CHAPTER 9
-Sunny Days and Explosions-
As the now eight heroes traveled through the tall grass to their destination, they had taken notice of the sky. The beautiful blue of the sky had began to slowly change into a pinkish orange, and the sun itself was lower than usual. Eventually they were led out of the tall grass and onto an open, green and dark green checkered grass field. Out in the distance was the ocean, now looking more orange than before. A couple of islands were far from where they stood, but nothing big.
Mario couldn't help but gaze at the environment around him. He had never expected such an area like this to be near Rogueport. Perhaps those five months of being out have made Rogueport change drastically.
"Whoa… This is Sunset Hill? Awesome place! Aside from Glitzville, this place ROCKS!" Scrub cheered. "I mean, check out the view, guys! That's gotta be one of the best I've seen!"
Everyone stopped to take a look at the view. The sound of the waves coming from the ocean and the silence in the air made everyone smile and take in the fresh air.
"Poyo... (This feels so nice...)" Kirby sighed.
"If only I lived in a place like this..." Berry sighed sweetly, looking over at Chopper with her hands clasped. "Don't you find this place romantic?"
Chopper opened his eyes and noticed Berry leaning in his direction. "Well... I don't know... The place is nice and all... But... Hey, is that a loop up ahead!"
Looking up ahead past a few bushes, a loop stood in their way. "Wow! I can't believe we've found a loop after all this time! And hey, there's some nice flowers here as well!"
"This place does look pretty..." Vivian smiled. "So, what do you suggest we do?"
"Wait, hold on a second..." Shadower cut in, looking at the loop ahead. "How do we even get past a loop? We should try to formulate some kind of plan first if we're going to get through this place."
"If only my best friend were here, he'd be able to formulate a plan... He's usually good at that stuff..." Chopper trailed, looking at the loop. "Well, personally, I don't have a problem with this stuff. The only thing that worries me if there are any walls that we bump into. Then we need to figure something out."
"I say we blow it up!" Bombette exclaimed. "You can solve many things by blowin' them up, matey!"
"Well, the loop is a little far from us, so right now we should focus on the enemies around here," Berry suggested, getting her hammer out. "I think that's more important.
Mario nodded in agreement and decided to forge onward. The Goombas and Koopa Troopas lurking around the area didn't look any different, except that the Goombas were now a yellowish orange and wore sunglasses, and the Koopas had yellowish orange shells and orange skin. Both of them were referred to as Sun Goombas and Sun Koopas. They were much stronger than the normal versions, but nothing huge. Chopper chucked a fireball at one Sun Goomba, while Mario put his jumping skills to use and finished it off with a jump.
"Arr! I say, that be one fine jump, matey!" Bombette commented. "Perhaps yer mustache has somethin' to do with that! I certainly won't deny that it looks good on ye!"
Mario: Many people tend to say that, especially the females...
"Well… I guess it's great that you're with us, Mario." Vivian smiled, moving beside Mario. "Ummmm... I'm guessing things were great with Princess Peach after you went home, right?"
Mario: Mmmmmm-hmmmmm!
"That's great. I'm sure you and her are having a good time..."
Mario gave her a nod before following Chopper ahead. She let out a sigh, thinking about her previous adventure with Mario five months ago and remembering that to be one of the greatest things in her life. However, despite that, she couldn't help but feel saddened when he and Peach left. While everyone else in Rogueport believed it was because Mario was no longer there, they didn't know it was for another reason...
She looked up at Chopper this time and remembered the times he helped her as well. Her happy thoughts of him were paused when Vivian saw Berry walk beside Chopper.
"Maybe there's still some hope..." Vivian thought before following her friends. Scrub had already finished off a Sun Koopa with his Ground Pound and began to cheer.
"All right! That was too easy!" Scrub gloated.
Chopper ran past a few trees around him, but he decided to go back to them and whack at them. Nothing came out of them except for one tree containing a Tropical Fruit. Picking it up, he discovered it could recover 15 HP.
"Yum! I'll take this!" Chopper smiled, licking his lips as he put the item away. Kirby tried snatching it from him, but he was able to keep it away from the pink puffball despite his complaints. They searched a few bushes near the trees and only discovered a few coins. One bush revealed a yellowish orange Fuzzy called a Sun Fuzzy.
"Meeeeeeeeork!" the Sun Fuzzy chirped.
"Hey, this looks like that one Fuzzy I encountered two years ago!" the antennae boy recalled. "Yeesh... Many things keep coming back since then. Oh well... This might be fun!"
It only took a single jump from both Chopper and Mario to finish the creature off and let it drop a few hearts and flowers to restore some HP and FP. Afterward, they had made their way near the loop.
"Poyo, (That loop is going to be a big problem,)" Kirby noted. "Poyo! (We can't run through a loop! We would have to move very fast in order to do that! And I bet there's some tasty food past that loop as well!)"
