When they returned to Fahr Outpost, the first thing they did was tell the mayor the news.
"What? You cannot find General White?" the mayor asked.
"Sadly, we couldn't," Chopper nodded sadly.
"Hmmmmmmm... This is not good..." As the mayor pondered, one of the treasure chest-like house's door opened, with a gray Bob-omb with a white captain's hat, blue feet and a black mustache walking out. Though the mayor was paying no attention, everyone else could see him, with Scrub's mouth dropping.
"Ahhhhhhhhh... That pale green antennae boy… Where has he gone to?" General White mused as he walked back into his house, exhausted from his long travels.
"Now, where did he go...?" the mayor wondered, while everyone was pointing to the house General White was in, but that didn't seem to catch his attention. "This makes trouble for us... We definitely need him... Otherwise we cannot even operate that thing... So... What to do..."
"AAAAAAAAARGH!" Scrub screamed. "We traveled all around Rogueport for this guy, and he just so happens to be in his house! GRRRAAAAAAAAAGH!"
"Easy now, Scrub," Shadower suggested. "As much as I'm ticked off, that's not going to help us. I suggest we go in and speak to him."
Everyone agreed and headed over to the house and opened the door. Inside, they found a dark red rug, a table, a bed and a fireplace.
"What a cozy room," Berry smiled. "This looks like a place where people can sit down, relax and have marshmallows!"
"Mmmmmm... I'd love marshmallows." Chopper sighed and licked his lips, just like Kirby was doing.
Vivian noticed General White was asleep, so she gestured everyone to go over to him. Scrub poked the white Bob-omb, but he didn't appear to wake up. In fact, they wondered how he got to sleep so quickly.
"So, how are we supposed to wake him up?" Bombette asked. "Yar! Touchin' won't help him get up!"
"Hmmmm... I might have an idea!" Chopper said as he snapped his finger. He jumped in the air and stomped on General White twice, making a "Nice" and "Good" appear after each stomp. Sadly, it didn't seem like it was working.
"I have an idea!" Berry got her hammer up and lifted it, but Shadower stopped her. "Shadower! What're you doing?!"
"We're not trying to destroy this guy!" Shadower cried. "I don't think a hammer will work!"
"I'm not going to hit him that hard... Just relax." she brought her hammer down on General White, but not as hard as she would with an enemy. Sadly, it didn't seem to work, so Scrub began to Ground Pound him. That didn't even work.
Chopper continued to jump on General White, but he wouldn't wake up. They all concluded that he was a heavy sleeper. A big one at that. Kirby suggested inhaling, but everyone shook their heads, making him frown.
"Just wake up already!" Chopper whined, causing him to hear a snort. "...Huh?"
"Guhh-norf, snorf, norf..." General White blinked before he got up by performing a back flip and yawned. "Now, who are you? Can't you see I'm tired? I do not need your attention... I just want to take a siesta, as it is all hopeless..."
"...That's it? All I had to do was tell you to wake up? After spending ten minutes trying to get you awake, I had to do THAT?!"
"Hmmmm? What seems to be the trouble, boy?"
"Sigh... Never mind that. We've been looking for you for a WHILE…"
"Hut? Those...antennae. Those gloves... And that hammer, even..." General White trailed as he squinted at Chopper. "Hut-hut! I have been looking everywhere for you! It's a miracle, I say!"
"What? YOU were looking for ME? But… Why?" Chopper gawked.
"This is very surprising..." Vivian gasped.
"Why? Well... So we can bring that cannon back online, of course! I had lost my life's work yet again... My very reason to live... I found myself at wit's end... I thought my career was going to be over… And then the Rogueport fortune-teller told me... 'Seek the pale green boy with the antennae... The one with the green feet and white gloves...' 'He will truly fulfill your dreams.' Or something like that..."
"Well, we are here to use that cannon," Chopper noted. "We just need to get ourselves blasted over to the moon!"
"Hut? You need to use the cannon to help you save the entire universe? Hip-hip-HOOOORAH! That fortune-teller was right! So, what are we waiting for? I shall get the cannon ready, so do tell the mayor! Now get moving! Hut-hut!"
General White cheered as he made his way out of his house, leaving some of the heroes dumbstruck.
"How come jumps didn't work against him?!" Scrub gaped.
"I guess because violence isn't always the key to solving things," Vivian answered.
"You...kind of have a point."
They left General White's house (to Berry's dismay) and returned to the mayor, who was surprised to hear the news.
"So, cannon is back online?" the mayor asked. "Well, I could just explode with delight second time! Now, let us shoot you guys to moon!"
"We finally did it!" Vivian cheered. "Now we can get the seventh Crystal Star!"
"Yeah," Chopper nodded. "Let's go follow the mayor."
