CHAPTER 7-2
-The Sealed Doors Three-
Chopper, Tipral, and Luvbi were now in the new area of The Underwhere called Underwhere Road. While they didn't want to travel with the little Nimbi girl, they had no other choice. Everyone in the group wasn't enjoying her company either. Luvbi, too, wasn't happy with the group…with the exception of Chopper. She decided to flutter past the group and look on ahead.
"At long last, we find it…" Luvbi started. "Herein lies the way out of The Underwhere. This is Underwhere Road."
Around Chopper's surroundings, he saw brown, rocky walls, some carvings on them, a rocky ground, and a couple of torches to keep the place lit up. Things felt a bit fine…at least, for right now.
"Underwhere Road? Tssh! This doesn't look like a road at all! Who's the idiot who came up with the name?!" Tipral growled.
Luvbi turned to Tipral with a glare. "That 'idiot' that thou mention doth happen to be my mother, yon hideous creature! How DAREST thou call my mother an idiot?! She DOTH have the power to maketh thee suffer for eternity, thou knowest…"
"And will I even let her if she tries? I don't think so." Tipral gave a glare at her as well. "I'll say whatever the heck I want. I don't care of you're the daughter of someone who rules the aftergame."
"So, if we proceed ever upward, we'll eventually reach The Overthere?" Tippi asked, trying to stop the fight.
"Yea, verily! One would think that to be obvious…" Luvbi groaned, but soon smiled sweetly as she turned to Chopper. "Pray, Chopper! Once we reachest The Overthere, mayhap we can speaketh the way of love!"
"Huh?" Chopper jumped up a little and frowned. "What are you talking about?!"
"I doth be talking about love, my prince!"
"That's gross!"
"Hee hee! I'll take that as a 'yea'!" Luvbi giggled, causing Chopper to fall over in annoyance.
"She doesn't seem to listen to you," Tipral said while shaking his head in disbelief. "She's too ignorant."
"Pray, speakest to me, Tippi…" Luvbi began, ignoring Tipral and turning to Tippi. "What is thy idea of love?"
"Hm? Well, umm... I…" Tippi trailed.
"Hmm… I shall mark that as one vote for 'I dost not know'." Luvbi decided, giving her an unimpressed look. "Is it because thy love is 'unrequited'?"
At this point, Tippi was getting a bit peeved. "Unrequited?! That's ridiculous! I mean, I…"
"Hee hee… Sweet Tippi! How simple it is to tweak thy chain!" Luvbi giggled. "But mayhap thou will findeth thy true love in the future! As for me, I hast found Chopper!"
Of course, Chopper was shaking his head in response, and as usual, Luvbi had ignored his gesture and fluttered on ahead before turning to the group with a smile.
"So… Now I must forge onward. Catchest me if thou canst! Especially thee, my sweet prince!" Luvbi gave Chopper a wink before fluttering through the door, waiting for Chopper to follow her.
Tippi gaped as the door closed behind her. "That girl is a walking mood swing… I mean, she's entirely unstable, isn't she?"
"If we didn't need her, then I would've gotten rid of her five minutes ago," Tipral grumbled as he followed Chopper over to the door, where a D-Man was guarding.
"Hey, is this your first time going through Underwhere Road?" the D-Man asked. "I mean, it's practically impossible to see what's through the room up ahead, you know…"
"This is our first time down here," Tipral confirmed, clenching his fist. "We just need to go after that little girl who mocked me…"
The D-Man wanted to question why, but he didn't. "Yeah, great, listen, through this door is The Underwhere's hot spot, Underwhere Road! The dark is so dark in there, you can almost taste it! And it tastes like danger. So, tourists huh? Listen, you guys aren't packing any fire or anything, are you? Sorry, gotta ask. We keep it dark in there on purpose, so we don't wanna spoil it!"
"Darkness? Oh, boy… I don't think I'm going to like this…" Chopper trailed, looking down at his hands. "Though... I think I do have fire..."
"So you do, then! Great! I don't think you should have a problem getting through that dark room!" the D-Man laughed. "…And did Luvbi just walk through there, by any chance?"
"That brat? Yeah." Tipral grumbled.
"Listen, pale green kid, I don't think you want to leave her in there for a while. Nimbis aren't really ones who enjoy the darkness. You know what I'm sayin'? Though… I think that she has gone through this place a couple of times before… So she might be used to it."
"Then step aside, D-Man! I'll go through there no problem!" Chopper declared as he kicked the door open to find himself in a dark room.
"This…is weird. I can only see myself around this place, but it's like all of the darkness is made up of black scribbles… I wonder if I can see what's around me with Tippi's powers."
Chopper began to use Tippi's powers to search the area. He could see an unlit torch nearby, and he could also see Luvbi, who giggled as she looked at him.
"What art thou doing, my sweet prince? Dost thou have x-ray vision?" she giggled.
"Huh? This isn't x-ray vision!" Chopper retorted, blushing nervously. "And quit giggling! Why is it that you always have to giggle around me? It… It scares me!"
Chopper stopped using her powers and tossed a fireball at one of the torches to light the room up.
"Hold on a minute, Chopper… Why use a torch to look around this room while I can already see what's through here?" Tipral suggested, pointing to his white, glowing eyes. "I can see through the darkness, you know."
"Yeah, but I can't," Chopper replied, jumping onto the platform to the left to find a ? Block.
