CHAPTER 17-5
-The Evils of Master Mind-
"Hey, would you look at that? This is like some kind of jungle!" Chopper cheered as he took a couple of steps over to a couple of vines blocking his way. Sadly, there was no way he could get rid of them without burning the entire jungle with a fireball. In fact, this place started to bring him back to his home planet, where he had a large jungle unlike this smaller version.
"Well, isn't this a treat? I don't think we've been through a jungle…" Sonic trailed as Blade and Ninbot began to cut through the vines in their way. Flint was also cutting through some vines with a rusty blade he had.
"Wait… Why does Flint have that anyway?" Luigi asked.
"He brought it for cutting, brah," Monzo explained as he filmed Flint cutting through some of the vines, even if he was doing a rather horrible job at it compared to the other two. "Good cragging weapon."
"Uhhhh… Sure." Sonic shrugged as they followed the group ahead into the jungle. The only thing that they seemed to notice up ahead were two Putrid Bushers that were charging at them.
"Heads up! I got this!" Blade announced as he took them down with a fire slash, burning them to a crisp. "There we go! All taken care of!"
"Yeah… What a relief." Luigi sighed as they found a pit of spikes down a small hill. After Chopper ran down it, he stopped at the pit of spikes. The only thing that looked like would be helpful was a vine hanging from a tree.
"Hmmmmm… You know, I think we should use this vine." Chopper suggested.
Mario: From what I can see, it might help us cross over the spiky pit.
Chopper went first and made a big jump onto the vine. He began to swing himself across the spike pit and land on the ledge up ahead. He noticed that there was a hill leading up to a wall with a spring.
After Mario crossed the spike pit, he ran up the hill, despite having a hard time and jumped on the spring to bring him up to the high ledge. Everyone else followed him up and found some wooden platforms floating over another spike pit, but smaller.
"Poyo, (Looks like some platforming is required here,)" Kirby noticed as he decided to float over the platforms as if he was breaking the story. As for the rest, they had to jump on the platforms and cross the spike pit.
"I think I remember this area," Ninbot recalled. "It was when I was being carried out to that cavern…"
"Hmmmm… Well, hopefully you know a little about this place." Blade hoped as they found a door just up ahead. A Dark Patrolbot was guarding it, but got destroyed by Luigi's Super Jump.
"All right, I think we can get going," Luigi declared as he opened the door. Everyone followed him into the next area, which had a couple of climbable vines from the large gaps. Past the vine was a wooden platform, and down below them was a bottomless pit.
"Ugh… More climbing… And it makes it worse when we've got a couple of Bushers on the vines too." Sonic sighed, pointing up at the Bushers throwing spears down at the group.
"Poyo! (I've got this!)" Kirby inhaled the spear and spat it at the Busher, knocking it off the vine and making it fall to its doom. Sure, they didn't get any experience from it, but it was better than getting hurt.
"All right, it's safe to climb on this thing," Sonic said as he grabbed a hold of the vine and jumped over to the platform. For some reason, the vine wouldn't swing around like the other one.
"Let's hope we don't find those spark things from before," Chopper mumbled, recalling those moments before as he grabbed the vine and jumped over to the wooden platform. "OK… Let's not use fire here. It might burn the platform."
"Uhhhh… We'll, you know, try to find a way through all of this…" Flint sweat dropped. "Yeah! We've got a plan made to get ourselves through here!"
"You sure?" Ninbot gawked.
"Of course! In fact, why don't you stay here with us so we have at least some protection! We don't want this treasure to fall in the wrong hands, is that right?"
"I guess so…" Monzo trailed.
"My crag's hurting, brah," Hornfels mumbled.
"OK… Good luck with that I suppose." Blade shrugged. "Although, if you're planning on just leaving, then go right ahead."
"Blade, I don't think they should go," Chopper said. "I mean, we don't really talk to many people as heroes, and with Tippi and Count Bleck gone, it would be nice to have SOME company…"
"Well look at you! I thought you were annoyed with these guys?"
"Well… Technically, kind of… But, it's better to help them than leave them in a dangerous jungle. They'll probably need my help if they plan on getting out of this place alive."
"Who crowned you the king of the jungle?" Sonic asked. "I don't recall anyone saying that…"
"I'm not. That said, I do live in a jungle, and a large one at that." Chopper explained. "But never mind that. I don't wanna waste our time with this pointless conversation anyway. Let's just keep crossing."
They jumped over to the next vine, which thankfully didn't have any enemies on it and jumped to a shorter vine that didn't look like everyone could grab a hold of it at once. Mario decided to grab it first and land on a platform higher up than the platform they were previously on.
Mario: Everything's all right her—AH HA HA HA!
Mario yelped as he felt a Busher poke his butt with a spear, forcing him to rocket upward as he shouted. Kirby floated over to the platform and inhaled the Busher, swallowing it to gain no ability.
"Poyo… (Aw… I wanted an ability…)" Kirby sulked.
"Well, looks like they don't carry any, which kind of stinks," Chopper said as he jumped over to the group and found a grassy ledge up ahead.
"There we go! No more of these bottomless pits!" Sonic smirked as he jumped over to the ledge and found another vine going up to a shorter vine above him. "Oh… Well, I guess the climbing isn't finished yet."
"And I can see some insects on there too," Blade informed as he followed Sonic up to the third vine to the left. A large, red insect was apparently chewing on the vine, but upon seeing the two, it got enraged and attacked.
"Heads up!" Chopper warned as Blade stabbed the bug with his katana. "Whew… That was too close! …Wait, why was it big?"
Mario: We're small, remember?
"Oh, yeah…"
Luigi was able to get to the vine Sonic and Blade were climbing up with a Super Jump and follow them up to a high ledge with a door to their left. Chopper, Kirby, and Mario followed as well.
After walking out of the door, they noticed that there was a vine leading down to the grassy ground, where they found a hill going down to a ramp that would go over a small pond. From what they could all see, there was a waterfall too.
"Oh, boy… Let's hope we don't have to go swimming." Sonic gulped.
"And I'm not surprised to hear that from you," Chopper sighed as he grabbed the vine and began to slide down to the grassy ground. Thankfully, there weren't any vines blocking the way at the moment.
"All right, I think everything looks fine here," Blade stated as he climbed down to the ground and looked down at the grass. From what he could see, it was a dark green color, which was fitting for a jungle like this. "All right… I think we ought to be on the lookout for anything at this point."
"What do you mean?" Luigi questioned.
"I know Ninbot said that there would be something big where this Master Mind could be. Surely he wouldn't be somewhere deep in the jungle…"
Mario: That's true…
"He would have to be out of the jungle, if possible," Chopper pondered. "Yeah, I think I'm starting to get it now… Although, let's hope that we're not too far from Master Mind…"
They decided to go down the hill and jump off the ramp at the end of the hill to cross the small body of water near another body of water ahead. Unfortunately, due to the pond, it didn't look like they would be able to reach the ledge at the end of the pond.
"Poyo, (I think I could get over this,)" Kirby announced as he took in some air and began to float over the water. As for everyone else, they tried to see how they could get up there.
"Hmmmmmmm…" Chopper charged up a Speed Dash and began to run over the water. That is, until he crashed into the wall in his way, causing him to fall in the water. Because the pond led down to a bottomless pit, he swam out and tried to get back to everyone else…until Kirby pulled him over by inhaling.
"What the… Did you have to do that?"
"Poyo, (Yes, I think I had to,)" Kirby nodded. "Poyo. (I probably would need you anyway if we're going to get everyone else over here."
"Oh… I see what you mean." Chopper opened his mouth wide and began to inhale, just like Kirby. Sure, one inhale was big, but with TWO? That's probably strong enough to get four people over.
"Holy… They're BOTH doing that?!" Blade gaped as they were lifted off the ground and headed straight for Chopper and Kirby. When they stopped, they fell over right by a bush.
"Oh, my aching…" Luigi slowly got up and noticed that there was nothing around. The only thing he saw was a path leading to nowhere. The bush, however, felt like there was something there.
"Did any of you guys check this bush?"
"Hmmmmm… Sonic got up and tried to look through the bush. "Sorry, Luigi… It doesn't look like I can search through here. I think it's because everything is 2-D around here…"
"Almost EVERYTHING is 2-D," Chopper informed as he pointed a finger up and flipped into 3-D in a strange pose. He noticed that there was a blue ! Switch behind the bush, so he gave it a good kick to reveal a door just up ahead.
Mario: A door!
"Yup, and now we can get a move on," Sonic nodded as he ran over to the door and opened it, leading into an area with a loop and also a small bridge with a waterfall in the background.
"Hmmmmmm… A loop. Nothing special here." Blade noticed. "It's just the same old stuff here."
"Yeah, I'll agree with you on that," Chopper nodded. "But, at least it's nice for me!"
