Super Paper Chopper

by Mechanical Oven

After being lured into a trap by a party invitation, Chopper must save all worlds from a new group of foes from different dimensions and an old enemy. Can he and his friends save all worlds? Or will they be destined to be destroyed in a matter of time...

130. The Wonders of Sagein Galaxy

A light green spaceship was flying through space, past a couple of stars in a new galaxy it entered. This strange galaxy had a lot. First, there was the black sky with a bit of dark pink with a couple of large stars and planets far away. Inside the spaceship, a green little alien seemed delighted that he was finally in the new galaxy. It was almost as if this was a place he wanted to go all these years.

"Squirple squee! Squirps has finally made it to this galaxy!" the alien, known as Squirps squealed. "After getting the right components for the spaceship, Squirps can finally travel to a galaxy across the universe! I bet mommy is very proud of me right now!"

However, Squirps stopped his ship when he noticed something in the distance. There was an asteroid that resembled a small island with a palm tree. There happened to be someone leaning on it and fast asleep.

"What's this? Is Squirps detecting alien life forms here?" the young alien prince wondered. "Squirps knows there is a sacred place here, squirple, but never did Squirps know about strange aliens like that there!"

Squirps stopped his spaceship by the asteroid and got out. He was about to say something, but he gasped when he saw that it was Chopper sleeping on the palm tree. No one else appeared to be around.

"Squoh? Squirps remembers that face… Isn't that the face of the space grunt that Squirps met in Outer Space and that freaky world? Squooog… Squirps still gets nightmare from that place…"

With that, he made his way over to the sleeping Chopper and waved his tentacle in front of him.

"Space grunt! Space grunt!" Squirps also noticed his Pixls weren't around either, so basically, he was all alone.

He continued to wave his arm in front of him and call out 'space grunt', but it didn't seem to work. However, an idea suddenly struck him, and he went back to his ship to get a megaphone.

"Squirps recalls mommy using this to get people to shut up! It also helps wake up people who are sleeping too!"

He held the megaphone close to his mouth and yelled, "Wake up! SQUAAAAAAAG!"

The sound of the ear-piercing scream causing Chopper to suddenly jump up in fear.

"I didn't mean to eat the last cookie, Queen Jaydes! I swear!" Chopper cried before he blinked and noticed where he was. "…Wait a second… This isn't The Underwhere! In fact, where am I?"

"There's a place for dirty laundry, squirp?" Squirps gawked.

"It's not a place for dirty laundry. It's… Wait a second." Chopper blinked a couple of times before noticing who was in front of him. "Squirps is that really you?! How've you been doing?!"

"Squirps is doing fine! In fact, Squirps just noticed you sleeping on this asteroid! Why were you? Squirps hasn't a clue! But, maybe Squirps should tell you where you are. You're in Sagein Galaxy, squirp! It's said to be 'World 21'!"

"Sagein Galaxy? …And World 21?! That's a little TOO far for me! Is this supposed to be a secret world?"

"Most likely, squirp!"

"Man… I should be in the nineteenth world! Well, since I don't know what else to do, I might as well ask this… What's Sagein Galaxy?"

"It's a galaxy where three sages are said to be in! However, it was said that nobody knew who they were or what they looked like. They're pretty much secrets to everyone in the world!"

"I never knew about any sages…"

"There are three sages all together. They are said to help stop the dangers of The Void and help form the weapon that was once used to counter another weapon known as the Dark Star Scepter, squinkles! It was meant to be given to the hero as their sacred weapon!"

"Dark Star Scepter… Wait a second…" Chopper gasped as he got up. "There's actually something that could help counter that weapon? If I got a hold of that, then I could be able to take on Tipral with that Dark Star Scepter thing!"

"…Oh, yeah, Squirps remembered that you're the hero of the prophecy," Squirps realized. "Thankfully, Squirps has installed a map to the ship so we can reach where the sages and the weapon are! Hop into my ship, squinkles!"

"All right! I get to go on a space travel!" Chopper cheered as he jumped into the ship with Squirps. Sadly, the hatch didn't seem to close because Chopper was a little too big.

"Rats…"

"Squh oh… You're too big, space grunt…"

"Great…" Chopper sighed. "Now what? I can't just fly around here… Plus, I don't have my friends and my Pixls! Doing something like this on my own isn't going to be easy…"

"Then, you have no other choice but to space swim!" Squirps declared. "Do not worry, space grunt, for I, Prince Squirp Koroglaine Squirpina, shall help you find the three sages!"

"Great! …But I have one question. Can these three sages restore anything that died out like a Pure Heart? Because I have a problem here…" Chopper trailed as he took the Pure Heart out.

"Squoh? The Pure Heart is nothing but stone, squack! Even if you tried to find the three sages, Squirps doesn't know if they could, but we could try… Squirps once heard that the three sages disappeared after the Tribe of Ancients got attacked by the Tribe of Darkness… That's why nobody knows anything about them anymore…"

"So they could be somewhere around here?" Chopper asked.

"Maybe… But what does interest Squirps is that there's a descendant of the Tribe of Ancients whose ancestor once knew about the sages. Squirps believes he's somewhere around this place! If we find him, we might have a clue on the sages!"

"Well, thanks Squirps… But also, what about my friends? I need to find them too!"

"Worry about that later," Squirps suggested. "Right now, Squirps has to lend you his help! Do you remember how to use Squirps's Squirt Beam?"

"Of course I do," Chopper nodded. "I've used it in two worlds. I'm sure I remember how to use it in space again!"

"All right, squinkles!" the green alien announced as he went into Chopper's grasps. "Let's space-swim!"

"How do I, again?"

"Just jump off this rock, and you'll be floating, squirp! It's easy!"

"All right… If you say so…" Chopper trailed as he jumped off the asteroid. To his surprise, his was flying in space. He tried to remember how to move around in space, so he started by moving his feet as if he was swimming.

"See? That's how you space-swim, space grunt!"

Chopper smiled as he space-swam on ahead, looking around the area to see if there were any dangers of getting hurt. He ended up encountering a small, light blue flying saucer with a yellow dish like antenna on top and three prongs at its base. It fired a small laser that Chopper managed to dodge.

"A UFO? I thought those didn't exist!" Chopper gawked.

"Well don't worry about that, squirple!" Squirps assured. "It's trying to attack us! Use Squirps's Squirt Beam to take them out!"

Chopper squeezed Squirps, and he shot a fireball at the UFO. One more shot defeated it, to his relief. Afterward, he happened to notice a piece of chocolate in an orange wrapper floating around.

"Chocolate? What's chocolate doing here?"

"Chocolate?! Squirps wants some chocolate!" the green alien cried. "Squirps demands that you give him chocolate, space grunt!"

"OK! OK! Geez!" Chopper sweat dropped as he used his inhaling to lure the chocolate over. Once it was close to Squirps, he grabbed the chocolate bar and chomped it down. Chopper gaped when he noticed he had a yellow glow around him.

"Squirple squee! Squirps feels like his speed increased!"

Squirps instantly bolted forward, making Chopper cry out as the little alien crashed through a couple of small asteroids and made holes through them. Some of the UFOs were sent flying away as well.

"Slow down, Squirps! I can't hold on forever!" Chopper cried.

Unfortunately, the speed boost stopped when Squirps crashed into a large asteroid. Past it was a yellow wormhole, which reminded Chopper of when he went into one of those wormholes in Outer Space.

"So… How'd you end up here, space grunt?" Squirps wondered.

"Well… It's kind of hard to explain. I believe that Dimentio sent me… Wait a second…" Chopper blinked for a moment, realizing whose name he just mentioned. "Was that dream true? The dream about him still being around? …Well, he's dead, so he can't really do THAT much!"

"Who's Dimentio, squirp?"

"He's a psychopathic clown person that's bent on destroying all worlds. He always tries to act clever and cheerful most of the time to simply manipulate others. Well, I'm not one to fall for his tricks! However, right now, the biggest threat is Tipral. After all, he does have the Dark Star Scepter and Chaos Heart!"

"Squoh… That's intense…"

"Yeah, it's really…" Before Chopper could continue, he noticed Squirps bumped into something. It was a brown asteroid blocking their way. Regardless of that, Chopper flipped into 3-D and noticed a yellow wormhole behind the asteroid.

"Ooh! A secret wormhole!"

Chopper space-swam to the wormhole and was sucked into another area. There, he saw a small path made of stardust ahead that had slopes up and down. When they landed on the pathway, Chopper put Squirps down.

"Squack! Don't put Squirps down!" Squirps cried. "Squirps might be lonely without anyone to save him! …Then again, Squirps did save five people that were trapped in space…"

"Hmmmmm? You saved people?" Chopper gawked before he picked up the alien.

"Yup! Squirps was actually informed by some small person that I needed to go out and help people that were in danger! He told Squirps to bring them back to a palace…or an asteroid, whichever makes sense."

"Hold on… Does that mean you saved my friends? You know, the other 'space grunts'?"

"Squeh? …Oh! Squirps DOES remember them now! Squirps forgot for a second, sorry! Squirps saved them!"

"And here I thought you weren't that useful… I guess I was completely wrong about you."

"You thought Squirps was useless?!" Squirps growled. "Squirps should have you demoted for thinking about my uselessness! I swear I will…"

Before he could respond, Chopper took off while holding onto Squirps with his Speed Dash. The good news was that the gravity around space didn't seem to affect Chopper when he was on the stardust path.

When he reached the end of the path, he entered the door ahead and found an area with a stardust hill going down to a star spring. There were also stardust platforms he could use to reach the ledge as well.

"Ah! This should be interesting!" Chopper smiled as he jumped on the platforms to reach the ledge instead of using the spring. There, he found a red block that appeared that it could be blown up.

"Use Squirp's Squirt Beam on that!" Squirps chirped as Chopper squeezed him a bit and let him shoot a fireball at the block, blowing it up. A chest was revealed to be there, and when he opened it, he found a Max Shroom Shake.

"Huh… These shakes can recover all of my HP if I wish… I better hold onto it…"

"So… Anything else here, squirple?" Squirps wondered.

"No, it doesn't look like it. Let's go back to where we were before."

---

Large space area-

Once they got out of the wormhole, Chopper space-swam over to the yellow wormhole that was just up ahead. He took it into another space area, but this time, there were a couple of lasers firing vertically that would stop for a moment before firing.

"Lasers… We always need them in space areas…" Chopper sighed.

When the first laser stopped firing, Chopper space-swam past it to find two UFOs firing lasers. Chopper let Squirps shoot fireballs at them to defeat them with easy. For some reason, Chopper couldn't help but look at space itself.

"This galaxy's atmosphere reminds me of my own galaxy… It's a real sight, that's for sure."

"What's your galaxy anyway, squirp?" Squirps asked.

"It's Starland Galaxy. All I can say is that there's a lot to that galaxy. I… I don't know what else to say about it."

He was interrupted when he got hit by a laser a UFO fired. Chopper retaliated by tossing a rainbow ball at it to destroy it. He was also lucky to find a dull orb just up ahead by a larger asteroid. When he threw a light ball at it, the asteroid exploded and cleared the way.

"It feels so peaceful here for some reason…"

After Chopper blasted two red blocks, he noticed one UFO came out of a block, while the other didn't have anything else. It took him two shots from Squirps to defeat it before he found two wormholes up ahead.

"Squoh? Which one do we choose?" Squirps gawked.

"Don't you know about the stuff that's around here?" Chopper asked.

"Well, not all of it! Squirps doesn't know too much about the black holes!"

