"Good morning, cruise passengers!" the loudspeaker spoke. "How did you sleep last night? This is your captain, speaking. This is the third day on the Rainbow Cruise. We should be at Viti in about two hours. If you want, you can take a look at the island from afar and see what awaits you! That is all.
Once morning had hit, the cruise had appeared to be calm as usual. Though the loudspeaker had gone off, no one was up early just yet. Outside, Chopper and Vivian remained asleep, but this time there was blanket on them. Most likely the captain found them there and put a blanket over both of them so they wouldn't get cold during the night.
"You have only one hour, Chopper…" Tipral trailed, appearing from the shadows. "Yes… Only one hour until you and this whole cruise go down! Try all you can, but there's no evacuating this boat. I already got rid of all the emergency rafts that are needed to evacuate. This is what happens when you try to foil our plans!"
As they slowly got up, he had made his exit. Chopper opened his eyes and noticed his surroundings.
"Wha… What? Wh-What am I doing outside? I don't remember sleeping outside…" Chopper moaned, rubbing his eyes a little. He noticed Vivian began to wake up and open her eyes. "And why is Vivian here too?"
"Good morning, Chopper," Vivian said, noticing the blanket. "...Oh! I guess someone found us sleeping here?"
"Why was I anyway?" Chopper wondered.
"I think you fell asleep, and I decided to keep you company. ...But then I fell asleep too."
"Oh... Well, I'm hungry. Maybe we should eat something?"
Vivian nodded in agreement as the two headed back inside and headed to the restaurant, where their friends were waiting.
"It's about time, Chopper! We've been waiting for a while for you guys!" Sonic grinned. "…Say, where were you anyway?"
"I...accidentally slept outside," Chopper sweat dropped.
"I hope you didn't freeze out there!"
"Strangely, I didn't... There was a blanket over me..."
"Ah, Flyer! I've been waiting for you!" Pennington exclaimed, approaching the group with a black note he had found in his hand.
"And... Who might you be?" Flyer asked. "And how did you know my name?"
"Err… I didn't mean to call you over, Chopper." Pennington apologized. "I was asking for Flyer. My apologies…"
"But… I AM Flyer. Chopper is over there!" Flyer shouted.
"No no no, my friend. Obviously I know what Chopper looks like! He is the one with the wings and the yellow body! That, and he's always playing the sidekick role."
"Sidekick role?"
"Dear Flyer, on the other hand... Now he is a true hero. He has those unique antennae and the ability to ingest something and take its ability! Yes... A rather interesting person, wouldn't you agree?"
"But that's not even correct! I am Flyer! I have the wings on my head! And I'm NOT a sidekick, OK?"
"Hrrmmmm…" Pennington trailed, taking a look at the black note. "Well, this note I found DOES say it's addressed to you, Chopper. But, let my dear assistant Flyer take care of this! He is, after all, the sleuth in here. Come here, my assistant!"
"Go ahead, Flyer…" Flyer sighed.
"OK then, Chopper…" Chopper replied as he walked over to Pennington and took the note.
Dear Chopper,
I'm sorry to say this, but this cruise will be going down in about an hour. Sorry if you thought you were going to make it out of here alive. THIS is where it ends for you! Have a safe trip! …At the bottom of the ocean!
"Whoa, nelly! This cruise is going down in an hour! This…is BAD! We need to GET OUT!" Chopper shouted, showing the paper to the others around him.
"What an interesting note..." Flyer said as he took a look at it. "Though... Do you think this note is telling the truth? I mean, this could be Tamber's doing."
"No, I didn't write that thing," Tamber noted.
"Hmmmmm... Well, looking at the writing on this thing, it obviously doesn't look like Tamber's. His writing is just..." Flyer paused trying to find the correct word. "...Messy. This, on the other hand, is creepy."
"Creepy like the Shadow Queen's," Vivian added.
"Indeed. But, if I'm correct, if this note is telling us the truth, then obviously it had come from our enemies. If we had to judge this from an enemy's writing, who would be a high suspicion?"
