CHAPTER 6-4
-Enter the Sand Castle-
"Who would've thought that a sand castle would be in this desert? I mean, really!" Chopper stated as he looked at his surroundings. They were in a small little room with some windows that could be seen, and also the sandy ground.
"Poyo, (You know, something tells me that there are giants around this desert and they created this sand castle after it rained,)" Kirby predicted, looking at a giant shovel over by the wall. "Poyo. (I think it makes perfect sense that it would've been made that way. It's the ONLY logical thing. Otherwise, I don't have a freakin' clue on who would make such a big place like this…unless it was a Tribe of Ancients who made this place, kind of like Fort Francis.)"
Everyone else turned their attention to Tippi afterward. "The Pure Heart… I can feel its power at the top of the sand castle… Chopper… Kirby… Sonic… Blade… This might be our last chance to get the Pure Heart…"
"No kidding," Blade agreed while looking out the window. "The Void's grown a bit more after entering this place! Even look for yourselves!"
Everyone else gathered around the window to see what was going on out there. To their surprise, they saw that The Void covered up most of the sky. They could still see a sliver amount of it, but that's all they could see.
"Whoa… You weren't kidding when you said that The Void's grown bigger!" Sonic turned back over to the door ahead. "All right, no more dilly-dallying! We're moving. Right now!"
Sonic immediately rushed over to the door and kicked it open, but once he opened it to another room, he nearly gaped when he saw a bunch of Bandits waiting for them in the room.
"Uhh… Sonic? What's going…" Chopper couldn't finish after seeing so many Bandits in the next room.
"He-Hey! Looks like we've got some people who look like they could give up their money!" a Big Bandit grinned, pulling out a sack. "Let's sack 'em and get their money!"
"No way!" Chopper retorted as he inhaled the Big Bandit and spat him out at another Bandit, making them fall over on each other like idiots. Heck, some of the Bandits fell over when trying to charge at them.
"FAIL!" Blade scoffed while laughing at the Bandits, only to get rammed by a Bandit from behind.
"I got your coins!" he grinned as he tried to flee, but soon tripped thanks to Kirby, who took the coin from him and gave it back to Blade. He then inhaled the Bandit and…swallowed him.
"Poyo? (What? No copy abilities? Nothing?! Aw, come on!)" Kirby pouted.
"It's not really a big deal. We can still beat these guys' butts!" Chopper smirked as he tossed a couple of fireballs at the Bandits, setting them on fire. He then knocked one away with a kick, while Sonic knocked them all away with a Spin Dash.
"Hey! I wanna join in the fun too!" Blade pouted, throwing Hommissile at the Bandits and defeating them in a second. "All right! NOW I get to do something awesome! We seriously kicked their butts!"
"We sure did!"
"Just relax already. We can't argue like this when we have a dark swirling vortex destroying this place!" the blue ninja cat rushed over to a platform floating above the sandy ground and opened the door.
Moving into the next area, they saw a ladder made of sand going up to a platform above them. There wasn't anything else around them in this area, but it didn't really matter to them that much. They climbed up to the platform, only to be surprised by a Dark Soldier.
"Whoa! Another one of these guys!" Blade shouted as he attacked the Dark Soldier with his katana before it could even make a move on them. "Whew… That was a close one!"
"He didn't even have time to react…" Tippi trailed.
"Well, who really cares?" Blade walked over to the right to find one of those strange walls where you could see something from behind. "Hey, is there something over by this wall? It kind of looks like it…"
"Let me see," Chopper threw his arms up in the air and flipped into 3-D. To his surprise, he saw some stairs leading up to an upper floor of this room. He brought his friends up there to find a door to their left and a Dark Soldier waiting for them.
"There they are!" the Dark Soldier began to fire rapidly at them with its blaster. Kirby inhaled one of the blasts and spat it out at the dark alien, making it cringe while Chopper stomped on it while performing a stylish move.
"And this should do the trick!" he declared, attacking the alien with a flaming slamming kick that finished off the Dark Soldier once and for all. He was surprised when it dropped a Super Shroom Shake.
"Poyo… (I actually don't remember what those shakes even taste like…)" Kirby trailed while looking at the Super Shroom Shake that Chopper was putting away. "Poyo? (Is it like a Super Shroom?)
"Hmmmmm… I don't know, honestly." Chopper replied. "But who cares? We have something to heal ourselves with, that's for sure!"
They walked through the door to find themselves in a hallway with a couple of Bandits and Dark Creatures roaming around. They noticed that there were some statues made of sand in the background. They looked kind of like Bandits, though.
