"Ahhhh… This is perfect!" Gemerl grinned, inspecting the bases that the Phis were working on on a large asteroid. "You're doing a nice job, Phis. THIS is what I've been expecting you to be like from the very beginning!"
"But, sir… We're only Master Phis." one Master Phi reminded. "The other ones are more incompetent, remember?"
"Oh. Yes. They are. They couldn't do much to stand up to Chopper, and frankly, I don't have much pity for getting rid of them."
"Errr… What happened, exactly?" another Master Phi asked.
"I sent them to the dump," Gemerl answered, chuckling to himself. "Well, most of them, anyway. Those are just like the other worthless pieces of scrap metal. They lack a brain, just like that fat scientist Eggman!"
"Dr. Eggman? And who is he?"
"A scientist that I once worked for. It was he that had managed to program me into what I have become today. Unfortunately, like most of his inventions, they don't tend to work in his favor." Gemerl laughed. "I bet he was left in horror when he realized that I had decided to borrow one of his machines to create and replicate you all. Such genius."
"And the Crystal Star?" another Master Phi mentioned.
"I wanted to leave Eggman so I wouldn't have to deal with him and his fake mustache. When I heard about the Crystal Stars in another world and its unlimited powers it had, I knew conquering the universe would be so easy! I can regain my ultimate powers, and finally robots shall rule under my command!"
"The Crystal Star can grant you such a thing?"
"What about us?"
"Relax, my robots. I will give you what you desire as soon as I get a hold of that last Crystal Star. When I find Chopper, I'll destroy him and get the rest of his stars. Then… I will be complete! When I'm complete, I can do as I please, and no one can stop me."
"Excuse me, sir…" Just before Gemerl could cackle, a normal Phi flew over to him with a book. "I was just reading through this book, and I had found something interesting about the Crystal Stars."
"What? Where did you find that?"
"Surprisingly, it was buried here. There was a note on it as well. Says it was written by some Meta Knight guy or something."
"Then let me see it" Gemerl swiped the book from the Phi and began to read through it. As he continued, he became more interested in it. "Well... This is very interesting! Perhaps this is something that Grodus knew about... Now I'm interested in bringing those Crystal Stars to a place called the Fountain of Dreams. Surely Chopper does not know of this."
"No, sir, I believe he doesn't."
"Which means he might just give us a hand! But first, we need to find that Crystal Star! So! Phis! Start searching the place immediately! While you do that, I will go out and scan the area for Chopper and his friends!"
"Yes, sir!"
All 632 Phis gave him a salute and they went off searching for the Crystal Star.
Gemerl looked at the bases with an evil grin on his mouthless face. "If you dare to come here, Chopper, go ahead. I'm definitely interested in battling you again."
Cackling, he flew off the asteroid in search of the heroes.
Secret passageway-
"Man, I can't believe we've made it this far already!" Tamber grinned as they walked on the rainbow colored pathway. "We're rocking this place!"
"I can remember the first time I got out from my bed," Chopper recalled. "And that was where it all started..."
"I remember being chased by some pig running a hot dog stand and BAM! You show up and you save me!" Scrub said with emphasis. "Good thing you came in time, Contadre!"
"Yeah. Though, I don't know why a pig was running the hot dog stand. Aren't hot dogs made from-"
"Not to interrupt the conversation or anything, but we need to get going," Shadower cut in.
"Yeah, that's true. C'mon, guys! Let's get a move on!" Chopper made his way up the small rainbow hill that was leading to the road ahead.
"I wonder how long this road is," Berry wondered, walking on ahead. "And what do you guys think is here?"
"Hmmmm… I don't know, Berry." Chopper replied as he walked up a rainbow stairway before them. "I doubt this road is long. We might be out of here any minute!"
"Poyo! (Actually, these stairs DO lead up somewhere!)" Kirby exclaimed, getting a better view of the top of the stairs. "Poyo! (Look up ahead, Chopper. I see an icy ground!)"
"Really? I don't see the road anywhere!" Chopper said, looking confused. Mario approached him and pointed to where the end of the stairs were. When he went up, he started to notice the ice. "Oh! Now I see it!"
He made a dash up the stairs and to the new road. Unfortunately, he had paid no attention to the ice, and he ended up slipping. Everyone else had to go give him a hand, but when people like Scrub and Tamber got on, they ended up slipping too.
"Stupid ice!" Tamber grumbled, slowly getting up.
"Yeesh, how many times have we run into ice lately?" Scrub asked, pulling himself together.
"With such a slippery place, it's going to be difficult getting through here," Bombette said, obviously frustrated. "This is going to be annoying."
