After making their way across the lake, the heroes found it to be smooth sailing from here. They ended up finding a pipe nearby leading up to a paper airplane panel, as the ledge up ahead was too high for them to reach. Chopper entered the pipe first and transformed into a paper airplane once his friends were with him and began to glide over to the ledge. He transformed back to normal and noticed some ice around them.

"Wait... My Ice ability helps me ice skate across the ice!" Chopper realized. "I shouldn't be too worried!"

"Lucky..." Scrub mumbled, who had some issues moving across the ice. Thankfully, Berry had given him a hand to prevent him from slipping.

The only enemy they had run into was a Pengi and a Chilly, but they were surprisingly frozen by Chopper's Ice Breath. He kicked them away and did away with them.

Mario: Ice enemies becoming frozen? Weird...

When they reached the next pathway, they were surprised to see what stood before them. It was a dark blue temple with two pillars coming down by the entrance. The small little roof over the entrance was covered in snow, and on the upper roof was some ice. But most importantly, it had some strange, yellow stars plastered on.

"Wow... Look at the size of this temple!" Chopper gasped, getting closer to the building. "It may not be the nicest temple, but I like it!"

Mario couldn't help but gaze at the place too, but his thoughts were interrupted when he felt himself shivering like never before.

"Aw, m-man..." Scrub mumbled, who was shivering as well. "It's even C-COLDER right by this temple?! Wh-What's g-going on?!"

"L-Let me s-see something f-for a m-moment…" Shadower floated over to the temple and felt the cold air getting more intense. What also surprised him were some clean blankets by the entrance, along with a letter. Shadower picked up the letter and began to read it.

Dear Travelers,

If you are in need of a blanket, you may use these to keep yourselves warm. There's no catch or anything. They're just blankets! We know you had a long way to go through this place. Unfortunately, we don't have enough blankets for everyone…so some of you need to share.

-The Gods-

"Seven blankets?" Shadower looked over at the seven blankets in disappointment. "But there are only eight of us... I'm guessing we're going to have to share."

"Well I ain't sharing!" Scrub declared, grabbing his blanket and wrapping it around himself. "Ahhhh... That feels so much better..."

"Oh! I think I have a perfect idea!" Berry noted, a light bulb appearing over her head. She zipped over to the blanket to grab one and zipped over to Chopper. She wrapped him and herself close to each other, which Chopper did not feel comfortable with. "There! Problem solved! I think this will be good for us, wouldn't you agree, Choppy?"

"Eep! No!" Chopper cried, getting the blanket off him and stepping away from her. "I'm not sharing a blanket with you! I'm fine with sharing a blanket, but not when I can get the cooties from someone!"

Berry frowned for a moment and gave him an annoyed look, but Vivian quickly stepped in. "It's OK, guys. You can all have a blanket."

"Yar?" Bombette gawked, turning to Vivian. "Are ye sure, lass? I mean, ye got nothin' but gloves an' a hat!"

"It's fine. I do have my fire powers to keep me warm, so I can just do that. I also don't want someone to be forced to share something useful with someone..."

"Poyo... (That's actually pretty generous of you...)" Kirby trailed solemnly. He had taken his blanket, while everyone else got theirs. Now everyone but Vivian had a blanket. They kept asking if she was sure, but she constantly objected to having a blanket.

"OK... I guess we should knock?" Chopper suggested, walking up to the door. He had removed his Ice ability, seeing it as something getting in the way of the blanket before knocking on the door. After waiting for a moment, they were unfortunate to not get a response.

"Ummmm... Is someone there?" Shadower gawked.

"Who goes there?!" Everyone was startled when they heard a god-like voice coming from the door. A light blue spirit with white eyes and a vague appearance phased through the door. The heroes, however, were a bit disappointed in the spirit's appearance.

"Who are you supposed to be? We don't allow random people to come into the Temple of the Gods!" the spirit roared. He suddenly realized what he said and face palmed. "Dang it! I just HAD to say it! I should've kept my big mouth shut..."

