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...

140. The Escape

CHAPTER 20-2

-The Escape-

To the disdain of the six, they felt The Void rumble from the inside, which made Luigi cower in fear and the others left gawking. Thankfully, the shaking stopped sooner than they thought, and they were now relieved. The only downside, however, was that Blade wasn't with them anymore.

"Poyo... (I don't know how many tremors we've had in here...)" Kirby trailed, trying to catch his breath.

"I find it kind of strange..." Chopper trailed. "Why is it shaking in here, especially since it's where all the destroyed worlds go?"

"Chopper, the destruction from The Void could literally be anywhere, which includes this place," Tipral said. "And that's something we must be wary about. It's not even safe here."

"Well who would want to do something like that, if someone was actually controlling the Chaos Heart?" Luigi wondered. Mario pondered these questions as Sonic began to think about Blade.

"Honestly, I can't believe Blade did that..." Sonic trailed. "I don't know what happened between him and O'Chunks that made him stay with him. And how did Knife get in there as well? He may have found his own way through there, because we didn't see anyone sneak by..."

"Probably... And did you even see Blade? He was torn up from the fight against Knife, but then he gained some cool-looking ninja armor to fight O'Chunks. But even then, he looked beaten up. I kinda feel sorry for him..."

"I feel sorry that he had to end his own brother's game..." Luigi trailed. "It's kind of sad when someone you know and love is gone or is someone you're forced to put down. At least my bro and I aren't like that."

Mario: Yeah, thank goodness...

Tipral closed his eyes and suddenly saw an image of someone he remembered being forced to go, but he quickly opened his eyes to get rid of that image. "Look, we're not going to be wasting any time here. We should go. Now."

"Poyo... (Yeah, I guess we should...)" Kirby trailed.

The area around them was flat, but that didn't mean everything was safe here. Black ghosts with purple eyes called Void Ghosts were flying around and trying to swat at them with their disembodied hands.

"Gh-Ghosts!" Luigi cried.

"Oh, relax!" Chopper assured. "We've seen ghosts like these before. They only distract you, not harm you!"

A Void Ghost was able to punch Chopper and knock him back, which made him sweat drop and Sonic face palm. Nevertheless, they tried to fight it when it became visible and defeated it with ease. Chopper got up and easily destroyed one of the other Void Ghosts by tossing a single light ball.

"How are you able to take them out easily?" Sonic gawked.

"Because he has that light power," Tipral answered. "You know, that kind of power is strong against enemies around these parts."

Chopper shrugged and carried on. Some Void Waddle Doo charged at them, but Kirby inhaled one and got a hold of the Beam ability, which he used to charge up an attack and fire at the other Void Waddle Doo. Sonic cleared through some Void Ghosts that became visible by using his Spin Dash.

They also encountered some black Boing-Oings that were bouncing around called Voing-Oings. Mario jumped on one, causing it to split into six, which they were all able to take out with a simple attack. There was another one ahead, which Chopper split into six with an ice ball.

Kirby blasted them all with a beam whip and pressed on to the door. When they walked out, they found a staircase going down, which they remembered seeing before. There were Void Bros spitting fire and ice balls from up the stairs, confusing most of them. Sonic jumped and performed a Homing Attack on it and then finished it off with a Bounce Attack.

"We've seen these enemies before," Sonic said. "Why are most of them recolored enemies of ones we fought?"

Mario: I always wondered that too...

"Then that makes it easier for us to fight," Tipral replied as he saw a black Bronto Burt with dark purple wings flying over the staircase. Luigi's Super Jump was enough to leave it low on HP. When he jumped on it one more time, it was defeated.

They reached the midpoint of the staircase and found two Void Koopas walking around. When they got closer, they got in their shells and readied themselves to attack. Thankfully, Sonic's Spin Dash was able to counter it and defeat them both.

"They didn't even have a chance to make an attack," Sonic realized.

"I suppose that's not bad," Luigi shrugged.

They continued down the stairs, with Chopper jumping on top of a Void Bro. and reaching the bottom of the staircase. Two Darklings attacked, but Mario and Luigi jumped on their heads to take them out.

They entered the door and found a bottomless pit near them, but they also found two moving platforms. One was moving sideways, which was near them, and the other was moving up. There happened to be a blue ! Switch near the platform moving up, and there was another one by two platforms that didn't appear to be moving.

"I guess those two blocks might trigger those two platforms," Tipral pondered. "Let's try to be careful with this. If any of us fall into the bottomless pit, then it's all over, and I don't wanna see that."

"Weird... You wouldn't care if any of us fell." Chopper said. "Why are you saying something like this?"

"Don't give me questions. It's better to listen than to ask."

"Poyo, (That's kind of true,)" Kirby agreed.

Tipral jumped onto the platform and got onto the next one. He threw a Star Spear at the blue ! Block to make the other two platforms move. Everyone else followed and got on the next moving platform. Above them was a blue ! Block, which Luigi hit with a Super Jump to make another platform appear by the ledge ahead.

Mario: Is that a Sword Knight I see?

They saw a black Sword Knight with purple eyes holding a purple sword blocking the ledge. It was even charging some Sword Beams, but Tipral knocked it away with his Star Magic, while Kirby got on the ledge and charged up a beam attack to finish it.

"Well that worked out a lot better than I thought," Chopper said as he jumped onto the platform and reached the ledge. They saw a wall up ahead with two Void Goombas and a black Lava Bubble called a Shadow Ember. Surprisingly, ice didn't seem to affect the evil flame spirit.

"I got an idea," Sonic smirked and tried to hit it with a Homing Attack, causing him to get scorched instead. Tipral slowly shook his head and tossed a shadow ball at it, but it only absorbed its power instead.

"Poyo? (Don't you know that these guys can absorb dark power?)" Kirby asked, giving Tipral a look.

"I just wanted to see if that did anything," Tipral answered. "Even then, it was at full HP, so it didn't matter."

"Then light might work," Luigi deduced, which made Chopper toss a light ball at it and destroy it. He still got hit by a Void Goomba, as well as Mario, who gripped his hammer and bashed it to knock it back.

Sonic, annoyed about getting hit, got in a ball and attacked the Void Goombas with a Spin Dash. With the enemies cleared, they walked to the end of the path. Chopper went into 3-D and saw a hidden path behind the wall that only revealed a chest with an Ultra Shroom Shake, so he came back a bit disappointed.

"Nothing."

Mario: There should be something here...

"There's that wheel with the large open space," Tipral noted, pointing to the wheel stuck in the background. "However it doesn't look like it's moving. I don't have anything to help us with this."

A light bulb appeared over Kirby's head as he popped himself into the wheel and began to use his Cartwheel, causing the wheel to spin. Everyone watched as a door was drawn to their right.

"I guess that solves that," Luigi smiled while Kirby jumped out of the wheel. They hurried through the door into a small hallway-like area with a small pool of dark matter near them. Some Shadow Embers seemed to float around it.

"Poyo... (If only we had Carrie here to help...)" Kirby trailed.

Tipral simply defeated the two Shadow Embers by snapping his finger. He was also able to skate over the dark matter thanks to his dark shoes, while the rest was forced to jump over it.

However, it didn't take them too long to keep moving, because spikes suddenly rose from the ground in front of them.

Mario: Huh?!

"Uh oh... This might be some trouble..." Sonic gulped.

"We just have to jump over them. That shouldn't be too bad." Chopper said as he jumped over the spikes and found a Shadow Ember ahead. Tipral made his way across and took out the Shadow Ember. They ended up finding more spikes that rose in front of them.

When the others caught up, they decided to be careful and jump over them. Kirby had an easier time, because he was able to float over them, while the rest had to jump (Tipral could teleport, but he didn't here).

When they reached the end of the area, they noticed above them was a ledge, but a couple of Void Gordos were making up a small path to go up, and not even Luigi's Super Jump could get through that.

"How are we supposed to get through this?" Luigi asked.

"Poyo, (I'll handle this,)" Kirby assured as he floated in between the two rows of Void Gordos and got to the ledge. Tipral teleported the rest of the group up to the ledge, even though they could've CLEARLY done that before.

They noticed some black platforms going up to a door on the ledge ahead, but there happened to be some Void Bats and Void Bronto Burts flying around and causing a bit of a problem for them. Sonic even tried to stay on one of the platforms, but he was quickly swarmed by them.

"OK, this isn't easier than I thought..." Sonic trailed as he landed on the ground. "We need to take them out."

Luigi had an idea and used his Super Jump to attack a couple of the enemies. When he was landing, he was jumping on their heads and defeating them. His landing, however, wasn't the best. He ended up falling headfirst.

"Wow... Great landing, Luigi." Chopper blinked as he slowly clapped. "Now we should get going."

They made their way up the platforms and reached the ledge to find a door. No questions were asked as they entered into a small area to find...Tippi?

"Guys! I can't believe you're all here!" Tippi gaped as they all walked over to the rainbow butterfly. Tipral blinked for a moment and couldn't say a word.

"Tippi... But you're..." Chopper gawked.

"Yes... Unfortunately, the count and I were sucked into The Void and trapped here. Not only that, but this also caused me to turn back into a butterfly... But seeing you all here is nice, considering that I can't find the count..."

"Poyo? (The count?)" Kirby blinked. "Poyo... (Something's not right here...)"

"I hear ya," Chopper nodded. "This isn't right one bit!"

"Are you guys suggesting I'm a faker?" Tippi gaped. "After all I've done for you?! I even helped you get rid of The Void and aided you for part of your quest!"

"I know, I know," Sonic said. "But... Merlon said he used his magic to turn you into a Pixl. The Void couldn't do that!"

"Well, then I guess I wouldn't let you guys hit this blue ! Block here that could teleport you to The Void. Only the real Tippi would be able to do that anyway." Tippi pointed out.

"Well, Tippi DID teleport me to Flipside..." Chopper pondered. "Maybe hitting this might not be a bad idea! What do you think, Tipral?"

Tipral still didn't say a word.

"Tipral? Is there something wrong?"

Mario: Well I don't think hitting the block is the best idea...

"Poyo... (Oh... I guess not hitting it is a bit too late...)" Kirby gulped after he hit the block.

"KIRBY!"

"Tee hee! You fell for it again!" Tippi giggled as the six fell through a hole below them. Purple smoke engulfed her as she transformed into Mimi, who was wearing a black dress with a Rubee embedded in it.

"Golly, you heroes are stupider than I thought!" Mimi cackled. "I mean, falling for that AGAIN?! I thought you'd have learned by now! ...Sorry for making you fall down though, Tippy!"

---

Below-

"Good going, Kirby!" Chopper groaned as he slowly got up. "You just HAD to hit that block!"

"Poyo! (Well you said it was all right!)" Kirby retorted. "Poyo! (So clearly it's YOUR fault!)"

"No, it's yours!"

"Poyo! (No, yours!)"

"Ummmmmm... Could you guys stop fighting?" Luigi asked quietly. Both Chopper and Kirby looked at Luigi before returning to their argument, which made him sigh.

However, Mario had the perfect solution. He gripped his hammer and bashed both of them to flatten them like pancakes. Sonic blinked, while Tipral stopped being silent, since the rainbow butterfly was no longer around.

"I'd say both of you are at fault here," Tipral said. "You both did something that caused this."

"And how come you didn't do anything to stop?" Sonic asked. "It was Mimi, after all..."

"I had the feeling too, but I... You know, just forget that. I don't want to get in a huge discussion like this."

"...All right. I guess that's something agreeable."

"Where are we anyway?" Luigi wondered. They noticed there was nothing around except for a door to the right and one to the left. However, when Chopper flipped into 3-D, he saw two others to his left and right.

"It's a round room."

He went back into 2-D and took the door to the left. There, they found a couple of wheels stuck together, with the bottom one having an opening. Since Kirby did this before, he used his Cartwheel in the wheel to make it move. This created a chest across some dark matter to their left.

"I'll get that," declared Tipral as he skated over the dark matter and opened the chest to find a purple shard. "What's this? It's rather...strange."

Mario looked above the wheels and noticed a Master Shroom Shake resting up there. He tapped Luigi's arm and pointed up at the wheel. Luigi gave him a nod and used his Super Jump to reach the top of the wheel to grab the Master Shroom Shake.

He seemed confident, but then dark purple Boos called Void Boos appeared, making his eyes widen.

"I should've never gotten that..." Luigi gulped.

Tipral was able to help him and teleported up to him and fired a couple of Star Spears at the Void Boos, sending them flying through the walls and making them go into the round area.

"Phew... That was a close one."

"You can thank me later, plumber," Tipral said as he teleported him down and walked out of the small area. They decided to go into 3-D and take the door to the left to find a room with a Void Waddle Dee holding a shard above them on a bridge. There happened to be spike pits it could fall into or even dark matter. However, there were switches to help it so they could snatch the shard.

"Oh, boy... I don't like this one..." Sonic trailed.

"I'll do it!"

"Poyo! (I'll do it!)"

Chopper and Kirby turned their heads to each other and gave each other glares.

"No, I'll do it!"

"Poyo! (No, I'll do it!)"

Mario: Am I going to have to do this again?

Tipral growled and made Chopper and Kirby bump heads to leave each other dazed. "I don't care who does it! Someone get that enemy to give up the shard!"

Mario sighed and decided to do it, so he stepped on a switch, making the Void Waddle Dee run on ahead. He hit the switches he needed to hit to make sure it wouldn't hit the spikes, but some he needed to be wary of because if he hit them, it could fall into a spike trap.

The last switch happened to have a wall blocking the Void Waddle Dee's way, while a moving platform happened to shift from left to right over the dark matter. When the time came, Mario hit the switch and allowed the Void Waddle Doo to use it to cross and land right in front of him.

And what was the best way to reward it? A bash in the head from Mario's hammer before he grabbed the shard.

"I'll be taking that," Tipral punched Mario and swiped the shard from him. "I think it's better if I hold onto this."

Mario: Mama mia...

They left the area and returned to the main one. Chopper went into 3-D again so they could go to the door to the right this time. They were met with a stump and a gate blocking their way. There happened to be a curved path moving up and leading to a shard.

"So... Looks like it requires Mario's Ground Pound and my speed?" Sonic deduced.

Mario: Looks like it.

"Maybe I could do something?" Chopper suggested.

"Probably not..." Sonic trailed.

Mario gave the cue as he used his Super Ground Pound to hit the stump. The gate opened, and Sonic took off with his Spin Dash and went up the curve that curved to the left as well. He was practically above the group now as he was met with a gate and a wheel.

He smirked and used his Spin Dash to open the gate and grab a hold of the shard. However, when he got out by the gate that mysteriously opened from grabbing it, Tipral took it from him.

"Hey!"

"Let's go," Tipral suggested as they left the area and went to the right door in 2-D. They were met with five crystal balls on the ground, as well as a sign that had dark writing on it. Chopper decided to read it first.

Those who know the secret and are obsessed must cool down as they explore a beautiful world with a rainbow. But then the flames will rise and darkness will consume everything. But in the end, light will shine and triumph the darkness.

"Weird sign... Unless... Wait a second!" Chopper walked over to the first crystal ball and tossed an ice ball at it, and then he hurled a rainbow ball at the second, and then a fireball at the third.

"What is it?" Luigi asked.

"Tipral, toss a shadow ball here. I think something might happen."

Tipral threw a shadow ball at the fourth crystal ball, and when Chopper tossed a light ball at the final one, the ground shook as darkness rose from the ground and emitted a purple shard. Tipral quickly snatched it and left the area, so everyone followed.

"Hmmmmm... This seems to form some kind of diamond." Tipral put the pieces together, and a dark diamond was formed and landed on the ground. When Tipral smashed it, it created a spring.

"Well, we can FINALLY get out of here," Chopper sighed before he glared at Kirby. "But we could've NOT fallen in here if it weren't for someone..."

"Poyo! (YOU suggested it!)" Kirby exclaimed.

"Well you..." Chopper paused when he heard a couple of voices from above. He noticed a couple of Maginan Troopers flying over the pit, not paying attention to what was below them (to the group's relief).

"What are those guys?" Luigi asked.

"Maginans..." Chopper trailed. "Those are Tipral's troopers."

"So they followed me here, I guess?" Tipral gawked. "No matter. If they find me, fine. If not... Well, I won't care either way."

When the Maginans left, they used the spring to launch themselves up to the area where they were in before they fell. Up ahead was the door, which didn't happen to be locked, so they entered it to move on.

They walked out of the door to find a cannon ahead. Knowing what they had to do, they jumped in and let it fire them to the right. They ended up in another cannon that was up ahead, which happened to be changing directions each second.

"I don't like being stuck in here..." Chopper trailed.

"It's kind of tight," Luigi added.

They fired themselves to the upper right, allowing them to land in a cannon that fired them into a wall. They could've gone the upper left, but they saw a pipe here, so they went down it instead.

Upon coming out, they were in a large area with a couple of Brick Blocks in a couple of rows. Some dark purple Koopas with black soccer shells called Voopa Strikes were on the blocks and kicking shells toward them.

Mario quickly took action and kicked one of the shells back. He also punched underneath a block to knock a Voopa Strike into its shell, allowing him to kick it with ease. Luigi also helped and jumped on the Voopa Strike on the top row of blocks to the left to make it retreat into its shell.

"These are just like all the other Koopas we've faced," Luigi recalled. However, he stopped when the Voopa Striker hiding in its shell jumped up and knocked Luigi off the blocks. Tipral teleported up to the Voopa Striker and punched it upward with a Star Punch, then he took it down by tossing a shadow ball at it.

"These things aren't THAT hard..." Tipral trailed.

He looked to his left and noticed a large light block in the way, so with a charged shadow ball, he was able to destroy it and find a Void Key. He put it away and walked back over to the pipe.

"We don't need to be here, so let's go."

Everyone followed him back to the cannons, which they used to go to the upper left and find one cannon aiming up to a platform where a door was. When they entered it, they were in an area with a ceiling above them. Some sparks happened to be striking the ground, but they were able to get past it.

"Uh oh... Cursya up ahead." Sonic alerted, pointing to the dark purple Void Cursya. "What does it do?"

"Hopefully it has no ability to get us out of here..." Chopper hoped.

Mario approached the Void Cursya and bashed it with his hammer. Thankfully, it only had 1 HP, so it was taken out in one hit. He gasped and backed away when a dark lightning bolt struck near his foot.

Mario: Mama mia!

"Poyo, (I see a conveyer belt up ahead,)" Kirby said as he pointed to the conveyor belt. When they got past the lightning, they jumped on the conveyor belt and noticed some Thwomps above coming down. Thankfully, they weren't too big for them. And even if Chopper went into 3-D, he saw some electric gates to prevent him from going around them.

"Looks like flipping won't work here," Chopper frowned.

