A New Generation in the Forgotten Land

Chapters

Chapter 1: Point of Arrival
Chapter 2: Downtown Grasslands
Chapter 3: Through the Tunnel
Chapter 4: Rocky Rollin' Road
Chapter 5: A Trip to Alivel Mall
Chapter 6: The Brawl at the Mall
Chapter 7: Abandoned Beach
Prologue: In the Star of the Storm

Chapter 1: Point of Arrival

"Po... Poyo..." I stood still for a few seconds, trying to piece things together. What was a pony doing here in this new place? And why did she look... different than the ponies I was familiar with? Her head and eyes seemed smaller than those of most ponies I knew, and her hooves were a different color than her coat. It was almost like she appeared more... realistic. Which is saying something, considering I'm from a universe where dreams can come true, no matter how unusual they are, so therefore things are usually pretty caricatured.

I may not have known the answer to why she was different, but I made a guess as to what she was doing here.

I turned to Gim-E with a knowing look. "Poyo poyo, poyo?" Rough translation: You brought her here, didn't you?

He nodded. "I may not be able to decipher your poyo language, but if you're thinking what I hypothesize you are thinking, then you are indeed correct. I'm the one who brought this fine young pony here." He motioned towards the unicorn. "This is Izzy Moonbow, of the new generation!"

Izzy offered her hoof. "I sure am! Nice to meet you, Kirby!"

I wasn't sure what to think of this pony from the new generation, since I pretty much just left behind my life as a big fan of ponies the moment I learned that the Mane Six were officially no more (I know that's a ridiculously drastic response, but taking extreme measures is what I do), but I shook her hoof anyway. "Poyo, Izzy." Then I gave Gim-E a confused look. "Poyo?" But why?

He answered, "I figured you were getting lonely after the Mane Six... left Equestria, so to speak. And so, I brought along Izzy in the hopes that you would have a new pony friend to chill with! I know you're super attached to your old pony friends, but we can fill that void with new pony friends!"

I smiled at his attempt to bring ponies back into my life, but there was a single problem. I don't like to admit this, but... I was afraid. That the new generation would be different.

And something else crossed my mind: If Gim-E came to Pop Star just to bring over Izzy, then how did he know about the storm...?

I deadpanned at him.

He sighed. "Okay, fine, none of this was my idea. Your old man was the one who decided for me to send over Izzy today. He knew about the storm, as well as the fact that you needed ponies back in your life, so he told me and Izzy this was the day to come and see you. Izzy was super excited to meet you, because she had heard stories of your exploits from back when the Mane Six were around."

Izzy finished, "So we all decided that Gim and I should ride on over to Pop Star and join you on your next adventure so you and I could have some bonding time!"

I tilted my head. How did I not see her, though?

Reading my facial expression, she added, "Oh yeah, and Gim had me hide on the underside of the Warp Star so you couldn't see me."

"Ah, poyo." Oh. That explains why I couldn't see her, and why I heard her voice warning me about the tree.

With all that cleared up, I looked around at the group with a smile.

"I know that look on your face," Bandana Dee noted. "You're all ready to start this awesome adventure!"

I gave him a determined nod. "Poyo!"

"Then it's go time!" Gim pointed at me. "Lead the way, Kirby of the Stars!"

And lead the way I did.

I strolled along the grassy path ahead of me as the others followed behind, rocks and trees on each side of the path. Just meters after we set foot on the grass did I notice a white flower with its petals closed. I carefully touched it with my hand, and it bloomed, releasing some kind of golden ring with a star in the middle of it.

"Wow!" Izzy beamed. "How did you do that, Kirby?"

Bandana Dee explained, "That's a Pop Flower. They usually hold nice goodies, so you want to open every one you find."

"Ooh, that's so cool! And what's the thing that came from it?"

Gim shrugged. "I dunno, but it looks important. As for the name, let's call it a Star Coin. Kirby, can you tuck that away in your stomach dimension?"

"Poyo!" I grabbed the Star Coin and ate it like that was a completely normal thing for me to do, which it was.

Continuing ahead into a misty area, we found a Star Coin on a raised platform. Izzy grabbed it and tossed it to me to eat, and we clambered onto the plateau east of us so we could keep moving onward and fetch another Star Coin on another raised platform.

Bandana grabbed another Star Coin from a nearby Pop Flower, and we found a log extending over a small gap further east. I inhaled the nearby Star Block and spat it at the big Star Block on the other side, breaking both and revealing a few Star Coins to collect.

But before crossing the log, Izzy caught our attention. "Hey, what's that?" She pointed up at a sparkling spot on a boulder.

"Poyo?" I volunteered to see what it was.

I climbed onto the boulder and touched the sparkling spot, and a chiming sound was heard. I turned around and saw that three Star Coins had appeared back on the ground.

Gim said, "Good to know, twinkles spawn items. We should keep that in mind while on our journey."

After collecting the Star Coins, we went across the bridge and got the ones hidden under the big Star Block. A little farther ahead, and...

"Oh my gosh, you're so cute!"

Izzy ran up and hugged an orange fox creature guarding the path north, and it tried to squirm out of her grip.

She gave us puppy–dog eyes. "Can we keep him?"

Gim shook his head. "Here's a rule you should follow when on an adventure..."

Slash! Izzy narrowly avoided a claw swipe from the fox, who quickly got ready to fight.

"Never try to pet or adopt something that acts aggressive towards you. Even if it's sleeping or doesn't notice you."

"Oh, okay. Sorry, little guy."

Izzy jumped over the fox as it charged, and it kept running, failing to notice Bandana Dee's spear which promptly made it trip and fall over the edge of the path.

Now that the threat was taken care of, Gim activated Sizzle Mode, and he used his yo-yo to burn away the nearby tall grass and reveal a huge blue Star Coin, which I ate along with two gold Star Coins Izzy found in Pop Flowers behind a tree.

We took the path north, and surprisingly, there was a lamp post by the path. An empty soda can was beneath it.

"An artificial structure? Processed food?" Gim-E took a moment to think, then he gasped. "Could that mean... a long-lost civilization once lived here?!"

Further ahead, his question was answered. The path widened, and we took full advantage of the opportunity to gaze at our new surroundings.

We were out of the forest, and our new location... was a modern city overtaken by nature. A guardrail lined the left side of the path, a metal fence and telephone poles lined the right side, and a massive building loomed ahead of us. All around were other large buildings.

"Guys..." Gim stared in awe, with ecstasy in his voice. "Our adventure has now truly begun. Cueing appropriate music!"

With a smile on our face and a bounce in our step, we gleefully ran forward to experience this new place in all its glory.

Turning at the lit up arrow sign pointing right, we encountered a Blade Knight, a swordsman clad in green armor with a red visor.

"Sir Kirby!" He saluted. "Greetings to you and your friends."

We saluted back. "Hello, Blade Knight!" Bandana Dee said. "What are you doing here?"

"I suppose you've had an encounter with the white dimensional rifts in a large storm cloud looming over Pop Star? One of them pulled me into this strange, forgotten land. And now..."

He pointed his sword at us.

"I know my efforts will be futile, but I must do my job as a relatively new slave of the beings of this world. My apologies, but by the orders of the Beast Pack, I must stop you!"

Gulp!

Into my mouth he went, and upon swallowing him, I gained a green hat with a yellow cotton ball on the end and a yellow rim. A silver sword appeared in my hand.

"Isn't that your Copy Ability?" Izzy asked. "I heard about you back in Equestria, and that was one of the things I learned about you."

I nodded. "Yeah!"

I demonstrated my swordplay by slashing some of the grass and enemies along the path: a mushroom enemy called Cappy; pink winged creatures called Bronto Burts; and a beige stone head called Kabu.

Gim dealt with the remaining Blade Knight, and Bandana Dee took down the remaining Cappy.

To continue, we had to make our way up to a high platform. I was easily able to do it by inhaling air and flapping my arms to float up there, and Bandana could spin his spear like a helicopter blade and fly there, but Izzy didn't have a chance. So Gim used Bluster Mode to give her a boost with his yo-yo before spinning his way up there. Once that hurdle was taken care of, we made a few more jumps and climbed a ladder to the next part of the area.

In this area, we were met with a Cappy and two blue–clothed enemies who tried to blast us with bombs, Poppy Bros Jr. I threw away my hat and inhaled one, gaining a party hat with explosion designs on it. With the Bomb Ability, I tossed bombs to blow up the remaining enemies in the vicinity before moving onward. We came across a metal bridge that was being targeted by a Poppy Bro Jr, so Izzy used her magic to send one of his bombs back at him so we could cross safely.

After defeating a Kabu, we came across a broken metal bridge patrolled by a Bronto Burt. I bombed him and jumped across with Bandana Dee while Gim and Izzy took the long way around. Then we came to a makeshift ramp made by a fallen billboard, with a Kabu on the other side. I sniped it with a rolled bomb before we crossed the sign and made it to the building on the other side.

I couldn't read the letters on the sign above the door, because they were in a different language than the ones I was used to. However, Gim translated it for me: “Holine Custom Autos”. Honestly, I didn't really get what that meant. But the building had a black and white checkered stripe that went all around it, so I did have an idea of what it was for. And it had its doors open, so we invited ourselves in.

The moment we entered, we had a look around. The inside of the building was pretty big, especially on the right side where there was a winding path around some shelves that contained tools and machine parts. But right in front of us was a blue, rusty car with a sign hanging above it.

I couldn't read that sign either, but Gim translated it as well: “Brand New”.

Suddenly, the car shook. And a couple of fox ears poked up from behind it. Then a trio of foxes jumped out and glared at me.

"Poyo poyo." I took off my hat and gave it to Bandana Dee with a grin.

Then I stood firm, closing my eyes... and inhaled.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Each of the foxes fell victim to the vortex from my mouth. But I kept inhaling. That car looked pretty old, so maybe my inhale could yank off one of its wheels and nab me the Wheel Ability...

"Outta the way, everyone!" Gim exclaimed out of the blue.

Confused by his sudden warning, I chose to open my eyes so I could see what he was worried about...

And the car was flying right towards me.

POP!

Somehow, the car fit into my mouth. But only partially.

"Kirby!" Bandana Dee ran in front of me with worry in his eyes. "Are you okay? Do you need help?"

For a while, I thought about what to do. I only wanted one wheel, not the entire car! But, at the same time, I wanted to see what would happen if I took advantage of this... predi–car–ment.

So I tried to fit the rest of the car into my mouth.

Gim ran in front of me as well and watched as I tried to stuff the front end of the car into my stretched–out mouth. "Dude, are you... trying to inhale the rest of that radical ride?" He stood still for a while before nodding. "Okay, I'll help you! Izzy, give me a hoof!"

Izzy got beside Gim and turned around, her back hooves in the air ready to strike. "Ready when you are!"

"Then let's do it! Buck and roll on my mark! One, two... Three!"

Gim punched the car and Izzy bucked it.

BOING!

The force of their strike shoved the rest of the car into my maw, and the car hit the back of my throat before ricocheting back and coming to a stop snugly inside my mouth. Good thing Gim and Izzy rolled out of the way.

It felt really weird, but... I liked the result. A bit uncomfortable, but practical.

To add the finishing touch, I opened my mouth so the wheels would be firmly on the ground.

Izzy stared in shock. "That... Was..." She jumped with excitement. "Amazing!" Before anyone could react, she jumped on the hood of the car, which was now my forehead. "Dibs on the front seat!"

"So that's how it's gonna be, eh?" Gim hopped onto the top of the car, my back. "Then I take the roof!"

Bandana Dee sighed. "Well, that leaves the back for me." He walked around and hung onto the back of the car, my butt. At least for him, he had my feet to stand on in case his arms got tired.

Now that everyone was ready, there was only one thing left to do: start the car. In my Squeak Squad adventure, I learned how to control the things inside of my stomach dimension. Maybe it was the same with things simply in my mouth? To test this theory, I focused on getting the car started...

VROOM!

This was awesome! I'd grown so much that I learned to control things that were just in my mouth! When I get back from this adventure, I'm gonna have to thank my dad for training me.

Gim happily shouted, "Time to blow this car shop, full speed ahead!"

"Mm–mm!" I made the car go as fast as possible, zooming around the shelves to the right and racing right into the cracked wall at the end.

Breaking through, we landed in the back lot of the building. And that's when I decided that this was actually better than the Wheel Ability. I could never smash through a crack in a building as a simple wheel!

Using this awesome new Ability—well, more like form, because I didn't actually swallow the car—I raced along the paved road, flattening or ramming any enemies in my way. I broke through any and all things that had cracks in them, be they small boulders or walls completely blocking the road. I drove along the road all the way to a row of logs standing on their ends and knocked them over, forming a bridge that led to a big pile of Star Coins.

After jumping down and running over some more Cappies and cracked boulders, I came to a raised drawbridge blocked by one last boulder.

"Well..." Bandana said. "A raised drawbridge. This is a problem."

"No it isn't!" Izzy answered confidently. "Kirby, step on it!"

"Mhm!" Following her advice, I charged right into the boulder, breaking it and ramming into the drawbridge.

After bouncing back, I looked up at Izzy to give her a nod in thanks...

But she was now pressed face–first against the drawbridge, which only teetered upon being rammed. "Worth it..."

"Why?" Bandana asked. "The drawbridge is still..."

The bridge promptly leaned forward, gaining speed as gravity took hold until it landed with a loud thud.

"...up."

"You're such a pessimist, Bandana Dee," Gim teased. "Maybe some music would help put a smile on your face."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gim's hand reach out and grab a boom box on the side of the road.

"Yoink! Now let's hear what's trending... Or, well, what was trending." I heard some static and tuning sounds, soon followed by catchy music. I couldn't help but bop to the beat. "The people of this world had some great taste! This is perfect for a road trip!"

Izzy clambered back on me. "Ooh, can we sing to it? I'm pretty good at that sort of thing."

"You bet! One, two, three, four!"

And so, Gim began singing as I drove across the drawbridge into a big city, everyone grooving to the music.

"Seatbelts fastened... All set to roam!"

The road branched out to the left and right, and I took the third right.

Izzy sang the next line.

"Let's all explore this new world!"

I drove along at a leisurely pace, taking in all the buildings that were beautifully overtaken by nature.

Gim took over again.

"Far from Pop Star, in a place where we're living our dream.
A mouthful of fun awaits us, the fifth gen team!"

I stopped at a crosswalk to allow a white duck and her cute yellow chicks to pass before continuing along, taking note of a couple of fox enemies on one of the buildings on our right.

Izzy sang again.

"With the wings of friendship, not a thing can hold us back."

I drove by a fox sleeping on a bench. It woke up, but it didn't seem to care about chasing after us.

"Soaring here and there, we'll stop foes on the attack!"

I screeched to a halt so I could turn right onto a long road across the ocean, and Gim and Izzy broke into a duet.

"Here we go!
The steering wheel of fate keeps our lives from being bland."

We all took a whiff of the nice, fresh air, and feeling rejuvenated by the wind caressing my body, I sped along to reach the other side of the ocean.

"This spring breeze
Surrounds Bandana, you, me, Kirby and the forgotten land!"

"Woo! Alright!" Gim cheered. "You up for another verse, Izzy?"

Izzy shook her head. "Thanks, but now I just wanna enjoy the view. Sometimes I get too caught up singing to notice what's going on around me."

"Ah, I get it. Well then, let's go ahead and enjoy the rest of this drive."

So Gim turned off the radio, and we turned our full attention to the amazing environment we were rolling through.

A few minutes had passed, and the road seemed to have no end. My friends were busy playing I Spy to kill some time.

Bandana Dee said, "I spy something... dark green."

"A road sign?" Gim asked.

"Yep!"

"Sweet! I spy something... small."

"...Bandana Dee's spear's scarf?" Izzy answered.

"Sure is!"

"Alright! Let's see..." Izzy hummed. "Ooh! I spy something big, silver, and eating something that looks like Bandana Dee!"

"Wait, what?!" the others gasped.

We looked up, and sure enough, Izzy really did spy something that fit that description. A bunch of somethings, actually. Silver cages shaped like lions, with the bars looking like their sharp teeth, were being carried away by black birds with red beaks. Within each cage was a Waddle Dee, crying out for help.

Luckily, one of the Waddle Dees saw us. He was wearing a scholar's hat and glasses. "Kirby! Take the upcoming road to your right! That'll bring you to...!"

He was cut off as the black bird took him away.

"I think he knows what he's talking about," Izzy told me. "You better take his advice!"

I nodded and did as the Waddle Dee instructed, taking the next right. It took me around a bend, but the road ended in front of a raised platform I couldn't reach with the car in my mouth. So after everyone got off of me...

PTOOEY!

I spat out the car and continued on foot, Bandana Dee giving me back my Bomb hat. We climbed up a ladder and passed some rubble before reaching a natural ramp. It had thin logs lining it like stairs, so I guessed it led to some sort of town. When we went up the ramp, it was revealed that the ramp really did lead to a town...

...that was left in ruins.

Something else that caught our attention were a couple of Waddle Dees being chased by those fox enemies before birds dropped cages on them. The bottoms of the cages closed and the bars rose when they trapped the Waddle Dees so the poor guys couldn't escape after being caught. Looking up to the sky, we saw that several other Waddle Dees very recently met the same fate.

And after they were carried away, a cyan creature caught the attention of the foxes. They chased it into a corner, where it stopped flying away and faced them, fear in its shimmering blue eyes. I saw that it was a mouse creature with big ears like Squeakers and a fluffy tail.

Then three black birds dropped a bigger, golden cage on the creature, trapping it where it floated.

"Hey!" Izzy said. "Stop being mean to that little guy!"

The foxes turned to face her, then several more foxes joined them. They all charged, hoping to overwhelm us with their number. My friends and I got ready to put them in their place, but to the surprise of me and Bandana Dee...