"Hmmmmmm… Something tells me that this is some sort of Bandit hideout to me…" Sonic pondered.
"No kidding," Chopper replied, knocking a Bandit away that was coming near him with his hammer. He began to spin his hammer around afterward while moving around the whole room, knocking away a couple of Bandits and Dark Soldiers.
Once they made their way to the door, they noticed that it was locked. Chopper threw his arms up in the air to check what was around in 3-D, but all he found was a hole going through the wall.
"What the…" Chopper brought his friends into 2-D so they could see what was behind. It ended up bringing them into a secret room with some stairs leading up to a door ahead. Some Bandits were guarding the door, though.
"Oh, how nice… We've got more Bandits." Blade groaned.
"Stop whining," Chopper retorted as he stomped on the Badge Bandit, performing a stylish move. While he was up in the air, he tossed a fireball down at the Badge Bandit to burn him. Kirby then finished him off by inhaling him and spitting him at the Big Bandit.
"Whew… That was…easy, if you ask me." Sonic said as he opened the door up ahead. They were outside of the castle now, but they were up on some sort of bridge, where a couple of Bandits were waiting. They seemed to look more dirty than the others now. They look like…Desert Bandits.
"So where do you think YOU'RE going?!" roared one of the Desert Bandits, pulling out a club. "If you think you're going to be going anywhere, think again! This is OUR castle, punk! People like you aren't welcome here!"
"You wanna bet?" Blade pulled his katana out and sliced the Desert Bandit's club in half.
"Mommy!" he cried while fleeing from the heroes. The other Desert Bandits, on the other hand, pulled their clubs out and rushed at the heroes with all their might, trying to bash them with their brown clubs.
"Hi-ya!" Chopper gripped his hammer as hard as he could and let out a battle cry as he began to spin his hammer around, striking every single Desert Bandit in his sight all the way to the end of the bridge…where they could see a blue ! Switch up above them.
"Ugh… That was painful…" Only one Desert Bandit was left, who slowly got up from the pain he had to go through. "How do you do that? That attack you just pulled off with that thing… So strange…"
"Oh, I almost forgot… We're gonna need you for a quick second. Hold still, OK?" Sonic used Thoreau to grab the Desert Bandit and throw him at the blue ! Switch, triggering a door to appear.
"So that's where we need to go…" trailed Tippi as she followed the four into a room with a ladder nearby that leads up to an upper floor in the room.
"Might as well climb up here," Chopper said as he climbed up the ladder. There were two Desert Bandits that hit him in the head, but he returned the favor by doing a sweeping kick attack on them.
"Finish them!" he shouted as he saw Sonic strike both Desert Bandits with a Homing Attack. With that out of the way, they noticed two poles hanging from the wall that could help them reach another platform where a door was at.
"It's very simple to use that thing… Just grab it and it'll bring you up to the next pole… It's very simple." Tippi informed.
"Is that so? Well, then we ought to try it out!" Blade jumped and grabbed a hold of the pole, allowing himself to be sprung up to the next pole, which brought him up over to the platform.
Chopper did the same thing, only this time, he jumped off the wall and did a stylish pose as he landed on the ground.
"Was that even necessary?" Blade asked.
"Ehhhh… Not really. I just felt like doing it because I was bored." he replied.
Blade shrugged as both Kirby and Sonic made their way up to the platform. They then proceeded through the door, where they found themselves in a room with a large, yellow block in the middle of the room.
"They seriously think that they can hide what's behind here with this hammer? They're seriously screwing up with the design here." Sonic scoffed as Chopper broke the block with his hammer.
"Poyo! (Hurry! We don't have much time! We've got to…)" Kirby was suddenly transported into 3-D via Chopper's ability and they were then walking through the pathway revealed in 3-D, which led them into a small room with a Desert Bandit guarding a chest.
"H-Huh?! Whoa!" the Desert Bandit woke up once he heard some footsteps in the room. Snapping out of his trance, he pulled out his club. "There are intruders intruding this place? This isn't good…"
The Desert Bandit let out a battle cry as he rushed toward the heroes. Kirby was able to make him trip so Blade could kick him in the face. When the Bandit got himself up, he tried to punch the ninja cat, but he managed to grab his arm and put him in a hold.
"Why are you doing this? We're not here to fight, you know!" Blade shouted.
"Look, man! We Bandits don't like it when you filthy thieves come into our fort!"