"Well, I was thinking it could be the Shadow Sirens or Shadow Brothers who sent this to us," Scrub answered. "…Or maybe… OK, I don't have any idea."
"Whoever it was, he he must not be too happy with you making it to Viti," Pennington deduced. "Unfortunately, he doesn't know that WE can evacuate this place no problem-o! Luckily, I know where we can to leave this place! Follow me, my dear Flyer!"
Chopper and his friends (including Goombella) followed Pennington out of the restaurant and went to the emergency boats, only to find them gone.
"Mama mia! The boats are gone! How are we supposed to get off this boat now?" Mario gasped.
"Hrrrmmmm... Another case, indeed..." Pennington trailed. "But what shall we call this? That is the question. Perhaps we should warn the captain about this... Come, Flyer! This way!"
Pennington had taken off, but Chopper did not follow him. "Great... So the only way to get out of this cruise is now gone..."
"Well... There's always swimming..." Shadower mentioned, but this did not bode well for a certain hedgehog.
"Uhhhh... Yeah, I'd rather not do that." Sonic objected. "We don't know how close we are to Viti, and I ain't takin' a risk in going in the water."
"Guys! Guys! I found something!" Mario shouted. Everyone turned in his direction and saw him pointing at two water bikes. They were hanging over a rope. Strangely enough, they hadn't seen those there before.
"Hey... Were those where the boats were supposed to be?" Chopper asked.
"Let's not ask questions so quickly! We need to get out of here now! Just get on!" Mario shouted.
Deciding not to ask any more questions, everyone jumped onto the water bike, with Goombella going on the one Kirby and the others too like on a Warp Star with him. Pennington had come back to see if Chopper was here, but instead, he found the group on the water bikes. He decided to join Chopper on his water bike.
"Wait... Pennington?" Chopper gawked.
"So, this is why you didn't follow me, Flyer..." Pennington trailed.
"Ummmmm... I guess?"
"…What about all of the passengers on the cruise?" Shadower asked.
Chopper's antennae instantly sprung up in worry. "Oh, yeah... We can't leave those people to sink to the bottom of the ocean! ...But we don't have enough room to fit everyone on a water bike."
"Hmmmmm... I think I have a little idea!" Flyer declared, flying off the bike and back on the cruise with his scanner in hand. "Don't worry, guys! I know what I'm doing!"
He went off, leaving the group to wait for him.
Fifteen minutes later-
Flyer had finally returned with a few tools in his hand. He leaped off the cruise and landed on Chopper's water bike.
"What took you?" Chopper asked.
"I found a bomb located in the cruise, and thankfully, I managed to disable it," Flyer explained. "Now the people should get to Viti safely. So... With that out of the way, I guess we should go now."
"Poyo! (All right, let's go, Chopper!)" Kirby shouted.
They both detached their water bikes from the hook, and the bikes landed in the water. The water bikes got started and they started to over the water. Thankfully, they were going much faster than the cruise ship's speed.
"See, guys? We're getting to the island much faster!" Chopper smiled, making his water bike jump off the water. It had landed, causing some of the water to get in some of their faces, though Sonic was the only one who didn't seem to appreciate it.
"So much for being able to relax on that cruise..." Berry sighed. "I guess it's back to the usual action?"
"Well, Frankly said that Viti is a peaceful place," Goombella informed. "So I don't think we'll be stepping into much action so soon."
"But I don't think we're completely safe..." Flyer trailed. "That bomb was just one warning..."
"Yes, that's true. The next will be far worse." came a voice from behind. Chopper and Kirby's water bikes moved away from each other, and joining between them was a black water bike, with Tipral riding on it.
"What the… Who the heck is this guy?" Goombella asked. "He looks like he's copying your style, Chopper."
"I see you've managed to discover that bomb... Well, I still have another just for you!" Tipral held up a bomb with a star on it and threw it into the water. He quickly disappeared, and just then an explosion from the water sent them flying off their water bikes.
"Whooooooa! Why'd that jerk have to come here and cause some ruckus for us?!" Tamber complained.
