As they entered the top room, they noticed that there were large windows. The ceiling itself had glass as well and the room was lit up, which was very nice. The ground had an orange carpet with a heart in the center and even a cage with a familiar face in it and someone…cowering over by the corner.
"Squoh? Is that really you, privates?!" Squirps gaped after rubbing his eyes with his tentacles. "Squirps can't explain how happy he is to see you!"
"Uggggghhh… I don't know who's there, but I'd rather not be around here… It's not safe here!" the man moaned.
"Hold on a second… Why does that guy remind me of someone?" Blade asked, ready to draw his katana. "That guy…kind of looks like that Mr. L person!"
Before Blade could attack, Mario jumped in the way.
Mario: That's not Mr. L! It's my brother, Luigi!
"B-Bro? Is that your voice?" Luigi got up and turned to the group. "Wait a second… It's you guys from that party!"
"It's been a while, Luigi! Who ever thought we'd find you here?" Chopper smiled.
"Well… Now that I think about it, I DID find something here." Luigi pulled out a dark orange Pure Heart, making everyone gasp.
"The Pure Heart? Luigi had it this whole time?" Timpani gasped.
"Oh, no. I found this in this room. I think I should give it to you, though." Luigi walked over to Chopper to give it…
"You heroes really think you would reach the Pure Heart so easily? Think again…"
"Oh no… Not him again." Luigi gulped, backing away. "He's the reason why I'm so scared of being here!"
"Wait… Who's 'he'?" Sonic asked.
"That would be me," a mysterious, dark blue masked person shaped just like Chopper and Kirby jumped down from the ceiling and landed right in front of Chopper with his silver sword with spikes on the edges. His mask was a dark blue as well, being not as dark as himself. Red glowing eyes could be seen through his helmet while his black cape floated through the small wind in the room. The mysterious masked person was also wearing dark gloves and had silver shoes on. From what they could all see, this was certainly no ghost.
"Whoa… This is new. So we end up NOT running into a ghost boss? Weird…" Chopper trailed before getting into a fighting stance. "But tell us who you are! Now!"
"I am one of Tipral's minions. A more…honorable one. I am known as Knightmare." Knightmare introduced coldly.
"Knightmare? That's…kinda dumb." Blade commented.
"And kind of unoriginal…" Sonic trailed.
"It doesn't matter what my name is," Knightmare retorted, aiming his sword at the heroes. "I was sent by Tipral to stop you heroes from collecting that Pure Heart that man holds!"
"Oh, really? Tipral has sent other minions to attack us, but they always failed to win! What makes you think you can take us down?" Chopper smirked.
Knightmare glared at Chopper as he inched closer to the heroes with his sword ready to strike.
"You obviously haven't seen what I can do…" he warned.
"Poyo, (No, we haven't, but we're pretty sure you're just like the others,)" Kirby responded.
"Hmph… Think whatever you want, but don't think I'm going to go easy on you." Knightmare's cape disappeared and was replaced with bat-like wings. "This is where it all ends, heroes!"
"Bat wings? For some reason, he reminds me of someone…" Chopper pondered before Knightmare tossed two swords right near both him and Kirby. "What's with the swords, Knightmare?"
"While you are my enemies, I will be fair and allow you two to carry a weapon," Knightmare lowered his sword as Chopper and Kirby inhaled their swords and gained the Sword ability.
"Poyo, (I haven't used this ability in a while,)" Kirby commented.
"Now then… Let us settle this!" Knightmare flew toward Chopper with his wings and attempted to slash at him. The pale green gumball brought his sword up in an attempt to block his attack, but it didn't work out when Knightmare managed to use his cape to disappear and strike him from behind.
Mario: What was that?!
"Ow… I have no idea!" Chopper aimed Timpani's wand at Knightmare right when he appeared in front of him to gather some information.
"This strange masked person is called Knightmare. He's one of Tipral's minions and seems more mysterious than Dark… Max HP is 200. Attack is 11. Defense is 4. Knightmare is rather fast, so if you're going too slow, expect to be hit by his attacks. He'll also disappear at times to attack you from behind, which is incredibly dangerous. Sometimes he might even fly up in the air and strike you from above. The most dangerous of his attacks is something called the Nightmare Tornado. He'll store power in his sword and unleash a powerful tornado that's capable of sucking you in! Luckily, you happen to have a sword to fight him with, but don't expect to hit him all the time… But, for some reason, he kind of reminds me a bit of someone I remember…" Timpani informed.