"I didn't say you could be mean to us either!"

Izzy's horn flared to life, and from it came a strong laser that sent the foxes packing.

Bandana Dee, the creature, and I gawked at the unicorn who had just saved us the trouble of beating up those mooks.

And contrary to us, Gim patted Izzy on the back while casually saying, "Way to put your training to work, Izzy! You sure showed them what for!"

Izzy giggled. "Thanks, but we're not done yet." She pointed at the mouse creature in the cage. "Just need to figure out how to free that cute little thing."

We walked up to the cage and inspected it. The cage looked really sturdy, and after we gave it a quick pat down, we couldn't find any hidden buttons that might open it. Brute force seemed like the only way to solve this problem.

But maybe... there's another way...?

I looked down at my hands.

After a brief moment of concentration, the tips of them glowed. I put my hands on the cage. I took it nice and slow, starting out weak and steadily increasing the intensity. The cage began to glow as well, vibrating as I upped the ante.

Then all of a sudden... it shattered, freeing the creature and scaring the birds away.

The creature flew around happily before giving me a hug. As it did so, I noticed that there was a small chunk missing from its right ear. "Phew! You all rescued me! Thank you so much..."

"We're glad to help," Bandana Dee replied. "But we have other business to take care of. My brethren are in trouble, and we came this way to find out a way to save them!"

"Brethren?" The creature looked up towards the sky, in the direction that the Waddle Dees had been taken away. "Do you mean... you're here to help save the others, the Waddle Dees?"

"Uh huh, that's exactly what we're here for," Izzy answered. "We came right this way as soon as we saw them being taken away by black birds! They don't deserve that!"

Bandana Dee added, "And I'm the leader of the Waddle Dees, so it's my duty to make sure they are okay! No matter how dangerous the obstacle, I got to save all of them!"

The creature cheered up. "Really? So you'll help me save everyone? That's great to hear! We tried our best to fight back against those beasts, but they just kept coming back for more. But now that you're here, things should go better from here on out!" It pointed at itself. "My name's Elfilin. What are your names?"

I went first. "Kirby!"

After me came Gim-E. "My full identity is GM-2375 Enhanced Model, but most people refer to me as Gim-E. I'm one of the GM-series of robots, but I also got a major upgrade, hence the Enhanced part."

Then came Izzy. "I'm Izzy Moonbow, and I come from Equestria of the planet Equus! In case you couldn't tell from my horn, I'm a unicorn."

Finally, Bandana Dee began to talk, but Elfilin interrupted him. "Wait! Let me guess... You're Bandana Waddle Dee? I heard that name from the other Waddle Dees."

Bandana nodded. "Yep, that's my name. I know, pretty obvious and ridiculously self-explanatory. But yeah, I'm also second in command to King Dedede and leader of his Waddle Dee army."

Elfilin shook each of our hands, or hoof in Izzy's case. "Nice to meet you all! But I still have a couple of questions. First off..." He looked at me in surprise. "How did you do that thing with your hands and my cage? That was really neat!"

Gim answered for me. "I try my best not to spoil things, so let's just say that Kirby's more than you think..."

"That's an understatement. I don't know anyone who can just break a cage by touching it! As for my second question..." Elfilin put a hand on his chin. "How are we going to catch up with those Waddle Dees? Those birds are pretty fast!"

With a smile, I pressed a button on my Cell Phone, and my Warp Star came right to us.

Elfilin was amazed. "Wow, you can call your Warp Star? I've always wanted to ride one!" He gleefully floated over and grabbed on.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Bandana Dee boarded the Warp Star. "Let's go save those Waddle Dees!"

"Poyo!" I jumped on as well.

Gim and Izzy passed on taking the Warp Star, with Gim opting to use Bluster Mode and Break Spin to his destination while Izzy rode the gusts of wind he left behind.

And together, we flew off to begin our Waddle Dee hunt.

Author's Note

As you might have noticed, I won't write out all of the Star Coins being collected, nor will I give all the details of each location. That would make the story too long and boring, and I'm not up to it either.

Also, Izzy riding the wind left behind by Gim-E in his Bluster Mode is a slight reference to riding turbulence in Sonic Riders (0:38 in this video).

Chapter 2: Downtown Grasslands

Once we were high enough to get a good look at our surroundings, I made sure to see what kind of area we were in and where we would be going. Looking down below us, we could tell that we were in some kind of grassy plains area. But what was interesting about it were the signs that a modern civilization once lived in this place. And looking into the distance, we saw a beach area far ahead of us. But before going there, we had to search for all the Waddle Dees that needed rescuing here in these natural plains.

So Izzy turned to Elfilin for answers. "Hey, do you have any idea where those caged Waddle Dees could have been taken?"

Elfilin nodded. "I think so. The beasts that were trying to capture them are smarter than they look. There's no way they'd leave the Waddle Dees unguarded, so I bet we could find some Waddle Dees in pretty dangerous places that the beasts are usually around. So that means we should start our hunt right around..."

He manned the Warp Star and took it down to a wide, hilly area with a few fox enemies in the distance.

"...here, the Downtown Grasslands!"

We all landed, and the Warp Star flew away to wait for me to call it again.

The gang spread out and marched ahead, ready to find Waddle Dees to save. Three fox enemies saw us coming and tried to ward us off, but they were easily defeated by Bandana Dee's spear and my bombs. Gim destroyed a big Star Block one of the foxes was standing on, revealing some Star Coins, while Izzy ran past him to open a red Pop Flower tulip and earn a big red Star Coin.

"A tulip Pop Flower? That's new," Gim mused. "I feel we should do our best to open those as well!"

Jumping up to a higher area, I discarded my Bomb hat to swallow a Sir Kibble, a yellow helmet with hands and feet. I gained the Cutter Ability, donning a yellow hat with a cutter boomerang that acted as a dorsal wing. I used the Cutter to cleave some grass and a big Star Block hidden within it.

Then I joined the others who were contending with a jumping blue bunny and a Sir Kibble. I took care of the bunny as Bandana skewered the Sir Kibble. We considered taking down the nearby sleeping fox enemy, but Izzy convinced us not to. Instead, we grabbed some Star Coins off the nearby log and defeated another blue bunny, then we kept moving forward to find a blue button guarded by a Bronto Burt.

"Ooh! I wanna see what that button does!" Izzy shoved the Bronto Burt away with her magic so she could step on the switch.

Upon doing so, a yellow gate protecting a slice of strawberry shortcake raised up.

"That was lucky," Gim sighed.

"What do you mean?" Izzy asked.

"Well, you never know what pushing a switch can do. For all we know, that switch could've opened up a trap door beneath your hooves! You always want to check the situation before pushing buttons."

"Oh, okay. But hey, we got free cake!"

"Mm?" Too bad for Izzy, I had already eaten the cake. Strawberry shortcake is my favorite dessert. After finishing off the cake, I gave her a bashful chuckle. "Hehe..."

When the others came over, I saw that Izzy had gotten some cuts from the Sir Kibble. That cake could have healed her, but it still can. The only question was...

Could she handle a Face-to-Face?

...No, she was too innocent. If only there was a different way to transfer the healing powers of food from one person to another...

But maybe there was...

My hands shattered the cage that held Elfilin. Maybe they could also allow me to share the effects of restoring food. I just had to find an excuse to contact her with my hand...

Izzy glanced to her left, and I followed her gaze. She was looking down a hidden path that had a tulip Pop Flower at the end. "Wow, check it out! We found ourselves a secret tunnel!"

Bingo.

"Poyo!" I raised my hand for a high five, and she obliged. As we made hand/hoof contact, I saw her cuts go away.

Izzy noticed as well. "Huh? My cuts... Did our hoof bump make them go away?!"

"I think it did!" Bandana Dee replied. "In the Dream Universe, foods such as that cake Kirby ate can restore health. We Dream Landers are able to share their effects by an action called Face-to-Face."

"Face-to-Face..." Izzy gave Bandana a coy grin. "Are you saying Dream Landers kiss each other after one of them eats so the other can heal too?"

"Err, well..." Bandana turned red. "Kissing is one way you could look at it..." He shook himself out of his embarrassment. "Anyway! Kirby didn't want you to go through such an intimate thing, so in trying to find an alternative, he discovered that his powers had grown so much that he can share healing through hand contact."

Izzy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I can understand why he'd want to do a hoof bump instead of a kiss to share health. Now then..." She excitedly pointed down the tunnel again. "Secret tunnel!"

"Secret tunnel!" Gim sang.

"Poyo...?" I asked while walking down the tunnel.

"You need to start watching more Avatar," Gim told me. "Not the movie with the blue guys, mind you. The other Avatar. I was referencing a famous song that's in that show."

"The Avatar with the four nations?" Bandana asked while opening the Pop Flower tulip.

"That's the one," Gim said as he struck the wall at the end with his yo-yo, breaking it down so we could leave the tunnel without backtracking.

We came back in front of some grass platforms near the yellow gate, so we climbed them and reached some metal and cardboard boxes. Izzy took apart the cardboard boxes, allowing us to advance to a vending machine.

Something seemed off about the vending machine, though. When I came near it, a shiver went throughout my entire body. Like, if I could get goosebumps, they would be all over me. My belly rumbled too, but I wasn't even hungry. What's more, a bunch of strange colors came off of the vending machine when I neared it.

I also had that tingly feeling when I was inhaling that car back in the auto place, but I didn't notice it because I was too focused on sucking up the car. Maybe... I could try the same thing with this...?

To test my theory out, I took off my Cutter hat and got ready to inhale.

"Why'd you take your hat off, Kirby?" Izzy asked. "Do you need to be hatless in order to inhale things?"

"Po..." I started to talk back, but then I realized that she might have a point. I've never actually tried to inhale while I had an Ability, aside from Throw.

So, keeping my Cutter hat on, I tried to inhale.

And it worked.

And I inhaled the vending machine, my body morphing to fit its shape like with the car, only instead of opening over the bottom, my mouth opened over the part where the soda cans are dispensed, so I was standing like I usually do.

"That marks the second time you stuffed a big object in your mouth." Gim-E put his right fist in his left hand. "Which means you've officially discovered a new power! We need to give it a name!"

"And I know just what to call it..."

Izzy wore a determined grin.

"Mouthful Mode."

"Mouthful Mode?" Gim gave a thumbs-up. "A fantastic name, if you ask me! It's very literal and rolls off the tongue easily, and I think it's pretty sweet that you chose ‘mode’ to be the second word in the name, but that's mostly just because I'm a robot. What say you, Bandana Dee? Elfilin?"

Bandana Dee nodded. "I like it too! Since Kirby literally has a mouthful of stuff in his mouth, the name's perfect!"

Elfilin agreed. "You're right, Mouthful Mode does suit Kirby when he's got a big thing in his mouth!"

"Then it's settled!" Gim gave me a pat on the back, which caused a can of orange soda to fall out of the opening. "From here on out, Kirby's new power shall be known as Mouthful Mode!"

After chugging the soda, Izzy pointed towards some bunnies, foxes, and a Sir Kibble who were patrolling the grassy area between us and a blue garage door with a large crack in it. "Now let's use your Vending Mouth to dispense some tasty justice!"

I aimed towards the bunnies, and... Ker–chunk! Ker–chunk! Ker–chunk! Soda cans shot into them from my mouth.

I got ready to do the same to the rest, but Elfilin stopped me. "Wait! That vending machine doesn't have an endless supply! Your friends can take out those baddies." He pointed at the garage door. "You should save your soda cans for that gate."

So I allowed my friends to dispatch the enemies, clearing the way to the blue door. After they were finished, I waddled up and fired the rest of my soda cans at the crack in the garage door. Bit by bit, it bent out of shape, before finally busting open.

I spat out the vending machine, and we walked inside. Two piles of Star Coins were present, with a Waddle Dee hiding behind one of them.

He chanced a peek out from behind the pile, before sighing in relief. "Oh, good, it's you, Kirby! I was worried those beasts were the ones who managed to break down that gate..."

Bandana Dee asked the question that we were all thinking: "Did those birds not get you?"

The Waddle Dee nodded. "Oh, they got me, all right. But I was able to escape, and so were some other Waddle Dees! Turns out there was a tricky little switch up above our heads that we could push and turn to open up our cages, but not all of us noticed them or managed to activate those switches."

"Great, that should make it easier to save you guys!" Elfilin looked around the room. "But what are you doing here?"

The Waddle Dee pointed just right of the ladder in the back. "After freeing myself, I fell just outside of this place. But before I got the chance to see where I was, this big red bull thing tried to ram me! So I fled into this room and shut the door, but the thing kept charging into the door and left that mark in it. Good thing he weakened it for you five!"

"Poyo!" I called my Warp Star over for the Waddle Dee.

"You're letting me ride your Warp Star? Thanks! I'll take it to the place where I met Elfilin. You guys cleared the area of those beasts, so it should be fine now." The Waddle Dee hopped on, but before he left, he told us, "By the way, while I was on the roof of this building, I saw something shiny and blue in the distance. You might wanna check it out."

After waving to the Waddle Dee as he rode the Warp Star through the opening in the ceiling, we gathered the Star Coins and climbed the ladder to the roof so we could see what he was talking about.

And atop the building the vending machine had been standing near, there was a huge blue Star Coin. I could float over, but it would be tough to keep flying such a long distance. So instead of trying that, I tossed my Cutter Boomerang as far as I could. It reached the rooftop and came back with the blue Star Coin, which I brandished while pumping my fist in success.

The rooftop we were on also had a Pop Flower, a couple of yellow Star Coins, and some kind of capsule with a clear top and a yellow bottom.

I showed the capsule to Gim-E, who oohed in wonder. "Lucky you, Kirby! That's a gashapon, which is a collectible capsule toy that's popular in Japanese cultures. But for simplicity's sake, let's just call it a Gotcha Capsule. You never know what's inside one until you open it!" He took a closer look at it. "And it looks like the manufacturer of this is... HAL Laboratories! Awesome! You know it's good if the dudes who decided you should exist are the ones who made it! Thank your other father for making these so that you and your fans can learn more about this forgotten land and hopefully not suffer a chronic gambling addiction in an attempt to collect them all!"

"Other father?" Izzy asked as I put the capsule in my stomach dimension.

"Long story. I can tell you after our whole adventure's over with."

We dropped over the side of the building and encountered an enemy like the Waddle Dee described: large, red, and shaped like a bull. It charged right at us, but Gim stayed put as the rest of us got out of the way. He planted his feet firmly on the ground, and when the bull got close enough, he grabbed it by the horns, then slammed it on the ground.

Watching this spectacle, a nearby fox enemy thought better than to attack us and instead ran away, jumping off the cliff that the bull enemy was standing in front of. When we ran up to the cliff to see if the fox was okay, we saw that it had landed on a street and didn't look too hurt.

Gim tapped his right eye as he looked down the street. "My sensors aren't detecting any more enemies or Waddle Dees along this long stretch of road. Let's speed things along with a Warp Star ride!"

So I called my Warp Star to help us quickly get to the next area. We soared around a wide left bend, over a long straight road, and right beneath a big black metal arch, landing on a platform above a Cappy.

When we jumped down, I showed Izzy a cool move I can use with the Cutter Ability, the Final Cutter. I slashed the Cappy twice using my Cutter as a sword, then jumped up into the air and slammed my Cutter down on the ground to finish the Cappy, the Cutter flying forward after the slam. Izzy was very impressed by the Final Cutter combo.

"Look out behind you, Kirby!" Bandana Dee warned.

I turned around and saw a bomb being thrown at me by a Poppy Bro Jr. I opened my mouth to let it fall inside and instantly switched from Cutter to Bomb. That wiped the smile off of the Poppy Bro in no time, and he promptly got a taste of his own medicine.

Further ahead, there were Star Coins on top of pipes, but they were being guarded by Shotzos, black cannons that fired small but effective cannonballs.

"I can take care of those!" Izzy fired weak lasers that broke the crates the Shotzos were standing on, causing them to fall into small holes and allowing us to gather them without any trouble.

Other than a fox enemy who made the mistake of trying to attack me. In return, he got a bomb to the face.

Walking past the pipes, we found some big orange traffic cones. Ones that gave me a weird tingly feeling and gave off colors when I came close to them, like with the vending machine.

They must have been things I could get a mouthful of, so I went ahead and inhaled one.

Izzy snickered. "Hehe... You're a Conehead now!"

"Mm?" I mumbled in confusion.

Gim explained, "She's referencing a famous 80s movie. The characters in it are hilarious, mostly because of their accent, their wording, and how unfamiliar they are with human culture."

"Hmm." I've never seen whatever movie they were talking about, but that didn't matter. It was time for me to put this Cone Mouth to use.

I waddled over to a couple of metal crates, jumped up above them, then turned upside-down and used my pointy head to smash into them, revealing some Star Coins. I did the same thing to a Kabu and a Sir Kibble standing on a metal crate. Up ahead, we found a big crack in the ground. I tried smashing down into the crack, and the ground fully broke apart, revealing some Star Coins and green pumpkins.

We turned left and jumped down to a Pop Flower being guarded by three foxes. I let Izzy take care of the foxes before opening the Pop Flower. I broke open another cracked spot in the ground to gain more Star Coins before continuing forward to stab another red bull enemy while Bandana poked another fox and Gim opened a Pop Flower tulip on a barrel.

Heading right, we came across a cracked spot in front of two Shotzos guarding the way ahead. I stabbed the crack, making a path underneath them. Just after the Shotzos, the path turned left, but another Shotzo was guarding the way.

However, Izzy pointed toward a pipe with a small crack on top of it, water sputtering out of it. "That pipe looks pretty weak. I bet a good poke with your head could do something to it!"