"Then we have to move at the right time," Tipral suggested. "This conveyor belt, unfortunately, isn't helping us..."

When the Thwomp in front of them moved up, they quickly got past it to run into a Void Cursya that was coming their way. Sonic ended up getting hit and was unable to jump high – only slightly.

"Oh, come on! This isn't fair!" Sonic grumbled.

Tipral finished off the Void Cursya with his Star Magic before they found another Thwomp come down near them. It was the last one, so they didn't have to worry about any more of them, especially when they got off the conveyer belt.

Going through the door ahead, they found some platforms making a staircase with some Firebars on them. All they had to do was jump when it wasn't in their way while worrying about some Void Boos flying around.

"It doesn't seem like those turn invisible," Luigi noticed. "I guess we don't have to worry about facing them and attacking..."

When he reached the top of the platform, he noticed an Atomic Void Boo reveal its face, causing him to scream like a girl. Tipral simply teleported above it and jumped on it until it was defeated.

"I don't see what's scary about that," Tipral scoffed.

"Does anything scare you?" Chopper asked.

"I will not answer that."

"Poyo... (I guess something does...)" Kirby trailed.

They found some platforms leading to the ground, as well as some Firebars that were getting in the way. The next set of platforms had Void Gordos above the platforms, preventing any Super Jump, but Kirby was able to float up and reach the floor on the other side, which had a door waiting for them.

Once Tipral teleported the rest, they entered the door into a flat area with some Ultra Shrooms hanging from a string. There was also a locked door up ahead, to most of their dismay.

"Hold on... This is just like Merlee's Mansion!" Chopper recalled. "Same thing goes with Castle Tipral..."

Mario: Oh, yeah!

"But... With the locked door, we should probably..."

Kirby quickly grabbed the Ultra Shroom, causing him to fall through a hole. Chopper frowned and jumped down to help him, while the rest decided to stay up and not have to deal with getting out.

As soon as Chopper landed on the ground, he noticed Kirby fighting off a large black Void Jawbus that was in the way. But, since his Beam attack wasn't doing much, he couldn't hit its tail.

Chopper groaned and went into 3-D to jump on its tail to take care of it. Unfortunately, it didn't happen to have a key with it, so a pipe ended up appearing instead.

"Kirby, I didn't say to grab it immediately!" Chopper exclaimed. "You need to learn to pay attention!"

"Poyo, (You said maybe we should, so I did it,)" Kirby declared. "Poyo. (That's partly your fault.)"

"I... You know what, I'm not going to bother arguing." Chopper went into the pipe to return to the others. Kirby was about to go, but he had a strange feeling in him that told him he wasn't alone.

"Poyo... (I think something's following us... Something...familiar...)"

He went back into the pipe to return to his friends (mostly). They didn't bother to discuss what happened down there, so they decided to check the second Ultra Shroom hanging. The only thing they found were two Void Boos and nothing else, so they got out and checked the third one.

They were greeted with a dark purple Void Growmeba.

"Oh, great... These things." Chopper sighed. "If Thoreau were here, this would be a lot easier for us."

"Or you could do this," Tipral trapped the Void Growmeba in an invisible box and snapped his finger, causing it to explode and let the Void Growmeba drop a Void Key that Tipral took.

Mario: That works.

"Now let's get out of here," Tipral went into the pipe like everyone else and walked over to the door ahead. There also happened to be a Save Block, so they hit it to save their game before going through the door.

And there, they saw Count Bleck in a small area waiting for them.

"Bleh heh heh heh... So you show up at last?" Count Bleck smiled.

"Count Bleck?" Chopper gawked. "No, it couldn't be you at all."

"Count Bleck wonders why you don't think it's really me. If you were looking for Mimi, she's just up ahead."

"How do you know?" Luigi asked.

"Because Count Bleck saw her! She is planning on ambushing you, and if you're not careful, you could easily fall into her trap. That's why Count Bleck stayed here after I overheard her mumbling about you guys coming here."

"And how did you get here, exactly?" Chopper asked.

"The Void sucked Timpani and I here, but we were lost. I searched everywhere for her, but sadly, Count Bleck cannot find her..." the count slowly shook his head. "But Count Bleck is relieved to see you all here."

"Well, we might as well get going," Luigi suggested.

Mario: How do we know you're really you?

Count Bleck opened his cape and opened his disembodied hands. "Do you not see this? The cape that is owned by Count Bleck himself! I thought the heroes were people to trust? Do you not trust Count Bleck?"

"Well... It's not that." Chopper said. "It's just..."

"You don't have to apologize. Count Bleck understands..." Count Bleck closed his cape and lowered his top hat. "I've been stuck in this place for so long, and I haven't found Timpani. Count Bleck doesn't want to have to do what he did before..."

"Poyo, (I apologize, but we should get going,)" Kirby said.

"Well, before you all go, Count Bleck just wanted to ask you a few questions..." he looked back up at the six and fixed his monocle. "Only three will be asked, and you must be as honest. Is that OK?"

"Ummm... OK..." Chopper trailed.

"What is the hardest thing for you to defeat? A Waddle Dee, a Darkling, or a Master Shroom?"

"Master Shroom," answered Sonic.

"Bleh heh heh… So, that one scares you more than anything? Interesting…mused Count Bleck." Count Bleck grinned. "Now… Which one of these monsters make you so scared, you would run to your mommy? A Void Robbie, a Dark Wizard, or a Shooting Star?"

"Those Shooting Stars seriously scare me so much," Luigi fake shuddered. "Anything but those!"

"Count Bleck understands. You are afraid of a Shooting Star? This is interesting…said Count Bleck. Which of these irritates you more than anything like what Count Bleck would hate? Galacta Knight, Francis, or Spaghetti?"

"What's Galacta Knight doing as a choice?" Chopper wondered. "That reminds me of..."

"Poyo! (You just answered his question!)" Kirby exclaimed.

"You are most angry with that? Bleh heh heh heh… This does amuse Count Bleck." Count Bleck pondered. "Unfortunately, I must leave, but we shall soon meet some day So, goodbye for now! BLEH HEH HEH HEH! BLECK!"

Count Bleck teleported out of the area, leaving the group with strange looks. Nevertheless, they entered through the door ahead to find a Master Shroom Shake sitting on the ground. They split it into six pieces so they could recover 200 HP, and then they proceeded into the next area.

"A Shooting Star... Well, that's a nice treat." Sonic grinned as he scooped up the item and put it away. "Now let's see what's through the next area."

As soon as they entered through the door, they saw a pink crystal floating slightly above the ground. They also noticed a hot pink round figure with white wings encapsulated in it. Getting a better look, they noticed that this figure wore a white mask with a vertical and horizontal opening revealing his red eyes, two yellow horns on the top of the mask, white shoulder pads, and white boots that didn't fully cover his feet. He also appeared to hold a white shield with a hot pink four-pointed star embedded in it, and a hot pink lance.

"What's that?" Luigi gaped.

Mario: I think we've seen someone like him before...

"Yeah, we have," Sonic agreed.

The warrior was able to break through the crystal and swing his weapon before landing on the ground. He whirled around and happened to notice the six staring at him.

"Galacta Knight..." Chopper trailed.

"It's you again... I recognize those antennae..." Galacta Knight growled. "Thank you very much for taking me here to see you! I was hoping for a little rematch after our previous fight."

"Poyo... (Nice job picking this...)" Kirby groaned.

"Kirby, now's not the time for this!"

"So, are we going to bicker around or are we going to fight?" Galacta Knight asked as he swung his lance and aimed it at the group.

"You're welcome to be smashed by us," Tipral declared. "I've never seen someone like you before. You definitely remind me of Knightmare, or rather, Meta Knight. Though I'm sure you might be just as weak."

"Then I'll prove to you that I'm more than you think. After all, I am the strongest warrior in the galaxy!" Galacta Knight charged and managed to knock Chopper away with a simple swing. Tipral tried to hit him with a Star Spear, but his shield helped him block it.

"Great... That shield can block practically anything." Tipral groaned.

Galacta Knight flew up and spun vertically until he landed on the ground and sent an energy wave their way. Kirby floated over the attack and fired a beam attack at Galacta Knight, who shrugged it aside and jumped up and threw Kirby to the ground with his lance.

"Poyo... (He's certainly not holding back...)" Kirby moaned.

Sonic grinned and clenched his fist to use his Sonic Wind on Galacta Knight, which was able to leave him off guard and allow him to hit him with a Spin Dash. Galacta Knight didn't even have time to block it, which sent him flying back.

"Not bad... But let's see how you deal with this!" Galacta Knight moved his lance back and began to store some energy in it. They all noticed it glow as he approached them. With that energy, he spun himself and managed to hit Luigi, who didn't seem to be paying attention.

Mario: Luigi!

"Why didn't I see that coming?" Luigi groaned as he rubbed his head before Galacta Knight lunged at him and sent him flying to the wall. Mario retaliated by bashing the warrior's head, causing him to quickly fly behind Mario and lunge at him too.

But Mario was fast and did a backflip over him, allowing Chopper to land on Galacta Knight's head and perform a stylish move as well. Unfortunately, he ended up getting hit by Galacta Knight's Shuttle Loop and was knocked to the ground while the masked warrior began to glide over them.

"OK, he's definitely putting up more of a fight than before," Chopper sighed as he slowly got up and chucked some fireballs at Galacta Knight while he was in the air. Some fire caught his wings, but he managed to shake it off and land on the ground while turning around.

"Since we don't take turns making attacks anymore, I can go all out with my attacks," Galacta Knight grinned as he lunged at Chopper, who ducked and managed to make him trip and fall over.

"At least I can trip you."

Galacta Knight quickly got up, but he was bombarded with a couple of charged beam shots from Kirby, which forced him to put up his shield and block some of the attacks. He was even able to block Sonic's Spin Dash as well.

He lowered his shield and hit Sonic with a Shuttle Loop before gliding toward Mario. He held his lance in front of him and jabbed at Mario to knock him over. He soon hit the ground and flew up quickly, but that left him open when Luigi crouched and hit him from underneath with a Super Jump.

When he fell to the ground, he blocked Tipral's Star Kick and a couple of his Star Punches with his shield and hit Tipral with his lance once. Tipral retaliated by teleporting above him and chucking two shadow balls at him before hitting him with two Star Spears.

"What's this guy's stats?" Tipral asked.

"He's got 530 HP, an Attack of 22 and a Defense of 9," Chopper noticed. "Yikes... That's tough."

Mario had his chance to make an attack, so he tried to hit Galacta Knight with his hammer, but the problem was that he was much faster than him and managed to recoil and jump in the air while spinning. Galacta Knight fired another energy wave, which was able to hit Mario.

But before Galacta Knight could make another attack, Luigi used his Cyclone and sent him flying in the air, which gave him the chance to hit him with his Super Jump. Tipral teleported to him while he was falling and punched him near the door up ahead.

"Oh, I almost forgot something," Galacta Knight stored some energy in his lance and fired it at the door, which was now being blocked by pink energy. Chopper threw an ice ball to freeze him afterward, but he was able to break out and fly toward the pale green boy.

Of course, Kirby helped out and fired another charged shot at Galacta Knight, so he decided to go after Kirby and swung his lance at him three times, knocking away his Beam ability in the process.

"Poyo! (My ability!)" Kirby cried.

"I'll take care of that for you," Galacta Knight flew up and managed to shatter the yellow star with one swing. This forced Kirby to take out his Final Cutter and strike the masked warrior with it to knock him to the ground.

"Oh... So you have more than that! Not bad..."

"I also have something cool," Chopper smiled as he threw a rainbow ball and a light ball at Galacta Knight. He cringed from the attacks, but he quickly shook it off and spun his lance after storing enough power in it.

"Honestly, you're nothing compared to Shade," Tipral scoffed as he managed to kick Galacta Knight. He tried to punch him, but the masked warrior brought his shield up and blocked his punch. But that didn't stop him from throwing a shadow ball and teleporting it behind him.

"Ungh! How did you do that?!" Galacta Knight hissed.

"I have teleportation. Now if only it was able to teleport to different dimensions..."

Galacta Knight didn't care and lunged at Tipral, but Chopper managed to jump in and use his spinning kick to throw Galacta Knight back and knocked him to the ground. To them, it looked like he was defeated.

But to Galacta Knight, it was only the beginning.

"I didn't expect you to force me to go to these measures..." Galacta Knight groaned as he got up. "But it looks like I'm going to have to!"

"What do you mean?" Chopper questioned.

Galacta Knight swung his lance and now had a reddish pink glow around him. He flew up and fired vertical beam columns down at the six, which forced them to dodge when they saw where they stood glow.

"Yeesh! Did we anger him!" Luigi cried.

Mario: I guess so...

Galacta Knight flew down and managed to block Mario's hammer when he tried to hit him with it. What he got was a couple of lance strikes from Galacta Knight and one final thrust that knocked the plumber back.

He whirled over to Sonic and performed a downward thrust with his lance to send an energy wave his way. Sonic jumped over the attack and hit him with a Homing Attack, followed by his Whirlwind, which sent him flying in the air.

But Galacta Knight had other plans. He created beams shaped like swords and fired three Knight Beams down at Sonic to interrupt his Homing Attack. Luigi, on the other hand, managed to pull off a Super Jump and even jump on his head a second time.

But while Luigi was about to land, Galacta Knight spun himself and got in a dark pink tornado that he managed to knock Luigi back. When he stopped, he fired an energy wave toward Chopper.

"See, this is what happens when you have to bring me to this level," Galacta Knight hissed.

"Seriously, why do you have to get in our way?" Chopper asked, jumping over the attack. "We're trying to destroy something that's going to destroy everything! Don't you care about living somewhere?"

"You people shamed me back in Dream Land, and now I'm going to redeem myself."

"We'll see about that!" Chopper dove at Galacta Knight, but he put up his shield and fired a yellow projectile from his shield at Chopper. But that didn't stop him from inhaling it and spitting it at him.

Galacta Knight jumped back and flew up again, but this time he raised his lance and fired a beam whips that circled around the area. Kirby was able to avoid it easily, as well as Tipral, but for the others, not so much.

"How do you avoid that?!" Luigi exclaimed.

"That's a tough one to dodge..." Sonic trailed.

Galacta Knight flew back down and fired a projectile from his lance, which Kirby blocked with his Final Cutter and used against him. He tried to block the attack, but he wasn't fast enough.

Kirby went for another Final Cutter, but Galacta Knight blocked it and managed to slash at Kirby rapidly and knocked him back over by Sonic. This gave Tipral the opportunity to hit Galacta Knight with a Star Spear.

Sadly, his attack was quickly blocked.

"Ugh... He saw it coming." Tipral grumbled.

"There's a reason why I was the strongest warrior in the galaxy," Galacta Knight said as he flew up and fired a couple of Knight Beams down at him. Tipral teleported out of the way and jumped on top of Galacta Knight to throw him to the ground.

"Oof! Impressive..."

Galacta Knight shook off the hit and jumped in the air before thrusting his lance down on Luigi. He then tried to jab at him, but Luigi used his Super Jump to avoid him, so Galacta Knight flew over to the right corner and stored some power in his lance.

After he had enough power, he fired a couple of powerful projectiles from his lance at Chopper and Kirby. Chopper tried to inhale them, but he ended up getting hurt instead, while Kirby floated over them.

"Poyo, (At least I can float,)" Kirby said as he let out a puff of air and landed. However, Galacta Knight flew his way and prepared to swing at him, so Kirby tried to inhale him. Sadly, that didn't work.

"I don't think he can be inhaled..." Chopper trailed as he hit Galacta Knight with a light ball. "Too bad he didn't hand a sword to fight."

"That's because I play a little differently," Galacta Knight said as he flew up and made fire geysers fire up from the ground. Mario and Luigi were scorched, while Sonic's quills were barely touching the fire.

"Yeesh... That was TOO close!" Sonic sighed.

When the fire geysers disappeared, Galacta Knight flew back down and created a shockwave, but everyone was able to avoid it with easy. Tipral quickly snapped his fingers afterward and hit Galacta Knight with Star Magic.

"You know, Chopper... You should've said spaghetti instead." Tipral noted.

Mario: That would've been nice, actually.

"Francis could've worked too," Sonic added.

"OK, we get it," Chopper grumbled. "Let's just kick this guy's butt!"

Unfortunately, Galacta Knight got to him first when he lunged at him and sent him flying back. Mario jumped on him and performed a stylish move before dodging Galacta Knight's lance. He was also able to add his Triple Jump in too.

Mario clenched his hammer, knowing that he could get in another attack and bashed Galacta Knight with it. He got hit once by it, but he was able to bring his shield up and block the attack before slashing at him at a fast pace.

He finished his last slash and sent Mario flying toward Luigi, who failed to dodge and ended up falling on the ground with his brother.

"Unghh... Bro, maybe we should try working together." Luigi moaned.

Mario: Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

"Yeah!" Luigi fist pumped as Mario jumped on Luigi's shoulders. With Luigi spreading his arms out and Mario holding his hammer out, the two began to spin around rapidly and came flying toward Galacta Knight.

"What is THAT?!" Galacta Knight gawked before he was struck by the attack that hurled him to the wall. He tried to get up, but he was still hit by another one of Mario and Luigi's spinning attack.

Having enough, he flew over them and went over to the left corner. This time, he prepared to store energy in his lance for a much stronger attack. Even when Chopper threw a fireball at him, it didn't seem to bother him.

"Get ready... Because this attack is going to deal a lot to you all!" Galacta Knight smirked as he unleashed a giant dark pink tornado called the Mach Tornado. Tipral teleported to avoid the attack, but everyone else couldn't escape the attack and was sucked in and flown into the air.

Galacta Knight seemed satisfied as the five fell to the ground and took immense damage. However, he didn't expect to be hit by one of Tipral's shadow balls. He whirled around and tried to hit him, but he began to skid back as soon as Tipral hit him with a Star Punch.

"You know, when I look at your face, it almost reminds me a bit of that one knight who faced me," Galacta Knight recalled.

"My only concern is taking you down," Tipral said as he threw a Star Spear his way. Galacta Knight was prepared for this and brought his shield up to block it. He even hit Tipral with a projectile from his shield.

Galacta Knight seemed pleased, but he was interrupted when Chopper jumped on him, and then Kirby followed up with a Cartwheel. He tried to hit Chopper with his lance, but he was faster and hit him with a light spinning kick.

"I didn't expect you to be this fast," Galacta Knight commented. "You didn't seem to use it against me when we fought last time."

"That's because it was hard to use speed when taking turns," Chopper retorted as he jumped up again and prepared to jump on him with light energy. Galacta Knight quickly jabbed at him with his lance and knocked him back, and then he blocked Kirby's Final Cutter with his shield and kicked him back.