"Hold on a minute, Chopper… I should lead us through here." Tipral teleported straight on the platform he was on. Chopper had struck a ? Block to make a Mushroom pop out. He split the Mushroom in half so he and Tipral could have their own piece. But as soon as they finished eating the Mushroom, the whole place began to go dark again, leaving Chopper a bit blind.
"Aw, no! It's dark again!" Chopper frowned. He jumped onto the next platform to see a white figure. "Oh, it's just you Luvb- EEP! IT'S NOT YOU! IT'S AN UNDERHAND!"
"An Underhand? I'll take care of it." Tipral jumped onto the platform and swung his arm to throw a Star Spear at the Underhand. "There. Now that thing is gone… Are you happy now, Chopper?"
Chopper followed Tipral up to the platform where they found a "Flippy". "Oh! I haven't seen THESE in a long time! I think the last time I saw one was in Gloam Valley…"
Tipral was the first to use the Flippy, which brought him over the gap. Chopper followed afterward through the Flippy and jumped up two silver platforms that led to a dark blue platform with another Flippy that led them over another gap to the left.
"I can hear some Dark Boos teleporting around here…" Tippi warned. "Be careful, Chopper…"
"Dark Boos? Oh, man… That's not good." Chopper gulped as he followed Tipral up two more silver platforms onto another platform with another Flippy. Tipral snapped his finger to take out the Underhand to the left with Star Magic.
They jumped up two more platforms to land on a larger silver platform, but they were soon interrupted when a Dark Boo appeared right in front of Tipral and struck him with its tongue.
"Ack! You little…!" Tipral surrounded himself with some sort of Star-like barrier called a Star Burst that struck any enemy that got close to him. "That should take care of the Dark Boo, now let's go."
Tipral teleported onto the small, silver platform over to the left and then over to the large silver platform with a couple of pillars and a door to the right. Apparently, this was the top of the room.
"You just HAD to leave me here…" Chopper trailed as he jumped up to the platform. "Say… Where IS Luvbi anyway? I haven't heard anything from her after it got dark… Well, except for giggling."
"Thou dost not have to worry, my prince! I am OK!" Luvbi assured.
"Are you sure?"
"Yea, verily! I hath gone through this place many times. I doth be used to it!"
"OK..." Chopper trailed, he and Tipral approaching the door. Luvbi had already made it to it first, with Chopper being dead last.
"Ummmm… Are you going to open it?" Chopper asked, noticing Tipral closest to it.
"I tried opening it, but it feels like some mysterious force is blocking me…" Tipral trailed, attempting to open it. "Listen door… I know that you're not an ordinary one. Reveal yourself!"
"A being that knows my true form? How intriguing…"
Orange eyes that resembled Count Bleck's and an angry-looking frown appeared on the door as a result.
"Whoa..." Chopper gaped.
"Now! Queen Jaydes demands I guard this door, people! I'm Dorguy the First. Lotsa monsters around, folks. Lotsa monsters. So I've gotta do routine checks, OK? Sorry for the trouble, folks, but I need to make sure you're trustworthy."
"Ummmm... OK."
"Just a couple questions. Answer them all correctly, and we're done here! Then you can head on through. Here's the first one! I'm warning you, though, these are pretty tough questions, so use those noggins."
"All right, then. Tell us the questions." Tipral demanded.
"D-Man A goes to the store and buys an equal number of tomatoes and eggplants. Eggplants cost 7 coins apiece and tomatoes cost 10 coins apiece, OK? D-Man A has 50 coins when he goes into the store. He comes out with 5 coins." Dorguy the First informed. "Those are the facts. Now! Who is the most powerful person in The Underwhere?"
"Obviously it's…Queen Jaydes," Chopper answered.
"DING-O! Correct! Not bad! I'm surprised you knew the answer to that! Next question! Shayde B buys 667 pens for 13 coins each and buys 108 notebooks for 42 coins each. He needs more money, so he takes out 3,756 coins from the bank and spends it all."
"Those are a lot of coins…"
"Nobody cares," Tipral grumbled.
"Those are the facts," Dorguy the First announced. "Now! What is my name?"
"You're Dorguy the First," Tipral replied with his arms folded. "How obvious is that one?"
"DING-O! Correct! Now for the last question. Panda A and Bear B go to Apple Mountain for a day of apple picking, right? There are 120 apple trees on the mountain, and each has a 20-apple yield. A takes 10 seconds to pick each apple, while B takes 20 seconds to pick each apple. Those are the facts. Now! How many times did I just say the word 'apple'?"
"Hmmmm… I wasn't listening to that…" Tippi trailed. "Are you able to repeat that again?"
"Nope! I can only say it once! If you don't know the answer, then I can't let you pass!" stated Dorguy the First.
"Well the answer doth be obvious," Luvbi huffed. "The answer to that is six!"
"DING-O! Correct! You folks seem OK to me. Head on through." Dorguy the First's face disappeared as Chopper, Tipral and Luvbi headed on through the door to a small room filled with light.
"Finally! No more darkness!" Chopper smiled, stepping into the room. "Yay!"
Tipral, meanwhile, noticed three D-Men standing next to a small door. The other door next to him had a lock on it, so there was no way of getting through there.
"Chopper, did you notice the D-Men holding the door shut over there?" Tipral asked, pointing to the door.
