CHAPTER 17-1
-A Size Changing Experience-
What was surprising when the new world was getting drawn was that there didn't appear to be too much around. In fact, all there was was a small, grassy ground with some flowers and a bright, blue sky. Too bad the sky was covered by The Void, or else it would be bright and beautiful out here. There were a couple of clouds around as well, but there weren't any enemies in sight. It felt like something like the peaceful world in the fifteenth world, actually.
Once the brown door was drawn and colored, the six heroes walked out and looked at their surroundings. They were actually pretty surprised to see that there wasn't much around them.
"What the heck? Why is this place so small?" Blade gawked. "OK, yeah, we're on the plains, but there's nothing around here! What gives?"
"Hmmmmm…" Chopper looked down at the grass and the flowers. For some reason, the flowers seemed to remind him a bit of the Crazee Dayzees and even Kayzee, one of his partners from an adventure two years ago.
"Poyo… (This place is too small for a Pure Heart to be around…)" Kirby trailed with an unimpressed look.
"You know, I have a hunch that there might be a little secret around these parts," Sonic pondered as he looked down at the grass. "Hmmmmm… Well, there's nothing here, sadly. Anyone have any ideas?"
Mario: Not me.
"I don't have any, sadly," Luigi sweat dropped as he sighed. "So, all this did was lead us to nowhere? Well that's just great…"
Before anyone could respond, they felt the ground shake. The Void was already growing bigger in the sky. It was slightly smaller than what it was in Flipside, meaning that chances are that it could literally be the sky when they're done searching for the Pure Heart.
If they even find it.
"Hold on a minute, there's one thing we haven't tried yet," Chopper realized as he threw his arms in the air. He wasn't too surprised when he saw a secret yellow block in 3-D. With his hammer, he smashed it and revealed a purple pipe.
"A pipe? Interesting…" Blade trailed as Chopper quickly went back into 2-D.
Mario: Let's check it out!
They all agreed and jumped into the pipe. Upon coming out, they noticed that they couldn't see much of the sky anymore because of the tall blades of grass. They were standing on the dirt ground as they jumped out of the pipe. So far, they were a little confused.
"Wait, what just happened?" Sonic asked.
"I don't know why, but it feels like we're still in the same place…" Luigi pondered as he looked at the tall blades of grass. "Wait a second… Did that pipe suddenly shrink us?! I really do feel smaller!"
Mario: Hey! I can feel that too!
"Hold on…" Chopper jumped back into the pipe, only to become big when he jumped out. The rest of the group noticed that he was much bigger. When he went back down into the pipe, he returned to his friends.
"Anything happen?"
"Poyo… (Well, when you went into the pipe, we noticed that you were huge…)" informed Kirby. "Poyo? (What kind of world is this?)"
"Obviously a strange one if we can change size…" Luigi trailed as he noticed some robotic ladybugs off at the distance. Unlike Motobugs, they didn't have a large wheel, and their back was more of a green color with black polka dots. Luigi could see that it had razor sharp feet.
"Motobugs? Here?" Sonic gawked. "How did they get here?"
"Those don't look like Motobugs to be…" Blade noticed. "They're just robotic ladybugs, that's it."
"You think they're friendly?" Chopper wondered as he walked over to the Robobug. It took notice of him and attempted to swipe at him with its sharp blade-like legs. Chopper instantly recoiled and hurled a rainbow ball at it to blow it up.
"I guess not," Luigi confirmed while shaking his head. He noticed a couple of prickly vines covering a bottomless pit up ahead on the flat ground. "You think we need to do something with those vines?"
Mario shrugged and walked over to the prickly vines. He attempted to jump over them, but he ended up touching them instead, making him yelp as he rocketed in the air and fell right beside Luigi.
"I don't think your jump will help us…" Sonic trailed. "But I think with a Homing Attack, I could make it across!"
Sonic attempted to get across with a Homing Attack, but it didn't seem to work out for him, because he too touched the prickly vines and went flying up just like Mario.
"OK… Forget that plan."
Kirby walked over to the prickly vines, but all he did was float over them to avoid getting hurt. He hit a blue ! Switch past the vines to reveal a wooden platform above the prickly vines.
"That works too," Chopper said as he jumped on the platform and landed right beside Kirby. Everyone followed afterward and encountered a dark green Spinia with spikes coming its way toward them. However, this was actually a Swirlia instead of a Spinia.
Mario started off by attacking it with his hammer, followed by his Super Ground Pound that sent a shockwave at the Swirlia, defeating it instantly. With that, they ran over to the door that was ahead.
When they reached the next area, they noticed that there were more prickly vines on the floor. There was a floating wooden platform nearby that had a green Birdon flying around.
Since it didn't look like Chopper could even travel through this area with his abilities, he inhaled the Birdon and took the Wing ability for himself.
"Wait… How are WE going to get through this?" Blade asked as he noticed there weren't any platforms to help. "Great... We've got nowhere else to go."
"Look over there!" Luigi pointed up at a vine hanging from a prickly vine above them that seemed to form a ceiling. A wasp was guarding the vine, flying around and making sure no one would get close.
