby pouted and crossed his arms, but after a while, he stopped and turned back. The three, meanwhile, walked into the air duct, and they found a wooden X on the ground ahead.
"Why is there a wooden X on the ground?" Berry wondered. "I'd try something, but I don't think it'll work."
Chopper turned around and gasped at Berry, since he didn't expect her to be here.
"Wh-What are YOU doing here?!" Chopper asked nervously.
"Don't worry, Choppy," Berry assured, talking sweetly to him. "I'm just here to help you. That's all."
Chopper shrugged and used his Spin Jump to smash through the wooden panel to go down a hole into a secret little room, where they could see another air duct entrance to their left. There happened to be a small pipe leading to the air duct.
"This room is very small… I don't see much here…except for that big chest." Berry noticed, pointing to the chest, which got Chopper's attention. There were no guards or anything around it.
"Go ahead, Chopper. Open up the chest and see what's inside!" Vivian said as Chopper gave her a nod and slowly opened up the chest. He saw some new shoes, so he grabbed them and held them up.
You got the Ultra Shoes!
"The Ultra Shoes? I LOVE these things!" Chopper cheered. "…Not as much as the Diamond Shoes, though…"
The background changed, with only him in it while he put on the Ultra Shoes, while his Super Shoes disappeared for some reason that I'm not exactly sure how.
"This should be great! Time for my Tornado Jump!" Chopper jumped, but his Tornado Jump didn't seem to work. "What gives? I can't use it? So… Basically I just go faster and that's it?"
He stopped when he heard footsteps from behind him, so he turned around and saw Toadette walking over to him.
"Hi, Chopper!" Toadette greeted. "You remember me, right? It's Toadette! I told you how to use those Super items! I see you got the Ultra Shoes. They're GREAT!"
"They kind of look the same as my other shoes... But I'm fine with that!"
"Let's practice how to use them, OK?"
"OK, but I had the Tornado Jump before with these," Chopper mentioned. "What happened to it? Did I lose it and make these shoes worse?"
"Oh, that Tornado Jump? You don't need it now. This one will make you spring up high. In fact, it's called the Spring Jump! If you jump and hold A and rotate the control stick, you'll fold up and then spring up to amazing heights! Try it!"
"Ummm… OK!" Chopper began to fold up and then launched himself upward. He ended up grabbing onto a skinny pipe above him. He realized what he just did and his eyes went white at this point. Not in fear, but in amazement.
"Great job! You just pulled off the Spring Jump! You can move around on the pipe if you want, and you can also let go by pressing B. Remember that, OK? For now, I'll see you when you get another item!"
When Toadette left, Chopper let go of the pipe and landed on the ground before returning to the Phi Base.
"Choppy! What was going on? You looked like you were a little dazed!" Berry shouted, which made Chopper blink for a second.
"Was I on some snooze cruise or something?" Chopper gawked. "I'm a little confused… Can anyone explain to me what just happened?"
"You got a hold of those new shoes, but you ended up dazing off a bit," Vivian explained.
"I was getting a little worried about you..." Berry trailed.
"Really? I still have them? Hold on, let me try something!" Chopper walked under the small pipe by the air duct above and used his Spring Jump to launch up and grab a hold of it.
"Chopper has the ability to launch up to great heights? I'm impressed!" Vivian smiled as Berry jumped up and grabbed a hold of his shoes. She also climbed up to Chopper and hugged him in a way to hold onto him.
"Wh-What are you doing?!" Chopper cried.
"Try to get out of here with you," Berry answered with a sweet smile. "Besides, it's better if we're closer!"
"Ugh... Fine. I guess you're not going to let go, aren't you?"
"Nope."
Chopper sighed and tried to get himself into the air duct, even if it was a bit difficult with Berry holding onto him. The pipe ended in the middle of the duct area, so Chopper had to let go. He was thankfully able to find a Phi Key, but he was forced to drag himself through the air duct because Berry was still holding onto him.
"Berry! …I think this is too much!" Chopper cried.
"But I like it this way," Berry declared.
