Important note: The characters Blade, Bang, and Night also belong to my friend - the same one who owns Dark Doom.
"So… The final Mirror Shard is somewhere on an empty field?" Chopper asked as everyone made their departure from the mountains.
"Yeah... But not just any field, but Ash Field." Vivian informed.
"Ash Field? What is that?" Bombette asked.
"It was where a town once stood many, many years ago..." Vivian explained. "It was actually a peaceful town filled with happiness and love. Well... That was, until an evil force had come in an destroyed the place..."
"Evil force?" Chopper gawked. "Like what?"
"I don't know... All I know is that the town was set on fire, and a giant fireball had destroyed the entire place, turning everything into ash..."
"Whoa... That sounds cool..." Scrub gaped. "Errr... I mean, that sounds dangerous."
"The place must be empty by now if it's still called Ash Field," Berry pondered.
"Well if it's an empty area, then that means it shouldn't be that difficult to get the Mirror Shard," Chopper smiled. "No enemies to deal with, if that's the case!"
"That sounds good to me," Mario agreed.
However, before everyone could make another step, they all heard the sound of what appeared to be thunder.
"Hey, did you guys hear that? It sounded like thunder…" Bombette turned around and saw lightning hit the ground at the top of the mountain that the castle was at. "Wait... Lightning too?!"
"Well, thunder is the sound made from an electric spark, and lightning is what you see from the spark," Flyer explained. "So both of those kind of go together..."
"But it feels so strange for a thunderstorm to occur here in a snowy area..." Berry trailed, slowly looking back at the peak. However, what she wasn't expecting was a large snowball to be rolling in their direction. "Uhhh... Guys! We should get out of here now!"
Everyone noticed the snowball and began to make a run for it. Unfortunately, poor Bombette found herself tumbling down, but it seemed to work in her favor, since she was moving a lot faster than most of the group. People such as Chopper and Mario tried to help those who couldn't move as fast go faster, while those who could fly kept themselves off the snowy slope.
When they had reached a flatter part of the mountain, Chopper looked over to the left and saw a river flowing down. The avalanche wasn't going down the river, luckily. Not to mention that there wasn't any snow over there.
"Guys, I think we should jump into that river," Chopper suggested.
Sonic's eyes shot wide open. "Are you kidding me? I'm not going in the water! I can't SWIM!"
"Oh yes you are!" Chopper objected, pushing Sonic into the river immediately. Everyone else leaped into the river as well to escape, with Chopper catching up to Bombette to toss her into the river.
"Whew… Now to jump into that river. I hope Sonic's not mad at me…" Chopper quickly jumped into the river, which was thankfully warm and not so deep. There was a big log that was flowing down the river that everyone had gotten on.
"Let me help you, Chopper," Flyer grabbed Chopper's hand and pulled him onto the log when he was near. "Whew! That was way too close!"
"Yeah... It's actually pretty coincidental that we found a log here." Berry smiled. "Not to mention the water's not too cold."
"Which is strange, considering that in colder areas, water is much colder..."
"Who cares? We're safe, and that's all that matters!" Tamber exclaimed. He noticed a couple of Cheep Cheeps jumping out of the water. He grabbed one and brought it over to Vivian. "Hey! Can you use your fire powers to cook this up?"
"Ummmmm... I'd rather not..." Vivian trailed.
"What?! Come on! I'm hungry!"
"We're not going to watch you eat a fish..." Shadower trailed.
"Fine..." Tamber sulked, throwing the fish into the water. However, the sound of a splash had not occurred too soon when something else had come out of the water. It was much larger, and it hardly looked like a fish. It seemed to resemble a tiger with a shark fin on its back. Even its roar resembled a tiger!
"A Tiger Shark? Really?" Berry asked with an unimpressed look on her face.
"Hey! So that's what Tiger Sharks look like!" Chopper gasped.
"Chopper, that's not what a tiger shark resembles..." Flyer trailed.
The beast roared and attempted to punch them. Thankfully, everyone had avoided its punch and took action by throwing everything they had against it. It didn't seem to flinch too much, but when Tamber jumped in the air and slammed his fists on its head, it seemed to sink back into the water.
"Heh heh heh! That thing couldn't even lay a hand on me!" Tamber grinned.
At this point, everyone noticed they were away from the mountains and that there was some land nearby. It didn't appear to be snowy at this point, so their shivering had stopped. They jumped off the log and took the time to relax for a little bit.
The grass around their area was a dull green with no trees. One thing for certain was that it was rather dull in this area.
"This is unsettling," Mario commented.
"Well... We've seen dull areas like this before." Chopper noted.
"I'm sure we're close to Ash Field at this point..." Vivian trailed.
"Then let's head out!" Chopper declared, now beginning to move onward. However, a familiar voice had filled the skies and stopped them on their tracks.
"GRRRARRGH!"
Looking up, Chopper noticed Bowser was just up ahead next to his Koopa Clown Car. Kammy Koopa was by his side, and a certain demon beast in a blue parka appeared to be with them too.
"Bowser?" Chopper gasped.
"Bowser? Who is he?" Tamber asked.
"Someone who doesn't like me very much..."
"I can't believe it took us THIS long to get here!" Bowser yelled, giving Lemmy a glare. "You said that we would beat Chopper to the punch! Well, where's the Crystal Star you said that's here?"
"Mmmmgggffh! (Well, I know that it's somewhere!)" Lemmy explained. "Mmmggffhh! (Don't get mad at me so soon! You just need to be patient!)"
"I came here for that Crystal Star, and I'm gonna GET it! Those things are MINE!"
"Yes! You better not have wasted our precious time with a filthy lie, you insignificant thing, you..." Kammy grumbled, slowly turning and spotting Chopper and his friends. She pointed her wand and exclaimed, "Your Grumpiness! Over there! It's Chopper!"
