"Ugh… I can't believe those heroes! I lost to them AGAIN!" Dark growled as he injected himself with a medicine that allows him to heal himself. His room was a bit of a grayish color and on the walls, there were heads of many paladins he killed. He even had a closet full of their weapons as well, which was something he collected often. However, Dark wasn't in a good mood at this moment, due to the loss against the heroes.

"And as for Knightmare… Well now that he's out of the way, I think it makes this palace a bit…safer. Tipral didn't even trust him either! That's how much unsafe we felt with him around! But… It was to help outnumber the heroes…"

"I have annoyance! Why is Fawful hearing the singing of loudness?! It makes Fawful's ears bleed like howling monkeys!" From what Dark could hear, Fawful was getting irritated by some singing.

"Who's singing?! It's really annoying me!" Now that voice sounded just like Mimi. That girlish voice was pretty obvious for Dark.

"Hey! Can't someone stop with the singing already?" Mr. L growled. "I'm trying to fix up a new Brobot here! …And why does that singing sound just like O'Chunks anyway? Did you sign up for an opera?"

"Ugh… Now they're making it WORSE!" Dark growled as he slammed his door open. "Will you people SHUT UP?! You're not making it any better with all the whining!"

"It's obvious that O'Chunks is singing a little song," Dimentio chuckled as he appeared in the room. He seemed to be holding something with him, though. It looked like…a pink diary.

"Dimentio! What's that you're holding?!" Mimi exclaimed. She was wearing a pink dress and a crown to resemble a princess. "Is that my diary you were just reading earlier?!"

"Ah ha ha. What exactly are you talking about, Mimikins?" the jester put the book behind him and with a snap of his finger, it disappeared. He even showed that he had nothing with him. "See? I don't have anything in my hands!"

"Heh! So the girl's all dressed up to be a spoiled princess, is that how it is?" Mr. L snickered, looking at Mimi's outfit. "You really have made your title as a grade A junior!"

"Say that again and my fist is going to be in your face, meanie-head!" Mimi retorted, bringing her stick hand over to Mr. L's face.

"Pbbbbbbbbth! You honestly think you're going to punch me with THAT kind of hand? Yeah, right!"

"I have chortles! Pigtails lacks the fury to hurt the mustache," Fawful cackled annoyingly. "However, the mustache lacks the fury of the hitting of Fawful! Nyeah heh heh heh!"

"Hey! How dare you mock my mustache?!" Mr. L growled.

As they all continued to argue, Tipral came out of his room with a dark aura around him. Everyone froze for a second and looked at the evil being. He certainly looked like he was irritated.

"ENOUGH with the arguing already!" Tipral boomed. "I'm busy looking through the Dark Prognosticus, and it doesn't help that YOU people are arguing over NOTHING! SHUT UP!"

However, Mimi simply zipped over to Tipral and gave a sad look. "Oh, Tippy! These dummies were being SO annoying! I was trying to get them to stop, but they wouldn't listen to me!"

"Mimi, that trick won't work on me. Now tell me WHY you people are arguing in the first place."

"I have hearing," Fawful explained. "Fawful was busy with his chortles until the singing had the coming! Midbus is having annoyance, just like Fawful! It just won't have leaving!"

"Yeah, he explained it all," Dark said with a confused look. "And I had to get rid of Knightmare because he was finding out who he really was."

"Is that so? I see…" Tipral said while folding his arms. "Well, sometimes some minions have to go… He won't be a problem for us anymore. Those Computernoids won't be any problem either."

"Tell me, Tipral… Without the Computernoids, wouldn't the internet be a dangerous place to explore?" Dimentio asked. "They were the only security through the internet. Even villains would need them."

"We barely use the internet, so it's not a big deal for us," However, Tipral paused when he heard some singing. "Where is that singing coming from?"

Meeting room-

"Raise yer chunks in the air, as the most debonair man o' men strides into the room! Springin' forth from 'is lair as 'is foes all despair, for Tipral be the name o' their doom! Whoa-OH! That's our Tipral! Tipity, Tipity DOOOO! Yeh, uh…something Tipral… That's the guy who says…"

O'Chunks collapsed onto the ground, finishing his song with "Woo?"

