Grodus had been staying in Clara's jungle after he had finished his business with a certain Gizoid. While he had not made much contact with Lord Crump and the X-Nauts on the Crystal Stars when he first showed up, now was a good time to do so. Unfortunately, getting in contact did not seem to be working too well.
"Lord Crump! Lord Crump! I demand that you answer me at this minute!" Grodus exclaimed, trying to get Lord Crump to respond. Unfortunately, the signal was lost, much to his dismay. "Great… This is just great. The signal is lost. What ever happened might've cost my army. It looks like I have to find that Crystal Star on my own thanks to Lord Crump's idiocy. This is getting frustrating."
As Grodus traveled through the jungle, he had taken a look at how large the trees and plants were. Heck, even some of the grass was much bigger! He found this interesting, but he chose not to study it for obvious reasons. However, what caught his interest was the large mountain that appeared to be blocking the way. When he got closer, he felt it get a little hotter.
"Hmmmm... Perhaps this leads to a much hotter area..." Grodus deduced. "Perhaps...the Crystal Star is past this mountain? Hmmm... I can simply teleport past here to get the star... But I'll wait on that."
He decided to step away from it for now, but there was something else that caught Grodus's attention. There was a large mushroom resembling a house, complete with windows and a door. He approached the mailbox and noticed Chopper's name on it.
"So, this is the place where Chopper lives? How interesting..." Grodus also took notice of the two gravestones beside the house. He approached it and noticed the name "Mommy" and "Daddy" written on it with a sharpy. This had caught him slightly off guard. "Now this is surprising... This must be the grave of this boy's parents... Perhaps I should pay some respect for them."
He swung his scepter, and a lightning spell had struck both gravestones, splitting them in half.
"Yes... That should do nicely." Grodus stepped away from the destroyed gravestones and went over to the door. To his surprise, it was unlocked. "Looks like someone doesn't know when to lock their own doors."
He walked into the house to find a couple of sleeping bags. There was also a red sofa to the right. Grodus also noticed a picture on the table with Chopper and Flyer. There was even one that had him and a couple of other friends that he didn't recognize.
"This is not a bad-looking house," Grodus admitted. "But, after what he's done to my bases, it's fitting for me to return the favor."
Grodus charged up energy from his scepter and zapped the table, splitting it in half. He also left the sofa completely damaged, and the kitchen was nearly ruined as well.
"I see you are enjoying your moment of revenge, Grodus..."
Grodus turned around and spotted Beldam with her arms crossed. The X-Naut leader gave him a glare, while she still gave him that sinister grin.
"Well, if it isn't Beldam... I haven't seen you in quite a while..." Grodus trailed, approaching the Shadow Siren. "You know, Beldam, I've always wanted to obliterate you for trying to lure me into getting myself obliterated by the Shadow Queen... However, I've got more important business to take care of, such as finding the Crystal Star and then detonating this planet!"
"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! It is such a pleasure to meet you as well, Grodus!" Beldam cackled. "But I must warn you... Getting that Crystal Star will not be so easy, as you have very limited time."
"What do you mean?"
"Have you ever looked up at the sky lately? Darkness is slowly approaching the lands on this planet. There will be no light to be seen here, and it is very dangerous to people who are not dark beings."
"I do not see any darkness in the sky. What are you implying?"
"There may not be much here, but where your minions are is a different story..."
"So that explains why I noticed a dark sky through the window while contacting Lord Crump..." Grodus trailed. "However, that isn't going to stop me from getting what I want."
"Do as you want, Grodus! I will not stop you!" Beldam assured.
"Well, we'll see if you live when I'm done with this planet. I have come up with a plan that will ensure that I will not only get that Crystal Star, but the ones Chopper has as well."
"So, you do not wish for my help in getting that star?"
"Don't even bother," Tipral suggested, tekeporting into the house. "I highly doubt he'll even want your help."
"Tipral… It's been a while since I've seen you." Grodus remarked, giving him a glare. "But, you are right about one thing. I do not need this witch's help. It could help me get a star, but I require them all! This is why I have my own plan set up. Especially with my Nuclear Fusion Core..."
