Tipral finally got a glimpse of his whereabouts and finally realized where he was. He picked up the Dark Star Scepter and turned his attention to Chopper, who was standing next to the True Chaos Heart and holding the Dark Prognosticus in his hands.
"Give that to me," demanded Tipral, holding his hand out, expecting Chopper to hand him the book.
The injured hero looked at Tipral with an uncertain look and then looked down at the Dark Prognosticus with uncertainty too.
"I said give it to me!" Tipral roared, dashing at Chopper and knocking him to the ground, dropping the Dark Prognosticus in the process. Tipral caught the book and kicked him away from the True Chaos Heart. "That jester honestly thought he could handle the True Chaos Heart's power... And he thought using the Dark Star Scepter to absorb me into it would work. His plan was obviously flawed."
Tipral looked back at Chopper, who slowly got up and gave the dark being a look of sorrow. "I have to say, I commend you for defeating that jester. But unfortunately for you, you won't be destroying the True Chaos Heart anytime soon."
"Tipral... All of this just for revenge?" Chopper asked with sadness in his voice. "Was it worth all the damage you've caused?"
Tipral slowly lowered his head and shook his head. "This whole thing didn't start because of you, Chopper. There's more to it."
Chopper's expression slowly changed. "Wait... What do you mean?"
"Fine, I guess I'll tell you everything."
Chopper was not sure how to respond, but he let Tipral give his explanation.
"A thousand years ago, I was created in a space station by a few scientists with some of the Shadow King and Queen's power. My creation was successful, but I was admittedly too strong, and my power ended up destroying them. Two wrist rings to control my powers were meant to be put on me." Tipral explained, showing the golden rings on his wrists. "These exact ones. They come off, and chances are my power would be too much for even me, and it could possibly destroy me in the process."
Tipral lowered his arm and turned away from Chopper. "It turns out I was just meant to be used to take over a few places and then disposed of later. I was supposed to be some soulless demon, but that never came to be, because after that accident, I met her."
"You mean Tippi?"
"Yes, Tippi...or rather, Timpani. She was a very nice girl, and she eventually became my friend. Apparently, she was taken to the same space station to see the experiments, but she was accidentally left there. I was there to keep her company, and we ended up having lots of fun. However, upon realizing I could teleport, I decided to bring her back to her home, where she allowed me to stay. Everything was going great at that moment, but we could not spend as much time when she got older and had more responsibilities. The next time I met her when she was grown, she had fallen in love with a man after nursing him back to health. Because of that, she seemed more occupied being with him than hanging out with me. She was even going to marry Blumiere and travel to another world. But that was fine. She was happy, and her happiness was all that mattered. Unfortunately, that was the last time I ever saw her... And it was the last time I ever felt happy."
Just thinking of that memory made Tipral's fists shake. A purple glow was also emitting from them.
"Well, there's more to life than just one person. Why didn't you find other friends?" Chopper asked.
"You think I didn't try that?! The Tribe of Ancients wanted nothing to do with me! Neither did the Tribe of Darkness! To them, I was just some mysterious bedtime monster that parents would warn their kids about! No one in each world I visited wanted to be around me because of my appearance!" Tipral roared, hanging his head low. "The day I came back to that dimension, that was when I unleashed my rage. I had done lots of damage that day, and I even hurt plenty of wildlife. Only a bat survived, and I only just threw it in a cage to keep it from annoying me. Thinking about it, that bat's appearance reminds me of someone... I thought all of that destruction would ease my anger, but it never did. I resented those that were happy, as it only made me more bitter."
Chopper remained silent for a moment, unsure of what to say, so Tipral decided to continue on.
"I thought I would eventually get over the loss of Timpani, and I've tried to get over it to this day, but I never have... There was only one solution... And it was to destroy everything." Tipral held the Dark Prognosticus in front of him so Chopper could see it. "And this book understood my pain, and it could help me fulfill my wish with the power of the True Chaos Heart. Maybe with everything gone, I might be happy..."
"So make everyone else unhappy?" Chopper gave his enemy a fierce glare, but he slowly found his anger fading away as he looked down at the ground. "Couldn't you just get help? I know it's been hard, but there are people out there who will help... Maybe I could...?"