"Mhm!" I jumped up and thrusted my head into the crack on the pipe. The crack opened into an entire puncture, causing a geyser of water to shoot upward out of it.

We rode the water up to a balcony, where we encountered the scholar Waddle Dee again, only this time he was out of a cage like the Waddle Dee in the building.

He turned from looking at a stack of metal crates on an upturned storage crate on the ground and saw us. "Ah, it's you four! And I see you've got Elfilin with you as well!"

Izzy nodded. "Yep, we took your advice and went on the road to our right! You're pretty smart, aren't you?"

The Waddle Dee chuckled while adjusting his glasses. "That's why they call me Wise Waddle Dee, Wise Dee for short. I don't like to brag, but I was able to escape my cage thanks to the convenient switch above me, as did some other Waddle Dees." He pointed down at the Shotzo. "When I landed, I launched myself up here using that Shotzo to stay out of reach of those beasts. But now that you're here, there's no need to be up on this balcony anymore."

I promptly summoned my Warp Star for Wise Waddle Dee.

"When you find more Waddle Dees, it is vital that you have your Warp Star escort them to the ruined town south of here, where I had last seen Elfilin before being taken away." Wise Dee boarded the Warp Star. "Also, I recommend breaking that stack of metal crates over there before proceeding. Until we meet again!"

He took off, leaving me to pierce the crates he was looking at and gain another Gotcha Capsule from them. Then I had to spit out the cone so we could all climb another ladder.

At the top, a Sir Kibble and a Poppy Bro ran over to us.

We got ready to kick their butts, but the Sir Kibble held out his hands to stop us. "Wait, Kirby! We need your help!" He pointed towards a large green swordsman with brown fur around its neck and wielding a heavy stone sword. And behind it was a bird holding a Waddle Dee in a silver cage, so the swordsman must have been guarding the Waddle Dee to ensure that no one would free it. "Something has caused that Gigant Edge to become feral and unruly, and now he has begun attacking everything that dares to get near, even those he once considered to be his friends or colleagues such as myself."

"We think those weird beasts are the reason why the Gigant Edge turned wild, because he doesn't hurt or bully them in any kinda way, but beating them up didn't do anything!" The Poppy Bro shivered in fear. "Please stop him, and find out how he went nuts and get things back to normal! I can't play with my bombs while those wild creatures are around!"

"Leave it to us!" Bandana Dee watched the wild Gigant Edge swing its sword a couple of times before pointing it at us. "That sword looks really dangerous, though..." Bandana looked at Izzy. "One hit from it could cripple you! Are you really up to this challenge?"

"Don't worry, Bandana Dee. I got some tips from Gim-E." She walked towards the Wild Edge, as I chose to call the feral Gigant Edge. "And now it's time to put them to use..."

"Poyo..." Just in case, I walked up behind Izzy and to her right, ready to intervene if things went wrong.

Izzy took a fighting stance.

The Wild Edge raised his sword.

And he swing it overhead... but it wasn't falling towards Izzy.

It was heading for me.

"Eep!" I sidestepped right, avoiding the sword by inches. It made a huge gash in the mixture of grass and concrete that made up the ground I was standing on. "Poyo?!"

"W... What?!" Izzy stared at the cut left in the ground before turning her gaze to the Wild Edge, who was pulling his sword back out of the ground. "I'm literally right in front of you! Why go for a different target when you can just chop what's right before your eyes?"

"I think those beasts have a grudge against Kirby," Elfilin told her. "He must be the biggest threat to their plans, so they want to take him down first."

"So that's why he chose to attack Kirby instead of me, huh? Well, no beast is gonna make our pink puffball go down for the count on my watch!" I was lifted onto Izzy's back by her lilac–colored magic, and she gave me a determined smile. "I'm not letting your game be over, so we'd better work together to take on this tough guy!"

"Poyo..." I was concerned for the unicorn, but with the intense fire burning in her eyes, I couldn't say no. And this was just a mid boss, so it would be good practice for us battling together as one. "Poyo!" With that, I waved off Bandana Dee and Gim. "Poyo poyo."

"Oh, you want us to leave that Wild Edge to you two?" Gim gave a thumbs up as he backed away alongside Bandana. "Alright, just be careful!"

Then, with a quick flash of light, I used the Piggyback technique from my Dark Matter journey to give Izzy Moonbow the benefits of being an animal ridden by me: as my mount, she was able to share my current Ability, Bomb.

She probably didn't know that, but this wasn't the time to tell her, because the Wild Edge got his sword ready for another strike.

"Alright, shields up!" Izzy's horn glowed, and a magical shield covered us. However, instead of lilac like her magic is usually colored, it was dark gray. "Huh? Why is my shield...?"

The Wild Edge slashed at our shield.

BOOM!

Surprisingly, our shield exploded upon contact, knocking the Wild Edge's sword out of his hand.

"Whoa!" Izzy craned her head to face me as the Wild Edge slowly ran over to where his sword had fallen. "My shield... Did you make it do that?"

"Po poyo." I pointed at my hat then at her. "Poyo, poyo."

She had a confused face for a few seconds. Then she gasped.

"...No way. You mean that since you're riding me, I get to use whatever Copy Ability you've got?!"

I nodded.

"..." She charged up her horn, and a black orb formed at the tip. "Let's blast this sucker."

Izzy launched the orb at the Wild Edge as he was picking up his sword, hitting him in the back of the head and making him fall on his face from the explosion. While he was down, I hurled a barrage of bombs at him. After the seventh bomb, he got up and turned towards us, protecting his front with a huge, spiky shield. But Izzy lobbed an explosive orb with a bunch of backspin on it, causing it to roll back towards us after hitting the ground behind the Wild Edge, which made it strike him in the back and knock him on his butt. This opened him up to another bombing session, ending in him collapsing on the ground.

The Sir Kibble cautiously walked up to the unconscious Wild Edge. "Hmm... It seems that merely defeating this wild Gigant Edge did not revert him back to normal." He turned towards me and Izzy. "Kirby, my belief is that you and your friends must defeat the true villain behind this before the Gigant Edge and any other residents of Pop Star turned feral will go back to their usual selves. For now, you may do with this fallen swordsman as you so desire."

"Poyo." I jumped off of Izzy before copying the Sword Ability from the Wild Edge.

Izzy gave me puppy dog eyes. "Aww, I wanna see what I can do with that Sword Ability..."

Gim shook his head. "Sorry, Izzy. Using Piggyback with Kirby will make you stronger than usual, but we should save the big guns for tough baddies and ones that deserve a beating. Besides, having Sword Kirby ride you will probably only turn you into a discount Epona."

"Hmm... Yeah, you're right. Being too OP would make this adventure way too easy early on." Izzy motioned towards the caged Waddle Dee. "Anyway, do your thing, Kirby!"

"Poyo!" I went up and freed the Waddle Dee the same way I freed Elfilin. Then I called my Warp Star for the Waddle Dee... before realizing that the way ahead would require a Warp Star ride.

So Bandana and I boarded the Warp Star alongside the Waddle Dee, and all of us flew to the next part of the Downtown Grasslands.

We landed in a park area, near a lamp post on our left and two park benches on our right. Elfilin, Bandana Dee and I got off the Warp Star, leaving the saved Waddle Dee to ride it back to safety.

Up ahead, there were two buildings we could access: to the left, one guarded by two bunnies and a Sir Kibble, and the roof could be reached by climbing up a ladder and jumping across the parts of the building that were hitting out; and on the right, one guarded by two foxes, a Blade Knight, and a bull enemy, and the roof could be reached just by a ladder. Just right of the left building, a traffic cone was suspended in the air by a vine hanging from a tree. And straight ahead, there was a big, rugged turtle enemy using a cracked concrete slab as a shell.

I hatched a plan. "Poyo!" I pointed at Bandana and Izzy, then at the left building, then the traffic cone. "Poyo poyo, poyo!"

"Got it!" Bandana jumped on Izzy. "Let's go see what's up on that rooftop, and cut the vine while we're at it!"

"Alright!" Izzy reared up onto her hind legs before galloping off to the left building.

Then I pointed at Gim, then the right building. "Poyo poyo!"

"I'm on it, Mr. Star of the Show! Time to check out the right side!" Gim-E ran off to take on the baddies guarding the right building.

And Elfilin and I went straight, heading for the hanging traffic cone so I could quickly gain Cone Mouth. I made sure to keep away from the turtle enemy, but to our surprise, it stretched out its neck several feet and almost managed to snap down on me with its strong jaws. To keep it from giving me too much trouble, I stuck my sword in its mouth to keep it from snapping shut before continuing to my destination under the cone.

"Special delivery!"

Hearing Izzy's voice from the roof of the left building, I looked up and saw Bandana Dee's spear fly through the vine holding up the traffic cone. I opened wide and let it fall into my mouth, regaining Cone Mouth. Shortly afterwards, Bandana Dee floated down to me with his Waddle Copter, Izzy hanging onto his feet.

After landing, Bandana Dee gave the turtle enemy a suspicious look. "...That thing's hiding a Waddle Dee! Kirby, do your thing!"

"Mhm!" I jumped up and pierced the turtle's shell, shattering it and jabbing the turtle's soft body. The turtle spat out my sword, as well as a Waddle Dee, before going unconscious.

"How about that! The turtle really was hiding a Waddle Dee!" Izzy asked Bandana, "How'd you know?"

Bandana Dee comforted the rescued Waddle Dee, who was clearly traumatized from getting eaten by the turtle. "I'm the captain of King Dedede's Waddle Dee army, and I'm also a Waddle Dee myself. As the leader of my own species, I've grown to have a gut feeling that tells me when a Waddle Dee is nearby."

A Warp Star carrying another Waddle Dee came from the right building and picked up the Waddle Dee we just rescued before flying off, then Gim jumped down from the building. "So you're basically like a Waddle Dee radar?" he summarized.

Bandana nodded. "Pretty much."

"Cool!" Gim-E pointed up at the right building's roof. "Also, that Waddle Dee on the Warp Star? He was stuck in a dome up there. Just took a little elbow grease to open it."

"Poyo..." A dome? Maybe I could have opened it with Mouthful Mode...

We continued forward, with Izzy opening a Pop Flower tulip near a tree before I knocked two foxes away with a Cone Mouth stab. Then we used a garbage disposal to jump up to the base of a tall building, and continued up across platforms going clockwise around the building. Along the way, Bandana took care of a Kabu patrolling one of the narrow platforms, and Izzy baited a bull enemy into charging off of the platform it was on, revealing a fifth Pop Flower tulip that she gladly opened.

One more jump later, and we found another leaking pipe. But before I could pierce it...

"Um, excuse me..." A Waddle Dee climbed up to us. "I couldn't happen but notice all these red Pop Flower tulips blooming out of nowhere. Are... Are you the ones who did that?"

"We sure did!" Izzy answered, cheery as usual. "They're too pretty not to open!"

"Really? Thank you so much! I've been wanting to make them bloom, but there were so many beasts around, and..." The Waddle Dee bashfully chuckled. "I'm not really a fighter, and there was no way I could stand up to those creatures. So thanks for taking care of them, and for making those flowers bloom!"

"No problem!" Bandana replied. I called a Warp Star for the ‘rescued’ Waddle Dee, and he hopped on. "Wise Waddle Dee will be waiting for you. This Warp Star will take you to him and the others."

"Thanks, Bandana! Bye bye!"

After the Warp Star left with the Waddle Dee, I pierced the pipe and we took the geyser of water up to the roof of the building.

And on the roof was an even bigger turtle that wore an entire building as its shell. Through the windows, we could see a gold cage with three Waddle Dees trapped inside. The only path would take us counterclockwise around the turtle to a cracked pipe with a red X seal on it. And the geyser would lead up to a metal platform high above the turtle.

Izzy and Gim stared at each other.

Then Gim looked at me. "So... Do you want to take the long way, or the quick way?"

"Mm?" There was a... quick way?

"Sounds like you want to know the quick way. Okay, do it, Izzy!"

Wait, what did he mean for Izzy to—

Poke!

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" A sudden sharp pain in my butt sent me flying high into the air.

But I recovered in time to see that I was high enough to reach the metal platform, so I moved in the air and landed on it. While there, I picked up a Gotcha Capsule and a couple Star Coins that were waiting there to be collected. And then, I waddled up to the edge of the platform, over the turtle's building shell.

And I jumped. GERONIMO!

My cone broke the entire building shell and defeated the giant turtle in one fell swoop, leaving only the gold cage with the Waddle Dees. Spitting out the cone, I freed the Waddle Dees.

Elfilin flew around and high fived all of us in celebration. "Way to go, everyone! I think this is a pretty good time to finish this first trek."

"Finish up? But there are still a bunch of Waddle Dees that need us to rescue them! Unless..." Izzy put a hoof on her chin. "You mean we should take a break somewhere?"

Elfilin nodded. "Yeah, that's right! And I think I know just where to go. Kirby, get your Warp Star over here!"

I obliged.

"Waddle Dees, Bandana, Kirby, hop on!"

We obliged, and Gim and Izzy got ready to take off too.

Elfilin manned the Warp Star. "Let's go see how the saved Waddle Dees are doing! Come on, everyone! To the ruined town!"

Author's Note

Waddle Dees rescued: 9/???

That's right, I justified why clearing missions rewards you with Waddle Dees, and I'm gonna continue to do so for the rest of them.

As for the Gotcha Capsules, I'm not gonna include all of them. Only the ones that I obtain from my second run of Forgotten Land, which I will do as I write the chapters so the collected Capsules are fresh on my mind.

It'll be quite a while before the next chapter comes out, though; I intend to beat the full version of the game before working on the rest of the story, because I don't want to get any details wrong about the lore or anything else vital to the story. And also because I really want to play the game.

The chapters will also take a while because of how long and detailed levels in Forgotten Land are compared to previous Kirby games where the levels were shorter and only in 2D.

And special thanks to Lucar and his story A Sweetie Dreamland for inspiring me to have Izzy utilize Kirby's current Ability when he's riding her!

Chapter 3: Through the Tunnel

We returned to the ruined town to find that it had changed a lot since we first visited it. Most of the debris was cleaned up, and some areas were blocked off for some kind of construction. In fact, five of the six saved Waddle Dees that had already been taken to the town prior to our return were already hard at work building on the remains of the town.

"Wow, Waddle Dees sure are good workers!" Izzy pointed at an already completed building, which looked like a movie theater judging from the camera symbol and lights on it. "And it looks like they've got their priorities straight too!"

"Poyo...?" I deadpanned as we set foot in the town. I may be young and love to have fun, but did the first thing to build really have to be a cinema?

"Why the confused face, Kirby?" one of the three newly rescued Waddle Dees asked. "I can see why they built that place first. Cinemas and the movies played within them are a valuable source of inspiration for those of all ages! And even though we Waddle Dees can keep going for a long time, we're still living creatures and need to take a break every once in a while, and watching a film is a good way to relax after hours of working hard to renovate a place like this, isn't it?"

"It most certainly is!" Wise Waddle Dee approached us from one of the construction zones. He was holding a blue paper with something drawn on it, probably a blueprint for a building. "And that isn't all. Since an Equestrian is here in this new place as well as us, a unanimous vote decided that this was also the perfect opportunity to teach, err..." He scratched his head. "Apologies, but I do not recall hearing your name, miss."

"I'm Izzy Moonbow!" Izzy replied.

"Okay, thank you! Anyway, this was the perfect opportunity to teach Izzy more about you and your past adventures, Kirby! The wide screen of the cinema coupled with the surround sound and vibrating seats should appeal to your fine young equine friend."

"Really? You made the cinema for me?!" She galloped towards the cinema. "Well, someone fetch the popcorn, because it's showtime!"

A Waddle Dee wearing an usher cap exited the cinema and stopped Izzy. "Not quite. We only just finished this place. There's still plenty that needs to be done in here, such as setting up the camera and renovating the theater room, but don't worry! Waddle Dees do their best work together, so keep on saving Waddle Dees and the cinema will be done in no time!"

Izzy saluted. "Yes sir, Mr. Usher Waddle Dee sir!"

Plop! Plop! Right nearby, two Waddle Dees fell over.

The Usher Waddle Dee sighed. "And please don't be so adorable like that in front of my future customers. Your sweetness is too much, and I don't want them dying of diabetes." Then he walked back inside.

Izzy looked at the two fainted Waddle Dees. "Will they be okay?"

Bandana nodded. "Waddle Dees can be knocked out pretty easily, but they recover quickly. That kind of resilience is one of the reasons why Waddle Dees make up the majority of King Dedede's army." He helped the two Dees get back up. "Though, I think I'm going to stay here in this little Waddle Dee Town. We need someone to protect these poor guys in case those beasts attack again."

"Good idea, Bandana Dee. In that case, see you later!" Elfilin hopped on the Warp Star again, and I boarded it right after.

Gim and Izzy followed us back into the skies and to the next area.

We landed the Warp Star at the mouth of some kind of construction tunnel, which was being guarded by some Cappies, a Kabu, and another creature I was familiar with. It was an orange creature with a big round mouth, two feet, and a fiery head; a Hot Head.

Thinking it could be useful for lighting up the tunnel, I dropped my Sword Ability and swallowed the Hot Head after avoiding a fireball he shot from his mouth, gaining a crown of flames with a blue jewel on it. Ahh, another old favorite Ability of mine, Fire...

"Hey, Kirby?" Izzy walked up to me from the Cappy furthest from the construction tunnel. "Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?"

A glow near her tail caught my attention, and it took a moment for me to register that the tip of her tail was ablaze.

Gim lifted Izzy's tail and showed it to her. "In a way, the answer is both."

"Oh, thanks!" Izzy stomped out the fire on her tail before taking a moment to sniff at the smoke coming off of it. "And it smells minty, too! Who knew my tail smelled so good when it's on fire?"

