The heroes made their stop when they got much closer to the metallic base. It didn't appear to be big at all. In fact, it looked more like a large dome. There was also a sign nearby labeled, "Keep out! Top secret!" Chopper laughed at it before turning back to his friends.
"If this is where Robo Chopper is, then putting this sign here was a real dumb idea!" Chopper laughed.
"The music's definitely louder over here," Sonic noticed. "That piece of scrap metal is here for sure!"
"How do you know it's really him?" Bombette asked.
"All robots like rock music. They are metalheads, after all."
"Wow! That DOES make sense!" Chopper realized. "I'm going to remember that when we meet him! In fact, let's hurry up and find him so I can tell that to him!"
Vivian approached the door and tried to open it, but it didn't budge. "We can't open this. It's probably sealed or something..."
"Sounds like there's a switch nearby," Sonic deduced.
Mario: I see two!
Mario pointed over at a red ! switch behind a bush, and nearby was another switch by a tree. Obviously Sonic could not go through the bush to hit it, so Chopper decided he would be there. He first kicked Sonic away from the other red ! switch and let him stay in place as he walked behind the bush, according to what Mario explained. Once Sonic threw himself at the switch, Chopper hit it with his hammer, making the door flip open like cardboard.
"Ah, there we go!" Shadower smiled. Let's see what's inside!"
Once they stepped foot into the machine building, they saw a mostly bronze interior with a metallic floor and a ladder going down to a circular path. In the center was a dark pit, and thankfully there were handrails to prevent them from falling.
"Well looks like we should climb down, huh?" Chopper climbed down the ladder and noticed some flashes coming from another level below. Another ladder over to the north went down there.
"This would be a lot easier if I had arms," Bombette groaned.
"I'll help you," Vivian decided, who grabbed Bombette and slowly descending to the others.
"Oh... Thanks, Vivian!"
The rest of the group climbed down the ladder and found themselves in a dark, circular room. Looking around, Sonic asked, "You guys see anything? I'm not seeing a thing here!"
Mario: ...I think I saw a flash!
Indeed they did. Floating around the room was a firefly Badnik called a Flasher. It had a small, red head, two eyes and two antennae. The upper part of its body was black, while its underside had a bulb.
"Ah! A Flasher!" Sonic realized. "No wonder there were some flashes down here! Well, might as well take care of it."
With a single Spin Jump, the Badnik was gone. They found another Flasher by another ladder to their left. Chopper ran over to the ladder first before defeating the enemy with a fireball. After that, he began to climb up the ladder to the top of the room.
"You know, I wish I got a new ability here..." Chopper trailed. "I usually get one each chapter, but here? Not even one!"
"Poyo, (Well that stinks,)" Kirby mused.
As soon as everyone reached the top of the ladder, they stood before the doorway leading outside. There was a Save Block and Heart Block in front of them as well. Chopper hit both before they proceeded out of the base and back in the forest. There was a tree at the end of the square-shaped area surrounded by many bushes and trees. One thing for sure was that this was a dead end.
However, what caught Chopper's attention was Robo Chopper jamming to the song they had been hearing on a boombox. He was even dancing to it as well!
"Oh, yeah! Now this is some catchy music!" Robo Chopper exclaimed.
For some reason, Chopper couldn't help but snicker. "Oh, man... This has got to be the funniest thing I've seen from him!"
"Get a camera! We've gotta film this!" Scrub whispered.
"I wish..."
They looked over by the tree and noticed Berry lying by it, still unconscious. Chopper sighed in relief, seeing that she was all right. As much as he wanted to watch Robo Chopper look like a fool, he had a mission to fulfill. Approaching the boombox, he pressed the "off" button and turned it off. His robot counterpart noticed this and turned around.
"Hey! I was listening to that!" Robo Chopper exclaimed, only to realize the heroes were here. "...Wait, were you watching me dance?"
"Uhhhhh... No?" Chopper lied.
"Is that so? Well then... I'm glad you finally made it, Chopper! Now we can finally-"
"First off, give Berry back, OK?"
Robo Chopper groaned angrily as he picked up the unconscious girl. However, rather than dropping her in front of him, he threw her at him instead, resulting in him getting knocked back.
Mario: Yikes!
"Now THAT felt good," Robo Chopper grinned.
Chopper slowly got Berry off him and stood up. Seeing her unconscious still, he gently shook her to get her up. "Wake up, Berry! Please?"
To his relief, Berry let out a small moan and opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry at first, but after rubbing her eyes, she caught a glimpse of Chopper.
"Is that you, Choppy?" Berry asked.
"'Choppy'?" Sonic gawked, only to smirk at Chopper. "Dude, I didn't know that was a nickname for you!"