"Whoa, settle down there! We didn't know there was something here!" Scrub shouted. "Can you just tell us what's going on?"

"Hey! Listen, uh…" the spirit paused for a minute, trying to figure out his name. "Y'know, I'll call you Dr. Bite. Listen, Dr. Bite! This sacred place is none of your business! Same goes to you other people! Even if you're a real doctor, we don't need any medical use here!"

"Doctor? I ain't no doctor!"

"Uh… Let's not get into any argument right now." Chopper cut in. "Listen, spirit thingy… We're looking for the Crystal Star located on Snowy Mountain. The map shows some sort of temple, so is the Crystal Star?"

"What? The Crystal Stars? You're looking for them? Could this mean you're really…" the spirit paused for a moment to think. "No, I won't jump to conclusions so soon! If you ARE The Chosen One, you would have the Magical Map with you. Do you have such a thing?"

"Do I?" Chopper smirked, pulling out the map. "Why, I have it right here!"

The spirit looked down and took a look at the map. He saw it all; the location of the Winter Star and the other areas revealed on the map. He was certainly astounded, that's for sure.

"I don't believe it… This IS the Magical Map!" the spirit cheered. "Oh, glorious day! We've finally found the hero that will come and save us all! Just a glorious day…and it's also beautiful out! Oh, so nice!"

"What do you mean? Is this map such a big deal to you guys?" Berry asked, putting her hands on her hips. "'Cause it really sounds like it."

"Why, of course it is! Only the Hero of the Stars could possibly have the map!" the spirit explained before looking at Chopper in confusion. "…But why are you at a young age? We expected you to be a full grown man! In fact, that man in the red with that glorious mustache makes a finer hero than you!"

Mario couldn't help but gape and point at himself. The spirit stared down at him for a brief moment. "Now that you mention it, I do sense a little something from him. Nothing big, but I feel like he does have some heroism in him."

Mario: I did save the world a couple of times...

"Save the world? Ha ha... I said you LOOK like a hero. I didn't say you ARE one. You just might be some ordinary fat plumber nobody cares about! ...Though the mustache does look cool."

Mario gave him an annoyed look before the spirit looked at Kirby. "I sense a little in you two, but look at you! A pink blob! So laughable! ...Then again, I did hear the tale of some blob thing saving the world before."

"Poyo, (Well that's not very nice,)" Kirby mumbled.

The spirit turned back to Chopper. "Anyway, since you are the holder of the map, only you are allowed to enter. Your appearance is probably even more laughable than the others, but there is more to heroes than just appearance."

"Wait... We're not allowed in?" Vivian gasped. The spirit turned to her with a surprised expression. He too was surprised with Shadower as well.

"Whoa... It's one of them! Back away from us, foul shadow monsters! You are not wanted here! Your evil is not welcome in these parts!"

"But they're not evil!" Chopper objected. "They've been helping me this whole time! And why can't I bring my friends with me? I'd rather have them by my side this whole way! There's no way I want to leave them be-"

"Zip it already, hero. There's no time to chat! The decision is final!" the spirit grabbed Chopper and pulled him into the temple, leaving his partners mortified as the blanket he held slowly fell in front of the door.

"He... He just grabbed Contadre and pulled him in..." Scrub gaped. "Dude... We can't leave him in there alone!"

"I agree!" Berry concurred, taking her hammer out. "It's wrong to kidnap Chopper like that! Come on, guys! We're going to go in there!"

She tried opening the door, but it didn't appear to open, so she began to bash her hammer against the door. Scrub began to lay some eggs and threw them at the door to help her bust the door open. Bombette was about to join, but Mario shook her head and approached them instead, pulling them away and telling them it was pointless.

"But dude... It's not right to leave him in there!" Scrub cried. "We don't go anywhere without him!"

Mario: We can't do much, unfortunately...

Berry slowly lowered her head and sat down with the blanket wrapped around her. Scrub did the same thing as well and let out a sigh. Some tears began to come out from his eyes, but he quickly shut them in attempt to fight them off.