"Well… I'll find a way. Just hold on a second." Chopper decided to run through the loop and to the other side. He pondered for a moment before going back to the others. "Well... This might not be the best plan in the world, but I'd have to take you guys across one by one. So who should I take across first?"
"Poyo! (Me! Me!)" the pink puffball cried, hopping over to him. "Poyo! (Take me across! I want some food, please! Please please please!)"
Chopper gawked for a moment before grabbing his arm and speeding through the loop. Though Kirby was excited, he didn't see any food lying ahead as of yet. While he pouted, Chopper returned to the others and took them across one by one, with the exception of both Vivian and Shadower, who simply went into the shadows to get across.
"Well, that took some time, but ye managed to get us all across!" Bombette exclaimed. "Good job, matey!"
"Yeah, I guess so..." Chopper sighed, searching a couple of bushes to only find coins. There was a bridge up ahead with a river underneath leading into the sea. When Berry got a nice view of the river and sea, she smiled and leaned over to Chopper again.
"You know, now that I think about it... This would definitely be a great place for a date or wedding, wouldn't you agree, Choppy?"
"Eep! No way!" Chopper cried, running away from her across the bridge, while Berry let out a sigh.
"Well, I should've seen that coming..."
Mario: I take it you really like him, right?
Berry turned to Mario and nodded. "Of course! I've known him since we were two, and I've even loved him ever since then too. You wouldn't believe how happy I was to see him all alive. ...Oh, and did I mention we're of the same kind?"
Mario blinked for a moment and looked at the girl and then Chopper, trying to see if there was any difference. He shrugged before following the party across the bridge and over to some rubble blocking the way. A Sun Koopa had gotten in the way, but Chopper and Kirby both dealt with it.
Noticing the rubble, Bombette's fuse began to light up. "Well, this be interestin'! The first obstacle in our way, an' it requires me help to do so! Sorry, mustached man, but it appears you don't get yer first shot in helpin'!"
"OK, here we go!" Chopper picked up Bombette and threw her at the rubble and destroyed it. Another river happened to be running there, which were filled with yellowish orange Cheep Cheeps wearing sunglasses. Thankfully, there were some rocks that the heroes could hop across to get to the other side.
"Let's try to be aware of those Sun Cheep Cheeps..." Vivian suggested, while Chopper jumped onto one of the rocks. Mario followed afterward, and then both Kirby and Berry, the latter trying to catch up to Chopper more than the others.
"Don't you like my little idea from before, Choppy?" Berry asked, now getting closer to Chopper. "I really think it would be a nice wedding here once we're old enough to get married and all... Maybe there can be some baseball games in there as well, and I bet once we kiss during our wedding, it'll be probably the most romantic one ever! ...Probably better than those dumb romance movies, of course."
"This... This is all happening too fast! I'm not ready for something like this!" Chopper cried, stopping and covering his eyes.
Before anyone could speak, they heard an explosion coming from up ahead. Mario noticed a town that was no longer standing.
Mario: That doesn't look like a pretty sight!
"Looks like we should get moving," Shadower suggested.
The heroes decided to agree and hopped off the rocks to reach the other side of the grassy plains. Chopper bashed a few trees around with his hammer to find some items, but up ahead were two robots that were flying and approaching the heroes.
"Robots? How come there are robots here?" Mario thought.
Getting a closer look, it was revealed to be two yellowish orange and orange Phis with red eyes
"Whew! That was awesome! We sure took that city down! We ROCK!" the first Sun Phi cheered, landing on the grass and facing away from the heroes.
"Do you think the Crystal Star is here?" the second one asked. "We've been searching everywhere, but we found NOTHING! Boy… I sure wish that we could find a way to get that Crystal Star."
"Hey, it's those guys from that base..." Berry trailed, getting her hammer out. "But they look a lot different... What're they doing here?"
Turning around, the two Sun Phis gasped when they spotted Chopper. "Whoa! Ch-Chopper's here? Oh my… Hey, man. You know what this means? We can get that map! Boy, is Master Gemerl going to be pleased!"
Mario: Who are these guys?!
"Just some enemies we ran into before..." Chopper trailed, getting in a fighting stance. The rest of Chopper's friends got in the same stance as well.
"So, what are robots like you doing here?" Shadower asked.
"Haven't you learned from before?" Berry asked.
"Who? Us?" one Sun Phi gawked, pointing to itself. "What? You thought we were going to give up? No way! We're still looking for those Crystal Stars either we have a base or not! We're not going to give up looking for them, and we're certainly not going to give up on stopping YOU, Chopper! How many stars do you got on you?"
"I only got eight, but how do you know that the Sun Star is here?"
"Chopper!" Berry yelled.