"Listen… We don't mean harm." Tippi assured. "We're only here to get to the top of the Sand Castle… There's something that awaits us there…"
"Like we'd ever believe you!"
"But we can put a stop to that thing up in the sky if you listen to us!" Chopper pleaded. "Just… Please!"
"NEVER!" the Bandit got out of the hold and charge at Chopper, but soon met his fate when Kirby inhaled him and spat him at the wall, knocking him out completely.
"Poyo… (I really didn't want to do that…)" Kirby frowned. "Poyo… (Those Bandits really seem like they're just trying to protect what they have…)"
"Sigh… Well, if they're trying to hurt us, then we have no choice but to fight back…" Chopper sighed as he kicked the chest open, revealing a Sand Castle Key. It wasn't made of sand, that's for sure."
"Let's go back to that other door," Sonic suggested. "I'm sure we'll be able to reach a higher area in the castle now."
Back on the bridge-
"Hold it right there, scum!" a couple of Desert Bandits were blocking the way to the door that they had to go through. "Where do you think you're going with our key? This place is only for us Bandits!"
"Oh, dear… I believe you're mistaken…" Tippi trailed. "We're not scum… We're just travelers, that's all…"
"Really?" the Bandits lowered their clubs.
"Yeah. If there's any scum, it's you guys." Blade said. This caused the Bandits to raise their clubs up.
"Good work, Blade..." Sonic sighed.
"How dare you call us scum?! Now you're asking for it!" the Bandits made their way closer to the heroes with angry looks upon their faces.
"Well, if you wanna fight…then we might as well fight," Chopper hurled a couple of fireballs at the Desert Bandits, setting them on fire. Sonic waited for the flames to disappear before striking them with a Spin Dash, which knocked nearly every Desert Bandit off of the bridge.
"Holy… How can they do that?" a Desert Bandit gaped while stepping away from the heroes. His arms trembled as he looked at them. "Mommy!"
The Desert Bandit fled before he could get hit. Blade merely shrugged before they headed back into the left part of the sand castle. There, Chopper inserted the key into the door to allow themselves into another part of the castle.
"Hmmmmm… I don't see much around here." Blade said while scanning the room.
"Maybe I ought to check and see what's around here," Chopper flipped into 3-D to find a ladder over by the wall. Helping his friends get into 3-D, they immediately climbed up the ladder to find a door in 3-D over by the wall.
Entering the next room, they were in one of those other hallways that had windows and a door up ahead. There were some Desert Bandits waiting for them, however.
"Uh oh… Looks like we're running into a big problem here." Chopper gulped as he saw the large amounts of Desert Bandits.
"Hey! We found them!" the Desert Bandits immediately charged. Chopper, sighing because of what he has to do, threw a couple of fireballs at the Bandits, setting them on fire.
"Well, I guess I'll make my move now," Blade pulled a couple of shurikens out and tossed them straight at the Bandits. Some were still alive from the weapons, while others ended up dying.
"Ugh… How… How are they so strong?!" one Bandit wheezed, lifting his head from the ground. "If only we had stronger weapons, we could win the battle…but our weapons are made of only rock… It's not strong."
But before the Bandit could ramble on, everyone began to feel some immense shaking. Looking out the window, they realized that The Void grew a lot bigger.
"What… What was that?" the Bandit asked.
"Oh, no… The Void has grown bigger!" Tippi gasped. "We have to hurry!"
"Hurry? And why exactly would you do that?"
Before anyone could speak, both doors were suddenly surrounded by a large cage. The windows were also blocked, preventing anyone from escaping. Before they could freak out, Tipral made his appearance in the room.
"Tipral!" Chopper immediately got in a fighting stance, clenching his fists while a flaming aura appeared around them.
"You're too late, heroes!" Tipral bellowed. "You're all trapped! There's no way you'll be escaping from this room! I was lucky to set up a trap for you guys in case you got here a little sooner."
"Ugh… And who are you?" the Desert Bandit coughed, glaring at Tipral. "Did you trap us in this room?!"
Tipral turned to the Bandit. "I don't need to hear from you, you poor, poor Bandit," After twirling his scepter, Tipral fired a dark star straight at the Bandit, destroying it within seconds.
"What was that for?!" Blade hissed, pulling a shuriken out. "That Bandit didn't deserve to die, you know! You're going to pay for that!"
He threw the shuriken straight at Tipral, but he nearly gaped when he saw the dark being of Chopper grab it with his fingers.
