"Hmmm… Now where could that Crystal Star be?" Gemerl wondered, searching the seas around him for a temple. "I've been looking everywhere around here for that thing! I don't see a Sun Temple around here! Gah! I had a feeling this would be much more challenging than I thought... I guess in the meantime, I'll give those Phis a call. They should have that Phi Walker all ready to crush Chopper and his friends!"
He took out his communicator and began to contact the Phi responsible for controlling the Phi Walker. To his surprise, however, the Sun Phi was covered in soot.
"Ugh… My head hurts… What just happened?" the Sun Phi moaned as it slowly got up.
"Sun Phi! Where is the Phi Walker I told you to use against Chopper?" Gemerl asked.
"Master Gemerl? I... I don't remember what happened. The Phi Walker WAS here, but I don't see it around here anymore..."
"What? You don't know what happened? How is that possible?! Answer me now, sun Phi!"
"Look! I'm sorry, Master Gemerl! I didn't mean to anger you! All I remember was finding Chopper and his friends, along with some person wearing a sheet over his head. Then suddenly, that thing knocked me out. I think those things are called Duplighosts..."
"So a Duplighost knocked you out? I see... I'm guessing he was responsible for the Phi Walker's destruction."
"He was? That's not good..." the Sun Phi trailed.
"Don't worry, the Phi Walker may be destroyed, but I still have some more tricks up my sleeves," Gemerl assured. "Have you found any whereabouts of the Crystal Star?"
"The Crystal Star? Well, I DID discover something powerful coming from an island called Sun Forest. It's a beautiful place, and I think you might like how it looks! There's a temple somewhere past a beach if you search carefully. Just be careful, because there are some Piranha Plants and killer robotic fish in the waters."
"Is that so? Excellent! That MUST be where the Crystal Star is!" Gemerl smirked. "In the meantime, take a break. I'll go find that Crystal Star myself! I don't think I'm too far from the island now..."
"Yes, sir!"
With that, Gemerl turned off his communicator and flew full speed toward the island ahead.
Sun Forest-
As soon as Chopper jumped out of the waterfall, he found himself landing in a large, orange pond. Resurfacing, he discovered many trees towering over them with orange, yellow, blue and pink leaves as if to match the sky during a sunset.
"Wow… Look at this place! The colors and all… So beautiful…" Chopper smiled before noticing a shadow over him. Looking up, he saw Mario falling on top of him. He let out a shriek before sinking back into the water thanks to Mario's weight.
Noticing the bubbles rise from the water, Mario looked down and noticed he was right on top of Chopper, so he got off of him and got onto the orange grass. To make up for falling on Chopper, he helped him out of the lake.
"Whew... Thanks for that, Mario." Chopper thanked, shaking any water still remaining on him.
"Woo-hoooo!" Scrub cheered, jumping out of the waterfall and performing a cannonball into the water. He got out of the water just in time for everyone else to jump in and get out afterward. They all couldn't help but gaze at the forest's beauty as well.
"Whoa… Look at this place! It's so gorgeous!" Berry commented, seeing a rainbow over the forest. Unfortunately, where the sun was shining in this place made it a little too bright, forcing everyone except for Vivian to cover their eyes.
Mario: Mama mia! It's so bright!
"Yeah, no kidding! We need something to let us go through here easily!" Shadower informed. "'Cause we're certainly not going anywhere when we can't see!"
"Hey, people! You need sunglasses? I got some here for ya!"
The heroes looked to their left side and saw a Toad wearing a gray jacket with red polka dots on his cap and sunglasses. He had a stand that contained sunglasses. Rather curious, the eight approached the Toad.
"Who are you? In fact, why are you even here?" Berry questioned.
"Well, the answer is simple!" the Toad began. "I know some tourists like to come here to see the beauty of this island! Well, I'm definitely the tour guide…but I give sunglasses to people to let them roam around here a lot better. Ya'll need sunglasses, is that it?"
"Arr! Yeah, that's it." Bombette nodded. "It's be too bright out 'ere an' it ain't easy lookin' around 'ere! We would love to have sunglasses!"
"All right, then here you go!" the Toad grinned, taking out some sunglasses. "There's many different kind! We've got some shaped like stars, hearts, spades, and even-"
"It doesn't really matter, honestly..." Chopper sighed. "We're in a bit of a hurry here..."
The Toad decided to give them normal sunglasses instead. Once everyone got theirs, they put them on, allowing them to see things more clearly around the forest.
"Poyo! (Much better!)" Kirby cheered.
"Great syrup bombs! These be incredible!" Bombette gaped. "Why, this could help pirates all over the sea when it comes to sunny days!"
"One thing for sure is that these sunglasses make me look cool!" Scrub grinned, placing his hands on his hips while trying to look cool. "You think it's awesome, right, Contadre?"
"Yeah!" Chopper nodded, putting his on. "They're always nice to wear during a bright day!"
"Now that you guys got yourselves acquainted with your sunglasses, I'm going to take you all through this forest, and those sunglasses are definitely needed to go through here," the Toad informed. "My name's Shay T., and I hope you enjoy this tour!"
"We'll make sure, we will," Vivian assured.
Shay T. got out a sword and asked everyone to follow him, which they listened and followed him through the forest. He gripped his sword and cut through some of the tall grass in the way. "All right, now this will require me to cut through the grass, so bear with me folks!"
"Here, lemme help you!" Chopper equipped his Cutter ability and used it to slice through some of the vines that blocked their way as they continued walking.
