"Ah ha ha ha. The heroes are a lot stronger than I thought they'd be." Dimentio explained in his usual happy mood. "Their abilities are definitely a force to be reckoned with. They might even be ready to take you on, Tipral!"

"Impossible! There's no way they have what it takes to beat me!" Tipral retorted.

"Why, haven't you declared that you were beaten by the heroes twice? In fact, you explained that you faced Chopper in the past and nearly lost to him! Even when you stole his name and body, he was able to defeat you!"

"What? I have surprise! The news to Fawful is not having the truth! Is it really true that you had defeat many times in the past?" Fawful asked in his usual crazy manner. "Does Tipral need fury?"

"No, I don't need more fury, Fawful. I've learned from my mistakes already… Besides, I need two more things if I'm going to bring back The Void. There's a very good chance I could succeed."

"Please tell me what it is, Tippy!" Mimi begged.

"We're going to have to go back to that mansion in that one world, though…" Tipral looked over at O'Chunks. "I want you to come with me to the mansion. There's a little something that I'd like your help with."

"Whaaa? Yeh need me help?! YES!" O'Chunks fists pumped. "I can help like me great grandma told me to! Izzat all?"

"Well, once we get what we need, I'm sending you out to stop the heroes next. I believe your time has come at last."

"What's this? Did someone call for me?" Knightmare appeared in the room using his cape, as well as Dark Doom. "I thought I heard someone call out my name… Though, it didn't sound like Tipral."

"No, nobody called you," Nastasia confirmed. "I guess you should go back to your room and plan up, 'K?"

"What? But I believe I'm ready to go back out now."

"And WHY is my eye still growing?!" Dark screeched as he looked as his third eye in the mirror. "I mean… I'm not feeling any pain right now, but it's still growing. Urrgh… This is so annoying…"

"That is enough, Dark," Tipral stated. "I keep hearing you complain about that stupid eye all the time! When will you EVER stop with it?! If you're going to keep complaining, then I might have to put your room in the coldest depths of my palace!"

"…Fine."

"So, what're we doing next? Can I finally kick some hero butt?" Mr. L asked, cracking his knuckles. "…Or are we going to sit around and be lazy like some fat idiots. 'Cause I'm getting tired of laying around here."

"YOU will stay here, Mr. L," Nastasia stated. "Tipral has not given any orders for you to go after the heroes. He's only done it for O'Chunks for now. So you better listen to what he says. You don't want to suffer a harsher punishment…"

"Oh, come on. Cleaning the bathroom isn't THAT bad…"

"Unless O'Chunks is the one in there," Dimentio cackled.

"'EY! Keep yer potty jokes out o' me whiskers!" O'Chunks snapped. "I'm fine with 'ow I am! Now I just wanna get outta 'ere an' beat those heroes up!"

"So… You don't require my assistance…" Knightmare said in a serious tone. "I see. I'll be ready when you call for me."

"I didn't say that you're not going…" Tipral trailed. "We'll just see what happens. For now, I must do something."

With that, he teleported out of the meeting room. O'Chunks simply grumbled as he jumped off his platform and left the room.

Tipral's room-

Tipral's room… Well, it's got something in common with a goth's room. It's dark. There aren't any lights anywhere. It looked a lot similar to his room in Castle Tipral, but the dark star on the floor was much bigger. His book shelf was bigger and even his bed was bigger. There was a dark star symbol on the blankets, which he seems to have very often.

Tipral looked around to make sure no one was around and slowly closed the door and locked it. He walked over to his desk and pulled a dark purple book out. He decided to place the Dark Prognosticus next to it and then he opened the dark purple book to find a couple of pictures.

"I haven't looked at these pictures in a long time… But I keep getting this strange feeling from that girl…" Tipral looked at a picture of a young human girl. He started to remember some of the things about her.

"Let's play a game of tag!"

"What is tag?"

"You don't know what tag is? You're so silly! It's a game where you slightly slap someone and tag them. If you're it, then you have to chase someone around who isn't it. If you get them, then you have to run away from them. It's a simple game, really!"

