"Yoiks!"
"Ack! Bowser!"
"Someone save me!"
A Goomba, a Doogan, and a Little Mouser in Rogueport fled as Bowser came stomping their way. He appeared very exhausted after searching all over the place in Rogueport. And the look on his face surely gave off a sense of annoyance.
"Grrrrmph… Hrrrgh… Bluh." Bowser grumbled. "I've got no Crystal Stars… I can't even get some good enough information… Searching around the entire area was… Well, it wasn't exactly glorious. WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?! If this keeps up, Chopper's gonna steal everything from my grasp!"
"Your Massiveness!"
Bowser turned around and looked up to see Kammy flying down to him.
"What do you want?" Bowser asked. "Can't you see I'm busy looking for some information on the Crystal Star?"
"I'm sorry to disturb you at a time like this, but I have great news! The Magikoopa scouts found a suspicious building underground! When they identified it, they told me that it could lead to the Crystal Stars!"
"What? Is that so? Good! Now things'll definitely turn around for me! First, I snatch those Crystal Stars from Chopper, and then I get back to kidnapping Princess Peach! Then the world's mine once again!"
"Yes, definitely, Your Wretchedness... However, there is a bit of a problem... The Hammer Bros. battalion is attempting to breach the building at the moment… But the area is impenetrable! They're scrapping tooth and nail in there!"
"What? Then direct me there! I'll blast us through! I'm Bowser, baby!"
Eager to find this building, Bowser followed Kammy into the sewers. Luigi and his partners had approached the area Bowser once was, but they were too late to spot him going into the pipe.
"Huh? I swear… I thought I heard someone for a minute." Luigi pondered. "I thought it sounded like Bowser..."
"I'm not too sure. Let's just forget about it." Screamy suggested.
"Yeah, I guess you have a point."
Underground-
"Ready to roll!" Bowser shouted, now stomping his way through an area that resembled his own castle. The gray tiles and the Firebars were surely enough to give him the idea. Along with that, there were gray Goombas called Groombas and some Phis patrolling the area. Bowser grinned as he stepped on a Groomba, flattening it like a pancake. "Hmmmm... I never thought this place would look so...familiar."
Bowser jumped over a pit of lava and he saw a Firebar in his way. He could've avoided it, but since he's Bowser, he had no problems destroying it with his fire breath. Afterward, he smashed a yellow block and he ate the piece of meat to grow bigger in size. Bowser then jumped onto a bridge made Dark Blocks. A couple of Phis were flying around, and Bowser knew how to handle them.
"Prepare to suffer!" Bowser attempted to burn one of the Phis to a crisp, but he was hit by one of them that charged at him, making him shrink back to normal. "You've got to be kidding me! That's no fair!"
Bowser burned the Phi, destroying it, and he jumped off the blocks onto solid ground to find another yellow block. He ate the meat inside and grew big again.
"Aw, yeah, baby! Back to being huge again!" Bowser stomped all of the Groombas in his way and he grabbed another piece of meat to grow huge once again. Being invincible once again, Bowser was pleased. However, on his way, he had spotted a couple of fireballs coming his way. "Wait... Why does that feel so familiar too?"
After avoiding the fireballs and jumping over another lava pit, he reached a bridge that reminded him of a bridge a long time go. Waiting on that bridge was a Master Phi shooting fireballs from its arm cannon.
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me... OK, this is seriously reminding me of some bad times!"
"I suggest you turn back now," the Master Phi suggested. "This territory is already owned by Master-"
Bowser stepped on the Master Phi and crossed the bridge, finding a flagpole just up ahead. "Gwa ha ha ha! Not puny thing was no match for me! Now to get to that building!"
He knocked the flagpole away and even destroyed the castle due to his massive size. Regardless of that, he pressed onward.
Down in Rogueport Sewers-
"Incredible, Lord Bowser!" Kammy complimented. "Nothing stood in your way! You couldn't be more super!"