"You're the last person I'd ever want help from," Tipral said coldly. "Why do you still continue to stop the Chaos Heart? The Dark Prognosticus is the true prophecy! The end is eventually bound to come! The Light Prognosticus is only there to try to stop it!"
Chopper frowned, refusing to look up at Tipral.
"But I do have to give you and your friends credit for trying to stand up to me. Even then, you believed I was your friend and was willing to help you. My minions even thought they would get what they wanted when everything would be wiped out. I was surprised at how loyal they were. Admittedly, they almost felt like a family I never had. It almost made me want to change..." Tipral spoke, his voice sounding slightly somber. But all of that changed when his eyes narrowed and his tone became harsher. "But my goals are a bigger priority. It almost makes me feel bad... At this point, I only needed them to stall you and your friends until I had no need for them, then I could dispose of them. But it looks like The Void did the job for me. And to think they would get their own perfect world..."
"Perfect world?"
"Yes, I would have given them a perfect world for them to live in when all worlds would be destroyed. At least, that's what I made them believe. I once had a perfect world myself back then..."
With a wave of his scepter, the darkness surrounding them was changed to a large, grassy landscape with many different types of flowers on the large field and a blue sky above them.
"This is what my perfect world would have been with Timpani. Unfortunately, it looks like none of that will come to be..."
He waved his scepter again, and the area around them reverted back to normal. "At this point, it's only better to just leave every single world like you and your friends' worlds."
With those words hurting him a bit, Chopper tried to approach Tipral. "But I don't think that's a good enough reason to destroy everything... I've dealt with Maquano destroying my world. I didn't become like you."
Tipral clenched his fists as he knocked Chopper back with his foot. "Your issues are nothing compared to mine!" he yelled, his eyes widening angrily. "Have you been feeling miserable for a thousand years?! You at least had friends like that yellow Wingel! I've been alone the whole time! I couldn't trust anyone! My life's. Been. HORRIBLE!"
Admittedly, Chopper couldn't really compare his issues to Tipral. However, he slowly stood up and spoke sympathetically. "Do you really have to do this?"
"It's too late for that," Tipral retorted. "You aren't going to change my goals anytime soon!"
"Then..." Chopper gave a glare as he stepped forward. "I'm going to stop you..."
"Hmph... Very well then. If you're going to stand in my way, then I'll gladly put an end to you. I wanted to see how my new powers will work with the True Chaos Heart."
"But Dimentio couldn't handle its power..." Chopper noted. "What makes you think you can?"
"The True Chaos Heart gets its power from hatred, while the Pure Hearts get their power from love. With all the hatred burnt within my mind, combining my powers with the True Chaos Heart would be enough to end every world's existence. Dimentio may have written the Dark Prognosticus, but he doesn't know everything about this heart!"
Tipral grabbed the rings on his wrists and removed them both. An uncontrollable purple aura had surrounded him, and Tipral found himself shaking. "If the True Chaos Heart needs a host with immense power, then I shall grant it its wish! I will not let anyone, including you, Chopper, stand in my way!"
"Tipral! Wait!"
It was too late. The True Chaos Heart, combined with the Dark Prognosticus, began to absorb into Tipral and envelop him in darkness. Chopper felt the ground around him shake violently. Much more than when Dimentio was transforming.
After a big, dark flash, many platforms appeared around the area with a depiction of a dark star embedded in them. They began to move around in a fast manner as well, and while that was going on, the darkness around Tipral began to fade away.
Tipral's eyes and mouth changed from white to purple, and his arms had curved spikes, with one big curved spike on his shoulders. His white gloves were now black with a purple heart embedded on the front side. His fingers were slightly pointy as well. There were also purple glowing stripes on his arms and feet too. Floating above his head was also a glowing black halo in the shape of a heart. A dark mist seemed to be left behind as he slowly landed on the floor.
"Do you see this, Chopper? This is what the True Chaos Heart's power can grant me! It has transformed me into the powerful Chaos Tipral! With this power, I will finally wipe away all love, happiness, joy, and you from existence!"
"You... You look more like a demon..." Chopper gaped. "Similar to Maquano..."
"Maquano's demon form is hardly anything compared to what I have become!" Chaos Tipral roared. "As for you, I shall soon see your end before I destroy all worlds!"
"You may have gained that kind of power, but I have the power to counter the Dark Star Scepter," the antennae hero declared, holding the Star Rod up. "Not even you can handle this thing's power!"
