CHAPTER 15-2
-Heroes Across the Ocean-
"Guys, look at that up ahead," Meta Knight said as he pointed toward the sea off at the distance. "I think I can see something over there, but I'm not sure what it is… It looks like it's some sort of…shop?"
From what everyone could see around them, this place was still pretty much the same. They could still see some ruins in the background, but they slowly began to go away when they saw some sand just up ahead. The sounds of the chirping birds were slowly starting to fade away at this point, and instead, they began to hear what sounded like a couple of seagulls, as well was the sounds of the waves from the ocean. It felt peaceful, but nobody felt like they were at peace at the moment.
Especially with Luvbi around.
"Chopper, look at the sky!" Luvbi said as she fluttered over to Chopper. "The sun doth be shining down on us! It feels so romantic, wouldst thou agree?"
"Not a chance," Chopper gagged. "You should know that by now..."
"I highly doubt she'll listen to what you have to say, unfortunately," Sonic sighed.
"Well, I's say that goes for all of us," Blade mentioned as Luvbi simply glared at the group, with the exception of Chopper (as usual). "Hey! Remember what your mother said… You can't be all high and mighty!"
"Poyo! (Or else we can tell on you!)" Kirby smirked.
"I highly doubt thou art able to do that," Luvbi said as she turned away from them with a huff. "Thou dost not even have a cell phone with thee! There's no chance of thee calling my parents!"
"Oh, really?" Blade grinned as he pulled a communicator out. "Luckily, Chopper's buddy managed to hand this over to us. With it, we can get in contact with anyone. And it just so happens that I could call your mother right now and tell her that you're being pretty bratty toward us!"
"Thou wouldn't dost that!"
"Uhhhh… We would, of course!" Luigi spoke up. "So could you NOT treat us with disrespect like you usually would and be kind to us for once? You don't like us and we don't like you, so let's TRY to get along for once!"
"Hmmmmmmmmph! Fine! If we art to get along, then I doth have no other choice, but that dost not mean that thou must treateth me with disrespect! Treateth me how a princess shouldst be treated!"
"That's technically 'all mighty'," Meta Knight informed.
"OK, while you guys argue over pointless stuff, I'm going to check what's up ahead," With his parasol ready, Chopper began to rush over to the sand up ahead. He took out one Dark Skellobit, but stopped when he saw the heaven-like shop that was over by the ocean, on the beach.
"Boy, this reminds me of when I had to travel through those islands, like Pudgy Island, and also traveling on the beach of Yoshi's Island. Ahhhh… The good times… Back when it was all easy."
"So, this is the beach," Meta Knight said as he walked over to Chopper. His cape began to blow in the wind, making the whole scene look awesome for him.
"Man, it's sunny out here!" Sonic said as he blocked the sun from coming into contact with his eyes after the argument ended. "I never knew that the sun would get THIS bright…"
"Yeah," Chopper agreed, putting his parasol over himself. "So... How do we get past this ocean?"
"Well, we could always use one of those boats," Timpani informed as her wand floated out of Chopper's list of "Important Things" and flew over by the dock. "Chopper, maybe you should ask for a boat!"
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Luigi agreed. Everyone else seemed to do so, and they approached the boats to look at them. The first one they took notice was a pink color.
"OK, we're not taking that one," Blade stated.
"Poyo? (Why not?)" Kirby asked.
"I don't know what you said, but pink doesn't work for us. Plus, I'd definitely not roam around on a pink boat. People will be pointing and laughing!"
"That's true," Chopper agreed.
"Well, even if we were to use this boat, it doesn't look like it works," Meta Knight stated as he looked at how badly damaged it was. "I believe this boat is here for repairs, so we don't need to take this."
"Poyo? (Then where are we going to get a boat?)" Kirby asked.
"We should check in the shop," suggested Meta Knight as he pointed over to the shop. "Maybe they'll be able to help us. If not… Then the only choice we have is to swim across the ocean."
"Which I WON'T do…" Sonic trailed.
"Well, I suppose we should do that then," Luigi walked off of the dock and headed over to the shop. The rest of the group followed him and headed inside to find a couple of magazines on the shelves, some fishing poles, bait, a large boat hanging from the ceiling, a TV, and a Nimbi with a brown French mustache.
"Ah! Good day to you, sirs and madam!" the Nimbi greeted, tipping his hat to them. They knew for sure that this wasn't one of the Nimbis that speak in Old English like the ones in The Overthere.
"I've got a question," Chopper began as he jumped to the front desk and slammed his hands on it. "Are you…from The Peaceness?"
"The Peaceness? Why of course, buddeh! I just opened a shop here just for anyone to come here and spend their monay on some nice things for the ocean! We even sell boats here as well!"
"BOATS!" Blade pushed Chopper out of the way and gave the Nimbi the look of a psychopath. "We. Need. A boat."
"Thou art so immature…" Luvbi scoffed, only to receive a glare from him.
"Let's not start another fight…" Timpani sighed. "And here I was hoping that this would be rather enjoyable instead of annoying."
"Are… Are all of you people like this?" the Nimbi asked as he backed away from Blade.
"Uhhhh... Maybe..." Chopper shrugged. "Well, we're here for a good reason, and maybe it'll get you money, too!"
"Ah! I always enjoy getting some moneh! So! What kind of boat do you need to buy? I've got many kinds of boats! They're mostly aboot sailing around the seas and fishing for…fish!"
"Do you have anything that allows fast transportation?" Meta Knight asked. "As you can see… We're trying to reach a place called The Peaceness, and that requires us to go across the ocean as fast as possible before any monsters find us."
"Wha? You guys are going to The Peaceness?! And here I thought you were all going to simply fish!" the Nimbi gaped. "Well, guy, I have something that should be very helpful! It's something that came from The Overthere! …But hold a moment. My favorite part of 'Pherrance and Tillip: Not Without My Pants' is on!"
"Wait… What?" Chopper gaped. "They made a show after those two?"
They looked over at the TV screen to see Pherrance and Tillip fluttering right next to a cloud with a face on it.
"Say, Tillip! I just bought this new hybrid cloud!" Pherrance said.
"Does it run on electricity?"
"No! It uses natural gas!" Pherrance farted in Tillip's face, and soon they began to laugh hysterically, as if they were having the biggest laugh fest of their lives. Of course, they were acting this out, but they still enjoyed it.
"Who even names a show 'Pherrance and Tillip: Not Without My Pants'?" Blade asked.
Mario: Sounds strange…
"Poyo, (Maybe it's just one of those comedies that those Nimbis enjoy up at The Peaceness,)" Kirby pondered. "Poyo… (Or maybe they just enjoy farting for some reason…)"
"Well, there's my favorite part!" the Nimbi said while laughing. "Now, let me show you buddehs the Overboat 2400! Believe me, it's one of the best boats you'll ever see in this world! Follow me, guy!"
They followed the Nimbi outside and onto the dock. He simply took out a remote for a garage door and opened a door near the water of the shop. A large, white boat cruised out of the garage and went over to the dock.
"See? There's the Overboat 2400! She's a beaut, ain't she?"
Everyone simply gaped at the sheer size of the boat. It wasn't a cruise ship, but it was something that was big enough for all eight of them.
"That's a big boat," Luvbi commented.
"We can actually USE that?" Luigi gaped.
"Yup! I'll even give it to you free of charge, since you're my first customers, and also that you need to go in a hurry!" the Nimbi chuckled as he handed Chopper the keys. "But don't mess it up. This is a brand new boat, and I DON'T want to see it all scratched up. Do you understand?"
"Of course I do!" Chopper nodded. "But... I don't know how to drive a boat. Maybe someone else can?"
"Poyo? (What about Meta Knight?)" Kirby suggested. "Poyo. (He's piloted the Halberd before, so I'm sure that he could drive a boat.)"
"Kirby, I've never driven a boat before," Meta Knight informed. "There's a huge difference between piloting the Halberd and driving a boat. The keys have to go to someone else."
"I'll drive," Blade volunteered as everyone looked at him. "I've driven boats before when I was on Mobius. Bang, Night, and I would sometimes drive boats all night long!"
"Well, at least we hath someone who can drivest a boat," Luvbi sighed in relief, looking over at Chopper afterward. "But a stroll over the ocean doth be perfect for romance!"
"No way!" Chopper gagged as he got on the boat. "I'd rather swim!"