"But it feels like you're squeezing me!"
After realizing this, Berry opened her eyes and let go of Chopper.
"You're right… I think that's too much."
They found a hole near them, so they headed down there to return to the hallway, where they found two Elite Phis. Chopper's friends heard them and they returned to the hallway. Vivian simply rose up from the shadows to get back to them easily.
"Hey! It's Chopper! How did he make it down here?" the first Elite Phi asked.
"I don't know, but let's get them!" Before the Elite Phis could attack, they were frozen solid. At that moment, a familiar Duplighost appeared by the frozen Phis, watching the seven, thinking he was invisible.
"Who the heck is that?" Berry gawked.
"Huh? …Crud! You didn't see anything, Slick! You hear me? You saw NOTHING!" Doopliss disappeared, with Beldam rising up from the shadows and face palming. She then turned back to Chopper.
"Well well well! If it isn't Chopper and Vivian!" Beldam grinned. "So how is your little hunt going? Well you certainly won't be getting down to the bottom level! You know why? 'Cause we've planned everything out! Mmmwee hee hee hee hee!"
"Who's this hag? Is she an enemy of yours, Chopper? And how does she know you and Vivian?" Berry wondered, but Vivian quickly explained everything to her. "Wait... Beldam? So this is the one you were talking about?"
"Yeah..." Vivian nodded.
"Hag? Ugly?! What are you babbling about, you freak?!" barked Beldam. "I am beautiful, unlike a certain traitorous sister of mine..."
"Sis… If you don't get out of our way, I'll have to get you out of the way myself." Vivian warned, aiming her finger at her. "And don't think you can beat me with your magic. Fire can beat ice. You should remember that."
"Yes! Exactly! Now then, ugly witch… Either ye get out of the way, or Vivian here'll burn ye!" Bombette lit her fuse as a warning. "…An' I should add a little explosion to it as well!"
"It's not wise for me to take you all on alone, but expect us to stop you, Chopper! As of now, I must go, so I'll see you next time, you stupid little kid…" Beldam let out a snort before sinking into the shadows, making the young Shadow Siren lower her finger.
"I guess she didn't want to fight. Well we better go check the door ahead." Vivian suggested.
Everyone agreed and they walked over to the door for Chopper to unlock it. They found a factory-like room with a bridge and a window by the wall leading over to the other side. Below them was hot molten magma.
"Whoa… Talk about hot! Man, these Phis sure have hot rooms!" Scrub gasped, who was sweating at this point. Chopper looked up by the window and looked down at the red X mark that was by the skinny pipe.
"Hey, I got an idea!" Chopper used his Spring Jump to reach the skinny pipe and then got through the window. He was at the other side of the room, where he found more hammers coming down and also some Phis were in the room nearby.
"Umm… You guys need to get over here!" Chopper cried.
Everyone who could fly brought the people who couldn't through the window and landed by Chopper. When everyone saw the hammers, they knew what was coming.
"Poyo, (This should be interesting,)" Kirby said as Berry approached Chopper.
"Great... Another one of these..." Chopper sweat dropped.
"Choppy, I think I have another idea..." Berry cooed as she batted her eyelashes.
"...No, I'm not doing it! I refuse to run through this!"
"But I just thought of sharing another kiss with you!" When he turned around, he saw Berry leaning forward and puckering up. His eyes widened, but he turned around.
"Not happening. I'm sure most people just want to see how I react anyway."
"You can easily run through that, though," Scrub informed. "Just do it!"
Berry looked a bit disappointed with his reaction, but she had another idea.
"Well, I guess if I maybe this might change your mind," she waited for Chopper to turn around and then blew a kiss toward him.
"Aaack! No no no!" Chopper fled from the girl and ran past the hammers to reach the switch. Realizing what he just did, he bashed the switch with his hammer to make the hammers stop and allow his friends to make it to him.
"Nice job there," Shadower complimented.
"Did I get anything?"
"I can give you this," Berry noted, preparing to kiss his cheek, but he quickly ducked like a pancake to avoid her. She noticed this and got a bit annoyed for a small moment before moving on.
