CHAPTER 8-3
-A Monster Down Below-
The loss of Kirby was a big one for the group, but they all knew that they couldn't just stay here and cry about it all day. The only thing that seemed a bit strange to them was that this room was the EXACT same as the beginning room of Chapter 8-2 in Castle Tipral. But, unlike that hallway, there were different enemies in the room. Ones that looked a bit similar to Chopper and Sonic in the Bitlands.
"Oh, man… I can't believe we've lost two of our friends in this castle…" Chopper trailed, looking out the window. "We've made it this far into the castle, but at the cost of losing our friends. Tipral, why did you make us have to suffer like this? Did you put a bunch of traps in here?"
"No, I didn't put any traps in my castle," Tipral retorted. "Why on earth would I do that in the first place?! …Well, yeah, I would do that if you were coming, but I wasn't the one that put them there. They were all here before I could even come to this nice and dark world."
"'Nice'? I wouldn't exactly call this a nice world, Tipral…" Sonic trailed while frowning. "This world is filled with nothing but darkness. It doesn't make the place any better. It's just…gloomy."
"That's just your opinion, blue hedgehog. You prefer green hills, while I prefer dark areas like this."
"Yeah, yeah, I know that. I just don't understand why a gloomy place feels so good. Personally, I find it entirely bland and…dull. Why can't there be a bit more color to this place instead of this black and stuff?"
"Uhh… Guys? I don't think we should be thinking about what the castle is at the moment." Chopper interrupted, giving them all an impatient look. "We still have some ways to go, remember?"
"Yeah, that's true. I just hope those two are doing fine in The Overthere…" Sonic trailed.
"But what if they're sent to The Underwhere instead?" Tipral questioned.
"Then… Well, there's no way they'd go there!" Chopper shook his head, denying it. "They were good people."
"I see," Tipral walked away from the group. "I suppose we should start moving on."
"Yes, I would love to do that…" Tippi trailed, still thinking about a special person. "Blumiere… Why? Why are you doing this? What ever happened to being a good person and living in peace?"
"Excuse me, but I keep hearing about this 'Blumiere' person. I think it's time for you to move on and actually HELP for once instead of thinking of someone you possibly love!" Tipral growled.
"Wait… You love this Blumiere?" Chopper gawked.
"Ummmmm… Just forget about it!" Tippi suggested. "I think Tipral's right when he means that we should move on. I just don't want to get into another conversation like this…"
The trio suddenly felt another tremor. A small one, though. "Yeah, no kidding. We need to MOVE!" suggested Sonic.
Through the hallway, there were, like I, the narrator, have said before, Dark Soldiers roaming around the hallway. The funny thing about them was that they were in silver armor instead of purple.
"See? Even the Dark Creatures are wearing silver armor!" Chopper snickered. "But, just for the heck of it, I'm going to use Tippi's powers to investigate them. Y'know, just to see their basic stats and HP."
Chopper started off by scanning the first Dark Soldier in sight. This one was carrying a jagged, purple sword that looked rather dangerous.
"That's an Ultra Dark Warrior. They have a thing for jagged, purple swords… Max HP is 20, Attack is 6, and Defense is 2. They will charge at you and try to strike you with their sword… The best option to defeat them is to use an attack that's far-ranged or to get behind them… Getting close to that sword is definitely not a good idea…" Tippi informed.
"Ah, I see. So we should use attacks that aren't close-ranged against them." Chopper slowly nodded. "Tipral, maybe you ought to use your Star Spear on that Ultra Dark Swordsman."
"Hmph! Fine." Tipral swung his arm and fired a Star Spear directly at the Ultra Dark Swordsman. This got its attention and made it charge straight at the three.
"This guy's too slow!" Sonic jumped over the Dark Creature and bashed it with a couple of Homing Attacks before it was defeated for good. But that only got him shot by another Dark Creature.
"I guess this one has a blaster instead of a sword… I guess you'll want me to Tattle on it, right?" Tippi asked Chopper, who gave her a nod. He used her ability once again on the Dark Creature.
"That's an Ultra Dark Soldier. They are more advanced versions of Dark Soldiers… Max HP is 20, Attack is 6, and Defense is 2. These soldiers rely on using their blasters to shoot you from a far range. To make the fight easier for you, you might want to try to get close to them to get a better attack on them… Try not to keep yourself open when you're around these guys…" Tippi informed.
"Hmmmmm… I see. Maybe I can inhale one of their attacks?" Chopper opened his mouth and began to inhale one of the purple lasers an Ultra Dark Soldier fired from its blaster like a vacuum.
"I don't understand WHAT you just did…" Tipral trailed.
Chopper swallowed the laser and was now donning a high-tech visor. The laser would apparently shoot out the rounder part of the visor, which is near Chopper's left eye.
He fired a green laser directly at the Ultra Dark Soldier twice, which ended up piercing through its tough armor, but not dealing full damage. However, once he charged up a powerful green laser the Ultra Dark Soldier was finished.