Now that everyone was on the boat, they all found a nice place to sit as Blade took the drivers seat that was up on a ladder. He happened to notice that he had a full view of the exterior part of the boat and the ocean.
"Ah, so I have a full view of what I can see around me," Blade smirked as he started the boat with the key. "Excellent! That's exactly what I wanted! Plus, I'm also safe from rain with this cap on!"
"What about the interior?" Sonic asked.
Mario: The interior's interesting!
"Yeah, we found a nice, comfy sofa, a Nintendo Wii, a TV, a portrait of a Nimbi, and even a bowl of chips!" Luigi informed. "Oh, yeah! There's a vending machine that lets you get more chips or anything else you'd like from there!"
"Poyo! (This is heaven!)" Kirby said as his eyes glittered while knocking Luigi over to go inside of the boat. "Poyo! (I'm coming for you, chips!)"
"Ch-Chips?! YES!" Chopper cheered. "This is the best thing ever!"
Blade got the boat ready and took off out of the dock. The Nimbi watched as they left, wishing them the best of luck. That is… If they manage to get through the ocean without any huge problems.
Out on the sea-
"Ah! So my glorious Egg Boat finally sails the seas!" Eggman cackled as he looked off at the distance of the ocean. "With my glorious water-traveling invention, going out on the seas should be a SNAP!"
"Yeah, that sounds good and all… But do we get to crush those heroes?" Bowser asked, slamming one his fists into the palm of his hand while grinning. "That's why we're here, right? We found out that they're in this world!"
"If it weren't for my sla—I mean soldiers, we wouldn't have made this machine," King Dedede said as he had his hammer resting on his shoulder. "Chopper and Kirby are in this dimension, so I'm gonna give 'em a clobberin'!"
"Hush now, you two!" Eggman snapped. "Now's not the time to be thinking about that at the moment! We should be focusing on where we NEED to go! You've got a map with you, right, King Dedede?"
"Well… I kind of forgot it…"
"So you came all the way here without a map?! What's wrong with you?!"
"Well it's not my fault that I was sent into another dimension by that dark Chopper person! Not only that, but I got separated from my assistant, Escargon! This is bad for me! I'm supposed to be a king! And he's supposed to be my punching bag!"
"Gwa ha ha ha! And you call yourself a king?!" Bowser cackled. "How could you be a king if you're too fat?"
"I should say the same thing to you, fatty," King Dedede scoffed.
"HEY! I'm not fat! I just have a big shell!"
"I told you two to STOP already!" Eggman shouted. "If you two keep arguing about each other's weight, then I'm going to turn this boat around, or, for the heck of it, dump you both into the ocean!"
"Errrrr… Fine." King Dedede sulked as he turned away from Bowser. A Waddle Dee happened to walk up to him with a glass of lemonade. Since he was angry, he decided to take it, but he noticed something.
"Where is the ice?!"
"Your Majesty… There's no ice on this ship…" the Waddle Dee winced as it shivered in fear. "If there was ice here, I would've put it in your drink! Please forgive me, Your Majesty! I'll let you deal any punishment on me!"
"Very well!" King Dedede raised his hammer and slammed it on top of the Waddle Dee, leaving it dazed for a couple of seconds. "There! That should teach you a lesson to never forget about the ice in my drink!"
After that was over, King Dedede drank his lemonade without ice and threw the glass into the ocean. They hoped that they wouldn't have any more disturbances, but two people climbed out of the trapdoor on the ship.
"Ah! Lord Bowser! I've been looking for you!" the old Magikoopa, Kammy Koopa, slowly made her way toward Bowser, but soon got exhausted as she finally made it over to him.
"Why do my poor feet have to keep me from traveling long distances?" Kammy muttered before looking up at Bowser. "Ah! Now, let me explain to you what must be stated."
"This better be important," Bowser grumbled as he crossed his arms. "I'm a little busy looking out at the ocean in search for that accursed Mario and that kid Chopper. Do you know how much I was humiliated by them before? A LOT!"
"Well, we just discovered news that they're out at sea! We don't know their exact location, but our radar picked up a boat with other people on it! It's obvious that it must be them!"
"Yeah! And I helped her, Dr. Robotnik!" the small, red monkey robot, Coconuts grinned. "So, can I finally get that promotion that I've been waiting to get my whole entire life?"
"Prrrrrromotion?! You haven't even done anything around here!" Eggman growled. "And now you're asking me to give you a promotion?! You can think again on that part!"
"Wh-What?! Aw, come on, Dr. Robotnik! I work so hard for you, unlike those other two idiots… But please!" Coconuts begged as he kissed his feet. "I'll do anything for you!"
"Here!" Eggman pulled out a mop and a bucket filled with water and handed it to him. "I'm demoting you to Scrub Monkey Fifth Class this time! We can talk about a promotion after you mop up the whole boat!"
Coconuts sulked as he began to mop up the boat while muttering a few things to himself. Luckily, Eggman didn't seem to hear it, but he happened to notice four eyes peeking through the trapdoor.
"Well… I guess a clean boat is better than a dirty one!" King Dedede declared as he accidentally stepped on the closed trap door. He heard two screaming voices and opened the door. It was revealed to be Scratch and Grounder, who were both holding their eyes in pain.
"Ba HA ha HAAAAAGH! My eyes!" Scratch cried.
"My eyelashes!" Grounder cried.
"You don't even have eyelashes, Drill-nose!"
"Snooping as usual, I see! ...Again!" Eggman noticed. "You honestly think you can peek through that door when you're not supposed to?!"
"I didn't hear anything! Honest!" Scratch cried. "This was all…"
"Just get back down there! I already have a monkey doing the work on the boat! …Unless you want to join him." Eggman grinned, forcing Scratch and Grounder to slam the trapdoor shut.
"Hey, monkey! You missed a spot!" Bowser shouted.
"Where?" Coconuts asked before getting burnt by Bowser's flames.
"Everywhere!"
Overboat 2400-
"Aw, yeah! Now this is what I'm talking about! It's just like the old days with Bang and Night!" Blade whistled as he drove the boat while wearing sunglasses. He was crashing into many fish that jumped out of the water.
"Blade… You might want to be careful of where you drive…" Meta Knight suggested, his eyes widening as the boat went too fast. A fish even hit him in the mask, catching him off guard.
"Relax, Meta. I've got this in the bag!" the cat assured as he lifted his sunglasses and suddenly gaped. "Wait a second… What the heck is with all of the fish here? …Oh! I guess they'll make a good meal for me then!"
"What do you… Oh. Right. Cats love to eat fish. I almost forgot about that." the masked warrior looked down at the fish that hit his face. He decided to give it to Blade, who surprisingly started to cook it up and eat it.
Meta Knight turned away and left Blade alone with his meal and checked the other places on the boat. Sonic was wearing sunglasses as well, but he was sitting on a lawn chair while crossing his legs. Mario was also on a lawn chair, but he was reading a magazine about Mushrooms and Fire Flowers.
"Man, this is the life, isn't it?" Sonic sighed as he sat up. "So, Mario… What's that magazine you got with ya?"
Mario: It's…a strange one, honestly. It's about Mushrooms, Fire Flowers, etc.
"So this is where you guys are," the two turned their heads to see Meta Knight walking over to them while his cape was wrapped around him. "I was wondering where Chopper was at the moment. I think I need to have a little discussion with him."
"Are you going to give him a little more advice on stuff?" Sonic asked, bringing his head up to the masked warrior. "Personally, I think he's good with all that stuff. You're not related to him anyway.
"Yes, that is true. However, I placed myself in responsibility for making sure he doesn't get himself in too much danger. Remember the Crystal Stars? I fought him all of those times because I wanted to prevent him from hurting himself and the world."
Mario: That's what I thought…
"But still, you're not exactly the most trusting person in the world… Although you're probably more trusting than Tipral is..." Sonic trailed. "Sure, you've known Chopper longer, but there have been times where you tried to, well, pull off some moves that weren't on the good side."
"Yes… I will admit some mistakes I've made in the past. I felt so interested in trying to conquer Dream Land, but I ended up swearing my loyalty to King Dedede in the end. I also understood that I've hurt many people as well."
Mario: I guess so… I don't know much about you!
"Yes, I thought that you wouldn't understand me. But do you know where Chopper is at the moment?"
