CHAPTER 5-5
-The Wrath of King Neptunian-
"Hmmmmmmmm… Well, I don't see much of a difference between this area and the other area that we were previously in in this palace." Chopper stated as he looked at his surroundings. There was still the ruins in the background and all of the ruined plants on the ground. It still had that brownish, evil atmosphere in the inside just like in the second room of Neptunian's Palace. All that they knew was that…they were really getting to some deep yogurt…or rather, the deeper part of the palace.
The area they were standing in was pretty vast. They were standing on a platform that was near a waterfall of the same color as the polluted water that led down to a bridge. They didn't know where the water would be at this moment, but they knew they were at a higher point of this place.
"What I'm thinking is that Neptunian's room is somewhere down at the bottom of this palace," Sonic stated, looking at one of the windows. It showed some polluted water outside as well. "Whoa… This isn't good! If we don't do anything right now, the polluted waters might go a bit further!"
Tippi fluttered over to the window and noticed the polluted water expanding throughout the ocean. "Oh, dear… This is definitely not good… We can't let this happen!"
"Tippi, where is the Pure Heart in this palace?" Blade asked, walking over to the rainbow butterfly. "We need to find it ASAP!"
Kirby looked down over the edge and gulped. "Poyo… (Well, all I have to say is that the jump down is a bit…dangerous…)"
"A bit dangerous? Let me see…" Chopper walked over to the edge to see what was going on and his antennae perked. "Ummmmmm… Yeah, you have a point there, Kirby. BUT, you can simply float down there, unlike me!"
"Poyo, (But, then there's the fact that you've never gotten hurt from falling from heights like this,)" Kirby recalled. "Poyo… (Come to think of it, all of us never get hurt from falling from high up…)"
"Well then! If no one's going to make the jump, then I'll do it first." Sonic jumped over Chopper and Kirby while being curled up in a ball and he landed straight on the bridge. The waterfall was in the background, so it wasn't ACTUALLY falling on top of Sonic at this moment.
"Hmmmmmm… Thing's seem to be OK at the moment…" Sonic noticed a pathway up ahead that had a slope going down to a couple of moving platforms below the platform, which would eventually lead to water.
Chopper went down next, but he got a bit hurt from the fall. It was most likely because he landed on the back part of his head instead of his feet. "Oof! …That was pretty painful…"
"Are you all right, Chopper?" Tippi asked in a worried voice.
"Y-Yeah… I'm all right, Tippi." he replied while getting himself up. "Ugh… That was pretty bad, I'll admit. But I still wonder why you worry about my safety? You're almost acting like my mother!"
"…I'm sorry, Chopper. I didn't mean to get all worried… You look just fine…" Tippi apologized.
"Don't worry about it," Chopper brushed himself off and jumped out of the way as Blade jumped down and landed on the bridge with style. "Do you always have to be stylish when you land on the ground?"
"What? No way, man! I just do this 'cause I'm a ninja!" Blade stated as he stood up and pulled his katana out. "Just watch out, guys. I don't want you to get near this thing."
"I don't see the point in pulling that out right now," Sonic said in confusion.
"I'm only pulling this out because if we saw an enemy trying to attack us, I would have my katana ready." Blade explained, putting his katana away at this moment. "All right, so we're going now, right?"
"Poyo! (Hey! You're not leaving me!)" Kirby growled as he began to float down. He gave Blade a glare. "Poyo?! (Don't you even know that I'M around?! Sometimes you just ignore me!)"
"Oh… You." Blade turned his head to Chopper and whispered, "What the heck is your friend saying?"
Chopper gave Blade a glare. "He said that he's not happy with you ignoring him all the time. He's not an object, you know! He's just like us! Heroes! …So I don't think it's a good idea to ignore him. He DOES have the ability to eat you and take your abilities, after all…"
But before Blade could talk back, Tippi stepped in between the two. "Now's not the time to be fighting! We need to find the Pure Heart this instant! I don't want to be wasting precious time arguing!"
