CHAPTER 17-3
-Into the Underground Forest-
"It can't be… Are my eyes deceiving me or am I actually seeing an underground forest in these caverns?" Flint gasped as he rubbed his eyes to see if he was dreaming. "No… I'm not dreaming at all! How… How is this even possible? How are we to find a huge forest in an underground cavern?! Especially one that's in a world where you can change your size from big to small!"
"I don't believe my own eyes… Am I REALLY seeing this?!" Blade gaped as he saw what this whole place was like. "I mean, who would've thought that we'd even witness an underground forest in these parts?! You think… You think there are even thing living down here?"
"You never know, Blade… You never know…" Chopper trailed, looking down at the stone staircase leading down to the forest. Right now, they were at the top of a staircase near a giant statue of the same robotic being they've seen before. They came out of its mouth so far, and up ahead, all the way across the forest, there was another similar staircase and statue.
Even though they could see that above them was the rocky ceiling, it wasn't easy to see. The green fog around the forest made it so that this place actually felt like it was an outside area.
"Poyo? (Didn't we see a place like this in Dream Land?)" Kirby recalled.
"Come to think of it, I think we did!" Chopper realized. "Geez… I think we're going to be seeing some familiar things around here. Although, unlike before, I don't see any temple in the center of this place. I guess it's nothing but forest from here."
"Well, it's better than water, that's for sure," Sonic sighed.
Mario: Let's hope Flint doesn't go and make another-
"CRAGLEY HO!" Mario was a bit too late, as Flint shouted out the words he was hoping he wouldn't hear again. "'We've discovered something…magical in these caverns! It's almost if a forest was brought in here! It's like discovering some kind of lost city that you'd never expect to believe! It's like…'"
"I think we get it already…" Luigi trailed.
"Yeah, Hornfels already know now," agreed Hornfels.
"Didn't I tell you not to get in the way?" Flint sneered. "Just butt out for once and let me finish with my script! …Er, if I even have a script." he looked at the two camera crew with a confused look. "Do I use a script?"
"No…" Monzo trailed. "You act, me film."
"Hey, guys…" Blade began as he took a couple of steps down the stairs and turned to look at the large head. "Doesn't that head look a little familiar? It's like something we've seen near that cavern."
"Wait, let me see," Flint pushed Blade out of the way, making him tumble down the stairs. "CRAGLEY HO! 'This head… It's almost if I've seen something like this before… Wait, it couldn't be! It's the same head that we saw of the strange mechanical being outside! But… How could there be something like this? This remains a mystery in the eyes of Flint Cragley…'"
"Poyo? (Is this going to be like the Great Cave Offensive?)" Kirby asked, looking at the crew. "Poyo. (Because I don't want to spend most of my time opening sixty treasure chests.)"
"Well, we'll find out on our way," Chopper declared, pointing above him. "But I think we should go help Blade out. He's probably in some trouble now."
Mario: Oh, yeah!
Everyone walked down the old stairs and landed on the grassy floor, where they found Blade slowly getting up while rubbing his head. They noticed he had a small bump on his head.
"Blade… You've got a bump on your head." Sonic noted.
"Wait, I do?" Blade felt the top of his head and felt the bump. "Ow… WHY did I have to get a bump at a time like this? Sigh… I guess some things just happen."
"Well, that was Flint who made you tumble down those stairs," Chopper informed.
"Really? Well, I'm going to give him a taste of his own…" Blade paused for a second and lowered his arms. "No… If I just punched Flint, I don't think it's going to make things any better…"
"Yeah, it's better not to hit someone who's harmless rather than someone who has a lot to hit you with," Luigi agreed.
"Anyway, we should check and see what's around this forest," Sonic suggested as he looked down at the straight, yet bumpy path. Since there were trees around, it was hard to see what was above them.
"Wait, I see Bushers up ahead!" Luigi gasped as he saw some Bushers readying their spears and charging at the group. Kirby opened his mouth and inhaled two of them. When he swallowed them, he got no ability.
"Poyo? (What? Nothing?)" Kirby blinked. "Poyo! (That's not fair!)"
"Well, not much we can do about it," Chopper shrugged. He noticed that behind a bush there was a spinning top. "But I can see something over there."
When the spinning top spun around, it made a tornado. Kirby happily inhaled the enemy to gain the Tornado ability. With that, they moved down the small slope and found a small row of yellow blocks with a Sir Kibbles standing on them. Chopper inhaled it to gain the Cutter ability.
"This is my…third ability in this adventure so far?" Chopper pondered.
"Well, at least you two are a little more useful with your own abilities now," Sonic said. "I'm not trying to offend you or anything."
"Poyo, (None taken,)" assured Kirby.
Chopper threw his cutter blade like a boomerang and allowed it to destroy the small yellow blocks. One thing for sure was that there was going to be a lot of stuff to cut around here.
"Hopefully we don't have to deal with bottomless pits," hoped Luigi.
Mario: We'll see what happens.
They ran up a small hill up ahead and found a door in front of them. With nothing else to do, they entered it and were now in an area with trees blocking their way. Up ahead was a ledge that appeared to be too high for any of them to reach.
