Entering through the door, they came across a large, circular area that looked so much bigger compared to the other areas. However, it was rather empty, with the exception of a large, dark core with dark purple on the outer section and black in the center. It gave off such an evil feeling. One greater than anything they had encountered.

"Stop right there, Grodus!" Chopper shouted, spotting Grodus near the core. "You're not going anywhere!"

Grodus had heard him and turned to face the group. "Gaaack ack ack ack! You're too late, Chopper!"

"What are you planning?" Vivian asked.

"Look at the dark core before your very eyes! This is where the great evil rests!" Grodus explained. "The one who has caused massive destruction throughout the millenniums. And, in order to awaken it, the power of twenty Crystal Stars must be used to free this great evil!"

"Wait..." Chopper paused. "You mean all this time, you were going after the Crystal Stars is because...?"

"Correct! With all twenty, I could finally reawaken this great evil and rule the entire universe! And you fools will be the first to witness the destructive power that will be granted to me!"

They looked behind them and noticed a dark barrier appear, preventing them from escaping.

"Uh oh... This isn't good..." Scrub gulped.

"Well there's no turning back…" Flyer frowned.

"Gaaack ack ack! I've been waiting many months to finally reach this place! With this demon's power, I shall create a new universe! One that is ruled by me!"

"No..." Chopper gaped.

Grodus turned to the dark core and aimed his scepter at it. "Now! Arise! ARISE! Demon of Destruction!"

The dark core began to flash several times, and suddenly a large amount of black smoke began to emit from it. The first thing they noticed was an arm reach out of the core. It appeared to be a black and red armored arm, with a black gauntlet with a single glowing stripe on it.

"Yes... I can feel it..." a voice echoed from within the core. "Someone has finally broke the spell... Freedom has finally arrived!"

At that point, the figure's entire body began to come out. He wore a black helmet with a horizontal gray stripe on the sides of his helmet. He also had glowing red eyes, and on his helmet were three long, gray spikes protruding from the top. His upper armor was also in black and red, and he wore red shoulder pads with black spikes pointing downward from the bottom. His legging armor was gray and black with red knee pads, and his boots matched his gauntlets, having a glowing, red vertical stripe on them. Wind began to blow his black cape up as dark lightning had struck behind him.

The group was left in shock by this great evil's appearance. But to Chopper, this face was all too familiar, and he was the most shocked of them all.

"No... It can't be..." Chopper gaped. "Maquano?!"

Rogueport-

Many of the folks in Rogueport had continued their usual routine, and that had included scuffles going on between thieves. A Bandit and Goomba, in particular, were having a big fight. However, they were put at a halt when the sky had turned to a dark purple.

"Wh-What's going on?!" the Bandit cried, dropping the Goomba.

Music Kingdom-

All of the musical notes took notice of the dark sky and found themselves shivering at the sight of the darkness.

"Wh-What t-t-the h-h-heck's going on?!" a Music Note exclaimed.

Zip Toad looked up with a frown. "I don't like this one bit..."

Glitzville-

Not even the people of Glitzville were safe from this darkness. Jolene had noticed the sky suddenly become darker, along with many of the inhabitants there as well.

"What's all this?! The sky… It's turning pitch black!" Jolene gaped.

The Great Tree-

All the Punies began to shiver as the sky turned to a dark color. Petuni was the most scared out of them all.

"…B-Brother?" Petuni squeaked.

"The…sky…" Punio stammered. "It's…"

Twilight Town-

As for Twilight Town, things had only gotten even darker for them when the darkness had arrived.

"What the… Why has the sky changed around here?" Mayor Dour asked as he walked out of his house.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" a villager shivered.

Pudgy Island-

Bambo and Kooplang had been left gaping as they saw the sky change to a dark color.

"Whoa… What the heck's going on here?! Why's the sky so dark?!" Bambo exclaimed.

"I have no idea…" Kooplang shivered. "Something's not right..."

Sand Town-

"Oh, dear… The sky is not looking too great today…" Harry gulped. "What has happened?"

"Whatever it is, it looks like it's the end..." the Shy Guy gulped.

"I think I wanna go inside..." the female Bandit mumbled.

Fahr Outpost-

All of the Bob-ombs were running around in fear as the sky began to turn dark and evil. The Mayor was also feeling a bit frightened.

"What's going on here? Why there be darkness up in the sky?" the Mayor questioned.

"Hut! Is this the end?" General White asked.

Snowy Mountain-

Many Icimos were suddenly shivering as the dark purple sky had arrived. Some were not only shivering from the temperature, but in fear of not seeing.

"What has happened to the sky?" Icilder asked, looking up. "Something's wrong..."

Dark Subspace World-

Maquano landed on the ground and looked at his arms, legs, and even his cape. "Yes... I am truly free... Excellent."

