CHAPTER 15-3
-On the Highlands-
"Well I suppose it's a relief to be off of that boat for once. I was starting to get tired of traveling on there. Not to mention it feels like it's longer than actually traveling on foot…" Meta Knight sighed as they stopped over by a tree.
"I'm sorry if that's how you feel, Meta Knight," Chopper apologized. "I can agree with that, though, but I'm sorry that you feel like that anyway. …Wait, I didn't have to repeat that, right?"
"No, you didn't."
With that, they decided to look at what was around them. They were, of course, standing over by a tree, but the pathway just up ahead had dark green grass instead of light green back in that one area of this world. If Chopper flipped into 3-D, they would most likely see a dirt road that happened to lead up to a sign ahead. The sky itself was still the same, but they could see more clouds instead of the big blue sky. It could be possibly because the highlands are surrounded by clouds. Even the top of the highlands couldn't be seen because of the clouds! But, even still, it was a nice-looking place, and it even seemed a little peaceful here too.
"Hmmmmm… I wanna get a better look at this place." Blade jumped on top of Sonic and stood on top of his head to check what was around him. "Aw, yeah! This is like a ninja area to me!"
"Blade, get off my head," Sonic said with an irritated look. "I don't feel comfortable with your feet on me."
The ninja shrugged and jumped off his head, making Sonic rub his head while giving him a look. Blade simply smiled sheepishly and tried to make him look away by telling him there was a ring. But, it didn't work out for him.
"Pray, why art thou not wearing any shoes around hither?" Luvbi asked, out of curiosity.
"Probably because that's how it goes with my ninja attire," Blade shrugged.
"Hmmmmm… It looks like they've already found us." Meta Knight warned as he swung his sword. Two light blue Skellobits were marching toward them. They seemed rather confused that they weren't Dark Skellobits, considering that they've mostly encountered them throughout the areas.
"That's actually called a Skell," Timpani informed. "Why such a strange name like that, I don't know. Apparently, they're capable of throwing their own heads at you like a boomerang if you're not careful."
"Poyo, (Then I know just what to do,)" Kirby started to inhale as a Skell threw its head directly at them. He spat it back at the Skell and left it stunned for a couple of seconds. Meta Knight finished it off with a couple of jabs.
"We must act quick if we are to get to the top of the highlands," Meta Knight suggested. "They're starting to find us now."
"Well at least we don't have to worry about Eggman or Bowser lurking around these parts," Sonic smirked. "This should be pretty simple! We get to run, which is easier than sailing!"
"…Except for us," Luigi sighed.
"Yeah, OK, I think we get it already," Blade ran over to the other Skell and slashed at it with his katana. It tried to poke him with its spear, but he similar transformed into a simple log and attacked from behind, disintegrating the Skell into smoke. "Take that, Skellobit!"
"Ummmmmm… OK, then!" Sonic sweat dropped as he used a Spin Dash to attack the next Skell nearby. It barely had a chance to attack, which was a shame, since they didn't seem as bad as a Dark Skellobit.
"You might not think they're hard to beat, but you haven't seen all of its moves yet…" warned Timpani. "If it charged a spear attack, you're most likely going to suffer some fatal damage."
"Wait… Is that a Hyper Cleft up ahead?" Luigi gaped as he pointed to a Hyper Cleft right past a light dark pink Spiky Skell. It was apparently charging up an attack that it was going to deliver to them.
"Dang… Well, I guess we can… Wait, hold on a minute!" Blade grabbed a hold of Hommissile and threw him straight at the Hyper Cleft, flipping it over. Mario jumped over the Spiky Skell and stomped on it while it was highly vulnerable, defeating it once and for all.
"Well that was easy!" Chopper smiled until he got hit by the Spiky Skell's head it threw at him. "OW! Oh, come on! I had to be hit right then? You've gotta be kidding me…"
"Pray, thou shouldst be OK, my sweet prince!" Luvbi giggled as she fluttered over to him to give him a kiss, but Chopper stepped away and simply kicked the Spiky Skell's head back at its body, knocking it over.
Sonic made the final blow on the Spiky Skell as he used his Whirlwind to send the monster flying in the air and delivered a Homing Attack that finished it once and for all. This allowed them to proceed on over to the sign up ahead.
"What does it say?" Luigi asked as they stomped. Chopper took a close look at the sign and began to read it out loud.
"'Those who wish to go to the highlands must see the great Fubi if thou art to crush the boulder in thy way.' Wait… Fubi? Who the heck is Fubi?"
"I doth believe that Fubi was once a Nimbi that lived in The Overthere," Luvbi explained. "He used to train the Nimbis in the ways of kung fu. However, when a competitor arrived, a rivalry was born. Mayhap his rival is around hither as well."
"Fubi… That's a strange name." Luigi commented. "But, if he knows how to fight, then maybe he'll be of some sort of help! I think it would be appreciative if he helped us find the Pure Heart!"
"Let's hope he knows where it is…" Blumiere hoped.
"That's our biggest priority at the moment," Chopper said. "Now let's get going. I think I see a red door just up ahead."
Everyone followed Chopper over to the red door ahead after defeating another Hyper Cleft. Little did they know that there were two people hiding behind a bush. They were both wearing cloaked hoods and both had glowing purples eyes.
"So… They've made it this far…" the one to the right trailed as it watched them head through the door. "Not bad… I didn't expect them to make it across the ocean like that…"
"But when will we destroy them?" the one to the left asked.
"Oh, trust me… We'll give them a surprise. Heh heh heh…"
Next area-
"Meta Knight, you seem a bit silent today," Chopper realized as they walked out of the door, where they found another pathway up ahead. There were some holes in the grass with spikes, but they didn't seem to be too much of a big deal. "What's going on? Is something wrong?"
"I feel that we're not alone on this continent…" Meta Knight trailed.
"Well it would make sense that we're not alone," Timpani said. "The sign even said that Fubi would be in this place, and we also have a lot of enemies that we have to deal with as well."
"Watch out for the spike pits as well," warned Blumiere.
"Poyo! (Then I know what I should be doing!)" Kirby ran up to a Spiky Skell that was just up ahead and inhaled it whole. He simply swallowed it, but he didn't get the Needle ability from it.
"Poyo? (No ability?)"
"I guess not," Chopper jumped over a spike pit nearby and inhaled a Skell that was across from it. He swallowed it too, but it didn't do much for him. Chopper didn't even recover a single piece of HP!
Meta Knight simply flew over the spike pit and landed right in front of Chopper. The whole area was kind of bland and uninteresting, from what he could see. It was most flat at this moment, but it didn't stop him from jabbing at a Hyper Cleft that was in his way. Too bad he did little damage…
Mario: I have a suggestion!
Mario got a hold of Kickbrin and used his ability to knock the Hyper Cleft into a Skell up ahead. Surprisingly, it did a lot of damage, considering that it got knocked into an enemy that was holding a spear.
"Another thing I should mention…" Timpani began. "When its spear is up, that means you can't jump on top of it because you'll get hurt by the spear. When its spear is aimed toward you, then that's the opportunity for you to make a jump."
"Interesting…" Sonic slowly nodded. "So we're supposed to attack it where it's vulnerable?"
"She already explained it to thee…" Luvbi trailed.
"I'm just making sure..."
Regardless of that, they pressed on, with Chopper jumping over another spike pit right next to a ? Block in between two Brick Blocks. Meta Knight struck the block with his fist to make a Super Shroom pop out. They took no time at all and used it to recover 20 HP. With that, they rushed up a small hill and to the door just up ahead.
"I wonder when we'll actually get to the mountains…" Blade wondered as they found another trail just up ahead. However, this one seemed to have a lot of dead trees in the background, which surprised them a bit.
"Wait… The trees we just saw weren't like this." Luigi gaped. "What happened with all of these trees?"
"Mayhap a fire was started?" Luvbi predicted. "We never knowest… Things doth seemeth to change when we arrive hither…"
"Luvbi, have you ever been to this part of this world before?" Timpani asked.
"Yea, I dost remember that I was here before with mine parents a couple of years ago before the Nimbis moved hither. However, many things hath changed, so I dost not remember everything hither."
"Oh… Well that would've been a little helpful if you remembered." Chopper frowned. "Nevertheless, let's just see what we've got ahead."
They noticed that on a floating rock platform, a Koopa was pushing a boulder down the hill up ahead. Chopper flipped him and everyone into 3-D and dodged the boulder coming their way.
"Whoa… Who ever thought Koopas would be pushing boulders down?" Luigi gasped as they went back into 2-D. "Hold on… Is Bowser and that guy with the large mustache here as well?"
