CHAPTER 17-2
-Sparkles in the Cavern-
"CRAGLEY HO!" Everyone jumped in surprise as they turned to Flint, who was just starting his little "story" again. "'We plodded on, traipsing over all manner of beasts that gnashed fangs at us! But then…NOOO! A sight too horrible to believe appeared before our eyes!'"
"Like Chopper?"
"Hey!"
The cave itself, while not much has been described of it, was a pretty, gray color with a couple of different colored jewels in the rocks. What was also interesting was that there were a couple of drops of water coming down from the ceiling. Some people even made fun of Sonic when he freaked out over water dripping on his head, especially Blade.
"Boss… Nothing happened yet, brah…" Hornfels noted.
"I know that, you cretin!" Flint snapped as he turned to Hornfels. "The 'sight too horrible to believe' is still up ahead!"
"Wait… What 'sight too horrible to believe' are you talking about?" Chopper asked. "I don't see anything evil about this place."
"Hey, don't ruin it. Even then, there can be something evil about this place. After all, there could be someone who could use a pipe to become huge who might end up stepping on this cave and nearly end our games!"
"Wait, this cave is protected by all of the rocks around the cave," Luigi noticed. "I don't think it would be possible for someone to crush us…"
"Well, I am an expert here," Flint assured. "I know how to handle things around here. So, if something happens, I will gladly handle things!"
"Hey, maybe the 'sight too horrible to believe' is actually the water coming down from the ceiling!" Blade snickered.
"Blade, really. It's not funny…" Sonic grumbled.
"Dude, you overreact when it comes to water! It's almost as hilarious as when Chopper overreacts to being kissed by a girl!"
"I don't like you making fun of me..." Chopper frowned.
"I said almost. ...Man, you guys are not fun."
"Poyo... (But I can be fun...)" Kirby trailed.
"Well, to start things off… Why don't you get rid of that headdress?" Flint suggested, turning to Chopper. "To be honest, the Cragnons don't want to see some someone like you roaming around these parts…"
"Wait… What? But I like this!" Chopper whined.
"Actually, I'm cragging it," Hornfels commented. "It's cragging cool."
"What? Ugh… Fine. You can keep the stupid thing. Why don't we start by exploring this place?" Flint and his camera crew ran on ahead, while the rest of the group decided to follow them.
The first thing they noticed was that a Swirlia was coming straight for them. Chopper attacked it with a Shuttle Loop, while Luigi used his Cyclone to finish it off for good. With that, they jumped on the pipe and then the taller pipe to grab a hold of the ledge. There, they found a gap with a rock-like enemy with a fuse called an Exploding Rock. From what they noticed, it could blow itself up to hurt the group badly.
"Uhhhhhh… I think we want to stay back from that thing…" Luigi trailed, backing away from the gap. Even though the Exploding Rock was across the gap, the range of the explosion could be bad.
Mario: Would fire blow it up?
"Let's find out," Chopper suggested as he hurled a fireball at the Exploding Rock. Its fuse lit up and ended up exploding. However, the range of the explosion was shorter than what it could've done.
"Hey, would you look at that!" Sonic grinned. "Apparently the range was a lot shorter than what it could've done!"
After that, they jumped over the gap ahead. The group jumped off another big step like when they first got in the cave and found a door up ahead. There were two Swirlias blocking the door, however.
Mario: Two Swirlias? OK, this isn't too much.
When the first Swirlia charged at the group, Mario gripped his hammer and spun it around it send it flying back. Luigi finished both of them off with his Cyclone attack, which allowed them to walk into the door.
Upon entering the next room, they heard a scream coming from up ahead. They also heard a couple of rocks falling from the ceiling.
"Wait… Was that Flint who was just screaming?" Chopper questioned, his antennae twitching. "I'm sensing something…"
"Yeah, I'm sensing something too," Sonic agreed with a twitching ear. "I swear that it's pretty close…"
They decided to check and see where the screaming came from. The six noticed that there was a slope going down, but with a couple of rocks piled up. At the bottom of the slope, they saw Monzo and Hornfels looking down at Flint sitting down.
"You guys didn't go too far…" Blade trailed.
"Flint hurt, brah!" Monzo informed. "Too hurt."
Mario: Too hurt?
"Are you guys hurt, though?" Sonic asked.
"Nah, we fine," Hornfels assured. "Flint got his crag injured."
"What's his crag anyway?" Luigi asked.
"Unnnghh…" When the six heroes walked to the bottom of the slope, they could see that Flint could barely move. In fact, the way his legs were positioned, they looked like they were broken! "You guys… You made it!"
"OK, what just happened?" Chopper asked.
"Well, my camera crew and I decided to run on ahead, but we ended up falling down that rocky slide. A couple of rocks came down as well. My camera crew was just fine, but I got hurt by a couple of them." Flint explained.
"Poyo, (You should've watched your step,)" Kirby said.
"CRAGLEY HO! 'While I ventured deep in the caverns, I ended up falling and got myself injured! Would this truly be the end of my adventuring days? Or would I get help in the end?'"
Mario: Uhhhh… I don't know what to say.
"'But my fellow adventurers here! Perhaps they could find a cure! Yes! The sacred Pianta plant that grows in caves! It's said that if one ate the plant, they would be recovered in a flash! But if I, Flint, the greatest adventurer of all time got it, then we could continue our adventure!'"