"Interesting…"

"Well… Tag! You're it!"

"And then that happened…" Tipral's face became even angrier at these thoughts. "Those people will PAY! My life has been practically ruined because of them! Especially Chopper… I will make sure he suffers a painful death by me!"

He aimed his scepter at the book and was prepared to destroy it. With one blast, the book was gone, and nothing was left from it. "Perfect… Now I have to go head out and get what I need. It'll help make The Void grow faster."

"Hey, Tipral! Are yeh ready teh go already?!"

Tipral stood back up and grabbed the Dark Prognosticus and put it away. He opened the door and saw O'Chunks standing in front of his room.

"So this is yer room…" he commented.

"Let's go already," With a raise of his scepter, both he and O'Chunks teleported out of the palace.

"I find it rather interesting that he was looking back at his past," Dimentio appeared in the hallway, chuckling. "We've never known much about what caused him to be like this! I guess all he wants to do is get revenge on Chopper and that's it!"

He simply cackled once more before teleporting out of the hallway. Knightmare came in to check for any noise.

"Hmph… No one's in here, I guess…" Knightmare returned to his room, where he planned on a couple of important things. However, he still couldn't get the image of Chopper out of his head…

Mansion of Nightmares-

"Hmph… THIS is a mansion? It doesn't look that sturdy for a mansion!" Tipral scoffed as they teleported into the upper floor of the mansion. They were currently on the second floor at this moment. There weren't any ghosts around at the moment, but O'Chunks didn't like how it was in here.

"Ergh… A butterfly appears to be in me stomach fer some reason…" O'Chunks said with a nervous look. "I don't like the looks o' this place…"

"There's nothing to fear, O'Chunks. This place is only a mansion. There aren't any ghosts here." Tipral took a couple of steps in the mansion, but he suddenly heard some cackling sounds echoing through the hallway.

"Errrrr… Me belly's tellin' me that we should leave…"

"Heh heh heh!"

"I know you're here, so you don't need to hide," Tipral raised his scepter and a dark aura surrounded the hallway. The two ghosts were in their sight, no longer being invisible to them. They noticed that they were invisible and looked up at Tipral.

"Uhhhh… Can you see us?" the tall ghost asked.

"Yes, I can see you. You know it's rather stupid to be going around here and scaring people that are scarier than you, right?"

"And who says you're scarier than us?" the fat ghost asked until Tipral was surrounded by a purple aura.

"Oh, I'll show you how scary I can be!" Tipral aimed his scepter at the fat ghost and fired a dark blast at him, surrounding him in dark energy that prevented him from escaping. The tall ghost also got trapped in the dark energy as well.

"HEY! Let us out!"

"We've got a ghost girl to woo!"

"Does this ghost girl happen to have any dark matter with her?" Tipral asked, walking up to the two ghosts. "Tell me where she is. I require that kind of energy to destroy the entire universe!"

"Wait… Destroy the universe? Then why should we tell you?" the tall ghost asked.

Tipral gave the tall ghost a scary glare as he grabbed a hold of him. The dark energy thriving in him made him get surrounded in a dark aura instead of a purple one. "You're going to have to ask me whether you like it or not! Perhaps if you tell me, you'll be able to live longer!"

"You can't destroy us if we're ghosts," the chubby ghost retorted.

"Oh, I have my ways of defeating ghosts… Trust me."

"Yeh want me teh help yeh, Tipral?" O'Chunks asked as he walked up to his leader. "I can get 'em teh spit it out!"

"Aw, now the big guy's gonna torture us even more?! OK! Fine! We'll just tell you where she is! …And if you plan on trying to woo her, then we're probably going to destroy yo—I mean, there's no way we can do that!" the chubby ghost shook from those last words when Tipral glared evilly at him.

Mysterious room after a moment later-

In that strange room where the ghost girl resided, she was looking at the picture of the dark being that looked a lot like Tipral on the wall. She had all of the pictures of Luigi being freaked out and scared gone for some reason. Apparently she was paying more attention to the picture.

"Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever see you again…" she sighed.

