CHAPTER 4-3
-The Gates of Space-
Our three heroes looked around at their surroundings. It was just space like before…to their disappointment. They didn't see any Pop Star, Clara or even Mobius around them. It was disappointing that they couldn't see much around except for some stars and some green shooting stars that would shoot down from the upper right of the area.
"Man… I wish we could get a better look at stuff around here! But I'm starting to wonder for a second…" Chopper started to ponder as he looked over at Squirps, who is now much better after holding his…whatever the heck it is for a while back on Planet Blobule. "Where the heck are we?"
"This is the Space Bypass!" Squirps announced with a smile. "Yeah, from somewhere in here, we can enter the Whoa Zone. That's where we need to find a Pure Heart! C'mon, space grunts, look for the entrance, squeork!"
"The Whoa Zone? You gotta be kidding me! That sounds like a place that seems…whoay." Sonic gawked. "Exactly what is the Whoa Zone?"
"It's a prohibited zone, squirp. Some call it the 'Space Graveyard,' squoooiks. It's a complicated maze… They say once you go in, you can never get out… And supposedly, the Pure Heart is hidden at the very back of that maze, squinkly!"
"Poyo? (Uhhhhh… What? I didn't get all of that…)" Kirby gawked. "Poyo? (How would you even KNOW that? I'm still a bit curious on who you really are, you strange little alien…whatever the heck you are!)"
They all began to hear someone's stomach growling. Sonic immediately looked over at Chopper.
"Dude… That's not me with the growling stomach." Chopper grumbled.
"Squirple squeedle SQUIRP! I made some room with that pit stop! Now I'm hungry!" Squirps announced. "But don't worry about that, space grunts. Find that Whoa Zone entrance, squibble!"
"Something tells me that this might be a long ride…" Chopper muttered as he began to charge up a fireball to blast through the Brick Blocks that were floating around in the Outer Limits.
"Hey, what's that?" Sonic space swam over to the Shooting Star that was revealed underneath one of the blocks. He immediately grabbed it and put it away for safe-keepings.
"Heads up, Sonic! Jelliens dead ahead!" Chopper warned as he began to fire at the Jelliens with Squirps's fireballs.
"Whoa! I didn't notice them!" Sonic got in a ball and attacked some of the Jelliens. Unfortunately, he ended up crashing into an obstacle called a Hedron that was spinning around.
"Poyo? (What is THAT?)" Kirby questioned as he space swam over to the Hedron. Unfortunately, he got hit by it, resulting in his power being knocked away. "Poyo! (My ability!)"
"Oh, Squirps forgot to mention something, squoog," Squirps remarked. "You'll get hurt if you run into those Hedrons. Don't bother attack them, because you're only going to get hurt."
"Well, that's some…interesting advice…" Tippi trailed, following Chopper past some of the Hedrons and over to some Jelliens that were around a ? Block.
"Poyo! (Get 'em, Chopper!)" Kirby shouted. "Poyo! (I wish I could do something to help, but my ability's been knocked away!)"
"I'll get the block," Sonic simply kicked the block, making a Super Shroom pop out. "Oh, sweet! One of these Mushrooms! I say we split this thing so we can all recover our HP."
Sonic grabbed the Super Shroom and made it into three pieces for all three of them to recover their 20 HP. Once that was over with, they moved on ahead, avoiding more Hedrons coming up ahead.
After blasting their way through some Brick Blocks they came across a red X in the middle of space.
"What's this doing here?" Chopper gaped.
"This red X reminds me of something… I don't know why it's here, but I think you should use Flippay for this…" Tippi suggested. Chopper listened and used Flippay's power to reveal two large, green rectangles. The one on the left had some kind of hole.
"What the heck is that thing?" Chopper space swam over to the pillar with a hole shaped like Squirps. This made the green alien surprised.
"Squirble SQUAAAAAAAAK! This hole… What a lovely shape, squirp! I don't know why…but I want to be squeezed into there! Someone squish me in!" Squirps cried out loudly.