"Great…" Chopper sighed as he took the first one. When he came out of another wormhole, he noticed there were shooting star-like enemies that were purple that were moving at rapid speeds toward Chopper. He used Squirps to fire his Squirt Beam to annihilate them.

"What were those?!"

"Rapid Stars!" Squirps informed. "They move at a fast speed toward you, and you gotta be prepared to defeat it, squinkles!"

"OK… Well at least I got it, that's for sure." Chopper sighed as he noticed a small little island up ahead. There was apparently a UFO hanging around there, so he went over to the island and defeated the UFO before landing on it. It looked more like a frozen area, unlike the island he was on.

"Geez… It's suddenly cold here!"

"Is there anything here, squirp?"

"Not really… All there is around here is this frozen island…" Chopper trailed as he almost slipped on the ice. He happened to notice a frozen chest, and out of curiosity, he hurled a fireball at it and melted it. When he opened the chest, a coupon happened to be revealed inside.

"A coupon? Now what would something like that be doing in here, hmmmm? …Wait, this is a coupon to 'Sagein Donalds'?! …FOOD! …Wait, is it a fast food restaurant?"

"Food? You mean there's chocolate?" Squirps gaped. "Squirps could use some chocolate, squinkles!"

"I actually wonder how there's even a restaurant in space…" Chopper trailed. "Well anyway, let's not waste any time. It looks like there isn't anything else around here, so we should try the other wormhole."

---

Previous area-

After coming out of the wormhole, Chopper made his way over to the next wormhole ahead. When he reached another area, he noticed a couple of crystals floating around. Some were small, and some were large. A Rapid Star came toward him and knocked him back before he could do anything.

"Annoying Rapid Stars!" Chopper grumbled.

After space-swimming past a blue crystal, he noticed a couple of Maginans in dark gray and black armor patrolling the area, making him gulp. Instead of black eyes like the Maginans, they had white eyes with a black visor. Knowing these guys from Tipral's Palace, he knew he wasn't safe.

"Squoh? What're those guys?" Squirps asked.

"Some soldiers I encountered before…" Chopper trailed. "But this time, they look a lot stronger, which isn't good…"

"We haven't found any sight of Tipral," the Dark Maginan Private stated. "We've looked everywhere around this place, but we haven't found him anywhere!"

"Well he's here somewhere," the Dark Maginan Captain said in a serious tone. "We've been picking up some dark power somewhere around this galaxy. If there's one thing we know about Tipral, he's made of darkness."

"Huh? Tipral's lost somewhere?" Chopper whispered as he gawked. "That's strangely unusual…"

"Hey! Tipral's over there!" a dumb Dark Maginan noticed as it pointed to Chopper. "What'd I tell you? I knew we could find him!"

"You idiot! That's not Tipral! That's his arch nemesis Chopper!" the captain growled.

"Uhhhh… My name's not Chopper!" Chopper declared. "It's Flyer!"

"How about I be the one to prove that?" offered the Dark Maginan Scout as it took out a scanner and scanned Chopper with that. Squirps got caught in the scan as well, forcing him to shut his eyes because of the brightness.

"Too bright, squirp!" Squirps cried.

"Well, looks like the scanner came back positive! This is the kid that Tipral wants dead! So, how about we have a little fun and blast him and that alien?"

Chopper noticed a chocolate bar flying toward them, so he tried to inhale it to bring it close and let Squirps chomp down on it. This made him feel like he could shoot something massive out.

"Squirps feels like he has a huge blast coming out!" Squirps realized as his cheeks puffed out.

"Let me handle them first," Chopper suggested as he hurled a couple of rainbow balls at the Dark Maginans. To his surprise, they didn't seem to harm them as much as the normal Maginans. Considering that they have 92 HP, an Attack of 18 and a Defense of 9 meant something to him.

When the Dark Maginan Private fired a blast from its futuristic assault rifle, Chopper flew down and let the blast destroy one of the crystals. Surprisingly, there were some chocolate bars inside them.

But, since Squirps had his cheeks puffed up, he squeezed the green alien, who let out a large fireball that left the Dark Maginans low on HP. Chopper finished them off by shooting at them with Squirps twice.

"Yeah! We showed them!" Chopper smirked. "Not even Dark Maginans stand a chance against us!"

"It was all so easy!" Squirps smiled until he noticed a crystal coming their way. "Space grunt! Heads up!"

Chopper noticed a crystal coming their way and blasted it, clearing the way. Unfortunately, they were two other Dark Maginans up ahead that noticed them, so they open fired at him. Chopper tossed a couple of rainbow balls at them while Squirps shot them with his Squirt Beam to destroy them.

"I'm so glad I have these elemental hand abilities on me," Chopper sighed. "If I didn't have them on me, I'd probably be weak, considering that I have no Pixls with me."

After blowing up a box, they noticed up ahead was a glob of darkness blocking their way. Chopper simply flipped into 3-D and found an opening he could go through and continued his way through when he went back into 2-D.

However, when he noticed a couple of dark blocks floating around, he noticed some Darklings came out and began to hurl energy balls at him. Chopper tossed a couple of ice balls and froze them. Freezing the dark blocks also prevented more Darklings from appearing, to his relief.

"OK, no more Darklings for now… That's good." Chopper sighed.

"What are Darklings, squirple?" Squirps asked.

"They're minions of my nemesis Maquano. For some reason, some of the Darklings are still around even when Maquano's gone. Kind of weird, if you ask me…"

After passing the frozen cubes, he noticed a wormhole just up ahead. Unfortunately, a Dark Maginan holding a pistol was by the wormhole and was firing at Chopper. He managed to inhale one of the dark blasts and spit it back at the soldier, knocking it back, but not into the wormhole.

"Squirps is wondering if there's another wormhole we need to squarp to…" Squirps wondered as Chopper finished off the Dark Maginan Scout with a rainbow ball. He sighed in relief as he entered the wormhole into another space area. This time, there was a stardust path that he decided to land on.

"Ahhhh… Traveling on foot is MUCH better." Chopper smiled as he noticed a Dark Maginan Shielder, who held a shield up to protect itself. "Oh… This might be a little difficult."

Chopper tried to attack it with ice balls, but the energy shield prevented the Dark Maginan Shielder from getting frozen. However, just because the shield was up didn't mean it was invulnerable.

"Space grunt! Check the back!" Squirps whispered.

"Oh… The back." Chopper flipped into 3-D and went behind the Dark Maginan Shielder. He began to jump on it and attack with a rainbow slamming kick to defeat it and let it drop a Star Shroom Shake, which he took and put away.

Afterward, he used a Speed Dash and took off while holding up Squirps. He went through a stardust loop ahead and found a slope going down to another loop. Needless to say, he was speeding through the path until he stopped by stardust platforms going up to another wormhole.

"Into the wormhole, space grunt!" Squirps cried out as Chopper jumped onto the platforms and jumped into the wormhole with Squirps. This led them into an empty area with a Rapid Star coming their way. Thankfully, Chopper managed to destroy it with an ice ball.

"That should take care of that," Chopper sighed.

"Squoh? What's that?" Squirps noticed a floating restaurant up ahead labeled "Sagein Donalds". "Hey! How about we go in there, squirp!"

"Oh no! I'm not going into a fast food restaurant! I don't like those places!"

"It doesn't say that it's a fast food place…"

"OK fine… Besides, I'm hungry anyway. Once we're done in there, we're going back to searching for the sages and get the Pure Heart back to normal." Chopper smiled as he space-swam to the front door and opened it.

It looked rather nice inside the restaurant. The walls were yellow, and the floor was a shiny white. However, Chopper froze when he saw some Dark Maginans and Maginans sitting at the tables without their helmets on. The Maginans' heads were white with black eyes, and the Dark Maginans had black heads with white eyes. They also had fangs when they opened their mouths.

"Oh, man! This burger is pretty good!" a Maginan grinned after finishing up the burger.

"Don't get too comfortable, Private. We still need to search for Tipral." a Dark Maginan spoke up. "And besides, I've heard from other Maginans that Chopper's around this place. We better be on our toes…"

"Squoh… This isn't good…" Squirps gulped. "But they don't seem to notice us…"

"We can't be in here if we're highly noticeable! We need a disguise…" Chopper pondered as he saw two Dark Wizards wearing gray cloaks to hide their faces, black pants, and purple eyes that could only be seen with the hood on them.

"So… You think that meal was worth it, my dark and evil friend?" the first Dark Wizard asked.

"Of course! Those fries were pretty tasty…" the second Dark Wizard grinned. "Such a shame Master Shade Doom couldn't come here. He would've loved this place."

"He's a little busy with those Skellobit guys, if I could recall…"

"You mean those pathetic dead people? Please! We're the strongest of his minions! It's a good idea he made us to be superior over the Skellobits and Skelloknights. We really do deserve it!"

"Wait… These guys are SHADE'S minions?!" Chopper thought as he gaped. "First Tipral's minions are here, and now these guys?!"

"Say… Did Shade ever ask you about what we should've done with those guys that we found in the comet?"

"You know… I don't think he told us that much about that. I suppose he said to leave those six be. Not like it matters. What're they gonna do? They don't know how to get out of the comet! Chances are they'll die!"

"Meh. Let's not worry about that. Master Shade Doom probably wants us back by now!"

When they walked over to the door, they noticed Chopper was standing in front of them. They stood silent for a moment before drawing their wands and aiming them at Chopper.

"This is a pleasant surprise! So we finally meet THE Chopper Master Shade Doom has been talking about all this time…" the first Dark Wizard grinned.

"It'll be nice to see your strength!" the second Dark Wizard added.

"S-Squirps doesn't like this…" Squirps trailed.

"Hey, I think I have a better idea," Chopper declared, diving toward the Dark Wizards and beating them up without them seeing it coming. Squirps joined in and used his Squirt Beam to disintegrate them. Thankfully, Chopper managed to grab their cloaks before they disintegrated.

"OK… I think this should be fine," Chopper put on the cloak and looked at himself. "Kinda big for me, but I guess it's better than nothing…"

They went up to the shop owner, who reminded Chopper of the shop owner from Twinkle Mart. The only exception was that he wasn't silver, but more of a hold color.

"Well hello there, customers!" the shop owner, Carl greeted. "Say… Didn't you two already purchase something? I don't know, like a Twinkle?"

"A Twinkle? What's that?"

"Uhhhhh… I don't know." Chopper fake pondered as he scratched the top of his head. "We may have… But I liked the food so much, that I wanted to get more!"

"Really? Well… I guess that's good for business here! So what could I get you two?"

"I'll have the…chocolate chip muffin and my friend here wants a chocolate bar with or without nuts."

"With nuts!" Squirps corrected.

"Really? Nuts isn't my thing… But, whatever. It can have nuts in it."

"All right, I'm on it," Carl declared as he went to the shelf and got some chocolate and a chocolate chip muffin. "That'll be 30 coins!"

"Actually, I have a coupon for this place. What does it do?"

"That means you don't have to pay money for it. Here. I'll take it."

Chopper gave Carl the coupon and took the food. He and Squirps went over to a table that was not in the Maginans' range so they could eat at peace. It only took Chopper to inhale and swallow the muffin, while Squirps chomped down on his chocolate bar loudly.

"Squirps! Don't chew loudly!" Chopper whispered. "Some people are looking at us!"

"Squoh? Sorry… But… This chocolate… It's…TOO GOOOOOD!"

The Maginans stopped for a moment and looked over at the two. They put their helmets on and walked over to the two "wizards". They seemed to notice that they looked a little different, but they didn't care.

"Pardon me, but are you Shade's wizard minions?" a Dark Maginan asked.

"Uhhhh… Yeah! What's it to ya?" Chopper asked, trying to sound cool. Unfortunately, what he got were blasters aimed at him.