"Whew! Well that worked out pretty well." Chopper ran up ahead, but soon stopped when he found another Ultra Dark Swordsman. But, since it couldn't get him from a far range, he blasted it with his Laser ability.
"Aw, come on! Why can't I get in some of the fun?" Sonic asked, following Chopper up to an Ultra Dark Soldier.
"Well, maybe you can use your speed to strike that enemy," suggested Chopper, stunning the Ultra Dark Soldier with one shot. "Go on, Sonic. Make a move."
"Right on!" Sonic curled into a ball and struck the Ultra Dark Soldier with a powerful Spin Dash, knocking it straight to the ground. He finished it off with a simple Bounce Attack.
"It really feels silent without Blade and Kirby…" Tippi trailed.
"Yeah, sometimes one of them would usually bring something up and it wouldn't be silent," Chopper frowned, stomping on a Blastboxer in the room a couple of times and shooting an Ultra Dark Swordsman a couple of times.
"There's not much through this hallway, I'll admit," Tipral stated as he managed to take out an Ultra Dark Soldier with a snap of his finger and then a Star Kick. It went down pretty easily, to his surprise.
"Something tells me we're probably going to be meeting up with a certain Dark Creature king…" Sonic trailed as he bashed his way through a couple of more Dark Creatures. Unfortunately, the door that they were led to was locked.
"Uh oh… The door's locked!"
"Well, there IS a saying… Ummmmm… I don't remember what it was." Chopper forgot, making Sonic and Tipral sweat drop.
"So, you don't know what to do?" Tipral asked.
"Oh, I do remember what I need to do. I just don't remember what the saying was."
Tipral: -.-;
"Just let me do what I need to do, Tipral," Chopper assured, throwing his arms up. "I'm pretty sure there's something in 3-D for me to check. There might be some sort of hole or a secret room."
He was right about the secret room. Over by the wall, there was a secret passageway for him to walk through. It led him into a small room with a couple of Ultra Dark Soldiers and Ultra Dark Swordsmen.
"Careful, Chopper… It might not be easy to take them all alone…" warned Tippi.
"Maybe I can do something about that!" Chopper fired a couple of lasers at the Dark Creatures, and he even finished some off with a couple of fireballs hurled directly at their faces. "Yup! That's something that I can do!"
Once the last Dark Creature was defeated, it dropped a Castle Tipral Key for Chopper to take. He immediately went back to the other two and showed them the glorious, gray key that he found.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Put the key in the lock!" Tipral growled.
"Whoa, Tipral… No need to get so angry." Sonic said, trying to calm down.
"And why should I listen to you? I would've been better off having Chopper left through that door where Kirby was in. But I'd rather not get into discussion about this. Just unlock the stupid door."
"Sheesh… You're seriously getting on my nerves with your anger." Chopper commented before unlocking the door with the key. They immediately walked through the door into another room.
"Huh… Well, what do ya know? They finally put some loops in this room!" Sonic grinned while stretching his legs. "Finally! I've been waiting to run through these things for a LONG time!"
"Well, then we better not just sit here and talk," Chopper began to charge up his Speed Dash, his feet now moving in a figure-8 pattern. Once it was fully charged, he took off through the loop and down the slope to a ramp.
"I can see a waterfall in this room…" Tippi trailed as Chopper jumped off the ramp and onto the floor. He was right next to a small pool of water.
"Did you just say…water?!" Sonic landed straight in the water instead of where Chopper was. Tipral landed behind Chopper instead of in the water, but he decided to see what was ahead.
"There's no door around here, I believe," he confirmed. "I remember that the waterway should lead us to a door, however. It'll lead us somewhere on the balcony of my castle…"
"Then we should follow Sonic," Chopper dove straight into the water, sinking to the bottom. He noticed a straight, small pathway that a couple of silver Choppers were swimming around in.
"What are those things supposed to be?" while Sonic grabbed an air bubble, Chopper used Tippi's powers to identify the silver Chopper.
"That's a Cutter. These fish are much more advanced than a regular Chopper… Max HP is 12 and Attack is 5. These robotic fish will only swim after you if you get close to it… Be careful, because it won't let go if it takes a bite of you…" Tippi informed.
"Well, then I better use a far-ranged attack on them," Chopper charged up another green laser and struck the Cutter with one shot. Tipral snapped his finger and finished off the other Cutter.
"Mmmmmmggggffffhhhh! (Get me out of this water!)" Sonic choked as he tried to make his way through the waterway. He ended up hitting a Cutter, but that's about it before the timer went off.
"I see your friend doesn't enjoy the water…" Tipral trailed as they got to a spring leading out of the water. With one jump, they were out of the waterway and over by another door that should lead them somewhere else.
"Whew! Finally! I'm out of there!" Sonic sighed in relief as they walked into another room. This time, they could see a large gap between the platform they were on and a platform where the next door was.
"Hmmmmm… I'm not quite sure about this…" the blue hedgehog pondered to himself, but he soon noticed a couple of bat-like creatures floating up on the gap. "Hey, what do you think those guys are?"
"Let me check," Chopper once again used Tippi's powers to investigate these mysterious creatures.
