Get ready for the final chapter, everyone. Here goes!
Six heroes. Eight Pure Hearts. One villain. Three minions. Our heroes had finally reached the Inner Sanctum of Castle Dimentio. There remained only a relatively small amount of puzzles and traps to fight through, and then...Dimentio. The climax of our heroes' adventure was fast approaching, and the stakes were high as our heroes ventured into the final area. Will our heroes defeat Dimentio and save all worlds? Or will Dimentio kill Bleck's minions, reactivate the Chaos Heart, and form The Void once more? Only bravery, determination, and love can win the day...
The castle was as dark as ever. Several of the torches seemed to struggle helplessly to stay lit, only to be swallowed by the ever-encompassing darkness. Our heroes could almost feel the bleakness enveloping them. "Let's hurry and defeat Dimentio," offered Peach. "This place gives me shivers." It was much colder without the abundance of torch lighting as well.
"Yeah," agreed Luigi. He was going to continue, but decided to finish his sentence there. Something about the enviroment demanded silence.
The inner sanctum's first hallway was an enemy-infested gauntlet, much like the previous two sections of the castle, but containing a wider variety of traps; besides enemies, there were also spike beds, spikes that fell from the ceiling, sections of the floor and ceiling moving up and down that could crush our heroes, and several more. No lava pits existed in this room, which didn't remedy the chilly dark atmosphere. "Dimentio's really trying to stop us now," observed Mimi.
Mario had a strange thought. "
Is he really trying to stop us? He knows we're powerful. Powerful enough to accomplish his plan for him and release that...person. I can't shake the feeling that he
wants us to reach him. And then..."
"And then?" asked Luigi after a brief pause.
Mario shook his head. "Let's just go for Dimentio. Whatever he has planned for us, we'll be able to stop him."
Mario, Luigi, Peach, O'Chunks, Mimi, and Nastasia walked hurriedly through the dark chamber, defeating enemies as they went. They eventually found a Hammer Brother atop a tall pedestal, too high to jump over.
"I'll take care of him!" Luigi readied his Super Jump.
"Do it fast!" O'Chunks was trying his best to dodge the rain of hammers.
Luigi sprang into the air, coming down on the hammer-throwing minion and stomping on it three times. Luigi observed a switch slightly beyond where the Hammer Brother had been. He jumped on it, lowering the pedestal and allowing the others to proceed. "We've got to be careful now," warned Mario. Between them and the door lie a large pit with a never-ending series of platforms rising out of it. If our heroes stayed on the platforms for too long, they'd be carried directly into the spikes on the ceiling. "Run as fast as you can!" Mario began dashing across one of the platforms while it was still below the floor level to demonstrate. He came out safely on the other side.
"I'll try." Peach repeated Mario's example, and the others soon followed.
The next room was a short hallway, containing nothing but Magiblots, two blue ! Switches, and a door. This door was plain purple, unlike most of the other ones, which displayed the white emblem, but the emblem was painted on the wall a few feet to the left of the door. "What's with this door?" asked Luigi as he defeated one of the Yellow Magiblots. "It's like someone removed the emblem and put it on the wall."
"Let's see what these blocks do." Mario hit the ! Switch on the left, and the blank door moved slightly to the left.
"I think we have to get the door to match up with the symbol," noted Tippi.
"Let's see." Mario hit the switch a few more times until the door was lined up with the white emblem. He opened the door and looked inside. "Yes, there's another room in here."
The others followed Mario into the next room. It was somewhat small, with a few enemies and a locked door on the other side. "Let me see if the key's here." Mario flipped into 3D, but there wasn't anything special besides the 3D-ness. He flipped back. "I don't see the key anywhere."
"Is it in this room?" asked Luigi. He looked around, trying to find any sort of clue they could use, but there was nothing. "So...what do we do?"
"Maybe it's in the previous room," offered Mimi. "We can move the door around, so maybe if we move it somewhere else, we'll enter a different room and we might find the key."
"Good idea!" Mario led the others back through the door. "Hmm. Let's try going to the left first." Mario hit the left switch until the door had traveled as far to the left as it could go. He opened the door and peered inside, and he saw nothing. He soon realized why; he was standing at the edge of a massive drop that plunged into the darkness below. Recoiling, he quickly shut the door before he tumbled into the pit. "Whew." Mario walked to the block on the right and hit this one, checking out the door again. He finally found a chest in the room one space to the right of the emblem. Opening the lone chest, he found the castle key. "I found it," he announced after exiting through the door. He hit the left switch, lining the door with the symbol again, and our heroes entered the room again. Mario unlocked the door, and our heroes proceeded into the next room.
Our heroes emerged in a massive hallway. The ceiling was far above them, and a huge pit, broken by rising-and-falling floor segments, covered most of the floor. It was essentially a harder version of the same room in Castle Bleck, with some altered platforms and added enemies like Cherbils. "You know how to get across these, right?" asked Mario. He jumped to the first moving pillar, defeating the Ice Cherbil.
"I 'ope so!" O'Chunks followed Mario onto the second platform. Our heroes continued across the perilous moving platforms, being as careful as possible not to be hit by the enemies. Even so, they were hit and knocked back a few times. Peach stumbled over the edge of a platform, but Mario quickly pulled her back up. Our heroes reached the end door with little damage, relieved that they hadn't been hurt more.
The next room was also similar to Castle Bleck. Another large pit spanned the room, and more platforms, similar to the rising platforms in the first room of the inner sanctum, were placed over the pit. Some platforms moved continually down while others moved up. There were Spiked Parabuzzies and other enemies waiting to sabotage our heroes' pit-crossing. "Careful!" Luigi cautioned as Mimi almost slipped off one of the platforms. When they had reached a rest area in the center of the room, Mario seemed distracted by something.
"Wait a second...if I remember correctly, I have to flip here. Hang on a second." Mario flipped into 3D, revealing a pipe to the left of the platform. He jumped to the pipe and entered it, coming out in a small room with a few enemies. The hero easily dealt with these foes, and seeing nothing in the room, flipped into 3D. A tunnel into the right wall became visible. It was inhabited by several more enemies, and these ones weren't as easy to avoid. The tunnel wasn't extremely long, but Mario had to make it in one shot before his Flip Meter expired. He quickly dashed through the tunnel, trying his best to dodge or defeat the enemies. He was hit several times, finally making it to a more open space on the other side. Flipping back, he collected another key from a chest. When his Flip Meter had recharged, he ran back through the passage, not having as much trouble because he'd defeated several of the enemies. He soon reemerged in the platform room. "This key's for the door ahead of us."
