CHAPTER 17-4
-The Eerie Temple-
While Chopper's expression looked excited, he looked very disappointed to see what was through the door. There was nothing but darkness in this place. No one even dared to say anything. For some reason, it reminded the heroes of when they ventured into the ruins in that one world with the ghosts. However, the only difference between this place and the ruins was that there weren't ghosts here. However, there were some bones on the ground that resembled Dry Bones. It was definitely not a pretty sight.
"Oh… So it looks like this place isn't so nice after all…"Chopper trailed, looking at they dark room they entered. "What a shame, considering that I was hoping for a garden of some sort here."
"Well, you can't always expect the greatest things in the world," Sonic informed. "That's why we can't just say that the next place will probably be paradise. This happens."
"CRAGLEY HO!" Flint cried. "'And as a result of an adventurer's words, we were brought into the darkest places of the temple itself! However, this will not stop a great treasure hunter such as myself, for I am brave enough to take on any challenges that are before me!'"
"Yeah right," scoffed Blade.
"Yeah, I agree, brah," agreed Monzo.
"He scared of many things," Hornfels chuckled.
"Ahem… Is that what you say to your boss?" Flint asked as he raised an eyebrow at his crew. "You know, I can fire you right now and leave you in this temple alone. However, I feel that I cannot leave you guys be and let you die like my last crew, may they rest in peace. But, let's just hope you don't get too distracted."
"So, Ninbot…" Luigi began, turning his head to the silent ninja robot. "Since you were taken through this place, would you know anything about this place? Any certain path?"
"I don't recall being here," Ninbot replied, shaking his head. "I saw a small glimpse of this place as I was being taken to the caverns, but because I was nearly unconscious, I didn't see too much."
"Hey, look over here, guys!" Sonic took note of a small ray of light coming through the ceiling. "Apparently there's some light here! I bet we can use this to find anything around this hallway."
"Yeah… But, I think there's something I don't like here…" Luigi gulped, seeing something ahead.
Mario: What's that?
"Right there!" he shrieked as he pointed to a black Robbie over by the ray of light. It didn't appear to be moving, but from what Luigi knew, that thing could let out a howling shriek and freeze them.
"Poyo? (Are those Robbies?)" Kirby gawked.
"'Another discovery has been…discovered!'" announced Flint as he ran over to the Dark Robbie. However, Luigi was able to grab a hold of his collar and pull him away. "What are you doing?!"
"D-Don't get cl-close to that thing!" stammered Luigi. "It'll l-let out a t-terrible scream!"
"Terrible scream? HA! Nothing can scare the great Flint Cragley! I'll even prove it to you!" the adventurer managed to get out of Luigi's grasps and ran straight at the Dark Robbie.
Only to have it let out a terrible shriek as its purple eyes began to glow.
"Wh-What was th-that?!"
"I-I-I t-told y-you!" Luigi shuddered as the Dark Robbie slowly began to make its way straight for Flint. It managed to grab him and began to strangle him. All Flint could do was cry out for help with the remaining air in his lungs.
"…Are we seriously going to leave him like this?" Chopper gawked.
"Well, I think I have an idea…" Sonic grabbed Reflecto and stood in the light. He held him in front of him and let the shining light hit the Dark Robbie. It was enveloped by the light, resulting in it being stunned and releasing Flint. With this, Sonic finished it off with a couple of Homing Attacks.
"Whew… That was too close." Flint sighed, taking some deep breaths. "All right, I should be careful next time…"
Mario: I don't think that's the last time we'll see another of those guys…
They ran over to the door and entered a room with a couple of coffins lying on the ground. There didn't appear to be open, but they looked worried as they saw a Skull Bat hanging from the ceiling.
At least, it was Luigi who felt worried.
"Oh, man… This place is really making me feel uneasy…" Luigi shuddered as he noticed the Skull Bat make its way down to the group. Mario got his hammer out and whacked it away to keep it from attacking.
Mario: Everything should be all right, Luigi!
"Unnnnnhhhhh… I don't know about that. Maybe bec—AAAUGH!" the green plumber shrieked as he noticed a shadow on the wall, he ran to the back of the group and cowered in fear. "Now I wanna go back…"
"Suck it up and stay with us," Blade suggested. "Didn't you go through Tipral's Palace yourself? That place was pretty dark, and you even said that you weren't afraid!"
"I was only like that because I was trying my best to hide the fear in me… It's not so easy to keep myself from actually screaming! I've actually been waiting to let that all out after getting out of there."
"…You were keeping all of that fear in you?" Chopper gawked. "I thought you turned out to be incredibly brave in the end?"
"No… That was all a lie. I'm sorry if you're disappointed."
One of the coffins opened up and Dark Bones jumped out, hitting Luigi in the head with a bone it threw. He fell over on the ground, dazed, while Chopper attacked it with a Vulcan Jab. One attack seemed to make it collapse.
"I guess this place is crawling with the dead," Ninbot muttered as he jumped from coffin to coffin, making a couple of more open up to reveal more Dark Bones. Needless to say, they were not safe here.
"Thanks for that, Ninbot…" Blade groaned, readying his katana. "I think if I use a Dragon Beam, I might be able to defeat them."
"Go for it," Sonic suggested.
Everyone stood out of the way as Blade swung his katana forward and fired a Dragon Beam at the Dark Bones coming their way. They were incinerated by the attack, leaving nothing but smoke on the ground. Even Ninbot couldn't perform such a move.
"Hmph… Not bad, I guess." Ninbot briefly commented.
"You guess?" Blade gawked. "Come on now… You really can't deny this being awesome. Everyone else here thinks it's an awesome upgrade to my katana. What do you have that I don't?"
"Blade… Let's not go mocking others…" Sonic warned.
"It's not going to get us anywhere…" Chopper trailed.
Blade sighed as they jumped over the coffins. They found Ninbot standing by a cracked wall, trying to blow it up. Sadly, not of his shuriken bombs seemed to do the trick.
"This wall's too strong for my shurikens," stated Ninbot.
"Let's see if Hommissile can do the trick… Hommissile! Use Explosion!" Blade shouted as he threw the Pixl at the wall. It left an explosion, but it didn't make a hole through the wall.