Chopper charged up a Speed Dash and ran through the loop and crossed the bridge. Everyone else sighed (for the exception of Sonic) and followed him through the loop and across the bridge. There, they found a wall standing in their way.
Mario: Is another puzzle needed here?
"I don't know… I think we might have to solve something here…" Chopper trailed.
Before any of them could speak, they noticed a sparkling light above them. They noticed that it was a Dimensional Rift.
"Poyo! (A Dimensional Rift!)" Kirby gaped. "Poyo! (Maybe there's a little secret here if we use Flippay!)"
Mario raised Flippay up and used his power to reveal a blue ! Switch. He gave it a good whack before a pipe rose right in front of them. It was a lovely jungle green color, which fit the area.
"Huh… So we found a pipe. Not too bad, I suppose…" Blade trailed. "Anyway, let's just head down."
Underground-
"Great… Now we're back underground…" Chopper sighed as they came out of the pipe. Thankfully, the underground room was not another cavern and actually had the blue floor and walls. "Well… At least it's this kind of underground room and not the ones we've been in before."
"Yeah, I agree," Luigi nodded.
They scanned the room and saw two Brick Blocks nearby. When Mario punched the first one, a black Mushroom with purple eyes called a Dark Shroom came out. Unlike a Zombie Shroom, this one seemed to fly around the room instead.
"Uhhhh… What in the world is that?" Sonic gawked.
"It looks like it's some kind of Mushroom that's dark…" Blade trailed. "I don't get it, but I think it's like a Zombie Shroom. Maybe we should take care of that thing first…"
Mario grabbed his hammer and bashed the Dark Shroom as it came close. What scared them was that it had a demonic mouth that reminded Chopper of Maquano's true form. A scary appearance indeed.
"I wish we could take it out in an easy way," Chopper frowned. "That hammer didn't seem to do too much…"
"Well, I guess these Mushrooms must have more defense than a Death Shroom…" Sonic trailed. He noticed that Kirby was about to inhale it, but he soon stopped him and attacked the Dark Shroom with a couple of Spin Jumps.
"OK, one last attack should do it," Chopper charged up a rainbow ball and tossed it at the Dark Shroom, destroying it.
Mario: Well at least that's taken care of!
"We still have to move underground," Luigi informed, pointing to a couple of stacked Brick Blocks that were across a gap. Apparently there were even some Bob-ombs walking on the blocks.
"Wait… Bob-ombs…and Brick Blocks…" Chopper began to put everything together and gaped. "Uh oh… If they explode, then those blocks are probably going to get destroyed…"
Mario reacted by jumping on the brick platform and throwing the Bob-omb down the bottomless pit. Everyone followed and started to knock a couple of Bob-ombs down the bottomless pit as well.
"Oh, and no hammers either," Blade informed. "I think that'll break some of 'em."
They all agreed and reached the ledge up ahead. Thankfully, there weren't any more enemies around so far, but when they saw a ? Block, they hit it to find an Ultimate Shroom pop out.
"Poyo! (That's something I like!)" Kirby cheered as Blade sliced it into six pieces for them all to eat, recovering 100 HP.
And with that, they entered the door ahead that led them into a room with Thwomps coming down from the ceiling. Chopper was instantly reminded of when he found them when looking for Thoreau.
"Oh, this is easy," Chopper assured as he flipped into 3-D. Unfortunately, there were some Thwomps in 3-D as well. "Dang it… Well, looks like this is going to be a little more challenging."
After getting past the Thwomps that were in 2-D, he flipped back into 2-D with everyone else to find no Thwomps around. Up ahead, however, he noticed some, so after going back in 3-D, they got past them and found a pipe.
"Well, there we go!" Blade said as they headed through the pipe to get out of this underground area.
Outside-
As they jumped out of the pipe, they noticed that they were right by the jungle's exit. The only thing stopping them right now was a large stone door with an empty space spaced like a key. A big one at that.
"Uhhhhh… Was this door here before?" Chopper gawked.
Mario: I honestly have no idea…
"Ugh… Well, looks like that journey sure was something." the group turned around and saw Flint, Monzo, Hornfels, and Ninbot jumping out of the pipe as well. Flint looked a little battered up, perhaps from some enemies that got in their way.
"You guys made it here already?" Blade gaped. "You guys must be fast."
"CRAGLEY HO!" Flint shouted. "'In a miraculous turn of events, my faithful camera Cragnons, the six so-called heroes, and the robot ninja were able to make it out of the dark and eerie temple and make our way near the end of the jungle.'"
"Oh, boy… More of this…" Chopper face palmed. "This is going to be great…"
"I wonder how this is going to turn out…" Luigi wondered. "Most of the time it…"
"Shhh! Keep quiet, brah! Boss talk now!" Hornfels shushed.
"'But there was no time for celebration! We had to head to the exact destination where Master Mind lurks!'" Flint continued. "'With danger nibbling our heels, we ventured deeper into the jungle... To do so, we used the key to the stone door!'"
"Key? What key?" Sonic asked while confused.
"Actually, there is a key that leads out of this jungle," Ninbot informed. "From what I can remember, Master Mind's lair is in a large city that's somewhere out of the jungle. You can't miss it."
"City? Now that's something I've never been in much…" Chopper trailed.
"Yes, that robot guy is correct," Flint stated as he turned to his camera crew. "So, um… You do have they key, right? Lemme grab that."
"Whuzzat?!" Hornfels jumped, noticing that Flint was looking at him. "You cragging me? You never gave key…"
"Oh. Hmmm… Really?" Flint raised an eyebrow as he looked at Monzo. "Maybe it was you who I gave the key to…"
"Whuh? What? Key?" Monzo jumped, who was apparently not paying attention.
"Yes, genius, a key," he face palmed. "Wait… Don't tell me you don't have it either!"
"No, seriously… What key are you guys talking about?" Chopper asked.
"Uh, yah, brah, had key, but…" Monzo trailed.
"Ah, yes, so you DO have it!" Flint grinned. "Good show, good show, yes. Give it here. Quickly, now."
However, Monzo shook his head. "No, brah… HAD key but not HAVE key…"
"You… You LOST it? 'A tragic crew blunder ruins Cragley! Had the gods of adventure forsaken us?!'"
"Wait, so let me get this straight…" Sonic stepped in. "You had a key with you that would open this door, but you ended up losing it? …How on earth did you even find a key like that in the first place?"
Unfortunately, he was ignored by the Cragnons.
"Nah, brah! See… Cragley say, 'You lose this, so Cragley hold on to it.' Cragley got key, brah…"
"Ah, I see it now. I guess Mr. Adventurer has the key." Chopper said with a smug look. "So, why don't you take it out and see for yourself?"
Flint gave Chopper a glare before looking back at Monzo. "Preposterous! If such a claim were true, there would be evidence in my pocket, which there ISN'T."
"Then check your pockets, you buffoon," Blade scoffed.
"Poyo, (We're not going to get anywhere with this argument,)" Kirby added.
"Very well. I suppose I have no other choice…" Flint sighed as he began to check his pockets. When he reached deeper in, he felt something that caught his attention. He pulled out a red diamond key and held it up as if it were floating.
"See? Told you." Chopper said.
"CRAGLEY HO! 'A miracle struck! As if by magic, the long-lost key that we found lying around this world had returned to my pocket! The jungle defied Cragnon comprehension! It was a place of purest miracles!'"
Chopper noticed that the key continued to float over Flint's head. "Uhhhh… Kirby? Why is that key floating? Do you have any idea?"
"Poyo, (No,)" Kirby shrugged as he glanced over at Chopper, who sighed.
"Cragley spaced key, huh?" Hornfels whispered to Monzo.
"Figures, brah. What a crag."
"Yah, serious. Big surprise."
"Now onward!" Flint announced. "We must use this key to unlock the big stone door in front of us to where that evil Master Mind could reside… If my research is correct, and it always is, then this key should open that door. Of course, through the door may lie a trap that will destroy us all… Ho ho HO!"
"Huh?" Luigi looked confused as Flint walked over to him. "Wait… What are you doing coming over to me?"
"What's that? You say you want to open the door no matter what may lie in wait?!"
"Wait… WHAT?!"
"Tremendous! Such bravery!"
"What? No no! I'll PASS!" Luigi cried as he stepped away from Flint.
"Maybe I should hold onto the key…" Chopper sighed.
"But you don't have any pockets," Flint informed. "How would you hold onto the key?"
"Just give it to me, all right?"
"Well, I was planning on opening it myself, of course, but since you seem so passionate… Not that I'm afraid or anything. Don't be ridiculous. I mean, that's laughable."
"I highly doubt it…"
"Huh? Did you just say something insulting?" Flint asked, eyeing him with suspicion.