"Gaaack ack ack ack! So I finally revived the great demon!" Grodus cackled, facing the evil Demon Knight. "So, you are the great Maquano, correct? Well, it's an honor to meet you! I am Grodus! I am the one that freed you!"

"So it was you?" Maquano responded. "I thank you. If it wasn't for you, I would've still be trapped in that accursed orb that Chopper trapped me in for two years!"

"Wait… So that Light Orb is really the core?" Chopper gasped. "But how?"

"Yes… You are welcome, Maquano!" Grodus said boldly. "Now, destroy these impudent fools for me, and grant me unlimited power to rule this pathetic universe!"

Maquano raised an eyebrow, and then he responded with a laugh.

"What? Why are you laughing?"

"Who do you think you are, thinking that you can command me to do what you please?" Maquano asked. "Do you even know who I am?"

"Huh? What do you mean?!" Grodus gawked. "I thought you were bound to listen to the one who freed you! The legend even said that it would!"

"Legend?! You really think that what the legend says is true?! You are foolish! I don't listen to anyone! I command them!"

"This is preposterous!" Grodus yelled, aiming his scepter at him. "Do as I say! NOW! Or I shall send you back into your eternal prison!"

Unfortunately, Grodus was not able to make the move first. Maquano's eyes flashed, and dark lightning had vaporized Grodus completely, with the exception of his head.

"Perhaps you should learn not to listen to the legend next time. I don't listen to a single soul!" Maquano approached Grodus's head, and with a smirk, he kicked it into the air. His eyes flashed again, and Grodus's head was vaporized as well, leaving everyone was shocked.

"He… He obliterated Grodus!" Chopper gaped.

"How could he do such a thing…?" Vivian frowned.

"Lord Maquano!"

The Shadow Sirens (counting Doopliss), and the Shadow Brothers (counting Tipral) made their appearance from the shadows, delighted to see their leader back.

"The plan was a success!" Mysterious smiled.

"Beldam… Mysterious… So were you the ones that gave that person the message of bringing the Crystal Stars here?" Maquano asked.

"Of course, Lord Maquano!" Beldam nodded. "We did everything that you told us to do! I told that poor fool to find the twenty Crystal Stars so that he could free you! And according to what we witnessed, it was a success!"

"And we also managed to bring your arch-nemesis here as well," Mysterious added, looking over at Chopper. "Making ourselves lose was the best trick we had in the book!"

"So I see…" Maquano turned his head to Chopper. "So, Chopper… It's been a while, hasn't it? Two years, to be exact."

"Wasn't that Light Orb supposed to keep you sealed, though?" Chopper asked while getting in a fighting stance.

"Well... Yes, it did work on me...at first." Maquano replied. "However, that orb wasn't going to last forever. I had eventually corrupted it with my dark power, and eventually I had managed to return to this world. Thankfully, I could still spread my dark powers throughout the universe, so I decided to create darkness that would engulf everything in its way! However, I couldn't be free without the Crystal Stars here, so that's why I tried to lure you here with a letter! It all worked out PERFECTLY!"

"Wait… So you were behind this whole thing?!"

"You are correct, Chopper! I can certainly thank Tipral for giving you that map!"

"Map? Wait..." Chopper turned to Mario. "You mean you never gave the map to the Mayor?"

Mario replied with a shake of his head.

"But... How come you never told me?"

Mario: You never asked.

"See? You were all fooled so easily!" Maquano cackled. "Even Camikon was fooled, believing I had been destroyed by you. I should thank him the next I find him, even if he didn't know of my existence in here. Anyway, you've done what you needed to help me return, and now it's time for me to finish the job on ending the universe!"

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Chopper questioned. It was then he noticed the twenty Crystal Stars come out of his inventory after Maquano rose his arm. "Hey! What are you doing?!"

"You see, Chopper, aside from the original seven Crystal Stars, I had conjured up all the rest. Now with them, I can even gain greater powers than before!"

Maquano snapped his finger, and at that point, all twenty Crystal Stars were had turned black, becoming corrupted by the dark power.

It was at that very moment that they could all feel the ground shake violently.

"Wh-What's going on?!" Vivian asked.

"Heh heh heh! Oh, nothing much! Just the universe shaking!" Maquano cackled.

Boo Town-

All of the Boos could feel the intense shaking, despite the fact that they didn't have any feet. Obviously something was wrong.

"Wh-What's going on around here?!" Bow exclaimed. "Why is the ground shaking like this?!"

"Please stay calm, my lady!" Bootler shouted.

Wingel City-

"Oh, dear… This is awful." Flyer's mother could feel the intense shaking, nearly knocking her to the ground. "My poor, sweet Flyer is out there with this? This is awful!"

"Relax, my daughter… I think he's doing just fine." Mayor Winklin assured.

"Let's hope so..." the Wingel Soldier trailed.