"It's not very effective…" Chopper trailed.
"You've gotta be kidding me… This wall won't get destroyed with Hommissile? This is downright shocking to me!"
"CRAGLEY HO!" Flint cried out. "'Such a shocking moment! One of our allies had a weapon that was capable of blowing through walls! But all went in vain as it failed to destroy this wall. Now we sit here, wondering where we should go next…'"
"There's probably a secret here," Ninbot pondered.
"Then that means we need to go into 3-D!" Chopper announced as he threw his arms in the air and went into 3-D. The only people that didn't go into 3-D were Flint, his camera crew, and Ninbot.
"Wait… Where did you guys go?" Flint asked.
"Obviously not here, brah," Monzo informed.
"Yes I know that already. You don't need to tell me a second time."
While in 3-D, the six noticed that there was a little tunnel over to their right. They headed through to find a secret door. Knowing there was something through there, he opened it into a hallway with steps leading down to a wall.
"Poyo… (I really don't see much down these steps…)" Kirby trailed as he began to jumped down the large steps. The only thing he DID see, however, was a pipe hanging from the ceiling with Skull Squigs coming down.
"Dead Squigs? This isn't nice…" Chopper frowned.
"You think we can use anything else to defeat these guys?" Blade asked. "Because personally, I don't want to be forced to use fire all the time. To me, that just ruins the adventure in here."
"Let's find out," Chopper attacked the Skull Squig with his Vulcan Jab. Surprisingly, it ended up disintegrating into smoke after enough hits. It looks like it didn't really matter whether or not fire was needed.
"Well, I guess that solves that little mystery," Sonic smirked.
Mario: But there's nothing else around here!
Mario looked up and saw a Skull Squig drop from the pipe and land in front of Luigi, who helped and cowered by the steps. Mario, sighing, smashed the Skull Squig and dragged Luigi to the group.
"B-Bro! Don't do this to me!" Luigi cried.
Mario: You shouldn't be staying behind us!
"O-OK! Fine! I'll just try what I did back in Tipral's Palace and attempt to keep my screams from inside… But don't expect me to be able to hold it in a hundred percent. It's not easy for me…"
"Hmmmmmm…" As Luigi sighed, Chopper pondered as he looked at the wall.
"Poyo? (What is it, Chopper?)" Kirby asked.
"I have a feeling that there's something behind this wall…" Chopper trailed. He tried to punch it, but it resulted in him hurting his hand. "Ow… That was actually painful, I'll admit."
"Do you think we need to bandage it up a bit?" Sonic asked. "Is it as bad as when Tipral attempted to punch but failed?"
"I'm not completely sure… But, I'm definitely sure that I'm not going to be using my right fist for a while, which is bad, considering that I'm a righty… Anyway, let's look at this wall."
Chopper flipped into 3-D and noticed a little crack that looked as if he could slip through. He brought his friends into 3-D and used Slim's ability to go through the wall to find a hallway with a couple of lit torches on the wall.
"Well, at least this place has light," Luigi sighed until he noticed a Dark Robbie standing by the door. Since they were far enough, it didn't let out a scream.
"Hmmmmm… What would happen if I threw an ice ball?" Chopper hurled an ice ball at the Dark Robbie like a bowling ball and froze the robot zombie. They all watched as it stood still, not moving for a split second.
Eventually, the ice thawed out, but it didn't even do any damage to it, which was surprising. Maybe ice doesn't have an effect on Dark Robbies?
"Great… Well, then there's only one option." Blade groaned as he rushed over to it. It let out a shriek that caused everyone to freeze. It slowly began to make its way to Blade, but when he unfroze, he was able to land a combo with his katana and defeat it, clearing the room of enemies.
"All right, it's clear."
"Good," Chopper sighed as he ran over to the door. "OK, maybe I might want to get something to wrap my fist."
"Poyo, (It looks swollen,)" Kirby noticed.
"Thank goodness I have this glove on me, or else it would've probably been worse."
"Maybe we can find something that'll treat it. Maybe Flint or Ninbot has something that could help treat it?" Luigi pondered. "Although, asking a robot something like that is a little strange."
"Not really," Sonic shrugged.
They headed into the door ahead to find a small room with a dark mist around. They noticed a statue of the robot from before. Just why was this robot statue all over the place anyway?
"I don't like it here…" Luigi shivered.
"So visitors have arrived? Hmmmmmm… Now what's this I see?" Everyone noticed above them, a dark phantom appeared out of thin air, looking down at the heroes. "It's you people again…"
"Huh? What in the world?" Blade gawked.
"Poyo! (It's that Soul Collector from the world before!)" Kirby gasped. "Poyo? (But why is it here?)"
"I see you all looked surprised to see me," the Soul Collector cackled. "So you haven't given up on your little quest, didn't you? You're trying to collect the Pure Hearts, aren't you?"
"How do you know about the Pure Heart?" Chopper questioned.
"Because my kind were the ones that discovered the Chaos Heart in the first place! You see, I'm from an old tribe called the Tribe of Darkness, and as you can see, we don't take kindly to heroes."
"Tribe of Darkness? Then… You wouldn't happen to know about Count Bleck, right?" Luigi pondered.
"You mean Blumiere," Sonic corrected.
"Blumiere? You mean the one who murdered his own father? Yes… He was once in love with a human girl that we didn't take too fondly of. When she was cursed, Blumiere murdered his father and most of the Tribe of Darkness to steal the Dark Prognosticus. I was the only one who managed to get away. That is, until I encountered someone that looked like you."
"Tipral…" Chopper trailed. "This is interesting… So he took part in destroying some of the people in the Tribe of Darkness?"
"Look, do you know anything that can help us get past a cracked wall?" Blade asked, butting into the conversation.
"Help YOU guys? Dream on. I'm a Soul Collector, just like the other phantoms. It is my duty to collect the souls of those who are lost in this temple. Now that I've encountered some people here… It looks like I'll be having some fun!"
"Evil until the end…" Chopper trailed. "Fine. You can be that way."
