As the group started to make their way across the narrow pathway, they were told by Meta Knight to stick to the middle of the road. One thing that surprised them were a couple of Lava Ghosts with black gaps in their body forming a jagged mouth and two eyes jumping out of the lava and soaring over the path, letting out a creepy moan before submerging into the other side of the lava.
"Man… You were right when you said that this place is pretty freaky…" Chopper shivered, watching another Lava Ghost fly out.
"I would advise not touching those Lava Ghosts," Meta Knight noted.
"I wouldn't even try touching them," Vivian said, watching one soar over them.
Meta Knight had opened up his cape and pulled out Galaxia's handle, allowing it to form into a sword. "Stay behind me. Not even these Lava Ghosts would dare to go near this."
"What about the Star Rod?" Chopper wondered, pulling said weapon out and surprising Sword and Blade Knight.
"Is that the Star Rod?!" Blade Knight gaped. "How on EARTH did you acquire that?!"
"Well… I inhaled my Warp Star. To be honest, I always wondered what would happen if I ate it..."
"Really? Maybe next time I find a Warp Star, I can eat it." Sword Knight chuckled.
"That is, if you ever acquire one," Blade said.
Sword was a bit irritated, but he decided to ignore him for once and continue the way through the narrow path. At times, some of them had nearly fallen off, but they were all there to save them in time. After that, everyone had gotten better at walking across. However, as they walked, Chopper had approached Meta Knight from behind.
"Say, Meta Knight… Silica had gotten sucked into that portal too." Chopper informed. "Have you seen her walk near Dedede's castle?"
"Silica is here as well? I see..." Meta Knight trailed. "Perhaps we could use her help... Unfortunately, she hasn't passed by the castle. However, I do believe it's important to find her."
"All right..." Chopper had looked up ahead and noticed a Flaming Bill Blaster Blaster in the way. "Uh oh... Not another one of these. I hope we'd see the last of them."
"We'll take care of this!" Sword gripped his sword and let out a battle cry as he rushed toward the Flaming Bill Blaster. He swung at it, causing his sword to shatter.
And boy, were the tears coming down through his helmet anime style.
"What?! Aw, man! Not my sword!" Sword cried. "Without my sword, I'm useless! What am I going to do?"
"I got a spare sword," Meta Knight pulled out a spare sword that looked a lot like Sword's bronze sword and tossed it to him. "Use that instead, but I don't recommend hitting that Flaming Bill Blaster. It'll break. Again."
"Good idea," Sword put his sword away before he got hit by an oncoming Flaming Bill. Another one had come Meta Knight's way, but his sword easily swatted it away. He raised his sword upward and swung vertically, making a Sword Beam strike the Flaming Bill Blaster and slice it in half.
"Whoa... That was cool." Scrub gaped.
As Meta Knight landed, another Lava Ghost had come out of the lava and let out another moan. However, it decided to bring its attention to them and spat a fireball at them. Chopper was lucky enough to change to his Water ability to extinguish the flame and destroy the Lava Ghost.
"So those things will attack us..." Blade trailed, gripping his sword while trembling. "We better be on guard when those things appear."
"Heh heh! What's wrong, Blade? You're a bit scared, aren't ya?" teased Sword.
"If you decide to mock me next time, you're going to drop and give me twenty!"
"OK! OK! Whatever..." Sword groaned, deciding not to continue the argument and staying cautious of any enemies.
"Remember, stay in the middle of the pathway," Meta Knight advised. "It's the safest part of the road."
The others nodded, with Chopper removing his Water ability before they followed the three knights. To their relief, the pathway was coming to a close.
Camikon's Castle-
"Blast it! They're finding another way around the bridge!" Camikon growled, watching them pass through the pathway in his throne room, which was decorated with mostly a red carpet and red walls and ceiling. Along with that, he was sitting on a throne that appeared rather big for him. "This won't end well if… Hold on a moment…"
He noticed that they were heading toward the volcano. His annoyed expression had turned to one of confidence.
"Maybe this won't be a bad thing! One thing for certain is that there's something dangerous in that volcano, and it's not going to let them get away so easily!"