That is…until Tipral and O'Chunks teleported into the room. She looked up, but didn't look happy when she saw them arrive.

"All right, who are you people and how did you get in…" the ghost girl paused when she saw that it was Tipral who teleported into this room. She looked back at the picture and then back at him, and then her eyes looked toward the poster. At this point, hearts formed over his head.

"Hand over any dark matter you have," Tipral demanded. "I might have to do the same thing as your love-struck 'friends' if you refuse…"

"So yeh better listen the Tipral, strange ghost girl," O'Chunks suggested while cracking his knuckles, but soon paused. "Wait… I remember me mother told me that it's not nice teh hit a lady…"

"I can't believe you've come here! You're the dark being on my poster!" the ghost girl sighed sweetly as she floated over to Tipral and tickled below his mouth. …Except he swatted her hand away.

"I don't have time for this," Tipral growled. "Just tell me where the dark matter is now. If you don't, then I might as well seal you in darkness just like those other two ghosts."

"Wait… What even happened to them?"

"Heh heh heh…" O'Chunks grinned as he held a little bag of something behind his pocket. "Let's just say… We 'ad them…turned into something…pretty."

"Hmmmmmm… I sense the dark matter somewhere…" Tipral pushed the ghost girl out of the way, who only gave him a face as he walked over to the wall.

"Hmph! And I thought you had respect for girls!" she huffed.

"Ah, here it is," he grabbed the dark heart that was on the table and put it away. "This is all I needed from you. I'll let you live if you don't get in my way."

"Now hold it right there!" the ghost girl frowned as she got up. "You're probably the person I've been wanting to see for such a long time, and this is how you act to me?! You've got all of the evil in you, but you just move me out of the way and don't give me any respect?!"

Tipral simply ignored her and pushed her out of the way again. "Oh, so now you're ignoring me? I can't believe you!"

"Well, 'e is tryin' teh destroy the universe, so yeh should understand," O'Chunks explained.

"Oh, I see now… You're just someone who can't get over what happens, don't you?" the ghost girl asked while crossing her arms. Tipral stopped for a moment and listened. "I bet you were simply a loner who couldn't get any friends because you were being a complete jerk to them, right? I bet you got some girl you liked to hate you for how worthless you were being."

Tipral began to remember some horrible things related to that. …But it ended up angering him instead and surrounding him in a dark aura. He turned around and clenched his fists in pure hatred.

"Perhaps it's best to keep your mouth shut... Unless you want your fate to be sealed." Tipral threatened darkly.

"Tipral… Maybe it's best teh settle down an' ignore her…" O'Chunks suggested.

"O'Chunks, stay out of this!" Tipral walked up to the ghost girl and aimed his scepter at her.

"Are you some kind of heartless monster? That's what it seems like you're acting right now."

"Oh, you want me to be a heartless monster?! THIS is heartless!" Tipral fired a dark blast from his scepter at her, trapping her in a dark aura and even making her disintegrate into dust. Tipral grabbed the small bag O'Chunks had and let the pink, glittering dust fall in and turn into darkness. He also added the dark matter into it as well.

"I… I never saw yeh blow up like that…" O'Chunks gaped, despite being scared. "What caused yeh teh be like this…?"

"That's enough, O'Chunks," Tipral seemed a bit calm at this moment. "For now, I'm going to return to the palace. I'm counting on you to stop the heroes in the next world. If you fail… Well, Nastasia will take care of that."

Tipral teleported out of the room, leaving only O'Chunks. He simply sweat dropped as he thought about what punishment Nastasia would give to him.

"That lass… Why don't I 'ave the guts teh confess me love to her? Urgh… I'm worried about me punishment if I fail…" O'Chunks trailed as he teleported out of the mansion with his teleportation powers given to Tipral.

Flopside Tower-

As everyone walked out of the light blue door, a light blue crystal heart appeared above the door, indicating that the world was complete.

"Whew! Fourteen down, six more to go!" Luigi said, sighing in relief.

"Yeah! It's about time!" Sonic grinned.

