CHAPTER 10-5
-Crystals of Confusion-
"Wow… I don't know about you guys, but this palace up those stairs looks a bit strange to me, don't you think?" Sonic commented as the whole group gazed upon the blue palace. For some reason, it looked like it was made of crystals, which isn't exactly too bad, but the ground itself was icy and not covered in snow, which made things a bit tough if they were going to move on the ice. However, that wasn't the worst part. The stairs themselves were made of ice as well, which could be a serious problem if they all planned on going up the stairs.
"I don't know why… I get this strange feeling when I look up at that place." Chopper said while looking up at the large, icy palace. "It just… It just reminds me of a place I've previously been to before. It's just…incredibly strange. OK, I already said that, but you know what I mean!"
Mario: I get a strange feeling from it too.
"So… Luvbi, you said something about some friend of yours holding the Pure Heart…" Blade trailed, now becoming curious. "Do you think we'll find this friend in the Confusing Palace? In fact, you haven't even told us that much about this friend of yours…"
"Poyo, (Yeah, you should tell us about her,)" Kirby suggested.
"Thou wantest to hear who my friend is?" Luvbi gave everyone but Chopper an irritated look. "Fine! If thou wantest to waste precious time, then I hath no other choice. My friend is an ice spirit named Crysta. She's been holding onto the Pure Heart for many, many years. Thou may be asking me if she's old, but she doth be more like a child spirit. How didst I meet her, though? Well… When my parents and I came hither, we foundeth her trapped in the snow. When we freed her, she thanked us by showing us her shrine, which is meant to be around hither. However, I dost not know where it is now, since this whole palace hath appeared out of nowhere… I doth find it a bit strange on how it even got hither too…"
"Wait… You're saying that this whole palace just came out of nowhere?" Sonic gawked, looking up at the palace. He noticed there were a couple of reefs on the walls of the staircase, but when he looked up at it, it felt like it didn't fit in with everything else around here. "Yeah… I know what you mean now."
"Yea, verily! But I findeth no reason to complain about this place… It would be best if we just movest on. …Dost thou agree with me, my sweet prince?" Luvbi's voice sounded sweeter as she turned to Chopper with a smile.
"Uhhhhh… Yeah, we need to do that." Chopper replied with his cheeks turning red while shivering a bit. "Let's not waste any of our time, all right? I think we should…uh…movest on?"
Luvbi giggled at Chopper, but when he looked at a nervous Kirby, he stopped. "Kirby… Is there something wrong with you? You look a bit nervous for some reason…"
Kirby felt even more nervous when Chopper asked him if he was all right, still remembering what his shadow version of himself told him before.
"Uhhh… Kirby?" Chopper waved his arm right in front of the nervous Kirby's face. Did he want to tell them about Shadow Kirby? Or should he just keep it to himself. That answer was a bit tough for him.
"P-Poyo… (Y-Yeah, I'm all right…)" he trailed while nodding to his friend. "Poyo. (I was just feeling a bit cold, that's all. There's nothing really you have to worry about at all, Chopper.)"
"OK then. Let's go!" Chopper started off by going up the stairs, but he immediately slipped and came tumbling down the stairs. "Ouch! What the heck?! How'd I slip so easily?!"
"Maybe you just need to use something to climb up these stairs," Blade's fingers suddenly had claws come out and he used them to easily climb up the stairs. "See? I have claws that can help me get up here!"
"Yeah, you do…but we don't," Sonic said with an irritated look. "Look, can we just find another way up there?"
"I think I can help you guys up there," Carrie chirped, fluttering to the center. "Should I remind you all that I can pretty much hover over anything, including ice? It'll surely help you guys!"
"Hmmmmmm… Yeah, we'll try using Carrie." Blade nodded.
"And we're NOT all going to go on her at once. I don't want this to be Fort Francis all over again!" Chopper said while shaking his head. Mario immediately asked what happened there. "Uhhhh… It's nothing really, Mario. I think it's best that those memories were forgotten."
Kirby started off by going up the stairs by simply floating. Chopper jumped on Carrie first and went up the stairs without having to slip. When he looked up at the sky, he could see those beautiful northern lights. The last time he saw northern lights that pretty, it was back on the edge of the snow world in the Mushroom Kingdom.
"Man, I don't know why, but those northern lights sure look pretty," he smiled as he reached the midpoint of the stairs. A Darkling throwing white energy balls was easily defeated when Kirby froze it with his Ice Breath.
"Poyo, (There's still more stairs up ahead, but they don't look icy,")" Kirby stated as he saw a bit of snow on the stairs. Carrie hovered down that stairs and got everyone else up them.
"Whew! Now that's good!" Blade sighed in relief as he got off Carrie. Now that they were all together, they strolled up the non-slippery stairs to find a door in 3-D leading inside of the palace. There were also two statues in 3-D if you checked. They looked like sad faces, though.
"What's with those sad faces?" Chopper asked as he got a good look at the statues.
"They might be because of no more jokes…" Luvbi trailed as she looked at the statues as well.
Before they could even go up to the door, a blue fairy-like person showed her face from behind one of the statues. She was wearing this hat with a ruby in the center of it and was holding a snowman doll, like it was something she cherished for all of her life. Everyone seemed completely puzzled.
"...Hold it. All of you. You should realize that this is our playground, understand?" the fairy girl said, not showing much emotion in her voice.
"Who is this weirdo?" Blade whispered.
"Poyo, (Maybe she's the one that made this palace appear here,)" Kirby predicted as he noticed the girl hugging the snowman doll.
"Well, since you guys are here, maybe you might wanna play with me!" the fairy girl suggested, a smile now appearing on her face.
"Play? What dost thou mean?" Luvbi asked.
"All right! I guess that means a yes!"
"Poyo! (But we don't want to play!)" Kirby replied, shaking his head. "Poyo! (All we came here for is the Pure Heart!)"
"Yeah, we don't want to play with you at all," Chopper agreed, shaking his head like Kirby. "So, could you just leave us be so we can find our way to some sort of shrine?"
"Hold on a minute…" the fairy girl took a look at Chopper. "I don't know why, but looking at you, you remind me of what the great king says about some other pale green boy. He sure hates that person, that's for sure!"