"Erm… HACPTTH! Sorry, just got a little cough there. Don't worry, I'm sure I can handle things. I mean, it's just a cough…"
"Oh, all right. If you say so. As a fellow cragtrotter, I know the heady thrill of the hunt! I'll yield to your lead!"
When Flint handed Chopper the key, he seemed to have a hard time holding it because of how big it was. Eventually, Mario had to take the key from him and use it to unlock the big stone door.
"I could've done that," Chopper grumbled.
Mario: It didn't seem like you were faring too well with it…
When the stone door opened, they all walked through the gate and noticed that they were no longer in the jungle. In fact, they could see a dark green open field before them with a beautiful, starry sky that reminded them of The Peaceness – that is if they went in 3-D, where The Void wasn't blocking most of the way.
"Whoa… Now this is something interesting." Sonic gaped.
"I find it a little strange that we went from a jungle to this," Blade remarked, looking back over at the gate. The first thing that happened was Ninbot walking up to the front of the group.
He looked back at the group, giving a gesture to be careful. From what he knew, they were getting close to Master Mind's territory. He decided to go down the hill, but was soon outrun by Chopper and Sonic.
"I forgot about their speed…" Ninbot sighed as he began to tumble down the hill. Kirby helped him get back up as they reached the bottom of the hill. What was nice was that there weren't any enemies here.
…Yet.
"I still love the sky here," Chopper stated as he noticed another hill going up. He used his Speed Dash to run up the hill and find a strange robot with a gun for a hand. It was heavily armored with green eyes and even had a blade on its left arm. From identifying it, it was a Warbot.
"A Warbot? Well this is interesting…" Sonic pondered as he attacked it with a Homing Attack, expecting to defeat it. Sadly, that didn't end up working. It took some damage, but not enough to destroy it.
"Wow… So this thing is pretty tough."
"It'll take a couple of hits to destroy that," Ninbot informed as he reached the top of the hill. "Don't leave yourself open though."
"Got it," Chopper nodded as he charged a rainbow ball and hurled it at the Warbot. It cringed in pain, but it managed to swipe at Chopper with its blade, knocking him back. Luigi, on the other hand, managed to throw Bonjourang at it and destroy it with a jump.
"…Huh? I actually destroyed it?" Luigi gasped as he looked down at the remains of the robot. "That's…shocking!"
Mario: Well, you did a good thing, Luigi!
"Yeah, I can agree on that," Blade nodded. "Anyway… I don't see much around here. Kinda stinks that there isn't too much to see here except for some plants here and there. I do see a door up ahead, though."
After reaching the door, they walked into an area with another hill going up, but not a steep one. There were also some platforms that were floating above the hill for some reason.
From what they saw ahead, they knew why there were these platforms.
"Watch out for the Robowheelie," Ninbot warned as a silver robot with a blade on its head, round arms and a wheel for its legs came charging down with a fiery glow. Even if Sonic tried to attack it in a Spin Dash, it probably wouldn't do too much.
"Well that's great… So how do we take this thing down?" Chopper asked.
Mario reached for his hammer and readied himself to swing it. When the Robowheelie came their way, he was able to give it a whack. Sadly, that didn't stop the robot from rolling over Mario and his friends.
"Mario… I honestly doubt that would even work in the first place…" Blade moaned.
Mario: Well, I wanted to see…
"Poyo? (Why not just inhale it?)" Kirby suggested as he inhaled the Robowheelie that was coming back their way. He decided to spit it out and leave it stunned so that everyone could destroy it.
"Oh, and I don't think stepping on its head is a good idea," Flint warned. "I think that blade would hurt you if you touched it."
"I think that's a little obvious to us…" Blade groaned as they all proceeded up the hill. They found a bush nearby that revealed a banana, which Chopper seemed to be happy to see. Unfortunately, he couldn't have it all. Each hero got one banana and ate it to recover 35 HP.
"Dang… I wanted to eat the whole thing…" Chopper grumbled.
"Well, when there are six of us fighting, we are eventually going to have to split up the food, you know," Sonic informed as they found a boulder coming down their way. They wanted to avoid it, but Mario was able to smash it with his hammer.
Mario: Problem solved!
Oh… Well that's good to see that we can smash the boulders with something." Chopper blinked. "Anyway… Let's see who's even pushing those boulders down. Hopefully it's nothing too threatening."
When they reached another platform, there was a Warbot firing down at them. It seemed to be firing missiles that homed in on them. Chopper inhaled one of them and spat it back at it. Kirby did the same exact thing to blow it up.
"Poyo, (OK, now we have to be careful,)" Kirby suggested.
Chopper charged up a Speed Dash and began to make his way up the hill. Sonic followed up by using a Spin Dash, eventually flipping Chopper over and sending him tumbling down the hill without him knowing.
"Someone help me!" Chopper cried.
Luigi gasped and managed to grab a hold of him before he could go any further. He realized that Chopper felt surprisingly light. Almost like a soccer ball…
"I never knew you were this light…" Luigi gaped.
"Well, it's kind of obvious, considering that I'm just a round figure…" Chopper trailed, crossing his arms while Luigi held him upside down. "Now… Could you put me down please?"
"Oh, sorry!" Luigi grinned sheepishly as he put Chopper down. With that, they continued up the hill until they saw that a small robot with a construction worker's cap and small, gray eyes called a Roboworker was pushing another boulder down.
"I've got this!" Sonic assured as he used another Spin Dash to make a hole through the boulder and hit the Robotwork head on, knocking it over and blowing it up with a Homing Attack.
"That boulder's still coming down…" Flint gulped, covering his face.
However, Ninbot unsheathed his katana and jumped up to the boulder. With a single slice, he was able to cut the boulder in half and let it disintegrate. With that, he sheathed his katana and gestured everyone to follow.
When they reached the top of the hill, they found a large gap between them and a door up ahead. Apparently there was a couple of new silver robots with heavy armor flying around. Sonic decided to attack one with a Homing Attack, but it didn't seem to do squat.
"What? My Homing Attack's useless!" Sonic frowned.
"Well, it's because they're heavily armored," Blade pointed out, throwing a shuriken at one that simply bounced off. "You really think that we're going to be hurting these guys?"
Mario: Why not just bounce off them?
"Bro? What do you mean by that?" Luigi gawked.
Mario: We can just cross the gap by jumping on these robots.
"You know what? I'm going to give that a try!" Chopper declared as he bounced off the first robot. He jumped over to the next and continued to bounce on every one until he reached the door.
"Seriously? I can't believe that that was so easy…"
Kirby took in some air and began to float over the robots with ease. After that, Blade tried to make his way over by landing right on top of the robots with his ninja jump. It didn't take much for him to get over.
"You know, this isn't so bad…" Blade realized.
After everyone else got past the robots, all that remained were Flint and his camera crew, who looked ahead at the robots.
"How do you expect me to do this?!" Flint grimaced.
"We gotta figure something out," Monzo suggested while looking confused.
Kirby instantly opened his mouth and began to inhale the three. Unfortunately, they all ended up in Kirby's mouth, but he instantly spit them out, gagging in disgust over their taste.
"Poyo! (Cragnons don't taste good!)" Kirby spat. "Poyo! (Don't try that, Chopper!)"
"I'll remember that," Chopper nodded as he tried to remember that, even though he didn't have anything to write that down on. Nevertheless, they continued on to the next area, where they found a yellow spring to their left and a hill going down. From what they knew, the spring would increase someone's speed.
"Why are there obstacles that we can't take on on our own?" Luigi asked.
"We haven't seen many loops in other worlds," Sonic informed as he got himself ready to take off. "Sometimes people that can run fast need a little something to make the ride more enjoyable."
As Sonic curled in a ball, he took off down the hill and through the loop. Chopper followed, but not in a ball, due to the fact that he couldn't even go into a ball like Sonic can.
Everyone sighed and followed them. Luckily, there were platforms that helped them get over the loop and began to skid down the steep hill.
"I think they stopped," Blade noticed as they reached the bottom of the hill, where a small ledge prevented the two from running on. When they caught up, they jumped onto the ledge and found another ledge ahead, but higher this time. A block was also on the grassy ground and appeared to be pushable.
"Poyo! (I'll handle this!)" Kirby announced as he pushed the block over by the bottom of the ledge. With that, they were able to grab a hold of the ledge and pull themselves up to a door before them.
"Wow… That wasn't a lot…" Chopper trailed. "No enemies in this area? I'm fine by that!"
When they opened the door, they all gawked as they saw a glass dome in the background with a large city.
"That's where Master Mind resides," informed Ninbot. "I remember it…"
"Well, did you remember that?" Luigi asked as he saw a door leading inside a glass tunnel. There was also a lift in there that looked as if they could head somewhere else in this place.
