When the heroes had finally reached the top floor, they entered through the door into a small hallway. Only one door was in the room, and on both sides were black torches. The door was also very big, having glowing red eyes on it. It also had a shiny, black frame unlike the other doors. Beside the door was a Save Block and Heart Block, which Chopper hit before looking up at the door.
"Well, looks like we're at the right door," Chopper said, pulling the Throne Room Key out and putting it in the lock. "This is it... Camikon's going to be up ahead!"
The lock broke off and the door opened. They stepped through the door and were left in surprise by the room's appearance. The chamber was very large, having a couple of pillars, chandeliers on the ceiling with dark flames on them, and there were even portraits of Camikon on the wall. There were no signs of windows either.
"Is it just me, or does this place remind me of that one room before encountering Grodus in the Palace of Shadow?" Scrub mentioned.
"You're not the only one..." Chopper trailed.
"Plus, it's pretty quiet," Tamber added, his voice echoing through the room.
Scrub walked over to one of the portraits of Camikon. One of them depicted him as a farmer, and another as a prince. He poked at the former portrait a couple of times before it ended up falling on the ground. He didn't care. It looked creepy hanging on the wall.
The vases on the tables were also very interesting. Most of them were decorated with mostly red and black, but there was one that had a mixture of dark purple as well. One table had a picture of Camikon, and another had one of Maquano. There was even one with Maquano and his brother, Bob, with the former looking very annoyed. Needless to say, there was a lot to this place.
Eventually they had approached the large door before them. Unlike the other, this one had a magic wand depicted on it. Camikon's wand, to be exact.
"Camikon sure is a fan of his own wand," Berry commented.
"I bet he's going to marry it," Sonic snickered before getting serious again. "All right, let's go pay that old geezer a visit!"
"You got it!" Chopper nodded, reaching for the door knob. "...Wait, this isn't the way to enter your enemy's room!"
Chopper stepped back a couple of feet before he came charging toward the door, bursting it open with his foot. While the room was not as big as the chamber, it was not too far to compare. The walls appeared red in color, and the floor had a red carpet. There were also a couple of pictures on the wall of Camikon like in the chamber, and there were two pillars on each side of the throne.
In that throne was Camikon, who was looking eager to see them arrive.
"All right, Camikon! We're finally here!" Chopper declared, his friends entering the room with him. "There's no fleeing! We're going to settle this once and for all!"
"Ah… So Chopper HAS made his way here! You definitely took your sweet time." Camikon said, giving them all a malicious grin. "Considering how fast you are, I'm rather surprised."
"Well that exploration through your castle has helped us find some interesting things," Chopper mentioned, he and the others getting in fighting stances. "But now we're here, and now it's time we put an end to this after all you've done!"
"And what exactly did I do?"
"Well, you got rid of King Dedede's castle, and not to mention that you set up that stupid business! Plus, you were involved in bringing me here with the Crystal Stars, weren't you?"
"Oh, really?" Camikon remained confident, though he was not happy with the accusations. "You may be surprised, but none of those were my ideas. In fact, I never knew about the darkness from the beginning. As for Tartara Corporations, the Tartaras did that themselves."
"Wait, what?" Flyer gawked.
"Is that why you came after me? Because you youngsters believed that all of this travesty is my fault?! See, this is why the elderly surpass you intellectually! You go around accusing people of the wrong things! Didn't your parents tell you not to blame something on a person unless there's proof?"
"Well, then why is there this darkness? Who is causing it?" Shadower asked.
"Not even I know. But at this point, that is not my problem. The darkness will not be coming to Tartamos, so I'll be safe here in my castle!" Camikon laughed, aiming his wand at them. "Well, there's the matter of you people... You've broken out of prison, destroyed my pet dragon, and wiped out many Tartaras. I can assure you, all of those combined are nothing compared to me!"
"You weren't so tough when I fought you back in Star Haven," Chopper scoffed. "Maybe you should just give up now and hand us that wand!"
"Nyeah heh heh heh! Oh, silly Chopper… You really think that you'll beat me because you managed to two years ago? Trust me, you young whippersnapper: I've gotten a lot stronger after these years. Now that I'm the new ruler of Tartamos, I have become the strongest one! My strength exceeds even Lord Maquano's now!"
"Well, how about you prove it then?" Vivian suggested, her fists in flames.
"Very well, then! But you'll regret fighting me, that's for sure…" Camikon twirled his wand around. "Such a shame that you decided to turn against us unlike your sisters... If you had stayed with them, I'm sure you would have surpassed even Beldam..."
"I don't care about surpassing my sister! There's something more important going on, and that's saving the world that I care about! Why would you just sit back and let the universe get destroyed by darkness?"