"Is there such a plant, Bro?" Luigi asked, only to receive a shrug from his brother.
"Then it's settled!" declared Flint. "You guys can go out and get me a Pianta. I can't keep going if I'm like this anyway. You would do a Cragnon a favor, wouldn't you?"
"You couldn't get it yourself?" Chopper wondered.
"Listen, strange one… Our show is popular with all the Cragnons in our world. If you left me here to die, then there would be no more 'Adventures of Flint Cragley'! Our fellow Cragnons would have nothing to watch! It would be all your fault without television!"
"Now that I think about it, I don't think the Cragnons would even advance if they didn't have any more TV," Blade realized. "As much as I don't want to do this, I think it's better that we do."
"Ughhh… Fine." Chopper sighed as he face palmed. "We'll go get you a Pianta. However, you need to help us along the way – if we even find one, that is. Last time, you didn't do too much to help."
"Poyo, (I guess we should get going,)" Kirby suggested as he walked past the group and saw a door across a gap and a green pipe below. They decided to use the pipe instead to see what they'd find.
Upon coming out of the pipe, they noticed that they were beginning to fall through the pit below. However, what caught Sonic off guard was the water that was there. Chopper simply used his wings to keep himself from falling.
"No way am I falling in there!" Sonic cried as he grabbed Chopper's foot, pulling him down along with him.
"Let go, Sonic! I can't hold your weight!" Chopper cried.
"I'm pretty sure I'm not fat… OK, I was a little chubby back then, but blame those chili dogs! They're so good!"
Despite trying as hard as he could to flap his wings, he failed and ended up falling in the water. They ended up sinking to the bottom, but soon they noticed that there was an air bubble on the rocky floor.
Both Sonic and Blade began to fight for it, pushing each other out of the way and even punching each other. In the end, Sonic managed to get it, forcing Blade to wait for one to come.
Mario: That was interesting…
"You guys tend to fight over air bubbles, don't you?" Luigi asked until he realized that they couldn't speak underwater. "Oh… Never mind that. I completely forgot that you can't speak underwater."
"Anyway, I guess we should just keep going," Chopper suggested, swimming around the room. There were a couple of floating rocks on the surface, as well as some Exploding Rocks on the ceiling, which wasn't in the water.
When Chopper swam near the Exploding Rock, it began to light is fuse and explode. Pieces of rock flew out and hit Chopper, knocking him to the ground. He quickly got up and checked to see if there was any door.
"Poyo? (Do you see anything, Chopper?)" Kirby asked.
"Nope. Not really… Although, this place is a little far…"
Mario: I see something!
Up on the floating rocks, there was a door. Mario swam for the floating rocks, while Blade helped Sonic swim up to the surface to get some air. Once they grabbed onto the ledge, they shook themselves to get the water off them.
"Good thing that there wasn't much swimming…" Sonic sighed while he breathed heavily. "I think I had it worst in the fifth world…"
"You mean Pristine Palisade?" Blade remarked.
"Yeah, that place."
"Oh… That place was admittedly annoying. You don't wanna know how much I wanted to leave that place. That said, I kind of felt bad that we had to beat up King Neptunian, since he wasn't actually evil…"
"Yeah, we can all agree on that," Chopper said as he jumped out of the water. He shook himself too, getting some water droplets all over the place. Sonic even screamed and covered his face.
"Poyo… (He gets too scared of water…)" Kirby sighed.
"So, where do you think this door leads anyway?" Luigi asked as he and Mario jumped out of the water. They all decided to find out of their own and entered the next room to find a flat room with an Exploding Rock on the ceiling and one on the floor, making them gape.
Mario: Wait… What?!
"Bro… Am I seeing what you're seeing?"
"This doesn't look too good…" Chopper gulped. "Wait… Maybe I could try to toss a fireball at one of them. But at a range like this, it looks like it'll still hurt us… I don't know what to do."
"Poyo? (What if we used ice?)" Kirby suggested.
"You think ice would stop them from exploding? Well, let's test it out." Chopper hurled an ice ball at the bottom Exploding Rock while Kirby threw Crystaline at the Exploding Rock on the ceiling. They didn't seem to move, nor did their fuses light up.
"Hey! That worked!" Luigi smiled.
"Do you guys honestly believe that we'll even find a Pianta in here?" Blade asked as they ran past the frozen Exploding Rocks. "We don't even know if Flint was even telling the truth. Yeah, I know that I said we should do this for him, but I'm wondering if the stupid plant is actually real."
"Well, maybe we'll find out sometime—WHOA!" the green plumber stopped when he noticed a large boulder coming down from above between a large gap. "How could I not see that coming?!"
"Poyo, (At least we didn't get hit by that boulder,)" Kirby said as he crossed his arms.
Mario: You think there's more of those?
Across the gap, a Swirlia was waiting for them to come across. Chopper frowned and fired a couple of feathers at it to knock it back. Afterward, he flew across the gap when it was safe and finished off the Swirlia with a Shuttle Loop.
"How long are you going to even have that ability on anyway?" Luigi asked. "I'm just being curious."
"You know, I'm not so sure…" Chopper trailed. "But, I think it's a little useful here. And besides, why would I want to abandon an ability that lets me fly around? I think it's pretty cool in my eyes!"
The rest of the group jumped over the gap just when another boulder was falling and jumped onto a platform that was over by another large gap. Luckily, there was no bottomless pit down below. Instead, there happened to be a small pool with a Stone Blooper swimming around.