"…Yeah, I can understand that," Chopper nodded. "C'mon! Let's go find that Pure Heart!" At that moment, he went down the slope and stopped over by the edge of the platform that had water down below.
"Oh, man… MORE water?! This is going to be bad…" Sonic groaned, but he jumped into the water anyway. Unlike before, the polluted waters didn't feel so bad like before. It felt…like regular water.
Once the rest of them jumped into the water, they were surprised that they weren't coughing. It actually didn't feel too bad!
"Whoa… I feel just fine in this water! I wonder what happened to make the water not so bad now…" Chopper pondered before swimming over through the small little tunnel-like area to find a door.
"Poyo, (Well, maybe we'll find out,)" Kirby predicted as he swam over to the door with Chopper. Sonic and Blade followed, trying their bests to hold their breath so they wouldn't drown.
They walked into another area, but they noticed that the water level was ridiculously low, that it wasn't funny. They were down in some pit where they couldn't get out with a simple jump.
"Crud… I don't see a way out of here…" Chopper groaned.
"Well, there's always flipping… Why don't you try that?" Tippi suggested.
"Hmmmmmmmm… OK! I might as well flip!" Chopper threw his arms up in the air to find a hole in the wall. "Ah! I think there's a secret passageway through here! Let's check it out!"
Chopper helped the other three through the hole, but they only found a small little room with a bird-like enemy called a Neptobird. Apparently these things are what the Neptos use to fly around.
"A bird? I don't know what that's doing here, but I might as well see what this thing can give me." Chopper inhaled the bird and swallowed it. He was now donning a Native American headdress on his head and two feathers on the headdress that can be transformed into feathery wings whenever he wanted to fly. Two red paint lines were drawn across both sides of his face as well.
"Poyo! (Hey! You've become Wing Chopper!)" Kirby gaped.
"Huh?" Chopper felt his head and he felt a headdress on his head. "Whoa… So I HAVE become Wing Chopper! That's…pretty interesting! I bet I can use it to get out of this little pit."
"Yeah, that's good and all… But what about us? How do WE get out of this mess?" Blade questioned.
"Well, you find a way out," Chopper got out of the tunnel and landed on the wet ground. "I'll try to see if there's anything above this place. Just stay here for right now until I return. Is that good?"
"Hmmmmmmmm… Oh, fine. Go right ahead and see what's up there. Just don't take long, 'cause I HATE waiting!" Sonic replied, beginning to tap his foot impatiently like he usually would.
"All right, Sonic. I'll be back in a second. You can come too if you want, Kirby." Chopper did a simply jump and then two feathers on his headdress transformed into wings that allowed him to fly out of the pit and over to a lever. To his left, he saw a familiar face.
"Ah, so you finally show up, strange creature!" Flint stated, sitting on the raft with his crew, despite the fact they were on dry land. "However, we made it here before you, so you're not really that fast compared to us."
"Uhhhh… That's because we were going UNDERWATER compared to you guys. It's MUCH easier for you guys to get through because you're on a freakin' raft! …And about the whole 'strange creature' thing. I could say the same thing to you. In fact, you're a weirdo."
"Oh, crag! You got burned, Boss!"
"Man, that's a good cragging diss!"
"Quiet! Both of you!" Flint snapped, making Monzo and Hornfels stay quiet. He turned back to Chopper in a calm voice. "I mean… Let's not get to this, OK? Arguments aren't going to get us anywhere, honestly. In fact, I know there's a door up ahead that MIGHT be the way to Neptunian!"
Chopper noticed that there was a platform up above the ground he was standing on. Over to his left, behind the raft, there was a lever.
"Poyo, (I'll move it,)" Kirby jumped over the raft, jumping on top of Flint's head and then landing by the lever. With one pull, a bunch of water began to fill the area. Actually, it filled the ENTIRE area except for the very top, where the door was on.