"Huh? That's interesting..." Chopper trailed.
"Well, if you plan on playing here, the least you can do is say hello to those of us who were here first."
"Uhhhh… Can you tell us who you are first?" Blade frowned.
"Oh, me? Well, I'm Jojora. I'm a buddy of the cousin of the descendant of the spirit who guarded this place. Nothing special."
"Hmmmmmmm… Well, I don't see you much as a threat, so I think we'll be just fine." Chopper said as he took a look at the fairy girl. "Though, I wonder how she got here..."
"Anyway…" Sonic spoke up. "Do you have any idea where we can find a Pure Heart in here?"
"Or that spirit child person Crysta?" Blade added.
"Crysta? Pure Heart?" Jojora looked a bit puzzled with the group. "Man, I have NO idea what you're talking about! …Whatever. Look, if you want to go inside, then go right ahead. Be my guest. Go nuts. I don't know what kind of adventure you all have been on to get here, but man… Getting through here won't be nearly as easy as what you're used to! No way!"
Before they could say anything else, Jojora flew into the door. Everyone else shrugged and let Chopper flip into 3-D so they could enter the palace and follow Jojora.
Inside Confusing Palace-
As they stepped foot in the palace, they noticed that the icy ground had some snowflake pictures on them. The wall over to the left if in 3-D had this large mirror that seemed a bit weird. A couple of Christmas reefs were on the mirror wall as well, surprising some of the people in the group.
"Wow, now this is one cool place," Sonic smirked as he looked at the small room. "The mirrors do look pretty nice, and this icy ground is really fitting for this place. I don't get why some of you think this place is bad. I personally think it fits this place!"
"Poyo…? (Wait a minute… Did you say mirrors…?)" Kirby looked at the mirror in the background and noticed his shadow grinning at him. "Poyo…? (Can we go somewhere else…?)"
"What's wrong, Kirby? It seems like something's bothering you…" Chopper trailed, turning around. "You can tell me what's wrong. I can try to help you…if I can, that is."
"Yes, Kirby! Why don't you tell him what's the matter!" Shadow Kirby grinned. "Maybe you can get rid of him when you can or tell him about me when he can't even see me! Just try and do that, Kirby! Nobody but you can see me!"
Kirby looked a bit puzzled at Shadow Kirby, but he immediately turned to Chopper. "Poyo… (Chopper, you're not going to believe this… But there's a shadow of me trying to convince me to do horrible things!)"
"What? Where is it?" Chopper asked in shock. Kirby pointed at the mirror, but to him, he couldn't even see Shadow Kirby. "Uhhhhh… I don't see any shadow. Unless you mean the ones we all have."
"Poyo! (He actually talks, though!)"
"Ermmm… I think we should just get out of this room." Blade said with a puzzled look. "I think I see a frozen door up ahead, though. I can also see two torches, with the left one being unlit."
Mario: I see a Duplighost.
Mario pointed to an enemy with a gray sheet over its entire body and a little red hair on top of its head. The last time Chopper ever encountered a Duplighost, it was that one named Doopliss who replaced Vivian after she joined Chopper to fight against her sisters, Beldam and Marilyn.
"Oh, man… Not the Duplighosts…" Chopper smacked his forehead. "It just reminds me of Doopliss… Well, pretty much the whole 'slick' thing he always said to me every time he saw me."
"Yeah, that sure was annoying," Sonic agreed as he struck the Duplighost with a Homing Attack. It used its transformation powers to turn exactly like Sonic, but it was immediately frozen by Kirby's Ice Breath.
"Poyo, (I'll finish it,)" Kirby simply kicked the frozen fake version of Sonic and defeated it when it hit the wall, clearing the room of any enemies.
"All right… So I guess I have to light up this torch, if that's what I need to do," Chopper tossed a fireball toward the unlit torch, light it up and melting the ice on the door, allowing them to move on.
"You know I could've done that…" Blade trailed.
"Yeah, yeah… Let's just move on." Sonic opened the door and entered through it, along with everyone else. They were brought into a room with two Duplighosts, but strangely, the door they needed to go to was on the other side of the mirror.
"Wait a second… Why the heck is the door we need to go to on the other side of this mirror?" Chopper blinked a few times and looked at the mirror again. "This is kind of confusing me…"
"Poyo, (Well, there must be a reason why they call it Confusing Palace,)" Kirby stated, trying his best NOT to look at the mirror, due to most likely seeing Shadow Kirby in there. "Poyo? (Is there some sort of puzzle here?)"
"Hmmmmmm… Well, I guess I should flip into 3-D and see what we've got." Chopper threw his arms up in the air and flipped into 3-D. They all happened to see a little opening in the mirror, to their surprise.
"OK, now I'm getting some sort of feeling of the Crystal Palace here…" the pale green hero walked through the mirror with his friends and went back into 2-D. It was strange that the door was still to the right.
Mario: Weird…
"You're telling me…" Sonic trailed as they noticed that the door seemed to be covered in flames. "Why is there a door that's on fire? And it's not even making this palace melt either!"
"Poyo, (I have no idea,)" Kirby tossed Crystaline at the door. She began to spin rapidly horizontally and get rid of the flames on the door. "Poyo? (How come she doesn't melt from the flames?)"
"If you're wondering how I don't melt, then I'll simply tell you. I'm not really a snowflake! I'm a Pixl, remember? That's how I'm immune to getting hurt from the flames!"
"Oh… I see now." Chopper nodded as he opened the door, ignoring the Duplighosts on the other side of the mirror. They were led into another hallway, but this one had five torches right next to an unlocked door. An Ice Ember seemed to be roaming around, but Chopper took care of his by bashing it with his hammer.
"So this is another simple room, huh?" Sonic grinned as he looked over by the door. "Well, this is certainly easy, I have to say! Let's go through!"
Unfortunately, when they walked through the door, they were simply brought back into the same room, over by the door to the left. Everyone seemed to look a bit puzzled from this, though.
"Pray, what hast happened?" Luvbi gawked.