They went up the stairs to the north to head to the bridge going to the right and found some gaps they had to cross over with Scrub and Berry. And finally, at the end… Chopper found an Elevator Key.
"Finally! We got the Elevator Key! Now how do we get outta this mess?" Chopper asked before he saw a small pipe above him, so he used his Spring Jump to grab it and move toward a platform above the door to find a red circle. He grabbed it and jumped down. "Another color shape… This is so odd… What are these for?"
"Maybe it's some kind of cookie! Yeah! THAT must be what it is!" Scrub was about to bite it, but Berry pulled him away. "Hey! What'd you do that for?!"
"That's probably an important item we need!" Berry cried. "Eat it, and we might not be able to get through here! ...Plus, that doesn't even look like a cookie in the slightest."
"Yarr... We have the Elevator Key, so why don't we get goin'?" Bombette suggested.
Everyone agreed and headed back into the hallway. With the Elevator Key, Chopper swiped it by the elevator, which allowed them to go down to Sublevel 4.
"I think this is the bottom level below..." Berry trailed.
"Then the Crystal Star must be close," Vivian realized.
Gemerl's room-
Gemerl was leaning back on his chair in his room, but then an Elite Phi walked into the room, which interrupted his moment.
"Master Gemerl! Chopper and his friends are heading down to this exact floor!" the Elite Phi informed.
"What? They're down at this floor ALREADY?!" Gemerl exclaimed. "…Well I expected this. It's time to release the Smorgs…"
"But, sir! We can't really control those creatures!"
"They're the only thing to stop Chopper! Do it NOW!"
"OK, sir…" the Elite Phi walked over to the terminal and began to open the force field for the Smorgs… Whatever they were, Gemerl seemed satisfied releasing them.
In the elevator-
The seven stood in the elevator in a silent manner. For some reason, the way down to Sublevel 4 was most likely going to be longer than the other sublevels.
"So... Anyone got a good joke?" Scrub wondered.
"Hey, I've got one!" Chopper answered.
"Don't, please," Shadower retorted. "I don't think that's a good idea..."
"I'll listen to your joke," Berry smiled.
"OK... Errrrmmmmm..." Chopper pondered, trying to think of a joke. "Why did the donkey kick the old man?"
Everyone remained silent.
"Because it wanted to see the old man fly!"
Only the sound of crickets were heard.
"What? Come on! That was...really funny!"
"Yar... Ye need to work on yer jokes a bit more." Bombette commented.
"But... But..."
"I...sadly have to agree," Berry sighed.
Just as Chopper was about to respond, a beeping sound was heard, which caught everyone's attention.
"So we're at the bottom floor, huh? Well that must be where that Crystal Star is!" Scrub smiled. "Man, we're SO close to it now!"
"Poyo... (Yeah, you're right. We're getting pretty close now…)" Kirby trailed.
The elevator door opened up and they all walked out. There was no door at all to the left. The green ground was flat as usual, and there were no gaps. The only thing they happened to see was a hole up in the ceiling.
"It's odd that there's no door to our right. Maybe this is because the bottom floor is a private area?" Vivian wondered. She floated over to the door, which had a green scanner. It scanned her, but it seemed to deny her access by giving her a red X on the screen instead.
"I guess only a Phi can go in there. If only there was a way to get inside…" Chopper pondered before Shadower nudged him. "I'm trying to think here..."
"There's a hole up in the ceiling, you know," Shadower informed. "Just use your intense jump and maybe we can find something up there."
"Oh... I didn't know about that." Chopper began to fold up, and then he sprung high up, grabbing a pipe in the hole.
"Did he grab something?" Scrub asked.
Berry walked over to the hole and looked up. She saw Chopper did grab a pipe and nodded to the Yoshi. After that, she jumped up to get into the hole with the help of her hammer.
"Yar? How can she do that?" Bombette gawked. "Whatever happened to us three workin' together? …Wait, I bet she just wanted to be with Chopper."