"So THIS is where the singing was coming from!" Mimi teleported into the room with an angry look on her face. "Will you QUIT it, O'Chunks?! It's like you're breaking windows! Why are you yelling?!"

"Oh, that? Yeah, I just had O'Chunks come up with a nice motivational tune. Since he lost to those heroes AGAIN, I had to give him another punishment, such as making him sing that song 1,000 times."

"1,000… 1,000 times?! Gosh, you're more evil than I thought you were! And that's saying something!"

Everyone else appeared in the room and looked at the exhausted O'Chunks. They decided to NOT even ask any questions about what O'Chunks was doing. Plus, he was too tired to answer.

"Knightmare hasn't returned lately," Nastasia informed. "Was it because he was starting to find out who he really was?"

"Yes, we had to dispose of him," Dark nodded while wrapping himself with his cape. "He shouldn't be a problem for us anymore. Unfortunately… Those heroes managed to grab the Pure Heart."

"Then… Can you send me out to take care of them, Tippy? Please?" Mimi asked as she softened her eyes at Tipral.

"That's not necessary," Tipral said. "I don't need to send anyone out for now. There's only one more thing that I need in order to bring back The Void… It's something that I could've used instead of those people's dreams, but since those people are with Chopper, I fear that it won't be easy to get them this time."

"Wh-What?! I can't go out and stomp those heroes?!" Mr. L gaped. "That's so l-ame!"

"But how will you have the creating of The Void? What is the needing?" Fawful asked. "I lack the patience like a puppy wanting horse radish!"

"Fine… I might as well tell you what I need. But I can't say it out loud." All of the minions walked close to him as Tipral mumbled what he needed to resurrect The Void. Everyone seemed a bit surprised.

"Golly, well that seems difficult to get," Mimi gawked.

"Man, I can't believe it's going to take that to bring back The Void," Mr. L gaped. "I don't think I would be able to get something like THAT."

"Yes, judging from what I've seen, this won't be an easy task for me…" Tipral trailed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go."

Tipral teleported out of the room, leaving only his minions in the meeting room. "Ah, that is something that I'm not sure I would be able to do," Dimentio said as he grinned.

"You're a magician. You would probably know how to." Dark noted.

"True, but even with some magic, it doesn't completely work on them. But, if Tipral manages to succeed…all the better!" the last thing they heard was Dimentio's cackling as he teleported out of the room.

"What's 'is beef?" O'Chunks asked, still tired.

"I don't know… But let's hope he doesn't pull another betrayal on us like last time…" Nastasia trailed. "Now let's get back to our rooms, 'K?"

With that, they left the meeting room and returned to their own rooms. Where did Dimentio go? Well, nobody knew at the moment.

Overthere Stair-

"Oh, my sweet, sweet Luvbi… Why didst thou have to fall in love with such a pale green boy such as that puffball?" the depressed Nimbi, Wenbi, sniffled as he settled over by one of the trees. He was sitting by the tree that had the Golden Apple (the place where Kirby was asleep).

"I wish there was a way to changeth all of this, but alas, I dost not have the ability to dost that," Wenbi picked up the Golden Apple and brought it close to his mouth. "The only thing I can dost…is to falleth into a deep sleep. No one will knoweth my existence then…"

"Did you say something about a boy getting in the way of your love?"

Wenbi paused for a minute and looked over by the cloud up ahead. The dark wizard, Shade Doom, dressed in his cloak, jumped over to Wenbi's cloud and walked over to him, followed by his Necromancer.

"Thou… Thou art the dark wizard that hath invaded mine home! What art thou doing hither?!"

"Relax, Nimbi. I'm not here to hurt you." Shade grinned while looking at the Nimbi with his glowing eyes under his hood. "I just heard that you had a little problem with a certain pale green boy, is that correct?"

"Yea, verily! He hast taken away mine one true love, Luvbi! I even made love letters for her, but she fell in love with HIM!"

"Master Shade, what do we suggest we do?" the Necromancer asked.

"Pipe down, Necromancer. I know what I'm doing." Shade shushed as he brought his attention back to Wenbi. "I believe I can help you with your little problem. However, I ask for something in return."

"What dost thou want from me? I'll do anything to get back my true love!"

