Along the way through their travels, the group had found some enemies in their way. They quickly dispatched them, all the while protecting Silica. When the fights were over, Chopper's stats had become 130 HP and FP, and his BP at 78.
"You know... You don't have to do this for me..." Silica wheezed.
"You saved me from getting seriously hurt, though," Chopper reminded. "It's only right for me to help get you back to good shape!"
"But..."
"You're not going to stop us from continuing onward."
Silica decided to remain silent as Chopper and Vivian held her arms and carried her to a portal they spotted. It appeared dark purple and surprisingly out of place in this area.
"What is that thing?" Bombette asked.
"It looks like some sort of portal..." Shadower guessed. "But what's it doing here?"
Chopper took out the map and noticed it had a much brighter glow when pointed at the portal. "Hey! The Crystal Star is located in here!"
"Great! And Fumu will also be free as well!" Berry added, looking over at Flyer. "Isn't it great, Flyer? We'll finally get Fumu back!"
However, she noticed Flyer didn't look like he was in the best mood.
"Are you all right, Flyer? I mean, we'll be finding Fumu..."
"I think it's best if I was left alone..." Flyer suggested, a hint of annoyance and anger in his voice. To him, this was good news, but it was hard for him to smile at this point.
"OK," Berry shrugged, walking over to Chopper. "I think something's up with Flyer..."
"Really?" Chopper turned around to face Flyer. He appeared to be looking down at the floor, but when his eyes met Chopper's he didn't exactly give him a happy look. "Oh... I don't know what's bugging him. We'll save that for a bit later."
Chopper hit the Save Block in the area, since he did not require a Heart Block at the moment. Unfortunately, since Silica was not a party member, using a Heart Block would not do much.
"How's Silica doing?" Sonic asked.
"I don't know..." Vivian trailed. "It's hard to tell if she's really alive or not."
"D-Don't worry about me..." Silica moaned. "I can still hold my own for a while."
"Well, that's good to hear," Sonic nodded. "Just let us know when you're not feeling too good, OK?"
Silica gave him a nod back in return, and with that, the heroes dove into the portal before them, choosing not to waste time.
?-
When they came out of the portal, the first thing they noticed was the strange, distorted sky and the hexagon-shaped tiles in many colors below their feet.
"This place looks so weird..." Bombette remarked. "It's like we're in some sort of void!"
"Poyo... (But it feels sort of familiar to me...)" Kirby trailed.
"This is kinda creepy, though..." Chopper trailed.
"Yeah, a lot creepier than that Shadow Palace, that's for sure," Scrub agreed. "I can't wait to get out of here!"
"How far do you think this place goes?" Sonic wondered.
Mario: It looks like it could be endless...
"Flyer! Chopper!"
Chopper's antennae sprung up when he saw Fumu up ahead, running in their direction. When Flyer spotted her, his mood had changed, and he was the first one to run over to Fumu.
"Fumu! You're OK!" Flyer cried, the two exchanging hugs.
"Wait... Did I miss something here?" Scrub asked. "Why're they hugging?"
After their hug, Fumu became serious. "Look... I know you've come a long way here, but it's not a good idea to be here. You're in serious danger."
"Oh, here we go again..." Tamber groaned. "Is this going to be like on that one island?"
"Not now, Tamber!" Berry shushed, turning back to Fumu. "What's wrong?"
"Look, there's no time. Let's just get out of here immediately!" Fumu suggested. "He could be anywhere!"
"Yes... I could be anywhere, specifically here!" another voice cackled, catching everyone's attention. "So you've finally arrived! I've been waiting for this moment ever since I was sent crashing into Nova!"
"What? Nova?" Chopper gawked, being on the alert. "Why does that sound so familiar to me?"
"You don't remember your good friend, Marx?"
"Marx?!"
Marx made his appearance before them, but his appearance was a whole lot different. His wings were now dark pink, and he had three claws on instead of two. The glowing hearts on his wings were now bright blue, and his eyes were much more menacing. The pompoms that are on his hat were spiky and larger, the ends of his shoes were pointy, and he had an elongated tongue hanging from his mouth with larger fangs. Marx was also wearing a tarnished necklace made from pieces of Nova, replacing the bow tie he had before. The colors on his hat were now dark magenta on the left, and sky blue on the right. He had also grown bigger in size, and his voice sounded distorted too.
