"I guess we need to get to Riddle Tower now," Chopper said, now returning to the palace's courtyard with his friends. "Good thing there are no enemies in the way, huh?"
"Yeah, that's a good thing, since we had to deal with that enormous dragon!" agreed Scrub before he looked up at the tower. "So I'm guessing that's where we need to go, huh?"
"Yes," Vivian nodded as she followed Chopper to the surf panel. "Chopper, I'd be wary of this place. You never know what might appear there..."
"Don't worry, Vivian!" Chopper assured. "I think we can handle this!"
Donning his Water ability, Chopper jumped on the water and created a tidal wave that allowed him to surf over the water. Everyone else was joined in with him, and they ended up landing in front of Riddle Tower's entrance, which had a red door and a pillar on each side. Chopper quickly removed his ability afterward.
"So this is the entrance to Riddle Tower, huh? The door's pretty big, I'll admit." Berry commented, despite shivering slightly. "Though, I can't deny that it's rather creepy..."
Vivian slowly opened the red door and allowed everyone else in before trailing inside. Their worries about the tower's interior slowly faded away as soon as they got a glimpse of the place. The floors were made up of dark blue tiles with a few yellow stars, light blue pillars were near the walls of the octagon-shaped room. The walls were dark blue as well, and in the center was a spiral staircase.
"Wow... This room is actually very nice!" Chopper gaped.
"So perhaps things that look scary on the outside can look nice on the inside," Bombette deduced. "This be an interestin' discovery, isn't it, matey?"
"Poyo, (Well, I think the only thing we can do here is check the place out,)" Kirby suggested. "Poyo! (This place might actually be interesting!)"
There were at least four doors on this floor, with one southwest, southeast, northeast and northwest. Unsure of which place to choose, the seven decided to go to the door southwest. The room was much smaller inside, being shaped like a rectangle. There were two red ! Blocks and a green plaque on the wall.
"Looks like there's something written on that plaque," Scrub noticed. "Let's check it out, Contadre!"
Chopper shrugged and walked over to the green plaque. Surprisingly, the writing was in English and was understandable to everyone.
Beyond, beyond, beyond... Complete All Seven... Before, before...
"What the... What the heck does this mean?" Chopper gawked. "And what do those blocks have to do with this reading?"
"I think we have to decipher it," Berry deduced, checking the writing. "...OK, I don't know it either."
"If my memory serves me right, it means we have to hit the first one three times and the other twice," Vivian recalled.
"Oh... That sounds easy!" Chopper smiled, hitting the left block three times and the second twice. This caused a chest to materialize from black smoke in the center. A strange, creepy voice also echoed as well. "...I don't like the sound of that."
"Yeah... I know..." Vivian nodded, while Chopper found a blue Palace Key inside.
They left that room and decided to go to the room northeast, which led them into another similar-looking room. The only difference was that there were no red ! Blocks in sight. However, there was a green plaque on the wall just like the other room, so Chopper decided to check it out.
All you see isn't all there be... Stones Have Power of Stars... Touch it to pass through it...
"What the..." Chopper trailed, unsure of how to figure this out. "What is this thing talking about?"
"Hmmmmmm..." Shadower slowly closed his eyes and began to ponder over the words, but he suddenly sensed something else. "Strange... I'm sensing something in this room. It's...coming from the wall?"
Shadower floated over to the wall and placed his hand on it. "I think we can go through this wall if I turn you all transparent. Let me give it a try."
Using his magic, he transformed everyone transparent, and they made their way through the wall. A blue ! Switch was revealed through that secret room.
"Hit it, Contadre!" Scrub shouted.
Chopper gave him a nod and struck the block with his fist, causing a chest to materialize. He retrieved the Palace Key from the previous room and exited through the door into the main area. Kirby suggested they go to the northwest door, so they agreed and entered that door to find a set of four blocks. The block on top of the small pedestal was a Metal Block, but the one on the floor was a Rainbow Block. The other set further from them was in the opposite order, except there was a blue ! Block above the Rainbow Block to the left.
