CHAPTER 6-5
-The End of a World-
"…And so it comes close to an end now," Chopper declared, looking up at the sky at The Void. They could feel the intense shaking even from the inside of the castle. "We're getting closer to the Pure Heart as we speak…but I don't think we're going to make it at this moment. The Void is just…enormous!"
"Don't say that, Chopper… We have to believe in ourselves!" Tippi cried. "If we keep thinking negatively, we're not going to make it… All that matters is that we move as fast as we can before the end of the world is upon us…"
Our heroes were outside of the castle, on another bridge. They were definitely at an upper level than the other bridge – which was right below this very area. There were also a couple of Desert Bandits with clubs guarding the door up ahead. They were definitely afraid of The Void, but they weren't going to let the heroes through.
"There's no way you're getting past us!" a Bandit growled, gripping his club. "This next tower will lead up to the top of the castle, and there's no chance that we're letting a bunch of thieves like you guys through here!"
"Would you shut up about the whole thieves thing?! Do you ALWAYS have to say this to every person you see?!" Blade exclaimed.
"Poyo! (We're not thieves!)" Kirby shouted.
"Why can't you just let us through? We'll save your world with the Pure Heart!" Sonic shouted. "Even if this world dies, we can surely bring it back after we dispose of the Chaos Heart. You have to trust us!"
"We trust NO ONE!" screamed the Bandit
With that, it and the rest the Bandits began to charge at the heroes. Instead of using fire or blades, they began to use their kicks and even their inhaling moves to fight them, since they don't want to scar them.
Blade grabbed one of the Bandits's clubs and whacked him across the face with his elbow. When the Bandit tried to grab his foot, he grabbed his arm and slammed the Bandit to the ground.
"Look, man… I know you want to protect your castle. We understand that." Blade said. "BUT, you can't just attack other people. It's just rude."
"We don't care what theives say!" the Bandit retorted, trying to hit him in the head with his own head. Unfortunately, he ended up getting thrown off the bridge instead. Since the ground was sand, the Bandit fell into the sand out of the castle.
"These guys are just too stubborn..."
Sonic waited for the Desert Bandits to make their move before he made his. "Go right ahead, Bandits. I'm not the one who usually likes to attack first anyway."
The Bandits all charged at Sonic, but they couldn't really hit him with their attacks. Sonic was just too fast for them…and they were too slow.
Once Sonic got behind the Bandits, he curled himself in a ball and prepared to attack them with a Spin Dash. He successfully knocked a couple of them off of the bridge, but only two were left.
"Argh… How are we losing so easily?! …And how do these thieves have these sort of moves? It's sickening!" the Bandit let out a battle cry as he rushed at Sonic, only to get hit by a Homing Attack. This sent him flying off the bridge.
"I hope they're OK," Sonic hoped before he ducked from the last Bandit's swing from his club. He grabbed the Bandit's arm and slammed him to the ground – except that he knocked him off the bridge instead…but not on purpose.
It was now Kirby's turn. He started off by getting on Carrie and stomping on a couple of the Bandits with her, performing some stylish moves as well.
"I got an idea!" a Bandit snapped his finger and then threw his club straight at Kirby. He used his Defend ability to defend himself from the attack, making him take barely any damage.
"Poyo! (Sorry, but you're going to have to try better than that to beat me!)" Kirby scoffed as he jumped off Carrie and inhaled the club. He spat it out straight at the Bandit who struck him with the club.
The other Bandits looked at the Bandit that was just knocked out. However, they weren't going to flee like him. They immediately charged at Kirby.
"Poyo… (I wouldn't do that if I were you…)" Kirby warned as he opened his mouth, preparing to inhale some of them. The Bandits didn't listen, and soon they were being sucked into the pink puffball's mouth.
Kirby walked over to the left so the others weren't in his way and he spat the Bandits out. The yellow star that came out of his mouth was now sparkling, since he had more than one enemy in his mouth. There were only two Bandits left after the attack, though. They looked at each other and then at the Bandits that fell off the bridge.
"Errr… We'll do what some others just did!"
Being wusses, the two Desert Bandits jumped off the bridge themselves in order to escape Kirby's gut once again.
"Poyo! (Man, they sure are cowards!)" Kirby frowned as he watched them fall to the sandy ground.