"OK, OK! I'll, uh…squeeze you in!" Chopper "squeezed" Squirps into the hole.
"SQUEEEZIRP!" Squirps squealed as the pillars began to shake. A large, green door was soon created, making the three heroes gape.
"What is this thing?" questioned Tippi.
"It's a Space Gate, squirp! These lead from the Space Bypass to the Whoa Zone! Through this gate is the way forward, space grunts!" Squirps got out of the whole and went back into Chopper's grasps so they could make their way into another area through the door.
"Oh, look, another red X right in front of us," Chopper space swam over to the red X and did a same procedure. Unlike the other one, both pillars had a hole shaped just like Squirps. It was a bit odd to them, though.
"SQUIRPLE-URPLE SQUEEE! Another wonderful shape!" Squirps squealed in glee. "I feel another compulsion… Must…get…twisted…into…there! Someone twist me in!"
"Uhhhhhhh… Well… Errrrr… OK, I'll 'twist' you into there." Chopper began to "twist" Squirps into the hole, but nothing appeared to happen.
Chopper, Kirby, and Sonic: ?
"Hmmmmm… Something's not right here…" Tippi trailed.
"Something… Something's missing, squirk… Definitely… I can't shake it… There's only one solution…" Squirps pondered for the moment. "…That's right! Squirps must eat something yummy! Squirps will not move until Squirps eats something good! This I declare, squooooop!"
"Are you serious? You can't do anything unless we give you something to eat?! Talk about lazy…" Chopper grumbled.
"Squuuuuuurgh… So hungry… Squirps can't move…" moaned Squirps. "Well, Squirps CAN move, but so very slowly… Squirps needs to eat something yummy!"
"Well eat this if you want," Chopper tossed a Dried Shroom that he had with him. "It's better than nothing."
Squirps tasted the Dried Shroom, but he didn't seem pleased. "SQUEE-YUCK! Squirps doesn't want something like that! Squirps needs something that's TASTY!" He spat the Dried Shroom out, making it go far, far away.
"Well thanks for wasting my Dried Shroom – not that I needed it or anything…" Chopper turned to Kirby and Sonic. "All right… I guess all we can really do at this moment is find a treat for him."
"I don't know how we can even FIND a treat for him around these parts," Sonic frowned. "We're practically in the middle of nowhere…"
"Poyo! (Ooh! What does this sign say?)" Kirby space swam over to the sign right by the door and he began to read what it said.
O, chosen one, what will fulfill this strange alien's desire? Something sweet that starts with "cho" and ends with "late." This will open the way.
"'Cho' and 'late'? That sounds like chocolate! …If only I had some with me, we could give it to him!" Chopper grumbled.
"I bet the chocolate would've melted by then…" Tippi fluttered over to the wormhole. "I would suggest taking this wormhole…"
"Oh, that. Let's go through!" Chopper space swam over to the wormhole, leaving Squirps behind. They were brought to an area filled with a couple of light blue wormholes, Hedrons and relatives of the Hooligon, the Eeligon.
"Whoa… Those are a lot of wormholes… I wonder if we're going to find anything through them…" Chopper gulped.
"Poyo? (What about that wormhole?)" Kirby pointed to a light blue wormhole over by some brown blocks forming some kind of L.
"I guess we'll check there first," Chopper space swam up to the wormhole, avoiding the obstacles in his way until he got to the wormhole, which took all three of them into an area with a couple of Brick Blocks to the right.
"Well, without Squirps, it's not gonna be easy destroying those," Sonic frowned. "Hommissile could be an option, though…"
"Is that a store I see up ahead?" Chopper raised an eyebrow. "Man… I can't believe there's some kind of store! The last one I remember going to was the one in Toad Town…oh, and that one in Dry Dry Outpost."
"Toad Town? Wasn't that about two years ago or something?" Sonic wondered
"Yeah, it was… Same thing with Dry Dry Outpost. That place was a bit cool…but I'm not really a fan of deserts."