"I definitely don't want to fall in there," Sonic said as he jumped onto the ledge. After running past a couple of broken pillars, he found a door. Everyone else followed him through the door into a room with a mine cart going down.
Into the water.
"So, we're going into some more water areas, aren't we?" Blade sighed as he looked at the mine cart. "I can't believe we need to go underwater again…"
"Poyo! (Oh boy! A mine cart!)" cheered Kirby. "Poyo! (I always enjoyed using these!)"
Mario: Can we all even fit in it?
"I remember we used to use these things back in Tartamos," Chopper recalled, jumping in the mine cart. "I think there's enough room for all of us to fit in. We'll just sit back and enjoy the ride!"
"But not when we're underwater," Sonic sulked. "I'm not going on."
Kirby was prepared to burn him with his Fire Breath attack, but he sensed it and jumped in the mine cart. Blade ended up shrugging and jumped in, followed by Mario, Kirby, and then Luigi.
"You might want to be careful with those flames…" Luigi warned, being close to Kirby's head. "I don't want to get burnt…"
The mine cart took off, going down the tracks that led into the water. Sonic and Blade held their breaths as the mine cart began to move at a slower pace now that they were underwater.
"Wow, I never knew that we'd see a lot of water in this cavern…" Chopper trailed. "Although, I think the way back is going to be a little frustrating."
"Poyo… (Uh oh… We have to backtrack through this place, don't we…?)" Kirby asked before Chopper gave him a nod. They all groaned as the mine cart began to move at a straight angle.
Mario: Is there anything in 3-D?
"Let's see," Chopper checked for anything in 3-D. He actually saw a secret path over to the left. However, he thought it was best to check the normal path first, so he brought the mine cart back to 2-D.
"Poyo? (Why did you flip back into 2-D?)" questioned Kirby. "Poyo… (You know that we're going to have to do a lot to get back to that secret path…)"
Chopper ignored Kirby as they all ended up falling out of the mine cart once it was at a sudden halt. It turns out that they were already at the door. It also helped that there was an air bubble for Sonic and Blade to take in.
"I wonder what's through here…" Luigi wondered as they opened the door.
They came across a room where they saw a straight path with a couple of floating rocks blocking the way. There was no current, to their relief, but it was still underwater. All they could do was look around the waterway.
Mario: Well, there aren't many enemies here…
Unfortunately, there were actually some Exploding Rocks on some of the rocks. One of them exploded and hit all six of them, knocking Chopper and Kirby's ability away at the process.
"Poyo! (Hey! My ability was knocked out!)" Kirby gasped.
"Yeah! I know!" Chopper pouted. "How come we lose our abilities in the water where we can't get them?!"
Mario: Well, what can we do about it?
"I say we should search this underwater room," suggested Luigi as he swam around, searching for anything important. Now that the Exploding Rocks were out of the way, they could swim around safely.
Well, Sonic and Blade were not having an easy time. They spent most of their time grabbing an air bubble.
"Wait… Hold on a second…" Chopper swam up to the upper rock in the middle of the room and noticed a Dimensional Rift. "Hey, guys… Are you seeing what I'm seeing here?"
"Poyo? (Is that a Dimensional Rift?)" Kirby gawked.
"You mean those things that represent a white sparkling lightning bolt?" Luigi asked. "Are we supposed to use a Pixl on it?"
"Why of course, amore!" sang Flippay as Kirby used him to reveal a blue ! Switch. Once he hit it, a pipe appeared on the ceiling. Blade noticed this and helped Sonic reach the pipe, while everyone followed him into a small room with a small pool of water leading to a mound of sand.
"Sand? What's sand doing in a place like this?" Luigi questioned.
"And there's actually some sunlight coming through here too," Chopper added, noticing a hole with a ray of light coming down on a plant. "Wait… Is that what I really think it is?"
Mario: Is that a Pianta?
They all noticed that the plant didn't look like it was healthy. But, from all the sunlight coming down on it, it should look like it's healthy. Chopper took a small piece off and tasted it.
"It's… It's actually not too bad!"
"Poyo? (Can I eat it?)" Kirby asked.
"No, we need to give this to Flint. And guess what? We need to backtrack too!"
Mario: What about that one secret path in 3-D?
Everyone groaned, realizing that they would have to take that mine cart all the way back and use it again to go into 3-D and go to that secret door. They all had a feeling that there'd be something there.
Two mine cart rides later-
After going into 3-D and taking the secret path, they were hauled off the mine cart after it went to a sudden halt. Sonic instantly got up and took in an air bubble to prevent himself from drowning.
"All right, let's check and see what's through here," Chopper said as he opened the door into a large room with a large Blooper called an Atomic Blooper. Sure, it wasn't huge like the Blooper they fought in the Tile Pool, but it was faster.
When the Atomic Blooper noticed the six, it swam down and spat some ink at them. It didn't do too much except for preventing them from seeing for a couple of seconds. This allowed the Atomic Blooper to swat at them with its tentacles.
Mario: Those tentacles are a pain!
"I'll see what I can do," Luigi said as he threw Bonjourang at the Atomic Blooper, leaving it off guard for a couple of seconds. Chopper and Kirby proceeded to squirt water at it, despite not doing too much.
