CHAPTER 5-1
-Swamints Under the Sea-
As the whole scenery was being drawn, the background showed this beautiful town that looked somewhat unique, with some rooms being a bit pointy than most roofs. Below the town was some rocks that helped form a couple of waterfalls in the background. So, basically, this whole world is somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Just like all oceans, this one is a blue color.
As the light blue door appeared, all three heroes walked out of the door, but little did they know that they weren't even on the ground!
"Hmmmmm… Well this is definitely a nice view of this world…" Tippi gazed at the beautiful blue sky and also gazed at the whole town in the background. "This place sure is a beautiful sight…"
Sonic noticed all of the water, which began to make him shiver. "Aw, no! Don't tell me… Is this a water world?!"
"Judging by the waterfalls and the water that I can see in the background, it looks like this IS a water world," Chopper confirmed. "Sorry if you have to go through this, Sonic. Sometimes you have to handle water."
"For a view up in midair, this sure is a wonderful sight to gaze at…" Tippi trailed until she realized that they were up in midair. "Wait a minute… Midair?!"
"Uh oh…"
All three heroes looked down to see the large ocean. Since there was nothing else they could do except yelp for help, they ended up falling down into the ocean. The only one who didn't fall was Tippi.
"Oh, dear…" she trailed as she fluttered down into the ocean to find the heroes.
Bottom of the ocean-
Two light blue creatures down at the bottom of ocean with heads that are shaped like a half circle with a green body, had four arms and flippers for feet were playing a little game of catch. Well, they were apparently playing with a small, dead clam that these things took care of.
"Oh, boy… Dis is such a tiresome game." the first creature began to wipe his brow. "Dere's no point in playin' dis game when we have a big dark hole in da sky! Although it's hard to see from down here, it's NOT a pleasant sight."
"Yeah, I can agree with you on dat," the second creature caught the clam. "Why can't we find any help? Us Swamints NEED the help of a hero! Da elder even said that if someone fell from the sky an' sank ta da bottom of da ocean, then it would be da hero that we've been lookin' fer!"
"Well, I sure hope we find someone…" the first Swamint trailed.
They began to keep playing catch until three heroes crashed to the sandy ground. They didn't appear to be squirming around in the water. They were just…unconscious.
"HOLY CLAMS!" the Swamints were thrown back by the force of the three heroes sinking. "Whoa… I thought mah heart just stopped! ...Are joo all right, Jojo? Nothin' broken?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, Paul," Jojo panted as he looked down at the heroes. "I thought fer a second I was goin' to lose mah…well, never mind about that. Anyway, don't suppose dat dese guys are 'Da Ones'?"
"Who're ya talkin' about, bub? All I see is a pale green gumball, a pink puffball and some kind of blue hedgehog with white gloves and red shoes."
Jojo looked down at the blue hedgehog, who looked like he was choking. "Oh, clam! Dis guy looks like he's goin' ta choke himself to death! We gotta get dese guys to our home IMMEDIATELY! Maybe da elder can take a look at dem."
"Joo got it!" Paul and Jojo picked up the three heroes and carried them away from the spot.
Tippi fluttered down to the bottom of the ocean, only to find two Swamints carry them away. "You come back here right now! …Oh, dear."
Inside a bedroom-
"Ooooooog… What happened?" Chopper slowly brought himself up from the bed. He ended up coughing out some ocean water. "Ugh… Did I seriously have some water in my mouth? It didn't taste so good…"
He noticed that the tiles that he brought his foot on was a light blue color with a couple of fish decorations on them. On the walls, he saw a wallpaper that resembled the whole ocean. Too bad he coughed up some saltwater onto the floor. Now it'll feel slippery for them.
"Guys… Can you get up?" Chopper nudged Kirby, who was on another bed. He thought it would be best to get the saltwater out of him, so he grabbed him and attempted to punch him in the stomach, making him cough up the saltwater in him.
"Poyo! (Owwwww! Why did you do that, Chopper?!)" Kirby held his stomach in pain.
