Back in the dark realm, Beldam, Mysterious, and Doopliss were waiting patiently. The area they stood in was very small, not having any tables or furniture. The only thing that was there was a door they were facing.
Just then, they saw the door open, and out came Marilyn and Purple. Along with them was another figure.
"I suppose he's here now," Doopliss stated, noticing Flyer to be the other figure. However, he appeared much different than before. He was wearing a gray cloak that wrapped around his body, and his yellow, healthy face looked very pale. To Doopliss, he looked pretty intimidating.
"Ah... Flyer... It's so nice to see how much you've changed." Mysterious grinned, liking the new look of Flyer. "It seems that training has worked perfectly!"
"Yes. I'm quite pleased that you have done very well. MUCH better than certain others by other side…" Beldam trailed, turning to Doopliss. She gave him the nod, and he transformed into Vivian, and then to Shadower. "Yes… Those people are definite examples of traitors."
"No worries, you two. I will remain on your side," Flyer smirked. "I have no reason to return to those pitiful fools!"
Flyer looked over at Marilyn, who took out a hat that had gray and white stripes on it. Mysterious took it from her and held it in front of the Wingel.
"Now then… Once you put on this hat, you will complete your final step to becoming one of us." Mysterious explained. "However, you must realize that everyone you've known and loved are now your enemies. You will leave them all behind and destroy them all. Do you understand?"
Hearing that made Flyer look up in surprise. "Wait... Every single one of them?"
"Yes."
Flyer looked down for a moment, remaining silent. He started to think of all the people he cared for, specifically Fumu, his parents, and even Chopper and the others.
"Well? Are you going to answer?" Mysterious asked, appearing impatient.
"Are you...sure about this?" Flyer asked.
"Those are the rules of becoming one of us," Beldam snarled. "Remember what I showed you before, Flyer! Those fools do not care about you anymore! We are here to give you what you need!"
"I don't know... I mean, there are some people who understand me..."
Frowning, Beldam revealed another image, this time with Chopper and his friends up in the clouds. They seemed to be joking around, defeating a few enemies along the way.
"Gee, I wish Flyer were here..." Chopper trailed. "He'd always take the hits for us!"
"Too bad he's not here to fix some stuff for us," Tamber said. "That's all that nerd is good for!"
"Even then, his mechanical skills are pretty bad, too!" Sonic added.
Beldam could see the anger in Flyer's eyes, and she started to grin. "Yes... See what these people are saying? You want revenge against them, right?"
"Yes..." Flyer declared. "I wish to get back at them!"
"Heh heh heh… Excellent." Mysterious smirked. "Now, then… Do you promise to obey our commands, and do you promise to use your powers only for us?"
"Yes."
"And will you forget your previous life?" Beldam asked.
"...I will."
"Then… Flyer..." Beldam started, giving him a grin. "Welcome to the Shadow Sirens!"
Up in the clouds-
After making it up the top of the rainbow stairs, the group had caught sight of the clear, blue sky. Many rainbows could be seen around, giving them all a sense of peace.
"This place is so beautiful..." Vivian commented, enjoying the view of the sky. "I think I can even the stars from here."
"Poyo! (Hey! You're right! I can see some stars too!)" Kirby squealed. "Poyo! (I think I'll like it here!)"
"Yeah, I'll admit, this place is pretty cool," Blade agreed.
"It'll be nice going through here, especially since there isn't any water!" Sonic grinned.
"Plus, I see no sign of the darkness!" Chopper added, not seeing any sign of the darkness. Everyone appeared to be relieved.
"Chopper! Chopper!"
Looking up, everyone saw a Paratroopa carrying a mailbag flying down to them. Chopper, Bombette, and Mario easily recognized him.
Mario: It's Parakarry!
"Wait, Parakarry?" Bombette gawked.
"Hey, Parakarry!" Chopper greeted as Parakarry landed in front of them, appearing exhausted. "I haven't seen you in a while!"
"Huff... Wheeze... There you are..." Parakarry panted. "You don't know how long I've been looking for you!"
"What's wrong, Parakarry?"
"Guys... You're in serious danger. And..." the Paratroopa stopped to remember. Unfortunately, it wasn't coming into his mind. "Aw, confound it! I don't remember what it was that was going after you!"
"Oh... That's not good..." Bombette trailed. "So, did you see any darkness around?"
"Yeah, I did as I was flying. Thankfully, that darkness has not reached the jungle." Parakarry explained, receiving a relieved sigh from Chopper. "Say, Chopper... Why are you still here anyway? You know about that darkness, right?"
"Yeah, we know about it... And it hasn't reached the jungle. What a relief..." Chopper sighed. "Well, we're here to collect something called a Crystal Star. We're going to see someone named Cloudrod about it."
"Interesting! ...Well, since I'm here and all, mind if I tag along for right now? I won't try to get in the way..."