"Lord Camikon!" a Tartara Royal Guard called out, walking into the throne room. "We've just recently discovered that Chopper has escaped his prison! Do you want us to…"
"Yeah yeah… I already know they escaped." Camikon grumbled. "I've seen it through my wand."
"Oh, then my apologies. I guess I am no longer needed here." the Tartara Royal Guard said, slowly turning away to leave.
"Hold up, guard!" Camikon raised his arm as a signal for it to stop, putting it to a halt. "Perhaps we should...release that monster?"
"You mean the monster in the volcano?"
"No, not THAT one! I'm talking about the other one! Ridley! You know, that monster we managed to capture? I think he'll come to great use!"
"Ridley? But... Capturing that thing was a MENACE! It managed to wipe out many of our soldiers! If we release it, it'll be a problem for US!"
"An order is an order, Tartara! Do as you're told, or else you'll be next in line as a meal to that monster in the volcano after he takes care of Chopper!"
"I... Errr..." the Tartara stammered, eventually giving up. "As you command, Lord Camikon..."
The Tartara Royal Guard walked out of the throne room, leaving Camikon to grin while sitting back on the large throne that once used to be Maquano's. Now that he was the new leader, he could do whatever he wanted.
"Nyeah heh heh heh! Being the new leader is great!" Camikon cackled, waving his wand around. However, when he turned his attention to his right, he noticed that a large, purple door in the was left open. "Whoops! That shouldn't be open…"
He got off the throne and walked over to the large door to close it. "There! That should take care of things."
Camikon turned away from the door, but it opened once again. Groaning, he slammed it shut again. This time, it stayed closed.
"I don't know what's going on, but I think there might be something strange in there. Then again... Lord Maquano had told me to never go in there... I never knew why..." Camikon suddenly paused for a minute. "Wait, hold on a second… He's not here to tell me what to do! Nyeah heh heh heh! Perhaps I CAN check and see what's inside!"
Camikon opened the door, preparing to go inside, but it had ended up shutting on him.
"WHAT?! First it plays tricks on me, and now it doesn't let me through?!" Camikon growled, going back to his throne to sit down and watch Chopper. "Stupid little boy… I hope you fail in this quest!"
Back with the heroes-
"Hey, guys… I can see the end up ahead!" Sonic pointed to a red sign with a bright orange "exit" on it. "Yeah, that's gotta be it! How else would there be a sign around here? It's pretty obvious."
"Obvious sign is obvious," Tamber stated as he glided over the three knights. "I'm going to get there first!
And first he was. He already made it to the small little area, but he didn't find anywhere else to go. Looking both ways, there was not another pathway. Annoyed, he turned to the other.
"I don't see any pathway around here! Did we come here all for nothing?!"
"No, you didn't come here all for nothing," Meta Knight explained, reaching the path's end. He pointed Galaxia at the green ! Switch that was floating above the ground. "That must be hit in order to go underground."
"Underground? Why are we going underground?" Chopper asked.
"It's the only way we're going to get anywhere," Meta Knight replied. As soon as everyone got to the end, Chopper decided to step under the block and struck it. This caused the ground to shake below them, but they soon realized that the floor they were standing on was starting to slowly descend.
"Poyo? (So this is an elevator?)" Kirby gaped.
"Yes, this is the elevator that can take us down underground. We'll soon be inside the volcano." Meta Knight explained.
"This is a very convenient lift," Flyer remarked. "Perhaps these Tartaras wanted to create a hidden elevator in case of a major battle."
When the elevator stopped, they stepped off the section and continued through the cave-like doorway ahead. There, they found an area with a couple of lava flows on the path and even the background. Along with that, there were also some minecarts.
"Huh... There are mines around this volcano..." Chopper trailed.
"Stay close, everyone," Meta Knight suggested, keeping his sword in front of him.
"We already know that," Shadower assured, the group staying close together. "That's what we always do."
"Then I have no need to remind you guys."
"I suppose it's not a bad idea to talk about how hot it is here," Sonic said, proceeding to fan himself with his gloved hand.
"Yeah, you got a point," Sword agreed, approaching the bridge. He decided to cross over first, but it didn't appear to be sturdy. Blade followed behind next.