Mario: I hope not…
"Poyo! (Well it doesn't matter to me!)" Kirby smiled as he skipped up the hill and inhaled the Koopa before it could get another boulder. By spitting it out, it was flown far away from here.
Everyone followed Kirby up the hill until the ground was flat again. They saw some red, yellow, and blue Shy Guys using stilts while crossing some spiked pits. From investigating them, they were Stilt Guys.
"Oh, man… These guys…" Luigi groaned. "I remember fighting them before, and it was very, very annoying…"
Mario: Not really…
"Well, I think a stomp can knock them off," Chopper pondered as he ran forward and jumped on a Stilt Guy, causing it to fall onto the ground and lose its stilts, becoming nothing more but a Shy Guy now.
Mario, tipping his hat, made a leap toward the red Shy Guy. It cringed from Mario's stomp, but just one more was able to defeat it with ease. Sonic took care of the blue Stilt Guy, while Meta Knight finished off the yellow one.
Just up ahead, they noticed that the door was being blocked by a yellow block. Luckily, since Chopper had Cudge with him, he smashed it with his hammer that magically appeared in his hands, allowing them to head into the door ahead.
"Say… I wonder when we'll find this Fubi person…" Chopper wondered as they noticed that the ground began to change from dark green grass to gray rock. The sky didn't seem to change, though, so that was a bit of a relief. But overall, things got a little interesting here.
"Pray, art we at the end of this place?" Luvbi asked as she fluttered over to the wall just up ahead. "I doth sworn that there was more than this…"
"Hold on a second…" Chopper flipped into 3-D to find a path between the mountains. It seemed to lead over to a tunnel. However, there were a couple of rocks that were in their way, preventing them from going through.
So, Chopper pulled his hammer out and tried smashing it. It didn't do any good.
"Dang it… My hammer doesn't work!"
"Hmmmmmmm… So what are we to do then?" Meta Knight asked as Chopper went back into 2-D. "We can't just turn back now…"
"Well… I think I might have a suggestion…" Timpani trailed. "The only option I see at this point is investigating the area. Maybe we might find something around here?"
Chopper twirled Timpani's wand and began to investigate the area. He didn't see too much around him, but he noticed a little house nearby. In fact, everyone could see it when Timpani's wand flashed on it.
"Pray, is that Fubi's house?" Luvbi gaped.
"I think this might be the house…" Timpani trailed. "I'll reveal it so we can go inside."
When the house appeared, it looked like it was very small, but even still, they didn't have much to worry and entered the house, hoping that this Fubi person (or whatever his name was) would be able to help them on their journey.
Lower level-
"Hmmmmmm… So this is the sacred Ormani Highlands that I've been hearing about in this world…" Eggman pondered as his Eggwalker stomped on the grass. "Bowser! Those heroes have got to be somewhere around here!"
"Yeah, you're not kidding," Bowser said while over by a bush.
"Wait… What are you doing?!"
"What does it look like, Nosehairs? I'm trying to search this bush!"
"Fine," Eggman looked away and listened to the beautiful sounds he was hearing.
No, wait. That wasn't a pleasant sound. It was Bowser getting annoyed with finding nothing.
"Argh… Nothing." Bowser stomped his way over to Eggman, but he realized something. "Whoa… I just realized that your mustache is so big! …And hairy! How… How do you manage to get a mustache like that?"
"What the… Now's not the time to be speaking about my glorious mustache, Bowser! We must find the heroes and eliminate them immediately! Unfortunately, King Dedede just so happened to FAIL against them…"
"Wait, how do you know that he lost to them? Are you psychic? 'Cause I'd love to be able to tell where that plumber is, or even that guy who looks like Chopper that sent me OUT of my own world!"
"My Badniks informed me that King Dedede was knocked out several minutes ago. I assure you that the heroes are most likely going to be here. Now we just have to wait for Scratch and Grounder…"
"Dr. Robotnik! We're here!" As if on cue, Scratch and Grounder came running toward Eggman. It almost seemed as if they were racing each other to him, but the two ended up tumbling over each other in front of Eggman's walker.
"BWA HA HA HA! That's just classic!" Bowser cackled.
"Good news, Dr. Robotnik! We discovered where they are!" Scratch said in an excited tone.
"Really? Where are they?" Eggman asked before the two robots began to sweat. "…You didn't find them, didn't you?"
"Weeeeeeeell… Uhhhhhh… Errrrrr… Hmmmmmmmm… Hrrmmmmm… Well, you see, Dr. Robtonik… We…didn't find them. At all." Grounder trailed after that "long" sentence.
"You idiots… I wonder why I haven't even replaced you in the first place! Bah! Fine… I guess I'll go find them myself!"
"Wait, hold on a minute!" Bowser stopped. "I wanna get a chance to defeat that red plumber! What makes you think that YOU'RE going to be the one to defeat them? I personally disagree!"
"What?! Oh, you don't understand, Bowser… I have a bone to pick with them. I will make sure that I take care of them personally! Especially that pesky blue hedgehog that bested me before…"
"Gwargh! We'll see about that, Nosehairs! I'll get to them before YOU can!" Bowser stomped away from Eggman and got his Koopa Clown Car. Just like that, he left Eggman and headed for the highlands.
"Very well then… I suppose I'll have to handle this myself!" Eggman walked in the opposite direction of Bowser's Koopa Clown Car and headed back to the boat that they stopped.
Fubi's house-
Upon entering the house, they noticed that a yellow Nimbi with an oval-shaped head and had a long, white beard that resembled something a sensei would have. His body was a white color, showing his great, white robe to the group. However, he was facing away from the group and was meditating.
"Something's weird about this guy…" Chopper thought as he slowly took one step.
"I knew thou wouldst arrive," Fubi spoke as everyone paused. The old Nimbi turned around and faced the group. "While my eyes may not be open, I can feel your presence when you walked in."
"Is it because we opened the door?" Blade asked.
"Well… Somewhat."
"See? He doesn't know squat! Maybe we ought to…" Unfortunately, a vase happened to fall on top of Blade and cause him to become dazed. Everyone looked at him in confusion, but they saw that he was just fine.
However, it was Luvbi that went up to speak to him.
"Fubi, we require thy assistance!" Luvbi demanded. "We art trying to maketh our way up to The Peaceness in order to get away from the monsters that art coming for us!"
"Hmmmm… So thou art the daughter of Queen Jaydes and King Grambi, art thou not?" Fubi asked while looking at the Nimbi. "Hmmmm… Thou dost seemeth a bit different than most Nimbis…"
"I think it's because they look similar to some people on a TV show…" Sonic trailed.
"Mayhap it is that… But, anyway, I doth know why thou art hither. Thou dost want my help to findeth the Pure Heart that couldst possibly be up at The Peacness?"
"Yea, verily, but there art unbreakable rocks blocking the way up the highlands," Luvbi informed with an annoyed look. "Surely thou dost have the ability to helpeth us smash those rocks…"
"Hmmmm… Mayhap I doth, but I shouldst teach thee these moves. Only one that doth have the skills of a martial artist can master this skill."
"Poyo! (I'll learn it!)" Kirby announced, inhaling a belt on the shelf and gaining the Fighter ability. "Poyo! (I think I should be able to help us get through there with the Fighter ability!)"
"Hold on, Kirby… I can copy abilities too, so maybe I want to get to use it too!" Chopper stepped in, inhaling a bandanna on the shelf and gaining the Fighter ability as well. "Let's kick some butt!"
"Well, if this is what you wish to do, then so be it," Meta Knight said. "It's probably our only option if we are to get to the top of the highlands."
"Thou hast made a wise choice, young warriors," Fubi bowed before getting in a kung fu stance. "Now, let us test thy skills! Come at me, warriors!"
"Wait, WHAT?!" Chopper gaped. "I'm not going to hit an old man that's wise and good!"
"Thou dost not have to worry about mine own safety. I will be just fine. Come at me, please!" Chopper and Kirby shrugged and rushed toward him. They tried to punch and kick him, but the old Nimbi managed to grab a hold of each other and throw them over on the ground.
"Please don't leaveth Chopper injured," Luvbi cried.
"I will promise thee that they won't be hurt," Fubi assured. "Mine attacks art not to injure at this point. I assure thee that they will be fine."
"Oww…" Chopper moaned as he got up. "I'm not TOO hurt, but that was one heck of an attack. Not even am I capable of doing moves like that! …Got any more on ya? Or maybe you can train us?"
"Although we do have limited time…" Timpani added.
"If thou art worthy of learning these moves, then thou shouldst start off by smashing these blocks," Fubi stepped out of the way as a large block with a fist on it appeared. "They art verily strong. Only a true fighter could breaketh these."