"That's a Dark Bat. These things are known for being transportation as they grow older… Max HP is 5 and Attack is 2. These bats don't really attack you except for spitting acid… That's pretty disgusting… But, they're probably better off used to get across gaps, like using a Homing Attack…" Tippi informed.
"These things can be used for a Homing Attack? Sweet! Now I finally get to do something interesting!" Sonic jumped into a ball and struck the Dark Bats with his Homing Attack to make his way over to the door.
After Tipral helped Chopper across via teleportation, they walked through the door to find themselves outside. They noticed another part of Castle Tipral across the large bridge they had to cross. Perhaps there would be the Chaos Heart.
"Wow… What a view! I can't believe we're actually in between the beginning and the halfway mark of Castle Tipral. That's pretty cool!" Chopper smirked, but he soon realized something. "Hey, Sonic."
"What?"
"Where was the place that you were in when you were in Castle Tipral? Did we already go through that area or something?"
"Well, I think we did. You know, back in Castle Tipral Foyer. Apparently Dark managed to find me there and some Goomba ended up betraying me and said that he was 'joining the winning side'. Man, I hope I can find that Goomba."
"I remember that that Goomba is somewhere on Castle Tipral Bridge…" Tipral trailed, looking at the bridge. "Yes, I think he's doing something around here with a couple of Waddle Dee and Motobugs.
"Ah, so I can finally get my revenge! All right, then!" Sonic curled up in a ball and began to strike all of the Motobugs and Waddle Dee in his pathway, making his way toward the Goomba.
"Man, things have been so cool lately," the Goomba smirked. "I'm finally on the winning side for once! Such an awesome thing."
However, he didn't see Sonic coming toward him. But instead he taking him out, he stopped right in front of him. The Goomba turned around and nearly gasped at the glaring blue hedgehog.
"H-Huh?! It's…you?! Wait, you're that blue hedgehog that somehow managed to get away from that dark dude."
"Yeah, it's me all right," Sonic growled, clenching his fists. "Now it's time for payback for bailing out on me!"
"Aw, crud!" the Goomba looked around, trying to find a way to escape. "I'm outta here!"
The Goomba ran away from Sonic, but before he could strike him, a laser pointer aimed at the Goomba and shot it instead, defeating the Goomba traitor that is considered to be, well, a "traitor".
"What the… Aw, come on! I just wanted to knock him off the bridge! That's all!" Sonic pouted.
"Well, there's no use in trying to do that. All we can do is…" Chopper suddenly saw a shot strike the ground near his foot. "Holy…! Just… What the heck was that? Is there a sniper?!"
"I think there's someone trying to snipe us…" Tippi trailed, noticing the Dark Creature wearing silver armor holding a sniper rifle. "I could gather some information on it if you'd like, Chopper."
"Please do so," Chopper used Tippi's powers to scan the Dark Creature.
"That's an Ultra Dark Sharpshooter. These guys are very seething and very competitive in battle… Max HP is 15, Attack is 7, and Defense is 2. They will generally attack you from a far range… Make sure you avoid the laser pointer that can be seen… If this happens, it's best to flip into 3-D to avoid the attack… These sharpshooters are pretty accurate, so be careful…" Tippi informed.
"Oh, boy… So we've gotta avoid these guys by going into 3-D. How nice." Chopper flipped into 3-D, making sure the other two were with him so they would go into 3-D. This made it easier for them to avoid the shots.
"Heh heh heh! Now this is pretty good!" Sonic smirked as he made his way up to the large door ahead. But he first took care of the Ultra Dark Sharpshooter with a couple of Homing Attacks.
"Hmph. So that takes care of the sharpshooters." Tipral kicked a pebble off the bridge and into the dark abyss down below. "So this marks the halfway point of the castle, I suppose. But it won't be easy."
"Well, we'll see about that," Chopper kicked the door open and found himself in a smaller hallway. There were a couple of silver Pokeys roaming this area apparently, as well as silver Diam. He used Tippi's powers to identify them once again.
"That's a Iron Pokey. This thing has a tough, metallic hide that's designed to protect them from harm… Max HP is 16, Attack is 5, and Defense is 4. This thing is a strong creature, but it moves incredibly slow, allowing you to easily attack this thing… I wonder why there are Iron Pokeys in the first place…" Tippi informed.
"Iron Pokeys? That's a bit weird." Chopper identified the silver Diam.
"That's a Siliam. It's a much stronger version of the Diam… Max HP is 18, Attack is 5, and Defense is 1. It'll shoot a much deadlier particle than a normal Diam… Usually it spends most of its time hiding in that large diamond to protect themselves from harm. But, little do they know that their diamond shell is capable of being hit…" Tippi informed.
"Siliam? Oh, come on, that's an obvious name…" Sonic used Hommissile to attack the Iron Pokey, since it IS covered in all of those prickly metallic spikes. It only took two hits for it to be destroyed.
"I'll handle the Siliam," Tipral snapped his finger and struck the Siliam with Star Magic. Afterward, Chopper struck a ? Block, making a Slow Flower pop out and land in Chopper's hand.