"Quickly! Over to the door!" Tippi shouted as Chopper began to fly up before the water even got to him. Kirby decided to swim up when the water reached the top. As for Sonic and Blade… The blue ninja cat was able to bring him up to the platform.
"Well, that sure was a good idea…" Sonic stated as he shook himself. "Now the whole place is flooded! There's no way I'm going to step in the water this time when it's practically impossible to get out!"
The four heroes left Flint and his camera crew and walked through the door into another area. This time, they were in a small area, but it wasn't filled with water, to Sonic's relief. But the thing that they saw around them was three pipes.
"A puzzle? This should be easy!" Blade jumped on the middle pipe. "I bet we just have to take this pipe here! I think that's our way through here!"
Chopper, Kirby and Sonic shrugged as they followed Blade down the pipe. But the only thing that they found out was that this small room they went in was underwater and filled with Chompers.
They realized that the pipe disappeared and there wasn't a way out. The Chompers all charged at the four heroes, ready to bite them down.
"Well, I guess we were taken into the WRONG room!" Chopper gave Blade a glare before he smashed one of the Chompers with his hammer.
Blade gestured that it wasn't his fault before he sent Hommissile at one of the Chompers. Sonic only needed to attack one with a Spin Jump while Kirby simply gained the Water ability to take down one of the Chompers.
As soon as they were gone, a pipe right next to them appeared. They went down the pipe before Sonic could even drown, taking them back into the previous room that they were in (with the three pipes).
"OK… So let's see here…" Chopper pondered as he walked over to the pipes. "So we need to choose the CORRECT pipe. I MIGHT remember seeing some sort of plaque over by that Neptobird. Should we…check it?"
"It might be the only way to find out where we need to go…" Tippi trailed.
"Well, then… This is going to be one heck of a ride. Backtracking, and even MORE backtracking! How nice…"
One trip later-
Chopper came back to the room, now feeling exhausted. However, that wasn't going to stop him from going into the right pipe. "OK… I checked the plaque and it had these letters on it: L, R, M, M, R, L. It's an easy one to memorize, I suppose."
"That's not a hard puzzle to memorize," Sonic stated as he jumped onto the pipe to his left. "Come on! What are you waiting for? We've got something to look for! …Whatever it is…"
They all jumped into the pipe all the way to the left to enter another similar area. Luckily, it wasn't infested with water. They came out of a pipe that was on the ceiling that disappeared as they landed on the ground.
"OK, we're in another similar room…" Chopper noticed a couple of Buzzy Beetles hanging from the ceiling. "Great… Now we've got some Buzzy Beetles with spikes on their heads on the ceiling."
"Poyo, (But your hammer is probably strong enough to take them down,)" Kirby mentioned.
"Oh, yeah… I know that fire doesn't affect their shell, so… Yeah." Chopper waited for the Spike Top to come down to the ground first. He then slammed his hammer on top of the thing, taking it out within seconds.
"Hey! I wanna try taking one down!" Blade pulled his katana out. "I bet my katana will work nicely against 'em!"
Blade grinned as he jumped over to the other Spike Top that dropped down. With a slice from his sword, he took the enemy out. He then cleaned his blade before putting it away with a smug look.
"Ummmmmm… Yeah. Let's get a move on, shall we?" Blade dove into the pipe to their right, with the other three following. This time, they were in a small room with these orange enemies with spikes on their heads called Spanias.
Blade sliced the two Spanias easily with his katana and then jumped into the middle pipe with the others, where they found two Mutant Neptos this time.
"Hold on, I wanna see what my Wing ability can do against these guys," Chopper waved a wing and a feather suddenly shot at one of the Mutant Neptos. "Hmmmmm… OK, not too bad."
He rushed straight at one of them and did a swooping attack, knocking it back to the wall. He flew up above the other Mutant Nepto and dove at it headfirst, creating a shockwave that dealt some immense damage.
"Well that certainly did some immense damage…" Tippi trailed.