"Relax, Bombette. I think we won't have too much of a problem." Berry assured. "After all, we managed to get through previous slippery places! This should be no problem!"
"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Sonic grinned, giving a thumbs up. "This should be a piece of cake!"
Shadower gave an assuring nod as well, and then the group began to progress onward. They made sure to be careful of walking, especially since there were some Ztars roaming around the area. On the plus side, there were some bushes with small stars on them too, but they didn't have anything of interest
"Poyo, (I like those bushes,)" Kirby remarked, taking a look at the bush.
"Those stars do make it look very nice," Shadower admitted.
After they defeated the Ztars in their way, they had progressed onward to the next area. Feeling more confident in moving, Chopper began to pick up the pace, but he suddenly felt himself slip again.
"Whoooooa!" Chopper cried, sliding downward this time due to a small hill before them. Grumbling, he slowly got himself up. "How is there ice here anyway?"
"Well, Chopper…" Flyer started, flying over the icy floor. "According to science, it gets colder as you move further away from the sun. Since I do not see any sign of a sun nearby, then it is possible that it is much colder around here."
"All right, Mr. Science Nerd. Thanks for sharing that." Tamber said, not appearing to care.
"I appreciate your honesty..." the Wingel trailed, giving him an irritated look. "But 'nerds' are actually responsible for many important studies and discoveries around the world."
"OK, OK… Let's not get in a hustle here!" Sonic stepped in between Chopper and Flyer and Tamber. "We're not here to fight. Working together helps us a lot better than getting into fights!"
"Yes, I suppose you're correct. Shall we proceed?"
"Uh huh," Chopper nodded, proceeding onward. He made sure to watch his step on the slippery walkway until he reached the next area. There was a large gap in front of him, and it appeared too big for them to cross. However, there was one spot on the ground that appeared to be glowing, which caught Tamber's interest.
Grinning, he stood on top of the glowing spot and began to dig through. Revealed underground was a screw that appeared to be screwed in a little tight. Mario had given Chopper an idea to get on his shoulders, which he obeyed and did so. By spinning, they managed to get the screw off and reveal a couple of glowing spots on the gap.
"Maybe those act like platforms! Let me help you, Choppy!" Berry pulled her hammer out and went behind Chopper until she realized the glowing spots were too far. "Oh… I don't think my hammer will reach those."
"Oh... Let me take a look at those spots." Chopper decided, looking over at the closest spot with a ponderous look. "I wonder if fire would affect these."
Conjuring up a fireball, he dropped it on the glowing spot. Revealed underneath it was a Max Shroom.
"Aw, sweet! You got another one of those delicious Shrooms?! Gimme gimme gimme!" Tamber demanded, hands out and begging like a greedy child.
"Sorry, Tamber, but you can't have it. You don't even need this thing! Your HP is already full!" Chopper reminded, using Sonic to grab the Mushroom. He jumped over to another glowing spot with the help of Scrub and hurled a fireball at another glowing spot. Revealed underneath was a blue ! Switch.
"Maybe Sonic could get that," Vivian suggested, seeing the range of the switch.
Sonic gave a nod, and Chopper went behind him again when he was curled in a ball. Chopper kicked him at the switch, causing a whole new area to appear within the background.
"Hey, we haven't seen those kinds of areas in a while..." Shadower realized.
A green pipe appeared back on the platform, and one appeared in the background as well. Knowing what he had to do, Chopper jumped into the pipe to go into the background. He had found a large Light Block acting as a platform ahead, so he jumped over the pit and onto the platform, making sure not to destroy it. There were also a few moving, green platforms as well moving vertical and horizontal. He had to time his jumps perfectly to avoid falling into the spacey abyss.
It was even more tedious with the platform when he came across some rainbow platforms in the next area. They would fade away for about a second, but they would eventually reappear for much longer. Thankfully, there were some solid, green platforms to stay on, and there was even one where a blue ! Switch was ahead.
Once he reached the block, he struck it underneath with his fist, causing some shaking around him. Curious, he returned to the previous area and found a tall platform with a railing above it. He returned to the group, feeling pretty exhausted.
"OK... That was pretty annoying..." Chopper sighed. "So...much...platforming..."
"I don't wanna ruin your rest, but there's still something up there," Sonic mentioned, pointing to the platform above. Chopper groaned and used his Spring Jump to launch up and grab the railing. When he made sure he was over the platform, he dropped onto it, only to realize that it looked all too familiar.
"Hey, wait a second... This is a paper airplane panel!"