"Nuclear Fusion Core? What is that?"
"You can figure out if you wish to watch me confront Chopper. Otherwise, I'm not going to spill the beans."
"That's fine. I don't care that much." Tipral stated, walking out of the house. "In the meantime, I have somewhere else to go."
"Somewhere else? Where are you heading?" Beldam asked.
"It's none of your concern."
Before Beldam could say another word, Tipral teleported out of the vicinity. She sighed and sank into the shadows afterward, leaving Grodus to grin while walking back to the mountain.
"Excellent! Now I just have to head to the Crystal Star, and when Chopper shows up, I will finally have my way!"
Cackling, he cast another teleportation spell and went past the mountain. As he traveled through the trail, he noticed another continent up ahead, only it appeared much hotter and a bit redder.
Mountains-
When the heroes had appeared, they noticed their surroundings contained mountains made of brown rock. These mountains happened to be pretty close to the clouds above as well.
"Hey… These are the mountains! This place was pretty interesting back then. It looks cool from midair!" Chopper smiled as he looked at the view, but then he stopped for a moment. "Wait a minute..."
Everyone else looked down, and before they knew it, they all started to fall. Thankfully, the landing was not too rough, and it hadn't lasted very long. However, Chopper noticed where they stood, there appeared to be some bear traps lying around.
"Hey... I remember these!"
"Wait... What are bear traps doing here?" Bombette asked.
"Bear trap? What bear trap?" Bang questioned as he got up. When he took a step, he suddenly found himself wincing. "What...did I just step into?"
"Well, it looks like you just stepped into the trap," Blade said, noticing Bang's leg caught in it. "I'd help you, but I don't have the skills for that. Night would make things worse."
"I'll take care of the trap if it makes you feel any better, Bang," Chopper changed to his Thief ability and managed to disable the trap. When Bang got out, he sighed in relief. Thankfully, his armor wasn't too damaged.
"I hope we see some kung fu or ninja stuff here," Scrub hoped.
"Well, I've seen some of that stuff here, but I don't see any here right now..."
"Maybe we'll find that stuff eventually?" Berry shrugged.
"Who cares? I just wanna go." Tamber said, walking on ahead to find a large boulder blocking the path in between two mountains. "Well, I guess I finally get a chance to do something!"
Tamber picked up the large boulder and threw it off the cliff proudly. "Just so you know, you should try to avoid falling."
Chopper walked over to the pathway between two mountains, feeling the shade over him. The others followed him through too, knowing that they were at least safe from falling. There weren't any enemies they encountered, but they were surprised by the lack of X-Nauts around.
"I'm guessing those remaining X-Nauts were in the snow area..." Vivian trailed. "It feels so sad that they had to be caught in that darkness."
"Yeah, I have to agree. I feel pity for those X-Nauts." Sonic said. "Sure, they're the bad guys, but doesn't mean they deserve to suffer.
"I think what's important is that we're safe," Night said. "We wouldn't want to be caught dead in that darkness - or deader, in my case."
"Is being deader even possible?" Bombette asked. Night could only give her a shrug. "Well, it's no big deal. Chopper, there are plenty of rocks around here that I can blow up. Let me know if you see anything."
"Ummm... I think we have a bigger problem." Chopper pointed to two Dark Creatures that were at a dead end. They appeared to be inspecting it.
"Are you sure that we should be here?" the first Dark Soldier asked. "It's not likely the star will be around here..."
"Well, this is better than the other areas that are covered in darkness," the second Dark Soldier replied, placing a bomb on the wall. "OK, take cover if you want to live!"
They both took cover behind two rocks as the wall exploded, revealing a cave. When they took a look at it, the first soldier grinned.
"A secret cave? Neat! I wonder where it leads to…" the soldier quickly ran into the cave, with its comrade following behind.
"We better follow those guys," Chopper suggested as he quietly followed the Dark Creatures into the cave. He and his friends saw a small pond and a ladder that led up to another area of the cave.