The seven followed the mayor over to the open field up ahead where the strange dome in the background was. General White was waiting for them too with an eager look on his face.
"Choppy, I'm not so sure if this is going to be a safe procedure..." Berry whispered.
"I don't know either. I'll admit I'm a bit scared." Chopper agreed.
"Now you stand here," the mayor ordered. Chopper was about to speak, but he was cut off. "No, there's a good reason why you stand here. Don't worry, you be fine."
"Let's hope..." Chopper sighed while the mayor walked over to General White.
"Maybe you shouldn't have really left, y'know?" he whispered. "Then again, big bomb cannon has been a little…overheated…"
"No worries. I'm used to this." General White pressed a red button on the remote he held, and Chopper and his friends fell through a hidden opening that suddenly appeared underneath them.
"General White! Is big bomb cannon ready!" the mayor asked.
"Hut! Leave it all to me! Now, men! You all know the drill! Start loading the big bomb cannon and make sure it's set!"
"Ho!"
"Hup!"
"Hut!"
"BOOM!"
"Now! Positions, everyone!" the mayor ordered.
The Bob-ombs got themselves ready, and two followed General White into the dome in the background. It looked like a very technical room, but then again, all computer rooms are technical.
"It is time… Bring guidance system online!" General White ordered.
"Bringing systems online…" the Bob-omb to the left began to turn on guidance systems. He turned over to the general and said, "System is now online!"
"System check! The cannon is ready to be set up! How long has it been overheated, Major Joe?" General White asked the Bob-omb, Major Joe. He turned over to his general as well.
"Well, it's been overheated for four months after we blasted Mario out to the moon," Major Joe answered. "No worries, sir! Everything is JUST fine! Everything is all clear. We're ready, general…"
"All right… Ahem!" General White reached for the radio and pulled it over to him. "Prepare for detonation sequence! Open outer hatch, Private Steve!"
Private Steve pressed a button by using his head, and outside, the hidden door Chopper and his friends fell in became much bigger.
"Open inner shuttle! Elevate! On my mark!"
The inner shuttles began to open up, while a giant cannon rose up from the large opening.
"Sighting! Target is the moon!" General White shouted, which made the two Bob-ombs use the controller to aim the cannon.
"D Direction: 75.38. Elevation: 54.66. Range: 389603." Major Joe aimed at the big, yellow moon up in the sky. "Wind Speed: 1.08. Correct Direction: 3.03. Correct Elevation: -2.39."
"Target locked! Chamber hatch open!"
The chamber hatch on the cannon opened up, allowing for anything to jump in.
"Now! EVERYONE IN!" the mayor ordered, causing an army of black Bob-ombs came out of nowhere and jumped into the chamber hatch.
"Close chamber hatch!" General White ordered. As the hatch began to close, the Bob-ombs began to whine.
"It's crowded in here, BOOM!"
"Hey, stop pushing, BA-ZOOOOM!"
"OW! OW! OW! You're on my foot, BA-BOOM!"
"It's tight in here, PLOOM!"
"I'm getting nervous..."
"Stop breathing on my neck!"
"Someone's touching my fuse! Hands off!"
"Conditions all green! Standby...OK!" General White confirmed.
"It is time! Big bomb cannon: FIIIIRE!" the mayor shouted.
The cannon fired, and out came Chopper and his friends, who were screaming as they were sent flying out. The Bob-ombs who blew up in the hatch were OK and began to parachute down.
"YAAAAAHOOO!"
"YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!"
"That was so awesome!"
"I could explode in joy!"
"YAY! IT'S TACO TIME!"
"Good luck, Chopper! …You're going to need it up at the moon." the mayor said as he looked up at the sparkling star in the sky.
Outer space-
"WEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"
"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAA!"
"POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYO!"
"HEEEEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEE!"
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
As they continued to fly into space, they noticed the moon coming up ahead. Chopper clenched his fists as he dove toward the moon, just like Scrub was doing in a way to imitate him. In the end, they ended up landing on the moon, but Chopper ended up landing headfirst, causing his head to get stuck, just like Scrub.
Everyone else, however, were able to land just fine.
"What a landing that was," Shadower sighed. "At least it's over."
"Poyo, (We're far from the planet now,)" Kirby realized.
Chopper and Scrub were able to get themselves up and quickly took a look at their surroundings. The moon appeared to be dark yellow, with a couple of rocks around. The sky itself was blue and had constellations of Fire Flowers and Mushrooms.
"Whoa! That was AWESOME!" Scrub cheered. "Man, who knew adventurers got to do stuff like THAT! I wonder what's around here…"
"Same here," Chopper agreed before his antennae began to twitch. "...Huh? What's that noise?"
"Chopper… I hear a voice…" Vivian warned nervously. Everyone stayed silent for a moment and began to listen to the noise.