Sonic, wanting a chance to attack again, threw himself at Galacta Knight in a ball and knocked him over. He jumped in the air and tried to hit him with a Homing Attack, but Galacta Knight blocked it.

"You seem much faster, though..." Galacta Knight trailed as he tried to hit Sonic, only to miss. He was struck by his Whirlwind and was sent flying upward. However, with his wings, he was able to glide down and hit Sonic and bounce off the ground to fly upward. Luigi tried to Super Jump him, but he missed.

Galacta Knight landed on the ground while thrusting his lance downward. Tipral took this chance to hit him with Star Magic and then a Star Spear. Since Galacta Knight was busy pulling his lance out, he was hit by both.

When he finally pulled his lance out, he charged up an attack and performed his Knight Spin to hit Tipral and Sonic. Kirby managed to duck under his attack, and once two yellow stars appeared after the spin, he inhaled one and spat it at Galacta Knight.

Kirby also managed to hit him with his Final Cutter when he was busy trying to attack Tipral, making him turn to him. A Shuttle Loop was all he needed to hurt the pink puffball and glide over to Chopper.

When Chopper saw him coming, he jumped out of the way and even jumped on Galacta Knight's head to interrupt his gliding. This forced him to fly back up and fire vertical beams down at the group.

"I can always throw more at you if you want," Galacta Knight said as he summoned twelve Knight Beams afterward. "Let's see you dodge this!"

The Knight Beams fired up into the sky and then began to fall down in many directions, forcing Kirby to put up his defenses, while the rest were forced to continuously dodge the Knight Beams. All six of them were harmed by this, unfortunately.

"It's good to see that I've got something that can do a lot of harm to you all," Galacta Knight. "This should be easier!"

"We should heal up," Sonic suggested, getting a Star Shroom Shake out and drinking from it to recover 150 HP. They each took a sip until it was all gone. Tipral disintegrated the can and snapped his finger to hit Galacta Knight with his Star Magic.

"You do put up a fight, but you're ultimately not a match for us," Tipral scoffed as he jumped in the air while Galacta Knight was up and kicked him to the wall. Galacta Knight pushed himself off and flew back to Tipral. He put his shield up to block any attacks coming his way.

But once Luigi hit him with his Super Jump, he decided to spin around in a tornado and hit a couple of them. Kirby was the only one to avoid it, so he flew up and threw him to the ground with his lance.

"Poyo... (Yeesh... He won't let anyone avoid some of his attacks...)" Kirby moaned.

Galacta Knight looked down at him and prepared to drive his lance into him, but Sonic's Spin Dash stopped him and knocked him away from Kirby. Now that he had to pay attention to Sonic, he used his shield to block his Homing Attack and slash at him a couple of times.

But before he could slash him one more time, Chopper performed an ice jump to freeze him and let Sonic jump back before Galacta Knight broke out of his icy prison and turned to Chopper.

"I was thinking about taking you or the pink one out first," Galacta Knight said. "So maybe I should get to that!"

He stored more power in his lance and prepared for another Mach Tornado. When Chopper saw this, he flipped him and everyone else into 3-D so they could get around the Mach Tornado when it was unleashed.

"That should take care of them," muttered Galacta Knight. However, he stopped when he saw six figures flip into 2-D. "Wait... Did you just dodge that?!"

"Yes, we did, Captain Obvious," Chopper answered.

Galacta Knight glared at them with his red eyes and threw in another Mach Tornado with the remaining power he stored in his lance to send them flying in the air. When they hit the ground, the knight smirked.

"Thankfully I had some remaining power for another Mach Tornado. I supposed you deserved it for being a bit...cocky."

Luigi was the first one to get up, and he saw Galacta Knight coming their way. One of his small cyclones were able to knock him away when he started spinning around. Mario got up as well and grabbed a hold of Luigi's arms.

"Bro, what're you doing?!" Luigi exclaimed.

Mario: Another one of our special moves!

"Oh..."

Mario began to swing him around while Galacta Knight quickly got out of the cyclone. When he let go of Luigi, he flew toward Galacta Knight like a missile and managed to knock him to the wall.

Luigi grinned, but his face froze when he was hurled back at Mario. Galacta Knight quickly got up and flew back up to summon more Knight Beams to rain down on the six.

"Haven't you learned already?" Tipral groaned as he teleported to dodge them, while Kirby put up his defenses again. Chopper tried to inhale some of them, but it didn't seem to work out for him, especially when Galacta Knight summoned fire geysers to fire up from the ground and scorch them.

Once the geysers disappeared, Chopper jumped up to Galacta Knight and threw him to the ground with a light kick. He noticed how low he was on HP, which made him sigh in relief.

Galacta Knight quickly got up and fired a projectile from his shield at Chopper, who easily ducked like a pancake under it and managed to throw in an ice ball to freeze him. When he broke out, Kirby hit him with his Cartwheel and knocked him over by Sonic.

But before Sonic could hit him, Tipral appeared behind Galacta Knight and managed to send him flying back to Chopper and Kirby with a Star Punch.

"Hey! I was going to make a move on him!" Sonic frowned.

"Too bad for you. Looks like I made the attack." Tipral replied.

Despite almost being defeated, Galacta Knight would never give up. He would fight 'till the end, and that's what he planned on doing when he swung at Chopper and knocked him to the ground.

"Game over, antennae boy," Galacta Knight smirked as he lunged at him. Chopper ducked again and managed to jump on his head and leave him dazed. Just one more attack would do it.

"All right, you're finished!" Chopper declared as he began to charge up a light ball. However, Kirby jumped over him and managed to kick Galacta Knight and deliver the final blow.

"Hey!"

Galacta Knight didn't let out a cry in pain or anything. He quickly got up while he was surrounded in a bright light and flew off before anyone could say anything.

"He...flew away?" Luigi gawked.

Mario: I guess he admitted defeat.

"Kirby! I was just about to deliver the final blow!" Chopper frowned, who stopped charging a light ball. "And I was prepared!"

"Poyo, (Well you didn't deserve it after making us fight him,)" Kirby said.

"I was just asking a question. That wasn't my true answer. I would've picked spaghetti!"

"Can we stop fighting or something?" Sonic asked, pushing the two away from each other. "I'm sure we'll confront Mimi through that door. I'm pretty sure he was pretending to be Count Bleck."

"Poyo? (Wasn't it obvious?)" Kirby gawked.

With all that aside, they decided to head into the door, which was no longer being blocked, to their relief.

---

Through the door-

"EEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

"Hey! That sounds just like Mimi!" Chopper said as he saw Count Bleck screaming in fear at the group.

"H-How did you manage to get through there?!" Count Bleck gaped as he was surrounded in purple smoke. When it vanished, Mimi was revealed to be under the disguise.

"Well that was pretty obvious," Luigi said.

"Poyo, (I just said it was obvious,)" Kirby reminded.

"I put everything you hated and feared the most in there!" Mimi whined. "Seriously, what DOESN'T stop you?!"

"Hey, we've gone through that before, and I don't want to have to go through it again!" Chopper cried.

"You dummy-heads are the biggest liars on the planet! Not only that, but I'm pretty sure you were the ones that harmed Tippy badly!"

"Mimi, I'm here," Tipral noted, walking over to her.

"I know you were there, Tippy!" Mimi smiled, her angry look phasing away to a cute look. "I seriously missed you, you know... Fawful and Mr. L wouldn't shut up, and Nassy would always be forced to yell at them!"

"Mimi, I was actually helping these heroes get the last Pure Heart. With me no longer in control of the Chaos Heart, things could go very bad."

"...Really? Are you sure about that?" Mimi blinked before looking back at the heroes and giving them a snooty look. "But those meanie-heads... I want to make them pay after all they did to me!"

"Poyo! (Hey! Tipral told you something important!)" Kirby shouted, walking up to Mimi. "Poyo?! (Why do you still want to fight us?! It's just a waste of time!)"

"A waste of time? Listen here, pinky, I get whatever I want, and I'll do whatever it takes to get it! But you? It seems like you've always been dependent on your friends to help you through this adventure! I'm sure most of the time you stay back and let everyone else do the fighting!"

Kirby gasped, and admittedly, he did seem to stay back most of the time and be dependent on his friends. They have been the ones that helped him throughout this adventure. But his surprised face turned to a bold look.

"Poyo... (So, you think I'm dependent on others...)" Kirby trailed. "Poyo... (If you want me to prove you wrong, then I'll take you on myself... Not even the Pixls are here to help me...)"

"Wait, Kirby... Are you sure?" Chopper gawked.

"Poyo! (Don't try to help me!)" Kirby snapped, making nearly everyone recoil. "Poyo! (This fight is between Mimi and I ONLY! You all stay back and let me take her on!)"

"Are you..."

"Poyo... (Yes... I have to learn to do things myself, you know... Please... This won't be like with Blade... I'll be fine...)"

"...If you insist," Chopper slowly walked away to the door, with the others following. Tipral took a glance at Mimi before leaving the area. All that remained were Kirby and Mimi.

"Well now! So you wanna take cute li'l me all on my own?" Mimi smirked. "All right, then! Since you agreed to do this, then I might as well make this fight super special for this occasion!"

"Poyo, (We all know how this will turn out,)" Kirby stated. "Poyo. (I beat you before. I can do it a third time.)"

"Sure, I made some mistakes then! But this time... I'm fully prepared!" Mimi grinned as Kirby saw an evil look in her eyes. "MIMIMIMIMI!"

Mimi began to crack her neck again, but even then, Kirby gave her a fearless look as her head to spin around. Once it was upside down, spider legs formed from her head and was now fully in her spider form.

"Poyo? (Haven't you learned?)" Kirby sighed. "Poyo. (You did this three times. This isn't going to guarantee you a win.)"

"Oh, really? Then how about I spice things up a bit? MIIIIMIIII!" Mimi's spider legs now changed to dark, demonic legs, which were more jagged, and now she started to turn to a darker color too. Two red upside down eyes appeared below her mouth, and she even grew to a bigger size, kind of like O'Chunks. Two dark horns were on her head as well to prevent anyone from jumping on her head.

"Poyo... (Oh... That looks a little more threatening...)" Kirby gulped.

"So, are you scared now? Do you wanna go cry to your friends about this?!"

Kirby almost felt like he wanted to get out right now, but that's when he remembered something Ortorain did. After he beat Masked Dedede, he got a hold of his mask, which gave him his hammer.

"Poyo! (No! I'm not running this time!)" Kirby took out the mask and ate it. Upon swallowing it, he gained the mask King Dedede wore, and he also gained the mechanized hammer, which had sparks flying around it. It was large for King Dedede's size, but it was resized so Kirby could hold it.

"Oh, I see... So you're going to make things even... All right then! Let's settle this, you pink dummy!"

Mimi began to make her way toward Kirby, who held his hammer close to him. He noticed this time, she actually had HP. Her HP was 525, her Attack was 21 and she had 10 Defense. He was surprised to see that her stats were lower than Galacta Knight's.

But it didn't matter anyway. He jumped up and tried to hit her with his hammer. Mimi was able to shoot a Rubee out of her mouth and hit Kirby in the face and knock him to the floor. Thank goodness that mask was on him!

"Now I can spit Rubees at you! This is going to work out perfectly!" Mimi hissed as she made her way over to the wall. Kirby let his hammer stand up and make the face open up. Missiles fired out and managed to hit Mimi when she got on the wall, making her fall.

"Poyo! (Don't think you're going to be going away so soon!)" Kirby barked.

Mimi mumbled as she turned around and tried shooting a couple of more Rubees out of her mouth. Kirby's hammer easily shattered the Rubees, which shocked her, but it didn't stop her from trying. After all, she would do anything to get what she wanted.

"Ugh... I thought this fight would be a breeze for me..." Mimi groaned.

She got back on the ceiling and got above Kirby so she could drop some Rubees from above down on him. Kirby used his hammer to smash them and even managed to shake the ground a bit too.

"Poyo! (Even if you're up there, I can make you get down!)" Kirby smirked.

Mimi clung to the ceiling for dear life and began to shoot a barrage of Rubees down at him. He tried blocking some of them, but he ended up getting hit by at least two, making Mimi satisfied as she dropped down in front of him.

But with his hammer ready, he jumped in the air and bashed Mimi with it. While it did a lot to Mimi, she managed to knock him back by hitting him with one of her own spider legs. Kirby tried another move with his hammer and started to spin it around. Mimi tried to avoid it, but because he was approaching her faster, he was able to hit her a couple of times and leave her dazed.

"Don't think snapping off my spider legs will save you!" Mimi scoffed. "Because these are unsnappable!"

"Poyo, (Well that doesn't matter at this point,)" Kirby said after he stopped spinning. He felt a bit dizzy, which gave Mimi the opportunity to hit him with a fire Rubee and leave a nasty burn on him.

As a response, Kirby opened up the face of his hammer again and fired a flamethrower out of it that scorched Mimi, leaving her with a burn as well. She hissed and tried to hit him with her spider leg, which Kirby blocked with his hammer, so she spat a Rubee at his face to leave him open.

While Kirby quickly shook his head, Mimi froze him with an ice Rubee. She seemed satisfied as she grabbed a hold of the frozen puffball with one of her spider legs.

"Now to finish you off!"

But before she could do anything else, Kirby broke out of his frozen prison and hit Mimi with his hammer, forcing her to release Kirby. He even bashed her with a spark smash, which left her paralyzed.

"Poyo! (Hey! This is interesting!)" Kirby smiled.

He readied his hammer again and jumped in the air this time and spun his hammer to hit her again. This got her out of her paralysis and made her try to freeze him with another ice Rubee. Kirby was easily able to shatter the attack.

Grunting, Mimi retreated back to the ceiling and began to make Rubees rain down on Kirby. He tried blocking a few of them, but he ended up getting hit by a few. He didn't even have a chance to shake the ground either!

"MIIIMIIIMIII!" Mimi cackled as she shot a poison Rubee at him, which he managed to smash before it made contact with him. He slammed the ground again, which caused Mimi to fall down. Kirby quickly jumped over to her head and delivered a blow there, making Mimi cry in pain. "You meanie-head! Oh... Now I'm going to make you pay..."

Mimi's spider legs attached to the ground and ceiling, while she was surrounded with a Rubee on each side of her head. Kirby gulped and put his defenses up as Mimi began to spin rapidly up and down the area. Not only that, but Rubees were coming out of the ground as well. But Kirby still continued to keep his defenses up to take minimum damage.

"Poyo, (Don't think your attacks will do much when I can defend myself,)" Kirby said as Mimi stopped spinning and landed back on the ground. She charged once again, but this time she had Rubees circling around her while Rubees from above were falling down Kirby's way.

Kirby gaped and jumped back to avoid the Rubees and then bashed them to get rid of them. Another Rubee came his way, but he had an idea. He readied his hammer like a bat and swung it at the Rubee to make it hit Mimi.

"Ow! What was that?!" Mimi gaped.

"Poyo! (Just a little something for you!)" Kirby answered as he bashed one of Mimi's legs, causing her to screech and hit the wall. Kirby was about to attack again until Mimi climbed up the wall.

However despite this, Kirby was able to fire a couple of missiles at Mimi. While they hit her, she wasn't going to let herself fall off the wall and made Rubees rise up from the ground and hit Kirby.

"Well, if I just do something like this, then I'll be winning this!" Mimi grinned as she spat two poison Rubees down at Kirby, who jumped out of the way and fired more missiles at Mimi. "Oh no you don't!"

She dodged the missiles and landed behind Kirby. She spat a yellow Rubee at Kirby and left him paralyzed. This gave her the opportunity to smack him with one of her spider legs.

"Poyo... (I can't move...)" Kirby cringed.

Mimi jumped in the air and managed to attach to the ceiling while dropping a couple of Rubees down at Kirby. When the paralysis was gone, Kirby swung his hammer up at a Rubee and knocked Mimi to the ground.

This time, however, Mimi got to the corner of the wall and charged at Kirby. He countered this by thrusting his hammer upward when Mimi jumped toward him and struck her with electricity. Sadly, she wasn't paralyzed, but that didn't stop him from shooting a missile at her.

"Do you really want me to stoop down to a lower level, dummy?!" Mimi exclaimed. "Actually... I think I will! That'll make things better!"

Mimi opened her mouth wider, which made Kirby's eyes widen when he saw her spit out a large Rubee. He even tried to smash it with his hammer, but it didn't work and ended up knocking him to the wall.

"Poyo?! (How did you do that?!)" Kirby gaped.

"I have many secrets than just this transformation!" Mimi cackled. "And now, with it, I'll defeat you and then defeat your friends as well! What are you going to do? Cry for help? Mimimimimimi!"

Kirby got off the wall and slowly walked over to Mimi with a bold look. "Poyo. (No. I'm going to stand here and fight.)"

Mimi frowned slightly, but it didn't matter to her. She wanted to see this, and now she was going to crush him with a couple of her new moves, starting off by quickly charging while spitting out Rubees at him.

Kirby jumped in the air and floated over her. Once she hit the wall on accident, she was left dazed, allowing Kirby to land on top of her and bash her with his hammer. She quickly shook her head and turned to Kirby. Mimi opened her mouth again and shot a large fire Rubee Kirby's way.

"Poyo? (Maybe I can try something with this one?)" Kirby bashed at the large Rubee, but not even his hammer was able to send it flying away, which resulted in him getting burned by it.

"Awwww... Your little hammer can't take my big, bad Rubees!" Mimi scoffed. "Such a shame..."

"Poyo... (Maybe not...)" Kirby trailed as he lifted his mask. "Poyo! (But I'm pretty sure my gut can!)"

Kirby opened his mouth and used his inhaling to his fullest. Usually he would never inhale such large things because of how difficult they were to do it, but at a time like this, it was necessary.

Mimi noticed him inhaling the Rubee and gaped when he successfully inhaled it and spat it at her, knocking her back. She grumbled, and without thinking, she charged at Kirby, only to get hit in the face by his hammer.

"Poyo? (You honestly thought I couldn't inhale with this power-up on?)" Kirby smirked as he paralyzed her with another swing.

"Fine, if you want to be like that, then I might as well try something else!"

Purple smoke enveloped her, forcing Kirby to step back and cough. When the smoke was gone, he saw Sonic standing before him, but he looked a lot darker.

"See? I can transform into one of your friends!" Mimi smirked. "Now let's see how you deal against them!"

Kirby's eyes widened as Mimi curled up in a ball and struck him with a Spin Dash at incredible speeds. He tried to dodge, but she was too fast for him and ended up getting hit multiple times.

However, even then, this Sonic wasn't the real Sonic and just a fake. Sonic would think just like himself, but Mimi never thought like him. He readied his hammer and began to spin it as Mimi came charging his way again.

Mimi was the one who got hit instead.