"All right," Chopper nodded, not minding the postman coming with him.
"Great!" Parakarry smiled, taking a look at the group of friends Chopper had. "Hmmmmm… Well, you've definitely got an interesting group! I know at least two people here! Plus, being back here brings me back to two years ago. I wonder how everything's changed."
"I can see some ruins around here," Berry announced, noticing some ruins up ahead. She also looked down below. "And what's the land like below?"
"Well... I think we should discuss that later. For now, let's move on." Chopper walked on ahead toward the ruins. Everyone else followed him and spotted a couple of Dark Creatures searching through some of the ruins. They looked just like the Dark Soldiers back at the mountains. This time, however, there were three of them.
"Hmmmm... Well, nothing appears to be here. No sign of that star." the first Dark Soldier informed.
"Great... We spend all this time looking, and we don't find a sign of that star!" the second complained. "And it doesn't help that most of the other places are shrouded in some weird darkness!"
The third Dark Soldier, meanwhile, had decided to step away from the ruins. To its surprise, it ended up spotting Chopper and his friends nearby. The soldier quickly headed back to its comrades to inform them on the heroes.
"What? You're telling us that those guys we met at that island are here?" the first Dark Soldier asked.
"Yeah," the third soldier nodded. "I say we get 'em!"
"That's just what I was thinking," the second grinned. "Let's catch 'em!"
As the heroes looked around in the ruins, the three Dark Creatures had hid behind some of the broken walls in order to surprise them.
"So... How high are we, exactly?" Shadower asked.
"I'm not so sure..." Chopper shrugged. "I didn't pay too much attention to that. Though, I was kinda scared when I was this high for the first time..."
Before their conversation could continue, the three Dark Creatures ambushed them and started firing. Thankfully, they managed to avoid the shots on time before Night defeated one of the Dark Soldiers with his axe hammer. Sonic took care of the remaining Dark Soldiers using his Sonic Wind, and the one that had survived the attack got defeated by Mario's jump.
"Geez... That was surprising." Sonic remarked. "They just came out of nowhere!"
"Well, we better be ready for Dark when we find him," Blade suggested.
"Yeah… We might as well..." Chopper agreed, walking away from the ruins. He and the others continued their way onto the cloudy walkway, but they had stopped when they noticed a large gap between them and the cloud up ahead. Thankfully, there were a couple of bushes and trees around, only they were white.
"These bushes and trees look like as if they lost their color," Berry commented, noticing only a rainbow coming from the trees. "...Unless you count that."
"Wait... Something seems off with this tree." Shadower noticed, getting a closer look. "Is that a flap?"
A light bulb suddenly appeared over Kirby's head, and he started to inhale. The flap was revealed to be a piece of paper hiding a blue ! Switch from behind. Chopper gave it a kick, and suddenly a rainbow had appeared that went over to the next cloud.
Mario: Is it safe to walk on?
"Uh huh!" Chopper nodded, standing on the rainbow and running to the other side. Surprised, the rest crossed the rainbow and continued their way through the cloudy walkway.
Ten minutes later-
"Man, this place is a lot more boring than I thought," Bang remarked. "Where are the cool stuff?"
"I agree... There should be a lot more here." Chopper mentioned. "It wasn't like this before... Then again, we're not at that tall tower around here."
"Tower?" Vivian wondered.
"It's a long story..."
Regardless, they started to continue their walk, but for Bang, he had stopped when he felt something behind him. He turned around and faced a figure aiming his blaster at him.
"Don't move," Dark warned, keeping the gun at Bang's head. The Chihuahua didn't bother to say a thing. "You know, Bang... It's kinda funny how your name is the sound that a gun makes when fired. One could say you might be going out with a bang."
Everyone had turned around and spotted Dark holding Bang hostage. Blade drew his katana, Night had his axe hammer ready, and the others got in a fighting stance.
"So we finally found you," Blade said, giving Dark a glare. "Let my friend go this instant!"
"Make a move, and your friend is history," Dark warned.
"What? Come on!" Bang complained. "I've been through enough, thank you very much!"
"You'll be history when we're through with you, Dark," Chopper declared. "You're outnumbered!"
"Oh, really?" Grinning, Dark snapped his finger, and his army of Dark Creatures and Dark Ships had appeared behind him, looking eager to fight. Everyone stared at them wide-eyed.
"Whoa... We're dealing with something big here." Sonic commented.
"I assume you people know of where the Crystal Star is, am I correct?" Dark asked.
"What do you want with the stars?" Vivian asked.
"Isn't it obvious? They will help me rule the world, obviously! With the unlimited power granted by them, everyone will bow down to the Dark Creatures."
"Fat chance," Sonic retorted. "And besides, we haven't found the Crystal Star."