"Unlike you all, I have no care for the world getting destroyed! Lord Maquano would've thought the same thing anyway. In fact, we tend to cause destruction for the heck of it! Nyeah heh har!"
"That's…horrible!" Vivian gasped.
"But, unfortunately… I don't think any of you will live long to see the universe get destroyed. Oh, what a pity…" Camikon trailed. "But my time of vengeance has finally come! Chopper, I shall make you pay for what you did to Lord Maquano!"
Raising his wand, he summoned his broomstick and got on it.
"All right, guys! Let's do this!" Chopper declared.
Tattle: That's Camikon. He's the leader of the Tartaras and the leader of Tartamos. He also knows a lot of evil magic. Max HP is 500, Attack is 21, and Defense is 1. He'll use his magic to cast dark spells on you, or he might even place curses on you too. I'm not gonna lie, but those curses are pretty bad. They can deal damage to you in SECONDS! Also, watch out for his healing. He might recover some HP with his magic if he wants to. But, I think you might stand a chance. If you've beaten him before, then you can take him on again!
"First things first… We need to get Camikon off of his broomstick." Chopper made a leap on Camikon and stomped on him twice, performing a stylish move as well. The old wizard ended up falling off the broomstick and onto the red carpet
"Why you little… How dare you send me off of my own broomstick?!" Camikon snapped.
Vivian sank into the shadows and then rose up in front of Camikon. Using her flaming fists, she struck him with a Shade Fist, leaving a burn on him and dealing 9 damage to the old wizard.
"Argh! Take this, you worm!" Camikon raised his wand and then aimed it at Vivian, casting a dark spell at her. She had managed to guard the spell and only take 21 damage. "Nyeah hah hah! Now how did that feel?"
As Camikon continued to cackle, Chopper pulled his hammer out and slammed it down on his head, interrupting his laughter. "Well how did THAT feel, Camikon?"
"Figures… Young whippersnappers these days don't know how to respect their elders!" Camikon pouted, getting hit by Berry's hammer in the process. "Now let's see how this works against you!"
Conjuring up another spell, Camikon fired a glob of dark energy at Chopper. It knocked him back and dealt 21 damage. Chopper had quickly gotten up and fired a light ball at the old wizard, who screamed in pain.
"AUGH! Light power?!" Camikon cried. "Argh... I should've known you still had that."
"Well... I lost the power before, but I got it back now!" Chopper said proudly. "And it'll be enough to take you down!"
"Like I really care if you did or not… All that matters is that I put an end to you!" Camikon aimed his wand at Chopper again, attempting to cast another dark spell at him. Before he could strike, Mario had taken out his hammer and brought it down on the old wizard. This led to him getting struck by some dark magic.
Mario: We can't destroy the wand, remember?
"Yeah, I know," Chopper replied, pulling his hammer out and bringing it down on Camikon's head, which then followed up with Sonic's Spin Dash. Unfortunately, the blue hedgehog was who got hit by dark magic.
"Nyeah heh heh heh!" Camikon grinned as he twirled his wand. "It gives me satisfaction when I injure someone!"
"Nah, I'm not too injured," Sonic said, stretching one of his arms. "In fact, you just got me warmed up!"
Camikon gave him a look of disbelief, while Chopper had struck him with a Rainbow Spin, knocking him back to the big throne. He moaned in pain as Bombette lit her fuse and approached him, blowing up in front of him with her Bomb. After shaking the shook off, he grit his teeth at the heroes.
"I'm not going down just yet, youngsters!" Camikon hissed, raising his wand to summon his broomstick, becoming airborne once again. "Now let's hope I don't have to get knocked off of my broomstick again…"
Raising his wand again, he had summoned a dark spell and then aimed his wand at Chopper. The spell came his way, but the attack did no good, as Chopper managed to Superguard it. Camikon would have gotten angry, but he decided to remain calm. To get the old geezer off his broomstick, Kirby used his Cartwheel to deal 9 damage and send him plummeting to the floor again.
"Why you little...!"
"Poyo? (Is it a good idea to hit an old person?)" Kirby asked.
"Well, this guy's evil," Chopper mentioned, throwing an electric ball at Camikon. "We should be able to fight someone who is old if they're pretty evil."
"Nyeah hah har! See how you handle this!" Camikon aimed his wand at the group and fired a dark beam. They all cringed as they were struck by it. "Ah, now seeing that just makes me feel better.
"That's just what you think," Chopper threw a light ball at Camikon's face, leaving him stunned. "OK, Mario! Make a move!"