Mario: He's inside the rec room, with my bro and Kirby.
"Oh, and Meta Knight… If you could, do you think you could bring me a can of soda on your way there?" Sonic asked, only to get ignored by the masked warrior as he turned away from him. "Hey! C'mon, man! Be a pal for once and get me a can of soda! I'm thirsty!"
"Get it yourself then," Meta Knight suggested coldly. "You are technically faster than the speed of sound."
"…Yeah, I guess he's right there. What am I doing, standing around like this and asking someone to get me a can of soda? I might as well get it myself!"
While Sonic ran over to grab a soda, Meta Knight walked into the rec room. He noticed that Chopper, Kirby, and Luigi were playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl while Luvbi watched Chopper.
"Wh-What?! How can you do that?" Luigi gaped. "Did you suddenly KO me when I had about zero percent of damage? How can you do that?"
"With the Home Run Bat, of course," Chopper declared. "Now you're in trouble!"
"What about me, Chopper?" Luvbi asked, batting her eyes at him. "Thou dost not want to leave a cute girl be, dost thou not?"
"No no no! I don't want that!" he frowned, putting his parasol right in front of Luvbi to prevent him from distracting him. Unfortunately, this plan didn't work out when she simply pushed his parasol out of the way and let it drop to the ground. She had fluttered up to him to share her affection for him, but this had started to mess Chopper up. "L-Luvbi! P… Please! I'm… I'm getting my butt kicked!"
He was playing as a green Kirby, while Kirby was playing as a pink Kirby, and Luigi was playing as, well, Luigi. He saw he was getting beaten around by Kirby, who began to chuckle.
"Poyo! (Keep that up, Luvbi! I'm winning this!)" Kirby giggled.
"Oh, yeah! I can't believe that you're already in last place already!" Luigi grinned as he knocked Chopper's character out of the stage, bringing him down to one life. Chopper still couldn't get a hold of the controller because Luvbi was distracting him.
"Oh, come on! Stupid game..." Chopper grumbled.
"Chopper, are you in here?" Meta Knight apparently heard the screaming from inside and found Chopper throwing his controller. Everyone paused the game for a minute and looked at Meta Knight, curious with what he has to say.
"Wait, how come it's me?" Chopper asked. "Why can't you just talk to someone else? I think it would be interesting to bring this over to someone like Luigi or Kirby, and not me. I'm only ten, sheesh!"
"The only reason why I am speaking to you is because you seem to hold more information on the Pure Hearts and this Chaos Heart than anyone else."
"Oh, that? No, I don't think you'd want to speak to me about that. I think the one who has the best information on that is most likely Tippi or Count Bleck…I mean Lady Timpani and Lord Blumiere!"
"You mean the people that are in that glowing rainbow-colored wand?" Meta Knight gawked as Chopper pulled the wand out. "Oh, yes… Now I remember. There was a voice coming from there."
"Yeah! I think you can ask either one of them. If anyone knows about the Pure Hearts and Chaos Heart more, it would be them!" Chopper allowed the wand to float. It suddenly began to glow brighter, indicating that it's being used.
"So, you wish to know about the Pure Hearts and the Chaos Heart?" Blumiere asked as Meta Knight nodded.
"I wish to know what the purpose of the Chaos Heart and the Pure Hearts are," Meta Knight responded boldly. "I was never truly told about what they really are by that strange wizard in the blue hood. I've been mostly spending my time searching for my sword, Galaxia."
"Well, all I can say is that the Pure Hearts were once one big heart called the Purity Heart," Timpani explained. "The Tribe of the Ancients created it to counter the Chaos Heart's power. The power within the Pure Hearts carries love, which my tribe considered a salvation for the universe. They were created as the embodiment of love. They hoped that their combined powers would negate the power of the Chaos Heart. However, with Tipral splitting the Purity Heart into twenty pieces instead of eight, the Pure Hearts can't counter the true power of the Chaos Heart without all twenty of them. I suppose he did this because he wanted to prevent the Purity Heart from getting in the way… But, if all twenty Pure Hearts are collected, there's a chance it could create the Purity Heart's true power. However, let's hope that the Chaos Heart's true power doesn't return."
"I see… So that was the purpose of the Pure Heart? To stop the Chaos Heart with love?"
"Love doth be important in everyone's lives," Luvbi agreed. "To me, it doth be a feeling for not only thy lover, but also for thy parents, friends, and the rest of thy family."
Chopper had picked up the controller and noticed he was out already. "What? You guys took me out already?"
"Well, you were down to one life…" Luigi trailed.
"Dang… Well, anyway… Even though I think love can be disgusting, I guess it's important, especially with friends and family."
"That is true…" Meta Knight agreed. "Now… What about the Chaos Heart? I wish to know the purpose of the Chaos Heart."
"The Chaos Heart's true purpose was to create The Void, which would swallow possibly the entire universe," This time, Blumiere explained the details. "They were created by my people, the Tribe of Darkness. Apparently our kind were filled with deep hatred for the Tribe of Ancients, which might be one of the reasons why my father didn't want me to be with my dear Timpani…"
"Wait a second… Your father was responsible for that?" Chopper gaped.
"Unfortunately, yes, responded Count Bleck. I almost thought she was dead because of him, so I took the Dark Prognosticus to try to see if it could help me. But alas, I had no help from it. That's what worries me about Tipral with the Dark Prognosticus. It will lead him to the terrible secrets and possibly deal a lot of harm to him."
"Wait… Did you say 'worry'?" Luigi gawked. "Do you…know anything about Tipral before we met him?"
"I feel that I've heard his name from somewhere before… But I just can't remember it." Timpani noted.
"Uh oh… Amnesia, anyone?" Chopper questioned.
"Poyo! (Amnesia is so overdone these days, which makes it annoying!)" Kirby frowned.
"So, thou art as forgetful as I thought," Luvbi said with an irritated look. "So, dost thou remember what two plus two equals?"
"You… That wasn't necessary…" Timpani trailed, glaring at Luvbi through the wand.
"Another thing about the Chaos Heart is that it is filled with hate. That sounds like someone like Tipral…" Blumiere realized. "Combining the Chaos Heart with hatred can lead to possibly an apocalypse… That's why we must stop Tipral from bringing the Chaos Heart back!"
"And this Tipral person is the one that looks just like Chopper, correct?" Meta Knight asked, only to receive a nod from Chopper. "Hmmmm… For some reason, I see some strange symbolism between the two of you."
"Poyo? (What do you mean?)" Kirby asked.
"It goes from the whole yin and yang. They're both opposing forces, and are much similar to each other. If you put those two together, it feels like it represents yin and yang."
"Huh… Well, I never would've thought of that." Luigi realized. "Though, kind of scary, if you think about it."
Before they could say anything else, the boat suddenly stopped.
"Pray? Why hast the boat stopped?" Luvbi asked.
"There must be something going on outside," Timpani predicted. "You guys should go out and check."
"Got it!" Chopper grabbed Timpani's wand, his parasol, and then he headed out of the rec room. Luigi turned off the TV and followed him, with Kirby grabbing his sword and following out as well.
"You stay here, Luvbi," Meta Knight ordered. "If there's anything dangerous, then it's best that you stay out of it."
"Why shouldst I? I scoff at thy orders! Thou art not my mother!" Luvbi scoffed while giving him a look. "Thou dost not have to tellest me what to dost, Dumbo Knight! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself!"
"Dumbo Knight? Ugh… Chopper was right when he said you were bratty…"
Meta Knight ran outside to find another ship that bumped into theirs. It wasn't damaged, but they noticed that it was a gray ship with a couple of Dark Skellobits on it, with two of them being Dark Spiky Skellobits.
"They found us?" Blade gaped as he changed gears on the boat so it would stop moving (if there is one, that is. Hey, I don't know much on boats, only on cars!). He climbed down the small ladder to find a couple of Dark Skellobits climbing onto the boat.
"Hey! Get off of my boat!"
"But this isn't your boat, Blade," Sonic mentioned.
Mario: This is all of ours…
"Well… I don't care! Let's just take them down!" Blade grinned as he gripped his sword and aimed it toward the Dark Skellobits. "We're going to dump you guys in the sea after this!"
"Hwahwahwa! Oh, I'd like to see you try, maggot!" the Dark Spiky Skellobit cackled as it aimed its spear at Blade. However, he managed to disappear out of smoke and strike the Skellobit from behind with a single slash.