The Soul Collector cackled as it made its wand vaporize out of thin air and fire a dark spell down at the group. Kirby jumped out of the way and attacked the Soul Collector with a tornado.
"How laughable! Even still, you're incapable of defeating me! Try everything you can, but you won't win!" the Soul Collector boasted.
"Boasting? How clichéd," Blade scoffed as he attacked the Soul Collector with his Dragon Beam. What shocked him was that it didn't seem to have any effect on it. "What? No way! It didn't work?!"
"I guess none of our attacks are going to hurt this thing…" Luigi trailed.
Sonic frowned and tried to punch the Soul Collector. He only got whacked by its wand, unfortunately, and was sent flying back. The Soul Collector was about to attack again, but stopped when it found Mario attacking it with Kickbrin.
"Oh, please. This is the best you can do? For a bunch of heroes, you don't look very intimidating." the Soul Collector scoffed as it fired a dark pulse that sent everyone flying back. It cackled and began to conjure up another spell.
"Hold on… I think I just remembered something…" Chopper realized as he conjured up a rainbow ball and hurled it at the Soul Collector. It left it blind, making the pale green gumball smirk.
"Gotcha!"
"Gah! I HATE rainbow energy! I didn't expect you to be holding that…" the Soul Collector grumbled as it rubbed its eyes. "Bleh. But even still, you can't defeat me with something like that."
"Then what's your weakness?" Sonic asked.
"I'm not stupid enough to tell you, hedgehog. Now, I suggest you leave before I'm actually forced to take your souls." the Soul Collector slowly faded away as a box on TNT appeared in front of them.
"TNT? Why would we need that?" Luigi gawked.
Mario: To blow up the wall?
"You know what? This is almost like in the cartoons." Blade remarked. "A lot of times, they always use TNT to blow stuff up. I think if we used this, we might have a stronger explosion."
"You mean I'm useless, KA-BOOM?" Hommissile sniffled.
"Of course not! It's just… This wall is a little too strong for your explosions. The other walls and cracks, on the other hand, couldn't take your explosions. So, I'm sure you'll have no problem with others. Besides, we only have one TNT anyway."
"Poyo? (Is it heavy?)" Kirby asked.
"Well… For me, it's not easy picking this up with one hand…" Chopper grumbled as he tried to pick it up. He could lift it up a little with his left hand, but he would need both hands to pick it up.
"Stupid hand! Why did I have to punch that wall in the first place?"
"Because you pulled off a dumb move?" Blade shrugged.
"Ugh… Let's… Let's just go back to that coffin room."
Coffin room-
"And what took you guys so long?" Flint asked as the six heroes flipped back into 2-D. He happened to notice Chopper's hand. "And what happened to your hand?"
"I punched a wall and this is what happened…"
"You know, I believe I still might have some of that Pianta left," the archaeologist checked his pockets and pulled out the plant. "Remember when I got injured in that cavern? Well, I DID say this could heal any injuries. Take it, please. You need both hands to go around anyway."
Chopper sighed and took a small piece of the Pianta off, just in case anyone else gets injured. After eating it, his hand began to heal up, making it feel much better for him. In fact, he could do stuff with it now!
"Thank you, Flint!" Chopper smiled. "I don't have to deal with an injured fist anymore! …I wonder how long Tipral had to wait until his hand was healed up."
"Well, who really cares?" Blade scoffed as he placed the TNT by the wall. "We've got some stuff to blow up! I suggest you guys get back so I can activate the TNT and make it go boom."
Blade pushed down on the switch and there was an explosion that sent everyone flying back. When they got up, they found a hole leading through a hallway. What was the bad news? A Dark Robbie happened to be behind it.
"Uggh… Not another one of those…" Luigi shivered.
"We can take it," Sonic assured, getting ready to use a Spin Dash. "Wait… If I tried doing that, wouldn't I put myself in risk in getting attacked by that zombie thing?"
"We need something that can stun it," Ninbot suggested as he took a couple of steps through the hole. He threw a shuriken straight at the Dark Robbie, hitting it, but not doing much.
"You gotta get closer to it to do more damage, I believe…" Chopper sighed as he took a couple of steps forward. Everyone followed and heard the ear-piercing screech of the Dark Robbie.
"Poyo?! (Why don't we have earmuffs to cover the sounds of this?!)" Kirby cried, frozen in fear.
"You know… That's something that we sh-should've done…" Chopper agreed, no longer frozen like everyone else. He ran up to the Dark Robbie when he had the chance and attacked it with a Rising Break. "Dang… It's still not finished yet.
"Get rid of it before it scream!" Hornfels cried.
Unfortunately, he couldn't make another move when the Dark Robbie screeched and grabbed Chopper. Instead of strangle him, it decided that it would try to squeeze him instead. Mario reacted by smashing the Dark Robbie with his hammer.
Mario: That should take care of it!
"Whew… Thanks, buddy!" Chopper sighed as he quickly shook himself. There was a door just up ahead. Knowing what they should do, they moved on to a room with a staircase in 3-D and a large statue that resembled the robot from before.
"More of these…" Sonic trailed.
"I don't think I can put my eye on who that is…" Ninbot trailed. "It looks a little too old for me to see…"
"Well, I think there might be something that can help us break this," Luigi looked over to the shining light up on the ledge above them. "But… I don't know if we can even get up there! Not even my jump is capable of that level!"
"What about the stairs in 3-D?" Chopper brought up. "Maybe if we go there, we can manage to do something with that light!"
"Well, why don't you do it?" Sonic suggested. "We'll just try to find something around here to help us."
"Fine…" Chopper went into 3-D and reached higher ground thanks to the steps. When he went into 2-D, he was above the group on the climbable cliff, right by where the light was shining.
"This look cool," Monzo gawked.
"Wait a minute…" Luigi looked over at two Dark Bones at rose from the ground and charged at them. "Oh, man! Not these guys! Why do they always have to come here and make things bad for us?"
"Oh, this is easy," assured Blade as he threw Hommissile at the Dark Bones, blowing them up and disintegrating them. However, with that in mind, two more Dark Bones appeared, but with scimitars.