"No, Scrub! You can't cry like this! You're too cool to cry!" he thought.

Berry was even feeling the same way as Scrub, but instead she put her hands over her face to hide it instead. Kirby sat down as well with Mario with a sad expression and began to wonder what was going on inside the temple.

However, the ones that were more upset than them were both Vivian and Shadower. Vivian slowly felt tears come down her face, while Shadower shut his eyes in depression. Bombette, understanding what they were upset about, took the blanket in front of the door and put it around Vivian for comfort.

While she appeared to be the least upset of the group, deep inside was a different story. "Me matey was just taken like that... He an' the other mateys were probably the only friends I had so far... I just hope he comes back safely..."

Inside the Temple of the Gods-

"Can you please stop?" Chopper asked, still being dragged through the temple. "I don't like the fact that I have to be in here without my friends. I miss them already..."

As he was being dragged, Chopper saw that the interior was much similar to the exterior. It was dark blue and contained many stars. There were also some statues of Gods that were too vague in appearance. What did catch him off guard, though, were the glowing stairs ahead in the hallway.

Before he could be dragged any further, the spirit released his hand and turned to him. "I understand how you feel, wielder of the Magical Map. If anyone were allowed in here, I would certainly bring them in. However, rules are rules, and they must be obeyed. Besides... Those blankets should keep them warm!"

"Well... But..."

"Anyway, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tricky, one of the godly spirits that roams this place. As for you, since you carry the Magical Map, it is suggested that you may be indeed the hero. We can tell you something very important for you to know, but if you wish to have this information, you must prove yourself as the hero."

"Look, I think I have much more important things to do," Chopper stated. "Like getting the Crystal Star."

"By completing these tests, we can help you get to the Crystal Star," Tricky mentioned, grabbing Chopper's attention. "If you wish to hear more, I suggest you meet me at the top of that staircase."

Tricky flew up to the top of the staircase to wait. Chopper shrugged and walked up the staircase, amazed by its translucent design. "I don't know if I've seen stuff like this in a while..."

When he had reached the top of the staircase, he noticed the room around him was round and a bit large. While Chopper looked at the room, he approached Tricky. He noticed six jars were in a circle. There was also a symbol of a jar on the ground. Tricky began to chuckle and for no reason patted Chopper right on the head, making him blink.

"Ah, such a quick child you are! Maybe it could be you…" Tricky pondered. "Well I'm not going to believe you just YET… Believing you now wouldn't be the brightest idea now, would it? Ahem... Now, I will tell you why you're here if you can find me three times in these jars."

"Hey, wait a minute! Why do you want me to do this?" Chopper questioned.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Tricky disappeared into one of the jars. They began to move around, so Chopper had to keep his eyes on the jar he knew Tricky was in. He waited fifteen seconds before choosing.

"Hmmm…" Chopper threw an ice ball at the one to his left. Tricky came out and was a little impressed. He went into another jar and started to move the jars. Chopper easily followed his pattern and gave the top one a small kick.

"Man, you are good…" Tricky went into another jar, but this time the jars moved faster. Chopper still followed his pattern, but it was pretty difficult to follow unlike the other times. In fact, this made him dazed.

"What's the matter? Too dizzy?" Tricky laughed. "I guess your eyes are too slow to follow me!"

Hearing where the voice was louder, Chopper walked down to the lower jar and shattered it with his hammer, revealing Tricky to be inside. "There we go! This wasn't much of a challenge, to be honest..."

"Well, this is just the first test. They get MUCH harder… Trust me, you'll find the next couple a lot more challenging. Now, Chopper… The reason why I wanted you to come alone is because you just might be one of the heroes…"

"Heroes? I'm a hero? What do you mean?" Chopper gawked. "It's almost like what that Blooper said to me. ...Wait, and what do you mean there may be more?"

Tricky sighed and turned away from him. "Yes… There are more. We haven't discovered the descendants of the others yet, but we've been trying to search for them for a while… We even tried to remember who their ancestors were throughout the years. Sadly… We've failed to find five of the six. Their ancestors were once heroes, and they were deemed to be heroes too. One of these ancestors look a lot like you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you do have some similarities. ...Well, except he was blonde, while you... Errr... Do those antennae count as hair?"