Nautina-

While C-2 Choppor and Merlo were trying to find a way to get off this moon, the ground around them began to shake. Merlo was especially caught off guard.

"What the... What is happening here?!" Merlo gawked.

"Scanners are detecting something terrible occurring through the universe," C-2 Choppor deduced, he and Merlon walking outside of Nautina.

Viti-

Many inhabitants of Viti were being knocked all over the place, with the exception of Pennington, who had managed to remain balanced.

"What's all this, then?" Pennington asked. "Am I to deduce that this is…the end of the universe?!"

Dream Land-

"Oh, dear... I don't like this..." the Mayor gulped.

"Ack! Why is it shaking so violently?!" Bun exclaimed.

"Try to stay calm, Bun! We may not be at a good time right now, but we need to stay calm!" Fumu suggested. Unfortunately, no one was listening to her. "Guys! You have to stay calm! Dedede! Escargon! Stop crying, will you?!"

Sadly, they wouldn't stop crying, nor wouldn't they stop hugging each other.

"It's no use! It's the end of the world!" King Dedede cried. "I want my castle back!"

"I want my plushie of His Majesty!" Escargon added.

"Could that dark power have truly awakened?" Frankly asked. "No! This is unthinkable!"

Sprite City-

"Oh, dear..." Starlder gulped, feeling the ground around him shake. "Is there and earthquake?"

"But... Earthquakes don't occur around here!" Starlow gaped. "Something's definitely not right!"

Starlite Galaxy-

"Staris, can you feel that?" Geno asked, looking over at Staris, whose eyes were closed. "Something terrible is going on in the universe..."

Staris had opened his eyes and felt it as well. Many Star Kids had flown over to them with worried looks.

Tartamos-

"Oh, no… Are we too late?!" Blade gaped.

"No… That's not possible! We can't be too late now!" Meta Knight shouted.

At that moment, the shaking had stopped all around the universe, and they were left pondering over what happened.

"The shaking stopped..." Bang trailed.

"I wonder what happened," Sword Knight pondered.

Dark Subspace World-

"Heh heh heh! I've finally done it! The universe won't be destroyed just yet, but it will in time…" Maquano grinned. "Care to join me in watching the universe slowly die away?"

"But why do you want to destroy the universe?! Don't you have a heart?!" Vivian exclaimed.

"I'm afraid not," Maquano replied. "I do not care about this world whatsoever. There's nothing interesting about it. That's why I'm here to end it, so I can do something more interesting with it! You should've known that, Vivian. ...Oh, right, you don't. Your sisters never told you of me."

"We knew that telling you of Lord Maquano would've been a serious issue if you had left us," Beldam explained. "So basically, we knew of your betrayal from the very start!"

"That goes for you too, my brother," Mysterious said, looking over at Shadower. "Trusting you would've been a great risk."

"Errr... I never knew about this guy..." Doopliss trailed, though he was ignored.

"Well, sorry, Maquano, but there's no way we're going to let you put an end to the universe!" Chopper declared.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! I see that Chopper wishes to challenge you, Lord Maquano!" Beldam cackled.

"Yes, I'm very interested in battling you again!" Maquano grinned, reaching for his red sword on his back. "I will gladly destroy you, Chopper, and I will take joy in it after you kept me encapsulated for two years!"

"And I'm going to make sure you never leave this world!" Chopper replied, while Maquano conjured a dark ball of energy with Chopper's face on it.

"You see this? This is what I wanted to do to you after you sealed me in that Light Orb." Maquano crushed the dark ball of energy in his hands, making the dark mist spread across the room.

"Oh, yes… That's how much Maquano wanted you gone, Chopper!" Beldam grinned. "We've helped grant him his wish, and now you're going to pay for your crimes!"

"This isn't over yet, Sis!" Vivian cried, turning to Maquano. "I promised that I would follow Chopper this whole way, and I'm going to make sure we put and end to you, Maquano!"

"You know, it's a real shame that you decided to join Chopper..." Maquano trailed, crossing his arms. "I had even said you would probably be the next heir to the Shadow King and Queen... But I guess you decided to ditch us for this fool. Why?"

"Because unlike you guys, they are actually nice to me!" Vivian yelled, aiming her finger at Maquano. She attempted to hit him with a Fiery Jinx, but Maquano easily swung it aside.

"All right, Maquano! This is where we end it!" Chopper declared.

"Very well! Then I shall not hold back!" Maquano pulled his dark and evil red sword. He had also created a sword similar to Galaxia and tossed it in front of Chopper. "Here, take it. It'll make this fight much more interesting!"

Chopper inhaled the sword, and he got his green floppy hat. "All right, Maquano! Let's do this!"

Everyone rushed towards Maquano as he simply cackled. "How nice! Your finale is against me! …Just like all of the other times you tried to save the world or universe! Oh, don't worry, Chopper… This won't be long for you!"