"Fire's good for all sorts of things, not just cooking and enhancing the scent of things." Gim pointed at a yellow lantern further into the tunnel, situated next to a Waddle Dee who was trying to light it by rubbing two sticks together. "Lamp oil, rope, bombs... You name it, fire can light it, my friend!"

"Poyo?" I haven't seen a lantern in any of my adventures, and this one stood out. It seemed like something would happen if it was lit up, so I walked over and ignited the oil in the lantern. Lighting it spawned a trail of Star Coins leading to a Bomb Block near a wall of metal blocks.

The Waddle Dee shook my hand. "Thank you so much, Kirby! This tunnel is too dark for visitors, so I've been trying to light up the lanterns in here. I didn't bother asking the Hot Heads for help, though, because I'd get my butt handed to me. They're a hot tempered sort, as you'd expect."

"We can take care of the rest of the lanterns," Izzy replied. "How many more are there in this place?"

"You're too kind, miss! From where I've been able to go from here, there are three more lanterns that need to be lit up. Good luck finding them and making your way through here!"

"Alright, bye!" The Waddle Dee rode away on my Warp Star, and we continued onward.

A pink spring creature called a Bouncy guarded a ladder leading onward, and Izzy cleverly used a flat shield to press down hard on the Bouncy's head, before letting go and causing it to spring high into the ceiling. Good old slapstick.

Before climbing, Izzy bucked the Bomb Block, destroying the wall of metal blocks and revealing a small pile of Star Coins. Then we climbed the ladder and crawled into a smaller pipe, traversing it and exiting in a longer, narrow area with a Hot Head and some Bronto Burts patrolling metal platforms over bottomless pits. I know they're bottomless because not even a fireball could reach far enough to light up the very bottom. We could go the safe route and take the concrete path along the walls, but Gim and I chose to jump across the metal platforms and collect the Star Coins on them while Izzy kept her footing on the concrete.

"Oh! Over here!" Gim jumped onto the concrete path where it crossed over to the right wall, then he jumped again past another fox enemy and over to a metal platform on the left side of the path. Once there, he tapped the water silo stationed in the middle of the platform. "This is just the kind of water tank I was talking about back in the Downtown Grasslands!"

"Poyo?" I made my way over to the water tank, and it gave off weird colors just like the other objects that I gained Mouthful Modes from. When I inhaled, though, it didn't budge. Instead, I latched onto the top half of it.

"Mmm...!" With all my might, I twisted and turned, the lid twisting with me. After a few seconds, it popped off, and I spat it out to see what the dome was hiding.

A blue switch.

After eyeing another wall of metal blocks, Gim gave Izzy the go-ahead. She pressed the switch, and the metal blocks were destroyed, revealing a secret room.

"I'll check it out!" Izzy went inside the room.

She returned with two Waddle Dees and four fox enemies chasing them.

After we dispatched them, Izzy looked at them in curiosity. "You know, we never did learn what they're called."

Gim put a hand on his forehead. "Oh man, thanks for reminding me! I forgot to access my New Creature Name folder!" His eyes glowed for a brief moment. "Got it!" He pointed at one of the foxes. "That fox creature is called an Awoofy."

"Awoofy?" Izzy let out a squee. "That's such an adorable name for an adorable creature!"

"It is indeed! And the rabbit and bull creatures we found back in the Downtown Grasslands? The singular form of their names are Rabiroo and Buffahorn respectively. Don't worry about the names of those turtle things that need Cone Mouth to defeat, though. I don't think we'll be seeing more of them until we find another cone nearby."

The two Waddle Dees rode Izzy as we jumped ahead to the mouth of another construction pipe and entered it. We emerged in a small grassy area with sunlight coming down from an opening in the ceiling.

The Waddle Dees took the opportunity to ride my Warp Star out through said opening while Gim dispatched a Kabu on a metal bridge and Izzy collected a pile of Star Coins on a small platform. At the end of the grassy area was a dark doorway with three light–up yellow stars above it.

"So there are Star Doors in this new world too?" Izzy noted.

I looked at her in surprise. "Poyo?"

Gim explained, "I hung onto Button Mash's game consoles and video games after he, err... left Equestria. I used the ‘Kirbay’ games to teach Izzy and the other friends I made there about you and your world."

"Ah, poyo."

"And that's how I know there's probably no going back if we go through here." Izzy turned to my robot buddy. "Gim, are we missing anything?"

"Nope, I scanned the area, and we're good. Let's move onward!" So we all entered the door.

This next area led to the right, towards platforms that moved up and down. I lit up another lantern hiding behind two caution fences on our left, and it spawned Star Coins in the formation of an arrow that pointed further ahead. Really unnecessary, but we were still happy to have some more Star Coins to collect.

Izzy and I stepped onto the first moving platform, and it lifted us up to three Star Coins near a long, black, spiky bar with eyes. It reminded me of a Gordo, but long, so I chose to call it a Gordo Bar.

Izzy carefully tapped on a part of the Gordo Bar that didn't have a spike on it. It made a sound like metal. "Clang clang? That sounds like something that you can't hurt, so I'm leaving this guy alone."

"Poyo!" Smart pony. Gordos are invincible to all attacks, so she made the right choice.

Letting the lift take us back down, we took down a couple of Hot Heads in front of another lift with Star Coins and a Gordo Bar. After passing it, we encountered a Cappy near a yellow gate protecting a Gotcha Capsule.

"Oh yeah, the Gotcha Capsules!" Gim exclaimed as he ignited a nearby Lantern Switch, which sadly didn't make the gate open. Instead, it spawned Star Coins leading up the wall near the gate. "We shoulda showed the Waddle Dees the ones we found in the Downtown Grassland!"

Elfilin tapped my shoulder. "Hey, are those Gotcha Capsules still in your stomach dimension? Maybe you can send them from there to Waddle Dee Town!"

Izzy turned and gawked at me as she climbed up the wall. "No way! First you can eat people to get their powers, then you can whoop a changeling queen's tail like no pony's business, now you can teleport things from your belly?! You're a whole bundle of surprises!"

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly from her praise. "Hehe..." Teleporting stuff from my belly is definitely layman's terms. Really, my stomach is just connected to the universe because I was born from the god that created said universe, and so I can just deposit things I've swallowed back into the universe. It's a one-way trip, though, so I can't warp stuff back in my belly.

Click!

I heard the sound of Izzy pressing a switch, and the yellow gate lifted. I inhaled the freed Gotcha Capsule and used my powers to send it back to Waddle Dee Town with the other capsules.

Once Izzy got back down, we rode up two more moving platforms to a place with three Awoofies that tried to get the jump on us, but too bad for them, they're as weak as most Waddle Dees. After enjoying some nearby eggs and ham, we rode another pair of moving platforms up to a fourth lantern, which was being guarded by three of the ball Gordos that I'm used to seeing.

"Wait..." Izzy put a hoof up to her ear. "Do you hear that?"

After lighting the lantern which spawned Star Coins leading up the wall beside the yellow Star Door further ahead and into a vent, I stopped and listened as well.

"Wa–wa! Wa–wa!"

"Sounds like a Waddle Dee!" Gim walked over to a wall corner made of metal blocks. "And... It's coming from behind here. Kirby, go follow those Star Coins and see if they lead to a way to get rid of these blocks!"

"Poyo!" I jumped up and climbed into the vent, which was barely big enough for me to fit through. As I walked through, I heard Gim and Izzy chatting to each other.

"How do you know that's a Waddle Dee, Gim? I thought Waddle Dees actually talked instead of making whatever that sound is."

"Well, they do both. Waddle Dees sound like they're going ‘Wa–wa! Wa–wa!’ but that's just what they happen to sound like. They actually do talk, but it just comes out high-pitched and squeaky like that."

"Oh, that makes sense."

The vent led me to a Bomb Block above the metal blocks. I hit it, causing the metal blocks to break apart. When I jumped down, I saw that they were hiding a Waddle Dee holding a triangular ball of rice with some seaweed on it.

"Oh, thank goodness!" the Waddle Dee said. "I was getting hungry but I wanted to save this jelly donut for whoever inevitably saved me." He held it out to show us. "So... You want it?"

"Donuts? I love donuts!" Izzy eagerly took the food from the Waddle Dee.

Gim raised a finger in confusion. "Uh, did you say jelly donut? I don't think that's—"

But Izzy had already stuffed the rice ball in her mouth and was gingerly chewing it as Gim tried to speak his mind... Or should I say hard drive?

"...Hm?" Izzy furrowed her eyebrows as her chewing slowed down. "This is a lot different from the donuts I'm used to... I thought donuts were really sweet, but this one's salty and a bit smoky."

I did a facepalm. "Poyo..." I deadpanned at the Waddle Dee.

"What?" he asked, genuinely puzzled. "Did it go stale?"

"Waddle Dee..." Gim slapped the Waddle Dee across the face. "What dingbat told you that rice balls were jelly donuts?"

The Waddle Dee stepped back in shock. "That was a rice ball?! I knew there was something up with that Rock–type expert on that show with the creatures that go into red and white orbs..."

"Oh, you got that misconception from Brock. That makes more sense." Gim called a Warp Star that the Waddle Dee jumped on and rode back to town. "English localizations, am I right?"

Izzy swallowed the rest of the rice ball. "Mm, yeah. There's a bunch of games and movies that have differences depending on where in Equestria they're made. But really, rice balls being called jelly donuts in Ponish?" She giggled. "Whoever decided that needs to either be fired or promoted!"

We all laughed at that before heading through the Star Door.

Now we were in a long corridor, with a Hot Head not far ahead. It shot a fireball at Izzy, but she deflected it with a magical barrier...

Right towards the splayed end of a long rope leading along the path.

"Oh dang, a fuse!" Gim warned. "C'mon, someone needs to beat it to the cannon!"

"Already getting to the race–against–time stuff? This came faster than I—" Izzy was cut off when the Hot Head roasted her face. She responded by blocking its mouth with a chunk of concrete. "Hey, didn't anyone tell you it's rude to interrupt others when they're talking?"

"Enough yapping, the fuse's already halfway to the cannon!" Gim activated Bluster Mode and picked me up. "Kirby, time for the ol' Fastball Special!"

In one quick motion, Gim hurled me ahead of the fuse and straight into the mouth of the large cannon connected to the fuse. I rolled backwards so that my head was facing out of the cannon, and the sizzling of the fuse stopped.

BLAM!

The cannon fired me straight up, and I careened into a big metal block, breaking through it with the destructive power of the cannon blast. I continued flying upward until I hit the ceiling, at which point I fell and grabbed the bottom edge of a sewage pipe the metal block was obstructing.

"I gotcha, Kirby!" The warm aura of Izzy's magic pushed my feet up, and I was able to climb into the pipe without much trouble.

I left the pipe the way I came, a Waddle Dee hanging onto my feet as I floated back down.

"Trapping a Dee in a sewage pipe?" The Waddle Dee groaned. "That's just mean!"

He flew off on my Warp Star, and we crossed a bridge with a single Awoofy at the end, who intended to knock us off but suffered that exact fate. Hopefully he landed on something soft...

Another Star Door later, and we emerged in an area that was being bathed in sunlight, which was a nice break from the gloomy darkness of the tunnel. We scaled a concrete and a metal platform, taking care of the Kabu on the latter before reaching a bigger concrete platform with a large brown Kabu on it that looked like a rook in chess. It was obviously bulkier than most Kabu, but nothing that more fire and unicorn lasers couldn't handle.

The path bent right, so we dropped down and followed it that way, when my mouthful senses started tingling again.

There weren't any big objects around to inhale... Except for a huge set of scaffold stairs.

"Poyo..." I took a step back. I may be the child of a god, but I still have my limits, and inhaling a set of stairs has got to be past my limits...

"What's wrong, Kirby?" Izzy asked. "Are you afraid of those stairs? They're not gonna eat you, silly!"

I shook my head, anxiously watching the weird swirling colors around the stairs.

Elfilin eyed the stairs too before watching my bewildered expression. "Kirby... Are you thinking that it's too much for you to inhale those stairs?"

I reluctantly nodded.

"Come on, Kirby!" Izzy nudged me forward. "If you can defeat your father who's a god, you can totally inhale some stairs! I know you can do it!"

"Po... Poyo!" With a friendly reminder that I took down my own father, how could I not at the very least try to pull this off?

So, with a determined look in my eyes, I inhaled as hard as I could.

And somehow, I managed to fit the entire set of stairs into my mouth.

The flatness of the stairs meant that I could only see forward, not to my sides, so I was surprised when I felt Gim pat my side. "See, we knew you could do it!" He and Izzy used the shape of the stairs to climb onto the top of my head. "Now let's see what these stairs can be used for!"

"Mhm!" Slowly but surely, I waddled ahead as Gim and Izzy grabbed some Star Coins in our path. I reached a wall, so I awkwardly shuffled to my right to continue ahead, but I was met with a wall of metal blocks. "Hmm..." Was I supposed to spit out the stairs already, or...?

"I've got this! Gim, get down to the middle step!"

As Izzy and Gim took a step down on my back, I felt something flat slide underneath my butt. Before I was able to wonder what was happening...

WHAM!

I got flipped forward, breaking the metal blocks as I fell on my face. "Mmm..." Growling, I managed to get myself back upright before attempting to glare at Izzy.

"I know that's pretty much the only way a set of stairs could attack, but you could've at least warned us before flipping Kirby," Gim berated.

"Sorry..." Izzy replied sheepishly.

Just a few feet further, four Kabus came our way. As with the metal blocks, I flipped forward and buried them into the ground, and three Awoofies to our right met the same fate when I fell on my right side. Next, I fell left to break a cracked wall, so we could net some Star Coins in the shape of the stairs. There wasn't anything else important there, so we went on ahead and to the right, almost bumping into a big Kabu only for Izzy to throw it behind us with her magic.

We came upon a wall that lined up with the top of the stairs, and on the wall was a Bomb Block connected to a wall of metal blocks. I put the stairs against the wall, and Izzy climbed up onto it to break the Bomb Block and grab some Star Coins and a Gotcha Capsule. After that, we crushed a Bouncy and some more metal blocks in our way before burying three more Awoofies waiting to attack us.

As I got back upright, the sound of the stairs falling caught the attention of a Waddle Dee to our left, who had been using a caution fence to try and reach some kind of poster that had a painting of me on it crossed out in purple paint.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. "I knew you were big, Kirby, but not literally! Really let yourself go, huh?"

"Nah, he just went a little overboard while teething," Izzy quipped. "And it worked out in his favor!"

"A power where Kirby shoves big stuff in his mouth? Weird, but pretty cool." The Waddle Dee motioned for me to come over. "Say, could you help me reach that Wanted poster up there? It's having a bad influence on the furry beasts, I think."

"Mhm!" I waddled over in front of the caution fence, and the Waddle Dee hopped up me to tear down the poster before using my Fire crown to burn it to ashes.

"Thanks! I'd better be going so I can meet up with the others." Like the rest of the Dees, this one rode my Warp Star back to Waddle Dee Town.

After seeing him off, we encountered a winding fuse that led to a cannon on top of another wall. "I'll volunteer this time!" Gim jumped from my head into the cannon and switched to Sizzle Mode to light the fuse with his yoyo from afar. "Be sure not to stand on the fuse, or it'll go out!"

Seeing a wall with a ladder up ahead, I spat out the stairs away from the fuse. "Poyo!" I ran ahead with Izzy to climb the ladder as Gim blasted out of the cannon. On top of the wall was a Sir Kibble guarding another pipe, and we took him down before waiting for Gim, who dropped down from another ladder with a Waddle Dee in tow.

Once we reached the end of the pipe, we found ourselves out of the tunnel and in a bright, grassy clearing that held a sleeping Awoofy, a Blade Knight, and three Waddle Dees in a golden cage.

"Sir Kirby," the Blade Knight said while saluting, "I see you have a newcomer travelling with you. Like many others before me, I have been forced by the beasts to stop you from rescuing the Waddle Dees and advancing through the new world. But I know my limits, and so, you are not allowed to pass until I test only her mettle."

"Poyo." With a nod, I nudged Izzy forward. "Izzy, en garde!"

"No need to say it twice!" Izzy readied herself to battle the Blade Knight, and vice versa.

They both stared intensely at each other, looking like snakes about to strike. They kept staring, staring, staring... It felt like a wild west scene, where the two gunmen would glare at each other for what seemed like hours...

Izzy made the first move.

She pulled her lower eyelids and stuck her tongue out. "Blblblblblblbl!"

This caught the Blade Knight so off guard that he couldn't help but snicker. "Pfft, what—"

Izzy took the opportunity to fire a laser... at the gold cage. It bounced off of it and struck the Blade Knight in the back. She then grabbed his sword and hit his head with the hilt, knocking him out.

"I win!"

At last, we rescued the Waddle Dees and took to the skies again.

Izzy used her magic to teleport the Waddle Dees back to town, and we began searching for the next area to land in, when Gim held his hand out abruptly.

"Hold on, guys! My sensors are alerting me to a number of anomalies in the vicinity."

"What kind of nominees?" Izzy asked.

"I'm talking anomalies in the spacetime continuum. In other words, portals to an alternate dimension have appeared!"

"Poyo...?" Another dimension, huh? Nothing new to me, but Izzy had stars in her eyes.

"Ooh, we can go to other dimensions? That sounds so fun!" Izzy gave me puppy dog eyes. "Can we go into these portals? Can we? Please?"

"Hmm..." I thought for a while. Most of my adventures take me through around six or seven major areas, and we were only about halfway through this first area, the plains. We needed to pick up the pace, and optional portal adventures would only slow us down, so I shook my head. "Poyo..."