"Hey! It's the Rainbow Blocks! Boy, I sure missed them!" Chopper recalled, thinking about those blocks from two years ago. "Though, I don't think I can destroy them..."
Before doing anything, Chopper decided to read the plaque first.
Four stones, twin stones... Master of Shadow and Dark... Two are one, one is two...
"These plaques be gettin' more confusin' by the minute!" Bombette shouted, unable to take the confusion of these puzzles. "It makes me want to explode!"
"No no, Bombette! Let's not do that!" Chopper cried. "Honestly, I don't know what to do here, but my only bet is to smash this Metal Block here."
Taking his hammer out, Chopper smashed the Metal Block to his left. Berry attempted to smash the Rainbow Blocks, but her hammer was not strong enough to break through it.
"If only my hammer could do much more..." Berry sighed, putting her hammer away. "So what's next, since we can't do much here?"
"Hmmmmm... I think I might know where to go. Follow me!" Vivian suggested, flying out of the room.
The heroes found themselves following Vivian up to the second floor and to the door northwest, just like the door on the first floor. The room had the same set of blocks, except they were the complete opposite of the one below. However, a block on the left where a Rainbow Block should have been was missing.
The plaque's riddle made things even more confusing as well.
Four stones, twin stones... Can Live Again by the Stone... Two are one, one is two...
"Poyo! (So confusing!)" Kirby cried.
"Hmmmm... Well, I think I have an idea." Chopper smashed the Metal Block to his right on the ground, and he also jumped onto the pedestal to the left to smash the other Metal Block. "This room and the one below must be linked! I bet something below will be gone when we go back!"
Indeed he was correct. When they had gone back to the previous room below, there was only one block remaining, and it was a Metal Block on the pedestal closest to them. Chopper smashed that first and then hit the blue ! Block on the left pedestal, making a chest materialize through black smoke.
"Eeeuugh... You weren't kidding when you said that strange echoing voice is creepy, Vivian!" Scrub shuddered.
Chopper jumped off the pedestal and kicked the chest open, revealing a Palace Key inside. He decided to leave the room and head back up to the second floor to hit the other blue ! Block. This led to them getting another Palace Key, giving them three keys so far. With that out of the way, they left the room.
"I say, this was an annoyin' puzzle to solve, eh, mateys?" Bombette asked, becoming exhausted.
"More like exhausting..." Berry sighed. "How many times do we have to climb up more stairs?"
"Not for a while, at least," Chopper assured, turning to the southwest door. "Let's go check in there."
They proceeded into the door and found a Dull Bones, Cave Bones, Dry Bones and Dark Bones lying on the floor. This quickly caught everyone off guard and into fighting stances.
"Great… There are Dull Bones, Cave Bones, Dry Bones AND Dark Bones!" Chopper gaped. "Man, why are these here of all places?!"
"Poyo, (Well let's see what the plaque says first,)" Kirby suggested, pointing at the green plaque.
Chopper quickly headed to the plaque with Vivian while avoiding the enemies that tried to chase after them, and once again, they read the plaque.
Let fall the weakest… And That the Skies Lie… Then build to the strongest…
"Weird... It's like the middle section of this riddle feels so out of place..." Chopper trailed. "Anyone have any ideas on how to decipher this?"
"I think we have to fight these enemies from weakest to strongest," Vivian deduced. "I'm guessing we'll be in here for a while..."
And so they had begun fighting off the enemies, starting with the Dull Bones. Vivian's Shade Fist was all it took to defeat it, while Bombette's Bomb and a fireball from Chopper took down the Cave Bones. The Dry Bones, on the other hand, was a little harder to take down, but Kirby struck it with his Cartwheel and Chopper delivered a Fire Smash to take it down.
Then came the Dark Bones. Having 20 HP meant it was going to take a while to beat it, so Chopper decided to use his Power Bounce to deal 10 damage, while Berry left it with only 4 HP thanks to her Ruby Throw. Chopper managed to guard a bone it threw at him and finally finished it with a fireball. To his delight, Chopper gained a level and upgraded his HP to 50 as well.