Mario nodded and pulled his hammer out, bringing it down on Camikon to deal 9 damage. Camikon aimed his wand at Shadower and fired a dark spell at him to deal 21 damage.
"Since you and that Shadow Siren have betrayed us and your kind, I will make you pay the price for it," Camikon hissed, his eyes narrowed at Shadower.
"I'm sorry that I'm around people who treat me as friends," Shadower replied, lowering Camikon's defense to 0 with a Shadow Punch. Once that was over with, Chopper struck the wizard with a Jump attack.
"Oh, if I had a lawn, you'd be off of it right now…" Camikon warned, twirling his wand and using it to stop time. Unfortunately, his ability didn't work because of everyone guarding it. "Curses! I thought that would've been successful."
"Well, I guess not," Chopper replied, using his Spin Jump to dish out 15 HP on Camikon. Tamber went up next, dealing 14 damage to Camikon with his Power Punch.
"Man, hitting old people is fun!" Tamber chuckled. In response, Camikon conjured up an ice spell and fired it at the furball. He managed to guard it, preventing him from becoming a frozen tulip. "That was a close one..."
Chopper and Flyer quickly took action afterward, with Chopper hitting Camikon with his hammer, and Flyer used his Flying Attack. In response, Camikon conjured up more dark magic and fired it near Chopper and Flyer. The magic exploded, dealing damage to them both. After shaking off the hit, the two brought him down to 294 HP with an ice ball and another Flying Attack.
"Hmmmmm… Now let's see here..." Camikon put his hand on his chin, pondering as he looked at the heroes. An idea suddenly struck him, and he conjured up another spell. This time, sparks came from his wand, and when he fired, an electric spell came flying in Tamber's direction, paralyzing him.
"You…! I'm gonna seriously hurt you when this paralysis goes away!" Tamber growled.
"Like your threats are going to intimidate me," the wizard chuckled. "People's words were more intimidating back then!"
Tamber continued to growl angrily, while the others tried to calm him down. Chopper, meanwhile, pulled out the Star Rod and swung it, sending a star flying in Camikon's direction. This had knocked him on his back, and he cringing in serious pain.
"Where did you get that kind of power?!"
"We got it from Starlite Galaxy, if you must know," Flyer answered.
"Figures… That place is filled with stars." Camikon grumbled. "I don't know how you managed to get all the Crystal Stars, but I'll tell you that you did all of that for nothing! You should've learned…"
"So you sent that letter, didn't you?" Chopper asked.
"Letter?! I don't anything about a letter! First you think I was the one who made that darkness spread, and now you think that I sent you some letter? I told you I had nothing to do with most of this! It was actually quite coincidental that you came to Tartamos on your own. We were planning on finding you ourselves."
"You're probably lying," Scrub scoffed, hitting Camikon with a Mega Egg.
"I assure you, I am not," Camikon replied, hurting Scrub with his fire magic. "But, that won't matter too much when you're all out of the picture."
"That's not happening," Chopper retorted, raising his Star Rod and striking him with a Star Blast. Vivian left another burn on him with her Shade Fist afterward. In response, Camikon fired another dark beam from his wand at everyone. Chopper was the first to get up from the hit, and he hit Camikon with a Rainbow Spin.
"Ha HA! Take that!" Chopper shouted, knocking the wizard back. Vivian left another burn on Camikon to reduce his HP to more than halfway.
"Argh! I had enough of this! Now's the time when I get a little more serious!" Camikon raised his wand, and he quickly recovered 60 HP. "Ahhhhh… Much better."
"Oh, come on!" Chopper clenched his fists in anger. "Fine. If that's how you're gonna play, then I'll get serious too!"
He let Shadower bring Camikon's defense down to 0 first before he attacked with a Gravity Jump. He managed to use another one after the wizard attacked him with more dark magic.
"So, you really think you want to push me further, don't you? Well… I can say that you're putting yourself in big danger by doing that…" Camikon warned.
"If you give us your wand, then we wouldn't have to keep fighting you," Sonic mentioned.
"NEVER! I wouldn't give up so easily! My minions would think I'm a disgrace if I easily gave up to you!"
"You're already done anyway," Flyer stated. "We've taken down a lot of your minions, and we also put an end to Tartara Corporations."
"Wh-What?! How… How could you do such a thing? That money actually HELPED us! Now we might become bankrupt!"
"Hey, it's not our fault!" Chopper shouted. "Those Tartaras ended up blowing themselves up with a grenade!"
"Curse you, Chopper!"
"This guy's not gonna learn. It's not worth talking out of this." Tamber said, no longer paralyzed. He approached Camikon and punched him in the face before he got back on his broomstick.