Meta Knight thought of a good idea. He didn't HAVE to fight these guys with his sword. He simply grabbed a Dark Skellobit with Thoreau and threw them off the boat and into the sea, allowing it to drown.
"I'm not sure if that's not honorable or not…" Meta Knight trailed as he watched the Dark Skellobit sink into the sea.
"Well, we DO have a bunch of enemies that are trying to stop us…" Chopper noted. "I think it's best that we try everything we have to get rid of them."
Chopper blocked a spear that was being thrown at him with his parasol, followed by striking it with a couple of star particles that he fired from the parasol. It even left the Dark Spiky Skellobit distracted.
"Hwa?! What the heck's this?!" it gaped.
"Something that should leave you distracted!" Chopper smirked as he chucked a charged fireball at it, leaving a nasty burn on it. He finished the monster off by striking it with his parasol one last time before it disintegrated.
"Yer goin' down, pinky!" a Dark Skellobit growled as it charged at Kirby. However, he was ready to counter its attack and simply jabbed at the Dark Skellobit a couple of times. With one last power slash, he was able to defeat it.
"Poyo! Poyo! (Yeah! Now you're dead!)" Kirby cheered.
"Uhhhhh… OK, that was very interesting." Chopper gawked as he stepped away from Kirby, but soon he was poked by a Dark Spiky Skellobit's spear. Meta Knight stepped in and used his sword to jab at the undead monster and disarm it by knocking its spear into the water.
"Oh, cool! You can disarm enemies!" Luigi gaped.
While it was disarmed, Mario jumped over to it and bashed its head with his hammer. He would've stomped on it, but he knew that it had a spike on its head. Luigi, on the other hand…
"I'm going to stomp on this thing!" Unfortunately for him, he took damage when trying to jump on it, resulting in him holding his foot in pain. Meta Knight, however, finished off the Dark Skellobit with ease.
"We've just got one more left!" Sonic smirked as he simply finished the Dark Skellobit off with a Spin Dash. It fell off the boat, to their relief. But they thought that it was all over for them.
Until two Dark Spiky Skellobombers came diving down from the sky and tried crashing into them. Luckily, they jumped out of the way in time. The boat didn't suffer any injuries either.
"Whoa… That was unexpected!" Sonic gaped.
"Don't think we're done with you yet!" one Dark Spiky Skellobomber said coldly. "We'll finish you off fer sure! Try comin' up here! I DARE you!"
"Gladly," Luigi said as he used a Super Jump to uppercut the Dark Spiky Skellobomber from underneath. The other tried to throw its head down, but the only thing that happened was Chopper's parasol blocking the head and making it disappear.
"That's an attack? Really?" Chopper mocked. "You can't really do much when I have this thing above me!"
Meta Knight sighed and used his tornado attack to spin around rapidly and strike the last Dark Spiky Skellobomber. When it was defeated, Blade simply threw Hommissile at the ship in their way and let it sink.
"We could've used that ship, you know…" Sonic trailed.
"Well, I think making it sink is cooler to me," Blade said.
"Oh, Chopper! You were so braveth out thither!" Luvbi came fluttering outside and flew to Chopper. "Thou art my hero!"
"Wh-WHAT?! B-But I didn't do much!" Chopper stammered. "THEY did more than what I did! Give THEM the credit instead?"
"Givest credit to thy peasants? PAH! Thou art the only one I doth care for!" Luvbi looked away from the others, who began to steam a little bit.
"Is there an island we can just throw you on?" Sonic asked.
"Is there an island where thou can shuttest thy trap, Knave?"
"It's Sonic! SONIC!"
"Actually, I can see an island up ahead," Meta Knight noted, walking up to the hue of the boat. "It doesn't appear to be big, but I think I can see something there. Why don't we take a look at it?"
"Good idea!" Blade nodded as he got back to driving the boat by turning it on and taking off. "This should be interesting!"
At the island-
When the boat stopped at the island, everyone jumped off the boat. Unfortunately, there was no dock in sight. It looked like a small, deserted island with a couple of small trees that could be cut and a couple of small rocks. But, they could see a spiral path leading up to the top of the island.
"What an interesting island…" Chopper commented as he brought his parasol up to keep the sun out of his eyes. Luvbi joined him under his parasol, forcing him to step away from her.
"Personal space, please?"
"Pray, my prince, what hast happened to the time when thou hath rescued me from Metal Chopper? Why art thou being so scared?" Luvbi asked.
"Poyo… (Because he doesn't like you…)" Kirby trailed.
"Pray, what didst thou say to me, pink gumball?" Luvbi instantly glared at the pink puffball, who gave her an irritated look. "Art thou scoffing at our love?!"
Chopper had let out an annoyed groan.
"Anyway, let's explore the island a bit." Blumiere suggested. The only problem, however, was that there were some rocks blocking the way of the spiral pathway.
"The only problem is that we have these rocks in the way," Chopper said as he tried kicking at it. Sadly, it didn't work. "Man… I hate when things like this happen!"
"Uhhh… We have Hommissile here, you know." Blade informed. "I'll just use him to blow up the rock. That's all."
Blade simply tossed Hommissile at the rock and it exploded, allowing them to move on. But they soon stopped when they saw some skinny, short trees blocking their way. They looked as if they were able to be cut down by a sword, something that two people in the group have…
"I suppose I'll just cut these down," Meta Knight said as he sliced the trees to the ground. "There. Now we can reach the top with ease."
Well, not exactly. There were still a couple of other rocks and trees in their way as they continued to climb, but upon reaching the top, they found nothing but a large, cracked rock in the center.
Mario: There could be something down there…
"Then we should check it out," Luigi suggested. "Or… Maybe you guys can, because I feel safer up here."
"Stop being such a baby," Blade said as he blew the rock up with Hommissile. It revealed a hole and a carved plaque next to the hole. Chopper looked surprised, having a red ! over his head as he saw the plaque.
Mario: ?
"I wonder what this reads…" Chopper wondered as he looked over at the writing. "You've gotta be kidding me… It's written in Old English!"
"Old English? Pray, why dost thou sayeth that it is old?" Luvbi asked.
"Because we don't speak like that nowadays…" Meta Knight trailed. "These aren't the Renaissance days…"
"Yeah, these are the… I don't know what days these are…" Sonic realized.
"Are they the new days?" Luigi guessed.
Mario: Probably not.
"Hmmmmmm… This is interesting!" Chopper noted as he read the plaque. "Although… This also seems rather disturbing to me."
"What does it read?" Timpani asked.
"It reads 'Those that hath done the bad hath been thrown into the gates of The Underwhere through this hole. The wandering spirits that hath been left by them art drained by the evils lurking within. They art nothing but ash.' It disturbs me a bit, considering that this place is so peaceful."
"That doth seem rather…unsettling," Luvbi realized. "I never thought that there wouldeth be such disturbing stuff hither."
"Maybe those ruins had to do with this too?" Luigi pondered.
"Poyo, (That could be a mystery,)" Kirby pondered.
"Well, not much we can do except for jumping down here," Sonic said as he jumped down into the hole. Everyone else followed him down, including Luvbi.
Under the island-
They were all surprised to see that they slowly began to descend into a strange room with light shining from above. Up ahead, they noticed an old, gray door. This place didn't seem as haunting as they thought it would be! It just looked like an old, empty dungeon!
"You know, this reminds me of when I found that one island out in the ocean at the Mushroom Kingdom," Chopper recalled. "I remember fighting a statue of a Dayzee there."
"I've never seen Dayzee Statues in the Mushroom Kingdom," Luigi said. "Are they in a different kind of area?"
"Well, I know for a fact that I saw two of them. One in some sort of cavern near the City of Flowersville, and one out underneath a strange, empty island, kind of like this. So, how about we search this place?"
They hit the Save Block right near the door and carried on ahead into a room with a couple of pillars in 3-D, and two doors that they could enter in the room. There was only one that was in 3-D.
"Those pillars look very old," Timpani informed. "I think you'll be able to smash them with your hammer."
"Let's find out," Chopper pulled his hammer out and smashed at the pillar. It fell over, and it just so happened that an Ultra Shroom appeared. He seemed surprised, but it didn't look rotten.
"I always wonder… Is it bad for us to be eating Mushrooms?" Meta Knight asked. "I hear in many other places that they can cause many different effects on you."