"Whatever you do… Don't. Look. Down." Blade warned. Sword had immediately looked down and gulped. "I said NOT to look down."
"Sorry, I couldn't help it."
Meta Knight decided to ignore them and continued on ahead to the end of the bridge. Everyone else followed until they came across another bridge leading down to an area filled with tracks. Unfortunately, this bridge had a small gap that could not be jumped over. However, with Scrub's help, Chopper managed to easily get across the bridge and reach some more rock, where they were some tracks and more minecarts.
"I have a feeling we have to use those minecarts..." Chopper trailed.
"What's wrong with that?" Shadower asked.
"Nothing! I was just wondering."
"I call shotgun!" Sword declared, jumping into one of the mine carts. Blade had decided to join him, only to make sure he didn't try to move the cart in any way possible. Meta Knight joined them as well, though it had left the cart a little cramped. Regardless of that, they didn't have much of a big problem.
"Wanna join me, Flyer?" Chopper asked, jumping into a minecart. Flyer nodded and went over to the minecart. However, someone else had already beaten him to the cart.
"I'll join you, Choppy," Berry smiled, leaving Flyer to gawk.
"Huh? But why?"
"To be close to you, obviously."
"Uhhhh... OK... I guess you can." Chopper shrugged. With that, Berry used her hammer to get the minecart going, following the one Meta Knight was on.
"…Well that stinks. Berry took my spot. Now who am I going to share a minecart with?" Flyer turned around, and the first person he saw in front of him was Vivian. "Maybe you'd like to?"
"I guess so," Vivian nodded in agreement, and the two of them got in a minecart. Vivian had managed to get it to move on thanks to her explosive Fiery Jinx. The others soon followed, with Kirby and Bombette sharing one, Mario and Sonic taking another, Scrub and Shadower following behind, and finally Tamber, who got a mine cart all to his own.
"Ha! I don't have to share one with the others!" Tamber scoffed, despite being the last mine cart to go through the tunnel ahead.
While going through the tunnel, they could see hot boiling lava below them. This had made things hotter for everyone, and they were starting to fan themselves.
"Whew! It's hotter than before!" Sword complained.
"True... But we are wearing this armor." Blade stated.
As they continued along the way, they had come across a track in a loop-de-loop. Everyone held onto their carts as they had traveled through it and started to move downward, causing the carts to increase greatly in speed.
"Hang on to your hats, guys!" Shadower cried, one of his hands grabbing a hold of his black and white-striped hat. "This might get a little bumpy!"
Eventually the carts had started to slow down when the track had become flat after the downward slope. They could see the end up ahead, but that was when it started to get very bumpy. Eventually each track had come to a sudden halt, and they were thrown off the cart and onto the rocky floor. Some had a better landing than others.
"Ow... My head..." Sword groaned, rubbing his helmet upon standing up.
"I must say... That was an interesting ride." Blade remarked, doing the same thing too. "Are you all right, Sir Meta Knight?"
"Yes, I'm good," Meta Knight answered, appearing to have landed just fine. "That will probably be the last time I ever go on a cart ride..."
"Yeah, me too..." Chopper agreed, standing up and rubbing his head. Once everyone was all ready, they walked on ahead. There, they found a pool of lava and a couple of rocky platforms floating on it. He jumped onto it, having no problems getting across. Meta Knight, meanwhile, had decided to use his wings to glide to the others side where a tunnel was.
With people like Vivian and Shadower, they had met Meta Knight on the other side. Once the others reached them, they were put to a halt when they heard some voices up ahead. Meta Knight suggested they all be quiet in order to listen in on them.
"There are some Tartaras ahead..." Meta Knight warned. "Be ready to take them."
Walking through the tunnel, they came across another bridge going down to a large, rocky area where a couple of Tartaras were. There were some pillars around too. According to the tattle, Tartara Soldiers had a Max HP of 88, an Attack of 20, and a Defense of 2.
"Man... I didn't know they had that high of stats." Shadower gawked. "Since there are a lot, should we fight them?"