"I don't know..." Chopper trailed.

"...Anyway, you passed the test, so you can move on. Just don't try anything funny, OK? It gets much tougher and serious. Trust me, you won't regret it if you pay attention, OK?"

"Ummm… OK." Chopper skipped past Tricky and made his way up the stairs. "Well, at least it's not cold in here. But I feel bad for my friends… They're stuck outside without me. I really wish I could be with them..."

Chopper reached the top of the staircase and found an orange spirit with yellow eyes waiting for him. Just like the blue one, it appeared to be very vague. There appeared to be a symbol of a fist on the ground too.

"Welcome, hero…" the orange spirit said. "My name is Power, another spirit being of this temple. Hmmmmm... Your face... I was expecting more of a manly appearance."

"The other one kinda told me that..." Chopper sweat dropped.

"Well, regardless of that, you've made it at last. I suppose you finished the first test, didn't you? That one was probably too easy for you. THIS one will be challenging. This is the Test of Battle! Let's see how well you can do against FOUR Chillies!"

Power then summoned four Chillies to appear in front of him with snowballs ready. "You may have had help from your friends to defeat enemies, but let's see if you are capable of taking care of yourself."

"Chillies? Well... I think I can do this!" Chopper put on his Fire ability and charged into all four Chillies as a fireball, dealing 8 damage and leaving them with a serious burn. They threw snowballs at him in retaliation, but he managed to guard each of them and take 28 damage instead.

"I lost 28 HP already? That's not good... But I think I can finish this up." Chopper transformed into another fireball and managed to defeat the Chillies in his way. They ended up rewarding him with some Star Points as well. Afterward, he removed his Fire ability. "Victory!"

"That seemed easy for you… Not bad." Power congratulated. "I might as well inform you about your ancestor. Did you know that he and one of the Four Heroes had a bit of a rivalry?"

"Who are the Four Heroes?" Chopper asked, not paying too much attention to the story.

"You...don't know anything about the four heroes? Most people know about them, you know!"

"But I'm from Clara - a planet in the Starland Galaxy."

"Oh... I see... Well, anyway, I guess you can move on, but I can assure you that the third test might excite you, but it is indeed no easy task."

"Exciting? Well, maybe it might be enjoyable!" Chopper smiled, making his way up the staircase.

When he had reached the third floor, he noticed a vague, pink spirit with green eyes ahead, along with a symbol of a heart on the ground. The heart did not seem to excite Chopper, though.

"Oh, no... This might be something like the 'Test of Love' or something... I bet it'll be a pointless test that has no effect on the plot or anything!" Chopper thought, approaching the pink spirit.

"Hello there! You must be the hero that everyone's been talking about!" the pink spirit exclaimed, its voice sounding feminine. "…But you seem too young to be a hero. I expected you to be…a lot taller and more handsome. But, I guess not."

"I was told this test might be pretty exciting, so what is it?" Chopper asked, not appearing to be too excited.

"My name is Friendly, and my test to you is the Test of Friendship and Trust." This managed to put a smile on Chopper's face. "You look pretty excited! This actually has something to do with your friends, you know."

"Oh, wow! I like this one already!" Chopper cheered.

Before he could say anything else, he saw five figures appear in the room. There, he saw Scrub, Kirby, Bombette, Berry, and Mario. From the looks on their faces, they didn't appear to be happy. However, they paused when they looked at their surroundings.

"Wait... What the heck?" Scrub gawked, looking around the room. "We're not...outside?"

"Poyo? (Where are we then?)" Kirby wondered.

"Yar... I be confused..."

Berry was the first to notice Chopper. Her sad look quickly changed to one of happiness. "Guys! Look over there!"

Mario: Hey, it's Chopper!

"Guys!" Chopper cheered, only to be quickly grabbed by Scrub and Berry in a hug.

"Contadre, man! You don't know how much we've missed you!" Scrub cried.

