"Well, we certainly took care of them," Chopper said, making his way into the next area. Thankfully, no ice happened to be in the way, but there was one section of the area that appeared to be a bit large. There were also a few forts that were surprisingly built, but there didn't appear to be anything else guarding it. "Though, I kinda admit that I feel bad for leaving them out cold in the, well...cold."
"You feel bad for our enemies? Why would you say that?" Scrub asked, surprised by Chopper's opinion. "Don't they want us KO'ed or something? C'mon, Contadre! You can't be TOO nice around people! It just makes you a bigger target!"
Mario: It's certainly not a bad thing, though.
"Whatever," the Yoshi shrugged it off before shivering. "Aw, man! Did it just get colder, or is it just me?"
"I'm certain it's just you," Shadower answered. "Though, it does feel a little colder for me too."
"Poyo, (Not for me,)" Kirby mentioned, despite the others not understanding him.
Vivian decided to light up another flame in her hand that made nearly everyone huddle over. They all felt a sense of warmness from the flame...until it was put out by a snowball.
"Yar? What was that?" Bombette gawked.
"Over here!" the group noticed over by the forts some enemies in light blue hoods and clothing with snow clubs. They were soon identified as Icimos with the ability to create icy waves from their clubs and throw snowballs. "This is our turf, you hear? You're not welcome here!"
"Not welcome? How?" Chopper asked.
"You're in Icimo territory now! Leave now or you're gonna get it!" More Icimos appeared behind the forts and had snowballs ready. Many others began to shout out at them.
"Beat it, punks!"
"This is Icimo only territory!"
"Leave or suffer!"
"Ummmmmm... No." Chopper replied. "We have to find something located here, and none of you are going to-"
He was interrupted when a snowball had managed to hit him in the face. Sadly, this was counted as a First Strike for the enemy, making him take full damage. Chopper shook off the snow and got in a fighting stance, ready to take these guys on. He started by attacking them with his Ultra Glove, making him shoot multiple fireballs directly at them and leaving them with a burn. Vivian's Fiery Jinx did a good job at damaging them too, but they were not down yet.
"I guess taking them down might be a lot longer than we thought," Vivian deduced, noticing their HP was about at 20 leaving them with only 8 now and soon to be 6 due to the double burn. Two Icimos slammed their clubs to the ground to create an icy shockwave, while the other two threw snowballs. They were easily guarded, and soon the Icimos were defeated when Scrub used his Stampede to take them out.
"Retreat!" the Icimos cried as the fled from the heroes.
"Phew... Well it's good that they're out of the way." Berry sighed. "Though, I don't think that's the end of them..."
Mario: There's probably still more ahead.
"Poyo, (Then we should be cautious,)" Kirby suggested.
They hurried into the next area and found a couple of igloos around with lights coming from the windows. Near the igloos were a couple of Icimos sitting by a small little campfire with frozen marshmallows. Unfortunately, it didn't look like the fire was actually doing a very good job due to the lack of wood. However, as soon as they spotted the group, they instantly got their clubs ready and charged toward them.
"Uh oh... This doesn't look good..." Chopper quickly got in a fighting stance with two fireballs ready in his hands. The rest of his partners had their powers/weapons ready as well.
"Leave our place! This is our turf!" one Icimo shouted. "Leave or face the consequences!"
"Well we need to go forward!"
"We claimed this area, so beat it, outsiders! This place is only for us!"
"Hold it right there, Icimos... Don't attack them."
The Icimos stopped for a moment and stepped out of the way. An Icimo wearing a dark blue jacket and hood with a mustache hanging down approached them with a wooden staff. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Icilder. I'm the elder of these Icimos. I've been running this area for seventy years, actually."
"Seventy years? This guy really is a geezer!" Scrub snorted, only to be silenced by Chopper.
Mario decided to approach Icilder first and began to explain what was going on and even asked him if they could progress.
"Hmmmmm? So you wish to venture onward?"
Mario replied with a nod.
"I see..." Icilder slowly turned away. "This place technically IS our turf and all... However, you said you were looking for some Crystal Star, and hearing about the world ending is certainly nothing good. Perhaps we can have a little deal..."