With only four Bandits left, Chopper was the one to face the last four. He didn't want to use any fireballs, since it would probably deal some great harm to them, so he focused on using his hammer and kicks.
"All right, you wanna fight, then come and get it!" Chopper challenged, allowing the Desert Bandits to pull their clubs out.
"Chopper… Are you seriously letting them come at you?" Tippi questioned with a worried look on her face.
"Don't worry, Tippi. I have a little plan." Chopper assured as he readied himself. Once the Bandits rushed at him, he jumped up and ended up stomping on one of the Bandits, performing a stylish move while at it.
"Hey! He's up there!" one shouted, attempting to get Chopper, but his efforts were fruitless once Chopper landed on the ground and began to spin his hammer around rapidly, knocking a couple of them away.
"Ack! What the heck are you doing?!" another Bandit exclaimed, getting hit in the face by Chopper's hammer. The attack was so strong, that most of their masks were beginning to crack.
"Oh, crud… Not my mask!" All four of them shouted in unison.
Before Chopper could get a glimpse of their real faces, they immediately jumped off the castle, too embarrassed for anyone to see them without their masks.
It was at that point that the ground began to shake up once again. Everyone looked up to see The Void grow once again.
"Oh, man… Now I'm starting to remember when Clara was being enveloped in darkness…" Chopper frowned as he looked up at the large darkness. He couldn't help but remember about Clara being enveloped in the darkness five months ago. It was right after he got a hold of the eighteenth Crystal Star.
"Chopper! We must get going!" Tippi snapped Chopper out of his trance, making him shake his head quickly and go over to the door.
"Sorry about that, Tippi… I was just remembering something…" he apologized. When he looked around in the room, he noticed that the room was pretty skinny, but there were a couple of ladders leading up to a door high up ahead.
"That must be where the Pure Heart is!" Sonic shouted. "If we make our way up there, we should be able to make it!"
"Yes… I can feel its presence from up there…" Tippi trailed. "This is our last chance, guys… If we don't make it there in time, then the whole universe might be doomed to The Void…"
"Yeah, we better do that right now!" Chopper immediately made his way up the ladder to the upper floor. He noticed that there was a ? Block right over by the next ladder. Hitting it, an Ultra Shroom popped out.
"Wow… We're already getting to the boss?" Chopper's antennae sprung up. "Wow… Talk about a short chapter! I can't believe it has even come to this! Can't you believe it, guys?"
"Poyo! (I know! This is so weird!)" Kirby agreed, while Blade was thinking of pulling a "That's what she said," joke (even though those can get old).
They all began to climb up the next ladder near the empty block, which led them up to a Save Block. Chopper immediately hit that block and then climbed up the ladder again to the door, which led into a small little room with a couple of statues…and a door up ahead.
"I bet our destination is up ahead," Chopper smirked as he walked past the statues. "Looks like we have a Pure Heart to achieve!"
"I'm ready!" Blade nodded, clenching his fists for whatever might be up ahead. "If we have to fight some sort of sand monster, then I'm ready to stop that thing! …Or if it's one of Tipral's minions, that is."
"Well, whatever it is, we're gonna be ready for it. So… Are you all ready?" Chopper glanced at the other three, who gave him a nod. "All right, then… Then I guess we better get going!"
Once Chopper opened the door, they were outside. However, they were at the top of the Sand Castle now. It was pretty big, but the only thing they could really see in the background was The Void.'
"The Void is so massive… It almost feels like the end of the world…" Tippi trailed.
"We're not giving up! Look!" Chopper pointed to the purple Pure Heart up ahead. "See? We already found the Pure Heart!"
"Poyo! (Let's grab it and get out of here!)" Kirby suggested.
But, just before they could rush over to the Pure Heart, O'Chunks landed in front of them, sending a shockwave that knocked them all over to the door.
"Where do yeh think yer goin'?!" O'Chunks growled. "Yer not gonna be gettin' outta here so easily!"
"O'Chunks? What are you doing here?" Tippi asked.
"I don't need teh explain why I'm 'ere! I'm doin' me job, yeh little butterfly! I don't wanna have teh smash yeh…but yer startin' teh get on me nerves with yer naggin'! It's NOT chunky!"
"Oh, stop with that, O'Chunks! We KNOW that you like 'chunky' stuff!" Mimi made her appeared via teleportation. "Golly! I can't believe that you dummies made it so far! I'm impressed! ...Not!"