"Maybe we can get around them," Chopper suggested as he walked down onto the rocky area from the bridge. Unfortunately, the Tartara Soldiers spotted them and immediately fired at them.
"I got this!" Flyer took out his arm cannon and began to shoot at the soldiers. Not only did he paralyze them, but he also managed to knock them into one of the small lava pits. However, that one ended up emerging from the lava without harm. "Oh, right... They won't die in the lava. Well... At least I paralyzed it?"
"You're gonna have to do better than that!" the Tartara Soldier cackled, firing a shot at Flyer. However, Meta Knight stepped in, gripping Galaxia and deflecting the attack back at the Tartara. This was enough to put down the soldier. Flyer was about to thank him, but Meta Knight raised an arm.
"You can thank me later," Meta Knight assured.
"Ummmm… OK?" Flyer and the others followed Meta Knight ahead to larger and round area. Another boulder was in the way, so Tamber smashed it before they proceeded onward and took out a Tartara. When they reached the end of the tunnel, they found two doors. There was one to the north, and the other was to the right. Along with that, a Save Block and Heart Block were here as well.
"Well... Looks like we have two ways to go..." Chopper trailed. "So... What do you we do?"
"We should split up," Meta Knight suggested, turning to the group. "Sword, Blade and I will take the door to the north. The rest of you can check what's to the right. We'll meet back here after exploration."
"OK! We can do that!" Chopper nodded. "We'll make sure we don't take long either!"
Meta Knight gave him a nod, and afterward, he and his servants took the door to the north. Once they were gone, Chopper and his friends approached the door ahead, avoiding a small river of lava in front of them. The door itself had a symbol of flames on it. Plus, the door was very big, much bigger than most doors.
"What's up with the size of this door?" Sonic gawked. "Do ships go into here?"
"With how this underground place is set up, I don't think it's likely that a ship could even fly here," Flyer explained.
"Yeah... Something's fishy." Chopper remarked, hitting both the Save Block and Heart Block. "Well, I guess we'll be finding out pretty soon."
Vivian opened the door and everyone walked into a large, dark room. To their surprise, there was no sign of any lava in the room. Only the walls appeared to have lava on them, and it wasn't even getting on the floor. The area was also round, and the only source of light was from a hole above.
"It's way too dark in here," Tamber commented.
"And what is up with that hole above us?" Bombette asked.
Everyone took a look up at the ceiling and noticed how the hole seemed to resemble a crater.
"Who are you?!"
Everyone had stopped looking up and froze when they saw a large, black dragon with flaming red stripes on his face stare at them and let out a huge roar. The dragon's teeth were sharp and pointy compared to other dragons with flat teeth. Along with that, this dragon appeared to be covered in flames.
"What in the world is THAT?!" Tamber gaped.
"You don't appear to look like Tartaras! Then again, no one even bothers coming here, unless there is an execution..."
"An execution?" Chopper gawked. "So is this what Camikon was throwing us into?"
"This dragon reminds me so much of Gloomtail..." Vivian trailed, slowly stepping away.
"Not only Gloomtail, but Frosttail too," Chopper added.
"You know my two brothers?" the dragon asked, giving them a suspicious look.
"Yeah... But they ended up getting beaten."
"So you're telling me that you people destroyed my younger brothers?!" the dragon roared, smoke coming out of his nostrils. "So... That explains why I haven't heard from them lately. As for you mortals, I shall make you pay for what you've done! You will all cower in fear of the mighty Flametail, the oldest of the dragons, and now the pet to Lord Camikon!"
"Pet to Camikon?" Chopper gawked. He had gotten a closer look at the dragon. "Wait a minute, you look like that dragon I used to see Maquano flying on two years ago!"
"Wait, you know this dragon?" Shadower whispered.
"Hmmmmm... Now that I think about it, I do recognize you." Flametail realized. "You were that little boy that my master had a deep hatred for. I'm sure you're surprised to see how much I've grown! Dragons do grow over the years… And now, I've become the mightiest of them all!"
"Fat chance! That prison area was scarier than you!" Tamber scoffed.
"Then why were you freaking out over him a moment ago?" Bombette asked.
"Shut up! That never happened!"