"What? Chopper?" Bowser turned around and he spotted Chopper. "YOU! Well… So you finally show your face to me, huh? It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Bowser…" Chopper trailed, getting in his fighting stance. Mario walked over to him and he also got in his as well.
"MARIO! You too?!" the king of the Koopas roared. "…Hold on a minute. If both Chopper AND Mario's here… Gwa ha ha ha ha! Oh, I hit the jackpot! We have Chopper AND Mario here at the same time! For a second, I thought I'd have to search for either one of your in different places!"
"Well, that's good for the both of us, too!" Mario smirked. "Now we can both pummel you to the ground!"
Bowser's evil grin had changed to confusion. "Errr... What? You weren't that loud before..."
"Yes... Something is very strange..." Kammy pondered. "Perhaps all this time Mario's been having a little cold?"
"Nah! There's no way! I guess he couldn't stand being so silent for a long time!"
"Mmmmmmgffhhh? (Hey, while we're here, can you let me search for anything valuable?)" Lemmy asked, just before Bowser jumped on him on accident. Suddenly, the sound of a large pop had come from Lemmy as he exploded.
"Oh, dear, Lord Bowser! You've destroyed him!" Kammy gasped. "On the other hand... I can still keep my place as Bowser's sidekick!"
"Whoops... Well, who cares about that?" Bowser shrugged, stepping away from the spot where Lemmy was destroyed. "I was going to get rid of him after I got my Crystal Star anyway! But first, I need to clean something up first!"
The rest of Chopper's group had gotten in fighting stances, but that didn't appear to intimidate Bowser.
"What? You guys thought you wouldn't see a Bowser battle return? Well tough luck! I'm here to ruin your day!"
"I'm sensing a battle coming up…" Shadower mumbled.
Bowser laughed evilly. "Gwa ha ha ha ha! It's about time I get some action in the sixteenth chapter, huh? This is just like old times, Chopper! Remember? Up in Star Haven? I'll make you suffer just like then!"
"Mario! Chopper! This is where our meetings will finally be put to an end! Nyeah heh har har!" Kammy cackled.
Tattle: That's Bowser, the King of Koopas. Well, you OBVIOUSLY recognize this guy! Max HP is 250, Attack is 14, and Defense is 3. He'll attack with his dangerous fire breath that can burn you, or he'll even try to poison you with his poisonous bite! Watch out for that! He'll also throw in some flaming punches, or he might even get in his shell and charge at you. All I can say is…watch out for his attacks. They're pretty dangerous.
Tattle: That's Kammy Koopa, Bowser's assistant. I don't know why she travels with him all the time, though. Max HP is 230, Attack is 12, and Defense is 0. Just like before, she'll attack you with all sorts of magic. I think it would be best to take her out first, because she can use magic to heal herself, as well as Bowser. I'm kinda surprised on how she's still up and ready to fight even as an old lady. Is this because she's been working out? ...Hey! I'm not assuming she's lost weight! Geez!
Chopper thought for a moment, and he decided to use take out the Moon Star and use Rapid Spin on them both. After getting the gauge filled up by pressing A or B, the Moon Star hit the two, and they both took 24 damage.
"Argh... What the heck was that?" Bowser wheezed. "That kid didn't have that before!"
Vivian raised her finger, and in one second, Bowser and Kammy were engulfed in flames, leaving a burn on both of them, along with dealing 8 damage to them both. In anger, Bowser stomped over to Chopper and struck him and Vivian with his fire breath. Thankfully, they Superguarded the attack and took no damage. However, Kammy's magic attack was able to hurt Chopper.
"Ouch… Man, that magic attacks hurts!" Chopper shook himself before grabbing Bowser with his Suplex ability and tossing him on Kammy, which dealt 8 damage to Kammy and 5 to Bowser.
"This is going smooth!" Mario exclaimed as he stomped on Kammy's head. Bowser took action by jumping on Mario, preventing him from using any items in the process.
Kammy raised her wand and boosted Bowser's defense by 2 when it was her turn. Chopper decided to use his Ultra Glove ability to hurl ice balls at both Bowser and Kammy, dealing 8 damage to them both.
Shadower twirled his finger and hit both Bowser and Kammy with the attack, which took 3 HP out of Bowser and 8 from Kammy. On the plus side, it managed to lower Bowser's defense to 0. Thankfully, Bowser's HP was down to 200.
"That should take care of that issue," Shadower declared.
Bowser approached Chopper and attempted to bite him, only to have him get Superguarded by the attack, taking 1 damage. Kammy fired a magic attack at Flyer that managed to shrink him.
"What the… Why am I so small?" Flyer asked in a squeaky voice. Sonic picked him up with his finger and put him on the palm of his hand so no one would step on him.
"Relax, Flyer. You'll be back to normal soon." Sonic assured.
"I hope so... I don't like being small."
Chopper clenched his fist and used his Ultra Glove attack on them again. He used electric energy instead and left the two opponents electrocuted.
"Take THIS!" Tamber used his Quake attack to make the ground shake with his fists, which caused Bowser and Kammy to both get hit by the attack and take 11 damage.
"Ooof… Man, you do have a fight in you..." Bowser cringed. "But that's not going to help you here, Chopper!"
Bowser stomped over to Chopper and unleashed his fiery breath on him and Tamber, leaving a burn on both of them.
"Mweh heh heh heh!" Kammy cackled, raising her own attack by 2. "When we're done with them, we shall soon get Princess Peach back, and it'll be just like two years all over again!"
"Well, not if I can help it!" Chopper pulled his hammer out and began to spin it around. He rammed into Bowser and Kammy with it and was able to take a good 8 HP out of both of them. Vivian's Fiery Jinx was good enough to leave a burn on the two once again. Unfortunately, she was the one who Bowser jumped on, while Kirby was the one who got hit by Kammy's magic projectile.