"Oh, really? Interesting... Then I guess I have another reason to destroy you all then."
"Wait, why?" Chopper asked.
"To keep you from getting what belongs to me," Dark answered. He looked over at Bang and decided to push him back to the group. "Consider yourself lucky, Bang. But don't worry, I plan to get rid of you quite soon."
"That is, if you manage to defeat us," Chopper challenged.
"Then challenge accepted!"
"Careful, guys..." Night warned. "Dark is someone you don't want to mess with. He's pretty skilled up close and from a far range.""You're talking to a group of heroes that took down two evil demons!" Scrub smirked confidently. "This guy shouldn't be a problem!"
"Is that so? Then this fight should be interesting!" Dark grinned, aiming his blaster at the group.
Tattle: That's Dark Doom. He's the leader – or king, whichever one you wanna say, of the Dark Creatures. That eye on his forehead looks so weird… Though it doesn't appear to be open. Max HP is 350, Attack is 17, and Defense is 1. He'll mostly attack you from far away, but he can also use martial arts. Also, beware of his ability to become dodgy. This guy plays smart, so you better watch out, Chopper.
"All right, so let's get started!" Chopper pulled his hammer out, and in no seconds flat, he bashed Dark's head swiftly. He scowled and attempted to fire, but Sonic was fast enough and hit him with a Spin Dash.
"You were lucky there… I could've had you at that moment... Oh, whatever." Dark pulled the trigger on his blaster and shot a purple projectile at Sonic, taking 17 out of him and knocking him back to the group. "Now, Dark Creatures! Attack them!"
The Dark Creatures immediately took action and charged. Many of the heroes were caught in the fight, leaving Chopper and Sonic to face off against Dark.
"Ah... This is just how I want things. ...Though, I'd prefer to only fight Sonic, but I guess I can't have everything."
"Yeah, you can't," Chopper replied, hitting Dark with his hammer again, with Sonic hitting him with another Spin Dash. This time, Dark targeted Chopper and grabbed a hold of Chopper's foot. Using his skills in martial arts, and easily threw him onto the cloud and took 17 out of him.
"You're much lighter than I anticipated," Dark smirked. "But I will concede that you're not as weak as I thought..."
Chopper equipped his Angel ability, and he aimed a single arrow at Dark. He fired, causing the Dark Creature leader to scream in pain. Along with that, Mario decided to step in and hit him with his hammer.
"Mario?" Chopper gawked.
Mario: Don't leave me out of this fight either!
Some of the Dark Creatures noticed Dark in pain and came over to help him. However, he stood up and gave them a signal to stand back.
"Stay out of this battle, my soldiers," Dark demanded.
"But Your Majesty, you were in-"
"I don't care. This is between me and these fools! You interfere, and I will punish you severely!"
The Dark Creatures quickly stepped away from the fight, knowing what kind of punishments he would give out. With that, Dark fired at Chopper in retaliation, knocking him on his back. That is, if he even has one...
Berry had noticed Chopper lying on the floor, and she quickly swung her hammer at Dark when he least expected it. She then went over to Chopper to help him up.
"Are you all right?" Berry asked.
"Yeah, I'm good," Chopper nodded. "Uhhh... Thanks?"
"You're welcome," she smiled, kissing his cheek before getting back to the fight. Chopper stood wide-eyed and disgusted, but then Sonic waved his hand in front of him to regain his attention. It took a while, but he managed to get him back to his senses.
"Gross! She kissed me!" Chopper complained.
"Yeesh... I thought I had some problems with Amy, but I think you've got it worse." Sonic sweat dropped.
"Not to interrupt your conversation, but we have a fight to continue," Dark hissed.
Chopper wiped his cheek and fired another arrow at Dark, making him cringe again. He fired at Chopper again, this time removing his Angel ability in the process. However, that did not stop Chopper from changing to his Beam ability and firing an orange beam whip at Dark.
"What the… First you were pale green, and now you're yellow?" Dark gawked. "Perhaps this is when you change to a different ability..."
"Yeah, he does," Bombette jumped in, exploding in front of Dark and covering him in soot, bringing him down to 260 HP.
Dark was not going to let Bombette go so quickly, so he grabbed her by the foot and threw her toward Chopper. He ducked just in time to avoid her, but she ended up crashing into a Dark Soldier, surprisingly defeating it in the process.
"Well… I didn't expect that…" Sonic quickly curled into another ball and hurled himself at Dark, hitting him with another Spin Dash. "All right, Chopper. Charge up a beam attack if you want!"
"Got it!" Chopper began to charge up energy from his wand, and after ten seconds, he fired an orange blast at Dark, taking 11 out of him instantly. Dark held his arm, but he managed to push himself up to shoot at Chopper. He ended up dodging the shot, which hit one of the Dark Creatures instead.