"Ah, it's good to be back on my old broomstick," Camikon grinned as he struck Chopper with ice magic. He managed to guard it before Berry knocked him off his broomstick with her Ruby Throw. Once Chopper struck the wizard with the Star Rod, he was down to 190 HP.
"All right! Things are going well for us!" Berry smiled.
"You pests... Take this!" Camikon fired a dark glob of magic in Berry's direction, taking 21 out of her. Chopper decided to inhale the wizard and spit him out, dealing 9 damage.
"Nice work!" Sonic complimented before he got in a ball and threw himself at Camikon with a Spin Dash. He also did a little break-dance after he hit the wizard, making the audience go nuts as per usual.
"How… How can this be?" Camikon questioned as he saw his HP meter was at 172. "Fine. If you want me to take things further, then I shall!"
Camikon raised his wand up in the air. Using his dark magic, he ended up sucking the souls of some of the audience members into it, giving him a major buffer.
"Hey! Not cool!" Sonic growled.
"Leave the audience out of this!" Chopper cried. "They did nothing to you!"
"When I battle, I don't leave anyone out of it!" Camikon grinned, feeling much faster and stronger. He also had a dark glow around him as well. "This power looks like it's enough to take care of you! How ironic that your adoring fans will be the cause of your downfall!"
Camikon started conjuring up a dark spell, and when he hurled it, it was going at a much faster pace. Chopper couldn't even follow it, causing him to get knocked back into the wall.
"Ow... That was fast..." Chopper mumbled, pushing himself off the wall.
"Yes... It was fast all right." Camikon cackled, his movement feeling more erratic. "So, am I as easy as you thought?"
"Well... Even when you're all hyper, I'm not giving up!" Chopper pulled his hammer out and struck him with a Power Smash. Flyer made another attempt to use his Flying Attack, which did another 10 damage.
"Take this!" Camikon raised his wand, which flashed for a moment before striking everyone with lightning. Chopper had noticed his HP was pretty low, so he ate a Maximum Recovery to recover all of his HP and FP. Then Vivian burned him with her Fiery Jinx. Camikon used more lightning magic, striking everyone in a blink of an eye. This got Chopper to use a Spin Jump, which managed to deal 12 damage. Mario attacked him with a Super Jump afterward.
When more audience members had joined to watch the fight, Camikon raised his wand again and took in their swords. Grinning like a madman, he fired explosive dark magic at the group.
"Nyeah heh heh heh!"
"Stop that, Camikon!" Chopper cried. "You shouldn't do things to such innocent people!"
"Heh heh heh heh! NEVER!" Camikon exclaimed. "Besides, their souls are being put to good use."
"You're crazy!" Berry shouted.
"Oh, don't worry, we're all crazy!"
Chopper ignored him and tossed a light ball at Camikon's face, stunning him. Once Vivian attacked with another Shade Fist, he was down to 98 HP.
"Hrrrmmm… Now let's see what I should do…" Camikon raised his wand and recovered 60 more HP. "That should help me. Well, I don't know about you..."
"Then we're going to have to change that," Chopper declared, pulling the Dark Star out of his hands. "Wanna see what this Crystal Star can do to you? Well, take a look for yourself!"
Using the Dark Star's power, he managed to suck Camikon into a black hole and spit him out to deal 65 damage.
"That should make things easier."
"That takes care of the health he recovered," Vivian commented before hitting Camikon with another Shade Fist, bringing him down to 83 HP.
Camikon conjured up another spell and hurled it in Chopper's direction. When he was about to guard the dark magic, he paused for a moment, noticing it disappear.
"What the..."
Before he knew it, he had gotten struck by the magic.
"You see, with the audience absorbed, I can do things like that!" Camikon explained with an evil grin.
Chopper gave him a glare before he jumped off the wall and struck Camikon with a Wall Jump, dealing 22 damage. With Flyer's Flying Attack, they brought him down to 50 HP. That was when Camikon got his broomstick and struck them all with a lightning spell. Once Berry knocked him off his broomstick with a Ruby Throw, Chopper hit him with his Diamond Hammer.
Camikon cackled as he conjured another dark spell, striking Chopper with more dark magic. Chopper brought his hammer down on him again, and with Vivian's Shade Fist, the old wizard was reduced to 11 HP.
"Grrrggh… You… This isn't…" Camikon grumbled as he struck everyone with a dark, magic explosion. "I'll never give up the fight!"
"Then... We have to put an end to this." Chopper started to hurl multiple light balls above Camikon, and once it was big enough, it had fallen on him.
"ARRGHHH!" Camikon cried, dropping his wand on the ground, resulting in it shattering.