"We're Tipral's minions, and he told us that any minions of Shade are our enemies. So… I suppose it's time for you two to die!"

"Wait! We're NOT Dark Wizards!" Squirps pleaded.

"Really? Then why are you in that cloak?" a Maginan asked.

"Well that's none of your business," Chopper replied as his hood came down, revealing his face. The Maginan Troopers grinned as they brought their weapons closer to his head.

"Oh, so you're Chopper! That makes things better!" a Dark Maginan snickered. "Looks like your time has come!"

"I don't think so!" Chopper jumped over the Maginans in a fast manner and managed to spin around them while using ice energy. In no time at all, they were frozen solid. Carl himself ended up dropping his coffee.

"…What the heck are you?!"

"Uhhhh… I'm from your imagination!" Chopper responded until he noticed a Dark Maginan attempt to blast him.

"Don't think you're leaving just yet, kid!" the Dark Maginan growled as Chopper hurled a fireball toward it. The soldier ducked while the fireball hit some ice, melting it. "Whoa… Where'd that come from?! Tipral never told me you had that!"

"Well, that works just fine!" Chopper smiled as he froze the Dark Maginan with an ice ball. "All right, Squirps… We should probably get out of here quickly. I don't want to be fighting in here…"

Unfortunately, the Dark Maginans unfroze and began to fire at Chopper, making him gulp and duck under the attacks. Carl shrieked and got under the desk to avoid getting injured.

"Why must there be a fight here?" Carl cried.

"Hold still while I blast you!" a Maginan shouted as it used its pistols to shoot Chopper, who managed to jump over to it and kick it with rainbow energy. Although he got blasted by a Dark Maginan, he was able to speed around it until it was dizzy, allowing him to kick the soldier out of the restaurant.

"Squoh… That was intense." Squirps gaped, not even involved in the fight.

"Come on, Squirps… We should get out of here." Chopper suggested.

As the two left, Carl slowly got up and let out a groan. "I hate my job…"

---

Outside-

"You know, why is this place World 21 anyway?" Chopper wondered as he space-swam away from the restaurant.

"Squirps doesn't know why," Squirps shrugged. "Squirps doesn't hold all knowledge to this place!"

"Well, why did I have to pass the other two worlds? I mean, I pretty much missed that LAST Pure Heart! …Although, there's the Pure Heart that's turned into a stone. There's a problem for me."

While he continued on and blasted a couple of UFOs with Squirps's Squirt Beam, they took a wormhole into an area where they saw a large asteroid off at the distance. Squirps began to ponder for a minute, remembering an asteroid like that.

"What's wrong, Squirps?"

"Squirps isn't sure, but maybe there's something important on that asteroid! Squirps suggests that you head there, space grunt!"

"Will it lead us to the sages?"

"Maybe… But Squirps isn't entirely sure."

"OK, then we'll go there," Chopper nodded as he space-swam toward the asteroid off in the distance. Little did he know he was being watched by someone else who was surprised to see him in this world.

It was the Necromancer, who happened to fly out of the wormhole.

"So, that boy came here at long last…" the Necromancer trailed as he glared at him from behind. "Apparently his friends didn't show up here either, so I guess him being lonely here is rather interesting!"

He began to recall the last time he met with Chopper and his friends at The Peaceness. He even began to recall the Nimbi Wenbi joining Shade's side and giving him more attention than the Necromancer.

"I'm glad that that Nimbi is dead! Ever since he came into the group, Master Shade Doom was ignoring me most of the time! I mean, I'm second-in-command of the army! Thank goodness everything's back to normal, though."

"Necromancer! We have news!" a Dark Wizard called out as it space-swam down to the Necromancer.

"What is it, wizard?" the Necromancer asked.

"We've just discovered Chopper is in this place!" Of course, the only thing the Dark Wizard got was a smack to the face.

"You idiot! I already know about that! Next time, tell me something that's more important than that!"

"All right then… How about the information about six people that were found at the comet?"

"Really? Hmmmm… Now that's interesting! However, I want to see what this hero's doing first! You wizards can join me if you want!"

"Of course. We'd love to."

---

Asteroid of the Sages-

When Chopper landed on the asteroid, he noticed the gravity felt normal when he walked around, which made him sigh in relief. The last thing he wanted in space was his speed to be hindered.

"Well, looks like we're not going to be space-swimming for now!" Chopper smiled. "So tell me, Squirps… Was there really any point in coming here?"

"Not really, squirple…" Squirps began.

"Wa- Hold on, then what was the point in coming here in the first place?!"

"Don't give Squirps an angry look! Squirps wasn't done yet! There's something that Squirps did recall when looking at a map. It said there wasn't much except for a sacred shrine that none had ever entered!"

"…Really? Well, I hope you're telling the truth, because last time I believed someone, I was thrown into a pit. Believe me, it's not good."

"That must've been hard for you, space grunt."

"Errmmm… Could you call me Chopper instead of 'space grunt'?" Chopper asked. "I'd rather be called by my own name than as a 'space grunt'…"

"OK, Chopper… Squirps supposes that we shall…" Squirps paused for a moment when he felt something in him make him feel constipated. "HNNNNGH!"

"Are you all right, Squirps? You don't look so good…" Chopper noticed as he saw Squirps cross his tentacles.

"I… I have to REALLY go potty! I don't know what was in that chocolate, but… I REALLY need to go, squirk!"

"Oh, brother… Not this again… You're going to have to hold it in."

"But… But… Squirps can't! Squirps can barely move!"

"Ugh… I guess I'm going to have to carry you…" Chopper groaned as he picked up Squirps. "Now don't you think of going to the bathroom on my head! I don't like it when people do stuff like that to me!"

"Don't worry, I'll try not to."

"You better not…" Chopper made his way down a hill, his feet moving like a wheel as he found a door before him. Unfortunately, it was barred up, preventing him from going in. However, he did notice two switches on the ground.

"Hmmmmmmm… Squirps, I'm going to put you down by the switch, if that's fine by you."

"G-Go ahead," Squirps nodded as Chopper put him down and jumped on the other switch, causing the bars on the door to vanish. He smiled as he picked up Squirps and headed through the door.

When walking out of the door, the first thing they noticed was a porta potty. It almost reminded Chopper of when they found a porta potty back on Planet Blobule. Oh, the good old times…

"A b-bathroom!" Squirps cried out. "Let me go in, squackle!"

"OK OK!" Chopper nodded as he put Squirps down by the door and watched as he hurried in. Squirps seemed relieved once he got inside. "So… How long are you going to take?"

"That chocolate bar might make me take a while, Squirp!" hollered Squirps. "Maybe you should go out and explore the place yourself, Chopper! Maybe you might find something here!"

"OK, I guess I'll do that," Chopper nodded. "At least I won't be carrying anyone around for now, that's for sure."

Chopper decided to jump over to the short ledge up ahead, where he saw a slope going down to a seesaw with a small block that was on the lower side of the seesaw. When he jumped on the upper side, the block was sent flying upward before coming down.

"Uh oh…" Chopper jumped on the other side as he saw it falling down over him. When it landed on the seesaw, Chopper was sent flying up to the ledge above him, where he found some blue Boomboxers called Blareboxers firing their shockwaves his way. One knocked Chopper by the edge of the floor, but he managed to freeze one with an ice ball and scorch another with a fireball.

That only left one Blareboxer left.

"So there are blue ones here, huh?" Chopper frowned. "Well I guess this is going to be rather enjoyable…"

After the frozen Blareboxer unfroze, it fired its shockwaves at Chopper again, who jumped in the air and stomped on the Blareboxer, performing a stylish move in the process. After using a rainbow kick, it was defeated, leaving two more left. The Blareboxer he burned tried to attack him, but with a charged fireball, he managed to defeat it.

"Now that only leaves one…" Chopper trailed as he inhaled the last Blareboxer and spat it away from him. Thankfully, taking them out by inhaling them makes things easier, but he doesn't get points because of it.

With that, he hurried on ahead, running past a platform that had a ! Switch floating above. When he hit it, the Ice ability popped out. He decided to take it and ice skate on ahead to a large gap. Thankfully there was ground below, but when he flipped into 3-D, he noticed a bridge he could cross.

He smiled as he crossed the bridge and headed through the door. When he walked out, he was standing on a high ledge and noticed a path down below. A Dark Maginan and Blareboxer was wander around by another ! Switch.

"I think I know what to do here," Chopper nodded as he jumped down and used his Ice Storm to freeze the Blareboxer and damage the Dark Maginan, who fired at Chopper, knocking his Ice ability away.

"Dang… So much for that."

He hurled a charged rainbow ball at the Dark Maginan, followed by attacking with his hammer – until he realized that he didn't have Cudge with him. He frowned and jumped on the Dark Maginan instead before moving on to a large rock blocking the way. He flipped into 3-D and went around it easily.

He noticed there was another secret path to go down as he noticed a hole in the middle of the ground. Chopper jumped down and found a ! Switch that contained a blue bandanna. When he took it, he became Suplex Chopper.

Up ahead, there were some small gaps he could jump over and a couple of small yellow blocks as well. When he reached the large pile, he grabbed one of them and threw it forward, destroying all the blocks in his path.

"I don't think I needed to come down here…" Chopper trailed. "I think this might be an alternate path…"

He reached a ledge that had a door on it, so he entered the door into a tunnel-like area in the asteroid where he saw some golden Blade Knights carrying their swords. Chopper grabbed one and slammed it to the ground while he kicked the other to reach some small platforms going down at the end of the path.

"I wonder where this leads…"

He climbed down the platforms and found a small slope to the left going down to another set of platforms leading down to another slope. Chopper climbed down the platforms and ran down the slope until he reached a door on an asteroid platform. Below him was a bottomless pit.

"I better be careful…" Chopper trailed as he entered the next area, where he found a couple of platforms with ice on them. Some Dark Maginans were flying around, as well as some UFOs.

When a UFO got close, Chopper inhaled it in order to grab it and threw it at a Dark Maginan. Afterward, he threw a fireball at its jetpack, causing it to go out of control.

"Awwaaaah! My jetpack!" the Dark Maginan cried as it crashed into a platform and exploded.

After Chopper took down the UFO, he began to slip on the icy platforms. Thankfully, he jumped down to some platforms below him and made his way over to the door ahead. When he reached the next area, he found a pole leading up to a door above him.

"OK, it's just a pole…" Chopper sighed as he began to climb the pole, but just like before, some Sparks appeared on the pole and began to chase him up. Chopper had to use the platforms in order to keep himself from getting hurt. Once he reached the top, he entered an area where he saw a ledge behind him. Apparently there was a door up there that he could've came out of.

"Ahh. Interesting. So I can go up there if I wanted…" Chopper smirked as he found a door up ahead and a ! Switch and Save Block. When he hit the ! Switch, he found a Star Shroom, so he ate it to recover 150 HP. Afterward, he hit the Save Block.

"All right! Let's see what's through this door!"

---

Next area-

When he walked out of the door, he noticed how massive this area was. It was literally big enough to fit an entire monster on here, that's for sure!

"Yeesh… This area's huge!" Chopper gaped.

"WHO ARE YOU?!"

"Huh? Who said that? That sounded kind of like…"

Before Chopper could finish, the ground began to shake as a large, purple robot dragon with a yellow underside appeared via teleportation and let out a huge roar that made Chopper cover his antennae.

"Oh, no… Not another one of these guys!"

"HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO GET HERE?! THIS AREA IS FORBIDDEN BY THE SAGES!" the dragon bellowed.

