Chapter 9: Flipside Fuss

"Oh," peeped Parakarry as the group appeared atop of Flipside Tower, "I guess teleporting isn't that bad." Kirby patted the mailman on the back. He looked as if he was doing everything in his power not to cry.

"Flipside!" exclaimed Timpani, "It feels wonderful to be back!"

"Just as we suspected," announced Meta Knight, "The dimensional doors are gone."

"Who cares about that right now, Meta Knight?" grinned Kirby, "Can't you see how happy Timpani is!"

"Kirby," sighed Blumiere, "I appreciate that you care about my wife's happiness and everything, but we should still care about the missing Dimensional Doors." Mario smiled at Blumiere's comment. The plumber seemed to laugh every time that Kirby said something that perplexed the Count.

"Okay you two," hummed Timpani, "I know you're in a heated debate right now, but we need to find Merlee so we can charm the Pure Heart."

"Is it safe to go off the tower?" stuttered Parakarry, who was still recovering from his first time teleporting, "How can we be sure that the people of Flipside haven't been corrupted?"

"That is a good point," agreed Blumiere.

"I have an idea!" proclaimed Kirby loudly.

"Oh boy," groaned Meta Knight.

"What if we split up!" suggested the Puff Ball, "We'll cover a lot more ground and we will be a lot stealthier in smaller groups."

"I can't believe you made a suggestion that was actually intellectual," gasped Blumiere.

"What do you mean!?" wondered Kirby, "I've said plenty of smart things!"

"What have you said then?" asked Meta Knight, who was holding back a snicker.

"I call Timpani!" shouted Kirby. Timpani giggled as Kirby walked over to her and grabbed her hand.

"Oh," stated Meta Knight. Parakarry finally seemed used to the new dimension and laughed as Blumiere's face revealed feelings of confusion.

"It's fine darling," assured Timpani, "Kirby got you pretty good."

"Fine," stammered the Count, "I will join Mario then." Mario clenched his fists and nodded.

"Don't worry Parakarry," spoke Meta Knight, "It is with a fighter's honor that I have to defend and search Flipside with you."

"You could have just said, "Can we be partners,"" shrugged Parakarry.

"Okay," announced Timpani, "Dear, will you give me the book so Kirby and I can go look for Nastasia? We'll go the Mirror Hall first, there's something we need to check out."

"Okay darling," smiled Blumiere as he handed his wife the book. "Mario and I will go look for Merlee," explained Blumiere.

"What about us?" asked Meta Knight.

"You two can look for Slim," told Timpani, "We'll need him to access the Yellow Heart Pillar."

"I have no idea who Slim is, but okay!" cheered Parakarry. Mario nodded and ran towards the right side of the tower. He waved to Blumiere as he jumped off the tower.

"Ummm, alrighty then," shrugged Blumiere, "Be careful my darling" Blumiere kissed Timpani on the cheek before running to the right side of the tower. He spread his cloak and soared after Mario. Timpani blushed a magnificent pink.

"We best be off," coughed Meta Knight as he and Parakarry took off for the left side of the tower.

Kirby smirked at Timpani. "Do you like him or something?" asked Kirby cheekily. Timpani giggled once again as the duo walked towards the tower elevator. Mario pushed himself off the ground. He was standing right next to the elevator button that lead to the second floor of Flipside. The plumber looked to the sky to see Blumiere floating down with his cloak.

"Mario, I don't understand why we had to jump," stated Blumiere, "There was a perfectly fine elevator to our left." Mario explained that his way was faster. Mario tapped the elevator button, which caused the elevator the phase into existence. "If you say so," shrugged Blumiere. The elevator door opened, allowing Mario and Blumiere to enter. The elevator lowered the duo to the second floor of Flipside. The doors opened once again. Mario shivered as he noticed the deafening silence. Usually the citizens of Flipside were out and about, but something was off about the quiet town. "I hope that none of them are hurt," added Blumiere as Mario led the way to the pipe to Flopside. The duo passed Merluvlee's house and stood next to the dark blue warp pipe. Just as Mario was about to jump onto the pipe, strange sounds started coming through the pipe. "What in the worlds is making that sound?" coughed Blumiere. The sounds were getting louder the longer Mario and Blumiere waited. The door to Merluvlee's house creaked open.

A Scottish sounding voice called out, "Ye two lads better make yer way in here! Ya don't want to be around when that mechanical menace comes out of that blasted pipe!" Mario and Blumiere nodded to each other. The duo swiftly walked over to the house. Before they could fully open the door, two large arms seized the two and pulled them inside.

"My goodness, what's with the yanking?" asked Blumiere as the character set them down. Mario noticed Merluvlee and Slim were standing/floating behind the crystal ball. The person was facing the door, looking out through some sort of peephole. Mario and Blumiere realized who the person was once they noticed the red and black kilt.

"I'm sorry fer the force lads, but that cyborg of some kind has been rounding up civilians," informed O'Chunks, "Be quiet please, that cyborg be covered in strange gadgets and whatnot."

"O'Chunks!?" gasped Blumiere, "Is that you?" O'Chunks locked the door before turning to face Mario and Blumiere. O'Chunks rubbed his eyes.

"Count!" exclaimed O'Chunks, "Whut! Where yeh been, eh? I haven't been tis shocked since I accidentally stuck that fork in me toaster!"

"O'Chunks!" shushed Merluvlee, "Don't let that thing hear you!" O'Chunks rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry lass," apologized the large man, "I just havint seen Bleck ol' boy fer awhile."