"We missed you VERY much," Berry mentioned.

"Ummm... Guys? Can you let me go?" Chopper asked. "I haven't even been gone for that long!"

Realizing this, the two released him and gave embarrassed looks.

"We must've been too carried away..." Berry blushed. "Sorry..."

"Yeah, what she said," Scrub added.

"Well... It's nice to see you guys too." Chopper replied, but then he noticed that two people were missing. "Hey... Where's Vivian and Shadower?"

"They are shadow beings, and therefore are not welcome here," Friendly mentioned. "Those monsters aren't allowed in such a sacred place."

"Monsters?! They're no monsters!"

"Not according to the gods... Anyway, back on topic, you are all here for the Test of Friendship and Trust. You, as friends, must work together and trust each other. If there's one thing that's important to friends, it's that you must trust each other."

"That sounds simple," Berry stated. "Just tell us what we need to do."

Kirby smiled, eager to hear the test. However, when he looked to his left, he noticed something that caught him off guard. Turning to that direction, he noticed another Kirby smiling at him.

"Poyo? (There's another me?)" Kirby muttered. Just as he was about to approach the other Kirby, it ended up giving him a large grin, making him back away. "Poyo! (Guys! Look over there!)"

They all turned and gasped at the other Kirby standing before them. However, unlike before, he didn't have a large grin on his face. Just the innocent, cute look of Kirby himself.

"What the heck? Two Kirbys?" Scrub gaped.

"Hmmmmm? I don't think this is exactly how I planned this..." the pink spirit muttered. "But maybe we'll go with this..."

"Poyo! (Hey, guys! Don't do anything! That one with you is fake!)" the other Kirby cried out. "Poyo! (I'm the real Kirby!)"

"Poyo! (What?! No you're not!)" the first Kirby exclaimed. "Poyo! (I was with them this whole time! Stop trying to copy me!)"

"Poyo! (Well I'm much cuter, and therefore am the real one!)"

Soon the two began to charge at each other and began to slap each other. The others couldn't help but watch the whole thing in confusion.

"Yar... It be a poyo fest..." Bombette commented.

Mario: This is very strange...

"I bet this is the same person that we ran into by that lake!" Berry deduced.

"Yeah, I agree," she turned to her right and noticed another Berry standing right next to her. She gaped and alarmed the others. Kirby stopped fighting and noticed he was fighting no one before turning to the two Berrys.

"Geez... Now there are TWO Berrys?!" Scrub gaped.

"This has gotten really out of hand!" Chopper exclaimed.

"So, what're you guys all waiting for? Go hit the fake Berry!" one of the Berrys mentioned.

"Fake? But YOU'RE the fake one here!" the other exclaimed. "Choppy, you would know who the real one is, right?"

"Forget her, Choppikins! Just hit her and maybe we might be done with this little test!"

"'Choppikins? Ummmmm... I think I know who the fake one is." Chopper got his hammer ready and hit the Berry who had just called him "Choppikins".

"Ouchies! That hurt! Chopper! Why could you hurt a cute girl like myself? …Owie!" the second Berry collapsed onto the ground and didn't move.

"I had a feeling that calling you 'Choppy' would make you know I was the real one," Berry smiled.

"Poyo? (Was this the whole test?)" Kirby wondered.

"Well, I guess it was kinda related, right?" Chopper wondered, turning to Friendly.

"Uhhhh... I guess so... I suppose I can let you through." Friendly shrugged.

However, just before they could progress, the fake Berry slowly got up and grinned at the heroes.

"Well done! I guess you managed to complete the test! ...However, the true test begins now!"

Everyone gawked as the fake Berry disappeared in a puff of purple smoke and reappeared as a Toad with purple spots on her cap, a purple ponytail, a black mask, and a purple cloak.

"Huh? Who are you?" Chopper gawked.

"My name is Decoya," Decoya smirked. "I am a demon with the ability to make decoys of people perfectly. I just remain invisible until I no longer need the decoy. I heard of you and your friends, and according to my assignment, I have to destroy you all. I thought the best way to introduce myself was to mess around with you!"