"Arrgh! You've gotta be kidding me!" Dark growled, gritting his teeth, revealing one of his fangs. They appeared rather intimidating to Chopper, but Sonic gave him an assuring nod to attack. Nodding, Chopper swung his wand and hit Dark with another beam whip. "This time, I'm not giving you a chance to hit me!"
Unfortunately, he didn't see a giant egg fall on him, dealing 12 damage.
"Bulls-eye!" Scrub cheered, jumping up and down happily. "That'll help ya, Contadre!"
Chopper smiled, but his attention was brought back to Dark. He had charged a shot from his blaster and fired at Chopper and Sonic. They barely had time to react, taking the full force of the attack and losing 19 HP in the process.
"Heh heh... That should work nicely..." Dark grinned, twirling his blaster.
Chopper quickly shook himself and immediately changed to his Mirror ability, where he fired a mirror shard at Dark. That was when Vivian had emerged in front of Dark and hit him with a Shade Fist. He tried to attack her, but she had already retreated, forcing him to jump toward Sonic and kick him, knocking him on the ground.
"Argh... That burn brought me down to 200 HP!" Dark hissed.
"Well, then prepare to taste defeat!" Sonic grinned, using his Sonic Speed on Chopper. This had granted him an opportunity to attack Dark twice. "Go for it, Chopper! Give him everything you've got!"
"All right!" Chopper nodded, approaching Dark and creating two clones that manged to strike him and deal 11 damage. He took out his hammer next and struck Dark with his Master Hammer, sending him flying back toward a couple of Dark Creatures.
"Your Majesty! Are you all right?" one Dark Creature asked, helping him up.
"Back off!" Dark yelled, slapping his minion's hand away. "I'm in the middle of a fight here!"
He began to run toward the two, and he started by thrusting his hand forward. Red, swirling energy in the shape of a crescent had fired out and hit the two. Chopper decided to toss an ice ball at Dark, and then Shadower hit him with a Shadow Punch, bringing his defense to 0. It didn't stop Dark from shooting Shadower, though.
"OK... I think I know what I'm going to do." Chopper decided, using his Soft Stomp to bring Dark's defense to 0.
"Thanks, Chopper!" Sonic curled up in a ball and rammed into Dark with a Spin Dash, bringing him down to 137 HP.
"You pests! You are starting to get on my nerves!" Dark growled, whacking Sonic with his gun instead of shooting him. Unfortunately, he never saw a Gravity Jump hit him in the head.
"Hi-YA!" Chopper smiled, jumping off Dark, while Tamber decided to jump in and hit Dark with a Power Punch.
"Ha ha! That felt good!" Tamber grinned, only for him to receive a kick from Dark. However, it did not stop him from getting hurt by one of Chopper's mirror shards. He winced in pain, while Sonic hit Dark with a Homing Attack and brought him down to 73 HP.
"Argh!" Dark, noticing the injuries left on him, shot Chopper again. "You're all going to pay!"
"I don't think so, Dark," Chopper replied, using another Gravity Jump to take another 30 out of him, while Sonic used a Spin Dash to bring him down to 33 HP. Once Dark fired that last shot at Sonic, his defense had been brought back to normal. Regardless, Chopper hit him with his hammer, and Mario jumped on the Dark Creature leader.
"Boy… This fight is getting a little extreme." Parakarry noticed.
"Cough… You know, you can give up right now if you want. I'm ready to throw in one of my deadliest weapons yet!" Dark smirked, slowly pulling out a black jewel.
"Hey, that looks like a Chaos Emerald!" Sonic noticed.
"This is the Dark Emerald! This was given to me by Black Doom! With it, I will become three times as powerful as you! Prepare to finally meet your-"
Not caring in the slightest, Sonic ran up to Dark and gave the emerald a good kick, knocking it off the clouds.
"Problem solved!" Sonic smirked, jumping back to Chopper.
"ACK! NO! My emerald!" Dark gaped, watching it fall to the ground below. He looked up at Sonic with a look of anger. "You just sealed your fate..."
"You're telling us that when you have 16 HP left? Yeah, our fates are totally sealed." Sonic scoffed.
Before Dark could speak up, Chopper fired a mirror shard at him, and then Sonic delivered the final blow to Dark with a Spin Dash, making him collapse.
"You're finished!" Chopper smirked, upgrading his FP to 150 after a level up. He then turned to Sonic afterward. "Good thing you interrupted him at the last moment! We could've been toast!"
"Well, I always like doing that," Sonic said confidently, while Chopper removed his ability. Unfortunately, their battle did not appear to be over, as Dark had managed to slowly stand up and look at them with hatred in his eyes.
"Heads up, Contadre! He's still up!" Scrub alerted.
Turning around, Chopper gasped when he saw Dark pointing at them, giving a signal. "Dark Creatures... Eliminate every single one of them! Leave none alive!"