"To answer your question," beamed Blumiere, "Timpani and I have been traveling with Mario to collect the Pure Hearts and save the Star Spirits! We found Kirby, Meta Knight, and Parakarry and uncorrupted them."

"Hey Mario!" smiled Slim, "My excitement levels are increasing rapidly!"

"Okay," paused Blumiere, "What has happened to Flipside?"

"It's orrible Count!" frowned O'Chunks as he leaned on the door, "It twas a normal day and I wus going to see my sweet lass in Flopside when Merluvlee opened her door and asked if I could lift something fer her. Being the kind lad I am, I gladly offered a helping hand. Then thur was a loud crash. We turned to see that floating triangle in the corner running towards us and sum dust cloud down the street. Mr. Triangle told us it was some sort of machine that was purple and had a gun for an arm. I managed to catch a glimpse of the thing berfore hiding in here. It looked a lot like that cyborg that beat me up in the Land o' Cragons."

"That's a lot to take in," sighed Blumiere.

"O'Chunks?" asked Slim, "Do you not know my name!?"

"Course I do...uhh...Slam?" grunted O'Chunks. Before Slim could reply Mario asked where the other Pixls were.

"After we helped ya save the world, we started helping a bunch of people around the dimensions. I might be the only Pixl left in Flipside," informed Slim.

"First question," wondered Blumiere, "O'Chunks, you mentioned going to see a "sweet lass". Who might she be?"

"Count, you're gonna be so happy when you here tis," grinned O'Chunks, "It's Nastasia!" Blumiere did a double take and smiled brightly.

"Wow!" exclaimed the count, "That's amazing, when and how!?"

"She wus really depressed after you disappeared, so I took er out fer some food and things developed from there!" explained O'Chunks.

"Yeah, yeah, real sweet and all, but Mario has a good point you two seemed to have missed," interrupted Merluvlee.

"Wut is it lass?" asked O'Chunks.

"Mario and Blumiere need to find Merlee to charm the Yellow Pure Heart," monologued Merluvlee.

"And?" asked Blumiere.

"She was captured, right?" asked Slim.

"Correct," sighed Merluvlee.

"So we can go find her, defeat the corrupted version of her, and set her free from her corruption," explained Blumiere.

"It's not so simple Count!" grumbled O'Chunks.

"What do you mean?" wondered Count Blumiere.

"She hasn't been corrupted," told Merluvlee, "She being held captive somewhere in Flopside's Outskirts. Merlee and I are very close, but also are rivals. We've always been able to communicate in our minds. We were talking about the best way to charm the Pure Heart when something busted into her house and knocked her out. It was quiet for awhile, but she eventually reached out to me. She and Norlem are trapped in a weird grid cage system in Flopside. She told me that suit of armor is talking to someone about killing them!"

"Oh no!" cried O'Chunks.

"We better go save those two then!" proclaimed Blumiere.

"But, it's dangerous, there's a bunch of corrupted citizens on the watch!" informed Merluvlee.

"I've got Mario and Slim!" protested Blumiere.

"And me," announced O'Chunks as he stepped forward, "Maria, I hope you have no issue with me accompanying you! Nassy might have been captured by that mechanical menace!" Mario nodded his head towards the Scottish warrior. O'Chunks struck a pose, "I won't let yer down!" Slim flew to Mario's side as they prepared to open the door.

"Be careful!" instructed Merluvlee. The now quartet stepped outside of the fortune teller's house and looked to the dark blue warp pipe.

"Let's a go!" cheered Mario as he jumped into the pipe. The others followed with Blumiere and O'Chunks rapidly conversing. Elsewhere in Flipside, the doors to the Mirror Hall creaked open.

"I've missed being able to flip into 3D!" proclaimed Kirby as he and Timpani stepped into the chamber.

"I guess Merlon wasn't kidding when he said I still have my Pixl powers," smiled Timpani.

"Can you tell me why we came here in the first place?" asked Kirby. Timpani pulled out the old book.

"I have a sneaking suspicion that the sages knew about this then we thought," answered Timpani as she flipped through the pages.

"I don't get it," stated Kirby, "If they knew that some dark force would take the Star Rod, why didn't they write a different prognostics?"

"Well," spoke Timpani, "Merloo is the key contributor to the Light Prognostics. Merlight designed Flipside and Flopside. Merlimbis was the key creator of the Purity Heart. Merlumina helped hide all of the Pure Hearts. Don't you think it's strange that one of the sages would write down a way to destroy a Pure Heart just for fun? Wouldn't Sage Merlimbis find out that someone has found the Pure Heart's weakness? We need to find Merloo and Merlight's spirits so we can ask them questions about this book."

"That does make a lot of sense," agreed Kirby, "Does your tattling give any clues on where their spirits may be?"

"No," sighed Timpani, "It tells me what they were famous for, but nothing el..." The doors to the hall swung open. Kirby and Timpani turned around to see a familiar face.

"Samus!" cried Kirby, "You're okay!" The pink puffball didn't notice that the intergalactic bounty hunter's armor was purple and black.

"Kirby..." peeped Timpani, "I wouldn't hug her if I were you."

"Come on Timp!" smiled Kirby, "If she was corrupted she would have attacked us by now!" Kirby walked up to Samus' legs. Kirby stretched his arms for a hug, but a shot of orange energy knocked out Kirby in an instant.

"Kirby!" cried Timpani. As she was running to the puffball's side, Corrupted Samus fired once more, knocking out the lady in an instant. In Flopside as the quartet was scouting out the second floor, Blumiere shuttered. Something was not right.

Sorry for the delay, I've been busy for the last week, but thank you for reading.