When the group had finally arrived at their destination, the only thing standing in their way was a yellow gate with many stars on it. The lock was also star-shaped too.
"This is the gate to Sprite City," Starlow announced, facing the group. "Only Star Sprites have access to this gate. But, luckily, I can unlock this for you! Just watch!"
Starlow threw her yellow star at the lock, opening the gate and leaving the others gaping. "Come on! Don't worry about being an outsider. We don't mind them – unless you're evil."
Everyone followed Starlow into the city, getting a view of the tall buildings surrounding them. Many ranged from gray, blue, green, and even yellow colors. Each building had at least one star on them, and the tallest building had a large, yellow star on top.
"Is it Christmas already?" Chopper asked, taking a look at the large star.
"No, you dummy. That's the Star Tower. It's the tallest building in Sprite City." Starlow explained. However, no one appeared to be listening to her, as they were too busy gazing at the city. "Oh... Yeah, this place is pretty cool, and there's a lot of interesting things you can do, too."
"That sounds nice," Flyer spoke. "But our biggest priority at the moment is finding the Dark Star."
"Yeah, that's true. Though, it wouldn't be such a bad idea to..." At that point, most of the people had gone off, leaving Chopper to sweat drop. "…get some information."
"Oh, boy... This isn't good." the Wingel frowned.
"Great... They didn't even let me finish my sentence!"
"I'll stay with you, Chopper," Vivian said, one of the only ones to not have gone off.
"Oh... Thanks!"
"Well, the others can have fun if they want," Starlow stated. "Right now, we ought to go see Starlder. He'll give us a hand on that Crystal Star!"
"Starlder? What a weird name…" Chopper mumbled as he, Vivian, and Flyer followed Starlow through the city. As they continued on through the streets, there were a couple of Star Sprites ranging from blue, green, yellow, and red staring at the four on their way.
"Hi, Starlow!"
"Hey, take a look at those people! They look cool."
"That shadow girl looks pretty cute."
"Who's the kid with the wings?"
"What's the point of those antennae?"
"Wow… We're getting some comments here, aren't we?" Chopper sweat dropped. "It feels just like the City of Flowersville..."
Starlow had come to a stop when there were two ways to go this time: one to the left and the other to the right. The others wondered why she stopped, but she appeared to be too busy looking both ways.
"OK, let's see... Which way was it again?" Starlow pondered, trying to remember the right direction. It wasn't until she suddenly remembered and pointed to the right. "This way!"
Shrugging, the three followed Starlow to the right and passed by a few shops. There was one that appeared to supply fruit, which Scrub happened to be at, and there was one buffet restaurant that Kirby was at. When they passed those, they came across a purple building up ahead. It wasn't too big, but it looked big enough to support at least one person - or Star Sprite.
"Here it is! This is where Starlder lives." Starlow informed. "Make sure you give some respect to him. He may be old, but he's not frail and weak. That, and try not to do anything stupid..."
"Well, at least Tamber's not here," Chopper said, hitting the Save Block and then walking into the house with his friends.
Chocolate Store-
Near Starlder's house, Bombette and Berry had stopped by the chocolate store, which provided many forms of chocolate, such as dark chocolate, white chocolate, and even chocolate with nuts. More importantly, the chocolate came in different shapes.
"Oh, man... I never thought I'd ever see a chocolate store here..." Berry gaped, drooling over the many sorts of chocolate.
"What are you, in love with chocolate?" Bombette joked, making Berry give her an annoyed look.
"Yes, I just love to go around hugging chocolate. In fact, I would love to marry it..."
"You know I was joking... Oh, whatever. You can go get some chocolate if you want."
"All right. ...Wait, you don't want any?" Berry asked.
"I don't have a mouth... How else am I supposed to have chocolate?" Bombette questioned.
"Oh. Fair enough." Berry entered the building with the pink Bob-omb. The tiles in the store were both brown and white, resembling the color of chocolate, just like the walls. The Star Sprite salesman was also a chocolate brown and had a mustache and a salesman hat.
"Why, hello there, missies! How are you doing today?" the salesclerk asked, his attention mostly toward Bombette. "The name's Chocostar. I sell lots of chocolate here!"
"Uhh… Hello to you too?" Bombette gawked, noticing the look Chocostar gave her. "What's up with you?"