"Poyo? (Should we do something about it?)" Kirby asked.
"Yeah, why don't we?" Chopper began to flap his wings as he began to fly up to the Robowasp. When it noticed him coming up, it began to throw a couple of bombs down at him. Kirby was able to let out a puff of air to blow them up as he followed up.
"Take this!" Chopper fired a couple of feathers at the Robowasp, knocking it down near the wooden platform so Blade could slice it in half.
"Heh heh! It's always satisfying when you slice them in half!" Blade smirked as he put his katana away.
"You're putting your katana away already?" Sonic questioned. "Why?"
"There aren't any other enemies around here. I see no point in—Whoa, it's a Roboweed!" Blade noticed over by the path ahead, there was a Roboweed sticking out of the prickly vines, shooting sharp blades at them.
"Wait, why are there robots of stuff here anyway?" Luigi asked.
Mario: I'm not too sure about that…
"Well, I'll handle that Roboweed," Blade assured as he deflected the blades with his katana and used his Dragon Beam to instantly destroy the Roboweed. "All right, so how are the others doing?"
They looked up and saw that the Robowasp was just finished. Chopper already grabbed a hold of the vine, making a horizontal vine hang from the path with the close prickly vines above them.
"Hey, that looks like something we can use!" Sonic grinned. "Good work, Chopper!"
Chopper decided that he would simply fly through the narrow path instead of using the vine, but he soon stopped when he realized that it would be too hard for him to flap his wings through the area.
"OK, the vines are probably safer," he said as he grabbed the vine and began to slowly make his way through the area until they got to a wooden platform with a door. He jumped off the vine and landed in front of the door like everyone else.
"Well, that was pretty cool, wasn't it?" Blade smirked until he saw everyone else's looks. "…Uh, nah. From the looks of your faces, I don't think so."
"Poyo, (Let's just go,) suggested Kirby as he got Blade out of his way and went through the door. The rest followed him into another area with prickly vines, but with one green vine hanging from the thorns above them.
Mario: Oh! That could help us!
"I just hope my hands don't slip when swinging…" shivered Luigi, who grabbed a hold of the vine first and swung himself back and forth. "The thorns on those vines look pretty sharp…"
"You found anything yet?" Blade called out.
"No, I didn't find too much! All I see are a couple of weird bush-like people with spears on a wooden platform ahead.
"Bush-like people? What the heck?" Chopper flew past the vine and landed on the platform where one of the bush-like people were. Its body was covered in leaves, and there was a little black area where he could see its eyes. It was small, but not as small as Chopper. Its arms and legs were a gray color, and it was also carrying a spear. From identifying it, it was a Busher.
What was the Busher's first response? It clenched its spear and attempted to jab Chopper with it. He simply chucked a fireball at it to leave it on fire and finished it off after shooting three feathers.
"You know, I kind of feel bad for what we're doing…" Sonic trailed as he and Luigi got on the wooden platform. "We don't even know if these guys are good guys or bad guys…"
They all noticed on another platform, there were two Bushers trying to fight each other with their spears. From what they could see, they didn't look like they were friendly. In fact, it probably made them bad guys!
"Oh… So they are bad guys." Chopper said with no expression. "OK… So I guess it wasn't cruel for me to do that."
"Well, burning someone feels a little cruel…" Luigi trailed.
"Yeah, that's true…"
They jumped over to the next platform and took care of the Bushers that tried to attack them. With them out of the way, they grabbed onto a vine ahead and used it to swing over to one of the two wooden platforms. One was below with a chest, and the other led to a bounceable mushroom.
"Cool! It's like the metallic forest!" Sonic grinned as he jumped off the vine and jumped on the long, wooden platform above the mushroom. Everyone followed him and found another bounceable mushroom, but with blue polka-dots.
Mario: That looks a little different…
When Luigi got close to the mushroom, it pulled itself off the ground and attempted to charge at him. The mushroom, known as a Musham, attempted to charge at Luigi, but it simply bounced him back instead of hurting him.
Mario: I don't think we can hurt its cap.
"The only thing we can do is hit him from below," stated Sonic was he attacked the Musham with a Spin Dash, but ended up getting bounced back because of the cap that was still pointed toward him.
"Dang it… It's not going to be easy beating this thing…"
"I've got an idea," Blade smirked as he fired Hommissile over the Musham and allowed it to blow up the lower part of the Musham's body, sending it flying over and leaving it open for an attack.
"Poyo! (Now to finish this off!)" Kirby smirked as he pulled his Final Cutter out and sliced the Musham in half, disintegrating it. He made a cute pose before following everyone over to a ladder leading down to a wooden platform.
"Uh oh… More of these thorns..." Blade gulped as he noticed that there were a couple of wooden platforms ahead, but because of the thorns of the vines above them, they couldn't jump too high or else they'd get hurt.
Mario: Uh oh… This looks dangerous.
"I'll go first," Chopper announced as he attempted to fly through but he ended up touching one of the thorns, making him shriek in pain as he flew back to the group, getting the thorns off him.