"A deal?" Chopper gawked.
"Yes. You see, we Icimos are big experts in the game of snowball fights. Since there are eight of you, I'll pit you against our best eight competitors. Take them all down with snowballs, and we'll let you pass."
"All right. Sounds easy."
"Well, there are some rules... There's a two minute time limit, so you gotta beat them in under two minutes! Other than that, that's really all there is."
"This should be easy!" Scrub smirked.
Eight Icimos approached the heroes on the opposite side, while Icilder began to draw a line between them. "You must stay on your side of the field for this game, OK? Step across, and the opposing team instantly wins."
Both sides got some snowballs ready and prepared to throw them. Right when Icilder raised his arm to begin, the Icimos immediately threw their snowballs. Thankfully, everyone avoided it just in time before they threw their snowballs. The Icimos took out their clubs and blocked them. One, however, failed to block and ended up getting hit.
"Yeah! Take that!" Scrub taunted. "Now we're outnumbering the-"
Just before he could finish, a snowball hit him straight in the nose, causing him to fall over on his back and shiver. The rest of the group sighed before getting more snowballs and throwing them at the Icimos. One snowball ended up hitting Bombette, making her fall over on the snow.
"Ha! This should be easy!" one Icimo laughed, throwing one toward Berry. She was about to dodge until she whipped out her hammer and swung it at the snowball, sending it back at the Icimo and successfully hitting him. Mario did the same thing with his hammer, and he got the same results as her, bringing the Icimos down to five.
"Ready to give up?" Chopper asked.
"Fat chance!" another Icimo retorted, throwing a snowball in his direction. Chopper ended up freezing it and kicking it straight at the Icimo, but it managed to get out of the way in time. Right as he did that, a snowball knocked him onto the floor. Chopper turned around and saw that it was Kirby who did that.
"Poyo! (Come on! We can do this!)" Kirby cheered, inhaling a snowball and spitting it at another Icimo, bringing them down to three.
Unfortunately, the remaining three Icimos had managed to strike Shadower, Berry and Kirby, causing them to get out and leaving only Chopper, Vivian and Mario left.
"All right! I think it's time we put this to an end!" one Icimo declared, picking up a larger snowball. "This should take all three of you out!"
The three Icimos helped each other with the large snowball, and once it was done, they hurled it toward the three. Thankfully, since Vivian had fire, her flames instantly melted the snowball, leaving the three Icimos agape. This also left them on the ground by three snowballs.
"All right, that's it! Game over!" Icilder cried, making his way onto the line. "It looks like these people here win."
The eight heroes smiled as they made their usual victory poses.
"I must say, that was an excellent match. We will let you move onward, and I think you deserve a little respect from us for your snowball-fighting skills."
"Yeah... I guess we can let you come back here anytime." an Icimo decided. "You can also come back here for another snowball fight! Bring more people, 'cause it makes things more interesting that way!"
"We'll try to remember that," Chopper nodded. "Thanks for letting us through, though!"
"It is our pleasure," Icilder nodded. "Though I must warn you... It is said that there is something powerful beyond this town. Even we Icimos are a little too scared to go check it out."
"You kidding me? We took on a demon queen back at the Thousand-Year Door!" Scrub proclaimed. "Contadre's not going to fear whatever's so powerful!"
"Very well... Good luck on your little adventure, young ones."
With that, Icilder stepped aside, allowing the heroes to progress onward. They all said their little goodbyes before moving on and came across an area with a snowy hill going downward nearby, but there was also another pathway up ahead.
They chose to check out what lied ahead, but all they found was a small Christmas tree with a little note attached.
"Huh? What in the world?" Chopper gawked, approaching the note. The paper appeared to be black, and the writing on it was purple. "What's this doing here?"
"What does it say?" Vivian asked.
"Let's see..." he tried to get a better look at what was being said before he began to recite it.
Roses are red, violets are blue.
But you are not a rose, nor are you a violet.
But what I see in front of me is a small child,
Willing to be the one that I want to violently strange,
With my own two hands.
So don't blink before your own eyes,
Because I'm coming for you.
"It's...a poem?" Chopper gawked. "Strange..."