"Oh, sorry…" Chopper sweat dropped. Regardless, he ran up the first Sun Phi and struck it with his Ultra Hammer attack. Mario bashed the baddie with his hammer as well and took care of it, leaving only one remaining.
"Crud! Well, that's it!" the Sun Phi aimed its gun at Chopper and began to fire rapidly. Chopper jumped in fear and began to run from the bullets. Mario, meanwhile, jumped in the air and landed a stomp on the Sun Phi's head.
"Oof!" the Sun Phi was losing its balance, but it fired a laser at Mario, which knocked him down. Chopper finished the Sun Phi off with a Fire Stomp, making it explode as well. With that, Chopper had earned some Star Points.
"Phew… That was a close one. Guys, we NEED to get over to that town. Who knows what could be there?" Chopper hurried on ahead, only to bump into a wall blocking the way. "Uh oh… There's a wall in the way! Guys… Do you have any idea on what to do?"
Chopper looked up and he saw a small tunnel that they could walk into if they could jump high enough. Mario approached the wall and noticed the small tunnel as well
After pondering for a couple of seconds, Mario snapped his finger and told Chopper to get on his shoulders. He shrugged and listened to the plumber to do said job. Mario then told Chopper to spread his arms out, while he did the same thing. The plumber lifted off the ground while spinning, and the two were sent flying up to the tunnel. Landing by the ledge, the antennae hero felt proud.
"WHOA! That was awesome!" Chopper cheered. "What is that supposed to be? A Spin Attack? That can be really useful in battle! You and me, working together to fight!"
The thought began to appear in his mind, while Mario smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up.
Vivian helped Bombette and Berry up to the tunnel, and Shadower helped Scrub up to the tunnel. As for Kirby, he took in some air and began to float up to the tunnel. For both Vivian and Shadower, it took them very little effort to make their way into the tunnel.
"That was a lot easier than I thought," Shadower commented.
Exploring the cave, they noticed the walls were a brownish color and did not make the place feel dark. Up ahead were some Motobugs with orange backs called Sun Motobugs. Chopper recalled seeing them back in the Music Kingdom, but his thoughts were interrupted when it got smashed by Berry's hammer.
"What kind of enemies are these?" Berry questioned.
"Oh, they're these Motobug things I saw back in Music Kingdom," Chopper answered.
"Really? I feel like we keep running into a lot of recolored enemies..."
"Well we were in the Palace of Shadow before," Vivian reminded.
"Yeah, that's true. Let's see what's up ahead!" Chopper declared, running up ahead. However, he came to a halt when he noticed a jump down below leading into some orange water. It didn't appear to be too deep, thankfully, and no one found themselves scared.
"Hey, we didn't see water in a long time!" Scrub realized. "Last time we encountered water, it was when we were around those three islands going to Unagi's Cave!"
"Yeah, you're right, Scrub. Maybe this might be a little interesting! ...Just as long as no one's afraid of getting wet."
Looking back at the group, he noticed no one give any objections, making him give an approving smile. "Good! Well, we better go down there!"
"Poyo! (Ooh! I'll go first!)" Kirby cried. "Poyo! (I bet there's going to be a lot of delicious food past this water, and I'll be able to eat it all up!)"
"Is food all that you think of?" Berry gawked.
"Poyo! (Yup! I love food!)"
Kirby made the first move and leaped into the water. Goggles and a snorkel suddenly appeared on his face once he sank to the bottom of the water. He looked up to his comrades and cheerfully waved.
"Wait... What? How the heck did Kirby suddenly get those goggles and a snorkel?!" Shadower gawked before looking at Chopper, who seemed the least surprised. "Are you even surprised by this, Chopper?"
"Not really," Chopper replied. "I mean, this story itself makes very little sense, so why should we question this?"
"Well, I think it would be cool if I could get goggles and snorkel on me every time I go into the water! But for now, I'm going next, so... Cannonball!" Scrub leaped into the air and fell into the water, making a very small splash as he sank to the bottom.
Everyone else soon followed and found themselves sinking to the bottom. Surprisingly, they felt grass on the bottom as well.
"Wow... This is very nice!" Chopper gasped. "I mean, this water is pretty clear! I can see everything around here, guys! Isn't it neat?"
"Poyo! (You bet it is!)" Kirby cheered. "Poyo! (Let's get some food!)"
Chopper couldn't help but agree and decided to swim on ahead. There was some seaweed that they could search, only to find some coins. There were also Sun Cheep Cheeps swimming around, as well as orange Bloopers wearing sunglasses called Sun Bloopers. Spotting them, Vivian raised her finger to use her Fiery Jinx, but it didn't appear to work.
"Oh... I guess my fire-based attacks won't be working here..." Vivian trailed.