"Poyo… (Squirting water isn't going to defeat this thing…)" Kirby face palmed as he stopped and used his Final Cutter to attack it instead. "Poyo! (Now that does a lot more than water!)"
Chopper whipped up his hammer and began to spin it vertically at the Atomic Blooper. He even spiced it up a bit with a spinning fire hammer attack, surrounding his hammer in fire energy.
Mario: Now that's hot!
"Tell me about it," Chopper agreed.
Mario swam up to the Atomic Blooper and used Kickbrin to strike it, knocking it to the wall. Blade followed up by throwing a couple of shurikens at it and slashing it with his katana.
"Not much further until it's done for…" Luigi trailed.
Sonic, being the only one who didn't get a hit, tried to run in the water and reach the Atomic Blooper. While he was slow, he was able to get a Spin Jump in and finish off the Atomic Blooper. It dropped a Door Key as it disintegrated, which he took.
"I guess we needed to come here after all," Chopper realized.
"Poyo… (Well, time to go back to flint…)" Kirby sighed.
Back by Flint-
"Ugh… How long are those people going to take?" Flint wheezed, still unable to get up. "I can barely move, and they're not even here to give me a hand! Monzo! Hornfels! You two might as well go find the Pianta on your own…"
"Wha…? Monzo wanna stay here!" Monzo retorted. "No cragging cave for me!"
"Are you serious? You don't want to go out in the cavern? Preposterous! There's nothing scary about this place at all!"
"With rock coming down, Hornfels not safe," Hornfels said. "Maybe we go home now…"
"Nonsense! We can't just go home at this point! These people know where we can find treasure! That's the whole point of this broadcast anyway! Don't you want our Cragnon people to be pleased?"
"What about cooking?"
"Pbbbbbth! Who would ever watch a cooking show?" scoffed Flint. "We Cragnons don't care much about cooking shows! What we care about are huge, exciting adventures like the one I'm supposed to be on right now!"
"But you're injured, brah," Monzo informed.
"Well, then why don't you two be useful for once and…" Before he could ramble on, he heard the sound of people coming out of a pipe. He noticed Chopper, Kirby, Sonic, Blade, Mario, and Luigi walking their way.
"Finally! I've been waiting a while for you guys…"
"You're not going to believe this, but we actually found a Pianta in these caverns," Chopper sighed as he took out the Pianta. "It looks a little disgusting, though… But it does look like it's healthy."
"That's what Piantas are supposed to be like. Now, give it here so I can finally recover!" Flint swiped the Pianta from Chopper and gobbled it down. In five seconds, all the injuries left on him were healed up, and he was able to get back up.
"CRAGLEY HO! 'As if by a miracle, I found a strange plant called a Pianta to heal myself. Now I stand tall with my trusty crew, ready for anything that stands in our way…'"
"Hey! We're the ones that brought you the plant in the first place!" Chopper's words were ignored when Flint knocked him over and walked on ahead.
"'Now, let us move on, adventurers, for we have treasure to find!'" declared Flint as he and his camera crew ran off ahead, taking the door past the pipe instead of going in the pipe.
"So, what do you think the key's for anyway?" Luigi asked.
Mario: Maybe we'll find out!
"Let's just follow them and make sure they don't get hurt," suggested Chopper as he put the key away and jumped over the gap with the pipe to reach the door. When they walked in, they saw another track, but no mine cart. Flint and his crew were standing there, confused.
"CRAGLEY HO!"
"He just said that a moment ago!"
"Hold on, Blade…"
"'We were about to travel on, but we soon found ourselves in front of a track with no mine cart,'" Flint continued. "'But, a mere track is no match for the great Flint Cragley! Wouldn't you agree, fellow adventurers?'"
"Uhhhh… Sure?" Luigi shrugged.
"'With my skills as an adventurer, I will use my trash can bin to allow me to go down these tracks with no problem!'" Flint turned to his crew, who gave him confused looks. "That means give me the trash can bin!"
"W-What do you mean by that?" Monzo asked. "Me don't have bin, brah! Left it at home…"
"You're kidding, right? …Well, just great! I need that if we're going to be able to go down this track! Ugh… You two are always unprepared for this stuff! It makes me sick sometimes!"
"Forgot something, didn't you?" Sonic smirked.
"Yes, I forgot something. Anyway… I guess that means it's all up to you six to go through this track. Maybe it you had enough speed, you would be able to run through that track. I did see a couple of loops anyway."
"Wait… You mean… All right! I've been waiting to do something that involved running for a while!"
Mario: But we can't go through a loop.
"Poyo? (Does this mean that you guys are going to have to take us through the loop like you usually do?)" Kirby asked as Chopper grabbed his arm. "Poyo… (Well, I guess this could be fun…)"
Chopper also grabbed Luigi's arm, who began to freak out a bit as Chopper charged up a Speed Dash and made his way down the slope. Sonic grabbed Blade and Mario's arm and ran down the slope as well.
"They fast, brah," Hornfels informed.
"Yeah, I know, genius," Flint replied in an annoyed tone. "You don't have to tell me that."
With that, they watched the group go through the loop. Chopper was actually enjoying himself as he finished his way through the loop and ran up the slope. It was at this point that there would be another loop, which he went through, and a slope going up as if he was running up a wall.
"I think I'm going to be sick…" Luigi gagged.
Mario: Just relax.