The Dark Creatures obeyed, and they started to charge at them. However, fate did not appear to be on Dark's side, as Blade, Bang, and Night immediately took action and started to attack them.
"What're you guys doing?" Tamber asked.
"Guys, don't bother with them," Blade said. "You've got somewhere else to go. We'll hold these guys off for now, all right!"
"Are you sure?" Chopper asked.
"Yeah, we got your back. Getting that Crystal Star is important. Besides, we've taken on many of these guys on our own."
"This isn't anything new to us," Night assured.
"Well… All right. Let's go, guys." Chopper fled from the battle with his friends, including Parakarry. They noticed a building up ahead. "That could possibly be it..."
They didn't bother looking back at the battle, knowing that it could slow them down. As they moved, Vivian had gone up beside Chopper.
"Do you think what Tipral said may be true?" Vivian asked.
"I hope so..." Chopper trailed. "Because if he was lying this whole time... I don't know what'd I do!"
"Give him a beating?" Tamber wondered.
"...Maybe?"
When they had finally reached the shrine. They noticed it appeared to be glittering and a pale yellow color. It wasn't that big of a shrine, but what was in front of them was gorgeous. There were a couple of trees around, along with a couple of rainbow-colored flowers.
Mario: I think this is it...
"Yeah. I hope that Cloudrod person is still there." Chopper walked up the stairs to the door, but Parakarry stopped at one of the trees and looked at the fruit.
"Hmmmm… I'm pretty sure I've seen these…" Parakarry trailed, looking at the red apple. "Eh… Why not? I AM sorta hungry."
Parakarry grabbed the red apple, and he bit into it. Everyone had turned around when they saw the Paratroopa grow in size.
"Holy cow! I sure have gained some weight!" Parakarry gaped. Thankfully, this effect was temporary, and he was soon back to normal. "Oh… It looks like I'm myself again."
"That's some weird fruit. Maybe I can have one." Tamber decided, grabbing a black apple and biting into it. However, he didn't feel any side effects, and he ended up spitting it out. "Eeeugh! This thing tastes horrible!"
"I'd like to eat some fruit too, but we need to go into the shrine this instant," Chopper informed, hitting the Save Block next to the entrance. Tamber had went up the stairs to join the group, who went into the door together.
The inside of the shrine, unlike the exterior, was golden in color. The room was not very big, but there was a throne and two pillars beside it with a glowing orb resting on top of both.
"This is it? There's barely anything in here!" Tamber complained.
"Hmmmm? Visitors have arrived?"
Sitting on the throne was a white being with a large, gray beard that touched the ground, and he was wearing a yellow robe with very long sleeves. On his head, meanwhile, was hair made up of clouds. He appeared to be sitting on a floating cloud too, and although he wasn't that big, the aura coming from him was quite strong.
"Hi there!" Chopper greeted, approaching the godly figure. "Are you, by any chance, Cloudrod?"
"Of course. That's my given name." Cloudrod confirmed, taking a look down at the boy. "I see you've finally shown up, Chopper. I had a feeling you'd be arriving..."
"Wait… How do you know his name?" Vivian asked.
"Well, my dear… I watch everything in this world. That means I have watched you travel throughout the planet when you first arrived. ...I suppose your arrival here means there is a serious issue going on..."
"Yeah..." Chopper nodded.
"Yes, I foresaw this. Fortunately, I can help you with your problems."
"Oh, I'm afraid none of that will be happening at this moment. Mmmmwee hee hee hee!"
"That voice... I know that voice!" Vivian gasped.
"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! So, you finally show up at long last, Chopper!"
The ugly witch, Beldam, rose from the shadows along with Marilyn. Doopliss jumped off one of the statues of Cloudrod, and Mysterious and Purple also rose from the shadows.
"Wait... You guys? What're you doing here?" Chopper asked.
"You guys aren't giving up yet, are you?" Sonic asked.
"Not a chance," Mysterious retorted. "On the other hand, we would like you introduce you to our newest member. Trust me, he's been looking forward to seeing you guys."
"New member?" Chopper gawked.
"Of course! Feel free to come out now!"
A figure had landed in front of them, wearing a gray cloak that covered most of his body and a yellow and gray-striped hat. When the figure finally showed his face, everyone was left in surprise.
"Flyer? Oh, thank goodness you're all right! I was hoping the darkness hadn't gotten to you! I feel revealed... So, who's the new-" Chopper paused, noticing something different about him. The hat... And those eyes... "Flyer...? Are you OK?"
"His eyes... What happened to them?" Bombette asked.
"Wait, he's the new member?" Vivian gasped.
"Correct," Flyer grinned, approaching the shocked heroes. "I've been getting sick of how you guys have been treating me, so I joined a group that would assist me and become much stronger. Now I can finally exact my revenge against you."