"YEOW! That hurt!"
"Man… This is going to be annoying." Blade groaned. "I thought this place would be pretty cool, but with this, I'm not liking it."
"Well, this is something that's challenging," noted Sonic. "Maybe this'll be good?"
"But at this rate, wouldn't it be better if things weren't so difficult?" Luigi asked. "I'd think that that's what you'd all agree on…"
"Never mind that. We're going." Chopper carefully flew over to the platform, trying his best not to touch the thorns. Luckily, he was able to do that. Kirby probably had the easiest time with his floating, while Luigi had the most difficult with his jumping.
"My jump is hurting me here!"
Mario: Just try your best!
Luigi managed to land on the platform and follow everyone else at an upper angle to the right through the platforms. After going down a couple of them, they were greeted by a red door.
"Hopefully we don't have to deal with any more vines," Blade hoped as they entered the area ahead and found a giant dandelion and even a purple pipe nearby. There was a locked door just up ahead.
"Great… Even when we got through those thorns, we have a locked door." Chopper groaned. "So, why don't we…"
"I HAVE SEEING!" a voice boomed as they looked up and saw Fawful looking down at the ground with his magnify glass. "You don't have the escaping from Fawful! Not when I have fury!"
"Whoa… Fawful's here? But how?" Luigi gaped.
"Poyo, (I bet Tipral sent him,)" predicted Kirby as he ran over to the pipe. "Poyo! (We should get in here! Quickly!)"
Everyone ran as a ray of light came down from Fawful's magnify glass. They jumped into the pipe and turned big. They noticed that they were in a larger area in the fields, but there was still nothing around.
"Wow. This place is pretty barren." Chopper commented.
"Chopper, if a place was barren, then there wouldn't be grass," noted Sonic.
"Well, then this place is pretty vast," Chopper looked around and noticed Fawful was still using his magnify glass. He smirked as he pulled his hammer out and attempted to bash the bean in the head.
That is, if Midbus didn't come and knock him back with his elbow.
"You won't hurt Lord Fawful," Midbus said emotionlessly. "Now you'll be crushed!"
"Oh, great. It's the piggy again." Blade groaned. "I was hoping that we'd never run into this guy again. I guess Fawful wanted us to feed him bacon! That's what you wanted, didn't you, Fawful?"
"I think that's a little too far…" winced Sonic.
"Oh… Sorry."
"I have chortles!" Fawful cackled. "You honestly had the thinking that you would get to the heart of pure without being bothered? Well, with Fawful's intellect, Fawful will have the last laugh!"
"And what you're saying is…" Chopper trailed.
"MIDBUS! ATTACK AT ONCE!" he commanded as he jumped on his flying platform and took off. Midbus cracked his knuckles and looked over at the heroes with steam coming out of his nostrils.
"Uh oh… Here it comes!" Sonic gasped as he saw Midbus curl up into a ball and throw himself straight at the group, sending them flying in the air. As Midbus uncurled himself, he jumped above the group and attempted to belly flop them.
However, Mario was able to get his Pixl Kickbrin ready, and he threw his foot up to let him strike Midbus's belly. While it hurt him, he still fell on top of them. When the boar got back up, he readied a punch, but Mario was able to stomp on his head and use a Super Ground Pound.
"All right, I guess that kept him off guard," Luigi said as he attacked Midbus with a jump attack as well. When looking at his HP, they saw that he had about 360 HP, an Attack of 15 and a Defense of 2. From this, they had a feeling that he wouldn't be too difficult.
"HA! You have such bad HP, Attack and Defense compared to Dimentio Doom!" Blade scoffed before he got grabbed by Midbus and was thrown straight at Kirby, who attempted to defend himself but failed horribly.
"I won't deal with insults!" Midbus growled. "Now. I squish you!"
Midbus flexed his chest as his belly was left wide open for an attack. Sonic smirked and curled up in a ball to throw himself at the boar. Unfortunately, one Spin Dash wasn't enough to do the boar in.
"I've gotten smarter!" the boar smirked as he caught Sonic in a ball the next time he tried to attack and threw him into the ground. Chopper, shocked, hurled a rainbow ball at Midbus's stomach and used his Condor Head attack to dash forward and headbutt Midbus in the stomach.
Midbus grunted as he tried to grab Chopper, who simply flew out of the way and used a Shuttle Loop to ram into him and knock him over. Unfortunately, when Midbus jumped, he was able to grab him and slam him into Mario.
"Ow… Whoever knew that he would do something like that?" moaned Chopper.
"Well, it looks like he DID get smarter…" Blade realized as he was about to attack. That is, until Kirby inhaled a star that appeared once Midbus tried to ground pound him. He spat it at the boar and left him off guard, allowing him to use his Cartwheel.
"Poyo! (There's no way you're going to stop us!)" scoffed Kirby, who was able to use a Final Cutter on him afterward. Midbus tried to grab a hold of him, but the pink puffball was able to get out of the way easily. Midbus growled as he curled in a ball and attempted to roll him over.