Mario: These kind are different!
"If you say so…" the masked warrior grabbed the Ultra Shroom and sliced it into seven pieces. He simply looked away from everyone to eat his piece, while everyone else had an easier time recovering 50 HP.
"Hold on, you never said what was behind your mask," Blade realized.
"That's best to be kept a secret," Meta Knight responded coldly.
"No need to get so grumpy from a question…" Timpani trailed. "If you think you're ugly underneath that mask, then it's OK to show us. None of us will make fun of you in any way."
"Well I would prefereth not to look at thy ugliness, Dumbo Knight," Luvbi scoffed.
At this point, Chopper had enough.
"Why do you keep insulting my friends?" Chopper frowned, approaching the Nimbi girl with a glare. "This is why I have a hard time liking you... I was hoping maybe you'd change after that whole Pure Heart thing, but I guess not... So, please... Can you leave me and my friends alone for once?"
Everyone was stunned, including Blade. Not even he could tell Luvbi off like that. But what was surprising to Chopper was that Luvbi's eyes started to water up.
Wait, her eyes were watering up now?
She turned away from Chopper, trying to fight off the tears. "Fine. I am leaving hither."
A tear rolled down her face as she left the underground room and went back to the surface.
"I don't know why, but I feel kind of bad for doing that," Chopper frowned. "I didn't want to make her cry…"
"Poyo, (I think she deserved it,)" Kirby said.
"After all she's done to us, I believe that she should've seen that coming to her," Sonic stated.
"I think you did the right thing," Blade confirmed.
Mario: Well, she was rude to us…
"I don't know what to say at the moment," Luigi gaped.
"She'll learn in time," stated Meta Knight. "Sometimes it's right to call someone out on their bad behavior, and judging from what I've seen, it only affected her when you yourself said it."
"She'll be fine, Chopper. Let's just check this place." Timpani suggested.
"Oh, all right…" Chopper trailed. "I didn't want to have to talk to her like that, but I had no other choice."
"Well what we should do first is check these doors," Meta Knight walked up to the first door and opened it. Upon entering the room, they found the walls and ceiling to be surrounded by many ghosts. They couldn't attack, since they were only stuck on the wall.
"This place doesn't seem very nice now that I look at it," Luigi shivered as he stepped back over to the door. However, Mario grabbed him by the overalls and pulled him back.
"B-Bro! I don't want to look in here! Th-There are gh-ghosts!"
Mario: This is a small room, you know…
"Well, at least there aren't any big threats here…" Chopper hoped, until he saw a dark phantom standing in the middle of the room with its glowing red eyes looking up at the heroes. For some reason, it looks a little like Count Bleck, but its hat is more like a witch's.
"Leave now, or else you shall soon suffer the way these spirits have," warned the phantom as it brought its wand up to the heroes. "I am a Soul Collector. I guard the caves of lost souls and dark souls and collect any souls of people who come here. Those who refuse to leave shall also become dark souls."
"But we're not filled with dark souls," Sonic smirked. "We're heroes!"
"Heroes, you say? Well, if you're heroes, then you should be able to defeat me!"
It fired a dark pulse from its wand that did massive damage to everyone in the room. Not even Meta Knight was able to handle its powerful dark abilities.
"Urgh…" Meta Knight grunted as he turned invisible with his cape and got behind the Phantom Guardian. He slashed at it, but it didn't seem to do any harm to it, which surprised him.
"Poyo? (Nothing works?)" Kirby gaped.
"Hmmmmm…" Chopper chucked a couple of fireballs at the Soul Collector, but they had no effect either. He tried freezing it. Well, that worked, but it soon broke out of its icy prison and began hurling dark globs of energy from its wand at them.
"Look out!"
Everyone jumped out of the way in an attempt to avoid its attack. Sonic tried to use a Spin Dash to attack it, but it didn't do any good. It just cackled at them and tried hitting them with another dark spell.
"You honestly believe you can defeat a phantom with those attacks? HA! I might as well take your souls!" the Soul Collector got ready to drain their souls, but Chopper pulled Timpani's wand out and flashed it on it.
"Argh! My eyes! I can't see a thing! Is that rainbow energy? While it can't destroy me, it can certainly make me blind for a couple of seconds!"
"Then let us go," Chopper suggested.
"Bah. I shouldn't waste my time with you people. I'm off to collect souls in other places." And just like that, it disappeared. It didn't drop anything of interest, but it did have a Star Shroom Shake.
"Poyo! (Let's take it!)" Kirby suggested as he grabbed the Star Shroom Shake and put it away.
"We'll check the other rooms next," Chopper stated as they left the room.
Outside-
"I can't believest that Chopper wouldeth sayest something like that to me…" Luvbi sniffled as she fluttered over to the boat. "Dost he not love me? Shouldst I leave him and his peasants and headest to The Peaceness on mine own?"
She looked back at the island, but her sad face turned angry. "I dost not needeth them or Chopper! I am capable of flying on my own!"
"Well, if it isn't the little Fluffy! It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Pray, who hast…" Luvbi gulped as she saw another ship on land. She saw Bowser, Eggman (who was in his Egg Walker at the moment), and King Dedede, who grinned as he let his hammer rest on his shoulder.
"So, you're the one who was on that boat, weren't you?" Eggman asked. "I want answers. Now. If you refuse to listen, we won't be afraid to hurt you, even if you are a little girl."
"I remember she mocked me of my love for Princess Peach!" Bowser growled. "How about I burn her?!"
"Well we don't even know who she is in the first place," King Dedede said. "But she has some kind of scent on her… A scent that reminds me of…Chopper."
"I dost not have time for thee. Leavest me alone!" Luvbi said in an angry manner.
"Aw, the wittle girl's angwy?" Bowser cackled in baby talk. "Well tough luck, Fluffy! Surely if you're kidnapped, those heroes are bound to come out here!"
"Yes, they should be here..." Eggman began, scanning the island. "We could search for them, but I'm sure they'll show up in no time."
"I'll take care of ya!" King Dedede grabbed a hold of Luvbi, who began to squirm around.
"Let me go, bird-brain! Leavest me alone!" Luvbi screamed.
"Keep her screaming! That's bound to get their attention!" Eggman encouraged.
"PLEASE HELPETH ME, CHOPPER!"
Under the island-
"Man, this place just creeps me out…" Luigi shivered as they walked into the other door that was in 2-D. They didn't see anything special here except a purple fog in the room with a couple of cackling voices heard throughout the room. They even saw some sort of Dark Wizard in the room.
"What the… Is that Shade?" Chopper gaped as he looked at the gray cloaked wizard. However, this one was taller than Shade; maybe about Mario's height. It was carrying a skinny wand with a bulb on the end and they could all see two glowing purple eyes from the hood.
"So, you're the heroes that we've been hearing about," the Dark Wizard said as it crept over to the group. "We're not exactly that big around these worlds…yet."
"OK, then why are you here?" Sonic asked.
"Have you come here to try to stop us?" Blade asked as he drew his katana.
"Heh heh heh! Oh, maybe… I expected you people to be here, so I might as well finish the job now!" the Dark Wizard tried to zap everyone with dark energy from its wand, but they jumped out of the way and managed to attack the Dark Wizard, starting with Meta Knight slashing at it first.
"This is a strange enemy… Chopper, you should investigate it." Meta Knight suggested as Chopper used Timpani's wand to investigate it.
"This mysterious being is called a Dark Wizard. I don't know who it works for, but surely it must be from someone we know… Max HP is 110. Attack is 19. Defense is 9. It mostly relies on using ranged attacks, so if you manage to get close to it, then there might be a chance that you might have the upper advantage. To make things a little worse, though, is that a Dark Wizard can recover its or someone else's HP if it's ever running low, so make sure you take it out as fast as possible." Timpani informed, causing everyone to gape.
"WHAT?! 110 HP?!"
"Then we have to act fast…" Sonic trailed as he used a Whirlwind to send the Dark Wizard flying in the air. He followed up by charging up his Light Speed Dash and unleashing it upon the Dark Wizard.
"Hmmmm… So you think you can take me down with those attacks…" the Dark Wizard floated to the ground and fired a dark pulse of energy. Everyone ended up getting hurt and took some massive damage.
Mario: That's painful!