"Wow… That's a lot of moves he's got." Sonic gaped as Knightmare flew up into the air and aimed his sword to the ground. Sonic jumped out of the way and let the warrior's sword get stuck to the ground.
"All right, now's our chance to make a move!" Chopper nodded.
Kirby made the first move, running over to Knightmare and jabbing at him a couple of times with his sword. When Knightmare pulled his sword out of the ground, he blocked the rest of Kirby's attacks and knocked him away with a Sword Beam.
"Wait… HE can use a Sword Beam?!" Chopper gaped.
"Surprised?" Knightmare asked as he began to jab at Chopper multiple times. He brought his sword up to block most of the attacks, but he still got hurt. Chopper tried striking back, but Knightmare was still able to block some of his attacks. However, when it came down to Chopper's speed, he was able to run straight behind him and strike him with his sword with no problem.
"Wow… So this guy's pretty fast, huh?" Blade gaped as he jumped in and struck Knightmare with his katana. Even though his katana was pretty tough, it wasn't tough enough to push Knightmare's sword away when their weapons clashed.
"A weak katana like that isn't going to help you defeat me!" the warrior scoffed as he sent Blade flying with a powerful strike from his sword.
"That silver sword is strange…" Timpani commented. "Why are there spikes on the side of it?"
"Honestly, I have no idea," Chopper replied as Knightmare began to spin around in a small tornado. He was able to knock him back, as well as Sonic and Mario. What was strange was that Chopper wasn't losing his ability.
"You privates can win this, Squirp!" Squirps cheered.
Mario: Luigi! Help us!
"But… But… I can't! There's no way I stand a chance!" Luigi cried, cowering over by the corner still.
Mario sighed and stomped on Knightmare's head after Kirby stunned him with his sword. He also delivered a Ground Pound to his head that left him dazed as well, allowing Sonic to curl up in a ball and strike the dark warrior with a Spin Dash.
"Ugh… So you are more than you seem!" Knightmare commented as he rubbed his head. "But I just got started! THIS is something you won't ever see before!"
He brought his sword up and was prepared to stab the ground. Everyone watched as a dark aura surrounded his sword. And boy, they weren't happy to see him perform this type of move (according to Timpani).
"Uh oh… I think this is the move Tippi was warning us about…" Chopper gulped.
Knightmare unleashed his Nightmare Tornado attack that began to rip through the ground and suck everyone in. After the tornado disappeared, everyone fell to the ground and suffered an intense amount of damage.
"Yeesh! That was the most I've ever suffered!" Blade coughed as he slowly got up.
"No kidding…" Sonic agreed.
"Don't worry, heroes! I've got more where that came from!" Knightmare smirked as he prepared to stab at them. However, Kirby managed to block his attack and keep him off guard, striking him twice with his sword.
"Poyo! (All right! I hit him!)" Kirby cheered.
Since Kirby was distracted, Knightmare managed to make him trip and then sent him flying across the room by hitting him with the flat part of his sword. When Chopper saw this, he rushed toward Knightmare with his sword ready, but he ended up getting hit in the face by the flat part of Knightmare's sword, leaving red marks on his cheeks.
"Ow! Why does my face always have to suffer such terrible attacks?!" Chopper cried, rubbing his cheek.
"What a crybaby…" Knightmare mumbled as he swung his sword and tried to strike Mario with a Sword Beam. However, Mario jumped just in time and used Kickbrin to knock Knightmare back.
"That should leave him stunned for a bit. Now it's my turn!" Blade raced toward Knightmare and slashed him with his katana. When the warrior got up, he tried striking Blade, but he used his jutsu to disappear and leave a log behind.
"What the…"
"Over here, idiot!" Blade shouted as he kicked Knightmare from behind and even tossed Hommissile to leave a large explosion that sent Knightmare flying toward Sonic.
"Aw, yeah! It's about time!" Sonic curled up in a ball to charge up his Light Speed Attack. When fully charged, he went all out on Knightmare, striking him many times before he could even attack.
"You sure are getting your butt kicked!" Chopper smirked.
Mario: Luigi, you should really help us…
"It's OK, Bro! I don't wanna watch the fight!" Luigi cried, still cowering over by the corner. Mario sighed and bashed Knightmare with his hammer. Of course, he ended up getting struck in the stomach by his sword.
"Are you heroes ready to give up yet?" Knightmare asked as he sent Sonic and Blade flying with a Sword Beam. "You're all looking rather…weak. A couple of hits would do you in!"
"Poyo! (There's no way we're giving up this fight!)" Kirby retorted, pulling an Ultra Shroom Shake out.