"Uhhhhh ooooooooooh… Everything's gooooooooing sooooooo sloooooooow!" Chopper exclaimed while striking a Siliam with a stomp. He even got more points due to the Slow Flower.
"Ugh… I doooon't liiiiiiiike thiiiiiiis thiiiiiiiing!" Tipral growled as he skated his way through a couple of Iron Pokeys in the room until he got to another door. That's when the speed returned to normal.
"Thank goodness that's over with," Sonic said, sighing in relief as he opened the door. Unlike the other times, they saw that these stairs were going down instead of going up, which was kind of strange.
"So… I guess we have to go down instead of up this time…" Chopper trailed. "That doesn't seem so bad, although there are a couple of Ultra Dark Swordsmen around here. That's not a good thing."
Nonetheless, he stomped on the first Swordsman that was on one of the steps. He performed a couple of stylish moves, but that was it. He took out the other one by firing a laser.
"I'll handle the other one," Sonic performed a Homing Attack on the last Ultra Dark Swordsman before landing on the bottom…although there was another staircase with Waddle Dee holding spears.
"Don't try to jump on them when their spears are pointed up," Tippi warned. "I'm sure you'll get hurt from that…"
"Well, then I won't bother to jump on it," Tipral finished off the Waddle Dee with Star Magic. He fired a Star Spear at the other Waddle Doo, which had a blue tint instead of a red.
"Does that make that Waddle Doo any different?" Chopper asked.
"No. Some Waddle Doo can be in many colors, so I wouldn't try to worry too much about it…" Tippi trailed (remember Kirby's Adventure/Nightmare in Dream Land? There were Waddle Doo recolors in there).
"Well that's weird…" Sonic trailed as he walked down the last step to the floor, where a door awaited them. They entered the door into a small room, but with nothing else around them.
"What the… Where is everyone or everything?" Chopper asked, looking around the room. The only thing that surprised him was a Red Magiblot that appeared and struck him with a spell.
"Ack! Stupid Magiblot!"
"I got it," Sonic managed to take out the Red Magiblot before it could retreat into the third dimension. "All right, then… So where do we go to next?"
"Well, I'm still not sure…" Tippi trailed. "It might be best if we flip into 3-D… I'm sure we'll find something around there…"
"Then I shall do that!" Chopper smiled as he flipped him, Sonic and Tipral into the third dimension. The only problem was that they were standing over a square-shaped hole.
"Oh, crud…" he gulped before falling through the hole.
Below-
"Ouch… That wasn't exactly the greatest fall I've ever had…" Chopper moaned as he slowly got himself up. Sonic and Tipral managed to get themselves up as well and scan the room.
"There should be something in this room. I better not be wrong, though." Tipral grumbled, looking around the room. There wasn't anything else around them except for a door. "Oh, there's a door."
They entered the door into a smaller hallway, but there was a small, purple alien-like creature shooting a red laser from its eye. It would only shoot this laser if it detected any enemies.
"What the heck is that?" Chopper used Tippi's powers to investigate this mysterious alien.
"This alien is called a Doom's Eye. I don't know much about this thing, honestly… It's just a very mysterious alien… You can't defeat it, but you can avoid its laser if you flip into 3-D. That laser is capable of dealing 6 damage to you if you're not careful…" Tippi informed.
"Oh… That stinks." Chopper flipped into 3-D with the others to simply walk through the hallway without having to deal with these guys. They made it to the door and walked in to find themselves in a long hallway, but there was a blue ! Switch right near them.
"Hmmmm? Another block? Man, when does Mimi learn?" Sonic grinned while looking at the block.
"I don't think that's something Mimi set up…" Tipral trailed as he hit it. "I'm sure it should do something, though."
Before they could do anything else, they heard a loud, monstrous roar from behind. Apparently, it summoned a large, monster with black and purple alien skin, one purple eye, and two small wings.
"Now we're talkin," Sonic smirked. "This is more interesting than the rest of the things we fought in here!"
"I'm going to see what this thing's supposed to be," Chopper, once again, used Tippi's powers to investigate the large, monstrous bat alien creature. Hopefully there was a way to defeat it…
"That hideous thing is called a Dark Bull. I'm not entirely sure if there's a way to defeat this thing… The only thing I would do if I were you is to run… That's the only option. Even then, I'd rather not be around this hideous creature…" Tippi informed.
"Well, then we're running!" Chopper immediately charged up a Speed Dash and began to speed his way through the hallway, fleeing from the giant beast. Sonic and Tipral both did the same (but they can't do a Speed Dash).
"I'd try to attack this beast, but that would only waste time…" Tipral trailed as he continued to skate through the room with his air shoes. He was doing pretty well with escaping this beast, too.
The Dark bull began to shoot a purple laser from its eye, forcing the three to move even faster to prevent themselves from being burnt. It was a bit strange how a fat creature with small wings is catching up.
"Hold on… Why is this Dark Bull trying to attack me? Even if it listens to Dark, it should be listening to me too!" Tipral growled as he fired a Star Spear at its eye, causing it to scream and hit one of the walls.