"It looks like we can't go through there yet…" Blade trailed as he looked at all of the lit torches. "Should they all be lit? Or do we need to use some kind of puzzle to find out how to get through here…"
"I'll check in 3-D," Chopper flipped into 3-D and he saw, to his left, a small staircase leading to a doorway. He shrugged and went up the stairs and into a small room with a picture and a sign. "Oh, well that's a coincidence."
Chopper walked over to the sign, and he began to read what it was saying out loud.
To the hero that can flip into 3-D.
With your Ice Hand ability, you are capable of getting rid of flames on a torch! If you want to light the torch, you must use your Flaming Hand ability.
Chopper looked over at the picture beside the sign. He could see that the second, third and fifth torch was lit up. "All right, so we need to have only the second, third and fifth torch lit up. I see it…"
He returned to the group via 3-D and tossed an ice ball at the first and fourth torch.
"Do you think that's going to do anything?" Sonic asked.
"Well, we'll find out," Chopper opened the door first and walked through. Everyone else shrugged and followed him into a larger room in length. There were two doors on this floor of the room. Apparently, one of them must lead up to a door up high on a platform. It didn't look like they could even reach it.
"Poyo, (All right, there's no way we're getting up there,)" Kirby stated. He also happened to notice Jojora right in front of them in the room. "Poyo! (Hey! Jojora's here too! But… I don't know why…)"
"Wow, you guys managed to get through those puzzles? Impressive." Jojora flew up to the platform on the upper floor and floated over to a locked icy door. "I wonder if you can even make it over here… But, I seriously doubt it. It's too high up!"
"Well, maybe we can climb up there!" Blade spat.
"Yeah right! Even if you tried to get up here, there's very little chance of you actually getting in! The door's locked! …But, whatever. If you manage to do it, then congratulations. You did."
Without hesitation, Jojora disappeared from the room, leaving the heroes left to go to either doors. They started by going into the door over by the far right, since that's what they thought they could find the key.
When entering the next room, they noticed that there was an ice block right in front of them. Up ahead there was also a little opening shaped like a square that a block could fit through. They all knew that they had to push it in through there.
"Man, this puzzle is so simple!" Sonic said as Chopper pushed the block into the opening. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to do much when the block simply returned to its original place.
"Poyo? (What's going on? How come it didn't work?)" Kirby gawked.
"I don't know why…" Chopper rubbed the side of his head in confusion. "This is incredibly weird…"
"Yeah, this does look a bit weird… But, I'm pretty sure we need to push it in some kind of order." Blade predicted as he looked at the block. He kicked it and it began to slide into the hole again. This time, it fell right on top of Blade's foot. "OUCH! This thing is as heavy as an anvil!"
"Poyo... (That sounds like it hurts...)" Kirby cringed.
Mario: Try to flip into 3-D and see what you can find, Chopper.
"Ummmm… All right." Chopper flipped into 3-D and saw that there was a red line being drawn to show the path that he needed to push the block. He didn't bother to waste any time. He immediately pushed it along the red line – which was going in many directions and pushed it into the hole.
"Poyo? (What's that going to do?)" Kirby asked.
"Well, all we can do is check through the door up ahead," Chopper opened the door and entered through. Luckily, they weren't in the same room. This one apparently had a couple of ice stumps on the ground that reminded the group of those stumps back in the Sweet world.
"Is it just me, or are we seeing some of the same things again?" Blade questioned as he looked at the stumps. "Haven't we already seen this before?"
"Well, I might as well check and see if there's anything important in 3-D," Chopper flipped into 3-D and noticed that some of the stumps had up arrows and some had down arrows. "Oh, this is like the time we were getting the fourth Heart Pillar revealed. No biggie."
Mario: Do I need to ground pound these stumps?
"Yeah, you do," Chopper nodded as he flipped back into 2-D. "You gotta make sure the first, third and fifth stumps are down. That way, we'll be able to move on ahead…wherever we may go."
Mairo nodded and used his Ground Pound ability on the first, third and fifth stump. It triggered another door to be drawn right in front of them, allowing them to move on ahead to the next room.
When they walked into the next room, they noticed that there were different colored blocks on the ground with some ! Switches above them. There were blue, red, green and purple ! Switches in the room. Strangely, some of the smaller blocks on the ground were the same color.
Mario: I think I see what to do here…
Mario grabbed the blue block with Thoreau and threw it up at the blue ! Switch, making both of them disappear. He even managed to get the red block thrown at its own ! Switch, leaving two left.
"Poyo! (Let me throw one!)" Kirby begged, taking Thoreau and using him to throw the green block at the green ! Switch, and the purple block with the purple ! Switch. It seemed to have allowed the group to go through the door.
"All right, guys… Whatever you do, don't go through a door until you actually solve a puzzle, all right?" Chopper said as he looked at the group. Everyone else nodded. "Hey… Where's Luvbi?"
"Chopper! There's a problem!" Chopper turned around and saw not only one Luvbi, but four others.
"Chopper! Thou must believest me!" Luvbi sad with a sad looked and softened eyes. "There art people who art trying to copy me!"
"Copy? Oh, heck no! Listen, Chopper, I'm the real Luvbi. So, maybe you should hit all of these other fakers." one of the Luvbis spoke with stars at the end of her sentence…and sounded a bit different.
"Oh, no, no! Chopper. You need to look carefully at me and you'll realize. I'm the real Luvbi. It can only be me. These others are all liars." this one was apparently speaking with hearts at the end of her sentence.
"No! I'm the one! Chopper! Don't listen to them or I'll… I'll make sure you're in for it!" one Luvbi spokes with many exclamation points.
"I… I'm the real Luvbi… Puh… Please… Trust your eyes and look at me… I… I'm not lying…"
"Why art thou all pretending to be me?" Luvbi asked while frowning. "My sweet prince! Thou dost knoweth who the real one is, right?"
"Well, apparently it seems a bit obvious," Chopper gripped his hammer and bashed the other Luvbis with his hammer. It transformed them back into simple Duplighosts.
"What? How on earth did you figure out our disguises?!" one spat.
"Well… The real Luvbi speaks in that weird accent or whatever the heck it is." Blade explained. "Do you think we're THAT stupid to believe you others were the real one?"
"Not to mention the text was different for the other ones," Chopper added.