However, Blade stood in front and used Barry to knock Midbus back, leaving him immobilized. He took the time to dash up to him and land a combo with his katana, finishing it off with his Dragon Beam.
As Midbus slowly got up, he saw Blade charging at him again. It took only a punch to completely disintegrate him.
Wait… Disintegrate him?
"Wait… What?" Midbus noticed that Blade was almost completely vaporized. Little did he know that Blade actually appeared behind him and kicked him in the face. "How did you do that?"
"I'm a ninja. I can do many things." Blade smirked as he tried to slash his back. Unfortunately, his katana wasn't able to do much to his back because of how thick it was. "Well, I guess the back won't work…"
"Now to smash you!" Midbus jumped in the air and slammed right on Blade. Since a yellow star appeared, Kirby inhaled one and spat it at Midbus to keep him off guard. Sonic followed up with his Sonic Wind, leaving Midbus to get thrown around.
"Yeah! I can't believe that it's actually working against him!" Sonic smirked.
More steam came out of Midbus's nostrils as he moved his arm back and prepared for a stronger punch attack. Mario, however, was able to stop him when he bashed him with his hammer. So, Midbus had a better option. He got his ball and chain ready and began to spin around with it, sending Mario flying back.
"Well I'm not letting you continue to use that!" Chopper declared as he fired a couple of feathers directly at Midbus. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to do much and just bounced away. When Midbus flung his ball and chain, Chopper whacked it away with his hammer and sent it flying to Midbus's stomach.
"Urk! My stomach…" winced Midbus.
"Luigi was about to make another hit, but Midbus was able to belly flop three times, with the third one bringing him high above the group. He tried to land on Mario, but he got out of the way and let the boar hit the ground and make a shockwave that left the group stunned for a couple of seconds.
"This guy's actually putting up more of a fight…" wheezed Blade.
"Oh, come on! We didn't get hurt THAT much…" Chopper sighed as he quickly shook his head and flung a charged rainbow ball at Midbus. He simply jumped to dodge it and tried to roll over Chopper. Luckily, Luigi was able to use his Cyclone to stop Midbus and use a flutter jump on him.
"Ho ho! I can't believe I got two good hits on him!" Luigi smiled before he got grabbed by Midbus. He tried to speak, but he couldn't breathe because of how strong Midbus's fists were.
Mario: Hold on, Bro! I'll be there!
The red plumber ran up to Midbus and kicked him in the stomach. It didn't seem to do much, but when he used Kickbrin, it actually hurt Midbus and forced him to release Luigi.
"Take this!" Midbus shot fire out of his nostrils, to the surprise of the six. Kirby was able to inhale the fire and gain the Fire ability, using his Fire Breath against Midbus to leave him covered in soot.
"Hey, Kirby! We oughta fry him up into bacon!" Blade suggested.
"Poyo! (I'm not going to go that far!)" retorted Kirby as he struck Midbus with his Final Cutter afterward. Midbus cringed in pain and attempted to punch Kirby, but Luigi smacked him in the face with Bonjourang.
"Unnngh…"
Kirby smiled as he threw Crystaline at Midbus, leaving him frozen solid. Chopper used another Condor Head attack to break the ice block around Midbus and leave him shivering. Blade decided to help him by using a fire slash.
"Well, now I guess I made him hot instead," Blade said.
"What do you mean by that?" Chopper asked.
"I mean that he's burning..."
Chopper was about to reply, but when he spotted Midbus's fist coming his way, he flew in the air in order to dodge it. The boar, instead, curled up in a ball and began to roll toward the group while surrounded in fire.
Mario: Mama mia! He's going all out!
The rest of the group got out of the way and watched Midbus uncurl. This gave Mario the chance to grab one of the yellow stars left on the ground with Thoreau and throw it at Midbus to leave him dazed.
"You go, Bro!" Luigi cheered as Mario pummeled Midbus with his hammer. He decided to join in by stomping on his head before Midbus attempted to punch him. Luckily, he was faster and jumped out of harm's reach.
"Taste my bomb!" Midbus jumped in the air and attempted to belly flop Luigi, but his Super Jump was able to counter his attack and knock him to the ground. Chopper was able to shoot a couple of feathers at him before slamming his foot on his nose.
"Argh! My snout!" Midbus grabbed a hold of his nose while Sonic jumped and struck him with a Homing Attack. It didn't knock him over, but it definitely did keep him off guard for a couple of seconds.
"You ready to give up yet?" Sonic taunted. "'Cause we can end this now, if you want. I don't want to give you any serious injuries, honestly…"
"I have to agree with Sonic," Chopper nodded. "We're not here to give you any injuries. We might have to if you're actually attempting to give US serious injuries."
Steam came out of Midbus's nose as he brought his head back and prepared for another new attack. Everyone gawked as the boar shot fire straight out of his nose. Thankfully, they were able to avoid it, but they almost got themselves burnt.
Mario: That was new…
"Poyo. (Not really. He did this before and I inhaled it.)" explained Kirby.