"Ho oh oh ho! I see you've returned!" Everyone noticed Nolrem walking over to the heroes. "I can definitely feel the Pure Heart's presence nearby. I suppose you managed to get the fourteenth Pure Heart, am I correct?"

"Yeah, we have it right here," Chopper confirmed as he held up the fourteenth Pure Heart.

"Excellent! With that, only six more remain! You young ones are doing very well!" Nolrem congratulated.

"Yeah, and I'm glad we were able to make someone feel happy," Blade said, rubbing the back of his head. "Although… I still feel kind of bad for yelling at him…"

"Poyo, (Well, it got him to understand everything, so I guess it was for the better,)" Kirby assured.

"Anyway, perhaps it would be wise to go see Merlon? I'm sure your friends would like to see you as well." assured Nolrem.

Chopper gulped, remembering the last time he went there. "Ugh… I don't feel so comfortable when I know that I'm going to be…smothered."

"Poyo… (Here we go again…)" Kirby groaned.

"Well, I'll leave you heroes to your work. I'm sure Merlon has something interesting in the Light Prognosticus. It would be rather important if you were to do that." Nolrem took the elevator down to the second floor and returned to his house.

"Well, we should go to Merlon first and see how things are there," Timpani suggested. "I'm guessing the information is VERY important. Maybe your friends got some important information as well."

Mario: Let's hope so…

Merlon's house-

"Ah! You've come back, young ones!" Merlon greeted as the heroes entered the room. "How was trip? Did you manage to get a hold of the next Pure Heart?"

"We sure did!" Chopper smiled as he held up the pale blue Pure Heart. "See? This is it!"

"Hey, that kind of reminds me of the Sky Star that we had to get," Flyer recalled as he walked over to it.

"What's the Sky Star?" Parakarry asked.

"It's a special kind of Crystal Star that allows you to heal yourself a bit," Chopper explained. "We got that from a mysterious cold-hearted angel… And man, was that angel weird…"

"Well it does look pretty," Vivian commented.

"So… Why did you want us to come down here anyway?" Blade asked as he stretched. "Did you find something interesting in the Light Prognosticus?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. These news are very frightening too…" Merlon trailed as he opened the Light Prognosticus. "It says, 'When the time comes, the dark one will bring back The Void. With the combination of dark matter, The Void could grow triple the speed that it previously grew.' I fear that we are in grave danger…"

"Oh, dear… What if The Void ends up going…" Parakarry bit his lips.

"The chances of that are highly improbable," C-2 Choppor confirmed. "There's no way that The Void could swallow our world."

"But… What if it does?" Luigi asked with a scared look on his face.

"Then… I don't know what we could do…" Bow frowned.

"You need to collect the rest of the Pure Hearts, Choppy," Berry suggested. "I don't think you'll have as much time as much time as we previously had with the Crystal Stars… That dark vortex could even come…to your world."

"What?!" Chopper clenched his fist in anger. "What is Tipral thinking bringing that back?! Especially one that's even more dangerous than the previous!"

"Poyo! (I don't want my home world to be destroyed!)" Kirby frowned. "Poyo! (That would be the worst thing to happen!)"

"Wait… If Kirby's world gets destroyed… That means… Oh, no!" Flyer's eyes widened in fear as he thought of something bad that would possibly happen in his eyes. "…There would be no more Fumu!"

"Whoa… I just realized that too. No more of Cappy and Hatty Town…" Chopper gasped. "In fact, there could be no more anything…"

"That's why you must be quick and head to the next world," Merlon suggested. "We never know when Tipral will ever bring The Void back. We might still even have some time to get to him and put a stop to him."

"What if he succeeds?" Berry asked.

"…I dare to say that things could be hectic, my dear."

"Then we should get going…" Chopper trailed. "This is really starting to get serious here."

"I'll still contact you guys via communicator," Flyer stated. "If you ever need us, just give us a call."

"And please come back in one piece," Vivian said with a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry! We're heroes!" Sonic assured. "We always come back in one piece!"

"Yeah, Sonic is right," Chopper agreed. "Don't worry about us!"

"Wait a sec… We don't even know where the next Pure Heart is, though!" Luigi realized.