"Poyo? (Uhh… Guys? What about the store?)" Kirby poked Chopper by the arm. "Poyo… (We still need to get something for Squirps…)"
"Of course, Kirby! I was just remembering some stuff from back then…" Chopper space swam straight over to the store. He was surprised to see the door open on its own when they got close.
"Nice… So these doors open up on their own?" Sonic gawked.
Once they stepped into the small store, they put their feet on the ground. A salesclerk was sitting by the stand, waiting patiently for someone.
"HAVE A TWINKLY DAY! Welcome to Twinkle Mart! If we're not closed, we're open!" he suddenly began to break in tears. "WAAAAAAA! I was SO lonely! Since our grand opening, you're our second, third and fourth customer! I think I should have thought about location more when I bought this place… Whatcha looking for toady? Just grab whatever grabs your eye, Twinkle shoppers!"
"Hmmmmm…" Chopper looked at all the items. All there was was a Sweet Choco-bar, a Shroom Choco-bar and a Golden Choco-bar. Being the one to be a bit cheap, he bought the Sweet Choco-bar for 10 coins.
"The Sweet Choco-bar, huh? That'll be 10 coins! Does it twinkle your fancy?"
"I'll take two!"
"Wait, why two?" Sonic questioned.
"One for Squirps and one for me to take!" Chopper smiled cutely. "…What? If I'm hungry, then surely I need to have SOMETHING to eat! It's something that I NEED to have!"
"If that's all you need, then thank you for your service! Come back anytime! …Really! It gets lonely here! …You WILL come back, right?"
"Yeah, sure… We will." Chopper and his friends walked out of the Twinkle Mart and back outside. "All right, guys, let's get back to Squirps."
Back to Squirps-
"Squooooooog… Squirps needs some foooooood… Please… Squirps can barely move an inch…" Squirps moaned as Chopper floated over to him. "Space grunt! Did you bring Squirps something?"
"I have something for you here, but you better like it," Chopper pulled the Sweet Choco-bar out for him.
"Squirps is a gourmet! You think I'd be satisfied by something like this, squaaag?" Chopper gave a death glare at the little alien. "…But, you went to all this trouble, space grunts, so… I don't want to, but… SQUA-CHOMP!"
Squirps eats the whole candy bar. "TH-THIS IS… The chocolate and nuts melt together, creating a full flavor with a clean finish! It's a sweet chocolate sonata written for lovers… It's PURE COCOA LOVE! Squoh… Squorgle…" Squirps began to smile. "TOOOOOO GOOD!"
"Ewww! This chocolate has nuts in it? I hate nuts!" Chopper tossed the Choco-bar into a hungry Kirby's mouth while Squirps suddenly got out of the hole and split into two versions of himself, making them go into both holes to create another door.
"What in the world…?" Tippi gawked.
Once Squirps went back to normal, he blushed as he floated over to the heroes. "Squirp! Sorry about that… Squirps got carried away…"
"Don't worry about it, Squirps…" Chopper replied.
"The goal is nigh, squoogle!" Squirps announced as he flew back into Chopper's grasps. "Let's go, space grunts!"
As the three heroes made their way through the door, they were right in front of the Star Block…with a couple of Warpids floating around. However, they were soon destroyed by some fireballs.
"Heh heh heh! That showed them!" Chopper smirked as he flew over to the Star Block. "This was a pretty short level, I had to admit… But, at least it's over with." With one kick, Chopper broke the Star Block.
END OF CHAPTER
After easily making their way through the Outer Limits, Chopper and Co. were getting closer to the Whoa Zone in seconds. "So, how far are we until we reach the Whoa Zone, Squirps?" asked the young, brave hero Chopper. "Oh, don't worry about that, squriple!" replied the young alien. "We shouldn't be too far from there. It's just beyond that moon." As Sonic looked at the moon, something looked a bit surprising to him. "Wait a second… That's no moon!" "Oh, excuse me! Squirps is so embarrassed!" Little did young Squirps know that a space station was blocking the way to the Whoa Zone. What could be through there?
Next part might be a bit interesting. Remember when I said there would be one chapter with something different than the others? Well... You'll see next part!