"Huh?" Chopper looked up at the small door over by the right that was being locked. "What are those guys doing over by the door? Do they have that evil being held shut in there?"
"We should find out..." Tippi suggested, she and the others approaching the D-Men.
"Huh? What do you two want? Look, we'd love to chitchat, but we're crunch-time busy over here, can't you tell?" the first D-Man snarled, trying his best to hold the door shut like the others.
"We simply must reach The Overthere…" Tippi explained. "But we don't know which way it is…"
"The Overthere, huh…" the D-Man pondered. "See that door on your left? It'll take you up there. But we can't open it right now. We've gotta guard this door. We trapped a weird blue psycho from The Underwhere inside."
"Blue psycho…?" Chopper pondered. "Are they talking about Sonic? …Or even Blade?"
"Yup, this thing in here is DEFINITELY the evil being that's been roaming around these parts," confirmed the second D-Man. "Can't have it breaching security, so we locked both doors just in case."
"This thing's just INSANE, lemme tell you…" the third D-Man explained. "Real crazy. If it starts going insane again, I don't wanna be the D-Man who has to stop it. Problem is, until someone subdues it, we can't use the door to The Overthere…"
"Then why don't any of you do it yourself? Unless you're too…chicken." Tipral scoffed.
"Hey! We're NOT chickens! It just takes three D-Men to barricade this door! What? You think you two can do it? 'Cause if YOU both can calm it down, we can open that door for you. …Wanna give it a shot? …Unless you're, well, you know, chicken?"
"I could eat a chicken if I wanted to, but we'll do it," Chopper nodded.
"I haven't had a chance to fight anything for a while, so I'll do you guys the favor and do it," Tipral responded.
Bah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! I was just messing with you. Seriously, no one would ever be dumb enough to…" the D-Man paused. "Wait… Did you two both say 'yes'?"
"Yeah, we did."
All three D-Men gawked at the two.
"Are you NUTS?!"
"No... But if I was, I'd be eating myself." Chopper said.
"Y-Y-Y-You're SERIOUS?! You actually think you can calm that psycho down?!" the first D-Man gaped.
"Well, hey, yeah, great idea. Sounds like a smart plan…" the second D-Man trailed. "Tell you what… You head on in…and I'll mail your antennae to your next of kin!"
Chopper looked up at his antennae. "Well, I don't wanna lose my antennae…"
"Look, my prediction? Your game's about to end." the third D-Man predicted. "If not, we'll help you on your way. Give it a shot, champs! …And don't come running out of here without a reason."
Tipral was the first one to step into the room, but before Chopper could go in, Luvbi got his attention. He turned to her and noticed her worried look.
"Chopper… Dost thou really have to goest in there?" Luvbi asked with a worried look on her face.
"Yeah, I'm doing it. So…" Chopper pointed at the ground. "Stay."
He turned away and raced into the door ahead.
"Oh, Chopper, my sweet prince… I hopeth that thou art OK…" Luvbi trailed worriedly as the door closed.
Through the door-
"Ughh… Another dark room?" Chopper grumbled to himself, but he happened to notice a couple of torches. "Tipral, what's going on in there?"
"Why don't you see for yourself," suggested Tipral. Chopper shrugged and he tossed a fireball at one of the torches. That triggered a couple of other torches to be lit up. To their surprise, they saw Blade sitting over by the corner, making marks on the wall on how long he was here.
"I'm so bored! Really! I can't believe I've only been here for 13 minutes and 32 seconds!" Blade groaned, marking the thirteenth minute on the wall. "When am I going to be free from this place? I didn't do anything wrong!"
"Hey, Blade!" Chopper's childish voice was what caught Blade's attention when he walked over to him.
"Chopper?! You're here too?! Did those weirdos throw you in here as well?" Blade asked.
"No, they didn't throw us in here. They said if we could, uh, 'tame' the monster that was in here, they'll let us go through the door that we need to go through." Chopper explained as best as he could.
"What do you mean, 'we'? Is Kirby or Sonic here?"
"Uhhhh… No… You see, here's the funny thing. Tipral's with me." Chopper stepped out of the way, where Tipral could be seen right before Blade's eyes.
"TIPRAL!" Blade drew his katana out and jumped over to him, getting in his fighting stance. "What are YOU doing here?! Haven't you already learned your lesson from before?!"
"Look, just let me explain what's going on first!" Tipral snapped. "You see, Dimentio betrayed me and sent me down to this place. I met Chopper there as well, but we both had a goal: to get to the Chaos Heart and Dark Prognosticus. Plus, I wish to get revenge on Dimentio for what he's done. So… I suggest you put that katana away and let us move on!"
"Why should I believe you, after all the things you've done?!" Blade hissed. "You've caused so many problems, that I can't believe you one BIT!"
"Tipral's right, Blade. That's the exact reason why we're here. We both need to get to his castle anyway." Chopper informed. "Just lower your katana and things will be OK."
"I can still hardly believe that… This is TIPRAL, Chopper! You know, the one that's trying to destroy us and all worlds?!"
Tipral folded his arms. "Hmph! You still don't believe me after what Chopper and I said? So be it. While I don't care if you believe me or not, it's best that we get out of here… Trust me, Blade. I AM speaking the truth. And if you refuse to come with us, I might as well do it by force."