"Poyo, (That might not be good for him,)" Kirby realized.
When Chopper looked back, he noticed Berry, which made his eyes widen.
"You're still following me, Berry?" Chopper gasped.
"Of course!" Berry giggled. "I'm here to help you anyway."
"Oh, OK... Anyway, we need to look for something that can help us get into that door. It's kinda dark here too… I'm going to light the room up."
His hands were surrounded in a fire glow, which helped light the room up.
"That's very nice, Choppy! Let's go search for something! …Wait!" Berry paused when she saw the head of a broken Phi lying on the ground. Chopper picked it up and held it up, looking a little confused.
"Er… All right… We'll take this!" Chopper jumped back into the hallway, along with Berry, and they walked over to the door. Chopper held the Phi head up at the front, and a green circle appeared, which allowed them to go in.
"Sweet! We're in!" Scrub walked in to find a small room with a silver door ahead. There wasn't much here except for a camera. They could even hear some laughing out somewhere, which it sounded like Gemerl.
"And then the Toad walked over and a Thwomp fell on him!" the Phi explained. "Every single part of his body was squished! It was AWESOME!"
"Ho ho ho ho! Good one, man!" Gemerl laughed. "I could give you a promotion at comedy, if you want! …But there's no such thing, and I'm not going to anyway. But, onto the real stuff. That door should keep Chopper and his filthy friends outta the room ahead!"
"Who are you callin' filthy, you pieces of scrap metal?" growled Scrub.
Gemerl and the Phis stopped laughing, so they looked at their computer to see Chopper and his friends. Gemerl glared at the Phi and smacked it.
"Idiot! I thought you sealed the room shut?!"
"I did! But I guess they somehow got in the room! …Wait, I think there was a broken Phi up in the attic. Crud… But it's not my fault, sir! We still have that those…things, right?"
"What do you mean by 'things'?" Chopper gawked as Gemerl pressed a red button.
"Of course. Now then, Chopper… Allow me to introduce myself..." Gemerl cleared his throat. "I am Gemerl, the leader of the Phis, and I'm afraid you won't be going any further. Smorgs! Get them!"
They suddenly heard some voices coming from the ceiling, and when it opened, a bunch of small black creatures with yellow eyes landed on the ground in front of them.
"What the heck are those things?!" Berry gawked, gripping her hammer.
"Gah ha ha ha! Sorry, but it doesn't look like you'll be going any further!"
"SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG SMORG!" the Smorgs chanted.
"Uhhh... In English?" Chopper gawked.
"AAAAAAGH!"
"Oh, that's better!"
"Chopper, I don't think it was them..." Shadower trailed.
They heard another scream coming from the pile of Smorgs, and there they saw Mysterious, Purple, and Tipral stuck in the pile.
"Dang it! There are too many of these stupid creatures! I can't…get…out!" Mysterious cried.
"I'll save you guys!" Chopper declared, gripping his hammer and bashing at the creatures. Unfortunately, that didn't make them any happier.
"SMOOO-OOORG!"
"Chopper... I don't think ye made 'em happy..." Bombette trailed.
The Smorgs threw the three enemies out of the room and began to act as some sort of object as they combined, now having a group of magenta Smorgs in the center and also black ones acting like tentacles. From what they could tell from their eyes, they weren't happy.
"Gah ha ha ha ha! These little...or should I say one BIG creature is called the Smorg!" Gemerl cackled. "I found these things wandering in the desert, and once they came to attack me, I captured them, and made them come on my side! These things will blow you away! So, are you going to turn back, or will you fight these creatures?"
"SMOOO-OOORG!"
"No way! We can take these things with no problem! Just watch us, Gemerl!" Chopper clenched his fists and got in his fighting stance, along with his friends. "Bring it on, Smorg...things!"
"Good luck with that..." Gemerl chuckled as the camera turned off.