"Chopper, don't let him threaten you!" Vivian shouted. "I KNOW we can do this! We have faith!"

Tattle: That's Maquano. Omigosh! Is that the evil Demon Knight you've been talking about?! He really is intimidating! At least he's not possessing anyone, that's for sure… Max HP is 800, Attack is 28, and Defense is 4. He'll use that dark sword of his to strike you at will, or he might just try to use his dark magic on you. Careful now, Chopper… You don't know what kind of effects that magic might do to you… It could do MANY things, so you might wanna be careful… Uh oh… Don't tell me he can heal himself too! It says here that he can recover 150 HP if he wanted to! That's just…horrible! Chopper, you made it this far, and now I think it's time to stop this evil demon and save the universe from utter destruction!

"All right, let's get started!" Chopper rushed at Maquano, striking him with multiple jabs. He managed to jab at him twelve times and deal 12 damage. Vivian wasted no time in attacking. She aimed her finger at Maquano and successfully struck him with a Fiery Jinx.

"Heh heh... I can tell you're strong, but I'm stronger!" Maquano charged at Chopper and with all his might, he swung his sword at him, dealing 28 damage to his arch-nemesis. "Heh heh heh! THAT felt good!"

"Yeah, it may have, but you're still not going to win this," Chopper gripped Galaxia and he fired a Galaxia Sword Beam at him, taking another 12 out of him. Flyer struck him with a Flying Attack for 10.

Maquano looked over to Flyer. After thinking for a minute, he fired a dark ball of energy at him. But that didn't stop Chopper from using a D-Down Slash on him, which was then followed up with Scrub's Mega Egg.

"Hit him with EVERYTHING you guys have!" Chopper shouted. "He's got A LOT of HP!"

"Yes, throw everything you got at me!" Maquano cackled. "But in the end, those efforts will all become fruitless!"

He rushed straight at Chopper, bringing his sword down on him. Chopper brought his sword up to block his attack, but it still caused him to take damage. Regardless of that, Chopper had leaped in the air and hit Maquano with a Gravity Jump, and Sonic's Spin Dash did 6 to him. He was already down to 703 HP.

"Wow. We still have ways to go…" Bombette groaned.

"Yes, you do indeed," Maquano's eyes flashed, and dark lightning had struck the poor Bob-omb.

"Argh! Take this!" Bombette made a dash toward Maquano, and she exploded in front of him. Chopper went up next, striking Maquano with his D-Down Slash attack.

"You know, I'm glad you took care of Staris..." Maquano trailed. "In the end, I didn't need him anymore. But, thanks to your duties, you ended up making the Mushroom Kingdom a better place…for you! However, I know how to make it even BETTER!"

"We know you want to make it better by getting rid of it, we already know," Chopper replied. "Sorry to say, but we're not gonna listen!"

"I see…" Maquano brought his sword down on Chopper for 28 damage. Chopper, on the other hand, managed to land a Wall Jump on him for 18 damage.

"Oh, boy… Without the Crystal Stars in our hands, it might not be easy to take him out. We have to use our own attacks on him…" Shadower sighed as he lowered Maquano's defense with a Shadow Punch.

"Lord Maquano! Remind us to let you finish Shadower when you get the chance!" Mysterious shouted.

"I will do so!" Maquano nodded, swinging at Shadower. "I have to say, Chopper... I'm impressed you managed to defeat both the Shadow King and Queen. Of course, I hate you even more for it as well."

"Why?" Chopper asked.

"The Shadow King was like a son to me! The one who I had raised to be evil! I was hopeful that he'd make his return, but you had to come in and defeat him."

"I'm sorry that the Shadow King was trying to destroy us all..."

"Maybe if the Shadow King weren't into evil, he wouldn't be beaten by us, 'Quano," Sonic said.

"That would be impossible, as I had already gotten rid of her mother so he could do my bidding later in life," Maquano stated.

"You're so cruel..." Berry trailed.

"If that was supposed to be an insult, then you're not very good at them."

Chopper had enough and resumed the battle by striking Maquano with a Gravity Jump. Tamber approached Maquano next, throwing a Power Punch at him and dealing 14 damage. This had ended up bringing him down to 619 HP.

"Take this!" Maquano raised his arm up and zapped everyone with dark lightning. Only, this one didn't obliterate them like Grodus. Chopper retaliated with a Galaxia Sword Beam, which was then followed up with Kirby's Final Cutter.

"Poyo... (OK... Now he's at 595 HP...)" Kirby panted.

"Hmph! So, you seem to have improved a bit ever since our last battle up in Star Haven." Maquano remarked. "I can commend you for that, but you still have no chance against me!"

Maquano made another dash for Chopper and swung at him again. He managed to bring his guard up, but it only made him take 27 damage instead. Regardless of that, Chopper had managed to swing his sword at Maquano, while Berry had bashed the Demon Knight's head with her Ruby Hammer.