"Poyo? (A true fighter, huh?)" Kirby got in a kung fu stance and made a cute kung fu sound. "Hwaaaaaaaaaah!"
Kirby charged straight at the block and tried smashing it, but it simply knocked him away. When Chopper noticed this, he made a cute kung fu sound (that caused Luvbi to giggle cutely) and attack the block with a punch. Even then, he got knocked away toward the wall.
"Ah. I doth see the problem." Fubi noticed as the two got up. "Thou art simply charging at the block like thou art in war. Thou shouldst realize that kung fu is not all about using thy brute force."
"Brute force? That makes sense…" Luigi trailed.
"Well, then what are we supposed to do then?" Chopper asked while rubbing his fist.
"If thou art to smash a block, then thou must focus. Findeth a point where it's weak by closing thy eyes and smashing thither when thou hast foundeth it. But it must be very, very precise."
"Poyo… (Uh oh…)" Nevertheless, Kirby closed his eyes and looked directly at the block. As he began to focus, he realized that there was indeed a weak point. With a Vulcan Jab, he managed to smash the block instantly.
"I almost feel if I could crap my pants at this point," Blade gaped.
"That was…cool!" Chopper gaped. "Now I just have to do it!"
Chopper began to focus as well and after doing the same thing as Kirby, he smashed the block, but it didn't look as cool as how Kirby destroyed it. Nevertheless, Fubi was pleased with these results.
"Ah… Very interesting…" Fubi pondered as he closed his eyes. "I see the two of you have learned to focus on such an act. Mayhap thou dost have the eye of the tiger… Or dost thou verily?"
"Eye of the tiger? That sounds like something Grubba said to be before…" Chopper recalled, thinking about those moments.
"Nevertheless, I doth believe that thou will only needeth that to maketh thy way up the highlands," the kung fu Nimbi informed. "Mine other moves that I couldst teach thee could be dangerous…"
"What? We can't learn any other moves? That's bull!" Chopper frowned. "I mean, I would love to be able to get to the Pure Heart easily with some better moves! …But, fine. I guess we have no other choice then."
"Poyo.. (It would've been cool to learn some other moves, honestly…)" Kirby frowned as well.
"Pray, is that all thou hast to offer us?" Luvbi asked. "That dost not seem to be a lot…"
"I may not offer thee much, but mayhap this will helpeth thee with thy kung fu attacks," Fubi gave Kirby a badge that resembled a training scroll. "Thou wilt learneth another move when thou equipest this."
Kirby decided to equip the badge, which suddenly allowed him to charge up a Vulcan Jab attack. When he unleashed it, a huge wave of Kirby's punch nearly sliced the table in half. Even Meta Knight was shocked.
"Impressive…"
"Poyo! (Whoa! Did you guys see that?)" Kirby cried while his arms flailed around. "Poyo! (My charge Vulcan Jab DESTROYED all of that!)"
"Now, thou must be careful with that, young warrior," Fubi informed. "Only use it at the right time that thou needest it. If thou dost use it when it is not necessary, then thou couldst cause a lot of damage."
"Hey, what about me?" Chopper asked. "Don't I get one too?"
"I don't think he has another," Sonic informed.
"Two of them would've been rather helpful," Timpani said.
"I am verily sorry, but I hath one carried one with me," Fubi said in a serious tone. "But even with the move I taught you, you should be able to break some of the rocks that are in your way ahead."
"No, really. Do you have any more moves to teach us?" Chopper asked.
"Uhhhh… OK, let's just go." Meta Knight grabbed a hold of Chopper's antennae and dragged him out of the house, but the young boy gave Fubi a bow before leaving, receiving a bow back, of course.
"Good luck on thy adventure, heroes. And maketh sure to watch out for Ninbi…" Fubi informed. "He doth be quite an annoyance."
"Ninbi? Who the heck is that?" Sonic asked before leaving.
"Ninbi is a Nimbi who trainest in the art of ninjas. Ever since he came to The Overthere, we hath had many problems with each other and faced many conflicts. Many years later, we left, hoping to never see each other again, but nay. We hath discovered that we were living hither."
"You know, I should be fair and at least see Ninbi," Chopper said. "I mean, come on! Maybe this is all a misunderstanding! Maybe it's time to get along for once and grow up or something!"
"Well, I dost not know if he still hates me or not. But if thou dost see him, tell him that I'm sorry for the plate."
"The plate? What happened with a plate?" Luigi asked.
"Thou…dost not want to know."
Nevertheless, they waved goodbye to Master Fubi and returned outside, where they started to stretch.
"Well, I guess we're done with that place for now," Blade said as he finished stretching. "So, we need to get past those rocks up ahead and head to wherever may that lead to, right?"
"Yea, verily," Luvbi agreed. "We must continue onward!"
Sonic ran over to the narrow part of the pathway to find a door up ahead that would most likely lead inside. Chopper entered it first, soon coming out of the door and explaining that the inside of the mountain was just through there.
"At least we can make some progress," Meta Knight said as they walked through the door into another area. It was kind of dark in here, but they didn't find it as dark as the Mansion of Nightmares. They could still see each other…a little.
"Oh, man! Not the dark!" Luigi shivered. "I wish I had a flashlight with me!"
"I've got Timpani's wand," Chopper pulled Timpani's wand out and flashed it around the room. "OK, so we're in some kind of dark cave in the mountains, so we need to be a little cautious here."
Mario: I might as well sit.
"Wait, Mario! Don't sit on the…" Mario yelped as he sat on top of a Hyper Cleft's spike poked him. He rocketed up to the ceiling and was left dizzy, but he quickly shook his head and bashed it with his hammer.
Mario: I didn't expect that!
"Well, you know, many things do come out of nowhere around here," Sonic informed as they walked ahead to find a small body of water. It wasn't deep. In fact, it only went up to their legs!
"Oh… Well this water isn't so bad." Luigi gaped as he looked down. "Maybe we can just jump on up ahead and see if we can grab a hold of the ledge?"
"Good call," Chopper jumped out of the water, but he couldn't reach it because of the water. "Dang it! I don't think this is going to work! If only we could do something to this water…"
"Pray, why not use thy ice ability to freeze the water?" Luvbi suggested.
Chopper shrugged before he tossed a charged ice ball at the water, making it freeze entirely. Meta Knight tested it out by walking on it, but all it took him was to fly up to the ledge with his wings. He happened to be greeted by two Squags, which he took care of with Galaxia.
"The way is clear. We should be able to continue through here." Meta Knight informed as everyone grabbed the ledge and pulled themselves up.
However, they saw another rock blocking the way up ahead. This gave Kirby the idea to use his new move. With his charged Vulcan Jab attack, he was able to slice the rock in half with one punch and lead them down a slope leading over to a ladder.
"Poyo! (That was awesome!)" Kirby cheered.
"Well, at least we can reach a ladder," Chopper said as he ran down the slope and grabbed a hold of the ladder. When he reached the top, he punched a Skell in the head with a Vulcan Jab, turning its head upside down. He then finished off by charging an energy blast and firing it at it.
"This is why the Fighter ability is so awesome."
"But ninjas are better," Blade retorted as they climbed to the top of the ladder to find two Spiky Skells guarding a door. Sonic wiped the floor with them by using his Spin Dash, but Luigi finished them off by throwing Bonjourang at them.
"Wow! I managed to take them down easily!" Luigi gaped as he caught Bonjourang as he came back to him. "That was awesome!"
"Yup… That's basically how beating our enemies is like." Chopper said. "Now let's get out of this area. I wanna see if we're actually getting higher up in the mountains."
Unfortunately, it only brought them into another cavern room. This time, it wasn't dark. They could see some bats flying in the room, which caused Luigi to scream, and the rest to duck to avoid them (thankfully Mario got Luigi to duck in time).
"Whew... That was close..." Sonic sighed.
"T-Too close..." Luigi quivered.
While Luigi continued to shudder, Timpani's wand floated out of Chopper's inventory and noticed a couple of small, rock platforms moving up. There was no floor down below, which was rather dangerous.
"The only way is to go up…" Timpani trailed.
"You might want to be careful here, heroes. If you fall, you're going to end up going in a bottomless pit." Blumiere suggested. "And Mario... Maybe you should keep Luigi close in case of more bats come."
Mario: You got it!
"W-Wait... There's going to be more bats?!" Luigi gasped. "Oh... I don't like this."
"Oh, would you quit your complaining already," Blade groaned. "It's not going to be that long anyway."
Luigi mumbled and began to jump up the platforms, following the rest of the group up. Despite being scared, he actually had the easiest time, being able to jump the highest. Kirby and Meta Knight had no problem either, since they could simply fly to the top. And Luvbi... Well, she could fly, and she was used to seeing scary creatures, so this was nothing special.