"Whoa… Did you just see that, Sonic?" Chopper gawked.
"Yeah, if we hit its eye, it'll slow this monster down!" Sonic smirked as he stopped and delivered a Homing Attack on the Dark Bull, making it scream once again. "Now's our chance to get away!"
The three sped away from the Dark Bull, racing over to the door up ahead. They ended up finding themselves in a small room with three Dark Creature statues.
"These statues… What are they supposed to be?" Tippi inspected them for a couple of seconds. "From the looks of it, it appears to be some sort of statue that can trigger something to happen…"
"So what do I do?" Chopper asked.
"You need to hit it with something… But you need to choose the right one…"
"Oh, all right," he walked over to the first one and whacked it with his hammer. The only thing that DID happen, though, was that the statue shot a small, red laser at Chopper, stripping him of his Laser ability.
"Ouch! That did A LOT! …I think I just lost 10 HP!"
"What?! You can't be serious!" Sonic walked over to the statue, but Chopper immediately pulled him back. "Hey! I wasn't going to hit that thing! I was just looking at it."
"The obvious one is the darker one," Tipral walked over to the middle statue and gave it a good punch. It triggered a door to appear next to them.
Upon entering the room, they found a blue ! Switch on the ground. Chopper struck it with a kick, causing the room to extend into a long hallway like the other hallway with the Dark Bull, and once again, no enemies.
"Oh… So this is what happens when you hit that switch?" Chopper suddenly paused from the sound of a familiar monstrous creature. Upon turning around, they all saw the Dark Bull roaring at them.
"Yipe! That thing's here! Run for it, guys!"
"Hold on a minute," Tipral swung his arm and fired another Star Spear directly at the Dark Bull's eye, blinding it. "I'm not going to let that thing spit its disgusting acid at me. Trust me, that acid id very deadly."
"Wait, is this where more Dark Creatures are made?" Chopper asked.
"Probably," Tipral guessed as they raced their way away from the Dark Bull, which was already coming back at the three people.
"Crud... I didn't know that this thing could keep up faster than I thought it could." Chopper began to hurl fireballs straight at the massive creature, but its large, fat body didn't seem to get harmed by it.
"Like I said, Chopper… Your attacks don't do a thing against it…" Tippi reminded.
"Oh. Then I'm going to blind it." Chopper hurled one single fireball at the monster's eye, causing it to crash into one of the walls and also let the three of them walk into the next room.
"Whew… We're finally… Wait, why are we in another room that looks strangely identical than the other?" Sonic asked, noticing that they're in a room with three more Dark Creature statues.
"I don't know… Maybe this is some sort of puzzle…" Tippi trailed.
"I know which one is the right one," Tipral kicked the first statue, making a door open up. They walked through to find themselves in an identical room like the other large hallway.
"You've gotta be kidding me…" Sonic groaned as he kicked the blue ! Switch near him. Once again, the Dark Bull appeared and began to chase the trio, but Sonic stopped it by striking its eye with a Homing Attack.
"Hold on… I see some kind of switch at the end of the hallway!" Tippi perked up, looking straight at the blue ! Switch at the end of the hallway.
"Oh! Then we better not waste our time with that thing!" Chopper rushed toward the switch and kicked it as soon as everyone got to him. It caused the ground to tremor…and also squish the Dark Bull with a large anvil.
"Uhhhhhh… Now where did that anvil come from?" Chopper looked over at Tipral. "Did you set that up?"
"No. I told you that I don't know a thing about the traps." Tipral reminded. "I haven't been in this place for a while."
Turning to their right, they noticed a pipe that came out of the wall. Wondering where that it would take them, they entered the pipe to leave the lower area of this part of Castle Tipral and reach an upper area.
Upper room-
"Well, looks like we actually DID find a staircase!" Chopper gaped, but he noticed that the staircase wasn't as big as the other ones. "But, there ARE a couple of enemies in there, so…yeah."
Chopper made his way up the stairs, taking out any Dark Creatures in his path with some fireballs until they got to the top stair. A door was right in front of him and, thankfully, it wasn't locked.
"Oh, thank goodness that we didn't have another locked door," Sonic said, sighing in relief. "I swear, if we had to go hunt for another key, then I would've been pretty ticked off about now."
"Well, then we should make our way through," Chopper opened the door to find two Dark Creature statues in the small hallway and two Siliams.
"Hold on… I feel like there's something here." Chopper flipped into the third dimension to find a gray circle around the statues. "Hmmmmm… I wanna check something for a minute."
He pulled out the piece of paper that he used for the torches back in Castle Tipral Entry and tossed it in the circle. A red laser fired at the piece of paper and completely melted it in a second.
"So… What did you find?" Sonic asked.
"Well, we can't walk close to this statue, that's for sure," he explained, getting the other two in 3-D. "All we can really do is try to stay out of the circle, and we should be just fine, all right?"
"That sounds reasonable," Tipral stated as he followed Chopper through the small hallway. Apparently, the two Siliams had the ability to flip into 3-D too, so it didn't change a thing.