"A drink from a can? How pathetic!"
"Poyo, (Oh, just watch this,)" Kirby opened the can and took a sip from it, instantly recovering 50 HP. Chopper took the next sip and recovered 50 HP and it was passed on to each hero afterward. In the end, they all managed to recover 50 HP and heal from their wounds."
"Hmph… I see. This should be interesting." Knightmare began to spin around as he charged at the five heroes with his Spinning Sword. However, Kirby managed to swing his sword and stop him with a Sword Beam. While he was stunned, Kirby had a chance to jab at him a couple of times.
This was when Knightmare had enough. He took off in the air and began to fly around the room, slashing at Chopper or Mario with his blade when he swooped down. They even tried to catch him, but there was no way of reaching him.
Mario: Luigi! We need your Super Jump to hit him!
"My Super Jump? But… But…"
Mario: No buts!
"OK, OK, I'll help you fight him a little!" Luigi stopped cowering over by the wall and looked up to see Knightmare flying around the room. He took a deep breath and folded up to ready himself for a Super Jump.
"Squoh? Why does that remind Squirps of that weird mysterious man we saw before?" Squirps asked.
Luigi unleashed his Super Jump and knocked Knightmare to the ground. The green plumber began to cheer to himself, with things such as "Go Luigi! Go Luigi!" and even "I did it!"
"You fool! I thought I told you to stay by that corner!" Knightmare hissed as he turned to Luigi. "You're going to regret doing that!"
"Ack!" Luigi immediately ran straight to the wall, but that didn't stop Knightmare from grabbing the plumber and throwing him up into the air with his sword. While he was up in the air, Knightmare flew up and slammed him to the ground with his steel boots. Not only did this make Luigi moan in pain, but it angered Mario.
Mario: NO ONE ever does that to my bro!
Mario clenched his hammer in anger and jumped toward Knightmare. Before the dark warrior could even attack Luigi's older brother, Mario managed to bash him in the head before him and caused him to become dazed.
"Nice work, Mario! I wanna join in there too!" Chopper rushed toward Knightmare and slashed him with his sword. When Knightmare regained conscience, he began to block some of Chopper's jabs.
"Hmmmmmm… When I look at you… I can't help but feel that there's a strange connection between us…" Knightmare trailed as he looked straight into Chopper's black eyes.
"Really? I don't think so!" Chopper kicked Knightmare and struck him with a Sword Beam. "Whew! It feels good to use that attack!"
"Hmph… So you have that attack as well. I'm not too surprised." Knightmare mumbled as he flew up into the air once again. When he swooped down toward Kirby, the pink puffball was able to jump and spin his sword around vertically to get him down to the ground.
"Grrrrr! You annoying little…!" Knightmare knocked Kirby away while he was up in the air with a swoop attack. He began to glide toward Chopper and knock him back with his own foot.
"Hey, what ever happened to playing fair?!" Chopper exclaimed.
"I can use my foot to knock you back if I want to," Knightmare fluttered in the air with his wings and brought his sword down in front of Chopper. Even though he managed to dodge the attack, he got jabbed a couple of times by Knightmare's silver sword and even got left with some bad wounds.
"Whoa, man… You should stop trying your hardest to fight…" Sonic suggested.
"You're just hurting yourself," Blade added.
"If you keep fighting like this, there's a chance that you might lose the fight…or you might possibly…"
"No, Tippi! Don't think about that!" Chopper denied, shaking his head. "Look, I know what we can do." he pulled an Ultra Shroom Shake out and drank from it to recover 50 HP. He drank the WHOLE thing and threw the can at Knightmare's mask.
"…And, of course, that did absolutely nothing."
Knightmare was about to strike Chopper again, but Kirby floated up in the air and dropped down on Knightmare and brought his sword down on him to leave him dazed for a couple of seconds. This was when Blade slashed him with a fire slash. Chopper actually struck him with a fire slash as well, since he does have the ability to use fire.
"Fire? Hmph… Well that's something new. No matter…" Knightmare saw Chopper jump into the air and spin his sword vertically, but one jab from above was able to make him drop to the ground.
"Hey, don't think you're going off easy with us not fighting much!" Sonic curled up in a ball again and bashed Knightmare's mask with a Spin Dash. When the warrior got up, he was knocked away by an explosion from Hommissile and slashed a couple of times with Blade's katana.
"Unnnghh… What the…" Knightmare quickly shook his head and got up, only to get struck by Mario's hammer. Knightmare knocked Mario away and glided toward Sonic and Blade to strike both of them. Afterward, he flew up and landed to the left of the room to store power in his sword.