"Oh, come on! That didn't hurt!" Chopper retorted, looking at his fist. "My punches REALLY aren't that strong. I don't have that great of a physical strength, to be honest…"
"Uuunnngghhhh…" Sonic slowly got himself up, only to cough up some saltwater. He thought for a second that he was almost going to slip. "What's going on…? Where the heck are we?"
"It seems like we're in this water world… But the thing is, I don't know WHERE we are at this moment." Chopper looked around the walls. He noticed a picture of a strange person made of water with yellow eyes wearing a blue robe. He was also carrying a powerful golden staff in his watery hand.
"Hey, look at that guy on the wallpaper! He sort of reminds me of the Crystal King for some reason!"
"…Yah, Elder! We were just playin' some clam catchin' an' suddenly those three people through dis door landed in between us! Joo gotta believe us, man! We think that dey're the heroes!"
The door slowly began to open and Jojo, Paul and an old Swamint came walking into the room. Tippi too came fluttering in the room as well, now that the door was open. The old creature was holding some kind of walking stick and also had this cool white beard that almost looked as cool as Merlon's.
"Are you guys all right?" Tippi asked. Chopper, Kirby and Sonic replied with a nod. "Oh, thank goodness… I thought that you three were going to be in some big trouble for a second there…"
"So… Joo are the heroes that dese two were talkin' about, is dat true?" the elder eyed the three heroes. "Hmmmmmm… I was expectin' someone that was more…taller and muscular…"
"Taller? Oh, come on!" Sonic glared at the elder. "We've done things that some kind of tall and strong person couldn't have done! So you better take that back before we have to prove it to you!"
"Easy, Sonic… We're not here to get in fights." Chopper pushed him away and looked over at the elder. "OK… So why did you bring us here anyway?"
"And where in the world are we? And what are you…things?" Tippi also asked.
"We are called Swamints. We are the people dat live in dis world." the elder coughed. "Dis place is called Pristine Palisade – a world full of ocean beauty. Mah name is Elder Humpback. I am da elder of dis town."
"Swamints? Pristine Palisade? What?" Tippi stammered. "What is with your accents?"
"Ah, so joo are curious about dis world, are joo? Well I suppose we shall show joo what our town is like. I suppose it would be right ta show joo all around before telling joo about our problems…"
Elder Humpback slowly began to make his way over to the door. Chopper and his friends had to follow him for about five minutes before they made it outside. Apparently they were at the bottom of the ocean, but they were surrounded by this huge glass bubble that all the Swamints lived in. All of the houses appeared to look the same, with pointy roofs. All they knew is that they were NOT in the town in the background.
"Do joo like our town? Marvelous, isn't it?" Humpback looked at the statue in the center of the town. It was that same person that Chopper saw on the wallpaper in that room!
"Uhhhhhh… Who's that guy over there?" Sonic pointed to the statue.
"I was just gettin' to dat, heroes…" Humpback coughed. "Joo see… When da big black hole appeared up in da sky, a heart rained down from the sky and landed in King Neptunian's Palace. The ruler of this world, King Neptunian, used ta be a very friendly person, but once he got his hands on dat heart, he has been corrupted with such evil… Sometimes he might try tah send his…seahorses and other sea monsters to attack!"
"So, someone named King Neptunian carries the Pure Heart? Could you take us to his palace?" Tippi asked.
"Joo… Joo're serious, right? I know that joo guys are meant to be heroes, but dat is a risky move! …But I remember some other person that we found in the ocean said something about going there to find his friends." Humpback pondered.
"Wait, another person? Do you know what he looks like?" Chopper's antennae perked up with curiosity.
"Errr… I don't exactly remember what he looked like… Sorry tah disappoint joo…" Humpback's head hung low. "If only he were here… Perhaps he could help you."
Suddenly, something struck him. "Wait a minute… Are joo guys able to make some attacks underwater? Joo might need something tah hit enemies from far away. I think joo can use it, kid." He looked at Chopper.
"What do you mean? What can you give me?" Chopper tilted his head.
"Somethin' useful… Follow me, joo people." Humpback slowly began to make his way over to a temple up ahead. Unfortunately, due to his slowness, they couldn't do much like this.