"Poyo! (Mimi!)" Kirby got in his fighting stance, along with Blade, who was glaring at O'Chunks at the moment.
"First O'Chunks and now Mimi?" Tippi gawked.
"No, not yet…" Dark appeared using the abilities with his cape. "You may have beaten me up before, but that doesn't clearly mean that you're going to win. Take a look at The Void. You'll see why."
Sonic looked up at the sky. He noticed that The Void has grown bigger once again. "Ugh… I can't believe we're so close to the Pure Heart! …Yet The Void is so…massive!"
"So Tipral had a Plan B all along in case if we made it here…" Tippi trailed. "That…doesn't seem like it has any flaws in his plan…"
"Of course Tippy's plan is flawless! It's actually one of the greatest plans that he's ever come up with! Not only is he adorable, but he's soooo good at making evil plans to trounce you meanie-heads!"
"Wait, what did yeh say, lass?" O'Chunks raised an eyebrow.
"Ummmmmmm… Nothing!"
"Ah ha ha ha. Oh, I heard that crystal clear." Dimentio appeared above O'Chunks, Mimi and Dark. "Our dear Mimi just won't admit her love to Tipral!"
"Dimentio?!" Chopper got in his fighting stance this time. "He sent YOU here as well?! …Wow. I can't believe Tipral has sent EVERY minion he's got to take care of us. Just… Wow."
"DIMENTIO!" Mimi growled, giving the jester a death glare. "WERE YOU READING MY DIARY AGAIN?! …Er… Don't listen to what I just said, all of you! Really! I mean it!"
"Your diary? You mean this thing?" Dimentio held out Mimi's diary, making the green girl almost scream loudly at him. "Oh, the secrets you put in this thing… I just LOVE looking through them! I even found an interesting note you put on here! Allow me to read it out loud!"
"Wow… Not only does Dimentio ruin people's gloves and sneakers…but he also reads from a girl's diary?" Chopper had an annoyed look on his face. "That's so LAME!"
Dimentio cleared his throat and began reading. "'Dear Diary… Ever since I came back to this castle, I keep looking at that cute, dark boy all of the time! Man… Not only does he look cute, but I actually find him really hot! I hope to see him come out of the ocean and dry off with his hotness. …Hee hee! I'm seriously getting too distracted over him! It almost distracts me from fighting those doofuses! …But I know for a fact that Tipral won't read this. I mean, NOBODY ever gets my hand on my girly diary! …Well, almost everyone. Hope I get a chance to write in you later, because I think I might need to!' –Mimikins-"
Everyone else looked a bit dumbfounded, especially O'Chunks and Dark. Chopper, Kirby, Sonic and Blade weren't so dumbfounded. They already knew that she liked him anyway. Mimi, on the other hand, was furious.
"You… You… YOU…" Mimi was about to crack her neck. "Dimentio… You're going to pay for reading that out loud!"
Before she could transform into her spider form, Dimentio floated down and grabbed her head, trying to calm her down. "Now, now… Now's not the time for any of this nonsense… We don't need any of that right now, dear Mimi."
"Let go of my head, dummy."
"Ah, yes. So I shall!" Dimentio released Mimi's head and floated back up. Meanwhile, Chopper yawned at them.
"You know… You're seriously wasting our time. Are you doing this on PURPOSE? We have a Pure Heart to get! …Oh screw it!" Chopper made a big leap over the heroes…until Dimentio created an invisible barrier to keep him from getting the Pure Heart.
"Ah ha ha ha. Did you honestly think that we would forget about you four?" Dimentio cackled. "Oh… I think we have something in store for you before your deaths! …Perhaps we should have some fun!"
"Fun? I don't like 'fun'…" Dark growled. "Torturing seems a bit better…or maybe shooting them!"
Dark pulled his blaster out and aimed it at Sonic. "You'll be the first one to get blasted, hedgehog!"
Before he could pull the trigger, his gun began to float up to Dimentio's hand. "Oh, no, Dark… I wouldn't want to settle things this way! What would be the point of shooting them if The Void will just end their games?"
"Give me back my gun before I snap your neck," he warned.
Dimentio handed back Dark's gun. "Promise me that you won't use that thing. I don't want to have to go to such measures as to destroy it… You would lose your weapon if I did that!"