"I know, right?" Chopper smiled as he flew down to the middle pipe. They found some more Neptobirds around here, but they were beaten down by Kirby's water squirting attacks.
"Poyo! (That was pretty nice!)" Kirby smiled as he jumped onto the right pipe. They all went down to the last puzzle, where there weren't ANY enemies in sight.
"Strange… I was expecting to see some enemies around here…" Chopper said with a confused look no his face. "Oh, well. I guess we should just move on."
They jumped into the pipe to their left to come across a room with a yellow block in front of them.
"Ah! We just need to smash that with a hammer!" Blade smirked.
"Don't mind if I do!" Chopper smirked, pulling his hammer out with Cudge's power. "Time to start smashing!"
With his hammer, he was able to smash the block, revealing a Palace Key before their very eyes. Once Chopper grabbed the key, a pipe appeared right in front of them, so they took it back to the first room in the maze.
Area with Flint-
"CRAGLEY HO!" Flint shouted out while sitting on his raft. Monzo and Hornfels were still filming. "'Though we are stranded on this raft, I might start to feel a bit hungry… If we never get to shelter soon, then I soon might be eating someone's legs at this very moment! Oh, how awful would that be?"
"Boss… That don't make me comfortable…" Hornfels's legs started to shiver. "You give Hornfels goose bumps!"
"Oh, quiet you!" Flint snapped. "There's not even a chance that I would even eat you guys! This is just for the acting! 'But then… Out of nowhere… A monster came from behind us!'"
After hearing the door open from behind, Flint jumped. "ACK!" He stopped and turned, only to find Chopper, Kirby, Sonic and Blade giving him a strange look. "Oh… It's only you guys…"
"And Boss thought a monster was gonna show up!" Monzo chuckled.
"OK, look… We're just going to go on ahead right now." Chopper pulled a key out and held it up. "This Palace Key should get us over to that door underwater. I understand that you can't swim…but if you REALLY want, we'll lower the water level for you guys so you can go on."
"Oh, that's OK. I actually like floating around here, honestly! …But please, go right ahead and lower the water level. I can't even swim!"
"Very well," Chopper listened to Flint and he swam down to the lever. Unfortunately, the lever wouldn't pull. "Huh? Why won't this lever pull? Come on, you lever! Don't make me use my…wing powers!"
"It's no use, Chopper… It's not going to pull…" Tippi trailed, making Chopper stop. "We'll just have to leave Flint and his group…"
Chopper frowned as he swam back to the surface. "Listen, Flint… There's no way we can change the water level. So… You're probably going to have to stay here for right now, OK?"
"Oh… Well that's a shame." Flint frowned. "It looks like I have no chance of getting out of here, then… It's not a big problem. Go on ahead."
"You sure, Boss?" Hornfels raised an eyebrow.
Flint turned to Hornfels. "Listen, there's not much we can do right now. If only I could swim, I would probably be able to follow them. Sadly… That is not going to happen. Yes, it's shameful."
"Well… All right… I suppose we should get going then." Chopper had a confused look on his face as he headed down to the locked door underwater. The others followed him down when he unlocked the door and opened it.
They were a bit surprised that the other room wasn't underwater when they first walked in. However, they did see two wheels with four platforms on them. But, these things weren't spinning around.
"Nothing seems to be working here," Chopper walked over to the edge of the platform they were on. He noticed across the wheels that there was a pipe. "Maybe we can try to get over to there!"
"Poyo! (Let's try to do that!)" Kirby suggested as he jumped off the platform and into the water. He noticed that there was a little block that couldn't be broken. However, it felt like there was something behind it.
As the others jumped down, Chopper threw his arms up to see what was going on. He saw a hidden pipe behind the block, so he went down and found a small little area with a Chomper and an unlit torch.
"Well, looks like I found out how to get things working," Chopper smiled as he took the Chomper out with a fireball and then tossed a fireball at the unlit torch, causing the ground to shake.