"All right! I'm so glad to have leveled up from that fight!" Chopper cheered.
Because they fought them in the correct order, a blue ! Block to their left materialized from purple smoke. Hitting it made another chest appear, allowing them to gain another Palace Key.
"Awesome! That's four keys already!" Scrub cheered. "We're on a roll!"
"Poyo! (Now let's go downstairs to see if there's something!)" Kirby suggested, walking out of the room. Everyone else followed him down the spiral staircase and to the southeast door on the first floor. Inside, they found nothing but another green plaque.
Of course, they all gathered around and read the riddle.
The unseen may yet be felt... So That We, the Great Ones... Be it here? Be it there?
"I'm guessing there's something hidden here..." Chopper deduced. "I mean, it says 'unseen', so what else would it be for?"
While Kirby pondered, he felt something rather out of place in the center of the room. Tapping it with his foot, he felt as if there was something that was supposed to be there. Raising an eyebrow, he opened his mouth and inhaled a piece of paper that was blocking the object, which happened to be a chest.
"Poyo! (Found it!)" Kirby shouted, swallowing the paper and pointing at the chest.
"Good job, Kirby!" Berry smiled. "How'd you find out?"
"Poyo. (Something felt out of place here.)"
"Huh... I should've guess that. But man! We're going through this place like Donkey Kong! Let's check the room above."
Chopper left the room and proceeded to go up the stairs with his friends. They went into the door southeast where the previous door was below and into another empty room.
The shy one hides his shape... But the Stars Bring Balance... The shy one hides his face...
"Hmmmmm... Hide..." Shadower pondered. "I'm guessing we must hide in order to discover the key..."
"Arr! A very simple puzzle!" Bombette remarked.
"I guess that means I have to take part in this," Vivian stated, grabbing Chopper and pulling him into the shadows. A blue ! Block was revealed to be slightly to the right.
"I'll get it!" Berry decided, jumping under the blue ! Block to reveal the next chest. When Vivian emerged from the ground with Chopper, the chest was already open.
"Who's got the key?" Chopper asked.
"Here, Choppy! I got this key just for you!" Berry tossed the key over to Chopper, who managed to catch it. He thanked her before leaving the room and went up to the door northeast. After all, it was one of the last rooms they had not explored yet.
The room was empty just like the other one, so the heroes read the plaque once again.
Straight on, straight onward… We Know the Stars Spurn Us… Destroy all in your path…
"Ah! Now this I understand!" Bombette deduced. "Destroy all in yer path simply means we must blow up the wall to our right! Chopper, matey! Throw me at that wall an' I'll let 'er rip!"
"OK!" Chopper picked up Bombette and threw her to the wall, making it explode reveal another room with a chest. Chopper grabbed the key inside and put it away with the others. "All right! That's seven keys! I think we're just about done here, right?"
"Yeah! Now let's get out of this!" Scrub suggested.
With that, they headed back to the main room. Considering that there was nothing around here, they went up to the second floor and up to the third floor. There, they saw a contraption of a globe with many rings surrounding it and including a star and a moon. In front of them was a pedestal with a hole in the shape of a star.
"Chopper, check that out! The pedestal is shaped like a star!" Shadower informed. "Try putting the Star Key we got from Gloomtail in there!"
Pulling the Star Key out, Chopper placed it in the hole, causing eight pedestals with keyholes to materialize around the contraption. Seeing the amount of keys Chopper had to use made him sweat drop.
"OK, let's all put at least one key in to make things easier. I'll just put in two, I suppose." Chopper declared, giving each of his friends a key so they could place a key in at least one keyhole. When Chopper inserted a key in its place, the pedestal spun and stopped in the opposite direction.
Once all the keys were in their keyholes, bright green stars in the shape of a ring surrounded the planetary figure appeared, and the contraption slowly started to rotate.
"Harumph! So it's movin'!" Bombette commented. "Very interestin'..."