Sonic simply grabbed Elder Humpback with Thoreau and they made their way over to the front entrance of the temple.
"Huh? We're already here? I was expectin' ta be dere a bit later… Oh, well." Humpback opened the door, leading them into a big room with a couple of stained glass windows of some Swamint ancestors.
"Do joo see those people up there? Those are our ancestors. They're da people dat helped make this town." Humpback made his way over to a plaque on the wall. "Now, I've heard rumors about dere bein' a secret around these parts. Unfortunately, we don't know where, exactly."
"Hmmmmmm… I think I have an idea!" Chopper threw his arms up into the air and he was out of Humpback's sight.
"Wh-Whuh?! Where'd he go?!" Humpback exclaimed.
"Poyo, (Oh, he simply went into 3-D,)" Kirby answered. "Poyo. (It's this cool ability that allows you to switch between dimensions. You can find anything hidden around there! How cool is that?!)"
"Errrrr… What da heck is this person sayin'?"
"No one except for Chopper knows what Kirby's saying. Unfortunately, he already went into 3-D, so there's no stopping him now." Sonic began to tap his foot impatiently. "I hope we can get out of here soon. This place smells like fish!"
Meanwhile, in 3-D-
"Hmmmmmm… What's this?" Chopper noticed an orange pipe that was hidden in 3-D. "I better check what's through here! Hopefully it's something exciting!"
With one jump, he went down the pipe and into this orange cave that felt a bit hot. "Uughh… It's a bit hot in here. I thought the water was meant to be COLD! This is more hot than cold…"
He noticed up some small steps, there was a red orb with fire inside of it sitting there on some kind of pedestal. He decided to go over to it, until an orange Swamnit with a sun hat appeared before his eyes.
"Welcome! Yes, welcome! Welcome to the Fire Cavern!" the Swamint greeted. "I have been waitin' for joo, hero. I have been waitin' fer many years, smoldering like embers. Fer joo I have kept waitin'…and waitin'…and WAITIN'!"
"What the heck? Who are you?" Chopper asked.
"Mah name is Firemint. I'm the guardian of da Elemental Flame. Joo are late, hero. In fact, da last time I remember anyone comin' here was… 1,500 years ago!"
Firemint was seemingly ticked. "Oh, waiting just burns me UP! But enough about that… …So, why have joo come?"
"Wait… You don't remember why I'm here?" Chopper groaned.
"Huh? Joo, uh… Dis place… Umm… Dis place of power… It is, uh… Dis place is…" Firemint looked at his surroundings, confused and sweat dropping. "Now, wait a second… Just what kind of place was dis, anyway? What was it dat I was plannin' on doin'? Am I allowed in here? Huh? Wait just a minute! Where am I? WHO am I?"
Chopper began to sweat drop. "Didn't you just SAY who you were?!"
"…Hm! I guess havin' no guests for 1,500 years takes a toll. ...Eh, whatever. I guess joo can do what joo want."
As Firemint disappeared, Chopper walked over to the orb. "Now this is a strange-looking orb. It's got fire in it, too!"
When Chopper placed his hands on the orb, he immediately brought them back because of the intense heat. "YOUCH! IT BURNS!" Before he could start shaking his hands, he noticed that his gloves had a flaming aura around them.
"No way… Did I seriously…"
"Oh! Wait! I just remembered! This is the famed Fire Cavern, where we teach the ways of the blistering Flaming Hand!" Firemint's voice boomed as he came back into the cavern. "Yes… It is all comin' back… I have been waitin' fer joo. Joo want the Flaming Hand, right? Joo want ta master the fiery Hand Power known as the Fireball, do joo not? Joo do, right? Right? RIGHT? Joo do not need to tell me. Joor pose says it all."
Firemint summoned a fireball to appear floating on his hand. "I shall instruct you in the arts of the Fireball. First, you must choose to use your Elemental Hand attack with the [B] button. Once that's done, press the (1) button to toss a fireball, where joo shall fry your enemy into a delicious meal…if it's a fish, that is…"
"Oh, this is easy!" Chopper tossed a fireball and it began to bounce its way over to the wall, where it disappeared. "Man, it feels GOOD to have my Elemental Hand ability again!"