"Rats! And we thought our disguises worked perfectly! It stinks that our dialogue just didn't work out… We're out of here!" the Duplighosts ran off, leaving only the heroes and Luvbi.
"Oh, thank thee, Chopper," Luvbi smiled. "I knewest thou would knowest the real me!"
"Well... I kinda ran into something like this before..." Chopper trailed.
With that out of the way, they walked through the door into the next room. They could see that there were two poles. One had a purple orb in it, while the other was empty.
"Huh… I guess no one bothered to put an orb in one of those…" Sonic trailed as he eyed the poles.
"Poyo? (Maybe someone stole the other orb?)" Kirby questioned.
"Ah, so you're wondering where the orb is, do you?" a purple ghost-like creature with orange eyes and a pipe that had bubbles come out when it blew into it appeared. It looked kind of like a genie, to them.
"Well, this is your lucky day. I happen to have the orb right here." the genie pulled a purple orb out of its pocket. It seemed to be glowing a pretty purple color in the whole room. They could see some of it glow up on the ceiling too!
"Well… Could we have it…whoever you are?" Blade asked.
"My name is Ghastring…and no! You may not have this orb! It is rightfully mine, you see! However… I will let you have this if we do a little something… Like some kind of game you need to beat me in!"
Mario: What's the catch?
"What? There isn't any catch! …Well, maybe there is. You see, you must answer five questions correctly. …Well, actually, I'm going to explain it in a simple way. LET THE CHALLENGE BEGIN!" Ghstring put some sun glasses on and suddenly transformed the whole room into some kind of game show.
"WEEEEEEEEEEELCOOOOOOOOME to the 84th Annual 'Ghost Be Gone' Show! I'm going to ask you six seven questions! Get five of seven right, and you win a purple orb! Get three wrong, and you'll have to pay a big punishment! And by big, I mean a gigantic one with a cherry on top!"
"Poyo! (I like cherries!)" Kirby said, licking his lips.
"All right, then! Let us get started… Now, can anyone tell me what the name of the person who is holding the eleventh Pure Heart is?" Ghastring had a large smiling, hoping to get an answer.
"It doth be obvious that it is my friend, Crysta," Luvbi answered with an irritated look.
"Errr… Are you suuuuuuuuure about that?"
"Yea, verily. It doth be my answer." she nodded. They all heard a chiming bell, as if it was the correct answer. Ghastring himself was a bit irritated from this.
"They're smarter than I thought… This could be tough. All right, that one was TOO easy. But, this one's much, MUCH harder… All right… Now, I'm gonna read this short story. Let's see if you can get this one!"
"Bring it on!" Blade smirked.
"There once was a boy named Joe and one day, he decided that he was going to walk down Lineland Road. He saw a house, but no one was there. Apparently, a flipping master lived there. Unfortunately, for him, he fell down a bottomless pit, and he found himself in a dark and gloomy world. Now… What do you want for Christmas?"
Blade's expression suddenly changed into a bad one. "What the heck is that? That had nothing to do with what you were talking about at first!"
"So is that your answer?"
"What?"
"Ehhhh! Wrong! You are WRONG! You better be careful now, two more incorrect answers will make you toast! Now let's go to question three… What is the name of the Koopa with the red nose?"
"Ummmmm… That's Rudolph." Chopper answered. The bells chimed once again and Ghastring began to have another episode.
"Aw, come on! You have to be right on that one?! …Er, I mean, congratulations! You're correct! …But that was an easy one. I'll tell you this, though: It's going to get a lot harder from here!"
"Yeah, right," Sonic chuckled.
"You better be ready, punks! Now for question four… How did you go down that high mountain back in Chapter 10-3?"
"Poyo… (We went down with a snowboard, tube and some skis…)" Kirby answered with an annoyed look.
"Aw, come on! Once again you're correct? Come on! This is just… I don't know what to say…" Ghastring frowned at the group. "Fine. Whatever. That was an easy one anyway. I can assure you that this is going to be a hard one!"
"Throw one at me!" Sonic smirked.
"OK, then… You remember that alien boy Shade Doom, right?" Ghastring explained. "Who is the name of the snowman that he used against you? Say it right in my ear!"
"…OK, but it's Frosty the Snowman, if that's what you want,"
"You suuuuuuuuuure about that, hedgehog?"
"Yeah, I'm sure," Sonic smirked as the bells chimed, making Ghastring have another one of his episodes.
"Argh! I can't believe you got another one... Ahem! Excuse me for that. …Wait, did you guys just get four answers correct? Well slap me with a pig! I'm going to make these straight-out impossible!"
"Heh heh heh! This reminds me of that Thwomp that asked many questions." Chopper chuckled.
"Trust me, this is a tough one!" Ghastring grinned. "Name all six of Tipral's minions! Just try, plumber!"
Mario: O'Chunks, Mimi, Nastasia, Fawful, Dark Doom and Dimentio.
"Oh… No… NO… NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ghastring turned the whole room back to normal. "You… You beat me at my own game! Stupid little… Fine. Take this stupid orb."
He dropped the orb into Mario's hands, who smirked as he looked up at him. Ghastring only sulked before leaving the room and allowing Mario to place the orb in the left pole.
"I wonder what's going to happen now…" Blade pondered.
Between both poles was a chest that appeared. Kirby opened it up and found a Palace Key inside.
"Poyo! (Hey! It's a Palace Key! I guess we can take this and go back to that other room!)" Kirby smiled as he walked over to the door.
Room with two doors-
"All right, guys… We have the key, and we have the door." Blade opened the door like some gentlemen. "Now then… Let us make our way through here, shall we?"
Everyone walked through the door, although Luvbi seemed to scoff at him again for being smelly – even though he's holding the door like a true gentlemen. If Chopper held the door for her, she would probably tell him how much of a gentlemen he is and most likely kiss him.
But, he didn't open the door for everyone, so we don't have to talk about that now. The five heroes and Luvbi stepped into a room that was actually outside. There was a large staircase going up to the right and then up to the left. Some Duplighosts were roaming around on the stairs as well, making this a bit troubling.
"Poyo! (I'll handle the Duplighosts!" Kirby made his way up the stairs and froze a Duplighost with his Ice Breath. He defeated it by kicking the frozen Duplighost into the wall.
