CHAPTER 9-2
-Babies and Badges-
"…And that's all that happened while you were gone," Chopper finished explaining to Mario what happened while he was gone. He had managed to tell him everything that happened in their adventure, and he was now taking deep breaths, relieved to be speaking for a while.
Mario was speechless, but he always tends to be speechless. He really didn't know what to say at that moment, or what gesture to make. The only thing that made him feel sad was when he explained to him about both Tippi and Count Bleck. He was also disappointed that he couldn't meet her again as well.
"Yeah, I know it's all big. I wish you were there to see it." Chopper let out a huge sigh as he looked down at the ground. "Well, let's hope that everyone's OK now that The Void is gone. Hopefully people are happy."
"Poyo, (Yeah, I sure hope so,)" agreed Kirby with a nod. "Poyo… (I'm hoping that Tippi is all right…if she IS alive…)"
"I still think she's alive," Blade stated. "I mean, come on! I don't think they're truly dead! The only one that I know for sure we'll never see again is that freakin' clown Dimentio. God, that guy was such an annoyance."
Mario: That's good!
"Yeah, it's a good thing," Sonic said, sighing in relief. "Too bad Tippi couldn't join us for the rest of the adventure. But, that doesn't mean we should stop here, right? That would be the WRONG thing."
"Exactly, and I see a couple of lollipop enemies up ahead," Chopper noticed a lollipop enemy called a Lolli with a taffy sword charging at them. He immediately inhaled it to regain a small amount of HP.
"Uhhhhh… Does anyone notice how sticky the ground is?" Blade had a tough time getting his feet off the ground. "I have no idea what the heck this is, but it's too sticky!"
Mario tried to get his boots off the ground. He was stuck as well, which wasn't exactly a good thing… However, he DID get his feet off with his jump, being a good jumper and all that.
"You're not used to the ground, outsiders!" a Lolli up ahead on a Brick Block mocked, laughing at them. "We sweets are used to this world, so we don't have much of a problem with you kind of people!"
Mario immediately performed a Triple Jump and managed to land straight on the Lolli, dealing double the damage that his normal jump would do. He performed a stylish move while at it.
"Well, that's Mario for you," Chopper stated as he ran over to the Brick Block and struck it with his fist as Mario jumped off. A Mushroom popped out. So, Blade immediately sliced it into five pieces so they could all recover 10 HP.
"Ahhhh! Now THAT felt great!" Sonic said, sighing in relief. "Now we can get a move on, right?"
"Yeah, we can hopefully," Chopper noticed another Lolli over by a bottomless pit. He tossed a fireball straight at it and made it burn. He immediately jumped over the pit and saw a larger bottomless pit.
Mario: There's nothing else here!
"Hold on, Mario. I can just flip." Chopper threw his arms up and flipped into 3-D. There was a bridge that could be seen in 3-D, but a couple of Lollis were around, blocking the bridge. Across the bridge was another Mechawful. "Oh, goody… More of those guys…"
After Chopper got the others across the bridge via 3-D, Mario bashed the Mechawful with his hammer back in 2-D, then struck it with a Ground Pound.
"Man! I feels nice to have someone who can ground pound!" Sonic grinned. "It'll make things easier!"
"Too bad this area's a bit flat, though…" Blade trailed, jumping over the bottomless pit and charging straight at the Lolli that was throwing lollipops at him. "It's a bit more Mario-ish here."
He took out the Lolli with a couple of sword strikes and then hit a Brick Block next to a pink pipe that contained a coin. A light blue Piranha Planet with pink polka dots and pink lips popped out and bit him.
"Yow! What was that?!"
"I think it was a Candy Piranha, from the looks of it," Chopper stated as he tossed a fireball straight at it, and then used a spinning kick to finish it off. "They're…kind of strange."
"Have you seen any other strange enemies around here, Mario?" Sonic asked, only to get a shake from Mario's head.
"Well, we'll probably find something," Chopper checked to see if they could go down the pipe. Apparently, they couldn't do that, so they jumped on the ground and saw a spring leading up to a taller pipe.
They jumped on it and let it take them up to a taller pipe. There was a Paratroopa with a blue shell and sunglasses flying in between the gap and the big platform that led up to a door.
"Poyo, (These guys look like they move faster,)" Kirby stated as he looked at the Blue Paratroopa. "Poyo? (Got any idea if this guy belongs to Bowser or Tipral?)"
Mario didn't understand what Kirby was saying, but he decided to get rid of the Blue Paratroopa with a stomp, sending it down the bottomless pit. He landed right by the door, where he waited for the others to come and follow him through the door.