"Hmmmmm… I see no problem with joor skills, hero." Firemint bowed to Chopper. "If joo just do dis action near somethin' flammable, joo should have no problems! Surely dis skill will open new paths in joor life! Wouldn't joo agree? So… FAREWELL!"
Just before Firemint could leave, he remembered something. "Oh, pardon me once again, boy! But I just remembered somethin'! Dat ability can be used while your underwater. So, if joo have any problem swimmin' with any monsters, den use joor fireballs to defeat 'em!"
Firemint left for REAL this time while Chopper smiled at his hand with a flaming aura around it.
"All right! I can't believe I got one of my favorite abilities from five months ago back! This is just great!"
Back over by the temple-
When Chopper got out if the pipe and flipped back to 2-D, Kirby, Sonic and Tippi went over to him.
"Chopper! Are you all right?" Tippi asked. Chopper simply replied with a nod, but she noticed the flaming aura around his hands. "Wait… What is that you have in your hands? It looks…strange."
"It's my Flaming Hand ability, which is what I found via flipping!" Chopper smirked as he swung his arm, making a small curve of fire appear before their eyes. "I can't believe I got this back!"
"Ah, yes… Da Flaming Hand ability… Dat is what joo might need to make joor way through da waters." Elder Humpback slowly walked out of the temple, even though Sonic had to carry him out with Thoreau.
"Poyo? (So how do we get out of this place anyway? You never told us about that.)" Kirby questioned. Chopper immediately translated what Kirby just said to Elder Humpback.
"If joo want to find dat other person who was here before, den take the elevator up to da surface." Humpback pointed to the elevator near his house. "Don't worry, young ones. Joo won't be in da water at first. But, joo'll be getting' ta da water sometime up dere."
"All right, thanks, Humpback," Chopper thanked, waving goodbye. "We'll try to see if we can take care of that Neptunian person or whatever his name is. Trust us, we're gonna do it and get that Pure Heart!"
Chopper's feet were already spinning like a wheel as he made his way over to the elevator. A torch near the elevator didn't appear to be lit up, so, using his Flaming Hand ability, he tossed a fireball at it, making the elevator run.
"I wonder how that other person made his way out of here if he didn't have that elemental ability with him…" Tippi pondered.
"Well, maybe we'll find out sooner or later," Sonic predicted as he, Chopper and Kirby placed their feet on the elevator. That's when the elevator began to bring them up, away from Swamint Town.
"Ugh… Thanks goodness we're away from that town." Chopper sighed in relief. "I honestly couldn't STAND how those people spoke. It was almost going to drive me bonkers!"
"Poyo! (I agree with you! You don't wanna know how long that old man rambled while you were gone!)" Kirby had his arms folded as he began to remember Elder Humpback prattling.
Surface-
As soon as they got out of the elevator, they found themselves standing on the stone ground. It was a little more of a light blue color, with the rest of the stone ground below it being brown. Some water was leaking from the brown stone, creating small waterfalls. They also took notice of the big water bubbles that were on these pedestals. It was almost a combination of old material and new material…
There wasn't much to the left, but when Chopper walked over there, a familiar blue mole had popped out of the ground.
"Whaaack-hoo! I'm Whacka!" Whacka cheered. "Just another picture-perfect day here in Pristine Palisade! Wooo! It makes me feel like nothing bad could happen on a day like this, whack-a-do!"
"Hey... He looks familiar to me for some reason." Chopper commented.
"Poyo... (Same here...)" Kirby agreed.
"Well... We need to get going." Chopper said, turning around. Unfortunately, the wet floor caused him to slip backwards and hit Whacka, causing a lump of bread to pop out of his head.
"Whack-OWWWWWWWWWW! Don't hit me!" Whacka cried, retreating into his hole.
"Huh? But I didn't... Hey, some bread!" Chopper smiled, picking up the bread and putting it away. "Let's not waste any time and get going!"
"Well well well! Look what we've got here!" Before the three heroes could move forward, they noticed two creatures wearing blue, light armor with fins on their backs and flippers on their feet. They were holding these pointy spears that could pierce through anything it touches.