"Oh, Blade… You're so stubborn. You honestly believe that a mere shuriken is going to hit someone such as myself? I have the Dark Star Scepter in my hands! With it, there's no stopping me! …But enough about that. Thanks to the Chaos Heart, this world shall soon tremble under the hands…of Tipral!"
"Poyo… (Well, looks like he just spoke in third person there…)" Kirby trailed.
"How could you do something like this?!" Tippi cried. "You're doing such a horrible thing to the entire universe! What… What has it ever done to you?!"
"What has the universe done to me? It created a monster, that's what! A monster by the name of Chopper! …And also a monster that has caused enough harm to me for many, many years. Once all the worlds are gone, all of that will soon be put to an end! …And I will finally be able to be at peace forever."
"I can't believe you, you sick, dark being! All living beings have hearts. They're all priceless. You can't just…erase them from all existence!"
"Oh yes I can… I'm doing that right about now! With you all trapped in this room, you will soon perish along with this world. And then… There will be no more heroes to stop me!"
"You know that there are SIX heroes," Chopper informed. "Merlee told us that there are about six heroes, so even if you stop us, those last two will be able to put a stop to you! It won't be all over!"
"Then I'll simply look up on who those heroes might be," Tipral replied. "And I do believe that I know who they might be… If I'm not mistaken, they should be…"
Before he could finish, he felt more trembling from The Void. "Oh, never mind. I'll let you figure out on your own. This world IS going to be destroyed, so there's no point in telling you guys. Besides, you're pretty much going to be nothing thanks to The Void."
"You're not getting away from us, Tipral!" Sonic curled up into a ball and attempted to strike Tipral, but he was soon gone.
"Poyo… (Great… Now we're trapped in this room with nothing else to do except to wait to die…)" Kirby groaned.
Chopper sat down and frowned. "So is this how we're going to spend the rest of our lives? In this room with nothing else to do? This is just great. I didn't want to die like this!"
"I hear you man! This is NOT the way to die! I wanted to die in a way that would make me feel proud, such as sacrificing my life to save the world." Sonic said before looking down at the sand. "But now it looks like it's going to be all for nothing."
"Maybe we could play a game of Go Fish!" Blade suggested, making everyone else give him a strange look. "Just sayin'. That's all."
"Well, we could pretend to play soccer," Chopper suggested. "But we're NOT using each other as a ball. That's just plain wrong."
"The only thing I can think of is…" Tippi was soon interrupted when she saw the cages around the doors disappear by some strange magical box. Even the bars on the windows were gone!
"Huh? What just happened…?" she asked.
"I don't know, but it looks like someone wants us to get a move on," Blade smirked as he walked over to the door. "Well I'm not going to stay here! How about we all get moving before we die!"
"Good idea," Chopper nodded and then kicked the door open to another room in the castle. Luckily, they came across a Star Block, to their surprise.
…But they were soon interrupted by Blade's communicator.
"Aw, come on! I was hoping that it wouldn't go off at a time like this!" Blade grumbled as he pulled his communicator out. Just like before, Bang was calling him for a stupid question.
"What is it now, Bang?"
"Oh… I was just wondering if I could use your computer for a minute. Can I?" Bang asked.
"What are you planning on using it for? …And how did you get into my house in the first place?"
"You left your front door unlocked. I think it might be because of that party we were going to. …And I was just going to use your computer to research stuff about hot chicks. That's all."
"Not a chance," Blade retorted. "Not after you gave me a virus."
"Aw, come on! It's cool to see hot chicks!"
"The answer is NO, Bang!"
"What's he talking about?" Chopper asked.
"He wants to look up hot chicks."
"What? That's horrible! I wouldn't want to see them on fire!"
Blade paused for a moment, and then he let out a small snicker.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing..." Blade trailed. "But you're right. That is horrible. Anyway, let's just get a move on."
"OK..." Chopper trailed, hitting the Star Block up ahead.
END OF CHAPTER
As the world began to tremble from The Void, our heroes knew that this world was getting closer to meeting its fate with The Void. After venturing deep into the Sand Castle, the heroes knew that not only did they have to deal with the Bandits, but they also have to deal with The Void as well. "This way!" Tippi cried as she fluttered on ahead. Chopper, using as much speed as he could, raced his way deeper into the castle. He knew that they were getting closer to the top of the castle…
Not a very long chapter compared to the others, but I think this is a good length for this one. I thought the conversation at the end of this chapter was a funny part. :P
Next up: The heroes finally make their way to the top of the castle...but will their efforts be in vain, or will they not?