Everyone was left dead silent.
"Look at them! They're all too shocked to even say a word!" Mysterious grinned. "Flyer, go ahead and destroy them."
"Of course," Flyer nodded, turning back to the heroes with hatred in his eyes. "All of those times you've just been using me like a tool, and all those times you guys used me a shield for your enemies... They will finally be put away when I eradicate you all!"
"Flyer... Why them of all people?" Chopper asked. "They are the people who should be trusted the least!"
"It doesn't look like he joined them by choice..." Shadower remarked. "I mean, his eyes are definitely not the same..."
"Flyer has proven to be a valiant ally," Beldam assured. "If anyone was going to be the punching bag, I'd say it would be the freak-in-a-sheet!"
"Wait... What?" Doopliss gawked.
"Flyer, please... Don't listen to them..." Vivian trailed. "We're your friends!"
"Yes, Flyer… Please listen to your friends." Cloudrod suggested. "Those shadow beings are scoundrels! They're only deceiving you!"
"Silence!" Flyer pointed at Cloudrod, summoning lightning to strike him, knocking him unconscious. "I don't need anyone's help! I've forgotten my old life! Everyone I've known and loved are now my enemies. You people standing in my way are my enemies! And like all enemies, they must be put to an end!"
Pointing a finger at the crowd, he had fired lightning at them. However, Parakarry had managed to push Chopper out of the way and take the lightning strike intended for him.
"Guys?" Chopper gasped, noticing them all unconscious.
"And then there was one," Beldam grinned. "Then again, I think this is much more fitting! Seeing two former friends battle out until the end. This will be interesting..."
"Flyer, please..." Chopper pleaded. "I don't want to fight you! You're my best friend!"
"Well you're not mine," Flyer said coldly, damaging Chopper mentally. "I'll take care of you, and then I can finally live a happy life!"
All Chopper could do was gulp nervously.
Tattle: That's…OMIGOSH! I… I don't BELIEVE it! Flyer…is with those fiends?! This is unbearable! Max HP is 140, Attack is 17, and Defense is 0. Honestly... I don't know what to do here... It doesn't say what kind of attacks he can pull off! You're just going to have to tough it out, Chopper...
Chopper stared back at Flyer, giving a more confident look. "Fine... If this is how you want it to be, then I guess that's how it's going to be..."
He raised his arm and prepared to fire a fireball at Flyer. However, looking at him, he stopped his attack and lowered his arm.
"I can't do it... I just don't have what it takes..." Chopper trailed with a hint of sadness in his voice.
Flyer didn't seem to care, so he pointed at Chopper and zapped him with lightning. Though it didn't knock him unconscious it did manage to badly damage him.
"Ack!" Chopper cried, but he still did not fight back. "Please, Flyer! Snap out of it! This isn't you!"
"'Snap out of it?' I CHOSE this path!" Flyer yelled, firing an ice beam at his ex-best friend. This froze his feet, preventing him from moving. Even then, Chopper did not bother to fight back.
"No you didn't! Your eyes definitely didn't look like that..."
"This is pathetic! Chopper can't even face against his own friend!" Mysterious cackled. "This will end quickly..."
"What's wrong, Chopper?" Flyer taunted, approaching his ex-best friend. "You can't fight back against me? I thought you were a hero?!"
Chopper did not respond, so Flyer prepared to scorch him with a fire spell. However, he soon noticed Chopper slowly mumble and look up at him.
"Flyer, please... You're not one of them..." Chopper mumbled. "There are so many people that care about you... I especially care about you..."
"I told you, I am forgetting everything from the past," Flyer stated coldly, scorching him with fire. This had melted the ice trapping Chopper, allowing him to freely move. Even then, he was still panting from exhaustion.
"Flyer... There was a reason why I, especially, wanted to help you stop Chillbi." Chopper started. "You're my best friend, and friends always look out for each other. Don't you remember how much fun we had?"
"Fun...?" the Wingel paused, now starting to ponder. As he thought about this, a voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
"Hey! You! Snap out of it!" Flyer's thoughts spoke. "Don't let Beldam's magic get to you! You're smarter than this!"
This confused look, however, did not go unnoticed by the others.
"What are you doing, Flyer? Get back to destroying Chopper!" Beldam ordered.
Flyer was broken out of his trance and gave a more serious look. "Right."
He summoned an earthquake, which was strong enough to knock the poor little antennaed hero off his feet.
"Oof!" Chopper moaned, slowly getting up, refusing to give up. "Fl-Flyer… Look, if you had anything to tell me before, you could've said it to me... I would've tried to at least help you..."
Flyer paused to ponder over those events, but when he remembered what he was told before, he shook off the trance again. "No, Chopper. Do I NEED to repeat myself over and over again?! All. Is. FORGOTTEN!"