Gim nodded. "Kirby's right. We need to stay on track and keep saving the Waddle Dees as we explore this new world. But still... There could be something valuable in those portals. We could use a little help if we want to find out what's in there while also making haste."

"Help? ...Poyo!" And I knew just who to call on. Taking out my Cell Phone, I called a good friend of mine.

He picked up. "Poyo?"

"Poyo! Shadow!"

"Kirby! Poyo poyo?"

"Poyo poyo? Poyo poyo poyo."

"Poyo! Poyo poyo?"

"Eep! Hmm... Pop Star, portal?"

"Poyo! Bye!"

"Arigato! Bye!"

I hung up and started driving the Warp Star to the next part of the grasslands filled with Waddle Dees... before realizing I still needed to drop off the ones already on my Warp Star. It was a long way, though, and it'd get tiring going back to the Waddle Dee Town after saving every golden cage of Waddle Dees, so I transported them the easier way...

I inhaled them and sent them there via my stomach dimension.

Author's Note

Waddle Dees rescued: 19/???

Getting squashed flat is a fate too cruel for the cute little Awoofies, so I changed it so that any poor souls who got in the way of Stairs–Mouth Kirby only got buried in the ground, like in Super Smash Bros after being hit by a Pitfall, Donkey King's side special, or King K. Rool's down tilt.

Also, fun fact: "arigato" translates to "thank you". I learned that after hearing Kirby say it in the Kirby 30th Anniversary Music Fest and looking it up on Google Translate.

Chapter 4: Rocky Rollin' Road

This time, we touched down near two patches of tall grass that each hid an Awoofy. I didn't want to hurt the environment too much, so I dropped the Fire Ability and took them out with a textbook inhale and spit.

After jumping up a ledge, we encountered a big purple hedgehog, and its spines quickly became long and pointed as it spotted us.

"That's a Jabhog," Gim explained. "The appearance of those spines makes it safe to assume that it could give you an Ability you haven't encountered on a normal adventure for nine years!"

"Poyo!" I waited until the Jabhog retracted its spines, then I inhaled it, gaining a red hat with pointy yellow spikes all over it.

"Looking sharp, Kirby!" Izzy joked. "Are you gonna be able to poke stuff with that Ability?"

"Poyo! Needle Roll!" Curling up into a ball, I extended my spikes and began rolling around. Nowhere near the speed of sound, but rolling as a spiky ball is still fun.

We had places to go, though, so I followed my metaphorical rainbow and scaled another ledge. I quickly rolled back down when I saw something round and black heading straight for me.

"What happened, Kirby?" Izzy asked, before catching the round thing with her magic. "Oh! This happened."

Gim took the object from Izzy. "A heavy metal ball... I thought these were only used as musket shots!"

"Musket?"

"A musket is a type of gun that was used a long time ago."

"Hmm..." A gun, huh? Taking a chance, I peeked over the ledge again, and I saw a gray sheepdog with a hunter's hat and a gun with the end splayed like King K. Rool's blunderbuss hiding behind a boulder. It came out from behind its cover and fired a metal ball at me. With a smirk, I jumped over the ball, and the dog's eyes widened in fear before it disappeared into my mouth.

As I swallowed it, I felt the energy of a new Ability welling up within me. Because of that, I decided to introduce it to myself and my friends through an iconic transformation sequence, something that we heroes get to experience to the fullest.

I flipped high into the air, before a red hunter's hat fell onto my head. I adjusted it and turned on the star–shaped headlight, when suddenly, a pistol appeared in my hand. It was quickly replaced by a minigun, then a sniper rifle, then a machine gun, a shotgun, and finally, a bazooka. None of those were my type of weapon, though, and that's why I was happy to see that the final weapon to materialize in my hands was a small red and yellow blunderbuss with a star insignia on the sides. You can tell something is a Kirby–approved weapon when it's got that good star insignia!

A couple of wooden crates were nearby, so I decided to test out my new Ability by firing at them. Bang! Bang! Star bullets came from the barrel of my blaster and blew the crates to pieces, revealing some Star Coins.

"Ooh, baddies oughta watch out..." Gim made a gun sign with his hand. "Because the pink demon's packing heat! Now, what do we call this stylish new Ability?"

"Well, Kirby's looking like a really cool explorer with that hat," Izzy mused. "But that gun he's got kinda reminds me of those old–timey hunters... He's also got some park ranger vibes, though, so maybe it could be a Ranger Ability?"

"Ranger Ability?" Elfilin nodded. "Yeah, that sounds really cool! Plus, Ranger Kirby is just plain better than calling him Gun Kirby, that'd be weird."

"Poyo! Ranger Kirby!" With that shout of joy, I charged up my blaster and fired a huge star bullet into the air to celebrate the discovery of a new Ability.

"Kirby! Help me!" However, our celebration was cut short when we heard a Waddle Dee crying out for help up ahead.

After climbing another ledge, we found the Waddle Dee being held at gunpoint by another sheepdog, which Gim called a Bernard.

"Hey!" I yelled, gaining the Bernard's attention.

The moment I saw him turn his weapon to face me, I fired, and my bullet went straight into the muzzle of his gun. Sparks flew out the other end, before it exploded in his face. Without any means of defending himself, the Bernard made the right choice and ran away, climbing a ladder further along the path.

"Holy moly!" the Waddle Dee exclaimed, his eyes bugging out. "What kinda ‘think fast’ games have you been playing, Kirby?!"

I twirled my blaster and holstered it on my back with a grin. "Speedy Teatime, Card Swipe, Samurai Kirby... Quick Draw."

"No kidding..." Still dumbfounded, the Waddle Dee hopped on a Warp Star and took off.

We climbed up the ladder the Bernard used and took a short break around a stump that had a bunch of four bananas sitting on it. We each took one, excluding Gim who doesn't eat food, and ate while watching boulders fall across the path to our right.

"So..." Izzy said, "what was all that about teatime and samurai and stuff? Gim, you know what Kirby's talking about?"

"Oh, they're just some games that Kirby would play every so often when he isn't eating, napping, or out saving the world." Gim took out a card with a drawing of a Waddle Dee on one side. "Out of the ones listed by Kirby, my favorite is Card Swipe, a memory and quick–reflex game where you have to memorize a few cards, then be the first to pick the correct card three times. I like it because it also teaches you about some of the residents of the Dream Universe."

"Really? That's neat!" Izzy looked at me. "What's your favorite game, Kirby?"

After finishing my banana, I opened my mouth to answer Speedy Teatime, but something caught my eye as I looked up.

The others followed my gaze, and we saw someone flying down to us on a Warp Star. When they dismounted it, we noticed that it looked like a dark gray replica of me.

My eyes sparkled as I ran over to him. "Shadow!"

"Kirby!" He took my hands and we jumped for joy.

Izzy looked over my dark lookalike. "Ooh, who're you? Wait, let me guess... Are you some kind of alternate–world Kirby who looks evil because he's gray but is actually a good guy?"

"Yep, he is!" Gim explained, "This is Mirror–World Kirby, but most people call him Shadow Kirby or just Shadow. He hails from the world inside the Dimensional Mirror, but its whereabouts have been unknown ever since the Dreamstalk incident. We... don't like to talk about that."

"Poyo..." Shadow confirmed as we remembered that fateful day. Dismissing it, however, he beamed as he took out something to show us: a big, multicolored, star–shaped gem. "Poyo!"

Izzy's eyes lit up. "Wow! That's so shiny and sparkly! Where'd you find it?"

Shadow pointed at the sky. "Portal!" He looked at the gem in curiosity. "Poyo?"

"Are you wondering what to do with that?" Gim put a hand under his non-existent chin. "Well, for now, why don't you bring that to the Waddle Dee Town south of here? Someone there might be able to make use of it. If you find any more of those, go ahead and do the same with them. And while you're at it, feel free to chill with the townsfolk! Oh, but before you go, there is something of extreme importance that you must acquire..."

"Poyo?"

Gim gave Shadow the remaining banana.

"Potassium."

"Poyo!" With a smile, Shadow swallowed the banana before taking off on his Warp Star. "Bye-bye!"

We continued right, avoiding the boulders and blasting everything else in our way. At the end of the path, Gim dispatched a Bernard and I tested my Ability on a target that hovered in the air with a propellor. The target broke, revealing a Waddle Dee that was trapped behind metal blocks. Izzy used her magic to carry him out while staying safe from the boulders, and I sent the Waddle Dee to the town.

After climbing another ladder, we had to go uphill while swerving past rolling boulders. In a safe spot on our left, Izzy activated a sparkling spot that spawned a trail of Star Coins leading between the stony wall and building on the right. Following it led to a side path where we climbed a ladder up to the top of the building, where we found two Cappies, an ear of corn, and a dome with a Gotcha Capsule and a Waddle Dee inside. I gave the Waddle Dee the corn and a Warp Star to take him back to town after taking care of the Cappies, and we jumped left off the building to head along a path on the left leading along the side of another building.

One more boulder dodged and a Bernard on a metal bridge defeated, and we encountered a flying target above a wall of metal blocks. Shooting it busted the metal blocks, revealing a door with an orange star above it, and a stone block path to it.

"A door with an orange star? I think that means whatever is inside must be some kind of optional quest, and we can just waltz in and out as much as we want, so..." Izzy raced across the bridge and into the door, and the rest of us followed.

Inside was a single Bernard holding a radio while standing next to a sign and a red switch, and in the middle of the room was a raised platform. We got ready to attack, but the Bernard lifted its paws up in surrender. Then it pointed at the sign, which had drawings of five flying targets, three Ranger guns, and a Waddle Dee.

"Five targets, three blasters, and a Waddle Dee..." Izzy stomped the ground triumphantly. "I think he means that he'll give us a Waddle Dee if we shoot five targets with no more than three shots! Kirby, you know what to do!"

"Poyo!" I climbed the ladder up to the raised platform and readied my blaster, as the Bernard hit the switch and started the radio.

The five targets flew into my vision on the far side of the platform, and began descending slowly, threatening to fly behind cover towards the bottom. I shot the lowest target on the left first, then the slightly higher target on the right, each one spawning a green Star Coin prize. Finally, I charged up and hit the last three targets grouped together in my powerful third shot. They made a macaroon, a donut, and a red Star Coin appear.

The Bernard clapped his paws before whistling, and a crow carried a chest in front of me. When I opened it, a Waddle Dee popped out like a jack-in-the-box. "Congrats, Kirby! You won me!"

Once I sent him back to town, we left through the door.

After jumping across another gap, the path went downhill away from the building. But as we defeated another Blade Knight and drank a milk carton sitting on another stump...

WHAM!

Looking up at the top of the building, we saw a giant boulder about to roll off the roof.

In our direction.

"...We gonna Daring Do this?" Izzy asked.

"That's our best option..." Gim pointed down the path. "Cause my sensors are picking up a Waddle Dee at the end of the path, in the boulder's way!"

"Poyo!" With the confirmation that the animals were willing to squish a poor innocent Waddle Dee, the three of us darted down the path, quickly moving around and jumping over rubble in the way with the boulder just feet behind us.

At the end of the grassy downhill path was a small square park with a caged Waddle Dee in the middle of a huge crack in the concrete. But... there was no crow guarding the cage. The mystery was solved when a crow swooped out from behind a park bench to swipe the cage, but I shot it down and saved the Waddle Dee before running ahead to let the boulder break through the crack and fall down.

Elfilin shuddered. "Yeesh, it's pretty scary to see the Beast Pack using tactics like threatening to run over an unguarded Waddle Dee, only to troll us by making a Clocker try and take it away at the last second!"

"What's a Clocker?" Izzy asked.

"Oh, those are the birds carrying the cages. I didn't think it was important to mention since we've only seen them carrying Waddle Dees so far."

"Wait... Clocker? Beast Pack?" Gim pointed a finger at Elfilin. "Are you a part of all this animal nonsense?"

Surprised by Gim's sudden accusation, Elfilin began to sweat. "No I'm not! Why would you say something like that?!"

"Because you gave the animals a collective name, the Beast Pack." Gim crossed his arms. "So spill it, Dumbo. Why'd you call 'em that?"

"They gave themselves that name! I can understand them for the most part, and that's how I learned what each of the animals are called, as well as their group name."

As we dropped down a couple of smaller buildings, Izzy asked the next question. "So Gim didn't have to tell us their names, and you could have? But why didn't you speak up earlier?"

One more jump and we landed in a parking lot, where we found a Waddle Dee inside a car like the one in the auto shop. But this car was surrounded by Buffahorns, Bernards, and Jabhogs, and all of them got ready to attack when we showed up.

"...We're not in a good place to discuss this." Elfilin promptly hid behind me.

Gim chuckled. "Finally, it's about time they made us start trying! Big K, you mind stepping back and letting me show what Iz can do?"

"Hmm..." I hummed before giving them some room, my blaster ready in case things went wrong. "Poyo!"

"Glad to hear you've got faith in me, Kirby!" Izzy did a couple of leg stretches before grinning at Gim. "Just say the word, and these bad boys are gonna get rocked!"

The Buffahorns charged.

"Use their inertia!"

Heeding Gim's command, Izzy cast a freezing spell that put the ground on ice. The Buffahorns slipped on the ice and couldn't stop, so they crashed into the buildings we had jumped down from. They tried again, but with a dodge and a push from Izzy, the ice made them slide off the edge of the road.

The Jabhogs extended their quills, and the Bernards used the quills as cover and shot between them at us.

"Those pokey boys ain't protected everywhere!"

Izzy created a flat magical shield halfway underneath the Jabhogs, then she flipped it up. Both the Jabhogs and the Bernards were launched into the air, and Izzy knocked out the former with laser beams to their bellies. "And that's how it's done!" Izzy cheered.

The Bernards retreated behind the car to shoot at us, but realized their mistake as I inhaled it and took on my Mouthful Mode. Left with nowhere to hide, they fled along the road ahead.

"Whoa!" the Waddle Dee inside the car exclaimed. "Kirby, did you just inhale this whole car?!"

"Nah, just most of it," Elfilin replied as he joined Gim and Izzy on top of me. "It's a new thing he learned after coming to this world, and we're calling it Mouthful Mode."

"Oh, cool. Say, Kirby, can you do me a favor? I heard that there's a treasure somewhere at the end of this road, but those animals ambushed me so I hid in this car. Think you could drive me over there?"

"Mhm!" I mumbled with a nod.

"Great! Just be careful, though. The road's pretty narrow, and you might bounce us off the road if you accidentally bump into a wall too hard. But at the same time, you can't go slow all the time either, because I saw a bunch of obstacles that take up too much of the road to go around, so you gotta break through them."

"Thanks for letting us know," Gim replied. "I'll help with the trickier turns."

I drove straight along the narrow path, hugging the edge so I don't bump into the buildings on my left on accident, taking out a few Cappies in the process. Then I turned right and made a sharp left turn, which Elfilin thought we weren't gonna make, but Gim grabbed the building's window and used it to help us turn.

Next, I had to swerve around boulders falling from our left then drive up a raised part of the road, and I jumped over both of the gaps in it and took it all the way to the end—a crack in a building. We saw a caged Waddle Dee and a pile of Star Coins inside, so I busted right through and Izzy laser–beamed the Clocker, letting Gim rescue the Waddle Dee.

I backed out and jumped down onto the main path, which was thankfully wider with only a couple of Kabus on it, but once I turned left...

We were faced with a sharp incline that had three boulders on it, one in the middle of the road and the other two further back on the sides. They were each held back by metal blocks and a bomb block.

Three Bernards came out of hiding and each shot a bomb block, causing the boulders to roll towards us.

Luckily for us, they didn't roll very fast at first, so I had plenty of time and room to maneuver around them and reach the end of the road, which had three caged Waddle Dees hanging above a raised circular garden and two stacks of metal crates in the back corners of the area. I spat out the car while Gim dispatched the Clockers and freed the Waddle Dees.

As they took off on my Warp Star, the car door opened, and out came the remaining Waddle Dee. "Yes, I made it! Thanks so much, Kirby! Now, where is it...?" He began to look around for something.

"What're you looking for?" Izzy asked. "Can we help?"

"Well, about that treasure I told you about, apparently you have to find a switch to make it appear. The switch is hidden, too." He peeked inside the trash cans on the sides of the area. "Hmm... Nope, nothing but trash in here..."

Gim eyed a tree in the back right corner. "Say... Does the switch have some sparkly, perhaps reflective attributes? 'Cause if that's the case, it might be up in that tree over there."

"The tree? ...Of course! That must be it!" The Waddle Dee ran to the tree's trunk and faced me. "Kirby, you mind if I use that gun you've got there?"

"Poyo." I took off my Ranger hat and gave it and my blaster to the Waddle Dee.

"Alright! Thank you so much!" The Waddle Dee climbed up the tree and vanished into the canopy...

Click!

"By the stars, I've found it!" He poked his head out of the tree. "Hey, when you leave, can you have your Warp Star come back here to take me back to my saved Waddle Dee comrades? I'm gonna be here awhile."

We looked at each other and shrugged. "Okay then," Gim replied. "Just be careful not to get caught by the Beast Pack again!"

"You bet I won't. Not with a star gun in hand!" The Waddle Dee charged up and fired the blaster, only for the recoil to make him fall out of the tree. "I'm still okay!"

With a sigh and a chuckle, we took my Warp Star to the next closest area Elfilin thought Waddle Dees might be held captive in.

Author's Note

Waddle Dees rescued: 29/???

Yep, I'm bringing back a beloved character from the game Amazing Mirror, Mirror–world Kirby! The grayscale alternate Kirby from the Dimensional Mirror will help Kirby by exploring each of the rifts that appear throughout the New World, called the Treasure Roads, and take the Rare Stones he finds to the Waddle Dee Town. He will also play an important role later on.