The others made their way up the stairs and took the stairs up to the left. Chopper tossed an ice ball at a white Clubba that was sleeping and kicked it to the wall while it was frozen to finish.
"Man, these ice balls seem a bit overpowered," Chopper said as he held an ice ball in his hand. "But, hey! At least they do something helpful, so I'm glad I have these! …And with fireballs, it makes it even better!"
"Uhhhh… Why don't we just head on through the door." Sonic suggested, opening the door for everyone to walk through. They all shrugged and entered the door into the same room, but at a higher level.
"Ah, so this is how we get up here," Blade realized as he saw a large gap. "But I don't see us getting across…unless we use those Ice Swoopers flying around to get to the door…"
Blade thought of something for a couple of seconds. He jumped right on top of the Ice Swooper without hurting it and kept his balance. "Hmmmmm… Yeah! This could work! I could just use my ninja jump to stand on anything small and get over to somewhere! I think it'll help me get across this gap!"
After crossing the gap, he landed right in front of the door. Sonic immediately crossed the gap by using his Homing Attack on the Ice Swoopers, destroying them and landing right at the door.
"Poyo, (I know how to make my way over here,)" Kirby took in some air and began to float across the gap. Once he was right next to the door, he let out the puff of air and landed on the platform.
"Well, we got three people across, but what about us?" Chopper said as he pointed to him and Mario.
Mario: I can't make that jump!
"I can helpeth thee across!" Luvbi said as she fluttered to him, making Chopper step away.
"Oh, really? I guess that helps…"
Wasting no time, Luvbi grabbed Chopper, carrying him over the gap and over by the door, leaving only Mario.
"OK… How are we going to get Mario across?" Chopper wondered. "Think you can help, Kirby?"
"Poyo, (I'm not giving up my Ice ability, though,)" Kirby said, shaking his head.
"Ugh… Then I'll do it myself." Chopper used his inhaling ability to bring Mario over. Right when he got on the platform, he stopped using it so the plumber wouldn't go in his mouth.
Mario: Let's-a go!
They made their way into the next room, where they saw five doors. One was lime-green with a yellow star on it, another was pink with a Kirby face, another was blue with a Sonic face, the navy blue door had a ninja star on it and the red door had a Mario hat, which seemed to symbolize something.
"Weird… Why are there doors like these?" Sonic gawked. Unfortunately, Jojora happened to be in this room too.
"This is where the real challenge starts," Jojora warned. "Look, you probably should just give up and go home!"
"Give up? Why do that when we're getting close?" Blade questioned.
"All right, fine… But don't say I warned ya." and with that, Jojora disappeared out of their sights.
"That's one strange girl…" Sonic trailed while rubbing his head. "I mean, I'm sure she would try to stop us in a more aggressive way, but it doesn't seem like it…"
"Well what about these doors?" Blade asked, pointing at the five doors.
Mario: They seem to have our symbols…
"Poyo? (So are we supposed to split up or something?)" Kirby questioned.
"Uhhhh… I guess so." Chopper shrugged. "I don't know. I guess we might have to… But it doesn't seem so easy that we have to split up like this…"
"Hey, we did it before, and I bet we can do it again. So… How about we get going, huh?" Sonic suggested.
"I will goest with my sweet prince," Luvbi declared as she followed Chopper through the first door. The others simply headed through their door…alone. But, they knew they would all hopefully meet up.
Chopper and Luvbi-
As soon as Chopper walked into his room, he saw that there wasn't a door around for him. However, there were two Darklings in the room that wanted to freeze him with their energy attacks.
"Yup. I have to find these guys in here." Chopper groaned and tossed a couple of ice balls at the first one. When it was frozen, he kicked it at the other one, defeating both and allowing a door to get drawn.
"That doth seem very easy," Luvbi remarked. "If only I couldst fight like thee..."
"Well, it would make this adventure a bit easier..." Chopper trailed, entering the next room with her. The walls, once again, had a large mirror, but the door was on the other side of the mirror, which was a bit annoying.
"So the door is on the other side..."
"Looks like I'm going to have to flip into 3-D in order to get through here…" Chopper groaned as he finished off a Duplighost and flipped into 3-D. Going through the door, he found a small staircase leading up to another door. "Wow… Kind of reminds me of Castle Tipral a bit."
"Castle Tipral? Doth that be where that hideous dark create inhabits?" Luvbi asked.
"I guess so. But I don't know if he's there now..." Chopper trailed, entering the next room with Luvbi, which led outside of the palace. Well, they were out on a small balcony with a block right next to them that was changing to many different colors. "Ooh! Now that's an interesting block!"
Kirby-
When Kirby set foot in his room, he noticed that there was a mirror in the room, which began to make him freak out a bit.
"Poyo! (Oh, no! A mirror! That… That means…)"
"You can't escape me, you know…" Shadow Kirby appeared in the mirror. "You honestly believe that telling that boy will do anything for you? He can't even see you! Neither can the others!"
"Poyo… (Look, shadow… I DON'T want to hurt Chopper or anyone else on my side… He's my friend. He's done some good things for me… So, if you honestly believe that I would get rid of him just to be a leader, then FORGET IT! He even said he's one of my best friends!)"
"Oh, but what about one of his other friends, Flyer? He said that he was his best friend…"
"Poyo, (Look, just stop with it already,)" Kirby used his Ice Breath on the mirror in order to make it completely frozen.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?! You have something to finish, Kirby! Don't turn on me like that!"
"Poyo, (I don't care,)" Kirby spat as he froze a Duplighost in his way and kicked it toward the wall before entering through the next room, which only had a platform a bit high up leading up to a door.
From what Kirby knew, he had to float up there. So, taking in some air, he began to float up to the door and enter through to find himself outside on a small balcony with a block in many different colors.
"Poyo? (Where the heck am I?)" he asked.
"Kirby! Is that you?!" from what Kirby could hear, it sounded like Chopper's voice. But it seemed to be coming from up above him.
"Poyo? (Chopper? Are you there?)"
"Yeah! I'm here! Where's everyone else?"
"Poyo! (I don't know!)"