"Oh, I'll come with Chopper, just not you!" Blade growled. "How about YOU stay here while Chopper and I go search for the Pure Heart! Got that?"
"Like I'm going to listen to you. I guess I have no other choice but to settle things violently. Chopper! You get out of here, along with the Pixls!"
"Wait, what're you doing? You're actually going to FIGHT him?!" Chopper gaped.
"That's the only thing I can do, since he refuses to believe me. I don't need any Pixls to fight him! I can simply prove that I am not someone to mess with, even without my scepter!"
"Pbbbbbbbbbth! All right, then! I guess we might as well fight! It's going to feel good being the one to put you down once and for all!" Blade grinned, ready to strike. "Let's go!"
Though the use of Pixls was not Tipral's idea, he wasn't against using Tippi to at least gather some information on him.
"That's Blade. You know, one of Chopper's friends and one of the heroes of the prophecy... Max HP is 70. Attack is 6. Like any ninja, he wields a katana and will throw shurikens your way. Blade can also create clones that can fool you and attack... Honestly, I'd rather you not fight him, Tipral... Just giving you this information makes me feel sour..." Tippi informed.
"Take THIS!" Blade jumped up and came down at Tipral with his katana, but the dark being simply teleported behind him and kicked him with a Star Kick, knocking him straight the ground.
"What the… How did you…" Blade gaped before he was struck by Star Magic from a snap of Tipral's finger.
"You were asking for it," Tipral grumbled as he rushed straight at Blade. He punched him in the face with a Star Punch, but he was soon knocked away by Blade's kick, sending him to the wall.
"Oh, man… Which person should I even be rooting for anyway? I know Tipral is trying to clear things up with Blade, yet he's an evil villain as well… Yet, Blade is on my side too… Man! I don't know what to do!" Chopper began to bonk his head a couple of times.
"Maybe we should leave this room…" suggested Tippi.
"What? And go back where Luvbi is? Blah! You don't know how contagious her kisses are, though!" Chopper gagged, having his tongue out in disgust. "I just… I just don't want to be in her death hug!"
"It would be nice to stay safe, wouldn't it, though?"
"Well the D-Men aren't going to let us out until Blade is…yeah," Chopper grumbled, deciding to stay out of the battle by flipping into 3-D.
Blade attempted to swing at Tipral with his katana, but he managed to jump out of the way and hit the ceiling with his fists. A couple of rocks fell on top of Blade as the ground began to shake.
"Hey! No fair! You can't do that!" Blade snarled.
"I can do whatever I want," Tipral retorted, falling from the ceiling and stomping on Blade's head, performing a stylish move before tossing a Star Spear near Blade's feet, sending him flying back to the wall.
"Why can't I hit him? I only landed a kick on him and that's it!" Blade grumbled as he got back up. He tossed a couple of shurikens at Tipral and was happy to see that he got him with them.
"Shurikens aren't going to do much when you're up against a being made of darkness," Tipral stated as he grabbed one of the shurikens on him and threw it straight at Blade, who blocked it with his katana.
"Gah… This is getting to be annoying." Blade mumbled to himself as he did a couple of signs with his hands to create a couple of clones.
"You really think that a couple of clones are going to stop me?!" Tipral brought his arms up to block the attacks that the clones were trying to strike him with and then began to glow a purple color.
"I'm warning you, Blade… When you get on my bad side, things get ugly!" Tipral swung his fists as he clenched them, making the energy around him greater than before. "Star…BLAST!"
Tipral unleashed a huge blast of Star energy that destroyed every single clone and even sent Blade flying to the wall.
"ACK! What…was THAT?!" he gaped, getting himself up. But things didn't look too well for him when Tipral rushed straight at him and punched him in the stomach with a Star Punch.
"Must…not…lose!" Blade knocked Tipral back with a kick and slashed at Tipral a couple of times with his katana. After three slashes, he charged up a flaming slash that scorched Tipral while knocking him to the ground.
"So, are you ready to give up now, Tipral?" Blade smirked while putting his foot on him while raising his katana up. "I guess I better finish you off. If my sensai were alive, he'd be proud of me…"
Tipral clenched his fists as he looked at Blade with his evil face. "I dare you to try, Blade. I won't gibe you any mercy!"
"What? I think you should be BEGGING for mercy here! Just watch this!" Blade brought his katana down on Tipral, but he discovered that he got his katana stuck to the ground. "What the…!"
"Looking for me?!" Tipral threw a shadow ball from behind Blade, knocking him straight to the ground. He walked over to the ninja and kicked him to see him cringe in more pain.
"What a pathetic little ninja you are! You can't even get up?! You're WEAK!" Tipral scoffed while folding his arms. "I'll tell you this: there are far, FAR better ninjas than you!"
"Urgh… Sure… There may be better ninjas…" Blade slowly got himself up and grabbed Tipral. "…But I'm certainly NOT weak!"
He bashed his head with his own head and let him go. With a kick, he was able to knock him to the wall.
However, Tipral managed to jump off the wall to head straight back toward Blade, but he too was ready to make the blow…until Tipral teleported before he could even get hit by Blade's punch.
"Aw, come on! Do you REALLY need to teleport?! It's getting ANNOYING!" Blade grumbled, trying to hit Tipral with his fists. He noticed that his katana was still stuck to the ground.