"WHAT?!" Scrub yelled.
"YOU GUYS GOTTA COME UP HERE! THERE'S A PAPER AIRPLANE PANEL!"
"Well, let's go check it out," Flyer suggested, making his way up to the panel. Others helped those who couldn't fly up to the panel, and they were left in surprise by it. Chopper transformed into a paper airplane, and everyone got in. He started to glide to the other side where solid ground was and transformed back into himself. There happened to be a Save Block near the pathway ahead.
After hitting it, Chopper and his friends moved on ahead. It wasn't too big, but the icy floor had finally disappeared, and the floor appeared to be a dark purple. Not only that, but a familiar face was there, as if it was waiting for them.
"Ah! So nice of you to show up!" Dreamstar greeted. "So you made it here after all!"
"We sure did," Scrub nodded, approaching the orb. "So, why are you here anyway?"
"Well... I always wanted to come back here ever since the great battle..."
"Great battle? What do you mean?" Flyer asked.
"It was a time when my minions had invaded Starlite Galaxy in order to conquer it, only for the Star Warriors and Galaxy Soldiers to step in. Sadly, it turned out to be a draw in the end..."
"Minions? Wait a second..." Chopper paused, pondering over this. "Hey, Flyer... Have you ever scanned Dreamstar before?"
"I never thought of that before..." Flyer replied, taking out his scanner and scanning the orb. "Huh... It doesn't give any information about this thing."
"Then something's not right here," Berry said, looking at Dreamstar suspiciously. "Just who are you?"
"Hey, ball thing! What the heck are you doing here?" Chopper asked.
"I thought this might happen," Dreamstar said, acting more sinister than before. "I had planned on destroying you all anyway, so there's no point in hiding my real identity. My name is Nightmare! I am the mighty conqueror who corrupted the Fountain of Dreams and had all the Star Warriors eliminated! And now I have finally made my return!"
"Poyo! (I knew there was something up with him!)" Kirby realized. "Poyo?! (But how did he come back?!)"
"Nightmare? I remember some Cappies once mentioning that name before..." Chopper trailed. "But I thought you were defeated?"
"Oh, I assure you, I was, thanks to that pink creampuff. However, not all things are wiped out for good. With my return, the universe is ready to beg for mercy!"
"Sorry, but I think there's already something else threatening the universe by now," Sonic scoffed. "But you? Egghead's first machine looks more menacing than you!"
"Let's just take care of this thing," Tamber grinned, cracking his knuckles and charging at Nightmare. However, his punch barely did a thing to the orb, and he felt himself get pushed back by a barrier.
"Fool! You do not realize that I'm invincible!" Nightmare cackled.
"I don't think that's true," Chopper smirked, making a sharp whistle and summoning his Warp Star. "Do you know what I also heard about you? That you can't stand a certain star!"
"What?!"
Once the Warp Star came flying in Chopper's, he opened his mouth and prepared to inhale it. "It's time for the Star Rod to be put into action!"
As soon as he swallowed his Warp Star, he jumped and saw the Warp Star fly above him, but this time it shrunk, and a white and pink-striped stick stuck to the glowing star. Chopper grabbed a hold on rod and held it up with a smile.
"Poyo? (How'd you know about inhaling it?)" Kirby asked.
"Well... To be honest..." Chopper started, giving a nervous look. "I always wanted to eat the Warp Star when I first found it..."
Everyone, save for Nightmare fell over.
"Well... Congratulations. I must applaud you for figuring that out...but some dumb luck." Nightmare mocked. "However, that will not save you, as I've grown a bit more resilient to it!"
"Then let's test it out!" Chopper swung the Star Rod, and a yellow star came flying toward Nightmare. It pierced through his shield and caused a great amount of damage to him. 10 damage to be exact. He was revealed to have 120 HP, an Attack of 18, and a Defense of 0. When the others got up, Scrub stepped in first.
"I'll make the move! This guy was just trying to destroy us, and I don't like that!" Scrub yelled, fluttering above Nightmare and taking 10 out of him with his Ground Pound, bringing his HP to 100.
"Take this!" Nightmare shot a dark star at Chopper. He guarded it, and then he fired another star at Nightmare, followed by Kirby's Cartwheel. Nightmare decided to target Kirby this time, shooting a dark star at him.
"Poyo… (I don't know why, but he seems much easier than before...)" Kirby remarked.
"Really? Well that's interesting…" Chopper replied as he flung another star at Nightmare, followed by Berry's hammer.