"Fury... Fury... Fury..."
"Chopper, matey… I can hear the voice coming from one of the rocks…" Bombette noted. "I suggest we be careful 'round here…"
Chopper gave her a nod while noticing a yellow Cleft with orange feet ahead. "Oh... Looks like we know what kind of enemies are here."
"Those Moon Clefts around here look like they have a tough defense. I'll flip them over with an explosion an' ye finish 'em off!"
When they began to walk, they noticed how slow they felt. Because of the gravity it was hindering their speed. Well, mostly Chopper's.
"Gah! I don't like this!" Chopper frowned. "I can't move that fast..."
"Hey, then catching you won't be so hard," Berry realized, making Chopper's eyes widen. "I'm only kidding... But I guess it works in my favor."
They heard the creepy voice again, so they slowly made their way to the rock where they heard the noise. They were all left with complete surprise - except for Berry.
"Who the heck is this guy?" Berry gawked.
"Hey, wait a sec... Didn't we see this guy before?" Chopper blinked, noticing the red hooded beanish person turn to him with his creepy grin. "Yeah, that grin is what I seem to remember."
"Shiver me explosions! We saw him on that one island!" Bombette exclaimed.
"Poyo? (How'd he get here, though?)" Kirby wondered.
"Fawful sees you now…" Fawful hissed as he stepped closer to Chopper, causing him to back away. "You had the destroying of Cackletta! It gives Fawful immense fury after what you did!"
He reached for his blaster and aimed it at Chopper, whose eyes widened. "Whoa! Put that thing down! There's no reason to shoot me!"
"Yeah! Plus, I'm sure Contadre can take ya on!" Scrub declared. "No one's stepped in his way!"
"Scrub, I don't think Chopper would be here if he did this stuff himself," Shadower informed.
"Oh..."
"Now Fawful will say farewell to you, fink-rats!" Fawful roared, bringing everyone's attention back to him. "You, Green Antennae! Fawful will be giving the revenge like a waiter serving food with marshmallows! I…WILL…HAVE…VENGEANCE!"
"Bring it on," Chopper challenged, getting his hammer out. "Looks like I have someone to test my new hammer on!"
Tattle: Whoa… Who the heck is THIS guy? That smile is SOOO creepy! Max HP is 60, Attack is 6, and Defense is 1. Omigosh! You don't think he could be a psycho, would you? He looks like he wants to destroy you and…did he just say revenge? Hold on… Do you know him from somewhere? Tell me right now, Chopper! I need the details! …Ha! Just kidding! Well… He's still creepy, so just attack him, OK?
Chopper made his way over to Fawful and brought his hammer down on him. He was happy to deal a lot more damage with his hammer. His Copy Abilities could also do more damage, which he was happy with. However, even when Fawful got hurt, he was still grinning.
"Gah... He's still grinning." Chopper cringed.
"I know how you feel," Berry agreed. "This guy is WAY too creepy!"
She got her hammer out and brought it down on Fawful's head. The bean couldn't help but cackle and mock her hammer, which got her irritated.
"You fink-rats will have regretting of Cackletta's death!" Fawful cried afterward as he fired a blast at Chopper and took 6 away from him.
"Wait a sec... Cackletta? I swear I've heard that name before..." Chopper trailed, pondering for a moment. "Wait, hold on a sec... I never destroyed that person! She was a ghost when I saw her!"
"Oh, so you met this person once..." Vivian trailed.
"Yeah, and I wasn't too happy to see her. Anyway, what ability should I use on him? Hmmmm… Y'know, I haven't used much of Fighter for a while…" Chopper put his Fighter ability on and used a Vulcan Jab on Fawful, while Shadower lowered his defense with his Shadow Punch.
"Poyo, (OK, we got him down to 40 HP…but that's still a lot,)" Kirby said. "Poyo... (He can deal some tough damage too. Then again, Gemerl was a bigger pain…)"
Sadly, the pink puffball wasn't paying attention to Fawful, who shot him with his blaster.
"Poyo! (Ow!)"
"Well, his defense is down a little…so we can make a few attacks before his defense comes back," Vivian mentioned.
Chopper nodded and delivered a punch to Fawful, who got knocked back toward one of the rocks, causing it to smash. Despite that, Fawful was able to get back up just fine.
"Wow! I'm surprise he was able to still stand up to that!" Berry gaped.
"Fawful can take all of the tomatoes that have been thrown at him! Fawful has the 110 percent power!" Fawful babbled on until he got burnt by Vivian's Shade Fist.
"That should shut you up, you weirdo," Chopper scoffed. Vivian giggled at him, but she stopped when Fawful ran up to Chopper to tackle him. Thankfully, it was Superguarded, so Fawful ended up taking damage instead.