Meanwhile, Berry had checked her inventory for any coins. Unfortunately, she noticed she didn't have any coins. "Dang it! I don't even have money! I guess this is what it's like to be a partner of the main hero."
"Oh, don't worry, I have no problem providing chocolate for you. Of course, I'd want something in return from your friend." Chocostar informed, giving Bombette a flirty look. "Tell me, pink beauty, what's your name?"
"Errrr... Why?" Bombette asked.
"I just wanna know your name, that's all."
"OK... It's Bombette."
"Well, Bombette... You're perhaps the most beautiful thing I've laid my eyes on." Chocostar said in a cheesy, romantic tone that made the two girls cringe. "I am willing you give you free chocolate in exchange for a kiss. ...And maybe even a date."
"In your dreams!" Bombette gagged.
"Come on, Bombette. I wouldn't mind getting some free choc-"
"That's it. We're leaving." the Bob-omb declared, dragging Berry out of the store, leaving Chocostar all by himself.
"...She'll be back. I know it." Chocostar said confidently.
Streets-
"Hey! Give me back my burrito!" Tamber yelled, chasing a blue Star Sprite kid around the streets. The kid appeared to be holding a burrito, and he stuck his tongue out at Tamber
"Nyah nyah! You can't catch me, slowpoke!" the Star Sprite taunted, flying up one of the buildings.
"Gah! Get back here you… You stupid thing!" Tamber growled, looking up at the kid angrily. "Argh! He took my burrito! I was in line before him! ...Even if I did cut. But I can't get up here without... Oh, wait, I can."
Attaching his fists to the building, he started to make his way up to the top of the building.
"I'm going to get you… And I'm going to make you pay for messing with me, just like I tried doing with that gumball and his friends before!"
As the Star Sprite flew, he looked down to laugh at Tamber's inability to keep up with him. His confident look, however, had changed to one of shock when he saw Tamber getting closer.
"Eep! He's actually catching up!" the kid gulped. It wasn't until he reached the top he was grabbed by the star by Tamber.
"You're not going anywhere, kid! Gimme back my burrito and no one gets hurt!" Tamber grinned as he held the kid tight. However, he didn't see any burrito in sight. "Hey... Where'd it go?"
"In my tummy."
"WHAT?! Dang it! I HATE you!"
In anger, the brown furball threw the Star Sprite off the building. Since Star Sprites could fly, this was not a major issue, and the kid managed to land safely. Tamber grumbled and started to glide off the building.
"Freaks... They think they can take what's rightfully mine."
Over by binoculars-
Back on the ground, Mario and Sonic had decided to go over to the binoculars in order to get a good view of outside the city. That, and maybe it could help them get an idea of where the final Crystal Star was.
"I hope Chopper doesn't mind us splitting for a bit," Sonic said, looking at the binoculars. "It says here that you need one coin to use this. ...Though, I only carry rings."
Mario: Allow me!
Mario pulled out a coin and put it in the coin slot. He decided to check what was outside of the city through them, and to his surprise, he saw a floating facility far ahead from the city.
"What is it, Mario? You found something?" Sonic asked. Mario offered Sonic a look through the binoculars, and he had spotted the facility. "Whoa… We need to tell the others about this! Maybe that could be where the Crystal Star is!"
Mario: Let's hope...
With that, they decided to search around the city to find the others, specifically Chopper.
Starlder's house-
"Hello yellow, Starlder!" Starlow shouted as they entered inside. It was a purple color with a staircase not too far up ahead. "There are some people who are really interested in seeing you!"
"Whuzzat? Who just entered my house?" an old fart that appeared violent in color slowly came down from the stairs. He had thick, gray eyebrows that covered his eyes, and a bushy, gray mustache. Unfortunately, going down the stairs took a while, due to being 104 years old.
"Oh, geez... These kind of old people..." Chopper mumbled.
After five minutes, Starlder managed to make his way to the group. "Errrr… Now… Who're you? I've never seen your face before, you yellow…whatever the heck you are."
"Wait, what?!" Starlow gawked, realizing Starlder was referring to her. "It's Starlow! STARLOW!"
"Oh... Starlow! My apologies... My brain isn't exactly working at this moment... What brings you here?"