"Hmmmmm… I don't like it here. I say we turn back." the first Dark Creature suggested. This did not sound good to the heroes, as they were easily visible to them. Chopper's gasp had made the two Dark Creature's turn around, but Shadower thankfully made them all disappear.
"Say, Pete… Did you hear something?"
"No… Why are you asking me?"
"'Cause I thought I heard someone gasp for a minute. I wonder if it was...that marshmallow man?"
"Marshmallow man?"
"Yeah. I always wanted to shoot him and see if he explodes into marshmallows."
"That again?" the second Dark Soldier groaned. "You seriously need to stop thinking of those things. What's next? A clown that can juggle a giant plumber while balancing on a ball?"
"Errr..."
"Let's just get out of here."
The Dark Creatures made their exit, allowing the group to become visible once they were gone.
"Whew… That was a close one." Chopper sighed.
"Poyo! (Well, at least we found a ladder!)" Kirby skipped over to the ladder in joy and turned to everyone else. "Poyo! (Come on! Let's move!"
"Well, what's the harm?" Chopper shrugged before he grabbed onto the ladder and started climbing up with his friends. They found out that it led outside. They were up on the top of one mountain, but up ahead they could see another trail going to another.
"Geez... I feel like we're going to need to go from mountain to mountain! What a pain!" Scrub complained. While he did that, Chopper took a few steps forward and looked at the sky.
"What's wrong Chopper?" Vivian asked, floating over to him.
"I thought I saw something over there..." Chopper trailed, spotting something on the mountain ahead. "I'm going to go take a look."
The pale green hero immediately took off, and running around the spiral passageway on the mountain to the top.
As Vivian watched Chopper take off, she sighed. "Chopper may not be the bravest one out there, but at least he's very nice and caring... Especially considering what happened at Viti..."
"Well, I guess we better go follow him," Sonic suggested, getting ready to take off. "I'll race the rest of you guys up there!"
Before anyone could answer, he was already off.
"Well I'm not going to leave Choppy without me by his side," Berry declared, running off. Eventually the rest began to follow up the mountain.
"Great! This is going to be so fun!" Bang groaned. "Hiking... Yeah, I sure love hiking!"
"Bang, I'm ready to put duct tape on your mouth if you don't shut up," Blade warned.
Bang instantly remained silent throughout the rest of the climb.
Top of the mountain-
When Chopper had finally reached the top of the mountain, he spotted a familiar figure in a red cloak looking at the view surrounding him. He was unsure whether to approach him or not, but the figure had already turned to face him.
"So, Fawful's enemy has the arriving? Fawful welcomes you!" Fawful greeted.
Chopper's mouth instantly dropped. "Wait... What are YOU doing here?!"
"Fawful doesn't need to give you answers! All will have the answering when I take over this world!"
"Take over this world? Well, that is if this place isn't covered in darkness..."
At that point, everyone had reached the top of the mountain and were met with the same surprise as Chopper.
Mario: Wait, Fawful?
"What's this freak doing here?" Bombette asked.
"He wants to take over this world..." Chopper trailed.
"Yes, the taking of this world is what Fawful desires! However, for taking over this world, I am requiring of taking you all out! Then Fawful shall cheer like happy bears with honey!"
"Yeesh! Can he speak normally for once?" Scrub groaned.
"I need no long speech before this battle, which will now be mighty as raining salad dressing over my land!" Fawful declared, drawing his blaster and pointing it at them. "Snack on my wrath, fink-rats!"
Tattle: That's Fawful, the green bean. Oh, boy… This weirdo again. How many times are we going to encounter this freak? Max HP is 330, Attack is 16, and Defense is 1. Just like before, he'll attack you with that blaster and also his laser sword. I think he might have something else up his sleeves, though... It's just a weird gut feeling… Honestly, what more can I say about him? You faced this guy, like, three times before! This shouldn't be anything new!
"All right, if it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get!" Chopper changed to his Suplex ability and charged straight at Fawful by grabbing him. He then slammed Fawful onto the rocky ground taking 9 out of him. Scrub struck him with his Mega Egg afterward.