"I wonder what that was…" Tippi pondered as Chopper left the small room. He looked up to see a waterfall and the wheels moving to the right. "Ah… Now I see what it's done…"
They took the ladder to their left to climb back onto the platform. "So, what DID you find behind that pipe anyway?" Sonic questioned.
"Oh, I simply found an unlit torch. That's pretty much it." Chopper explained. "But that's not the case at this moment. We have a pipe to take!"
Using his Wing ability, he flew across the wheels and over to the pipe. Kirby floated as well, but Sonic and Blade were forced to use the platforms to get over to them. After that, they went into the pipe.
When they came out of the pipe, they found themselves in a small room on a bridge with a waterfall coming down. Below the bridge is some water with a hidden red door that is apparently the way they need to go. Across the bridge is just a couple of blocks.
"What a strange room… All there is is a bridge and a waterfall…" Sonic trailed.
"Ah ha ha. So! At long last, you've all come to play, like late-sleeping toddlers!" Everyone was caught off when they saw Dimentio and O'Chunks facing them on the bridge.
"Dimentio…and O'Chunks…" Tippi trailed, giving the two a glance as Chopper and his group of friends walked over to the duo, getting in their battle stances.
"Gee, I didn't expect you guys to make a comeback in this place," Chopper said in confusion as O'Chunks muttered.
"I bet they've come back for another fight," Blade grinned as he drew his katana. "I don't think this is even going to be a contest!"
"Ahhhhhhh… Do you not tire of collecting those worn-out, tiresome Pure Hearts?" Dimentio questioned. "I am not violent by nature, you know. I'd prefer to settle this peacefully, in fact. Say, for instance, you wished to go back to your world. I could do that for you…"
Chopper paused for the moment. "Wait… So you could actually take us back to our home?"
"Mmmmm-hmmmmm! I could very well do that for you! …But you might have to pay a small price for it." the jester grinned.
"Poyo… (I don't like the look on his face…)" Kirby trailed.
Chopper pondered a bit, but he finally shook his head and clenched his fists. "Thanks for the offer, but you can FORGET IT! Look, we love being in our own little world, but what's more important? Staying home and letting the universe get swallowed up by The Void? Or saving the universe itself from The Void?"
"Ah ha ha. I see. So it must be… Shall we begin?" Dimentio raised his arms up and used his magic abilities to take them all to Dimension D, making the four heroes face palm once again.
"Ugh… Haven't you learned? No matter how often we fight, it will end the same…" Tippi groaned.
"This fight REALLY isn't going to be so hard anyway," Chopper aimed a fireball at Dimentio. "If you're going to be a coward, go ahead and leave. The fight's going to end the same. Just give up already."
"My, my. Aren't you plucky? Same fight, same outcome… You are precisely correct. And…that…is…why…"
With a snap of his finger, a strange, green sprout magically appeared on top of O'Chunks's head.
"BRO-CCOLI!"
"What in the world?! Did he just put a sprout on his head?!" Sonic gaped.
"Lovely green hat, wouldn't you say?" Dimentio sang.
"It doesn't look too lovely to me," Blade grumbled.
"Dear O'Chunks! So strong, but so very dim! A child such as Chopper could learn his attack patterns. As such, I requested a few sprouts from my acquaintance to liven him up a touch. I call the boy 'O'Cabbage'! Don't be shy, O'Cabbage! Introduce yourself!"
"CAB-BAGE!" the bearded warrior shouted as he pounded his chest. It's almost like he lost full control of himself.
"What did you do to O'Chunks?" Chopper was ready to toss a fireball straight at Dimentio instead of O'Chunks. "Look, I know I trounce bad guys, but when you brainwash a villain that's a dolt… That's going a bit too far, in my eyes."
Dimentio ignored Chopper's words and cackled. "Ah ha ha. Simply adorable. Now remember, kids: eat your vegetables to grow big! …Except in this case though, a veggie will eat YOU! Have fun, now! Ciao!" And with that, the jester teleported out of his own dimension.