"These three are looking for something called the Crystal Star. Considering your knowledge, we decided to come to you."
"These youngsters? Hmmmm..." Starlder took a good look at them. "Well, they do appear fit. But the question remains... Can they do it?"
"Do what?" Chopper asked.
"Well, I would say that I have the Crystal Star with me... But, I ended up losing that dang thing. Yes, I'm sure it's somewhere out there in space."
"How'd you lose it, though?" Vivian wondered.
"Well, you can blame that on those monsters out there! Particularly this one, big freak wrapped up in some cape. Lemme tell you! He was pretty freaky! He has a thing for nightmares, that's for sure!"
"Great... So we don't have much of an idea of where it is..." Flyer sighed. "I suppose our only chance would to be to search outside the city."
"With those monsters out there?!" Starlder gaped. "Well, if you're planning on leaving, close the gate on your way. We don't need monsters invading this place, nor do we even need them invading Starlite Galaxy."
"I'll keep that in mind," Starlow assured.
"Hrrmmm..." Starlder pondered. "You know, this brings me back to the old days when I was just like you fellows, going on adventures and getting all the ladies-"
"Hey! Chopper!"
The voice Chopper heard caught his attention, and turning around, he spotted Mario and Sonic running into the house. Mario had started panting, while Sonic looked like he was barely fazed.
"Mario? Sonic? Boy, am I glad to see you guys!" Chopper smiled.
"We've looked everywhere for you, but we were told you were here," Sonic explained. "Anyway, we found something interesting."
"You did? What was it?"
Mario started to explain what they had found through some binoculars. After his explanation was finished, Chopper, Vivian, and Flyer were surprised.
"You say there's a facility outside of this city?" Flyer turned to Starlow and Starlder. "Do you guys know of this facility?"
"Facility? Errrr… I'm not exactly sure…" Starlder trailed. Fortunately, his memory was beginning to come back, and light bulb had appeared over his head. "Oh! I DO remember! You see, there's a testing laboratory in the facility. That place is being powered up by some kind of mysterious dark object."
"That could be the Dark Star..." Vivian realized.
"You just need to take the Star Rail there," Starlow informed. "C'mon, I'll take you there! Just...gather up your friends, OK?"
"All right... Well, we better start looking..." Chopper sighed. "Let's just hope everyone's not too far."
By the gate-
Thankfully, most of the group had shown up at the other gate leading out of the city. The only people who had not shown up were Bombette, Berry, and Tamber. Many of them were growing impatient, especially Chopper.
"Come on… We don't have all day..." Chopper mumbled.
Tamber was the first to make it to the gate. His mouth was covered in chili, to Sonic's surprise.
"What's with the chili?" Sonic asked.
"Well… Uh… I had to, well… Some jerk stole my burrito, so I had to force him into giving me another. And thankfully, it worked." Tamber grinned, eyeing his fists.
"Don't tell me you hurt the kid..." Flyer trailed. "You should know that violence won't get you anywhere."
"Too bad it did."
"Maybe if you were more respectable, then maybe things wouldn't be so tough on you," Shadower informed, leaving Tamber to pout.
Up ahead, they took notice of two more familiar figures. One appeared to be annoyed, while the other sounded like she was convincing the first figure to go back. When they got closer, the group knew it was Bombette and Berry.
"Yeesh! Where were you guys?" Scrub asked.
"The chocolate store," Berry answered. "We could've gotten free chocolate, but-"
"We're done with this conversation," Bombette cut off, approaching the gate. "Let's get out of here so I don't have to go into this place again."
"Poyo? (What's with her?)" Kirby whispered.
"Let's just say we met this...guy," Berry whispered back.
"Looks like everyone's here," Starlow noticed, taking a look at the group. She turned to the gate and unlocked it. "All righty! Just make sure you're safe while on the Star Rail. There are a few obstacles that might get in your way."
"Wait... Not all of us can use the rail, though." Flyer reminded.
"Oh, right! Let me get to that!" Starlow used the star on her head to create a starry road for anyone who couldn't take the rail. "There you go! Now you're all set! ...Though, this road is only temporary, mind you."
"Don't worry about that," Sonic smirked. "We won't need to take up a lot of time for this!"