"But... You're just a Toad... You don't look like anyone special."

"That's because I'm not really a Toad! I just take this form because I find it adorable, and it also fits with my abilities. But now that you found me, it's time I took this to drastic measures!"

"Drastic measures? What the heck are you talking about?" Scrub asked, only to gulp when Decoya started to glow lavender.

"Oh, you'll see..."

Her glow only got brighter, causing everyone to cover their eyes. Eventually the brightness went away, and everyone got a look at Decoya's real form. She was a lavender, demonic spirit with blue eyes, ears pointing upward, while her feet only had two toes. Her fingers were also pointy too.

"This... This is not what I was expecting! If you'll excuse me... I think I'm going to go over there!" the pink spirit quickly hid by the corner of the room, while everyone else, though disgusted, got in a fighting stance.

Needless to say, everyone was shocked by this new look.

"So, are you impressed?" Decoya grinned. "Well that's good, because it'll be the last thing you'll ever see! Now hold still while I destroy you all!"

Tattle: That's Decoya. She takes the form of a Toad, but her true form is this intimidating spirit. Yeesh... It kind of creeps me out. Max HP is 80, Attack is 8, and Defense is 0. She'll mostly attack you with her ability to stretch her arms out, or she could fire some Mushrooms at you as well. Be careful, though... Those Mushrooms are not for healing. They can seriously hurt you! She also has the ability to latch onto the ceiling, so you might want to get her down if that happens.

"I...have no idea what to say about this girl..." Berry trailed.

"I don't know either, but we gotta take her down!" Chopper jumped up and stomped on Decoya to take 6 out of her. Scrub, despite not eager to fight this thing, puffed his cheeks and fluttered above Decoya so he could strike her with a Ground Pound.

"OW! I'm going to make you pay for that! Take this!" Decoya tossed a mushroom at Scrub and managed to deal 8 damage to him.

"Youch! Those things are pretty painful!" Scrub cringed.

"Well, I say I should use something that'll deal some serious damage to her. I don't know if my hammer will work, so this will have to do!" Chopper quickly sprung up in the air and hit Decoya with his Spring Jump, dealing 12 damage.

"Argh! I never thought you guys could hit so hard!" Decoya cried.

Berry pulled her hammer out and threw it directly at Decoya with a Ruby Throw. She ended up retreating up to the ceiling and began to fire mushrooms down at them all. Thankfully, they managed to guard the attacks in time. Unfortunately, she didn't even bother coming down.

"Yar... She be stuck up on that ceilin' like Ravy Groans." Bombette commented. "I say we shake her down from there!"

"I think I have an idea," Chopper raised his hammer and jumped in the air in order to strike the ground, causing the room to shake and bring Decoya flying back down. It did 6 damage to her, bringing her down to 50 HP.

Mario decided to make his move next and delivered a Super Jump to Decoya, dealing 8 damage. Unfortunately, that only angered Friendly more, making her fire a mushroom directly at him. Mario ducked and managed to guard the attack with ease.

"This is a good chance to use my Ice ability!" Chopper smiled, becoming Ice Chopper and ice skating over to Decoya. He clenched his fists and created an icy aura around him that damaged Decoya with his Ice Storm. Kirby reduced her down to 28 HP after using his Cartwheel.

"This isn't finished!" Decoya summoned a bunch of mushrooms from the ground, striking all six heroes in the process. Even then, that hardly stopped Chopper from attacking her with his Ice Breath. Bombette was about to attack, but she noticed Decoya was not on the ground.

"Oh... Me explosion's will not be very 'elpful here." Bombette sighed.

"Well you're lucky you're used more. I hardly get an opportunity!" Scrub mentioned before fluttering over to Decoya and delivering another Ground Pound. She was slowly getting exhausted, but she still had something planned. An mushroom bursting in flames fired down at Berry.

"Heh heh heh! You better run away or else that Fire Shroom will burn you!" Decoya cackled.