"Phew…" Vivian sighed in relief and saw Fawful take some damage from being burnt. This allowed Chopper to make his next move by dashing toward Fawful and kicking him. It was a strong attack, so it did 7 damage.
"Poyo. (I should take down some of his HP as well. I'll become a stone and attack!)" Kirby floated over Fawful and came down on him as a stone, leaving him with 12 HP.
"He's almost finished..." Berry trailed.
"Urgh… FURY!" Fawful roared before fired another shot at Chopper, but this time, his Fighter ability was knocked away. Scrub gasped and growled at the bean, trying to show off his "teeth" (even though he doesn't have any).
"Grrrr! You'll pay for hitting Contadre, bean-o!" Scrub walked over to Fawful and used his Gulp to inhale him and spit him out, leaving him with 6 HP. "Yo! Contadre! You should finish him off right now! Use something that'll take him out in a turn!"
"Oh… I know what I'm gonna do…" Chopper smirked as he walked over to Fawful and performed a flip, showing flames on his feet and stomped on him to deal 7 damage.
"Nyargh!" Fawful let out a scream as he collapsed on the ground, which rewarded Chopper with 31 Star Points and a level up. Chopper went with 40 HP, which gave him the same amount of HP as Vivian and Berry.
"Ha! That showed him!" Scrub fist pumped. "Next time, you better think before you attack! Or else Contadre will kick your butt again!"
"No… Fawful…need fury…" Fawful moaned as he slowly got up and gave them a childish cackle. "I HAVE ESCAPING!"
They all saw Fawful take out a strange object that had rockets and a sucker above a small glass capsule in between the rockets and put it on his head. They were about to catch him, but he got away.
"Arr… That was intense, Chopper…" Bombette sighed. "I mean, did ye SEE how insane he was?! It shivers me timbers…"
"You got that right," Chopper agreed. "Though, the name 'Fawful' almost sounds a bit familiar to me... ...Nah, probably nothing big."
"But how the heck did he manage to get on the moon in the first place?" Shadower asked. "He didn't use a cannon like us. He must've gone here another way... We might as well find out."
They noticed that the rock had a crack in it, so Chopper grabbed a hold of Bombette and threw her over to the rock. When she blew up, an Ultra Shroom was revealed to be behind in the rock.
"Hey! An Ultra Shroom! Boy, I NEED these!" Chopper grabbed the Ultra Shroom and put it away. Afterward, they looked around on the moon for anything special, but they didn't find anything special. However, they had to deal with a couple of Moon Clefts, which Bombette took care of by flipping them over, and there were new Yux enemies that were dark gray instead of lime-green.
"I think these are Z-Yuxes," Vivian recalled. "I remember seeing them."
"They shouldn't be a problem," Berry assured as she threw her hammer at one of them, since apparently, her hammer wasn't able to reach it. Chopper was able to finish it with his jump. But even then, they didn't find anything special.
However, when they reached the third area of the moon, they saw a fortress with a shield around it. They noticed a pipe in the background that could take them there, but they didn't see any sign of a pipe.
"Poyo? (How are we supposed to get in the fortress without a pipe in sight?)" Kirby wondered. "Poyo? (And doesn't that place look a bit familiar to you, Chopper?)"
"Yeah, I remember seeing this before!" Chopper realized. "When we were first taking off to go search for the Crystal Stars! This is the place that shot us down!"
"My sisters and I even overheard the X-Nauts speaking about it too," Vivian recalled. "I guess those were you two..."
"X-Nauts? Hold on... Does this mean this could..."
"Hey! Are we going to stay here and talk?!" Berry exclaimed, making everyone turn to her. "We have to find a way in the fortress! Talking isn't going to get us anywhere, you know..."
They listened to the girl and examined the area for anything. The only thing of notice was a large, cracked rock that was near them. A lit up light bulb suddenly appeared over Bombette's head.
"Leave this to me, matey!"
"Got it!" Chopper nodded as he picked her up and threw her at the rock. Once she blew up, a pipe was revealed to be under it.
"Let's go, guys!" Scrub declared.
"Yeah, before those Z-Yuxes get us," Shadower added.
Everyone noticed some Z-Yuxes firing projectiles at them, making them all jump into the pipe and go into the background. When they came out of the pipe, they made their way over to the fortress up ahead.
Was it possible that the Crystal Star was located in another enemy base? This began to haunt Chopper's mind as he opened the door and entered the fortress.
Three short chapters in a row... Yeah, I'm sure some of you guys are hoping for something a little longer. Thankfully, the next chapter should be a bit longer than the previous three, so you guys don't have to worry.
...And I'm sure people are wondering how Fawful got here. Hmmmm... Well, maybe we'll find out sooner or later.