"CRAGLEY HO!" Flint shouted. "'A strange, glass tunnel was now before us… It suddenly makes me wonder if this would lead us to our destination. I began to think of this as I decide to let the suckers go in there first so…'"
"We get it already," Chopper sighed. "Let's just go."
They got on the lift and placed their hand on the red button. It flashed green and began to take them through the tunnel. At first, everything in the tunnel didn't look interesting, but when they saw a couple of plants growing on the walls, they knew something wasn't right here.
Mario: Do you usually see plants in a glass tube?
"No, not really…" Sonic trailed.
After the lift stopped, they all noticed a large door open on its own. They shrugged and headed through to find a tunnel where they could see a bit of the sky. The ground was also a bit of an orange color with a couple of bushes. Thankfully, none of the nature was mechanical.
"Wow, and here I thought we wouldn't see something like this," Blade gaped.
"Yeah, it looks so…out of place," Luigi blinked.
"Well, at least there aren't any enemies to stop us from moving on," Chopper smiled as he ran on ahead until he found a short ledge up ahead that he jumped onto to find a Warbot. "Oh… Well so much for that."
The Warbot open fired on Chopper, who did a flip as he stomped on the Warbot. He slammed his foot on it with rainbow energy with a rainbow slamming kick to make sparks fly everywhere until he destroyed it by bashing it with his hammer.
"So, didn't you have a plan for this place?" Sonic asked as they got onto the ledge and turned to Ninbot. "If I could recall, you said something about a plan."
"Oh, yes," Ninbot nodded. "Thank you for reminding me. You see, there is a large tower in the city that has the power to brainwash those who are there. It doesn't seem to affect robots, which is why I didn't get affected by it. But, you guys can easily get brainwashed."
"Really? Then how do we get through there?" Chopper asked.
"The only way to get in would be by getting an anti-mind control gadget. I don't know where we could find those, but I did see some people were wearing them around this place."
"Then we should try to grab some…" Luigi suggested.
They noticed a Warbot up ahead holding a little gadget on its waist. With the block in front of them, Chopper ran up to it and gave it a powerful kick to blow up the robot. He was able to grab the gadget just in time.
"Huh… So, this is one of the gadgets?" Chopper questioned as he looked at the small device. "It doesn't seem to be too much. At least it's not an entire suit, or else it would be annoying to be in that."
"Didn't you have to do something like that before?" Blade asked.
"Well, some friends of mine had to when we were looking for a Power Star at the depths of the ocean. Thankfully, I didn't have to do it."
"Why?" Luigi asked.
"My kind can stay underwater without choking to death."
Mario: Yeah, I remember that.
They decided to scurry on ahead and find a small slope leading down to another tunnel, but darker. Unlike the caverns they were in before, there was some light in here. Red, blue, and green light, that is.
"These are nice lights, crag," Monzo commented.
"Crag straight!" agreed Hornfels.
"Hmmmmm… Well, there's something here but three blocks stacked together…" Sonic trailed as he jumped over the blocks and found another Warbot. He simply attacked it with a Homing Attack to destroy it.
"Dang it! No gadget!"
"Well, I guess not every robot carries them…" Luigi trailed. "I guess the best thing we can do is search a little more."
After the rest of the group jumped over the blocks, they moved down a small slope and entered the door ahead to find a room with a couple of moving platforms and even a glowing pink saw blade moving around the large room. The platforms were moving left and right as they seemed to lead higher up.
"This kind of reminds me of that one room in Tipral's Palace," Luigi recalled. "I think I can make these jumps."
Luigi was the first to jump on the closest platform. He watched carefully as the glowing saw blade came close to him. He ducked, with it barely touching his cap. Afterward, he continued to climb up to the top platform, where the door was.
After everyone climbed up to the top, they entered the door into a room where they found a slope going up to another large block. However, there was a Warbot in the way, and it noticed their arrival.
"More hills to slow us down," Chopper groaned. "Just what we need…"
Luigi, taking a deep breath, ran up the hill and used his Cyclone to attack the Warbot, destroying it. To his surprise, he was able to snatch a gadget from it as well.
"Hey! I got one of those gadget things!" Luigi gasped. "We need this, right?"
Mario: Of course!
Luigi put it away and made their way over to the large block. For some reason, its size looked kind of like the size of a normal yellow block. Chopper even checked it out and noticed it was actually one of those smashable blocks.
"Well, here I go," Chopper whipped up his hammer and smashed the block, revealing under gadget from underneath. Kirby managed to grab a hold of it and hold it up proudly.
"Poyo! (Only three more left to find!)" Kirby cheered.
"Uh… More like six, actually." corrected Chopper.
"Yeah, we still need some too," Flint informed, giving an irritated look. "I'm not leaving this place until I get what I need to survive this place."
They decided to hurry on ahead past the broken block and found a conveyor belt floating above the ground just up ahead. There were a couple of red blocks that were stuck on the conveyor belt coming toward them when they got on. Surprisingly, they were still stuck when it went upside down on the bottom part of the conveyor belt.
"Weird… Well, we still need to get through here anyway." Sonic said as he began to jump over a couple of blocks in his way and got to the next conveyor belt ahead until they reached a ledge where a door was.
"All right, so we better… Wait a minute." Chopper flipped into 3-D and noticed a chest was visible. When he opened it, another gadget popped out. "Here we go! Another one of these!"
"I'm takin' it," Blade declared as he swiped it out of Chopper's hands when he flipped back into 2-D. "No way am I getting mind controlled!"
Mario: That was a little unnecessary…
"Well, as long as we find two more, we should be all right," Sonic assured as he opened the door into the next room. He noticed that there was a ledge far across the pit below. Thankfully, there weren't any spikes around. There were balloons, however.
"Balloons? What are they doing here?" Chopper gawked.
"And how are we even going to get through this mess?" Flint questioned.
"I think I have an idea," Blade used Thoreau to pick up Flint and threw him at the balloons. He ended up bouncing on the balloons as they popped, helping him reach the ledge ahead.
"And that's for making me tumble down those stairs before!"
"Well, you actually helped him get across those balloons," Luigi informed. "But how are we going to get over to that ledge when we don't have any balloons to help us?"
"Oh… Whoopsies…"
"Yeah, whoopsies…" Chopper face palmed. That is, until a couple of more balloons showed up. "Wait, huh? More balloons?"
"Weird… That's not something we see often." Sonic commented as he used his Homing Attack to attack a couple of the balloons. He got sent flying up until he landed right on the ledge.
"I think it's all good here!"
"Oh… So all we need to do is wait for more balloons to pop up, and we can just bounce off of them? Not a bad idea." Blade smirked as he waited for more balloons to appear. He then jumped onto the ledge after bouncing on a couple.
"All right, let's just finish this up," Chopper declared as he and the rest of the group made their way across the balloons and onto the ledge. With that, they began to run on ahead until they noticed that there was another high ledge in their way.
"Great… This is all we need." Blade groaned.
"Well, this ground feels a little different from before," Sonic pondered. It feels a little grayish. You think there might be something underneath?"
Mario: Oh, I can handle that!
Everyone stepped out of the way as Mario smashed through the floor with a Super Ground Pound. He also ended up smashing through a Warbot as well, which happened to have a gadget.
Mario: Ah! Here's a gadget!
"Then you only need one more," Ninbot informed.
"What about us?" Flint mentioned.
"Do you REALLY want to go in there?"
"Well, we'd like to…"
"The only way to prevent yourself from being mind controlled besides the gadgets is to destroy the mind control tower. Of course, only someone who's big enough could pull a job like that."
"Maybe there is a secret pipe in the city that'll make us grow big," Chopper shrugged. "That could help us…"
"Although, I might feel bad for attacking a city," Luigi mumbled. "Usually, we fight the monsters, but this might make us the monsters."
"Well, we'll try to make sure we don't hurt anyone around," Blade assured. "That is, unless they're bad guys. However, if I'm hearing about a mind control tower, then that means people's minds are being controlled."
"Anyway… Back to business." Sonic said as he hit a spring nearby with a Homing Attack and got launched up to the ledge above them. Everyone else followed up and reached another large gap with a couple of red platforms.
"Those might fall if you stay on them for too long," Ninbot informed.
"Oh… Well, then this might be a little dangerous for us." Chopper gulped.
"Poyo! (Not for me!)" Kirby took in some air and began to float over the gap to the door up ahead. Everyone else made a little face.
Mario: That's so cheap!
"Well, what are we going to do about it?" Luigi sighed as he began to jump from platform to platform. Everyone followed before the platforms could fall and headed through the door in front of them to lead them into a room with a couple of fireworks flying above them.
"Are those rockets?" Chopper asked.
"No, they're fireworks," Sonic replied.
"Those are some pretty big fireworks."
"I think we can grab onto those," Luigi informed, pointing to a handle on the fireworks. He decided to grab onto a green one and get sent flying upward.