"Berry! Get away from it!" Chopper cried.

Berry brought her hammer in front of her and guarded the hit, taking only 7 damage in the process. Chopper sighed in relief and decided to attack her with his Spring Jump to bring her down to 4 HP. Berry smiled and threw her hammer at Decoya, making her fall to her knees.

"YAAAAGH!"

From that, Chopper was awarded with 28 Star Points.

"Urrrrrrggh… No… How did I lose?" Decoya cried as she exploded, to the heroes' surprise. However, rather than actually destroying her, it only turned her back to her Toad form. She appeared to be badly injured from the explosion, though.

"Ungh… This isn't over yet..." Decoya growled. "When the day comes, I will have my vengeance! Remember that!"

"Well, you got your butt kicked rather easily, so I doubt you'll have any vengeance!" Scrub scoffed.

Decoya ignored the Yoshi and took out what appeared to be a smoke bomb. She threw it to the ground, causing the whole room to get covered in smoke. Everyone found themselves coughing briefly, but when the smoke cleared, she was gone.

"Well that was pretty weird..." Chopper trailed. "That was one of the strangest girls I've ever seen!"

"Poyo? (And why was she after us?)" Kirby wondered.

"Yar... I suppose we will have to wonder about this some other time." Bombette stated. "Fer now, we shall move onward!"

"Well... I wouldn't say that." Friendly stepped in. "I guess I can say you all passed the test for something like that. I mean, you DID trust each other, and you worked together, which is a part of friendship. However, this is where your friends must go back outside."

"Wait... What?!" Chopper gaped. "No! Come on!"

"Sorry, but those are the rule," With a snap of her finger, everyone but Chopper and herself were remaining in the room. This only upset Chopper even more. "Rest assured, hero. You will be able to see them again. You just need to progress up these stairs and complete the tests."

Chopper sighed, removed his Ice ability, and made his way up the staircase. When he had reached the next floor, he saw a symbol of a ghost on the ground, along with a red spirit with orange eyes waiting for him.

"Ah, so you finally arrive… Excellent." the red spirit declared. "Wait… Excellent? What is excellent? That word… It means something great. No, this test wouldn't be excellent. Neither am I, Terror. This…is the Test of Fear. There is nothing excellent about fear. All it is is…fear."

"Umm… I don't understand you." Chopper muttered.

"Oh, never mind. All you gotta do is face your fears. And don't lie to me. I know what your fears are… Let's see how you handle them…"

Terror quickly disappeared from his sights, causing the room to suddenly turn red.

"Uhh… What's going on?" Chopper turned around and saw two Tartaras in front of him. ...Or were they? They almost looked like rippled water, strangely. Regardless, they roared loudly and charged at him. Chopper gasped and quickly jumped out of the way, but to his surprise, they ended up disappearing through the wall.

"What the… Illusions!" Chopper turned back around and noticed illusions of disembodied hands stuck to the floor. They tried to grab his feet, causing him to shake. "Oh, no... Not these things! I hate these things!"

He quickly began to shake them off and backed away as fast as possible. When he turned around, however, he saw an illusion of a demon in front of him wearing a crown. It looked very similar to the Shadow Queen. It grabbed him, causing him to gape.

"No… I can't let myself get scared…" Chopper closed his eyes tight and shot a fireball at the Shadow Queen illusion. He felt himself become free and landed on the ground with the illusion gone. Unfortunately, the worst wasn't over just yet.

Turning around, he saw a rippled figure of someone familiar. He gaped for a moment, but he had no time to back away, as the figure grabbed him and lifted him near his helmet to give him a threatening glare. Chopper tried to free himself, but his grip was too tight.

The only thing he could hear from the figure was evil laughter. After that, Chopper found himself landing on the ground once again.

"Wait... Is that it?" Chopper gawked, seeing the room around him turn back to normal.

"Not bad, hero," Terror applauded. "Though I think you could've done a bit better, it was pretty decent, and a decent is enough to let you pass. But be warned: this final test is not very easy!"