"Puh-lease! That place felt like I was back home, so I easily conquered that place!" Bowser declared, approaching a building that was in a town-like area of Rogueport Sewers. "Wait a second... Weren't we here before?"
"Hmmmmm... Now that I think about it, I believe so. I'd never think the location would be at a place we've passed by."
"Well who cares about that?" the Koopa king said, not caring too much what she had to say. "Let's see what's inside, Haggy!"
Bowser barged into the building, hoping to find something interesting. But to his surprise, it was empty. There was not much of interest located in the small, gray room.
"What? This is it? All those obstacles just for a cruddy room?!"
"Oh, dear... It seems those Magikoopas messed up big time..." Kammy mumbled.
"Hey! It's your fault that I had to go all this way to find an empty room!"
Kammy began to sweat, until she noticed something to the upper right corner. "But... Your Rudeness... What about that?"
Bowser looked over in the direction Kammy was pointing, and he spotted the teleporter. There was a red button, and a little map that displayed the location of each area to teleport.
"Huh? What's this?" Bowser gawked, looking at the panel above the red button, and then at the panel in the corner. "Hey, Kammy! Take a look at this!"
Kammy approached the objects and started to inspect them. "Hmmmmm... Could it be?"
"What is it?"
"Your Vileness, I believe this is the machine that can take you to different locations!"
"What? Hold on a sec!" Bowser pushed Kammy out of the way and pressed the arrows on the panel. One location on the panel showed a yellow star named Pop Star. "Pop Star... I feel like I heard that name from somewhere..."
"Lord Bowser... Didn't that professor in Rogueport mention a certain Pop Star?" Kammy wondered.
"...Oh, yeah! That geezer DID say something about that! Those are where those Crystal Stars need to go! Well if that's the case, then I'm going to pay this place a little visit! Gwa ha ha ha!"
Pressing the red button, the teleporter was activated, and he and Kammy were transported out of Rogueport Sewers.
Space-
"Ugh… What… What happened?" the Phi leader, Gemerl, moaned as he slowly got up. Unfortunately, the place where he was was not where he expected. "Wait... This doesn't look like the Palace of Shadow! What's going on?!"
He looked down below and noticed he was standing on an asteroid. Looking up, Gemerl spotted a black sky and many stars. Nearby appeared to be a large, yellow star with a few blue rings surrounding it.
"I don't understand what's going on… Am I in space? How did I get here?" Gemerl wondered, trying to rethink what happened. "Hold on... I think I remember. I was fighting that X-Naut leader, but then he used a teleportation spell on me."
In anger, he slammed his fist on the asteroid, creating a small hole. "I was SO close to destroying that X-Naut leader! I almost had a chance! But he just had to take the cowardly path!"
As he stood back up, he heard his communicator go off. Taking out his communicator, Gemerl saw that a Master Phi was contacting him.
"Sir! We have big news and… Wait, where ARE you?"
"Don't ask, soldier," Gemerl replied. "Just tell me the news."
"All right… Well, you see, we got a location of one of the two Crystal Stars are."
Now this got Gemerl's attention. "A Crystal Star? Give me the location this instant!"
"Yes, sir!" the Master Phi nodded, though it appeared to look uncertain. "Though... There's a bit of a problem... We discovered that this star's...out in space. No specific locations in space. It just said space. At least, around a few galaxies, such as Gamble, Starland, and Nebuloc."
"In space? Hmmmm... Interesting. Coincidentally, I was brought here." Gemerl said, now grinning. "Maybe I should thank that X-Naut leader. He just helped me get closer to a Crystal Star!"
"Should I go gather up the troops?"
"Yes. Do that, and gather them up around a yellow star with a couple of bluish rings surrounding it. That's where I happen to be at the moment."
"Understood, sir!"
