CHAPTER 17
-Return to Pop Star-
"Ah... It feels so nice to be back here." Chopper smiled, flying his way over to Hatty Town. "I mean, being in Dream Land for an entire chapter? Neat!"
"Since Kirby knows about this world the most, I guess he'll be providing assistance to us," Flyer said, looking over at Kirby. While he did that, he was looking at his invention to see if there was anything not right. "And hopefully I can give this to Fumu..."
Seeing the look on his face, Chopper tried to snap him out of it, and I mean literally. "Flyer! Don't think of that, please! It's bad bad BAD!"
Flyer decided to ignore Chopper and focus on his gadget once again. Kirby's Warp Star had flown over to Cappy Town like last time, but Kirby had said that they'd go look there. Chopper and the rest would go search in Hatty Town.
When Chopper flew over by the woods, a mysterious figure had spotted them. She gave the boy on the star a glare while pulling out a weapon It could change to a bazooka, a machine gun, a flamethrower, and even a sword.
"So, you're back again? This time, you're not getting away so easily." Aiming her weapon, she changed to bazooka mode and aimed it at the Warp Star. "It's payback time!"
A missile fired from her weapon, it homing in on Chopper's Warp Star. Chopper quickly caught the whizzing sound of the missile and turned to face it.
"Wait... What's that?" Chopper gawked.
"Wait... Uh oh... That's not good." Bombette gulped.
The missile hit its target, causing the Warp Star to start crashing. Chopper gripped onto it with all he could as he braced for impact directly into the woods.
Before Chopper could catch who fired the missile, the mysterious figure went back into the woods.
Unfortunately, Kirby and his group on his Warp Star did not hear the crash, so they had continued their way to Cappy Town regardless.
"Poyo! (It feels great to be back home again!)" Kirby cheered, spinning around happily. "Poyo! (And it's even better that a Crystal Star is here!)"
"Well, at least Kirby's happy. I kinda wish we can understand him, though." Shadower said. Upon hearing that, Kirby got out a pencil and paper. "Wait... Did he have that this whole time?"
"Oh, I see what he's gonna do! Since Contadre's not around, Kirby's going to write his words down!" Scrub noticed.
Kirby gave him a nod.
"If we're going back to that town, can we NOT go into that restaurant?" Tamber suggested. "Not only was I breathing fire, but that food stunk!"
Mario: I'm fine with that.
They noticed a couple of Waddle Dees walking into town with some nails, a poster and hammers. They were putting up the poster in the center of the town where the tree was. All of the Cappies walked out of their houses to see what the noise was.
"What's going on?"
"What's with the poster?"
"Why did you wake me up at this time? I'm so tired!"
"I'm hungry."
"Where's my pizza?"
"Attention, everyone!" the Waddle Doo holding a sword shouted. All of the Cappies stopped talking and turned their attention to him. "Now, if you could all form a straight line, you can sign up for an anime that we're going to be making at Castle Dedede. So… Just try to…"
All of the Cappies rushed over to the poster, knocking the Waddle Doo away. It was labeled as, "Wanted! Cartoon Staffs! DDD Production".
"They're recruiting an anime staff?" Mr. Curio questioned, the Cappy with a gray beard and the brown jacket.
"Didn't Dedede do something like this before?" Chef Kawasaki questioned.
Mayor Len, a Cappy with a small white mustache, small brown hat, and a brown jacket rubbed his cheek. "Well... Now that I think about it... I do remember something like that."
"If I could remember, Dedede made us constantly work on an anime before, and we barely had any sleep..."
"Hmmmmm... Well, I'm not so sure whether we should do this or not..." Mayor Len pondered.
"Well, I don't think we've been out for a while..." Chief Borun, the one in the police uniform trailed, pulling on his gray mustache.
"Oh, my aching hairs..." the Waddle Doo groaned, slowly getting up. "Dedede promises you a nice salary in return for your animations. Each of you shall receive a million Deden if it becomes successful."
"One million Deden? That's incredible!" Mayor Len gasped. "Just think of what Cappy Town could do with all of that money!"