"Excuse me, but did you say 'sages'?" Chopper gaped. "Then… I must be where I'm supposed to be! I guess Squirps did a good thing by coming here!"

"I AM ARCTAIL. I AM THE ONE WHO GUARDS THIS ANCIENT SHRINE FROM INTRUDERS. THOSE WHO WISH TO CHALLENGE ME WILL BE TERMINATED."

"OK, Arctail… I guess I'll take you on. Besides, I need to find the sages in order to restore the Pure Heart!"

"SO, YOU WISH TO CHALLENGE ME? CHALLENGE ACCEPTED."

"Yeah! I'll do what I did to Dracktail!"

"MY SENSORS SENSE THAT YOU SAID YOU DESTROYED DRACKTAIL, MY MECHANICAL BROTHER. IF THAT'S WHAT YOU DID, THEN I SHALL AVENGE DRACKTAIL'S DEATH BY TAKING YOUR LIFE! IT IS TIME FOR YOUR ENDS TO BE MET, SMALL CHILD!"

"Whoa… That's a shocker." Chopper gaped. "Wait, I don't want you to take my life!"

Arctail let out a roar as it sank into the ground. Chopper blinked for a moment before the large dragon rose out of the ground, soaring into space. What was interesting was that gravity was not affecting this robotic dragon at all.

"OK… So I manage to take down Dracktail… If I have to do the same thing here, then this should be a cakewalk!"

He noticed Arctail fly into the background and make a U-turn. He gasped as he saw it coming straight at him. With his Speed Dash, he was able to avoid getting rammed by the massive robotic dragon.

Once Arctail flew above Chopper, bombs began to drop to the ground, forcing the pale green gumball to run until Arctail stopped dropping bombs and flew past him. When it turned, it began to come Chopper's way.

"All right… I know what has to be done." Chopper flipped into 3-D and stepped out of the way as he watched Arctail chomp the ground. Knowing that he had his chance, he jumped on Arctail's back and was now flying above the asteroid.

"Phew! Looks like I finally did it!"

He noticed some round, purple robots with beaks called Arcles shooting small, green projectiles directly at Chopper as he raced over to Arctail's antenna, which was spinning rapidly.

"…Oh, no! I just realized I don't have Thoreau to help me here!" Chopper frowned. "How am I supposed to hurt this guy now?"

He ended up getting hit by one of the Arcle's small projectile, which did 17 damage, which could've been Arctail's Attack. One thing for sure was that this dragon probably had an unknown amount of HP.

However, that's when he realized he still had his Suplex ability on. Sure, he couldn't use Thoreau to throw the Arcle's at Arctail, but maybe he could use them to throw them at Arctail's antenna! That's when he walked over to the antenna and managed to grab an Arcle. Using his ability, he jumped up and slammed the Arcle on Arctail's antenna, causing Arctail to let out a scream in pain.

"All right, that means I need two more hits," Chopper declared as he inhaled an Arcle and grabbed it before it went into his mouth. He threw it at Arctail's antenna, and then he threw another Arcle at the antenna.

However, Arctail did not do anything.

"Hmmmmm… Something should've happened by now…"

Chopper attacked it two more times with some Arcles, but what ended up happening was Arctail ended up spinning around in an attempt to get Chopper off. Thankfully, he jumped before he could end up falling and threw five more Arcles at Arctail's head. This was where the dragon began to fly forward at a faster pace to do a loop, causing Chopper to slip off.

"Oh no you don't! You're not going to make me fall off!" Chopper cried as he jumped off when he was sliding down the tail. When he saw Arctail's head up ahead, he managed to jump and land on its antenna, causing it to screech again.

"OK… I'm back on its head… Now I gotta repeat the process, right?"

However, he ended up getting hit by an Arcle's projectile, making him lose his Suplex ability. He tried to get it, but it fell off Arctail, forcing him to destroy the Arcles in his way with fireballs.

With that out of the way, he looked up at Arctail's antenna. Of course, there was no way for him to throw the Arcles at its antenna. But that didn't stop him from throwing rainbow balls at it, which made Arctail let out screams.

After ten rainbow balls, Arctail began to do another loop, but this time when Chopper tried to get on its head, Arctail fired a large, green projectile out of its mouth that knocked Chopper off and back onto the asteroid where he was before.

"Dang it!" Chopper frowned as he kicked the ground in disappointment. "I almost had it!"

When Arctail flew above Chopper, it began to fire large projectiles that let off an explosion, sending Chopper flying forward. This wasn't something he saw from a robotic dragon, that's for sure.

Of course, Arctail had to fly into the background and turn around and charge at Chopper from the side like before. Of course, with Chopper's Speed Dash, he was able to get away from the dragon before he could get rammed by it. Once it flew above him, bombs were dropped, which he managed to avoid before he saw Arctail turn around and come his way.

"Yeah, now I know what I need to do here," Chopper nodded as he threw his arms up and went into 3-D. He stepped out of harm's way as the dragon came chomping its way. He jumped on the dragon and got carried upward once again.

"INTRUSION DETECTED ON MY BACK," Arctail alarmed as it did a barrel roll, causing Chopper to hold on for dear life. He almost lost his grasps on it, but thankfully Arctail didn't stay upside down long enough for Chopper to slide off.

"You can do this…" Chopper panted.

He inhaled an Arcle coming his way and spat it at another Arcle up ahead on Arctail's head. He tried not to move too fast, because he was worried about going past the antenna and falling off near Arctail's nose. One he got to the antenna, he began to chuck some rainbow balls at it again.

However, before he could throw two more, an Arcle managed to jump on him from behind and knock him over. It tried to shoot another particle at him, but he managed to kick it off and send it upward with an upper kick that made Arcle screech in pain.

"Oh… I could do that too." Chopper blinked as he kicked the Arcle upward again, causing Arctail to perform another loop. Chopper tried to hold on again, but it was surely not going to work, so he slid down Arctail's back until he reached the tail, where he jumped off and landed on Arctail's antenna while performing a stylish move and landed on the head.

An Arcle appeared on Arctail's nose and fired a charged particle at Chopper this time, who turned around and ended up getting hit by the attack. He inhaled the Arcle and spat it at one that was also coming near.

"If these guys didn't have those projectiles, this would be a lot easier…"

"WHY HAVEN'T YOU BEEN THROWN OFF YET?!" exclaimed Arctail as it tried to do another barrel roll. Chopper managed to jump before he could fall off and landed back on the dragon's back.

"Phew… That was a close one!" Chopper sighed as he clenched his fist and fired a couple of rainbow balls at Arctail, making him let out a couple of screams and do a loop and making Chopper fall off and land on the asteroid.

Of course, he was expecting the same process to occur, but then he noticed Arctail was diving down from above.

"What the heck is he doing?!"

He jumped out of the way when Arctail went inside of the asteroid. The ground began to tremor as Chopper noticed Arctail fly out of the ground. He just barely escaped the dragon's sharp teeth.

"TARGET MISSED! YETI BOMBS ARE REQUESTED!"

"Yeti bombs? What?"

Arctail flew over Chopper and began to drop a couple of bombs down at him, which he managed to outrun. The dragon followed up by firing a large beam from its mouth that Chopper barely avoided, leaving Arctail to fly on ahead of him and turn around to charge toward him.

"Yup, same thing as usual," Chopper rolled his eyes as he flipped into 3-D and jumped on Arctail's back when the time came. Once the dragon was flying, he made his way to Arctail's antenna and hurled an ice ball at it, causing Arctail to scream.

"HOW IS SOMEONE PUNY LIKE YOURSELF ABLE TO TAKE ME ON?!" exclaimed Arctail as Chopper kicked an Arcle with an upward fire kick at its antenna. "NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN A MATCH FOR THE GUARDIAN! UNLESS YOU ARE THE…"

"Uh huh! I'm the hero of the prophecy!" Chopper smirked as he threw seven rainbow balls at Arctail's antenna. With one last screech, the dragon had a feeling it was going to be finished soon.

Chopper sighed as he tossed a charged rainbow ball at the antenna. Sparks began to fly everywhere on Arctail as it let out another screech.

"AAAARGGHHH! I'M…DONE!" Arctail screamed. "YOU… I BELIEVE YOU ARE INDEED THE HERO OF THE LIGHT PROGNOSTICUS; THE ONE THE SAGES HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR ALL THIS TIME. QUICKLY, MAKE YOUR WAY INTO THE SHRINE AND MEET THE SAGES. ARRRGHHHHH!"

Arctail screamed one last time as its back began to explode, revealing its organic spine that fell into pieces and dropped down. Chopper ended up falling off too, but he landed on the ground safely as he saw an Arcle fall.

"Well… I guess that's it…" Chopper trailed until he noticed something reveal itself up ahead. It was a dark gray shrine with stairs leading up to the door. "So that must be the Shrine of the Sages, right? I'm just guessing…"

He made his way up the staircase and reached the door. After opening it, Chopper headed inside.

---

Inside the Shrine of Sages-

When Chopper walked inside, he noticed the interior looked absolutely beautiful. Stars were everywhere on the wall, and up a couple of small steps was a pedestal. Other than that, there wasn't much else he could see.

"This place is gorgeous!" Chopper gaped. "I would love to live in a shrine like this!"

However, when he looked around, he didn't see anyone. "HELLOOO?! SAGES?! THE HERO'S HERE!"

"I'm afraid there are no sages here…"

"No sages? You mean they no longer exist? …Hey, who was that right now?"

A wizard appeared above the pedestal and slowly descended down. He seemed to look a little similar to Merlon a bit, except his cloak and hood were yellow with green eyes. However, he did not have a long mustache.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Merlo. I am one of the descendants of the Tribe of Ancients. I do have a brother named Merlon, though I haven't seen him in many years…"

"Wait, your Merlon's brother?!"

"Yes, I'm his younger brother, to be exact. And rest assured, I'm not actually dead. I'm somewhere far from this asteroid and I'm using my power in order to contact you. One thing I knew about was your arrival."

"Hold on… So are you the one who knows about the sages?"

"I kind of know about it… You see, the thing is… The sages have died a long time ago. The truth is, they were eventually discovered by the Tribe of Darkness and destroyed…with the exception of one, that is. However, it was blatantly impossibly to destroy this sage because it wasn't truly a person, but an object."

"So, I just need to find this sage so I can stop The Void, save the Pure Heart and defeat Tipral?"

"Even with one sage, that won't be enough for all of those," Merlo sighed. "You need all three sages in order to restore your Pure Heart and be able to use the power of the weapon that can counter the Dark Star Scepter."

Chopper noticed a small rod with a star on the top sitting on the pedestal. "You see, only the Star Rod is capable of fighting back the Dark Star Scepter. It isn't made of pure light, just like the Dark Star Scepter isn't made of pure darkness. They are technically even in battle, which could make a fight between two that carry them have no winner… But sadly, its power has been slowly draining here and had gotten weaker throughout the centuries."

"So its power is dead?"

"No, it is not…yet. If the hero of the Light Prognosticus grabs a hold of it, it might just work. However, it won't be as powerful as it was back in the day."

"Wow… But, what about the sages? How am I supposed to restore the Pure Heart without their help?"

"There could be a possibility that the sages' powers were passed on to others of their kind. Some of them foretold who the sages would be when their games would end. They made three stain-glassed windows that they foretold about who would be the sages. Sadly, because of how dark it is in here, nobody has discovered yet."

"Well I guess that's a relief," Chopper sighed. "Well, I suppose I should grab the Star Rod…"

"Be careful, boy… It may not accept you and force you to release it…" warned Merlo.