"You were in there for a while," remarked Luigi. "I was starting to wonder what you were doing. What was in that room?"
"There was a tunnel I had to go through in 3D. It was pretty brutal."
The trek across the next series of platforms was difficult, but our heroes made it across fine. Unlocking the door, the heroes entered the next room. It was another long hallway, filled to the brim with enemies. Almost literally. "This is the enemy hall to end all enemy halls," breathed Peach.
"That's good," agreed Mario. "The next part of the castle is a giant maze, unless Dimentio changed it, and after that there's no more enemy halls. Let's tackle this."
Unlike most of the other rooms in the Inner Sanctum, this hallway contained windows, revealing the sky-filling Void outside the castle. Although The Void was a dark, cloudy, ominous structure, the room felt more open and warmer with the windows than without them, probably because of the ever-increasing darkness of the castle. The relative warmth was a comfort in the chilly castle, and helped our heroes' tense muscles relax as they ventured into the enemy chamber. That was a good thing; Mega Muths, Blastboxers, Fire Brothers, Mr. Is, Bombshell Bills, Cherbils, and almost every other variety of enemy our heroes could think of inhabited this room, and getting past them uninjured was out of the question. "Uh-oh!" uttered Peach. "Mega Muth!" It was right behind a Boomerang Brother, and had begun to charge our heroes.
"Yaah!" Acting on instinct, Mario held out his hands as the Boomering Brother tossed his weapon. The boomering slammed into his hand. He quickly pulled it back and hurled it at the Mega Muth, making it flinch long enough for Peach to begin attacking it while Mario dealt with the Boomerang Brother. A row of Blastboxers waited for our heroes directly after these enemies, hurting our heroes with their sound waves. O'Chunks gathered his strength and charged the dozens of Blastboxers, knocking them out one by one.
The door that ended this hallway finally came into view after a group of Bombshell Bill Blasters. After defeating these enemies, Mario and the group headed for the door. "We're heading deeper into the castle," announced Mario. "I have to flip back and forth to navigate in the next room, so I'll have to take all of you with me one at I time like we did a while ago."
"Sounds fine," approved Luigi.
Our heroes entered the giant maze section of the castle. There were several Koopatrols in the first area, which Mario and the others defeated easily. "I'll take you first, Luigi." Mario grabbed his brother's hand and flipped them both into 3D. Walking through an arch-shaped hole in the wall into another room, Mario flipped them both back into 2D. He repeated the process with the four others, bringing them all into the new room. After defeating the Fuzzies in this area, Mario proceeded to flip them all again. They continued through the maze rooms in this manner, occasionally having to go back and take another path. They were hit several times, but found items in a few areas.
"We should heal ourselves," Mimi advised once the door was in sight.
"We probably should." Mario used a Super Shroom Shake to heal the party somewhat. It wasn't a large amount, but they regained enough health to presumably be safe in the room ahead. The purple door, identical to all of the others, stood out more against the background. The castle was dark enough by this point that it felt similar to the original Castle Bleck. Our heroes entered the door.
Dimentio hadn't kept the second maze room intact. This room contained another wide chasm, and a large climbing net was suspended across it. The path they'd take on the climbing net took them through various obstacles and enemies. "He's made it harder," breathed Luigi.
"It shouldn't give us too much trouble," countered Mario. "Come on." He jumped onto the net and began pulling himself to the right. The others followed, weaving in and out of the dangerous Thwomps that blocked their path on occasion. Our heroes carefully descended through a narrow vertical tunnel with spikes on either side, thankful for the climbing net. When they emerged on the right side of the tunnel, they could observe some Spiked Parabuzzies below a small opening in the ceiling.
"Yeh think we should see what's up 'ere?" asked O'Chunks.
"I don't see why not." Mario led the others past the Parabuzzies and onto a small ledge above the opening. There didn't appear to be anything in this small area.
"Is there anything here?" wondered Tippi.
"I'll flip." Mario again flipped into three dimensions, and saw a passage through the wall form to his left. He jumped into the passage, finding a door.
Another puzzle... When Mario entered the door, he emerged at the right side of a small room. This room was surprisingly well-lit by a series of six torches that seemed to be oddly positioned: The first torch was quite higher than any of the others, the second one was much lower, the third one was also lower, the fourth one was in the middle, the fifth one was low, and the sixth one was in the middle. At the left side of this room, there were three doors stacked on top of each other.
I've done this before. I just have to follow the torches. He jumped on a few platforms to reach the top door and entered it. However, he came out through the door he had first used to enter this area.
What? I'm back here? Is that torch sequence incorrect? He studied it again, and just to be sure, took the top door again. He again emerged in the same area.
Hmm... He tried going in the middle door, emerging in a room that didn't contain the torches.
I'm in a different room now? Wait... He then realized the pattern: He had started on the right, so he had to read the torches from right to left, not left to right. Following this pattern, he then opened the bottom, middle, bottom, bottom, and top doors, finding a small room containing the key. He exited through this room's only door, coming through the door in the 3D tunnel he had first entered through. He walked back to the others and flipped back into the second dimension. "I found another key. Let's go."
Our heroes continued through the spiked net maze. They had been heavily damaged by the time they reached the door at the end. "We've got to use an Ultra Shroom Shake," advised Nastasia.
"Are you sure?" asked Peach. "We only have three of them."
"True...but if we get hit a few more times, we're out. We can't take the risk."
"All right, let's use it." Mario pulled out the Ultra Shroom Shake and used it to revive the party's health. The heroes then entered the door.
If it had contained white outlines, the next room would look almost identical to Castle Bleck. There was nothing in this room besides a giant staircase and a door at the top. Mario thought it was the final room before Dimentio's lair, but then he realized something. "This is where the third maze section should be. It's not the penultimate room. There's something about it that-" Mario's sentence was interrupted by a sudden rumbling.
"What's that shaking!?" exclaimed Peach.
Without warning, the top of the staircase began to crumble and break apart. The rest of the staircase followed, cracking in half from top to bottom. Soon the entire staircase was falling in the direction of our heroes! "Back through the door!" Mario commanded. He attempted to open the door, but it had apparently been locked behind him.
"What do we do now?" worried Mimi. The sharp fragments of the black staircase were moments away from spearing our heroes.
"Just jump!" Mario shouted as the pieces approached them. Our six heroes leaped over the incoming shards, but none of them avoided them completely. They were all hit with several pieces of the staircase, even as they jumped as high as they could. A rather large piece was the last to come.