"Poyo! (That looks like fun!)" Kirby squealed as he grabbed a yellow one and went upward. As for the rest of the group, they began to move upward thanks to the fireworks.
"CRAGLEY HO!" Flint shouted, holding onto the firework with one arm. "'To my surprise, I was able to find this firework to help my fly upward through this room. Thankfully, we're safe from harm for now, but we still need to find the true treasure of this place: a lovely heart!'"
"Yeah, we better be fast before…" Chopper noticed that his firework blew up and sent him flying upward still. However, as two seconds passed, he began to move downward instead.
"Uh oh… I need help!"
Mario: don't worry, I gotcha!
Mario managed to grab Chopper's hand before he could fall past him. So, right now, two people were holding onto an orange firework. However, when they reached a bridge that was above them, they were able to jump off and land on it, finding a Warbot carrying four gadgets.
"Look, brah! Gadget!" Monzo informed.
"We need them!" Hornfels nodded.
"I got this," Blade declared, pointing his katana at the Warbot and unleashing a Dragon Beam on them, destroying it instantly. Sonic managed to grab the four gadgets and toss three of them to Flint, Monzo, and Hornfels.
"Now that we've got all the gadgets we need, that means we can go into the city!" Sonic smirked. "Now that mind control tower won't harm us!"
"What about Ninbot?" Chopper mentioned. "Couldn't he get mind controlled?"
"I did say that the tower won't have any effect on me," Ninbot informed. "Robots don't really get mind controlled anyway. So, I should be fine."
"Then why do the robots carry them?" Luigi asked.
"They can also help them boost their defense. It helps them when someone who's rebelling tries to attack."
"Well, we might as well equip them," Blade suggested as he put his on. An invisible green barrier surrounded him. "Ooh! I can see a little bit of green around this invisible barrier!"
"Will it protect us from getting hurt?" Chopper asked.
"No, it only works against mind control. Sadly, the extra defense only works on robots, which is something the device can identify."
"Dang… Well, anyway… Let's go!"
They walked over to the door before them and opened it. When they walked out, they noticed that they were now in the city. The group spotted a large, glass dome surrounded the whole city. There were even people that had faces with one side being lighter than the other side. They were even wearing Native American headdresses and had a glass helmet on their heads. For some reason, these people reminded the heroes of the Cragnons. In fact, their heads, noses, and bodies looked similar.
"What the crag? They look like us!" Hornfels gawked.
"What a crag…" Monzo trailed.
"This is unlike anything I've seen before…" Flint gaped. "CRAGLEY HO! 'S-Such a discovery this is! Right now, I'm standing in front of a huge crowd of people that look like us Cragnons! But… They look as if their culture isn't like ours.'"
"Weird… I never would've expected to see people like them here." Chopper gaped. "This is strange…"
Mario: They do seem a lot different than the Cragnons…
"Why don't we take a look around here?" Blade suggested as he walked over to one of the people. "Excuse me, but do you know anything about this city?"
"THIS IS THE CITY OF MASTER MIND," informed the person.
"Uhhhhh… No need to talk like that…"
"WE PEOPLE BE CRADIANS. WE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN CITY. MASTER MIND VERY GOOD PERSON TOO. BUY HIS CANDY AND CHOCOLATE."
"This is messed up…" Luigi trailed.
"I know! Everyone here is shouting like that, as if they were robots!" Chopper gaped. "Seriously, if this is what this Master Mind person is doing to all these…Cradian people, then we're getting rid of that tower!"
"Yeah, we better investigate right now," Sonic agreed. They all decided to explore the city a bit, passing by a couple of buildings. They noticed that a robot cop with a blue visor, a V-shaped hue on its head and a black and white body. Sirens happened to go off on its head.
"Halt! You are unauthorized to litter! Pick it up or else we're sending you to the slammer!" ordered the Robocop.
"What are you talking about? I'm on YOUR side!" Everyone but Luigi, Flint, Monzo and Hornfels were alarmed when they saw a familiar faced whining to the Robocop. "You know me, Trucker?"
"Oh… My sincerest apologies, Trucker."
"Who's that guy?" Luigi asked.
"No one special," Chopper informed as they sneaked past Trucker and got to the center of the city. They saw the same statue from before, but they also noticed that the Cradians were worshiping it.
"Whoa… It's that same statue from before!" Blade gaped. "The one we've been seeing all this time! What the heck's it doing here?"
"Don't you see it?" Ninbot asked. "That's the statue of Master Mind! His goons must've put them outside of this place…"
"Wait… So he's Master Mind?! I thought this was some kind of legendary hero!" Chopper gaped.
"WORSHIP MASTER MIND, FRIENDS," a Cradian demanded, pushing the group to the ground to worship the statue, just like the others.
"What? No way!" Blade retorted. "I'm not worshipping someone I don't know!"
Unfortunately, they stopped when a Robocop appeared in front of them.
"HALT! You are under violation of 'Worshipping the Great Master Mind'!" the Robocop informed. "If you refuse to worship him, I'm afraid I might have to arrest you…"
Everyone turned around and noticed Ninbot turned into a log. Blade simply picked it up and began to explain that they were lumberjacks from a different world called in here by Master Mind.
"Lumberjacks, huh? I'll just have to prove it…" the Robocop began to scan the group with its visor. It turned red, as if something bad occurred. "Lumberjacks? I think not! What I received from your information was that you're collecting heart items! You're obviously here to invade Cradian City, are you not?"
"What? No way!" Chopper retorted. "We're…retired!"
Everyone face palmed until the Robocop looked down at the log Blade had. He smacked it to the ground and a puff of smoke appeared around it, transforming back into Ninbot. The Robocop aimed his weapon at the group.
"You're all under arrest!"
"I'm sorry, but we can't go to jail," Sonic retorted. "We're on a very important quest here. Tell that Master Mind guy that if he doesn't give us the Pure Heart, then this world will be destroyed!"
"I had enough of your nonsense," the Robocop fired at Sonic, knocking him over.
"Hey! You can't do that!" Chopper shouted before getting blasted. Mario was able to grab his hammer and bash the Robocop in the head, while Luigi destroyed it with a jump attack.
"Oh, we're in some serious trouble now…" Ninbot trailed as he slowly shook his head. More sirens began to go off after a couple of Robocops spotted one of their cohorts were destroyed.
"Attention all soldiers! We have intruders in the vicinity!" a loudspeaker shouted out. "We request that you come into Cradian City and eliminate the intruders! Use everything you've got!"
They heard a couple of pirate voices up ahead. Through a door, a couple of robot pirates with bandannas, scimitars, and robotic pirate voices came charging at them. One of them even carried a gun!
"Arrgh! Ye think that ye'll be gettin' out o' 'ere so easily? Well, think again, matey!" scoffed a Robirate, who charged at the group in order to attack. However, Chopper managed to stop one by tossing a rainbow ball at it and inhale it.
When he swallowed it, he donned a black captain's hat with crossbones that resembled Chopper's head, an eye patch, and a scimitar. But what he also did was open his mouth and reveal a cannon to be inside.
"What the…" Blade gawked. "You have a CANNON in your mouth?!"
"Of course, matey!" Chopper replied in a pirate voice (a bad one at that). "Now, watch as I take their booty and make 'em walk the plank!"
"Poyo… (Your pirate voice is atrocious…)" Kirby sighed.
Kirby readied his Final Cutter as he attacked a Robirate with a gun. It didn't even have the chance to attack him! As for the other Robirates, they got hit by a cannonball out of Chopper's mouth.
"Is that it?" Luigi asked.
"Well… It depends… Are there any pirate ships?" Chopper questioned, the cannon disappearing. "We'd have to find out if there are even pirate ships here…"
"Poyo, (And also, I want to get the Ninja ability so we can have a ninja and a pirate,)" Kirby added.
"What? No way! I wanna be the ninja! I like them more anyway!"
Mario: What about a ninja-pirate?
"I was once that, too."
"Ummmmmm… Guys? Not to interrupt the conversation, but…" Luigi gulped as he pointed to a couple of angry Cradians coming their way. "We have a couple of angry people after us…"
"Whoa, really?" Chopper gasped. "Then forget the pirate ships! It's best that we stay safe!"
"Why don't we give them a little taste of their medicine?" Flint suggested, raising up his fists.
"No, we're not fighting them," Blade objected. "They're not really bad guys. They're just being brainwashed."
"Poyo, (Yeah, by that,)" Kirby added, pointing to the blue tower up ahead. "Poyo? (But where should we go?)"
"Ummmmm… What about that building there?" Chopper pointed at the blue building up ahead. "If we could, we could escape in there! Hopefully there might be some helpful stuff in there, too!"
"Well, we be fast!" Hornfels suggested. "They get closer!"