"OK, Kammy is left with only 127 HP, and Bowser has 162. We can still do this…" Chopper took out the Island Star this time, since he had the right amount of Star Power, and the star unleashed its Earthquake on Bowser and Kammy. They ended up suffering 20 damage in the process.
"I suppose if we attack both of them, it'll be easier to take down Bowser when Kammy is down," Bombette deduced, taking 7 out of Bowser and 10 out of Kammy with her Bob-omb Blast. But that hardly seemed to do much against Bowser, as he was stretching and letting out an evil laugh.
"Gwaa ha ha ha ha! So what if you got me this far? I still haven't showed you all of my moves! Take THIS!" Bowser got in his shell and ran over Chopper, while Kammy attacked Scrub with her magic.
"Ugh... I'm not feeling too good... I gotta heal up." Chopper pulled out a Sweet Shroom and ate it to recover 100 HP and FP, while Flyer (now finally back to normal size) used his Disable ability to stop Kammy from using magic.
"Aaaaaack! What just happened? My magic! …It won't work?!" Kammy gaped, trying to shake her wand. "Lord Bowser! I am having difficulty making a move here!"
"Oh, shut up, Haggy! Who needs your wussy magic? I got all I need right here!" Bowser declared, punching Chopper with a fiery fist. To his dismay, the small hero managed to guard the attack.
"Well, Kammy can't do anything, so that gives us an advantage!" Chopper grabbed Bowser with his Suplex ability and threw him at Kammy, which dealt 5 damage to him without his defense boost that wore off, and 8 to Kammy.
"I think it's my turn to shine here!" Scrub declared, approaching Bowser and inhaling him with his Gulp attack. He spat him out at Kammy, the two taking 8 damage in the process. Now Bowser was down to 120 HP she was down to 80.
"Gwargh! That ability's really starting to annoy me! I'm going to knock it out of ya!" Bowser decided, walking up to Chopper and striking him with a fiery punch. This managed to knock his ability out in the process.
"Oh, crud… He got my ability…" Chopper gulped. He decided to use his Ultra Glove attack for the heck of it, which hit both of them, while Flyer used his Tornado attack to deal 9 to Kammy and 6 to Bowser.
"Grrrgh…" Bowser growled as he got in his shell and tossed himself at Chopper and Flyer. Kammy took the time to raise Bowser's defense by 2 now that she could make some moves.
"There you go, Your Evilness!" Kammy declared. "Your defense has rose back up to 5 again! You'll be unstoppable!"
"Ugh... I don't know if I have enough Star Power to use another Rapid Spin..." Chopper groaned. "I guess I should go with an Art Attack."
Chopper pulled out the Ruby Star and he began to start making a circle around the two. He was able to draw at least seven circles and deal 21 damage to them. Berry's Hammerang managed to reduce Kammy down to 34 HP.
"We almost got Kammy down! This will be over soon!" Chopper cheered, soon getting bit by Bowser and becoming poisoned. Kammy fired magic at him and he got hurt. He ended up taking damage from being poisoned as well. "Ugh... I feel terrible..."
Tamber stood up in front and struck the ground with his Quake. Chopper then followed up by using his Diamond Hammer to strike both Bowser and Kammy. This didn't stop Bowser from jumping on him and disabling his Hammer ability, while Kammy decided to use her magic to grow in size.
"Too bad that won't help you!" Mario declared, jumping on Kammy's head. Chopper hurled multiple ice balls at Bowser and Kammy next, and soon the old Magikoopa was lying on the ground.
"Forgive me, Your Angriness…" Kammy moaned. "There's nothing I can do for you anymore…"
"Crud! Now I gotta do this myself!" Bowser stomped on Mario while he could, but because his Defense was back to 3, Mario took this time to strike back with his hammer. Chopper threw in an ice ball and brought Bowser down to 45 HP. Since he was poisoned, Bowser decided to throw in a punch at him.
"Ugh... I hate being poisoned..." Chopper wheezed, taking damage from the poison. "Why does this effect have to last for nine turns?"
Vivian looked at Chopper with sadness upon seeing the pale look on his face. She wanted to help him. She really did. But there was nothing she knew that could help him. Then it suddenly hit her. The Diamond-Rank ability she had that could help him!
She floated over to Chopper, and using her ability, she gave Chopper a kiss thanks to her Soothing Kiss. Soon enough, his poison status was gone.
"Huh? I...feel better?" Chopper gawked, rubbing his cheek. "As gross as that was, I'm glad you helped me, Vivian!"
"I just wanted to return the favor..." Vivian trailed, watching as Chopper charged at Bowser and hit him with his Diamond Hammer.
"Ooof… Seriously! Today is just not my day!" Bowser complained, stomping on Chopper, which had failed due to being Superguarded, making him get reduced to 36 HP.
"NOW I'm ready to take you down, Bowser!" Chopper declared, watching Shadower hit him with a Shadow Punch. Followed up was his Jump.
"NO! This WON'T happen!" Bowser knocked Shadower back with his punch, but since he was left open, it allowed Sonic to use a Spin Dash to hit him in the stomach, and once Chopper stomped on him, he was down to 6 HP.
Bowser quickly shook his head and tried to punch Chopper again, but he was not so lucky. Chopper put his arms up and guarded the attack. At this point, it was all over for Bowser. Chopper was about to land the final blow with his hammer, until someone tapped him on the shoulder.
"Say, Chopper… May I do the honors?" Mario asked.
"Sure, Mario! Go for it!" Chopper gave him the cue and Mario walked over to Bowser, finishing him with one blow from his hammer.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Bowser yelled, falling over on the ground and dropping 43 Star Points for Chopper. Luckily, he was able to gain a level, and on top of that, he raised his BP to 54.
"Whew! That was actually pretty tough." Sonic admitted.
"No… How did I get but butt handed to me by Mario...AGAIN?! Seriously… What is WRONG with me?" Bowser complained just before he fell into unconsciousness with Kammy.