"Let's see what we've got here," Chopper threw his cutter blade at the tree, knocking it down. "Gee… Now that I think about it, I'm kinda destroying some wildlife here. That's not what I've been trying to do ever since I was four."
"Well, at least we can get through now," Luigi said as he walked over to the high ledge in their way. "I think I can make a jump here."
Mario: See what's up there, Luigi!
"I will, Bro!" Luigi used his Super Jump and launched himself up to the ledge. When he landed, he saw a robotic version of a Knuckle Joe in front of him. He yelped, but eventually drove it off the edge with his Cyclone.
"Hey! A Knuckle Joe!" Chopper gasped, removing his ability and inhaling the Knuckle Joe Bot. Sadly, when he swallowed it, he didn't gain anything.
"Wait… What? How come I didn't get anything from that?"
Mario: That looked like a robot.
"What are robots doing down in a cavern like this anyway?" Blade questioned. "In fact, WHY would they be here anyway? This is something that just doesn't make any sense to me at all."
"Well, since living beings can't live underground, then maybe they replaced them with robots?" Sonic pondered. "That sounds like a reasonable answer…"
"Poyo, (Well, I guess that means robots that looks similar to enemies that we know can't be copied,)" Kirby sighed.
"Well, hopefully we get our answers sooner or later," Chopper hoped as he looked back up at Luigi. "So… I think we should move on now. We haven't done much anyway."
"Poyo! (I'll help you guys up!)" Kirby began to spin around and turned into a tornado. This brought everyone up to the high ledge, but also knocked them over because of the powerful winds.
"Kirby… Sometimes I wonder how you're able to use such powerful moves like that…" Blade moaned as he got up. "And how can I get rid of this bump on my head?"
"If we got ice, we could stop the—Hey! A REAL Knuckle Joe!" Chopper made a dash for the Knuckle Joe up ahead, but just as he was about to get to it, he stopped when he found some spikes in his way.
"OK… Gotta be careful here." he jumped over the spike pit and inhaled the Knuckle Joe to gain the Fighter ability. "OK, now this is better than Cutter."
After everyone else got up, they jumped over the spike pit and ran past Chopper, making him spin around and almost fall into the spike pit. Thankfully, Mario was able to spot this and pull him away.
Mario: Watch where you stand!
"All right, settle down, Mario," Chopper sighed.
They followed the group ahead, where they found a slope moving down over to more flat ground and a loop. This made Sonic happy due to the fact that he could move fast for once.
"So, are we gonna do the same thing as before?" Sonic asked.
"Actually, I see some platforms that we can use," Blade noticed as he pointed to the platforms going above the loop and leading down to where the loop ends. "See? You don't have to worry about us right now!"
"Yeah, it does look like that," Chopper nodded, getting ready to run down the hill. "We need more of these areas."
"Poyo, (I'll meet you by the end of the loop,)" Kirby said as he took in some air and flew over to the platforms. Chopper began to make his way down the hill, where he began to gain some speed.
"Yeah! We're getting somewhere now!"
"I wonder how Flint and his crew will get through here," Luigi wondered.
Mario: They'll probably use the platforms.
"Oh… Well, all right." Luigi used the platforms to help him get over the loop, with Mario and Blade followed. Chopper and Sonic simply ran down the hill and went down the loop. But what shocked them was that Kirby actually made it first.
"Hiiiii!" Kirby shouted while he waved.
"What the… How did you get here first?!" Chopper gaped. "I swear that I was moving faster than you were…"
"Poyo! (Well you thought wrong!)"
After Sonic went through the loop by curling in a ball, he ended up rolling over Chopper on accident, causing him to fall over. What made it worse was that when everyone else got off the platforms, they accidentally fell on him.
"Get off!" Chopper cried.
Mario: Whoops! Sorry! ^^;
"It's all right… Just get off of me so I don't end up getting ticked off. 'Cause right now, I'm starting to feel a little ticked…"
Once everyone was off, he was able to get back up. There was a slope leading up to a high ledge above them, which only can be reached if you ran up the wall. Sonic charged up a Spin Dash and moved up to the ledge above them to find a path leading to a door.
"Come on, guys! There's a door just up ahead!" Sonic called out.
"Yeah, that's a great idea, Sonic…" Blade agreed, giving him an irritated look. "However, WE CAN'T GET UP THERE!"
"You have those shurikens that you can use to climb up walls, right?" Luigi mentioned as Blade turned to him to yell at him.
"…Wait, I can do that?" the ninja cat gawked for a minute and pulled two kunais out. "Oh… Well, I guess I can do that then! It's kinda funny, because here I was yelling that we would be able to get up there and all that."
Mario: I can't get up there…
"Think we can give him a boost?" Chopper asked as he attempted to grab Mario. "Wait… I can't even pick him up when I don't have much muscle in me. I could if I had Thoreau with me, though…"
"I will come to your aid, hero!" Thoreau cheered as Chopper threw him to Mario and brought him to the pale green gumball to hold him up. Even still, the Chopper struggled to hold up the plumber.
Mario: Are you sure you've got this?
"Y-Yeah… I've got massive guns, right, guys?" Chopper smiled sheepishly as he ended up falling over, with Mario sitting on him. "Well… I guess this isn't going to work out for me. I swear, I did better with O'Chunks, even if he was heavy for me too."