"AS-PARA-GUS!" O'Chunks shouted as he knocked all four of them back with a powerful punch.
"Whoa… Since when did O'Chunks do that so fast?" Chopper immediately got up and noticed O'Chunks was charging straight at them at a greater speed. He used his Wing ability to fly up and dive straight down at him headfirst to knock him back.
"Poyo! (Gather some information on him with Tippi, Chopper!)" Kirby shouted. After hearing that, Chopper used Tippi's powers to find some information on the Scottish warrior.
"That's O'Chunks. Dimentio has veggified him. He has no will of his own... Max HP is 60 and Attack is 5. He seems faster and stronger than before... But he will get dizzy after being thrown. That's your only chance... Don't let his quick movements confuse you. Just keep a steady head…"
"Oh, crag…" Chopper gulped. "Wait, when did I say 'crag'?!" He leapt out of the way when O'Chunks tried to grab him and shot a couple of pointy feathers at his direction, sticking onto his arm.
"CEL-ER-Y!" O'Chunks screamed as he was struck in the head by Kirby's jump attack (with him standing on top of Carrie, that is). Sonic delivered a Homing Attack on him to knock him back a bit further.
Getting even more angered, O'Chunks grabbed Sonic by the legs and hurled him straight at Blade, knocking them both to the wall. But he wasn't paying attention when Chopper hurled a fireball at him, setting him on fire.
"Say, Kirby… How about you get rid of those flames on him, will ya?" Chopper smirked. "Hopefully that that…sprout thing on his head will burn off with those flames…I hope."
"Poyo! (I'll do that!)" Kirby squirted a bunch of water on O'Chunks. His skin had a bit of soot on it, but it wasn't going to stop O'Chunks from shouldering Kirby straight into Chopper.
"Ugh… This isn't going too well." Blade quickly shook himself as he jumped toward O'Chunks. "All right, Chunky! You wanna fight? Then take THIS!"
Blade swung his katana a couple of times, making O'Chunks cringe, but he was still able to punch Blade in the gut.
"OOF! He… He punched me in the gut!" he wheezed as he fell to the ground, a bit unconscious. Before O'Chunks could laugh at him, he was soon stomped by Chopper's own feet.
"It's not over yet, you know…" Chopper smirked as he dodged O'Chunks punch by fluttering his wings. "You know what they say… If you can't reach them, you can't hit them!"
While O'Chunks was distracted with Chopper, Kirby summoned a Tidal Wave to come down on O'Chunks, knocking him straight to the ground.
"Hey, Kirby! Don't do THAT kind of move! What are ya trying to do, end my game?!" Sonic exclaimed shaking himself clean.
"Poyo… (Well it's the only way that I'm going to hit him… Sorry about that, Sonic…)" Kirby apologized before getting on Carrie to deliver a jump attack on O'Chunks, performing a stylish move on him as well.
"Oh, man… I forgot about that cool stylish move!" Sonic made a dash at O'Chunks after he kicked Kirby and he attacked with a Spin Jump. He managed to perform a little stylish move before striking him with a Homing Attack.
Now that Chopper was being chased around by O'Chunks while he was flying in the air, he allowed himself to fire a couple of more feathers onto his back. He then rammed into his back afterward, though the bearded warrior fell on top of Sonic.
"Uh oh… Sorry, Sonic!" Chopper apologized. "I didn't mean to do that!"
"SPIN-ACH!" O'Chunks got himself up and grabbed Sonic by the arms, swinging him around and then releasing him to make him fly around in the whole place.
"Ohh… My aching…" Sonic moaned as O'Chunks did a couple of silly poses, allowing Chopper to toss a fireball down on his head. Unfortunately, the sprout on his head didn't burn off.
"How am I supposed to get rid of that thing now? A fireball doesn't do a thing to it!" Chopper frowned.
"I don't think you can use a fireball to beat it… You're going to need a lot more if you're going to defeat him…" Tippi trailed.