"All right. Good luck on your quest!" And with that, Starlow headed back into the city, closing and locking the gate in the process. Now only the eleven heroes remained, along with a facility up ahead.
"All right! We know what to do!" Chopper smiled, leaping onto the rail and taking off. Berry and Sonic had gotten on the rail as well and started to make their way. The rails were very bright and yellow, and a small trail of stars had been left from grinding on the rails instead of normal sparks.
"This is interesting," Berry commented, spotting the star sparks.
"I wonder if I could make these rails brighter with my light energy..." Chopper wondered, pointing a finger at the rails.
"Errrr... Probably not the best idea, considering that it could blind us all..."
"Bleh… This is a little boring to me…" Tamber groaned while he and the others walked on the pathway created. "How come they get to go faster while we have to go at a slower pace?"
"For once, I agree," Shadower said. "However, complaining about it isn't going to make it any faster."
"Fine. I've got my own plan." Rather than run on the pathway, he decided to start gliding, which helped him get closer to the ones on the rails. Flyer had decided to take flight and make it easier for him as well.
For Chopper, he had taken the time to enjoy the ride, especially since he got a view of the sky and the bright rail. Unfortunately, his view had not lasted very long when a group of Dark Matter came flying in his direction. He gaped and jumped on another grinding rail to avoid them.
"Uh oh... There's some Dark Matter here." Chopper warned.
"Dang... Well, so much for this being a smooth ride..." Sonic jumped on to another rail when one Dark Matter was coming straight at him. "But too bad these guys are too slow for me!"
The three continued to dodge the Dark Matter charging and firing projectiles at them. Some had tried to attack the others, but they had no problem getting away from them either. In fact, Tamber had managed to punch one while in midair still.
However, it wasn't until a Dark Matter had appeared before them.
"Dark Matter again? This is going to be easy!" Scrub declared.
Dark Matter had flown in front of Chopper, suddenly transforming into a swordsman-like being with pointy, black hair, a gray cloak with a blue plate, and a single eye. Not only that, but a sword had materialized into its hand.
"Oh... Well this is new..." Chopper trailed.
"Get ready, Chopper," Flyer suggested. "This new form doesn't look like it's going to go down easily."
Tattle: That's Dark Matter...or rather, Dark Matter Blade. This one appears to resemble a swordsman rather than a freaky blob. Personally, I think it's for the better. Max HP is 120, Attack is 16, and Defense is 6. This thing will shoot dark globs of energy from its eye at you, or it will swing that sword too. It's definitely a lot stronger than the previous Dark Matter you've faced, so I'd be careful if I were you, Chopper..."
"Oh, boy... A mini-boss with that kind of defense is not good." Chopper frowned as he aimed the palm of his hand at Dark Matter Blade. "Well, at least my light energy can handle this!"
He fired a light ball at Dark Matter Blade, resulting in the swordsman-like being wincing in pain. Flyer decided to make the next hit, flying toward Dark Matter Blade and hitting it in the eye. Unfortunately, the Wingel did not see Dark Matter Blade fire a small, dark laser from its eye in his direction, knocking him back.
"Are you all right?" Chopper asked.
"Don't worry. I'm fine." Flyer assured. "And... Try not to get worried over that, OK? I made too much of a big deal over that... Anyway, give that thing some of your light power!"
"I'm on it!" Chopper threw another ball of light energy at Dark Matter Blade, taking another 10 out of the dark warrior, followed up by Sonic's Homing Attack, slightly knocking it back.
"Well, that didn't do too much... Dang." Sonic frowned, jumping onto another rail when Dark Matter Blade tried to swing its sword at him. "You missed!"
"And that's a good thing," Chopper added, throwing another light ball at Dark Matter Blade. Shadower decided to help out by hitting it with a Shadow Punch. Unfortunately, its defense was not down to 0, but at 1.
"Dang... I was hoping I'd reduce its defense to 0, but I don't think that's happening." Shadower sweat dropped. "Sorry about that, Chopper."
"It's all right. We can still at least deal some good damage." Chopper said before getting hit by Dark Matter Blade's sword. He decided to take action by hitting Dark Matter Blade with a Light Stomp, taking 10 out of it, while Scrub laid a Mega Egg and threw it at Dark Matter Blade, bringing it down to 50 HP.