The next set of stairs was just ahead, so Chopper made his way up them. However, rather than being led up to the next floor, he was led outside into the freezing cold. Chopper had to put on his Ice ability in order to prevent himself from shivering.

Up ahead, Chopper saw a huge icy maze and a white spirit with blue eyes that was waiting for him.

"Welcome… So, you managed to make it this far… Congratulations…" the white spirit slowly applauded for him. "You are one step closer to the end of this temple. My name is Freezy, and I will assign you your final test. You see that dome at the top? That's where you must go. It shall provide you the power needed to resist freezing cold waters."

"Freezing cold waters? Why would I... Wait a moment." Chopper pondered for a brief moment. "Hey, I remember a tunnel back where I first started in this place! Are you telling me...?"

"Correct. That tunnel is the direction you need to go if you are to find the Winter Star in Snowy Mountain. Perhaps it will help you stop him."

"Him? Who is this 'him'?"

"We will discuss that some other time. For now, you must complete your final test. Succeed, and you will be able to gain that power. Fail... And... Well, you'll find out yourself."

"All right, then. I'm prepared for this!" Chopper declared, clenching his fists at the icy maze. "I'll conquer this maze like no tomorrow!"

What could've been about five minutes lasted for about thirty minutes. The maze was big, and Chopper found himself in a couple of dead ends along the way. Regardless of that, though, he had reached the end of the maze and was now making his way to the dome ahead.

"Geez... I didn't think that would be THAT difficult..." Chopper groaned. "But, at least I managed to do it... It was pretty boring, I'll admit. But, good thing I can finally get to that Winter Star!"

"I don't think so."

Before Chopper could progress any further, Tipral landed in front of him, causing him to jump in surprise.

"Tipral? What… What are you doing here?! Were you following me?!" Chopper asked, getting into his fighting stance.

"I saw you coming here, so I decided to see what this whole place was all about," Tipral answered. "And surprise surprise, you're here as well."

"So you WERE following me!"

"Most likely," the dark being answered, glaring at Chopper's stance. "If I were you, I wouldn't try to fight all alone."

"And why is that?"

"Let's face it. There's no way you can defeat me on your own. I'm a lot stronger than you, and all you could probably do is land a few decent hits. You were lucky to defeat me before thanks to your pathetic friends."

"Hey, my friends are NOT pathetic!" Chopper shouted.

Tipral ignored him and crossed his arms. "If you really believe all of us have given up so soon, then you are much dumber than I thought."

"Well blame Doopliss for telling me that."

"I see... So, do you want to know what happened to the Shadow Queen after you destroyed her? Well, take a good look for yourself." Tipral pulled out a crystal ball containing a purple mist, leaving Chopper to gasp.

"Wait… Is that purple mist really…?"

"Yes, it is the Shadow Queen. I'm actually surprised that she is the reason I exist. But, you had to come in and destroy her. Now she has been reduced to this - not that I'm saddened by her lost, since I've endured worse things in my horrible life."

"Horrible life? Well at least your planet wasn't destroyed by some evil knight!"

"You mean Maquano? I think I've heard of him before." Tipral recalled.

"Really? From who?" Chopper gawked.

"None of that is important for you to know. I believe what's more important is that we need those twenty Crystal Stars to complete our goal. Grodus was only there just to give us some backup. His assistance is no longer needed."

"But didn't Grodus get zapped?"

"Yeah, just because he tried to control that queen. I don't know where Lord Crump or the rest of the X-Nauts are at the moment, but none of that is too important. You have bigger issues to deal with, Chopper. "

"...Wait, so you didn't come here to fight me?" Chopper wondered.

"I don't have the time for that now. But, I think I'll have some time later to fight you and your friends. For now, I have some business to attend to." With that, Tipral teleported out of the area with his Star abilities.

"Argh... He thinks he can beat me without my friend's help? I bet he just said that to scare me! Well I'm not falling for that!" Chopper grumbled. "Anyway, I have to go get that power so we can finally get to the Winter Star!"

Smiling, Chopper began to ice skate toward the dome ahead.