Chopper ignored him and walked up to the pedestal. He noticed the Star Rod was stuck to the pedestal, but when he grabbed a hold of it, he noticed the star on the Star Rod begin to brighten up. To his surprise, he pulled it out and held it up high.

Not only that, but the whole shrine began to lighten up. Two stain-glassed windows were revealed to be around the pedestal, and Chopper certainly looked surprised at who was on there.

"It appears the Star Rod accepted you…" Merlo trailed. "You might truly be the hero after all."

However, Chopper was not listening to Merlo. He was too busy gasping at the two images on the stain-glassed windows

"No way… Are you telling me Squirps and Ninbot are two of the sages?!"

"They must be the new sages… But, if you know them, then you should seek them and tell them you need their help. It is very important that you get the Pure Heart restored, or else the Purity Heart will never be formed again."

"Squirps was just with me a couple of minutes ago, but I don't know where Ninbot is…" Chopper trailed, noticing that there were backgrounds on the windows. The stain-glassed window with Squirps's image had a space background, while Ninbot's had a forest.

"If I'm not mistaken, Squirps is the Sage of Space, while Ninbot is the Sage of the Forest. The third sage, unfortunately, I cannot see. I suppose the darkness didn't leave the third window…"

"Well, I guess I should go tell Squirps the news right now…"

"Before you go, I advise you to come to Star Observatory," Merlo suggested. "You can find that place on a long pathway called Rainbow Trail. It will lead you there, and I might just be able to help you and your sage friend. I could also help track down the other sages if you wish."

"What about the Star Rod?"

"I have a place where that can go to keep its power from draining. There's a pedestal there that it can be placed on. When all three sages reunite their powers, it will be restored to its full power. However, it's only advised that you use its full power against the Dark Star Scepter, or dangerous things could happen…"

"OK, thanks for the info. I guess I'll try to find Rainbow Trail out in space and meet with you. I'll bring Squirps as well."

"Thank you, Chopper… I'm looking forward to meeting you in person." Merlo said as his spirit slowly faded away. "Also, since the Star Rod doesn't have its full power yet, using it against enemies wouldn't be a bad idea."

With his voice slowly getting softer, Chopper walked down the stairs and headed to the door. He took a look back at the two windows and the third window that was being blocked by the dark power.

"I hope to find you guys soon…" Chopper trailed. "And I hope I can find the third sage as well…"

Once he left the shrine with the Star Rod, the darkness on the third window faded away, revealing a white angelic girl at peace in the sky.

---

Near the porta potty-

"Squirps! Are you done in there yet?!" Chopper hollered as he knocked on the door of the porta potty. "How long have you been in there?"

"I'm sorry, squirp! I had to go REAL bad! I'm almost done!" Squirps responded.

"Well hurry up, please… I found out about the sages and where we need to go!"

After hearing the toilet flush (yeah, for a porta potty, how unrealistic), Squirps came out, relieved.

"Ahhhhhh… Squirps is feeling much better!" Squirps sighed.

"Did you wash your hands—er, tentacles?" Chopper asked.

"Squirps didn't find a faucet to wash his tentacles…"

"Ewwww! I'm not picking you up! …Oh, I have gloves on. Like it'll matter anyway."

"Well, since Squirps is back, maybe we should… Squoh?" Squirps noticed the Star Rod in Chopper's hand. "Is that the weapon that can counter the Dark Star Scepter?!"

"Yeah, it is, actually!" Chopper nodded. "I actually met a guy named Merlo, which I swore I heard that name before… He wants us to go to the Star Observatory, where he's apparently at right now."

"OK! Squirps is on it!"

"Oh, and Squirps… I have something to tell you that you might find shocking…"

Squirps was silent.

"You're one of the three sages."

"Squoh? You're saying Squirps is a sage?!" Squirps gaped. "…What makes you think that Squirps will believe you?"

"Because I saw you on a stain-glassed window in the shrine," Chopper explained. "The powers of the Sage of Space must have been given to you, so you have the power to help restore the Pure Heart!"

"But you don't have proof for Squirps!" Squirps turned away and crossed his tentacles. However, the Star Rod revealed a stain-glassed window with Squirps on it. When the green alien looked at it, he gaped.

"Sq-Squoh?! That's… That's me!"

"Yeah, that's what I've been trying to tell you."

"Then… Squirps shall help you with the Pure Heart." Squirps declared. "If this is what Squirps was meant to do all this time, then Squirps will fulfill his destiny and help the heroes!"

"You would really do that?" Chopper gawked.

"Mommy would want me to do it. Squirps wants to make her proud ever since Squirps was put in a hibernation capsule…" Squirps began to think about his mother and the events back then. "Sometimes, Squirps feels like he misses mommy…"

"Squirps, you're just fine," Chopper assured as he patted his head. "I mean, I bet your mother is already proud of you! You helped us reach the Pure Heart in the Whoa Zone, you managed to get us through the Mansion of Nightmares, and you even saved my friends when they were in danger! I personally think you deserve the title of a sage!"

"You really mean that? Thank you…Chopper." Squirps smiled as Chopper picked him up. "Come on! We need to go find this Merlo person, squirp!"

Chopper flipped into 3-D and discovered to the right, a secret pathway. He ignored the bridge ahead and took the pathway into a small area with a door being blocked by dark star energy.

"Well, maybe my Star Rod will come to good use here!" Chopper smiled as he swung the Star Rod and fired a yellow star at the darkness, destroying it completely and making the way through the door clear for them.

"Nice work! Let's go!" Squirps smiled as they headed through the door. Unfortunately, they didn't notice the Necromancer watching them.

"Yes, go right ahead! You can take yourself and your sage friend to the Star Observatory! Little does he know that I'll be planning a little attack on that place to stop him from restoring that Pure Heart!"

The Necromancer grinned as he flew away from the area.

---

Next area-

When they walked out of the door, they noticed there was a cliff up ahead and a place where Chopper could jump off and space-swim. He decided to do just that and held Squirps in front of him.

"So, space gru—I mean Chopper… Are you ready to make our way out of here, squirple?" Squirps asked.

"Of course," Chopper nodded.

"Just beware of asteroids that are coming our way! Just use Squirps's Squirt Beam and we should be just fine!"

After Chopper had Squirps destroy a couple of asteroids, they carried on ahead.

"Well, I'm sure we should be fine through here," Chopper assured.

"Oh really? You might want to rethink that, Chopper!"

"Squoh? That's odd…" Squirps trailed. "Who said that, squirp?"

The Necromancer flew down in front of them with two Dark Wizards that had black wings, which seemed to resemble Shade's.

"So… What ever happened to the Skellobits anyway?" Chopper asked.

"Oh, they're still around," the first Dark Wizard began. "However, after Master Shade Doom realized the Skellobits weren't enough, he was able to create us! As you can see, we are obviously his strongest minions."

"Squirps and I took two of you guys down easily! And besides, it's not like you're even threatening. You probably have no face under that hood."

"We could show you our faces... But that alone would freak you out. Instead..." the two Dark Wizards drew their purple wands that also seemed to resemble a sword a bit.

"Well, we can't waste our time here, squirp!" Squirps cried, opening his eyes after seeing the Dark Wizard's face. "We must get going!"

"Oh, I don't think so," the Necromancer interrupted. "I heard about this green alien being the Sage of Space. I was thinking if I should hinder your progress, so I decided to help you by taking him!"

"No way!" Chopper retorted, squeezing Squirps and making him shoot fireballs at the Necromancer, who deflected them with his sword. He held his hand in front of him as a purple glow surrounded it.

Chopper was struck by a purple blast, forcing him to release Squirps, which is where the Necromancer managed to swipe the green alien away.

"SQUAAAAACK! Chopper, my fellow comrade! Help me!" Squirps cried as he struggled to break free.

"Now to go find this 'Merlo' you've been talking to… You wizards can finish him!" the Necromancer declared as he flew off, leaving the Dark Wizards to fire dark projectiles from their wands at Chopper, who continued to dodge them.

"Hold on… I can use the Star Rod!" Chopper pulled his Star Rod out and swung it, firing stars at the Dark Wizards and causing them to scream.

"AGGGGH! IT BUUUUURNS!" one cried as Chopper space-swam closer to them and swung the Star Rod at them, making them take more damage. With 96 HP, an Attack of 19 and a Defense of 9, they were something that shouldn't be messed with.

Chopper charged up some power in the Star Rod and fired a small light beam at the Dark Wizards, destroying them completely. One thing for sure was that it dealt a lot of damage to them.

"Wow… That was almost like the Dark Star Scepter's dark beam, although that was a little weaker…"

He decided to follow the Necromancer ahead, despite him not being in his sights. There were a couple of wormholes that appeared with Dark UFOs popping out and shooting lasers at Chopper as he struck one of them with the Star Rod, making him bounce back a bit.

"Whoa! That was a little close…" Chopper fired a star at a Dark UFO from a distance and defeated it. He took down the other afterward and made his way over to a large asteroid with a glowing star inside.

"I wonder what this'll do to it…" he fired a star at the asteroid, which shattered it into pieces and leaving him to gape. "Wow… That was impressive!"

Knowing that he had nothing else to do, he space-swam up to the wormhole ahead to reach an area with moving asteroids that were moving in a strange pattern, such as moving up and down or diagonal. Nevertheless, he made his way past them and found a wormhole in the lower part of the area.

"Hmmmmm… Let's look through here." Chopper declared as he went through the wormhole and entered an area where he found a large asteroid with two Dark UFOs flying around. Chopper simply destroyed them with his Star Rod, which made a chest get drawn on the asteroid.

He opened it, only to find a Master Shroom Shake inside. Since nothing else was around, he left the area and space-swam to a wormhole that was being guarded by a Dark Wizard.

"Don't think you're going to be moving on, Chopper!" the Dark Wizard growled as it fired its dark magic at Chopper. He managed to block it with the Star Rod and shoot a star at the Dark Wizard, who cringed in pain as it tried to rush at Chopper.

Chopper managed to jump out of harm's way and bash the Dark Wizard with the Star Rod. Once it was dazed, he swung it a couple of times like it was a sword and finished it off by slamming it on the Dark Wizard's head, defeating it.

"OK… Now to go through the wormhole…" Chopper sighed as he entered the wormhole and found a low, rainbow path in the background. He also happened to notice a dark figure flying through there as well.

"There it is… Now it's time for me to go!" Chopper found a yellow wormhole up ahead being blocked by dark star energy, so he destroyed it by using the Star Rod. With that, the wormhole was clear, allowing him to go through.

---

Rainbow Trail-

When Chopper got near Rainbow Trail, the gravity began to pull him in. Thankfully, he was able to land on the long road, which consisted of some loops, corkscrews and even speed boosters.

"Wow… This looks like a perfect place for me to run!" Chopper smiled as he charged up a Speed Dash. "Yeah, I know what to do here."

He took off and went up a hill ahead and went down afterward, which helped him run through the loop and use the speed booster to increase his speed. There were some small pits below that he ended up bumping into, which made him stop when a Dark UFO appeared and fired a laser down at him.

However, with the Star Rod, he was able to destroy it with ease before going up a hill and finding the path being blocked by dark star energy.

"Yeah, I know what to do," Chopper nodded as he got rid of the darkness. With that, he was about to carry on…

…Until a missile sent him flying back.

"What the…!" When Chopper opened his eyes, he saw Robo Chopper fly down toward him. "Robo Chopper?!"

"Surprised to see me?" Robo Chopper grinned as he landed in front of Chopper. "I found this place while I was out exploring that metallic forest place. So, wondering what would be through here, I ended up here! And luckily, I managed to find you too! What's even better is that your friends are not here to save you!"

"I don't have time for this, Robo Chopper. I need to go somewhere right now, and having you here isn't going to help!"