"This could be worth making an anime after all!" Chief Borun grinned.
"So, you are all interested in signing up?" the Waddle Doo asked, seeing many people eager to join in. "Well, you must go to Castle Dedede. There are some Waddle Dees that are waiting there for signatures on a couple of contracts. Just try to make a straight li-"
Everyone rushed toward Castle Dedede, cutting off the Waddle Doo. Thankfully, this time nobody stepped on him in the process.
"Hmmmmmm... How strange..." Shadower trailed, getting a glimpse of the event above the town.
Near the woods-
"Ugh… That was painful…" Chopper moaned, slowly getting up. He looked around and noticed Green Greens up ahead. It still looked as purple when he got here earlier. However, his quickly drawn to two eyes hiding behind the woods. "Ummmm... Hello?"
"Why is Green Greens suddenly changing? It's so…weird." Chopper looked at the trees in the woods and saw two eyes. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure who it was.
"After all the troubles, I've finally got you," the figure stated angrily. "And now I can finally avenge my brother and help my father!"
"Huh? Avenge? What are you talking about?"
Unfortunately, his question was answered with a few bullets being fired in his direction. He gasped and started to run, avoiding the projectiles. He eventually found a rock for him to speed behind, and thankfully there was no firing coming from that direction.
Two minutes had passed, and not a single shot was fired, nor was there any footsteps. Chopper cautiously looked behind him and scanned the woods nearby. Nobody appeared to be firing, and there were no eyes in the woods either.
"Phew... That was a close one." Chopper sighed. "But who was that? It sounded nothing like Beldam or Decoyai!"
He quickly froze when he heard the sound of footsteps. "Crud... I think I spoke too soon!"
The footsteps got louder each second. Obviously the figure was heading his way, and he was going to be toast! Running would obviously leave him spotted. Not sure what else to do, he quickly covered his eyes, hoping for the worst to end.
"Hi, Choppy!"
He opened his eyes and felt someone poking his head. Looking up, he noticed a familiar deep pink-haired girl leaning on the rock, smiling down at him.
"Berry?" Chopper gawked. "Were you shooting at me?!"
"Wait, what?" Now it was Berry's turn to gawk. "Why would I shoot you? I just heard someone's voice coming from behind the rock, so I came here to investigate."
"Really? So that was someone else then..." Chopper frowned.
"I don't know about you, but it was pretty cute how you looked so cowardly."
"I'm not a coward!" the antennae hero snapped, quickly standing up.
"Whoa... Settle down, Chopper. Don't you get a joke."
"Oh... Sorry. Well... Do you know where the others are? I didn't see them when they crashed."
Berry frowned and slowly shook her head. Chopper's eyes widened.
"You mean they're...lost?"
"I don't know. I didn't find them..."
"Well, we should find them then," Chopper suggested, jumping away from the rock to search around. They didn't get much time to search, as they were met with a familiar yellow girl who had come to investigate the crash.
"Chopper? Berry? Is that you?" Fumu gasped.
"Oh, hey, Fumu!" Chopper greeted. "What are you doing here?"
"I came here to investigate the crash. I assume it was from you?"
"Well, we actually crashed," Berry explained. "I don't know what it was, but it was definitely no accident, that's for sure."
Chopper, meanwhile, stared at Fumu for moment, specifically her eyes. For some reason, something was awfully familiar about them. This did not go unnoticed by Fumu.
"Chopper? What's wrong?" Fumu asked.
"Fumu... Were you, by chance, shooting at me?" Chopper asked.
"Wait, what? Why would I do that? I don't carry any weapons!"
"Well... Your eyes look a little similar..." Chopper studied her eyes a little more, but then he remembered that a lot of people in the paper world had similar-looking eyes. "Wait... No... I don't think it was you. But if it wasn't you, then who was shooting at me?"
Before he could ponder any further, the three heard the sound of moaning. Not too far ahead was Flyer, who was lying on his back while wrapping his arms around his gadget.
"Hey, that's your friend, Flyer!" Fumu noticed. "He looks like he needs help!"