"These guys look pretty strange… Are they a new breed of Swamints? Man, we Neptos hate those guys! But, this is a good time right now. I think you could be used a Pure Heart polisher!" the Nepto up front smirked.
"Yeah, these guys, being a rare breed and all, will be something to DEFINITELY tote back for King Neptunian! Let's get 'em!" the second Nept raised his spear and began to charge.
"Poyo! (Chopper! Quick! Use your Flaming Hand attack on these guys!)" Kirby shouted.
"Got it!" Chopper tossed a fireball at one of the Neptos, burning that one to a crisp. He tossed one more fireball at the other Nepto to burn THAT one to a crisp as well. "Wow… That was…pretty cool!"
"Hmm… It seems that Elder Humpback was right… The leader of these uncouth things apparently has the Pure Heart… We'd best try to find him…" suggested Tippi.
Chopper jumped on one of the steps going up ahead and then looked down to see a pathway. By the corner of the wall was a little curve for anyone to get up to where they're standing with some speed. There was even a loop up ahead, to Sonic's relief.
"Oh, good! There's a loop here!" Sonic sighed in relief as he jumped down to allow himself to get some speed. That's when he immediately ran through the loop and made his way over to a red door.
"We better follow him," Chopper grabbed Kirby's hand and he jumped down to the curve on the wall so he could make his way through the loop and to the door, where Sonic was tapping his foot impatiently.
"Man, why do you guys always take such a long time?" Sonic questioned while tapping his foot.
"Dude… You weren't standing there for that long." Chopper gave him a blank look before they walked in to the next area, where they found a bridge and a waterfall up ahead by the bridge. There appeared to be some floating platforms on the water.
"We've got more Neptos dead ahead!" Chopper warned as he tossed two fireballs at the Neptos that were throwing spears on the bridge.
"Now let's see what we've got up ahead," Sonic ran up ahead so he could jump onto the platforms floating in the water. There were about three of them, so he didn't have to worry too much. "Wow… So this is the ocean? I'm actually a bit nervous, now that I think about it…"
Sonic immediately made his way over to the red door, but he noticed it was locked. "Drat! Don't tell me I actually have to GO in the water?! That's NOT what I wanna do!"
"Well too bad. Sometimes you gotta do it, Sonic." Chopper jumped across the platforms and picked Sonic up with Thoreau. "Since you probably won't jump in yourself, I'm gonna have to do this."
With one throw, Sonic sank to the bottom of the area. Good thing it wasn't the bottom of the ocean, because there was still some stone ground below him. Other than that, there was a spring over to the left that can bring up back up to the bridge and also an air bubble right next to him.
He immediately breathed in some air from the air bubble before Chopper and Kirby sank into the water where he was.
"Well, it sure has been a while since we were underwater… We ought to see what's around these parts!" Chopper suggested.
"Poyo! (Yeah! That sounds like a good idea!)" Kirby then frowned. "Poyo… (But the thing is, my abilities are pretty much useless… All I can do is squirt water! That's not going to help!)"
"Don't worry about it, Kirby," Chopper assured as he swam over to the tunnel to the right. They couldn't find anything else except for a couple of bubbles that were coming up from the ground.
"Mmmmmgggggffhhh!" Sonic covered his mouth in an attempt to keep himself from drowning, but that didn't do anything.
"Hold on, guys… Let me see what's down here." Chopper flipped into 3-D to find a little hole leading down to two torches. All he did was light them up with a fireball. But the only thing he didn't get was…how can he use fire underwater?
A chest appeared before his own eyes and he opened it to find a Door Key. He went back up to his two friends to show them the Door Key before they made their way over to the spring.
"Mmmmmggfffff!" Sonic was almost about to drown until he jumped on the spring and got out of the water, landing on the bridge.
"Oh, thank goodness I'm fine!" Sonic gasped as he knelt down on the ground in relief. "I'm never going swimming EVER again…"
"Sorry to say this, but I don't think that's the last of the water we're gonna see, Sonic," Chopper said with a look that didn't make Sonic feel any better. "But look on the bright side! We've got the key!"