The slope seemed to go back down, almost like it was just a tall lump. Once the track was on a flat surface, they saw a door ahead and went at a sudden halt to prevent themselves from crashing into the wall.
"Well that was fun, wasn't it?" Sonic grinned.
"Yeah, I can agree," Chopper nodded. He noticed that there was a locked door in front of them. He looked over at Sonic, who had the key with him. "So… It looks like we need that key to unlock the door."
"The key? Oh yeah! Let me just unlock this door and… There!" the blue hedgehog broke the lock off the door thanks to the key, which vanished out of thin air. "Kind of weird how these things vanish…"
"Well, there's no point in standing here. Let's head through the door!" declared Blade as he entered the next room.
"Poyo? (What about Flint and his camera crew?)" Kirby mentioned.
"Personally, I think they might find their way around…" Chopper trailed. "How could they get across gaps? Well, I think they'll simply find a way through this mess. We'll leave 'em be."
"Poyo… (I'm not so sure that that's a good idea…)" Nevertheless, they entered the next room, which didn't have any tracks, but there was a long path up ahead with a red ! Switch over by the wall.
They decided to race over to the wall and hit the red ! Switch. Two rock platforms shot out of the wall, allowing them to jump up. However, they heard a timer as well, indicating that this wouldn't last forever.
"Uh oh… We better move!" Blade suggested as he jumped on the platforms and got to the ledge above to the right. Everyone did the same thing, barely making it just in time. They noticed at the end of the path ahead, there was another red ! Switch. Out of curiosity, Sonic used a Spin Dash and hit it.
"Well, what did that do?" Sonic wondered as he tapped his foot. That is, until he fell under the floor.
"Whoa, what was that?" Chopper raced over to where Sonic fell and noticed that a hole in the floor was revealed. "Oh! Well, why don't we go down here and check out what's here?"
Everyone else jumped down the hole and found Sonic over by a bottomless pit ahead. There was a rock platform moving sideways near the edge of the floor. It didn't look like it could support all six of them.
Mario: How are we going to figure this one out?
"Poyo? (Well, how about we go one at a time?)" Kirby suggested.
"Three at a time, maybe?" Chopper pondered. "You know, that might actually work out…"
"Let's get started, shall we?" Blade suggested as he, Luigi, and Mario jumped on the platform first. They waited for a platform going up to get close so they could get on. Chopper, Kirby, and Sonic jumped on the platform the others were on before and followed them up to the rocky ledge.
"All right… How much platforming do you think we're going to do?" Luigi asked as they found a ? Block nearby. When he struck it, an Ultimate Shroom popped out and landed by their feet.
"Poyo! (An Ultimate Shroom!)" Kirby cheered as he took a piece and recovered 100 HP. Everyone else took a piece from it as well and recovered 100 HP as well.
"I wonder why we found an Ultimate Shroom right now…" wondered Sonic. "Usually they appear when we're close to a Pure Heart."
"Well, we'll find out what's ahead," Chopper stated as he opened the door into another room with a track. There wasn't any mine cart, to their dismay, but there was water that the track was leading down to.
"More water?" Blade sweat dropped. "That might slow us down…"
"Come on! How many times do we need to go in water anyway?!" exclaimed Sonic.
"This may be the last time," Chopper shrugged. "Or… It might be the, well, I don't know how many times we went underwater in this chapter."
Mario: I forgot…
"Well, no point in standing here…" Luigi trailed. "I suppose we should just go down these tracks and find a way out of these caverns…"
"We better do what we did before," suggested Blade, grabbing Sonic's arm. "Sonic, you know what to do, right?"
"Ummmmm… Yeah! While I won't enjoy this, I suppose we have no other choice…" Sonic trailed. "So… Let's go!"
They all made their way down the tracks and prepared to run underwater. For Chopper, he was not used to running underwater unlike Sonic, so he had a harder time keeping up. This also made it bad for Kirby and Luigi as well.
"Crud! Running underwater is a real pain!" Chopper cried.
"Poyo, (Just don't trip,)" Kirby suggested as Chopper ran up the slope on the track. After going down again, they found a door in front of them. They entered it to find a small room with a light brown floor and some light coming from the ceiling. They even saw a slope leading up to the surface.
"Whew! So this is just a little pool here…" Sonic sighed as he stepped out of the water. "Well that's a relief."
"I think I see a bridge up ahead," Luigi noticed, pointing to the bridge.
"Poyo, (And look at the waterfall and jewels here,)" Kirby said as he gazed at the waterfall that was behind them.
"I'll admit, this is a pretty cool place," Chopper smiled.
Mario: The water's also nice.
"I think I could live in a place like this if I could," Blade commented, looking at the ceiling.
"YARGLE-BARGLE!"
"Oh… And I was hoping I wouldn't heat that again…"
They saw O'Chunks fall from the ceiling and land in front of them. "So, yeh thought yeh'd get that Pure Heart so easily, huh? Well, don't think yer quest will get easier from 'ere!"
"Oh, great… O'Chunks…" Chopper sighed. "Nice."
"What do you want anyway?" Sonic asked.
Mario: Isn't it obvious?
"Yeh all know why I'm 'ere! I don't need teh tell yeh! Tipral sent me 'ere to take care of yeh all! An' this time, I'm not gonna let yeh beat me this time, fer I 'ave a trick up me sleeve!"
"And that trick is…" Blade began.