The three hurried over to Flyer and were about to help him up. However, Berry quickly pulled Chopper away, confusing him.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Chopper gaped.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Berry assured, giving him a smile. She gestured Fumu to go help Flyer up, so she held her hand in front of him when he opened his eyes.
"Here, Flyer. Let me give you a hand." Fumu suggested.
Flyer's eyes shot wide opened upon seeing the girl. He was unsure what to say, but he grabbed her hand and let him get pulled up. His blush was too difficult for him to hide, and Fumu had noticed it.
"…Are you all right?"
"Err... Yeah, I'm OK!" Flyer nodded. "Well... It's good that you're here and all... Because, uh... I have this to give you!"
Flyer held out his gadget to Fumu, who looked back at her uncomfortable collar.
"So, you really believe this will get my collar off?" Fumu asked.
"Well, it's worth a try," the Wingel replied, attaching his gadget to Fumu's collar. She closed her eyes tight, willing to hold off any pain she could receive. She heard a snapping sound, but did not feel any pain. Instead, she felt something break off her. Opening her eyes, Fumu spotted the collar on the floor, split into two.
"The collar... It's broken!"
"Success!" Flyer smiled. "I can't believe it worked!"
"Hey! Now Fumu's free!" Chopper smiled.
"Yeah, I really appreciate the help," Fumu smiled. "You really are good with mechanics!"
"Th-Thank you," Flyer replied, his face getting redder.
"...Are you OK?"
"Oh, he's fine," Chopper assured. "I think he's just like that because he likes you. ...Oops!"
"Chopper!" Flyer cried.
"Wait, what?" Fumu gawked, her face turning a slight shade of red.
"Uhh… I'm saying he's happy that he's glad to help you!" Chopper corrected.
"No you didn't," Berry said. "Flyer likes you, Fumu."
"Berry! No! Don't do this to him!"
"Is this true?" Fumu asked, turning to the nervous Flyer.
"Ummmmmm… Yeah." Flyer sighed, knowing he couldn't give it up forever. "There's just something about you that sparks my interest. I've heard a few things about you, such as you being intelligent and helpful."
"Really? Well... You're not too bad either, I guess..." Fumu blushed. "I mean, you helped me get that collar off, and you seem pretty nice... And it's not like you're incapable of being on land like someone else..."
"Huh? Who are you talking about?" Chopper wondered.
"Uhhh... It's nothing."
"Well, if you need help with this relationship, I think I'll provide the assistance you need," Berry declared, as if she was a professor. "...Er, well in what I know, of course."
"I suppose I should introduce my parents to you, Flyer," Fumu suggested.
"Hold on, what about the others?" Chopper reminded. "Vivian, Bombette, and Sonic were on the Warp Star with us! We need to find them!"
"Maybe they'll be at Hatty Town," Berry hoped. "That would be the logical place to go..."
Agreeing, the four made their way to Hatty Town.
Hatty Town-
Upon reaching Hatty Town, they were surprised to see two familiar figures. King Dedede and Escargon were speaking, but through a megaphone.
"Attention everyone! We are in need of people to work on an anime for us!" King Dedede announced, with Escargon snatching the megaphone from him.
"You will each be paid a million Deden for your services!" Escargon added, making many Cappies become interested. "To sign up, please go to Castle Dedede!"
Chopper was the first to approach them, giving them and angry look while pointing at them. "You guys! What are you doing?"
"Well, if it isn't Chopper! We've been waiting for you!" Escargon smirked. "I suppose you're interested in making an anime, right?"
"Anime? What's an anime?" Chopper wondered. "Is it those shows with those weird people?"
"Weird?"
"Who cares? I think you'll be pretty interested!" King Dedede grinned, gesturing Escargon to get the sack.
"But I'm not! I'm trying to look for-" a brown sack covered his sight, muffling his voice out. He struggled to break out, but Escargon held the end of the sack tightly to prevent his escape. This did not go unnoticed by Flyer, Berry, and Fumu.
"Hey! Let him go!" Berry demanded, bringing her hammer out.