"It is pretty nice, too," Berry smiled, though her smile was stopped when they felt a tremor.
"Huh? What's that?" Chopper asked.
It turns out the first hallway leading to Gloomtail's lair was starting to break away and form into a staircase, possibly leading somewhere deeper into the Palace of Shadow.
"That was a little intense… We better check what all of that was…" Vivian suggested.
With everyone in agreement, they exited Riddle Tower.
Courtyard-
"I was thinking that shaking was coming from where we fought Gloomtail..." Chopper pondered, hitting the Save Block, since he had no reason to hit the Heart Block. "So, shall we get going?"
"I don't think so! You're just where we want you!"
"Huh...?"
Before Chopper could get closer to the door leading to Gloomtail, two shadows emerged from the floor, revealing to be both Beldam and Marilyn.
"Oh, no... It's this hag again..." Chopper grumbled.
"Hag?! Oh, I'll make sure to put you in your place, but first off, we have a little surprise for you!" Beldam grinned as she gestured another figure to walk over to them. The seven heroes were left agape.
"Huh? What's Professor Frankly doing here?" Berry gawked. "Did he betray us?"
"Chopper, I cannot express my thanks to you for what you did! You've finally opened the Thousand-Year Door for us! Yes, that was nice of you to do! Thanks to you do-gooder predictability, my plan is progressing very smoothly… Oh, yes. Everything is going as planned…"
"S-Sis? H-How dare you! And what do you mean by us opening the door for you?" Vivian asked until she soon realized and gasped by putting her hands over her mouth. "N-No… Beldam… Are… Are you really trying to…?"
"Mwee hee hee hee hee! Ah, Vivian… You are always so predictable…and not to mention ugly!" Beldam insulted. "I see you don't understand, yes? Ah, what a foolish girl…"
Chopper clenched his fists as he glared at Beldam. "Enough! You aren't going to do a THING to her!"
Vivian couldn't help but smile and blush. "Oh, that's so sweet of him. Though it would be really nice to..."
"...Oh, yes, and should I mention that old man you always received assistance from? The 'Professor Frankly' you were with when you opened the Thousand-Year Door… Was none other than this little freak-in-a-sheet!"
Purple smoke soon surrounded Frankly, revealing him to be none other then Doopliss. "Um, yeah, my name is Doopliss, but…"
"Mwee hee hee hee hee! The real Frankly is sleeping off a nasty bump on the head in a closet somewhere! Poor thing! And once we get rid of you here, our plan will be nearly complete! Ready for the end, my dears? You and that traitor Vivian sure have a date with eternity!"
"Guh-huh!" Marilyn grunted.
"That's right, Small Slick! Eternity!" Doopliss cackled until Beldam turned to him.
"Shut up, freak!" she silenced.
"Oh, OK… Right… sorry about that, Beldam…"
Vivian floated over to her sister with her fists clenched in flames. "I'm with Chopper all the way! Unlike you, he's nice, funny, and he doesn't treat me like you do! …And he's a bit cute, too, I suppose. Today, Sis…I'm going to punish YOU, you hear me? I'm going to finish what we should have done back at Toy Kingdom!"
"Yeah! We can finally settle this once and for all!" Chopper declared. "...Wait, what was that you said, Vivian?"
"Come, my sort-of-lovelies! Marilyn! Freak-sheet!" Beldam called.
"Guhhhhh!"
"I said, my name's DOOPLISS!"
"All right, then... Come on!" Chopper taunted, getting in a fighting stance along with his friends. "And don't think I haven't learned anything new either!"
"All right, my kind-of-lovelies! This time, we take out Chopper and his goon squad for good!" Beldam declared. "So…if I catch you slacking, you'll be in for INCREDIBLE punishment come tomorrow!"
"GUHHHHH!" Marilyn exclaimed.
"OK! OK! OK! OK!" Doopliss chanted.