"WORSHIP MASTER MIND!" the Cradians chanted as they got closer. The group began to flee from them and made their way to the blue building. Thankfully, the Cradians weren't smart enough to know that they were there.
Inside the building-
"Phew… That was a close one." Flint sighed in relief as he watched the Cradians pass by the building. "Ha! That's right! You guys don't even know that he hid in this building! How stupid of…"
Mario: Don't get their attention!
"Oh… Right. Ahem…" the Cragnon cleared his throat. "CRAGLEY HO! 'We were able to escape from the angry mob of Cradian people that were apparently brainwashed by the evil Master Mind, who happened to have his statue all over this world! Will I need to find another key lying around on the ground again? Chances are that I would need to be cautious here…'"
Mario decided that it would be best to lock the door, so he locked the door shut. Everyone sighed in relief as they looked at the interior of the building. It was blue, with a couple of staircases going up to a hallway. Apparently there were only two floors to his building, despite how big it looks.
"Hold on… If this door's locked, then maybe the Cradian people would know that we're hiding here…" Chopper realized. "So, we probably wouldn't be safe here…"
"Ehhhh… What's the worse that could happen?" Sonic shrugged. "There aren't many windows here… I'm sure we will be just fine."
"'And then an idea struck the great Flint Cragley,'" Flint said as an idea struck him. "'I decided that I would be brave enough to watch over this door for any Cradians coming in. I knew this would be risky, but I knew it was a wise decision by my part.'"
"Really? You want to guard the door?" Luigi gaped. "Not even I could do that…"
"Yes, I think I should pay my debt to you and give you a little hand here. I want to at least do something that doesn't involve me being a little selfish when I traveled with you guys. It's necessary on my part."
"We'll stay with boss, too," Monzo informed.
"Yeah," Hornfels agreed.
"In that case, I'll stay with you guys then," Ninbot stated.
"No, you'll guard another area in this room," Flint declared. "I can handle my guard here. Trust me."
"…Fine. But if you get in trouble, don't come crying to me."
Ninbot looked away from them and went over to the back door to guard. He made sure it was locked so no one else would go in. As for the heroes, they decided to head upstairs to see what was around.
"We should find another room to keep ourselves locked in," Chopper suggested. "That way, if Flint or Ninbot are in trouble, they could hide upstairs."
"Poyo, (Yeah, good point,)" Kirby agreed as he noticed a blue door nearby. "Poyo? (Why don't we go in this door?)"
"I suppose we can," Chopper first hit a ? Block near them to find an Ultimate Shroom. After eating it, they hit the Save Block and went in the room afterward. Chopper locked the door just to be safe.
"All right, so we're locked in now…" Luigi trailed. "So, what now?"
"Gra ha ha ha! So yeh finally made it 'ere!"
The group turned around and saw O'Chunks was standing in the room. They noticed that he had a black eye and a couple of rips on his shirt. But, for some reason, the big guy was looking just fine.
"O'Chunks… What happened to you?" Chopper gaped.
"Yeh remember the fight we 'ad last time?" O'Chunks growled. "Well, looks like yeh gave me quite a beatin' then! An' yeh know what? I think I'm gonna get back at yeh fer all o' those beatins'!"
"O'Chunks, please… We're not in a safe condition right now." Blade pleaded. "We've got a bunch of people here that are after us, and we're trying to hide from them! …Come to think of it, how are you here when you're not brainwashed?"
Kirby noticed something on his waist. "Poyo… (He's got one of those gadgets like us… He must've taken one from a robot…)"
"Whoa… So he knew we were coming here…" Sonic trailed.
"An' now that yeh finally made it, I'm gonna put an end teh this once an' fer all! This time I came prepared!" O'Chunks grinned as he pulled out a red potion. "This'll increase my attack an' defense once I'm done with this! Yer gonna be in fer it now!"
Once he took off the cap, he chugged the whole thing down. They all noticed that he had an orange glow around him, as if he got an incredible boost from it. However, his black eye and rips on his shirt still remained.
"Huh… So he powered up…" Chopper trailed.
"Oh, I'll show yeh what I can really do, especially when yer in that stupid pirate costume!" O'Chunks grinned as he cracked his knuckles. "IT'S CHUNKIN' TIME!"
Everyone jumped out of the way as O'Chunks came charging their way with his arm. Luigi was able to land right on top of O'Chunks's head, making him cringe before knocking the plumber off.
"No way am I lettin' yeh get me head this time!"
"Oof!" Luigi fell to the ground and heard O'Chunks getting closer. He attempted to grab him, but Mario managed to hit him in the face with his hammer. What made it worse for O'Chunks was that it hit his eye.
"Argh! Me eye!" O'Chunks yelled as his arms flailed around, knocking Mario away. Afterward, he jumped in the air and landed a powerful stomp that sent a shockwave straight for the group.
"Well… He can send a shockwave now…" Chopper blinked as he jumped out of the way.
"Poyo, (Yeah, that's not good,)" Kirby frowned as he gestured Blade to throw a shuriken to him. The ninja nodded and tossed a shuriken to Kirby, which he inhaled and became Ninja Kirby.
"Dang it! I wanted to get the Ninja ability!"
While Chopper grumbled, Kirby ran up to O'Chunks and slashed at his with his small katana. Even O'Chunks tried to defend himself, but he couldn't bear to defend against a small little blade.
"Grrr! Have a chunky punch!" O'Chunks growled as he sent Kirby flying to the wall with a punch. Chopper managed to attack his back by shooting a cannonball out of his mouth. The bearded warrior turned to Chopper and gaped at the cannon sticking out of his mouth.
"What? You've never seen someone with a cannon sticking out of his mouth?" Chopper shrugged, despite it being difficult for everyone to know what he was even saying in the first place.
O'Chunks merely ignored Chopper and charged at him. The cannon went back in Chopper as he jumped out of the way, but ended up getting hit by an uppercut punch by O'Chunks.
Mario: Now he's being a little smart…
"Smart? Not in me mum's salami's chance!" O'Chunks scoffed. "I'm all brawn, not brain!"
"Well, then it's easier to make a strategy against you," declared Sonic as he hit O'Chunks with a Homing Attack. Sadly, O'Chunks was able to grab Sonic and throw him at Blade, knocking them over.
"How did he do that?!" Blade gaped.
"Honestly, I have no idea…"
"That potion really is helpin' me out!" O'Chunks grinned. "I'm at a great advantage 'ere!"
"Poyo, (Yeah, that potion really has helped him,)" Kirby agreed, jumped onto the wall and tossing a couple of kunai knives at O'Chunks. Some of them hit him, while others bounced off of him.
"How are some of the knives bouncing off him?" Chopper gawked. "Does this have something to do with the potion?"
Mario: Could be…
Kirby grumbled as he floated in the air and kicked O'Chunks from an angle. He attempted to grab the purple puffball (because the Ninja ability turns him purple), but ultimately failed.
"Ergh… Come back 'ere!" O'Chunks growled, swiping above him to grab Kirby. Luigi used his Cyclone while he was distracted to bring his attention to Luigi, until Mario hit him a Super Ground Pound.
Mario: Look at you! You really should stop fighting us!
"Not a chance, Maria!" O'Chunks scoffed, grabbed Mario by the feet and swinging him around. Upon releasing him, Mario began to fly all over the room, hitting the ceiling and floor. Sadly, Sonic and Luigi got hit when Mario came hurling down at them.
While this occurred, O'Chunks began to do another dance before Chopper would grab his scimitar and attack him. O'Chunks was able to turn around and give him a good punch to the face. He tried again, but this time Chopper was able to recoil and fire a cannonball at his stomach.
"Urgh… Me tummy…"
"A cannonball to the stomach… Ouch." Blade cringed as he was able to jump over to O'Chunks and attempt to attack him with his katana. However, O'Chunks managed to grab and squeeze his arm tightly.
"Ack! Get your large hand off my arm!"
"I don't think so, scrawny li'l cat!"
"Hey! I'm NOT scrawny!"
O'Chunks hurled him to the wall with a single throw. He began to cackled as he turned to Chopper and charged at him at a faster pace than what he was like when they fought him in the cavern.
"Whoa!" Chopper gasped as he flipped into 3-D to avoid the attack. A yellow star appeared behind O'Chunks as he hit the wall. This allowed Kirby to grab it and throw it down on O'Chunks.
"Poyo, (Thankfully this attack is helpful when a yellow star appears,)" Kirby said as he backed away from O'Chunks.
Just like before, O'Chunks pulled out a can of beans and dumped them in his mouth. This time, however, when he rocketed, he began to fly all over the room rather than moving horizontally.
"Heads up!" Chopper warned as he tried to attack O'Chunks with his scimitar. Unfortunately, his weapon didn't seem to work as he got pummeled to the ground by the bearded warrior.