"As if! Like your little hammer is a match for me!" King Dedede chuckled. The aftermath of his chuckling consisted of a hammer hitting him in the head, leaving him dazed. "Ow..."
"Maybe if you three decide to be a little more cooperative, then we won't put you in sacks either!" Escargon suggested. He struggled to keep the sack still due to the squirming. "Eh, Your Majesty… A little help?"
King Dedede quickly shook himself and hit the sack with his hammer, knocking Chopper out.
"Now... Do us a little favor and follow us." Escargon suggested.
"Especially you, Fumu," King Dedede grinned, taking out the remote. "You wouldn't want to be left in a shock!"
However, Escargon was the first to notice something different about her. "Ummmm... Your Majesty... It's missing."
"What is?"
"The collar!"
"WHAT?!" the loudness of King Dedede's voice was enough to draw them back. "Argh! ...Well, I'll worry about that later. You three want Chopper back so badly? Then follow us!"
The three sighed, knowing they probably couldn't argue over them and followed.
Ten minutes later-
People from Hatty and Cappy Town were all in front of Castle Dedede. Except now, there was a small building with King Dedede's face plastered on the top. It had "Dedede Studios" labeled below the picture. People such as Scrub, Kirby, Shadower, Mario, and Tamber were in the back.
"Any person participating in anime production will be paid one million Deden and be happy about it. No more, no less." Escargon explained through the megaphone.
King Dedede swiped the megaphone from Escargon. "If you're good at making stories...drawing pictures...adding color or voice acting, then gather 'round! If you have any questions, please raise your hand!"
The Mayor of Hatty Town was the first to raise his hand.
"Eh? What's your question?" the king asked.
"Well, I was wondering what's in the sack," the Mayor wondered. King Dedede looked at the sack that Chopper was in and sweat dropped. The sack was even sweat dropping.
"Err… There's nothing in there! Now, if you would all be kind enough to sign up, we'll get started!" King Dedede stated. With that, everyone rushed over to sign up.
Mario: I'd rather not do this...
"Yeah, I mean an anime?! That sounds stupid!" Scrub remarked.
"Poyo, (Let's go to my house,)" Kirby suggested as he ran off.
"Huh? Hey, where are you going?" Shadower called out, he and the others following the pink puffball.
An office in Dedede Studios-
King Dedede laughed on his black chair at the desk in the office before placing his hands on said desk. This office, compared to the rest of his castle rooms, had blue walls and a shiny, light blue floor.
"Thank you all for signing up! I appreciate it!" King Dedede grinned. "Just to make things clear, I will be the producer of the anime!"
"Producer? And what are you supposed to do?" Berry asked, crossing her arms. "And who's supposed to be paying for this?"
"Oh, don't worry, we have all of that under control," Escargon replied smugly.
"And just to make sure things go as how I plan, Escargon will be the supervisor!" King Dedede declared, facing Escargon angrily.
"You mean me?" the snail assistant gawked, pointing at himself. "But… Why?"
"No time for questions, Escargon," King Dedede replied harshly. "We are starting right away!"
"So... What are we doing?" the Mayor asked.
King Dedede groaned. "These guys are stupider than I thought..."
"We should probably set up a planning conference to get some ideas," Fumu suggested.
"Ermmmm... Yes! Everyone to the planning room!" King Dedede ordered, picking Escargon up from his eye stalks and heading to the planning room.
Planning room-
The planning room was surprisingly not as big as the office they were in, but there was a large rectangular table, some chairs, and a chalk board. Many Cappies were in the room, and Chopper was too, except he was tied up to the chair unlike the others. Next to him were Flyer and Berry.
"Why am I the only one tied up?" Chopper asked.
"Because we can't risk you running out of here," Escargon answered.
"So, if we're going to make an anime, we need to decide on what our target audience will be, the budget, the story, and the main characters," Fumu explained while a small, yellow bird named Tokkori was writing numbers on the chalkboard using his beak. When she finished, she sat next to Flyer, the two exchanging smiles.