Gripping his sword tightly, Maquano lunged at Chopper again, the point of his sword aiming in his direction. He managed to jab at him a couple of times, but Chopper had managed to guard each of his six hits, which could deal 5 per hit. When he finished, Chopper had swung at Maquano again, and then Mario hit him with a Super Jump.

Maquano noticed he was at 569 HP, and that was when an idea struck him.

"Hmmmm… Perhaps I need to up myself a bit…" Maquano rose his arms, and his Attack and Defense rose up by 4. "Heh heh heh! Excellent! This should work nicely!"

"Crud... This isn't good..." Scrub gulped.

"Let's use some defense-piercing attacks then," Flyer suggested.

"Got it!" Chopper jumped up and struck Maquano with a Galaxia Sword Beam, taking 12 out of him.

"Maybe I should 'repay' Maquano for what he did to me two years ago!" Flyer smiled, flying over to Maquano and hitting him with a Flying Attack.

"Let's try a Dark Sword Beam!" Maquano brought his sword back and waited until it was covered in dark energy. He then swung it and fired a Dark Sword Beam at everyone for 32 damage. "Heh heh heh! You should have turned back when you all had the chance!"

"We're NOT giving up!" Vivian retorted, summoning a wall of flames at Maquano. "I know you've done a lot of bad things in your past, and we're gonna make sure that you pay for those crimes!"

"What the…" Maquano was engulfed in the wall of fire for 12 and not to mention he was left a burn. "Ugh… How did she do that?!"

"That's because we managed to help her get that!" Chopper smirked, swinging Galaxia again and firing a Galaxia Sword Beam to hit Maquano for 12 damage.

"Take THIS!" Maquano created a large amount of dark energy and threw it down at Chopper. Luckily, he managed to guard it and take less damage. Chopper then lunged at him with a D-Down Slash, which was soon followed up with Berry's Ruby Throw. After that, Maquano fired dark magic at Berry, while Chopper and Mario took action, the former swinging Galaxia and the latter hitting Maquano with his hammer.

Mario: Give up now!

"Not a chance!" Maquano roared, firing a Dark Sword Beam at Mario. Afterward, Chopper struck Maquano with another D-Down Slash attack, and Sonic immediately turned into Super Sonic.

"Super Sonic? How interesting… Let's see if you can dodge THIS!" Maquano tried to strike Sonic with his sword, but his attack didn't work. He ended up getting hit instead for 12.

"Heh heh heh! Well isn't that interesting?" Super Sonic smirked, making a dash at Maquano, knocking him back.

Chopper jumped up and brought his sword down at Maquano with another Galaxia Sword Beam. "See, Maquano? We ARE capable of doing some heavy damage to you! Just look at you!"

"Well, I can assure you that I still have more up my sleeve!" Maquano aimed his index and middle finger at Chopper, and suddenly a dark burst of dark energy had struck him. "Usually on weaker enemies, that would destroy them, but you're a different case..."

With Maquano's Attack and Defense boost gone, Chopper had run up to Maquano and swung at him to deal 6 damage. Berry also pitched in, bringing her hammer down on Maquano's helmet again. The Demon Knight thought the hammer looked stupid, so he managed to snatch it from her grasps and throw it at her, leaving her dazed.

"Ouch… That was a bit painful…especially from my hammer." Berry moaned.

"Relax, Berry… You'll be fine." Chopper assured as he turned to Maquano. He jumped toward him and threw in another Galaxia Sword Beam. After that, Super Sonic rammed into Maquano to deal another 12 to him. He lost another 12 HP when he tried attacking Super Sonic, but that was when the transformation had ended.

"Aww... Dang it..." Sonic frowned.

Chopper leaped toward Maquano, swinging at him with all his might. Once Kirby struck him with his Cartwheel, the Demon Knight was down to 391 HP.

"All right..." Chopper sighed. "We've got him halfway down!"

"Arrghh… How is Lord Maquano losing?" Beldam questioned. "He IS the great evil!"

"I'm pretty sure Chopper was able to beat him countless times," Tipral answered with his arms folded. "That's an easy explanation."

"Do you think we should go over to him and help him against Chopper?" Mysterious asked. Purple could only give him a shrug.

"Well, I can't really decide who's going to win this. I hope that Slick loses this one, though!" Doopliss chortled.

"Lord Maquano! Do you require our assistance?!" Beldam called out.

"No, I don't need it!" Maquano replied harshly. "This fight is only between me and Chopper! If you get involved in this, I can assure you that you won't be leaving this place alive..."

They slowly stepped away in fear in response. Maquano turned his attention back to the heroes, and he also noticed his HP was over halfway depleted.