Everyone stared at him, completely surprised by his new appearance.
"Hee hee hee... Surprised to see how much I've changed? I guess this is what happens when you absorb the remains of Nova! Personally, I dig it! Now you are standing before Marx Soul!"
"Marx Soul? That's a weird name…" Bombette remarked.
"Well, he does look a bit zombified to me..." Shadower trailed.
"I can't stand that tongue, though," Berry cringed, trying to prevent herself from seeing the tongue from this monstrosity.
"Now, everyone... You have come here for the Crystal Star, correct?" Marx Soul asked, receiving nods from the group. He pulled out a pink, sparkling Crystal Star. "Yes, you see... I happened to find it somewhere around here."
"We need that immediately," Chopper demanded. "One of our friends is badly hurt!"
"And I should care why? I only took this thing so I could lure you in here! And I guess it happened to succeed... So, if you want it so badly, then you'll have to fight me for it!"
"Well, if it gives us a chance to get rid of you once and for all, then I guess we don't have much of a choice," Chopper sighed, turning to Fumu. "Fumu, can you and Silica try to get to a safe place? I don't know if this is going to end well..."
Fumu gave a nod and took Silica from Chopper and Vivian. She began to carry her away from the battlefield until she knew Silica would be out of harm's way.
"So... Are you ready to put an end to this?" Marx Soul asked.
"Poyo! (Yeah! We're ready to kick your butt!)" Kirby shouted.
"All right! I'm going to enjoy this... Hee hee hee..."
Tattle: EEEEK! What IS that thing?! ...Oh, it says he's Marx Soul. He's...absorbed the powers from Nova and has become much more powerful. Max HP is 360, Attack is 16, and Defense is 2. He fights like he usually does, but this time those cacti will have red roses that can poison you. He can even transform into small little paint pellets in blue or purple colors that can either burn or freeze you. Marx Soul also has the ability to split into a blue and lavender comet. The lavender one means it'll be the first one, with the blue one coming up second. Ugh... It's just so painful to get a look at this ugly boss...
"Hmmmm... Well, I can't use a hammer on him, so I'll just have to jump on him," Chopper began to stretch his arms and feet out before he leaped in the air and jumped on Marx Soul, dealing 6 damage.
Kirby floated up to Marx Soul and struck him with his Cartwheel, taking 8 out of him. However, their opponent didn't seem too fazed. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it.
"Excellent! This is just what I wanted! Allow me to reward you!" Marx Soul opened his mouth, and out came an ice bomb that dropped on Kirby, freezing him.
"Kirby!" Chopper gasped. He turned back to Marx Soul with an angry gaze. "You're going to pay for freezing my friend!"
"Go right ahead!"
Chopper pulled out his hammer and threw it at Marx Soul, leaving him a little dizzy for a couple of seconds. When he shook out of his daze, Sonic jumped in the air and struck him with a Homing Attack, landing on the ground with style afterward.
"With the upgrades we got, this guy is hardly a match for us!" Sonic smirked.
Marx Soul growled and planted a couple of seeds on the ground. Cacti has risen where Chopper stood, and he hadn't even seen it coming. Cacti with roses grew from where Sonic stood. As a result, he had gotten poisoned.
"Yes, that should keep him out the way," Marx Soul grinned, his eyes meeting Chopper's. "And you're next!"
"Not a chance!" Chopper conjured up an electric ball and hurled it at him. To his surprised, he managed to paralyze the jester. "Whoa, I didn't know I would pull that off… Bosses don't generally get paralyzed!"
"Yeah, that's pretty interesting. Now, if you'll excuse me…" Scrub laid a giant egg and picked it up. "…I have a freak to attack!"
Scrub tossed his Mega Egg at Marx Soul, and because he couldn't make another attack, Chopper happily struck him with another jump attack. When Bombette managed to hit him with her Bomb Throw, Marx Soul was down to 298 HP.
"I'm already this far down? How…delightful!" Marx Soul grinned as he hovered down to the floor and fired four white cutter blades at Chopper. He brought his fists up to defend himself from the deadly attack. And with that turn over, Kirby had been thawed out as well.
"OK... Well, I'll admit you're tough, but I'd say that Galacta Knight was a lot tougher." Chopper remarked. Though that didn't seem to please Marx Soul, seeing him get a little mad was a bit funny. He changed to his Mirror ability and fired a mirror shard at the jester.