"Well, I'll let you have your princess…but you must join me and become my apprentice!" Shade brought his hood down to reveal his face to Wenbi, also revealing the sun on his crescent blade glowing. "If you become my apprentice, I can give you ANYTHING you desire! I have the dark magic that lets me do such a thing. I could even make you into a dark wizard like myself! With that, you'll be able to destroy Chopper!"

"Pray, why shouldst I dost that? I dost not want to hurt anybody…"

"Well, then I might as well just leave you here alone…" Shade turned away from Wenbi and brought his hood back up. "Come, Necromancer! Let's just leave this pathetic whelp to sleep for hundreds of years."

"Wait! Don't leave me hither! I'll… I'll help thee!" Wenbi begged. "I doth want Luvbi, but I doth remember that I wanted to maketh Chopper pay…"

"Ah! So you wish to join me for real? Excellent!" Shade grinned while turning back to him. "I'll make you the greatest apprentice that I'd ever have! …Or rather, probably the only one. I'll make sure you're the best of my entire army too!"

"Wait… So this means you're going to ignore me?" the Necromancer asked, giving Shade puppy-like eyes.

"Oh, shut up, Necromancer."

With that, the three left The Overthere in hopes to get their revenge on Chopper and the heroes. Shade had a disturbing grin on his face, with his plan nearly completed.

Flopside Tower-

"Man… That was one of the most intense fights I think I've ever gone through…" Chopper realized as they walked out of the red orange door. They noticed the red orange crystal heart that appeared over the door.

"Those Computernoids were very helpful to us," Timpani said. "I can't believe they did all of that just to help us get the Pure Heart. It's so sad that they were all exterminated by Tipral…"

"Yeah, I think he did take it way too far," Sonic agreed. "However, they would probably want us to bring this to the next Heart Pillar, so I think it would be best if we did that."

When they took the elevator down to the second floor, they happened to see Vivian speaking to Nolrem. Chopper's antennae instantly sprung up when Vivian's head turned to Chopper.

"Chopper! There you are!" she flew over to Chopper with a smile. "I was hoping you would get here back in time! I kind of felt a little lonely with everyone else…"

"Really? How come you didn't speak to anyone?" Blade asked.

"Well, it's because I didn't know what to say to them," Vivian responded. "It would've been a lot better if I went and saw you for a bit. Nolrem was just talking about the Dark and Light Prognosticus."

"Interesting… Well, we got this!" Chopper showed the red orange Pure Heart to Vivian. She gazed at it and smiled.

"It's really pretty."

"Yeah, it sure is. Although, that white one we got from The Overthere was pretty…" Sonic paused for a minute. "Hold on a second… That was Luvbi that was once a Pure Heart! And we all know how she is…"

"Who's Luvbi?"

"You probably wouldn't wanna know…" Chopper groaned. "So, Nolrem… Should we place the Pure Heart in its Heart Pillar at the moment and then go back to Merlon's house?"

"I would suggest that," Nolrem nodded. "After all, it's better to get the Pure Heart over with first."

"Excellent," Chopper was about to go, but Vivian grabbed his arm. "Vivian? What are you doing?"

"Would it be all right if I came to see the Heart Pillar?"

"Poyo? (Is it all right if she came with us?)" Kirby asked, getting in front of Chopper.

"Oh... OK! I guess you can come, Vivian!" Chopper nodded.

"Really? Thanks!" Vivian smiled. "I was just a little curious, that's all."

"Just make sure you can keep up with us," Blade noted.

Flopside B1 Outskirts-

"What the… I don't think I've seen this area before." Sonic gawked as they walked out of the pipe. Vivian was the last one to come out, and she looked around the whole area and gaped.

"This place is really interesting," she commented.

"Poyo? (Have we been here before?)" Kirby asked.

"I don't think you guys have, but I sure have," Chopper confirmed. "It's after Tipral and I agreed to work together to get back to his castle. However, he's not with us anymore, so it doesn't really matter at this moment."

"Wait a minute… I think one of those stained glass windows look a little…different." Luigi realized, pointing to the closest one. "I think you should flip into 3-D and see what's there."

"I think it's a good idea," Blumiere agreed.

Chopper decided to flip into 3-D and, to his surprise, he DID see something strange. He was able to go right through that door and find a pathway moving up. Apparently there was a little secret behind the wall where they came out of the pipe.