Fawful grinned as he swung his laser sword at Scrub, since he was the one closest to him. The punk Yoshi cringed, being pushed back in the process.
"Don't worry, I'm all right," Scrub assured, stepping back to allow Chopper to hit Fawful with a diving kick, knocking him back.
"Fawful is having the beating!" Fawful squealed, pulling himself together. He aimed his blaster at Chopper, only to get hit by Sonic's Spin Dash. However, that did not stop him from shooting Sonic. "Fawful laughs at your blue face!"
"I'd say you have the more laughable face," Sonic mocked.
"What a nutty guy," Blade remarked.
"Fawful has no need for nuttiness," Fawful said.
"Geez... You're worse than that Kojo Pete guy!" Chopper sighed, hitting Fawful with a slide kick. This managed to knock him near the cliff's edge.
"I have falling! …Not!" Fawful moved back into the battle and jumped toward Vivian. Unfortunately for him, her fist had ended up hitting him instead, leaving him with a burn. "OUCH! HOTNESS! My fury has declined!"
"You'll be declining soon," Tamber scoffed.
Fawful pulled out his Headgear and lifted himself off the ground. Using its abilities, his Vacuum Helmet started to suck Chopper in like a vacuum. He was caught in it, and he struggled to escape, but to no avail.
"Nyeah heh heh heh! Now you are sucked in a pile of gravy with unhealthy snacks that can fatten you up!" Fawful pressed a button on his Vacuum Helmet, and it spat Chopper out at Tamber, dealing 16 damage to both of them.
"Get this gumball off me!" Tamber yelled, pushing Chopper off him. The boy landed face-first, but he was quick to get up and jump on Fawful, making him land on the ground. Bombette exploded in front of him next, but at the cost of getting shot.
"All right! I'm using a Bob-omb Blast on this freak!" Bombette declared, lighting her fuse up again and creating a bigger explosion, taking 11 out of Fawful.
"But... We didn't need to use something like that..." Chopper trailed.
"She sure is hot-headed," Bang remarked.
"Well, anyway, back to beating up Fawful," Chopper charged at Fawful and grabbed him. He immediately punched him in the face to deal 9 damage. Fawful shot him with a green projectile from his Vacuum Helmet afterward.
"Looks like I'm up," Shadower declared as he lowered Fawful's defense with a Shadow Punch. Fawful was going to strike again, but Chopper managed to land a kick on him. This had left him with 216 HP.
"Fink-rats!" Fawful's Vacuum Helmet fired a green energy orb at Chopper. It managed to hit him and knock him back to the group. Thankfully, they were able to help him get himself back together.
"Time to show him how much stronger we've gotten," Chopper smirked, leaping up to great heights and stomping on Fawful with a Gravity Jump, taking 30 out of him. Tamber had struck Fawful with his Power Punch to deal 14 damage before Fawful managed to shoot him.
"Dang it! I'm going to get you for that!" Tamber charged straight at Fawful, but Chopper pulled him back.
"Why not let someone else get a shot at him?" Chopper suggested.
"Heck no!"
Groaning, Chopper grabbed Fawful and threw him onto the ground. The force of the attack had caused the ground to become a little cracked.
"I have injuries…" wheezed Fawful while he stood up, giving them that same, creepy smile. Tamber started to crack his knuckles while grinning, and he prepared to punch Fawful. However, Berry ended up beating him to it by throwing her hammer and bringing him to 153 HP.
"Argh! I was going to do that!" Tamber raged, stomping the ground like a child.
"Like Choppy said, let people get a turn to attack," Berry argued, picking her hammer up. Unfortunately, this gave Fawful the opportunity to fired a pink blast at her from his Vacuum Helmet. This knocked her near the edge of the cliff, but Chopper grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
Blushing, Berry leaned forward to kiss him for an award, but Chopper had gotten back to the fight and hit Fawful with his hammer. As per usual, she got irritated.
"Rejected," Bang said, making her give him a glare.
Meanwhile, Kirby had successfully knocked Fawful off the mountain thanks to his Cartwheel, finishing him once and for all.