"I don't know..." Shadower trailed, catching the water bike nearby so the others could land. The same thing happened with the other water bike, though Chopper had to catch Pennington, and Vivian had to help Sonic before he could fall in the water.
"Whoa... That was too close..." Sonic sighed. "So, that freak was the one responsible for trying to sink the cruise. Man, he's gone pretty low."
"I must say, that strange being looked just like you, Flyer," Pennington remarked. "Though, he looked somewhat of a faker to me... Perhaps he is stealing your identity?"
"No he's not..." Chopper groaned. "Let's just relax for now. We're getting to the island."
Viti-
Thankfully, it hadn't taken them long for them to reach the island. They had arrived in about seven minutes and parked their water bikes at the dock. A Lakitu with a brown hat happened to notice their arrival when they got onto the dock.
"Well, look what we got here! You guys are tourists, are you not?" the Lakitu asked.
"Tourists? Actually, we are detectives." Pennington corrected. "My name is Pennington, and this dear assistant of mine is Flyer. We're here to help the Gods solve some mysteries that they are trying to solve."
"Er… Yeah, I guess so. Well, welcome to Viti! This is the Island of the Gods, if you couldn't tell by the brochures. If you leave the docks, you might have the chance to see what's on this island. The exit's not too far from here!"
"Thanks!" Chopper smiled, heading over to the exit with his friends. They noticed that the Rainbow Cruise wasn't too far from arriving, too. But, there was no point in staying around, so they left the dock and had gotten a look at the huge landscape of Viti. Where they stood, there was a lot of dark green grass around the landscape, but they also noticed a huge hill with a passageway going up to the clouds.
"Wow, this sure is a nice place… Look at the huge landscape around us." Goombella gazed in awe at the snowy mountains, the casino beach area, and even the plains a little further away. "There's so much variety of these areas!"
"I gotta admit, I've never seen such an island in my life," Chopper smiled. "I mean, those islands around Unagi's Cave were cool, but this one tops them all. It's cooler than Clearno Island."
"Actually... No. Nothing tops Clearno Island." Tamber tried correcting, but it didn't seem to change Chopper's opinion.
Goombella walked up ahead and turned to everyone. "Well, guys… Since we're here on the island, I think this is where we part for right now. It's been fun while it lasted, but now I gotta do some research on this island. First off, thank you SO much for taking me here, Chopper. I really appreciate it. Secondly… Good luck finding that Crystal Star!"
"Don't mention it," Chopper replied.
With that, Goombella trotted on while everyone waved goodbye. She would've waved goodbye, but, of course, being a Goomba and all...
"So… Shall we get going? We've got A LOT to explore. I say we go see the Gods first. That's all we can do at the moment."
Everyone had agreed and headed toward the hill ahead. While they did that, some of them were smelling the fresh air, specifically Pennington.
"Ahhhh… I never knew a faraway island could have such fresh air…" Pennington sighed. "You know, Flyer, it was once said by the Gods that an ancient palace was once here, but it was sealed underground because of its dark power."
"Wait... Dark power?" Berry gawked.
"Yes... But that's all in the past. These days, there's nothing too dangerous."
"But what if something bad is going on?" Vivian wondered.
"Something bad? Then it must be a mystery! Hrrrmmm... Yes. Perhaps we can work together to solve this mystery, Flyer! Off to the Gods we shall!"
"…Are you talking to me or are you talking to 'Flyer' over there…" Flyer wondered, looking a bit irritated.
"Oh ho ho ho, Chopper... No need to get upset. You may be famous, but not as famous as the famed Flyer!"
"Can we just drop this? I want get to the Gods and ask about the King's Star. …At least, that's what I THINK it's called." Chopper said, taking off ahead. Everyone had followed behind, with Vivian following last.
"I don't understand... I've never seen those monsters, yet they recognize me..." Vivian trailed.
After four minutes, they managed to reach the top of the hill. At the hill's tip, the group saw a cloud that floated down before them. They could even hear the birds singing around here in a heavenly fashion.
"This is some gorgeous scenery!" Flyer smiled. "Wingel City is nothing compared to this!"