"Man, those guys are lucky they can do that," Sonic grumbled as he jumped from platform to platform. When they finally reached the top, he began to pant and nearly fall over. "That's so much jumping!"
"King of reminds me of Underwhere Road…" Blade groaned. "Man, I hated doing all of those jumps."
"No kidding…" Chopper sighed when they reached the door. A Save Block happened to be right in front of them as well, which seemed to help them a lot. When Chopper punched the block, their game was saved. With that, they entered the door just up ahead.
Outside-
"WAH! Look at that! We're…high!" Luigi shrieked as he walked out of the door and looked down. They were actually right in front of a large gap. There happened to be a blue ! Switch across it, though.
Mario: Mama mia! We are!
"Well, The Overthere was pretty high, too," Chopper recalled. "So this shouldn't be anything special."
Mario: Just don't look down, Luigi.
"Oh… But it's too hard!" Luigi cried.
"Then that means we need to get a blindfold!" Blade announced as he raised his finger. "Only then will we be able to get across!"
"Uhhhhh… Really, Blade?" Sonic gawked. "You honestly believe that we'll need a blindfold for this?"
"Well, how else are we going to get him through all of this? Or better yet…" Blade started to push Luigi through the narrow pathway, despite the fact that he was screaming and crying about it. Everyone shrugged and followed him until they got to the large step just ahead.
"So we can see how far up we are from here…" Meta Knight trailed as he looked up. "Well, we're not exactly at the peak of this place, but I do believe that we need to simply climb more."
"How come you can't help us fly up there?" Chopper asked. "Wouldn't that be a lot EASIER?"
"Errrrr… I don't think I'm capable of doing that… My wings could get tired from carrying many people across. And, no offense to you, Mario, but I probably wouldn't be able to carry you because of your weight."
Mario: They always say that… -_-;
"OK, I think we're getting a little off the road here," Sonic said. "Let's just get up this large rock and see what we have ahead of us."
They climbed onto the rock to find a slope going down. They noticed a couple of Skells patrolling around here, but a boulder happened to be right in front of them. Chopper smirked as he kicked it down the slope.
"That'll take care of 'em!"
The Skells tried to run from the boulder, but they were rolled over and destroyed once and for all. But it didn't stop a couple of others with wings to fly out of the way. Luigi instantly gulped and tried to step back.
"Relax, you can still hurt them, Luigi," Sonic assured. "You can even hit them with a Super Jump."
Luigi sighed and used a Super Jump to hit one of the Bomber Skells, knocking it to the ground. Meta Knight flew up to it and finished it off with a powerful slash attack. With that, they began to slide down the slope and enter the door just up ahead.
They noticed that the next area they stepped in wasn't actually that big. They saw a large rock that they could jump on to grab a hold of the ledge, and they also saw that a door was up ahead as well.
"Poyo… (Hey, there's something I remember…)" Kirby recalled. "Poyo? (How come we've never gotten in contact with our friends back in Flipside? Have they tried calling us?)"
"Who are your 'friends'?" Meta Knight asked.
"I was thinking the same thing," Luvbi added.
"They're friends that we've met on previous adventures," Chopper explained. "If it weren't for them, then I wouldn't have saved the Mushroom Kingdom from a corrupted Star God AND save the universe from an evil demon! And yeah, I actually wonder why they didn't even contact us."
He pulled his communicator out, but he didn't get a signal from it. Another thing he noticed was that it was also broken. "What the… How did this communicator become broken?!"
Everyone else pulled their communicators out and gaped when they saw that theirs were broken as well.
"Pray, what is wrong?" Luvbi asked.
"Poyo? (How did this even happen?)" Kirby gaped. "Poyo… (Unless… It was that fight against Dark and…)"
"Dark and who else?" Meta Knight asked.
"Uhhhh… Let's just forget about that, all right?" Chopper sweat dropped. "I just wish we can get these fixed. I feel that our friends are probably going to get worried over us because of this."
"Does anyone know someone who can fix these?" Blade asked.
"I know Tails could, he he's not here…" Sonic trailed.
"Well, even if they're broken, I'm sure your friends would want you guys to find the Pure Heart no matter what. That's the most important part right now." Timpani said.
"Yeah, that's true… All right, let's just move on ahead." Chopper grabbed a hold of the ledge of the rock ahead and pulled himself up. As soon as everyone got up, they saw a light purple barrier block their way from going back or even head toward the door.
"Gwa ha ha ha! Now I've got you now!" Everyone looked up to find Bowser flying down to the heroes in his Koopa Clown Car. "I didn't expect to find you guys up in the mountains, but it looks like I did!"
"Bowser…"
"Nyeah heh heh har! So it IS you!" Kammy Koopa cackled as she flew down beside Bowser. "Ah, Mario, Chopper! We've finally found you!"
Mario: Bowser? You found us?
"You're dang right I did, plumber! And now I can finally crush you all! When I'm finished here, this is going to be called 'Super Paper Bowser'! Believe me, you're not going to last long here!" Bowser grinned, jumping out of his Koopa Clown Car.
"Why of course, Your Nastiness! You are the greatest, after all!" Kammy complimented. "I'll make sure they don't win this fight!"
"No, Haggy. I've got this. You stay back and let me take them on!"
"Wh-What?! B-But I've always stayed by your side!"
"Well not anymore! Leave me to fight these heroes alone!" a punch was all Bowser had to use to send Kammy flying away from him. "Now, then… With her out of the way, you're about to get crushed!"
"Are you going to crush us in the dumb, Bowser style?" Chopper asked. "Or by using a poster of Princess Peach?"
"Why would I use a poster of her?! It's not like I like her or anything!"
Mario: You actually do…
"GWARGH! Now you're gonna get it!" Bowser started to breathe fire at the group. Unfortunately, Chopper was the one who got hit instead and even got covered in soot. He blinked a couple of times before realizing something.
"He did this the last time I fought him!"
"Pray, Chopper... Shouldst I stay back from this fight?" Luvbi asked.
"Yes, go find somewhere safe. Or rather, somewhere high above us so you don't get caught in anything."
Luvbi nodded and fluttered above the battle, which she decided to watch. She noticed that Mario stomped on Bowser's nose, causing him to hold it in pain and cry like a baby.
"Why did you stomp on my nose?!"
Mario: Well you wanted to fight…
"Grrrrr! Take this!" Bowser punched Mario in the stomach while his fist was surrounded in flaming energy, leaving a burn on him. Mario tried to make another move, but the fire on him prevented him.
Mario: I don't think I can do much…
"I'll try something," Meta Knight ran toward Bowser with his sword ready. The Koopa tried to burn him with his fire breath, but he simply flew out of the way and hit him with a Sword Beam.
"Argh! You annoying weirdo! Who the heck are you anyway?!" Bowser growled.
"Me? Why, I'm Meta Knight, of course. As you can see, you're in our way, so we have no choice but to fight." Meta Knight dove straight for Bowser and slashed at him with his sword.
"Well, at least I get to fight someone after a while…"
"Poyo! (Well, let's see how you deal with this!)" Kirby jumped over to Bowser and used his Vulcan Jab to strike him in the stomach a couple of times. He even got to hit Bowser in the nose with his Rising Break as well.
"Urgh… Well, seven against one shouldn't be too bad." Bowser used his claw to knock Kirby away. He then curled in his double-sided shell and began to roll over a couple of people such as Sonic, Blade, and Luigi.
"Gwa ha ha ha! Man, I'm feeling it today!" Bowser cackled as he stood up. "I've always wanted to do something like this to you guys for a LONG time!"
"Ouch…" Sonic slowly got up and held his arm in pain for a couple of seconds before striking Bowser with a Spin Dash. What was strange was that Bowser didn't even fall over from the attack.
"You'll have to try better than that to knock me over!"
"Dang it…"
Luigi, on the other hand, got right under Bowser's nose and used a Spin Jump to strike him there. Bowser cried once again, allowing Chopper to charge up an energy ball and fire a blast straight at him to leave him off guard.
"I never had any of those moves when we previously fought," Chopper smirked.
"Well you'll regret that pretty soon!" Bowser jumped in the air and tried to attack Chopper with a ground pound, but Meta Knight pulled him out of the way and attacked Bowser from behind. Bowser yelped in pain as he punched Meta Knight, sending him flying toward the magic barrier.
"Ooog… What kind of punch was that?" Meta Knight grunted.
"Well it doesn't matter right now. We need to focus on taking Bowser down!" Blade drew his katana and jumped toward Bowser. He tried to kick him from an angle, but the spikes on his head made him take damage.
"What the heck?!"