Flametail ignored their conversation and grinned. "Hmmmm… Now that I think about it, I haven't eaten in three weeks! SOMEONE was a bit lazy in feeding me. However, it looks like with you eleven, that issue has finally been put aside! And besides, making a meal out of those who destroyed my brothers sounds delightful!"
"If that means you wanna fight, then we'll give you a fight!" Sonic smirked, taunting the large dragon. "Bring it on!"
"Gwa ha ha ha! If that's what your plan is, then sure, I'll fight you. It's always nice to play with my meals first! Then, I shall cook you up with my flame breath, and then you'll be mine!" Flametail cackled. "It will be I who's your executioner!"
Tattle: That's Flametail. He's the oldest of the dragon family. And he's quite menacing! I mean, look at those teeth! Max HP is 420, Attack is 20, and Defense is 2. You won't be able to touch Flametail if he's covered in flames, so you need some kind of water attack to get rid of them. But heads up! Those flames will come back after two turn, so keep yourself on guard! Just like the other dragons, he will use his claws, bite you, and attack you with fire breath…and dark breath. He's also got this massive Pyro Blast that will deal a TON of damage to you if you're not careful. Other than that… He's not a pushover. Heck, using fire may not be a good idea either...
"All right, I guess this means I gotta use my Water ability here," Chopper put on his Water ability and shot water on Flametail, extinguishing the flames on him.
"Bleh. So what if you have water. That won't stop me!" Flametail chortled. Vivian struck his nose with a Shade Fist, but unfortunately, being a fire dragon, he was not left with a burn. "You call that fire? Let me show you what fire truly is!"
Opening his mouth, Flametail breathed a burst of flames upon everyone, leaving a massive burn on them for four turns. Many were left agape as a result.
Mario: Mama mia!
After cringing from the burn, Mario had decided to approach the dragon's paw and strike it with his hammer. Afterward, Chopper had decided to hurl an ice ball at Flametail to take 8 out of him. Once the might dragon brought his paw down upon Chopper to flatten him like a pancake, his flames returned after Kirby helped unflatten him.
"Geez... This is just like that fight with Unagi." Chopper groaned, using his Tidal Wave to summon a large wave that struck Flametail tremendously. With him no longer being covered in flames, Flyer decided to make his move and strike Flametail's nose with a Flying Attack.
Out of anger, Flametail bit Chopper, and considering that Flametail's teeth were not flat like the other dragons, it certainly did a lot more damage than usual. Nevertheless, Chopper shrugged that off and brought his hammer down on Flametail's paw. Afterward, Shadower brought his defense down to 0 with a Shadow Punch.
"Hmmmmm... You do put up quite a fight. Let's see how you hold against this!" Flametail jumped in the air and came down, creating an earthquake to leave everyone shaking. Thankfully, they managed to guard it, but for people like Vivian and Shadower, they weren't affected.
"That was strange how that attack didn't do a thing to me…" Vivian remarked, noticing the others had taken damage from it. Flametail didn't seem to care about this as his flames returned. However, once again, Chopper took care of them with some more water. He screamed in pain, but it got a little worse when Scrub used his Ground Pound on his nose.
"Ha! How'd you like that?!" Scrub taunted.
"Let's see how my new dark breath will work on you," Flametail opened his mouth and unleashed his dark breath upon everyone. This, in the end, had left Scrub and Sonic paralyzed.
"Gah! I…can't move!" Sonic wheezed.
"What the heck is this?!" Scrub exclaimed, trying to move.
"Ah yes... You see, with my dark breath, anything can happen to you. Just be lucky it wasn't something like falling asleep or becoming frozen!" cackled Flametail, only to be interrupted by Chopper's light ball. Kirby then threw in his Final Cutter, and out of anger, Flametail brought his paw down on Sonic, since he was left in the open. After his flames returned, Chopper took them out, and Berry caused some serious pain to his paw with her hammer. "ARRGGGH!"
Clutching his paw in pain, he hissed at Berry and brought his other paw down on her.
"Ouch..." Berry squeaked, looking puzzled over the hit.
"That should be enough for you... At least, for now."