"Well, that wraps it all up! We took down Bowser and Kammy!" Chopper sighed. "So... What next?"
"Hey, Contadre... I think I can see a bit of grayness up ahead!" Scrub pointed out, eyeing the gray field just up ahead.
"Considering that ash tends to be a bit grayish... Perhaps that is where Ash Field is!" Flyer deduced. "Shall we?"
Agreeing, everyone quickly headed on ahead to the gray and dull area.
Just as told, Ash Field was a large, empty field made up ash on the ground. It also felt slightly warm around them, too. Not only that, but there were large walls surrounding them as if they were standing in a gigantic crater. One thing for sure was that searching for a Mirror Shard here may not be as easy as they thought.
"So... This is Ash Field, huh? Looks pretty dull to me." Sonic remarked, rubbing the bottom of his nose with a finger. "Kinda surprised no one had made a town over this place..."
"Hey, did I just hear Sonic's voice? …It can't be!"
"Huh? Did someone just say my name?" Sonic gawked, whirling around to meet a blue cat garbed in a blue ninja outfit. On his back, he had a katana with a black and yellow-striped handle. The cat walked over to Sonic with a look of amazement, while Sonic looked confused.
"Dude! I can't believe I'm finally meeting the one and only Sonic the Hedgehog!" the fifteen year old cat gaped.
"So I got a fan?" Sonic gawked in surprised. "That's pretty cool! And who might you be?"
"Me? The name's Blade. Blade the Cat. I've been trained under my sensei to do...well, ninja stuff." Blade explained, extending his hand.
"So you're Blade, huh? Sounds like a cool name! It's a pleasure to meet ya!" Sonic grabbed Blade's hand and shook like a real hero.
"Hey, Blade! Who are these guys here?"
Blade turned around and saw his yellow Chihuahua friend, Bang, approaching them. He was wearing leather armor and had a couple of weapons he carried. This friend of Blade's was an odd one, because he always thought of himself as sort of a ladies man, despite his many failures of getting a girlfriend.
Another friend of Blade's was with him too, his name being Night. He was an undead mouse in black armor, and he carried an axe hammer – a weapon being half axe and half hammer. Night also works as a mercenary, but he does this job because he enjoys destroying things.
"Oh, yeah… I forgot about those two. Well, mostly Bang." Blade mentioned, which made Bang sulk. "But, enough about that. Who the heck are those other people over there?"
"My name? I'm Chopper!" Chopper answered.
"My name's Vivian," Vivian replied. Bang's mouth was agape, and he zipped over to the shadow girl with a grin on his face. He was perhaps a little TOO close to her.
"Heh-HEY! What do we have here?" Bang wondered, raising his eyebrows at her. "Say, now… You're one cute chick! I don't normally say that to many girls. So… What do you say we spend a little time together?"
"Oh, man, I like where this is going," Night smirked, waiting for the usual results.
"Ummmmm... Thanks, but I don't think I'm interested..." Vivian trailed.
"What? C'mon! I'm a hero, not a zero!" Bang complained.
"I think you're making her a bit uncomfortable," Chopper noted, seeing how uncomfortably close Bang was to Vivian.
"Hey! Don't ruin my style, kid! It's fine if you like her, but I'm scorin' here!"
"Huh? What? Since when did I say that?"
"Well, you're defending her!"
"But she's my friend!"
"Oh, man... I'm gonna like this." Tamber snickered.
"Yeah... Well, I better go help Bang before he gets into some serious trouble." Night decided, pulling Bang away from the Shadow Siren. "So... Why're you all here?"
"We're here to collect something called a Mirror Shard located here," Flyer explained.
"I hate to break it to you, but you all won't be doing anything so soon."
Everyone turned their attention to a certain Dark Creature leader standing in front of their way with his huge army of Dark Creatures. Most of them gawked, while Blade, Bang, and Night gave him a glare.
"What the… Who's this weirdo with the black moon crescent on his forehead?" Tamber asked.
"Dark..." Blade narrowed his eyes angrily at the alien. "One of Black Doom's backup aliens before he was destroyed..."
"Black Doom? Oh, yeah... Though, this guy doesn't look like he's related to him in any way..." Sonic remarked.
"That's why he refers to himself as a Dark Creature..." Night added.
"First off, I am not just Dark. I've officially earned the title as Dark Doom…" Dark spoke, giving a glare the group. He pulled his blaster out and aimed it at the heroes. The Dark Creatures behind him took their weapons out and did the same thing. Blade drew his katana, Bang took out two of his pistols, and Night took out his axe hammer.
"I knew you'd be here." Blade said. "In fact, that's actually why I came here anyway!
"Really? Well, how nice of you to join us today, Blade, Bang, and Night!" Dark grinned, his eyes slowly meeting with Sonic's to give him a glare. "…But the real reason I'm here is because of you, Sonic!"
"What? Why are you here because of me?" Sonic gawked.
"Because…" Dark began, turning around. "I've always heard about the famous Sonic the Hedgehog. You apparently took down Dr. Eggman many, many times throughout your adventures on Mobius. I also heard you had defeated foes that were unlike that scientist as well. It is because of you that my chance in conquering Mobius is slim!"
"Well... Sonic's not on Mobius, you know..." Chopper trailed.
"True, you are correct. However, there is still the Mobian army that I have to deal with, and despite not being as much of an issue as Sonic, they can still manage to hold off my army... But, with three of the toughest fighters in the army and the hedgehog here as well, I'd say that I can finally do what I've always wanted and destroy you all!"
"Huh... So you're another one of those freaks that wanna take over my world?" Sonic frowned. "Look, if you're upset about Black Doom dying, it wasn't my fault. If you should be going after anyone, it should be Shadow!"
"Silence, hedgehog!" Dark intervened. "I am not interested in this Shadow! You are my primary target, and like all primary targets, they must be destroyed!"
"Well, with wimpy guys like you, I don't think that should be as difficult," Chopper smirked.