"You can't jump on Bowser's head. You'll just get hurt." Chopper informed as he began to investigate Bowser with Timpani's wand. "I don't think I've ever investigated him before, honestly…"
"That's Bowser, the King of the Koopas and archenemy of Mario... Max HP is 260. Attack is 13. Defense is 4. He has spikes, so you can't stomp him. As you'd imagine, his fiery breath and stomp attack do a lot of damage. When he rolls into his shell, you need to get as far away from him as possible. His punch also has the ability to burn you with his powerful punch attack, and even his claw can poison you as well, so watch out. Pixls wouldn't be a bad choice against Bowser, but even still, you might want to be careful with him…" Timpani informed.
"Got it!" Chopper ran toward Bowser and attacked him with a Rising Break, followed by a couple of kicks to the belly. Bowser, on the other hand, got his chance to poison him by clawing at him.
"Ugh… Poisoned…"
"Chopper!" Luvbi gasped before Meta Knight gestured her to remain calm.
"Relax, Luvbi. We can still beat him. Chopper just needs to use Piccolo to heal himself and he'll be just fine." Blade assured as Chopper began to use Piccolo's power to heal himself of the status ailment. Unfortunately, when he did this, Bowser grabbed him and threw him straight at Blade, making them fall over.
"Gwa ha ha ha! See? I knew I could take you guys on!" Bowser cackled as he spat a couple of fireballs at the group. Meta Knight used his cape to protect himself from the attack and turn invisible, while Mario used his jumping skills to jump over the fireballs and hit Bowser with Kickbrin's kick.
"Grrrr! BURN!" Bowser used his flaming breath in order to burn Mario, but he was too fast and managed to deliver a blow to Bowser's head with his hammer, leaving him dazed for a couple of seconds.
"Awesome! Time for a Light Speed Attack!" Sonic gave Mario a thumbs up before charging up a Spin Dash for his Light Speed Attack. After storing energy in him, he unleashed his full attack on Bowser and left him covered in bruises and cuts.
"What's the matter? Can't take anymore?"
"Oh, I'll show you…" Bowser poisoned Sonic by simply clawing at him, forcing him to use Piccolo's ability to cure himself. Luigi, meanwhile, hit Bowser in the nose with Bonjourang, then he used his Cyclone attack on him afterward.
"OW! QUIT IT!"
"Well, I'm simply trying to fight you…" Luigi trailed as he got burned by Bowser's fire breath. He yelped in pain as he took damage from his burn. However, before Bowser could punch him, Meta Knight appeared right in front of him and attacked him by leaping into the air with his sword pointed upwards and going into one loop.
"Whoa… What kind of move is that?" Chopper gaped.
"I call that the Shuttle Loop," Meta Knight said. "It's fast, but I have to hit my target at the right moment, because it will…"
Bowser knocked Meta Knight back with a fire punch, leaving a burn on him. It also left one of his wings on fire. With his cape, he managed to take out the flames and get back into battle.
"Did someone order more fire breath?" Bowser grinned as he unleashed his fire breath upon the group. Chopper frowned and tossed a charge ice ball straight at his mouth, but with the fire, it simply melted away.
"Dang! I can't use ice against him at this point!" Chopper grumbled.
Bowser coughed up a little spoke after breathing fire, allowing Chopper to toss a charged ice ball into his mouth. Bowser coughed, as if something was blocking his flame pipe.
"What the heck just happened?!" Bowser tried breathing fire, but it was no good. "WHY WON'T YOU WORK, FLAME PIPE?!"
"He's got a flame pipe?" Blade gawked.
Mario: Yeah, he does…
"Then this looks like a perfect opportunity to attack!" Blade pointed his finger straight at Bowser as he sent Hommissile flying toward him. With a single explosion, Bowser was sent flying to the magic barrier.
"GRRRRR! Oh, you'll pay for that! Just watch THIS!" Bowser jumped and began to dive down toward Blade. Everyone stepped out of the way, but the ninja cat was squished by Bowser's two feet as he created a huge shockwave that stunned everyone.
"Poyo! (I can't move!)" Kirby cried.
"I don't know what he's done… But I can't fight back!" Meta Knight grunted.
"Gwa ha ha ha! Now this is what I'm talking about!" Bowser cackled until his tail got bashed by Mario's hammer, who already got out of the paralysis. Bowser growled as he turned around and tried to claw at his arch nemesis. But, with Mario too far from him, he began to charge at his with his arms flailing around.
"GET BACK HERE!"
Mario: Well, then give up!
"NO!"
This time, Bowser managed to burn Mario with his fire breath. While he was wheezing, Chopper jumped right in front of Bowser and attacked his belly with his Vulcan Jab, followed by a kick to the face.
"Wait… I thought you were paralyzed!" Bowser gaped.
"That paralysis didn't really last that long…" Timpani informed.
"Can it, you stupid wand!" Bowser tried to punch Chopper, but Kirby jumped in the way and charged up a Vulcan Jab attack to hit Bowser with full power. They all saw this attack slice a rock in half, but against someone…
Bowser was flung straight to the barrier wall as if he wasn't even heavy. The Koopa King moaned as he slowly got up and looked down at the pink puffball. This was the time for Kirby to take in some air and float above Bowser so he wouldn't grab him.
"Quit being a chicken and come down here! You're going to pay for that, you know!"
"Calm down, Bowser," Chopper used his Rising Break attack to knock Bowser to the ground after hitting him in the jaw. Mario helped by bashing him with his hammer, but it didn't help when Bowser got up and burned the two of them with his fire breath.
"GWAAAAAAAARGH!" the sound of the roar was able to knock everyone back, especially when his fire breath filled up the whole area. But Bowser soon realized that his flame breath was back.
"Wait… Did I just breath fire? That means… Oh, yeah, baby! My flame pipe's back to normal! I RULE!"
"Don't get your hopes too high," Blade grumbled as he quickly shook himself. He pulled an Ultra Shroom Shake out and took a sip from it to recover 50 HP. He also passed it around to everyone else so they could have a sip. Meta Knight took the last sip and did what everyone wanted him to do: throw the crushed can at Bowser.
"ARGH! You annoying…!" Bowser tried to grab Meta Knight, but he flew up in the air wing his wings and spun around in a tornado. He wasn't able to lift Bowser off the ground, but he still managed to hurt him.
"Hmph… Well, it doesn't look like I can send him flying in the air with that…" Meta Knight trailed as he dodged Bowser's claw and slashed at him with Galaxia. Mario helped Meta Knight by kicking Bowser in the snout.
"Why the snout?"
Mario: Well, it seems to be a weak spot!
"I'll help you with that, Bro!" Luigi smiled as he attacked Bowser's jaw with a Super Jump. Bowser grunted as he tried to prevent himself from falling. He was lucky to burn the Mario Bros. with his fire breath, however.
"I'll admit, this fight is getting rather intense…" Timpani noted. "But Bowser's HP is getting rather low too."
"A couple of attacks should finish him off," Blumiere stated.
"Really? Wow. So we're getting close!" Chopper charged up an energy blast, but his attack was interrupted when Bowser got into his double-sided shell and rolled over Chopper and Kirby. He stood back up and was about to stomp on the two until Meta Knight attacked with a Galaxia Drill.
"You will not harm them anymore," Meta Knight warned as he left a bad wound on Bowser's stomach.
"Hey! They started it!" Bowser whined as he tried to claw at Meta Knight. Nonetheless, he got what was coming when Luigi attacked him with a Super Jump. Mario jumped toward Bowser while he was dazed and gave the final blow to his head with his hammer, sending him falling over on the ground, making the magic barrier surrounding the group disappear.
"Grrrrrrrgh! Why?! WHY?! Why can't I beat Mario?!" Bowser complained. "I manage to get a hold of the Star Rod, but he managed to kick my butt then! When I attack him in the Glitz Pit and the Palace of Shadow, I ALSO lose to him easily! Something's wrong with me here!"
"Maybe you don't make any plans on how to fight Mario?" Timpani predicted.
"Sh-Shut up!" the Koopa King slowly got up and held his arm in pain. "You're lucky that it was seven against one…"
"Well you asked for it," Chopper said.
"I don't need to hear you talk, Chopper! The next time I ever see you guys again, I'm going to CRUSH you!" Bowser got back into his Koopa Clown Car and spat one last fireball at the group, knocking them over.
"Gwa ha ha ha! See you later, suckers!" With that, he flew off at the distance.
"Well that was uncalled for…" Timpani trailed.
"Indeed…" Blade agreed as he got up. "Hey, Luvbi! It's safe to come down here!"
After hearing this, Luvbi fluttered down to the group, relieved that the fight was over.
"Art thou all right?" Luvbi asked.
"Who are you referring to?" Blade asked.