"Oh, yeah… I forgot about that thing…" Blade pulled his katana out of the ground, but was soon grabbed by Tipral, who punched him in the face a couple of times before he threw him to the wall on the right.
"Had enough yet, Blade?" Tipral asked.
"Ugh… No, Tipral… I'm not giving up until you're dead!" Blade growled as he rushed straight at him. Tipral was about to snap his finger, but he was struck by Blade's katana instead.
"Urgh… Not bad." Tipral teleported on top of Blade and slammed his fists down on his head with Star energy. While he was on the ground, he snapped his finger, knocking Blade back with Star Magic.
"Why don't you just believe me already? Chopper already told you that I'm telling the truth!" Tipral growled, looking down at Blade.
"Like I'll ever believe a fiend like you!" Blade struck Tipral with a flaming slash from his katana. He was able to bring his fists up to defend himself, but even that didn't help him that much.
Blade kicked Tipral afterward, but since he was guarding, he was only pushed back a little. Tipral immediately swung one of his fists and struck Blade with a Star Spear, followed up by a jump. He also performed a stylish move.
"How come you can perform a stylish move?" Blade asked.
"That's because the player is controlling me," Tipral explained. "Wait… Player…?"
Even though he was a bit confused, he still took Blade down with a slamming Star Kick, knocking him straight to the ground.
"Try all you want, but you're STILL not going to hurt me with all of your…" While Blade spoke, Tipral Star Kicked him in the crotch. "OH BOY… Now that hurts like a…"
"Oh, shut up!" Tipral snapped his finger and Blade was sent flying up in the room. He teleported up to him and slammed his fists down on him afterward, sending him straight to the ground.
Once Blade hit the ground, he couldn't get up. He was badly injured at this point.
"So, how does it feel to lose to me?" Tipral asked, grabbing him by the shirt. He pulled a Poison Mushroom out. "I hope you like Poison Mushrooms! These things are CERTAINLY good for you!"
"Wait, Tipral! Don't do that!" Chopper flipped back into 2-D and tried to pull his arm with the Poison Shroom away. "I don't want you to hurt Blade anymore… He's suffered enough."
"Chopper's right, Tipral… Lower the Poison Shroom…" suggested Tippi.
Tipral turned to Chopper. "Listen you! Don't try getting in my way!" he knocked Chopper to the wall with his fist. "I'LL decide when I'm done fighting your friend! NOT you!"
While Tipral was yelling at Chopper, Blade slowly got himself up, gripping his katana. "Ugh… I can still win this! Now that he's distracted… I can go in and finish him!"
Blade staggered over to Tipral, but little did he know that he could sense him coming. With a snap of his finger, Tipral sent Blade flying across the room with his Star Magic ability.
"Thought I forgot about you?!" Tipral teleported straight toward Blade and he began to knock him straight into the walls a couple of times before the ninja fell straight to the ground, letting out a few coughs.
"Cough… Ch…Chopper… S…a…v…e…m…e…" Blade wheezed.
Tipral looked down at Blade. He was about to finish him…
"Tipral! Leave him be!" Tippi cried.
At this moment, Tipral began to remember hearing someone cry out of him. He heard the words, "No! Don't do it!" in his head. After thinking for a moment, he lowered his head and arm and shut his eyes.
"…Fine, you've suffered enough," Tipral turned away from Blade and walked toward Chopper.
"Blade! Are you all right?" Chopper rushed to Blade's aid, taking out a Super Shroom Shake and giving it to him. "Man… I don't know why Tipral would do this to you…"
After Blade finished the Super Shroom Shake, he slowly got himself up. His body was covered in many bruises. After wiping some dirt off of his mouth, he looked down at Chopper.
"Chopper, I'm sorry if I didn't listen to you before I fought Tipral… I was just pissed off at the fact that Tipral destroyed an entire world. I think I let my emotions get to me first. ...However, I still find his actions pretty unforgivable.
"It's OK, Blade, but Tipral is actually telling the truth. Dimentio was sent us down to The Underwhere." Chopper explained.
"The Underwhere? …I'm not going to make any weird comments, but if it's The Underwhere? How come there's not any underwear around here?" Blade questioned.
"This isn't the Land of Clean Laundry…or the Land of Underwear," Tipral said as he looked back at Chopper and Blade.
"Well, whatever this place is, I guess I ought to go help you find the Pure Heart that's apparently here."
Blade has rejoined the party!
"Unfortunately, we haven't found any sight of Kirby or Sonic yet…" Tippi trailed, fluttering over to the door. "Let's hope that they're OK…"
"Let's hope I'm OK when we go through that door!" Chopper shivered, looking back at the door.
"What do you mean?" Blade raised an eyebrow.
Back outside-
As the trio walked out of the door, the three D-Men that were guarding the door noticed them walk out of the door.
"Hey, it's you two!" the first D-Man gawked. "And your game isn't over… Did you run away or something?"
"Dude… They didn't run away. I just got my butt handed to me by Tipral, that's all." Blade wheezed. "And I'm NOT the evil being that you said was roaming around here! I'm a GOOD guy!"
"Wait… You're a good guy and NOT an evil monster?"
"Yeah, I'm not evil…"
"SERIOUSLY?!"
"NO WAY!"
"All right, cut it out already!" Blade growled.
"Oh… Sorry about that, weirdo." the third D-Man apologized. "We didn't mean to get all excited like that. The only thing that stinks is that that evil being is still somewhere on the loose. But, since we're not guarding the door, why don't you take this?"