"Poyo! (Yes! He's done for!)" Kirby cheered.
"I HAVE FURY!"
Unsurprisingly, Fawful was not finished yet. His Vacuum Helmet helped him return to the fight, and he fired a pink orb of energy at Kirby.
"Yeesh... He's pretty desperate in beating us." Sonic remarked.
"Fawful is not finished just yet," Fawful said, landing on the ground. "For I must get ready to rain fury on you fink-rats and your precious salads."
To shut him up, Chopper leaped in the air and hit him with a Gravity Jump, and then Mario used his Super Jump, leaving him with 105 HP.
"Well, we're not doing a bad job against him," Chopper mentioned. "We can beat him!"
Just then, he got hit by Fawful's laser sword, resulting him in getting annoyed and throwing his hammer to pierce through his defense. Berry brought her Ruby Hammer down on Fawful afterward. In retaliation, he struck her with his laser sword.
Berry was knocked back again, but thankfully not off the cliff's edge like before. Chopper proceeded to grab Fawful and slam his head on the rocky floor, making one of his glasses slightly crack. He got up, not appearing to be too bothered by the damage. Sonic decided to take this opportunity to hit him with a Spin Dash.
"Now Fawful has cleaning! And you will be the mud that is washed away!" Fawful yelled, spinning himself and firing all over the place. One shot had managed to hit Chopper and knock away his Suplex ability.
"Dang it... Oh well. He only has 68 HP anyway." Chopper gripped his hammer and brought it down on Fawful's head. After Shadower hit him with a Shadow Punch, Fawful sucked him into his Vacuum Helmet and spat him at Chopper. To his luck, he was able to guard it.
"Are you all right, Chopper?" Shadower asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"
"I'm good as well."
"Good! Now then..." Chopper jumped over to Fawful and hit him with a Gravity Jump. Tamber punched the green guy and left him with 26 HP. "We're almost there!"
"Fink-rats! Fawful isn't done yet!" Fawful cackled as he swung at Chopper with his laser sword, but was then whacked in the face by Chopper's hammer. Vivian punched him with her fiery fists afterward.
While Fawful was left scorching, he immediately charged into Vivian and knocked her back slightly. However, before he could make his move on Chopper, he collapsed by Mario's hammer.
Mario: That takes care of him.
"Well, you sure saved my butt, Mario!" Chopper smiled, upgrading his BP to 87 after his level up. Turning back to Fawful, stars now began to circle his head.
"I…have…fury…" Fawful moaned.
"So... Do we just leave him here?" Berry asked.
"Well, what else can we do?" Shadower shrugged.
"Then... I guess we should keep going?" Chopper decided, walking over to the trail past Fawful. "This way, guys!"
Everyone quickly followed, but they were forced to take it a little slow, considering that the rocky path was very narrow. In fact, Kirby had almost fallen, but Night noticed this and saved him at the last moment.
"Poyo, (I didn't need your help, you know,)" Kirby noted.
"I...don't know what you just said, but I suppose you're welcome," Night shrugged, helping Kirby get back on the pathway. The pink puffball proceeded to return to the others. In the meantime, Blade was not having the easiest time either.
"Man, why does this area have to be so narrow?" Blade complained. "I never liked narrow walkways, especially at such heights..."
"Oh, put a sock in it, Blade," Bang said irritably.
"Someone once told me that, but where do people tell me to put the sock?" Chopper asked.
"Let's just forget about this whole conversation," Night suggested.
Coincidentally, this conversation had brought them to the end of the pathway. Now they were standing in front of a bigger mountain. Unlike the other, it was much bigger in size.
"Geez! I wonder how long it took to create this mountain..." Blade wondered.
"Maybe Flyer would know about it... If he were here..." Chopper sighed.
"He's probably come up with something... So, Contadre… Is there any fighting grounds around here?" Scrub asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
"Well, there were some ninjas and kung fu guys around this place. I remember some areas being filled with a few gardens as well. Though, I don't think there are any around here."
"What? Seriously? C'mon! We need to find at least some!"