Tattle: That's a Smorg. Lots of Smorgs gathered to create this huge monster. Max HP is 50, Attack is 5, and Defense is 1. It attacks with weird tentacles. Defeating the tentacles will drop the body's defense to 0, making it easier to attack. The tentacles will regenerate, but use that time to deal a ton of damage, OK? It may also take other forms with higher Attack powers, I don't really know. Just try to beat this thing before it becomes even stronger!
"So we can take out their tentacles? Well I guess we can do that first. We need something that can hit all three of them." Chopper noted.
"I can try to hit them, but since they're up in the air, that's probably not possible..." Berry trailed.
"Then I'll hit them," Vivian decided as she raised her finger and scorched the Smorgs with a Fiery Jinx. This was strong enough to get rid of the tentacles and leave its magenta body vulnerable.
"Great! Now let's test out my Spring Jump…" Chopper folded up and sprung upward. He landed on the Smorg's magenta body, which did 10 damage. Thankfully, the Smorg was unable to attack, so they were relieved.
"All right! Now I think I can attack it now!" Berry smiled as she waited for Chopper to jump on its body to deal 6 damage. She readied her Ruby Hammer and used her Ruby Throw to hit the body and deal another 6 damage, which left it with 28 HP. It was getting angry, and it grew three tentacles back and smacked Chopper, Berry and Shadower with them to deal 5 damage.
"This thing can attack three times? That's not right!" Chopper gaped. He let Bombette use her Bob-omb Blast to destroy the tentacles, and then he dealt some damage to the body afterward. Unfortunately, that's when things got worse for them.
"…What are those creatures doing?" Berry saw a huge, pincer-like claw form from the creatures and attack the seven to deal 10 damage. Everyone cringed in pain, especially because of how much HP they lost.
"Gah! That's not good! It just took away 10 HP from us!" Chopper cringed.
Berry used her Ruby Throw to hit the pincer tentacle and destroy it, allowing Chopper to stomp on its body.
"OK, let's make this fight end quickly. We can't waste any more time. I'm going to use a Spring Jump, while someone else finishes it!" Chopper folded up and shot up high and stomped on the Smorg's body with a Spring Jump.
"I'll finish it!" Berry declared as she brought her Ruby Hammer down on the body, causing it to swell up and explode, sending the Smorgs flying away. Chopper received 28 Star Points, and not to mention a level up. He decided to upgrade his FP to 35 this time.
"SMORGSMORGSMOOoOoOoooo..." the Smorgs moaned as they flew out of the room and fled from the heroes.
"So Gemerl's room must not be too far. If he's looking for a fight, then we can take him! Let's go!" Chopper walked over to the silver door and opened it. Once they all stepped foot in the next room, they saw how big it was. They could see a bridge they were standing on, and down below was…nothing. They couldn't see what was down below. The green, glassy floor led to some stairs, with a few Elite Phis and Phimatites around the room.
"This… This room is huge!" Vivian gasped, as well as everyone else when they saw all of the machines. There were some hammers that weren't on the bridge, and a huge amount of papers flying below them.
"What a strange room this is..." Bombette trailed.
"Well this place ain't a match for us!" Scrub declared. "C'mon, Contadre, let's go!"
"You're right, Scrub. We just need to go to Gemerl's room quick!" Chopper went up the stairs, knocking down an Elite Phi and destroying a Phimatite with his fireballs. Berry was the one to finish the job on the ones that were still moving.
"Poyo? (How come you got to finish them?)" Kirby asked.
"Because I was there first," Berry answered as they carried on ahead.
"Look at that, Contadre!" Scrub gaped, pointing at the door ahead. "There are two orbs up ahead and a sealed door! Got any idea on what that could be?"
Chopper began to think, and then he threw a fireball at both of them, making the door unlock. Near it was a Save Block and Heart Block.
"Poyo? (So we're finally at the door to Gemerl's room, huh?)" Kirby wondered as Chopper hit both blocks. "Poyo. (Well, this is it! This guy could be a little tough, though… He seems like he would be.)"
"All right, guys… Let's go." Chopper walked over to the door and opened it to enter with his friends, knowing that the star was just through this door.
The only thing that stood between them and the Crystal Star was Gemerl.