"Poyo, (I'll just use my Tornado ability to bring him up,)" declared Kirby as he spun around and made a tornado, sucking Mario in and bringing him up to the ledge. Chopper got himself up and used his Speed Dash to run up the wall and land on higher ground.
"I think a Super Jump can help me here," Luigi stated as he launched himself up to the high ledge with his Super Jump. Last but not least, Blade used his kunais to climb up the wall and reach his friends.
"Yeah! I'm totally awesome, aren't I?" Blade grinned.
"Uhhhhh… Sure! You're awesome!" Chopper nodded.
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"No."
With that, they hurried on ahead to the door, which was being blocked by a Dark Patrolbot. Luigi groaned, knowing that he saw this robot from before. All it took was Sonic's Spin Jump and it was down.
"We've seen these things back in that Metallic Forest, didn't we?" Sonic recalled.
"I saw those in Tipral's Palace," Luigi mentioned. "I don't know why they're here anyway. It feels kind of weird. That, and it feels a little unoriginal to see recolored enemies here too."
"Well I met some interesting foes in Tipral's Palace, but let's not get to that discussion," Chopper suggested as he ran to the door. "We need to get to that other large statue by the staircase."
"Poyo, (But that's a long way there,)" Kirby gulped. "Poyo? (With these trees, how can we even make it there?)"
"Well, it's not going to be easy trying to find out where we are, but in the end, we might be able to find it if we search carefully… Just make sure you're careful with where to go, then we'll be fine."
"What about those shovels that we still have?" Sonic mentioned. "We've had them since Chapter 6, and we haven't even used them since…forever!"
"Maybe we should use them and look for treasure!" Blade smirked as he pulled out a shovel and began to use it to dig for anything. Sadly, he didn't find anything special around the area.
"No… Nothing around here, unfortunately."
Mario: Where did you get the shovels from anyway?
"Chapter 6," answered Sonic.
"What's Chapter 6?" Luigi gawked.
"Ummmmm… Forget about that." Chopper sweat dropped as they opened the door into the next area. They saw that there was a large gap between them and the ledge up ahead. Thankfully, there were a couple of platforms that could help them jump over.
"What happens if we end up jumping off?" Blade asked.
Sonic looked down and noticed something surprising. "Well, I don't see any bottomless pit here, which is pretty nice! I think there might be a different path if we go down here as well."
"Well, I'm taking my chances with the platforming," Luigi stated as he jumped on the platform coming close by and waited. Everyone agreed that they would take the upper path.
"All right, this might be a little tricky…" Sonic trailed as he jumped on the platform Luigi was on, as well as Blade. As for Kirby, he simply floated over the huge gap in order to avoid platforming.
"Man, that's so cheap," Chopper frowned as he jumped on the platform after it came over to him. Mario joined him and reached the next platform that led to the ledge across the huge gap. There happened to be a large hill leading down to ground level up ahead, with a couple of Bushers in a lavender color instead. From what they could tell, these were Putrid Bushers.
"Oh… Well, I don't want to get near those things…" Luigi gulped as they looked down the hill. "If they hurt us, we might get poisoned!"
Mario: That's why ranged attacks will work.
"I think I can at least hurt them with a Vulcan Jab without even touching them," Chopper said as he ran down the hill and reached ground level. When he turned to his left, he noticed another path. From what he could tell, that must've been the other path below.
"All right, let's go take these things down," Blade declared as he threw a couple of shurikens at the Putrid Bushers up ahead. He managed to defeat one of them, leaving two left.
Sonic went down the hill while curled up in a ball. He was able to hit all of the Putrid Bushers with a Spin Dash before they could hurt him, as well as going down a small hill ahead leading to a loop.
"Ooh! More of this stuff!" Chopper smiled. "This might be a little interesting!"
He began to go down the hill and ran through the loop to find a door up ahead down a larger hill. Everyone followed him through the loop (since they couldn't run through it, they went over it thanks to Kirby) and went down the hill to the door.
"This forest sure has a lot of stuff," Sonic said as he finished off a Dark Patrolbot with a Spin Jump. "Come on! We still have some ways to go!"
They followed Sonic through the door into a flat area with a Dark Intruderbot and a ? Block past it. Chopper used his Vulcan Jab and Rising Break to knock it over, while Kirby spun in a tornado and finished it off.
"Hey! A ? Block! Let's see what's in here!" Luigi wondered as he struck the block. A Mega Star came out and landed in Luigi's hands. Everyone else looked jealous as he transformed into a giant 8-bit version of himself.
"Wait… Did I transform?"
Mario: Yes you did, Luigi…
"While I was hoping to get my hands on one, I guess he's already got it," Chopper sighed as Luigi trampled over everything such as Patrolbots and Bushers. He even destroyed a jungle green pipe that would've been in their way. Also, many Brick Blocks were smashed in the process.
"Poyo, (That sure is a lot,)" Kirby gawked as smoke surrounded Luigi and turned him back to his former self. "Poyo… (Oh… It's over.)"