He zapped Chopper, giving off satisfaction to the Shadow Sirens and Brothers.
"I knew this was an excellent plan," Beldam thought, rubbing her hands evilly.
When Chopper stood up again, tears starting to come down his face. "Flyer, why do you think I tried to help you free yourself when you were being brainwashed as Flyknightis?"
"Yuk yuk yuk! Aww… The little baby's crying! Well, serves ya right, Slick!" Doopliss chuckled.
"Shut up, freak-in-a-sheet!" Beldam shushed.
"Oh, right…"
"I better finish this," Flyer was ready to cast another spell.
"Flyer! Think about all of the fun times when we were destroying battleships with your plane! Don't you remember how much we enjoyed those?"
Flyer tried to resist thinking about those prior events, but those memories kept going into his head. He quickly shook his head, and readying his lightning spell, he fired at Chopper.
However, Cloudrod had stepped in the way, taking the hit and falling once again.
"Urk… Flyer…" Cloudrod moaned. "Please... Don't…trust those fiends… They're…URK…are not your friends! Beldam was brainwashing you with her magic! The real you is still in there somewhere!"
Flyer looked down at Cloudrod, noticing the pain he was in. A hint of sympathy appeared on his face. Only a little.
"Your friends have been worried about you the whole time..." Cloudrod continued. "They've been worried about your safety."
"And how do you know about that?" Flyer asked harshly.
"I watch over all that's here... I can even listen to those on the planet as well..."
The anger had disappeared on his face as he noticed Cloudrod struggle to stand.
"I never thought hurting people could be so…bad."
"It's not good..." Flyer's thoughts spoke again. "Chopper... He's our best friend... We... No, you, can regain control of your true self! Fight back against Beldam's magic!"
"Flyer! Snap out of it! Destroy Chopper this instant!" Mysterious ordered. His voice eventually regained Flyer's attention, and he zapped Chopper. This time, Chopper couldn't get up.
At this point, Chopper hardly had much left to say.
"…I'm so sorry, my friends," Chopper apologized, turning to his unconscious friends. "And I'm sorry too, Flyer… If you were hurt by anything I've done to you in the past, then I'm truly sorry..." he continued to speak, sniffling and lowering his head. "Go ahead. I'm done. There's nothing I can do to stop you..."
Flyer looked down at him with disdain, but then he heard Cloudrod's moaning again.
"Flyer... When I first saw you come to this planet, I knew you and Chopper's friendship would last until the very end when I saw him save you from those fiends..." Cloudrod trailed.
At that point, Flyer suddenly saw in image in his mind depicting a five-year-old Chopper rescuing him when he was three-years-old. He remembered that he was being threatened, but then Chopper had come in and saved him. That...was the start of their friendship.
Flyer began to tremble a little, remembering those thoughts. His eyes started to switch between light blue and black.
"Yes... That's it! You can fight this possession! You don't need any witch's magic to be good! You're good because you're you!"
"Flyer! Pay attention! Finish Chopper! NOW!" demanded Beldam.
"You MUST do it!" Mysterious reminded him.
Flyer looked at them and then back at the defenseless Chopper.
"Flyer... I just want to say that I want you to be happy..." Chopper trailed. "And if that means destroying me, then I guess I have no other choice..."
"…You would let me be happy even if I destroyed you?" Flyer gawked, his light blue eyes slowly becoming dull.
"Flyer... You know this isn't the right thing to do..." Cloudrod moaned. "Please take off the hat..."
"Flyer..." Beldam hissed. "Do I have to repeat myself again?!"
Flyer looked back down at Chopper and slowly pointed at him. Chopper looked up and saw the sparks coming from his finger. Closing his eyes, he prepared for the worst.
But he didn't feel lightning hit him. Opening his eyes, Chopper noticed Flyer's finger no longer flowing with sparks, and he had lowered his finger, looking down at the floor in remorse. He had also thrown his cloak to the side.
"No... I can't do it..." Flyer confessed. "I can't take hurting my own friend..."
Chopper looked at him in surprise as he approached him and held his hand out. Chopper decided to grab his hand, and he was pulled up.
"Flyer... Is that really you?" Chopper asked.
"Yeah. It's me." Flyer answered with a smile. With that smile, his light blue eyes had finally reverted back to his normal, black eyes.
"What?! This… This isn't happening!" Both Beldam and Mysterious gaped.
"Guhhhhhh!" grunted Marilyn.
"Chopper, I'm sorry for any harm I've caused to you. I was only thinking of myself, while I paid no attention to what you guys were enduring at the time, and that was not right of me."
"Well, I'm sorry if there was anything bugging you during those moments," Chopper replied. "Maybe we should start saying thank you to you for your help."