"Gra ha ha ha! Yer no match fer me chunks!" O'Chunks cackled as he stopped and landed on top of Blade. The ninja wheezed as he felt O'Chunks's weight on his back. But, with Hommissile, he was able to throw him off and knock him over.
"Whew! Finally!" Blade sighed in relief as he slashed at O'Chunks with his katana. While it would make O'Chunks look worse, he had to do something to fight back!
"OK… So we managed to deal a bit of damage to him…" Luigi trailed. "But he's still got a lot of HP left! How much did he even start with anyway?"
"Well, what I saw was that he had 420 HP, an Attack of 17 and a Defense of 6," Chopper confirmed. "Yeah… Something tells me that he's gotten a lot stronger from that potion. Thankfully, he doesn't have 420 HP anymore."
Mario: That's good to know!
O'Chunks decided that he would fog up the room with his farting abilities, but Mario interrupted him when he stomped on his head. O'Chunks was too slow for him when he got hit in the back of the head by Mario's hammer.
"'EY! Stop it now!" O'Chunks growled. "Yer gonna get me really mad if yeh keep doin' that, yeh know…"
"Well, we're not trying to get you mad…" Sonic trailed. "We're just trying to defend ourselves, considering that you want to hurt us."
"I'll give yeh' a little somethin'!" O'Chunks growled while he tried to rush at Sonic, only to get hit by a Homing Attack, but it didn't stop him from grabbing him by the legs and hurling him around.
"Oh, man! I think I'm going to be sick!"
Once Sonic fell to the ground, O'Chunks did a little dance as he managed to punch Chopper from behind. He even did a stupid pose like before, with his pupils moving around.
This gave Kirby the perfect opportunity to attack, and with his small katana, he was able to strike him easily without taking any damage. Even when O'Chunks punched him, he disappeared in an explosion and jumped back as he reappeared.
"See? That's why I wanted the Ninja ability…" Chopper grumbled as he crossed his arms and looked away. "All I have is this eye patch and captain's hat!"
"And your bad pirate accent too," Luigi added.
"Thanks for that…"
O'Chunks gave a snort as he jumped in the air and came down on Luigi while he was distracted. To make matters worse, he ate more beans and rocketed up into the air with a powerful fart attack.
…With Luigi still below him.
"Ack! He left all of his…gas on me!" Luigi cried as he began to waft the air. "And it's really hard for me to see around here! Guys? Where are you?!"
"Settle down, Luigi. We're trying to find everyone else too." Blade assured as he wafted the air. "Geez! Why did this guy have to eat beans? Now the room smells like Bang's room when he makes a mess!"
"Really?" Sonic grimaced.
"Well, not as bad as this…"
Blade was about to explain more, but he heard the sound of a large thump. O'Chunks apparently landed on the ground, no longer able to use more gas. What they didn't know was that the gas was also poisonous.
Mario: This gas doesn't make me feel good!
"Yeh see, me gas can now poison yeh thanks teh a little…ingredients teh these beans," O'Chunks grinned, holding an empty can. He crushed it and threw it at Chopper, leaving him dazed.
"Copycat!"
"Yeah! That's what we do!" Sonic frowned as he clenched his fist. "That's it! Sonic Wind!"
"Wha…?" O'Chunks felt a blue gust of wind fling him around and make him hit the ceiling. Sonic followed up by attacking him with a Whirlwind, sending him flying a second time and allowing him to strike him with at least two Spin Dashes.
O'Chunks got himself up and used his arms to spin himself around at a fast pace. Two cyclones appeared and sucked both Chopper and Luigi over to O'Chunks. That is, until Kirby was able to stop him by throwing a kunai at the bearded warrior.
"Are you serious? He has an ability like that?" Luigi gaped as he managed to land on the ground. "This is nuts!"
"An' 'ere comes the stomp!" O'Chunks announced as he jumped, did a flip, and then stomped on the ground to create a shockwave. Chopper jumped over it and shot a cannonball at O'Chunks to leave him dazed. He then got up close and slashed him with his scimitar.
"Poyo? (How about we do a ninja-pirate attack?)" Kirby suggested.
"You know… That doesn't sound like a bad idea…" Chopper pondered. "OK! We'll try that then!"
Chopper and Kirby both readied their blades and rushed at O'Chunks while Blade had him occupied with his katana. They started off by shooting a cannonball and throwing a kunai at him. Two of them, to be exact. Once O'Chunks turned to them, they struck him with their blades without him seeing it coming.
"What in me… 'Ow'd yeh do that?!" O'Chunks gaped as he cringed in pain.
"YEAH!" Chopper fist pumped as he and Kirby exchanged hi-fives. "There we go! That turned out great!"
"Yeah, but now you guys made him angry…" Luigi gulped, pointing to the steaming O'Chunks.
"That's IT! Time I turned up the heat!" O'Chunks stomped the ground violently as he began to swing his arms like crazy as he charged at the six. Blade tried tossing Hommissile at him, but it didn't seem to have an effect.
"Crap! That doesn't work!" Blade gulped.
"Just avoid him for now," Sonic suggested as he jumped out of O'Chunks's way. Once he stopped, he began to pant. This gave Blade the opportunity to attack him with Hommissile.
"Yeah! Now he's vulnerable to a couple of more hits!"
"Hold on, I think it's best that we heal up first," Chopper suggested as he took out an Ultra Shroom Shake and took a sip from it, recovering 50 HP. He passed it on to everyone else until Mario had the last sip. He crushed the can, as usual, and he threw it at O'Chunks.
"Don't think yer gonna do that again!" O'Chunks grinned as he grabbed the can and threw it back at Mario's head, leaving him dazed. Luigi gasped and clenched his fists as he attacked O'Chunks with a Cyclone.
"No one hits my big bro like that!" Luigi growled.
"An' why did yeh act like a big coward like before? Now yer gonna fight fer real?"
"I may act cowardly… But I won't let someone hurt my bro! Especially someone like you…"
"Since you fail at beating us a lot," Sonic added.
"Yeh want some more o' this?!" O'Chunks exclaimed as he took out another can of beans. After dumping it all in his mouth, he let out more gas that filled the entire room and made everyone wheeze.
"Oh...geez…" Chopper gagged. "We need…Piccolo…"
Mario coughed as he had Piccolo play a song. With that, they were able to recover from the poison and attack O'Chunks now that the gas was all gone. Once Chopper attacked him with a rainbow ball, he looked like he was in a worse condition than before.
"Poyo? (How much do you think he can take?)" Kirby asked.
"I don't know… Not that much…" Chopper trailed.
"I'm still not givin' up just yet!" O'Chunks hollered as he picked up a chunk of the ground and hurled it at the group. Blade gaped and used his Dragon Beam to destroy the chunk thrown and hit O'Chunks as well.
"Phew! That was a close one!" Blade sighed.
Mario: No kidding!
O'Chunks grumbled as he pushed himself up and charged at the group at a fast pace like before. Chopper jumped and stomped on his head instead, while Blade slashed him with his katana.
"OK… He looks just about done so far…" Blade inspected.
"How do you know?" Chopper questioned.
"By the amount of HP he has left…"
"Oh… Well, you have a point there."
O'Chunks managed to grab a hold of Chopper and used him as a weapon before, swinging him at Kirby and Blade. Chopper merely grumbled as he tried to pry himself out of his grasps. Not even fireballs or ice balls would stop him!
"Can someone get this guy to let go of me or something?!"
"I got it!" Sonic smirked as he curled up in a ball and readied a Light Speed Attack. After charging, he went all out on O'Chunks and hit him a couple of times. Sadly, that was not enough to make him let go.
"Nice try, hedgehog, but I'm not lettin' go!" O'Chunks barked as he swung Chopper at Sonic.
"Ouch! Those quills hurt!" Chopper cried.
O'Chunks was able to attack Mario with Chopper, but Kirby was able to get himself back up and rush at O'Chunks with his katana ready. He only had one shot to make this finishing blow.
With one katana slash, O'Chunks let go of Chopper and let out a yelp as he kneeled on the ground in pain.
"Phew… Thanks for that, Kirby." Chopper sighed.
"Poyo, (No problem,)" Kirby smiled.
"Guh… What went wrong 'ere?" O'Chunks moaned as the red glow around him faded away. "I did everythin' Tipral told me teh do, but I kept failin' 'im! …Maybe it was 'cause I was too distracted by her…"
The group looked at him with a confused look.
"Listen, heroes… Finish me off now while I'm weak." he pleaded. "I won't 'ave teh be a huge pain in yer hiney any longer!"
"No way!" Chopper retorted. "That's too far!"
"Poyo! (We don't resort to stuff like that!)" Kirby replied.
"You have more to live for, O'Chunks. Don't let yourself just die like this!" Sonic pleaded. "Seriously, you still have a chance to do something good in your life."