With that, Gemerl turned off his communicator and flew off the asteroid. "So… If that means there is a Crystal Star here, then that means Chopper will be coming here. It certainly has been quite a while since I last saw him... This is the perfect opportunity to pull off my plan and rid of that antennaed pest for good!"
At that moment, he blasted away through the stars.
Dream Land-
Everyone was out of the teleporter and out on the grassy field of Dream Land. It was all over, and everyone was relieved and happy to be out of that mess.
Well, almost everyone.
"I can't believe Clara's actually gone… That was such a disaster…" Chopper sighed taking a deep breath.
"I know it must be hard for your planet to, well, you know..." Vivian trailed.
"It's all right. I'm going to try to not make a big deal out of it. We still have to go to the Fountain of Dreams and find the next Crystal Star."
"Good luck on your quest," Silica said, waving goodbye to them before taking off. The others decided it was a good idea to take off, so they made their way to the Fountain of Dreams. Thankfully, it was not too far off, so they were able to get there in a matter of time.
"Poyo, (You know what to do,)" Kirby said, as Chopper gave him a nod and jumped on the pedestal. He held the Crystal Star above him and watched it disappear from his hands.
When the procedure was finished, Chopper finally got his hands on the map to find its next location. However, something seemed...off.
"Wait… What?" Chopper gawked, looking puzzled at a pale yellow Crystal Star located on Dream Land. It was even coming their way. "What's up with this?"
Mario: The star's coming closer!
"That's...odd," Flyer remarked. "I never thought the Crystal Star would be so close..."
"Chopper! Chopper!"
Chopper's antennae sprung up when he heard the sound of a familiar voice coming his way. There were three figures coming their way, in fact.
"Hey... Isn't that Fumu?" Berry gawked, noticing Fumu, Bun, and the Mayor approach them. When Chopper looked at the map, he saw the star get even closer.
They had eventually stopped when they were finally close enough to the heroes. Bun had approached them first, taking a pale yellow Crystal Star out.
"Wait... That's...!" Chopper gaped.
"Yeah! It's a Crystal Star!" Bun smirked. "You'll never guess where I found it!"
"Where?" Scrub asked.
"Well, a friend of ours happened to discover it in the Rainbow Coral Reef," Fumu explained. "He wanted to give it to us."
"Actually, he wanted to give it to you as a gift," Bun corrected. "But technically, I saw it first."
"Wait... Gift?" Flyer gawked.
"They decided to show me the Crystal Star, and I instantly bolted over here with them to see if you were here," the Mayor added. "And, it looks like we got here in time! The map must've showed that star coming closer, right?"
"Yeah," Vivian nodded.
"Considering how bright this star is, we decided to call it the Light Star."
"Here, take it!" Bun grinned, tossing the star to Chopper. Just like before, it circled around him, and he held it up high.
You got a Crystal Star! Now Chopper has learned the special move Pure Light!
"Thanks, guys! Boy, I didn't know that this Crystal Star was so easy to get!" Chopper smiled.
"That means there's only one Crystal Star left..." Shadower trailed.
"Why don't you show us how you find the next Crystal Star?" Bun suggested.
Chopper gave him a nod, and he quickly jumped onto the pedestal again, this time with the Light Star in hand. It disappeared, and a blue light had appeared on the fountain, showing off the nineteen Crystal Stars. The three were even more surprised to see the Magical Map float above him and glow white. Soon, it let out a light pulse.
"It feels so amazing with the other Crystal Stars surrounding you..." the Mayor gaped.
"I can't believe this is the second-to-last time we'll ever see this…" Vivian mentioned.
"I know," Chopper agreed, waiting patiently as the Magical Map revealed the next Crystal Star. On the map, many stars were revealed in the space area, and it had changed from blue to black. With a sparkle, a black Crystal Star had appeared.
When Chopper finally got his hands on the map, he was left with even more shock.
"So the last Crystal Star is a black one..." Chopper trailed. "And the map shows that the star is located in space."