"So... You've managed to bring me down this far..." Maquano clenched his fists, and a large amount of dark energy began to surround him, and the ground started to shake violently. "So be it! It looks like I have to go to drastic measures now!"

It was at this point that the heroes knew that Maquano was getting a lot more serious now. They prepared themselves for anything he was going to throw at them.

Maquano aimed his sword at the floor, and with all his might, he stabbed the ground. This had created a wave of dark energy to surge from the floor and strike everyone. Maquano just stood there, cackling at their suffering. When the attack had stopped, Chopper ran up to him and proceeded to jab at him eight times. Meanwhile, Mario had donned his Cape ability.

"A cape? How laughable!" Maquano cackled, firing dark magic at Mario. What he didn't expect was the attack being deflected back at him and making him lose 28 HP. "What the... Not bad... I never knew a cape could do such a thing…"

Mario made a dash at Maquano and took 12 out of him by spinning his cape around. Chopper took only a merely 6 with another sword slash. Maquano decided to target Chopper this time with his sword, but he ended up blocking his attack. The Demon Knight simply knocked him to the floor with a dark blast.

"Don't think blocking will help you, Chopper!" Maquano exclaimed, floating back without even having to move.

"Whoa... How does he do that?!" Scrub gawked.

"He's Maquano. He can do a lot of things. But there's something he can't handle!" Chopper smiled, creating a giant light ball of energy that fell on Maquano. This left him cringing in pain while giving Chopper a distasteful look.

"Arrgghh! You little…!" Maquano hissed. "How did you learn THAT?!"

"I was lucky enough to get it from some guy who was a champ! I should really thank him later!"

"That is, if you manage to live."

Mario flew over to Maquano again, striking him with his cape, which managed to bring him down to 311 HP. Maquano chose not to attack Mario and lunged at Chopper, knocking him to the ground. He prepared to drive his sword down at him, but he suddenly felt himself get scorched.

"Oh no you don't!" Vivian cried, her finger aimed at Maquano, and thus, allowing Chopper to get up and strike him with his sword, bringing him to 295.

"Argh! How are you guys bringing me down this far?!" Maquano hissed.

"Hmph... So they're holding their own quite well." Tipral remarked.

Maquano grumbled to himself as he began to spin his sword around while flying toward the group. They managed to guard the attack and take 29 damage as a result.

"Be careful when he uses that spin attack. That's pretty devastating." Flyer warned.

"No worries, buddy! We got this!" Chopper swung at Maquano again, and then Sonic hit him with a Homing Attack, resulting in him getting knocked to the ground. Chopper looked back at Maquano and threw a light ball at him, leaving him cringing in pain. Berry followed up with her Ruby Hammer afterward. Once Maquano fired magic at her, Chopper had run up to the Demon Knight and jumped in the air, swinging his sword downward at him to deal 6 damage. With Flyer's Flying Attack, Maquano was down to 252 HP.

"Nice! He's down to 260 HP!" Tamber grinned.

"That's still not enough for you fools!" Maquano tossed a dark ball of energy straight at Tamber, causing him to fall asleep. "Much better! Perhaps I'll let you join him!"

"No thank you!" Shadower retorted, striking Maquano with a Shadow Punch, which was then followed up by Chopper's Gravity Jump, bringing him down to 216 HP.

Maquano brought his sword down on Chopper again, who managed to block his attack. The Demon Knight quickly backhanded the his archenemy and lunged at him, knocking him back, leaving him in a dazed state.

"Heh heh... So, how does that feel?" Maquano cackled.

"Ugh... That was painful..." Chopper groaned, leaping in the air and hitting Maquano with another Gravity Jump. Bombette went up next, striking the Demon Knight with her Bomb, bringing him down to 180 HP. He ended up knocking Bombette to the ground with a single sword swing.

"Geez... I think I gotta heal..." Chopper groaned, taking out a Maximum Recovery to replenish all of his HP and FP. "Ahhh... Much better!"

"Poyo! (Here! Let me help you out!)" Kirby suggested, using his Squishiness to make Chopper dodgy. This was a good idea, because once Maquano lunged at Chopper, his attack missed.

"You were lucky there..." Maquano hissed.

Chopper smirked at his arch nemesis, and he used his Master Glove attack to bring a big light ball down on Maquano, causing him more pain again. With that out of the way, Vivian used another Fire Wall to burn him and reduce him to 152 HP.

"Enough of this!" Maquano raised his arms and raised his Attack and Defense by 4. "I'm going to put an end to this right now!"

"Well, we're gonna make sure you DON'T!" Chopper used another Master Glove attack on him to take another 16 out of him while Kirby struck him with his Final Cutter afterward. "Give up now, Maquano! We've got you on the edge!"

"That's where you're wrong!" Maquano grinned, raising his arms again and using his dark powers to recover 150 HP. "There we go. That should take care of some damage done to me..."

"Hey! That's not fair!" Vivian gaped.