"Remember, Chopper… Enemies can flip in 3-D too." Tippi reminded.
"Of course I know that!" Chopper nodded as he walked over to the door. He first struck the ? Block to get an Ultra Shroom for the three of them and then hit the Save Block with his fist.
"Man, whatever's through here must be something big, that's for sure," Sonic huffed as he kicked the door open to the next room.
Next room-
"So, you finally made it…" the three were greeted in a dark manner by a familiar face in a familiar room, kind of like the room where Blade fought O'Chunks and where Kirby fought Mimi. Apparently, Dark Doom was waiting for both Chopper and Sonic to make their way.
"So I overheard that you squished my pet, the Dark Bull…" Dark trailed, glaring coldly at Chopper and Sonic. "You destroyed something that was capable of creating more Dark Creatures!"
"Well, sorry about that," Sonic apologized. "But, knowing that you ARE the bad guy, we pretty much had to do it."
"Oh, don't give me that cocky attitude, Sonic!" he barked. "You ALWAYS think you're so cool, trying to be the 'cool' hedgehog. I'm always getting sick of it! Why don't you mind your own business for once!"
"Well, maybe because you're getting in our business as well?" Chopper said.
"I don't need you to speak up, Chopper!" Dark sighed and calmed himself. "Still… I was given orders to stop you, and that's what I must do."
"And who ordered you to do that?" Tipral spoke up.
"Count Bleck," Dark opened his eyes and noticed Tipral. "Tipral…? What on earth are you doing here?! I thought you were dead!"
"Apparently what Dimentio said was a lie," he replied, slowly shaking his head. "You need to listen to me. We know what Dimentio's planning!"
"Hmmmmmm… Well, I can only let you pass if you want, but there's no way that I'm letting these two pass!"
"Really? I thought you'd say that!" Sonic smirked. "So, how about you and me fight to see whether we get to pass or not? I'll take you on alone, if that's something you would like me to do!"
Chopper gasped. "Sonic! Are you REALLY trying to…"
"Relax, Chopper. I'll follow you back into the room so you don't need to worry about me losing my game. Just wait back in the other room so I can finally kick this guy's butt once and for all!"
"…All right. I guess there's not much else I can do. Let's go wait back in the other room, Tipral." Chopper turned away and began to walk back into the other room.
"Hmph! Very well…" Tipral looked up at Dark. "You better not screw this one up, Dark. If you want to fight this hedgehog, then go right ahead."
He left the room, leaving only Sonic, Tippi, the Pixls and Dark Doom.
"So… This should get a little interesting!" Dark pulled a black emerald out of his hand. "I guess I might as well power myself up a little with this thing!"
A dark aura began to surround him, making his powers increase a little. "All right, Sonic! Now it's time for us to settle this!"
Dark made the first move, shouting, "En guarde! Swift Strike!"
"Whoa!" Sonic jumped out of the way of the red cutter blade that was being fired at him. Since he was open for an attack, he hurled himself straight at Dark, delivering a Homing Attack upon him.
"Ack! So, I see you've gotten a bit stronger…" Dark trailed kicking Sonic off of him and throwing him to the ground using his martial arts. "But even still, there's nothing you can do to stop me!"
"Well, I guess I can beat you easily if I was able to fight off your minion!" Sonic grinned, knocking Dark back using a Spin Dash. Dark raised an eyebrow as he slid back.
"Minion? What are you talking about?"
"You know... Shade?"
"Him? So that explains where he went... Where did you find him?"
"Well, last time we saw him, he was trying to cause a ruckus back in The Overthere," Sonic recalled. "Boy, he sure was ticked off! ...Come to think of it, he started calling himself 'Shade Doom' now..."
"So, he's trying to steal my title? ...Well fine. He can be like that if he wishes, but I'm still the greater Doom, as he will find out after I rid of you!" Dark twirled his blaster before firing a purple shot at him.
"Perhaps you should see what abilities he has in his possession…" suggested Tippi, nudging Sonic a little bit.
"I suppose I might as well do that," Sonic used Tippi's Tattle ability to gather some information on Dark Doom.
"This is Dark Doom. Like before, he's the king of the Dark Creatures and a loyal servant to Tipral… Although, I don't know if he's THAT loyal… Max HP is 90. Attack is 7. Defense is 3. He'll usually use his normal attacks, but he might fire a barrage of dark energy if he manages to jump to the ceiling... Be careful, Sonic… This could be a very dangerous attack if you're not careful… Make sure you use all of your speed to take down this Dark Creature king…"
"Well, I guess this should be a bit interesting then!" Sonic grinned, striking Dark with a Spin Dash before he could even make another move. He also began to create a whirlwind around him before striking his head with a bounce attack.
"Urgh!" Dark held his head in pain. "Thank goodness that my third eye isn't trying to open, or else I would be in even more pain."
Sonic noticed on his forehead that there was a third eye, but this one was closed shut. "A third eye? I thought that was some sort of scar… Kind of weird, honestly."