"Let me see," Flyer flew up to Chopper and studied at the map. "Oh, my... The map doesn't even give a specific location!"
"A black Crystal Star, you say? Intriguing..." the Mayor remarked.
"So, what do you do when you find a Crystal Star?" Bun asked.
"Well, we go see Professor Frankly," Chopper answered. "He's not from here, but he knows a lot of stuff! Especially on the Crystal Stars!"
"Really?" Fumu perked up, seemingly interested in hearing this professor. "Perhaps I'll get a chance to meet him."
"Maybe... But right now, we gotta get going. ...And I think we should also tell him what happened to my planet..."
Whistling, Chopper leaped onto his Warp Star with his friends, and they made their exit from Pop Star. Fumu, Bun, and the Mayor decided to make their exit as well.
Frankly's house-
"Wh-What?! You speak the truth?!" Frankly gasped, shocked by the news. "Your planet was engulfed by the darkness approaching the universe? ...So we are running low on time."
"You got any idea what happened when something gets engulfed by darkness?" Tamber asked.
"Well... Things do not exactly go well. When the darkness engulfs the land, the sky turns red. Legend says that everything slowly begins to change...and not for the better."
"So... That means Clara isn't destroyed?" Chopper asked.
"Thankfully, it is not," Frankly assured. "However, it... Hrrrmmmm... I'm not exactly sure. I did know of it before, but I guess the old brain tends to forget a few things..."
"Well, it's nice to know that the planet is not destroyed," Shadower sighed. "But, I'm still worried about what will happen..."
"Now, onto the topic about the Crystal Star. So, it appears the final Crystal Star is located in the depths of space."
"There's no specific location on the star either," Flyer added.
"Hrrmmm... Then searching for that star will be no easy task. However, I suppose that makes sense, considering that it is the final Crystal Star..."
"Well, I guess we'll just have to search around with the Warp Star," Chopper shrugged.
"Poyo... (Uhhh... I don't know about that...)" Kirby trailed, getting Chopper's attention. "Poyo... (The Warp Star can't handle every space area... It's just for places that are not too far for travel...)"
"So... That means the Warp Stars will not help us then? Crud... Well, considering the short travels we made in space, I guess it makes some sense... But how do we start searching?"
"What I would do is search for a ship that is capable of flying into space with no problem," Frankly suggested. "Perhaps Dream Land would have something like that..."
"I know it sounds risky..." Scrub trailed. "But what about that Meta Knight guy? He has a ship, right?"
"But he doesn't want us going after the Crystal Stars," Berry reminded.
"Well, I think we should at least give it a try," Chopper suggested. "I mean, he has helped us in the past before..."
"Hmmmm… Well, I guess you should go see this Meta Knight if there is no other way..." Frankly trailed. "I wish you luck on finding the Crystal Star, and I hope you come back safely!"
"Thanks, Frankly!" Chopper smiled, giving him a thumbs up as he and his friends left the house. Near the house was Luigi and his group of friends. "Hey, guys! It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Yeah! It sure has!" Luigi agreed. "How's life been? Have you been taking good care of my bro, lately?"
"Uh huh!"
"Well, that's good! So… Where are you going off in a hurry?"
Mario: We need to go out into space.
"Space? Are you serious? That sounds dangerous." Luigi gawked. "You know, I once heard that if you shoot something powerful at a star, they say that you might get something special."
"Hmmmm... We'll keep that in mind." Chopper assured. "However, we gotta get going now. So… Bye, Luigi! …And friends!"
Chopper summoned his Warp Star and jumped on it, while Kirby summoned his and got on that. The heroes joined them both on their Warp Stars, and without hesitation, they headed back to Dream Land for the third time.
I'm not gonna lie, but Chapter 19 is definitely a favorite of mine in this story. The beginning might be a pretty slow start, but it definitely gets better from there. Trust me.
So... Next time, we'll be having...a rather repetitive chapter. *shot*