Chopper aimed the Star Rod at Chaos Tipral and prepared to fire a blast of star energy at him. However, he felt himself lowering the weapon and looking down. "I... I can't..."
"Can't attack me? What for?" Chaos Tipral asked, now hovering off the ground. "Are you too weak?"
"I... I don't know... I'm not sure if I really want to fight you..."
"Then this fight makes it easier for me," Chaos Tipral stated, firing a dark star and knocking Chopper over on the ground. "I would have expected you to be a bit more heroic and actually stand up to me! But it doesn't look like that'll happen!"
Chopper slowly got up and was left panting. He knew he should defend himself, but at the same time, he didn't want to hurt Chaos Tipral. "Tipral, there honestly has to be a better way to solve this. I mean, Timpani isn't gone, you know!"
"She means nothing to this anymore! Bring her up again, and I'll make sure your game over is more painful than ever!" Chaos Tipral roared, teleporting in front of Chopper and delivering a couple of dark punches to his face before hitting his face with the Dark Star Scepter. This left a couple more bruises on his face, and it was starting to leave him exhausted.
"I can't believe you still refuse to attack. You wanted to save all worlds, right? Then the most logical thing for you to do is fight back!"
Chaos Tipral raised his scepter and fired dark stars into the sky, which began to rain down on Chopper. He tried defending himself with the Star Rod, but the majority of the time he was pelted by them. The Star Rod was hardly helping at all.
Chopper could only watch as Chaos Tipral dove down and kicked his face. He also felt himself get grabbed by his counterpart.
"What's the matter, Chopper?! You don't have it in you to fight me?! Do you know what they call people like you?! WEAK!"
He started to shake the hero violently, who did nothing to fight back. Chopper could only wince in pain as a tear dropped down his face. Chaos Tipral didn't care and continued shaking him.
"Chopper..."
Chopper opened his eyes and looked around the area. From somewhere, he heard someone call his name, but he wasn't sure where...
"Whose voice was that?" Chopper thought. "It sounds so familiar..."
He looked over at Chaos Tipral, who continued to look at him angrily. It didn't seem like he heard the voice.
Chaos Tipral ignored Chopper's stare and threw him to the floor. "If you're not going to fight back, then I might as well get rid of your weapon for you!"
"Wh-What?!" Chopper cried, feeling Chaos Tipral grab the Star Rod and pull it away from him. He tried to keep a tight grip on it, but Chaos Tipral was too strong and managed to yank it out of his grasp. He gaped as he saw Chaos Tipral crush the Star Rod and let it shatter.
"Your little toy is not strong enough to defeat me in this transformation!" Chaos Tipral roared. "Not even the Pure Hearts – which you already used up, will stop me now!"
He flew off the ground and began to charge up a dark beam of energy. Chopper could definitely see the rage in his purple eyes, but at the same time, it almost looked like he saw sorrow in them too.
"Tipral..."
Chaos Tipral's antennae slightly perked up from the voice he heard. Chopper heard the voice as well, but this time, he realized who it belonged to.
It was Timpani.
"Tipral, please stop this! This isn't the same person I've known since a child! Destroying all worlds won't help solve your problem at all!"
Chaos Tipral ignored Timpani's voice and fired the dark beam at Chopper, who was now left with many battle scars as he was continuously struck by the beam. He was left dazed and almost beat when Chaos Tipral ended the attack.
"Look at what you're doing to poor Chopper! Is this all worth it?"
"I've already made my decision!" Chaos Tipral shouted. "You have nothing to do with this anymore! I'm not turning back."
"Unnnghh... Please, Tipral..." Chopper moaned. "You can always stop here... It's never too late..."
Chaos Tipral flew down to Chopper and grabbed him by his antennae. "You're right, Chopper. It's usually never too late for anything. However, I'm doing all of this by choice, and my choice is to wipe every single world out from existence of all of its love!"
He slammed Chopper to the floor and fired a dark ball of energy that left him limping. Chopper was barely holding his own at this point, and it looked like he could fall at any point. Chaos Tipral noticed this and figured it was time to end this.
"I might as well finish the job now," Chaos Tipral declared, looking down at Chopper. "Goodbye, Chopper. You were an opponent that once put up a fight against me, but now you have lost."