"Well, let's see how you like this!" Bombette cried, charging at Flametail with her fuse lit up. She exploded, taking 8 out of him, which soon followed up with Chopper striking the dragon with his hammer.
Despite being down to 280 HP, Flametail flew up in the air and struck the ground, creating another earthquake. Still, Vivian and Shadower were left unharmed by the attack, while the others had taken 22 damage.
"Argh! How come you two were unaffected?!" Flametail roared.
"Beats me," Chopper replied, summoning another large Tidal Wave upon Flametail to extinguish his flames, which followed up with Tamber's Combo Punch, taking 10 out of him. As Flametail narrowed his eyes at them, he brought his head back and then opened his mouth wide to unleash his fire breath on the group. They were able to Superguard it and take no damage from it.
"How did you avoid that?!" the dragon gaped.
"Well, that's simple," Chopper started smugly. "We can Superguard it, so that'll let us avoid any attacks. You can't avoid THIS, though!"
Chopper gripped his hammer and unleashed a Master Hammer attack, striking Flametail in the nose and the paw, which caused some immense pain to him. Tamber grinned, proceeding to mock him and prepared to attack, but Mario had beat him to the punch and struck Flametail with his hammer. Angered, Flametail used his dark breath on them, but they managed to guard it with no serious effect left on them.
Chopper shot water at Flametail to extinguish the flames on him, and once Flyer struck him with a Flying Attack, Flametail was down to 218 HP. Before they could mock him for almost being halfway done, Flametail successfully left a burn on everyone with his fire breath.
"Ah, excellent! That's exactly what I wanted to see! Now things should be a bit easier for me!" Flametail grinned evilly.
"Ugh... Not a chance." Chopper grumbled, striking Flametail with his Ultra Gloves. With Tamber's Power Punch, Flametail was now down to 196 HP.
"Hmmmmm… So you are tough meat. I will admit, you have great power for someone so small. Unfortunately, you're not going to be standing here any longer soon."
Cackling, Flametail raised his Attack by 20, shocking everyone.
"Crud… NOT good!" Chopper decided to pull out a Maximum Recovery (a Max Shroom and Max Juice combined) and ate the thing to recover all of his HP and FP. "You know what to do, right, Vivian?"
"Mmmmm-hmmm!" Vivian nodded, pulled everyone into the shadows to hide.
"Take THIS!" Flametail opened his mouth unleashed a massive purple breath that nearly engulfed the room. "Now do you see my true power?! That is the true power of a mighty dragon such as myself!"
However, when the smoke had cleared, he noticed the group emerge from the ground, appearing unscathed by the attack.
"…It didn't hit you?! How?!"
"Thank the purple chick," Tamber said smugly. Flametail chomped at Vivian and took 20 out of her. Once his flames returned, Chopper struck him with another Tidal Wave, with Shadower following up with his Shadow Punch. Flametail decided to bring his paw down on Chopper again to leave him flattened. Chopper decided to shrug it off and hit Flametail with a Power Smash. After Vivian's Shade Fist, the dragon was down to 158 HP.
"You people... I don't understand how you manage to bring me down this far..." Flametail trailed, narrowing his eyes at the group. He flew upward again and created another earthquake upon coming down. Everyone was hurt, with two exceptions, of course.
"Ugh... That attack is still as annoying as ever." Chopper groaned. He was about to extinguish Flametail's flames, but then he remember the final Crystal Star and pulled it out. "Hey, maybe this might be a good time to test out the Dark Star's power!"
"Are you really going to do that? That might be dangerous…" Vivian gasped.
"Well, considering that when Gemerl used it, it didn't affect him. I'm sure it won't hurt us." Chopper assured, but he noticed how much Star Power the ability would take. "This is going to cost me about 18 SP? That's…a bit extreme."
Nevertheless, he used the ability anyway. He managed to suck Flametail into a large, black hole that ended up tearing a hole into the background. As a result, the large dragon had taken 65 damage.
"Bluuurgh… What…was that?" Flametail moaned.
"That was one of my Crystal Stars! And it sure was powerful!" Chopper smirked. Scrub laid a giant egg afterward and threw it at Flametail's nose. The dragon rubbed his nose for a brief moment before scorching everyone with his fire breath.