They all followed Luigi, who looked around and noticed everything was destroyed in his path. Well, the only thing that was in their way was a locked door. Blade even tried to smash the lock, but it didn't work.
"Stupid lock… Why is it that we have to find locked doors?" Blade grumbled. "In fact, who the heck put them on anyway?"
"Let's see if I can find anything," Chopper wondered as he flipped into 3-D. He noticed that there were two yellow dimensional blocks in 3-D. He decided to give them a good punch and bring them into 2-D.
"I think I might know what we need to do. We're probably going to have to find something above us with the help of these blocks."
"Poyo, (But I don't see anything,)" Kirby noted. "Poyo… (Unless… I go up there and check myself!)"
Kirby took in some air and began to float above the rest of the heroes. He was surprised to find some brown blocks making a platform with a chest. The bad news? A Darkling was guarding it.
...Which happened to be defeated easily when Kirby used his tornado attack. He claimed the Door Key in the chest and jumped back down to the group to unlock the door with the key.
"Could I have made a Super Jump to reach it?" Luigi asked.
"Poyo… (I don't think so…)" Kirby trailed. Despite not understanding him, the look on his face showed that Luigi wouldn't be able to make the jump. Nevertheless, they moved on through the door.
But what awaited them in the next area was some wooden steps leading over to a dock, where a hooded man wearing a gray cloak happened to be. There was also a silver turret right by the stand as well.
"Wait… Who the heck is that guy over there?" Chopper asked, pointing over to the hooded person.
"What's someone like him doing here anyway?" Luigi gawked.
"I have no idea…" Blade trailed. "But, why don't we go talk to him? He's got a turret over there, so maybe we'll have a chance to use it! …Er, I'm not saying that we should hurt people with it."
"Ehhhh… The turret's a little off for this place…" Sonic trailed as they walked up the steps to the person at the stand. They noticed that there was a lake right behind the dock. There didn't appear to be too much there, unfortunately.
"So you have the arriving?" the cloaked person gawked. "Well, I have welcoming! Welcome to Tigit's Shooting Gallery! Tigit will have the offering of using the turret of shooting!"
"Ummmmm… Not to sound rude or anything, but why are you speaking in a strange way?" Chopper asked. "It kind of sounds like something an enemy named Fawful would say…"
Mario: Why is there a turret here?
"A question is good, red mustache! A spotting there is above the trees! Ships have the appearing for spying!" Tigit explained. "I will offer you the using of this to blow up the ships like tiny crumbs that fall!"
"Wait… Did you just say ships?" Blade gawked. "There are ships flying around this place? What for?"
"In the searching for invaders, of course! There is no costing for the turret, for it is free of using! Shoot the ships, and an award you'll receive!"
"Like what kind of an award?" Sonic asked while raising an eyebrow. "Now I'm getting a little curious…"
"I will only tell if you shoot!" Tigit explained. "Now, who will have the luck of the shooting? Green Antennae? Pinky? Blue Quills? Catface? Red Mustache? Green Mustache? Any?"
"I'll volunteer," Blade announced as he stepped up and manned the turret. "Don't worry, guys. I've once used a turret back in the days when I was in a battle alongside Bang and Night. I should be just fine."
"Let's hope…" Luigi trailed.
"All right, so let's see if you can actually shoot something," Chopper hoped as Blade ninja jumped to the turret and took control of it. When they all looked up, they didn't see any trees in their way, making it easier for them to see a couple of silver starships flying around.
"Whoa… That guy was right." Sonic gaped. "I didn't know there were ships flying around here!"
"Poyo? (But how come we didn't see them before?)" Kirby questioned, rubbing the top of his head out of confusion. "Poyo… (I swore that they weren't here before… Something's not right here…)"
"Guys, just lemme focus here," Blade suggested as he aimed at one of the ships. However, they ended up hearing a little conversation between two ships that were nearby. It was something that caught their interest.
"So, AV-32… Ever since our leader found that brown heart thing, he's been able to make us do a lot lately." GF-28 said through its communicator. "Plus, now he's making us patrol these caverns to watch for anyone coming to get it!"
"Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more on that, GF-28," AV-32 agreed. "Don't suppose Master Mind will let us have a break for once? Nothing bad has ever happened ever since he got the heart!"
"Well, what I heard from him was that there would be some people that would come for the heart in order to stop his plans. Yeah, it's kinda getting annoying doing this, but orders are orders…"
"Hmmmmm… So someone named Master Mind is holding onto the Pure Heart?" Chopper pondered. "Well, at least we know who's holding the Pure Heart at the moment!"
"Well, too bad they won't be here for long…" Blade trailed as he fired at the two ships, blowing them up instantly. "Wow… All of that and they're destroyed? Kind of lame if you ask me…"
"A WINNER IS YOU!" Tigit congratulated as he pushed Blade out of the way and manned the turret. "Now receive the prize of the priziest! You are deserving of a reward, heroes!"
"Uhhhhh… Yeah, about that." Sonic began. "Your speech pattern isn't so hard to discover, Fawful. We know it's you already…"
Fawful cackled as he removed his gray cloak and revealed his bright red cloak. His Vacuum Helmet vaporized on his head and it fired a blue orb of energy straight at Sonic, who managed to jump out of the way.