"When you're facing a Demon Knight such as myself, then you know that I don't always play fair."

Vivian clenched her fist in anger as she unleashed another Fire Wall on him, scorching him in flames. Chopper used another Master Glove attack to bring him down to 244 HP.

"Ugh… I hate that we have to go through this again." Chopper growled as he took a hit from Maquano's sword. He only had one turn left before his ability would wear off, so he used his Master Hammer to take 14 out of him. With Flyer's Flying Attack, he managed to bring Maquano down to 219 HP.

"Look at you all," Maquano scoffed, noticing them looking exhausted. "You're all so tired from this fight, while I'm still standing fine!"

"We're not giving up..." Scrub growled.

"Good. I wasn't planning on letting you give up."

He summoned a dark ball of energy at Chopper, but the attack ended up missing, to his dismay, and his Attack boost had gone away. With that, Chopper struck him with his Master Gloves, and then Scrub hit him with a Gulp to deal 10. Maquano struck the ground again and caused dark energy to fire upward at them. Scrub was even left with a burn!

"Yeow! That hurts!" Scrub cried.

Chopper wasted no time in attacking Maquano. He conjured up an ice ball and threw it at him. Following up was Mario, who had his hammer out and struck his helmet for 6 damage. This time, Maquano decided to hurl his sword in their direction, letting it spin as it struck them.

"Hey, that's just like my Hammerang!" Berry gaped.

The sword eventually flew back to Maquano as he reached out for it, catching it with ease. He looked at his own reflection through the sword for a moment before turning his attention to the group.

"You know, I never got the chance to look at my own reflection for a while..." Maquano trailed. "Of course, that was because of a certain fool who kept me trapped in that Light Orb..."

"All right, I get it already!" Chopper groaned, pointing at Maquano and commanding Shadower to attack. The Shadow Brother nodded, hitting the Demon Knight with his Shadow Punch. Afterward, Chopper leaped in the air and came down on Maquano with a Gravity Jump. Maquano let his glowing red eyes flash and strike the group with dark lightning.

Before Maquano could restore his defense, Chopper used one more Gravity Jump to deal 30 more damage, while Maquano struck the group with a dark ball of magic. This had caused Berry to become confused as well.

Chopper readied Galaxia and charged at Maquano, swinging with all his might. Kirby soon followed up with his Cartwheel, bringing the Demon Knight to 109 HP. Maquano shook off that attack and proceeded to strike Chopper with his sword, knocking him to the ground again. As he floated back, he was struck by Chopper's Galaxia Sword Beam.

"Take this!" Scrub yelled, laying a giant egg before tossing it at Maquano, bringing him down to 85 HP.

"I can't believe that they've actually brought him down this far…" Mysterious gaped.

"We'll see what happens," Tipral said.

"I don't understand HOW you managed to bring me down this far, but I'm going to end this quickly!" Maquano growled, raising his arms beginning to summon a large ball of dark energy. "You will all meet your ends to this!"

"Whoa… Pretty dangerous, if you ask me!" Chopper squeaked as he used another Galaxia Sword Beam on him.

"I'll hide you guys," Vivian assured, pulling them into the shadows with her Veil.

"SINK INTO DARKNESS!" Maquano roared, throwing the large dark ball at where the group used to be, but his attack missed. "Huh? My attack missed?!"

"Well, when you're with a Shadow Siren, you KNOW that you're probably going to miss!" Chopper smirked as he rose up from the shadows. He managed to guard Maquano's dark magic before he had struck him with another Galaxia Sword Beam. Following up was Bombette, who struck him with her Bomb and brought him down to 55 HP.

"Perhaps this calls for something special!" Maquano approached Vivian and swung at her while dark energy surrounded his sword. Her guarding prevented her from being frozen. He was disappointed in his failed attack, leading to Chopper to swing at him with his D-Down Slash. After Vivian's Fire Wall, he was down to 33 HP.

"We've almost got this, Chopper!" Vivian smiled.

"How…can this be?" wheezed Maquano, firing dark magic straight at Chopper. Luckily for him, he Superguarded the attack. He proceeded to strike him with a D-Down slash again. With a Fiery Jinx up Vivian's sleeves, she managed to bring Maquano down to 12 HP.

"Oh, no... Lord Maquano is already nearing defeat?!" Beldam gaped.

"But that's impossible!" Mysterious gaped as well.

"I... I will not stand down!" Maquano roared, raising his arms and preparing another large dark ball of energy. "You will all fall!"

"We're not going down so soon!" Chopper declared. "We've come this far! We ARE going to win this!"