"Now you will burn!" roared Midbus as he blew a stronger flame from his nostrils. This time, it was able to get everyone. But that didn't stop Luigi from blowing the flames back with his Cyclone.
"I think I can get the flames to go his way…" Luigi trailed as he continued his cyclone. The tornados eventually drove the flames all the way to Midbus and even left him with a burn.
"Poyo! (Yes! We got him!)" Kirby fist pumped as he transformed into a fireball and rammed into Midbus, setting him on fire until the boar stopped, dropped, and rolled around on the grass.
"You know, I think there might be some thorns you might want to be careful of," Chopper warned until he heard Midbus yelping. He watched as the boar rocketed up into the air and land.
Right on Chopper.
"Ooh… That's gotta hurt." Blade cringed as Midbus got off and noticed Chopper flattened like a pancake. "Although, I'm surprised that he still has his Wing ability on him."
"Shut up, Blade," Chopper grumbled as Kirby got a bicycle pump and helped unflatten Chopper with it. Mario was reminded of when he used a bicycle pump on Luigi that one time.
"A bicycle pump? Really?" Sonic sighed.
Nevertheless, Midbus was able to get up and punch Sonic across the field. He was going to attack Chopper next, but he was able to attack him with a Shuttle Loop, followed by diving down at him with speed.
But, unfortunately, Midbus was able to grab him. Chopper ended up firing a feather at his snout.
"Gah!" Midbus grunted as he let go of Chopper and held his snout in pain. Chopper was able to land a few combos with some rainbow punches, kicks, and even a rainbow spin attack.
"Heh heh! I love this move!" Chopper gloated until Midbus squashed him with a belly flop. Mario face palmed as he readied his hammer and bashed Midbus in the head while he was occupied with Chopper. This got him to stop attacking Chopper and attack Mario instead.
"This guy is going to get his butt kicked," Blade smirked.
Kirby scorched Midbus with his Fire Breath, with Mario following up by spinning his hammer and hitting Midbus's stomach. This was good, considering that the boar was pretty low on HP.
"How much HP do we have anyway?" Sonic asked.
"I think we have enough," Luigi assured, looking at his HP bar. With that, he noticed Midbus perform three belly flops and jump up in the air to attempt another belly flop. He cringed as he landed right on Mario. "Hold on, Bro! I'm-a coming!"
He rushed straight for Midbus, who was about to attack with another belly flop. While he was in the air, Luigi folded himself up and launched up to Midbus, landing an uppercut punch with his Super Jump.
"Not bad," Midbus panted as he slowly got up after falling. "But I've got this!"
He flexed his muscles and left his belly wide open. He began to turn to a red color while preparing for a powerful punch. Sonic simply took this time to bash him a couple of times in the stomach with a Spin Dash. But, that didn't work too well for him. With a punch, he was sent flying back.
"Gee, who ever knew that a punch like that would be strong?"
Mario sighed and simply used a Thunder Rage to leave Midbus paralyzed. He didn't really know what else to do anyway. Since this left Midbus dangerously low on HP, he thought it was best to finish this now.
Midbus began to wheeze, now that he was covered in many bruises and even some cuts. Blade attempted to throw a shuriken at him, but his fire was able to melt it entirely. Blade groaned, but attempted to throw Hommissile. Even then, the Pixl exploded and returned to him.
"Come on! Why can't I do anything against him?!" Blade grumbled. "He's pretty low on HP, and I wanna get a chance to beat him!"
He was ready to take Midbus down with a Dragon Beam. That is, until Mario stomped on him, making Midbus fall over on the ground.
"Oh, come on!"
"Unnghhh…" Midbus grunted as he slowly lifted his head up to the group. "Though I lose... I am not finished. Lord Fawful shall beat you instead."
Mario: We beat him the last couple of times.
"I'm not sure if he will destroy us anyway," Luigi shrugged. "After fighting them the last few times? I wouldn't believe that."
Midbus was about to say another thing, but stopped when he became exhausted and stopped moving. They noticed that he was still alive, to their relief. They surely did not want to end his game...
Mario: So, where to now?
"Well, the only answer to that is back in the pipe…" Chopper trailed.
"Poyo, (But the door was locked,)" Kirby remarked. "Poyo? (How on earth are we going to be able to get past that door?)"
"Yeah, I was just thinking about that…"
"Hey, I think I see something," Sonic noticed a Door Key that Midbus apparently had in his inventory. "I think he was holding onto this key for some reason. I think we should take it!"
"Yeah, we need that key anyway," Blade agreed. As Sonic took the key, they jumped back into the pipe.
Small-
"Wow, so we're back to being small…" Chopper trailed. "You think we'll be mostly spending our time like this?"
"Poyo, (I hope not,)" Kirby frowned.
Sonic used the key to unlock the door and they moved forward into the next area, which contained a couple of thorns on the vines on the ground, but no vines above them. There was even a large dandelion that looked like it could be pulled on.
"Hmmmmm… Hold on a minute. I might have a clue here." Blade grabbed a hold of the head of the dandelion with a jump. Since it was big, the head didn't really move that much.