"Urk… Don't think I'll give up just yet…" Nightmare groaned, shooting a dark flare at Chopper, knocking him back. That did not stop him from charging into Nightmare and bashing the Star Rod on the orb. With Shadower's Shadow Punch, Nightmare was already down to 40 HP.
Nightmare grumbled as he flung another dark star at the antennae boy. Unfortunately for him, Chopper managed to Superguard the attack instead, which also got him struck by another star and a Shade Fist.
"Argh... No... Not just yet..." moaned Nightmare before he tackled Chopper and his friends by ramming into them. "I may be down to 20 HP, but I still won't give up the fight!"
"It's already over," Chopper let Flyer strike him with a Flying Attack before he readied himself. "This is it, Nightmare! Too bad this is all you are. We might as well put you in the 'easy boss' category!"
With one star, Nightmare was finally destroyed.
"Piece of cake!" Sonic smiled. "He barely stood a chance!"
While the rest started to celebrate, Vivian had noticed the orb was starting to surround in darkness. "Ummmm... Guys? I don't know if he's defeated..."
Stopping their celebration, they turned their attention back to the darkness encasing the orb. Suddenly, a figure began to form into a much larger size. Replacing the power orb form was a wizard form, with Nightmare donning a spinning, tornado-like robe. He also wore shades with single black-chromed lens that could flash. Also on Nightmare wore four shoulder pads, a yellow necklace, and a helmet with three, red jewels and long horns.
"Wait... What's this?" Chopper gawked.
"Poyo… (It's Nightmare's true form...)" Kirby trailed.
"Nightmare's true form? Why didn't you tell us this before?"
"Enough! Time to end this!" Nightmare's robe revealed a tornado inside, along with a couple of white stars that had fired out. Luckily, they all managed to dodge them just in time, but they got back in their fighting stances.
"Looks like the real fight's about to begin!" Bombette declared.
Tattle: That's Nightmare, and from the looks of it, this is his true form. He says he was once the ruler of the universe, but I'm not buying it. Max HP is 360, Attack is 19, and Defense is 1. He'll usually try to attack you with a couple of white stars, or he might even suck you into that tornado. Watch out, though! If he raises his attack, he'll unleash this huge beam attack! If he does that, use Vivian's Veil to get out of the way immediately! From looking at him, he reminds me of an ugly witch. But, he's a wizard… So does this mean there can be ugly wizards like ugly witches?
"All right, let's get this started," Chopper swung the Star Rod, and a star came firing at Nightmare's tornado body, making him let out a painful scream.
"ARGH! Not there! Anywhere but there!" Nightmare cried, not aware of Vivian coming his way and burning him with a Shade Fist. Cringing, he turned his attention to Chopper and pointed a finger at him. A white star had fired from his finger and struck Chopper, taking 19 out of him.
"Did he just fire a star from his finger?" Flyer gawked.
"All right, I have to admit… That was pretty strong…" Chopper wheezed before shaking himself from the attack.
Afterward, he jumped towards Nightmare's tornado body and he struck him with the Star Rod, knocking him back a little. Adding Kirby's Cartwheel to the mix also increased the pain in Nightmare's tornado body.
"With a weak spot like that, I don't know how far he'll be able to handle us," Sonic said confidently.
Nightmare turned his attention to Sonic, glaring at him underneath his shades. He grinned sinisterly as he opened his robe to fire a couple of stars at him and Chopper.
"Sometimes you need to learn to not act too overconfident," Shadower suggested.
"Yeah, yeah... I know."
"Oh, man… I'm not feeling so good…" Chopper groaned, trying his best to stand up. He obviously wasn't going to let himself fall just yet. With one star, he managed to make Nightmare flinch.
"You'll hang in there, Choppy. I know you will." assured Berry, pulling her Ruby Hammer out. "Why? Because you've managed to hold yourself against others like those two demons!"
"Yeah, that's true… But, just barely…" sighed Chopper as he watched her slam her hammer upon Nightmare's head.
Nightmare aimed a finger at Chopper and proceeded to fire a small, dark beam. Thankfully, Chopper managed to Superguard the attack and avoid it with ease.
"Gah! I missed! …Well, there's always the next time!" Nightmare told himself as he wrapped his body with his robe.
"I better heal myself…" Chopper pulled out a Master Shroom and stuffed it in his mouth, recovering 200 HP. "Ah! Now I feel MUUUUUCH better!"
"Hmmmmm... Perhaps this battle will be much more interesting now." the villain mused.
"Yeah, you're right, especially with me joining the fight!" Tamber declared, his fists glowing green as he charged at Nightmare. The wizard held his body in pain when those fists had managed to hurt him even when protecting his body.