As soon as they reached the next area, they noticed that there was a pool of melted chocolate right next to them with a couple of graham crackers floating on them. Some of them went rocketing up into the air from some of the chocolate shooting up.
"What in the world is THIS kind of area?" Chopper asked, having a strange look upon his face.
"It looks like there's chocolate in that pool," Sonic frowned, looking down at it. "I don't think it would be a good idea to get stuck in that. I'm sure we'll get stuck and sink to the bottom."
Mario: What's chocolate doing with a sticky ground?
"I have no idea…" Chopper trailed as he jumped on the graham cracker. The hot chocolate sent the cracker rocketing up high over to one of those sweet platforms. To the left there was a pipe right next to him. "Come on down here, guys!"
They all listened to him and followed him up to the pipe. They didn't bother to say anything as they went down the pipe.
Underground-
Underground, they noticed another little pool of hot chocolate, but this time three graham cracker platforms were all up at the same time. A Choconut was in the room as well, but Mario took care of it with his hammer.
"What a strange room… Don't suppose there's anything for us to do here…" Blade pondered as he tried to kick the platform he was standing on. Unfortunately, it didn't do much to help him.
"I think we're going to need to push this down a bit…" Chopper trailed, jumping on it. "Maybe you can try to use your Ground Pound on these graham crackers, Mario."
Mario nodded and began to use his Ground Pound ability on the crackers. When they were all stuck on the hot chocolate, paper flipped and a chest appeared in the center of the room.
"This is all there is around here? That's a bit…weak." Blade opened the chest and grabbed the Chocolate Key from inside. "Hoo boy… This thing better not melt in my own hands."
"Hopefully it doesn't, or else we're screwed," Sonic stated as they got out of the room.
Outside-
After getting out of the pipe, they jumped back on the graham crackers and stomped on a Blue Paratroopa flying around, bringing it to the ground. They were apparently much stronger than normal Koopa Troopas, if you couldn't tell.
"Well, time to finish one off," Chopper stomped on the Blue Koopa and then kicked its shell into the hot chocolate, making it sink to the bottom. They immediately pressed on to a high platform where a door led them to.
"Man, this place feels kind of boring, now that you mention it…" Sonic groaned, kicking the door open. "We haven't had any interesting experiences through this place. When will we see 'em?"
"Poyo, (Beats me,)" Kirby replied as they moved into the next area. Now they were seeing a steep hill up ahead leading up to a pathway. However, there were still some Hammer Bros. on two rows of Brick Blocks in the way.
Mario: I got it!
Mario punched the Brick Block that the first Hammer Bro. was stepping on, knocking it off of the block and also the world. He jumped onto the blocks, since he broke that block and struck the last Hammer Bro.
"Man, I don't know how we're going to get up THERE," Chopper said as he pointed to the steep slope. "I don't know if my speed alone could get me up there. Got any ideas, guys?"
Mario: I have an idea.
Mario performed a Triple Jump, which allowed him to up the steep slope and onto the ground. Kirby knew how he could get up there, so he simply took in some air and floated up to Mario.
"Poyo! (And you say that it's too hard to get up here!)" Kirby smirked.
As Kirby helped Chopper, Sonic and Blade up, Chopper began to look at the whole place. The pink sky certainly reminded him of when he was in a place called Music Kingdom five months ago.
"Boy, this place is starting to remind me of that Music Kingdom place I first explored when looking at this place. I think that's when I first met you, Sonic."
"Music Kingdom? Hmmmm…" Sonic began to ponder. "Well, I do remember some of that place. Oh, yeah! That place! I remember when I saved you from those Motobugs!"
"Yeah, you did," Chopper nodded.
"Good times..."
Up ahead, there were some platforms moving back and forth over another pool of hot chocolate.
"Is that more like hot fudge or something?" Blade questioned. "Because it seems as if the readers believe that it's actually hot chocolate."
"Nah, it's only melted chocolate, which IS pretty dangerous," Chopper corrected.
"Poyo?! (Dangerous?! Are you being serious, Chopper?!)" Kirby gaped, looking at Chopper. "Poyo! (Melted chocolate is nowhere NEAR as dangerous! It's chocolate! It's tasty!)"
"Yeah, that's true. But, anyway… I think we should try to cross that pool of melted chocolate anyway." Chopper jumped on one of the platforms and waited for it to reach the other side.
"Dang, there's a Blue Paratroopa waiting on the other side of here," Chopper frowned, stomping on the Blue Paratroopa to land straight on the sticky, blue and pink ground next to the door.
Right by the door was another lollipop. But that lollipop was shaped more like a heart.
"Why are there so many things that are like hearts?"