"No, it's me who should be truly sorry," Flyer replied. "I started to realize that the others don't receive much of a thanks when they did something for you, yet they weren't complaining. I was wrong to be so selfish... So... You think you can forgive me?"
"Yeah... I do." Chopper smiled, he and Flyer giving each other a hi-five. Beldam and Mysterious were standing there, steaming with anger. When Chopper noticed them, he turned his attention to them. "But we still have these guys here..."
"Yeah, you're right," the Wingel turned to them. "Hey, maybe if we work together, we can defeat them!"
Beldam's angry look suddenly change to a grin. "Well... I must say that I'm not very surprised. I had a feeling it may come to this, so I'm afraid I have to take back what's mine."
Holding her hand out, the hat Flyer wore started to come off. That was when Flyer's pale face had returned back to its former color, and no sense of magic was flowing through his body.
"Wait... What happened to my powers?" Flyer gawked.
"Don't you remember? We transferred all the power into the hat, just in case if something would go wrong! And it looks like we were right to do that." Mysterious explained.
"We're sorry, Flyer, but it's for the better," Beldam added.
"Oh, crud..." Flyer trailed, watching the hat get closer. However, an idea suddenly popped in his head. "Hey, Chopper... Why don't you try inhaling it?"
"I'll give it a try," Chopper nodded, opening his mouth and inhaling the hat. Beldam gawked, seeing the hat move away from her and go into Chopper's mouth. He swallowed it and was now donning a hat with yellow green and white stripes. Surprised, Chopper pointed his finger, and lightning had fired near their enemies.
"Argh! You were lucky this time!" Mysterious hissed. "Everyone! Let's get out of here!"
Many of them made their escape, leaving Doopliss all alone.
"Aw, come on! This isn't fair!" Doopliss pouted as he escaped through the window.
Once they were gone, the two heard moaning coming from the others. They turned to see the rest of their friends getting up, though they did appear a bit injured from the previous attack.
"Guys! You're…all right!" Chopper cheered.
"Yeah, we are..." Sonic panted, noticing Flyer standing by Chopper's side. "Flyer? Does this mean that..."
"Yeah, I'm here," Flyer assured, though he appeared to have a guilty look on his face. "Guys... I really have to apologize for the trouble I've caused you. Looking back, what I said back at Trinado's Castle felt a bit selfish. I will admit I didn't appreciate being interrupted all those times... But I don't think you guys meant to do that. So... Do you think we can probably forget this whole incident?"
"I don't think we can forget something like this..." Shadower trailed. "Though, we can learn from this and be better to each other."
"Yeah, maybe you're right... But, maybe we shouldn't tell anyone else about this... It's probably for the better."
"You've got it," Berry nodded.
"Ugh… Well, it looks like you have finally come back to normal..." Cloudrod groaned, standing up and approaching the group. "Well done, everyone... I'm proud of you all."
"Look, I'm sorry if I harmed you in any way…" Flyer apologized.
"It's all right… I'm fine anyway. What matters is that you learned from your mistakes, and that you will never do something like that on your own."
"There's no way he will!" Scrub assured, slowly noticing the hat on Chopper. "By the way, Contadre... What's with the hat?"
"It's...a new ability, I guess," Chopper shrugged, looking up at his hat. "I'll call myself Magic Chopper!"
At that moment, Blade, Bang, and Night walked into the room, appearing battered and bruised.
"Whew… That sure was one heck of a fight!" Blade sighed.
"I'll say…" Bang agreed.
"Too bad Dark and his army got away..." Night pouted. "I would've loved destroying them at that minute.
"Wait, these guys are still with you?" Flyer whispered to Chopper.
"Well, we haven't found the Crystal Star yet. Speaking of that..." Chopper turned to Cloudrod. "We came to you because we are trying to look for the Crystal Star located here. You think you could give us a hand?"
"Of course I will. That's why you came here anyway. Just give me a moment..." Cloudrod began to focus for a little bit, and when his eyes flashed, it felt as if something exploded...but not really.
"What did you do?" Vivian asked.
"You shall see when you return to the jungle. This will help you get to the Crystal Star." Cloudrod took out a Black Key and handed it to Chopper. "...But, you are probably going to need this."
"A Black Key?" Chopper gawked, staring at the key. "Does this mean that...?"
"Trust me, you will get all the help you need. But first, I suppose I should transport you back to the jungle..." Cloudrod trailed, now casting a light blue spell. "However, you may want to be careful down there... For the darkness may be getting closer to the jungle..."
Mario: Uh oh...
"But for now... I wish you luck." Cloudrod finished, casting his spell upon the group and teleporting them back to the jungle.
This chapter was definitely a lot more serious than the previous ones, that's for sure...
The whole battle between Chopper and Flyer probably could've been executed a little better, but I guess it turned out all right. It's good to have Flyer back, though.
With that, I guess that means the boss chapter is up next!