"What?! How did you do that?!" Mimi gaped.

"Poyo, (You may have Sonic's moves, but you don't think like him,)" Kirby answered, swinging his hammer Mimi's way, who jumped back and hit him with a Homing Attack. When she landed on the ground, Kirby brought his hammer down and struck her with a wave of electricity.

Mimi realized this form wasn't working for her, so she transformed into a darker version of Blade. It felt a bit uncomfortable, but she was able to toss shurikens Kirby's way. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to do much.

"Ugh... This form isn't doing any good for me... Especially against a hammer." Mimi rushed toward Kirby and jumped in the air to bring her katana down, but Kirby managed to stun her with his hammer.

She grumbled as she transformed into Mario, which let her jump on Kirby and even bash his head with his hammer. Even with the mask, Kirby felt the pain from it and was driven back.

"Poyo... (Yeesh... Mario's hammer is stronger than I thought...)" Kirby trailed as he defended himself from Mimi's hammer again. But, his was much stronger, so he kicked Mimi in the stomach and spun his hammer to hit her.

"Owwie! Is there anything else this body has?!" Mimi whined as she jumped and performed a Super Ground Pound. Kirby didn't see it coming and ended up falling over from her weight.

Mimi seemed satisfied and changed into Luigi. Her Cyclone helped send Kirby flying in the air and allow her to hit him with a Super Jump. This left Kirby a bit exhausted, so he drank a Master Shroom Shake to recover 200 HP. That also have him the strength to stun Mimi with his hammer.

And since he had more time to make an attack, he thrusted his hammer upward to send Mimi up to the ceiling. This only made her fume when she landed on the ground and missed her jump.

"How am I doing terrible with these other forms?!" Mimi gaped. "I mean, surely you wouldn't be able to fight back against your friends or even know how to fight against them!"

"Poyo, (You're not my friends,)" Kirby noted. "Poyo. (You're just you and don't have the same strategy. I said something like this before, remember?)"

"Maybe... But I think I understand this form a lot more!" Mimi smirked as she transformed into a darker version of Chopper. Kirby was not happy and gave her a glare while gripping his hammer.

"Oh, I overheard your arguing! I'm sure you want to get revenge against him right now, right?"

Kirby frowned and charged at her, but Mimi managed to jump on his head and kick him from behind with a light kick. He turned around and fired a few missiles, but Mimi inhaled them and spat them back his way.

"Poyo... (Oh... Projectiles could be a problem when she can just inhale them...)" Kirby trailed as he dodged the yellow star coming his way and hit Mimi with his hammer. That didn't stop her from freezing him with an ice ball.

Kirby quickly shook out of his icy prison and managed to unfreeze himself. Mimi continued to taunt him by sticking her tongue out at him which forced him to stun her with a wave of electricity.

"Poyo! (You changing into Chopper is helping me vent a bit of my anger on him out!)" Kirby exclaimed as he jumped in the air and hit Mimi with his hammer again. "Poyo! (Thank you very much!)"

Mimi grumbled and charged up a light ball to hurl Kirby's way. He floated in the air to dodge it and spun his hammer vertically to hit her, but she was able to quickly jump on him and then knock him back with a light punch.

"Since I've encountered him and you quite often during this adventure, I have an easier understanding of his moves!" Mimi smirked.

"Poyo? (Why don't you fight me in your own form?)" Kirby suggested. "Poyo! (I'm already creaming you in your transformations! In fact, I know I can take them on too!)"

Mimi was silent for a moment, but she grinned as she turned back to her hideous form and swatted Kirby away with one of her spider legs. He quickly got up and sent a wave of electricity her way. Mimi simply jumped over it and spat a giant poison Rubee, which Kirby inhaled and spat back at her.

When she got hit by the Rubee, she was left poisoned, but considering that she was part spider and part mech right now (Mimi's spider form DOES show gears in her, you know), she wasn't affected by the poison.

"Mimimimi... So, Kirby... How about I bring things up a notch again?" Mimi snickered.

Kirby readied himself as Mimi's spider legs grew long enough for her to attach to both walls. She was surrounded in Rubees as she began to spin around, forcing Kirby to put up his defenses when she came his way.

When Mimi stopped, Kirby took this chance to attack her with his hammer. He was surprised when he saw Mimi block his hammer with at least two of her spider legs, causing him to get smacked by another one of her legs.

"Poyo? (How is she able to do that?)" Kirby cringed as Mimi surrounded herself in a fire Rubee shield. Of course, it didn't seem to help her out when Kirby was able to smash through them with ease.

She backed over to the corner and prepared to charge at him, so Kirby began to prepare himself as Mimi charged his way. He spun his hammer and came her way too, resulting in them both hitting the wall.

"Well! So far, both of us are pretty even at this point." Mimi realized. "But now this is where it all ends, dummy!"

"Poyo, (Throw whatever you've got at me,)" Kirby challenged. "Poyo! (I want to make this fight interesting!)"

Mimi grinned sadistically as her red eyes changed to purple, and even her entire body changed to pure black. Kirby tried to attack her, but it didn't seem like his hammer was doing much.

"Being much stronger is fun! I should've done this at the start!" Mimi cackled as she fired a dark Rubee Kirby's way. He tried to knock it away, but his hammer didn't appear to do squat to it.

"Poyo! (Oh, no! This isn't good!)" Kirby gaped.

"Are you going to ask for help now? Go on, do it!"

"Poyo... (No... I need to learn to overcome things myself... I've stopped King Dedede from taking food, defeated Nightmare, destroyed the Dark Matter and Zero and his second form, stopped Marx and his soul form and many more... If I could defeat them myself (though I didn't defeat some of them myself), I can do the same against you...)"

Kirby stored some power in his hammer and tried something new too. While King Dedede didn't perform something like this before, he was sure he could do something to make his attacks much stronger.

Mimi threw another dark Rubee his way, but she paused when Kirby's hammer grew to a much bigger size and smashed the dark Rubee. She didn't even have time to dodge the hammer coming her way, which was capable of damaging her.

"How did you do that?!"

"Poyo, (I'm capable of a lot of things with abilities,)" Kirby smirked as he began to spin his hammer around. Mimi retreated up to the ceiling and began to drop a couple of dark Rubees to make sure they hit him.

His hammer was able to smash all of them and also make her fall in front of him, leaving her open for another attack.

"Well I'm not giving up just yet!" Mimi spat as she hit Kirby with one of her spider legs and also hit him with a dark Rubee. Despite that, she STILL got hit by his hammer, and at this point, she was almost finished.

But that didn't mean she was going to give up so easily. She would do anything to get anything she wanted anyway.

Kirby had more confidence in him as his hammer was surrounded in a light glow. And, of course, light was capable of dealing a lot to dark and vice versa. She was sent flying to the wall with another swing of his hammer.

"If I try to fight back, it's probably over, but if I run, that's not going to do much..." Mimi muttered as he dodged Kirby's hammer attack and managed to get behind him. She quickly smacked him with a spider leg, but when he turned around, he jumped in the air and brought the large hammer down on her head.

It seemed before the fight was evenly matched, but now it was turned to Kirby's favor.

When Kirby slammed his hammer to the ground, a larger wave of electricity came Mimi's way and stunned her. With the little HP she had, it seemed like her spider legs would most likely snap off from the power of his hammer.

She fired a large dark Rubee at Kirby, and to her surprise, it seemed to give him a bit of a hard time. But in the end, the pink puffball managed to throw it back at her and knock her down.

"Poyo! (This is it!)" Kirby declared as he raised his hammer and jumped in the air to prepare for his finishing blow. Mimi quickly got up and brought two of her spider legs up to grab a hold of the handle.

"There's no way I'm going to let you defeat me like this!" Mimi cried. "You've been a pain for a long time, and I'm not letting it end like this!"

"Poyo! (You've forced us to do labor, you distracted us from trying to get the seventh Pure Heart, you've trapped us in Castle Tipral, you ambushed us in the winter world, you've forced me to go through a basement from your trap, you slowed us down on Mobius, AND you threw more traps at us!)" Kirby exclaimed. "Poyo! (I'm NOT letting you win this!)"

"I told you, I get whatever I want!" she retorted, pushing Kirby's hammer back further. "And I'm not letting a person who's mostly dependent to defeat me!"

"Poyo, (I'm not really as dependent as you think,)" Kirby said as he pushed his hammer closer to Mimi. "Poyo. (I've taken on more hideous things than any of my friends, mostly on my own. And I'm going to prove it right now!)"

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

Kirby was able to successfully hit Mimi with his hammer, leaving her stunned and also snapping two of her spider legs off, making her gape. He also managed to hit her another time to snap off two more, leaving her with two left.

But just before Mimi could get away, Kirby raised his hammer, which grew to an even bigger size and brought it down on her.

"Poyo, (That's how,)" Kirby replied as Mimi's last two legs snapped off, which made her fall on the ground in front of Kirby.

"But... But... How did I lose to you?!" Mimi cried. "The hero who had to rely on his friends most of the time?!"

Before Kirby could say anything, an explosion knocked him back, forcing his ability off him. He was covered in a cover of bruises, and Mimi didn't look any better when she transformed back into herself.

Little did they hear a sound of a camera clicking in the background.

"Excellent... This is just what I need!"

Mimi was nearly limping at this point as she glared at Kirby. "Y-You..."

She didn't have the strength to say anything else as she fell forward, trying to use her arms to prevent herself from collapsing. Kirby seemed satisfied as he walked over to her while smirking.

"Poyo? (So, did you learn anything from that?)" Kirby asked. "Poyo (Like not to underestimate people like myself?)"

"I... I..."

The five came back through the door and noticed Kirby facing the exhausted Mimi. Her questionable look changed to a sad one when she looked up at Tipral.

"Tippy... I'm so sorry for failing you..." Mimi cried, a tear dropping from her face. "I tried to win, but he was able to win. I bet you hate me right now."

"...I don't know what to say," Tipral said as he looked down at the girl.

"And to be honest, I... I really do like you. Whenever I was around you, I always felt so...happy."

Tipral blinked as he suddenly heard a voice in his head that said something similar to that.

"Usually when I'm around you, I feel happy! Just like a friend should do!"

Tipral quickly shook his head and looked down at the sad Mimi. "Mimi... You..."

They felt a shake from the ground, indicating that they couldn't be here forever. "We shouldn't stay here any longer. We might as well go."

"I guess so..." Chopper trailed as he went over to the door ahead, along with everyone else. Kirby was the last to follow, but before he could go in the door, he turned and saw Mimi on the ground still.

"Poyo... (You know, you should get going...)" Kirby suggested. "Poyo... (It's not safe here...)"

"And why do you care so much?" Mimi asked, turning to the pink puffball. "You should just leave me be! I don't care anymore..."

"Poyo... (Mimi...)"

The shaking got worse, causing both of them to let out a cry.

---

Outside the following door-

When the five got through the door, they happened to hear a loud thud coming from the previous area, which made most of them jump up in surprise.

"Whoa... That was TOO close!" Chopper sighed. "I'm glad we all got here safely..."

"Ummmmm... Where's Kirby?" Luigi asked, noticing Kirby's disappearance.

Mario turned to the door and didn't see him there. He walked over to the door and tried to open it. He ended up giving them all a head shake after trying a few more times.

"Oh, no..." Chopper gasped.

---

Previous area-

"What are you doing, you stupid puffball?!" Mimi cried, who was being held by the leg by Kirby, who was hanging by one of the spider legs that happened to be stuck to the edge of the floor.

"Poyo! (Trying to save you!)" Kirby replied. "Poyo... (If only I had the strength to float up... But I think that fight we had won't help me...)"

"I don't care whether you don't have the strength to float or not! It's better for you to let me go!"

"Poyo, (Look, you've been doing a lot of bad things toward us, but that doesn't mean you're not a person,)" Kirby said. "Poyo! (And as a hero, I should be helping you anyway!)"

"If you were a hero, you'd actually try to cooperate... But it didn't seem like you were doing that a little bit before!"

Kirby frowned as he closed his eyes. "Poyo... (You're right... I feel like I've done some unnecessary arguing with Chopper... And I honestly feel bad for not apologizing, especially at this point...)"

"Kirby, I'll be honest..." Mimi trailed. "You're not as bad as I thought you were. You're a bit...respectable, considering that you even helped me twice."

"Poyo... (I don't think you're completely evil... There's probably some good in you...)"

"...Maybe there is..."

Kirby noticed his grip was starting to loosen on the spider leg. "Poyo! (Hold on! I'm not going to let myself fall!)"

Unfortunately, he lost his grip on the spider leg when the ground shook violently, and he and Mimi began to plunge down below into the abyss.

---

Next area-

Chopper tried to open the door a couple of more times, but the door still wouldn't open, leaving his antennae to hang low, along with his face.

"Kirby..." Chopper trailed. "I don't believe it..."

"First we lost Blade, and now Kirby..." Sonic frowned. "This is bad..."

"I'm feeling awful too... We've been arguing a lot through this area, and I never even got to apologize to him. That makes things worse..."

Mario: What do we do now?

"Keep going," Tipral answered, making everyone turn to him.

"But Tipral, Mimi was in there too," Luigi mentioned. "You want to go on without her and Kirby?"

"We can't do anything about it now. That door won't open, so all we can do is move on."

Mario: ...I guess you have a point.

"But Kirby..." Chopper trailed.

"As much as I don't want to leave him back there, I don't think we have any choice..." Sonic noted. "We need to get to the True Chaos Heart before The Void destroys the whole universe, and if we stay here forever, we won't be able to stop it."

"I honestly don't want to leave him, but you have a point. I don't want the whole universe to be destroyed, and I'm sure Kirby would want us to continue on..."

"Good. Now we should get going." Tipral turned around and saw a flat area ahead with a couple of dark purple Koopatrols in black armor with purple eyes walking around. There were even a few bottomless pits and some ? Blocks. The first one Luigi hit contained a Death Shroom.

"Wah! It's one of those!" Luigi cried.

Mario readied his hammer and bashed the Death Shroom a couple of times to take care of it. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to avoid getting skewered by the Void Koopatrol's spike on its head when it came charging at him.

In retaliation, Mario bashed the Void Koopatrol, while Chopper chucked a light ball at it. All Sonic had to do was hit it with a Spin Dash, and it was defeated.

"Bottomless pits... I guess we need to be careful here..." Sonic warned, noticing a bottomless pit ahead, as well as some spikes. "And we have to make a long jump over there too. This should be fun..."

Tipral jumped over the bottomless pit and used his teleporting dash to get past the spikes. Another Void Koopatrol spotted him and came charging his way, but he simply had to snap his fingers to defeat it. He hit a ? Block near him, which happened to reveal an Ultimate Shroom.

As soon as the rest got across, he split it into five pieces and gave them a piece. While they all had a much bigger piece than before, it didn't feel as right.

"Having more taste of it almost feels a bit empty to me..." Chopper trailed.

"Yeah, especially since Kirby and Blade and not here to share it with us," Luigi agreed.

"You can grieve about it later. When we're fighting enemies, that will not help you." Tipral informed. "Now let's continue on. I don't want to be lurking around these parts when another violent shake could happen any moment."

"I guess you're right," Chopper agreed, finding a dark purple Knuckle Joe with black hair ahead. He inhaled it and got a hold of the Fighter ability, which helped when he saw a tall pipe ahead with a black Blade Knight standing on it. Thankfully, they could all reach it, so Chopper used his Rising Break to knock the Void Blade Knight off the pipe and allow them all to jump over it.

While the Void Blade Knight was low on HP, Luigi jumped on its head to defeat it before running into a Darkling and a black Mechawful called a Void Mechawful. Unlike the Dark Mechawfuls, they had spikes on their cannonball fists. Mario recalled seeing the Dark Mechawfuls, and now he wasn't so pleased to see them back.

Mario: Well this is great...

"What are those supposed to be?" Luigi wondered.

Mario: I guess they're Void Mechawfuls.

"Great... This should be fun." Chopper sweat dropped as he saw one of the Void Mechawful's bring one of its fists back and charge up a punch. Tipral fired a Star Spear at it, but it wasn't enough. It instantly lunged forward and punched, but it sadly missed when Luigi was able to counter it with a Super Jump.

While the Void Mechawful was a bit dazed from the attack, Mario performed a Triple Jump and defeated the robot, which dropped a Sparky item. Apparently this could allow one to have a Sparky follow them around, kind of like the ones they saw on the poles.

Mario: I guess this should be helpful.

He grabbed it and hurried over to a ledge where the door was. All he had to do was use his Triple Jump to get up to it, while Luigi used his Super Jump, and Tipral simply teleported Chopper and Sonic up the ledge.

They entered through the door and found a Void Jawbus blocking the way, so Chopper went into 3-D and jumped on its tail to defeat it before noticing a large chasm below.

"Ummmmmm... This might not be good..." Chopper gulped.

Luigi looked up and noticed some square-shaped platforms appear in front of them. They seemed to fade away, kind of like the platforms back in the space gadget in the Comet of Darkness.

"Looks like we're going to have to be quick here," Tipral said. "You guys better be fast enough."

"I'm ready for anything," Sonic assured.

When the closest platform appeared, they quickly jumped on it and began to cross the chasm. However, there were a couple of Void Bronto Burts flying around too, and they happened to be swooping down toward them too.

Luigi gasped as he jumped over one of them and managed to make it across first. When Tipral was in range, he teleported to the ledge ahead, and then followed Sonic, Chopper and then finally Mario.

Mario: That was close!

Up ahead, they found a black mantis-like robot ahead that instantly threw its scythe-like arms straight at Sonic, who ended up getting hit by it while the arms returned to the robot. When Sonic got a closer look at it, he realized what it was.

"Slicers..."

"Slicers? You mean those robots you said you fought in that metropolis place?" Chopper wondered.

"Yeah, and I can't believe we have to find them in a place like this..."

Mario jumped over the Void Slicer and jumped on it, which allowed Tipral to jump on it afterward and destroy it. There was a rotating cylinder moving up and down leading up to a ledge with a black, robotic crab with one claw being bigger and having spikes.

"Void Shellcrackers too? This is nuts!"

Chopper jumped on the cylinder first and was slowly spinning around on it as it slowly moved up. Before he could jump, he ended up getting hit by the Void Shellcracker's large claw, which extended from its body and hit him, knocking him off the cylinder.

"What the heck?!" Chopper gaped.

Luigi even tried to use his Super Jump, but the Void Shellcracker was able to hit him and knock him down too. That left Tipral to go up the cylinder and teleport before the Void Shellcracker could hit him. He simply fired two Star Spears and defeated it.

When the rest got up to him, they found the ground to be moving downward, so Sonic went first and began to run down the slope, followed by Chopper and then Tipral. Mario and Luigi exchanged looks, with Luigi going behind Mario.