The Ranger Ability transformation sequence was inspired by Hammer Kirby's transformation sequence from Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, and it won't be the only one referencing the anime transformations.

Wondering how Kirby reacted so quickly to the second Bernard getting ready to fire? Well, I pulled inspiration from the Quick Draw mini game from Kirby's Adventure, in which you must hit A as soon as you see the enemy take out their gun in order to fire your boxing glove before they do.

And you don't just use a regular boxing–glove pistol each time; for the fourth enemy, Bonkers, Kirby uses a boxing–glove bazooka, and for the final enemy, King Dedede, Kirby takes cover as his boxing–glove cannon blows the king to kingdom come barely one tenth of a second after he pulls out his own gun!

One tenth of a second... Kirby is a legend when it comes to games that test your reaction time. :pinkiecrazy:

Also, yes, the Sonic Adventure 2 and Deltarune Chapter 2 references were fully intentional. :raritywink:

Chapter 5: A Trip to Alivel Mall

Manning the Warp Star as usual, Elfilin directed us towards our next destination: a huge mall with a bunch of glass windows on it. "I bet there'll be more Waddle Dees in this mall. It should be easier to rescue them because so many animals rushed over to defend in the last place we went, so this place ought to have less animals guarding the Waddle Dees."

"You're right," Gim said as we landed in front of a few arches over the open front door. He looked up at the sign above the entrance. "Still, we should be prepared in case they decide to surprise us in this... ‘Alivel Mall’. Hopefully they don't come at us in a bunch of go-karts."

Izzy gave Gim a confused look. "Not sure why you'd be worried about go-karts being in a mall, but I'm not gonna question it since this is the same world where dogs shoot guns and food doesn't spoil even while sitting out in the open for who knows how long."

I smirked as we walked inside. "Poyo..." It wouldn't be the first time go-karts were being driven in a mall...

As we entered the mall, we heard music coming from the speakers inside.

"To think that the speakers here are still working, despite the mall being here so long that foliage has taken over alongside the other buildings in this new world..." Gim pondered as we passed under a balcony and approached a set of broken or maybe just powered–off escalators an Awoofy was casually walking up, not knowing we were here. "Just what kind of amazing technology was used to make this possible?"

"I'm not sure..." Elfilin mumbled something under his breath. "Was it used for this too, of all things...?"

"What was that?" Izzy asked.

"Nothing," Elfilin quickly answered.

"Hmm... Oh well, that doesn't matter. But what does matter is saving the Waddle Dees!" Gim pumped his fist. "Come on, let's go save them while we get Alivel Mall’d by the speakers!"

At the top of the escalators, I grabbed the Needle Ability by inhaling a spiky yellow and black caterpillar called a Needlous, then I used it to clear the way along a path by picking up the enemies in the way with my spikes while my friends followed behind. A round, skull–wearing creature called a Gabon tried to stop us by throwing bones from atop a storage building with a green Star Coin inside hidden behind boxes, but I spun quickly and retracted my spikes, throwing the enemies at the Gabon to defeat it. I kept going, picking up more Star Blocks and enemies as I rolled, until we had to make a decision: scale an Awoofy–guarded escalator on our left, or jump across a short gap to a Kabu–guarded metal platform and again to stable ground.

Gim and Izzy took the escalators while I threw the things I picked up at the Kabu and stone blocks by the bridge, revealing a Gotcha Capsule I collected as I jumped across to the other side, where I reunited with my friends as well as a Waddle Dee eating a donut with pink icing on it.

"Poor guy got shoved into a cardboard box that got taped shut," Gim explained as a Warp Star took the Waddle Dee away. "He'd escaped his cage like Wise Waddle Dee did, but he was drawn here by the sweet scent of donuts and the animals took advantage while his guard was down."

Elfilin deadpanned. "He must have been really hungry to prioritize his appetite over freedom, huh?"

"He's probably one of King Dedede's servants. The king has a lot of 'em so he sometimes loses count of which ones he's fed each day, meaning a few may miss a meal every once in awhile."

The path went left at a construction fence, but I spotted something behind it, on a blue cushion...

A white and red swirly lollipop with a star decoration on it.

With a confident grin, I picked it up and waved it in the air. "Hey! Poyo!"

Several Poppy Bros looked down at us from above the buildings on the left and right of the path, and their eyes went wide when they saw the treat. One of them turned to face another and said, "How'd he find it so easily?!"

The other Poppy Bro answered, "I don't know! I put it on the cushion like you said!"

"I said under the cushion, not on it!"

"Good grief..." Gim faced Izzy. "Listen up, my little pony. The moment Kirby shares that candy's power with you, go Leeroy Jenkins on those suckers up there like they're made of paper. Just trust me."

Izzy saluted. "You got it!"

I gulped down the lollipop and gave Izzy a high-five to share its might with her. She gasped as we felt energy welling up within us.

And then we ran.

Gim gave me a boost up to the right building, where I saved a caged Waddle Dee and charged through the Poppy Bros there. Izzy blasted a Bomb Block on the main path, opening up the way to a ladder which she climbed up to the left building's roof where she took out the enemies there. We then jumped back down and went through the Yellow Star Door at the end of the path, but not before saving a Waddle Dee hidden in a hole behind a banner on the left side of the door.

The effects of the lollipop wore off as we continued towards a set of pink and gray lockers guarded by a Sir Kibble and a Rabiroo, with a tied–up Waddle Dee nearby.

After taking the enemies down, Izzy pranced with excitement. "WHOO! I've never felt so alive! Just what was in that sweet treat?"

"That was an Invincibility Candy," Gim replied as he untied the Waddle Dee. "Eating one makes you invincible, faster than normal, and able to defeat most enemies with a single hit for a little while."

After being set free, the Waddle Dee pointed at the lockers. "I saw something brown and flat behind these lockers, but I got caught trying to push it over by those guys you just beat up. Think you could take care of it for me?"

"No problem! I've moved heavier stuff than this!" Izzy used her magic to topple the locker, and behind it was a brown paper like the one that had a painting of me on it. Unlike that one, this paper instead had two vertical parallel lines of purple paint on the left, with the rightmost line being interrupted by two horizontal parallel lines to the right. Between the horizontal lines was a red arrow pointing right, underneath a burger. Were the purple lines making a path that split off to the right, with that path being what the arrow was pointing down?

The Waddle Dee looked over the paper in curiosity. "Hmm... I think these might be directions, or maybe hints to where my captured comrades are! Because if we go over here..."

He led us a little further to where the path went left. Along the path was a conveyor belt, and the path branched off right three times. Above each side path was a sign: the first path had a sign of a cream soda; the second, a burger; and the last, a curry.

"That must be it! I think you'll find my friends if you go down the path with the burger sign, and keep following directions of other signs the animals made!"

After he left for the Waddle Dee Town, we took the burger path, defeating the Hot Head guarding it.

We entered a dining area where a few Awoofies were digging into some food at a couple of tables. We passed by a table where two Awoofies were sharing a burger and fries, and they only glanced at us before going back to eating.

Gim looked at them as he stepped onto a circular platform and opened the treasure chest on it, releasing a Waddle Dee. "...You fluffy boys ain't gonna come after us?" Gim asked. "Even though we just saved this fella?"

An Awoofy drinking a cup of iced tea pointed at an analog alarm clock sitting on its own table. The time showed a little after noon.

"Even the animals have break time, huh?" Izzy mused, completely ignoring the five burgers on an unoccupied table near the circular platform as I sent the Waddle Dee back to town. "This Beast Pack must be really organized!"

Grabbing a burger from said table, I caught up with the others and ran up the escalators to the next floor.

We got a load off our feet on a conveyor belt on the breezeway we ended up on, and we let it take us to the end before getting back up as a Needlous and Hot Head ran our way. But they weren't interested in fighting us. Instead, they were running away from something.

Investigating, we reached a turn, and at that turn was a huge, white, furry walrus with a worn-out pair of black overalls and a blue beard. It looked like a feral Mr. Frosty to me and Gim, so we chose to call it a Wild Frosty.

Remembering what Gim said back in the Downtown Grasslands about using Piggyback against only tougher enemies, I jumped on Izzy's back again, and her fur became bristled and sharp like needles.

"Heads up, Izzy!" Gim warned as Izzy tested her Needle Ability, firing her spiky fur like machine gun bullets. "Needle isn't exactly the best offensive Ability. You'll have to get sneaky and crafty."

"Crafty?" Izzy grinned as her horn glowed, a light purple circle appearing on the ground between us and Wild Frosty as he roared. "Buddy, did you forget how good at that I am?"

The Wild Frosty charged at us, and as he ran over the purple spot, a spike shot up and stabbed him in, uh... a very painful area.

As he laid down and held his frosty parts in agony while whimpering like a mouse with its tail in a trap, Gim, Elfilin, and I gawked at Izzy. "Dang..." Gim mumbled. "What did that Wild Frosty do to you to deserve such a fate?"

Izzy folded her ears back sheepishly as I dismounted her and put the Wild Frosty out of his misery by inhaling him to gain the Ice Ability. "I was aiming for his foot... How was I supposed to know he was gonna slide a little to the left as he ran?"

"...Let's just keep going."

We continued left past some cardboard boxes and random burning logs, which I doused with my ice breath, then we went right by a nearby conveyor belt that was transporting boxes to a lower area. Next, we came across a pair of conveyor belts that were each being patrolled by a Bronto Burt.

I got ready to put the first Bronto Burt on ice, but he backed away. "No, wait! It's me, Kirby!"

"Huh?" Gim looked at me. "You know this fluttering dude?"

I shrugged as I froze an Awoofy between the belts. "Poyo." All Bronto Burts look the same! How should I know this one in particular?

"Right... I look no different than others of my species... Here, maybe this'll help jog your memory!" The Bronto Burt dove under the conveyor belt and came back up wearing some kind of referee hat. "Remember me now? I'm the Bronto Burt that reffed Slam Hockey! I still remember how painful it looked when the red Whip Kirby stole the puck from you and threw it right at your face..."

"Oh!" I exclaimed as I kicked the frozen Awoofy into the Bronto Burts on the second conveyor belt, leaving no enemies in the vicinity to overhear us. Only the people who were there know about that specific match. I never told anyone because the red Kirby kept pressuring me so much that I would've lost if the blue Kirby hadn't accidentally distracted him with praise. I was so embarrassed... "Poyo!"

"Slam Hockey?" Gim asked. "That's the event in Dedede's Cake Royale where contestants yeet a big hockey puck at each other to score points, isn't it?"

The Bronto Burt nodded. "Sure is! I got a lot of foot exercise in by carrying the Kirbys back into the arena when they got sent flying. Everyone calls me Referee Bronto Burt at the Cake Royale, but I wear many hats. I come from a line of Bronto Burts that take on jobs which require carrying stuff, so I use the family name, Barry."

"Nice to meet you, Barry the Bronto Burt!" Izzy tilted her head. "But why aren't you gonna attack us? Everyone else we came across in this new world, besides the Waddle Dees, were part of the Beast Pack, so..."

Barry landed and explained himself. "They made me join the animals too, but I was in the middle of looking for a couple of my Waddle Dee friends. So now I'm stuck having to work with the animals while also having to cope with separation anxiety..." He grinned. "That didn't stop me from trying, though! I made sure to use my time wisely, remembering the layout of nearby places and where important stuff is in case a certain pink hero came along."

"And he did!" Izzy beamed.

"Yep! Granted, I didn't learn a whole lot of important things, but I did find out this..." He looked around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping. "One of the higher–ranked members of the Beast Pack resides at another mall further north. He stays outside in the central lot, so you might be able to sneak into the mall and surprise him from within, but there's a problem with that: the mall's entrance is behind stone gates that are sealed by chains and bones. You'll need help if you want to make it inside."

"Alright, thanks!" Elfilin paused. "But what're you gonna do while we're still adventuring?"

"Well, once you guys clear out the area of bad guys, I can break my cover and go look for my buds."

"Or, you could wait at the Waddle Dee Town while we go find your friends and send them there," Gim offered. "It's much safer there than... well... Anywhere else we've went in this world, so far. After all, Bandana Dee's there to protect the townsfolk!"

"...Hey, that's a pretty great idea! You just inhale me to send me there, Kirby, and the animals will think I just went down like all the other weak enslaved civilians of Dream Land! Thanks a lot!" Barry allowed himself to be swallowed by me and sent to town, while we continued onward.

We jumped up and crossed a wide conveyor belt threatening to make us fall if we didn't walk against the direction it moved, then we jumped down to four Bronto Burts and conveyor belts, the former moving clockwise and the latter moving counterclockwise around a spike pit. Gim took out the Bronto Burts while I put out some more burning logs, letting me reach a ladder that led up to a switch. I pressed it, and it destroyed some metal blocks a Clocker was hiding behind with a Waddle Dee. It tried to be clever by flying above the spikes, but Izzy pulled the cage away with her magic so we could free the Waddle Dee and proceed through the next door.

We came out in a small dining area next to a huge part of the mall, with three side paths on the left and three on the right. The signs on the left paths were cake, a hot dog, and cake; and on the right, popcorn, tea, and a cone of blue ice cream.

But on the other side of the dining area was another set of pink lockers, so I took care of the Rabiroos in the area and came to the lockers. I'd felt that this was something I could use Mouthful Mode on, but Izzy had taken down the first one we encountered before I had the chance, so I tried inhaling this one instead. I latched onto the front of it with my mouth, and after wiggling back and forth a bit, I pulled it down before spitting it out. Behind this locker was another map, but this one had the right corner torn off. Here, the sign said to take the path with the cake sign, but there were two cake signs. Which one were we supposed to take...?

"Hey!" Gim vaulted over the counter of the dining area and ran up to a green storage cabinet. "Maybe there's something behind this one too!" With his robot strength, he managed to pull it down, revealing a small room behind it.

In this small room was an Awoofy that had just been awoken from its nap, as well as the missing corner of the map. The corner depicted an ice cream cone. This meant we had to take the cake path across from the ice cream path, so that's what we did, casually dispatching enemies in the way.

The cake room was a lot like the burger room. Two Awoofies were sitting at a table eating a slice of cake each, and in the middle of the room was an Awoofy holding his belly in pain in front of a long table with one slice of cake on it, the many crumbs on the table suggesting that he'd eaten way too much cake. Poor guy didn't know that only King Dedede and I can eat that much cake in one go...

We got on the stage, opening the three chests on it to get some Star Coins and a Waddle Dee, then we went up the escalators to the next floor.

Now we had to go up two more flights of escalators, which were guarded by Awoofies, a Poppy Bro, and a Needlous. They thought they could surprise us, but my ice stopped the Needlous in its tracks before I kicked it towards the other enemies, allowing us to continue to the top.

Here, we found another set of green storage lockers at a wide dead end. I got ready to inhale it, but Gim stopped me before pointing at some bolts holding it in place. "Hold on, yo. This thing's bolted straight to the wall. It won't budge easy." He carefully knocked on the wall. "This wall... It's hollow. There's something behind it!"

"But how do we get past the wall if the lockers won't move?" Izzy asked.

"Why bring down the lockers..." Gim grabbed a pair of handles on the lockers and yanked them over and over again. The lockers only wiggled a little bit, otherwise staying upright thanks to the bolts. "...when you can do some mall renovation?! Kirby, you better take cover!"

"Hm?" Hearing a rocky cracking sound as he tugged, we looked at the wall and saw that cracks started forming. I created a barrier of ice around Elfilin, myself, and Izzy. "Poyo!"

Elfilin shook in worry. "Kirby, you sure this is gonna hold up against a wall?"

"Elfilin... You're talking... To the kid..." Gim strained, before the wall finally broke off of the building and began to fall our way, at which point he ran back towards the escalators. We closed our eyes, and it broke as it hit my icy shield. "Who's the child of his home universe's god."

"Right... I think one of the Waddle Dees told me that..."

Behind the wall was a golden cage of Waddle Dees, and the Clockers holding it were so surprised that we took down the wall that they didn't even think to escape, so we took them down and freed the Waddle Dee trio before moving on.

Author's Note

Waddle Dees saved: 39/???

:rainbowhuh: A Bronto Burt?

*Bronto Burt puts on referee hat*

:pinkiegasp: Barry the Bronto Burt?!

Phineas and Ferb joke aside, I wouldn't call Barry an OC. He's pretty much just an ordinary Bronto Burt who delivers stuff.

And I wasn't sure if this was clear for the readers, so let me clarify something. After being found by our heroes, Waddle Dees almost always return to Waddle Dee Town by one of two ways: riding the Warp Star, or being inhaled by Kirby and sent there via his stomach dimension. For a high-flying ride back and a nice view on the way, they'll take the Warp Star. Most of the time, they'll use the Warp Star, but if they need to get outta where they are in a hurry, Kirby will swallow them to get them to town in a snap.

Also, I find it pretty redundant to write that a Waddle Dee gets sent to town every time one is encountered, so I will exclude that in future chapters for the most part, with a few exceptions. Therefore, just assume that each Waddle Dee the group encounters goes to the Waddle Dee Town by Warp Star or inhale, unless stated otherwise.

For instance, instead of "We found a Waddle Dee and sent it back to town," I will just write "We found a Waddle Dee" and leave it at that. I hope this doesn't confuse anyone.

Chapter 6: The Brawl at the Mall

Riding further north, we came to another mall district. While we could just fly straight into the central lot and rush into battle against the high–ranked member of the Beast Pack headfirst, Barry had the right idea. So as we approached, we kept the Warp Star low to the ground to keep from being spotted, then we landed in front of a side entrance to the mall. Barry was also right about the entrance; it was shut behind a pair of stone gates with a purple paw print painted on them, which were also barricaded by crossbones and purple chains attached to stone spires to each side of the gates.