"Oh, crud… They've got pirate weapons now."
"Pirate weapons?" Ninbot gawked. "A ninja…and a pirate… I'm seeing something here."
"Well, it doesn't matter. I've got the fire power here. …Get it, fire power, as in fire?" Blade snickered as everyone face palmed. Even Chopper face palmed, and he was the one who made more puns!
"See? I'm not the only one here who makes bad puns…" Chopper sighed.
"Well, so how's it going up there, Chopper?" Sonic called out.
"Uhhhhh… Well, all I can see is the light shining down here, that's about it. You think there might be a way to get that statue out of the way." Chopper looked up ahead at the statue.
"Hmmmmm… Well, what if you used Reflecto on the light?" Luigi suggested. "He was able to reflect light onto that one Dark Robbie we faced before. If that worked, why not use the light?"
Chopper shrugged and decided to use Reflecto. When the light reflected on the statue, it emitted a light before fading away. The only problem? The Dark Bones were still stranding in front of them.
"Poyo, (We need some fire here,)" Kirby muttered, making them collapse with his Tornado ability.
"Well, now that that statue's out of the way…" Flint made his way past the pile of Dark Bones, but not before getting grabbed by the foot by one of them. He screamed as he tried to tug at them.
"You! Hero people! Do something about this!"
"All right, calm down," Chopper sighed as he jumped down and attacked with a flaming kick, defeating the Dark Bones. With that, they continued on through the hallway and found a small staircase leading down to some small platforms that looked as if only one person could jump over.
Mario: This doesn't look safe…
"And that's why we need to be steady here," Ninbot alarmed as he jumped on the platforms first and reached the door. Everyone else used their skills in platforming to jump across and enter the room ahead to find a bunch of dark smog down some small steps.
"What in the world? What's that?" Blade asked.
"Poyo, (It looks a little dark,)" Kirby noticed, looking at the purple smog down the steps. He felt a little worried if he even touched it. So, Chopper decided to do it instead and walked down the stairs.
"Hmmmmmm… Nothing special here." Chopper said as he touched the smog. The only problem? He began to glow a purple color every second. In fact, he didn't have the power to jump or attack as of right now!
"Huh? What happened to my abilities?! Nothing's working?!"
"CRAGLEY HO!" Flint shouted, startling everyone. "'The smog! Oh, how deadly it was to see such stuff like this! A poor adventurer had to be caught in it and cursed! Now he no longer has the ability to fight back! Oh, woe is him…'"
"You don't sound sympathetic, brah," Hornfels informed.
"Shush! Don't let the people know!"
"Oh, man… I hate this!" Chopper sulked before he felt himself getting grabbed by a shadowy hand that rose from the ground. He shrieked in horror as he tried to get himself out of its grasps.
"EEP! NOT PHANTOM HANDS!"
"Phantom Hands?" Sonic gawked. "How do you know about them?"
"B-Because I've witnessed them on my p-planet before… They're these floating hands on the ground that grab you!"
"Then we gotta get him out of there!" Blade declared, running straight for the smog until Ninbot grabbed him.
"No. If you go in there, you'll be defenseless." warned Ninbot.
"But our friend's stuck in there!" Sonic defended. "How are we supposed to get him out of there?"
"Crag it away, brah!" Hornfels suggested.
"Only gas," Monzo informed.
"Uhhhhhh… Does anyone have a clue on what they're saying?" Luigi asked, looking around the group for answers. "Honestly, I don't understand a word they're saying so far…"
Mario: Same here!
A light bulb appeared over Kirby's head. He spun around in a tornado and began to go into the mist. Apparently, with his tornado, he was able to blow the mist away with ease. Now they could see Chopper being pulled by the Phantom Hand.
"Someone help me, please!" Chopper cried.
"Poyo! (I got it all covered!)" Kirby announced as he attacked the Phantom Hand with a simple kick. It shrieked and released Chopper. Kirby finished it off by going into another tornado and destroying it.
"Whew… Thanks for that, Kirby… I just hate those things. They're probably the creepiest things that I've ever run into…"
"Nothing else was as creepy as that?" Luigi asked as everyone walked over to him now that the mist was out of the way.
"There are some creepy things… But these things scare me the most."
"Huh... So that's what that thing was in the Path of Fear..." Blade realized.
"Well, now that you're free from that thing, I say we look around here for more…" Flint paused when he saw another Phantom Hand rise from the group ahead, right by a crackled pillar.
"I can also see a locked door up ahead," Sonic noticed, looking over by another staircase going down. "But… We don't even have a key with us! Is there anything we can do to find one?"
"We might have to…gulp…go to that pillar," Chopper shuddered, shaking as he pointed to the pillar with the Phantom Hand. Sonic shrugged and attempted to attack it, but was grabbed by the Phantom Hand.
"See? I told you!"
He was forced to run over to the Phantom Hand and attack it with a Smash Punch. Instead, the Phantom Hand swung Sonic straight at Chopper, knocking his Fighter ability away.
"OW! Watch it, hand!" Sonic snapped.
"They can even use people as weapons! Not only that…" Chopper grabbed his hammer and bashed the Phantom Hand, making it release Sonic. But that didn't stop it from grabbing Chopper instead. "AUGH! NO!"
"Dude, chill out. It's just a hand…" Blade trailed.
"Well, it can do more than that! It can…" they all gaped as the Phantom Hand dragged Chopper below the floor. His scream made everyone shudder until he was thrown out of the ground. He fell over beside the group.
"What did that thing do?" Flint asked.
"Hurt me… It was like I was being tortured…"
"Then we need some ranged attacks," Blade declared, throwing a couple of shurikens at the Phantom Hand. Before they knew it, it was destroyed as it slowly faded away in the darkness.
"Wow… And to think I would be scared of something that much." Luigi realized.
"Oh, shut up," Chopper frowned.
Blade looked over at the cracked pillar and decided to toss Hommissile at it. The pillar fell over and revealed a Temple Key. With a grin, he grabbed it and opened the door up ahead.
"Let's move on and see what we have," Blade suggested as he headed into the next room with everyone else. Here, they discovered that there were two sets of stairs. One was going up, while the other was going down.