When the cloud was at their level, they got it and were taken up into the skies. When they had appeared above the clouds, they saw a huge yellow gate in their way. The floors on the clouds were a light yellow color and a rainbow could also be seen over the sky.
"It feels so…peaceful," Vivian smiled, clasping her hands together.
"Hrrmmm... So, this is why the clouds have been covering the skies in the first place..." Pennington remarked. "Very interesting..."
Chopper approached the gate and decided to see if there was anyone behind it. Thankfully, there were some cracks in the gate, so they could see what was behind, but not a whole lot. Nevertheless, he gave it a good knock to see if it caught anyone's attention.
"Hello? Anybody?" Berry shouted, walking over to the gate.
"We don't want any!"
"But... We're the good guys! We're here to help you guys!" Chopper cried out, though that didn't do much. "Uhhhhh... We're the pizza guys?"
The gate immediately opened, allowing everyone to enter.
"Wow, Contadre... What made you think that would work?" Scrub asked.
"I don't know. I just thought they liked pizza."
When they walked past the gate, it had closed behind them. They saw all of the many different palaces and also the giant fountain with a huge god-like statue. However, the water appeared to be coming out of its armpits.
"Uhhhh... Did you guys notice that the statue has water coming out of its armpit?" Berry asked, gawking at the statue.
"That looks awesome," Tamber grinned.
"So, where's the pizza?" a booming voice asked behind them. Everyone turned and saw a huge white god without a shirt, purple eyes, a white beard and a huge staff with a light blue diamond on it looking down at them. One thing for certain was that he was quite buff, and that he had some human-like features on the upper part of his body, while the lower portion was mostly covered with a lower section of a blue robe.
"Errrrr... We kinda lied." Chopper squeaked.
"Oh... Well, that stinks."
"Ah, so YOU'RE the King of Gods, aren't you? You must be…Heus!" Pennington deduced. "Greetings, king! I am Pennington, a detective that you requested. This here is my assistant Flyer, and also his friends such as Luigi and Chopper!"
"Hmmm… Let me take a look at everyone." Heus looked at everyone carefully, starting with Chopper. "Ah! I see who you are! No, this is NOT Flyer, but this is really Chopper! The Wingel is really Flyer and the man with the mustache is actually Mario. Intriguing… You mistook these fines fellows as their sidekicks!"
"Well, it's about time someone recognizes me..." Flyer sighed.
"Now, let me get a look at the rest of you. Hmmmm…" Heus began to identify each and everyone in the group. "You must be…Kirby! Yes, I immediately recognize the pink fluffiness! You, sir… You're Sonic the Hedgehog, aren't you? So nice to see you. And you… You're that Bob-omb Bombette, yes? That ponytail you have is easily recognizable. You, white Yoshi… You're Scrub. I...don't really have much to say about you. The shadow person over there I know is Shadower. The pink girl… I know she carries a hammer around, and that would have to be Berry. You, furry creature… You are Tamber, are you not? Though, you don't seem too important."
"Oh, yeah... Real funny. What're you going to say next? That I look like a tulip?" Tamber asked angrily.
"...No, but you're way too furry. You should get a haircut."
Heus then brought his attention to Vivian and inspected her. She appeared a bit nervous at this point.
"Hmmmm… Why, you're…Vivian! Don't worry, my dear. I know that you're with Chopper and that you want to help save the universe. You're doing a good thing… Good luck with trying to save the world."
"Y-Yeah..." Vivian nodded nervously."OK, listen…" Chopper stepped. "The reason why we came here is because…"
"I know, I know. I know what you came for." Heus assured. "That would be the King's Star, right? I know where to find it."
"You do?" Everyone seemed to be in bright spirits at this point.
"...But, I have some bad news for you all. Many years ago, a palace used to be on Viti. However, when this place was destroyed, it sank underground, never to be seen again."
"So if the star's there... Oh, crud. We can't even get there." Chopper frowned.
"Oh ho ho ho ho! Don't have any doubt, my boy." Heus chuckled. "Let me show you something. Perhaps that will change your mind… Come!" Everyone followed Heus over to a broken mirror.