"Really? That's strange, because I can use fireballs in here." Chopper said, chucking a fireball at the Sun Cheep Cheep to finish it off. Mario swam up to the Sun Blooper and used his Hammer Spin to take it out. With them out of the way, they decided to swim on ahead.
As the heroes continued to swim, they spotted another wall blocking their way, as well as a spring facing them. Scrub approached the spring, but he was only sent flying back. Thankfully, Shadower managed to grab him just in time.
"That be a close one, matey!" Bombette commented. "Now how're we supposed to get up here?"
"Chopper, I can see a tunnel up there just like the one we saw before," Vivian mentioned, pointing up to the tunnel. "Maybe you and Mario can get up there?"
"Sounds pretty simple! Let's do it Mario!" Chopper smiled, getting on Mario's shoulders. Because they were in the water, their spinning launched them higher off the ground than usual, but they managed to get onto the tunnel's ledge to safety.
Mario: That certainly wasn't hard!
"Yeah, that was very simple. Boy, if Flyer was here, though, I wonder how he'd feel if he saw me working with someone else..."
The others managed to make their way up to the tunnel in the same procedure as last time. Chopper was the last one to reach the ledge, but the current unfortunately got stronger, thus pulling him away from his friends.
"Uh oh... This doesn't look good!" Chopper gulped.
Mario grabbed a hold of Chopper's foot to pull him back, but he too was being dragged into the current as well. Everyone was surprised before they found themselves being pulled into the current.
"No! I don't want it to end like this!" Scrub cried.
As they were being carried by the current, they had noticed the movement slowly going upward. Everyone opened their eyes and noticed a light just above them.
Top of the island-
Outside, a rock blocking the current had shot out, and now the heroes were being thrown off the island and over to another one up ahead. Looking down below, they had taken notice of the bridge leading to the next island. Well, this was a lot faster, so nobody seemed to mind.
"Whoa... This is...weird." Chopper gaped.
Mario: It's a nice view from above, though!
Their thoughts were interrupted when they found themselves falling into the next island at an orange pool called the Distant Pool. There was a Hammer Bro. with an orange helmet and shell, as well as a Koopatrol with yellow eyes and orange armor.
"So, I have this cool idea of a game," the sun Hammer Bro. started. "It's called 'Paper Hammer Bros.: The Clown's Feet.' Pretty cool, huh? It's basically about a Hammer Bro. that has to rescue his friend names Gamma. The main character is called Ramma, and he's off to defeat the clown called Clownface that wants to take over the world of Hammer Bros. Cool, huh?"
"Dude… That is an awful…AWFUL idea…" the Sun Koopatrol brutally replied. "Who would want to buy a game like THAT?!"
"You know, you can't just judge a game based on the name or the idea. I can assure you, the game will be so good that I'll become rich! I'm sure I'll have many Hammer Bros. cheering me on, and the ladies will love me! I can just imagine it now!"
"Dude... You do realize that making a game won't make you incredibly famous. Ladies won't be all over you for something like that..."
"Well I don't care what you think!" the Sun Hammer Bro. shouted. "I'm doing this, and I know it'll succeed! I'm going to make a demo of this game one day and show it off to the public! Then we'll see who's having the last laugh!"
"You wish…" the Sun Koopatrol rolled his eyes before they heard eight splashes coming from the water. "What was that?"
"Oh, nothing really. Probably the fishes."
"But there are no fishes in the-"
"Anyway, I think the idea of this game is AWESOME!" the Sun Hammer Bro. exclaimed. "I'm sure you're just jealous that I can think of something better! Ain't that it? I bet you hate it because it's about Hammer Bros. and not Koopas."
Seeing the smug look on his "friend", he approached him and smacked his face. "Listen! I hardly believe you have what it takes to make a game! We're already in a freakin' story, and that's all we get! So, please... Let's just stop talking about this stupid game, OK?"
"Well... Well..." Before the Sun Hammer Bro. could continue, they noticed a figure get out of the pool. A certain pink girl with a hammer, that is. "Hey, who the heck is that strange girl? She's not supposed to be here!"
When Berry was about to take a couple of steps, the two enemies stepped in her way and gave her a glare. "Who do you think you are, coming into our pool? Don't you realize this is our turf?"
"No, not at all," Berry responded.
"Well, it'd be wise for you to leave now."
"Yeah! Go back to your mommy and daddy!" the Sun Hammer Bro. taunted. "Or maybe you're running away from them? Or maybe theirs lives had already passed!"
The last sentence hitting her hard, Berry took her hammer out and raised it over the two enemies. "Don't you EVER talk about my parents like that!"
"Oh, crud..."
Using all the force she had, she managed to knock the two enemies out cold. With that, Berry let out a sigh and looked back at the pool. Some of her friends were apparently getting out of the pool as well.
"I might as well relax..." she sighed, sitting down.
Gee, I sure broke the fourth wall a lot in this chapter, didn't I?