"…Fine," Dark grunted, putting his blaster away. "I'll play your little game… But make it quick though!"
"Forget your games, Dimentio! We don't have time for this!" Blade barked.
As Blade continued to yell, the jester twirled his finger around and created a little volleyball court with a net. There was a beach ball that came down on the hero's side of the court.
"What is this?" Tippi asked.
"It's a little game of volleyball," Dimentio explained with a smirk. "I've devised a little game for you all to play us! If you win this match, we'll let you get the Pure Heart! …If you have time, that is. BUT… If you lose… Well, I'm pretty sure that we'll think of something that we can use on you."
"I'm not playing volleyball," Dark retorted.
"'Ey! Quit bein' such a downer, Dark!" O'Chunks snapped. "It's not like anythin' bad's goin' teh happen teh us! We're gettin' outta here even WHEN The Void destroys this world!"
Chopper gave Dimentio an irritated look while he folded his arms. "This is what you have in store for us? A volleyball game?"
"Ah ha ha ha. Do you like it, my green little friend?" Dimentio chuckled.
The pale green hero let out a deep sigh. "Fine. We'll play your stupid game of volleyball. But, why do it in the desert? We're not at the beach!"
"You're in Desert Oasis, so you're technically near the beach, meanie-head," Mimi explained.
"Go ahead, Chopper. You go first…if you dare." Dimentio offered while the other minions got themselves ready for volleyball…except for Dark.
"I'm not playing this game. I don't care what you say. I'm NOT going to play a game of volleyball! It's a USELESS game!" Dark retorted.
Chopper picked the volleyball up and looked at it. "This is strange… Why would Dimentio have us play volleyball? What are we? Trying to be friends? This is so strange…"
"So, Chopper… Are you going to start?" Dimentio asked.
"Kirby, take the back. Same goes with you, Blade. Sonic and I will take the front." Chopper tossed the ball up and then jumped to punch the ball with his fist, sending it over the net.
"So now the game begins," the jester smirked as he patted the beach ball, but somehow managed to strike it over to the other side easily.
"Poyo! (I got this ball!)" Kirby jumped and slammed the ball over the net, making it hit Mimi in the face.
"Eeeeeeek!" she cried as he threw the beach ball off her. Apparently, Team Heroes got the point (we'll call the hero side Team Heroes and the bad guy side Team Villains? OK? I know it sounds weird…but it works).
"Ah ha ha ha. What's wrong, Mimi? Did you just get hit in the face?" Dimentio chuckled as Mimi gave him a death glare.
"Shut up before I hit you with this ball, dummy," Mimi warned as she slammed the ball down to the other side.
"I got it!" Blade used his fist to punch the beach ball over to the other side. O'Chunks jumped up and, using his strength, he slammed the ball to the ground, giving the villains a point.
"Gra ha ha ha!" O'Chunks cackled. "Now THAT was one heck o' a punt there! I don't think yer ever gonna see somethin' like that!"
"Oh, really?" Blade grumbled as he served the ball again. This time, he created a couple of clones of himself to make sure when O'Chunks slammed the ball, they would all go after the ball easily.
…And it was lucky enough to work.
"Good gravy!" the Scottish man yelled as he was struck in the jaw. "Yeh almost broke me jaw, lad! Yer lucky yer only a wee ninja compared teh me!"
"'Wee'?! I swear that you better not be telling the truth…" Blade warned, giving him a death glare.
Dark looked at the beach ball that bounced over to him. The villains all looked at him, hoping that he would pick it up. "No way. I told you before and I don't wanna tell you again… I'm NOT going to play this dumb game!"
"Oh, come on, you downer! The ball's right there!" Mimi pouted.
Dark wished that he could shoot Mimi at this point, but he knew it would be best not to do that. So, he picked up the beach ball and punched it to the other side.
"I got it!" Sonic made a big jump and then slammed the ball to the ground…only to have Dark kick it with his foot. He was able to hit Sonic right in the face after slamming the ball one last time.
"Hey! You can't do that! That's cheating!" Chopper shouted.
"There are no rules to this game!" Dimentio chuckled. "Now, I believe it's my turn to make a move."
As he lifted the beach ball up, the ground began to shake. Now was when The Void started to slowly grow bigger and bigger each second. The heroes looked incredibly worried as Dimentio served the ball.