Sonic-
"Wow… Now this place is pretty cool." Sonic smiled as he walked into his room. He saw that there was a loop right in front of him, which kind of made his day. But he didn't bother to ask questions about it. He simply ran through the loop and used a spring to reach up to a door right next to him.
Upon entering the next room, he could see a couple of Ice Swoopers hanging from the ceiling and even a Duplighost roaming around the room. There was also a large screw in the room as well, hinting that a Pixl might be needed.
"Well what do ya know? I think you'll finally get a chance to do something, Screwdy!"
Screwdy seemed to be happy as Sonic performed a couple of Homing Attacks on the Duplighost and took care of the Ice Swoopers with a simple Spin Jump before turning his attention to the large screw.
"Well, I finally get to do something!" Screwdy said cheerfully as Sonic performed a corkscrew with his power on the screw, making a door get drawn for him.
"I wonder where this leads…" Sonic wondered as he opened the door out to a small balcony. "Huh… That's weird. I can see a block of many different colors… Is there anyone else here? I see another part of the palace up ahead!"
"I can hear ya, Sonic!" Chopper shouted.
"Oh, good! Someone's here!"
Blade-
"Ho ho ho! Now THIS is something I like to see!" Blade smirked as he saw some small ice poles with small points on the top of them. He knew he was going to be in for something, that's for sure.
"Now to use my ninja jump on these little poles," he began to perform some ninja jumps on the little poles until he reached up onto the icy platform where a door was. However, it was being guarded by a Duplighost.
But, it didn't really matter to him. He drew his katana and easily defeated it with a couple of slashes from his katana before entering the door to the next room.
All he could see in this room were a couple of more Duplighosts and Ice Guys. Nevertheless, he took them all out with a couple of shurikens and slashed them with his katana to defeat them.
Up over by the door, he could see that there were a couple of Brick Blocks blocking the way of the door. But, they did appear to look like they can be destroyed with an explosion…
"Ah! I think I see what I have to do here…" Blade tossed Hommissile straight at the Brick Blocks and made the door visible for him. He immediately headed through to find himself outside on a small balcony with a multi-colored block.
"What the… This is weird."
Mario-
When Mario first set foot in the room, he was welcomed by two Ice Bros. Luckily, there happened to be a ? Block in the room for him to hit, so he struck the block and grabbed the Mushroom from inside to recover 10 HP.
Mario: That was good!
"Hey, Mario! How about you get a taste of some ice balls!" an Ice Bro. spat a couple of ice balls directly at Mario, who managed to jump out of the way and stomp on top of the Ice Bro's. head a couple of times to take it out.
There was also a tall, stone block in the way right by an Ice Bro. He simply used Kickbrin on it and knocked it down, squishing the Ice Bro. The outcome of it wasn't exactly…well…great.
Mario: It's too bad for the Ice Bros…
He jumped over the flattened block and entered through the door ahead, where he saw two Duplighosts talking to each other. When they turned around, their eyes widened in surprise.
"Wait a sec… I recognize that guy from somewhere!" one Duplighost gawked.
"Hey! That's Mario! What's he doing in the Confusing Palace? I thought we'd never see him after encountering him in the Crystal Palace!" another Duplighost cried.
Ah, the Crystal Palace… That was the place where Mario got the last Star Spirit. But now wasn't the time for him to think about that place. He had to pummel these guys, so, with his hammer, he began to bash at them. The first one was easy to take out, but the other seemed to put up more of a fight.
"All right, that's it! Time to turn the heat up!" the Duplighost transformed into Mario and tried to use his own attacks on him, but it didn't work when Mario took him out with Kickbrin.
Mario: That was easy!
Upon entering through the door up ahead, he noticed that he was on a small balcony. He could even hear some other voices too.
Mario: Is that you guys?
"Mario? Oh, thank goodness it's you!" Blade sighed in relief. "Where the heck are you anyway?"
Mario: It sounds like I'm below you.
"Wait… Really? …I guess we're all at a different level. Chopper said he was up at the top balcony… But what is this block anyway?"
"Why don't we try hitting it?" Sonic suggested.
Everyone agreed and they punched the block with their fists. Surprisingly, Jojora appeared floating near the balconies, but not necessarily on top of it.
"Hrmm… Wow." Jojora seemed a bit impressed. "If you've come all the way here, you obviously don't give up easily. Cool."
"Yeah, we didn't give up," Chopper smirked. "I know you told us to go away and stuff… But we're not leaving."
Jojora pulled a wand that looked more like a spoon than a wand out and summoned a couple of electric balls that faced the group.
"So this is a present from me to you…" she announced. "Press the (2) button to jump under the block that comes to you. Press (A) to switch to someone else in order to hit that block in order to score more points. If you get 30 points in 25 seconds or less, I'll make a bridge for you to make it to the other side of this palace. Cool?"
Chopper, Kirby, Sonic, Blade and Mario: We're cool.
"All right, start!" with a strike of her wand, Jojora made a couple of blocks come toward the group before disappearing.
"All right, let's do this!" Sonic curled up in a ball and hit the blocks that were coming toward him, trying to avoid missing any of the blocks. He was doing quite well, actually.
"I don't know why, but these blocks aren't so hard to hit," Blade stated as he punched one of them with his fist. As for the others… They managed to hit a bunch of them, but Chopper ended up missing two.
"Drats! I can't believe I missed one!" Chopper frowned.
"Poyo, (Well don't worry about it,)" Kirby assured. "Poyo. (Missing two blocks isn't the end of the world. You can still hit a couple of more.)"
And that's what he did. After thirty seconds passed, they managed to get over 30 blocks. That triggered a bridge right below Mario to be drawn. They knew what they had to do, so they jumped off the balcony and landed on the bridge.
"Ow… That hurt a bit." Chopper frowned as he held his foot in pain. "I wish I didn't have to be that high…"
"Oh, suck it up like a man, will ya?" Blade suggested, only to receive a glare from Luvbi. "What? He can take it!"
"Luvbi… Don't try to insult him." Chopper warned as he got up. "All right, let's move on ahead."
They raced over to the door and headed into the next room, where they could see a large hallway with a mirror in the background. The only problem was that there were a lot of enemies in the area, so it might be a bit dangerous for them to set foot here.