After going back into 2-D, he noticed there was a Heart Pillar in front of him. "There we go! That's what I was looking for! Now we just need to get this Pure Heart in and then we can…"

However, he stopped when Vivian rose up from the ground in front of him, making him throw the Pure Heart up. Luckily, she managed to catch it and bring it back down to Chopper.

"Vivian! Don't freak me out like that!"

"Sorry about that, Chopper," Vivian apologized. "I didn't intend to surprise you like that… But I got the Pure Heart for you!"

"…Thank you," Chopper said as he gently took the Pure Heart back. To be honest, the Pure Heart seemed to fit with her hat for some strange reason, but nevertheless, he brought the Pure Heart up and allowed it to fly into the Heart Pillar.

"What's going on now?"

"You'll see."

A red orange clock appeared around the pillar and triggered something to happen up at Flopside Towers. A silver door was drawn right beside the red orange door.

After the clock disappeared, Vivian opened her eyes. "What was that clock that just appeared?"

"Uhhhhh… Honestly, I don't even know. It was just there. Ever since I placed the Pure Heart in the first Heart Pillar, this weird clock appeared. I don't even know if it even fits a Heart Pillar. Although… Maybe it actually represents time itself? I honestly wonder why…"

"Well, maybe we should go back to Merlon's house," Vivian suggested, grabbing a hold of Chopper's hand and sinking into the shadows to the rest of the group.

Merlon's house-

"So, where do you think Vivian ran off to?" Parakarry asked, checking the letters that he still had with him. "Wait a minute… I think I have one that's for Mario and Chopper! Weird…"

"We'll still have to find out when she comes back," C-2 Choppor said, answering Parakarry's question. "And who are those letters from?"

"One is from Princess Peach and the one for Chopper is from-"

"We're here," Blade announced as they all walked into Merlon's house. Some were surprised to see Vivian with the group.

"So Vivian was traveling with Chopper?" Flyer asked, tilting his head. "Well how was that new world you saw, Vivian? Was it nice?"

"Actually, I only found him and the group at Flopside," Vivian informed. "I was just exploring the place a little bit."

"Oh… Well that's interesting." Berry commented.

"So I see you managed to come back all right…" Merlon trailed as he walked to the heroes. "Only five more Pure Hearts remain! We are getting closer to Tipral's Palace by the minute… If you manage to collect one more, you should be led to his palace."

"Poyo? (Really? We're finally going to head there soon?)" Kirby gaped.

"Indeed you will, Kirby. If you manage to stop Tipral from bringing The Void back, then all worlds will be saved once and for all, and you won't even need to get the final four Pure Hearts either! However… If he does… Only the Purity Heart would be able to counter the true power of the Chaos Heart…"

"What's the Chaos Heart's true power like?" Chopper asked.

"Sadly, I don't know about this… The Tribe of Ancients have never witnessed the true power of the Chaos Heart… If Tipral manages to bring it back, then it will be the first time ever that its true power will be unleashed throughout the universe…when it makes contact with The Void. In the Light Prognosticus, it even states 'When the Chaos Heart makes contact with the dark swirling vortex, its true power is unleashed.'"

"Then we should come with you," Flyer suggested. "We don't want you to run in any trouble. I mean, look at you guys! You look beaten! I don't think you're able to take on any more obstacles yourselves!"

"Flyer… We know we can do this…" Chopper assured. "We just got in a fight with Dark Doom and some mysterious masked warrior named Knightmare. I don't know why, but he reminds me of Meta Knight for some reason."

"Speaking of Meta Knight… Where is he?" Merlon asked.

"Poyo… (I don't think he ever came back from that Christmas world…)" Kirby trailed. "Poyo… (I just hope he's all right…)"

"I don't know about you guys, but maybe Knightmare WAS Meta Knight…" Sonic suggested.

"In all honesty, I was just thinking about that," Chopper agreed. "But where could we find him now? Dark sent him to some other world! It's going to take a WHILE to find him!"

"…Oh! I just remembered to give you these letters!" Parakarry pulled a pink letter out and gave it to Mario, and then he gave an angelic letter to Chopper. Mario was the first to read his letter.