"You go first!" Luigi suggested.

Mario sighed as he began to slide down, with Luigi watching him. Unfortunately, he ended up tripping and began tumbling down the hill. Apparently the hills continued to go down an infinite loop, but they noticed a path over by the right at the hill going down.

When they all had the chance to jump off, they jumped and got past the infinite loop of hills and found a door in front of them. They entered it to find some platforms above them with two Void Koopatrols walking around.

Luigi gave a nod and used his Super Jump to hit one of the Void Koopatrols from underneath, while the other got in its shell and charged at Luigi. Chopper jumped in front of the enemy and attacked it with a Vulcan Jab before throwing it to the ground, which allowed Mario to defeat it with his hammer.

There was a platform to the upper left that was blocked by a couple of steel blocks, which Chopper was unable to smash with any of his attacks. To the upper right was a Void Slicer, which quickly threw its blades. Sonic was able to defeat it by jumping underneath it with a Spin Jump.

"Whew... Usually their pretty good at hitting something, but probably not from before!" Sonic smirked.

Mario: I see some blocks over here!

"Hit them, Mario, because I can't," Chopper suggested, getting out of the way and allowing Mario to smash the blocks and reveal a door. They entered it to find a small area with the Fire and Ice ability, as well as a stump-like switch.

Mario inspected the switch, but since he could use a Ground Pound on it, he did that, which caused the floor to turn to ice, and an icy wind happened to be blowing throughout the area, causing Luigi to shiver.

"B-Bro... You shouldn't have d-done that..." Luigi stammered.

"Yeah, it's freezing in here!" Chopper cried.

"You better do something before I'm forced to harm you," Tipral threatened. "I'm not going to freeze here..."

Chopper gave Tipral a glare, but they were cut off by Sonic. "Hold on... Let's not turn this place back to normal. After all, there might be a reason for this!"

Mario: The stump moved back up, so I can hit it again.

While Luigi continued to shiver, Chopper ditched his Fighter ability and grabbed a hold of the Ice ability so he wasn't shivering. However, his icy aura did make Luigi feel a bit colder, causing him to back away.

But with the slippery ground, he ended up slipping and falling over on his back.

"Mama mia..." Luigi moaned.

"Remember, Luigi: just think "I'm not cold!" and you should be fine," Chopper said as he helped him up.

"Didn't you say that before?" Sonic wondered.

"What? I'm just trying to help him..."

Unfortunately, that didn't seem enough, and Luigi continued to shiver. Tipral shivered too, still giving Mario a threatening look to hit the stump, but when Mario pondered, he shook his head.

"Give me a reason why I shouldn't harm you for not getting rid of this harsh coldness," Tipral hissed.

Mario: We're probably going to need it!

"We'll just see what it does," Chopper said as he ice skated over to the door and left the area. Luigi was the last one to leave, but it was because of how slippery the ground was and how cold it was too.

They noticed the whole area around them had an icy wind and an icy ground. The Slicers and Shellcrackers were nowhere to be seen, to their surprise. Nevertheless, they climbed up some platforms above them and found a door.

When they came out, there happened to be a geyser up ahead that appeared to be spurting out a large amount of water to block their way. But because it was frozen, water didn't appear to be spurting out.

"So... I guess the ice managed to make this geyser here freeze..." Tipral trailed. "But even then, we can't get through here."

Mario: Or can we?

He whipped out his hammer and bashed the frozen geyser. It ended up shattering, which allowed them to go through. However, they ended up finding a black Chilly called a Void Chilly waiting for them.

Chopper ice skated up to the Void Chilly and used his Ice Breath on it, but it didn't seem to freeze it. Not only that, but it did little damage too.

"What the heck?! That didn't do much!" Chopper gaped.

"Don't you use your brain, Chopper? Those enemies are ice enemies!" Tipral sighed. "I'm sure you would've realized that by now."

"No need to get mad at something like that," he turned back to the Void Chilly and tossed a fireball at it to deal massive damage, while Mario jumped on it to defeat it. Luigi, of course, couldn't do much with the cold temperatures.

"Does someone have a blanket?" Luigi moaned.

"Hate to break it to ya, but I don't think we have one..." Sonic trailed.

"Oh, man... Then I'm not going to enjoy this..."

Luigi was startled by the sound of the lightning in the background, causing him to bump into Sonic. And because he ended up touching his quills, he let out a scream in pain, making everyone turn to him.

"What's wrong, Luigi?" Sonic asked.

"Remind me not to get too startled..." Luigi groaned. The rest shrugged and carried on ahead. They noticed up ahead another frozen geyser, but before Mario could smash it, a Void Mechawful broke through it and punched Mario, sending him flying back.

Sonic gasped and quickly got in a ball to hit the robot with a Spin Dash. Afterward, Chopper jumped in the air and spun around while blowing his icy breath around him, hitting the Void Mechawful with an Ice Sprinkle. When he landed on the ground, he used his Ice Storm to freeze it.

Chopper smiled as he kicked the Void Mechawful away, but he didn't notice a path in sight. But when he looked down, he saw a slippery slope down below.

"Ummmmmm... Looks like we have to slide down." Chopper sweat dropped.

"What?! Are you serious?!" Luigi gaped.

"Well then we might as well do it," Tipral suggested, walking over to Chopper and looking down. He decided to use his dark shoes to skate down instead. Chopper ice skated down, while Sonic tried to run, but ended up slipping and sliding instead.

Mario turned to Luigi and tried to get him to go, but the green plumber shook his head in response. Mario, getting annoyed, was forced to grab a hold of his arm and drag him over to the icy slope.

"Bro! Come on! You know I don't want to do this!" Luigi cried.

Mario: I'm sorry, but it's for your own good!

Unfortunately, both Mario Bros. ended up slipping on the ice and began to slide their way down. Both of them began to scream as they landed right on top of Tipral at the bottom of the area. He threw them both off, now surrounded in a purple glow.

"You Mario Bros. better watch where you're landing!" Tipral hissed. "Because maybe next time, you won't be living!"

"Tipral!" Chopper snapped. "Look, I know you don't want to die like us, but you don't have any right to threaten them like that! All of that was just a big accident!"

"Chopper, you know very well that Mario was partly responsible for destroying my father, just like both Kirby and Sonic were! And you... I don't think I have to explain everything to you."

"You need to learn to cooperate," Sonic noted. "You just lost two of your minions, so I'm sure you would want to try to find a way to help them!"

"I could... But I highly doubt they're alive." Tipral sighed. "O'Chunks risked his life to save us, while Mimi... She didn't get a chance to get out too soon."

"Like Kirby..." Chopper trailed.

Mario: We should probably move on...

Everyone agreed and moved on ahead. They noticed there was now a ceiling with a couple of icicles above them. One dropped in front of Chopper, causing him to recoil and end up bumping into Tipral, who got angered and knocked him forward. Chopper decided not to complain and ice skated through, avoiding a couple of icicles that fell to the ground.

Up ahead were a couple of ice forts, with a couple of dark purple Snowmos in black jackets hiding behind the forts and throwing a couple of snowballs. Chopper opened his mouth and caught one of them and spat a small chunk of ice at one of the Void Snowmos.

Mario: I see one of those switches!

"Hit it quickly!" Luigi cried, which made Mario quickly hit it with a Super Ground Pound. The ice quickly melted away, and the ground was back to its normal black and purple ground. Luigi was no longer shivering, and the Void Snowmos were sweating like crazy.

"Here! This'll cool things down a bit!" Chopper smirked, using his Ice Storm to freeze them and kick them to the wall ahead. A door was waiting for them, so they entered it to find a flat area with a geyser shooting at an upper right angle.

"Hey! Now that looks cool!" Sonic grinned.

Mario looked up and noticed a downreel handle on the ceiling. The ground where they stood was also pretty thin. He explained to them that they should use it to go down below.

"Why don't we just freeze this thing ourselves?" Chopper suggested, running over to the geyser and using his Ice Breath on it. It didn't seem to work, so he tried again. "OK, it's not working..."

"Maybe because that's not enough ice," Tipral said.

"Why not go back to the other area and make it cold?" Sonic suggested.

"Oh, no! I don't want it to get cold again!" Luigi cried.

They went back to the previous area and froze it, but when they returned, it didn't appear to be frozen around them.

"Weird... When we activated that switch in that one small area, the larger area was frozen too..." Sonic trailed. "What's going on here?"

Mario: Well, we should do like I suggested!

"Yeah, we ought to go with what Mario suggested," Chopper agreed, grabbing the downreel handle and descending down to the ground below. They discovered a Void Mechawful that fired a dark beam out of its chest and hit Chopper. Tipral teleported in front of it and managed to deliver a powerful Star Punch. To finish things off, he snapped his finger a couple of times to finish it.

The path continued, with a couple of spikes blocking their way. They found a stump at the end of the road, and a Void Koopatrol happened to be guarding it, so Tipral struck it with a shadow ball, and then Mario bashed it a couple of times with his hammer. Sonic finished it off with a Spin Dash.

With that, Mario jumped on the stump and used his Ground Pound, causing the whole area to become cold and icy.

"I kinda wish this switch wasn't here..." Luigi shivered.

"Are you going to whine all day about it?" Tipral groaned, despite shivering a bit. "This is something we need to do if we're going to get through here."

They hurried back while avoiding icicles and managed to get back up to where they previously were in the area thanks to a spring. Now the water geyser was frozen, which allowed them to get on and reach the other side.

Upon landing on the other side, they noticed two geysers, with one above and one below. Mario simply smashed it to get through, but they were greeted by two Void Mechawfuls and a dark purple Shy Guy called a Void Guy.

Chopper ice skated toward them and used his Ice Sprinkle as he jumped in the air to hit both Void Mechawfuls and the Void Guy. The Void Guy was frozen, but the Void Mechawful's weren't due to their higher HP and defenses.

"Hey! See if you like this!" Chopper called out, jumping behind the two robots and kicking the frozen Void Guy into them. While they were distracted, Mario jumped on the first one's head, while Luigi did the same thing. Tipral snapped his fingers afterward and defeated off both Void Mechawfuls.

Up ahead they noticed a frozen pool, but it appeared to be too hard for any of them to break through. Plus, there was a wall in their way, so they couldn't progress through anymore.

"Wait... I think there's another stump around here..." Chopper trailed until he found it. "Oh! It's just at the right!"

Near the wall, there happened to be a stump, so Mario walked over to it and hit it with a Ground Pound. The ice melted away and there was now a pool with the current moving down.

However, before any of them could fall in, they looked down first.

"Wait... Water..." Sonic blinked for a couple of seconds before realizing that he was over it. He gasped as he fell in, as well as Luigi and Chopper. Tipral's dark shoes prevented him from falling in, and he slowly began to shake his head as he let himself fall in.

When Mario jumped in, they were all carried through by the current, which went down and then to the right, where they found themselves in a small pool with a door sitting on a platform. Sonic quickly jumped out before he could drown.

"That better be the last time we see water..." Sonic grumbled. "I'm getting sick of it."

"You say that all the time, yet you do it anyway," Chopper mentioned.

"Whatever..."

They headed through the door and found a stump first thing. Mario hit it, causing the whole place to become a frozen wonderland. They noticed the Void Snowmos around the area were now throwing snowballs, with one hitting Mario's face.

Chopper ice skated over to them and chucked a few fireballs at them, while Sonic used his Sonic Wind to finish them off. Luigi made a small jump, due to shivering. However, he soon stopped when he looked up and saw giant icicles from above.

"Uh oh..."

Luigi backed away as it landed near him. It didn't seem to shatter, so Tipral jumped on it to see how sturdy it was.

"Hmph... OK, this might be able to help us..." Tipral pondered. "If you stay on it, it might not do..."

Since he was standing on the left side of the large icicle, it began to move down to the left and near Luigi, causing him to jump back. It didn't shatter, and Tipral was able to jump off it in time.

"I guess I would suggest being careful with these."

"Yeah, I guess that's a good point," Chopper agreed, jumping over the icicle. They noticed a pit ahead and an icy ledge that appeared to be too high to jump up. Not only that, but a Void Shellcracker was there too.

Mario: That looks dangerous...

Tipral simply snapped his finger and the Void Shellcracker was out of the way. This gave Mario the opportunity to use his Triple Jump to get across the pit and land on the icy ledge. He nearly slipped, but he was able to keep himself sturdy.

"I guess I have to do the work for most of you..." Tipral sighed as he teleported the rest over to Mario. They noticed a slippery slope moving down where two Void Goombas were, so Mario slid down and knocked them away and ended up bumping into a Void Mechawful that fired a laser and knocked the plumber away.

Chopper used his Ice Breath in an attempt to freeze it, but he was only punched away by the robot, so Sonic and Tipral attacked it and destroyed it.

With that out of the way, they noticed a frozen geyser moving at a lower right angle ahead, so they got on and allowed themselves to slide down to lower ground to find another stump.

Mario: I got it!

The red plumber jumped on the stump and made the ice go away. The geyser they were just on was now spurting water, with some droplets getting on Sonic, causing him to cringe.

"Well, at least it's not like I'm in water..." Sonic trailed.

They noticed the door up ahead had a gap filled with dark matter rather than ice, so Mario hit the switch to freeze the whole place up. The only problem? The door past the dark matter was frozen too.

"Great... How are we supposed to get through that dark matter?!" Luigi cried.

"I'll just teleport you all across," Tipral said as Mario unfroze the place and teleported everyone across. He decided to skate over the dark matter himself with his dark shoes and follow everyone through the door. They were in a small area with a Save Block and a ? Block. The door up ahead, however, was locked.

"Hold on, let me check something," Chopper went into 3-D and noticed a hole in the ground. When he jumped down it, he found two Void Koopatrols and a Void Mechawful there. With his Ice Storm, he froze them and managed to make a chest appear, which revealed a Void Key.

He returned to the group and showed the key. However, before going, they got the Star Shroom from the ? Block and then hit the Save Block before going through the door.

They noticed the next area was small like most others, but they noticed a stump in the center of the area.

"Hmmmmm? Now what could this be for?" Chopper wondered as he ice skated over to the stump. "Strange..."

"So you have the arriving!"

The five saw Fawful on his hovering platform float down and give them all a grin. Everyone but Tipral got in their fighting stances.

"Fawful!" Chopper cried. "Well... I'm not TOO surprised to see you here..."

"And Fawful has no surprising of seeing you here. You all keep coming back like dead bears rising from the dead! Such annoyance Fawful gets from you all!"

"Then how about you get off your platform and take us on?" Sonic challenged. "Maybe you might put up more of a fight."

"I have chortles!" Fawful cackled. "That's not why I arrive here as a delicate peanut! Fawful has made plans so secret that the secrets are so delicious to scoff down!"

"Fawful, we don't have time for this," Tipral stepped in. "If we don't get to that Chaos Heart soon enough, everyone, including us, will die."

"Fawful laughs at your faces! You don't have realization, Tipral? Why Fawful joined you like a magnet that attracts ketchup?"

"I offered you to join me back in The Overthere. You didn't come to me. I technically came to you."

"I have chortles! But you no nothing of the planning of Fawful! You see, Fawful has planned like a hungry goose! The plan of greatness when Fawful usurps the Dark Antennae and leaves him out like a boy who can't reach the bananas!"

"Wait, let me get this straight... You were planning on betraying me from the start?"

"Nyeah heh heh heh! You have correctness! ...But now that you discovered Fawful's plan, you must be rid of!"

"You do realize that you don't stand a chance against me," Tipral threatened, his fists now being surrounded in a purple glow. "You can't even put up much of a fight either."

Before anyone could do anything, Midbus landed in front of Tipral, forcing him to jump back.

"Lord Fawful," Midbus started. "Let me handle this."

"So I'm betting you were part of this too, weren't you?" Tipral wondered, glaring at Midbus.

"I follow Lord Fawful anywhere."

"I have uneasiness..." Fawful trailed. "These heroes keep appearing like a stinky man coming back from a long vacation full of fat people! So Fawful will fight to help Midbus have victory!"

"So we're fighting two people at once? I can handle that." Sonic smirked.

"But Midbus has pride... So Fawful leaves them to you!"

"Oh... I guess not..." Chopper trailed.

"So I have to deal with another traitor," Tipral said. "You're nothing compared to Dimentio, so you won't be much of a problem for me to crush!"

"MIDBUS! POWER UP!"

Fawful drew his blaster, but instead of shooting the five, he fired an ice beam at Midbus. While he was in the icy beam, Midbus slammed his two fists together as his yellow, rough back changed to a brown, furry one. His hot pink skin changed to blue, while his belly was a lighter blue. Another thing added to him was a crown that appeared on his head.

Mario: What happened?!

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Luigi gulped as Fawful put his blaster away.

"Now Midbus has cold fury!" Fawful cackled. "And with cold fury, you shall all burn in the coldness of Blizzard Midbus!"

"Don't think you're going anywhere," Tipral hissed. "I have a bone to pick with you!"

"Nyeah heh heh heh! Fawful must bid you farewell for now!" Fawful took off on his platform through the door ahead, leaving only the five and Blizzard Midbus, who had a puff of ice coming out of his nostrils.

"Now you face hot wrath," Blizzard Midbus declared. "The hot wrath of my freezing blizzard attack! Here your long journey ends!"

"Not on my watch!" Sonic declared, running over to Blizzard Midbus, who ended up throwing a snowball at him to leave him dazed. Blizzard Midbus grinned and charged at Sonic, sending him flying over to the wall.

Mario turned to Blizzard Midbus and readied his hammer. The boar tried to punch at him, but he was able to jump on his arm and bash him with his hammer. He noticed his max HP was 520, he had an Attack of 21 and a Defense of 8. Nothing too spectacular.

However, before he could jump off his arm, Blizzard Midbus shot ice breath from his nostrils, which resulted in freezing Mario. Chopper gasped and ran over to him and thawed him out, while Tipral delivered a Star Punch to Blizzard Midbus's face while he was occupied with them.

"You have a strong attack," Blizzard Midbus commented, wiping the bruise on his face. "But that's not stopping me. Now I smash you!"

Blizzard Midbus attempted to punch Tipral with an ice punch, but he teleported out of the way and fired a Star Spear at him. Meanwhile, Chopper ice skated up to Blizzard Midbus and hit him with his Ice Sprinkle.

Sadly, that hardly did much.

"What? How come that didn't do much?!" Chopper gawked.

"Because he has ice powers, you idiot," Tipral answered. "You should've realized that by now!"

Chopper gave him a glare before ducking under Blizzard Midbus's ice punch. Even if it didn't do much damage, it still hurt him, so he used his Ice Breath, followed by tossing a fireball at him.