Tattle: That's Beldam. She's the leader of the Shadow Sirens. Max HP is 40, Attack is 5, and Defense is 0. She'll use her magic on you like before, such as her ice. Be careful when she uses that! I gotta say… Beldam sure has something planned. But, what IS she planning? That's the question...
Tattle: That's Marilyn. You probably know that she's the strongest, right? Max HP is 50, Attack is 7, and Defense is 0. Be careful when she boosts her attack. THAT can be deadly. Also, she can boost her attack again to deal SO much damage! I would strongly advise having Vivian help you on this one. Besides, she wants to get back at Beldam.
Tattle: That's Doopliss. He's a weird Duplighost that can shapeshift into anything! I think he even changed into you once! Max HP is 50, Attack is 6, and Defense is 0. Even though he can transform into you or your partners…he doesn't have much in him. I wonder why he decided to go back to Beldam when he gets treated harshly by her…
"OK… Considering that Marilyn is the strongest one of the group, it's probably smart if we take her out first." Chopper suggested.
"Sounds like a plan!" Scrub smirked. "I never got a chance to take on these shadow freaks, and now I am STOKED!"
Chopper made the first move and jumped on Marilyn to deal 6 damage.
"I guess I should attack all three of them," Vivian raised her finger and let it sparkle before Beldam, Marilyn and Doopliss were soon set aflame. The latter began to run all over the area while screaming.
"Ow ow ow ow ow! Hot hot hot hot hot! It BUUUUURNS!" Doopliss quickly jumped into the river and came back out. "Ahhhhh... That's much better. Now, let's get back to business, Small Slick!"
Doopliss flew up into the air and charged at Chopper, hitting him headfirst and leaving him dazed for a moment. He let out a little chuckle before scurrying back to his comrades. Marilyn sunk into the shadows and emerged in front of Berry. The small girl tried to defend herself, but the large Shadow Siren's strength was too much for her when she clasped her hands on her before returning to Beldam and Doopliss.
"OW! That was painful!" Berry cried.
"Well then, my dear… You haven't seen THIS yet!" Beldam gave the group a grin as she let her ice magic loose. Thankfully, the group managed to guard the attack and only take 4 damage. They were also prevented from becoming frozen.
Of course, Vivian's burn effect managed to take 1 out of the three, which included Doopliss.
"Hey! Didn't I go into the water a moment ago? That should've washed that off!" Doopliss exclaimed.
"Just shut up and fight, freak-sheet!" Beldam growled.
Chopper decided that they would need powerful attacks in order to bring Marilyn down, so he decided to attack the large Shadow Siren with his Spin Jump in order to deal 9 damage.
"OK, Bombette! I want you to use your Bob-omb Blast and deal as much damage to them as possible!" Chopper commanded.
"Arrr! I'm on it, matey!" Bombette's fuse lit up as she approached the Shadow Sirens. Her powerful explosion was strong enough to deal 8 damage and leave Marilyn with 20 HP.
"Gah! Curse you, Chopper!" Beldam sneered, clenching her icy fists. "This is so very annoying! Blast it!"
Using his shape-shifting powers, Doopliss decided to transform into Vivian and make an attack on Chopper. Surprisingly, the attack didn't leave him with a burn either, which was nice.
"Huh... So it's the Three Shadow Sirens..." Scrub trailed. "Weird..."
Using her powerful lightning magic, Marilyn struck lightning on everyone and took 7 out of them, while Beldam emerged in front of Vivian and struck her with an icy punch.
"That's what you get for betraying me, worm!" Beldam mumbled as she returned to her allies, getting hurt by the burn effect in the process. This ended up wearing out as well.
After Chopper jumped on Marilyn, Scrub fluttered over to her and landed a Ground Pound to deal 6 damage and leave her with 7 HP.
Doopliss attacked Bombette with a simple smack, while Marilyn decided to raise her Attack power by 7. Beldam grinned as she used her magic to make Marilyn bigger and increase her Attack by 2.
"Mweee hee hee hee! That should be enough to deal enough damage to these fools!" Beldam cackled.