"Well you're not going to be witnessing it open!" Dark barked as he summoned a couple of meteors. "Be gone!"
He fired the meteors straight at Sonic. The blue hedgehog managed to dodge a couple of them, but he ended up getting struck by one of them, leaving him a bit dizzy for Dark to kick him in the face.
"Oof!" Sonic was sent flying back to the wall to the left. Dark was ready to blast him with his blaster, but Sonic managed to get up and knock him back to the opposite wall with a Spin Dash.
"Better use my Light Speed Attack on him if I'm going to land some powerful attacks," Sonic began to curl up in a ball while charging up his Spin Dash. A bright blue light began to surround him as more light energy went into him.
"What the heck is going on here?" Dark gawked.
"Ready?" Sonic asked after finishing his Spin Dash. He shouted, "GO!" as he began to attack Dark a couple of times with his Light Speed Dash.
"Is this the Light Speed Dash I've been hearing about?! Get… Get off of me, you stupid blue hedgehog!"
Dark managed to grab a hold of Sonic's leg and throw him all the way across the room, just like before. When he got to the blue hedgehog again, he kicked him right in the shin and punched him across the face.
"Man, you're one to use your fists instead of your weapons! I like that!" Sonic smirked as he landed a punch on Dark's face and then knocked him back with a kick. "But I can still land a few punches and kicks!"
"Try not to let him use one of his stronger attacks…" Tippi trailed.
Dark grinned as he suddenly teleported behind Sonic and punched his back, although it kind of hurt him when he has those quills on his back.
"Ack! Dang it! I forgot about those quills!" Dark screeched.
"Whoa, man! You gotta watch the language!" Sonic frowned, striking him with a Spin Dash. "I know your angry and all, but come on! Lay off the swearing and other stuff that's bad, will ya?"
"I'll do whatever I WANT, you stupid hedgehog!" the Dark Creature king growled, shooting Sonic in the chest with his blaster. It drove the blue hedgehog back, but he managed to get a hold of himself when he got up.
"Whew! Man, that's one serious weapon you've got there!" Sonic panted, noticing Dark bring the palms of his hands out.
"En guarde! Swift Strike!" Dark fired another flaming red cutter blade toward Sonic, but just like before, it was an easy one to dodge. It allowed him to use another Whirlwind attack on him in order to lift him from the air.
"What the heck?! Don't tell me this is one of your secret moves…"
"Nope! It's just my Whirlwind!" once Dark fell to the ground from the large, blue tornado, Sonic delivered a Homing Attack on him and then struck him with a Bounce Attack afterward.
"Ugh… Get off of me you little…!" Dark kicked Sonic off of him and teleported behind him. "Take this!"
He fired two vertical fire cutter blades toward Sonic, attempting to at least burn him. He managed to burn him ONCE, so he started to take some damage from it, but it didn't stop Sonic from hitting him with a Homing Attack.
"Give it up, Dark!" Sonic smirked after finishing a Super Shroom Shake. "You're pretty much beat!"
"You should just let us pass…" suggested Tippi.
"Oh, I don't think so! You think I'm finished yet? Nope!" Dark ran toward Sonic and attempted to trip him, but he managed to make him dizzy using Flippay's power.
"And now I'm being used!" Flippay cheered, making the Dark Creature king dizzy as he struck him with a corkscrew attack with Screwdy.
"Argh! Be gone already!" Dark barked as he fired a couple of meteors at Sonic. This time, he used Slim's ability to simply avoid the attack. Afterward, he hit Dark with Barry's counter.
"You're doing well, Sonic…" Tippi commented, taking a look at Dark's HP. "I don't think it should take too long to finish him off now… A couple of hits might do him in…"
"Oh no it won't!" Dark growled, kicking Sonic in the crotch area. The only thing was, well, it didn't cause pain to him. "What the… OK, you should be on the ground crying in pain right about now! This is… Argh!"
"Man, you're pretty arrogant, you know that?" Sonic grinned, grabbing Dark and hitting him while he was curled up in a ball. He then knocked him away with a simply, but rather tough kick.
As Dark got himself up, he pulled his blaster out and began to charge up a shot. "Well, then! I suppose I can deal some heavy damage to you with this thing! I highly doubt you'll live to see this, though!"
"What're you talking about? I'm pretty much GOING to live to see that!" Sonic brought his fists up, ready to guard the attack. Although, he didn't take it quite well, since it was strong enough to knock him back.
"Sonic! Are you all right?!" Tippi gasped.
"Ugh…" Sonic slowly got himself up and gave Tippi a thumbs up. "I'm just fine… It's just…ugh…that was a pretty heavy shot."
"Good, so I did what I wanted to do," Dark smirked, twirling his blaster before putting it away. "And now to finish this!"
He rushed straight at Sonic and punched him in the stomach, followed by multiple punched to his entire body and face.
"Whew! Who knew you could do such damage?!" Sonic managed to knock Dark back with a kick, sending him flying. With this chance, he began to curl up in another ball and prepare for another Light Speed Attack.
"What are you doing?" Tippi asked.