"Errr… Actually, I fergot…" O'Chunks sweat dropped, rubbing the back of his head. "I swear I 'ad somethin' teh 'elp me think. I probably didn't write up a plan…"
"Well, so are we going to kick your ass or what?"
"Well I think I'll be the one teh deliver the chunkin' instead o' yeh!" the bearded warrior began to pound his chest violently as he let out a roar.
Little did he know that the shadowy mist from before appeared above the group and looked down at them.
"It's…those…heroes…" it seethed as it watched them get ready for battle. "Don't think that…you'll never see me…anymore, Chopper… I have a…plan that no one…has ever known…about! It just…requires me to…take control of this…idiot."
O'Chunks grinned as he cracked his knuckles. "So, what's it gonna be, heroes? Are yeh gonna make a run fer it or are yeh gonna fight like men?"
"Fight like men? How does one fight like a man?" Chopper asked. "Why not just fight like we usually do?"
"Well, I really was hoping Tipral's minions would change their ways after what they've seen before…" Sonic trailed. "It would've been nice… But, it looks like we have no choice but to take him on."
O'Chunks showed off his muscles. "See? I've been workin' out lately! Now we'll…"
O'Chunks's eyes widened as if he felt something enter his body. Unfortunately, no one was able to see the shadowy mist enter O'Chunks's body.
"HUUUUUUURGH!"
"Poyo? (What's going on with O'Chunks?)" Kirby gawked.
The pain stopped, but his changed to a different color. One pupil was black, while the other one was yellow. He grinned as he cracked his knuckles and charged at the heroes with full speed, sending them flying.
"WHOA! He just moved like a bullet!" Blade gaped. "How did he do that?!"
Mario: I have no idea!
After they landed on the ground, they looked at O'Chunks's stats. He had about 380 HP and an Attack of 16. It wasn't anything special, considering that O'Chunks doesn't usually have Defense.
"Well, I guess we have to do the usual with O'Chunks?" Luigi questioned as he got himself ready when O'Chunks charged at him. "Well, I only fought him once… But this shouldn't be any different."
"Poyo, (He's just fast, that's all,)" Kirby said as he struck O'Chunks with his Final Cutter, followed by Chopper stomping on him and hurling a rainbow ball at O'Chunks's stomach.
"All right! That's just what I wanted to see!" Chopper smiled as he landed on the ground. Unfortunately, for him, O'Chunks was able to punch him in the face and leave a bruise on him. "Ow…"
"Dude, don't whine about a bruise on your cheek," Blade scoffed. "Just shut up and fight."
"But I wasn't…"
"Didn't you pay attention to a word I said?"
Chopper groaned as he readied his hammer, prepared to hit O'Chunks. When the bearded warrior jumped over to him, he struck him with an upward thrust and knocked him back, allowing Sonic to hit him with a Homing Attack.
Now that Blade had his chance to make his move, he jumped up to O'Chunks and threw Hommissile at him, sending him flying into the water. Little did they know that O'Chunks wasn't actually a bad swimmer.
"Once I absorb some of O'Chunks's abilities, I will leave this body and look for the next," the shadow misty declared as O'Chunks got out of the water and grabbed Blade by the foot and threw him straight at Mario.
Mario: Mama mia!
Mario managed to jump out of the way in time and noticed O'Chunks was charging at him. It was almost like when O'Chunks had the Floro Sprout on him, except this time he was much faster.
The red plumber clenched his fists and threw his foot forward, activating Kickbrin's power in the process. Kickbrin managed to knock O'Chunks back and leave him open for Luigi to attack with a Cyclone.
"Ha HA!" Luigi shouted as his fists his O'Chunks's face. The shadowy mist didn't seem to care whether O'Chunks got hurt or not. All that mattered was that it got some of his power.
"Poyo? (Are we even close to finishing him?)" Kirby asked.
"Kirby… We pretty much started this fight…" Chopper face palmed. "Now, let's try to hit him with his own attack."
O'Chunks grinned as he pulled out a can of beans. After dumping them all in his mouth, he began to propel around the room with his fart. Not only that, but it fogged up the entire room, leaving the heroes unable to see him.
"What's that horrible smell?!" Luigi coughed as he wafted the air.
"Ugh… The stench of O'Chunks's gas is like a fat man skydiving into a pool of gravy." the shadowy mist gagged as O'Chunks jumped and attacked with a ground pound. He was only able to get Luigi, but his attack backfired when two stars appeared on his sides.
"Poyo! (I think I know what to do here!)" Kirby smirked as he inhaled the star to the right and spat it at O'Chunks. Chopper inhaled the other and did the same thing as Kirby. But it didn't stop the bearded warrior from grabbing both of them and slamming them both into each other.
"OK… I don't know if that was a good idea…" Chopper moaned.
"Poyo… (I'll admit, that did kind of hurt…)"
"Hold on, I've got you guys!" Blade shouted as he ran up to O'Chunks and slashed him on the back.
"URRK!" O'Chunks let out a loud grunt as he turned to Blade. He attempted to grab him, but upon touching him, Blade disintegrated into smoke, leaving him confused. Blade ended up kicking his head from behind and knocking him over.
"Yeah! That'll teach you to mess with my friends."
O'Chunks got up and growled as he began to spin around with his fists out. It was kind of like Luigi's Cyclone attack, but without the tornadoes. Luigi simply stomped on his head to step him and used his Cyclone of him afterward.