"Then we better make our attacks painful!" Chopper smirked while pounding his fist into his hand. "Let's fight!"
He chucked a couple of fireballs at the Dark Wizard, leaving a burn on it. Thankfully this fight was a lot better than the Soul Collector they encountered before. When Mario bashed the Dark Wizard's head with his hammer, Kirby jabbed at it next with his sword to leave it stunned.
"Poyo! (Good thing I have that badge that lets me stun enemies for a couple of seconds!)" Kirby cheered.
When Blade sliced at the Dark Wizard, it got out of its trance and struck Blade with a dark attack from its wand. It sent him flying, but it didn't stop Luigi from attacking the Dark Wizard with his Cyclone.
"Urk! Not bad…" the Dark Wizard commented as he got knocked out of the air by Luigi's Super Jump. When it fell to the ground, it met Chopper's ice smash, causing it to freeze.
"It's not too far from being defeated," Meta Knight said as he walked up to the frozen Dark Wizard. However, when he got closer, it unfroze and attacked Meta Knight with a dark spell. He brought his cape up to block the attack and then stab the Dark Wizard with Galaxia.
"Urk! You…" the Dark Wizard coughed. "Don't think I'm the only one of my kind… More shall come, and soon they shall exterminate you!"
As it disintegrated into smoke, it dropped a Star Shroom Shake. Meta Knight picked it up, but he threw it over to Chopper instead.
"Why are you giving me this?" Chopper asked.
"I might not need it," was all Meta Knight said as he left the room.
"Well, it's better than nothing," Luigi noted as they followed him back in the main room. They ended up encountering a gray Waddle Dee holding a spear, a gray Koopatrol, and a gray Motobug, to their surprise.
"What?! How'd they get in here?!" Sonic gaped.
"I don't know… But let's not ask those questions right now. We should handle these guys first." Meta Knight suggested as he ignored the Waddle Dee and attacked the Koopatrol first.
"Wait, what about the Waddle Dee?" Chopper noted.
"I don't wish to fight that. It would be dishonorable if I fought His Majesty's servants."
"Ugh… This again." Nevertheless, Chopper stomped on the Waddle Dee while avoiding its spear. It poked him, but he was able to hold his own for a while, until Kirby finished it off with his sword.
Sonic and Blade had an easy time with the Motobug. All if did was move around the room, but it was no match for Sonic's speed when he struck it with a Spin Dash. Sparks flew everywhere as Blade stabbed it. With one last Homing Attack, Sonic blew the enemy up with ease.
"How come no small animals come out of this?" Blade asked.
"I guess they aren't Eggy's minions?" Sonic shrugged.
With the Koopatrol, though, Mario and Luigi didn't get a chance to fight it when Meta Knight finished it off with one last slash attack.
Mario: We could've done that…
"How come you didn't let us fight it?" Luigi asked.
"I decided to make the battle quick," Meta Knight bluntly stated. "We DO need to get back to the boat, after all…"
"Although I highly doubt Luvbi will even talk to me…" Chopper trailed.
"C'mon, are you still bugged about that?" Sonic asked. "You know how she treated us, right?"
"Poyo! (It's true! She deserved that!)" Kirby agreed.
"Well, I suppose she kind of did… Well, anyway, let's see what's in this final door." Chopper flipped him and everyone else into 3-D to find a door just up ahead. They found a small room with a chest in front of them.
"Was this whole island completely optional?" Timpani gawked.
"If so, it's really wasting our time…" Blumiere face palmed.
Mario opened the chest to find a badge called the Great Jump. Apparently it can damage enemies while Mario's in the middle of his third jump in his Triple Jump. He's protected by glitters of light – so it says.
Mario: This works perfectly!
He equipped the badge onto himself and now has two badges on him. With all of that out of the way, they decided to leave the island.
Outside-
"Well that was an interesting, if not, creepy experience," Timpani said as they all jumped out of the hole from the island. "I wonder if we'll find any more island like this…"
"We'll see about that," Meta Knight wondered as he noticed another ship. "Wait… Why is there another ship here?"
"Well well well! There you guys are! We've been looking for you, you know!" Everyone saw Eggman on his Eggwalker over by a large ship. He was holding a blaster in his hand that looked quite deadly.
"Eggman?! What are you doing here?!" Sonic asked as he clenched his fists.
"Gwa ha ha ha! I've found you, Mario!" Bowser stepped right beside Eggman's machine with his arms crossed. "Now that I'm here, I can cut this story short by defeating you!"
"Actually, I think you'd do that if you defeated me…" Chopper trailed.
"HEY! I plan on doing that too! I just want Mario out of the picture first!"
"Hold on a minute… Where's Luvbi?"
"I'm glad you asked!" King Dedede stepped beside Eggman to his left. He was apparently holding Luvbi.
"Helpeth me please!" Luvbi cried.
"Oh, come on… You're using the damsel in distress thing again? That's so clichéd…" Blade face palmed.
"Well, at least it got your attention!" King Dedede cackled.
"Your Majesty?! Why are you here?" Meta Knight asked.
"Meta Knight? What are you doing with these people?" King Dedede gaped, surprised to see him. "You're on MY side, you know! You should be helping ME with these people! So get back over here and help me crush these heroes!"
"He's with us," Chopper stated. "And he'll help us kick your butts!"
"Now we're talking!" Bowser grinned. "Let's take these guys down!"
"Uhhhh… Your Happiness… There's a problem." Kammy said as she flew over to Bowser. "I think the ship's running low on gas. If we stay here any longer, we could be stranded here."
"Wait, you didn't turn the boat off?!" Eggman gaped. "SCRATCH! GROUNDER!"
Little did he know that Scratch and Grounder were playing a game of cards while arguing with each other, paying no attention to the amount of gas.
"Urgh… Fine. We have no choice but to retreat. King Dedede, just let the girl go so we can get out of here. It's not worth kidnapping her."
"What?! Are you kidding me?! I came this whole way to kick their butts! That's what I PLAN on doing! So, how about you guys just go while I give them a clobberin'! King Dedede style!"
"Poyo… (This again…)" Kirby groaned.
"First off…" King Dedede grabbed some duct tape and taped Luvbi onto the island.
"Pray, what art thou doing?!" Luvbi asked.
"Preventing you from leaving, of course," As the boat took off, only the heroes, Luvbi, and King Dedede remained on the island. "All right, you heroes! Let's see how you handle against me!"
"Oh, we'll find out," Chopper said as he jumped out of the way of King Dedede's hammer. "We just want you to get out of the way so we can get back on the boat and reach The Peaceness."
King Dedede raised his hammer in order to attack, but Kirby managed to slash him with his sword, keeping him off guard. So, the king tried to smash Kirby, but he simply floated in the air to avoid him.
"Oh, so you're gonna be chicken, Kirby?!" King Dedede took in some air and began to float around. Luckily, this allowed Luigi to strike him from above with his Super Jump attack, hitting him with full force and sending him plummeting to the ground.
The only one who didn't seem to fight was Meta Knight, who stayed back from the fight and wrapped his cape around himself.
"Meta Knight? How come you're not helping us?" Chopper asked.
"I could never attack my own king," he informed. "If I did that, you wouldn't want to know what would happen to me. That would be treason for me. I would be thrown out of my own home as well."
"Hmmmmm… Well, I suppose that's understandable." Blumiere said. "You wouldn't want that to happen to you…"
"Well… I understand, Meta Knight." Chopper nodded as he turned back to King Dedede. Mario was just finishing stomping on his head, while Sonic struck him with a Spin Dash. He took this time to investigate King Dedede.
"That's King Dedede. He's the king of Dream Land…or that's just what he says. Max HP is 240. Attack is 12. Defense is 4. He'll mostly rely on trying to bash you with his hammer, but he has some other attacks such as throwing his own minions at you or even try to jump on top of you. His moves are pretty much the same, but his range of inhaling has somewhat increased… If he starts spinning his hammer around, then you might want to stay away from him…" Timpani informed.
"Spin attack? I don't remember if he used it back in that snow cavern or not…" Chopper pondered before getting squashed by King Dedede's heavy body.
"Well at least I got someone!" the king grinned as he got off Chopper and picked him up. "Time to take you down!"
He was about to attack, but he felt an explosion from his back. He turned around to find Hommissile returning to Blade after exploding. "Hey! Who do you think you are, distracting me like that?!"