"I don't think this is going to be so easy for Sonic…" Tippi trailed. "But I still see no sight of that person that Elder Humpback was talking about…"
"I don't think we should be worrying about that person at this moment," Chopper stated. "It's better that we focus on finding the Pure Heart first. We'll get to finding this person later."
After they all jumped across the water with the three platforms, Chopper unlocked the door and they moved on to another area. Luckily, there wasn't any water, but there were these large, blue elephant creatures roaming around. There were A LOT.
"Poyo! (Whoa… Look at those things!)" Kirby pointed at the large elephant creature. Chopper thought that it would be a good idea to use Tippi's ability on them, so he immediately did that to find some interesting information.
"That massive beast is a Muth. They roam the watery world of Pristine Palisade... Max HP is 100 and Attack is 6. They can trample nearly anything... They also have a lot of HP, so they aren't easy to take down... Many Swamints have risked fighting Muths just to prove their bravery..." Tippi informed.
"Are you SERIOUS?! These guys have more HP than what Tipral had! That's just ridiculous!" Chopper groaned as he shot a couple of fireballs at the Muth. He charged one fireball up that he threw at that Muth, defeating it and also making it drop something…pretty useful.
"Poyo? (Did it just drop meat?)" Kirby picked up a piece of meat called Bone-In Cut. With it, their Attack power can be doubled, which is actually something that's VERY nice…
"Gimme that!" Chopper swiped the Bone-In Cut from Kirby and he took a piece off. "We're all gonna eat some of this so we can all focus on our own Muth to take out. I think that'll be easy, right?"
"I think that'll work perfectly!" Sonic grinned while chomping down on his Bone-In Cut. "…It's not THAT great, but I feel like my Attack has been doubled! Now THAT is awesome!"
Sonic immediately rushed toward the Muth up ahead, bashing it with a couple of Homing Attacks. He did at least ten of them when he defeated the giant elephant beast. It didn't even tire him out!
"Poyo! (Leave this one to me!)" Kirby got on Carrie and he rushed over to the next Muth. It caught Kirby coming toward him and it prepared to charge, but it was soon trampled by Kirby's attacks above it. It was soon taken down easily.
"I think this one should be an easy defeat!" Chopper smirked as he tossed about ten fireballs at the Muth charging at him. It cringed as each fireball struck it, but it was immediately defeated, putting the fight to an end.
"That was easier than I thought it would be…" Tippi trailed.
"And… Oh, great, is that what I think it is?" Sonic gulped as he saw that they had a waterway to go through after the last Muth. But, it didn't seem to be too long.
They jumped into the water to find a small little pathway and a spring over by the end of the pathway by a wall. It wasn't a long way to go through, but there were no air bubbles for Sonic to grab, so that was a problem.
"Uh oh… A Nepto's swimming around here!" Chopper hurled a fireball at the Nepto to take it out. Then they proceeded over to the spring. Sonic went first, jumping on it and bringing him up to the surface. Chopper and Kirby followed up afterward.
"And it looks like this concludes the level," Chopper stated as he walked over to the Star Block and broke it with one punch.
END OF CHAPTER
Now happy with his Flaming Hand ability in his hands, Chopper seemed to feel a lot more cheerful than before. "I can't believe that we have to make our way through this whole water world!" Sonic complained as they walked through the wet world. "This isn't the place that I've wanted to go to. Especially for a vacation!" Kirby wished he could shut Sonic up, but he knew that that wouldn't be the best thing to do. The big thing that Tippi began to wonder about was who was the person that the Swamints found before them? Could that person be a friend or foe? These questions plagued her head as they moved on ahead.
To be honest, I did NOT enjoy writing how those Swamints spoke. It was getting a bit annoying for me. But, at least we got something ELSE interesting! ...I'm talking about that Flaming Hand ability that Chopper got. I'm pretty sure you're wondering why he got it in Chapter 5 and not Chapter 4. Well, I don't feel like answering that question! :P
Anyway, next chapter, we're... Actually, it's best NOT to spoil the next chapter. ;)