"Wait... So what is the point of that ability?" Tamber asked.
"Well... It shoots...mirrors?" Chopper wondered. "They probably break, and that'll give enemies seven years of bad luck!"
"Really? That sounds awesome!"
"Only if those myths were actually true," Berry cut in. "Well, anyway, I guess I should attack this...whatever he is."
She approached Marx Soul and brought her hammer down on him. Despite being the last one he got hit by, he ignored her and turned his attention to Chopper. Opening his mouth, he fired a purple blast at Chopper, knocking him back to where Flyer was.
"Flyer... Think you can give us a hand?" Chopper asked.
"Fine..." Flyer grumbled, lifting himself off the ground and letting his feet strike Marx Soul's face to deal 10 damage. Fumu had noticed his mood and was rather surprised.
"Has something bad happened to Flyer?" Fumu asked, getting a little closer to the battle.
"I don't know... He was just fine before... Now he's just not happy with me..." Chopper replied. "This is just not like him..."
He quickly stood up, and with his hammer in hand, he threw it at Marx and dealt 8 damage. He quickly reclaimed it afterward.
"Take this!" Marx Soul opened his mouth again and fired a small beam, but Chopper managed to guard it with ease and only take 14 damage.
When Shadower struck him with a Shadow Punch, Chopper decided to use a Spring Jump and deal 20 damage to Marx Soul afterward. Now being down to 240 HP, Marx Soul was getting irritated.
"I don't understand! I've become a lot more powerful, yet you're all still dishing out damage to me!" Marx Soul yelled. "This power was supposed to help me defeat you, not get myself beaten!"
"Uhhhh... Hello? We've become incredibly awesome!" Tamber announced. "Well, except for the gumball..."
"I can hurt him with a jump, you know!" Chopper yelled.
Marx Soul had ignored their talking and began to raise his Attack power by 16. "Well, let's see you all try to take on a powerful laser attack!"
"I think we can handle it! We're MEN!" Tamber declared. "Except for-"
"Can you stop with-" Chopper paused for a moment, realizing what Tamber had just yet. "Actually, I'm not a man, nor do I ever want to be."
"Errr... Yeah. Anyway... Taste a Power Punch, you ugly...bat...thingy!" Tamber jumped in Marx Soul's direction, his fist surrounded in green energy. His Power Punch was strong enough to send Marx Soul flying far back within the distorted void of emptiness. "Ha HA! That showed you!"
"Nice work, Tamber. Now it's my turn!" Chopper stomped on Marx Soul with a Spin Jump and took 15 out of him. Unfortunately, because Marx Soul had raised his attack, he was able to make his powerful move. He fired a large laser from his mouth, and Chopper and his friends were caught in it. Thankfully, Fumu and Silica were not in the range of the laser and did not get hurt.
"Ungh... Guys... Hang in there..." Silica panted.
"This is fun! REALLY fun!" Marx Soul cheered. Chopper, slightly panting, fired a mirror shard at him to deal 6 damage, while Vivian used her Shade Fist to burn him. "Argh! I think I know just what to do!"
Marx Soul dropped another ice bomb on Vivian, but she saw it coming and guarded it when it exploded. To her luck, she did not freeze.
"What? You didn't freeze? ...I suppose you were lucky. But not next time!"
"That is, if you get the chance..." Vivian trailed.
Chopper used his clone attack to make two duplicates of himself, hitting Marx Soul with those them and dealing 8 damage. Mario tipped his hat and followed up with a Super Jump, leaving him with 178 HP.
Mario: We're halfway there!
"Hmmmm... All right, I suppose I'll have to resort to one to this." Marx Soul transformed into what appeared to be globs of paint, and he flew upward. Paint balls started to rain down upon the group, and everyone was guarding them. Unfortunately, Chopper missed guarding one purple one, and he was poisoned.
"Ugh... I don't feel so good..." Chopper groaned, taking damage from being poisoned, pleasing Marx Soul when he turned back into himself.
"Oh, Chopper… You were always a pain on my side ever since we first met! But, it looks like that poison will do away with you instead."
"I'm not going down so soon..." Chopper groaned, changing to his Plasma ability. He fired a Plasma Needle at Marx Soul, only dealing 6 damage. "Ugh... This poison is making it difficult for me to fight."
"Just hang in there, Contadre," Scrub said, laying a giant egg and throwing it at Marx Soul.