"It's not..." Chopper groaned before turning back to Berry. "Uhhhh... Yeah, it's me. Don't worry, you're safe."
Berry slowly got up and smiled at her love interest. "Well, I'm glad you're here. There was some robot freak that looked just like you before I became unconscious."
"He's right over there," Shadower noted, pointing to Robo Chopper. She looked back at him and gave him a glare.
"Oh, I'm going to get you for knocking me out!" she growled. She prepared to charge, but Chopper tapped her on the shoulder, catching her attention once again. "What is it?"
"I didn't want to forget about these," Chopper smiled, pulling out some red and pink flowers. "Here! Take 'em!"
"You got these for me?" Berry gasped, taking them from him and giving him a shocked look. She then looked at him dreamily. "Oh, Choppy... You're so sweet!"
Before Chopper could say anything, Berry grabbed him in a hug and kissed his cheek. "See? I knew you and I were in love!"
"Yuck! Gross!" Chopper cried. "I just gave you those because I thought it would make you happy!"
Robo Chopper gawked for a moment, noticing that they were all ignoring him. "Uhhhhh... I'm still here, you know!"
Eventually he had to fire a missile their way to gain their attention. Berry finally let go of Chopper and got her hammer out, and the rest got in fighting stances.
"Finally, I've got your attention! So, Chopper... You wanna see that Crystal Star?"
"Why don't you show it to us?" Chopper suggested, clenching his fists.
Robo Chopper pulled out a dark green Forest Star and held it up. "At first, I was a bit unsure of what these things were, but after getting a glimpse of its power, I just knew I had to keep it! It can do much more than you think, though. Just watch THIS!"
The Forest Star shot a huge green pulse, causing everything around them turned to machinery. The trees, the grass, the bushes and the flowers were slowly changing from a luscious dark green to a robotic, dull gray. Robo Chopper's evil laughter began to echo through the forest, while the heroes could only look in horror at the forest's transformation.
"I don't believe it..." Sonic gaped. "This is insane!"
"Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Now do you see this Crystal Star's power?!" Robo Chopper cackled. "I've been waiting for this moment to happen, and now that it has, I can finally become the overlord of this forest, and soon the world! It'll be too late for you to stop me!"
"Well, there's a big problem with that..." Chopper trailed. "You're only holding one Crystal Star! There's much more than that, you know!"
"Oh, really? If you have some, then you'll gladly give them to me!"
"You just had to open your mouth, Chopper..." Shadower sighed.
"You want them? Then just take them from us!" Chopper taunted.
"Then I will take them from you when I'm done with all of you!" Robo Chopper roared. "Prepare for my destruction!"
"You should be prepared to see what we're capable of!" Berry exclaimed, pointing her hammer at him.
Tattle: That's Robo Chopper. He's basically a robotic version of you. Max HP is 130, Attack is 11, and Defense is 2. Most of his attacks are lasers and his laser sword that he'll take out. It says that he has a huge laser that he'll fire if you get him down to an amount of HP! Now THAT'S scary! I don't know about you, but Robo Chopper creeps me out a little for some reason. It's just… Those eyes and what he did just gives me the creeps. How LONG has he wanted revenge against you anyways? Such an odd robot…
Chopper clenched his fist and charged at Robo Chopper. However, realizing something, he put himself at a halt. "Wait a second… Robo Chopper's defense is pretty high. With a defense like that, it may not be easy for me to deal as much damage to him! Man… I need to use an ability… Wait! I'll just be Ninja Chopper! That should work!"
Robo Chopper noticed Chopper turn purple and gain a red helmet. He was confused, but he soon realized what it was when Chopper swung a kunai knife at him, dealing 6 damage.
"Urgh! Stupid kunai knife…" Robo Chopper grunted. Sonic smirked and shot himself toward Robo Chopper to knock him back toward the tree behind him. The hedgehog couldn't help but make a stylish pose upon getting out of his ball form.
"Fools… You may have dealt 10 damage to me, but we're just getting started! Now it's MY turn!" Robo Chopper aimed at Chopper and fired a blue laser at him, knocking him back toward Sonic.
"I got this!" Scrub declared, using his long tongue to get Chopper on the ground softly. Unfortunately, that did not prevent Chopper from losing less than 11 HP.
"Ugh... Thanks, Scrub." Chopper sighed, standing back up. "OK, you got tougher, but so have I! We're going to mop the floor with you in he end!"
"We'll see about that!" Robo Chopper exclaimed. "You're all going to be history!"
Chopper disappeared reappeared above Robo Chopper. Before the robot could act, Chopper dove at him with a kick. Shadower followed up with his Shadow Punch, lowering his defense to 0.
"GAH!" Robo Chopper quickly shook his head and flew up. "So, you want to see how hard I can play? Well, then I'll show you!"