"Oh, great… I wasn't hoping for that…" Chopper groaned as he swooped down to strike O'Chunks. Unfortunately, the bearded warrior saw him coming and he grabbed him and kicked him like a soccer ball.
"Ack! Why does this always happen to me?!" he exclaimed as he hit the wall, leaving a red mark on his face as he pushed himself off.
"Don't worry, Chopper. I got this!" Blade tossed a couple of shurikens at O'Chunks. He managed to dodge some of them, but he got hit by a couple of them, to his displeasure.
"Heh heh heh! This is why I love being a ninja!" Blade grinned as he slashed at O'Chunks with his katana. He attempted to slice the sprout on his head, but O'Chunks managed to punch him in the face before so.
"Poyo, (It's almost as if O'Chunks knows that we're going after that sprout on his head,)" stated Kirby was he jumped out of the way from O'Chunks's punch. He managed to squirt water in his face. It may not do damage in real life, but it sure does do some damage here.
"GR-EEN BEA-NS!" O'Chunks shouted as he grabbed a piece of the floor and threw it straight at Blade, only to have him slice it in half before he could get struck.
"There's no way you're going to do THAT!" Blade retorted, rushing straight at O'Chunks with his katana. He managed to strike him once, but he was driven back by a stomp attack.
"Ugh… Go, Hommissile!" Blade threw Hommissile straight at O'Chunks, sending him flying through Dimension D with an explosion. "He's all yours, guys!"
Once O'Chunks landed on the ground, Chopper landed as well and he began to spin his hammer around with a hammer spin. While it did do some good damage, it wasn't enough to make O'Chunks give up.
"Whoa!" Chopper jumped out of the way when O'Chunks tried to snatch him. So instead, he jumped and attempted to stomp on him with a ground pound. That didn't work.
Chopper flew up using his Wing ability and he began to drop some sharp feathers down on him while he was trying to fight against Sonic, who managed to knock him back with a Spin Dash.
"AS-PARA-GUS!" O'Chunks yelled as he kicked Sonic back toward Blade. But he was soon interrupted when Kirby struck him with a watery tornado attack.
But before O'Chunks could make an attack on Kirby, Chopper swooped down and rammed into his head with his own head.
"Buh… Buh… BRO-CCOLI!" With that strong attack Chopper delivered, O'Chunks knelt down on the ground as they were taken back to Neptunian's Palace.
"Hrrrrrrgh…" O'Chunks groaned as the sprout on his head came off, turning him back to his normal self.
"Whoa… Looks like the attack did him in." Chopper gaped as he landed on the bridge. O'Chunks slowly got up and looked surprised.
"'Ey! What in gravy am I doin' in 'ere?!" he exclaimed before pondering. "Hunh? An' what are all o' YOU doin' 'ere as well? Oh, I get the picture! You lot wanted teh challenge the new, improved O'Chunks!"
"I believe you already said that before…" Tippi trailed.
"Yeh got pepper in yer pants, I'll give yeh that! But this time, yeh WILL get ruined!"
"Oh, great… Now we have to fight him AGAIN!" Chopper face palmed as he got in a fighting stance.
…Which was soon interrupted by a growling stomach.
"Chopper…" Sonic glared at the green gumball.
"That wasn't me..." Chopper frowned.
"Whuh-oh… Me belly's growlin' like a starvin' dog!" O'Chunks gaped. "Warrior rule, number one: 'Never fight on an empty stomach! 'Tis madness!'"
"Poyo! (Yeah! It is!)" Kirby agreed.
"Sorry, but we've got the call it a day! Can't go buckin' the warrior rules! Next time, though, yer DONE! Chunks away!" At that moment, O'Chunks rocketed away with his strange, gaseous power.
"Look…" Tippi fluttered over to the sprout on the ground. The sprout on his head… It looks like something I've previously seen before. I believe you could put that on if you wanted to. It looks as though it's nearly dead, however…"
Chopper shrugged and he took the Floro Sprout. "Well, what do you think? Would you care to try it on? I believe you'll be safe…"
"Well, I might as try…" Chopper hoped that he wouldn't be brainwashed, but once he placed the Floro Sprout on his head, he felt like nothing was affecting him.