Just as he was about to put the note back on, a fist had appeared and struck him in the face, sending him flying past his friends and onto the snow. Most of them gasped, but they quickly turned around to see who did that.
"Tipral? What are you doing here?" Vivian gasped.
Mario: He looks just like Chopper!
Tipral ignored the plumber and glared at Chopper ahead. "I've finished with my business, and I remember saying that I would come back for you, Chopper. So... Here I am."
Chopper slowly got up and saw Tipral getting ready for another punch. "Oh, yeah... I remember that. You want to fight us against because we kicked your butt back in the Palace of Shadow, right?"
"Those shadow freaks were holding me back. I'm much better off fighting you on my own." Tipral charged at Chopper and prepared to punch him again, but the antennae hero managed to jump over him and land back by his friends.
"Maybe... But even when we took out the other two first in battle, we still managed to beat you on your own!" Chopper smirked. "With Mario now with us, I think your chances of winning are slim!"
"You mean that fat plumber over there?" Tipral wondered, looking over at Mario. "Oh, please. Just because you have some fat man in red helping you doesn't mean you're guaranteed to win. I was created to make people beg for mercy, and that's what I'll make you all do before I finally crush your life!"
Everyone else got in their fighting stances and prepared for the worst. Tipral, on the other hand, appeared unfazed and simply crossed his arms.
"All right, I think we can finally get back to business," Tipral declared, getting in a fighting stance. "I'll make you suffer for destroying my queen, Chopper!"
Tattle: He's back once again. I think Tipral's pretty angry with what you did to the Shadow Queen… Max HP is 90, Attack is 9, and Defense is 0. I would recommend avoiding attacks such as his Star Blast and his ability to freeze time. Those are definitely lethal! Because he's just as fast as you, Chopper, I'd be ready for any attack he tries to pull. Just try to make sure you don't lose, OK, Chopper?
Chopper made the first move and ran toward Tipral with a leap in the air. He successfully stomped on him and jumped up again for another stomp, dealing 6 damage to the faker and leaving him slightly wincing in pain. However, he easily shook it off and got back in a fighting position. Mario made his move next and brought his Ultra Hammer down on Tipral to deal 6 more damage.
"You know, now that I think about it, I was once told about someone in a red cap with a mustache that had defeated the Shadow Queen five months ago..." Tipral recalled. "That description probably matches you."
Mario: Who told you this?
Tipral responded by landing a Star Punch on the plumber, sending him flying onto the snow. Mario shivered for a brief moment before quickly getting up and returning to the battle. Tipral was almost impressed with how he managed to get up so easily, but he didn't find it that amazing.
"Hey, Tipral... How about we make things a little cool here?" Chopper suggested, getting mostly face palms from his friends in return. Tipral, too, found it dumb, but he wasn't expecting Chopper to breathe ice breath on him. Before he could do anything else, Kirby floated above him and turned into a stone, flattening him in the process.
Tipral managed to push Kirby off him and jumped in the air. Looking down at Chopper, he dove straight at him and landed a kick, knocking him back and making him lose his Ice ability.
"That should take care of one problem," Tipral stated.
"Not really, especially when I have this!" Chopper smirked, opening one of his hands to reveal an ice ball. Tipral growled and clenched his fists before getting hit by the ice ball. "OK... Who's going next?"
Berry smiled and decided to approach Tipral next. Raising her hammer, she brought it down on Tipral and reduced him to 52 HP.
"All right... I guess I have to show you all one of my newer moves!" Tipral pushed Berry out of the way and fired multiple Star Spears above the battlefield. They began to spin around for a brief moment before going up into the sky. Suddenly, they began to rain down like shooting stars and struck the heroes. Thankfully, they were able to guard the attacks and take 10 damage. But even then, that was quite a lot.
Chopper brought his hammer down on Tipral, and then Bombette came in and struck him with her Bomb afterward. This made Tipral use his ability to freeze time for about a turn, but unfortunately for him, they managed to guard the attack.
"Argh... That's just great." Tipral grumbled. "And unfortunately my use of that ability is too limited to use again..."
"40 HP already? Well, I never thought we'd bring you down this far, Tipral!" Chopper scoffed. "You said you were much stronger, right?"