"What's he planning?" Berry gawked, noticing Robo Chopper fly over to the audience, pick them up, and form them all into one big ball.
"This should do nicely…" Robo Chopper threw the ball of the audience at the heroes and let them roll over them, dealing 13 damage to them all. He let out a small chuckle as the audience got piled up before running back to their seats. "So, how does it feel to get hit by your own fans? Pretty fantastic, don't you think?"
"Take this, tin can!" Sonic jumped up to Robo Chopper to use a Homing Attack, but he managed to avoid it and fired a missile down at the blue hedgehog. Mario was thankful to be there and pulled him out of the way in time.
"You know, Chopper... That Power Star I once had two years ago is like a kid's toy compared to this Crystal Star." Robo Chopper remarked. "Giving me an ability to teleport people into this forest was not something the Power Star could do. You catch what I'm saying?"
"Yeah, I am. But I'm sure you're still as pathetic as before." Chopper leaped in the air and knocked Robo Chopper to the ground with his jump. Now that he was vulnerable, Berry charged at him with her hammer raised over her head.
"Time for payback!" Berry cried, bringing her hammer down on him and dealing 6 damage. "That's for knocking me out!"
"Urgh... All right, let's see how your hammer deals with this!" Robo Chopper's right hand had transformed into a blue laser sword. He swung at Berry, but she was able to put her hammer in front of her and guarded the attack. He was about to attack her again until Chopper managed to pull her back. Afterward, he had an idea to attack his enemy once his defense returned.
"I haven't used this move yet. I think now is the time to do it!" Chopper grabbed Robo Chopper and jumped in the air. He made it so Robo Chopper's head was facing the floor before plummetting at a fast pace. Robo Chopper hit the floor headfirst, and a small crack was created on the ground, leaving him dizzy. Scrub walked over to him next and used his Gulp to deal 6 damage, bringing him down to 86 HP.
Robo Chopper quickly shook his head and hovered up in the air once again. He summoned a mine on the floor that would sense any movement near or above it. "Now let's see you try to get through this! Jumping won't save you here, Chopper!"
"Crud…" Chopper sighed, until an idea struck him. "...Wait! Vivian, you should use your Fiery Jinx to destroy the mine AND hurt Robo Chopper! Maybe that'll work!"
"I'll give it a try," Vivian raised her finger, and Robo Chopper got scorched by her fire magic. The mine had also exploded as well, allowing Chopper to leap in the air and attack Robo Chopper with another diving kick. Robo Chopper had gotten tired of this and fired a blue laser at Chopper, knocking him back at his friends and knocking his ability away.
"Ow... That stunk..."
Mario had decided he was up and decided to bring his hammer down on him. Following up was Chopper's Spring Jump, though that had only done 8 damage. However, it did manage to bring him down to 59 HP, including the burn left by Vivian.
"Hmph! Not bad… Not bad at all… You've gotten a little stronger than before, I'll admit…" Robo Chopper mused. He aimed his gun and fired rapid, yellow shots at them like a machine gun. They were lucky enough to guard the attack, so they didn't take as much damage.
"Poyo... (That was pretty painful...)" Kirby cringed. "Poyo! (But I'm definitely not out!)"
Kirby performed his Cartwheel and sent Robo Chopper flying toward the tree. Before he could do anything else, Chopper ran up to him and whack him straight into the tree. Now his head was stuck in the tree!
"Arggh..." Robo Chopper sliced the tree off with his laser sword and flew back to the heroes. He clenched his fists and felt a major boost in terms of attack. "Now you asked for it!"
"Eep! That's not good!" Bombette gulped. "If he manages to hit us, we might be done for!"
"I think we know what to do," Chopper stated, leaping in the air and attacking Robo Chopper with another Spring Jump. Just as he returned, Vivian grabbed him and everyone else and his in the shadows. They were barely able to avoid a giant, blue laser that had fired straight into the base and left a large hole in it. Robo Chopper seemed satisfied, but when the group emerged from the ground unharmed, his gawked.
"I…missed?!"
"Ha ha! That was all for nothing!"
"Well this certainly won't!" Robo Chopper's hand had changed to his flamethrower, and he flew up to Chopper and scorched him, along with leaving him with a nasty burn, which had thankfully warn off on him after taking 1 more damage this turn. He decided to ascend in the air to avoid any ground hits.
"He may be airborne, but I'm not letting that stop me!" Bombette declared. "Chopper, you can throw me at him, right?"
"...Oh, yeah! That Bomb Throw ability we never really used yet..." Chopper realized.
"Well... Now's the time to use it!"