"It's a mirror," Bombette said.
"Not just any mirror. This is called the Mirror of Viti. You see, this mirror was the source of the palace being stable. With it shattered, the palace had went underground, never to be seen."
"So, what your saying is that if we can fix that mirror, that palace will reemerge?" Berry asked.
"Correct. There are seven shards altogether, and they are scattered around the island." Heus confirmed, taking out a small, dark chest. "Us gods would go down there to fix it, but the map that was used to find them was sealed in a chest by dark royalty. It is said that a person related to the dark one can open this chest.
"Ummm… Maybe I can give it a try." Vivian volunteered, taking the chest from Heus. When she opened it, she felt a dark power surround it when the chest opened up. "What's this dark mist around the chest? It feels…strangely familiar…"
Inside of the chest was a map, so she took it out and found a whole map of Viti. She noticed that there was a bright light coming from one location of the map.
"Ah, so you found a location! Vivian… You must go to that location and find the Mirror Shard there. Please, bring your friends with you if you must." Heus suggested. "I believe that's the only way you can restore the Mirror of Viti and bring the ancient palace up from underground."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you..."
"Hey... That voice sounds familiar..." Chopper trailed, turning around to see Meta Knight and his two servants Sword and Blade standing on the roof of a light yellow building nearby. Meta Knight had a portion of his cape wrapped around him. "Meta Knight? What on earth are YOU doing here?"
Meta Knight took the time to jump down from the roof with his servants, and they landed in front of Vivian. She had slowly stepped away from the three.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but what you're doing is not good idea. Chopper, you remember when you opened the Thousand-Year Door, you almost let the great cataclysm take over the world?" Meta Knight asked.
"Yeah... Why? What's the problem?" Chopper asked.
"Well, I discovered a little something else..." Meta Knight pointed at Vivian with his sword. "This friend of your isn't to be trusted. She's been using you this whole time."
"Wait, what?!" Chopper quickly got in Meta Knight's way to defend Vivian. "After all she's done for us? Not a chance! I'm not going to let you hurt her!"
"He's not gettin' it, I'm afraid," Blade said.
"Typical Chopper... Sometimes you are too stubborn..." Meta Knight sighed. "Who do you believe more? A Shadow Siren whose background you don't know too much of, or someone who has tried to help you learn to fight and save the world?"
Chopper looked back at the saddened Vivian and then back at Meta Knight. "The reason why I helped her is because she was being treated poorly by her sisters. Heck, without her help or the others, I probably wouldn't have been able to defeat the Shadow Queen."
"Still you refuse to listen, Chopper? Very well... I suppose you can find out the truth for yourself... Sword, Blade, let's settle down here for now. I think we need to have a little talk with the Gods."
"Yes, sir!" Sword and Blade nodded, and the three of them went explored deeper in the area.
"So that is the legendary soldier Meta Knight?" Heus asked.
"Yeah," Chopper nodded.
"Ah, I remember his ancestor was a true warrior. I bet he's pleased to see him being just like him. But don't worry about him, Princess. You're the holder of the map, so you should be able to lead the way to where the location of the Mirror Shard is."
"And while you guys do that, I shall speak with Kirby and find out this whole mystery if this girl is indeed lying or not!" Pennington declared, making Kirby fall over in shock.
"Poyo… (Great, now Pennington thinks that he's me…)" groaned Kirby as he stood up.
"So, we need to find those Mirror Shards, right? Well, how's about-a we go and-a search for them?" Mario suggested.
Everyone agreed and left the heavenly skies and headed back to the island itself, though Chopper was still left confused about Mario speaking.
"I wonder... Has he always been this...loud?" Chopper thought, immediately bringing his attention to Vivian afterward. "So, which way does the map tell us to go?"
Vivian took a look at the map and saw that the Mirror Shard was to the west. "It looks like it's located west from here..."
"Then let's-a go!" Mario declared, following everyone to the left. And so their long walk to the west of the island had continued.