"All of thee. I dost understand that thou needest to be all right if thou art going to escort me."
"Oh... Yeah, we're all right..."
"I'll admit, that was intense," Sonic remarked as they entered the next area. This time, it felt like a normal Mario level, but on the mountains. There was a bottomless pit just up ahead and also a row of Brick Blocks with a couple of Koopas walking around with black shells.
Mario: Those Koopas look vaguely familiar…
"Aren't those Bombshell Koopas?" Luigi gaped.
Mario: Oh! They are!
"Be careful after you stomp on them," Timpani warned. "Unlike other Koopa Troopas, they will only stay there and explode. If you're caught in that explosion, expect to take damage."
"Oh… Well this should be interesting." Chopper stomped on the first Bombshell Koopa wearing sunglasses and watched as it exploded. Luckily, he stood away when it exploded.
"Poyo, (Yeah, those look pretty dangerous,)" Kirby said as he hit one of the Brick Blocks. Only a Mushroom popped out, but Meta Knight did slice it into seven pieces for all seven of them in order to recover 10 HP.
"Well it's better than nothing," Meta Knight said as he slashed at a Skell's head that was thrown at him. He then flew over the bottomless pit that was in their way to reach another Bombshell Koopa.
"More Bombshell Koopas?" Sonic called out.
"Looks like it."
"Well, I guess I'll handle some of 'em," Sonic used a Homing Attack to get across the bottomless pit, and he attacked the Bombshell Koopa with a Homing Attack. When everyone got over to the other side, they felt an explosion hit them from the Bombshell Koopa.
"You should've waited for us to get across…" Chopper grumbled.
"And the explosion could hath ruined my cuteness!" Luvbi frowned. "That doth be an important thing for me!"
"Uhhhh… OK…" Chopper simply followed the rest of the group until they reached a door. They simply entered it into another area with more blocks in the way and even a large army of Skells and Spiky Skells were coming their way.
"Oh, dear… This is a rather large army…" Timpani trailed.
"That isn't stopping me from fighting," Meta Knight said as he swung his sword, firing a Sword Beam straight at a Skell, destroying it instantly. He hit a ? Block afterward, only to find a Mega Star pop out.
"What's this?"
"It's a Mega Star!" Chopper explained. "You use it, and you'll be able to crush anything in your way for a limited amount of time!"
"Hmmmmm… Let's see how it works." Meta Knight grabbed the Mega Star, and he suddenly felt a large amount of power inside of him…as if there were 8-bit versions of him marching.
"Unnngghh… Wha… I feel… I feel like I'm…transforming!" Everyone gaped as he began to glow and grow to great sizes. They all stared at him after the white glow disappeared. He was now an 8-bit version of himself.
"Poyo? (How come I never got that description when I first turned into that?)" Kirby asked.
"Beats me," Chopper shrugged.
"What is this? I feel this strange power that I've never felt before… I think it should help." Meta Knight simply plowed through all of the enemies in his path with ease. However, it didn't take long for him to return to normal size, but only when he reached the door.
Mario: That was incredible.
"Hmph… That was an odd ability I just absorbed… However, I don't feel that power in me anymore. Nevertheless, I think we should move on."
Everyone followed Meta Knight into the next area, which, unfortunately, involved some climbing. They noticed more rock platforms leading up to another red door, but there were also some Bomber Skells roaming around here as well, making this situation even worse.
"There is more climbing hither?" Luvbi frowned. "Well, this is the highlands, so it doth make perfect sense…"
"Man, if Flyer was here, he could fly me straight up to the top no problem," Chopper sighed. "But, I guess we have to do this. So… Let's start climbing."
Chopper jumped up to one of the rock platforms and used a Vulcan Jab on a Bomber Skell that was rather close to the rock platform. After throwing a charged energy ball at it, it was destroyed.
"Well that takes care of that enemy…"
"Poyo, (I'll just float up there instead of climbing up these,)" Kirby announced as he took in some air and began to float up, making Chopper frown at him.
"No fair..."
"OK, I think we get it already," Sonic sighed as they continued up while attacking a couple of Skells. When they reached the halfway mark, they noticed a Bombshell Koopa walking toward them. Chopper decided to attack it with a fireball, but he received an explosion.
"Careful, Chopper… Using fire against a Bombshell Koopa can hurt you if you're close to the Bombshell Koopa…" Timpani warned.
"Thanks for telling me that…" Chopper trailed as he continued his way up the platforms. Luvbi simply watched him while fluttering up and smiling at him. To her, she liked seeing Chopper jump, but to Chopper, he didn't like her staring at him.
When they reached the top, they entered the door up ahead to find a small area with nothing around except for a wall up ahead. It didn't look like they could get anywhere from here, especially when Luigi tried Super Jumping up the wall.
"It's no use… I can't get up there." Luigi groaned.
"Well that stinks," Blade frowned. "So, how about we go back?"
"What? We can't givest up now!" Luvbi retorted. "We hath just gotten this far!"
"I have a good idea!" Chopper stepped back and ran at full speed toward the wall. He tried to run up it, but he simply crashed into it instead. "Ow… OK, that's not a good idea at all…"
"Hmmmmm… You think this is another one of these areas where we need to find something hidden around here?" Meta Knight pondered. "It was kind of like that for Fubi's house…"
"I think he said something about another Nimbi being here," Sonic recalled. "Was it one that didn't get along with him? I would think that it would…"
"Then I suppose we should check out ourselves," Chopper began to scan the area with Timpani's wand. It wasn't so surprising, but they managed to find a house that resembled Fubi's house. But, it looked a little strange too…
"Another house? What are these hidden houses doing here?" Timpani gaped as she made it visible. "I suppose we should look and see what's through here."
Mario: Of course!
Blade decided to bust in the house with his katana ready, but the only thing they saw was a Nimbi wearing a black ninja outfit and a mask. He didn't seem to pay much attention to them, but when he turned around, he drew his katana and knocked Blade's katana out of his hands as if it were nothing.
"Whoa! This guy is a beast!" Blade gaped.
"Settle down, sir! We're not the bad guys!" Chopper shouted.
"Hmmmm? So thou art not enemies…" the Nimbi sheathed his katana and bowed to them in apology. "My apologies. When I saw that cat come in, he had his katana out, so I stepped in and tried to fight back."
Chopper was about to speak, but Luvbi fluttered up to the Nimbi and spoke instead.
"We art in dire need of help hither," Luvbi informed. "We art in grave danger and doth require to reacheth The Peaceness. However, we art being prevented from moving by a wall…"
"Luvbi? I doth remember seeing thee back when thou were so young… But thou art in grave danger?"
"Yea, verily. Yon monsters want me and my prince, Chopper." Of course, Chopper made a gesture to tell the Nimbi that he is not interest in her.
"Hmmmmm… So thou doth need my assistance. Mine given name is Ninbi. I used to teach people the arts of the ninja in The Overthere. If thou wantest to maketh thy way to the top of these mountains, then thou must learn something new. Thou must know how to climbeth walls."
"Ooh! I need to learn this!" Chopper removed his Fighter ability and inhaled a ninja star in the room to gain the Ninja ability. "I don't think I have something like that, so I think I wanna learn it!"
"Well, thanks for the offer, but I can climb things with my claws," Blade informed as he grabbed his katana and sheathed it. "I'm a ninja too, so I already know this stuff!"
"Oh, verily? Canst thou climbest a wall made of rock?" Ninbi asked while raising an eyebrow. "I doth want to see thee try."
"Gladly," Blade got himself ready as they all walked outside. Ninbi gestured Blade to try to climb the wall leading to the door ahead, so he tried. Unfortunately, his claws couldn't even grab a hold of the rock wall.
"Stupid wall! Let me go up!"
"Art thou having problems?" Ninbi chuckled.
"No."
"Yeah you are," Chopper said, stepping up and attempting to climb it. He was having problems like Blade. "Wow… How the heck am I supposed to climb this thing?"
"Well, if thou dost want to climb that, thou must useth thy ninja weapons to climb up," Ninbi informed.
"Wait…" Blade stabbed the rock with a shuriken, which seemed to actually pierce through it. He started to use them to climb up the rock, which actually surprised everyone for a second.
"Hey! I'm doing it! I'm climbing it!"
"Can I try?" Chopper asked.
"Yea, sure. Thou shouldst." Ninbi nodded as Chopper used his shurikens to climb up the wall. He did it a little faster, however, due to the fact that he has a lot more speed than Blade does.
"Well, looks like they did it," Sonic said. "But… The question is… How do WE get up there?"
"I think we should just bring you guys up," Meta Knight informed, but he soon realized something. "Wait… Hold on a second."