"Unnghh..." Blizzard Midbus grunted as he jumped back and got in a ball. He charged at Chopper and sent him flying back. Since he was coming Sonic's way, he got in a ball and tossed himself at Blizzard Midbus, forcing them to clash.

Both were apparently not being forced back from their clash, because from what everyone could see, they were still trying to knock one of them back. Tipral ended up ending this by snapping his finger and causing both of them to get knocked back by his Star Magic.

"Urgh... So you have strength." Blizzard Midbus grunted as he got up. "Your strength will be eaten when I use my own strength to destroy you!"

"Ummmmm... And what does that mean?" Luigi sweat dropped.

Blizzard Midbus replied by throwing a snowball toward Luigi, who gasped and jumped out of the way. When he landed, the boar used his crown's power to summon a couple of snowmen with a face that resembled Fawful called Snawfuls. They began firing snowballs their way too, but Chopper tossed some fireballs their way and let them melt.

Chopper gave Blizzard Midbus a smirk, but his smirk disappeared when he saw him create a giant snowball with a Bob-omb in it. He jumped on it and began to roll it over to the group.

"What kind of move is that?" Chopper gawked.

"One to crush you!" Blizzard Midbus answered as the large snowball got closer. Tipral noticed the Bob-omb sticking out, so he threw a Star Spear to make the snowball explode and send Blizzard Midbus flying to the ground.

With that, Luigi ran over to him and jumped on his head. He didn't have much time to get away when Blizzard Midbus froze him with his ice breath. Mario noticed this and used his hammer to shatter the ice around his brother, freeing him.

"Whew! Thanks for that, Bro!" Luigi sighed.

Mario: No problem!

Blizzard Midbus clenched his fists in anger and tried to freeze the Mario Bros., but they got out of harm's way and performed one of their special moves. Mario grabbed Luigi's arms and began to swing him around. When he let go, the green plumber charged straight into Blizzard Midbus's stomach.

Luigi jumped off of Blizzard Midbus afterward and stomped on his snout, causing him to be angered and deliver a punch to knock him back. However, he didn't expect to be struck by Chopper's Ice Storm.

"Why do you try to freeze me when I can freeze?" Blizzard Midbus asked.

"Why can't you speak in a way that we can understand?" Chopper asked.

"Understanding? That's impossible. Only the dumb understand."

Chopper blinked for a moment before getting hit by Blizzard Midbus's ice breath. However, the only difference was that he wasn't frozen by his ice attack, which made Blizzard Midbus confused.

"I don't understand. You should be frozen like a popsicle!"

"Wow, you are a lot dumber than I thought. I have the freakin' Ice ability on my hands! Of course you can't freeze me!"

Blizzard Midbus growled and grabbed a hold of the ceiling above them. He began to hurl snowballs down at them, with one hitting both Chopper and Tipral. Mario managed to throw one back at him with his own hammer, forcing him to land on the ground instead.

Mario gripped his hammer and prepared to swing it when Blizzard Midbus charged at them with his fist, but all he had to do was spin it around and the blue boar was left dazed, allowing Sonic to send him flying to the wall with a Spin Dash.

"Ha! How'd you like the taste of my Spin Dash!" Sonic taunted as he pointed at Blizzard Midbus who crashed into the wall.

"Taste... Ha ha... I have no taste..." Blizzard Midbus moaned, jumping off the wall and getting in a ball again.

"Oh, looks like he's asking for it again!" Sonic curled up in a ball again and both him and Blizzard Midbus clashed. Neither of them were winning the struggle, from the looks of it, but Blizzard Midbus was suddenly surrounded in a white glow, which caused a flash. Everyone noticed Sonic frozen like a popsicle when the flash was gone.

"Muh muh muh... Lord Fawful will love an iced rat!"

Tipral took this chance to teleport to Blizzard Midbus and land a kick on his chest, knocking him over. However, that didn't stop Blizzard Midbus from freezing Tipral with his ice breath.

"I'll go handle this," Chopper ice skated over to Sonic and thawed him out with his fire, and then he thawed out Tipral, who only gave him a glare. "What? I helped thaw you out!"

"I could've gotten out myself," Tipral muttered. "Consider that a bit of a warning."

Blizzard Midbus cracked his knuckles as he summoned a couple of more Snawfuls. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to last forever when Chopper melted them with a couple of fireballs.

"Even with fire, you don't stand against me," Blizzard Midbus scoffed, using his ice breath on Chopper again. It didn't freeze him, so he stopped and punched him instead, knocking his Ice ability away.

"Hey!" Chopper gaped when he saw the star shatter. "That's no fair!"

He didn't have time to respond when he was frozen by Blizzard Midbus's ice breath. Tipral took this chance to snap his finger and hit the boar with Star Magic and then deliver a couple of punches and kicks to him afterward.

"Maybe when I'm through with you, I'll make you beat up your own master," Tipral suggested. "How would you like that?"

Blizzard Midbus didn't have time to reply as Tipral continued to beat him up. But that didn't stop him from grabbing the dark being and throw him straight at Luigi, causing both of them to collapse on the ground.

"Ow... My head..." Luigi moaned.

"Maybe you should go out there and fight," Tipral suggested, grabbing Luigi and throwing him at Blizzard Midbus. The green plumber screamed, but because of how fast he was flying at Blizzard Midbus, he sent him crashing into the wall.

"What did I just do?" Luigi looked up at the growling Blizzard Midbus and jumped away from him before his large hands could get a hold of him. Mario quickly jumped on his shoulder, which Luigi gave him a nod as he spun around, while Mario held his hammer out and spun it to hit Blizzard Midbus a couple of times.

Blizzard Midbus couldn't take much of the hits and got in a ball and knocked the two over. Sonic noticed him coming his way, so he jumped and used a Whirlwind, but not even that worked against him.

"Yeesh! This guy's moving fast!" Sonic gaped. "Heads up, Chopper!"

"Huh?" Chopper noticed Blizzard Midbus coming his way, causing his mouth to drop and his eyes to widen. Thankfully, since he was by the wall, he was able to jump off it and dodge Blizzard Midbus, who was left dazed after crashing into the wall.

When a yellow star appeared, Chopper inhaled it and spat it at the boar, while Luigi jumped on his head afterward. He didn't want to chance it and attack him when he could be making a move himself. That wouldn't be a smart move anyway.

"Guh... Let's cool things down a bit!" Blizzard Midbus declared, throwing Chopper and Luigi out of the way and hitting the stump in the center of the area by simply jumping on it. The whole area became a frozen wasteland, making most of the group cold.

"I-It's gotten really cold here!" Chopper shivered.

"Yes, we all know," Tipral muttered. "Stop pointing out such obvious things!"

"Now the battle is in my favor," Blizzard Midbus declared. "Now I'll smash you. And then you'll be pancakes. Then victory shall belong to Midbus!"

"B-Bro... Can't you d-do something about th-this?" Luigi asked, his teeth chattering.

Mario noticed the stump wasn't coming back up, so all he could do was give Luigi a head shake. "What?! O-Oh, no... Th-This isn't g-good..."

"And I d-don't h-have my Ice a-ability..." Chopper added.

"Muh muh muh! Now the fight is mine!" Blizzard Midbus grinned and began to charge up an attack. "Now be frozen!"

"Don't you mean 'begone'?" Chopper wondered, but was ignored when Blizzard Midbus let out a large amount of ice breath from his nostrils. Everyone rushed to the corner to avoid being frozen, which they weren't.

Mario: That was close...

When Blizzard Midbus noticed they weren't frozen, he was enraged and jumped on another giant snowball with a Bob-omb in it. Tipral, easily recognizing this move, snapped his finger and made the snowball explode, with Blizzard Midbus falling to the ground.

"Did you really think you could try to use that move on us again?" Tipral scoffed. "Listen, Midbus, I'm not as blind as these other people. If I see something obvious that'll work against you, I will hit it!"

Blizzard Midbus grunted while getting up. But instead of charging at them, he began to stomp the ground, causing a couple of icicles to come down from the ceiling. One nearly hit Luigi's foot, causing him to scream.

"Wah! Are there icicles here?!" Luigi gaped.

"Well I'm not sitting here like a frozen goose," Sonic declared. "This guy's in our way, and we have to finish this!"

Sonic ran toward Blizzard Midbus, but because of the ice, he began to slide unintentionally, causing him to yelp as Blizzard Midbus charged and knocked him away with ease.

"Muh muh muh! Can you not handle the power of my blizzard?" Blizzard Midbus scoffed, readying an ice punch. Tipral teleported to the boar and attacked him with shadow energy around his fists (a shadow punch, I suppose). Blizzard Midbus cringed as Tipral jumped back and fired two Star Spears at him.

Despite this, though, Blizzard Midbus jumped in the air and performed a ground pound, which created an icy shockwave that everyone jumped over. This gave Luigi the chance to hit him when the boar decided to jump again to hit him.

"Why won't you freeze?!" Blizzard Midbus growled. "You are just cowards."

While he was in the air, Luigi was able to hit him with his Super Jump, interrupting his attack and making him fall to the ground. He took this chance to hit him with a Cyclone, while Mario jumped over Luigi and kicked Blizzard Midbus in the face. It didn't make him crash into the wall, but it surely did hurt him.

"Bro! I have an idea!" Luigi informed.

Mario listened to Luigi's idea and nodded in agreement. He readied his hammer and brought it down on Luigi, forcing him into the ground. While he moved toward Blizzard Midbus, Mario jumped forward and hit the boar with his hammer. When Luigi jumped out, Mario was now spinning his hammer and hitting Blizzard Midbus multiple times.

Blizzard Midbus swiped at them, but they were too fast for him, forcing him to charge at them with his shoulder in the front. Chopper (who was able to unfreeze himself), jumped out of the way and managed to use a fire stomp to hit him.

"Muh... So you carry fire?" Blizzard Midbus cringed.

"Didn't I show this to you before?" Chopper blinked. "You've seen it before, didn't you? ...Or are you one to not remember much?"

"Memory? I don't need memory. Only the weak carry memory." Blizzard Midbus said as he punched Chopper with an ice punch. While it didn't freeze him, he was holding his arm in pain.

"What's the matter? Did I make you cry?"

"N-No... I'm just cringing at your ugly face! What else?"

This only angered Blizzard Midbus as he raised his fists. However, Tipral jumped on his head first and interrupted his attack. Blizzard Midbus whirled around to Tipral and tried to freeze him, which Tipral dodged by teleporting.

"Stop teleporting!" Blizzard Midbus. "It gets on my nerves!"

"Not going to happen," stated Tipral as he kicked his stomach with his Star Kick and then used his Star Burst afterward. Not even Blizzard Midbus saw this coming, considering that he never witnessed Tipral's power.

He teleported again to avoid Blizzard Midbus's punch, which let Sonic hit him with a Spin Dash. The boar tried to fight back by curling up in a ball too, but Sonic was faster and struck him first.

Blizzard Midbus growled and jumped on another giant snowball. This time, the Bob-omb was hidden so its head wasn't sticking out, which Tipral noticed. He wasn't sure where he should attack.

"Great... I guess he did grow a bit of a brain." Tipral sighed.

"This might do something," Chopper chucked a few fireballs at the snowball, but it only got slightly smaller, to his dismay. "OK... It looks like that won't be doing anything for us..."

When the snowball exploded, everyone had to shield their eyes as they were blown back by the attack. Blizzard Midbus landed on the ground and used his ice breath to try to freeze them again. Mario managed to dodge it and hit Blizzard Midbus with a Super Ground Pound.

While Blizzard Midbus was dazed, Mario jumped on the four people who were frozen and managed to help unfreeze them. Tipral was the first to break out and fire a Star Spear at Blizzard Midbus. Chopper got out too and managed to deliver a fire kick, which made Blizzard Midbus's eyes widen in pain from getting scorched.

"Why must fire have harm on me?" Blizzard Midbus grunted. "Guh... Then my ball attack shall have destruction on you!"

He curled up in a ball and began to charge. Sonic quickly reacted and used his Spin Dash to charge at Blizzard Midbus. Chopper was in the middle, which forced him to jump out of the way when they clashed.

"That was TOO close!" Chopper sighed.

"Don't relax just yet," Tipral suggested as Sonic was sent flying their way. They saw Blizzard Midbus charging at them, but that's when Tipral froze time before he could hit him.

"I might as well chip him down a bit," he said as he struck Midbus a couple of times with shadow punches and finished off his attack with a Star Burst. When time reverted back to normal, Blizzard Midbus was knocked away and slack-jawed.

"No. Defeat is unacceptable." Blizzard Midbus grunted as he charged at them, but this time he tried to bash them with his shoulder. Mario stopped him by bringing his hammer down on his head, causing his crown to fall off.

"Well his crown is off..." Luigi trailed.

Blizzard Midbus quickly grabbed his crown and put it back on, leaving everyone a bit confused. But it didn't matter anyway – except him stomping the ground and making icicles come down from above.

"That's it! Time to heats things up!" Chopper declared, tossing a fireball into his mouth to gain the Fire ability. He charged at Blizzard Midbus in a fireball, melting all the icicles in his way and sending him flying to the wall. All of the ice on the ground began to melt away too.

Mario: The ice is melting!

Blizzard Midbus managed to push Chopper away and noticed the ice melting. "What?! Lord Fawful won't be pleased..."

"Yeah, he won't," Tipral agreed. "And he won't be pleased to see that his 'leader' had just defeated you!"

Blizzard Midbus threw a couple of snowballs toward Tipral, but his fists simply smashed them. The boar growled and grabbed a hold of the ceiling to throw snowballs down instead. This only led to his downfall when Luigi was able to hit him with a Super Jump and knock him to the ground with a stomp.

"Unghh... You. Now you pay!" the boar quickly got up and froze Luigi with his ice breath, forcing Chopper to thaw him out while using his Fire Breath to counter Blizzard Midbus's ice breath. He knew for a fact that he was winning.

However, Blizzard Midbus stopped and jumped back. He curled into a ball again while surrounded in ice energy. Chopper knew he couldn't take him on then, but then an idea suddenly struck him.

"Hey, Sonic!"

"Yes?" Sonic ran over to him.

"Get in a ball and charge up a Spin Dash. I might have an idea!"

Sonic shrugged and curled up in a ball. While he charged up a Spin Dash, Chopper lit him on fire, which didn't seem to harm him because of how light the flame was. But despite that, he was surrounded in fire energy, allowing him to charge at Blizzard Midbus and win the clash.

"Wh...What power...was that?" Blizzard Midbus gawked as he jumped back up. "Spinning Fire Ball of Charging Power?!"

"Ummmmm... Something like that." Sonic answered, getting out of his ball form and no longer on fire. Blizzard Midbus was pretty low on HP, and what they knew, a couple of hits would do him in.

Mario turned to Luigi and grabbed a hold of his arms. Even though he wasn't expecting this, he let Mario swing him around. When he let go, Luigi was sent flying at Blizzard Midbus. He made sure his feet hit him first, resulting in a powerful kick to the face.

"Guh... This. This isn't over." Blizzard Midbus growled, getting exhausted. He had another move planned, but when Mario jumped twice, it was over when he did a flip during his Triple Jump and landed on Blizzard Midbus's head.

Mario watched as Blizzard Midbus knelt on the ground, covered in the bruises from their attacks. They were a bit bruised too, but not as much as him.

"Muh muh muh... Muh muh... Muh..." Blizzard Midbus weakly cackled. "Though I fall here... None beat Lord Fawful..."

"That's where you're wrong," Tipral replied. "These people defeated him before, and I'm sure I can beat him too."

"Wrong... Lord Fawful... He carries something powerful. Now he will FINISH YOU!"

Blizzard Midbus felt a sharp, icy pain in his body that caused him to stand up. His entire body except for his head froze up. They saw his face was frozen in place, with his eyes widened, and his nostrils spewing out a small amount of icy air. At this point, they knew Midbus was finally finished. For good.

"Looks like that's the end of him..." Chopper trailed. "Is he...dead?"

"Honestly, I don't know..." Sonic trailed. "It's hard to tell whether he's dead or not from being frozen. Though... We can't just sit here forever and talk about this."

"Yes, we still need to get Fawful," Tipral said. "I have a bone to pick with him for his betrayal."

They went through the door ahead, passing by Midbus and entering the next area. They were greeted with two Void Koopatrols over by a railing on the ceiling above them. Dark matter happened to be below.

Mario: We better be careful here...

"Don't worry, we'll be fine," Chopper assured – until he got hit by one of the Void Koopatrols, which knocked his ability away. The two enemies snickered as they got in their shells and knocked them back. Mario used his hammer to counter one of them and knock it away.

Chopper managed to kick the other Void Koopatrol with a rainbow kick, knocking it over on its back. Sonic used a Spin Jump on it, and then Luigi finished off the Void Koopatrol with a simply jump.

Mario whacked the remaining Void Koopatrol with his hammer one more time to defeat it. He then grabbed a hold of the railing above and crossed the gap like everyone else. It wasn't too hard – unless you want to count some Shadow Embers jumping out.

"Guys! I think we should be careful..." Luigi trailed.

"You don't have to tell us, plumber," Tipral retorted. "We can see them just fine!"

"Tipral, didn't I tell you NOT to reply that way?" Chopper reminded.

"Chopper, I suggest you stay out of this. That would be the smart thing to do."

After they crossed the gap, they saw the door ahead, but a Void Mechawful was blocking the way. The difference, however, was its body. It had some iron plating on it, which was something the previous one didn't. And because it was similar to the Void Mechawful, it was called a Void Mechawful.5.

Mario: I recognize that kind of appearance!

"I guess it's a newer version?" Sonic wondered.

Surprisingly, its attack was the same, with the timer on its chest when he brought its spiked fist bal. Chopper chucked a few fireballs at it, but because of its high defenses it didn't seem to do much. Plus, they had a high defense against fire.

"Well fire's not going to work..." Chopper trailed.

Mario jumped on its head to avoid its punch, while Sonic attacked it with a couple of Homing Attacks. While it took many hits, they were able to defeat the Void Mechawful.5 and proceed through the door.

They were in a flat area with a ? Block near them. They were also met with some Shadow Bones and dark purple Pokeys called Void Pokeys wandering around, which none of them were excited to see.

"Considering that even touching a Pokey is tough, I'm not looking forward to fighting one," Chopper groaned.

Mario: It beats the Void Mechawful.5 though.

"Yeah, that's true."

Tipral made the first move and attacked the Void Pokey closest to them. While it got hit, it managed to whack a part of its body at them. Mario got his hammer ready and whacked it back at the Void Pokey to deal some extra damage.

The Shadow Bones, however, was giving Luigi a hard time, considering that his stomps only made it collapse. Chopper turned to it and chucked a fireball at it to defeat it, making Luigi sigh.

"Man... I can't believe I don't have fire to defeat those..."