"Ugh… I'm getting tired of his fire breath." Chopper groaned. With that, he decided to shoot more water at Flametail. Kirby's Final Cutter had proceeded to drop him to 60 HP.
"Poyo! (We almost got this!)" Kirby cheered.
After shaking off Kirby's attack, Flametail brought his paw down on him to leave him flattened. But this didn't do too much, because Chopper summoned another Tidal Wave and then he got paralyzed for a turn thanks to Flyer's arm blaster.
"Argh! You're going...to pay for...that!" Flametail screamed, struggling to move due to the paralysis. With this, Chopper had struck him with his hammer, and then Sonic used his Spin Dash.
"He's down to 27 HP. We got this in the bag!" Sonic grinned.
"Guh... If Lord Camikon were to discover that I lost to my meals, he would disown me for sure..." Flametail grunted. "I cannot let you all stop me! I will ensure that you become my dinner today!"
He opened his mouth and used his dark breath to freeze both Flyer and Tamber. Chopper narrowed his eyes at Flametail and changed to his Sword ability.
"All right, you're going down!" Chopper declared. "And swords are used to take down dragons! ...Right?"
"...Yeah, I think so," Bombette nodded before hitting Flametail with her Bomb. Once Chopper swung at Flametail, he was down to 11 HP.
"You are not leaving this place alive!"" Flametail hissed, using the rest of his strength to raise his Attack power by 20. "With this one attack, you will all fall before me!"
"We're not letting you stop us," Chopper declared, charging at Flametail and bringing him down to 3 HP with a single sword swing. "All right, someone finish the job!"
Shadower nodded, and with one Shadow Punch, Flametail's HP had been drained to 0, and his eyes starting to spin in the same manner as his brothers.
"N-No… How… How can this be?" Flametail moaned. "Could this be the end of the 'Tail' family after all? It… It can't be…"
The giant dragon had fallen back in defeat, and Chopper was able to gain a level, upgrading his HP to 255, since he had 250 FP and 160 BP. The impact of Flametail's keeling over had caused the room to shake for a brief moment, but once it stopped, Chopper had removed his Sword ability, and Flyer and Tamber were no longer frozen.
"Whoa... What the..." Tamber noticed the dragon lying on its back and gawked. "Wait... That thing's already defeated?!"
"Yeah... And it sure wasn't easy." Sonic sighed. "Well, we might as well get out of here, right?"
Everyone nodded in agreement, but before they could go, they heard the sound of choking. They turned around and looked at Flametail, who had coughed up a chest that had landed in front of them.
"Wait... That dragon had eaten a chest?" Bombette gawked.
"That's the third time I've seen that," Chopper remarked. "Might as well see what's inside!"
He opened the chest, and inside, he found a Volcano Key. Unlike the prison key, it was a scarlet color rather than being a dark red.
"Huh... A key? What do you think this is going to be used for?"
"Probably for a door, obviously," Tamber stated. "Let's just get out of here."
They all agreed and left the dark room, returning to the previous one, as Meta Knight had told them to meet him back here. Meta Knight and his two servants happened to be in the room, as if they were waiting for them.
"You all seemed to be gone for an awfully long time," Meta Knight said. "What happened?"
"Well, it's kind of a long story…" Chopper trailed. "But in the end, we got a hold of a key!"
"Ooh! That's just what we need to move on ahead!" Sword grinned.
"Wait, so how long were you guys in that other room?" Berry asked.
"Not too long," Blade answered. "We ran into this locked door, so we decided to come back here and wait. We did hear some noise coming from the room you were in, though."
"And why didn't you give us a hand?" Tamber asked angrily.
"Sir Meta Knight said that you guys could probably handle it on your own," Sword answered. "But enough about that! You got the key, and now we can finally get outta this dreadful place!"
"Yes! Let's go, then!" Chopper smiled, rushing over to the door. Everyone also followed through the door, wishing to get out of the dreadful volcano.
Camikon's Castle-
"What is the meaning of this?!" Camikon exclaimed, slamming his fist on the arm of his throne. "My gigantic dragon pet, Flametail, was slain by Chopper?! This is impossible! How could he defeat such a monster of great size?!"