"You may have defeated the horns of Midbus, but as you gorge on your next victory, you will realize that you are missing the mayonnaise on your mustard!" Fawful scoffed as he hovered above the ground with his Vacuum Helmet.
"Uhhhhh… I don't know what to say right now." Luigi gulped.
Mario: This is the same typical Fawful…
"But I never fought this guy before…"
"I have chortles! So you figured out Fawful's disguise already?" Fawful questioned. "Fawful is displeased, just as he is annoyed with your mouths! For that, you shall have paying!"
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Sonic challenged.
"By fearing Fawful's fury!" Fawful shouted as he fired a laser from his blaster at the group. It ended up knocking the heroes back, but they weren't left injured from the attack, to their relief.
"So he has 390 HP, an Attack of 15 and a Defense of 4. Nothing special there." Blade stated as he pulled a couple of shurikens out. "Look at that! He has less Attack power than O'Chunks! That's so pathetic!"
"Yeah, I think we can beat him," Chopper assured as he attacked Fawful with his Double Kick attack, which hit him while in the air and also fired an energy wave that left Fawful cringing in pain for Luigi to hit him with a Super Jump.
"Since he's in the air, this gives me a little advantage with my Super Jump," Luigi realized as he stomped on Fawful and landed on the dock.
"Fink-rat!" Fawful shouted as he fired a green blast that targeted Luigi. He tried to react fast, but the blast ended up knocking him down the stairs and leaving him in pain for a couple of seconds.
Mario: First it was blue, now it's green?
"Poyo? (Maybe this has to do with who he's trying to attack?)" Kirby predicted as Fawful shot a pink blast of energy, which targeted Kirby. He spun in a tornado and attacked Fawful, knocking him over to the lake.
"OK, I think we all know the strategy to beating him now," Chopper concluded as he noticed a pale green blast hit him and send him flying onto the ground. He quickly got up and charged up an energy ball. "Hopefully this'll get him!"
However, Fawful pulled out an energy shield that protected him from all attacks. It was a fire shield, and it looked like no one could break through it. That is, unless, the attack is the same element as the shield.
"I have protection!" Fawful shouted as he hurled a fireball from his shield down at Chopper and Kirby, leaving them burned for a bit.
"Poyo! (That's not fair!)" Kirby frowned as he tried to get the flames off him. Sadly, he had no luck in doing this. Chopper tried the same thing, but he didn't have luck either. Thankfully, their abilities didn't come off.
Mario: What if you spun in a tornado while on fire, Kirby?
"Poyo! (I should try that!)" Kirby whirled up in a tornado again and was now more like a fire tornado. When he struck Fawful, his shield broke and was left vulnerable. This gave Mario the chance to bash the bean with his hammer.
"Well, I think we just discovered a little something," Blade smirked as he threw Hommissile at Fawful and left him in an explosion. They could all see him covered in a little bit of soot, but not enough to make him give up.
"Well, what were you expecting?" Sonic shrugged. "It's not like he's going to give up right now. He IS one of Tipral's minions after all…"
Fawful grinned (when does he not?) as he fired a dark blue blast from his Vacuum Helmet straight at Blade, who happened to spin his katana to deflect it back at him. Fawful was able to fly out of harm's way and land on the ground, where he changed his blaster to his laser sword.
"Oh, so you wanna duke it out with swords!" Blade smirked. "Now you're thinking what I'm thinking!"
Blade drew his katana and he and Fawful clashed as they tried to strike each other with their weapons. Blade attempted to push Fawful back, but the beanish child managed to kick him in the shin and hit him with his laser sword.
"Are you kidding me?! That's what I wanted to do!"
"It's obvious that you wanted to do that," Sonic said as he curled up in a ball and knocked Fawful over with a Spin Dash. This gave Blade the opportunity to strike him with a combo with his katana.
"Ah-HA! There we go! That's the combo I wanted to get in this whole time!"
"Well, I guess that's good. Now let's get another energy ball going!" Chopper began to charge up another energy ball as Luigi struck Fawful with a Cyclone. Once he was vulnerable, he hurled the charged energy ball at Fawful.
"I have combo!" Fawful cried as he knocked Luigi with a slash of his laser sword and used a combo attack on Chopper. He tried to fight it off with a Vulcan Jab, but it didn't work. Sonic was forced to help him by using his Sonic Wind to leave Fawful off guard, allowing him to use a Homing Attack.
"So, Fawful… Have you got anything new to throw at us this time?" Sonic asked as he taunted him. "Because if you think you're going to win this fight, you surely have to have something to help you."
"And I have the ability that is the newing!"
"…What did he just say?" Chopper gawked.
"Beats me," Luigi shrugged.
Fawful cackled psychotically as he used his Vacuum Helmet in order to suck one of the heroes in like a vacuum. However, instead, he ended up taking one of the Pixls, such as Hommissile.
"Hey! Let go of my awesome Pixl!" Blade gaped.
"I am using it now!" Fawful declared as he grabbed Hommissile and threw him straight at Blade, sending him flying back from the explosion. Mario was lucky enough to get Hommissile back by hitting Fawful with Kickbrin.
"Yeah! I got my Pixl back!"