"What does it look like? I'm going to finish him!" Sonic smirked, finishing his Spin Dash. "Ready… GO!"
With his Light Speed Dash, Sonic managed to strike Dark a couple of times with incredible speed. He never even saw where he was coming from either!
"ARGH!" the dark power within Dark went away as he landed on the ground, panting. "I… I lost to you?! That's just not possible…"
Once Chopper and Tipral came walking into the room, they noticed Dark kneeling down on the ground, panting heavily. Chopper seemed a bit pleased to see Sonic victorious. As for Tipral… Not as much.
"Ugh… I'm sorry, Tipral… Apparently he was a bit tough for me." Dark wheezed. "Is there any chance that you can forgive me for this loss?"
"Bleh. I can do that anyway." Tipral frowned. "I really didn't care whether you lost or not. What I think is important is that I go find that Chaos Heart and get rid of Dimentio once and for all!"
"Wha? Why would you want to get rid of him?"
"Because that clown's responsible for trying to 'end my game'," Tipral explained. "Apparently, HE wants to use the Chaos Heart for himself and destroy all worlds himself. That is something I intend to finish!"
"I see… Well, then I guess I'm going to have to tag along with you and give you guys a hand." Dark glared at Sonic. "Don't think that we're friends, though! You're still considered to me an enemy!"
"So Dark is joining us… I guess I'm OK with that…" Tippi trailed.
But, before they could get going, they could feel another tremor. "Aghh! Why does there have to be ANOTHER friggin' tremor?! …You guys get out of here right now before anything bad happens."
"Are you sure, Dark?" Tipral questioned.
"Yes, you need to go somewhere, so just get a move on already."
"Well… If you say so…" Chopper walked over to the door up ahead and walked into the next room, along with Tipral. Sonic was about to walk in until he heard something intense from the room.
"What the…"
He noticed that a purple portal appeared in the room, trying to suck Dark in. He was grabbing a hold of the ground as hard as he could to prevent himself from being sucked into the portal.
"What are you waiting for, hedgehog?! You get out of here!" he bellowed.
Sonic looked back between the door and Dark. Apparently, it didn't look like he was able to hold on for long enough, considering that his hands were beginning to slip off.
"What do I do?" Sonic thought. "If I try to save him, then I might get sucked in there as well, and I don't want to leave Chopper there… But if I save him, it will make me a better person… What to do?"
"GET OUT OF…" Dark ended up losing his grip on the floor, but, to his surprise, Sonic managed to grab a hold of his arm. "Sonic… Why are you doing this?"
"Because… There's no way I wanna leave you here." Sonic stated. "If I have to sacrifice my life, then so be it!"
"Sonic… Wow. You're a bigger idiot than I thought."
"Why thank… Hey, wait a minute!" unfortunately, for Sonic, he wasn't able to hold onto the ground any longer. His hand ended up slipping off and both he and Dark began to get sucked into the portal.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHH!"
Next room-
As the two walked into the room, they heard a thud from behind. Chopper turned around and gasped when he noticed Sonic wasn't there.
"S-Sonic…?" Chopper walked over to the door nervously. "Please open… PLEASE!"
Unfortunately, he didn't get anything from opening it. "No… I can't believe it! Sonic's…gone!"
"So… Then that means it's just you and me." Tipral turned away, folding his arms. "I'm not too surprised. This place is already a dangerous place anyway. The best we can do is move on."
"Move on? We just lost three important people!" Tippi snapped. "All you can think of is moving on?!"
"Look, I know you're going to cry about losing your friends, but there's nothing else we can do about it. Staying here and being a crybaby WON'T help!"
"Yeah, I know… But these are my friends I just lost!" Chopper frowned. "I'd feel very, VERY bad if I had to leave them behind. I don't think it would make me a good person at all."
"Well, I'm pretty sure that Sonic would want you to move on, just like the others," Tipral explained. "Besides, I'm certain that we're getting closer to finding that pathetic clown Dimentio. I have a score to settle with him."
"Mmmmmmmmmmm… Fine. Although, it really doesn't make me feel good, considering that I've lost so much lately… But you can't cry over it all day, so I guess we have to move on."
Chopper walked over to the Star Block and he smashed it with one punch. "I guess we're almost there now…"
END OF CHAPTER
With the loss of Blade, Kirby and Sonic, all that remained so far were the two counterparts Chopper and Tipral. Without his allies, could our hero Chopper hope to stand against the Chaos Heart and Count Bleck? As the duo ventured through the castle, the very air in it grew heavier and even more ominous with every step. All they could do was plod forward in silence…
Whew! That was one heck of a chapter, wasn't it? Yeah, I think it took a bit longer than the others, but oh well. Hopefully the others don't take as long for me to do, since I DO know what I'm doing for those chapters anyway.
You know, I can actually see this story as an anime. The paper style for the Paper Mario games COULD actually make an anime too. If they did that, I would watch it (as long as the dub isn't run by people who HAVE to censor pointless stuff).
Anyway, hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. ^^ If you're reading through this without it being edited, I think you really should.