"Remember what I said before about you regretting defeating me?"

"Ummmm... Yeah?"

"Good! I want you to be thinking about that when I eliminate you!" Robo Chopper's right hand changed to his blue laser sword and he swung at Chopper, who managed to jump out of the way.

"I'm not going to fight him…" Chopper thought as he took off with his Speed Dash. Robo Chopper growled and flew after him, firing a couple of missiles his way.

"Don't think you're escaping me, Chopper!"

Robo Chopper used his boost to catch up to Chopper as he began to run through a corkscrew and then a speed booster, which increased his speed. Robo Chopper fired his machine gun, but all of his shots missed.

So, instead of flying above, he flew down on the road and began to catch up with Chopper. He was surrounded by a blue glow as he charged at Chopper head on, who turned around and gasped as he tried to increase his speed.

"I don't think I can flee forever…" Chopper trailed as he noticed Robo Chopper clasp his hands together and charge at him like a drill. However, instead of letting himself get hit, he jumped over him so he could go on ahead.

"Ha HA!"

"Wait, what?" Robo Chopper turned around and noticed Chopper was behind him. Unfortunately, he didn't see the loop that he bumped into. Chopper stuck his tongue out at him before he ran through the loop.

"Ugh… Stupid kid. I should've paid more attention…" the robot groaned as he got up and flew through the loop to chase after Chopper.

However, once they got to a wider area on Rainbow Trail, that's when Robo Chopper fired a paralyzing shot that struck Chopper and kept him still, allowing him to make his way to him.

"Now then…" Robo Chopper changed between his laser sword and machine gun. "Which way do you wanna die? Machine gun or laser sword?"

"Is that a way that you could let me live?" Chopper asked. "I mean, come on. Nowadays, you're merely a joke! You mostly kidnap girls who like me in order to lure me into a fight!"

"Lure you into a fight? Well, if that's the case, then it usually seems to work! Now hold still while I try to destroy you!"

Before he could swing his laser sword, a dark blast knocked him back. "What the… Who threw that at me?!"

"If anyone's going to be finishing Chopper, it's going to be me," Phantom Maquano remarked as he slowly landed on the ground. Chopper was left to gape, despite being unable to move.

"Great… Not only do I have Robo Chopper here, but Maquano's here as well!" Chopper sighed. "This is going to be a great day."

"Maquano… I never expected to see…" Robo Chopper paused as he noticed Maquano was merely a dark ghost. "…Oh! Well well well! It looks like someone got themselves destroyed! Heh heh heh! Now this is something I appreciate!"

"Says the robot who got blown up many times…" Phantom Maquano trailed.

"Well at least I get repaired easily! Now get out of my way! I was just in the middle of destroying Chopper!"

"Actually, I haven't finished my job yet. I believe it is I who is going to get rid of Chopper…"

"HA! You can't do much now that you're dead!" Robo Chopper scoffed as he fired his machine gun at Phantom Maquano. However, since he was a ghost, the bullets didn't do a thing. "Oh, crud… That's not good."

"Let me show you what I can do for you!" Phantom Maquano grinned as he fired a dark blast toward Robo Chopper, who jumped out of the way.

"Beat it, Maquano! This is MY fight! Not yours!"

"I can change that if you want," he fired another dark blast at Robo Chopper, but this time, it made Robo Chopper get transported somewhere else. "You'll see how it's like in that large dark world that's out there!"

Thankfully, when Robo Chopper was sent out, Chopper was able to break free from his paralysis. He tried to sneak away, but…

"Oh, don't think you'll be leaving so soon, Chopper! We're not finished yet! I told you I'd be back since that last fight!"

"Ugh… Look, can't you see I'm a little busy right now?" Chopper groaned. "I need to find my friend! It's important because the Pure Heart turned into a rock and I need the help of the three sages!"

"Ah, I heard of the sages before… I remember seeing them before. I wanted to destroy them, but the Tribe of Darkness beat me to it! However, it's not a huge issue. Since you're here, I'll just finish you right now!"

Phantom Maquano created another dark ball of energy and threw it down at Chopper, who jumped out of the way and drew the Star Rod. He shot a star straight at Phantom Maquano, making him cringe.

"Ha! This thing has light in it!" Chopper smirked. "Looks like you're done for!"

"Argh… You may think that… But you see, the Star Rod's power isn't enough to destroy my phantom… Only pure light has that power! And what's this? You seem to be lacking it since our battle in Dark Subspace World!"

"Dang… Well, the only thing I can do is hold you back." Chopper noticed he still had an unknown amount of HP, but now he had an Attack of 19, making him a little stronger this time. Nevertheless, he shot another star toward Phantom Maquano, who dodged the attack.

Phantom Maquano struck the ground and sent a dark shockwave toward Chopper, who managed to jump over it and reach his nemesis and strike him with the Star Rod. He imagined it as a sword as he brought it down on Phantom Maquano's helmet, although some of the attacks he was able to block.

Phantom Maquano raised his sword and a small dark laser fired down toward Chopper, knocking him back. He tried to counter it with a star, but Phantom Maquano was able to teleport to avoid it and get behind Chopper.

"Since you're alone, this makes the fight better for me!" Phantom Maquano smirked as he swung his sword and sent Chopper flying back.

"Ow!"

"I'm sorry, did that hurt?"

Chopper frowned as he tossed a rainbow ball at Phantom Maquano, who simply whacked away with his sword, but unfortunately, he didn't see a star coming at him, which made him fall to the ground.

"All right, now let me see what I can do here," Chopper fired a small light beam from the Star Rod at Phantom Maquano, who cringed in pain as he got up.

"DIE!" Phantom Maquano created a large ball of darkness over his head which he managed to throw down at Chopper, who was able to throw it back at him by swinging the Star Rod.

"Wait… How was that possible?!"

"Hmph… A little game, huh? OK, I'll play your little 'game'!" Phantom Maquano kicked the dark ball back at Chopper, who was able to throw it back at him. It was like they were playing a game of tennis – except that the ball was a dark ball of energy.

Once Chopper hurled the ball back at Phantom Maquano, he tried to think of a distraction. Unfortunately, he wasn't paying attention to the dark ball anymore, which hit him when Phantom Maquano sent it flying back at him, knocking him to the ground.

"Dang it… I shouldn't have left myself too distracted."

Phantom Maquano grinned as he hurled more dark balls of energy, which Chopper rolled out of the way to avoid. At this point, he was starting to believe that this was all Phantom Maquano would throw at him.

"Hmmmmm… You know, this isn't getting us anywhere. Maybe we should actually fight like real warriors and not stay far from each other." Phantom Maquano suggested.

"You know, I think we can finally agree with something," Chopper nodded as Phantom Maquano floated down and both of them ended up clashing as they charged. This time, Chopper won the clash and managed to bash Phantom Maquano with the Star Rod before swinging at him while he was stunned.

"Take this!" Chopper charged some power in the Star Rod before he gave one final swing, knocking Phantom Maquano back and making him grunt.

"Not bad… But even with that Star Rod, you're not guaranteed to defeat me!" Phantom Maquano swung his sword at Chopper and left him stunned. He brought it down on him afterward to knock him to the ground. Before he could strike again, Chopper kicked him as he got up and shot a star at him.

Phantom Maquano swung back at the star, which knocked Chopper back. With that, he began to teleport around the area and make some dark balls appear and come toward Chopper, who avoided them by going into 3-D.

"What ever happened to fighting like a true warrior?" Chopper asked.

"I decided to forget that, because the fight didn't feel as intense," Phantom Maquano answered as he hurled a large dark ball of energy down at Chopper, who swung it back at him like it was a tennis ball. However, he managed to hit him with a yellow star to stun him and then get hit by his own attack, leaving him to land on the ground, stunned.

"Well, looks like you're done for!" Chopper smirked as he began to strike Phantom Maquano with a combo, finishing it off with a small light beam. While it did massive damage to Phantom Maquano, he was able to get back up and kick Chopper away.

"You've done that before, and it hasn't done a thing to me…"

"Maquano… I thought destroying me would be satisfying if I actually was evenly matched with you. By that, I mean you not being invulnerable to all of my attacks. We should fight some other time."

"You're not convincing me to let you go," Phantom Maquano growled as he swung his sword at Chopper, who managed to block it. "After what you did to me, I don't care whether I destroy you whether I'm invulnerable or not! You'll just never die against me!"

"Well, there must be a reason then," Chopper tried to strike him, but Phantom Maquano kicked Chopper and knocked him back. He rose his sword and swung it afterward, firing a dark sword beam his way.

Chopper ducked and fired a star a Phantom Maquano, who blocked it with his sword. The phantom flew above Chopper and raised his arms, creating a large dark ball of energy that he began to conjure up.

"This should be enough," Phantom Maquano threw it down at Chopper, who charged power in the Star Rod and fired a small light beam that shot toward the dark ball and managed to hit Phantom Maquano. The light beam even impaled him, making his eyes widen.

"GAH!"

"Yeah! I did it!" Chopper fist pumped as Phantom Maquano fell to the ground – that is until he got up. "Wait… What? Are you serious?!"

"Didn't I tell you, Chopper? The Star Rod doesn't have the power to defeat my phantom! Maybe it has a chance when it has its full power restore, but without the sages, it'll never happen!"

"I already found one sage. I can go find the others!"

"Heh heh heh… Well, we'll see… Make sure you stay alive, Chopper. 'Cause I'll be the one to finish you off!"

After a grin, Phantom Maquano teleported out of Rainbow Trail, leaving Chopper to sigh and rub the bruises and wounds left on him.

"Here, take this."

"Oh, thanks," Chopper sighed as he took a Star Shroom and ate it to recover 150 HP. However, he paused when he saw Ninbot offered it to him. "…Wait, how on earth did you get here?!"

"I had a dream one day telling me that I was something called a sage…" Ninbot trailed. "A robot was calling for me about someone needing my help with a Pure Heart. And then… He was gone. I decided to ask the main computer in the fortress about the sages, and she told me there used to be three sages. That made me believe that that was foreshadowing something. She also mentioned that the sages were in a place called Sagein Galaxy, which she gladly transported me to so I could find some answers. However, I ended up here, but then I ran into you."

"Wow… That's interesting." Chopper blinked.

"Where are your friends anyway?"

"They're not here, unfortunately… A shadowy spirit came in and sent us somewhere else. Surprisingly, I didn't end up in The Underwhere…"

"The Underwhere? You mean the Land of Ended Games? I heard about that place…"

"Yeah… Anyway, about the whole sage thing…" Chopper trailed. "I found out in the Shrine of Sages that you're the Sage of the Forest."

"Sage of the Forest? Hmmmm… Well, that makes sense, considering that I live in the forest. But, how could I be a sage when I saw the sage in my dream?"

"The sage's powers must've been passed down to you… You can actually save the universe if you help me!"

"That is what I plan to do," Ninbot nodded.

"Then… Could you help me find one of the sages that got kidnapped? The Necromancer came in out of nowhere and kidnapped Squirps!"

"Relax, I'm going to help you with that. We need all three sages anyway, right? If so, we should get going now."

Chopper grabbed Ninbot's arm and took off, going through a couple of loops that were up ahead. Other than it being a little long, there wasn't much else to this place.

"Well, this might take a while," Chopper noted.

---

Star Observatory-

After five minutes passed, they finally made it to the end of Rainbow Trail and found a silver observatory. It looked absolutely gorgeous with a couple of stars on the glassy ground, but they noticed a couple of Dark Wizards and The Necromancer there.

"Oh, no… We're too late."