"Poyo, (Well, we're collecting are hearts,)" Kirby pointed out as he landed right by the door with Chopper.
"Yeah…" Chopper grabbed the lollipop and put it away. "I think I'll just hold onto this. It might be for the good, though."
"What? You're going to give it to someone?" Blade snickered.
"Heck no! I'm just going to hold it for safe-keepings! All right? Sheesh!" Chopper opened the door into a small area with a cake ground and a locked door right by the door. Sonic's ears immediately perked.
"Oh, man! NOW we're getting into something!" Sonic smirked as he used his corkscrew ability to drill through the cake-like ground and into a small little tunnel with a couple of Motobugs and Buzz Bombers.
"Hoo boy… I never thought I'd see these guys here!" Sonic used his Homing Attack to strike the enemies. Afterward, he kicked a chest open that appeared and grabbed a hold of a Door Key.
"And now to get out of here!" Sonic used a corkscrew on a spring right next to him and he was sent straight back up to the group. He pulled the key out and showed the group the key.
"Well, there's the key to where we need to go," Chopper smiled as they walked over to the door and unlocked it.
Upon entering the door, they were in a flat, sticky area like the first area, with only two Blue Koopa Troopas walking around. Mario jumped on one and kicked it straight at the other.
…But what was surprising was that the Blue Koopa simply kicked it back at the group instead.
"Whoa!" Blade drew his katana and took care of the Blue Koopa. Mario decided to finish off the other Blue Koopa by bashing it with his hammer, which easily took care of the thing.
"All right… So, we finally got through that." Chopper sighed in relief and grabbed a lollipop right by him. "So, who wants to go first?"
"Poyo? (For what?)" Kirby asked.
"I don't know. Just to lead the way." Chopper swallowed the whole lollipop, making him feel a little bit hyper. "I mean, I'm certainly not going to lead the way! Because all I'm probably going to see is more…"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the sound of a crying baby almost knocked everyone over, except for Chopper, who still felt a bit hyper.
"What the heck was that?"
"That sounded like a crying baby," Sonic looked up ahead and saw giant cookie baby with a blue bow on her head and a chocolate diaper crying. The tears coming down her cheek were made of chocolate. Seeing the chocolate, Chopper rushed toward the baby and opened his mouth to eat one of the chocolate tears from the cookie baby.
"Poyo! (Hey, stop!)" Kirby cried, running over to Chopper and letting chocolate fall into his mouth. "Poyo! (Don't forget about me!)"
"Dang it..." Blade groaned.
Mario: That's them for you...
"WAAAAAH! I want my lollipop!" the baby cookie girl continued to cry loudly. Pretty much all of them had to cover their ears because of the obnoxious crying.
"Stop crying! It's starting to hurt our ears!" Blade screeched.
"Not without my lollipop!" she cried. "I can't go anywhere without that thing! I want my lollipop back!"
"And where was the last time you saw it?" Chopper asked, finishing one last chocolate tear.
"I don't know, but I'm NOT moving from this very spot until I get my lollipop back! Do whatever you want, but you're NOT getting past me, you meanies! I bet you're all responsible for making me lose it!"
"What? We just got here!" Sonic frowned. "But fine, if you stop crying, we'll find your stupid lollipop, all right?"
"Fine, I'll stop!" she pouted as she stopped crying. Unfortunately, there really wasn't much around the area for them to find a lollipop.
"Poyo! (Hey, Chopper! Why don't you search for the lollipop in 3-D?)" suggested Kirby. "Poyo! (I think we'll be able to find something interesting if we do that! Do you think it'll work?)"
"Hmmmmm… I haven't thought of that yet… Well, I'll give it a try." Chopper flipped into 3-D and he seemed to notice a pathway to his right. He brought his friends into 3-D and they all took the pathway to the right into another area. They could see a large lollipop stuck in jello.
"Hey! That must be the lollipop!" Chopper gasped. "But it sure looks big…"
Sonic tried to grab a hold of it, but it was too big. "Oh, man… I think it requires five people to carry this thing. I mean, it DOES say that five are required…"
"Well, that shouldn't be a problem. We'll just simple get it and…" Before Chopper could make another step, two Mechawfuls hovered down and knocked Sonic away with a powerful punch.
"What in the world?! What are these guys doing here?!" Sonic gawked.
The two Mechawfuls grabbed the lollipop and took off with it before the others could have a chance to get it. They brought up some large chocolate blocks to block the heroes from following them.
"Aw, come on! They just HAD to block us from getting that lollipop!" Sonic tried kicking the chocolate block, but it didn't do a thing. "Well we could try eating it, but I don't think it'll work out too well."