"Looks like someone spent all their money on defending this specific spot." Izzy grinned at us. "But as any tower defense player should know, even the strongest defenses have flaws. They're not gonna be happy after they find out all their hard work was for nothing!"

"But how are we going to get past these gates without attracting any unwanted attention?" Elfilin felt the cold metal of the chains. "If these fall and hit the ground, no doubt they'll make enough noise to grab the attention of the animals here."

Before I could think about that, suddenly something bonked me on the head. I looked and saw Bandana Dee sitting on the ground next to me, rubbing his head. "Oof! Sorry, Kirby!"

"Bandana Waddle Dee?" Elfilin asked. "How did you—"

Gim pointed up at the sky. "More Waddle Dees incoming!"

We looked up, and discovered that a bunch of Waddle Dees were appearing out of thin air one by one, and we dodged them as they each fell from several feet above the ground, landing with a plop.

"Hi, Bandana Dee!" Izzy helped Bandana onto his feet. "What're you and these other Waddle Dees doing here?"

"Glad you're doing alright, Izzy! As for us, this Bronto Burt named Barry appeared in Waddle Dee Town and let us know that you needed to sneak in somewhere. Then Shadow Kirby inhaled us to bring us here, so we could take care of this blockade you're up against." Bandana Dee walked up to the gate. "Hmm... Yep, looks like we'd better be careful getting this open, guys."

"You need help?" Izzy walked up to Bandana. "We might be able to lend a helping hoof."

"Thanks, but the Waddle Dees really want to pay you back for saving them. They also want to prove that we aren't just adorable orange creatures that go down in one good hit. So without further ado..." Bandana Dee faced his brethren. "I need eight of you to go to the left side of the gates and eight to go to the right side. Get ready to catch the chains and bones when I break the former. As for the one remaining Waddle Dee, give me a boost so I can reach the place where the chains intersect."

"Yes, sir!" The seventeen normal Waddle Dees got into position, and Bandana got onto the head of the Waddle Dee in the center.

He took out his spear and held it near the spearhead, pressing the point to one of the chain links in the middle of the gate. Carefully, he engraved a small X in the chain link with his spear. "Gim, give me some heat!"

"Copy that!" Gim switched his yoyo to Sizzle Mode, and he brushed it against the point of Bandana's spear, lighting it ablaze.

"Get ready, Dees..." Bandana Dee pushed his flaming spear into the X on the chain link, and it began glowing with heat. It slowly started to melt as Bandana pushed the spear through. As the chain melted from the intense heat, Bandana turned to his brethren. "And, now!"

The chains came apart, and the Waddle Dees caught them and the bones before they hit the ground.

"That's it! Next, move them out of the way so we can pull the gates open."

The Waddle Dees carefully carried the chains and bones away from the gates and put them down. Then Bandana Dee used his spear as a crowbar to pry the gates open, as well as the automatic sliding glass door to the mall itself.

"Great job, everyone!" Bandana Dee nodded at me. "You're good to go, Kirby. Show them what for! ...After taking us back to town, of course."

So I opened my mouth, and the Waddle Dees jumped in one at a time to return to Waddle Dee Town. However, as they went inside, a pair of Awoofies came to the entrance and saw the Waddle Dees all going into my mouth.

We exchanged a very long and awkward stare.

One of them was terrified of how much I could eat at a time and made the right choice by taking off, but the other Awoofy was curious, looking at me as if I was one of those tiny clown cars that hold a bunch of clowns, which is a look I've gotten more times than I can count from people who aren't native to the Dream Universe. After the last Waddle Dee entered my gullet, the Awoofy walked over and took a peek inside.

You know the saying "curiosity killed the cat"? Well, in this case, curiosity caused the Awoofy to get swallowed.

As we went into the mall and approached what looked like the lobby, Elfilin asked, "How did those Awoofies know we were there? The Waddle Dees handled the chains and gates quietly enough to not make much noise."

Gim glanced back at the door, which slowly creaked shut. "Maybe because the open door caused wind to blow in here."

Izzy nodded. "Yeah, I can see why that'd get their attention. We ponies have a really sensitive coat of fur, so I'd imagine Awoofies probably have a good sense of touch as well."

We went up the central escalators, but as we reached the top, a big shadow passed on our left, and through the glass wall we briefly saw something big and gray drop down in the distance.

"Whoa!" I looked at Elfilin with a serious face. "Poyo, poyo?"

Elfilin nodded. "Yep, I think that might be one of the higher–ranked Beast Pack members. Only a few of the animals here are that big, and they're by far the most dangerous when it comes to fighting them."

"Oh yeah?" Gim twirled his yoyo on his finger. "Well then, leave it to us to be the judge of that!"

We turned right at the top of the escalators, but before we made another right turn at the end, Izzy looked left and saw a not–so–hidden stash of food. To be precise, bananas.

"So..." Gim stared at the huge pile of bananas. "Primate?"

Elfilin nodded again. "Most likely. There's only one big animal in this world that loves bananas this much, and he wouldn't be too happy if we stole his stash. He goes by Gorimondo."

Even though Elfilin warned that it was best not to steal from the pile of bananas, Izzy took one anyway. "Ohh, banana!" she chanted, getting a small laugh out of us.

"Wha—But, I just said not to take his bananas!" Elfilin exclaimed, dumbfounded.

Izzy shrugged. "What? It's just one little banana. You really think such a big monkey would notice or care?"

Elfilin glared at Izzy as we walked past some closed shops and a display case, and turned left past the bathrooms. "Probably not, but he'd definitely care about what you call him. There's a big difference between monkeys and apes!"

"And that is?"

Before Elfilin could answer, a group of four Waddle Dees beckoned us over as we entered the cafeteria. "Kirby! Kirby's friends! Over here!"

We walked over to the window they were crouching under, and we followed suit.

The four Waddle Dees, which were each dressed up in green outfits, saluted. "Green Squad of the Fort Dees, reporting for duty."

I tilted my head. "Fort Dees?"

The Waddle Dee clad in a green ski mask answered, "You don't know? King Dedede's wised up about the weakness of his army after the recent attacks by villains such as Taranza and the Haltmann Works Company, so he decided to put several of his Waddle Dee troops through special training so that they can hold their own against at least the weaker enemies that come their way. The training was enough for them to become the highest–ranked Waddle Dees below the legendary Bandana Dee. After that, the king chose to differentiate these troops from other Waddle Dees mostly using costumes that he took straight from a video game because he's entirely unoriginal. Hence, the Fortress Dees were born, or Fort Dees for short. They're called that because each group of nine Waddle Dees is assigned to guard one of King Dedede's fortresses throughout Pop Star, unless he says otherwise or an unnatural disaster like those portals forces us away from our posts. I'm the Green Spy, by the way. Speaking of..." He nudged the other three Waddle Dees. "Gentlemen, please introduce yourselves to these heroes."

"Got it!" The Waddle Dee with a green blacksmith's helmet and goggles went first. "I'm the Green Engineer, but they call me Weapons Waddle Dee since I also help King Dedede come up with fancy inventions like the Kirby Printer and the Dedede Hammer 2.0. When it comes to battles, I mostly just do well against mechanical menaces since I can fiddle with 'em until they're scrap."

Next was the Waddle Dee in the green doctor's getup. "I'm the Green Medic. I provide healing and strengthening medicines for the others in the squad."

Last was the Waddle Dee in a green baseball cap. "And I'm the Green Scout. Leave it to me when you need blunt force or speed!"

"Of course," the Green Spy finished, "most of the time you can leave the color out of our titles when referring to us, since squads are almost never seen in the same place at the same time."

Izzy stroked her chin. "And I take it you Fort Dees escaped your cages like the other Waddle Dees that we found hiding?"

The Engineer laughed. "Heh, and then some! Lemme tell ya what went down. We actually let ourselves get caught, then we let them birds take us wherever they were going, and when we flew over a place we wanted to stay and check out, WHAM! We broke ourselves out and beat the feathers off them before touching down."

"Nice!" Gim gave the Fort Dees a thumbs up. "But why're we hiding?"

The Medic peeked out the window, and we did the same. Out there, in the central lot, there was a huge gray gorilla with red war paint and a mohawk with a white stripe down the middle, and a golden cage of Waddle Dees around his neck in a chain necklace. His torso and arms were way bigger than his legs, so the caricatured ape looked kinda goofy patrolling the lot.

Elfilin gasped. "I was right; it is Gorimondo that's residing here!"

The Medic replied, "So that's the name of the strong–armed beast outside? He's making sure nobody comes and takes his Waddle Dees. We're trying to figure out how to save them without him being able to get us too."

"So you're trying to come up with a plan to sneak attack him?" Elfilin asked.

The Scout had a confident glint in his eyes. "You bet! Even though that big ape's strong, he's also real slow and top-heavy, so we're thinking about making him fall down."

"The bigger they are, right?" Gim nodded. "We can take this guy for you! Thanks for the advice!"

"And thank you for coming to our aid." The Spy narrowed his eyes. "Despite our skills, the animals were still able to take away some of the Fort Dees against their will. The Red Soldier counted thirty missing Fort Dee members, five from each of the squads in this New World. We're at our best when all nine members of a squad are together, since each one plays a crucial role in combat and complements each other well, so your help is much appreciated due to our less–than–stellar chemistry as merely four members rather than all nine."

"Poyo!" I summoned my Warp Star to pick up the Green Squad. However...

Wham! CRAAAAASH!

The sound of something getting hit hard came from outside, and my Warp Star smashed right through the glass window for the Fort Dees. We peeked out the window again, and we saw that Gorimondo was covering his eyes with his left hand while he staggered for some reason.

"Bingo! That Warp Star of yours must've knocked his lights out!" The Engineer hopped on the Warp Star alongside the three others. "You better get 'im while he's reeling! Green Squad, signing out!" They took off, leaving us to decide what to do next.

Izzy didn't waste any time, putting me on her back, with my Ice Ability turning her fur white and her mane sky blue. "You heard him! Let's get this sucker!"

She jumped out of the window into the central lot, but the ape still managed to grab us out of the air with his right hand. Holding us in his palm, he intensely stared at us with his right eye, the left one having been blackened from the Warp Star slam. He picked me up with his left index finger and thumb and tried to squish me while he gripped Izzy tightly in his right hand.

"Kirby!" Gim yelled. "You need help?!"

"Uh uh!" I shook my head; getting squished would kill most people, but I don't even have any bones, and my naturally stretchy body lets me tolerate it. Still, it was a bit uncomfortable, and I needed to defeat this King Kong wannabe, so... "Ice Ball!"

I encased myself in a sphere of ice, allowing me to slip out of Gorimondo's grasp, and I turned and faced him. He swung his free hand to slap me, but my ice ball stayed strong, only being knocked away from him and towards Gim, who caught me.

"Poyo!" I rolled my arms in a spinning motion, then motioned towards Gorimondo's right hand.

"So you're gonna go Super Kirby Ball on him, eh? Sounds good! I was gonna say my offer was still up for grabs, but guess I didn't have to." Gim used his yoyo to form an ice ramp, then held me between his hands, and he faced the ramp. I spun my Ice Ball as he got ready to let go. "Three, two, one... GO!"

I shot up the ramp and sailed towards Gorimondo's face, and he instinctively put his right hand up to shield himself. Clearly he wasn't using his head, because when I hit his hand, it opened and freed Izzy.

"Ay–o!" Izzy cheered, balancing on me like a circus clown. "Now let's really go bananas!"

Angry that both of us were free from his grasp, Gorimondo beat his chest and roared.

He jumped a good ways back and dug his hand into the parking lot, pulling out a large chunk of stone which he threw at us. I considered getting rid of my Ice Ability since it isn't a really good offensive Ability, but Izzy was quick to prove that it can be made good; she rolled my Ice Ball away from the stone which crashed into the ground instead of us, then made it bounce and hit Gorimondo in the thigh.

He tried to kick us away, but we used the momentum to bounce high up where Izzy could shoot a laser at Gorimondo's face. As we fell back to the ground, the ape jumped away to put some distance between us, the ground shaking beneath his feet as he landed.

"Hmm..." Izzy knocked on my ice ball to get my attention. "Hey Kirby, let's see if we can get him to jump like that again! I've got an idea. Just be ready to hop on my back, since we're gonna need ice for my plan to work."

"Oh?" Izzy had my attention. Something told me she was about to make a big–brain move, and I'm no stranger to those. "Poyo!"

I rolled towards Gorimondo as he tried to throw stones at us, but they all kept falling to our left and right. Giving him that black eye must've really screwed with his aim.

When we were in range, he extended an arm to slap us again, but I shattered my Ice Ball and slid right beneath his arm before hopping atop Izzy, where we gave Gorimondo's legs the cold treatment. Ice began to form on his legs, slowing them down, but he raised his foot to stomp the ground, freeing it from the ice and shaking the ground around us. We regained our footing as he prepared to stomp his other foot, and we jumped to avoid the resulting quake.

Then he jumped high up to stomp with both feet and the full weight of his body.

"Freeze his landing spot! Now!"

Izzy cast an ice spell and I blew frigid breath on the ground where we were, then Izzy speed–skated away as Gorimondo dropped. As he landed, the ground under him cracked... and it gave way.

He fell through, but his torso got stuck.

I took the opportunity to free his Waddle Dees and have my Warp Star whisk them back to Waddle Dee Town, causing Gorimondo to get angry even though he couldn't get out of the hole he made, let alone attack us.

Izzy charged up her horn... but instead, she used her magic to pull the ape out of his hole by the arm.

"Wait, aren't you gonna take the chance to finish him off?!" Gim exclaimed, as confused as I was.

Izzy gave us a disapproving look. "What do you take me for, a speedrunner? Come on, I'm decent enough to give the big guy a chance to use some kinda special attack!"

Gim and I looked at each other and shrugged. Izzy had a point; decent heroes give their opponent a chance to try their special attack—unless it's Star Dream; to Hotbeat with its Fatal Error attack.

Izzy and I backed off as Gorimondo got back up with a confused look towards Izzy. Then, he stretched his arms out and started spinning.

The unicorn paled as Gorimondo advanced towards us while doing Donkey Kong's up special. "Eep! Never mind, get away from the spinny boy! Fall back! FALL BACK!!!"

We all ran away in an attempt to avoid the whirling ape, but my desperation to escape the centripetal wrath of his mighty arms caused me to fail to notice a little pebble in the way. I tripped over it and fell on my face as the others kept running, so they didn't even know Gorimondo was about to slam right into me. This wouldn't be a problem for me, since I've got a few tricks up my sleeve, but I didn't want to reveal them to Izzy so early in our adventure.

So, in an effort to lessen the impact, I put my hands over my head and brought up an ice shield around myself, and awaited the inevitable...

But the shield turned out to be sturdier than I expected. I heard something collide with it, before I saw Gorimondo go right over me and land face–first on the other side.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Gim pumped his fist. "Smart move, taking the Scout's advice and using the ape's own weight against him!"

"Uh... Yeah, poyo!" I chuckled bashfully as I got up and ran over to join them. Wasn't what I mean to do against Gorimondo, but it worked.

Gorimondo opened his eyes and tried to push himself to his feet, but Izzy aimed the banana she got from his hoard towards him like a gun. "Alright, buster, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Hands where I can see ’em!"

With a growl, the downed gorilla raised his fist to punch Izzy, but she quickly jumped to the side to avoid it.

"That's what I thought. The hard way it is!"

Izzy fired the banana out of its peel like a bullet... and it literally exploded in a yellow burst of potassium when it hit Gorimondo's face, blasting him unconscious while Gim and Elfilin and I stopped laughing at her antics and immediately switched to surprise.

She threw the peel on him to add insult to injury before proudly shouting, "Now that's what I call a food fight!"

Gim slowly turned to Elfilin. "Is it... natural for bananas in this world to explode?"

Elfilin shook his head. "No. Not at all."

"..." Gim stared at me. "Er, I believe a fifth Super Smash Bros season took place while I was chilling in Equestria. Were there... any new shooting weapons?"

I blinked a couple times, before it hit me. I slowly nodded. "Banana gun." No doubt one of the strongest shooting weapons you can pick up in the Smash Ultimate exhibition matches, if you can handle the slow speed of the single shot.

"...Smash is weird."

I nodded again without delay. "Uh huh."

"...Let's just head back to Waddle Dee Town and see how they're doing."

"Yeah." I summoned the Warp Star, and we went back to town, not saying another word about the banana incident.

The Waddle Dees had made a bunch more progress since we last visited. Two buildings were almost done, one of them looking like a life-sized clay igloo of sorts while the other looked like it was going to be some kind of stand. But more importantly, there was a brand-new building in town that was all finished, with a sign that depicted a sword and shield. On the left and right of the entrance were window displays with hats of different shapes, sizes, and colors in them.

"Check it out, guys!" Elfilin pointed at the completed building. "I wonder what kind of building that is... Maybe a hat shop?"

Gim shook his head. "Nah, what kinda hat shop has a sword and shield insignia on it? Maybe it's... an armory?"

"Dang right it is, Gim!" The Green Engineer walked out of the building with a proud look. "Though, I like to think of it as an... inspiration station, of sorts. It's loaded up with all kinds of Abilities Kirby may’ve grabbed during his adventures here in this New World."

"Really? But why would you go to all the trouble of doing that if Kirby can just—Ow!"

The Engineer smacked Gim with his forging hammer. "You better hit mute, buddy. We don't want you revealing Kirby's secret to Izzy or Elfilin, do we?"

"Secret?" Elfilin looked at me with curiosity. "So you've got a little secret too...?"

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "Poyo..." More like a big secret...

Gim nodded while rubbing his voice module where the Engineer had whacked him. "Mm, best to keep Kirby's secret hidden 'til we find ourselves in a crisis where he'd need to use it."