"I don't know about that right now... Especially since we have some other things we need to take care of first..." Chopper trailed. Suddenly, the sound of ships caught everyone's attention, and by looking up, they spotted Dark Ships flying into the clouds above them. "Wait... Are those Dark Creatures going where I think they're going?"
"What do you mean?" Bombette asked.
"I think they're up in the clouds... Meaning that their leader could be up there as well."
"That means we're getting close to Dark," Blade deduced. "If he finds us, we'll be ready to stop him!"
"I'm ready to stop him," Chopper declared, punching his open hand. "If he's at the top of this mountain, then I wouldn't be surprised!"
But before they could go up the mountain, Chopper found another cave entrance in front of them. It was dark, having a small puddle water in the corner and many stalactites on the ceiling. The cave was pretty small too, having only a Save Block and Heart Block. No hidden blocks were in here either, according to Shadower.
Regardless of that, Chopper struck both blocks, and they headed back outside to take the spiral pathway to the top of the mountain.
"Geez... This is going to be so much fun..." Tamber groaned.
"Instead of complaining, why don't you be patient," Berry suggested.
"Nope."
"Well, then you're most likely going to be thrown off this cliff if you keep it up, kind of like a certain dog..." Blade trailed, eyeing the complaining dog.
"Ugh! Hiking stinks!" Bang complained.
Mountain's peak-
Despite the complaints from Bang, no one had bothered to throw either him or Tamber off the mountain and decided to deal with it. Thankfully, it had only taken them two minutes to reach the peak, and getting there, they saw it was flat instead of pointy. Looking up, the clouds were even closer than before.
"Whoa... Look at those clouds." Scrub gaped. "We're pretty high up!"
"Yeah... At this point, we shouldn't fall." Bombette suggested.
"This height's got nothing on what I had to go through," Sonic mentioned. "So I think we'll be fine! It's that Dark guy we should be worrying about."
However, instead of Dark and his troops being on the peak, there was only one figure, and he was facing away from them.
"I've been waiting for you, Chopper," Tipral stated, turning to face the group. They all immediately got in fighting stances.
"Tipral? What the heck are YOU doing here?!" Chopper asked.
"This dude looks just like Chopper!" Blade gaped.
"I guess he's got a copy?" Night gawked.
"This guy looks pretty cool," Bang commented. The two looked over at him. "What? I think he does! I mean, look at him!"
"You should obviously know why I'm here," Tipral said, pointing at himself. "I'm here to stop you."
"I never expected you to be here, though..." Chopper trailed. "We don't have time for this either... We need to find a Crystal Star."
"That's not going to stop me from fighting you," Tipral said, looking at the group. He noticed one in particular was missing. "I see your wing-headed friend isn't with you. How unfortunate... Did you two get in a little fight?"
"I...honestly don't know... There was something up with him, and he left. ...Wait, why are you asking me this?"
"Hmmmm... Well, perhaps I do know a thing or two about him..."
"What? You do?" Chopper quickly ran up to him with a glare. "What did you do to him?!"
Tipral had thrown a punch at him, making him stagger back and be left with a small, red bruise on his face.
"I didn't do anything to your friend!" Tipral hissed. "In fact, I couldn't care less about him! However, I think I have an idea of someone who can help you find him and get to the Crystal Star."
"Then tell us," Chopper suggested, rubbing his cheek.
"I'll tell you if you manage to beat me, or else you're not getting anything from me."
"...Fine. I guess we don't have much of a choice. But why are you helping us?"
"I'm not doing this to help you. I'm only doing what I think will work better for me." Tipral said, crossing his arms.
"For you? What do you-" Chopper quickly moved away when he found a Star Spear coming his way. It had managed to leave a big mark on the ground. "Hey! I wasn't done speaking!"
"I don't care whether you're speaking or not. Defeating you is what I intend to do!" Tipral snapped his finger, and a purple force field surrounded the area. "That should keep you all from fleeing... And it shall help me put an end to you all!"