"We should go up," Ninbot suggested.
"Going up means we can get out of this place," Chopper agreed.
"Oh, I would love that…" Luigi trailed.
They decided to go up the stairs, but they stopped when they saw that the door was locked. They all made a face and headed back down. They noticed by the stairs below, there was more purple shadowy mist.
"Ugh… If we touch that, we can't do anything." Chopper groaned.
"But it won't hurt us," Sonic informed.
Mario: It's still not good if there are enemies there.
"Poyo! (Then allow me!)" Kirby smiled as he used his Tornado ability to clear the shadowy mist out of the way. With that, a door was revealed. Thankfully, it wasn't locked like the other.
"Then we'll go down there!" Flint announced as he turned to his camera crew. "You getting all of this?"
"Uhhhh… Yeah, brah! I'm cragging it!" Monzo nodded. "But you're not cragging…"
"OK, fine… CRAGLEY HO! 'Oh, what a surprise! We were able to encounter this door, but sadly, it wouldn't open for us. Not only that, but we ran into something shocking back in another room! It was scary, let me tell you…' Like that?"
"Sure…" Hornfels trailed.
"Poyo, (You guys should stay here to avoid any more danger,)" Kirby suggested. "Poyo. (It might be dangerous down here.)"
"What on earth is that…thing saying?" Flint asked, raising an eyebrow.
"He told you guys to stay here," Chopper translated. "He sense danger down there, so it might be for the better."
"Poyo! (And hopefully we find food down there too!)" Kirby cheered.
"Yeah… I wish…"
"Ninbot, why don't you stay here with them?" Blade suggested, receiving a strange look from Ninbot. "They're pretty much defenseless. If you stayed here, there's a chance they could survive."
"Very well," Ninbot gave a nod as he remained put while the heroes headed through the room downstairs.
"Uh oh… I'm seeing something." Luigi gulped as they found two Dark Robbies and a large amount of shadowy mist below. Overall, they knew that they were in danger no matter what.
"I hope there aren't any Phantom Hands in that mist…" Chopper shivered.
Mario: And now we have the Dark Robbies too…
"Wait! Is that a shining light coming from the ceiling?" Sonic gaped, looking at the light shining down near them. "Hey… If that was used on the two Dark Robbies, then this wouldn't be a huge problem for us!"
Mario: Let's try it out!
Sonic walked into the light and used Reflecto to reflect the light onto the Dark Robbies. They were stunned by the light, allowing Mario and Kirby to attack them with a hammer and tornado.
"Poyo! (These things are easy when they're stunned!)" scoffed Kirby.
"Well, I'm not going to attack them," Luigi retorted, turning away from the rest of the group. "I don't think that I'll even have enough time to defeat one anyway. They don't sit there for a while!"
"Not unless I continued to use Reflecto on them," Sonic added. "And besides, they're already gone."
"Yeah, I know…"
They walked over to where the shadowy mist was, but since they got a little too close, they were glowing a purple color. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do at the moment.
"This is like those Cursyas!" Chopper grumbled.
"Speaking of those… Where have they gone?" Blade asked.
"Poyo, (I guess we won't be seeing them anymore,)" Kirby shrugged.
They stepped away from the shadowy mist, but they seemed to notice that there were two Phantom Hands roaming around, making Chopper gulp. Luckily, their purple glow went away as they stepped back.
"All right, we're gonna have to blow that stuff away," Sonic stated, holding Reflecto under the light. He noticed that the light seemed to get rid of the shadowy mist. "Wait… This can work too!"
"Yeah, maybe you can do that, Sonic," Blade suggested.
"What about the Phantom Hands?" Luigi mentioned.
Mario: Hopefully we can handle them.
"But we need to distract it with something…" Chopper trailed. "And we're not going to throw someone at it. That's NOT a safe thing to do!"
When Sonic reflected the light onto the Phantom Hands, they were stunned for a couple of minutes. Knowing that they had a chance to attack, Chopper hurled a couple of rainbow balls at one of them to destroy it.
"That takes care of one," Luigi said as he took care of the other with a Phantom Hand with his Cyclone. With that, it was all clear for them to go, but they stopped when they saw a small orb on a pedestal in front of them by the wall.
"What do you think this is for?" Sonic questioned.
"It's an orb," Blade informed. "It appears to be empty, though… What do you think we need to do here?"
"I've got an idea," Chopper flung a rainbow ball into the orb, which ended up revealing a secret area you could go down if you went into 3-D. Chopper flipped with everyone else, and they jumped down the hole into a room with a couple of stone platforms floating on some shallow purple water.
"Uh oh… Don't tell me we have to swim here." Sonic gulped. "I don't like swimming…"
"Well, let's see," When Chopper jumped in the water, he noticed that it was pretty shallow. It was only going up to his feet. However, now he was glowing a purple color.
"This isn't good water."
They pulled Chopper out of the water and decided that he should stay there. With that, the rest of the group crossed the water with the stone platforms, but noticed that at the last platform, there was a chest being guarded by two Phantom Hands.
"Uh oh… This isn't good." Blade groaned.
Mario: If they grab us, we're in trouble!
"Poyo? (Maybe this will do something?)" Kirby attacked the Phantom Hands in a tornado. They tried to attack him, but they ended up getting defeated instead. Kirby opened the chest and found a Temple Key.
"There's the key!" Luigi gasped.
"Now let's get out of here," Sonic suggested.
Room with two staircases-
"What the crag you doing?" Hornfels asked as Flint was trying to kick at the locked door up the stairs.
"What does it look like? Those people are taking too long! I'm trying to get us out of this place!" Flint explained as he tried to pull at the lock. "Unfortunately, I'm not doing such a good job…"
"They said to stay over here," Ninbot ordered as he grabbed Flint and pulled him back. They all noticed that the heroes were coming back up the stairs, with Chopper's glow finally gone.
"So what was it like down there? Was it like an adventure?" Flint asked.
"If you ask me, it was creepy," Chopper stated.