"But look at me! I ain't worth it now…" O'Chunks mumbled. "Yeh gotta do it! Yeh'd not only do a favor fer Tipral, but fer yerselves too!"
"We won't do it," Blade denied.
Mario: I don't like to do that to people like you…
"I can't even end a single person's game…" Luigi trailed.
"Fine," O'Chunks slowly got himself up and growled at the group as he stomped the ground. "If yer not gonna do it, then I'm going teh 'ave teh go back teh Tipral! Yer not worth me time anyway!"
"Wait… That's something that we'd LIKE you to do instead of letting us hurt you." Blade informed.
"Then we're even then! …Wait a minute…" the bearded warrior looked confused, as if he suddenly forgot something he said earlier. "Yeh know what? I'm goin' teh call it quits fer now! I'll be back fer yeh another time, heroes, an' next time, I'm goin' teh put everythin' I've got against yeh!"
"Really? That sounds like something you would typically say…" Chopper sighed.
"Anyway… I think I need teh go hit the fridge. Chunks away!" As O'Chunks gave one last wave, he used his farting powers to fly out of the room, crashing through the ceiling.
"Weird… First he says that he's useless, then he suddenly says that he's going to come back for us. It's like something hit his brain." Sonic gawked.
"Well never mind that. Maybe we should get out of this room first…" Blade suggested.
"Guys, look over here," Luigi informed, pointing at a purple pipe in the room. "Doesn't that look like the pipe we used to shrink ourselves at the beginning?"
Mario: Oh, yeah! I remember that!
"Hmmmmm… What if we used that to grow big and destroy that mind control tower?" Sonic suggested, snapping a finger. "Wherever we are, we're surely going to be able to get to that tower as giants!"
"Yeah! Let's do it!" Chopper cheered as he dove into the pipe. Everyone else gawked before diving in as well.
Flint and his camera crew-
"Hmmmmm… It doesn't look like those Cradians are coming anytime soon…" Flint trailed, taking a small peek through the window, which was boarded shut. Thankfully, there was a small little hole he could look through.
"Can I see, boss?" Monzo asked.
"No! I don't want you to blow our cover! It's not good!"
"Boss!"
"Oh, what is it, Hornfels?"
"I… I hear growling!" Hornfels gasped, trembling in fear. "Someone in here!"
"More like something in here," Monzo corrected as he saw something that was making its way toward them.
"Now what is i—Wait, what in the world?!" Flint's hat nearly flew off as he gaped at the monster in front of them. "What IS this?!"
"Get ninja thing!" Monzo cried.
"He not around here!" Hornfels gulped.
"Then… We have to take care of this ourselves…" Flint stated as he gave a brave look. He cracked his knuckles and charged at the beast with all his might.
Giant size-
When the heroes jumped out of the pipe, they noticed that they were pretty close to Cradian City. Just down the hill, they saw the glass dome surrounding the place. The only thing they needed to do was smash it.
"Wow… This glass dome is bigger than us!" Blade gaped.
"At least we're not TOO big…" Chopper sighed as he walked down the hill and got to the glass dome. From inside, some Cradians began to scream in fear while some Robocops fled to call in some air support.
"They know we're big…" Sonic gulped.
"Meh, this shouldn't be too bad anyway," Blade hit the glass with his katana's hilt and shattered it entirely. Small specks began to fall from the ground as the dome shattered, leaving the city vulnerable to any attack.
"CALLING IN AIR SUPPORT!" screamed a Robocop, its voice being difficult to hear.
"What was it saying?" Luigi asked.
"Who cares? We gotta find that tower!" Chopper suggested as he managed to destroy a ship with his scimitar. Blade, on the other hand, walked over to a building in the city that apparently sells coins.
"A Mushroom for 50 coins? What is this place, nuts?" Blade gawked. "I'll show you what happens when you sell things at a high price like that!"
He shouted as he began to smash the building until it was flattened to the ground. He then looked over at a DMV that was apparently empty.
"And then the DMV… Oh, man… Taking my test there was so ANNOYING! You know how long it took me to get that thing?! Six hours! Time for some payback for making me wait that long!" Blade shouted as he began to stomp on the building and destroy it with a Dragon Beam.
"BLADE!"
"Uhh… I can explain…"
"Well, I don't care if you destroy that place," Chopper assured. "But maybe we should focus on getting to the tower."
"Poyo! (I can see it up ahead!)" Kirby called out as he swatted a ship away. He ran up to the large tower and grabbed his katana. Even with a slash, it didn't seem to destroy it yet.
"Oh… It's going to take a lot more to take it down." Sonic said as he kept punching and kicking it. "C'mon, people! We need to demolish this thing, and fast!"
"Hold on… I think I have an idea." Blade said as he snapped his finger. He simply kicking it and made it topple down. Thankfully, nobody was hurt by the skyscraper, but the green energy from it managed to zap the heroes and shrink them down to the size of everyone else.
"Whoa… So that tower can also shrink giants." Luigi gaped.
"Yeah, I guess so," Chopper nodded as he noticed the energy in the tower slowly fade away. The gadgets they had on seemed to shatter as well, being connected with the mind control tower for some reason.
Mario: There goes our gadgets…
"Err… What happened?" moaned a Cradian that looked confused. "My head's cradianing me…"
"I think everyone's back to normal!" Chopper smiled. "That's great, since the robots won't be able to control them!"
"HALT!"
"You jinxed it, Chopper…" Blade sighed as they turned around and saw a couple of Robocops aiming their weapons at them.
"You are all under arrest for breaking Master Mind's property!" the Robocop at front declared. "You can be fined or even be sentenced to death for destroying Master Mind's prized possessions!"
"No way!" Sonic retorted. "You're not arresting us!"
"Resisting arrest, I see? Very well! I suppose we'll have to arrest you by force!" the Robocop charged a blast and prepared to fire.
Until something tackled them to the ground.
"What in the world?!" Blade gaped as they saw some kind of plant-like creature send the Robocops flying back.
They looked up at the beast and saw that its head was orange, like the sun, but with a couple of sunflower petals around its head. It body was a green color, like a stem, except this body was a little stronger than a stem. Its claws were merely two moon crescents and its eyes looked like beady eyes. Its legs were also leaves as well.
"What kind of creature is THAT?!" Chopper gawked.
"CRAGLEY HO!" shouted Flint as he, Hornfels, Monzo, and Ninbot were riding on it. "'Such a discovery! A species that I would've never expected to see trapped in the same building as me! At first I thought it was a hostile beast, but in truth, it was actually harmless! It was like it was half sun, half moon and half flower!'"
"Wait a second… The SunMoonFlower? That's something Arcaine imagined, didn't he?"
"Yeah! Who would've thought that it was real?" Luigi gasped.
Mario: This is surprising!
"Poyo? (But I thought the SunMoonFlower was meant to be deadly?)" Kirby realized.
"I guess it's a good guy," Chopper said.
"I'm surprised that you managed to take down the tower so easily," Ninbot commended. "I don't know how you managed to become big, but I commend you for your efforts. All that remains is Master Mind… But even then, he's too strong for you guys."
"Well, that's not stopping us from getting the Pure Heart," Blade replied. "We need that thing, whether the enemy holding it is strong or not."
"Hmph… Very well. Don't say I didn't warn you. You might need this key to go to his palace. It's the white building just up ahead." Ninbot took out a key and tossed it to Blade. "Keep it safe."
"What about you? Are you coming?" Chopper asked.
"I had my chance to fight Master Mind. I lost. However, if you're ever in trouble, I will come in and try to help you as much as I can. I'm going to stay here with this creature. It kind of likes me, admittedly."
"Yes! Go on, adventurers!" Flint ordered. "That treasure you've been seeking is all yours!"
"All right, I guess we might as well," Chopper shrugged as he and his friends began to head out toward the white palace up ahead. While it looked big, it wasn't anything special when they reached the front entrance.
"A Save Block and a ? Block…" Luigi trailed. "I think this shows that Master Mind's in this room."
"We better prepare ourselves!" Chopper suggested as he hit the ? Block first. The Mushroom's cap that popped out of the block looked more like space, but with a couple of stars on it.
"What's that?"
Mario: A Star Shroom!
"Yeah! This should help us!" Sonic grinned as Blade split it into six and allowed each of them to eat a piece, recovering 150 HP. Chopper hit the Save Block afterward before looking back at the city.
"This palace is nearly at the city's edge," Blade realized. "That's interesting…"
"Well, when we finish off Master Mind, things should be better for the Cradians here," Chopper declared. "Come on, guys, let's go!"
Luigi gulped as he followed his friends through the door. For some reason, Ninbot's words on how strong this Master Mind was echoed in his mind.
I think one of my favorite parts here was crushing the DMV. Seriously, going there isn't fun. I was also inspired to do that here when Megas XLR had something similar to that as well.