"How do we dodge that!?" asked Tippi.
"I'll take care o' this!" O'Chunks jumped in front of the boulder-sized fragment before anyone could stop him. Holding his hands out, he braced himself for the impact as the fragment collided with him. He was pushed backward a few feet, but managed to stop the boulder after a few seconds of struggling. Breathing out, he let go of the shard.
"That probably negatated the Ultra Shake," lamented Luigi. "I hurt all over."
"There's an Ultra Shroom in the next room," reminded Mario. "We'll be fine..." The hero then realized the collapse of the staircase had created a high wall, much too high for any of them to jump. "Mimi? Can you carry us up the wall?"
"No, I don't think so," she sighed. "That wall's way too rough for me to climb. I'd slip."
"Well, then what can we..." Mario paced, turning around to think, and saw a blue object. "What? I could swear this switch wasn't here before." He stepped on it, and the stairs repaired themselves.
"That was weird..." uttered Luigi.
"Dimentio isn't far away," announced Mario. "Come on. Let's climb these stairs." Our heroes proceeded up the stairs, entering the door at the top. They came out in another room with a large staircase, but fortunately this one didn't break apart as they climbed it. At the top of this staircase, an Ultra Shroom waited for our heroes.
"Whew." Luigi grabbed the Ultra Shroom, using it to restore the HP of the group.
"So this door will take us to Dimentio," recalled Mario. "This is it. The final confrontation." He paused to let those words sink in.
"We're ready, aren't we?" asked Peach.
"I sure am," replied Luigi. "Let's teach that Dimentio a lesson he'll never forget!"
"My husband is beyond this door," reminded Tippi. "We musn't delay."
"Before we enter this door," continued Mario, "I just want to remind us that we need to fight as one unit. Don't think about what we don't know. Just focus on our task. It's the only way we can take down Dimentio and save every universe."
"That's true," agreed Luigi. "We need partnership, companionship...we need love."
"You're absolutely right. We loved existence enough to find all eight Pure Hearts, even when it was tough. And Tippi loved her husband enough to accompany us and travel with us all the way through obstacles like these. Are we ready?"
"Yep!" answered Mimi. "Let's do it!"
"I'm ready fer anythin'!" approved O'Chunks.
"Let's do it!" answered Peach.
"OK." Mario cleared his throat. "Here we go!" And he opened the door.
Dimentio hadn't changed this large room at all. It retained its black background and white outlines and platforms, all in the same positions.
"Bleh heh heh heh...So you've come this far...only to be destroyed...by Count Bleck!"
Our heroes turned toward the voice. Count Bleck was resting on one of the floating platforms, and Dimentio was floating behind him. "To be honest, Count Bleck never expected you to make it this far. You heroes have endured trials Count Bleck expected would stop you all for good. But your travels were all in vain, for now your games shall end, courtesy...of Count Bleck!"
Tippi floated forward, the others soon following. "Blumiere! How can you say such things?" Tippi reverted to her human form. "You're not a villain! You're my husband! What have..." Her voice faded.
"Count Bleck does not interest himself in the ramblings of pathetic heroes. If you wish your game's end to be painless, stop talking and let me do the work."
"Blumiere...don't you remember? Don't you remember the time when we loved each other?"
"Count Bleck never loved you. He serves only Dimentio, and he uses Count Bleck as he sees fit."
"Blumiere...oh, it's no use! Don't you see? Don't you know what we've been doing since Dimentio scattered the Pure Hearts? I helped the heroes find the eight Pure Hearts all over again because I love you. I want to release you from Dimentio's control. We've fought in a war...we've been forced into slavery...we've ventured into a volcano...all becuase I want to rescue you. How could you not see that?"
"Details bore Count Bleck. Let us cut to the chase. Count Bleck will defeat you all, and then kill his former minions so Dimentio can reactivate the Chaos Heart!"
"And make sure you do it well, Count," added Dimentio. "If you fail, I'll be forced to take them out myself."
"You!" accused Timpani. "You hypnotized my husband! What are you planning? What allowed you to do such a thing?"
"Ah ha ha ha. Foolish Timpani...you're clueless of the true story of Blumiere's tribe, aren't you? You wouldn't be speaking so romantically if you knew the truth."
"I don't care what the Tribe of Darkness was. It doesn't matter what group or family or nation Blumiere came from. I don't even mind that he tried to destroy the world. Now is what counts, and I want my husband back...NOW!"
"My, you're energetic today. Your passion for Blumiere is breathtaking, I will hand that to you. It's
almost as intense as the rage I had when my most valuable treaure was stolen long, long ago, a treasure that could have changed the fate of the universe. But now is not the time for talking. Now is when Count Bleck will destroy you all, like seven innocent, naive children who chose to climb a tree during a storm. Ciao!" The evil jester vanished.
"All right, guys," began Mario. "Let's do this."
"Stand back, heroes. You will be shown what real power is...by Count Bleck! BLEH HEH HEH HEH! BLECK!"
BOSS
Count Bleck
Count Bleck waved his staff, producing a flash of energy that sailed toward where our heroes were standing. Six of the heroes, including Timpani, jumped out of the way while Mario aimed for the count. "We beat you once, we can do it again!" Mario leaped for Count Bleck, aiming for his head, but Bleck swung his staff in Mario's direction, hitting him with the blue jewel and knocking the hero backwards, where he crashed onto the floor in a sitting position.
"You pathetic heroes think you can take down Count Bleck? Let us reconsider that!" Bleck produced another energy wave, sending it at Mario. When it hit the ground, it divided into twelve smaller waves that expanded in a circle pattern, hitting Mario directly and damaging several of the others. "Bleh heh heh! This will be easier than Count Bleck thought."
While the count was distracted, Luigi attacked from below with a Super Jump. "Not so high and mighty now, are you?"
"This is just the beginning. You have yet to witness every power Dimentio has granted Count Bleck." The count flipped out, and three of him flipped back in. The three Count Blecks moved to different sections of the room, all the while attacking our heroes with magic blasts.
"Dimentio's given Bleck some of his skills," remarked Nastasia. "We've got to take out the real count."
"This isn't it!" Peach had fallen right through one of the Count Bleck duplicates.
Mimi aimed a Rubee at another Bleck. It hit a solid body, and the other two Blecks disappeared. The real Count Bleck hovered around the room, producing bombs that exploded after a short time. "Whoa!" Mimi was thrown back by the force of one bomb's explosion. She was thankful she wasn't caught directly in the explosion.