"Well, I HAVE to save my friends, you know…" Blade said as he kicked King Dedede in the stomach. "It's for the greater good that I do that!"
"Greater good? Uhhhh… That's a new one." Sonic said with a blank look before Blade got crushed by King Dedede's hammer.
"If you think you're going to get in my way, then you can think again, you annoying blue cat!" King Dedede growled as he looked over at Sonic. This time, he tried to inhale him, but the blue hedgehog was too fast for the king. This gave Chopper some time to stomp on his head and bash him with his hammer.
"Thanks for that, Sonic!" Chopper smiled.
"No problem!" Sonic jumped and struck King Dedede with a Homing Attack after he was stunned. Kirby helped out by spinning his sword vertically at King Dedede to leave him cringing in pain.
"You're kidding me! Six against one?! That's not a fair fight! Come here, Meta Knight! Help me!" demanded King Dedede.
"…" Meta Knight stayed silent as he watched the battle, only to disappear with his cape.
"Meta Knight?" both Chopper and King Dedede gawked. But even then, it didn't matter at this point. When Luigi stomped on King Dedede's head, the battle simply went back to normal. Kirby slashed at King Dedede, while Chopper made him trip with a sweeping kick.
"Grrrrr! Fine! Let's see how you deal with this!" King Dedede raised his hammer above him and tried to attack with his charged hammer attack. However, that didn't come to be when he was frozen by Crystaline.
"Poyo! (Now he's a frozen king!)" Kirby giggled as he unfroze him by jabbing at him a couple of times.
"You're gonna get it, puffball!" King Dedede bashed Kirby in the head until his Sword ability came off. To make things worse for Kirby, he made sure that he wouldn't get to the yellow star.
"Poyo! (Oh, come on! That's not fair!)"
"Man, you're such a jerk, King Dedede," Chopper scoffed as he used a fire smash on King Dedede's head to leave a burn. The king tried attacking him again, but he jumped out of the way and inhaled the yellow star that appeared and spat it straight at the king's face.
While they fought, Meta Knight appeared, but this time he walked over to Luvbi.
"Art thou going to get me out of hither?" Luvbi asked.
"I would… But I feel that you really haven't learned anything from how you've been treating everyone here." Meta Knight said.
"So thou art simply siding with them? I expected much from thee, Dumbo Knight."
"Trust me, I saw him feel bad after what he said to you. But most of the things he said to you are true. You can't just think that you're all high and mighty around everyone. That's what will make you unlikable."
"But everyone doth think I'm cute," Luvbi huffed.
"Well, people may think that, but when they know you a little more, they'll find that your soul is dark. Dark enough to make them not like you. I've gone through something like this before, and I'm not going to let this happen to someone else."
"Well don't speaketh to me, Dumbo Knight. I prefereth to be left alone."
"Fine."
Meta Knight looked back at the battle, but he noticed that the fight was actually pretty even by now. King Dedede had already thrown a couple of Gordos at the heroes and left them wounded. Mario managed to use his Triple Jump to land on King Dedede's head and Ground Pound him after that. But this only led him to be inhaled and spat toward Luigi.
"Man! You guys are screwed now!" King Dedede chuckled as he threw a Waddle Dee toward Kirby. He inhaled it and spat it back at the king, leaving him dazed for a couple of seconds. Sonic jumped in and attacked King Dedede with a Spin Jump, but this only put him out of his trance.
"Man, if Escargon was here, then this would be a victory for sure!" Nevertheless, King Dedede spun his hammer around rapidly. Chopper and Kirby were knocked back by the attack, but Luigi managed to use his Super Jump and stomp on King Dedede's head. Because of how fast he spun, it left him open for an attack.
"That was kind of a dumb move to leave himself open like that," Luigi realized after landing on the grass. Blade jumped in for an attack and threw a couple of shurikens at King Dedede's stomach.
"You may be able to stab me with those weapons of yours…" King Dedede began as he pulled them out. "But my blubber's too thick to actually pierce through completely! That barely hurt!"
"Huh… So that's how he took all of those slashes from Kirby…" Blade gaped as he was whacked in the face by King Dedede's hammer.
"Heh heh heh! Now for you!" King Dedede turned to Chopper and prepared to inhale him. To copy him, Chopper began to inhale as well, but this only got King Dedede ticked off instead.
"HEY! Don't copy me!"
Chopper smiled as he chucked a couple of ice balls at King Dedede, causing him to shiver (even though his fat doesn't make him as cold as most people). Kirby took this opportunity to kick King Dedede from behind and make him fall over on the ground. But this only gave him an idea.
"Ah! I know what to do!" King Dedede turned to Kirby and jumped to fall over on him. This was unfortunate to work, but he managed to successfully inhale him and spit him out to the wall. This left Kirby a little wounded, but he took out an Ultimate Shroom Shake.
"Poyo! (Now we can win this!)" Kirby announced as he took a sip and passed it around. When Sonic got the last sip, he threw the crushed can at King Dedede's head to leave him dazed for a couple of seconds.
"Works every time," Sonic smirked as he attacked the king with a Light Speed Dash. King Dedede only got angrier and forced himself to inhale Sonic and spit him at Blade. But this didn't keep him from getting pounded by Mario's Ultra Hammer.
Mario: You're actually pretty slow.
"HEY! If you insult me on my weight, I'm going to CLOBBER ya! …Oh, wait! I'm already trying to clobber ya!" King Dedede began to spin around like crazy in an attempt to attack. Luigi tried throwing Bonjourang at him, but the Pixl was simply knocked away by his attack.
"Hero, I don't have zee power to attack him while he iz spinning like zat," Bonjourang explained as he returned to Luigi.
"Hmmmmmm… Well I might know something!" Luigi grabbed Bonjourang again, but this time, he waited until King Dedede was dazed. He threw him immediately when that happened in order for King Dedede to receive some deadly attacks to the face.
"Well now! You're going down pretty fast!" Chopper smiled. "If you lose, you know that you're not going to be able to get off of this island. And no, we shouldn't really help you get off if you're only going to hurt us. …Unless you won't."
"I'll stay up until you're finished!" King Dedede growled as he jumped in the air and stomped on the ground violently. Two stars appeared for both Chopper and Kirby to inhale. They both spat them out at once and hurt King Dedede at the same time. It was double the damage!
"Well, you sure are taking it…" Luigi trailed.
"Surely he can't take any more hits. Just look at him." Timpani said as Chopper saw how bruised and battered King Dedede was. But, that was how fighting was. Someone's bound to get hurt. Or, in this case, a king is bound to get hurt.
"If he can take as many hits like this, then he really is one to not give up a fight," Blumiere commented.
"Well, too bad he probably won't be able to," Blade denied as he slashed at King Dedede with his katana. "I kind of realized that he takes it like it's not painful at all. But I'm sure that it's certainly doing damage to him."
"You wish," King Dedede snorted as he threw a Waddle Dee in Blade's face. This left him preoccupied, but it didn't stop Luigi from making his move. When King Dedede took in some air and began floating around the island, he knocked him straight to the ground with a Super Jump.
"Grrrrrr! Man, you're becoming annoying, green guy!"
"Uh oh…" Luigi jumped out of the way when King Dedede swung his hammer near his feet. He barely escaped the attack, but he took this time to throw Bonjourang at him. Afterward, Chopper threw a charged fireball at him afterward to leave a burn ailment on him.
"Hmmmmmm… Not bad! You guys do put up a fight, but I'm not done just yet!" King Dedede began to jump all over the island rapidly, as if he was trying to stun everyone around him. This turned out to work and allowed him to hit everyone with his hammer. Meta Knight did nothing but watch.
"Hey! You still gonna help me fight them?"
"It looks like…that you are doing fine on your own," Meta Knight said as his eyes turned green. "You wouldn't want me to ruin your victory, wouldn't you?"
"Hmmmmmm… Yeah, you have a point, Meta Knight." King Dedede raised his hammer as he was ready to finish them off, but since he stomped on the ground, he left yellow stars all over the place.
Just the kind of thing Kirby just inhaled.
"Wait a minute… Oh, you've gotta be…" King Dedede saw it coming. When Kirby spat those stars at him, he toppled over the ground in pain. He couldn't take it anymore. "Dang it! I was SO close to winning this fight!"
"See? Them leaving you here wasn't such a bright idea," Chopper smiled. "So… Do you want US to help you off?"