"Urk! You… I never expected that to hurt as much..." winced Nightmare as he began to aim his finger at him. "Now let's see how you handle this!"
He zapped Tamber with dark energy, leaving him slightly covered in soot. "Ow! Why you little… I'm going to make sure my next attack is a lot stronger!"
"Forget about it, Tamber," Shadower suggested. "Getting angry at him won't do too much."
Chopper waved the Star Rod as he fired a yellow star at Nightmare. He barely had enough time to react when Flyer struck him with a Flying Attack afterward. Nightmare was not too happy and opened his robe to let a star strike him, knocking him back to the ground. He grinned as he turned his attention back to Chopper.
"Ouch… My head…" Flyer began to rub his head while Chopper struck Nightmare with his Star Rod. The wizard was also struck in the head by Mario's Super Jump, bringing him down to 252 HP.
"Hmph, I'll give you credit. You know how to put up a fight." Nightmare remarked. "I don't find you as tough as your father, on the other hand. What was his name? Toalune? I think it was…"
"You knew my father?" gaped Chopper.
"Of course I did! How else did I make his best friend turn against him?" Nightmare cackled, firing stars at Chopper. "Not only had I managed to turn him to the side of evil, but I also managed to get rid of another Galaxy Soldier. It worked so well with Knuckle Joe's father, so why not do it on him?"
"Yeah, I heard of that from Meta Knight," Chopper replied, creating a star barrier to protect himself. "We're going to do this for not just Nomad, but anyone else you've harmed as well!"
Mario: Yes!
With one swing, Chopper struck Nightmare's body with another star, leaving him to gape in pain. Sonic also made his move, getting in a ball and hitting the wizard's body with a Spin Dash. As he returned to the others, he performed another stylish move.
"You know, being back to life has some great advantages," Nightmare remarked, zapping Sonic with energy from his finger. "Because it allows me to deliver pain to you!"
"Well, that's not going to happen when we're here," Chopper declared as he charged some energy in the Star Rod and fired it at him. "I think this should do a little bit more damage to you!"
Indeed it did. The Star Blast attack ended up doing 12 damage to Nightmare.
"Ooh! Now that was pretty cool! Here! Lemme pierce his defense too!" Scrub laid a giant egg and quickly picked it up. "Ya like eggs, wizard? Well… This one's got your name on it!"
He threw the Mega Egg upward, which ended up hitting Nightmare's face. It broke and left the wizard with 12 less HP as a result.
"Ugh… Take this!" Nightmare opened his robe as he fired stars at the group, taking 19 HP out of them.
"If we chip him down a little more, he'll be more than halfway down," Bombette announced after she used her Bomb on Nightmare's tornado body. Chopper decided to toss a light ball at him instead.
"Hmmmm... Perhaps now is the perfect opportunity to go at full force!" Nightmare began to raise his Attack up by 19. "If you wish to flee, now's your chance. Unfortunately, it will not save you from your inevitable doom!"
"If that's the case, then there's no point in running!" Chopper shouted, charging up more energy in the Star Rod and striking Nightmare with another Star Blast, taking another 12 out of him.
"I guess I might as well use Veil," Vivian floated behind the group and brought them all except for Nightmare into the shadows. Unfortunately, for Nightmare, his powerful beam attack missed them, and he seemed rather disappointed when he saw them rise up unharmed.
"Great… Just what I needed." Nightmare groaned. However, this did give him the opportunity to fire a star at Chopper.
Chopper quickly shook himself and stepped out of the way when Shadower struck Nightmare with his Shadow Blast ability, piercing through his defense and also lowering it to 0. Chopper seemed happy with this, so he decided to take action by hitting Nightmare with a Gravity Jump. As usual.
Nightmare frowned as he zapped Chopper with dark energy. But, it didn't stop Chopper and Tamber from striking him with powerful attacks, like Chopper's Star Blast and Tamber's Power Punch. The attack was so powerful, that it knocked Nightmare back pretty far, nearly off the edge, in fact. Getting back to the fight, Nightmare opened his cloak and fired stars at the two attackers. To his dismay, they managed to guard the attacks.
"Sheesh! This is dragging on forever! How long until this guy's defeated?!" wheezed Tamber.
"No idea… But we have to go with it." Chopper pulled his hammer out and brought it down on Nightmare's head. A Shade Fist left a nice burn on the evil wizard. Nightmare grit his teeth as he struck Chopper with another star. Chopper fought back with with another projectile from the Star Rod, and then Bombette used her Bomb to bring him to less than 100 HP.