"Maybe we can use these against him?" Nastasia positioned herself below one of the falling bombs and caught it, quickly throwing it in Bleck's direction before it detonated in her hands. It hit its target, but the count negated their future counterattacks by moving higher toward the ceiling and continuing the explosive assault.
"Let me hit him again." Luigi stood on one of the higher platforms and Super Jumped in the count's direction. However, he didn't anticipate Count Bleck releasing a bomb right above him. It slammed into Luigi, exploding and throwing the green plumber against the left wall. "Ughh..."
"Timpani, yeh 'ave to do somethin'!" urged O'Chunks. Timpani had been silently watching the fight until now.
"I...well...I don't know if we really should do this...if we really should fight Blumiere. Isn't there another way we can do it?"
"I don't think so. We ain't goin' to kill 'im or anythin'. We're just gonna pound some sense into 'im."
"Well...I suppose you're right..." Timpani jumped to one of the high platforms next to the one Luigi had attempted to attack from. When Count Bleck dropped an explosive in her direction, she quickly caught it and tossed it upward as hard as she could, hitting Bleck with the explosion again. The count flipped out.
"We're doing fine so far," reported Mario. "We just have to keep this up!"
"Not me..." groaned Luigi.
"Here, have a Super Shroom Shake!" The party had acquired a total of five Super Shroom Shakes, so Mario wasn't too concerned with their supply.
Count Bleck flipped in, appearing in the lower-left corner of the room next to Luigi. This gave Luigi an opportunity to head-stomp the count, damaging him again. Luigi was feeling quite confident, but Bleck wasn't going to allow himself to be attacked like this anymore. He floated right and upwards, waved his staff, and created a miniature Void, almost identical to the one produced by the mysterious villain in the ice palace. Our heroes knew what to do, but since Luigi was weakened, running away was difficult on his legs. "Help me, bro!"
Mario made a split-second decision. "Land on your feet, Luigi!" Luigi found out what his brother meant soon enough. Mario grabbed Luigi's arm and flung him away from the small Void to the left. Following Mario's advice, Luigi landed on his feet several yards away from the Void, where running away was much easier. The swirling vortex eventually dissipated. Count Bleck attacked again almost immediately, surrounding himself in an energy barrier and charging toward the heroes. Mario, Peach, and Mimi were hit by the count's energy charge and were knocked to the left.
"BLEH HEH HEH! BLECK! You pathetic heroes stand no chance...against Count Bleck!" Count Bleck again sent a beam of energy at the heroes that divided into twelve rays when it hit the ground. All of our heroes except Luigi and Nastasia were hit by the blast.
"We've got to attack him as a group!" whispered Mario. "I'll distract him, and you all give him your best!" The lead hero jumped onto the nearby platforms. The count followed, sending another magic beam Mario's way, but the other heroes dashed to the right and jumped into action, Luigi dealing another Super Jump and Mimi aiming a Rubee. O'Chunks and Timpani attacked Bleck from the nearest platform behind the count.
"Your puny attacks will do little...to Count Bleck!" The count soared up and left toward the corner, using his staff to create a complex pattern of white lines that stretched across the pitch-black room.
Mario remembered this attack from when he had fought Count Bleck at the very beginning of their adventure. "Get away from those lines!" He stood still in a line-free area, but Peach, Mimi, and Timpani weren't fast enough. Bolts of blue lightning flashed across the guiding lines Bleck had drawn, electrifying the three heroes. Mario rushed over to where they were resting, and could tell they had lost a large amount of HP from their heavy breathing. "Here!" Mario handed them another Super shake. The group now had three left, in addition to two Ultra ones.
"Bleck! uttered Count Bleck in disgust. You heroes have lasted longer than Count Bleck anticipated." Bleck spun his staff, creating a ring of teal-black squares that surrounded him. They condensed back into his body after a few seconds, from where they created a blue-green wave of energy that stretched horizontally across the room. The wave expanded in all directions, encompassing the entire room, including where our heroes were standing on the floor. Our heroes were thrown into slow motion, but the count was unaffected.
"Jump!" Luigi shouted, noticing a magic blast Count Bleck had fired from behind. Slowed down, only himself and O'Chunks were able to avoid the blast. The villain then flipped out, three of him flipping in again. Mimi tried to hit the nearest one with a Rubee, but the red stone traveled too slowly and the count was able to easily dodge it. Our heroes were all hit by the three Blecks' magic blasts.
Soon afterward, the slow-motion spell wore off and our heroes regained their normal speed. They were all damaged, but they could last a while longer without having to heal themselves. Mimi got her chance to hit the nearest Bleck with a Rubee while Timpani and Luigi aimed for the other two. The one Luigi targeted was the real Bleck, who then flipped out again. Flipping back in toward the left side of the room, he again unleashed his energy charge, sailing into where our heroes were standing. The heroes knew how to avoid this attack by now, however, and all of them dodged the assault successfully. When Count Bleck paused after slowing down, Mario nailed him with a hammer blow. "We're getting there, guys!"
The count again created white lines that stretched across the room. "Over here, O'Chunks!" Mario motioned toward a relatively empty area where both of them could fit. O'Chunks followed Mario into this area while the others found empty spots as well. Most of them were safe, but Nastasia was caught directly in the path of an electricity bolt when Bleck unleashed the attack. Moving to prevent the count from attacking the weakened Nastasia, Luigi prepared his Super Jump yet again and attacked Count Bleck. This gave an opening for Mario to deliver another hammer strike.
"Bleh heh heh..." Count Bleck was clearly weakened. "You heroes shall all be vanquished!" He again spun his staff and unleashed the teal time-slowing ray. This time, he also produced the small Void.
"Watch out!" uttered Mario. With our heroes trapped in slow motion, trying to run away from the Void was like asking a snail to run a marathon. Even as they ran as fast as they could, they were still slowly being pulled toward the center of the swirling darkness.
"Help!" Nastasia had been heavily damaged by Count Bleck's lightning attack. She'd faint if she was sucked into the vortex.
"Take my hand!" Luigi followed the move his brother had used to save him and threw Nastasia away from the Void. All of the others flailed helplessly as they were pulled into the center of the dark Void. The Void exploded in a flash of white light, dropping our heroes to the ground.
"I don't think we can go for much longer!" worried Peach. They were all close to being knocked out.
"We just need to hit him a few more times!" shouted Mario. "Come on! We can do it!" He jumped for Count Bleck. Time had reverted to normal by now, so he was able to dodge the blast the count sent at him. Bleck then began producing more bombs.