"Oh, I think it's one of those things…" Sonic sighed. "We gotta hold onto Blade and let go so he can get flung off."
"Well that's exciting," Chopper said sarcastically. "Just what we need. Something that we all have to do one at a time."
"Well, you and Kirby probably don't have to do this," Luigi informed.
"Yeah, but it's time consuming. We've got something that can destroy this whole place!"
"So what plan do you have then?" Sonic asked.
"…Nothing really."
"Then we're using this strategy," declared Blade as a couple grabbed onto his feet. This caused the head of the dandelion to move down. When they let go, Blade was sent flying off the dandelion and up to a high ledge made of rock.
"All right! Now we just have to repeat this process three more times!" Chopper smiled. "This is going to be so enjoyable!"
Three more times later-
"Yup! Wasn't that fun?"
"Uhhhh… Chopper, you know a lot of people disagree with you on that." Sonic noted.
"I was being sarcastic…"
"I know that. I just wanted to make sure."
"Anyway… Moving on." Blade said as they walked on ahead on the rocky ground to find a crack on the ground by a Musham. Blade decided to make his move and attack it with a Dragon Beam. Surprisingly, that ended up leaving it with very low HP.
"Wow. That worked?"
"That's good to know," Chopper smiled as Mario flipped the Musham over with a Super Ground Pound. He decided to fly up to the mushroom enemy and dive down at it to destroy it.
"Poyo… (I could sure use something to heal myself with…)" Kirby trailed, feeling his stomach growl a bit. "Poyo? (Is there anything we can have yet? Could we eat something that Saffron made?)"
"Not yet, Kirby."
Mario: Hold on a moment, look at that crack!
Mario pointed at the crack just below them. Chopper tried to break through with his hammer, but it didn't seem to work. Sonic tried a Bounce Attack, but that didn't work either.
"Huh… Well, we're gonna have to blow it up." Sonic sighed. "I was hoping I would have the power to smash through that, honestly…"
"Well, it's obvious that we'd have to do that," Blade said as he threw Hommissile to the ground and blew up a part of the floor. Unfortunately, they didn't spot anything around. In 2-D, at least.
"Do we need to find something in 3-D?" Luigi questioned.
"Poyo, (If not, then we're in trouble,)" Kirby answered, despite Luigi not understanding him.
"All right, all right…" Chopper sighed as he threw his arms up and flipped into 3-D. They found a hole in the floor below. Actually, they were standing right over the hole!
Mario: Uh oh…
Their arms began to flail as they began to plummet down in the hole. What made it worse was that there were spikes that were right below them.
"Oh, come on! That's not fair!" Chopper frowned. "Whose idea was it to put spikes THERE?!"
"Ack! We're going to die!" Luigi yelped as Chopper went back into 2-D and began to flap his wings. Sonic managed to grab his foot, while Mario grabbed Sonic's, Luigi grabbed Mario's, and Blade grabbed Luigi's.
Kirby, on the other hand, was simply floating nearby with a punch of air in his mouth. He pointed over to a cannon with a red arrow that was right beside the spikes. Chopper, using as much strength as he could, tried to fly over.
"Ugh… There's too many people holding on!" he grunted.
"Well I'm not letting go!" Blade retorted. "You want me to get stabbed?!"
"Poyo? (Wait… How come we haven't been using Carrie for this place?)" Kirby realized. "Poyo! (She should be a huge help here!)"
"What the heck did the puffball say?"
"He suggested that we use Carrie," Chopper translated. "However, I don't know where this cannon will lead us."
"Carrie? Oh yeah! Why didn't I think of that before?" Blade let go of Luigi and Carrie was able to save him before he could get stabbed by the spikes. The rest were able to get in the cannon and get sent flying through the tunnel. Kirby and Blade jumped in and let it take them to the end of the tunnel.
"Hey! Would ya look at that? A couple of ? Blocks here!" Sonic smirked as he got up and brushed himself. "There are five of 'em! What do ya think we should do?"
"Uhhhh… What about that guy?" Chopper gulped, pointing to a Busher that looked like it wanted to attack them by the door. "Should we worry about that guy too?"
"Nah! It's just one anyway!"
The Busher steamed as it tried to rush for the group. Kirby reacted by using his Fire Breath to burn the Busher instantly. Afterward, they all hit the five ? Blocks. Two of them contained a Super Shroom, one contained a single coin, one contained a Skull Shroom, and the last contained another type of Zombie Shroom, but a black color with purple eyes.
"A Death Shroom…" Chopper trailed. "I think we oughta be careful here… I think this thing can literally take half of your HP."
"WHAT?!" Luigi gaped.
Mario: That's insane!
"Poyo! (Then we have to get rid of it, and fast!)" Kirby used his Fire Breath to leave a burn on it, while Chopper fired a couple of feathers at it, due to being afraid of getting close to it. While it had a high amount of HP, it didn't stand a chance against Blade's Dragon Beam.
"Yeah! See? I can do some pretty slick moves!" Blade grinned.
"Haven't we seen you do that before?" Luigi questioned, making Blade let out a groan.