"I don't know about you, but I feel that O'Chunks isn't himself today…" Sonic trailed as he struck O'Chunks with a Spin Dash and jumped back. "I mean, his pupils look a little…weird."
"Yeah, I noticed that too," Luigi agreed as O'Chunks quickly shook his head and tried to ram Sonic with his shoulder while charging at him. The blue hedgehog barely had any time to react and got knocked to the ground.
"I wonder if Flint and his crew will even see this," wondered Blade as he used his Dragon Beam to knock O'Chunks over. When the bearded warrior got up, he used his farting powers to launch himself up and fall on Blade headfirst. However, this left him open for an attack, due to him attempting to pull his head out of the ground.
Mario: This is too easy…
Mario used his Super Ground Pound to strike O'Chunks and leave him cringing in pain. But it didn't stop him from grabbing Mario and throwing him all over the room. He began to do a little dance afterward.
"Stupid move, O'Chunks… Stupid move…" Chopper sighed as he stomped on O'Chunks while performing a stylish move. Afterward, he struck him with a rainbow spinning kick while in the air. He performed another stylish move with his attack before getting knocked back by O'Chunks's punch.
"Ooh… That's gotta hurt." Sonic cringed as he clenched his fist and used his Sonic Wind against O'Chunks. This sent the burly man flying in the air, allowing the blue hedgehog to strike him afterward with a Homing Attack.
Mario: Not much has changed from him so far…
"Are you kidding? He's able to fog up the place with his gas!" Luigi disagreed. "Plus, he's even faster than before!"
"Yeah, I agree with Luigi," Chopper agreed.
O'Chunks grumbled as he jumped in the air and attempted to ground pound them. Mario decided to grab O'Chunks and throw him to leave him stunned then proceeded to stomp him twice.
Mario: How come we didn't do this before?
"I did it the first time I fought him," Chopper recalled. "But I don't think I've continued to use that strategy…"
"Poyo? (Then why not use it now?)" Kirby suggested.
"Ehhh… Then that would make the fight a little boring. We need to mix it up a bit, in my opinion."
"Like this?" Sonic performed a Whirlwind on O'Chunks to leave him off guard, then he used his Bounce Attack to strike him and go up in the air. "And here's something I haven't used it a while!"
He used Screwdy's corkscrew attack to strike O'Chunks's head and left him stunned for Blade to send him flying back with Hommissile.
"Urrgh…" O'Chunks growled as he slowly got up and rushed at Blade. He put Barry up and left O'Chunks to yelp as he got hurt by the spiky shield. But, unfortunately, it wasn't enough to keep Blade from getting stomped on.
"Ugh… This guy just won't stop." Blade wheezed.
"Well, what are you gonna do about it?" Luigi shrugged as he helped Blade up while Mario bashed O'Chunks in the head with his hammer. Chopper helped by using an ice smash, instantly freezing the burly warrior.
"Yes! I got him!" Chopper fist pumped. "Looks like he's done for!"
That is, until they noticed some cracks in the ice.
"Poyo… (You spoke too soon…)" Kirby trailed.
"Dang it."
O'Chunks broke out of his icy prison and grabbed Chopper. He used him like a dodge ball and threw him at Mario, Luigi, and even Kirby, knocking them over, dazed.
"See, THIS is why I hate being round! I'm like a ball to some baddies!" Chopper frowned as he managed to get himself back together. He tossed a couple of fireballs at O'Chunks, but he was able to avoid them and jump out of the way.
"I'll make sure you go first," the shadowy mist thought as O'Chunks charged at Chopper. However, when Blade used his hurricane slash, O'Chunks was blown away and fell in the water. Because of the splash, some water got on Sonic.
"Ack! Get this water off me!" Sonic shrieked.
"Dude! Calm down!" Blade snapped, smacking him. "Get yourself together, man!"
"OK! OK! I'll calm down… Sheesh."
After Sonic's "moment", he curled up in a ball and charged up a Light Speed Attack. After finishing, he went all out on O'Chunks, attacking him a couple of times and throwing him over on the ground.
However, that didn't mean O'Chunks was giving up just yet. He got another can of beans and dumped them in his mouth.
Mario: More beans?!
"He must have a lot…" Luigi sighed.
Once O'Chunks finished his beans, he let out a huge amount of gas while flying around the room. Everyone dodged O'Chunks as he dove to the ground and fogged up the whole room with his stench.
"How can we even get rid of this stench anyway?" Sonic coughed.
"Maybe my Cyclone can get rid of it," declared Luigi as he spun himself around. All the fogs of cloudy gas disappeared and left O'Chunks open for an attack. He took this time to stomp on him.
"See? That did something!"
Mario gave a thumbs up as he ran to O'Chunks and stomped on his head. However, when O'Chunks got out of his trance, he grabbed Mario's arm and threw him to the ground with ease.
Mario: Thankfully he's not too far from being defeated!
"Yeah, but we're a bit low on HP…" Chopper coughed. "I think we should heal up a little."
He pulled an Ultimate Shroom Shake out and took a sip of it, recovering 100 HP. He passed it on to everyone else until Kirby finished the last sip. He crushed the can and threw it at O'Chunks to leave him dazed.
"Not much longer until I can leave this beaten body," thought the shadowy mist as it noticed O'Chunks almost had a black eye.