Come on, come on...give me a chance to attack! Mario grew tense as he continually dodged the bombs. How long would it be before he was hit and defeated?
"Take this, and then tell me you love me!" Mario looked below as Timpani hurled a bomb in Bleck's direction. The explosive detonated on impact, putting Count Bleck out for good.
Count Bleck vanished, flipping back in on the floor to the right of the heroes. "Noooo! It cannot be possible! You have defeated...Count Bleck!" He was lying on the floor, gasping for breath.
"Blumiere!" Timpani walked toward her husband. "You're not badly hurt, are you?"
"Count Bleck is finished, but Dimentio remains. He will finish you all..."
"Blumiere..." Timpani observed Count Bleck, horror-struck. The count was covered in injuries and was barely able to breath. "I knew we shouldn't have fought him! I knew..."
"Timpani..." Mario walked toward the couple. "I know you love him...but we had to. If we hadn't fought him, he probably would have killed us."
"I know...but...but..." Timpani fought to hold back her tears. "What...what do we do now? Blumiere's game will be over if we don't do anything, but he doesn't even remember me."
"I..." Mario truly didn't know what to do at this point. He was the leader, the one who was supposed to guide the others. Why couldn't he think of anything? Had the situation finally become too much for him?
"Struggling with your decision, are you?" taunted Dimentio's voice. The jester appeared above and behind Bleck. "I do believe I'll drop in and spare you the trouble."
"Dimentio!" accused Timpani. "You'll return Blumiere to normal...RIGHT NOW! I want to talk to my
real husband before his game ends!"
"Oh, why not? Just for some romantic parting words. Count Bleck's going to die in a few moments anyway, so I guess it won't make a difference." Dimentio snapped his fingers, enclosing Bleck in a box which then shattered.
"T...Timpani?" Our heroes noticed for the first time that Blumiere's voice had drastically changed. "Where...where are we? What is happening?" Blumiere moved his hands, gasping at the pain this caused him.
"I'll give you the details, Blumiere," answered Dimentio. "You've been fighting as my servant ever since I brought you to Flipside, working to help me end the games of your former minions and reactivate the Chaos Heart."
"That...that cannot be true!" Blumiere gasped for breath again, exhausted after speaking.
"It's true...Blumiere..." Timpani moved closer to her husband. "Please, don't let your game end! Stay with me, Blumiere! Stay with all of us!"
"I'm afraid it's too late for that, Timpani," replied Dimentio. "At least Blumiere will have passed away knowing you're still alive."
"NOOOO!!! BLUMIERE!!!"
"Timpani...heroes...even if my game ends, you must...defeat Dimentio. I don't kn...know how he returned, or how he knows about the past of the...Tribe of Darkness, but he must be defeated...if you want to save...all worlds."
Timpani was too overcome with sadness to speak.
"Well, there's no use just sitting here waiting for Blumiere to die," began Dimentio. "Let's activate my plan. Minions, prepare to meet your ends!"
"You'll never take us!" shouted Nastasia.
"Oh really? We'll see about THAT, pathetic minions!" Dimentio floated to the right, aiming a pink energy ball into where the three were standing.
"Let's git 'im!" O'Chunks, Mimi, and Nastasia dodged the attack and jumped onto the platforms, aiming to attack Dimentio from above. The evil jester positioned himself to the right of the minions, where he began firing waves of energy.
"Mario...what do we do?" asked Peach. "Should we help them?"
"I...I don't know. I guess we should...but should we leave Timpani and Blumiere like this?"
"It's fine," assured Timpani. "I just want to be with my husband. Go and help the minions fight."
"Are you sure?" Blumiere had begun to cough and hack uncontrollably. "Is there anything we can do to help Blumiere? We can't let his game end like this."
"Trust me, it's fine. I know you can help the minions defeat Dimentio. It's the only way we can save all of the dimensions."
"All right, then. Let's..."
"Watch out, Mario!" Mario ducked to avoid the Rubee that Mimi had aimed at Dimentio.
The jester snickered. "You minions are getting nowhere. Come and fight like you did in Flipside!"
"Fine, maybe we will!" Mimi jumped between Timpani and the heroes, facing Dimentio. The other two minions soon followed. "You'll never end our games in a million years!"
"So sure about that, pathetic freak? You're all quite exausted from the battle, and even more of your energy is gone from playing around with me. Wouldn't it be rather easy for me to kill you all?"
"Not on my watch!" asserted Nastasia.
"Very well, then. I will show you the hard way." Dimentio gathered energy and formed three glowing yellow boxes around the minions.
"Wha..." O'Chunks looked around at the interior of the box, shaking in horror.
"No!" shouted Peach. "You can't kill them! You..." Her voice trailed off.
"Oh, but I can. And I will. It's time for you to become the tools I intended to use you for since the beginning. Say your final farewells, pathetic minions." With a final "Ciao!", Dimentio snapped his fingers.
The glowing boxes exploded.
"YAAAAHHH!!!" screamed Mimi as she was engulfed in the burning explosion.
"NOOOO!!" Nastasia and O'Chunks were surrounded by the fiery explosions as well. When the blasts finally ceased, the minions had disappeared.
"I...they...you..." Mario stammered. "NOOOOO!!!" He tilted his head downward, closing his eyes in disbelief.
"I think 'yes' is more appropriate," countered Dimentio. "'Yes', I've destroyed the minions. 'Yes', you've all been defeated. And 'yes', I'm going to reactivate the Chaos Heart." Dimentio held his hands in the air, absorbing the energy the minion's deaths had released. He released the energy in the exact spot the Chaos Heart had rested the last time our heroes had been in this room. An explosion of dark energy radiated from that area, accompanied by two bright flashes. Our heroes, plus Blumiere and Timpani, watched helplessly as the Chaos Heart formed before them, giving off the omnious energy pulses they had become accustomed to.
"Dimentio...no...you cannot..." Blumiere struggled.
"Ah ha ha ha ha! Oh, but why not? I'm not going to spare you once the Chaos Heart begins its consumption of all worlds. You're the last person I'd spare, Blumiere, because...in all honesty...you are the person that caused all of the problems I now face."
"What? What are you talking about?" The area seemed to grow even more quiet, the encompassing silence broken only by the sounds of the dark energy emanating from the Chaos Heart.
"Well, I suppose Novelle could also share that blame, since that meddling rascal did interfere with Amtakan's plans...but
you, Blumiere,
chose to follow through with what she set you up for."
"Novelle? Amtakan? Who..."