"I already have an idea," King Dedede declared, pulling out a piece of paper. "The hero of the story is the ally of justice, DedeDork…I mean DeFatso…"
"Ummmm... Your Majesty..." Escargon whispered, checking the paper. "I don't think that's the right paper..."
"What?! Then who replaced it?!"
Chopper couldn't help but burst in laughter. "DedeDork and DeFatso?! Ha ha ha!"
To shut him up, Escargon pulled out a red bandanna and covered Chopper's mouth, leaving his voice muffled.
"Let's get back to business," King Dedede declared. "The hero of justice is NOT DedeDork or DeFatso! I refer to him as DededeMan!"
"You can't be serious..." Bun groaned.
"It's not supposed to be me, though," the king pointed out, showing a poorly drawn picture of what appeared to be himself.
"I can clearly see the difference..." Berry deadpanned.
"Such a weird character won't work as a hero," Fumu sighed.
"Mmmggffhh!" Chopper shouted through his muffled voice.
"Weird?! He's the hero of justice! So many people would look up to him!" King Dedede complained.
"It still won't work," Fumu pointed out.
"Oh, really? Then what's your idea?"
"Just let me think," Fumu took out a pen and a piece of paper. As she pondered, she was starting to draw a picture. "Let's see… Cute but strong...and also heroic. Kind of like Chopper!"
She finished her drawing and showed the picture to everyone.
"Well, I like the idea," Berry agreed. "If you need any ideas on Chopper's personality or what he likes, then just let me know!"
"Wait... Why you?" Bun asked.
"You need to know this stuff when you're in love with someone," the girl replied, giving Chopper a sweet smile, hearts appearing over her head. He began to sweat uncomfortably while attempting to scoot away from her.
"I vote that Fumu can be the character designer!" Mr. Curio suggested, and many others agreed.
"Hey... Yeah! I'm all for that!" Flyer agreed.
"Thanks, Flyer," Fumu said. "However, characters don't do us much good unless we have a good scenario."
"Mmmmmggffhh?" Chopper questioned, tilting his head.
"The script for the story," Flyer answered.
"Fumu! You'll write the scenario! And you with the wings over there will help you!" Escargon decided. However, he couldn't speak any further when King Dedede grabbed him by his eye stalk and pulled him close.
"I want you to write it so I look good," King Dedede whispered.
"Don't worry. We'll switch it out later." Escargon explained. "And is it all right if I let Fumu be my assistant?"
Unfortunately, Fumu overheard the conversation and glared at them.
"I'm your assistant?!"
Now free from his king's grasps, Escargon turned to Fumu angrily. "The assistant's job is to help out. If it's not written by tomorrow, then you're getting the death penalty!"
"Death penalty? That's just not right!" Flyer protested.
"And that goes for you too, wing-head!"
"Hold on, Eacargon!" King Dedede shouted, grabbing his assistant again. "We need these fools to make the anime for us! If we give out the punishment, there won't be an anime, and no anime equals...a terrible consequence."
"You're… You're right. I think we shouldn't try to do that." Escargon gulped, slowly turning back to Fumu. "Just get it done by tomorrow! We have a deadline to meet!"
Later that night-
In the Cabinet's home area of Castle Dedede, Fumu was trying to think of a script in the living room. Flyer and Berry were giving her a hand. Meanwhile, Chopper and Bun were eating, along with Fumu and Bun's parents, Parm and Memu.
Parm was more of a lemon yellow color unlike Fumu, and he wore a purple outfit that sported an orange bow-tie. He had brown pants, but he didn't appear to have legs or feet. He also had a lavender mustache, and the sides of his hair were curled up.
Memu was a darker shade of yellow compared to Parm, and she had green earrings, pink eyeshadow and lipstick. She also wore a lavender dress and an orange bandanna tied around her neck. Memu also carried a pink fan around at times, too.
Their home area was also very nice, too. Unlike Castle Dedede, the room had pink walls and a reddish pink carpet. The windows contained some plants, and there were hot pink couches with a typewriter on the brown table. Flyer, Berry, and Fumu were sitting on that couch.
"Who ever thought that writing a scenario would be so tough?" Fumu sighed, crumpling up a piece of paper and tossing it into the trash bin.