"WIMPS?! Oh, we'll show you who's a wimp, wimp!" a Dark Creature growled, charging at Chopper with its purple, jagged blade. Blade, however, took action by defeating the alien with one katana swing.
"Whoa... That was pretty impressive." Berry gawked.
Dark looked down at his fallen comrade and grit his teeth. "Dark Creatures! ATTACK!"
All of the Dark Creatures charged at Chopper and his friends, and there was suddenly a huge clash. Blade continued to strike the Dark Creatures that came toward him, and Bang was successfully shooting away at Dark Creatures firing back at him. Heck, Chopper's friends were doing exceptionally well too. Berry's hammer was giving the aliens a good beating, and Tamber's Quake had managed to wipe out a lot of Dark Creatures.
"Stand back, guys! This could get a little ugly…" Night gripped his axe and swung it around to hit a couple of Dark Creatures, wiping a large group of them out.
"Grrrr!" Dark grit his teeth and fired a shot at Sonic. Being the fast hedgehog he was, he dodged the attack and hit Dark with a Homing Attack, knocking him to the ground.
"Heh heh! Too bad you're not fast like me, or you might be a match for me." Sonic attempted to make another attack on Dark, but he got up and grabbed Sonic by the arm. Using his martial arts skills, he threw him toward one of the walls.
"Sorry, Sonic... But it's not all about speed when it comes to fighting." Dark smirked, getting in a fighting stance. "It's also about timing your attacks right!"
Chopper knocked a Dark Creature back with his hammer and then jumped on another. He had landed near Vivian, who had managed to defeat a Dark Creature with her Shade Fist. Chopper happened to notice that the map she was carrying was glowing. She, too, had taken notice and took it out.
"The map! It's…glowing? That could be a sign…" Vivian trailed.
"We should try to find it. But first we need to get out of this mess." Chopper looked around the whole battle. Vivian, on the other hand, grabbed Chopper and pulled him into the shadows to make things easier. They reappeared away from the battle. The map was glowing a purple color this time, which was a bit odd.
"Now it's glowing a purple color. I think there's something strange…" Vivian looked down at the ground and put the map on the floor. "Maybe the shard is located underground..."
"Then we'll need Tamber to dig it!" Chopper declared. "Go bring him here, all right?"
"I'll do that," Vivian nodded and sank into the shadows. After about a minute, she was back with Tamber, who was far from happy to be here.
"All right, what the heck do you want?" Tamber asked angrily. "I was busy fighting back over there!"
"Well, we have a good reason. You see, the map is glowing purple, and if we're going to get the Mirror Shard, we need to look underground." Chopper explained, pointing to the ground.
"So, you want me to dig it up? OK, fine… I'll do it. Stand back." Tamber demanded. Chopper and Vivian stood back, while he began to dig into the ash.
After about five minutes, Tamber rose from the ash and held up the last Mirror Shard.
"Guess who's awesome?" Tamber smirked, tossing it to Vivian. They didn't have long to celebrate, as they saw Dark land on the ground near them. They looked on ahead and noticed Sonic get out of his ball form.
"Urgh… That annoying rodent…" Dark grumbled, just as Sonic jumped over to him with a waggling finger.
"Well! Looks like this is another victory for me!" Sonic smirked, getting ready to get into a ball again. However, the air around Ash Field had started to get colder. Sonic stopped his attack and started to shiver. Dark and even his army had shivered and were no longer fighting.
"Wh-What is this cold weather?!" Dark stuttered. "Isn't it s-supposed to be w-warm here?!"
While everyone was shivering from the cold weather, Vivian appeared to be the only one unaffected, to her surprise. Looking down at the Mirror Shard in her hands, she noticed a small note slip out of it. Vivian decided to give it a small read.
To the founder of the last Mirror Shard,
If thou hast foundeth the last Mirror Shard, thou must returneth to the Palace of the Gods and put the seven pieces in the shattered mirror. If thou succeeds in doing so, the Ancient Shadow Palace wilt be awoken from its slumber.
"The Shadow Palace? So that's where the Crystal Star is... Chopper, we need to..." Vivian paused when she turned around and found everyone but herself frozen solid. "Oh, no..."
"Oh, yes! Mmmwee hee hee hee!" Turning around, Vivian saw Beldam standing before her. "Well well well... So you were the only one unaffected by my magic... I suppose that makes sense, considering that you've always been used to my ice magic."
"What did you do, sis?" Vivian demanded, slowly clenching her fists.
"Doing what needs to be done, obviously," Beldam replied. "Now, you can come over here and make this easy, or we need to do things the hard way..."
Vivian looked around and noticed the frozen Chopper nearby. She aimed her finger, and with her Fiery Jinx, she managed to thaw him out. Beldam frowned, remembering her control over fire and quickly retreated into the shadows before Chopper could spot her. Vivian turned around and noticed the eldest Shadow Siren's disappearance.
"What the heck just happened?" Chopper moaned, rubbing his eyes. It was then he saw everyone frozen. "Whoa! Everyone's frozen?"
"Yes... It was done by my sister..." Vivian trailed.
"Wait, your sister? But why?"
"Well, she was obviously trying to do a little something..."
Chopper turned around and saw Tipral standing on top of the frozen Dark Doom with his arms crossed. Both he and Vivian quickly got in their fighting stances.
"TIPRAL!"
Tipral jumped off of Dark and floated down to the ground. He slowly approached Chopper rather than charge at him.
"So, you finally got your last Mirror Shard. Congratulations, Chopper. Congratulations." Tipral slowly applauded. "However, that doesn't change anything... The plan is not yet complete."
"Plan? What plan?" Chopper gawked.
"Oh, it was a little something that would benefit me and the others... However, seeing as the plan has been a little faltered thanks to you being here, I guess I have to clean up the mess by eliminating you myself!" Tipral clenched his fists, and soon they were surrounded in purple star energy. "I hope you're prepared, Chopper! Because with the little help you have, this won't be so easy for you!"