"You got a point…"
"Anyway, now that we've healed, why don't we check through this door?" Chopper suggested as he opened the door. Everyone followed him out of the rock and out in an area with rocky floor, but not outside in a tunnel unlike last time.
"Well, I can see that there's a flat path here," Luigi noticed. "I guess that's a relief."
"CRAGLEY HO!"
"Wait… What was that?"
"That voice sounds familiar..." Chopper trailed.
"'In the smallest world in the known universe! A Flint Cragley Adventure!' Hmmm… Yeah! I think I like that! We should use that…"
"I can agree, brah," Monzo nodded.
"It could probably work well," Hornfels added.
"'After making my way through the dangerous thorns, I drastically managed to cut them with my handy blade! They didn't stand a chance against the Great Flint Cragley, the greatest adventurer of all time!"
"I see people," Monzo noticed.
"Behind you," Hornfels alarmed.
"You idiots! Don't interfere with the filming!" Flint groaned, noticing his partners pointing right behind him. He turned around and gave a surprised look as he noticed the six.
"Yo," Chopper greeted by waving.
"CRAGLEY HO! 'Suddenly…from right behind me, the mysterious and intelligent creature from before… Did it want to dine on fillet of Cragley? Would our hero meet their mandibles? Tune in after this brief commercial break to witness the torrid conclusion!'"
"Uhhhh… What is he talking about?" Luigi asked, scratching the back of his head.
"I honestly have no idea…" Chopper sighed, giving an irritated look.
Mario: You met this guy before?
"Yeah, back in King Neptunian's Palace," Blade remarked. "That was where the sixth Pure Heart was. It was the world where Chopper, Kirby and Sonic found me. You guys weren't there for it."
"…Great, cut, print, wrap it," Flint concluded. "Hey, it's you guys. I haven't seen you in quite a long time…"
"Well, I have a question…" Sonic began. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Yeah, we wonder too," Hornfels spoke out of curiosity.
"I should be asking the same thing to you," Flint retorted. "But, anyway, we're here because we're filming a new exciting show, right here in the smallest world in the universe!"
"Smallest world? But we…"
"Well, when you turn huge, the world looks small, hence why it's considered to be the smallest world. However, if you dig a little deeper at a smaller size, you'll actually discover some nice things! Besides, the Cragnons haven't seen anything exciting in a while."
"I thought you put some exciting things in your show earlier on?" Blade remarked.
"Oh, that was just re-runs. We were thinking and decided that we would go to another world and see what exciting things we can find. But, on the other hands, there's something about you guys…" Flint went completely off topic. "What are you strange creatures anyway?"
"Oh… This again…" Chopper groaned as he face palmed. Flint walked up to him first and looked at his headdress. "Whoa! Watch the hat! I need this thing to fly, you know!"
"'A discovery indeed! Discovering this strange beast is such a phenomenon!'"
"I'm not a beast!"
"See? The guy's a weirdo." Blade confirmed. "He calls us beasts!"
"Seriously, I'm going to shoot a feather at you if you don't shut up about this whole beast thing," Chopper growled.
"'So this strange person isn't a beast after all…'" Flint stated as he stepped back. "'Could these people possibly be friends or foes? Tune in next time for 'Flint's Adventure'! …OK, in all seriousness, why are you guys here?"
"Well, do you guys know that we're heroes?" Blade asked.
"Uhhhhhh… Come to think of it, I'm not so sure…"
"Don't remember, brah," Hornfels replied.
"Same here," Monzo added.
"Did they forget?" Luigi asked.
Mario: Most likely.
"We're looking for a Pure Heart," Chopper explained. "We were led into this world with the seventeenth Pure Heart. We gotta collect the last three in order to stop The Void from swallowing all worlds."
"To be honest, I don't know much about The Void," Flint shrugged.
Mario: It's that dark swirling vortex in the sky.
"Oh… THAT. I'm sorry for forgetting such a thing. You see, when I go on huge adventures, I tend to forget a lot of things. Is it by any means treasure?"
"Uhhhhhh… You can say that it is." Chopper shrugged.
"Spectacular. Just fabulous! All-time coincidence, that's what this is!" Flint fist pumped. "This is just what we needed!"
"It is?" gawked Monzo.
"It's just great to see that you're adventurers! …Well, actually, I already know you're adventurers."
"How did you know?" Chopper asked.
"Shhhhh! I want them to think that I know you guys are adventurers!"
"Ummmmm… No comment." Luigi said.
"Anyway, I'm really ecstatic about this," Flint smiled. "If you don't remember my name, just call me Flint! I'm a heck of a guy to know! Best cragtrotter of all time!"
"What are you guys, anyway?"
"Us? Well… We're Cragnons. I suppose you can say that we're like cavemen. But, we actually have TV and stuff."
"He's right, brah!" Hornfels agreed.
"Crag straight!" Monzo said.
"OK, so you guys are looking for treasure…" Sonic trailed. "But how did you get past all of those monsters?"
"Monsters? You cragging me? There are monsters?!"