"Yeah! Now he's down to 50 HP!" Scrub grinned. "This is easy!"
"Well... We better end this quick, because the road is starting to disappear..." Bombette warned, looking behind her. Everyone had done that as well, and their eyes had widened in shock.
Mario: Uh oh...
After Dark Matter had fired a sword beam from its weapon, Chopper threw another light ball at it, knocking it slightly back and leaving it blind. With that this helped Vivian punch Dark Matter Blade with her Shade Fist and leave a burn on it.
"Nice! With it blind, it can't make its move!" Sonic grinned.
"Yup," Chopper nodded, striking the dark being with another light ball after it took damage from being burned. "This is pretty easy! And that's not something we've said in a while!"
Dark Matter Blade regained its sight after Mario had hit it with a Super Jump, and it fired a dark beam at Chopper. Bringing his arms up, he managed to guard the attack, and then he went back to hitting Dark Matter Blade with another light ball, bringing it to 4 HP.
"Poyo! (I call finishing it off!)" Kirby called out, performing a Cartwheel. With that, Dark Matter Blade had transformed back to its previous state and exploded, dropping Star Points and also giving Chopper a level up to raise his FP to 190.
"Well, that takes care of that," Chopper smiled, noticing something up ahead. "Hey, is that an asteroid?"
"Yeah, it is!" Sonic noticed. "And there's a sign!"
"Then it looks like we're getting closer," Flyer said.
Once they made it to the asteroid, Chopper jumped off the rail and hit the Save Block nearby. Unfortunately, at this point, they knew that they were going to be going back into danger territory.
"Looks like the starry path we took is gone," Vivian said, looking behind her to see the road fade away. "There's no going back now..."
"But look on the bright side! We're right in front of the facility!" Sonic smiled, pointing to said facility up ahead by a starry pathway.
Mario: Let's hope the Crystal Star's in there.
"Yeah, we got this in the bag!" Scrub fist pumped.
"Let's get a move on!" Chopper smiled, making his way toward the facility ahead. Unfortunately, he only had time to make at least three steps when a white spherical-shaped figure with a red eye had made its appearance in front of him. He found himself surprised as he quickly stepped back. "Huh? What's that thing?"
"Poyo... (Zero...)" Kirby answered. "Poyo... (I didn't think I'd see this thing again...)"
"Zero? OK..."
"So the leader decides to show his face once again?" Sonic smirked. "Well, then this should be interesting!"
Zero looked down at Chopper and the group with hatred in its eye. It fired a projectile made of red energy from around its eye, which the group luckily dodged in time and got in a fighting stance.
"All right, if you want to fight, then I guess we have no other choice..." Chopper trailed.
Tattle: That's Zero. Yeah, that's its name. Very original… Max HP is 320, Attack is 17, and Defense is 1. This thing will usually fire red projectiles from around its eye, and Zero can summon some Dark Matter at you. However, these are much smaller than the previous ones you've fought, so don't worry about them. I've heard many rumors about this thing being creepy... But I'm not seeing it. Is it the eye?
"320 HP? Wow. That's not as much as Rawk Hawk and Meta Knight. Maybe this might not be too hard…" Chopper aimed his hand at Zero and shot a light ball at the white spherical monster. Though it wasn't as effective as it was against Dark Matter, it did manage to make it cringe.
"Even if your light powers may not be as powerful against this thing, I do hypothesize that this fight may not be too difficult without it," Flyer informed as he flew over to Zero and struck him it with a Flying Attack. Particularly, the eye.
Zero had struck Chopper with a red glob of energy that it fired, nearly knocking him back. That did not stop him from approaching Zero and hitting it with his hammer. Sonic had gotten in a ball and hit Zero in the eye with a Spin Dash, performing a stylish move in the process.
"Ha! How'd you like tha-" Before Sonic could finish his breakdance, Zero had fired another red projectile, but this time at Sonic. He barely had time to guard it, and he was knocked back to the others. "Yeesh... Sometimes I wonder why I brag too much..."
"Maybe because you're too overconfident?" Shadower shrugged.
"Maaaaaaaybe... But that's what makes me me!"