Tattle: That's Tipral, who else? I mean, you OBVIOUSLY know who he is! You've fought him more than four times! Max HP is 260, Attack is 14, and Defense is 0. He'll usually throw in some Star Spears or he might even freeze time itself. I mean, come on! You faced this guy enough times to know what kind of moves he has!
"So... I guess if you want to fight me, then I guess I have no choice but to give you one..."
Chopper jumped up and landed a stomp on Tipral. He slightly cringed, but it only got worse when Vivian struck him with a Shade Fist. He quickly shook off the attack and threw a Star Spear straight at Chopper. As much as he wanted to hit Vivian with it, he knew he couldn't.
"I'll get my chance later..."
Chopper clenched one of his fists and created a fireball. He hurled it at Tipral and left a longer burn on him. Vivian had helped by striking him with another Shade Fist.
Tipral could not hold back in attacking her and grabbed her arm before she could retreated. Using all his strength, he had thrown her straight at Chopper and knocked both him and her on the ground.
"Perhaps I can hurt her a little..."
"Ugh… That was a little painful…" Chopper grumbled as he and Vivian got back up. He took this time to change to his Water ability and squirt water at Tipral to take 8 out of him. Vivian left a fiery punch on Tipral afterward. "Ha! How does it feel to get cooled down and heated up, Tipral?!"
Tipral did not respond with words, but he did teleport out of Chopper's sight, making him gulp.
"Uh oh… I think he's going to make a surprise attack on you, Chopper. I can feel it…" Vivian warned.
Chopper scanned the area around him, looking very carefully for Tipral. Unfortunately, this left him a bit distracted and a little off guard, allowing Tipral appear in front of him and land a Star Punch, knocking him forward. Chopper got up and glared at Tipral before attacking him with a Rainbow Spin.
"Gah!" Tipral cringed, clenching his fists in anger at Chopper. What he wasn't expecting was Vivian to strike him with her Shade Fist. He quickly snapped his finger and struck Chopper with Star Magic, but he was able to guard it and take less damage. "Hmph... All right, you seemed to have improved. I'll give you that."
"Well, we've been getting a lot stronger," Chopper pointed out. "So no wonder we're giving you a hard time."
Tipral ignored him and prepared for his next attack, but all he got was water in his face thanks to Chopper. Vivian, once again, struck him with another Shade Fist. Tipral decided to knock Chopper's Water ability away with a shadow ball, which did the trick.
"Why don't you fight me without the use of your Copy Abilities?" Tipral suggested. "That way, you're not relying on some stupid ability you're not normally good with."
"Fine..." Chopper trailed, taking his hammer out and bringing it down on Tipral's head.
"I suppose I'll use an item," Vivian decided, pulling out a Thwomp item, which did 14 damage to Tipral when he got crushed by it. In retaliation, Tipral fired a Star Spear at Vivian.
"Your items are not going to stop me," Tipral hissed, just before Chopper hit him with another Rainbow Spin. Once Vivian made her attack, Tipral raised clenched his fists and raised his attack up by 14.
"Great... This isn't... Wait, you're still here, Vivian!" Chopper realized, running straight at Tipral and jumping on his head. Vivian soon pulled him into the shadows just as Tipral unleashed his Star Blast. Thankfully, it did no damage to them, nor was anyone else harmed.
He was far from pleased when the two emerged from the shadows unharmed.
"Very clever... But that was just luck! How about you get a taste of my Star Rain!" Tipral yelled, raising his arm to summon his attack. However, he soon found himself get hit in the head by a certain plumber who landed near the group.
"Mario? You thawed out!" Chopper gaped.
"Yup! I'm here for you now!" Mario assured, turning to Tipral with a glare.
Tipral glared back as well, but then he noticed Mario give him another look. He gave a nod to the plumber, leaving Chopper confused. Nevertheless, he stomped on Tipral, while Mario brought his hammer down on him afterward. Chopper's confusion was eventually stopped when Tipral struck the plumber with a Star Spear.
"Are you OK, Mario?" Chopper asked.
"Yes... I'm fine..." Mario assured, quickly shaking his head and then using a Jump attack on Tipral next. Chopper added his Spin Jump to dish out 12 damage, leaving Tipral with 98 HP.
"Hmph! So you managed to push me this far… Not bad, Chopper. But I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." Tipral said before teleporting and hitting Chopper with another Star Punch. He was about to throw in another attack, but Chopper's Rainbow spin got to him first. "Oof! All right, so you're much better than I thought..."
After Vivian hit him with a Shade Fist, Tipral threw a Star Spear at Chopper. He threw another one, but Chopper managed to inhale it and spit it back at him. This set him flying toward the frozen Dark, along with leaving a crack in his icy prison.
"Hmmmm…" Tipral pondered before he grabbed Dark. When Vivian attacked him, he used Dark as a shield. This ended up at least thawing off the ice on his head.
"Wha…? What's going on? Tipral? Is that you?" Dark asked. Tipral grabbed him and began to use him as a weapon when Mario had finished jumping on him. "Tipral? What are you doing?!"
Tipral ignored Dark and swung him at Mario, knocking him back. Despite Dark's objections, Tipral did not listen and used him as a shield when Chopper fired an ice ball in his direction. As a result, Dark had become frozen. That didn't stop Chopper from freezing Tipral with another ice ball, though.
"Ha! That was easy!" Chopper celebrated - until Tipral managed to break out.
"Oh... That's not good..." Vivian sighed and left a burn on Tipral with her Shade Fist. With that, he was only down to 50 HP.
Tipral looked at Mario and tossed a shadow ball at him. He was knocked back by the attack, but strangely, he wasn't really affected by it. Chopper noticed him walk back to him with not much harm left on him.
"That's weird… That didn't hurt you." Chopper gawked.