"We can't give up so soon… We gotta win this!" Chopper made a big leap and slammed the ball toward Dimentio. However, the jester snapped his finger, making the ball suddenly land on the heros' side.
"Poyo! (Hey! You can't do that! That's cheating!)" Kirby shouted, repeating what Chopper said before.
"I believe I already said that there aren't any rules," the jester smirked as he served the ball again. This time, Chopper wasn't ready to give in…but it was Kirby who hit the ball before him.
"Oh no you don't," Dimentio snapped his finger again and made the ball fall down on the other side of the court.
Chopper immediately took action. Using an uppercut kick, he kicked the ball into the air and then slammed it down on the other side with his fist, scoring a point for Team Heroes and making the score tied.
"Golly, you heroes sure want that Pure Heart, don't you?" Mimi questioned.
"Yes, we do need the Pure Heart…" Tippi trailed. "We would love to have that thing back right now… There's not much time to be spent here…"
After the ground shook again, Dimentio began to cackle. "Ah ha ha ha ha! Oh, I feel like I'm going to shed a tear. You heroes are so close to getting to the Pure Heart…yet we're in your way! This almost seems like a dream come true, seeing you suffer through this!"
"I've suffered through enough, thank you very much," Chopper clenched his fists, serving the ball over to the other side. Dimentio managed to teleport it to the other side, but Blade was able to hit the ball before it landed, making it go to the other side.
"We're NOT going to let you guys win! We NEED that Pure Heart no matter what!" Blade sneered.
"Well too bad, lad! We're not gonna help yeh get it!" O'Chunks growled as he smacked the ball back to the other side.
"Poyo! (Then we'll have to use this ball on you by force!)" Kirby stated as he kicked the ball to the other side. Little did he know that Mimi could now understand what the pink puffball was saying.
"Oh, please. There's no way we're gonna let you hurt us!" Mimi scoffed as she sent a Rubee to hit the beach ball. But the only problem to that was that the Rubee was sharp, so it poked a hole through the ball.
"Hold on a minute… If Mimi popped the ball… Does this mean that we win?" Chopper gaped as he looked down at the ball.
"Oh, my… It appears that my beach ball has been popped. Such a shame." Dimentio slowly shook his head, but he magically made a new one appear in his hands. "But I still have a spare!"
"You gotta be kidding me…" Sonic grumbled as the ground began to shake again. He made his move this time, hitting the ball with the palm of his hand.
"Ugh… This game is going on forever." Dark groaned as he simply smacked the ball away from him, wishing that he never had to touch that thing again.
Once Chopper smacked it over to the other side, Dimentio attempted to make the ball land on the ground, but Chopper acted quickly and was able to slam the ball on the sandy ground on the other side of the net.
"Whoa… Did I seriously…hit the ball over the net?" Chopper gaped. "That means… That means we've won!"
"Oh, yeah baby!" Blade did a pelvic thrust. "We beat you guys! Now you're forced to let us get the Pure Heart!"
But before anyone could react, they felt some immense shaking. This shaking was worse than any other that they've felt. Not only were the heroes starting to get scared, but so were the villain.
"Whoa… Look at The Void!" Dark pointed up at The Void. At this point, they couldn't see the sky. It looked like The Void BECAME the sky right about now. It even made some bright flashes.
"Whoa! We gotta get outta here! This world is about teh go! …But I'm not gonna stay here anymore! Yer on yer own now! Chunks away!" After waving goodbye, O'Chunks rocketed out of the sky via his farting powers.
"Later dummies! We sure got you!" Mimi scoffed as she teleported out of the world with her box.
"It'll be a good thing to see you heroes go. Goodbye…and I hope you enjoy the rest of your lives…in nothing!" Dark covered himself with his cape and he was soon gone.
"Well, I suppose I should make my leave as well. It's such a shame that you're not going to live to see your dear worlds perish… Ciao!" Dimentio was gone with a snap of his fingers. All that was left were the heroes.
"Quickly! We can get the Pure Heart!" Chopper tried his best to rush over to the purple heart, but the intense shaking and the flashes began to slow him down to great measures.
"I… I can't reach it! We're not…going to make it?!"
"No… Not like this…" Tippi's voice trembled. "We… We can't fail now…"
After two flashes, the environment started to feel wavy and then…the world was starting to fade away into destruction.
The last thing heard were the screams coming from the heroes.