"Oh, Blumiere, you're as clueless as ever, just as I was after I lost my memory. It's a good thing the shock of my own death reactivated the area of my memory I had lost, or I'd never have been able to carry out my plan of revenge."
"What? Then why...why did you steal the Chaos Heart?"
"I remembered that a person named Count Bleck was responsible for my troubles, and that I needed a form of intense power to accomplish the plans of someone else. That is why I joined you, Blumiere. I succeeded in stealing the Chaos Heart, but I unfortunately didn't remember what I truly needed it for. So I want to thank you, heroes, for not only gathering those Pure Hearts and defeating Blumiere for me-but also for causing my game's end."
"What are you talking about?" wondered Luigi.
Dimentio turned toward the heroes. "I'm talking about how Blumiere and those minions have caused nothing but trouble to the Tribe of Darkness. Blumiere caused the explosion that caused me to lose my memory, and I barely survived even then. O'Chunks stole the device Amtakan was going to use for the final illegal Pixl creation. And Nastasia stole my most valuable treasure...my hypnosis orb. Although Amtakan eventually did provide me with another one, I am still angry at her for stealing it, and even angrier that Blumiere would send her to do such a thing." The mysterious jester turned toward Blumiere and Timpani again. "I needed that hypnosis orb so I could keep you two seperate. If you hadn't married, the Tribe of Darkness wouldn't have been overcome with such disaster. Only pure Tribe of Darkness blood could continue to support the Dark Prognosticus. Mixed blood from another source would contaminate the chemical mix...and if you hadn't stolen that book, Amtakan could have waited until the safe time to release the Chaos Heart. Instead, you rejected your bloodline and caused the Chaos Heart to be released ahead of time, and for that, you must be punished." Dimentio surrounded Blumiere in a glowing yellow square. Almost whispering, he finished, "Farewell...my worthless son." With a snap of his fingers, Blumiere was trapped in series of fiery explosions that eventually dissipated, leaving an empty area where Blumiere had been.
"You..." Timpani stammered. "You...did...are..."
"It doesn't matter now, you pathetic excuse for a daughter-in-law. Now I'll merge myself with the Chaos Heart," he picked up the Heart, "and kill all of you arrogant fools! AH HA HA HA HA!!!" The Chaos Heart produced two glowing flashes. Beams of gray energy extended from the artifact, expanding to surround the entire room, which soon began shaking as if there had been an earthquake. In the center of the room, two lines were drawn, forming the top of a purple-and-yellow jester skirt that soon materialized. Larger versions of Dimentio's black shoes were drawn in and attached to the body with black-and-white chains. His hands followed the same pattern. Above the gigantic body, alternating purple and yellow spikes appeared, forming two circles above the body with a black area in the middle. The three topmost spikes of the two spike rings were much larger than the others, and white diamonds formed at their tops while more chains connected these two objects to the neck of the body. In the black center of the left spike ring, a gently sloping "U" shape appeared, glowing red, while another gentle, but upside-down "U" shape, glowing yellow, appeared in the same place in the right black area. Above the U shape in the left area, an upside-down yellow U identical to the shape in the right area formed above the red regular U, and the right area produced another red U above the yellow upside-down shape. This seemed to make the left area look like a smiling head, while the right one held a more malignant personality. Finally, the entire creation fell to the floor with a loud crash. "AH HA HA HA HA!!!" laughed both of Dimentio's heads in a booming voice. "I'LL DESTROY YOU ALL, AND THEN I'LL MAKE SURE THE TRIBE OF DARKNESS FINALLY GETS ITS HANDS ON THE CHAOS HEART AT THE RIGHT TIME-JUST AS AMTAKAN INTENDED!"
FINAL BOSS
Hyper Dimentio
"What can we do?" worried Timpani, changing back into Tippi. "Dimentio's being shielded by the power of the Chaos Heart. I don't think we can hurt him."
"I'll defeat him!" Mario jumped toward Hyper Dimentio's right head, using the platforms that now moved left to right and had faces. When he jumped on the head, he bounced off, dealing no damage whatsoever. He landed back where Luigi, Peach, and Tippi were waiting. "I can't hurt him!"
"AH HA HA HA!!!" laughed Dimentio's twin heads. "YOU PUNY HEROES CAN'T HURT ME NOW!" He extended his hand toward them and fired a neon green spreading laser from his finger. The three heroes were knocked back by the blast.
"We can't do anything!" stated Luigi. "And now..." He watched in horror as Hyper Dimentio began firing square projectiles at the group. "We're almost done for. We've got to use one of our Ultra shakes."
"But what use will that do?" argued Peach as she dodged Dimentio's projectiles. "There's no way we can hurt him."
Mario's mind raced. He still had questions about the whole situation, but now wasn't the time to think about them. They had to either fight to their last breath or die trying. How could they counter the Chaos Heart's power?
That's it! Counter the Chaos Heart's power! "We need the Pure Hearts!"
"What?" asked Luigi.
"The Pure Hearts. They can negate the Chaos Heart's power and remove Dimentio's barrier. We just need to repeat what we did last time!"
"We need...love?" asked Peach.
"Yes. We need love. We love every dimension. We love each other."
"I love my husband, even though..." Tippi couldn't finish her sentence. "I love him! I love Blumiere!"
"I loved existence enough to travel through eight dimensions, find the Pure Hearts, and confront Dimentio!" confided Luigi.
"I showed Kara love by disagreeing with Bowser, even as she tried to force us into slavery," continued Mario. "I showed Mimi love by forgiving her past mistakes, even after I learned she killed Merlumina. I showed Bowser love by not being angry at him, even as he rejected us!"
A brilliant flash appeared in the center of the group. Eight brightly glowing Pure Hearts, red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, blue, purple, and white, appeared in a ring that circled above where our heroes were standing. "The Pure Hearts!" joyfully announced Tippi.
The eight Pure Hearts rose into the air and formed a ring around Hyper Dimentio. "WHAT? WHAT IS..." After a brilliant flash, Dimentio seemed to weaken, and his body didn't glow with energy like it did before. "GRAAAHH!! NOT THE PURE HEARTS!!"
Our heroes suddenly felt their health being completely restored. "Hurry! Attack!" Mario led the others up the moving platforms, where Luigi jumped from the nearest one onto Hyper Dimentio's right head. His attack did damage, sending a rush of confidence through the heroes.
"I'll go for the body now!" Luigi walked below and to the right of Dimentio's body and aimed his Super Jump at his side, but he was knocked back without dealing damage.
"I think we have to take out the heads first!" Peach performed a sideways parasol thrust and hit Dimentio's right head again.