"I never said that," Tipral retorted. "But I will certainly use some of my stronger attacks on you!"
Hearing that made Chopper gulp for a moment. He decided to attack him with his Spin Jump, taking 9 out of him, while Scrub fluttered above Tipral and struck him with his Ground Pound six times.
"All right! I think it's time I used my Star Blast on you guys!" Tipral roared, clenching his fists and raising his Attack by 9. "Let's see how you all deal with this attack!"
"Uh oh... This isn't good." Chopper gulped.
"I can always use Veil to hide you guys," Vivian noted. "I'm just hoping it works."
"I guess so," Chopper shrugged, running up to Tipral and bringing his hammer down on him. "All right, Vivian! Try to hide us in the shadows!"
Vivian nodded and floated behind Chopper. However, like all abilities, she had to get the Action Commands correct, and sadly, she had failed to do so, making her ability fail.
"Huh? It didn't work?"
"I guess the Action Command failed... Sorry, Chopper..."
"You should be sorry, because now I'm going to finish this!" Tipral roared, swinging his arms back and creating a purple explosion that managed to send them all flying in the air. When they had landed, they had taken 18 damage.
"Ouch... That was painful..." Scrub winced.
"So this is what Tipral's attack feels like..." Shadower trailed, who slowly got up.
"Hmph... So you all managed to survive that." Tipral noticed. "I guess you guys are much tougher than I thought."
"Yeah, we are..." Chopper trailed, crouching down and launching himself upward. Tipral looked up out of curiosity, but what he wasn't expecting was Chopper to stomp on him with his Spring Jump. Afterward, Shadower attacked him with his Shadow Punch, leaving him with 7 HP.
"I will not fall like this!" Tipral shouted, firing a Star Spear in Chopper's directly. He managed to guard the attack and then finish the dark being off with his Spin Jump.
"Unghhh..." Tipral collapsed onto the ground, and Chopper received 34 Star Points from the battle.
Everyone looked down and noticed Tipral was unconscious at the moment. Kirby took a stick nearby on the ground and poked him with it, only receiving a couple of groans from him. Before the pink puffball could poke him again, Mario pulled him away and shook his head.
"I guess we should just leave him here..." Shadower suggested.
"Yeah, before he gets up!" Bombette added. "He could be angrier than before, ye know..."
"Good idea," Chopper nodded, fleeing from the area and returning to the previous one with the large, snowy hill. There didn't appear to be anywhere else to go, but then they decided to get a closer look at what was down below. Unfortunately, the fog wasn't helping.
"I think I can get a better look," Shadower mentioned, trying to squint to see what was at the bottom. There was apparently a white temple down there that was not as big as the previous temple they entered, but it was certainly not small. "I think the temple's down there."
Mario: Well that's great!
Before doing anything else, though, they noticed two other figures nearby. They appeared to be a species known as a Pianta with a leaf springing from their head and a leafy skirt. These yellow Piantas, however, were wearing business suits and sunglasses. They appeared to be sitting on lawn chairs as well.
"What are they doing?" Berry gawked.
Mario: I feel like I recognize those two..."
"Hey, Vinny! Isn't dis a good place ta go lie down an' relax?" the first Pianta named Tony asked his friend, who appeared to be shivering.
"Uh… You sure dis is da right place were supposed ta be at?" Vinny asked, looking at a map that had a red arrow pointing at Pudgy Island. "This doesn't look like da vacation spot we were supposed ta go ta."
Tony took a look at the map and nearly gaped. "Vinny, da map's upside down! Can't ya see things straight?"
Vinny turned it right side up and saw the red arrow pointing to the right island. "Wait a sec... Dis ain't the place we're at! Da place dat's on here looks more...beach-like! Dis place is cold!"
"Vinny you dope!" Tony yelled. "And now we remember why we never let you hold da map..."
"I can't believe we went ta da wrong place! Dis is madness! Now how are we gonna get back ta da island fer our vacation? Dis…is just great…" Vinny groaned.
"Well, it stinks dat we looked at da map wrong. I mean, da boss even said not ta look at the map upside down!"