There was another Void Pokey up ahead, as well as a Voing-Oing that was bouncing behind it. However, a Void Mechawful.5 landed on top of the Void Pokey, which ended up destroying it.

"Great... Well this should be fun." Sonic sighed.

Chopper started to chuck a few light balls at the Void Mechawful.5, which surprisingly did some damage to the enemy. A lot, actually.

"Whoa... Light can harm this thing? Well that works out nicely!" Chopper smiled.

While the Void Mechawful.5 was stunned from the light, Luigi jumped on its head with his flutter jump to finish it off. The Voing-Oing jumped on top of Luigi and left him off guard, but Sonic's Homing Attack knocked it away and split it into smaller Voing-Oings.

It only took Tipral's Star Burst to defeat them all.

Mario: I guess that's it for here...

"No it's not," Tipral replied, pointing to a dark purple Clubba up ahead that was sleeping. They decided to slowly walk over to it, but there was a small problem: its eyes were slightly open, allowing it to quickly get up and hit them with its spiky club.

"How did it know we were coming? We were quiet!" Chopper gaped.

"I think I saw its eyes slightly open," Sonic remarked. "I guess we gotta be fast against them?"

The Void Clubba charged at them and swung its club around. Sonic managed to jump on it with his Spin Jump, followed by Mario's Super Ground Pound. When Chopper froze it with an ice ball, Tipral snapped his finger and defeated it.

Unfortunately, they were put to a halt when they found the door ahead to be locked. The only solution? Flip into 3-D and discover an upreel handle by the wall leading to a pipe. There, they were met with three Darklings. One had green eyes, the other had blue eyes and the last had red eyes.

"More of these guys..." Chopper trailed, getting into a fighting stance. "I always hated these guys!"

The Darklings charged at them, but they were instantly destroyed by a light ball Chopper tossed. Just comes to show that light could destroy darkness.

"At least we're not dealing with Tartaras," Sonic mentioned. "I found those guys a bit annoying. Wouldn't you agree, Chop?"

"Yeah, but I think the Darksprine Troopers were worse..." Chopper trailed. "But they're gone too! So I think it's safe for all of us!"

"Maybe we should focus on finding that key rather than talking," Tipral suggested. "I happened to see a strange block above us, but it's too high to hit. I think the green one can hit it."

When Luigi realized who he meant, he crouched and launched himself at the block. This created three chests that appeared. Chopper opened the middle, which was suddenly surrounded in smoke. When the smoke was gone, they found a dark purple Chain Chomp with purple eyes growling at them.

"Chain Chomps? Oh, great..." Chopper jumped over the Void Chain Chomp when it lunged at him. He tossed a couple of rainbow balls down at it to leave it low on HP. Mario bashed his hammer to defeat it. Unfortunately, the other two chests disappeared from a puff of smoke.

"Huh? What happened to the chests?" Sonic gawked.

"I guess I have to hit the block again..." Luigi used his Super Jump and hit the block to make three chests appear again. Sonic opened the third chest, and a Void Key happened to be in there.

Mario: Well at least we have the key!

"Yeah, let's take this to the door," Sonic suggested.

They returned to the previous area and jumped down by the door to unlock it. They were met with a hill moving up with some Void Goombas walking down. When Chopper approached the hill, he got hit in the head by one of its headbonks.

"Ouch! Yeesh! I didn't do anything wrong to it!" Chopper gaped.

"Everything's evil in here, so I don't think it would care," Sonic shrugged.

Mario jumped on the Void Goombas, but he saw a Void Koopa charging his way in a shell. He managed to jump on it just in time to stop it and kick it back up the hill. Luigi decided to go up the hill and find a Void Mechawful.5 waiting at the top.

"Uh oh..." Luigi gulped as he dodged its punch and jumped on its head. Mario bashed its armored plating with his hammer, but it didn't seem to do much. However, Tipral Star Spear was able to make it malfunction and explode.

They noticed to their left was a glowing platform that, when stepped on, created a staircase. Chopper was suddenly reminded of when he saw a staircase like this in Dark Subspace World.

But he didn't let that bother him. He followed the others up the staircase and onto a platform that a Void Bat was flying around. In fact, there was a platform to the upper right with a couple of Void Bats flying in place.

"Are those bats going to attack?" Luigi wondered.

Mario: Doesn't look like it.

"Then we'll have to teleport across," Tipral declared. "Looks like I'm going to have to do a lot here..."

"Well I don't think this is a problem for me," Sonic smirked. "All I have to do is use my Homing Attack and I'm golden!"

The blue hedgehog jumped and performed a couple of Homing Attacks on the Void Bats. Since they weren't completely different, Chopper tried to improvise and decided to jump on each Void Bat.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to reach the dark ledge.

"Ack! No!" Chopper cried as he flailed his arms and feet around to make it over to the ledge (you know, like in cartoons), but everything suddenly stopped in place.

All except for Tipral.

"Does he really think what he's doing will help?" Tipral scoffed as he jumped over to Chopper and teleported him over to Sonic. He then teleported back to Mario and Luigi and teleported them across before reverting time back to normal.

"Huh? What happened?!" Chopper gawked, noticing that he wasn't falling. "I'm alive!"

"And we're across the gap?" Luigi gasped.

"You can thank me later," Tipral said as he noticed a hill going down ahead. There was also a ramp leading up to a platform above a spiky pit. When Luigi saw the pit, he instantly gulped.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Luigi trailed.

They all made their way down the hill and jumped off the ramp to land on the platform. Unfortunately, it started to shake a bit, indicating that it was about to fall into the spike pit below. Thankfully, they were able to get into the door quickly.

When they came out, they found themselves in an area that appeared slightly hilly, but with some Giant Void Goombas walking around, as well as some Void Mechawful.5s. To make things worse, there were some Void Bats flying around and diving their way.

"Whoa... Now this is brutal." Chopper gulped, jumping away from one of the Void Bats and throwing a light ball to defeat one. Sonic decided to finish the others with the help of his Sonic Wind.

"There. They're gone." Sonic said.

"But we still have the other enemies to worry about," Tipral mentioned. "I don't think Fawful should be too far at this point."

Mario: With all the enemies here, I would have to agree.

Chopper couldn't help but look at the creepy smiles of the Void Mechawful.5s. That smile of Fawful's always creeped him out ever since he met that one bean under Peach's Castle two years ago. He reminded him of Fawful, especially his speech pattern.

"I haven't even thought about that Fawful guy under Peach's Castle before, but now I'm realizing something here," Chopper thought.

"Is something bothering you?" Luigi asked.

"Ummmmmm... No. Nothing! Let's just clear this area!"

Chopper jumped in the air and landed on the Giant Void Goomba. While it was slower than a normal Void Goomba, it was capable of dealing more damage. The Void Mechawful.5 up ahead was charging up a punch, which Sonic decided to counter with his Spin Dash.

When he sent it flying back, Mario finished off the Giant Void Goomba and jumped on the Void Mechawful.5 and landed a Super Ground Pound on it to defeat it.

When they reached the door ahead, they noticed it had a lock on it. However, there happened to be a switch by the door as well. Mario gave it a Super Ground Pound, which made that door disappear and another one appear.

Mario: Hmmmmm?

"That reminds me a bit of the Crystal Palace..." Chopper trailed. "That place was strange all right..."

"At least we can go through the door," Sonic mentioned as he opened it. Everyone followed him into an area with three pipes. One happened to be hanging from the ceiling.

"What's with all these ceilings?" Luigi asked. "It's like we're in these strange rooms..."

They also noticed some strange grins on the pipes as well, as if Fawful is somewhere around this area. They decided to check the pipe hanging from the ceiling, which brought them into an area with two other pipes, with one sticking out of the wall. Not only that, but there was a Void Mechawful.5 lurking around here as well.

Chopper jumped over to it and performed a light spinning kick on it to deal severe damage thanks to his light power, and then Tipral struck it with a shadow kick, followed by a Star Spear that destroyed it.

"I believe this is some kind of maze," Tipral deduced. "Let's try to be careful around here."

They took the pipe next to them, which led them into a shallow pool of water that only went to their feet, which made Sonic sigh in relief. Despite that, there was a Giant Void Goomba around, so they trounced it before taking the pipe to their left.

The next area had a few platforms that they were on as they came out of the pipe, and below them was dark matter, which they knew they shouldn't touch. There was a single pipe up ahead, so they took it into a small area with two Void Mechawful.5s and a chest ahead.

Mario: Well, we might as well take them out.

"I can handle this on my own," Tipral assured as he teleported to both Void Mechawful.5s and used his Star Burst. When they were sent flying in the air, he fired a barrage of Star Spears their way, destroying them in the process.

"You know, we could've done that..." Chopper trailed.

"You could've, but you didn't," Tipral opened the chest to find a Void Key, which triggered a pipe to appear in front of them. Nevertheless, they took it back to the first area of the maze and left that maze area in the process.

When they were all out, Mario hit the switch with a Super Ground Pound and made the locked door appear, which Tipral unlocked to allow them to enter the next area, where they found themselves standing on pipes. There were pipes on the walls and pipes on the ceiling!

"What the... What's this?" Luigi gawked.

"I have chortles!"

Everyone was alarmed by the voice when they saw Fawful pop out of one of the pipes. Chopper took no time and jumped on Fawful's head. However, another Fawful appeared in a pipe up on the ceiling.

"Green Antennae lacks pacing!" Fawful mocked.

Mario: There's more than one Fawful?

"That's not right!" Luigi gaped.

Another Fawful popped out of a pipe on the right wall. Sonic quickly attacked him with a Homing Attack, but he seemed to disappear in a puff of smoke, which left mostly everyone surprised. Were these Fawfuls just illusions?

"We're not going to just sit here and let these illusions get in our way," Tipral declared. "There has to be a correct pipe around here."

He closed his eyes and tried to focus, while Chopper was trying to jump on the Fawfuls that popped out of the pipes. However, he decided to go into 3-D, where he noticed a Dimensional Block on both sides. He decided to hit them and go back into 2-D. When he entered the pipe to his left, he came out of a pipe on the ceiling.

"Oh, no... We have these kinds of puzzles..." Luigi sighed.

"Well, the best we can do is try to search," Sonic suggested.

"No, we don't need to," Tipral stated, pointing to the lower pipe in the area. "That's the one we need to go in."

They all listened to Tipral and entered the pipe to land on the black and purple ground in the next area. They found three Void Mechawful.5s guarding the door ahead. A Save Block and ? Block were there too.

"Why do we have to deal with three of them?!" Luigi gaped as he backed away. Mario simply grabbed his shirt to pull him back, while Sonic jumped over to the Void Mechawfuls and used his Whirlwind.

It was not very effective...

"Oh, geez... This isn't going to be good..." Sonic trailed as he was punched away. Chopper ended up using his light spinning kick to hit the three of them, while Tipral teleported over to them and used his Star Burst. Mario walked over to them and spun his hammer to finish them off.

Mario: There we go!

Chopper smile as he hit the ? Block. However, instead of getting what he expected, a Death Shroom popped out and began to scurry around the area. Luigi quickly jumped back, while Tipral snapped his finger to leave it low on HP.

"Why was there a Death Shroom in there?!" Chopper exclaimed.

"I don't know, but I don't want it hitting me!" Luigi cried. Chopper simply jumped on it, and it was defeated. However, to make sure there was something around, he went into 3-D and found a ? Block there. He hit it to find a Master Shroom, which they all split to recover 200 HP.

"Whew! Now I feel better!" Sonic grinned.

"Let's hurry on ahead," Chopper suggested. "Fawful could be through here."

In an agreement, they went through the door.

---

Next area-

"I have surprise!" Fawful exclaimed as the five entered the small area. Fawful was standing in the center of the room with his head turned to them.

"You're not going anywhere, Fawful," Tipral declared. "I believe we have something to take care of, do we?"

"Do you honestly have believing of Fawful having loyalty to you? There was only one that Fawful could only stay loyal like a bear cub staying with its honey! And now Fawful has hatred on Green Antennae for destroying Cackletta!"

"Fawful, I didn't even do anything to her," Chopper retorted. "And you still haven't gotten over something that happened two years ago?"

"I have fury..." Fawful trailed. "Fawful's fury rages on like hail! Hail that will pour down on the mayonnaise! ...But Fawful also thanks you!"

"Hmmmmm? What do you mean?"

"Those Gold Beans you had giving to Fawful helped get everything needed to create new weapons and have acquiring of this!"

The green bean pulled out a small, navy blue orb with a black star embedded on it. "Do you see Fawful's pretty star? The Dark Star is a special item Fawful has had the desiring for a while!"

"And how did you get it?"

"Thirteen Gold Beans is all I had needing to take the Dark Star!"

"Wait... So you're the same Fawful I met two years ago..." Chopper trailed. "And all this time I helped you get what you desired?"

"Correct you have! And now Fawful will use such a thing to rain fury down upon you all!"

Mario stepped in and got in his fighting stance.

"What? The mustache desires a challenge against Fawful?" Fawful grinned evilly and then let out a cackle. "I have chortles! Such foolishness in a mustache!"

Mario: Well I was actually the one to defeat you and your leader.

Fawful was alarmed and drew his blaster. "Fawful does recall! Seeing the red mustache gives Fawful such fury! Fawful hates you so!"

"You hate all of us," Sonic mentioned.

"I have no desiring of fighting you heroes. Fawful shall take on the red mustache alone!"

Mario: I'm fine with that!

"B-Bro! Come on, now!" Luigi cried.

"I'd like to take him on too," Tipral mentioned.

Mario: He wants to face me only, so I suggest you listen to him.

After pondering, Tipral decided to nod. "Fine. We'll let you take care of him."

He left the room, followed by Chopper and Sonic. Luigi, on the other hand, wasn't sure whether or not to leave.

Mario: Luigi! Go somewhere safe!

"But Bro..."

Mario: I'll be fine.

Luigi sighed as he slowly left the room, leaving only Mario and Fawful left. "I have chortles! Now that the ring is between Fawful and the mustache, Fawful can do the finishing! Cackletta will have pleasing!"

Mario: I beat you before, and I can beat you again!

"Nyeah heh heh heh... You underestimate Fawful. Do you want to have seeing of this Dark Star's power?"

Mario stood there with a blank look before Fawful made the decision for him. He gobbled it down like a turkey, which made the red plumber jump up a bit.

"I HAVE GORGING!" Fawful cried as he continued to eat the Dark Star and swallow it. "With the Dark Star in my body, I am absorbing its power!"

Fawful cackled as dark lightning zapped both doors in the area, preventing Mario from escaping. Dark lightning also came down around Fawful, which made Mario gasp.

"I...have...DARKNESS! So very darkness! The dark power builds like a skyscraper of evil! With the dark power in me, the mustache's game... It will be ended by Fawful!"

The dark power began to take over Fawful as his entire body was black. The only thing Mario would see were his spiral glasses, which were now red. Even his cloak was starting to change a bit. Instead of it looking flat, the edges were pointy, along with his collar.

Mario: Wait... I think I remember this!

He was brought back to when Fawful absorbed some dark power once in Dark Subspace World. Was this somewhat similar? Or was Fawful much stronger than before?

When the darkness faded away, Mario saw Fawful's cloak was now dark blue with a red trim on the edges. His shirt and pants were dark blue with a black star embedded on it to symbolize the Dark Star. The spiky collar appeared to be gray.

"Now you see Fawful's true dark fury!" he declared. "And you, mustache... You shall witness the fury of Dark Fawful!"

Dark Fawful summoned his Vacuum Helmet, which went on his head and allowed him to float off the ground. Mario readied his hammer and jumped toward Dark Fawful, only to have him fly out of harm's way.

"Your silly hammer basher cannot reach Fawful!" Dark Fawful scoffed. "You lack such fury!"

Mario: This isn't good...

He suddenly realized something. Blade had that small little sack, and so did he. And considering Dark Fawful was a bit fast and could fly around, he felt like this was an important situation to use it.

Mario took out the small sack and opened it to let glitter fly out. It ended up landing on Mario, which changed his overalls and cap to a white color. He also found himself wearing a yellow cape as well.

Mario: Fire Flower and Cape ability combined together?

"Fink-rat! Fawful shall destroy you!" Dark Fawful barked. "For now it is the end of the final act of the finale's closing last encore! Mario! Now you shall witness Fawful's dark fury!"

Mario saw Dark Fawful's stats were something not to mess with. He had 540 HP, an Attack of 21 and a Defense of 11! But despite that, Mario felt confident now that he had both the Cape and Fire Flower ability with him.

"Taste Fawful's dark fury!" Dark Fawful cried as he hurled a couple of dark orbs of energy toward Mario. He spun his cape and managed to deflect them back at Dark Fawful. While he didn't get sent flying, he cringed in pain from the pain he received.

He decided to make it more interesting and flew toward Dark Fawful. With how fast he flew, he was able to make Dark Fawful crash into the wall and also make him fall to the ground as well.

Mario: Oh! I think I'm already understanding this!

Dark Fawful drew his blaster and fired a couple of shots that began to circle around the area near Mario. He cackled as Mario got hit by the blasts, allowing him to fire a dark ball of energy at him.

"Let the darkness be fired like firing a slingshot!" Dark Fawful declared. "I am thinking of ideas of finishing the mustache..."

Mario began to skid across the ground before getting himself back to Dark Fawful by flying up to up. Dark Fawful flung a dark ball toward him, while he threw a fireball to counter it. Though, the dark power appeared to be a little stronger when both exploded.

"Your balls of fire do not match up to Fawful's dark powers!" Dark Fawful scoffed.

The plumber got a bit annoyed and readied his hammer before flying his way. Dark Fawful got his laser sword, which appeared black in color now, and he used it to block Mario's attack.

Mario: Great, now his laser sword is dark!

Unfortunately, Mario's hammer wasn't enough to hit Dark Fawful, who managed to strike the plumber with it and leave him off guard. He also pulled out another laser sword and dashed toward Mario twice as he hit him.

"I have laser slashing!" Dark Fawful cried as he kicked him to the ground. He charged up a ball of energy and hurled it down at the plumber. Mario quickly got up and used his cape to deflect it back at Dark Fawful.

"Ouch! The darkness strikes like magnetic icing!"

While Dark Fawful cried in pain, Mario charged at him again and managed to spin his hammer around as well. Dark Fawful was hit a couple of times in the face before Mario delivered a fire smash to his stomach, which scorched him and knocked him back.

Mario readied himself, but he saw Dark Fawful surround himself in a dark glow as he flew upward and summoned two portals. One appeared to be above Mario while one was in front of him. There were also two dark portals near Dark Fawful.

"Do you have preparedness for Fawful's attack?" Dark Fawful grinned as Mario gave him a confused look. He summoned a large dark ball of energy and threw it into one of the dark portals near him.