Mario: Over there!
They noticed just up ahead, there were four Bushers screaming and charging at the group.
"CRAGLEY HO!" screamed Flint. "'Whoever would've thought we would see monsters in a place like this?! What a sight! Will these brave heroes defeat these Bushers that look like they want to stab us?'"
"Well count me out!" Luigi declared as he began to flee until being grabbed in the collar by Mario. "Come on, Bro! You know I don't want to fight!"
"Dude… You were able to take care of yourself on your own in Tipral's Palace…" Chopper face palmed. "You just WANT to be scared to excuse yourself from fighting, is that it?"
"…I guess so."
Luckily, Sonic was able to attack all four Bushers with a Spin Dash, while Kirby rammed into all four of them as a fireball, taking care of all four of them. It wasn't much of a fight to begin with!
"Poyo! (That was so easy!)" scoffed Kirby.
"Crag… That was cragging awesome."
"Crag yeah!"
"That was a crag of time," Chopper sighed. "I didn't get a cragging hit!"
"Careful of what you say…" warned Blade.
"Well, there's no point in talking here. I think it's best that we just move on, all right?" suggested Chopper as he began to flap his wings and stay above the ground. The bad news was that there were some bushes, which looked as if they could be used for camouflage for Bushers.
"'What a strange statue!'" Flint gasped as he saw a statue of a mysterious robot-like person. "'It looks as if I discovered a statue of a legendary hero long ago! It could've been a robot that blew its circuits back then…"
"You know, I'm actually starting to wonder about some of the robots here…" Blade trailed. "Where'd they come from?"
"Heads up, Blade!" Chopper shouted as a Busher jumped out of the bush and tried to attack Blade. He, on the other hand, was faster and sliced the Busher.
"OK, I think I see the door up ahead," Blade said as he ran over to the door, which happened to be covered by a bush. He was able to slice it so it could be revealed. A Musham was hidden behind the bushes and knocked Blade back with its cap.
"Stupid Mushams…"
"Maybe I might have an idea," Chopper flew above the Musham and hurled an ice ball from behind, freezing it. After diving down and hitting it, he was able to shatter it entirely.
"YEAH!"
"Well at least we have the door," Sonic sighed as he walked over to the door, with the rest following him. "So, what do ya thinks' through here?"
"Let's find out," Luigi suggested as they opened the door into an area with a large statue of a dragon. It made Luigi yelp until he realized that it was just a statue. Apparently, there was something blocking the way. A large rock that had a crack in it.
"'And before we knew it, we found a statue of a dragon!'" Flint gasped as he walked over to the statue. "'It is something not many people see! Oh, look how realistic these bones are!'"
"Wait… Bones?" Chopper looked up at the massive statue and realized that it wasn't a statue at all. "Hold on a second… This isn't a statue! This is an actual dragon's remains! And it looks so familiar to me…"
Mario: Really?
"Yeah… As if it was…Dracktail?! What's Dracktail's remains doing here? I thought all of the remains were scattered around Lineland Road?!"
"You fought something like this before?" Luigi questioned.
"Yeah, but it wasn't that hard… It looks like we need to get past this thing though. Blade, you think you can blow up that rock?"
"Of course," Blade smirked as he threw Hommissile at the rock, blowing it up. Dracktail's mouth remained open, but it happened to lead to a cave. They awkwardly went into the mouth, traveling through its skeletal remains, and reached the cave.
"Poyo? (What's a cave doing here?)" Kirby questioned.
"Well, maybe we ought to find out," Chopper suggested as they walked into the cave. They noticed that there were a couple of red, blue, and green jewels in the cavern, which reminded Mario, Flint, Monzo, and Hornfels of the Floro Sapien Cavern.
Mario: This cavern looks nice!
"At least it's not too dark…" Luigi trailed as he saw a big step below them. "All right, I guess we better jump down here."
They all jumped down (with the Cragnons having the bigger problem) and noticed a Star Block at the end of the room. Chopper simply walked over to it and gave it a punch.
"Well, this looks interesting," Sonic muttered as he looked at the jewels. "Last time I saw a cave with jewels, it was probably Mystic Cave!"
"Really?" Blade gawked.
"Honestly, I don't remember…"
END OF CHAPTER
"You want REAL danger? How about my duel with the foul Rainbowzilla?" As the heroes walked through the caverns, Flint Cragley entertained them all…kind of… "Boss. BOSS! Cragnons heard that story 256 times, brah… You making my crag hurt." "Brah, if you count time we weren't asleep, then it 257 times." Chopper and Co. glanced over at the weary faces of Flint's crew as they delved deeper in the caves. "…What the heck is a Rainbowzilla?" asked Chopper with a confused look. The heroes seemed to notice a light coming through the caverns. Was it the Pure Heart? Or was it an evil illusion of some sort?
Even though I said that the final chapters of this story would be pretty cool with something unique, Chapter 17 isn't exactly one of my favorite chapters. I don't think it's bad, but compared to the later chapters, it's not as good.
But at least we got the cragging Flint by our side! ;D