West part of Viti-
After about fifteen minutes of walking, they had finally made it to their destination. What stood before them were the ruins of an old, collapsed town. There were very little remains left, and the only thing that appeared to be the least damaged was a statue of a human with no right arm and tilting on its side.
"A statue of a human? Weird..." Chopper trailed. "I don't think I've met that many humans..."
"Now, let's look at the map real quick," Vivian looked at the map carefully and checked to see where the first Mirror Shard would be. Chopper got a glimpse of the map too to help her out.
"Well, it says we're close to it…but I don't see it anywhere." Chopper noticed. While they studied the map, Tamber took a look at the statue and pondered.
"Hmmmmm… I don't like the look of this statue. I'm gonna smash it." Tamber punched the statue, but it only left a crack in it. "What? It didn't do much? Aw, come on!"
"Hmm... That's strange... It must be a strong statue." Mario commented.
Chopper gave Mario and confused look. "You know, Mario... You're never this loud. ...Are you Doopliss or Tipral in disguise?"
"What are you talking about? It's-a me, Mario!" Mario objected. "It's obvious that I can talk because I have been explaining things to you for a while!"
"Huh... Well, you do make a point... You HAVE said a few things... Just...not as loudly as usual."
Suddenly, an idea struck the furball. "Ah-ha! I've got an idea! Sometimes using my brain isn't such a bad idea… Nah! Brawn will ALWAYS beat brains!" Tamber used his muscles to lift the statue and found a secret stairway going underground. He dropped the statue in a small lake nearby. Nobody cared too much about it anyway.
"An underground stairway? Strange… I wonder where this'll lead us." Sonic wondered.
They walked down the stairs, but they noticed that it was very dark, causing some of them to bump into each other. Vivian lit the room up a little with her fire and everyone could see what was around them. Standing in front of them were five different pathways.
"Whoa, what in the chili dogs? Five pathways?" Sonic gawked.
"If there are five pathways, I don't recommend going into one," Bombette suggested. "I mean, what if one of them leads into some kind of trap? At least one of us will find the right way, unlike the others…"
"That sounds a little crazy. There's no way I wanna die!" Scrub gaped. "I don't think I could even last long in the dark…"
"Uh, I don't think anyone's going to die," Chopper noted. "Though... I don't know if we should all take one pathway..."
"We should split up," Flyer suggested. "There will be five groups of two - though one group might need three people."
"If that's the case, then I know who I'm going with," Berry smiled, stepping next to Chopper.
"Actually, I would suggest Chopper and I go together," the Wingel decided. "No offense, but considering how you usually are around him... It might be difficult for Chopper to focus."
"Yeah!" Chopper agreed.
"I'll go with you two as well…" Vivian suggested.
"...OK, that's fine."
"Ugh... All right, fine." Berry groaned. "Well, I don't know who I'll go with..."
"I'll go with you if you want, Berry," Bombette stepped in.
The rest of the group had made their decision on who they would go with. Scrub and Tamber agreed to go through the first pathway, Kirby and Shadower went over to the fourth, Mario and Sonic took the third, Bombette and Berry took the fifth, and Chopper, Flyer, and Vivian took the second.
First pathway-
Scrub and Tamber were searching carefully through the tunnel. Unfortunately, despite searching as hard as they could, they couldn't find much. Well, for an obvious reason.
"I can't see a thing around here! How are we supposed to find the real way to go? This is dumb…" Scrub groaned.
"Well, let's see what we can find with the Star Diamond. I'm pretty sure something will come up." Tamber pulled the Star Diamond out, and its green color brightened the room a little. It even revealed the way forward.
Instead, they found a dead end.
"Oh, COME ON!" Tamber complained.
Third pathway-
"So, Mario… It was cool talkin' to each other back at the cruise," Sonic said, looking back at the plumber. "So, is it true that you beat your brother in an arm wrestling contest?"
"You bet! It was easy as pie!" Mario smiled. "He never saw it coming! He thought that he would beat me in that game! It was hilarious!"
"Heh heh… That sounds pretty funny." Sonic found a wall in front of him and also what appeared to be a skull. "Uhh… I don't think this skeleton is a good sign…" Then suddenly, both walls coming closer to them. "Uh oh... We gotta move!"