At that point, the heroes sprung into action and made their attacks on Maquano. Vivian had scorched him with a Shade Fist, Scrub threw a Ground Pound at him, Kirby inhaled the Demon Knight and spat him out, Shadower threw a powerful, shadowy fist at him, Bombette exploded in the Demon Knight's face, Berry's Heart Hammer had come down on his helmet, followed up with Mario's jump, Sonic nearly knocked him back with a Spin Dash, Flyer charged into him in midair, and Tamber had thrown a powerful punch that sent him flying upward.

"Ugh..." Maquano groaned, landing on the ground in pain. "No... This can't be..."

"It's time to end this!" Chopper cried, running with all his might at his arch-nemesis. With all his might, he added light energy in Galaxia and drove his sword through the Demon Knight's body.

"ARRGHHH!" Maquano cried, quickly falling to his knees motionless. Chopper had jumped back to his friends, feeling satisfied.

"I... I don't believe it!" Tamber gaped. "We actually did it! We took down this chump!"

"Wow... It's finally over..." Chopper sighed. "Though, I'm surprised it wasn't as difficult as I thought..."

"Yeah, you're right about that," Vivian agreed.

As everyone smiled at their victory, while the Shadow Sirens and Brothers looked disdainful, they heard the sound of laughter and had paused. Turning to Maquano, they noticed him slowly stand up, not appearing too wounded.

"What...?" Scrub gaped.

"Heh heh heh heh! Did you really believe this fight was over?" Maquano grinned evilly, pulling the sword out of his chest and destroying it. "Oh... I'm afraid this was just the beginning!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Berry asked.

"I wasn't even using my full power!"

Now that left many of them worried.

"But... Seeing as you are much stronger than I thought, I think it's time I showed you a little something. It'll be the last thing you see before you are finished!"

It was at this point that darkness had completely engulfed Maquano, leaving no sign of his body around. A new form had started to appear before the group, now resembling that of a shadow demon. His head had three, curved spike-like protrusions on the top, he had glowing red eyes, and his feet were pointy at the tip

They were now staring at Maquano's true form.

"It's been a while since I had transformed into this state," Maquano remarked. "I usually save it for special occasions... Consider yourself lucky that you got to see me like this!"

"Like this form is going to scare me!" Scrub scoffed, fluttering up to Maquano to use his Ground Pound. However, his attack didn't do squat. "What?! Nothing?!"

Maquano opened his mouth and spewed purple flames upon everyone, dealing a lot of damage to them. Scrub, unfortunately, was not so lucky, and he had fallen over on the ground.

"Ugh… I… I can't take much anymore…" Scrub wheezed, his eyes closing.

"SCRUB!" Chopper gaped in horror. His gazed quickly turned to one of anger when he looked back at Maquano. "You… You're going to pay for that!"

"Go ahead, Chopper! Throw anything you've got at me!" Maquano cackled as Chopper conjured up a light ball and threw it at him. Sadly, the attack did absolutely nothing.

"Wh-What? No..." Chopper gasped before Maquano fired a dark blast at him, dealing 48 damage to him and also destroying his green floppy hat. He slowly got up and began to toss light balls rapidly at him. "I'm not giving up!"

Maquano just stood there, letting them throw everything he had against him.

"Mmmmwee hee hee hee! Excellent!" Beldam cackled. "So Maquano will be victorious no matter what the odds are!"

"I've had enough of you fools. I think it's time to end this!" Maquano swung both arms, and he struck everyone with a dark pulse that ended up knocking everyone to the ground. Chopper was the only one left standing, but he was barely holding on.

"Well well well! It looks like it all comes down to you, Chopper!" Mysterious grinned.

"Unngh... No..." Chopper moaned. "This can't be it..."

"I'm afraid so!" Maquano grinned. "Now perish!"

Opening his mouth, Maquano started to breathe purple flames on the antennae hero. Chopper covered his eyes and covered his face, but to his surprise, he had not been struck by it. He noticed Vivian barely standing, taking the hit instead.

"Vivian!" Chopper gasped.

"Chopper..." Vivian moaned. "Thank you...for what you've done...for me..."

Having no energy left, she had collapsed.

"Oh, no!" Chopper gaped. "Vivian!"

"Oh... Well, looks like she had to come in and interrupt my attack." Maquano said, not caring too much about that. "Well, in the meantime, I think I've found a good use for those audience members."

He rose his arms, and all of the audience members were suddenly turned into dark souls, flying into Maquano's body and replenishing all of his HP.

Chopper, of course, was left wide-eyed.

"Ahhh… Much better! Now, let's take care of you, Chopper!" Maquno grinned, preparing a dark orb of energy. "Farewell, Chopper! It was nice knowing you as my greatest enemy of all time!"

He hurled the dark energy at Chopper, and in no time, he had fallen like his friends.

"Hah hah hah! Finally! I've won!"

Lots of stuff happening in this chapter, too... I'm pretty sure a lot of people kinda knew that it was Maquano who would be the final boss. I wasn't trying to make it TOO much of a surprise...

And trust me, it gets even more intense later...