"So the poison worked nicely! Now finishing you off will be a snap!" Marx Soul charged into Chopper, managing to deal 16 damage to him. "So, are you going to give up now?"
"No... We have a mission to finish." Chopper declared, taking damage from being poisoned.
"I'll try to help..." Vivian trailed, recovering Chopper from the poison thanks to her Soothing Kiss. He felt the effects of the poison wear off, leaving him surprised and grossed out at the same time. However, he'd save that issue for later and struck Marx Soul with a Rainbow Spin. Noticing him feeling much better, he was shocked.
"What in the…! Shouldn't you be poisoned?" Marx Soul gaped.
"Well, I was, but someone gave me a hand!" Chopper answered, quickly wiping his cheek. "Gross..."
"Argh! Fine, I guess we'll have to do this the hard way!" Marx Soul growled angrily. He transformed again, but this time into two comets. The purple comet had attacked Chopper and dealt 16 damage to him, while the other comet attacked Scrub.
"What the heck was that?!" Scrub winced, just as Marx Soul reformed into himself.
"Wasn't that such a spectacular show?" Marx Soul grinned, only to get struck by Shadower's Shadow Punch and then Chopper's Gravity Jump, leaving him at 114 HP. Annoyed, he fired multiple arrows in their direction, dealing 18 damage in total.
"Hmmmm..." Sonic pondered, looking down at the blue Chaos Emerald in his hands. "I wonder if I should really...?"
"What's up, Sonic?" Bombette asked.
"I'm trying to decide whether I should use this form or not..."
Chopper had run up to Marx Soul and jumped on his head to deal 10 damage. That was when Sonic made the decision and used the seven Chaos Emeralds to transform into Super Sonic.
"Whoa... Is Sonic suddenly glowing and yellow?" Scrub gawked.
"That's Super Sonic to you," Super Sonic smirked, giving a thumbs up. "It's about time I tested out this ability! ...Though, it's kinda limited."
Marx Soul swooped down to attack Chopper, but Super Sonic flew in and managed to block the attack. In return, Marx Soul had taken 12 damage in the process. Add a Homing Attack to that, and he dealt 12 more damage. This had brought him down to 90 HP.
"Ha! How'd you like that?" Super Sonic taunted.
"That should be helpful," Chopper remarked, jumping on Marx Soul. He retaliated by dealing 20 damage to them all with his arrows. Well, except for Super Sonic, of course. With that, Chopper changed to his Ninja-Pirate ability, and he threw a shuriken bomb at his foe, dealing 8 damage.
"Whoa, what kind of attack was that?" Bombette asked.
"I have the Ninja-Pirate ability."
"I... What?"
Flyer ignored them and left Marx Soul with only 66 HP after his Flying Attack. Marx Soul was angered, and he charged into them again. Super Sonic stepped in and managed to block the attack and deal 12 damage to him.
"Argh! I'm not finished yet!" Marx Soul yelled.
"Well, of course you're not," Super Sonic scoffed. "But you'll be finished pretty soon!"
Marx Soul was about to talk back, but Chopper had thrown a kunai bomb in his direction, which only exploded upon contact. Tamber had dug underground and appeared under Marx Soul, managing to leap in the air and punch him and bring him to 36 HP.
"This is not possible... I shouldn't have become so overconfident!" Marx Soul thought, glaring down at his foes angrily. "I've got to weaken them!"
Marx Soul fired a pink blast from his mouth at Chopper, knocking his ability away. "Hee hee... Without that ability, this fight should be much easier! Plus, that blue guy is finally back to normal!"
Indeed he was correct. Sonic had finally turned back to normal, and he appeared a bit disappointed.
"Crud... Too bad I can only use this ability once per battle..." Sonic grumbled.
"But Marx is nearly defeated at this point," Chopper reminded. "He's got 36 HP!"
"And you're not looking too good yourself either!" Marx Soul grinned. "Face it, a couple of more hits will do you in!"
Now Chopper was losing a bit of confidence, making Marx Soul feel much better. But then Chopper remembered his stronger attacks and decided to throw in a Spring Jump. With Vivian's Shade Fist, he was now down to 12 HP.
"No... Already you've brought me down this far?" Marx Soul gaped.
"You can do it, guys! You're almost there!" Fumu cried.
"Finish them for me," Silica smirked.