"It's OK, Chopper! I can still fight! Just watch!" Mario pulled his Ultra Hammer out and smashed it on Tipral's head. Chopper shrugged and used his Wall Jump to bring Tipral down to 24 HP, to his relief.
Tipral raised his arms and attempted to freeze time, but he was unfortunate, because Chopper guarded the attack and then tossed an electric ball at him afterward.
"So you've learned the electric elemental hand attack? Interesting…" Tipral mused before getting hit by Mario's Jump, now being brought to 8 HP. "Guh… This isn't over yet!"
Tipral disappeared and used his Star Aura attack, making a star beam fire at Chopper. This attack managed to take 16 out of him, and boy did it hurt.
"Ugh... Well, the fight's not over yet..." Chopper charged at Tipral, and with one jump, he had finished off the dark being and received 47 Star Points as a result. Plus, he leveled up, allowing him to upgrade his HP to 95.
Despite not being worn out, Tipral was on the edge of collapsing. However, he still had the strength to look up at Chopper.
"Don't think it all ends here, Chopper..." Tipral wheezed. "Soon, everything will be according to plan, and you and your friends will fall!"
"I don't think so!" Chopper retorted. "I think it's you who's going to fall!"
"Keep thinking that, Chopper... But in the end, it will be us who's victorious." Tipral slowly pointed his finger at Vivian. "And you... You can't keep holding that little secret forever. You're eventually going to spill it out."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Oh, so you don't know yet? The fact that this whole time you were just a pawn for your friend?"
"Who? Vivian?" Chopper gawked, soon giving Tipral a glare. "No way! Vivian would never do such a thing!"
"Well... Then perhaps you should try asking her, then..." Tipral trailed, soon falling on the floor unconscious. Chopper noticed something drop from his hands as well. It appeared to be a crystal ball with dark purple mist inside. Upon picking it up, the mist went crazy, making him quickly drop it.
"What IS that?!" Chopper gasped. "For some reason, it kinda hurt my hands, too..."
"We should probably thaw everyone else out..." Vivian suggested. Chopper agreed as well and started to help thaw his friends out with Vivian's help. Of course, they did not thaw out people such as Dark and his Dark Creatures.
After ten minutes, everything was normal.
"Whew! I can't believe we won this battle! That was just…wow!" Blade gaped, stretching his arms. "Well, I'd like to thank you for helping us, Chopper! You're not such a bad person as I thought you were!"
"…You thought I was bad?" Chopper gawked.
"Err… No! Forget what I just said! Anyway… We'd best take our leave right now. We're done here. Perhaps we'll see each other some other time?"
"Ummm… Maybe."
"That sounds like a plan! See ya, guys!" Blade, Bang and Night waved goodbye to Chopper and his friends, leaving them with the final Mirror Shard Chopper held up.
"I can't believe it... We finally got all the Mirror Shards!" Bombette cheered. "We can finally get the sixteenth Crystal Star!"
"Poyo! (And we'll finally be out of this place too!)" Kirby cheered.
Despite everyone being happy, Chopper couldn't help but think about what Tipral had just said earlier regarding Vivian. He also remembered Meta Knight saying something similar. It just seemed weird to him... There was even the fact that she knew the name of the King's Star too!
Eventually, he had to speak up, and now was the best time.
"Vivian..." Chopper trailed, turning to her with some uncertainty in his voice. "Could I ask you something, please?"
"What is it?" Vivian asked.
"About what Tipral had mentioned..." Chopper started, though he thought starting with that wasn't the best idea, as many others gave confused looks. "...No, about what Meta Knight said. Is what he was telling us true? Plus, how do you know about the King's Star and this whole area's history?"
Remembering what Meta Knight said, everyone had turned to face Vivian as well.
"Yeah... I remember that masked freak mentioning that!" Tamber realized. "Spill it!"
Vivian finally let out a sigh, glad to have finally gotten this out. "Guys... I've been meaning to tell you this for a long time, ever since I've joined with you, Chopper. You're all in danger..."
"In danger? What do you mean?" Chopper asked.
"There is someone out there that knows of you all... And he is planning on destroying you. He is an even greater threat than the Shadow Queen herself..."
"What? Well... Then if he's trying to stop us, then we can beat him! If he's stronger than the Shadow Queen, he shouldn't be that much of an issue!"
"Chopper, please... You can't beat him. He way too powerful to stop... And one of the things he is also trying to do is bring the Shadow Queen back to life..." Vivian trailed. "My sisters and Tipral were trying to bring the Shadow Queen back to life... But now they've found another way to do so."
"What do you mean?" Scrub asked.
"My sisters and I all had a job a thousand years ago. Beldam was supposed search for a pure maiden to help bring the Shadow Queen back to life. Peach was meant to be the one who was supposed to be possessed after she found out that she was able to open the chest. Beldam also believed that the leftover spirit of the Shadow Queen could still possess her, which is why Peach was kidnapped again."
"Wait... Are you saying that you knew this the whole time?" Chopper gawked.
"Let her finish, Chopper," Berry told him, slowly turning back at Vivian. "So… If that was Beldam's job, then what was Marilyn's?"
"Her job? She was supposed to find an alien race to find the Crystal Stars. She was the one that told us that Grodus was going to go back on the hunt for the Crystal Stars. We thought that we could trick Grodus into helping us bring back our queen…again."
"That's interesting… How come I never knew about this?" Shadower wondered. "Then again... I was never with the Shadow Queen, to be honest."
"So, if that was Marilyn's job, then what was your job?" Chopper asked.
"My job? Well, all I had to do was find the location of the Crystal Stars after the four heroes hid them. With them finally cursed after defeating the Shadow Queen, it wouldn't be too difficult to find their locations. ...At least, that's what the Shadow King said."
"Oh..." Chopper trailed, only for his eyes to widen. "…Did you just say Shadow King?"