"YOU'LL NEVER DEFEAT GANTER, KING OF THE TRIBE OF DARKNESS!!" Hyper Dimentio, or Ganter as he was apparently once named, extended his right foot and crushed Luigi, who was still waiting below.
"Oww..." Luigi jumped to the platforms where the others were waiting, but Dimentio then leaped high into the air, clipping all three of our heroes and knocking them to the right.
"He's going to come down!" warned Mario. "Everyone, run to the left!" All four of them dashed leftwards as fast as they could. They heard Hyper Dimentio's large body slam into the ground behind them. The villain continued firing square projectiles while walking to the left, toward the heroes. He extended his left arm, and the hand grew about twice as large as it had previously been. Dimentio aimed his hand at Luigi in a powerful punch, but Luigi jumped out of the way and landed a direct hit on Hyper Dimentio's left, smiling head.
Dimentio created a large spark of energy in his right hand. He released the spark, and it began circling around the jester's body, posing a hazard for our heroes. At the same time, he began firing lasers from his left hand. "Watch out!" Luigi dive-bombed Mario out of the way to the right before she was zapped by a laser. Unfortunately, this put Peach in the path of the same laser. She was hit and slammed into the left wall.
"YOU'LL NEVER STAND UP TO MY FIRE DARTS! AH HA HA!!" Hyper Dimentio sent several flaming jets from his two heads into the air. They zoomed down to the ground in various places, burning all three of our heroes.
"Aahhh!" screamed Peach. "Quick! Get his head while he's charging his next attack!"
Mario climbed the nearby moving platforms, Luigi following close behind. Jumping for Hyper Dimentio's left head, Luigi scored a hit, but Mario was knocked back and electified by Dimentio's rotating spark. "Toss me the hammer, bro!" Luigi suggested. Mario quickly threw his hammer in Luigi's direction, managing to hit the head again before Luigi caught it. "Great aim!" Luigi struck the left head with Mario's hammer.
"PESKY BUGS!" Dimentio moved his left head to the right, and Luigi crashed to the floor. The jester held out both of his hands, and they began glowing. He fired short beams of energy in two different directions, and they slinked around the room, bouncing off walls and hitting our heroes.
"We're pretty beat," exhaled Luigi. "We still have two Ultra shakes, right?"
"Yes," answered Mario, "but we still have some health left." Hyper Dimentio's attacks dealed a tremendous amount of damage, but our heroes could still be hurt two or three more times before they needed a health booster.
"Let's finish this head!" Peach jumped for the left head, careful to avoid the rotating spark, then dodged Dimentio's laser blast and took out the smiling head.
"GRAAHHH!!!" The glowing yellow eye and red mouth on Dimentio's left head dimmed, and the head seemed to deactivate.
"Go for the right head!" Mario jumped to the right, bounced off Hyper Dimentio's body, and landed on his angry head, landing to the right.
"Mario, take this!" Luigi threw Mario his hammer. Mario expertly caught it and gave Dimentio's right head a hammer blow.
"Mario! Watch out!" screamed Tippi as Hyper Dimentio grew his right fist to massive proportions and sent it upward, punching Mario from below and smashing his head into the ceiling.
"We've got to help him!" Peach rushed to the right, past the villain's feet. Dimentio had moved his right head leftward to avoid attack, but this gave Luigi a chance to Super Jump the head from below and land on the right side where the others were waiting.
"I'LL CRUSH YOU ALL!!!" Hyper Dimentio again leaped into the air. Our heroes were too far to the left to avoid him when he came down.
"Get in the corner!" advised Mario. They all rushed for the lower-right corner, managing to avoid Dimentio when he landed.
Peach tried to attack the right head, but was intercepted by the rotating spark. "I think we need some healing now!"
"Here goes Ultra shake number one." Mario used the item, restoring the party's HP.
Hyper Dimentio enlarged his right fist again, aiming to crush all three of the heroes in one shot. They quickly climbed the moving platforms, but Mario was the last one to jump and was smashed by the huge fist. Struggling to rejoin Luigi and Peach, he was able to deal a double jump with Luigi while Peach attacked with her parasol. "I think this head is almost done in," reported Mario.
Attempting to defend his remaining head, Dimentio extended it to the left on its chain and fired constant lasers from his right hand. Our heroes were being hit by laser after laser. "Luigi! Stomp that head!" ordered Mario.
"It's way over there! I can't hit it!"
"Use your Super Jump! It'll take you over there!"
"Well...all right." Luigi charged his Super Jump, sailing over Dimentio's body and nailing the angry head. Its glowing eye and mouth faded, just as the left one had done.
"I think we can attack the body now! Come on!" Mario jumped at the body, avoiding the deactivated but still dangerous right head. His attack worked.
"GRRR!!! YOU'LL ALL DIE NOW!!!" Hyper Dimentio's body gathered energy and suddenly fired four large energy beams; up, to the left and right, and down. He continued firing them, making four constant obstacles. Then, he began to rotate them clockwise.
"Watch out!" Peach pulled Luigi away from one of the rotating beams, and they both dashed to the left. The four beams formed an "X" pattern that rotated around the room. Our heroes had to use the moving platforms to avoid the beams and stay in one segment formed by the perpendicular beams, making them very difficult to dodge. They were hit several times, although Mario managed to hammer-strike the body while dodging the beams.
Dimentio eventually turned the beams off. "IT'S NOT OVER YET!!!" The energy spark that rotated around the villain's body divided into three identical sparks, making it even harder to hit him.
"Luigi, throw me between those sparks!" commanded Mario. "I'll get him with the hammer, and you two can give him all you've got!"
"OK!" Luigi sent Mario flying to the left toward Dimentio's body, where Mario dealt the most forceful hammer blow he could manage. At the same time, Luigi Super Jumped the body while Peach attacked it from above.
"We're doing good," breathed Mario. "We just have to survive whatever he throws at us, and we'll be fine!"
Dimentio did throw something new at them. He extended his arms as far as they would go, and began spinning his body, rotating his hands. He threw himself to the right, slamming his fists into our heroes, then richocheted to the left, coming back to the right again. "Quick! Jump over his hands!" Luigi advised. He and the two other heroes jumped Dimentio's second fist swing and climbed the platforms, ready to stomp on his body when he came around again. He stopped in the center of the room, giving our heroes a longer jump than they anticipated, but they went for it anyway. Mario and Luigi stomped Dimentio's body, but Peach was knocked back by the right head and landed on the floor.