"I think now's the perfect time to unleashed my powerful attack," he suggested as a dark aura surrounded Knightmare's sword. Everyone gulped, but Chopper got everyone into 3-D right before they could get stuck in the Nightmare Tornado.
"What?! Where are they?!"
"Poyo! (Over here!)" when they flipped back into 2-D, Kirby slashed Knightmare with his sword and recoiled when he was about to get struck by Knightmare's sword. "Poyo… (He is pretty fast when it comes to attacking…)"
"Well just leave this part to me!" Chopper smirked as an icy aura surrounded his sword. "I have an idea that just might work!"
"Chopper… You better not be doing what I think you're doing…" Blumiere sighed.
"I think this is going to work, so settle down, Count Bleck," Chopper noticed that Knightmare was flying around the room like a bat. Unfortunately, he wasn't going to get him while he was up in the air.
"Luigi! We need your help again!"
"What?! No way! I don't want to get caught in any more traps!" Luigi cried.
"It's for the greater good!" Sonic shouted. "You wanna help us get rid of this guy, then you're going to have to get him out of the sky!"
"Oh, I don't think so!" Knightmare swooped down to Luigi and grabbed a hold of him. "If you plan on trying to throw me down to the ground, you're going to have to get past your little friend!"
"H-Hey! Lemme go!" Luigi cried, struggling to break free. "Why do all the bad thing have to happen to me?! I never did anything wrong!"
"Geez… You never acted like this before, Luigi…" Chopper groaned. "You didn't seem as cowardly as those other times I've met you."
Mario: That's because he wasn't running into any bad guys…
"Well, then Kirby… You might need to try to do something to get him down…"
"Poyo? (What do you mean?)" Kirby gawked.
"Well, since you're the only one in the group that can float around, you might be able to get Knightmare to let go of Luigi."
Mario: Wait, he might get hurt!
"You can always help him out, Mario," Chopper mentioned. "I mean, he IS your brother…"
"Or better yet, I can do this!" Sonic performed a Whirlwind attack that Knightmare ended up getting caught in. Because of the intense wind, he ended up letting go of Luigi and also came crashed into the ground.
"WAAAAH! HELP ME!" Luigi cried before getting caught by Mario. Unfortunately, they got separated when Knightmare got back up and struck both Mario and Chopper with his Nightmare Drill.
"Poyo… (Oh, you're going to get it now…)" Kirby grumbled as he ran toward Knightmare and slashed right at him. The warrior noticed Kirby and tried to block his attacks.
Chopper slowly got himself back up and noticed that his sword still had an ice aura around it. He made a dash toward Knightmare and struck him with an ice slash, making Knightmare instantly freeze right in front of Kirby.
"There ya go. He's frozen!"
Mario: I guess I can deal some damage now.
While Knightmare was frozen, Mario jumped on top of him and performed a Ground Pound that not only made Knightmare dazed, but it also allowed Kirby to jab at him a couple of times.
"An ice slash, huh? Not bad…" Knightmare turned to Chopper and tried to attack him once again. Chopper raised his sword up and tried to defend himself, but since Knightmare was attacking rather fast, he didn't know if he could hold himself for any longer.
"Man! Not even I am fast with this kind of sword skill!" Chopper cried.
"Poyo! (Same goes here!)" Kirby agreed.
"Hold on, guys! I'll try to help!" Sonic curled up in a ball to charge up a Light Speed Dash. When he was ready, he took off and struck Knightmare a couple of times until he looked all battered up.
"Guh… You fools haven't finished me just yet!" Knightmare created another tornado that he spun around in and sent everyone flying back. At this point, the heroes look pretty exhausted from fighting this guy too.
"Wow… I guess you were right when you said you weren't going to let us win…" Chopper wheezed.
"I suggest you give up then! You're most likely going to lose this fight…"
"Poyo! (Well I'm not giving up!)" Kirby ran toward Knightmare with his sword ready and clashed with the warrior.
"Hold on, Kirby! I'm coming!" Chopper was about to help, but Kirby kicked Chopper away with his foot. "Hey! Why'd you do that?!"
"Poyo, (I'm settling this with him,)" he responded as he tried to push Knightmare away.
"Hmmmmmmm… I feel as if I…know you from somewhere as well… But the question is… Where?" Knightmare questioned.
"Poyo! (It doesn't matter if you know me from somewhere or not! You're trying to stop us, and now I'm going to end it!)"