The D-Man walked over to Blade and handed him a Door Key. "Thank you very much! …But what does it do?"
"This key will bring you up to The Overthere! What else? …But, anyway, it's all cool. That problem's finally solved… So, while you guys go to The Overthere, I'll just stay on watch here. You two go find the rest of those monsters out there!"
"WE'RE ON IT!" both D-Men shouted, going back to their posts, only leaving the one D-Man, but he had something to say to the heroes.
"Hey, lemme give you a little tip. Lots of dark areas around here, right? Solution: put a little flame to the torch sconces you see on the walls! That'll light up the place for awhile. Careful, though, they'll eventually go out. If you had some fire with you, get on torch duty, STAT!"
"So… Why exactly were you afraid of leaving that room? In fact, is The Overthere where the Pure Heart is?" Blade questioned.
"Well, it's kinda hard to explain why I didn't wanna be in here… You see… We have…"
"CHOPPER!" the sound of the girlish squeal made Chopper's face turn white in fear as Luvbi came flying his way.
"Wait… Who the heck is she?" Blade gawked.
"That's a girl that we have to bring to The Overthere… Her name is Luvbi…" Tippi explained. "Apparently she has a big crush on Chopper… But he doesn't seem to enjoy it that much…"
"Pfffffft! Is THIS why Chopper was afraid of coming here? I can't believe it!" Blade snickered, walking over to his scared friend. "Come on, Chopper! You can't take it like a man?"
"Pray, who might thou be?" Luvbi asked, looking at Blade. "Art thou one of my prince's smelly servants?"
"Smelly? Servant? What'd I ever do to you?"
"Thou dost remind me of a cow."
This was when Blade got angered. "Really? I get thrown into prison JUST to get this kind of treatment?!"
"Well, mayhap it is because I am so cute, while thou art more like an ugly duckling," Luvbi stated.
"All right! That's it!" Blade was about to grab Luvbi, but she fluttered above him and stuck her tongue out.
"Pray, Chopper… Why dost these people traveling with thee have to ruin our romance? I just want to be with thee only!"
"But there's nothing between us!" Chopper retorted, only to get a giggly response.
"Oh, Chopper! Thou hast such a nice sense of humor! I'll movest on to the next room right now, so don't leavest me there!" Luvbi fluttered down to the door and left.
"Seriously… I can't believe a bratty girl like her has a thing for you!" Blade snickered. "That's just…hilarious! I gotta think up of a good song!"
"Don't start acting like Bang again!" Chopper grumbled.
"Chopper and Luvbi sitting in a tree! K-"
"Shut up already," Tipral cut off. "I don't have time to deal with this."
"Honestly, I have to agree with Tipral..." Tippi said. "Now's not the time… We need to head on through the next room…"
"Oh, yeah… And we need fire as well!" Chopper looked over at the torch. "I didn't even inhale fire yet, so I think now would be a good time to do so!"
Chopper inhaled the flames on the torch and swallowed it without burning his mouth. He got himself a fiery gold tiara with a green gem in the middle and his skin turned a light red tint with his gloves and feet becoming a red color.
"Hey! I just got the Fire ability! Now THIS is nice!" Chopper smirked as he kicked the door into another dark room.
"Hey! Why's is so dark in here?" Blade questioned.
"Don't worry, I'll handle it," Chopper spewed out flames from his mouth at the unlit torch over by his right. It lit the torch and made the whole room light. They then immediately jumped on the silver platform to the right and then the larger one to the left.
"Follow me, my prince!" Luvbi hollered, fluttering on ahead.
"Hold on a minute…" Chopper looked at the Dry Bones that rose up in front of him. "I just have to take care of a little something…"
Chopper unleashed his flames upon the Dry Bones, destroying it within seconds. Then he proceeded up onto the small platform above him. However, he noticed that there were many of these platforms.
"So The Underwhere likes to torture us by making us jump these platforms? How interesting…" Tipral growled.
"At least I can fly, unlike thee, yon hideous monster," Luvbi scoffed.
"You're making me want to punch you in the face," Tipral grumbled.
"Thou will not lay a finger on me! If thou tryest, then thou might as well kiss thy life goodbye."
"Geez, why is this girl speaking in that weird accent?" Blade whispered to Chopper. "It's like she's one of those extremely romantic princesses or something..."
"What didst thou sayeth?!" Luvbi gave Blade a glare.
"Uhhhh… He said that I have cheese in my pocket." Chopper lied.
"But thou dost not have pockets, my prince," Luvbi frowned, looking down at Chopper.
"Oh... I don't. Now that I think about it, how do I put stuff away?"
"And how come the whole room got dark again?" Blade asked.
"Oh, that? Lemme take care of it." Chopper noticed an unlit torch on a platform he jumped on and lit it up with some flames.
"I'd prefer to stay in the dark, honestly," Tipral stated.
"Well I wouldn't," Chopper said as he jumped on a large, silver platform with a door up ahead. "Hey! I think we made it already!"
"Finally… I've been waiting for this." Tipral walked over to the door and banged on it with his fist. "We know that you're no ordinary door! I would suggest that you show yourself!"
"Halt! What's this, then? Travelers have come?" the door's face revealed itself, having a similar look to the previous one, only this one's eyes were red instead of orange.