"I also remembered too," Luvbi recalled. "It doth be about Fubi…"
"Fubi? Thou meanest the Nimbi I hath never gotten along with? Yea… I dost…" Ninbi recalled. "To be honest, I doth feel this whole rivalry hast gotten a little old now. Dost thou think he thinkest the same?"
"To be honest, I think he does," Luigi nodded. "We met him earlier, and he told us that he was wondering if you and him would ever get along."
Mario: He also wanted to apologize for the plate!
"The plate? …Oh, now I dost remember. Mayhap I will forgiveth him for that. For now, thou must movest on if thou art to get the Pure Heart!"
"How do you know we're looking for the Pure Heart?" Meta Knight asked.
"Trust me, I doth know when the heroes hath arrived. Thou all dost look like the heroes from the description in the Light Prognosticus. Although… The masked one was not in thither."
"I can understand. Nevertheless, let's go." Meta Knight started off by carrying one of the heroes up to the door. After a couple of minutes, he managed to get everyone to the top so they could progress.
"Good luck, heroes. We will try to holdeth them back if possible…" Ninbi trailed.
Next area-
"Wait… Motobugs? What are they doing here?" Sonic gaped as he saw a Motobug coming his way. He was able to strike it with a single Spin Jump, to his relief. "Wait… Don't tell me Eggman's around here too…"
"Well, he was with Bowser and King Dedede," Chopper said as he used his katana to attack a Motobug coming his way. "Nevertheless, we can't just stop here. If he stops us, we're fighting him!"
"I guess that is for the best," Meta Knight agreed as they made their way through the flat area. They seemed to hear some crumbling rocks off at the distance, though. Some boulders were simply rolling toward the heroes, even if it wasn't at a slope.
"Poyo! (Into 3-D!)" Kirby cried as Chopper flipped everyone into 3-D to avoid the boulder. They went back into 2-D and jumped over a bottomless pit in their way. Meta Knight jabbed at a Skell blocking their way and flew over another boulder coming their way.
But this time, Kirby used his special Fighter attack to break the rock with his charged Vulcan Jab.
"OK, that works too," Blade gawked.
"Poyo. (I guess we don't need to go into 3-D anymore.)"
"Dang…" Chopper frowned as he followed the rest of the group up ahead. There was another big wall in their way, but with the Ninja Climb, both Chopper and Blade were able to climb up.
"I can't believe I have to carry you guys back up…" Meta Knight groaned.
"I'm sorry…" Luigi apologized.
"Don't be. This stuff happens often."
"Well… All right…" Luigi allowed himself to be carried up to the top by Meta Knight. Of course, he had to go through the whole procedure of carrying everyone up once again. Nevertheless, he managed to do it and continued on to find a row of ? Blocks and two Crabmeats.
"Crabmeats, huh? Haven't seen these guys in a while, but who cares?" Sonic jumped and attacked the two Crabmeats with a Homing Attack. With them destroyed, he hit the two ? Blocks, making an Ultra Shroom pop out and a Skull Shroom.
"Another Skull Shroom…" Meta Knight gripped his sword and jabbed at the Skull Shroom a couple of times to defeat it. He then sliced up the Ultra Shroom into seven pieces, and they all ate a piece to recover 50 HP.
"OK, I think I'm good to go," Luigi confirmed.
"Then we shall movest on," Luvbi announced as they went into the next area. This was flat, but a lot smaller than the previous one. However, they saw a tunnel just up ahead with a door.
Mario: We've gone rather high…
"Tell me about it! I think we're pretty close to the clouds at this point!" Chopper gaped.
"Oh, you may be… But this is where it ends for you! Oh ho ho ho!"
Everyone: !
Eggman hovered down on the ground with the help of his thrusters on his Eggwalker. "You think that I wasn't going to come here and give you a little surprise? Well think again!"
"Eggman! Why did you have to stop us now when we're so close?" Blade growled.
"Because, I wish to see you fail on your quest! Perhaps I can steal everything you have and use them to conquer the world myself! Or rather, a couple of worlds! I don't need those two idiots to help me! I already have what I need to conquer the world!"
"Your fat?" Sonic snickered.
"Ggggggh…! Hmmmmmm… Well, I suppose my fat could help me. But nevertheless, I'll simply crush you! After many years of failures, this shall be my time to shine!" Eggman grinned as glass surrounded the cockpit.
"Wait, so you're using your old robot against us again? You know that that didn't work before." Chopper frowned.
"Shouldst I findeth a safe place again?" Luvbi asked.
"Yeah, you should do that… This fight COULD get a little rough…"
With that, Luvbi fluttered near the clouds so she was safe.
"All right, Eggman! Let's see how you fight this time!" Sonic grinned as he got in a fighting stance. "I've always wanted to get a chance to fight you ever since the fight in the Sweet World!"
"Well we'll see about that! Get a load of this!" Eggman fired a missile from his Eggwalker directly at Sonic. He jumped out of the way and landed right by the door.
"First move, huh? Well I guess I don't have to worry about that!" Sonic curled up in a ball and spun straight at the Eggwalker. With one hit, he managed to send Eggman's mech flying back.
"Well, let's start off by investigating him," Chopper said as he used Timpani's wand to investigate Eggman's mech.
"That's Dr. Eggman, or by his full name, Dr. Ivo Robotnik. He is the one controlling the Eggwalker, and apparently he has an IQ of 300. Max HP is 260. Attack is 13. Defense is 5. He'll try firing missiles at you if you're at a distance, or he could possibly fire his machine guns at you as well, which are very difficult to avoid. Explosions seem to work well against his mech, so Hommissile isn't a bad choice against the Eggwalker. But, just because explosions work doesn't mean he's got a secret weapon himself. He could charge his Power Laser, which can nearly leave you wounded! I suggest going into 3-D when that happens. Although I wonder… Where did the name "Eggman" come from? Is it from his shape?" Timpani informed.
"Well, even if he has a high defense, he's not match for this!" Blade threw Hommissile straight at the Eggwalker while it tried to get up. The explosion left Eggman's mech stunned for a couple of seconds.
"What?! You little…!" Eggman fired his machine gun from his Eggwalker at the group. They all managed to avoid the bullets, but when he fired a missile, Meta Knight was knocked back.
"Urgh… No worries, I'm fine." Meta Knight got back up and used his cape to protect himself from one of the Eggwalker's smaller laser attacks. Eggman gaped at this, but when Meta Knight disappeared and appeared right in front of him, his gape got even bigger.
"What the heck?! How did you…?"
"I have my ways," Meta Knight said coldly as he attacked the Eggwalker with a strong slash attack.
"Woo! This should be cool!" Chopper smirked as he ran up to the Eggwalker and slashed it with his katana. He then threw a couple of ninja stars at it while Eggman was getting angry.
"Settle down, Eggy! Getting mad over it isn't going to help you!" Sonic said as Eggman banged his fists on his machine. He decided to throw himself at the Eggwalker with a Homing Attack.
"Oh, that does it!" Eggman fired a laser straight at Sonic, hitting him straight on and knocking him to the ground. Kirby gasped and ran toward the Eggwalker to attack it with a Rising Break.
Mario: Didn't he use these attacks before?
"I don't know… I haven't fought this guy before…" Luigi trailed as he jumped to avoid a missile. He threw Bonjourang at the Eggwalker, but it didn't seem to do too much to Eggman's mech.
"You'll have to try better than that, green cap!" Eggman cackled as he fired a laser that struck Luigi. Afterward, the Eggwalker jumped and began to hover while dropping bombs.
"Oh, great… He's dropping bombs. Plus, he's too high up to catch." Blade groaned.
"I'll try to hit him," Luigi announced as he folded himself up for a Super Jump. Upon launching himself up, he hit the Eggwalker head on with his attack and managed to send it straight for the ground with its hover device damaged.
"GAH! Work already, hovering device!" Eggman growled as he pressed a couple of buttons. Surprisingly, his Power Laser ended up firing and hit all of the heroes, sending them flying to the wall.
"Oh… That works too."
"Ow… What the heck was that?" Chopper moaned as he got up.
"That was the Power Laser I warned you about," Timpani explained. "You could've flipped into 3-D to avoid the attack, but it ended up coming out of nowhere. Nevertheless, you should be able to throw in a couple of more attacks."
"All right!" Chopper threw a couple of ninja stars at the Eggwalker, making them pierce through the robot. Eggman gaped, but he simply fired a couple of missiles straight at Chopper instead.
"Say your prayers, green marshmallow!"
The missiles exploded upon contact, but Chopper disintegrated into smoke when they hit him. Eggman cackled until Chopper appeared on top of the Eggwalker and dove down from an angle to kick the cockpit and leave a crack.