Now that Blade had his Pixl back with him, he began to ponder on what to do. Kirby, meanwhile, was able to get the burn off him and give Fawful a good kick in the face, then followed up with a Final Cutter.
"Poyo, (I wonder if I could crack his glasses,)" wondered Kirby as Fawful was able to jump in the air and fire a beam of energy from his laser sword at him. He shrieked and defended himself to take minimum damage.
"That's like the Sword Beam!" Chopper gaped as he knocked Fawful away with a Smash Punch. At this point, Fawful went into the air again and dropped a couple of energy bombs. One was red, while another was pink.
Mario: That red bomb's targeting me…
Mario dove out of the way of the red bomb as he did a somersault. The bomb exploded, but it didn't seem to affect anyone else who was close to the bomb. It was strange, from what they witnessed.
"That bomb had no effect on us…" Sonic trailed. "Maybe it only affects the one the bomb's color matches?"
"That makes sense," Blade agreed.
"Now the explosions will come out of your faces, fink-rats!" Fawful cackled, dropping a green bomb down by Luigi, who yelped and dove away from the bomb as it exploded. Afterward, he sighed in relief and struck Fawful with a Super Jump, sending him flying to the ground.
"Good work, Luigi!" Chopper complimented with a thumbs up.
"Fawful will not give up just yet," Fawful began as he jumped back up and raised his arms. "Now is the time my true might shines, like the rages of nerds playing in the sunshine! I need no long speech before my great dome! Now you will bow before my invulnerableness!"
A metallic dome resembling Fawful's head fell on top of him, protecting him from harm. Mario tried bashing it with his hammer, but it didn't work. In fact, everyone tried to kick, punch, or even use anything else on it.
Nothing worked.
"You lack the fury to break Fawful's dome!" scoffed Fawful, cackling underneath the dome. "And now you will snack on Fawful's sandwiches of pain!"
A laser came out of the dome's eyes and knocked Chopper and Kirby away. Sonic continued to dodge them, while Blade spun his katana to block the lasers. He attempted to slash at it with a fire slash, but it didn't do too much.
"Hold on… Doesn't fire affect heat?" Blade realized. "You know… If we had fire, I think we would be able to heat this thing up!"
"I've got an idea! Mario, you'll need your hammer!" Chopper said as a fireball was created in Chopper's hand as he threw it up to Mario. He remembered this strategy when they fought the Crystal King, so he whacked the fireball and sent it flying toward Fawful's dome.
Mario: So we're getting back to this idea…
"Yup! Just a couple of more and we should take this guy down!"
After Chopper threw a couple of more fireballs, Fawful's dome turned to a bright red. It opened up and Fawful was flapping his arms around, shrieking out, "Ouch! HOTNESS! It is the overheat!"
"Now! Get him while he's vulnerable!" Sonic cried as he knocked Fawful to the ground with a Homing Attack. Luigi followed up by throwing Bonjourang at him and stomping on his head, which still had the Vacuum Helmet on.
After Fawful stopped flapping his arms, he fired a green blast at Luigi, knocking him back. He then fired a blast that turned out to be a rainbow color. Everyone realized that anyone could be targeted here.
"Can't we redirect the attack or something?" Blade wondered.
"I hope we can…" Luigi trailed.
It turns out that the attack was being targeted at Luigi. Thankfully, Mario was able to jump in front of him and use his hammer to block the attack. Despite this, he still got a little hurt.
"Th-Thanks, Bro…"
Mario: Anytime, Luigi…
"So you have defending? Then defend this!" Fawful charged at Mario and delivered a headbutt, leaving Mario dazed for a couple of seconds. Fawful followed up by shooting a red blast from his Vacuum Helmet to send him flying back.
"Poyo, (I'm surprised he didn't throw us into the lake yet,)" Kirby realized.
"Kirby… Don't give him the idea…" warned Chopper as he tried to defend himself against the pale green blast coming from Fawful. Sadly, he ended up getting hit by it, resulting in him getting knocked over.
"Geez… With enemies dealing more damage, our HP tends to get lowered easily!" Chopper gulped down an Ultra Shroom Shake and gave it to Kirby. They passed it to each other so they could heal themselves of 50 HP. Thankfully, that's all they needed to fight this bean.
"So, you gonna throw anything else at us?" Sonic scoffed as he dodged a blue blast.
"The dome again!" Fawful shouted as he began to take cover in the dome. Chopper and Kirby instantly rushed straight into the dome, and before they knew it, they were trapped inside with Fawful.
"Did they just jump into the dome?" Luigi gaped.
Mario: That was unexpected…
"What troopers…" Blade fake sniffed. "I bet they're kicking some serious butt there."
One thing they could hear from inside was the sound of punching, kicking, shooting, and even the sound of a tornado. The dome was even moving around as the beating went on, like in a cartoon.
However, everyone's faces changed as Chopper and Kirby were thrown out of the dome with Fawful holding his laser sword in his hand. From what they could tell, Fawful was able to beat them.
"Wait… What? He beat you guys?!" Sonic gaped.
"How?!" Luigi gasped.