"Queen Jaydes demands I guard this door, folks! I'm Dorguy the Second! Look, I apologize for the intrusion, but I've gotta run a quick security check, here. I've got a few questions. Answer them all correctly, and I'll wave you on through."
"Please dost so," Luvbi said. "I doth want to return to The Overthere quickly."
"Activate screen!"
A monitor came down above the heroes. Luvbi fluttered right next to it to get a better look at it.
"Are we watching a movie?" Blade gawked.
"All right, Question One! Look closely at the objects on the screen, OK, folks?" Dorguy the Second said as the group watched as they saw a couple of shapes such as circles, squares and triangles move around the screen. When it finished, the monitor turned off. "Now, answer me this… How many red objects were there?"
"I think there were three," Chopper answered.
"Hmm… Sorry, folks, but I'm not gonna tell you if you're right or not just yet. Question Two! Watch that screen now!"
The group watched the screen once again. All four of them tried their best to memorize what the objects were and how many there were.
"How many triangles were there, folks?"
"I've only seen two in there," Blade responded.
"Hoo hoo ha… Question Three! Eyes at the screen, folks!" they all watched the screen again. This time, all but the blue ones weren't moving.
"What color were the moving objects?"
"They were blue," Tipral said in annoyance.
"That's your answer, eh? Now, next question! …Off the top of our head, what number question is this?"
"The answer doth be four," Luvbi huffed.
"Hey! Why are you answering these?!" Blade gawked.
"Shuttest thy trap, filthy creature!"
"Getting tired yet, folks? Don't give up! This is the last question… Look closely at the screen."
The most that they could see on the screen were triangles. "What shape was the most plentiful, folks?"
"Apparently, there were more triangles out of them all," Chopper noticed.
"DONE! Lemme just analyze your responses real quick…" Dorguy the Second began to analyze the responses for a quick minute and returned to the group. "Hoo hoo HA! P-P-P-Perfect! Amazing… I'm…impressed. Your brain ages must be very young, folks! Well, with brains that young, you must be good people! Head on in!"
"THANK YOU!" Blade shouted as he walked over to the door.
"I swear, if you were trying to pull off a Beedle impression, I'm going to bonk you in the head," Chopper grumbled as he walked into the door to another similar room to the other.
"Apparently the door that we need to go to is locked. Great…" Tipral groaned.
"Why don't we check the door over to the left?" Tippi suggested, glancing at the small, pink door with hearts.
"I don't like the look of that room..." Chopper trailed. "But I guess we don't have much of a choice..."
When the three entered the door, Chopper looked back at Luvbi and pointed at the floor, telling her to remain outside. When he finally entered the room, he saw the walls were a yellow color, making the room look bright. There were three creepy, old hags in blue, green and pink. The pink one seemed to notice them first.
"Eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh! I am Hagra, yes, one of the ancient sisters three… The Underwhere crones!" Hagra introduced. "Mm… Young ones, aren't you? Yes, very young. And where are you headed, flaming little boy, filthy cat and dark one?"
"Sheesh! She calls me filthy as well?" Blade gawked. "I'm a cat! And I'm NOT filthy!"
"We're looking for the Pure Heart…" Tippi trailed.
"You seek the Pure Heart, so you desire an audience with Grambi? Sounds serious… Well, you are not the only soul here with a problem, no…for I have one as well. Yes, I lent a certain book to a certain D-Man, you see…and now I need it back. Could you find him and get it back for me, flaming little boy, dark one, and uh…non-filthy cat?"
"Forget that! Don't trust old hags!"
"Hey, she might help us, though," Chopper said.
"Oh, fine…" Blade groaned.
Hagra grinned. "Good, yes, good… Allow me to send you to where the D-Man in question is. And thanks for your help, yes… Hagracadagra!"
Beginning of Underwhere Road-
"Huh? Where'd she take us now?" Tipral asked.
"Crud… It better not be all the way at the beginning…" Chopper grumbled. He walked over to the D-Man that he noticed from the beginning. "Crud! We ARE at the very beginning!"
"What? Oh, come on! Well, this is going to be fun..." Blade groaned, approaching the D-Man. "Hey, dude! We're looking for a book that a hag wanted us to get back for her."
"Oh, the book? The one I borrowed from the hag? Yeah, no prob, no prob. Just finished reading that bad boy, actually."
"Sometimes people never learn that those things don't work…" Tipral murmured as he slowly shook his head after grabbing the book from the D-Man.
"Gotta say, that weight-loss plan seems kinda dubious. Yeah, probably a fad. But hey, thank that hag for me anyway, OK?"
"Yeah, and now we have to BACKTRACK!" Chopper groaned.
"Or better yet, we'll just teleport," Tipral grabbed Chopper and Blade's arm and they teleported back to Hagra.
Back with Hagra-
"Hm? Did you get the book back, flaming little boy?" Hagra asked.
"It's right here," Tipral threw the book at Hagra's face. What was strange was the fact that he didn't get hit by her.
"Ohh, this is it, yes, yes. See, I'm getting a little…paunchy in my old age. I thought I might try this 'No-Tummy Mummy Diet' to try and get back into shape… Thanks for getting this, yes. Let me give you this as a thanks, flaming little boy and his friends."
Hagra cackled as she gave Chopper a Door Key. "Eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh! Good-bye, flaming little boy and his two friends!"