"Poyo, (I'd eat it, but I don't think I could inhale it,)" Kirby stated.
Mario realized something for a minute and said something about chocolate being able to be melted. This suddenly gave Chopper an idea.
"Wait! I think I know what to do now!" Chopper tossed a fireball straight at the chocolate block and melted it completely. "Try not to slip on the melted chocolate. Or better yet, just jump over it."
Chopper started by jumping over the chocolate, followed by Kirby, Mario, Sonic and then Blade. They immediately raced to the door up ahead and entered it to find the two Mechawfuls carrying the lollipop up a couple of jello blocks.
"POYO! (JELLO!)" Kirby was about to inhale it, but Chopper grabbed a cork out of nowhere and put it in Kirby's mouth to stop him.
"Where'd you get that giant cork?" Blade asked.
Chopper's eyes became shifty. "Shut up…"
He jumped on the jello, making him bounce off the jello a bit to get to a bridge up ahead. Kirby got the cork out of his mouth and followed Chopper and the group via floating.
They noticed on the bridge that below it was fruit punch. Something that was a lot better to fall in than melted chocolate. The Mechawfuls were already at the door, but they decided to destroy the door with a laser, hindering the heroes.
"Aw, no fair!" Sonic kicked the ground in disappointment. "They just HAD to destroy the bridge!"
"Well, talk about unlucky…" Chopper kicked a small chocolate ball into the fruit punch, causing it to sink down. "Wait… I thought chocolate would float in water?"
"Poyo, (Maybe it's because that kind of chocolate sinks into the water if it ever fell in,)" Kirby pondered as he looked down into the water. "Poyo… (Although, I don't think I'm correct on that…)"
"What in the name of…" a voice from down the fruit punch caused everyone to pause for a minute. "What is this chocolate ball? …Wait a minute! I recognize this! This is the Chocolate Ball of Truth? Last time I saw this, I was putting on my Baby Oil of Destiny!"
A bright light emitted from the water as a king with a white, square-shaped head, a red robe made of licorice, a crown made of gummy and a candy cane staff came flying out of the fruit punch water. Of course, his face is white chocolate, if you wanted to know that by now.
"What the… We've seen weird things in the past, but this is just plain weird." Chopper stated.
Mario: Who are you?
"Who am I, you ask? Well, my name is King Badgecandy! Good day to you people! I am the one who is the king of badges."
"Badges? Hey, I remember collecting those things back on my other adventures!" Chopper gasped.
"Ah, so you have heard of these badges! I congratulate you, little boy! Oh, yes indeed! For you see, if you are one that collects badges, we have some sort of connection! …Like soul mates!"
"Soul mates? But I don't have any interest in you! Relationships are for old people!"
"Naw, I don't mean by THAT kind of soul mates," Badgecandy shook his head. "I'm talking about, er… You know, I don't quite remember. Let's just say we have something in common, all right?"
"Ummmm… All right?" Chopper replied in uncertainty.
"What the heck are badges anyway?" Blade asked.
"Ah, so there's someone who has never heard of badges before? Well, here's how I'll explain it. When you equip them, you'll be given a new move, or your abilities will have some sort of effect on you…depending on the person."
"Oh, now I see… So am I going to be able to slice people in half with my own hands?"
"Errr… Let me look." Badgecandy checked his inventory. He only had two badges with him so far. "Eeeeeeeeenope. I don't have any of those with me. However, I'll give you these two badges."
He tossed Chopper a badge called the I-C-U badge. "Now that's called the I-C-U badge. What does it do, exactly? Well, for one thing, you can see the amount of HP someone has without having to get them as a Card. It's a pretty nice thing, to be honest!"
Mario: What about the other one?
"The other? Oh, yeah. Lemme give you that." Badgecandy tossed Mario a badge called the Stylish Spin. "That's called the Stylish Spin badge. Basically, when you're performing a stylish move, you'll knock away any enemies that get close to you. It can be pretty useful, you know."
"That's all you gave us? I was hoping for something a bit more useful…" Chopper frowned.
"Don't worry, little boy. There are PLENTY of more badges to be found throughout the worlds. You just have to find them. They can be hidden anywhere in this world, or any other, for that matter. But, let me explain how you use them."
"Oh, boy… Not more tutorials." Blade groaned.
"To select your badge, press the (+) button, and select 'Badges'. It's not hard to find anyway."
"(+) button? What in the world?" Chopper gawked.
"What is the (+) button, you ask?" Badgecandy questioned. "Well, all I can think of is that the great being who watches us all from some sort of screen might be able to understand what I'm saying."
"OK..."