"Lord Camikon!" a Darkling cried, who came flying into the room. "Bad news, Your Majesty! You know your pet Flametail? He…"
"I already know, Darkling," Camikon replied, raising an arm to stop it. "Sure, Flametail is gone, but we're not finished just yet. We still have Ridley to take care of him and his pesky friends!"
"Oh… About Ridley…" the Darkling gulped. "He attacked one of our soldiers and even threw one into the lava. ...You really think releasing him was a good idea?"
"That's because Ridley doesn't care whose side he's on," the wizard replied, adjusting his monocle. "He's a monster. All monsters don't care whose side they're on. Ones that can't speak, that is… All they want to do is cause destruction!"
"Ummmmm… Yes. I believe so. Should we stun that thing or something? It might cause more harm to our soldiers."
"Hmmmm... I suppose you could. But, if you find Chopper, release him! Right now, he should be heading to Bowser's Castle. Once he's done there, then we can release the beast!"
"Bowser's Castle?" the Darkling raised an invisible eyebrow. "What was the purpose of bringing it here? We don't need Bowser for our plan, don't we?"
"Not really... I think I have other plans for him anyway. Now SCRAM! I have some other business to take care of, and you're in my way!"
"Very well, old geezer…" the Darkling flew out of the room and shut the door.
The old wizard looked over at the dark door yet again. He thought about going over to the door again, and eventually he did so. However, the door would still not open for him.
"Why on earth is this thing not opening?!" Camikon growled. "Does this door have a life of its own?!"
After pulling enough times, Camikon eventually gave up and went back to his throne to relax.
"Oh, what's the use? I'm not going to get that door open myself. There's probably nothing special in there anyway." Camikon grabbed a mug with coffee in it and began to sip it. "Then again, considering how it won't let me open it and all..."
Unfortunately, the coffee he was sipping had ended up getting on his robe, leaving a hot sensation on him.
"YEOW! Darklings! Help this poor old feller out!"
Volcano-
"So, a dragon had that key in his stomach?" Meta Knight asked as they walked over to the locked door through the small narrow cave, avoiding any small craters containing spewing lava.
"Yeah, that dragon ended up coughing it out of his stomach!" Chopper explained, holding the key in his hand. "You should've seen the battle, though. It was pretty tough, but we managed to take it down! And boy, it fell over on his back like those other two dragons!"
"You've slain two other dragons?" Blade gawked. "I never heard about this..."
"Mario's taken three dragons, too, right?"
Mario: Oh, yes!
"Meh... Taking down a giant dragon is nothing compared to beating Nightmare." Sword said, as if his accomplishment was nothing special. "Too bad he's not around anymore."
"Uhhhh... Technically...we did." Flyer mentioned.
"Poyo! (Yeah! We mopped the floor with him!)" Kirby smiled.
Sword was unsure whether to laugh or appear shocked.
"Whether Nightmare was defeated or not, we have a bigger threat to deal with," Meta Knight said, cape wrapped around his body. "And it will be his defeat that will save the universe."
"Yeah, so we better get out of this volcano first," Chopper rushed over to the door and unlocked it with the Volcano Key. The door's lock broke off opened, and they came across a small room with an elevator up ahead.
"So, that's where we need to go in order to come back up, right?" Flyer asked.
"Yes. That's the elevator that'll take us back up to the surface." Meta Knight nodded.
"Then we'll finally be back where we started..." Shadower trailed, the group making their way over to the elevator. Just like the other one, there was a green ! Switch floating above. Once they all stood on the platform, Chopper struck the block, causing the room to shake.
"Going up!" Chopper smiled as the ground around them began to ascend. Looking up, they could see a bright light above them. One filled with dark clouds and evil, red skies.
Well, there's your last fight against a dragon. Just like in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, there are three dragons that can be fought (though PM: TTYD has one that's optional). Flametail has certainly grown two years later. :P
Just a little heads up, the next chapter is going to be very long. Possibly the longest chapter in the entire story. It also has the most fights in a single chapter, having about seven. So... Yeah. There's gonna be a lot.