"Let's just say that he had some moves of his own…" Chopper coughed as he got up. "But there's no way I'm letting him make an embarrassment of me! Take this!"
With the help of Chopper's Fighter ability, he struck the dome with a Fire Punch. He even added fire to Kirby's tornado to leave the dome overheated. Fawful came flying out while screaming about how it's the overheat and all that.
"Perfect," Chopper smirked as he hit Fawful with a Rising Break. Kirby helped him by slashing at him with his Final Cutter.
"Poyo! (That was satisfying!)" Kirby smirked.
"Since he's in the air, this gives me a chance to use a Super Jump!" Luigi realized as he went under Fawful and attacked him with a Super Jump. He sent the bean flying to the ground and stomped on him afterward.
"Wow, we're creaming him now," Blade chuckled.
"Let's not jinx it, Blade," warned Sonic.
Fawful jumped in the air and brought his laser sword to the ground. Since no one got hit by the attack, his weapon got stuck in the ground and was forced to pull it out on his own.
Well, at least that's what Blade would say if he wasn't busy attacking the bean child with his katana. He couldn't help but notice how shiny Fawful's teeth were.
"You know, Fawful always seems to have shiny teeth whenever we see him…" Blade trailed. "Does he brush his teeth all the time?"
"I have teeth brushing!" Fawful cried as he kicked Blade in the face while he was preoccupied.
"All right, then… This calls for my Dragon Beam!" Blade swung his sword a couple of times before firing an orange beam straight at Fawful. The dragon-like beam knocked Fawful over and left him incredibly vulnerable.
In fact, he was almost defeated as of now.
Mario: I think a couple of hits should do him in!
"Wow… I never expected this fight to end so soon." Luigi gaped as he walked over to the bean. He got up, but soon cringed in defeat as Luigi finished him off with a jump attack.
"Agh-agh-agh!"
"And there he goes," Chopper said as he snapped his finger. Everyone walked over to Luigi and looked down at the defeated Fawful as he wheezed on the ground.
"This must be the end for Fawful… Urrrgh… I am supposing I should accept defeating…" Fawful panted.
"So, that means you're giving up, is that it?" Luigi asked.
"Fawful says NO, for I have fury!" Fawful shouted as he got up and flew up with his Vacuum Helmet. "The defeating isn't truly over for Fawful, but for now, the recovering begins back at Tipral's Palace."
"Just face it. You're not going to beat us…" Chopper sighed. "If you didn't attack us, we wouldn't be forced to fight you."
"For now, Fawful says adieu! It is timing that I have leaving!"
And with that, Fawful flew out of the cave, attempting to make his escape from the group. They didn't seem to care, nonetheless.
"Well! What an exciting fight that was!" Chopper clapped. "So… I supposed we should cross this lake before we end up in another heap of trouble!"
"CRAGLEY HO!"
"…I spoke too soon."
And, not too surprisingly, Flint and his camera crew came up onto the dock and looked at the remains of the destroyed Fawful dome.
"'My eyes couldn't believe this discovery! It may not be treasure, but it sure feels like there must be living life forms down here!'" Flint acted out. "'Adventurers! Have you found anything here?'"
"Well, someone attacked us, and we ended up beating him," Blade explained. "Other than that, there's a lake ahead."
"A lake? Are there stuff there?" Monzo asked.
"You know… We never checked it out." Chopper realized. "So… We're supposed to jump in and cross it, right?"
"There's no way I'm going on there!" Sonic denied. "Besides, we don't actually HAVE to go in there."
"Yeah, he's right," Blade pointed out, showing the shore just up ahead. The lake wasn't even that big anyway.
"Poyo, (I'll go and see what's down there,)" Kirby said as he jumped in. Chopper shrugged and followed him down to the bottom of the lake. Thankfully, they could talk to each other down there.
"Hmmmmm… This lake's a little foggy underwater." Chopper commented.
He tried to clear the fog out of the way, but he noticed something at the bottom of the lake. It happened to be a robot that didn't seem to function properly. It looked like it was off, actually!
"Wait a second… That robot looks familiar!"
"Poyo? (Isn't that…Ninbot?)" Kirby gaped.
"Yeah… It is. Kirby, help me get him out. I don't think I'll be able to get him out of here myself."
Both heroes worked together and attempted to pull Ninbot out of the lake. He was stuck in some of the dirt, making it a little tough to pull him out. However, they were successful in their task and got him up to the dock.
Mario: Isn't that Ninbot?
"Hey! It's that ninja robot thing we saw before!" Blade gaped. "How did he get here?"
"He doesn't appear to be working, though…" Luigi trailed.
"Hold on… Let me take a look at this thing…" Flint suggested as he walked over to Ninbot and turned him over. He had a bunch of mud all over him, so he wiped it off and noticed that mud was actually clogging his systems.
"Wait a second… How do you know about this kind of technology?" Chopper asked.
"I happen to have gone in the Floro Sapien Caverns once. They have some technology in there that I messed with once. I think mud is just clogging the insides of this robot. If we can get it out, then he might work."
"Wow… That's kind of surprising, considering that you know something like this." Sonic gawked.
After Flint got the mud off, Ninbot's eyes began to light up. He quickly got himself up and looked around. He was still in the same place he was before, but now he wasn't in the water.