He grabbed Mario, and they quickly ran out before they were crushed.
Fourth pathway-
"Hmmmmm… I don't really see much around here, unfortunately." Shadower sighed, turning to Kirby. "I wish there was something interesting here, but I guess not. Should we turn back?"
"Poyo. (I don't think so. We still have more ways ahead.)" Kirby said, running on ahead. The only thing he found at the end of the hallway was a pile of bones and a Dried Shroom. He decided to eat it, but upon tasting it, he spit it out. "Blah! Poyo… (Nasty…)"
"Well, not much else we can do now, unfortunately," Shadower shrugged. "I think we should get going, what do you say?"
"Poyo, (OK,)" Kirby nodded, turning back with Shadower.
Fifth pathway-
"Gee... Maybe going with Chopper might've been a good idea..." Berry groaned, trying to find her way around the path. "I mean, at least he has something to light up the room."
"Well... I think I'm capable of that." Bombette reminded. "Though, my explosion wouldn't light up the room for that long..."
"Yeah, you're right. Vivian would've been some good help too. I guess I might as well feel my way around." the girl put her hands in front of her and tried to feel for anything. One thing that she felt was a crate, and on top of the crate was something that was shaped like a bottle. At least, that's what she believed it was.
"Hold on... I think I see a lantern!" Bombette ran over to the lantern and lit up her fuse in order to light it up. Berry had quickly put her fuse out to prevent herself from explosion. With that, Berry grabbed the lantern and put it over the crate to see what the bottle was. It appeared to be yellow, with the words "Buffer Drink" on it.
"Buffer Drink? What the heck is this supposed to be?" Berry asked.
"I...guess it's supposed to make you stronger?" Bombette wondered. "Why don't we give it a try?"
"All right..." Berry grabbed the bottle and took a sip of it. She then gave it to Bombette, who also took a drink. However, both were left with sickened faces. "Yuck! What is this stuff?!"
"It tastes like something WAY too old!"
"Well... I guess this is what happens when you drink something overdue... Maybe we should leave..."
Agreeing, the two turned back, reminding themselves to never go back for that.
Second pathway-
For Chopper, Vivian, and Flyer, they didn't find anything interesting around their area of the tunnel. It was the same, typical, dirty walls and ceilings of most underground places. However, when they reached the end, they had found a large amount of treasure, and not to mention a piece of a mirror.
"Hey, is that what I think it is?" Chopper asked.
"I believe so! I can't believe it was THAT easy…" Flyer realized. "And to think we'd find it where all of this treasure is."
"Should we take the treasure?"
"Uhhhh... I don't think we'd have a reason for keeping it, Chopper."
"Oh. I guess we might as well take the Mirror Shard.
Vivian grabbed the Mirror Shard and then they left, leaving the treasure behind, unaware of a picture of a king on top of most of the treasure.
Outside-
Everyone got back outside after taking their tunnels and had began to pant. Mario and Sonic, especially were panting the most.
"Wow, we sure went through a lot there..." Sonic huffed. "That was just… I don't know what to say, to be honest…"
"So, what did you guys find?" Mario asked.
"We found a dead end," Tamber pouted, crossing his arms. "There was nothing!"
"We found a Dried Shroom," Shadower mentioned.
"Poyo, (It was gross,)" Kirby added.
"We found a full drink," Berry mentioned.
"And it was awful," Bombette added.
"Ooh... I'm sorry to hear that." Flyer commented.
"OK… Now that that's out of the way… We have another Mirror Shard to find." Chopper stated. "Vivian, could you show the map?"
"It's pointing to some kind of town at the moment to the east," Vivian informed. "I guess that's where we gotta go next."
"All right, then! Let's move out!"
Everyone agreed and were off to the small town east of Viti.
Sooooooooooo... A lot of interesting things happened in this chapter. And Pennington is still bad with names! Originally, I was going to put the second Mirror Shard in here, but I didn't want to drag this chapter on for too long. So, you'll see it next chapter!