"Hey, look! A Knuckle Joe!" Chopper saw a childish, elf-like fighter with spiky yellow hair, blue clothing, and a bandana wrapped around its head. He immediately inhaled it and gained the Fighter ability. "Ah, yes! There's my Fighter ability I've wanted to get again!"
"Now, let's see what's in here," Sonic struck the ? Block with a Spin Jump, making a Mega Star pop out. Although people were trying to grab a hold of it, it ended up landing in Sonic's hand.
"Aw, man! I wanted to get that thing!" Blade pouted.
"Is that another one of those stars?" Luvbi asked.
"Yeah, it's another Mega Star… Too bad I didn't get it." Chopper groaned. "Although, I think I had it enough already."
Sonic transformed into a large, 8-bit version of himself and immediately curled up in a ball to perform a Spin Dash. "I think this'll help trounce everything in my way! Yeah, I believe it will!"
He trampled everything in his path, such as Peguinators, Ice Bros. and even Duplighosts. But it didn't last long for him, for Sonic turned back into his normal self when he reached the door up ahead.
"Poyo, (Let's get out of here, and fast,)" Kirby suggested as he was the first to go through the door.
"Yeesh. What's with him?" Chopper asked.
Mario: Beats me.
Nevertheless, they entered through the door into another large room with an ice platform moving up and down. A door that was up ahead was also locked, but Jojora was in the room, and she certainly wasn't happy.
"Oh! Man! Cut it out!" Jojora complained. "You're the most stubborn people I know! No girls would ever like you!"
Everyone else looked confused as the fairy girl disappeared.
"She must not want us to continue onward," Blade remarked.
"Well never mind that. It looks like we need a key if we're going to move on ahead…" Chopper trailed as he pointed at the locked door. "I guess we need to use these platforms…"
They jumped on the platform closest to them and then made their way up onto more platforms moving up until they got up to a platform with a Penguinator sitting on it, minding its own business.
"Huh? What's going on?" the Penguinator got up and put away the magazine it was reading about penguins and saw the heroes. "Oh, great… I bet you wanna get the key, do ya?"
"Ummmmm… That's pretty much it. So, why don't you give us the key already, Penguinator?" Sonic suggested.
"Never! This key belongs to me! If you try to take it from me, I will destroy you until you're nothing but dust! I, the Mighty Penguinator, will personally send you to The Underwhere!"
There was silence.
And then more silence.
But the silence suddenly broke into laughter, with all six of them laughing at the Penguinator.
"What? How DARE you laugh at my mighty powers!" the Penguinator spat. "You… You…"
"Ummmmm… Look, we can't really say that. That's already from some kind of flash." Sonic finished laughing and struck the Penguinator with a Spin Jump, making it drop a Palace Key.
"All right, let's head into the next room."
Next room-
All they really saw in this room was a ? Block and a door up ahead. Nevertheless, Chopper struck the block and got a Super Shroom that they all agreed to split in order to recover 20 HP.
"I wonder what is up ahead…" Luvbi wondered.
"Maybe the boss?" Chopper predicted.
"We better be close…" Blade trailed as they walked into the next room. Surprisingly, there was nobody around. All they saw was a little table that had some small stools like what little girls would do if they were having a little tea party with their dolls.
"We're in some kind of tea party room? Weird…" Sonic gawked.
"Uhhhh… I think this is where I make my leave!" Chopper gaped as he made a run for the door, but ended up tripping. "Ow..."
"Yeah, I think I'm gonna go too," Blade decided, making his way to the door. But before they could go on, Jojora appeared in the room, startling nearly everyone.
"Welcome!"
"Uhhhhhh… What is this place?" Blade asked.
You six are the first people ever to climb all the way up here! …Cool. You're pretty darn determined! Let me reward you, OK?"
Everyone was still silent as they stared at the fairy girl.
"Well don't just stand there! Have a seat and relax for a bit." Jojora got a couple of more stools with each hero's symbol, which surprised some of them a bit. But, nevertheless, they sat down on their stool.
"Ummmm… How do you know about these symbols anyway?" Sonic asked.
"It's REEEEALLY hard to explain..." Jojora trailed, quickly changing the topic. "But, anyway, I'm inviting one of my pals over today. They're all good people, but I'm only inviting one today. Who would you like to invite? Chucklissa? Oholina? Hoohoolia? Or Teeheena?"
Chopper paused for a moment. "Wait, what? You want US to tell you who should come here? Ummmmm… Shouldn't you be the one to decide that? They ARE your friends…"
"Yeah, I know. But I want you to tell me who I should invite."
"Let's with with Chucklissa, I suppose," Blade decided.
"Oh, man! You have really good tastes!" Jojora smirked as she flew out of the room. "CHUCKLISSA! Introduce yourself!"
"Well, I guess we can just relax for a bit and then go," Sonic stated as he stretched. "I mean, this doesn't look bad, right?"
A large, rag doll-like person with a stone face that has a bit of brown and yellow on her came down on the ground, lifting everyone off their stools. She also happened to have two blonde pigtails as well.
"I'm Chucklissa! GAH HAH!" she introduced. "Are you all done working for the day? Then please sit back and relax! Gah hah HAHHH!"
"What the… This is your friend?!" Chopper looked more horrified than happy.
"Well done!" Jojora congratulated. "Now take good care of our honorable guests, Chucklissa!"
"Of course!" Chucklissa opened her arms and began to charge toward Chopper. "Give me a hug!"
"Oh, man! What do I do?!" Chopper wanted to get out of the way, but it didn't look like he could even get out of her grasps if she got a hold of him. …There was only one way to settle this. Wasting no time, he used his Smash Punch, which made him throw a powerful punch straight at Chucklissa, knocking her back toward the wall.
Unfortunately, this got Jojora infuriated. You NEVER touch a lady without her permission!"
She raised her wand and began to create an intense snowstorm that somewhat had no effect on Kirby. However, Chopper managed to hit Jojora with his Smash Punch and knock away her wand.
"Eeek! Uncool! You creep!" Jojora cried as she flew out of the room.
"Hey! I'm NOT a creep!"
"Ummmmm… Got any idea on what her stats are?" Sonic asked.