Flashback, two days ago-
A light blue Pianta wearing a white suit and sunglasses named Frankie handed them a map leading to Pudgy Island.
"OK, you guys can go take a vacation. You can't stay here with me all da time, y'know." Frankie explained. "You guys go take a vacation on Pudgy Island. Don't look at da map in da wrong way, or else you might not be happy where you are..."
"Thanks, Boss!" Vinny thanked, taking the map from Frankie and taking a look at the location. However, he seemed uncertain, so he turned the map upside down. "Let's go, Tony!"
"Say, Boss... You think you can trust Vinny with dat?" Tony asked.
"Oh, it'll be fine. Since when has Vinny ever screwed up?"
End of flashback-
"Oh, uh... Well, I was uncertain!" Vinny objected.
"Look, dat's not what matters now. We need ta find a way off dis place an' get back home!" Tony scanned the area and noticed some snowboards. "Say... What about dose things? Maybe we can use dose to find a way out of here!"
Vinny approached the snowboards and noticed they were too small. In fact, there was only one large snowboard fit for their size. "Errr... I dunno, Tony... Dese things are a bit too small fer us ta use. Dis one looks like it's the only one big enough fer us."
"Den we'll just have to share," Tony stated, getting on the snowboard with Vinny. There was very little room for them, and the two even began to argue over how much space they had. This eventually led to their downfall on the snowy hill, as they began to move downward and crash into a couple of trees along the way.
"Oof!"
"Ow!"
"Ooh! My nose!"
"Yer nose? What about my sprout?"
"But my nose is very important ta me!"
"YEOUCH!"
Chopper and his friends gawked as the two Piantas continued to crash into a couple of trees along the way. However, some of them ended up wincing when the two crashed into a tree in a painful manner.
"Oooh... That had to hurt." Chopper cringed.
"Having your head through a tree certainly doesn't sound nice," Shadower commented.
"Well, we should try to get down there somehow," Vivian suggested, noticing the snowboards, skis and even a tube. "What about those?"
"Ooh! A snowboard!" Chopper cheered, grabbing a green snowboard and using it to go down the hill. Mario decided to grab the skis, and Kirby took the tube before going downward. Scrub and Berry decided to grab some snowboards as well, with one being white and the other being reddish pink.
"Wait for me, Contadre!" Scrub called out, going down the hill with his snowboard. Berry soon followed afterward, leaving Vivian, Shadower and Bombette.
"Shouldn't we have just brought them over to the temple through the shadows?" Shadower pondered.
"It looks like it's too late for that..." Vivian trailed.
Bombette, meanwhile, was staring down at the hill for a brief moment. Unfortunately, she ended up losing her balance and was now tumbling down the hill and eventually becoming a large snowball. The remaining two decided it would be best to go into the shadows.
"Hey, plant people!" Chopper cried out as he passed the Vinny and Tony stuck in the tree. "This is how you snowboard!"
"Hey... Who was dat?" Vinny asked.
"He looked pretty weird..." Tony trailed. "Maybe we should warn da New Boss about dis kid!"
All of the sudden, four more were passing by, along with a snowball.
"...Dere's even more of 'em!" Vinny gaped.
"I can't help but recognize dat guy in the red..."
When Chopper reached the bottom of the hill, he jumped off his snowboard and ran to the front of the temple. Looking up at it, he couldn't help but feel an evil presence behind that door. One that felt pretty dark.
The rest of his friends had shown up to the temple's entrance (Bombette ended up crashing into a tree, freeing her from the snowball), but they too had froze in place of the evil presence they could feel beyond the large door.
"I don't like this place one bit," Bombette commented.
"I'd be careful if I were you, Chopper..." Vivian advised.
"Well, um... We do need to go inside and get the Crystal Star, so we don't have much of a choice whether we wanna go inside or not." Chopper stated. "We should just stick together."
After hitting the Heart Block and Save Block, Chopper and his friends took a deep breath and pushed the large large door open into the temple.
For those disappointed that the Piantas didn't make too much of an appearance in this story, well, here you go! And don't think this will be the last of them either! Later in the story, we'll eventually encounter these boneheads! ^^
Be prepared for a pretty cool boss fight, if you know what I mean.