"Chopper and I aren't friends…" Tipral mumbled under his breath.
Well, needless to say, the trio walked out of the room and back to where Luvbi was flying around.
"Didst thou findeth what thou needest, my sweet prince?" Luvbi asked sweetly.
"Yeah, we found the key," Chopper unlocked the door with the key, making the lock break off. "So, are you going to go in?"
"Yea, I shall," Luvbi said, entering the door and giving him a sweet look.
"Heh heh heh! Luvbi sure 'luvs' Chopper, huh?" Blade snickered.
"Please don't say that to me..." Chopper frowned.
"Save it for later. We need to get going." Tipral opened the door to another dark room, and hopefully, the last.
After Chopper lit up the room with his flames, they noticed that they were back outside instead of being inside.
"We art almost there! Art thou excited, my sweet prince?" Luvbi squealed.
"I guess so..."
"So, we need to get up there!" Tipral pointed at the rocks above them. "Apparently, only I can get us up there, so I might as well do that."
Tipral teleported him and the other two onto the rocks so they could jump over to some silver stairs. They simply walked up the stairs until they saw more floating above them. Not only that, but there were Spiny Tromps coming down those steps.
"Hmmmmm… That might be a bit tough to get around…" Chopper trailed as he teleported up the stairs with Tipral's help. "I think flipping might work here."
Chopper flipped into 3-D with the other two to go up the stairs to a door. Apparently, Luvbi was happy to see the door.
"This doth be the last door!" Luvbi announced. "We'll finally be out of this world!"
"Great… So no more of this darkness… That's nice." Tipral sighed while walking over to the door. "OK, Dorguy, we know that you're there."
Chopper decided to remove his Fire ability, no longer needing it. Everyone gave him a strange look. "What? It's not like I'm gonna NEED it…"
"Pray, Chopper! Thou hast the power to steal abilities?" Luvbi questioned.
"Yeah, it's strange, but I like it," Chopper smiled.
"Oh, no… Travelers have come?" the door groaned.
"What do you mean, 'oh no'? We're trying to save the WORLD here!"
A face appeared on the door, its face resembling Dorguy the First. "Queen Jaydes demands I guard this door, people! I am Dorguy the Third. I've gotta take a sec and see if you folks are worthy to pass through."
"I suppose that this involves us having to answer questions, isn't it?" Tipral asked in an irritated tone.
"Nope! This time I've got something better! Can I get a little… UNDERCHOMP!"
The ground began to shake over to the left and, to their surprise, three Chain Chomps ripped through the background. They were red, yellow and blue.
"If you folks are worthy of passing through, you should be able to beat these guys. So, if you wanna head on through, you gotta fight!"
"This is my kind of thing!" Tipral cracked his knuckles as the Underchomps charged at the three.
Enter RPG Battle-
Underchomp attacks!
Chopper inhales Red Underchomp and spits him at Blue Underchomp!
BAM! Red Underchomp and Blue Underchomp take 10 damage!
Red Underchomp attacks!
Chopper takes 5 damage!
Blue Underchomp breathes fire!
Now that's hot! Chopper takes 5 damage!
Yellow Underchomp expels stinky breath!
Chopper dodges like a pro!
Blade slashes at Yellow Underchomp!
Now that's deadly! Yellow Underchomp takes 12 damage!
Red Underchomp gathers strength!
Blue Underchomp Attacks!
Blade dodges like a pro!
Yellow Underchomp expels stinky breath!
Oh no! It's putrid! Blade takes 5 damage!
Tipral uses Star Magic on Red Underchomp!
It's deadly! Red Underchomp takes 10 damage!
Tipral defeated Red Underchomp!
Blue Underchomp gathers strength!
Yellow Underchomp attacks!
Tipral takes 5 damage!
Chopper uses Cudge on Blue Underchomp!
Blue Underchomp takes 10 damage!
Chopper defeated Blue Underchomp!
Yellow Underchomp expels stinky breath!
Oh no! It's putrid! Chopper takes 5 damage!
Blade slashes at Yellow Underchomp!
Now that's deadly! Yellow Underchomp takes 12 damage!
Blade defeated Yellow Underchomp!
You defeated the Underchomp!
You receive 6000 experience points!
Exit RPG Battle-
"Hey, check you folks out! You beat the Underchomps… Good work. Head on in!"
Dorguy the Third allowed the four to walk through the door. They were relieved to see a Star Block in the next room. Not only that, but they could also see a shining light near a star case as well!
"Just beyond those stairs is The Overthere!" Luvbi squealed. "I can't wait to show thee to Father, my sweet prince!"
"Well... We do need to see him..." Chopper trailed, striking the block. "I just want to get out of this darkness."
END OF CHAPTER
Our heroes had found their way out of the dark and confusion of The Underwhere. Chopper and his friends now saw the sun shining brightly against a beautiful blue sky. This was the sky paradise Grambi called home, a place of joy called The Overthere. Somewhere above the never-ending layers of clouds waited Grambi himself. Chopper and his friends began to make their way up that fluffy road to above…
Yeah, this was a long chapter. Chapter 7 itself will be pretty long, especially at the end.
Anyway, other than that... Apparently we're going to EVERYONE'S favorite level! ...And just to make things clear, the next part WILL be different. It won't be the 7-3 level of Super Paper Mario. Oh, no... You'll see, though!