"I might have an idea where it could be," Sonic recalled. "I think we need to go to where we placed the sixth Pure Heart… That might give us an idea!"

"Then we shall head there!" Chopper confirmed. However, Sonic realized something first before going.

"Hold on a second! I remembered something!" Sonic pulled out a letter and gave it to Parakarry. "Here's that letter I found in the sewers of that moon castle."

"The sewers? Those are usually nasty…" Bow commented.

"Whoa… You actually found one there?" Parakarry took the letter from him and put it in his bag. "Well, as long as it's all right, I might as well take it. Thank you very much, Sonic!"

Flopside Outskirts, first floor-

"Oh, yeah… Now I remember this place." Blade commented as they took their step out of the pipe. "This is the area where I first went when we were going to find the Pure Heart. Nothing much has changed…"

"And those Squogs still exist," Chopper said as he stomped on the Squog. It only took him one jump to finish it, to his surprise.

Mario: I guess that's what happens when we have higher attack.

"Poyo, (Yeah, these stone blocks bring back some memories,)" Kirby recalled as he floated over them and over the small bottomless pit. He inhaled the Squog and simply swallowed it before reaching a sign between two tall stone blocks.

"So this is where we have to find the next Heart Pillar?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah, we just need to go into 3-D," Chopper confirmed as he flipped into 3-D. The only problem now…was that a large block was blocking the way. But, there happened to be a hole that could fit something like a boomerang to hit the blue ! Block.

"Oh! Now I see what to do!" Luigi threw Bonjourang through the hole and hit the blue ! Block to simply destroy the block, allowing them to progress further in the outskirts. When Chopper flipped back into 2-D, they saw the sixth Heart Pillar to their left, and to their right, there was a blue ! Block floating in the sky surrounded by many small star blocks.

Mario: Is that it?

"Yeah, I think the Heart Pillar needs to be revealed by that blue ! Block up there," Sonic confirmed, pointing up at the block.

"No problem!" Chopper smirked as he held Starbow up. Stars began to rain down on the blocks and destroy them. When they hit the block, the ground began to shake, triggering a Heart Pillar to be drawn.

"Poyo, (Well there's the Heart Pillar,)" Kirby stated.

"I better put the Pure Heart in its pillar then," the pale green hero pulled out the pale blue Pure Heart and let it float into the Heart Pillar. They all gazed at the pale blue clock that appeared around the Heart Pillar.

"So, what's going to happen now?" Luigi asked.

"We'll find out…" Sonic responded.

Back at Flopside Tower, a red orange door was drawn right next to the light blue door.

"Well, let's go check up at Flopside Tower."

Flopside Tower-

After taking the elevator up to the black tower, they all saw the red orange door right beside the light blue door. Judging by the color of the door, the Pure Heart was probably going to be a red orange color.

"Hmmmmmm… Well, this is a strange door." Blade commented.

Mario: How is it strange?

"I've never seen a red orange door…"

"Uhhhhh… The first and second door of Flipside Tower WAS a red and orange color." Chopper stated. "They're not really different compared to this door. So… I wouldn't necessarily call that strange."

"OK, whatever. It's not strange. I just wanna go through this door and into the next world." Blade suggested as he took one step over to the door. "I don't think we'll have as much time now…"

"You're right, we need to get going," Sonic confirmed. With that, they headed through the door into the next world.

With Tipral's new plans in his hands, Chopper and Co. knew that their time to collect all of the Pure Heart has become limited. "This world is starting to feel…rather strange," commented Timpani as they noticed that they were flowing through some digital circuit to the new world. One thing for sure was that this could be one of the strangest worlds they'll ever encounter. With only six Pure Hearts left to find, our heroes were ready to take on whatever was behind that door.

There's your interlude, people. And luckily, we happen to be delving into one of my favorite chapters in this fic! I'm not going to explain why until the next chapter. I mean... That's the purpose of that chapter (some of the time, actually).

And yes, if you thought Tipral was being a bit calm throughout this story recently, then this one might change your mind. What caused him to be like this? We'll see what happens.