"What just happened…?" he moaned.
"CRAGLEY HO!" Flint gasped as he stepped away from Ninbot. "'From out of thin air, a robot appear in front of us! Did it want to destroy the great Flint Cragley, or could it possibly be a friend?"
Ninbot looked away from Flint and turned to the heroes, who he didn't see before. He began to remember back in the Metallic Forest where they managed to help stop Grim and save him from Metal Chopper.
"You remember us, right?" Blade asked.
"Hmmmmmm…" Ninbot took a close look at the group. He gave them a nod for his response rather than speaking.
Mario: Still a bit on the silent side, huh?
"So… How on earth did you get here anyway?" Luigi asked.
"Well, I might as well explain," Ninbot sat down on the dock while everyone did the same. "While Grim was defeated, the battle wasn't over yet. There's a bigger threat than Grim. Someone named Master Mind is somewhere in this dimension, and he's using his power to mind control people. His power became greater when he got a hold of a brown heart."
"The Pure Heart…" Chopper trailed.
"I managed to find him and battle with him, but I ended up losing the fight. He told his robot minions to throw me in these caverns in the lake so I would never get out. That's when everything went blank for me."
"So, this guy is a force to be reckoned with?" Blade pondered. "What if you helped us find this Master Mind?"
"You'd be putting yourself in danger. He is WAY too strong for you guys to battle."
"Oh yeah? We fought a clown who transformed into a monster with teleportation, the ability to open portals, and even summon darkness! How about that?" Chopper smirked. "If we could beat that, then I bet we could win against this Master Mind guy!"
"He has the ability to mind control you. Fighting him is suicide when his mind control tower is still up."
"Mind control tower? Now that's new…" Luigi trailed.
"Perhaps great treasure lies before there!" Flint announced.
"Hmmmm… So you still want to go fight him, do you not?" Ninbot sighed.
"We need to," Chopper nodded. "Did you see the sky lately? The Void is back, and it's going to destroy everything if we don't do anything."
"Very well… It looks like you're not going to be convinced. I can discuss plans with you right now, but it's better that we get out of these caverns first. When we're in his territory, we can discuss our attack."
"All right!" Sonic grinned. "So, it looks like you're coming with us! That's nice!"
"Are you going to ditch us like the other times, though?" Blade asked before Ninbot shook his head. "Oh… Well, that's good to hear. Anyway, let's just get going."
With that, they crossed the lake ahead and headed through the door. There were a couple of Putrid Bushers walking around by a hill ahead, but they were instantly beaten when Kirby used his tornado attack.
"Poyo! (Take that!)" Kirby scoffed.
With the Bushers out of the way, Chopper and Sonic ran down the hill with their speed increasing. Kirby decided to slide down the hill, as well as Mario and Luigi. Blade, unfortunately, tumbled down the hill like the staircase.
"Wait a second… Flint, you knocked me down those stairs!" Blade recalled, hissing at the treasure hunter.
"Now now… No need to get angry!" Flint sweat dropped. "It was a complete accident!"
"…You're lucky that I'm forgiving you, because as a ninja, I need to have some honor in me, y'know?"
"Ah! Good! Good little kitty!"
"Don't ever call me a kitty ever again…"
Anyway, they followed the rest of the group over to a tree that required Blade's katana to cut down. A door happened to be right in front of them, so they took it into an area with a Dark Intruderbot blocking the staircase ahead.
"Hey, would you look at that?" Chopper gasped. "We actually made it through the entire cavern!"
"It didn't feel like it was THAT big…" Luigi trailed.
Mario: Well, the fight with Fawful made it feel long.
"But this stupid robot's in our way," Sonic grumbled as he jumped away from the stomp attack that it had. "Plus, these guys are usually burly. It might take a lot to take this guy down."
The Dark Intruderbot was about to attack again, but Ninbot jumped into action and sliced the robot in half with his own katana. With that, he walked over to the staircase and gestured them to follow.
Mario: Typical Ninbot…
They made their way up the staircase, where they found a Star Block over by another door. They decided to look the other way and saw how vast the forest was. They could see the staircase they started at from where they stood.
"Man, I can't believe we can see where we started here," Blade said in awe.
"Yeah, I know," Chopper agreed as he hit the Star Block. "But, I guess that ends this part for now. Hopefully it should be pretty through this door."
END OF CHAPTER
Ninbot looked at the group worriedly as he noticed that they had a lot of confidence in defeating the one called Master Mind. While he was glad that he would have help along the way, even with this group, it probably wouldn't be enough to take him down. Nevertheless, he and the group decided that it was best to get a move on. "'As we venture through this door, we will most likely find the legendary treasure that we've been seeking this whole time!'" announced Flint as they slowly opened the door. Chopper hoped that it would look pretty, but his hopes could be possibly shattered as they saw what was through.
...I actually liked this Fawful fight, to be honest. :P
And yes, we see the return of Ninbot from Chapter 11 (although if you didn't read through those other chapters, I feel sorry for you)! You honestly believed that I was going to abandon some of the characters like Flint and Ninbot? Well, not anymore!
I believe that is all for now... Next time, we explore what's through the door.