Tattle: That's Tipral, the one who resembles you. I still don't get how that's the case... Max HP is 360, Attack is 17, and Defense is 0. Most of his abilities come from his Star powers, such as his Star Spear. His Star Blast is what you want to be careful of the most, as usual... He can shape-shift as well, but it's something that he doesn't bother to use too much...
"All right, let's get started!" Chopper rushed toward Tipral and stomped on his head. Scrub followed up with a Ground Pound, taking 10 out of him as well.
"You know, with such a laughable defense, maybe this won't be so bad," Sonic remarked.
Tipral snapped his finger, and Chopper and Scrub were both struck by an explosion of magic in between them. Some of them, particularly Tamber, Blade, Bang, and Night, were surprised by this move.
"Did he just create an explosion with a snap of his finger?" Blade gawked.
"I wish I could do that..." Bang mumbled.
Chopper quickly shook the attack aside and brought his hammer down on Tipral. He attempted to attack him, but Chopper dodged the attack, allowing Berry to hit him with her own hammer.
"I can tell you've gotten a little stronger..." Tipral remarked, swinging his arm and firing a Star Spear at Berry. She was knocked back by the explosion, appearing a little exhausted.
"Well of course we did," Chopper replied.
"Still, don't think that's going to save you!"
Chopper merely ignored him and jumped on him. He quickly jumped away before Tipral could punch him, giving Sonic the opportunity to strike him with a Spin Dash.
"Perhaps I should also inform you about Dark Doom and his Dark Creatures..." Tipral trailed. "Apparently they have showed up on this planet as well."
"Yeah, we know about that," Bombette replied. "We saw their ships."
"You got a clue where they could be, shadow freak?" Sonic asked.
Upon hearing the name "shadow freak", Tipral's eyes glinted with rage, and he quickly teleported in front of Sonic and delivered a Star Punch that knocked him onto the floor. He teleported away from them as Sonic slowly got up, rubbing his head in pain.
"Yeesh... What's this guy's problem? Sure, I make my enemies mad, but they don't go punching me in response!"
"Well, Tipral is evil. ...And also a jerk." Chopper pointed out. "And like all bad guys, they have to be taken down!"
Despite the cheesiness in his words, Chopper turned back to Tipral and jumped on him, performing a stylish move in the process.
"Poyo! (I'm next!)" Kirby got in a cartwheel and he knocked Tipral back with said attack. In response, Tipral created a shadow ball and threw at Kirby, taking 17 out of him. With Chopper's hammer and Mario's jump, he was down to 260 HP.
Mario: We've got this!
Unfortunately, Tipral grabbed Mario and he teleported in front of Chopper. He was merciless in his attack, swinging the plumber at Chopper twice. Both of them ended up losing 19 HP in the process.
"Ow! Geez... What was that all about?" Chopper mumbled, getting Mario off him as Tipral let go of him. He proceeded to jump on his counterpart's head. Seeing no one else make a move, Shadower shrugged and hit Tipral with a Shadow Punch. Luckily, he managed to guard Tipral's Star Spear when he saw it coming his way.
"Whew… Thanks goodness I guarded that…" Shadower sighed.
Chopper performed a flip as he stomped on Tipral, pulling a stylish move again. Bombette was stylish in her Bomb attack, but Tipral had taken this opportunity to kick her into the barrier.
"Yeow!" Bombette cried, falling on the rocky floor.
"Are you OK, Bombette?" Vivian asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," the Bob-omb assured, standing up. "Go get him for me, all right?"
Vivian nodded and went into the shadows to approach Tipral. After hitting him with a Shade Fist, Chopper jumped on his enemy again.
"Argh... You're starting to become very annoying..." Tipral groaned, cringing from the burn. "Looks like I'm using my stronger attacks."
His eyes flashed, and time itself had become frozen. That's when Tipral began to attack with his Star Rain, which summoned star energy in the form on rain to hit them all and deal 19 damage. After his eyes flashed again, time flowed back to normal, and everyone was not feeling too good.
"I suddenly feel in pain..." Chopper wheezed. "But it didn't look like it!"