"Mario! Noooo!!!" Peach screamed as Hyper Dimentio's right foot came down on her.
"Peach!" Mario rushed to his princess's side. "We still have a couple of Super shakes." He gave Peach the item.
"Thanks, Mario."
"Watch out!" Tippi shouted as Dimentio aimed another laser at Mario and Peach. Peach jumped out of the way just in time, but Mario was hit.
Meanwhile Luigi, on the left side of Hyper Dimentio, was dodging the projectiles the jester was firing. "Yah! Wahoo! Think you can hit the Great Luigi?" Dimentio roared and smacked Luigi into the wall with his fist.
"Luigi, we're coming!" Mario and Peach rushed to Luigi's side, Mario giving Dimentio's body a hammer attack while he was at it.
"I think we almost have him!" reported Peach. Hyper Dimentio seemed weakened.
"YOU'RE ALL JUST PUNY HEROES! YOU'LL NEVER STAND UP TO THE FULL MIGHT OF THE TRIBE OF DARKNESS!!!" Dimentio moved to the right, again firing the four perpendicular lasers, this time rotating them in a counter-clockwise manner. Our heroes rushed to the right, past the villain's feet, to avoid the beams. Dimentio almost managed to smash Mario, but he jumped out of the way before his right foot came down to the ground. While they were climbing the platforms on Hyper Dimentio's right side, Mario attempted to damage the jester again, but was zapped by one of the three sparks. He decided it was best to wait until after Dimentio had stopped using the lasers.
After a while, Hyper Dimentio turned the lasers off, leaving our heroes on his left side. "Quick! Aim for the top!" Mario told Luigi. Luigi attacked the top of Dimentio's body while Mario jumped and spun his hammer around, damaging the lower part of Hyper Dimentio's body.
"GRAAAHH!!! I'LL GET YOU ALL!!!" Hyper Dimentio was on his last few breaths. A couple more hits, and he'd be out.
"He's just about done for!" Luigi stated. "Let's get him!" Before our heroes could do anything, though, Dimentio again produced the bouncing lasers from his hands, firing several of them this time. He then stomped directly on Mario, who watched helplessly as the bouncing beams struck Luigi and Peach multiple times.
"No!" Mario struggled under Dimentio's left foot, finally wiggling free. "Come on, guys! Let's defeat this crazy jester!"
"YAAAHHH!!!" Luigi aimed his foot toward Hyper Dimentio's body, and Peach gave it her best from the top. Mario again attacked from below with his hammer, and the three heroes all nailed Dimentio at the same time, once and for all.
"WHAT!? WHAT'S HAPPENING!?" Hyper Dimentio's body began shaking. Soon enough, huge explosions covered the jester's body. "NOOOOOO!!!" The chains that connected Dimentio's heads and limbs to his body broke, sending the parts of his body flying across the room in different directions. "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!?!?" Hyper Dimentio's heads gave one final cry before the entire monster exploded in a series of detonations. Dimentio himself was thrown out of the body and landed facefirst in front of the heroes. "Nooo!!! How could I have lost? How could the Chaos Heart have failed me?"
Our heroes walked closer to Dimentio, the villain that had caused them so much trouble. "We've defeated you, Ganter," accused Tippi. "Now go back to The Underwhere, where scums like you deserve to rot."
Dimentio stood up. "It won't be
that easy to get rid of me, Timpani. As long as I'm still alive, the Chaos Heart will still be consuming every world-and now that my rebellious son is dead, there's nothing you can do about it. I invite you to sit back and watch as your world disappears into the hands of the Tribe of Darkness!"
Tippi's voice was tear-stained. "I don't care about your stupid Tribe of Darkness. I care about Blumiere, and I know he was right to reject his bloodline, to avoid whatever evil, conniving thing you had planned."
"Indeed, if Novelle hadn't taken out that section of the ground, none of this would have happened...but it's Blumiere's and only Blumiere's fault he decided to stay with you. If not for that choice, the Tribe of Darkness may well have already been ruling over all dimensions."
"What is this Tribe of Darkness anyway?" demanded Mario. "What were you and Amtakan planning? Why did you need Blumiere's blood?"
"You heroes want to know everything, don't you? I'm afraid that's too bad. It won't matter anyway, since there's nothing you can do while The Void ravages every dimension. I wouldn't even try if I were you, since there's simply nothing you can do. Or, there's always the option of joining the winning team. Would you four like to join my crew? You'll be spared once the Tribe of Darkness rules every world."
"We'll never side with you, you backstabbing lying muderer!" Tippi shouted.
"That's perfectly fine. Four more recruits won't make much of a difference anyway. Well, heroes, I guess this is our final farewell. Goodbye-and remember, you can't do anything to save the universe! Ciao!" Dimentio vanished.
"So that was Dimentio's secret..." mused Merlon. "As Blumiere's father Ganter, he led the Tribe of Darkness, hoping to use Blumiere's blood to support the Dark Prognosticus. But Blumiere rebelled and loved Timpani, so Amtakan gave him a hypnosis orb, which Nastasia ended up stealing. He was given another one, though...which is why he was able to hypnotize Blumiere. He's had this ability all along, he just didn't remember it."
"But how could the blood of the Tribe of Darkness work to help the Dark Prognosticus?" wondered Peach. "Is that why they stole it? To use their blood to...um...'support' it?"
"If Dimentio was telling the truth," continued Mario, "the person who founded the Tribe of Darkness stole the Dark Prognosticus after the Pixl Uprising to prevent another incident like that from happening again. But perhaps that person was Amtakan, and he used the Pixl Uprising as an excuse to take it?"
"If that's true," began Luigi, "then wouldn't it be possible for Amtakan to have
caused the Pixl Uprising? All as part of a plan to steal the Dark Prognosticus?"
"But how would the Dark Prognosticus help him?" asked Tippi. "If...well..."
"And who's this Novelle?" posed Merlon. "Morris apparently knows who she is, and so does Dimentio..." The wizard was lost in thought.
"It's funny how answers so often just lead to more questions..." thought Peach aloud.
"Well, regardless of all the stuff that happened in the past," began Luigi, "we're here
now, and the situation
now doesn't look very pretty. The Void's in the sky again, and we don't have any way to stop it now that..." Luigi trailed off. "...their games are over."
"I still can't believe Blumiere's really gone..." sobbed Tippi. "No, I take that back. He must be alive somewhere. I can just...feel it. I'm sure of it!"
"You think he's still alive?" asked Mario. "I mean, I can believe that and everything, but...where? I'm...pretty sure Dimentio ended