Mario: What's going on?!

He heard something come out of a portal behind him, forcing him to jump out of the way when it came his way. He found another one coming his way, which he was able to destroy with his hammer.

While Dark Fawful look disappointed, he let his Vacuum Helmet fire dark energy Mario's way. He countered this by throwing some fireballs up at them to knock them away, and he also managed to scorch Dark Fawful with some too.

"Ouch! Hotness!" Dark Fawful cried. "The biscuits are burning Fawful!"

Mario used this chance to stomp on Dark Fawful's head and also kick him to the wall. But despite that, Dark Fawful was able to jump off the wall and let his Vacuum Helmet fire more dark energy toward him. While he was able to deflect some of the attacks, he got hit by at least two, and even then, Dark Fawful dodged the dark energy coming toward him with ease.

When the plumber landed on the ground with Dark Fawful, the dark powered bean let his Vacuum Helmet connect to the ceiling, which allowed him to jump back and swing toward Mario.

Mario: Uh oh...

He tossed a couple of fireballs at him, but that didn't seem to stop him. His hammer, on the other hand, was able to knock him back and deal some damage, but Dark Fawful still came his way. Mario swung at him again and watched as he came back again. After another swing from his hammer, Dark Fawful swung backwards and knocked Mario to the ground face-first.

"I have chortles!" Dark Fawful cackled as he flew over by Mario and looked down at him. "Even with the hotness and cape that the red mustache has, his fury will never match that of Fawful's!"

Mario quickly jumped up and clenched his fists, which were now surrounded in a fiery glow. He flew toward Dark Fawful an delivered a couple of fire punches to him. He was even able to send him flying up the ceiling with an uppercut.

He flew up to Dark Fawful again and grabbed him. He was about to throw him down, but Fawful cackled and grabbed a hold of him too. Mario was then thrown to the ground while Dark Fawful fired a couple of dark blasts from his two blasters down at him.

As soon as Mario hit the ground, Dark Fawful fired a couple of more shots. When the plumber saw this, he gasped and did a backflip to dodge. Dark Fawful also landed on the ground and charged at him with both laser swords out.

Since he did that, Mario rushed at him with his hammer, and soon both of them were trying to attack each other with said weapons. Neither of them were taking damage because both of the were also blocking each other's attacks.

"Give up now, red mustache," Dark Fawful advised. "Or does Fawful have to rain upon the mustard of doom?"

Mario: Mustard of doom?

Dark Fawful spun himself around, which Mario put up his hammer to defend himself. He started to skid back to the wall behind him until he felt the wall on his back. Dark Fawful let out a small giggle before sending him flying into the air with his two laser swords.

Before Mario could hit the ceiling, Dark Fawful summoned a dark portal that brought him near the ground, allowed Dark Fawful to strike him and knock him to the wall to the right.

"And now the ketchup of destruction shall be upon you!" Dark Fawful declared as he charged at Mario. The plumber quickly jumped and let his opponent crash into the wall and become dazed.

Mario took this chance to jump on Dark Fawful's head before he got out of the daze and began firing shots from his blasters at him. All Mario had to do was deflect them and send them flying back at Dark Fawful.

When he saw this coming, he tried to fly out of the way, but Mario ended up throwing a fireball at him to stop him and make him get hit by the shots he shot himself. After Dark Fawful shook himself, he summoned a portal and entered it.

Mario: Where'd he go?

Dark Fawful appeared behind Mario and managed to kick him down. He then jumped on his head and landed in front of him while cackling.

"Do you have surprise?" Dark Fawful asked. "With Fawful's new power, an epic victory is Fawful's!"

Mario managed to toss a fireball at Dark Fawful's feet, causing him to scream while hopping around the area.

"HOTNESS! My feet burn with such hotness!"

While Dark Fawful was hopping around, Mario got up and shoulder bashed him to knock him back. He then flew up to him and delivered a couple of punches with his fiery fists before knocking him back to the left.

When Dark Fawful fell to the ground face-first, he raised his head and saw Mario flying toward him. He got up and flew up so he would miss, but he seemed to be following the green bean.

Mario: Don't think a trick will stop me!

"Well, I say to you that Fawful has a little trick for you, red mustache!" Dark Fawful cackled as he raised his arms and summoned a large ball of dark energy. Mario's eyes widened as he threw it down at him. He tried using his cape to deflect it, but it was too big and ended up making him fall to the ground.

"Nyeah heh heh heh! I have fury!" Dark Fawful let his Vacuum Helmet fire a dark blast down at Mario. Thankfully, the red plumber got up and jumped back before flying in the air. He chucked a few fireballs at Dark Fawful and left him with a burn.

Mario: Are you going to make some predictable attacks on me?

"Predictable? Fawful lacks predictably! All Fawful has is fury, chortles and darkness! All Fawful wishes to do is let your gaming be over, just like the Mushrooms of your world will receive!"

Mario was left confused, but he noticed Dark Fawful firing a couple of dark balls his way, so he tossed some fireballs toward him. They didn't seem to work, so he had to smash them with his hammer.

Dark Fawful drew his laser swords and blocked the fireballs and throw them back at Mario. He tried dodging some of them, but he ended up getting hit by at least one and was left with a burn like Dark Fawful was.

"Now we both burn like crispy fried chicken!"

Mario tried to shake the burn off him, but he ended up getting hurt from it, just like Dark Fawful. Instead, he flew up in the air and began to throw a couple of fireballs down at Dark Fawful. At least three of them hit him, but he shot back at him with a couple of shots from his blasters to bring him to the ground.

Mario: We haven't gotten anywhere with this.

"I have agreement," Dark Fawful nodded raising his two laser swords. "It is time Fawful freshened up the battle between fury and chortles!"

Mario's eyes widened when he saw Dark Fawful's laser swords get longer. They even fired a sword beam straight at him, which ended up leaving him poisoned. This forced him to drink an Ultimate Shroom Shake to recover 100 HP.

"Fawful does not have approval of your healing items!" Dark Fawful did a cartwheel in the air while spinning his laser swords. He ended up firing a wave of energy Mario's way, forcing him to fly back up.

"How am I supposed to get him when he's got incredibly dangerous weapons on him?" Mario thought as he tried chucking a few fireballs. All Dark Fawful did was block them, forcing Mario to dodge them.

"Now your flaring blasts have no match for Fawful's laser swords!"

Dark Fawful summoned a dark portal that he jumped into. Mario decided to fly in and follow him before it closed. Another dark portal ended up appearing, where Dark Fawful was sent flying out of thanks to Mario's hammer.

Mario flew out of the portal and managed to throw him to the ground before Dark Fawful could attack him. When the bean lifted his head, his face was a little bruised up. Mario's nose had a large bruise on it too.

"Fawful commends you for your efforts," complimented Dark Fawful. "But now the mustache shall meet his doom!"

He lifted his arm while he let out a cry, which surrounded him in a couple of dark energy balls. Mario stood there confused, having no idea what to do. He was forced to do something when he saw them flying his way.

Mario: Mama mia!

With his hammer ready, he managed to throw them back at Dark Fawful and leave him stunned. This gave him the chance to hit him with a flaming Triple Jump, making the burn on him worse.

"The fury in Fawful grows bigger and bigger..." Dark Fawful trailed. "Fawful is hating you even more, red mustache! Much more than Green Antennae that I had the making of him help me!"

Mario: I'm not as gullible as him, you know.

"Yes, Fawful has understanding. But so much fury burns in Fawful's mind from the horrible event of you, mustache! And Fawful has loathing of that mustache... They are like hairs of the dirty trail of a horse in a barn built by a farmer who is crazy!"

Mario: I'm proud of my mustache!

"But now Fawful has enough speaking. Let our fury continue to rain down like curry on a stormy day!"

When Mario saw Dark Fawful fly up, he flew up and prepared his hammer. The one thing he noticed him do was throw one of his laser swords and fire at Mario with his blaster. He flew up to avoid them and chucked a few fireballs.

However, he noticed Dark Fawful's Vacuum Helmet inhale the attack.

Mario: What the...

His eyes widened when the Vacuum Helmet fired his attack back at him. Thankfully, his cape was able to deflect the attack and hit the Vacuum Helmet. That's when he realized something: if he destroyed the Vacuum Helmet, it would slow Dark Fawful Down!

"I better make it quick, though," Mario thought as he flew toward Dark Fawful while dodging his thrown laser sword.

Dark Fawful aimed his blasters at Mario and prepared to fire, but the plumber managed to hit his Vacuum Helmet head-on, leaving some sparks flying around it. After Dark Fawful caught his thrown laser sword, he charged up an attack with his Vacuum Helmet.

"And now Fawful shall have an ending to this battle!" Dark Fawful grinned sadistically as he fired a large, dark beam toward Mario. When he saw this, he quickly flew up, but the beam was following him to make things worse.

Mario: Mama mia! This isn't good!

"I have fury!" Dark Fawful cried until he noticed his attack stopped. "What? Has Fawful's machine had the unexpected malfunction?"

Mario thought of this moment to attack, so he flew to Dark Fawful's Vacuum Helmet and delivered a fire punch to it. It started to malfunction again, causing Dark Fawful to fly all around the room.

"What is going on with Fawful's Vacuum Helmet?!"

Mario continued to watch Dark Fawful crash into walls and the ground until it finally exploded, making Dark Fawful fall to the ground. Mario flew down and got his hammer ready while the bean was slowly getting up.

But the first thing Dark Fawful did was fire two charged shots from his blasters at him. He tried deflecting it, but it was too powerful for him and ended up knocking him to the ground.

"Now the epic battle of epicness shall begin like drizzled lettuce upon a small salad!" Dark Fawful surrounded himself in a dark glow as he ended up flying up without his Vacuum Helmet assisting him, making Mario's eyes widen.

Mario: Wait, he doesn't need the Vacuum Helmet for that?!

Dark Fawful summoned a large ball of dark energy and threw it down at Mario. He flew out of the way to avoid it, and then he flew up to Dark Fawful and delivered a fire punch, which led to him getting hit by his laser swords.

"Even without Fawful's Vacuum Helmet, Fawful still has the ability to fly around like an annoying little fly around the garbage!"

Mario gave him a glare as he readied his hammer and blocked Dark Fawful's laser swords. He was able to win the clash when he kicked his knee and left him off guard, allowing him to bash his head.

Dark Fawful flew back down and took out his two blasters. He aimed up and began firing, causing Mario to fly down and toss a couple of fireballs in order to counter the shots. While both were putting up a fight, both of them were sent flying to the wall.

"Fawful is lacking HP..." Dark Fawful moaned. "And here Fawful thought his efforts had succession... But Fawful will not let the bad mustache man triumph against Fawful's fury!"

Mario: You can give up now if you want...

"Fawful says NEVER!" Dark Fawful hurled a couple of dark balls toward Mario, who did a couple of flips over them and fired a charged fireball his way. Dark Fawful fired a charged dark ball too, causing both to clash and explode.

Dark Fawful had another idea and combined his two laser swords together. It ended up forming a double-bladed laser sword, with one blade on each side of the weapon. Dark Fawful gave Mario a sinister grin as he threw it toward him.

Mario gasped and ducked under the laser sword, which came back to Dark Fawful like a boomerang.

"Look at you, mustache! You have the shuddering!" Dark Fawful cackled. "And now this fight will end like an egg breaking on a wall!"

Mario quickly shook his head to stop shuddering and readied his hammer. He was about to bash Dark Fawful with it, but it ended up getting sliced in half thanks to the psychotic bean.

Mario: My hammer!

"I have chortles!" Dark Fawful grinned. "Now your hammer is slice in half like a cucumber! And soon victory will belong to Fawful's!"

Mario looked down at the two pieces of his hammer. It was something he kept for a long time, and now it was completely broken. Plus, it was one of the few things he was able to use as a weapon.

He looked back at Dark Fawful with fiery clenched fists. He himself was surrounded in a flaming glow that surprised the bean a bit. But it didn't stop him from hurling a couple of dark energy balls his way.

"You have the look of the angry lion, mustache!" Dark Fawful scoffed. "And that anger will be ended by Fawful's fury!"

Mario punched toward Dark Fawful, which sent a large fiery fist at him. He was not expecting this, and this soon led him to being scorched and thrown to the wall.

"I have surprise! What has happened to the mustache?!"

Mario: This power feels so strange!

Despite this, Dark Fawful started to fire at Mario, but another fiery fist came his way, forcing Dark Fawful to jump over it. Even his projectiles were destroyed by Mario's attack.

Mario: Well whatever this power is, it should be enough to defeat you!

"Fink-rat! Fawful shall never have surrendering!" Dark Fawful howled as he flew up and threw his laser sword. Unfortunately, it ended up getting destroyed when Mario spun around and went in a flaming tornado. This left Dark Fawful alarmed when he realized his close-range weapons were all gone.

And then he took out his two blasters – which ended up melting from the intense heat of Mario's attacks.

"Fawful had no expecting of this!"

Mario: It looks like this fight's in my favor!

"But the fight has no ending as of yet!" Dark Fawful began firing blasts of dark energy Mario's way. He countered it with his own fire attacks, which managed to hit Dark Fawful and knock him to the ground.

Unfortunately for him, he ended up getting hit by his dark attacks, which made him lose his Cape and Fire Flower ability. His clothing was dirty and a bit ripped around the arms, and his overalls were ruined too.

Dark Fawful's cloak was a bit ripped too thanks to Mario's fire, and it was dirty like his too. One of his glasses were also cracked. But at the state he was in, he was looking weak. It seemed like only one more hit would be able to finish him.

After Mario tipped his cap, he ran toward Dark Fawful and performed a Triple Jump to finish off the psychotic bean. Dark Fawful ended up letting out a grunt before kneeling on the ground in pain. Mario ended up landing in front of him while crossing his arms.

Mario: It looks like I've won!

While he gave Dark Fawful a smirk, another click was heard in the background, and sadly, Mario and Dark Fawful couldn't hear it.

"Ahhhh... My collection is almost done! I just need a few more and I've got what I need!"

"Bro! You did it!" Luigi cried as he ran over to Mario through the door. Mario turned to Luigi and gave him a thumbs up.

"Good job taking down Fawful!" Sonic smirked. "Although... You don't look so good..."

Mario: Don't worry, Sonic. I'm fine.

"And it seems Fawful got what he deserved," Tipral noticed, looking over at the wounded Fawful. "Now it's time to finish this up."

"No, Tipral. I'll handle this." Chopper declared as he jumped over Mario and faced Fawful. "All right, Fawful... Tell us everything you know. Now."

Dark Fawful slowly looked up at Chopper and ended up screaming, "NOOAAAARGH!"

Chopper jumped back when he saw him get surrounded in darkness, which began to transform him into a small, black bug with Fawful's red glasses and grin. He also appeared to have four spider-liked legs, which changed into two pincer claws. He also had a small antenna with a bulb with the Dark Star embedded on it.

"What is this?" Chopper gawked.

"I have fury?" questioned Fawful, now known as the Dark Star Core as it jumped away from Chopper and over by the door.

"Hey! Come back!"

"Fury?" the Dark Star Core questioned again as it escaped through the door.

"Chopper, why didn't you stop that thing?!" Tipral exclaimed.

"Hey, don't go blaming me for this! I don't know what I should've done anyway!"

Before an argument could commence they felt the area they were in begin to shake.

"Now's not the time for arguing. We gotta get outta here!" Sonic declared, running over to the door ahead. Tipral decided to follow him ahead, followed by Chopper.

"Come on, Bro! We gotta get moving!" Luigi said as he headed over to the door. Mario nodded, but he looked down at his broken hammer and let out a sigh.

Mario: Well, I guess some hammers don't last forever...

He picked it up, but he noticed the ground was beginning to get torn apart. Mario gaped as he began to run over to the door ahead.

But in the end, he was too late when the ground he stood on tore apart and made him plummet down the abyss below.

---

Through the door-

When Luigi got in to the next area, they all heard a loud thud coming from the previous area.

"That was too close, right, Bro?" Luigi sighed as he turned around. There was no sign of his brother. "Ummmmm... Bro?"

"Uh oh..." Chopper gulped as Luigi walked over to the door and tried to open it. His eyes widened as the door refused to open.

"It... It won't open!"

"What?! Are you serious?!" Sonic gaped. "No... This can't be right!"

"First Blade, then Kirby...and now Mario?" Chopper frowned as his antennae lowered. "They can't be dead! There's GOTTA be hope!"

"There's no surviving the destruction of The Void," Tipral noted. "Even if they somehow survive, there's no escape. They're going to be gone whether they like it or not."

"My bro always tries to find a way to get back and finish the job," Luigi recalled. "But... Him not being around worries me now."

"And I would probably follow his advice and go. I'm sure your fat brother would want that."

"Hey! No need to insult my bro like that! He's an inspirational person, and that's something you'd NEVER understand! He was not only my big brother, but my best friend as well..."

"Fine, if you want to stay here and grieve over his lost, then go right ahead. I'm going to be moving on ahead. Chances are I might have a better chance of surviving when The Void's destruction ends up attacking this area."

"Luigi... I really don't want to side with Tipral on this, but I don't think we have a choice." Sonic said. "We've lost Blade and Kirby also... If we were able to continue on after what happened to them, then we can do the same with Mario."

"I... I... Oh, OK..." Luigi sighed. "As much as I don't want to leave Mario behind, I guess there's not much of a choice."

"Don't worry, Luigi. We all feel the same way. Though, Tipral probably doesn't feel that way..." Chopper trailed.

"Let's just get out of here," Tipral suggested, pointing to the Star Block ahead. "And it better be quick."

Chopper ran over to the Star Block and gave it a good punch. Just like before, there wasn't any satisfaction with it.

END OF CHAPTER

With three heroes gone, the four remaining were forced to move on without their help. Chopper almost felt a little worried about the safety of everyone else as well. Was it possible that all of them would end up falling to the destruction of The Void so soon? Would they all be able to make it out alive? Even Luigi felt worried too – even more than ever. But knowing that he had went through things without his brother, he tried his best to continue on. As they continued on, they noticed the sky was slowly getting a bit darker.

---

I was so lazy with the chapter... Then again, I tend to be lazy at some times, but this almost took me a month. Then again, this was a pretty long chapter... I mean, there were four fights in this chapter too. :P

Well, it looks like only four remain so far. And things will definitely be changing...a bit. As for the fights with Kirby and Mario, the giant hammer was a reference to one of Kirby's Super Abilities from Kirby's Return to Dream Land, and Mario's large flame attack was a reference to his Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (though he doesn't make a flaming hand in that).

And I'm sure some people are wondering if I favor Luigi over Mario. Actually... I don't favor either one over one another. I actually like them equally. That's actually something I don't see from many people.