"Well, that's good to… Wait a minute… CRAGLEY HO!" Everyone stepped back as Flint shouted. "'Our fellow adventurers! They have managed to return from the depts. Of the underworld itself! I am in glee as I see that one of them is holding a key in his hand! Surely enough that we will be able to find some treasure. Of course, they couldn't have done this without my intellect.'"
"YOUR intellect?" Blade gaped. "No way!"
"Anyway… Shouldn't get unlock the door upstairs?" Sonic questioned. "We can't just sit here…"
"Especially with The Void," Chopper added.
Everyone agreed and made their way up the stairs. Kirby unlocked the door and entered a hallway with a door nearby. They decided to see what was up ahead, but according to Sonic, this was the end of the hallway.
"Really? Nothing else?" Luigi gawked.
"Nope. Although, I actually heard something from behind the wall…" Sonic trailed. "Maybe there's a secret behind there."
"Well, all we can do right now is go through here," Chopper said as he kicked the door open into a room that looked big enough for a fight. They also saw a staircase leading up to a pedestal.
There happened to be a golden Cragnon statue sitting there.
"Could it be…?" Flint gasped. "CRAGLEY HO! 'My eyes… My eyes cannot believe what they see! Up on that pedestal… There's a sacred treasure sitting there! Now, I'll need to be careful if I'm going to get a hold of that…'"
"You fell right into my trap!"
"'So I should…' Wait, who on crag just said that?"
A Koopa with a blue hairdo dropped from the ceiling and landed in front of the group. Mario and Luigi gasped and got in their fighting stances, knowing who this person was.
"Whoa… Another one of these Koopa guys?" Chopper gawked. "How many are there?"
Mario: Seven Koopalings.
"Oh, so this is the last one, huh?"
"I see that you finally made it all the way here," the Koopaling spat. "The name's Ludwig von Koopa! I'm the oldest of the Koopalings."
"Hmmmm? OK, so he has an accent. That's interesting."
"Don't you think it's just better to save yourself?" Sonic asked. "There's a dark swirling vortex in the sky! I think it's better that you try to keep yourself from dying rather than picking a fight with us."
"Don't you know how hard it is to stay here for a long time?" Ludwig asked, seething with anger. "I haven't seen sunlight since that dark person that looks like that kid there brought me here, and that was a long time! You really think I had FUN here?!"
"Oh… You were stuck here this whole time…" Luigi gaped. "That's a little sad."
"So, you know how I feel now, right? Well, now that you know, I can finally have my chance to take you down! King Bowser's missing, and I want to get him back. Only he knows how to handle my siblings."
"Look, we can't let you do that because WE need to save everyone from dying from The Void," Chopper explained. "We're technically saving YOU from this, too. When all of this is over, you can attack us all you want."
"I think I'm going to do it now," Ludwig grabbed a hold of his wand and began to wave it around. "My siblings are NOTHING compared to me. I've got everything that they don't!"
"Fine… If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get." Blade declared, drawing his katana.
"What about the treasure?" Flint gasped.
"Wait until we take care of this guy," Chopper suggested.
"Ugh… Fine."
"Now let's settle this," Ludwig declared, firing a blue magical projectile straight at the group. Kirby jumped out of the way with a Cartwheel, then attacked Ludwig with a Tornado attack.
"So he has 400 HP, an Attack of 16, and a Defense of 6. Huh… Well, he has the same HP as Dimentio Doom, but he doesn't seem as threatening." Chopper pondered before getting hit by Ludwig's magic.
"He uses blue magic? Kinda matches my fur!" Sonic smirked, curling up and knocking Ludwig back with a Spin Dash. It sent the Koopaling flying onto the stairs. Thankfully, his spiky shell prevented his back from getting injured.
"Let's see how you handle this!" Ludwig got in his shell and tossed himself at Sonic. He countered the attack by tossing himself in a ball at him. Despite this, both were sent flying back.
"Whoa… What a fight." Flint gaped.
"We should film this, brah!" Monzo suggested, aiming the camera at the fight.
"You idiot! It's supposed to be for me, not them!"
Unfortunately, this wasn't enough for Monzo to listen. He continued to watch the fight.
"You going to do something to help, robot ninja thing?" Flint asked as he looked over at Ninbot, who shook his head, knowing that this is their fight. They all watched as Luigi got sent flying back by Ludwig's shell toss.
"Ooh! Right in the crag!" Hornfels winced.
"Hmmmmm… Fine. We'll watch this little fight. We never really see much action anyway." Flint sighed. "Besides… I think some Cragnons would like to see some action in this adventure."
Ludwig stood back up and readied his wand again. However, Blade was able to kick him in the stomach and attack him a couple of times with his katana. Ludwig was almost worried that his hair would be cut off.
"Take that blade away from me," Ludwig growled as he spat a fireball at Blade, setting him on fire.
"Whoa! I'm on fire!" Blade cried.
"Thankfully I can set people on fire too! Makes it easier for me!"
Mario: Oh, yeah… He did this before.
Ludwig was about to spit another fireball, but Mario managed to stomp on his head and bash him with his hammer afterward. The Koopaling turned around and tried to ram at Mario's stomach.
The only problem? It didn't do too much.
"Argh! What's wrong with me?! Why did I think that I had horns on my head like King Bowser?" This only led to him getting kicked in the stomach by Mario, followed by a Bounce Attack from Sonic.
"Well there's something for ya," Sonic smirked.
Ludwig grumbled as he quickly got up. He tried to attack Sonic with his claws, but he missed and ended up leaving himself vulnerable. Kirby pulled his Final Cutter out and slashed him with it.
"Poyo! (It feels good to use this on a Koopaling!)" Kirby smirked.
"Hold on, guys! Lemme have a chance!" Chopper called out as he tossed a couple of fireballs at Ludwig, leaving a burn on him. When the Koopaling turned around, he tried to burn him with fireballs, but they were countered with his ice balls, leaving an explosion.
"What's this? You can use fire and ice?" Ludwig gawked.
"I can do this too," Chopper hurled a charged rainbow ball at Ludwig, sending him flying back to Luigi. This allowed the green plumber to strike him with a flutter jump and a Cyclone.