O'Chunks slowly got up and cracked his knuckles. When Sonic sped up to him, he jumped out of the way and landed on Sonic instead. Since two stars appeared, Kirby was able to inhale both and spit them at O'Chunks.
"Poyo! (Save some for me! I didn't have a chance to do much anyway!)" Kirby shouted as he pulled his Final Cutter out and brought it down on the burly warrior. Everyone admitted that he didn't get to do much and let him fight for a bit.
O'Chunks merely growled and attempted to grab Kirby. He simply floated above him and let out the puff of air so he could attack O'Chunks with his Cartwheel attack. Now they knew that O'Chunks was low on HP.
"So, how many hits do we need to deliver if we're going to win?" Blade asked.
Mario: I have no idea…
"Uhhhhh… It really depends, honestly…" Luigi trailed, watching Kirby strike him with one last Final Cutter before getting thrown back.
Their eyes widened as O'Chunks began to charge at them like a ram with his shoulder. Thankfully, with Chopper, they were able to avoid the attack and go into 3-D. When they were behind, Blade slashed O'Chunks's back with his katana, while Kirby kicked him in the head.
"Poyo! (It feels good to be doing this!)" Kirby cheered.
"Yeah, I know how you feel, Kirby," Chopper nodded. With a fireball, O'Chunks looked like he was almost defeated.
"Do you think the burn on him will finish him off?" Sonic questioned.
"It really depends… It won't last long, though."
"So, who wants to finish this guy off?" Blade asked. "I'll do it if you guys are fine with it."
"Well, I think I have an idea," Chopper charged up a rainbow ball and hurled it at O'Chunks. At this point, he was left with only 1 HP. "What? Only 1 HP left? …Well, I guess I should finish the job."
"Poyo, (Go ahead,)" Kirby said.
Chopper ran up to O'Chunks and delivered one last stomp before making him kneel on the ground, battered and bruised.
"And this is where I make my exit," declared the shadowy mist as it left O'Chunks's body. "One…down… Only six…more to find… Ah…ha…ha…ha…!"
Without anyone noticing, the shadowy mist made its exit. O'Chunks's pupils went back to normal, and he was no longer possessed.
"Urgh… Wha… What just happened?" O'Chunks looked at himself and noticed the bruises on himself. "Wait… 'Ow in mummy's gravy did I get all o' these bruises?! Was I fightin' in me sleep?!"
"Wait… You don't remember anything with the fight?" Chopper gawked.
"Poyo… (That doesn't make sense…)" Kirby trailed.
"Well… I feel like I'm too weak teh fight yeh…" O'Chunks coughed as he got up. "An' I 'ad a special move I wanted teh use on yeh! 'Ow come it 'ad teh be ruined like this?!"
"So… What does this mean?" Luigi asked.
"Ergh… Fine. I'll let yeh off the hook fer now. 'Owever, I'll be comin' back fer yeh soon, so yeh better be ready! Fer now… Chunks away!"
Everyone stepped back as O'Chunks rocketed out of the room with his farting ability. What was surprising was that he was able to crash through the ceiling without getting hurt.
"Just look at him," Sonic noticed as he left. "I can't believe he tries so hard to fight us, yet fails to win. He really doesn't deserve this."
"Actually, I sometimes wish that we didn't always have to resort to being violent," Blade said as he swung his katana before putting it away. "It's like he's always the one to take the beatings. I wish we could do something to help."
"Yeah… Honestly, he reminds me of a Koopa named Joe." Chopper recalled. "He received some beatings from that one lady I fought, but he still stayed on her side. Although, it's us that's giving O'Chunks the beating. Is this the right thing to do?"
"Poyo, (It doesn't feel right to me,)" Kirby frowned.
Mario: If he tries to hurt us, we might end up having to defend ourselves again.
"While he was asking for it, I don't want to be too hard on him," Luigi mentioned.
They were about to continue their discussion until they heard a certain call coming from the caves. Behind them, Flint Cragley and his crew were soaking wet.
"Oh… You guys are here?"
"'I found my fellow adventurers exhausted in the strange caverns of the small and big world,'" stated Flint, speaking in his acting voice. "'I tried to talk to them, but they wouldn't let me speak! Oh, it was horrible! It was as if they were driven insane!'"
"They not insane," Monzo noticed.
"Yes, I know that already, chum. Just move on with it."
"I suppose we should get going, right?" Sonic sighed.
"'To the bridge we go! For many secrets could be revealed!'" Flint said in such clarity as he and his crew went up the bridge and over to a sealed door. There also happened to be a Star Block across the bridge as well.
"Yeah! A Star Block!" Chopper fist pumped. "It's about time!"
After crossing the bridge, Chopper gave the Star Block a good punch. "And let's hope we don't have to deal with this cavern ever again!"
"Tell me about it…" agreed everyone.
END OF CHAPTER
Despite the jewels in the cavern, our heroes were not having a fun time through these caverns. The only person who seemed to be enjoying himself was Flint Cragley. "Come now, adventurers! We cannot slack at a time like this! Help me with this door so we can discover treasure!" Out of annoyance, our heroes agreed to help him with the stone door. After some hard work, Chopper and Co. discovered something through the door that they'd never expect to see. Could the Pure Heart possibly be through here?
And what could possibly be through that door? Well, you'll find out next chapter. ;)
...And I really should've put this chapter up tomorrow, considering that it was my birthday. But, I didn't. :P