"Forget you! I'm finding my way off of here on my own!" he growled as he looked up at them. After that, he stopped moving and was now unconscious.
"Poyo… (Well he saw it coming…)" Kirby trailed.
"Yeah, that's true. Now…" Chopper walked over to Luvbi and got the duct tape off her, but she simply turned away from him in a huff and fluttered over to the boat, making him frown once more.
"Ugh… She still won't talk to me."
"I tried to reason with her, but she refused to listen to me," Meta Knight informed. "But, we can't do much about it. Let's just go back to the boat and leave this island. We've already seen enough haunting stuff here."
"Yeah, tell me…" Luigi shivered. "They say that this world is peaceful, but that place was NOT!"
"Good idea, let's just go," Blade said as he jumped back on the boat. Everyone followed him to the boat, where they immediately took off and left this dreaded island. This time, for good.
But they didn't seem to know where Luvbi was. She was nowhere to be seen around the boat. Chopper was spending his time trying to find her.
"She's in the rec room," Meta Knight informed, pointing to the door. She seemed to be in a gloomy mood, judging by how she looked. "Are you actually going to speak to her?"
"I have no other choice," Chopper sighed. "I don't want this whole world to be just her ignoring us the whole time."
"I see… I wish you luck, Chopper." Meta Knight stepped out of the way and let Chopper walk into the rec room. When Luvbi saw him, she immediately turned her head away from him and closed her eyes.
"Hey, Luvbi..." Chopper began, unsure of how to start. "I know what I said wasn't the nicest thing... But I didn't like how you were treating my friends. Maybe I was a bit too harsh on how I spoke to you, though..."
"Nay, mayhap thou were right," Luvbi stated, turning to Chopper, who was even more dumbfounded.
"Wait... Really?"
"Mine standards doth be high when it comes to others. I am a daughter to a king and queen, so thou understandeth, yea? But mine behavior was verily unacceptable. Mine parents would be furious if they heardeth what I've been saying to thine friends."
"So... Are you going to stop insulting my friends?"
"I dost not know if I can promise that... But mayhap I'll tone it down, yea? Besides..." the Nimbi girl grabbed Chopper with her heart-shaped wings and caught him in a hug. "I can't ignoreth thee! Thou art too cute to mine own eyes!"
"Eep! Get off me!" Chopper cried, prying himself out of her grasps and landing on the couch. "Well... I guess I'm going to take a nap. You go do whatever you want, OK?"
With that, he instantly fell asleep. However, Luvbi too felt tired, and since he said she could do anything, she fluttered over to the couch and cuddled with Chopper. Meta Knight watched this while slowly nodding.
"That was very mature of her to act like that..." Meta Knight trailed. "Hopefully she learns to behave better with us..."
He walked away from the rec room and decided to take a look at what the rest of the group was doing. Sonic and Mario were actually doing the same thing as they were doing previously, while Kirby was looking out at the ocean, trying to be a navigator for some reason.
"You can't be a navigator when barely anyone here can understand you," Luigi noted.
"Poyo, (Well my voice at least lets me tell you guys that we're going to see land,)" Kirby retorted.
"I can understand what he says, so no worries," Meta Knight assured.
"So how did it go?" Sonic asked.
"Luvbi handled it very maturely."
"You mean she accepts that he doesn't like her in that way?" Blade asked.
"...No, but she might treat us a little better."
"A little? ...Well, that's better than nothing." Luigi remarked.
"At least that's taken care of," Sonic sighed as he looked up at the sky. "So… How long do you think it'll take until we reach our destination? …Wherever that may be at the moment."
"Actually, I'm seeing an island just up ahead," Blade informed. "I think I should increase the speed of this baby!"
"Poyo… (Then I guess I should play some games in the rec room…)" Kirby trailed.
"You know that Chopper's sleeping at the moment?" Meta Knight informed.
"Poyo, (I'll be quiet then,)" the pink puffball ran over to the rec room, but he noticed something in there. He noticed that Timpani's wand was glowing and floating over by the couch.
"Doesn't that look a little like us sleeping together, Blumiere?" Timpani asked.
"Yes, dear Timpani. It does remind us of them for some reason. The way they're sleeping together makes it look rather…cute. Although, with Tipral trying to bring The Void back, all love could possibly be vanished because of him."
"In all honesty, I don't know why Tipral is doing all of this. Is it because of revenge?"
"From what I see, there could possibly be more to that…" Blumiere trailed. "Not every person tries to destroy the universe out of revenge. Like me, I wanted to destroy all worlds because I lost you."
"Yeah… I remember that. Do you think Tipral may have lost someone in order to make him want to do something like this?"
"I think Chopper said that he somehow transported Tipral into another dimension, which made him want to get his revenge after losing his parents to him. That may be another reason. …But, why did you think that he may have lost someone?"
"To be honest… I feel as if I remember seeing someone who was almost like him. But he wasn't always angry. I don't remember all of the details ever since I was turned into a Pixl. It's a shame that all of my memory hasn't returned to me just yet."
"Timpani, is it possible that you may have known him before?" Blumiere gawked.
"Blumiere, I don't necessarily remember! I don't have all the details! These things happened a couple of centuries ago!"
"I find it strange that you still haven't changed by appearance ever since then. You're just as beautiful as ever."
"You still haven't changed either, Blumiere," Timpani smiled. "Maybe I haven't changed because I was transformed into a Pixl. That could have stopped me from aging. As for you… How did you still stay the same?"
"The Dark Prognosticus can affect you in many ways… Which is why I worry about Tipral. Will he suffer the same fate as I have?"
At this point, Kirby walked into the room after hearing the whole conversation. The couple happened to notice his arrival.
"Poyo? (Wait… Did you say something about knowing about Tipral before?)" Kirby asked.
"I'm sorry, Kirby… But I can't understand you." Timpani apologized.
"But I can," Blumiere said. "The Dark Prognosticus was lucky enough for me to allow me to understand different languages, including the 'poyo' kind. As for you, Kirby… That's something she doesn't remember completely. …Come to think of it, I sort of remember a dark being like Tipral too."
"Poyo? (Really? I never knew that…)" Kirby trailed.
"Uhhhh… What's going on here?" Chopper was able to wake up after his short nap, but he noticed Luvbi was cuddling with him. "EEEK! Why's she so close to me?!"
"Poyo! (Calm down, Chopper! It's all right!)"
"Well… All right." Chopper got off the couch and looked at Timpani's floating wand. "So… Any reason why Tippi's wand is floating?"
"Well… We were just talking about…"
"Guys, we're here," Meta Knight announced as he walked into the rec room. "We should get going now."
When Luvbi woke up, she noticed that everyone was walking out the door, so she followed them outside. They were right at the other side of the ocean. It was a large continent with mountains just off the distance.
"Wow, now that's pretty cool," Sonic commented as he looked at the mountain. "Though… Do we really need to climb that?"
"Well, I guess it beats traveling across the ocean," Blade said as he stopped the boat. "I'm getting a little tired of driving this thing anyway. I wanna fight some enemies, you know?"
"Well, Queen Jaydes said that we need to reach the top of these mountains, so that seems like it'll be a bit of a chore for us…" Timpani trailed.
"Well, in that case… Let's go!" Chopper jumped off the boat and landed on the grassy ground. He just so happened to find a Star Block up ahead. With one punch, he managed to smash it.
END OF CHAPTER
"I will admit that I hath been a bit rude to thee all," started Luvbi. "Though it may not endeth, I will maketh sure to tone it down a bit." With her supposed "apology", everyone was a bit unsure if they should forgive her or not. Along with that, there was still her issue with her undying love to Chopper. Timpani and Blumiere, on the other hand, were starting to wonder more about what happened in the past. With that, our heroes trailed on toward the path that would eventually lead up to the highlands.
Yeah, there really wasn't as much action in this part unlike the others. It felt like that there was more dialogue and story rather than action. However, I guess story IS necessary for a fanfic, especially with one like this. Yeah, this world has a bit of back story to it and, while others did have some back story, I feel that this one shows a lot more.
This took me pretty much eight days to write. Eight. Freaking. DAYS. But, I guess I'm proud of it. It has some interesting character interaction, story, and it at least has a fight in it. Luckily, there will be plenty of action in the next chapter, just for you people. ;)
...And watch out for clowns, all right?