"Anyway, just select the badge you want to use and press (2) to equip it. Only certain badges can be equipped for someone. Luckily, these badges here can be equipped by anyone in the entire group!"
"Hmmmmm… I guess I'll hold onto the I-C-U badge for right now…" Chopper trailed as he equipped the badge. "You can hold onto the Stylish Spin badge if you want, Mario. Unless… If someone else wants it."
"Well, I seem to have the most style in the group, so maybe I'll take it," Sonic suggested. Mario shrugged as he gave the badge to Sonic. Upon equipping it, he could now be protected from enemies while doing a stylish move.
"Now, allow me to let you through… But first, I must warn you that each person can hold up to three badges! …Unless you find a little upgrade that increases the amount of badges you can hold."
"Dang… No Badge Points? What a shame…" Chopper waited for Badgecandy to transform into a bridge before entering the door up ahead, which lead into a small area with the two Mechawfuls putting another block of chocolate in the way.
"Poyo? (Do they honestly believe that they can stop us like this?)" Kirby questioned. "Poyo! (This is seriously a joke!)"
"Well, better do what I usually do," Chopper whirled up a fireball and tossed it straight at the chocolate block, melting it. Since the Mechawfuls didn't know where else to go, they put down the lollipop and got themselves ready.
"Oh, yeah? Well take this!" Sonic performed a Homing Attack on one of the Mechawfuls and performed a stylish move. One of the robots got knocked back from it and took some damage.
Mario: I got this!
Mario finished off the Mechawful with a stomp attack. From what Chopper could see, these guys had about 28 HP, so it wouldn't be too bad to take them down.
Kirby simply finished off the other Mechawful by inhaling one of the cannonball fists that it fired at him and spitting it back at it, destroying it.
"Whew! So we finally took care of those guys! Hopefully that stupid baby will finally get out of the way when we give her this stupid lollipop." Chopper tried to lift it up, but he couldn't. Even though he WAS trying his best.
"Chopper… What are you trying to do?" Blade asked.
"What does it look like?! I'm trying to be a freakin' trooper here!"
"No no no, you can't do it by yourself. You're not strong enough." Blade grabbed a hold of the lollipop and tried to lift it. "Whoa… This thing's pretty heavy. I think we all need to work together on this."
Ten minutes later-
The five heroes panted as they brought the giant lollipop to the cookie baby, who gasped at the sight of her giant lollipop.
"Yay! My lollipop!" she got up and grabbed a hold of it. "Now I can finally go back home to mommy! …Oh, and you guys can go if you want as well."
She got up and made her way out of the area, allowing the five heroes to walk up to the door ahead.
"Wow, so she couldn't go home without a lollipop? Well, that sure is a baby…" Blade frowned.
Mario: Oh, yes!
As they entered the door, they noticed a lot of Lollis, Mechawfuls, Blue Koopa Troopas and a couple of pink pipes, as well as some blocks. However, a ? Block was right beside the door, to their surprise.
Mario was the first to strike the block. A Mega Star popped out and landed in the plumber's fist, transforming him into a giant 8-bit version of himself. It wasn't exactly big, but it looked like the same size of Chopper's 8-bit version.
"Wow… I thought 8-bit Mario would look bigger." Chopper said with a blank look. Nevertheless, they followed him from behind as he trampled everything in his sight.
"Poyo… (Too bad I didn't get that…)" Kirby trailed.
"Don't worry, Kirby. You might have your chance one day."
They followed Mario from behind until he went back to his normal, paper self. Luckily, everything in his path was completely demolished, and there was even a Star Block up ahead.
"Well, I guess that ends this chapter," Chopper smiled innocently as he punched the Star Block.
"Poyo. (But we still have more to go. That was the second part.)"
"Oh... Well, at least there'll be more food!"
END OF CHAPTER
After a rather boring trip through the road to the Sweet Kingdom, our heroes felt exhausted. "Poyo! (Hey, guys! Take a look at this!)" Kirby called out. "Poyo! (It's a giant gummy bear!)" Chopper, being one who loved food, couldn't help but look at the tasty sweet, along with Kirby. "Man… My gut's seriously telling me to eat that thing… But I don't wanna!" Chopper and Co. simply turned away from the delicious gummy bear and strolled on. What they saw up ahead was starting to become stranger by the minute…
I wonder how many people are getting hungry over this?
And yes, I had to put a gummy bear in that ending there. Why? Because I love gummy bears! Really, I enjoy them more than any other sweet in the world. It's just...dang good.
Anyway, next up, our heroes explore the Sweet Kingdom and end up encountering another old foe they haven't seen in a while.