"And it makes you pretty annoying," Tamber mentioned before he punched Zero in the eye. It quickly shut its eye in pain, but it was able to open again and give Tamber a glare. He proceeded to taunt it. Once Chopper hit Zero with his hammer, the enemy summoned a miniature Dark Matter to strike the brown furball. "Ow! Why'd it attack me?!"
"It's pretty obvious..." Vivian trailed.
"Anyway, let's try out my Paint ability," Chopper decided, changing to his Paint ability. He ran up to Zero and covered it in red paint, leaving it scorched, along with a burn. "Huh... So red paint can set enemies on fire? That's...neat!"
"Poyo! (I like that too!)" Kirby agreed, approaching Zero and using his Final Cutter to take 12 out of it and bring it to 242 HP. Zero turned to Kirby and summoned a small Dark Matter to fire at him. Kirby had managed to guard it and only take 16 damage instead.
"I don't know why, but I seriously do not like the look of this thing," Bombette remarked. "Goombella said something about those projectiles being like..."
"Ehhh... Who cares? It's not like it's a big deal." Chopper assured, hitting Zero with a Power Jump. It started to cringe once Berry's Ruby Hammer had managed to hurt it.
"Weird... Looks like Zero did not like my hammer..." Berry trailed.
"Poyo, (It would make sense from the damage we're doing,)" Kirby added.
Zero brought its attention to Chopper and, after narrowing its eye at him, it fired another red glob of energy at him. He guarded it and then tossed an ice ball at it. Mario stomped on Zero with a Super Jump afterward, performing a stylish move to gain some Star Power. Zero decided to try another move and flew over the group and into the background.
"What the heck is that thing doing?" Scrub asked.
When Zero faced the group, it started firing multiple red globs in their direction. Everyone brought their guard up, preparing to take the hits and only suffering 16 damage.
"OK... That was interesting..." Chopper trailed, looking at his paintbrush with a smirk. "Let's see how he likes white paint!"
When he painted Zero white, it didn't seem to make too much of a difference. After all, it was white. Regardless of that, it did 9 damage. Scrub's Mega Egg, however, managed to reduce Zero to 178 HP.
Zero closed its eye for a moment, and once it opened, it had flashed and created a red pulse attack that was able to not only paralyze Mario, but it also made Sonic fall asleep. Luckily for the others, they were not struck by any status effect.
"Poyo! (I can't believe it managed to do that to Mario and Sonic!)" Kirby gasped.
Chopper whipped out his yellow paint and began to swung his brush at it. This painted Zero yellow, which was basically electrical paint. Unfortunately, it didn't paralyze their enemy. Chopper then looked over at Sonic.
"Can someone try to wake up Sonic?" Chopper asked, with Shadower nudging the hedgehog to wake him. Sadly there was no response. "Dang it! If only this wasn't turn-based..."
"Yeah... Anyway, I'm attacking." Berry stated, pulling her hammer out and bringing it down on Zero. Like before, Zero did not like the pain, and summoned many miniature Dark Matter at them. Luckily, they guarded them, and Shadower even managed to lower its defense with a Shadow Punch.
"Give it a good Gravity Jump on that...whatever it is, all right?" Shadower suggested.
"Good idea!" Chopper agreed, making a huge jump in the air. Since his shoes negated the gravity around them, he had no issues with the attack and did 30 damage to Zero. Of course, he couldn't help but look at the beautiful, starry sky. "Man... I can't help but look at the sky!"
Unfortunately, his distraction also led to Zero shooting a red glob at him.
"...I should really pay more attention."
Getting his paint ready, he started to paint Zero blue instead. It had a water-like effect, though it didn't seem to do too much to it. What was also nice was that Mario and Sonic were back into action.
"Nice! This is what I'm talkin' about!" Sonic smiled, hitting Zero with a Spin Dash. Even though Zero was only left with 101 HP, it wasn't going to stop it from fighting. It fired a red laser from its eye at Chopper, who managed to Superguard it and take no damage.
Mario: This is intense!
"Maybe it's 'bout time I performed a Homing Attack on this...thing," Sonic declared, striking Zero with said attack. Chopper looked at his paintbrush for a moment and then his hammer. He finally decided to throw his hammer at Zero and take 10 out of it - at the cost of getting hit by one of Zero's mini Dark Matters.
"Ack! Stupid Dark Matter things!" Chopper yelled, knocking it away before throwing another light ball. Kirby had followed up with his Final Cutter, bringing the enemy to 61 HP.