"Y-Yes… There is a Shadow King. He...is the one who is out to get you all..." Vivian said nervously.
Chopper began to remember what that spirit had said before. "So there WAS a Shadow King after all..."
"I know I had to continue my assignment on find the Crystal Stars' location when Beldam told me we were going to bring the Shadow Queen back to life. So... She told me to get a hold of the map."
"Though, I was the one who ended up with it," Chopper said, looking at the Magical Map.
"Yeah... So, I thought maybe I could try to get you to get the Crystal Stars and..." Vivian stopped, realizing she had spilled something out.
Everyone looked at her in shock, especially Chopper.
"You...were just using us the whole time?" Chopper gasped, unable to comprehend what he just heard.
"Wait! Chopper! You don't understand… I…"
"This whole time, you knew we were going to be led to our demise?" Flyer gaped. "And you were just going along with it?"
"Please, guys! It's just that..." Vivian paused, unsure of how to explain this. It wasn't because she couldn't find a way to defend herself, but she knew it was all true. She lowered her head in defeat and sniffled. "Y-Yes... It's true... I only joined you guys in order to find the Crystal Stars according to my job... But when I joined you guys, something had completely changed in me."
"I...don't know whether to believe you or not..." Berry trailed, a hint of disappointment in her voice. "You knew we would be caught in a serious situation, but you didn't bother telling us..."
"Please! I didn't mean for this to-"
Unfortunately, nobody seemed to be listening to her at this point. Many of them had slowly began to turn away and make their exit out of Ash Field one by one.
Only Chopper had stayed behind, but only because he was stunned from Vivian's confession. All she could see was him lowering his head in sadness as he turned around and walked away.
"Chopper... Please... I'm really sorry..." Vivian trailed through tears, though her words didn't appear to change his stunned expression.
It wasn't until he felt someone's hand on his shoulder when he slowly turned around. He saw Sonic give him a slow nod, and he nodded back and began to follow him out of Ash Field. He slowly took one glance at Vivian before finally making his way out.
This left Vivian all alone to cry.
"I feel so bad… I've hurt all my friends' feelings..." Vivian sniffled. "I knew I shouldn't have said such a thing…"
"There, there, Vivian... Don't start crying soon..."
Turning around, Vivian noticed Mario patting her on the shoulder. Not only that, but Tipral had gotten up as well, replenishing his energy with the help of an Ultimate Shroom.
"Mario? Wh-What are you still doing here?" Vivian asked.
"Oh, come on... You already know who I am!" Mario grinned.
"Yes... You're right..."
"I can't believe the others were foolish to believe I was Mario." Mario said, his voice sounding more sinister and dark than usual. "I mean, seriously? They thought I was just becoming louder? HA! Anyway, it's such a shame all your friends had to turn on you... They are correct. They will die soon..."
"Though, I'd personally like to end Chopper's life..." Tipral muttered, picking up the crystal ball. "So, this crystal ball... You probably know who it is by now, right?"
"Yes... That's the Shadow Queen..." Vivian confirmed.
"I believe you know that we are planning to bring back my precious wife, right?" Mario reminded. "However... I do not believe who we said would be the vessel."
"Wait... Vessel?"
"That's right! Thankfully, we have the vessel right in front of us!"
"Wait... What?" Vivian gasped, covering her mouth.
"Ah, yes... I believe we should've informed you about who my wife would possess..." Mario trailed, his arms now behind his back as he began to walk back and forth in front of the Shadow Siren. "You see... While possessing one with a pure heart would help give the queen a new body, we didn't realize that possessing a shadow being would make her much stronger and capable of controlling her powers. When we asked her who she wished to possess, she obviously chose you."
"But... Why me?"
"Who was it that she wanted to become the next queen if she were to ever retire? Both Beldam and Marilyn had a couple of...issues. You, on the other hand, had just what my wife wanted! I mean, think about what she could do with those fire powers! You were able to destroy this whole area with a giant fireball and turn it into this field! She could possibly wipe out all life on this very planet!"
"N-No... This isn't what I wanted to happen!" Vivian gasped, aiming her finger at Mario.
"Oh, come on, now... Would you truly want to hurt me? Especially since I'm possessing one of your friend's bodies!"
Vivian had just realized this and slowly lowered her finger.
"That's much better. We can make this a lot easier if you obey my command."
Vivian had tried escaping through the shadows, but he felt two beings grab her arms. Looking behind her, she found Mysterious and Purple grinning in delight.
"Don't worry, my king! We got her just where we want her!" Mysterious assured.
"No! Please! Let go of me!" Vivian yelled. "I didn't want it to be this way! Not after what happened before..."
Seeing the tears running down her face made Tipral cringe. "Argh! Someone please stop her crying!"
"You're absolutely right, Tipral," Mario agreed. "We cannot have this girl screaming out. It'll most likely bring some attention..."
"What are you talking about? There's no one around here!" Mysterious exclaimed.
"Mysterious! Do you really want to defy me?!"
Mysterious immediately froze in fear and looked at Mario in horror. "O-OK, my king... Purple, shut her up!"
Purple obeyed and covered her mouth, preventing her from crying out. Of course, she tried to fight back against their hold, but it was not enough.
"Excellent!" Mario grinned. "Now, Tipral... You know what you have to do."
Tipral obeyed and brought the crystal ball to Vivian. The shadowy mist from inside began to leave the crystal ball and slowly head for her body. Her eyes widened in shock, but they had immediately closed when the mist had finally entered.
Her struggle stopped, and what appeared from her eyes was pure evil.
This...is definitely one of the longer chapters of the story, and it's definitely one I do like, especially the later part. I mean, it has a lot of important stuff!
Yeah, you guys remember those moments when Vivian was trying to tell Chopper something? Well... Yeah, there we go. And, yeah... I'm sure most people had an idea that it wasn't really Mario...
What will come up next? Find out in the next chapter, of course. :P