"Ugh… What's going on? Why am I this far from losing my HP?" Nightmare question, starting to get exhausted. In the meantime, he fired a dark beam at Bombette, knocking her back. Thankfully, Mario managed to grab her on time.
"Well, it's eleven against one..." Chopper pointed out, attacking Nightmare with a Rainbow Spin. With Flyer's Flying Attack, Nightmare was down to less than 70 HP.
"It's nice to know that he's almost defeated," Flyer remarked.
"You will not stop me!" Nightmare roared, firing a star from his finger at Chopper, taking 19 out of him. Chopper shook off the attack afterward and decided to use his Power Pounce. He performed a stylish flip as he came stomping on the Shadow King seven times. Once he bounced off him, he cheered for a stylish move and retreated back to the others, making the audience go nuts.
"How come we're being watched by the audience anyway?" Shadower asked. "I always wanted to know that."
Mario: Beats me!
"It's no big deal. We're still winning this battle." Shadower floated over to Nightmare and struck him with Shadow Lightning, bringing his defense down to 0. "And that leaves him incredible vulnerable.
"You'll regret that, shadow being!" Nightmare growled, zapping Shadower with more dark energy. Chopper gripped the Star Rod and swung it at Nightmare in retaliation, while Kirby pulled his blade out and struck the wizard with his Final Cutter, bringing him down to less than 30 HP.
"Poyo! (We got this in the bag!)" Kirby cheered.
Nightmare merely grunted as he fired stars at everyone. But it still didn't help him because of Chopper's Star Blast and Flyer's Flying Attack, which immediately brought him down to 1 HP.
"What the… But… How?" Nightmare gaped, feeling weaker than ever. He only attempted to raise his attack power, but that didn't save him when Chopper raised the Star Rod, which started to glow brightly. "A normal being isn't capable of defeating me!"
"Well... I'm not normal!"
"...What?" Nightmare's eyes instantly widened.
"It's time to put an end to this!" Chopper declared, watching the Star Rod shine. Jumping back, he swung with all his might and fired a star in Nightmare's direction.
The power of the Star Rod enveloped Nightmare, causing him to become brighter as he let out a scream. He tried pointing a finger at Chopper to attack, but he barely had the chance, as any darkness within him had disappeared and caused him to explode.
All that remained of him were sparkles from the explosion."It's over..." Chopper sighed, lowering the Star Rod and upgrading his BP to 117. "We did it, guys. Now hopefully any soldiers who fell to him can finally rest in peace...""What's weird was that he didn't make any final speech or anything," Scrub mentioned.
"Well, not all villains can give a final speech when they're destroyed…" replied Sonic as he wheezed.
"Should we take a break for a moment?" Vivian asked, feeling exhausted.
"Heck no!" Tamber answered harshly, moving over to the passageway ahead. "I wanna get to that Crystal Star right now! Taking a break won't do anything!"
"...Yeah, Tamber's got a good point," Chopper said, making his way over to Tamber. He looked around him, but didn't see much. "Well... At least there aren't any enemies around here."
"...Yet," Bombette said.
After walking past the passageway, they found a narrow road up ahead with some Master Phis roaming around. Keeping the Star Rod close to him, Chopper had taken out one of the Phis with a star projectile.
"Well, looks like you jinxed that, Chop," Sonic said.
"I guess so," Chopper frowned, taking out another Phi along the way. He stopped to take a look at his Star Rod. "You know, I wonder... Will I need to use this to get past some obstacles?"
"Like that?" Shadower wondered, pointing to a blocked doorway up ahead with a dull star.
"Oh... I guess so." Chopper rushed over to the doorway and fired a star at it, returning its yellow glow and opening the door. "Well that was pretty easy. OK, guys, let's move on!"
They walked over to the next area, which was much bigger than the previous area and around the size of the area where they fought Nightmare. To their dismay, however, the icy floor had returned. All they found was a yellow ? Block and two Master Phis floating around.
"Nothing interesting around here, unfortunately… I wish we could find something else besides these icy pathways." Chopper groaned as he moved to the center of the area, trying to be careful of the ice. Unfortunately, that was when the Phis spotted them.
"Hey! There's those freaks!" the first Master Phi exclaimed.
"Well, let's not stand here! Let's get 'em!"
The two Master Phis changed to their arm blasters, and they began to fire shots at the group. They all took action by quickly avoiding them, with Chopper performing cartwheels to dodge. Kirby had inhaled one of them and spat it at the other, and then Bombette exploded, destroying one Master Phi.