"Oh, I don't think so!" Chopper growled, leaving the large Shadow Siren with 1 HP after a jump attack. "OK, Vivian! Go right ahead!"
Vivian sunk into the shadows and emerged in front of Marilyn, who appeared to be getting exhausted from the fight. "I'm sorry, Marilyn... Don't take this too personal."
With a flaming punch, Marilyn let out one last "GUH!" before she collapsed, leaving only Beldam and Doopliss to fight against the heroes.
"Hey! You! Freak-sheet!" Beldam shouted, getting Doopliss's attention. "Pull it together, will you? Don't make me punish you!"
"S-S-S-Sorry, Beldam… I'll try harder…" Doopliss sunk into the shadows and attacked Vivian this time, though when he reemerged, he wasn't too happy with this body. "This body feels a little too girly. I gotta switch outta something better!"
Vivian crossed her arms and glared at Doopliss as he transformed into Chopper instead. He took a good look at himself before smirking.
"MUCH better!"
"Shut it, will you?" Beldam growled before firing a beam of ice magic straight at Shadower, who easily guarded the attack.
"OK… If we can finish Beldam off, then this fight should be easy." Chopper deduced before landing a Fire Jump on Beldam. Berry threw her hammer at the hag afterward to leave her with at least 12 HP.
"Heh! With this body, I can do all sorts of things! Check this out, Slick!" Doopliss ran up to Chopper and tossed an ice ball at him. While it managed to deal 6 damage, it didn't freeze Chopper, to his relief. Beldam, on the other hand, managed to freeze Kirby and Bombette.
"If I can freeze the rest of you, then this fight should be easy pickings!" Beldam grinned. "Oh, and believe me, Vivian... I've got something special in store for you!"
"I'm not going to let that happen!" Vivian exclaimed. "After all you've done, I've had it up with you!"
Chopper jumped over Doopliss and stomped on Beldam's head to leave her with 6 HP. "I'll leave the rest to you, Vivian."
"Thank you, Chopper," the young Shadow Siren sank into the shadows and emerged in front of Beldam. "You know, Sis... There was one thing I remembered what our mother told us - one of the reasons why she may have preferred me over you."
"And what is that, you plug ugly sister of mine?!" Beldam sneered.
Vivian tried to hold back from sniffling and continued. "I use fire magic, while you use ice. And when it comes down to it, fire is much stronger than ice!"
With her fist surrounded in fire, she delivered one last fire punch to her sister, who was quickly left struggling to get up at this point.
"ACK! Mwee hee hee hee hee… I'll leave the rest to you…" Beldam moaned before she was soon KO'd, making Doopliss sweat.
"Crud… I'm all that's left…" Doopliss gulped before attempting to hit Chopper with his hammer, who only guarded the attack.
Considering that he wanted to put this to a close, Chopper used his Spring Jump on Doopliss to deal 12 damage, while Shadower delivered a Shadow Punch to the Duplighost to lower his defense - though he didn't have any defense.
"Arrgh... I ain't done yet, Slick!" Doopliss grunted, firing an ice ball at Scrub, who, while not frozen, began to shiver.
With Kirby and Bombette no longer frozen, Kirby chose to make his move by hitting the Duplighost with his Cartwheel, and then Chopper finally finished him off with his hammer. Doopliss let out a moan before collapsing and transforming back into himself.
"Ohh… NOOOOO!"
With their defeat, Chopper received 51 Star Points.
"Arrrrrrgh…" Beldam moaned, still having some energy to speak. "At this rate… She will never… Ooooof…"
"Guhhhhhhhhh…"
"Hnuuuurrggh…"
"Let's just leave these cads, matey…" Bombette suggested. "There's nothin' else we can do."
"I guess you're right," Chopper sighed, hitting the Heart Block and Save Block before going to the door. "Well, let's see what awaits us here."
Everyone else followed him through the door ahead, with the exception of Vivian. She was about to follow, but she turned back to her unconscious sisters and Doopliss with a frown.
"I'm sorry, Sis…" Vivian trailed before following her friends.