"So this is the Star Observatory…" Ninbot trailed as he looked around the area and saw the Necromancer with Squirps trapped inside a force field cage. "That looks like the cage I was trapped in before… And is that person inside one of the sages?"

"Yeah, that's Squirps," Chopper nodded. "And the Necromancer's got him… And Merlo is nowhere to be seen either!"

Once they made their way over to the cage Squirps was trapped in, the Necromancer turned his head and noticed the two coming.

"So, you made it here at long last, huh?" the Necromancer noticed as Chopper drew the Star Rod and aimed it at him. "Hmmmm… I don't know what that weapon's supposed to be, but I don't really care."

"Release Squirps this instant!" demanded Chopper. "We need him if we're going to restore the Pure Heart!"

"I'd rather not. I mean, why would I let the good guys get what they want? And besides, I promised Master Shade Doom I would do anything for him ever since he freed me from Underwhere Prison. Curse those four knights for destroying me…"

"Four knights? What are you talking about?"

"You see, I'm not exactly a monster similar to the Shaydes and Skellobits…" the Necromancer trailed as he turned around. "I used to work for another wizard and helped him steal a crystal and attempt to defeat four brave knights who went out to rescue the king's four daughters. Sadly, I failed him and was sent to Underwhere Prison by Queen Jaydes."

"So, why did you join Shade? Didn't you realize that he's a little on the…crazy side?" Chopper remarked, remembering when Shade had his crazy moments.

"I joined him because he reminded me a little of my old master, with that magic that he possessed and the power he had to actually free us! When I was able to leave the aftergame, I remember a goal I once had. I wanted to change the world into a better place."

"You wanted to make the world a better place? How?"

"By making it full of dead people, of course!" the Necromancer cackled. "Master Shade Doom promised me that if I helped him, I would be able to create the World of the Undead that would be powerful enough to wipe out all of the living!"

"So you want a universe filled with undead that will obey your every command?"

"Of course! First I'll have the living eliminated, then I'll use my power to raise the dead and have them worship me!"

"Well, there's one problem," Chopper said as he swung his Star Rod. "I'm not going to let you do that!"

"Ah, yes… Of course, there's still you and your friends to worry about." the Necromancer chuckled as he raised his sword while two Dark Wizards readied their wands. "I suppose we should settle this right now as fighters."

"I'll take care of the wizards," Ninbot informed. "You focus on this Necromancer."

"Got it," Chopper nodded as Ninbot walked over to the Dark Wizards and began to duke it out. "All right, Necromancer! Let's settle this once and for all!"

"Very well! Let's see how much you've improved since our last fight!" the Necromancer smirked.

The Necromancer raised his arms and dead arms rose out of the ground, attempting to grab Chopper. However, he was able to flip backwards and avoid the dead hands while swinging the Star Rod at the Necromancer, who flew out of harm's way as he fired purple magic down at Chopper.

"Whoa!" Chopper used the Star Rod to block the attack and deflect it back at the Necromancer, which knocked him back. "So, you're not going to do the same thing as before?"

"No, that would make it a little too redundant. I'd rather mix it up a bit!" the Necromancer smirked as he hurled a skeleton toward Chopper, which knocked him to the ground as the Necromancer landed on the ground. He made a dash toward Chopper and tried to strike him with his sword, but it was blocked by the Star Rod.

"So you're using that as a sword, huh? Can't say I'm too surprised…"

Chopper kicked the Necromancer back and hurled a rainbow ball at him, which hit him in the face. The Necromancer hurled a purple energy ball toward Chopper, which hit him and knocked him back.

"Watch this!" Chopper raised the Star Rod and swung it afterward to shoot a star at Necromancer, which made his eyes widen in pain as it struck his chest. Nevertheless, he was able to get over the pain and hack at Chopper with his sword.

Thankfully, Chopper managed to knock the Necromancer away and strike him with his Star Rod, leaving the Necromancer dazed as he jumped on his head and froze him with a charged ice ball.

"Woo hoo! The fight's over!" Chopper smiled.

"Squirps wouldn't say that if Squirps were you…" Squirps trailed as the ice shattered and the Necromancer made lightning strike Chopper, which knocked him down. The Necromancer also made some dead hands grab Chopper's feet when he got up.

"Ack! Let go of me!"

"Squirm all you want, but it's not going to help you," the Necromancer grinned as he fired a skeleton his way, hitting Chopper, but not knocking him back because of the dead hands. "You know, you don't really have anything to defeat the dead."

"Maybe not, but… Wait, maybe this might!" Chopper swung the Star Rod down at the dead hands, forcing them to release Chopper and allowing him to jump toward the Necromancer and hit him with a flaming kick.

"OK, so he has 450 HP, an Attack of 18 and a Defense of 8. Yeesh… This might not be so easy. And then Ninbot's handling the wizards…"

"Don't worry, I've got it all under control," Ninbot assured as he slashed at one of the Dark Wizards, making it screech.

"OK, got it," Chopper nodded as he gave a thumbs up. Unfortunately, he didn't see the Necromancer strike him with his sword. He then noticed the Necromancer raise his sword, which began to charge up some power.

When he swung it, a Sword Beam came his way. Chopper tried to defend against it, but the Star Rod wasn't enough to destroy it. Sure, the Star Rod wasn't destroyed, but Chopper still got knocked back from the hit.

"Well, I guess we're a little even here," Chopper noticed.

"Indeed we are…" the Necromancer trailed. "For some reason, you remind me of one of the four knights I loathe, which makes me loathe you even more!"

"Sorry if you can't like me. I'm just trying to do what's best."

"Oh, really? Has there ever been a time where you felt like you enjoyed fighting?"

"Well… Yeah. However, that was when I was a little younger. I matured a little and have learned a few things I did wrong in the past…"

"Well I certainly enjoy fighting!" the Necromancer smirked as he made some dead hands rise in front of Chopper in order to grab him. However, Chopper swatted them away with his Star Rod easily.

With the dead hands gone, he rushed toward the Necromancer and chucked a charged fireball at him to leave him with burning damage. Though, it certainly didn't stop the Necromancer from firing a skeleton at him.

Chopper rolled out of the way while the Necromancer flew up and dove down toward Chopper, swinging his sword twice to make two small Sword Beams strike him. Despite this, he was able to push himself back up and hit the Necromancer in the head with the Star Rod.

"You are rather weak without your Pixls with you," the Necromancer scoffed. "Plus, with only you here, fighting you shall be a breeze!"

"Just because I don't have anyone to help me fight you doesn't mean you're instantly going to win," Chopper informed as he kicked the Necromancer, leaving him dazed. With that, he grabbed him and attempted to throw him onto the ground. It took a lot of strength, but he was barely able to throw him.

"Man… Throwing people is really annoying…"

The Necromancer attempted to get up, but Chopper stomped on him to prevent him from getting up, and then he brought the Star Rod down on him afterward. The Necromancer, however, managed to grab Chopper and pull him down in order to kick him in the face.

"Let's see how you deal with something like this?!" the Necromancer raised his arms and summoned a large dead hand to come own on Chopper and leave him dazed. He charged at the hero and slashed him afterward.

"Yeesh… You really are throwing a lot at me!" Chopper sweat dropped as he got out of his dizziness.

"That's because like you, I've gotten a little stronger as well," the evil Necromancer hissed as he charged at Chopper with his sword like a drill. He gulped and jumped out of the way and struck him with a star.

"I gotta make sure I stay safe from those kinds of attacks…" Chopper thought.

When the Necromancer turned around, he flew back to Chopper and tried to strike him with his sword. Chopper dodged the attacks by ducking and quickly moving himself back while the Necromancer grew frustrated with every time he missed.

"You annoying little… Then again, you are a fast one."

"Yeah, I can agree with that," Chopper nodded as he hurled a rainbow ball at the Necromancer, followed by a Star Rod to the face. For some reason, hitting his face with it felt a little satisfying.

The Necromancer flew up and summoned some small undead hands that attempted to grab a hold of Chopper's face. He managed to get them off by swinging the Star Rod at them.

"Awwww… I wanted them to tear you apart!" the Necromancer whined. "Fine, I think that isn't as good as what Master Shade Doom would do when it comes to destroying people."

Chopper frowned as he swung his Star Rod, making a star come toward the Necromancer. He tried to counter it by firing a Sword Beam, but the star had enough strength to go through and hit the Necromancer.

"Gah! What the heck?! How come that didn't work?!"

"Maybe it's because my Star Rod's stronger than your sword?" Chopper wondered as the Necromancer growled and flew toward Chopper. He attempted to swing at him, but Chopper swung at him, making their weapons clash.

"Too bad you don't have the strength as I do to win a clash!" the Necromancer smirked as he managed to push Chopper back and strike him with his sword, making the gumball-like figure jump back and throw a fireball to leave him burned.

The Necromancer simply brushed it off and fired a purple ball of energy toward Chopper, which he managed to roll out of harm's way. With that, he began to charge up the Star Rod and shoot a small light beam at the Necromancer, which he tried to defend against with his sword.

"Rrrrghhh! What kind of move is this?" the Necromancer grunted as he jumped and used his wings to fly up a bit. He dove down toward Chopper and tried to use the spikes on his helmet to ram into him. Chopper, however, jumped out of the way and jumped on his head instead.

When Chopper performed a stylish move, the Necromancer summoned a large dead hand to grab Chopper and throw him to the ground, despite the fact that he was able to get it off with the help of the Star Rod. However, he didn't care. The Necromancer simply wanted to get rid of Chopper.

"Chopper! Squirps suggests that you attack when he's left open!" Squirps advised.

"Oh, that's some good advice you gave him," the Necromancer scoffed. "Such an obvious thing to say…"

"Well, Squirps thinks it's a good idea!"

"When I'm finished with Chopper, you're next! Now then…" the Necromancer turned around and grabbed a hold of Chopper. He decided to throw him at one of the small buildings and kick him afterward. Before Chopper could get up, the Necromancer began to jump up and down on him to flatten him like a pancake.

"Come on! This is definitely not fun!" Chopper frowned.

"But this is working just fine for me!"

Thankfully, Chopper managed to throw him off by managing to use his feet to strike him with a rainbow kick, knocking the Necromancer back and allowing Chopper to get up and unflatten himself.

"Sometimes I wonder how much I could take of this…" Chopper trailed as he stomped on the Necromancer and performed a stylish move. He looked over at Ninbot, who appeared to be struggling a bit with the Dark Wizards.

"You should've realized who you were messing with!" the first Dark Wizard scoffed.

"We are Master Shade Doom's strongest minions, after all!" the second Dark Wizard added.

"True, but I'm a sage…" Ninbot stood up and clenched his fists. A white glow surrounded him as he bashed the two Dark Wizards with his head, knocking them toward the edge of the observatory.

"Right on, Ninbot!" Chopper approved before the Necromancer managed to strike him with his sword.

"Just because your friend is fighting back doesn't mean that we're done with our fight!" the Necromancer scoffed as he snapped his finger, making dead hands grab Chopper by the feet.

"Oh, come on! You know this won't…" Chopper paused when the Necromancer created a large ball of purple magic that he hurled at him. Since he didn't have time to free himself, he ended up taking the hit. Afterward, he got rid of the dead hands and pulled out a Star Shroom Shake.

"Great… I forgot about the healing items…" the Necromancer sweat dropped.

"It's great that I have these," Chopper sighed as he drank from the Star Shroom Shake to recover 150 HP. Afterward, he swung the Star Rod and hit the Necromancer before he struck him with a flaming punch. "At least I can hurt him with an elemental punch, too!"