"Uh oh... This ain't good." the Master Phi sweat dropped, looking at the remains of its comrade. When it turned to the group, they were prepared to attack. "Errr... RETREAT!"
With that, the Master Phi made its escape.
"Well, there it goes," Vivian said, watching the Phi get away. She turned her attention back to the yellow ? Block nearby. "Maybe we should see what's in the yellow ? Block."
"Well… I guess I might as well hit it." Chopper walked under the yellow ? Block and struck it to get a Max Shroom. He took it and he put the delicious mushroom away. "Yummy! don't mind if I do!"
"Aw, man! You got another one of those mushrooms?! If only I could get a taste of one of those… Dang it." Tamber groaned, pouting. He turned to Vivian while still thinking about the Max Shroom, and he had suddenly imagined her as it.
"Are you all right, Tamber?" Vivian asked, noticing the look on him.
"I've got this," Scrub assured, knocking Tamber in the head with his Ground Pound, snapping him back to his senses.
"Hey! What was that for?!" Tamber yelled, not too pleased about the hit. "What? You think you can just hit someone like that? Aren't I your ally?!"
"Yeah, but you were... Well..." Berry paused, looking for the right word. "We were getting you back to your senses."
"It was still sneaky... But whatever."
With that out of the way, the progressed over to the next pathway ahead, and they found a curvy, narrow road leading to what appeared to be a ruined town ahead. Curiosity gained Chopper as he prepared to run through the path, not paying attention to the ice. Unfortunately, that led him to slipping again.
"You all right, Contadre?" Scrub asked, helping the antennae boy up.
"Ugh... Yeah, I'm fine." Chopper assured. "I forgot about the icy floor. Let's be careful here... And please don't fall."
"I appreciate the obvious," deadpanned Bombette, carefully crossing the icy road and avoiding the long fall below. Everyone made sure not to look down as they continued their cross. There were no Phis in the way, much to their relief.
When they had neared the end, Berry had accidentally slipped and was pretty close to the edge. She let out a shriek as she started to plunge to her doom. Thankfully, the group had noticed, and Chopper sprang into action first, grabbing a hold of her hand.
"I don't like this one bit!" Berry gulped, unable to resist looking down.
"Ungh... I need help, guys!" Chopper cried, eyes closed tightly. "I'm having trouble pulling her up!"
Kirby had grabbed a hold of Chopper and began to pull back to support him. There was some good progression, but that wasn't enough. Vivian eventually helped, and they managed to pull her back up. They didn't waste any time speaking about it until they reached the end of the walkway.
"Oh, man... I thought I was in trouble for a moment..." Berry sighed, closing her eyes in shame. "Usually I prepare myself for stuff like that, but not in that case..."
"Well, we all have our flaws," Sonic shrugged. "I'm a terrible swimmer, Chopper is small and physically weak, Mario is... Well, he's a bit heavy."
"We're all here to help each other in the end," Shadower explained. "And we're not going to judge you based on an issue."
"I guess your right," Berry sighed in relief, feeling better. "But thanks for the help, though. You guys really are true friends. Much better than some of those jerks in Sand Town..."
"Poyo, (Friendship is really important,)" Kirby stated.
"Yeah yeah... Enough fluff already." Tamber suggested, stopping the moment. "It's givin' me a headache!"
The group gave him a frown, but they knew they had to get a move on, so the group had entered the town, which had no ice covering the floor, to their delight. Most of the buildings had been destroyed, and many pillars were knocked over. There was even a statue in the center of the town that was knocked over and broken. Some windows had been broken, roofs were gone, and some houses were even split in half, some even completely wiped away except for the toilet.
In conclusion, it looked as if a nuclear missile had hit the place.
Sonic couldn't help but make a whistle. "Yeesh. This place is a mess!"
"Yeah," Scrub agreed, walking over to the toilet. "And you're not even safe if you go to the bathroom here!"
"That's true," Bombette agreed.
"Looks like there must've been a big battle here," Shadower said, scanning the area. He approached the statue in the center of the room and noticed its remains looked similar. "Hey, Chopper! Take a look at this!"
Chopper ran over to the broken statue, with Shadower gesturing him to the statue's head. Getting a closer look, he was left in shock.
"Hey... This is a statue of Meta Knight!" Chopper gaped. "What's it doing here?"
"Perhaps he had helped save the town from an evil force..."
"If that were true, then this place would be all fine."
This time, it was Flyer's turn to step in. "Well, it could be likely that Meta Knight was a hero of this town before it had met its demise."
"Then maybe that's it..." Shadower trailed. "Anyway, let's see if there's anything else here."