But despite all this, Marx Soul cackled. He dove into the floor, disappearing before their eyes. Everyone looked around to see where he was, but they couldn't find him. However, when Mario looked below him, he noticed a large shadow.
Mario: Guys! Beneath you!
Marx Soul had come out of the ground and knocked everyone back. Many started to become exhausted from the fight, and Chopper started cringing.
"How does it feel?" Marx Soul laughed.
"Do you even realize that you're pretty much beat?" Chopper moaned.
"Hee hee! I don't care anymore! As long as I get to see you suffer! I'm just fine!"
Mario had leaped in the air and jumped on Marx Soul's head, reducing him to 5 HP. Chopper made the next move and performed a flip in the air upon jumping. With those two jumps, Marx Soul had began to taste defeat. ...Again.
"Urgh… Hee…hee…hee…" Marx Soul cackled slowly, explosions emitting from him as Chopper landed. There were a couple of bright flashes in the room, as Marx Soul was enveloped in a bright light.
"What's happening to him?" Tamber asked.
"We'll see soon..." Shadower trailed.
At that point, Marx Soul began to let out the most ear-piercing scream they had ever heard as his entire body split into two. When they touched the floor, they exploded, eliminating any source of Marx's body and spirit once and for all. Hopefully, for good.
With that battle over, Chopper had received 65 Star Points and earned another level up. ...Again. With that, he upgraded his HP to 135.
When the explosions were gone, a pink Crystal Star had landed on the floor, right by Fumu and Silica. The former picked up the Crystal Star and placed it near Silica. With that, its powers began to heal off Silica's injuries and exhaustiveness.
"My injuries... They're gone!" Silica gaped, slowly standing up. She moved her arms and feet around, and then she fired her weapon at the floor. "I don't believe it... I feel better than ever!"
"I'm glad the star did the trick," Chopper smiled, he and his friends approaching them. Silica turned to them with a smile as well.
"Thank you guys... And sorry for the trouble I've caused."
"Hey, don't sweat it!" Sonic assured. "This is something we always do! We're...sorta trained for this!"
"Are you all right, Fumu?" Flyer asked, approaching her.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Fumu assured. "Thankfully, that monster didn't harm me. How did you know I was taken anyway?"
"We found a note. Though, the Crystal Star kinda made us go over to you in the first place." Chopper explained, though that didn't seem to make Fumu happy. "...But we were going to save you, of course!"
"Well, I'm just glad you're all right," Flyer said, keeping his attention on her.
"It was thanks to you and the others that I'm safe," Fumu smiled, he and Flyer giving a hug.
"Wait... Is that nerd that girl's boyfriend?" Tamber gawked. "How come he gets to have a girlfriend and not me? I'm much better-looking than him!"
"No offense, Tamber, but you might wanna get an attitude adjustment," Sonic suggested.
"Why you...!" Tamber looked over at Silica, and suddenly an idea struck him. "Hey, white alien chick! Maybe we can be-"
"I'd rather not," Silica cut off, keeping her weapon aimed at him for safety.
"Argh... Gumball, just get the Crystal Star already."
"All right, Tamber. Calm down." Chopper sighed, walking over to the Crystal Star, which happened to be in Silica's hands.
"Here, you earned this," Silica said, holding it in front of him.
With a nod, Chopper touched the Crystal Star, and it began to circle around him. He held it up proudly as a pink glow emitted around him.
"Finally! We got it!" Chopper cheered. "…But why does it have to be pink?"
You got a Crystal Star! Your Star Power is now 18! And Chopper learned the special move Sweet Dreams!
END OF CHAPTER!
Chopper has finally acquired the seventeenth Crystal Star after eliminating the revived Marx Soul and getting rid of evil roaming Pop Star. Not only that, Fumu has finally been saved. Chopper is finally getting getting closer to saving the universe from the evil darkness approaching. But, while he and his friends were celebrating, a couple of other villains were creating schemes in order to fulfill their desires of acquiring the remaining Crystal Stars. What will be of Chopper when he meets his enemies again?
And with that, Chapter 17 is finally complete. This chapter had a whole load of references from other Kirby games (mainly Kirby Super Star Ultra) and even the anime. Thing may have gotten a bit intense in this chapter, but it's going to get a lot more intense in the later chapters.
Next up: Two villains finally meet one another, and Chopper and his friends discover where the next Crystal Star is. Chopper also wonders what is going on with Flyer as well.