Kirby managed to successfully push Knightmare back and deliver one last blow with his sword. Knightmare was knocked to the ground with his mask broken in half. The rest of the heroes walked up to the warrior, whose face was now revealed.
"Ugh…" he slowly got up and gave one last glare at the group before teleporting out of the room with his cape.
"Don't think this is the end, heroes… I will be back!" Knightmare's voice echoed through the room for about three seconds and then it was gone.
"I can't believe it… It's finally over…" Sonic sighed in relief as Chopper and Kirby removed their Sword abilities. Kirby was able to free Squirps from his cage as Mario walked up to the dazed Luigi.
Mario: Luigi!
"Mario!" Luigi cried as both brothers gave each other a heartwarming hug. Tears began to rain from Luigi's eyes and create a rather large puddle right next to him.
"I really missed you guys! I've been looking for you forever!" Luigi wiped the tears off his face as he and Mario let go of each other. "I can't believe you left me back at the winter world… I thought I would never find you guys…"
Everyone gasped in horror. "You...were in the Christmas World this whole time before we even found you?" Blade gaped.
"Y-Yeah… And after you guys passed by me, I was caught by Tipral and one of his minions! And then… Oh, man, I can't remember what happened. But I then found myself in a world like this right in front of Tipral before coming here!"
"So does this mean that this whole time… Luigi was…Mr. L?" Sonic gaped.
"Mr. L? What are you talking about?"
"Ugh…" Chopper groaned as he smacked his forehead. "I can't believe we forgot about you, Luigi… We're really sorry for leaving you there. If we found you, we could've saved you!"
Mario: But he's all right!
As they all spoke, Squirps spoke up. "Ahem… Privates…or should I say lieutenants! You've done an excellent job, squirple! Squirps is so happy that those nightmares were finally rid of!"
"So, what were those nightmares, really?" Blade asked.
"Squirps found out that some strange, mysterious ghosts were causing mischief here, but when you lieutenants came here, those nightmares were gone! Squirps must thank you for this! …Maybe with a hug!"
"Uhh… How about the Pure Heart?" Chopper sweat dropped, having enough hugs for this adventure already.
"Squoh? Well that works too, I guess…"
When Luigi pulled the dark orange Pure Heart out, Timpani realized something. "Wait… Merleee said something about there being six heroes to defeat the true power of the Chaos Heart… Does this mean that Luigi is our sixth hero?"
Mario: I think so!
"I agree. But, what's more important is that we're finally back together!" Chopper smiled.
"Poyo! (Oh, yeah! Everyone from the party is back here! I just realized that!)" Kirby smiled.
"Wait, what about Bang and Night?" Blade recalled. "…Oh, yeah. They ran out the castle before getting sucked into that portal by Tipral."
"Well, Chopper… How about you take this Pure Heart?" Luigi suggested as he held up to Chopper. "You and my bro managed to save me from that dark warrior! Plus, I'll even tag along with you, if that's what you'd like."
"Yeah! Take the Pure Heart, squirp! You lieutenants deserve it, squinkles!" Squirps nodded.
"Well… I guess I should take it. Thanks, Luigi!" As Luigi tossed the Pure Heart to him, all of the Pixls began to perform their little dance. As soon as they finished, Chopper held the Pure Heart up.
"I can't believe we're finally back together!" he smiled.
"…But I still don't know where Bang and Night are…" Blade trailed.
"Well… Those two really aren't important to this story! And…uh… I'm not sure if anyone really wants to know where they are!"
"Yeah, you're right, I suppose."
YOU GOT A PURE HEART
END OF CHAPTER
"Now that Squirps's nightmares are finally gone, Squirps can finally return back to the Whoa Zone and stay with Mommy!" And with that, Squirps gave his good-byes to his six friends as he flew off into Outer Space with his space ship. With Luigi agreeing to help Chopper and Co., the five heroes have now become six! Everyone seemed to be in a happy mood as they were finally reunited. "We should tell Merlon the news about this," suggested Timpani as the group headed back to the black tower of Flopside. Although one thing that bugged Chopper… Who was this Knightmare, and what kind of connection did he have with him?
There was originally going to be a fight with King Boo in this chapter, but I wanted to keep the whole idea of having a boss of the even numbered chapters me one of Tipral or his minions, since that was what it was like in Super Paper Mario (though it was kind of switched around for Chapters 9 and 10). So, that's where Knightmare came into the picture!
Anyway... It looks like we're going to be going into an interlude next chapter! ...And maybe we'll get to see some of Luigi's new abilities now that he's joining and hopefully meet some friends back in a previous story!