"No!" Chopper cried, noticing its shattered remains on the ground.
They didn't have time to grieve over the loss of the wand, as Camikons grunts had brought their attention to him. He was badly hurt, his monocle was cracked, and his beard looked dirty. He looked up at the group and narrowed his purple eyes angrily at them.
"This isn't possible… I can't lose to you!" Camikon wheezed. "I've been planning your demise for so long…and in the end, my greatest enemy ends up defeating me..."
Before he could speak any longer, a bright light had started to shine in his body, leaving his eyes to widen in pain. At that moment, he had exploded into dark smoke, leaving nothing else behind.
"I don't believe it. Camikon's gone…" Chopper gaped.
"But the wand... It's broken..." Vivian trailed, looking down at the wand. "How are we supposed to get to that dark realm now?"
"I'm not so sure..."
As Chopper started to mope, Flyer looked over at the left corner and spotted a large, dark purple door attached to the wall.
"Wait, guys... Do you see that door over there?" Flyer asked, pointing to the door.
"What is that?" Tamber asked.
"I'm not so sure..."
Chopper had noticed the door and approached it first. Opening it, he gaped at a whole new world revealed behind it. It was made of mostly darkness, and lightning had struck in the background.
"What is this place?" Chopper gawked. "And why does it remind me of the portal Camikon made to suck Bowser in? Unless..."
"Maybe this could be the dark realm!" Vivian realized.
"It looks pretty creepy..." Berry trailed. "I'm guessing we have to go in there."
"Yeah, I guess so," Chopper nodded. "But, if Camikon wasn't responsible for the darkness and those Crystal Stars... Then maybe our target is through here."
"And maybe he's even stronger than Camikon..." Sonic added.
Everyone immediately shuddered upon the thought.
"So… Are you guys ready?" Chopper asked, turning to his friends. They all slowly gave him a nod before he faced the door. He slowly took a deep breath as he looked at the dark, creepy world that was ahead of him. "All right… Let's go."
The eleven heroes walked through the door, knowing that their quest was not at an end yet. Once they were all inside, the door closed shut behind them.
At the same time, the door leading into the throne room opened. A figure stepped in, taking notice of his surroundings.
"I saw Chopper go into this castle...yet I couldn't find him anywhere," the figure growled, his fist shaking in anger. "Where in the world could he-"
The figure stopped when he took notice of the door the heroes had just recently entered. His fist stopped shaking as he lowered his arm.
"That door... Chopper must've gone in there." the figure let out a small chuckle as he approached the door. "Well, he won't be expecting me to appear ever again. I'll make him pay for destroying all of my minions and ruining my plans! ...But now that he has all twenty Crystal Stars, I can finally take advantage of the power I can gain from them! Then he and the rest of his friends will suffer!"
Outside of the castle-
The Galaxy Soldiers and the Tartaras had continued their battle, with the former dominating the battle due to their superior agility. However, one Tartara had taken notice of a dark mist coming out of the castle, and the army was put to a halt.
"Wait... Why are they stopping?" Silica gawked.
"They must have noticed something important..." Meta Knight answered.
The remaining Tartaras had squinted to get a better look. The general, on the other hand, immediately recognized the mist.
"That mist... Is it possible that Camikon is..." the Tartara General paused, staring wide-eyed. "No... It can't be!"
"So it looks like that boy managed to defeat that old wizard after all!" Kit Cosmos grinned. "So, are you ready to surrender?"
"Not a chance! We won't give up just yet! We fight till the last man! Tartaras! We shall avenge Lord Camikon by eliminating them! FIRE!"
The Tartaras all fired their weapons at the opposing force, resuming the battle. After Meta Knight had taken care of a Tartara Swordsman, he stared up at the top of the castle.
"Chopper… I hope you can pull through." Meta Knight mumbled. "Dark Subspace World awaits you now..."
With that, he charged in the direction of the Tartara General, and the battle had started to get intense. Meanwhile, over near the fight, a robot looked up at the castle, a cunning look appearing on his face.
"So Chopper is in that castle, heading into a new world..." the voice trailed, overhearing Meta Knight. "With those fools fighting and the castle clear, reaching Chopper will be cake! I plan to make him and his friends suffer for humiliating me back at the Fountain of Dreams!"
Hovering up in the air, the robot took off toward the top of the castle.
Yeah... Chapter 20 isn't over yet. We're only halfway done with this area. But unlike the other chapters, this one actually has two worlds. Rather interesting, don't you think? Plus, even if it were to end here, there are some things that are left unanswered, so it wouldn't be a good idea.
So, next up, Chopper and his friends venture into the dark realm, Dark Subspace World.