"Oh! Why thank you, boy! I didn't know you could even do that! Thank you very much for that! Now we can forge onward easily! Come!"
The heroes followed Shay T. through the pathway ahead, which led to some ruins, along with a couple of dull balloons that were floating around.
"Poyo, (I'd like to float on those balloons,)" Kirby smiled.
"This is the Sunset Ruins," Shay T. informed. "This used to be where people would worship the Sun God. But after darkness filled the sky and shook the earth, the place was destroyed and left to be like this. It's a shame, to tell you the truth. The balloons are still there because, well… They just are."
Chopper exchanged looks with both Kirby and Mario, who gave them a simple shrug. The rest of his friends were unsure of what to say as well.
Mario: Do you know anything about the Sun God?
"What's that, sir? Do I know anything about the Sun God?" Shay T. pondered. "Well, I'm not exactly sure, unfortunately. HOWEVER… I did hear that a boy traveled through this place in search of something to save a princess. He was with a strange puffy person like that pink friend you have that loved to eat, a brown hedgehog, a woman in gray armor that looked…more futuristic than anyone else, two blacksmith, and a knight. I say, I heard one of them had a nice mustache like you! Say… Who are you anyway?"
Mario gave him a blank stare, but eventually gave him his answer. Shay T. had suddenly gaped in shock.
"Oh my gosh… I never knew the famous Mario was here! Can I get your autograph? Pleeeeease?"
Mario shrugged and grabbed the piece of paper to sign his name, which got the Toad excited. He quickly put the note away afterward and told everyone to follow him into the place. They ended up going past the ruins and over to a pathway leading to a beach dead ahead.
"Now this is where thing's are going to get interesting!" Shay T. smiled. "You see, up ahead there's a beach, but there is a lot more to this beach than you think!"
"Really?" Chopper gawked, now at the Toad's full attention.
"You betcha! You see, at the beach, there is a temple you'll find. There are many rumors of some star being located there. It's also been a place of legend, especially to the Sun God. It was built after him ever since the old place became, well, you know... Many people like to call it the Sun-"
Before he could finish, he was suddenly struck by a missile that sent him flying out of the forest. Everyone gasped as they watched him get sent flying back to the pond they had fallen into.
"Thank you very much for the information, Toad, but I don't think I need you to ramble on any longer!"
Looking up, the heroes saw Gemerl slowly descend with his arms crossed.
"Gemerl!" Chopper changed his ability to his Sword and pointed the blade at him. Seeing the sword, Gemerl simply laughed at him.
"Gah ha ha ha ha! You seriously think a sword's going to defeat the Gizoid? Think again! I thought you were smarter than that, Chopper? Then again, I wouldn't call you the brightest bulb on the planet!"
Everyone got in their fighting stances and glared at the robot.
"Hmmmm… I see your whole team hasn't changed much ever since last time I saw you! Then again, I think I do notice someone new here..." Gemerl brought his attention to Mario. "So you're the famous Mario around these parts, are you not? I've heard a couple of things about you. All of these tales I hear about someone named Mario, and I only discover him to be a fat plumber with a measly mustache! Here's some advice: get rid of the 'stache, 'cause it ain't cool."
Mario: Who are you, and who gave you the right to insult my 'stache?
"Allow me to introduce myself then! Being a villain is not complete unless you have a good introduction. I am Gemerl, Gemerl the Gizoid. I'm the leader of the E-121 Phis that you've been seeing around here. But why did I come here? My reason is because Mobius had a fat scientist who only cared about kidnapping animals and putting them into his machines. I, for one, did not care about that. I have much better ways of world dominating compared to that fat scientist!"
"…Which is why you came here for the Crystal Stars, is that it?" Vivian asked.
"Precisely! But I knew I couldn't do this on my own, so I needed an army. Dr. Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik had some robots of myself left over, so I thought, why not make clones of them? And that's what I did!"
"All right, we get it now. Let's just put an end to this, OK?" Chopper suggested. "There's no point in bickering when we should be focusing on kicking each other's butts!"
"Ah, yes… Of course. We should be doing that right away! However, not here. This place appears to be too crowded for us to battle. How about we meet at Sunset Beach? It has much more room for us to battle, and it might be the last sight you ever see! Whoever wins can get their hands on that sun gem in the Sun Temple! …But first…"
Gemerl snapped his fingers and four Sun Phis came down, blocking their way. Satisfied, he flew out of the forest, leaving them to fight the four Sun Phis. Annoyed with this, Chopper began to attack the Sun Phis with his Ultra Ice Hand, while Mario attacked with his Hammer Spin.
After guarding their lasers, Chopper and his friends quickly did away with the Sun Phis and picked up the 16 Star Points they dropped.
"Great... I was hoping we wouldn't have to run into that robot." Berry sighed. "He sure was a pain to fight back in his base!"
"Well the good news is that he's really the only threat we have to worry about, aside from the Shadow Sirens and Brothers..." Shadower noted.
"Yes, but that doesn't mean it's still going to be easy…" Vivian pointed out.
"True... But a challenge is sometimes good once in a while. In the meantime, let's go!" Chopper suggested, running toward the forest's end ahead. Waiting at the exit was a Save Block and a Heart Block. After hitting both, the heroes moved onward for their rematch against the Gizoid.
Sorry if this is a bit of a short chapter, but sometimes there are times where they need to be shortened. On the other hand, there were some things that I liked in here.
With that side, be prepared for the boss chapter coming next!