"Man, I can't wait to be finished with him," Luigi hoped. "Since he's the last Koopaling, we won't have to deal with any more!"
Mario: Oh, yeah! I just remembered that!
Ludwig managed to get back up and punch Luigi in the stomach. Afterward, he jumped and began to flutter – something he was able to do unlike his siblings. He stomped on the ground with great force and left everyone stunned.
"Yeah, Morton and Roy could do that, but thankfully I was able to learn what strong abilities they could do!" Ludwig smirked.
"Well thanks for bragging," Chopper thanked as he jumped on Ludwig and bashed him with his hammer. The Koopaling tried to hit him with magic, but he inhaled it and spat it back at him, leaving him off guard.
"All right! This should be easy!" Luigi was about to make another attack, but Ludwig got back on guard and fired magic at him. The green plumber was sent flying down to the floor. Mario reacted by using his Super Ground Pound on Ludwig.
"Oof! Not bad, plumber… Have you gotten fatter?" Ludwig scoffed.
Mario: I'm only chubby. -_-
Ludwig grinned as he got in his shell and tossed himself at Mario's stomach, knocking him over. The plumber held his stomach in pain, but was saved when Kirby sucked Ludwig in a tornado and tossed him to the wall.
"Ugh… What was that tornado?" gawked Ludwig. "Fine… I guess I'll have to get rid of that the hard way."
When Kirby stopped with his tornado, Ludwig managed to keep him off guard by hurling a spell at him. Now that he was vulnerable, he got in his shell again and tossed himself at the puffball, knocking his Tornado ability away.
"Poyo! (No! Not my Tornado ability!)" Kirby cried.
"Heh heh heh! Well that takes care of that!" Ludwig whirled around to Sonic and managed to hit him with a spell. Afterward, he jumped in the air and landed a ground pound that shook the ground.
"This is getting a little hectic," Flint gasped. "Let's hope nothing gets too extreme here…"
"Fight good for show, brah," Hornfels nodded. "We need it."
"Cragnons like violence anyway," Monzo informed.
Ninbot watched as Ludwig managed to hit Sonic while in a shell now that he was stunned from a stomp. However, Chopper was able to stomp on his head and slam his foot on his nose with rainbow energy.
"OW! My precious nose!" Ludwig cried.
"Well, you did hurt my friend…" Chopper trailed.
Ludwig growled as he grabbed a hold of Chopper and used his as a shield as Mario tried to bash him with his hammer. He ended up hurting Chopper instead.
Mario: Oops! Sorry!
"Ugh… Whatever."
While Ludwig cackled, Blade threw Hommissile at his back while he was distracted, knocking him over on the ground. This left him vulnerable for another attack, especially for Blade.
"Time for a Dragon Beam!" Blade announced as he fired an orange beam at Ludwig before he even had the chance to make another move. It sent him flying to the wall and nearly left a big mark.
"Is that all you've got?!" Ludwig scoffed.
Mario: We surely have more than that.
"Well, how about I do this?" Ludwig waved his wand and summoned a Waddle Doo. Thankfully, this was inhaled by Chopper to gain the Beam ability. He used this to his advantage when he charged up a beam attack and fired a ball of energy straight at Ludwig. "What was that?!"
"Kirby and I can copy abilities, you know," Chopper informed as Kirby hit Ludwig from behind with a Cartwheel. "You probably don't know about this because we're from different worlds."
"Hmmmm… So that explains how different some of you are…"
"Yeah, and that's going to help take you down," Sonic smirked.
Before Ludwig could respond, Luigi threw Bonjourang at his nose, leaving it swollen. The Kooplaing screeched and scorched Luigi with a fireball.
"Ack! Fire! Someone get it off!" Luigi cried.
"Ha HA! I want to see you burn, plumber!" Ludwig cackled as he spat another fireball. Kirby inhaled it to gain the Fire ability, which he used against Ludwig by spitting a fireball at him.
"Poyo? (How do you like that?)" Kirby cheered, hitting him while in a fireball.
"Fire isn't any different against me," the Koopaling retorted as he fluttered in the air and stomped Blade. Sonic reacted by hitting him with a Homing Attack.
"You know, I wonder what the fight against Lemmy was like…" Luigi wondered. "We haven't fought him."
"All he did was throw pies, squirt water and throw balls," Chopper explained as he jumped in the air and fired a beam particle down at Ludwig. To his surprise, the Koopaling was able to dodge it and hit him with a magic projectile while in the air. "Ow… How did he do that?"
"I told you, I have skills that my younger siblings don't have," Ludwig reminded as he fired another blue magic projectile. This time, it was aimed at Sonic, who was able to dodge it and use his Sonic Wind to surround Ludwig in a gust of wind.
"Heh heh! You know, I don't always have to attack at a close range!" Sonic grinned.
"Urgh… You little…!"
"I wonder if you get angry easily, like your father," Blade wondered as he stepped on Ludwig's tail and jumped over him, kicking his head, followed by slashing at him with his katana at a fast pace.
Ludwig managed to kick Blade away and fire a magic attack straight at him. But, due to being a little off guard, Blade got hit by the attack instead and was knocked to the ground. He quickly got up and tossed a couple of shurikens that Ludwig was easily able to dodge.
"You'll have to try a little better than that, pussycat!" scoffed Ludwig.
"Pussycat? I prefer to be called a cat!" Blade retorted as he knocked Ludwig back with his Dragon Beam. It sent the Koopaling flying to the wall and leaving a bigger mark on the wall in the process.
"It's like action movie!" Hornfels grinned.
"How long it last?" Monzo asked.
"I don't know how long it's going to last, you dope," Flint retorted. "All they're doing is beating each other up. Why don't we show something better for once, like me getting a hold of the treasure?"
Like before, he was ignored.
Ludwig jumped in the air and did another stomp attack. This time, however, the heroes jumped before they could get stunned, which helped Sonic strike the Koopaling with a Homing Attack.
"Woo hoo! That was cool!" Sonic smirked before getting hit by Ludwig's magic attack.
"Poyo? (Do you think we should try to heal ourselves?)" Kirby asked as he pulled an Ultimate Shroom Shake out.