"That's what happened when I freeze time," Tipral explained. "It goes by quick, but you're suddenly in pain in a second."
To retaliate, Chopper decided to show off one of his strongest move by clenching his fists and waiting for his feet to glow yellow. Tipral watched as Chopper leaped high in the air and performed a powerful stomp on his head, managing to deal 30 damage to him. He was left in surprise, but it didn't end there. Tamber had charged at him and hit him with a Combo Punch.
"All right... I'll give you one thing, you do have some powerful moves... I didn't expect that tulip to be so strong either."
"I'm NOT a tulip!" Tamber yelled.
"Of course, my Star Blast is much more destructive than your one attack," Tipral stated, surrounding himself in a purple glow and raising his attack by 17. Chopper seemed worried at first, but when he threw an electric ball at him, he found himself surprised when he became paralyzed. "What the... I can't move!"
"Heh heh! Nice work, Contadre! Now it's my turn!" Scrub smirked, fluttering above Tipral and hitting him with a Ground Pound. Since he was still stunned, Chopper and Berry decided to hit him with their hammers. Unfortunately, that was when the paralysis wore off.
"All right, so you managed to paralyze me, but that's not stopping me from using my attack!" Tipral yelled, unleashing his Star Blast upon the group. But he was unfortunate when the attack was Superguarded. "What? It missed?!"
"Ha ha! We were lucky on that!" Chopper laughed, he and Vivian striking the dark being with a jump and a fiery fist. Tipral took his anger out on Chopper, knocking him back and being caught by Bang at the last moment.
"I've got you, Chopper," Bang assured.
"Thanks. Can you throw me back to him?"
"OK," Bang threw him toward Tipral, where he stomped on his head, which followed up with Sonic's Spin Dash, bringing him down to 60 HP.
"Urgh… No… How is this possible?" mumbled Tipral. He disappeared and reappeared in front of Chopper to use his Star Pulse attack. This had knocked everyone away from him. Chopper resorted to using a Gravity Jump, and thanks to Tamber's Combo Punch, he was down to 20 HP.
"Honestly, this guy's way too overconfident," Sonic remarked. "He thinks he can beat us, but in the end, he gets his butt kicked by us just like the other villains."
"To be fair, I'm actually doing myself a favor if I lose this fight," Tipral mentioned, firing a Star Spear at Chopper, who proceeded to guard it. Kirby had left him with 10 HP thanks to his Cartwheel.
"Poyo! (Go for it, Chopper!)" Kirby cried.
"All right, I will!" Chopper walked over to Tipral, and with one whack from his hammer, he had defeated.
"Ugh… Not bad…" Tipral moaned as he collapsed. Chopper received enough Star Points for another level up, so he upgraded his HP to 150.
"Man... I'm seriously getting a lot of level ups," Chopper remarked. "It's like every time I fight a boss or mini-boss, I level up!"
Chopper soon found Tipral groaning. Looking at him, he noticed him slowly stand up, appearing limped and exhausted.
"Good… So, you managed to defeat me once again." Tipral wheezed. "So, you want to know who you can go to to get help?"
Chopper and the others replied with a simple nod.
"If you go up to the clouds, you will most likely find a shrine. There is an old cloud person that lives in the shrine named Cloudrod. He watches over this planet. You can consider him to be this planet's 'God' in a way."
"He's a God? Well... That sounds interesting." Sonic remarked.
"Huh.. I've never heard of this guy before..." Chopper trailed. "So are you sure he can help us find both Flyer and the Crystal Stars?"
"Yes, I'm certain," Tipral assured. "He can find anything located on this planet. However, if he cannot find Flyer on this planet... Then that's your problem."
"All right... We'll go look for him. I guess that's our only option."
At that moment, a rainbow staircase had appeared from the clouds above, while sunlight had shined down on the mountain. Heavenly music could be heard as well.
"Ooh! Now THAT'S heavenly!" Bang gawked.
"Let's not waste any time," Chopper suggested, getting onto the staircase. "We have some important business to take care of!"
In no time at all, the group went higher up the staircase and into the heavens.