They had found a broken fountain nearby, but there didn't appear to be any water. Since there was not too much outside, they had decided to check inside a few houses. The only thing they found, though, were a few remains of a few people who lived here. To their surprise, all that was left of them was ash, according to Flyer's scanner.
"Whatever came here, it must've been real big," Sonic said, looking shocked.
"There's no sign of any bodies here!" Vivian gaped. "They're all just ash... Poor guys."
"Poyo, (I bet this was Nightmare's doing,)" Kirby said with a frown.
They left that house and found another house nearby. Once again, there was barely anything left. However, there was a wooden X on the ground in one small room, so Chopper used his Spin Jump to lead into what appeared to be the basement. There was a small table, some ash on the seat, and also a piece of paper.
Mario: This is just like my house's basement.
"There's a paper there," Berry said, pointing at the paper.
"Looks like I better-" Before Chopper could take the paper, Tamber had already snatched it.
"How 'bout I read it for a change?" Tamber suggested. Everyone gawked, but they decided there was nothing wrong with that, so he shrugged. "Right! Now! ...Actually, you read it, Gumball."
"Ummmm... OK?" Chopper replied with a confused look on his face, taking the paper from Tamber.
Dear Diary,
I don't know how long I will be living, nor do I know how long this town will last... The only thing I can do is write in you one last time. We are being under attack by a group of evil monsters. We don't have a clue what they are, but they appear to have bat-like wings and incredible technology in their hands. We have some soldiers fighting them off, but they are not doing it successfully. And then there is this one guy... Those red eyes... And that sword... He is even more menacing than those soldiers! If only he had come... That great Star Warrior with the legendary gold sword! He had protected us from the evil force of Nightmare! But he is nowhere to be seen. Please... Great knight, you must come to our aid! We all need you!
"Poyo? (Wait... The paper says this was not Nightmare's work?)" Kirby gawked.
"Guess not," Chopper said, putting the paper down. "There's definitely something still out there..."
Mario: It must be even stronger than Nightmare.
"Well, we better be on the lookout for this enemy," Flyer suggested. "In the meantime, we should probably get out of here. It's definitely not too comfortable..."
Everyone came to agreement with that, so they took the spring out of the basement and made their way out of the house. Seeing no other reason to check the place out, they decided to make their exit out of here.
Well, it would've been easy if it weren't for some Master Phis and even some Ztars that were roaming around. The Phis, in particular, were checking the place out as well. One happened to pick up some ash on the floor and let it fall from its robotic hand.
"I don't know what this is, but my scanners tell me it was once living," the Master Phi informed upon scanning the ash.
"What do you think could've happened here?" the other asked.
"Don't know. But it's probably something that happened a long time ago. Anyway, you got the bomb ready, right?"
"Bomb? ...Oh, I didn't get it yet."
"What? Well, what are you doing? Master Gemerl told us to get a bomb ready to blow this place up and hinder Chopper!"
"Hi, Phis."
"Hey, Chopper."
The two Phis paused and took notice of Chopper waving at them. They immediately entered battle mode and charged at them. The first Master Phi decided to copy Kirby's inhale and created a cannon to suck Chopper toward the robot. Berry had used her Hammerang to stop them, and then came Tamber's Quake, which finished them off.
"That takes care of them," Bombette said. "But what do you think they were talking about?"
"Who cares?" Tamber shrugged. "It's probably nothing special!"
The others felt unsure, but they eventually progressed ahead. There were still a bit of ruins from the town, but it was a lot more hidden than before. In the center of the area was a round device with three buttons.
"What do you think that could be?" Vivian asked.
"I'm not sure..." Chopper trailed. "But I'm going to go check it out!"
"Wait, Chopper!"
Chopper ignored her and approached the device, giving it a look. Though he was no expert with technology, he could at least understand what the buttons read.
"OK... One says to destroy... The second says to explode, and the third says 'KA-BOOM' on it." Chopper read, pondering over this. "Hmmmm... Well, if we want to stop this bomb, I guess we gotta destroy it?"
When Flyer got a better look at it from a further range, his eyes had widened when Chopper pressed the "destroy" button. "Wait! Chopper! Don't press that but-"
KA-BOOM!
The device exploded, with Chopper caught in it. He was sent flying back to the group, tattered and unconscious. Everyone stared at him in horror, with a few cupping their mouths with their hands.
"Chopper! No!"
There was supposed to be a fight with Master Hand and Crazy Hand here, but I thought it didn't have much of a purpose here, so I got rid of it. Instead, I decided to add a little more depth to the destroyed town. I'd say it worked much better for this story.