Zero's eye flashed again as it fired another red pulse at everyone. Everyone else but Chopper had guarded the attack, knocking his Paint ability, to his dismay.
"There goes your ability..." Bombette noticed.
"Yeah... But, it's almost over." Chopper reminded deciding to go with light energy, which took another 9 out of Zero.
"Yeah, you're right," Flyer agreed, striking Zero with a Flying Attack. Zero summoned more mini Dark Matters and fired them at group, which managed to hurt everyone. Chopper had thrown his hammer at their opponent, and once Tamber threw in a Power Punch, Zero was down to 19 HP.
"If we use a powerful attack next turn, we've got this!" Tamber grinned.
Despite this, Zero was not going to stop attacking. More red globs fired from around its eye and hit Chopper. While he shook that off, Bombette used her Bomb and reduced it to 10 HP.
"Go for it, Chopper," Bombette said.
"Right!" Chopper nodded, charging up a ball of light energy. "All right, Zero! This is for trying to destroy me!"
When the light ball struck Zero, a shining light had suddenly enveloped from inside it.
"All right! We did it! You're the MAN, Contadre!" Scrub cheered.
Unfortunately, their victory came to a halt when they looked back at Zero. Rather than exploding, Zero's body around its eye began to form red cracks, and then the eye had ended up tearing away from the body, leaving trails of red globs behind. Everyone was left agape when they saw the interior of Zero's body appear red before it had exploded.
At this point, they realized that the red globs Zero fired may have been more than just projectiles...
"Whoa... Take a look at THAT." Scrub gaped.
"That...was disturbing," Flyer gawked, the rest appearing speechless.
Tattle: That's Zero's eye. Oh, man... Did you just see what I saw?! That's not just the definition of gross, but it's also going to give me nightmares! Max HP is 100, Attack is 16, and Defense is 0. Despite how it tore away from its body, there's really not much to this thing. It only has one attack... Well, I guess you can wrap this up quickly, Chopper.
"OK, let's try to beat this thing down before it does anything else…" Chopper started off by stomping on Zero's eye, while Vivian's Shade Fist already brought it down to 80 HP.
"Well, at least we did 20 damage from the start," Vivian mentioned.
"Uh huh."
Zero's eye shot another red glob at Chopper, but he quickly guarded the attack. With that, he jumped on the eye and performed a stylish move.
"I call making the next move!" Scrub fluttered over to Zero's eye and damaged it with his Ground Pound. Unfortunately, he got struck by the eye's projectile. "Hey, Contadre, do you think this thing is shooting what I think it is?"
"I don't know..." Chopper trailed. "To me, it looks just like a projectile."
"Wha... Oh, never mind." the Yoshi let out a huff as Chopper and Mario stomped on Zero's eye. Since Mario was the last to attack, it was he who had gotten hit by Zero, but he managed to Superguard it with ease.
After Chopper's Spring Jump, Berry hit the eye with her Ruby Throw, reducing it to 10 HP.
"One more attack, and this thing's finished!" Berry smiled. "Thank goodness..."
After Berry guarded Zero's projectile, Scrub had volunteered to make the final move, so he fluttered above Zero's eye and performed a Ground Pound. That last hit had made Zero's eye shake and then explode, giving Chopper enough Star Points to upgrade his BP to 114.
"Well... That was...anticlimactic..." Flyer commented.
"I know! I didn't even get a chance to attack that thing!" Tamber complained. "Good going, Gumball!"
"What? What'd I do?" Chopper gawked.
"You... You gumballs ruin everything!"
"Oh, for goodness sake... These types of childish arguments are so pointless..." Flyer sighed.
With that out of the way, Chopper had turned his attention to the facility up ahead. "OK... Now that Zero's out of the way, let's go in here before anything else happens."
Agreeing, everyone had taken the starry path ahead into the facility, hoping to claim the Dark Star and save the universe once and for all.
Here's a little interesting trivia: there was a lot more blood with Zero in this fight originally. However, back then I didn't pay as much attention to being more true to Paper Mario and decided to throw in that so-called "edginess" into Zero. Good thing I know better! *shot*
So, next chapter is when Chapter 19 ends, right? ...Riiiight?