His eyes flashed, and Chopper felt himself get struck by Chaos Tipral's Star Spark. He slowly kneeled to the ground in exhaustion and tried to keep himself from collapsing. Some healing items could help him, but he didn't even have the energy to grab one of his items.
"I'm...sorry..."
At that moment, Chopper collapsed.
"Weak until the very end," Chaos Tipral scoffed, turning away from the fallen Chopper and turning his attention to The Void's core. "It's time to finally put this to a close!"
With the True Chaos Heart and Dark Star Scepter's dark power combined, he fired a dark beam of energy into the core, causing it to shake violently until it was completely enveloped in darkness. Everything around him began to shake violently as well.
"The end shall soon finally come..."
Rainbowside Tower-
"The worlds are trembling..." Merlon trailed, noticing the area around him and the two other Shamans shaking violently. "Has the world finally come to an end?"
"...How unfortunate," Nolrem said with a hint of sadness.
"And to think hope would finally come..." Olnerm trailed.
With a single flash, the composition of the world around them began to go crazy until nothing remained.
Lineland Town-
"Whazzit?! Somethin's not right here!" Yerfeys cried, feeling the violent shaking coming from The Void. "Izzat dark thing in the sky causin' this?!"
"Grandpa! Grandpa!" Yerfeys turned to a little blue boy who was hurrying over to him. "Everything's so shaky! I'm scared!"
"It's... It's goin' to be all right, Maxy. Just close yer eyes and you'll be just fine."
Maxy listened and closed his eyes while hugging his grandpa. Yerfeys hugged back and looked back up at the sky, which flashed before the composition around them started going crazy.
Soon enough, Lineland was gone.
The Peaceness-
"Say, Pherrance..." Tillip began, noticing the ground shake around them. "Something does not seem so right here..."
"What do you mean, Tillip?" Pherrance asked, trying to let out a fart but failing to do so. "Do you mean that thing in the sky?"
"Yeah... Do you think this may be...the end?"
"Which end? My end?"
"No! The end of the world!"
Pherrance stopped laughing and frowned. "Oh... I guess our time here has finally been cut to an end..."
The area around them flashed, and soon the world's composition started going crazy until the world was destroyed.
Cradian City-
"All worlds tremble..." one Cradian trailed. "This world end very soon..."
"Those people... The one who destroy Master Mind..." a second Cradian began. "You think... You think they try to stop this?"
"I thought of that... There must be a reason why they take brown heart..."
Their thoughts were stopped by the flash in the sky, and soon the world was no more.
?-
"Oh, Blumiere... I can't believe it..." a human girl with light brown hair, a rainbow ribbon resembling a butterfly in her hair and a white dress with a rainbow stripe at the waist trailed. "My pleas failed to stop Tipral..."
Timpani and Blumiere were in a large grassy landscape with a pretty blue sky. There was no sign of The Void.
"I guess that means all hope is lost..." Blumiere sighed, slowly shaking his head as his blue eyes looked down.
"What?! We can't just let Tipral destroy all existence!" Timpani cried. "There has to be something we can do that will be more helpful! If not, Chopper's game might be over very soon..."
"We cannot," he said simply. "The True Chaos Heart is too powerful to stop with Tipral's powers combined. Not even the Pure Hearts are able to go up against it."
"So we're just going to stay here and watch the end?! There must be something we can do!"
"Timpani, why are you so focused on trying to stop Tipral?"
Timpani lowered her head and turned away from him. "Because I do believe Tipral's soul still remains deep within his heart. When you became Count Bleck, I believed there was still a way to help bring you back to your senses, and I was right."
"But Timpani, the True Chaos Heart is powered up by hatred, and with Tipral's hatred added into it, there may be a little soul in his heart! This isn't like the normal Chaos Heart I used!"
"I still believe we can do something about it," Timpani said, turning to Blumiere. "Even if there is little hope, you never, ever give up. Besides, I believe most of this is my fault. It's honestly because of me that Tipral has turned into what he's become now."
"No, my dear Timpani, I believe I'm the one to blame here," Blumiere objected. "I let the Dark Prognosticus get to me first, and I did very little to help Tipral. If I had found Tipral, maybe this wouldn't have happened."
"Don't bring yourself down so much, count! You need to think positively!"