"Two can play at that game!" the Necromancer surrounded his fist in purple magic and punched Chopper's face, leaving a red mark on his cheek. Of course, Chopper didn't take this lightly and smashed the Necromancer with the Star Rod.

"All right, that's it. It's time I showed you some of my new abilities! I don't believe I've showed you them the last time I fought you and your friends…"

"Then bring it on!"

Chopper gripped the Star Rod tightly as the Necromancer threw a ball of purple magic toward him. He held the Star Rod like a baseball bat and swung at the purple magic, sending it flying back toward the Necromancer.

"C'mon… Home run, please…" Chopper hoped as the purple magic hit the Necromancer and knocked him down. Sadly, he didn't get a home run. "Dang it! I was hoping I would get a home run!"

The Necromancer clenched his fists and hurled a skeleton at Chopper, who was able to knock it away by swinging the Star Rod. Now that he was a little busy, he hacked him with his sword and spun his sword like a drill to knock him down.

When Chopper got up, he noticed the Necromancer perform another drill attack, but this time he seemed to be aiming at a diagonal. Why he was doing this, Chopper had no idea, but trying to hit him was difficult because of his speed.

"Heh heh heh…" the Necromancer flew down toward Chopper from behind and attempted to strike him with another drill attack.

"Chopper! Watch out, squirp!" Squirps cried.

"Huh?" Chopper turned around and saw the Necromancer coming toward him again. He decided not to take the chances of blocking and jumped over the Necromancer, kicking him with an ice kick afterward.

"This should certainly cool you off!"

"Puns… Stupid, stupid puns…" the Necromancer face palmed before Chopper froze him with a charged ice ball.

"Squirps has to admit that that was bad…" Squirps trailed.

It wasn't long until the Necromancer broke out of his icy prison and flew up in the air and hurled some skeletons down at Chopper. He brought his guard up, but he didn't succeed when the Necromancer fired a skeleton from behind.

"You should try to be a little more cautious of where I throw my skeletons, Chopper!" the Necromancer smirked as he spun his sword vertically as he slammed the ground, sending a Sword Beam in Chopper's direction.

"Don't think you're getting away!" Chopper howled as he rushed toward the Necromancer, who used his wings to fly up once again. Chopper tried to fire a star at him, but the Necromancer simply threw purple magic at him to knock him back and leave him exhausted.

"What's the matter? Getting worn out?"

"Well what about you? You're getting a little worn out yourself!"

"That's true, but you are looking a little more exhausted than me."

"Oh, really?" Chopper pulled an Ultimate Shroom Shake out and drank it to recover 100 HP. He threw the can away and tossed a rainbow ball at the Necromancer quickly, sending him flying back.

"Argh! You little…!" the Necromancer grunted as he held his chest in pain. However, he wasn't through just yet. He clenched his fists and summoned two large dead hands that attempted to smash Chopper with their fists.

"Holy… What the heck?!"

"This is one of the new moves I was telling you about! Enjoy!"

When one of the fists smashed Chopper, he used the Star Rod to destroy them and fire a star at the Necromancer while he was cackling. This left him off guard and forcing him to summon small sword beams to fire down from the sky at Chopper. He went into 3-D and avoided these.

After Chopper went back into 2-D, he was able to knock the Necromancer down with the Star Rod, and once he was down, he was able to kick his helmet with a fire kick, scorching the Necromancer as well.

"Let's see how you like my spikes through you!" the Necromancer hissed as he charged at Chopper with the two spikes on his helmet aiming toward him. He gulped and froze him with an ice ball.

"Phew… Well that's a relief." Chopper sighed as he got behind him and unfroze him by shooting a star at him.

"Yeah! You can do it, squinkles!" Squirps cheered.

"Ungh… Stupid little boy! I'm going to rip you to pieces!" the Necromancer roared as he hacked Chopper with his sword and knocked him back with a kick. This left the antennae hero dazed while the Necromancer grinned.

"Perfect! Now this is what I wanted to see! You, being covered in wounds by me! However, I'll be more satisfied when you're dead!"

"Why do you want me dead?" Chopper asked.

"Because it's what my master wants," the Necromancer explained. "If I want to make my own world of the undead, then I have to take you down. You and your friends are in our way, after all…"

"Well, it doesn't look like that's going to work," Ninbot declared as he got up and sheathed his katana. "Your two wizards are done for!"

"Hmmmmm… I guess the power from the sages does help… However, I believe I'll just finish this off." the Necromancer stabbed the ground and ripped through a hole to make a dark, monstrous hand rise out. Chopper noticed that the face of this monster seemed to show its mouth above its two purple eyes, which began to creep him out a bit when he saw that green, forked tongue.

"This should finish you!"

However, Ninbot used his power to fire white energy at Chopper, which made him cringe until he noticed some of the wounds on him were slowly fading away. Squirps did the same thing, which gave Chopper the energy to wipe the dark monster away, making the Necromancer gape.

"What in the world?! No! This thing was about to finish you off!"

"Not this time, Necromancer," Chopper charged up energy in the Star Rod and fired a light beam toward the Necromancer. An explosion ended up hitting him below his left eye, which left a bad crack on his helmet below his eye. Even his armor had a couple of cracks as well

"CHOOOOPPERRRR!" the Necromancer roared in hatred as he was sent flying out of the Star Observatory. When Chopper stopped, the Necromancer was out of range and, Chopper noticed he used up a lot of power in the Star Rod.

"Finally… He's out of the way." Chopper sighed as he walked over to the cage Squirps was in and disabled the force field, freeing the green alien.

"Squirple squee! Squirps is finally free!" Squirps squealed. "Thank you so much, Chopper!"

"Ahem… What about me?" Ninbot mentioned.

"Squoh? Who are you anyway?"

"Let's just say I'm…an acquaintance of Chopper."

"Yeah, I suppose," Chopper shrugged.

"So, the fight is finally over I see… You did a nice job, Chopper." Chopper turned around and noticed a wizard that looked just like the spirit he saw in the Shrine of Sages walk over to him. "Welcome Chopper! I am the one you spoke to at the Shrine of Sages, Merlo!"

"Hi, Merlo!" Chopper waved. "You're…a little shorter than Merlon."

"Yeah yeah… I know that… No need to tell me that…" Merlo trailed as he turned to Squirps and Ninbot. "So, you managed to find the ones who hold the sages' powers! Great work, Chopper!"

"Is it just us, squirp?" Squirps wondered.

"Hold on, I still didn't find the third…" Chopper trailed. "I don't know if the third sage is anywhere around here…"

"Do you know who the third sage is?" Ninbot asked.

"Not at all…" he looked down at the Star Rod and noticed its power getting dull. "Geez… I used up a lot of the Star Rod's power, didn't I?"

"Ah, yes… I did say that I could help you keep the Star Rod's power from draining. Please come with me, Chopper." Merlo suggested as Chopper followed Merlo into a small purple dome-like building. He noticed there was a pedestal that resembled the pedestal in the Shrine of Sages.

"Whoa… You have one here?"

"Yes, I was able to find one of these in this world and bring it here. This pedestal is made out of pure light, and if the Star Rod is placed here, its power can slowly regenerate. However, it won't be at full power…"

"Might as well do it," Chopper shrugged as he placed the Star Rod on the light pedestal. However, since his hands touched the pedestal, he felt some power surge into his hands, making him cringe.

"What the heck?! Something's going into my hands!"

"Hold on a moment…" Merlo trailed as he stepped back. When Chopper moved his arms away from the pedestal, he noticed that his hands had a yellow glow. From what he could recall, it was something that reminded him of the Diamond Gloves from the Bean 'n' Badge shopkeeper and the Master Gloves that he got from defeating Rawk Hawk a second time.

"No way… Did I seriously get light energy from that pedestal?" Chopper gaped.

He looked outside and ended up throwing a light ball, which began to fly out of the observatory's orbit and elsewhere.

"Wow! I actually got my light hand ability back! I've been waiting to get such an awesome power for a while, especially at a time like this!"

"The light power was bestowed to you?" Merlo gawked. "Never have I known that the pedestal would give light power to the hero… Anyway, we must go to the other sages. We need to help restore the Pure Heart."

"Got it!" Chopper nodded as Merlo walked outside and over to Squirps and Ninbot.

"You two… I need you to use the power of the sages to help restore the broken Pure Heart. It's important that Chopper gets it revitalized."

"Squirps can do it!" Squirps cheered as he fired a white light at the broken Pure Heart. Ninbot nodded and did the same thing. Chopper felt an invisible barrier get shattered as he held the Pure Heart in front of him.

"Hmmmm? It's still not broken…" Chopper trailed.

"That's because we need the power from the third sage," Merlo explained. "If you can find him or her, then you can restore the Pure Heart. Sadly, I don't think you'll find the third sage around here…"

"Well, maybe if I find my friends, I should tell them about finding the third sage and…"

"No! You must not tell anyone of these sages!"

"Wh-What? Why not?" Chopper asked in shock. "My friends wouldn't tell-"

"I know for sure that your friends wouldn't tell anyone... The problem is that enemies will probably hear of this, tell other powerful enemies, and go after the sages. And... If the sages' games are over... Then all hope is lost..."

"But... What if I tell them someplace safe?"

"Please, Chopper... Don't mention them to anyone. Just because you're safe doesn't mean people can overhear you..."

"...OK, I understand," Chopper sighed as he noticed a comet off at the distance. "Say, Merlo… What's that comet?"

"That comet? That is the Comet of Darkness." Merlo explained. "It's said that an evil dark wizard lives there with his entire army. Basically, it's their headquarters."

"I heard that Necromancer say something about six people there…" Chopper pondered. "If that's the case, then I need to go there and help them! Although, he said six… I wonder who the sixth person is…"

"Are you crazy? That place is heavily guarded! Even with your new light powers, it won't be enough to travel there, especially on your own!"

"I don't care, Merlo. If there's a place where my friends are being held in, I would go there, no matter how dangerous it would be."

"Hmmmmmm… I suppose there's no stopping you. However, I wouldn't worry about that place until you restore the Pure Heart."

"All right… Now, you said that the third sage may not be here, correct? Well, how am I supposed to leave this place?"

"Thankfully, as a descendent of the Tribe of Ancients, I hold a power to teleport anyone!"

"Squoh? That means you can take us home?!" Squirps gasped.

"I would love to return home…" Ninbot trailed.

"You two are allowed to go back, but when you're called out to perform your job, you must be there at all costs. No exceptions."

"OK, squirp!"

"That's fine by me…"

"And as for you, Chopper…" Merlo trailed, turning to Chopper. "I will gladly return you to Flipside. If you see Merlon, tell him that his little brother said hi, all right? I wanna know how he's doing."

"OK," Chopper nodded. "Man, I really want to get back to Flipside for some reason…"

"Of course! I will do the job right now! So, ahem…" Merlo cleared his throat and raised his arms, focusing his magic. "YOU…RETURN…TO…FLIPSIDE!"

With that, Chopper was teleported out of Sagein Galaxy. Once Merlo teleported Squirps and Ninbot out, he let out a sigh as he looked up at the sky.

"Good luck, Chopper of Clara… And you too, sages…"

---

You were expecting this to be the same thing, right? ;P

So a lot of interesting stuff happened here, with the whole sages stuff to a dragon fight, to the battle against Phantom Maquano, the creepy Dark Wizards, the Necromancer fight and finally the new light power Chopper got a hold of.

Yeah, this was definitely one of my favorite chapters. Probably one of my favorites in the whole story, perhaps?

Anyway, this took a while to write, but thankfully, I believe the next part shouldn't be as long. I'll get into detail with that part when we get to it.

Also... Over 1,000,000 words. Really, I'm not kidding.