"HA! I liked that!" Blade grinned as he tossed Hommissile at the Eggwalker to leave it stunned again. Kirby smirked as he ran up to the mech and attacked it with a charged Vulcan Jab, dealing immense damage – despite the defenses on it.
"Poyo, (You know, this Vulcan Jab attack really helps me against enemies with strong defenses,)" Kirby said as he floated above the Eggwalker in order to avoid being hurt. Unfortunately, he got blasted in air by Eggman's laser.
"And stay down!" Eggman said as he prepared to fire more lasers. Mario avoided one of them and jumped on the Eggwalker's cockpit area. He added a Ground Pound to deal some extra damage.
Mario: This isn't so bad!
"Oh, you'll be wrong soon enough…" Eggman took into the air with his Eggwalker's now fixed hovering device and began hovering around. The Eggwalker dropped a couple of bombs that hit everyone, but Kirby took the least amount of damage thanks to his Defend ability.
"Poyo! (No way you're hurting me!)" Kirby smirked.
Luigi threw Bonjourang at the Eggwalker while it was still in the air, but, of course, the Pixl simply bounced back over to Luigi. Chopper, on the other hand, used Starbow's ability to make stars rain down on the Eggwalker. It was enough to make the Eggwalker stop moving around and allow Luigi to attack with a Super Jump.
"OOF! How in the world did you do that?!" Eggman gaped as the Eggwalker landed on the ground.
"Well, with a Pixl, of course!" Luigi informed as he stomped on the Eggwalker when it first landed. Eggman pressed another button and a missile fired at Luigi to send him flying back. Luckily, Meta Knight managed to grab a hold of his hand and pull him back before he could hit the wall.
"I'll try to make an attack on him that should leave him off guard," Meta Knight announced as he disappeared with his cape. He appeared right in front of the Eggwalker and attacked its legs.
"Hey! Get off these legs!" the Eggwalker kicked Meta Knight away, but he still managed to attack the cockpit with a Sword Beam. Not even the Eggwalker could handle the force of the attack! It ended up flying to the wall and leaving sparks and smoke flying!
"You're toast, Eggman!" Sonic grinned. "So, are ya ready to give up yet? We could give you a little more if you'd like…"
"Not in a million years!" Eggman growled as he fired another Power Laser. Everyone gasped as the huge laser beam fired their way. Chopper, on the other hand, flipped everyone into 3-D to avoid the laser.
"Oh ho ho ho ho! I've finally got you…what?" Eggman paused when he saw everyone teleport back into the second dimension. He gaped as Sonic attacked the Eggwalker with a Light Speed Attack, keeping Eggman off guard.
"Why you little! Take this!" Eggman pressed a button on his mech that made him fire a laser at Sonic after he stopped, sending him flying back. Despite this, Sonic managed to get back up and use a Whirlwind to lift the Eggwalker off the ground.
"Would ya look at that? I'm able to send the Eggwalker flying!" Sonic grinned.
"Works for me!" Luigi smiled as he attacked the Eggwalker with a Super Jump, knocking it back to the ground to allow Meta Knight to attack the cockpit with a Galaxia Drill attack.
"Your mech isn't very strong if it can't do much against us," Meta Knight scoffed as he blocked one of Eggman's lasers with his cape. "I believe this is where you should give up the fight."
"Oh, I've just got started!" Eggman began to fire missiles surrounded by fire energy straight at the heroes. Sonic got hit by one of them and ended up with a burn left on him.
"That's not cool!" Sonic frowned.
"Get a load of this!" Eggman fired ice missiles at the heroes instead. Meta Knight used his dodging skills to avoid some of them, but one ended up freezing him head on. Luckily, Chopper managed to unfreeze him with his fire energy.
"All right, I guess we gotta step up a notch here," Chopper announced as he chucked a charged fireball at Eggman's Eggwalker. Unfortunately, it barely did a thing, with its ability to absorb heat.
"Try all you want, but fire doesn't do a thing to this bad boy!"
"Well this will work," Chopper sliced at the Eggwalker's legs with his katana, which, luckily, allows him to pierce through enemy's defenses. When Eggman tried to get him off, he jumped and attacked the Eggwalker's cockpit with a spinning kick.
"I've had enough of you!" Eggman growled as he fired a fire missile at Chopper, knocking his Ninja ability away.
"Hey! I liked that ability! How dare you get rid of it?!"
"Well this just gets better and better!"
"We'll see about that," Blade said as he threw Hommissile at Eggman's Eggwalker, leaving it off guard for a couple of seconds. At this point, the ninja pulled an Ultra Shroom Shake out and took a sip of it. Of course, they passed it around so they could heal their HP, with Chopper having the last sip. He threw the crushed can at Eggman's mech and left the glass on the cockpit cracked.
"You pest! Take this!" Eggman fired another Power Laser at the heroes, getting them successfully. "Excellent! That's the progress I wanted to see in this fight! Prepare to die, heroes!"
"Not a chance," Chopper retorted as he bashed Eggman's mech with his hammer, followed by jumping on the glass protecting Eggman. Sonic joined in and attacked him with a Spin Jump.
"Reminds you of the old days, doesn't it?" Sonic grinned.
"Back when you were a bit chubby yourself? Yes… I remember those times… But I'll still crush you nevertheless!" Eggman fired an ice missile at Sonic, but he simply curled in a ball and hit the Eggwalker head on with a Spin Dash.
"So how did you like that, Eggy?"
"OK, OK, I think we get it already…" Blade trailed as he threw Hommissile at the Eggwalker. With its HP running low, Eggman began to sweat nervously.
"Great… I'm running out of ideas here… How am I supposed to win this?" Eggman thought as he looked down at the buttons. What he didn't see coming was Luigi's foot that was slamming onto the glass.
"ACK! Your manners are as bad as ever!" Eggman growled as he fired a missile at Luigi, but Meta Knight managed to destroy it with a Sword Beam and attack Eggman's mech with a couple of more slashes, leaving large cuts in the Eggwalker.
"Well, here it goes!" Sonic ran up to the Eggwalker and, with one Homing Attack, he managed to leave the Eggwalker in an explosion. It also seemed to send Eggman flying.
"I'LL GET YOOOOOOOOOOU!"
"Well, there goes Eggman," Chopper said. "OK, Luvbi! It's safe to come down now!"
When Luvbi came down, she seemed more energetic than before. "Chopper! We art verily close now! If we movest on, we shouldst reach the top very soon!"
"Really? YES!" Blade fist pumped as he ran to the door ahead. "No more mountain climbing after this!"
"Although… We still have the clouds to climbeth…"
"DANG IT…"
"Well it's the only way to go," Meta Knight stated as he went to the door. "There's no time to be monkeying around now. We need to go ASAP."
Everyone agreed and followed Meta Knight inside the mountain yet again. All they saw was a small spring shooting out water. Up above they saw a ladder leading up to the top of the room where a bright light could be seen.
"How do we get up there?" Luigi asked.
Mario: Do we freeze the water?
"Freeze the water? I can do that!" Chopper smiled as he chucked a charged ice ball at the spring. With it frozen, they were able to get on and grab a hold of the ladder. Luvbi simply had to flutter up to the top.
"I don't know where we'll be when we reach the top, but we better be close," Meta Knight hoped.
When they climbed up the top of the ladder, they noticed that they were at the very top of the highlands. They couldn't even see the ground below them, now that they were covered by the clouds. Luigi's heart began to pound as he looked at the clouds.
"Are… Are we really this high up?" he stammered.
"Well, you can't see the ground, so you shouldn't have to worry…" Chopper trailed.
"The Star Block!" Luvbi announced, taking a glance over by the Star Block right beside them. "Striketh this so we can endeth this chapter once and for all!"
"Well, I guess I have no other choice…" Chopper walked up to the block and punched it, smashing it instantly.
"I feel that this is going to be a long climb…" Timpani trailed.
END OF CHAPTER
Everyone sighed in relief now that they couldn't see the ground, especially Luigi, despite being a little nervous about the situation still. Now that the heroes were at the top of the Ormani Highlands, they had to climb another obstacle that was above them. "Well... This is going to be fun." remarked Blade as they started their way up the clouds. Even with the clouds above them, Chopper and Co. didn't necessarily feel safe around these parts… Could the monsters already be around these parts?
Wow. I sure was lazy with this chapter for some reason. It literally took me eleven days just to get this one part done? Sheesh... But, nevertheless, I guess it was all worth it. If you're complaining about the lengths on these chapters still, I DID say that they would be long, so I warned you before.
Personally, I'm looking forward to the next part, even though some people might think it's just another cloud level like Overthere Stair. But, when we get there, you'll see what I mean. ;)