Timpani and Blumiere turned their heads and saw three figures teleport into the area. There they saw O'Chunks, Mimi, and Dark approaching the two. O'Chunks was carrying an unconscious Blade on his shoulder, and part of his clothing was ripped to be used as a bandage on Blade's arm where he was stabbed. He was also carrying Mario and Luigi on his arms, and Nastasia on his other shoulder. Mimi was carrying an unconscious Kirby on his back, and Dark had an unconscious Sonic in a piggyback ride.
"You guys..." Timpani gaped, noticing the five heroes. "They're..."
"They'll be OK," O'Chunks assured, slowly putting down Blade, Mario, Luigi, and Nastasia. "They're only unconscious, but we managed teh save their lives. They'll surely get up soon."
"But how did you find us?" Blumiere gaped.
"We found them."
Three other figures teleported into the area as well, who happened to be Squirps, Ninbot, and Luvbi. They approached the group as well with smiles.
"We found them lingering in The Void, squirp!" Squirps cheered. "They weren't in a very good condition, so we had to get them somewhere safe!"
"It turns out we felt a light around The Void and found this world and felt your presence," Ninbot explained. "This was the only safe place we could find."
"We were convinced to do this because they doth save the heroes' lives..." Luvbi trailed. "I dost not know if they would hath lived if it weren't for them..."
O'Chunks looked down at Nastasia. "We were lucky teh find wee Nastasia lyin' on the ground before they found us. She doesn't look like she's in a good condition either..."
"Nastasia..." Blumiere trailed, looking down at the secretary.
"But... Where's Chopper and Tippy?" Mimi asked. "Everyone's all here, but those two aren't..."
"Mimi..." Timpani began. "They're both at the center of The Void, nearly fighting to the death. ...Well, at this point they aren't. Tipral has already gained the power of the True Chaos Heart and is using it to destroy everything, but most of all the joy, happiness, and love."
"So I'm guessing the whole deal with the perfect world was just to get us to distract the heroes, is that it?" Dark asked with hints of anger in his voice. "I can't believe I was being used..."
"An' 'e was not too bad o' a leader either!" O'Chunks gaped. "Why would 'e do somethin' like that?!"
While O'Chunks and Dark were not too pleased, Mimi seemed to take it the hardest. "Tippy... He was just using us as pawns to get the True Chaos Heart for himself? And why would he want to destroy love and happiness?"
"I'm sorry, Mimi..." Timpani apologized. "I understand how you feel... But didn't you say that we should think positively?"
Mimi realized this and wiped the tears off her face. "You're... You're right! Tippy may have fooled us, but we shouldn't just back down so easily! Listen, count, no matter what, we'll always be by your side!"
"Yeah! I believe yeh were the one who gave us the most respect when I think about it!" O'Chunks realized. "I always liked teh see yer smile a lot! It kinda brightens the mood a bit!"
"I guess I'm in," Dark declared. "If there's anything we can do to stop Tipral right now, then I'll be up for it."
"My... My minions..." Blumiere smiled. "Thank you..."
The twenty, empty Pure Hearts circled above the group, and with a flash, they were restored. Not only that, but they all began to combine into one, creating a bright yellow heart that was the same size as the True Chaos Heart.
"The Purity Heart!" Timpani gaped, watching it slowly float into her hands. "This was the same exact heart used against the Chaos Heart!"
"But Timpani! The Pure Hearts don't stand a chance agai-"
"You said the Pure Hearts. You said nothing about the Purity Heart. Maybe with this, we can stop Tipral and maybe restore his poor soul..." Timpani smiled. "But Chopper needs this more than any of us... He is at the brink of death, and only this may be able to help him."
"Soul?" Dark gawked. "What do you mean?"
"I'll explain much later. For now..." Timpani slowly closed her eyes and let the Purity Heart slowly disappear. The group all watched it disappear from their sights and decided to pray for Chopper's safety.
Perhaps there was much more hope than they thought.
This may be one of the darkest things I've written. ...OK, maybe it doesn't compare to Shade, but maybe the impact here is bigger.
But on that note, the next chapter is where the true final battle begins. For some fitting music suggestions, perhaps songs such as Bowser's Inside Story's final boss theme, The Battle For Everyone's Souls (Persona 3) or even Vergil Battle 3 (Devil May Cry 3) would be fitting. Then again, you don't have to listen to those if you don't want to.