Dear Mario,

I'm not sure where you are at the moment, but I was hoping to spend a vacation with you for once. Bowser hasn't been here for a long time, which made me think about spending some time with you. Hopefully you didn't disappear, because I was starting to get worried when you never returned from Clara…

-Princess Peach-

Mario: I wish I could see her right now…

"What's that letter you have with you, Chopper?" C-2 Choppor asked, walking over to Chopper as he opened the envelope and began to read the letter.

Dear Sweet Prince Chopper,

How art thou doing, my prince? Ever since thou hast left me with mine parents, I hath began to miss thee. I can just imagine the two of us going on a romantic date during a romantic night, kissing thither while out by the ocean. Pray! I dost want to live those days again and not with mine overprotective parents! Mayhap thou will findeth me again so we canst go back to the old times…

Love,

Thy love, Luvbi

"Luvbi seriously wrote me a letter?!" Chopper whispered while shivering in fear. "How did she find a way to get a hold of me?!"

"Who's Luvbi?" Berry asked.

"Uhhhhhhh… She's…my cousin!"

"Cousin? You know we're the only ones of our kind at the moment..."

"Well, she's like a cousin to me, I suppose..."

"Well, I guess if she's like a cousin to you, that's fine," Berry smiled.

"So... What should we do now?" Luigi asked. "I think it would be best if we headed back up to Flopside Tower and headed through the next world already…"

"Strange… Usually, you wouldn't want to do that." Chopper gawked. "How come you want to go now?"

"Well, it's because I don't want all worlds to end… I may be cowardly, but it doesn't mean I want to see everything I love lost!"

"That's true," Berry agreed. "We never want to lose everything we love, especially someone you love."

"Kind of reminds me of Tippi and Count Bleck for some reason…" Chopper trailed.

"I remember Merlon said something about those two," Vivian recalled.

"What ever happened to them?" Bow asked.

"I can actually contact them through this wand," Chopper pulled Timpani's wand out and showed it. Merlon immediately recognized the wand from before.

"Isn't that the wand you showed me before?" Merlon asked. "You believe that Tipp—I mean Lady Timpani can contact you through this? Mmmmmmmm… I can sense a strange power coming from here, but it doesn't appear to be active at the moment. Could it be because when it feels the presence of a wizard, the power drains away?"

"I wish there was some way for her to speak through there around Merlon," Sonic frowned.

"I wish the same thing, Sonic… However, you heroes can't spend most of your time here. You must head off to the next world immediately! Your friends will be just fine…"

"Oh, and one more thing…" Berry walked close to Chopper, making him feel uncomfortable. "Thanks for rescuing me. Merlon told me everything about you finding me. That was very sweet."

"Uhhh… Sure thing." Chopper slowly nodded.

"And remember, Chopper," Bow started. "You can still call us through those communicators if you need any help or want to talk."

"I'll...keep that in mind."

"Then I guess we should get going then," suggested Blade, approaching the door to leave the house.

"Good luck to you six heroes!" Merlon called out as they left. "You will need it!"

Flopside Tower-

"Poyo… (So this silver door will lead us to the next world…)" Kirby trailed as he plopped over to the door. "Poyo! (It's rather nice! It kind of reminds me of that door to the Christmas world!)"

"Yeah, I thought that place was pretty cool," Chopper recalled.

"Hopefully we manage to find one of your friends…" Timpani hoped. "That Meta Knight person might be able to help us if he has his sword with him. Chopper, you said that he is a strong warrior, right?"

"He's the one that tried to teach me how to fight in the first place! Of course he's a strong warrior!"

"If that's true, then he could help us…" Luigi trailed. "But I don't think we'll even find him around the next world!"

Mario: We'll see…

With that, they entered the door, into the next world.

With fifteen Pure Hearts out of the way, our heroes were only one Pure Heart away until they could reach Tipral's Palace. They were all confused at the door at first, but they decided to see what would await them. "I just hope my friends will be all right in Flipside," said Chopper, looking back at the door. He stopped trying to think about these thoughts as he began to see a shining light that was leading to the next world. For some reason, they could hear some peaceful chirping sounds.

And so ends this interlude. I don't really have much to say about it, though, so I'm not going to bother making a long author's note.