"You…didn't turn into cabbage. That's nice, I guess… This could come in handy… You never know when we'll need that…"
"Well I'm not keeping it on," Chopper took the Floro Sprout off his head and put it away. "I look weird in that thing anyway."
"So… Where do we go now? All I see is a couple of blocks up ahead." Blade walked over to the blocks and he hit them from below. All he found were coins and a silver Zombie Shroom. Chopper used Tippi's powers to identify it.
"That's a Ghoul Shroom. It is an evil shroom monster that comes out of ? Blocks... Max HP is 10. Attack is 6. It can move very fast in a limited area... Its HP and Attack are high, so be sure to look before you leap..." Tippi informed.
"If that's true, then I'm ready to take it down!" Chopper tossed two fireballs at the Ghoul Shroom, burning it down. After that, he decided to look around for anything interesting.
"Nope. I don't see anything around here." Sonic said, shaking his head.
"Well that stinks… There's GOTTA be something here!" Chopper pondered before realizing something. "Wait… We just need to flip! I think we'll find something!"
Chopper allowed his friends to get close so he could flip into 3-D. Once in 3-D, they noticed they could jump off the bridge and into the water, where the door was settling down.
…But little did they know that Dimentio was eavesdropping on the whole fight.
"Mm… If they could beat that model of O'Chunks…then they are coming along quite nicely. Perhaps they really are the ones I have waited for all this time." Dimentio grinned. "Ah ha ha. I should prepare myself as well! So much to do, so precious little time…"
And with that, Dimentio teleported out of the palace.
Next room-
Entering the next room, they only found themselves in an underwater tunnel with a current sucking them through already. They ended up in a small little room with a tunnel above them, below them and one to the right.
"Looks like we have some sort of puzzle here… I don't like that." Chopper frowned. He decided to flip into 3-D to see if he can find anything interesting. He ended up finding an arrow pointing down.
"Ahhh! Now I see!" Chopper allowed himself to sink down so the current could carry him. Sonic and Blade grabbed an air bubble first before following him, along with Kirby to another similar room.
Chopper swam to the left after finding out that the arrow was pointing to the left in 3-D. They were taken down after the current sucked them to the left and then they were moving to the right, where they saw a couple of poles and spikes that would hurt them if they allow themselves to move in that direction.
"Don't let the spikes skewer you!" Chopper yelled as he grabbed the first pole and let go when he was away from the spikes. The other three followed through two more poles until the current started to bring them down to a new room.
As the waterfall took them down to the bottom of the palace, they noticed that the large room was a dark blue and no longer that horrible ruin-like gray and brown color. For once, this palace had a nice room with nice water.
That's not all. The room was also filled with air, thanks to the waterfall bringing them down to the ground. Up ahead they saw a large, blue door, along with a Save Block and ? Block.
"Well, it looks like we finally made it to the end of the palace," Chopper smiled as he punched the ? Block with his fist. To his surprise, an Ultra Shroom popped out this time.
"What the heck is that supposed to be?" Blade questioned.
"It's an Ultra Shroom! This should help us recover from that last fight with O'Chunks! It recovers 50 HP, for Pete's sake! We don't even have that much yet!" Chopper grabbed the Ultra Shroom and split it into four so each of them could eat it to recover 50 HP.
Once Chopper hit the Save Block, he walked over to the door and turned to everyone.
"Are you ready, guys? We're finally going to get to that Pure Heart!"
"Yeah, I'm ready to kick some butt," Blade smirked, pushing Chopper aside to open the door. "Now let's go teach Neptunian a little lesson!"
Nodding, they made their way into the room ahead.
If you guys didn't like King Croacus that much, then maybe Neptunian might be a different story... Of course, it's fine if you like King Croacus more. I don't mind him that much. :P