"Yeah, we should," Chopper agreed as he took a sip from the shake, recovering 100 HP. They each passed it around until Blade had the last sip. He crushed the can and, in tradition, threw the can at Ludwig.
"Oof! What was that? Did you just throw a can at me?" Ludwig gawked, rubbing his head in pain.
"Of course! That's what we usually do!" Blade explained as he kicked Ludwig in the stomach and slashed him. The Koopaling attempted to stomp on him, but with the help of Barry, he was able to counter his attack and make him get hurt instead.
"And that's why Barry is helpful in this fight."
"All right, looks like he's softened up a bit," Chopper stated as he grabbed his hammer and slammed it on Ludwig's head with ice energy, freezing him. However, a simple fireball was all it took to unfreeze Ludwig and knock Chopper's ability away.
Kirby tried to help him, but Ludwig got in his shell and threw himself at Kirby, knocking his Fire ability away, leaving both without an ability. Thankfully for Kirby, he was able to hit him with his Final Cutter.
"Poyo, (That's for getting rid of my ability,)" Kirby growled as he stepped back and inhaled Ludwig's magic attack, which he spat back at him to sent him tumbling over to Mario.
Mario: You should just give up now.
"What? No way! I will not give up so easily!" Ludwig spat as he quickly got up. "I'm not weak like the others! I'm the oldest of the group!"
"Stop boasting so we can actually have a fight," Chopper grumbled, tossing a couple of rainbow balls his way. Ludwig dodged two of them, but the third one hit him and left him cringing in pain.
"Argh!"
While he tried to get himself together, Mario did a flip and landed on him with a Triple Jump. Ludwig quickly retreated back into his shell and tossed himself at Mario, but only ended up getting sent flying to the wall when Mario used Kickbrin on him.
Mario: Thankfully Kickbrin can hurt him while he's in his shell!
"Hold on, Bro! Lemme get a shot on him!" Luigi called out as Ludwig stood up and fired another magic projectile. Luigi was able to jump over the attack and land a powerful blow to his head with his feet.
"Ugh… How long can I handle this?" Ludwig coughed.
Blade walked up to him and checked to see if he was in a little trance now that he was exhausted. However, Ludwig was still able to attack by clawing at Blade. It hurt him, but not as much as what his katana did to Ludwig.
"All right, he looks like he's about done here," Blade announced. "Why don't we just finish the job now?"
"I might as well…" Sonic trailed as he curled up in a ball and attacked Ludwig with a Homing Attack. With that, the Koopaling fell over on the ground, coughing in extreme pain.
"CRAGLEY HO!" Flint squawked, walking over to the group. "'Oh, what an extreme battle that was! You should've seen it in person, people! Magic projectiles flying EVERYWHERE! It was intense! …However, they couldn't have done this without my help.'"
"Your help? You just sat in the background…" Luigi sighed.
"We did more than you!" Blade retorted.
"'However, what is most important is that we've discovered the great golden Cragnon statue in this temple! This is a sign of a great achievement for the great Flint Cragley. Never would we expect there to be treasure here.'"
"Urgh…" Everyone stopped and looked over at Ludwig, who slowly got up. "You will NEVER make it out of here alive!"
"Ack!" Flint fled from Ludwig and ran up the stairs to the pedestal where the golden Cragnon stood. He checked around for any signs of traps.
There weren't any.
"Good," With that, he picked up the statue and held it like it was a baby. "Oh, sweet treasure! How much I care for you!"
His words were interrupted when they felt the ground tremor.
"What the…! Is that The Void again?!" Sonic gasped.
"No… That doesn't sound like it." Luigi gulped as a large boulder dropped from where Flint was standing near and began to roll down their direction.
"Eep! Time to go!" Flint squeaked as he began to run for his life. Everyone else gasped and tried to get away from the boulder. The only one who didn't seem to outrun it was Ludwig, who was already too exhausted.
"We gotta help Ludwig!" Chopper suggested. "There's no way I'm leaving him to get squished!"
"I think it's too late…" Ninbot trailed as Ludwig got caught in the boulder and began to roll with it. Knowing they didn't have much time, they got out of the room and returned to the hallway. Unfortunately, the boulder was able to break through the door and follow them.
"Is that… Is that LIGHT I see?!" Flint gaped as they saw across the hallway, a shining light at the end.
"Hey! Maybe that's what I felt before!" Sonic recalled. "But never mind that! We need to RUN!"
Everyone began to run again, with Chopper grabbing Kirby and Luigi's arms and with Sonic grabbing Blade and Mario's. They were instantly outrunning the boulder at this moment.
"Keep running, brah!" Monzo cried.
"Don't want to get squished!" Hornfels cried.
"Uhhh… Relax, guys! I assure you that this will all be worth it in the end!" Flint assured. "Sure, the turtle got caught in the boulder, but we're faster!"
"We're getting closer to the light!"
As the group ran outside, the boulder went flying off the staircase and crumbled as it hit the grassy ground. Ludwig was sent flying onto the ground, but this time, he was unconscious.
As the group stopped, they whirled around and noticed that there was a gray temple in front of them. They must have gotten out of the temple…
"Wait… Do I smell fresh air?" Blade gaped as he looked up. He could see the sky. "Oh, yes! We're no longer in some cave!"
"The only problem is that The Void's blocking the sky…" Chopper trailed.
"Oh… That's a problem."
Up ahead, they saw a Star Block. They all knew that they wanted to get this over with, so Chopper ran up to the block and gave it a punch.
END OF CHAPTER
"Now that was one exciting adventure, wasn't it?" gloated Flint as he held up his treasured item. "Now that we've gotten a hold of real treasure, I believe that things are coming to an end about now." With a sigh of relief, our heroes made sure that they stood as far from the temple as possible. They were getting a little tired of being in a dark temple or cave about now. However, our heroes knew that the battle has just begun, because, according to Ninbot, they still had a Pure Heart to get, and from a dangerous person at that.
Well, that was something, wasn't it? We're almost done with Chapter 17. Just one more part and then we get to something that I find rather exciting. :)