"I sure didn't..." Flyer mumbled, the typewriter in his lap.
"I guess this is what happens when our time is limited..." Berry groaned.
"Chopper, you don't really have the 'hero' look after all," Fumu said, turning her head to Chopper at the table.
"Hero look? What is a hero supposed to look like?" Chopper asked.
"Well... I'm not so sure myself... Though I did wonder about that once."
"Fumu, you're not going to eat?" Memu asked.
"...I could eat your food if you don't want it," Chopper noted.
"You can have it if you want, Chopper. I'm not that hungry..." Fumu trailed.
Smiling, Chopper opened his mouth and inhaled her food in an instant. "Yummy! Too bad Kirby's not here to have an eating contest with me! ...Speaking of Kirby, I wonder where he and the others are."
"I saw them this afternoon," Bun spoke up.
"Really? Where?!"
"They were at the back of the group of people outside of Castle Dedede. Though, I think they ended up leaving. I don't know where they went, but I did see some figures going to Kirby's house."
"So they're going there! Well, that must mean they're safe." Chopper let out a sigh. "...If only I knew about the location of Vivian, Bombette, and Sonic... I hope they're safe, too."
"I hope so too," Flyer said, trying to think. "Gah! Why is making a scenario so hard for me?"
"I never thought making an anime would be difficult," Memu remarked.
"Well, maybe you should try to make the hero fight," Parm suggested, lowering his white mug. The three working had turned to Fumu's father. "A lot of dramas have something to do with a fight. And if you're trying to think of a plot, you could always base off your ideas from past experiences."
"You mean... Like the quest for the Crystal Stars?" Chopper asked. "Hey! That sounds like a cool idea!"
"Of course! Why didn't we think of that sooner?" Flyer realized. "We could just base this anime off our quest in getting the twenty Crystal Stars!"
"But the thing is, most of us don't know how it started, and we don't even know how it's going to end," Berry noted.
"Why not just make it up?" Chopper suggested, leaping over to the three. "Plus, I remember what was going on throughout our adventure! I started it all! ...Plus, if we get the Mayor, we can see if he has anything to add!"
"Yeah! This could actually help us!" Flyer smiled, writing down the ideas.
"Maybe we can get a scenario done after all," Fumu said, also writing down the ideas.
Parm had walked over to the four as well, rolling up his sleeves. "Here, I'll lend you a hand as well. I can help you with some battles!"
And so the five began to work together on writing a scenario. In fact, they had spent most of the night doing this. In the end, however, they were done with it in a couple of hours, and not to mention exhausted.
Morning-
"Whew! We finally did it! The scenario is complete!" Flyer announced, holding up the papers in his hand. He and Chopper were the only ones awake at the moment, while Berry and Fumu were asleep on the couch, too tired to continue working.
"Yeah, it's a good thing it's over with," Chopper said, looking over at the sleeping girls. "Which reminds me... Is it nap time yet?"
"It's morning, Chopper."
Unfortunately, they were not aware of the door slowly opening, with a straw aiming directly at Chopper. Behind the door, Escargon snickered as he took out a small, chewed up piece of paper and stuck it in the straw. Grinning, he fired the spitball at Chopper.
"Hold on, I think I dropped something," Chopper got off the couch and bent over to pick up a paper he dropped. The spitball missed, but instead, it ended up hitting Flyer. When he stood up, he noticed the spitball. "Gee, Flyer... I never knew you had a thing for putting a disgusting gray ball on your head."
Flyer groaned annoyingly, getting the spitball off his forehead. While that happened, Berry and Fumu woke up and spotted the finished scenario.
"Is the scenario finished?" Fumu asked.
"Yup! All of it!" Chopper declared.
The door suddenly slammed open, with Escargon holding a megaphone.
"Rise and shine, you twerps! It's time to get to work!" Escargon shouted.
Chopper noticed the spitball Flyer disposed of and stuffed it in Escargon's megaphone.
"Five more minutes, OK?" Chopper suggested.
Annoyed, Escargon slammed the door in front of the pale green boy.