Chopper shrugged and picked the pink Bob-omb up. Her fuse was now lit up and running, and once he threw her up at Robo Chopper, she exploded, causing him to fall to the ground once again. Afterward, Chopper used a D-Down Hand attack and threw an ice ball that had dealt 6 damage. Robo Chopper attacked by using his beam sword, but it was easily guarded when Chopper had witnessed him using it on Berry before.
"You're going to have to give up eventually," Chopper remarked. "You only have 43 HP left, you know..."
"Not a chance," Robo Chopper retorted. "You're not looking too good either, Chopper... Are you ready to give up as well?"
"Nope!" the antennae hero happily pulled out a Jelly Ultra and ate it to recover 50 HP and FP. "I'm fine now!"
Robo Chopper clenched his fists in anger, which left him distracted when Sonic came in and struck him in the face with a Spin Dash. Growling, he fired a missile at Sonic and sent him flying back to his team.
"Well, that wasn't something I was expecting..." Sonic grunted.
"We'll wrap this fight up soon. I promise." Chopper assured, running up to Robo Chopper and attacking him with a Power Bounce. After twelve jumps, he jumped off and let Berry use her Ruby Throw to deal 6 damage to his robot counterpart. In retaliation, he flew back to the audience, got them in a ball again, and sent them rolling back at the heroes.
"This again..." Shadower trailed.
Mario: Mama mia...
Everyone put their guard up and managed to guard the attack, taking 12 damage in the process. When they were up for the attack, Shadower lowered Robo Chopper's defense with a Shadow Punch, and then Chopper went all out with a Spring Jump, reducing him to 5 HP.
"Urgh... This isn't the end..." Robo Chopper grunted, preparing another giant laser. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be, as Chopper had leaped in the air and prepared to stomp on him with a Fire Stomp.
"Take this!" Chopper cried, landing the final blow and causing Robo Chopper's circuits to go crazy.
"AAAAAAARRGHHHH!"
Chopper gave a thumbs up as he landed on the ground, receiving 31 Star Points and a level up. He had chosen to upgrade his FP to 65.
"How… How on earth did I lose this? I had this whole forest to myself and I lose…" Robo Chopper groaned, barely standing up.
"Well, maybe it's 'cause you were a little too overconfident," Sonic answered with a waggling finger.
"Grrrrrr! Fine, I admit defeat." Robo Chopper admitted. "You managed to best me Chopper, and this time with the Crystal Star in my hand! But hear me, heroes! I am going to return, and I will finally-"
"Become stronger and attempt to defeat me, only to fail once again," Chopper finished. "Is that good?"
Robo Chopper was about to reply, but he stopped and decided to fly away. Everyone was surprised to see him leave the Forest Star behind. Without it under his control, the forest began to turn back to normal. A sense of peace had finally returned to the nine as they let out a sigh.
"Finally... At long last, we have the Crystal Star!" Chopper smiled, approaching the dark green star. "And now the forest is finally back to normal!"
"That's great," Vivian commented.
"So, are you all right from before, Berry?"
"Yeah," Berry nodded. "I hadn't done that much while you guys were out there. I tried looking for you guys, but I ended up getting lost by that tree."
"The good news is that we're all back together. I think that's what matters." Sonic said with a grin.
"Yeah... I'm definitely looking forward to you helping us, Sonic!" Chopper exclaimed.
"Don't mention it!" Sonic gave him a thumbs up. "I'm always here to help!"
"Well, not much else to do other than collect this," Chopper walked over to the Forest Star and held it up as it circled around him.
You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power has increased to 12! And Chopper and use the special move Super Power Lift!
END OF CHAPTER!
With Robo Chopper out of the picture, Chopper was able to collect the eleventh Crystal Star in the Illusion Forest. But could it be possible that he may return and get revenge on Chopper again? Or will the tides turn on him as usual? As Chopper held up the Forest Star, he began to wonder about Grodus, Lord Crump and Gemerl. They were still out there and they could possibly make a move. He felt like they had a much bigger scheme planned out than before…
"OK... Now that we got that out of the way..." Berry started. "How do we get out of here?"
Before anyone could answer, a dark green pipe had emerged from the ground nearby. Apparently Scrub has spotted a bush nearby containing a blue ! switch revealing a pipe.
"Oh... I guess that answers that."
"You guys didn't see it there?" Scrub gawked. "C'mon! It was so obvious!"
"Well, it doesn't matter at this point. Let's just see where it takes us!" Chopper jumped into the pipe, hoping to discover where it led to. Everyone else but Berry had jumped in afterward. She looked up at the sky and then at the trees surrounding her.
"I think I'm going to miss this place… I haven't gotten to travel too much of this place, but I hope one day I come back here." Berry climbed onto the pipe, but before leaving, she took one last look at the place. Letting out a sigh, she entered the pipe.