"Ummmmmmmm… Yeah, let me look." Chopper looked at the stats on Chucklissa. "OK, apparently she has 135 HP, an Attack of 9 and a Defense of 2. I saw that Jojora has ? HP, 9 Attack and ? Defense. I guess that's why my attack on her barely did any damage to her…"
"Poyo, (Well let's take this…girl down,)" Kirby stepped in and used his Ice Breath on Chucklissa to make her shiver. He immediately followed up with his Ice Storm to even freeze her for a couple of seconds.
When she got out of her frozen prison, she began to shiver. "Augh! I feel like I've got a cold!"
"Hold on… I think she's weak to fire!" Chopper gawked, tossing a fireball straight at the rag doll, which actually did more damage than what his Fighter ability does. "Yeah… That's not a bad idea."
"Well, in that case…" Blade drew his katana and charged at Chucklissa. With a fire slash, he managed to strike her with some immense damage. Even more than what Chopper was capable of with a fireball.
Chucklissa winked and got into a large snowball. She managed to roll over both Chopper and Blade and flatten them like pancakes. The others gulped and got in their fighting stances.
Mario: This doesn't look easy…
When both Chopper and Blade got up, they noticed they were flat like pancakes. Kirby got a bicycle pump from nowhere and got some air into both of them (although it's strange how he's using a bicycle pump on them when they're made of paper…).
Sonic immediately struck Chucklissa with a Homing Attack before she brought her arms out. Unfortunately, it looked like she was going right after Mario.
"Mario! Get out of the way!" Blade shouted.
Unfortunately, for Mario, Chucklissa managed to grab a hold of him. What was worse was that she started to kiss Mario, which actually hurt him more than healing him. What's worse was that he got poisoned.
"Oh, man… That's what would've happened if she grabbed a hold of me." Chopper gulped and turned toward Chucklissa. "It doesn't sound nice..."
He tossed another fireball straight at Chucklissa, forcing her to release the plumber. After Mario managed to deliver a smack at the rag doll with his hammer, Chucklissa looked straight at Kirby.
"Gah! That pink puffball… Does he like me?" Chucklissa immediately put on lipstick and her hair changed to a hot pink color. "NOW he will! Gah HAH!"
Chucklissa immediately charged toward Kirby, bringing her arms out. Blade tried to strike her with a fire slash, but instead of dealing more damage, it actually healed her, making him gape.
"What the heck?!" Chucklissa turned around at the gaping Blade. She immediately grabbed him and squeezed him.
"I'm going to name you Steve!" she smiled as she hugged him even tighter.
"Ack! Someone h-help me!" Blade wheezed.
Chopper immediately used his Vulcan Jab attack on Chucklissa's back in order to make him let go of Blade. When she turned around, she was knocked back by his Smash Punch.
"Gah! That hurt…" she wheezed as Mario stomped on him and Kirby used his Ice Storm to make her shiver again.
And that wasn't the worst part. Jojora came back, and angrier than ever. "I'm going to make you pay for doing that to me and my friend, you jerks!" she growled as she raised her wand.
"Sonic… Wanna do the honors?" Chopper asked.
"Certainly," Sonic curled up in a ball and struck both Chucklissa and Jojora with a Spin Dash. The fairy girl didn't have much time to react to Chucklissa getting hit because her wand was knocked away.
"Eeek! That was just uncool, you jerk!" she cried as she went back to go after her spoon wand.
"Well that was easy," Sonic stated as he jumped backwards in a ball and struck Chucklissa with a Spin Dash. However, the rag doll managed to grab a hold of him and began hugging him.
"Gah HAH! You're so cute! You just might be my pet!" she began to squeeze Sonic tightly, but was soon saved when Mario struck her in the head with his stomp and Ground Pound, making her release Sonic.
"Whew… Thanks, Mario." Sonic sighed in relief as he got in a ball again. "Now I'm going to teach that rag doll a lesson!"
With another Spin Dash, Sonic was able to knock Chucklissa to the ground. Add Mario's Triple Jump to the mix and you've got one powerful attack. Even the makeup disappeared and her hair went back to normal, making her vulnerable to fire once again.
"It's about time!" Blade smirked as he gripped his katana and slashed at Chucklissa with a fire slash, dealing more damage than before and also leaving her with one nasty burn.
She winked and got into a large snowball afterward. She ended up rolling over both Chopper and Kirby, but they didn't lose their abilities, to their relief. Even still, Chopper managed to strike her with a flaming Vulcan Jab.
"Whoa… Are you using flames for that attack?" Sonic gawked.
"Ummmm… Yeah. Why?" Chopper asked.
"Oh… Well that's going to do some tough damage, so go ahead and continue attacking, all right?"
"Oh, all right," Chopper seemed a bit confused, but he used his flaming spinning attack on Chucklissa to make her fall over on the ground. "OK… I think she's almost finished. Who wants to finish this up?"
Mario: I guess I will.
With his hammer ready, Mario bashed Chucklissa easily with his hammer. Not only did this end the fight, but it ended up making Chucklissa explode somehow. When Jojora came back, she was shocked to see her friend gone.
"Oh… NOOOO!" she screamed. "EHH! Play time's over for the day! Over! Over! Over! Over! Over! Over! Over! Over! OVER!"
"Poyo, (That's a good thing,)" Kirby smiled.
"I can't believe you ruined my tea party! …That's it! I'm telling my king on you guys! When you see him, you're going to freeze in fear at the sight of him! That's how intimidating he is!"
"Look, Jojora, we just want the Pure Heart, that's it," Chopper said. "Can we just settle things peacefully?"
"No way! KING!" Jojora immediately headed through the door up ahead, resulting in the group following her into a small room with a ? Block and a Save Block.
"Huh… I wonder what this'll give us." Chopper punched the ? Block and got an Ultra Shroom from it. They all split it into five pieces so they could recover 50 HP. Afterward, Kirby hit the Save Block.
"All right, let's go catch Jojora and hopefully find the Pure Heart."
The group wasted no time and entered the door before them. The first thing they were able to notice was the cold wind blowing into the room. Though reluctant to be back in the cold, they progressed onward.
As usual, boss chapter is up next! Expect a certain someone to come back for revenge...