"Fair enough. In that case..." Elfilin put a hand under his chin. "How about I tell you my secret when you reveal yours in such a situation? That way, we'll have gotten to know each other well enough that we will feel comfortable sharing more about ourselves! Deal?"

Smiling, I shook Elfilin's hand. "Poyo!"

"Good idea! Gotta build up that trust first!" Izzy looked at the Engineer. "But how'd you get those Abilities in the first place?"

"That'd be thanks to me." Barry flew down from atop the armory and landed next to the Engineer, who smiled at him. "I've been picking up after you, Kirby, swooping in and carrying the Ability hats you've been dropping back to the Waddle Dee Town ever since you found me in that mall. Managed to pass it off to the Beast Pack as keeping their territory clean of litter." He chuckled. "They kept the empty cans and stuff around because they're fun to play with, or something."

"Wouldn't they want to wear the hats, though?"

"Apparently not. Must be ’cause it makes their noggins feel funny. Or maybe..." The Engineer led us into the building, where he showed us several me–shaped mannequins with my Ability hats and weapons on them. "... they're afraid of using the Abilities! No doubt they'd freak out after accidentally roasting themselves or spawning a bomb in their paws!"

"That's awesome! But..." Elfilin went over to a pair of mannequins, one with my Hammer Ability's blue–and–white headband and mallet, and the other with my Tornado Ability's crown of wind. "I don't remember Kirby grabbing those Abilities in the Natural Plains."

The Engineer smiled as he took my Ice hat and plopped it on another mannequin. "Well, one of my fellow Waddle Dees found those two Abilities in some kinda special place. I don't know what he meant when he kept blabbering on about a ‘How Rune’ or something, but he was happy, and that's all that matters. Let's get to the reason why I had you come in here..."

He jumped over the counter and turned to face me.

"Kirby! Have you ever felt like your Abilities just aren't cutting it on their own? Maybe you wonder if you could make them better somehow?"

"Po..." I raised my hand to object to him insulting my power and skills, but I realized he had a point. Some of my Abilities, like Water and Spark, were good for utility, but aren't exactly the best in battle, and I did sometimes feel like bad guys just wouldn't go down fast enough even with battle–ready Abilities on my side. "Poyo."

"Well, guess what?" He pointed at me. "You always could. Because you, Kirby, have a special power... The power of inspiration."

Gim and I glanced at each other, confused. "I... don't see how a happy-go-lucky gourmand could inspire others aside from being a hero and always wearing a smile," Gim admitted.

The Engineer shook his head with a laugh. "Nah, I meant inspiring yourself! Kirby, remember when King Dedede had broken up the Star Rod into a bunch of pieces, prompting you to go on your second adventure? That was when you discovered your Copy Ability! Now let's think back to that day, you amazing pink puffball." He assertively slammed his hands on the counter. "You remember why you went and swallowed that Waddle Doo? The one that caused you to gain your first ever Ability?"

I looked up, reminiscing. Those were the days when things were actually really tough. I mean, just inhaling and spitting stars at enemies wasn't exactly the easiest way to take them down, but it had been all I knew how to defeat them aside from air bullets to take out Scarfies when I didn't have anything to spit at those floating fiends.

But then, I saw that Waddle Doo. Instead of just running up and walloping him the only way I knew how, I took a moment to watch him. I watched, as he tried to hit me with his eye beams. That beam attack looked pretty effective, covering a decent arc in front of him, and unlike my stars which I could only use if I had something to inhale, he could use it whenever he wanted.

And I wondered... What if I could use that in my adventures?

I didn't know how to use his powers, so I just inhaled him. But instead of spitting him out, I swallowed. Not like I hadn't swallowed any enemies before, but this time I did it with an actual purpose. Then I tried using his beam attack, and it just came naturally.

The rest is history.

"That look on your face... No doubt you do remember." Snapping back to reality, I looked back at the Engineer, who was seeming to reminisce as well. "I was there on that day. The way you were contemplatively frowning as you saw the Waddle Doo... I had an inkling you were using your head. There was no hiding your spinning gears from my eagle eyes! You looked at the Waddle Doo's beam attack and thought to yourself a question along the lines of, ‘How could I use that to help me achieve my goal?’ So you learned how to copy his powers, and you put your own little twist on it. That, my friend, is inspiration at work."

"Poyo..." I never really thought about it, but his wording made what I did sound like a miracle! And, well, it did seem like—no, it was a miracle. A miracle that I inherited from a greater power...

"To think that Kirby's come all this way from star bullets to super powerful Abilities, all because he stopped and took a moment to observe a cyclopic sphere with a cowlick..." Gim gave me a joyful slap on the back. "Just imagine what you could do if you got that brain of yours going on overdrive more often!"

"My thoughts exactly! Which is how I know you can make your Abilities even better!" The Engineer pointed to a mannequin with my Fire hat. "Kirby, think for a bit. What do you associate with fire? What does fire remind you of? Don't answer, just think."

"Fire?" I put a hand under my chin as I thought. One thing that comes to mind when I think of fire is my adventures. I almost always went through a fiery area at some point in my adventures to save Pop Star and beyond. One such place was Halcandra, where I had to dodge past lava meteors raining from the sky, and another was Endless Explosions which was home to this volcanic frog that spat magma balls and fire at me...

"Got an idea for a kind of fire or something associated with fire?" The Engineer gave me a determined nod. "Now keep it in mind, swallow your Fire hat... and get ready for transformation."

I didn't know what he was getting at, but it excited me, and I couldn't wait to find out. So I thought about something reminding me of fire, and inhaled and swallowed my Fire Ability hat.

And then, I flipped up into the air for an Ability transformation.

I felt my body solidifying, as a stony crumbling noise came from all over me. Before I knew it, I had turned to stone, but then I felt something burning in my head. It throbbed and ached, like my head could explode any second. It did, in a way, with the stone that encased my body breaking away, as a jet of lava erupted from my head and the aching immediately left.

"SUCCESS!" The Engineer jumped for joy, before holding up a mirror for me to better see my hat's appearance.

My friends all oohed and ahhed, as I admired my head–mounted volcano surrounded by rocky spikes.

"Would you look at that..." Izzy exclaimed in awe. "Check you out, hot stuff! You got an all–new Ability!"

"You sure did, Kirby!" The Engineer smiled, putting away the mirror. "Tell me, what were you thinking about when you swallowed the hat?"

I had thought of a common staple in almost every adventure in which I had to traverse a fiery area; a mighty landmark that would rain blazing meteors down upon the land... "Volcano!"

"Good choice! In that case, let's call this evolved Fire Ability... Volcano Fire!"

"Volcano Fire..." Elfilin nodded. "Yeah, that has a nice ring to it!"

"And a great naming scheme as well!" Gim added. "Having the upgrade's name in front of the base Ability name so that we know what it evolved from is a sweet idea! You planning on doing this with the other Abilities too?"

The Engineer chuckled. "Heh, well, it isn't my job to tell you what to call your Ability evolutions. That Volcano Fire is 100 percent invented by the pink demon himself! All I did was give you a nudge in the right direction. But yeah, that's probably a good idea for naming them."

"That's still a big role you had, though!" Izzy answered. "I mean, if you hadn't set this place up and reminded Kirby of how he inspires himself, I bet he'd never have learned to evolve his Abilities! Thanks so much, Engie!"

The Engineer laughed humbly. "Please, it's Weapons Waddle Dee. I should've specified earlier, but the times I prefer to go by that or Weapons Dee are when I'm not at work as a Fort Dee, such as while I'm running the armory at Dedede's castle." He looked away for a moment, before giving a resigned sigh as he broke character with his Southern accent. "Actually, speaking of which, I could use your help. I don't like having to ask stuff from cute creatures like yourself, Izzy, but could you guys hear me out?"

Izzy's ears flopped as she did an eager double nod. "All ears, Weapons Waddle Dee!" She giggled as she glanced over at Elfilin. "Especially Elfilin over here."

"Great! So, let me ask you something..." Weapons Dee took out a rolled–up sheet of old paper with a red string decorated using a yellow star keeping it rolled. "You ever see one of these while you were exploring this world?"

Gim shook his head. "Sorry, but negative. My cybernetic eyes didn't detect any such papers out in the Natural Plains."

"Well, that stinks..." Weapons Dee looked down, a bit dejected. "You see, in the first place, I didn't actually build this armory for you, Kirby. There was another reason. As you should already know, Waddle Dees aren't really the best at self-defense." He pointed at my Volcano Fire hat. "So I had the idea of the unequipped Waddle Dees using your Abilities!"

I blinked, just as surprised as my allies. "Poyo?!"

Weapons Dee nodded, taking my Volcano Fire hat and putting it on the mannequin that originally had my regular Fire hat on it. "I know, that's a shot in the dark. But only one way to find out, right? So here I was waiting for you to show your face, coming up with blueprints for possible enhancements to your Abilities so that even the less experienced Waddle Dees could fight well enough..." He frowned. "Only for those stupid animals to capture us and make me lose most of my blueprints!"

"And you want us to go look for them?" Elfilin asked.

"You got it!" Weapons Dee took out a second blueprint, and set it on the counter. "Don't think you won't get anything in return, though. Whenever you bring me a blueprint, I'll get straight to work and have Barry deliver you the finished product." He unrolled the first blueprint, and stared between it and my Volcano Fire hat. "And good on you, coming up with the very evolution I had on this blueprint! Obviously that one's on the house, but you'll have to pay up for future evolutions, else I won't make a profit from the most important customer in the Dream Universe."

"Pay up?" Izzy grinned at me. "Finally, we've got a purpose for all those Star Coins we've been finding!"

"Poyo!" Smiling back, I spat out a good amount of Star Coins onto the counter.

"Glad to hear you're up for that deal! But the thing is, I'm gonna need some extra special materials to upgrade your Abilities myself." Taking the coins, Weapons Dee leaned over the counter and shouted towards the entrance, "Hey, Shadow Kirby! You here?!"

Moments later, my Mirror–World counterpart ran inside the armory. "Poyo?"

"Good! Now, I hear you've been exploring some rifts in the sky and finding treasures in them. Mind if I have a look at the spoils?"

"Poyo!" Smiling, Shadow Kirby's face scrunched up, then he spat out out a star–shaped gem just like the one he showed us in Rocky Rollin’ Road.

"Now that's a special ore if I've ever seen one..." Weapons Dee took the gem and looked at it carefully with his goggles. "Mhmm... Yep, a gem holding this kind of energy might just be the thing I need to give those Ability evolutions the oomph they deserve!" He took off his goggles. "Shadow, if you find anymore of these Rare Stones, hand them over so I can work on making Kirby's Abilities as good as they can be, alright?"

"Uh huh!" Shadow spat out a few more Rare Stones for Weapons Dee, who beamed.

"Yeah–ha! That's what I'm talking about! Sorry about making you go on a wild goose chase, but there'll be more stuff I need for each blueprint Ability..." Weapons Dee opened the second blueprint and looked it over. "For this last one I managed to hang on to... I'll need a Ring Target from the Pokemon world and an iron ingot or two from the Minecraft world."

Shadow saluted and began to set off, but Barry stopped him. "Hold it! We might need something else too." The Bronto Burt looked at Izzy. "By any chance, would you know how to swim?"

Izzy shook her head sweetly. "Nope, never taken a dip in water before. We unicorns never had to go swimming, as far as I know. Why d’you ask?"

Barry sighed. "Ahh, should've known. Weapons Dee?"

"I'm on it." Weapons Dee took out a huge sheet of paper and placed it on the floor in front of Izzy. "Step onto this so I can measure your hooves."

Izzy obliged, walking onto the paper and holding still as Weapons Dee traced each of her hooves.

"There we go!" Weapons Dee handed the paper to Shadow Kirby. "While you're in the Minecraft world, fetch me a Frost Walker enchanted book, and make sure to find some horseshoes somewhere that’re the size on that paper. Pick up the Ocean spray paint while you're at it, so they'll look the part."

Nodding, Shadow left the shop and took off on his Warp Star.

Weapons Dee looked at us apprehensively. "While I was up high being carried off by that crow, I saw that the next major place to explore was a coastal sea. Can't have a Kirby adventure without an aquatic area..." He gave Izzy a comforting pat. "Since you can't swim, I'm gonna build something for you once Shadow gets back with the materials I need. Barry’ll bring it to you when it's finished, so you guys just wait at the farthest spot you can reach without swimming, okay?"

"Something to let me pass high water? I'm all for that!" Izzy grinned at Weapons Dee. "You scratch our back, we scratch yours! We won't let you and the other Waddle Dees down!" We turned back, but Izzy took another look at Weapons Dee. "By the way, what's up with those two structures being built outside?"

Barry smiled. "Oh! Well, the dome–looking one's gonna be Kirby's home away from home, and the other place's fixing to be a delivery office." He grinned. "I'm gonna run it alongside Delivery Waddle Dee once he's saved. He does all the packaging and paperwork, while I do the deliveries."

"Sweet! Well, I'm looking forward to visiting the Waddle Dee–liveries!" With one last wave, Izzy and the rest of us left the weapons shop and rode our Warp Star off to the next destination.

Barry and Weapons Dee waved back, before the former paused. "Wait, how'd she know that's what we were gonna call it?"

"I didn't!" Izzy called back. "It was a pun waiting to happen!"

"Eh, fair enough." Barry smiled, before sighing as he looked over at Weapons Dee. "Good thing none of the Waddle Dees here are going to set up a peanut stand. She could've called it Waddle Deez—"

Author's Note

Waddle Dees rescued: 46/???

Sorry if you were disappointed by how pathetic Gorimondo was, but... he's the first boss, of a Kirby game. What did you expect?

Like with Barry, the Fort Dees aren't OCs either. They're just there to fill in the boss level missions, hence each squad only having four Waddle Dees that are free. And before you ask, yes, they're rip-offs of the Team Fortress 2 classes, but they were also partly inspired by the Rescue Squads from Paper Mario: Color Splash. Also, they don't actually have the personalities of the classes; my headcanon is that Waddle Dees just like dressing up and cosplaying, as implied with the various costumed Waddle Dees seen across the Kirby franchise like the lumberjack Waddle Dees in Triple Deluxe or the ones in Kirby JP Twitter artwork.

And to those of you who were astute enough to notice that the Engineer mentioned the Kirby Printer... YES, I consider Kirby Battle Royale canon!

I should also mention that I'm going to use different music for each of the boss battles, like I did with the Gym Leaders in my story Helix & Hooves: Trainers of the Future.

And no, that story isn't dead. I just really want to finish this story first, especially since I have a surprise in store at the end... :trollestia:

Chapter 7: Abandoned Beach

Elfilin guided the Warp Star north past the Natural Plains, and we approached a vast coastal area. The majority of it was covered in water except for the southernmost part, but there were plenty of islands to safely land on.

"This area is called Everbay Coast," the cyan creature explained. "Great place for a swim, but you'll want to watch out for the structures that were made by the people who lived here; some of them are submerged from being flooded, so be careful when taking a dip!"

"Got it," Izzy replied with a nod. "So, what's our first stop?"

"I'd say the Abandoned Beach would be a good place to start searching for Waddle Dees." Elfilin drove the Warp Star down to the beginning of a series of coastlines close to the sea, where we set foot on the sand.

While waiting for Izzy's equipment to arrive, we enjoyed watching the local ocean life swimming about from where we stood on the first coastline. While most of them were harmless, I took note of the round red fish wearing goggles, called Blippers. They look and act harmless, but I know from experience that looks can be deceiving. Further away, I also spotted a green limbless creature with red tentacles on its head sitting atop a wooden crate floating on the water. Glunks like that one are pretty similar to Blippers in that they're cute but not harmless.

But even though watching some sea life can be fun, I understood that we had a goal, so after a few minutes, I put on an inner tube and swam to the next patch of dry sand, followed by Gim–E and Elfilin. Once we reached that islet, we stopped and waited for Izzy. She was able to wade across since the water was shallow between here and our starting point, but partway through, she got distracted by the Blippers. "Well, aren't you just the most adorable little oxymoron, decked out in those goggles?" she beamed as one swam close to her. "Looking snazzy!"

"Oxymoron is correct," Gim replied. "Blippers and their larger counterparts the Mamatees have eyes that aren't developed properly for seeing underwater, so they wear those goggles to prevent damage to their eyes."

"Oh, really?" Izzy's quizzical expression turned into one of wonder as she returned her attention to the Blipper. "Well, what do you know! Life gave you lemons, but you found yourself a lemon squeezer to make—"

Whap!

While she was focused on the Blipper, a second one jumped out of the water and headbutted the back of her head, causing her to lose her footing and tumble into the water.

My eyes went wide with terror. "Poyo?!" Izzy was about to drown!

I hurriedly dove into the water, inhaling and shooting the Blipper bullies away in the form of a Blaster Bullet before tugging Izzy out to dry land by the tail. Once she was a safe distance from the water, I pushed her onto her back, then I bounced up and down on her fuzzy belly to force the would-be liquid assassin out of her lungs.

But no water came out. Only... giggles? "Hehe, that tickles! S–stop!"

Surprised by her voice revealing that Izzy was alive, I hopped off. Looking at her head, I discovered that it was completely dry... And around it was a magic barrier she had conjured up. "What, you thought I was a goner?" she asked with a grin. "For a happy-go-lucky little pink puffball, you sure worry about me! I didn't know you'd warm up to me this quickly, Kirby!"

"...!"

I couldn't believe it. Izzy Moonbow was right: I totally lost it when she went under, even though I didn't want to convert to being a fan of the new generation of ponies. I knew in my heart that the one and only generation for which I held the most earnest love would be the one famous for Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and the rest of the Mane Six. So why... Why did I act as though that wasn't strictly the case? This couldn't be right! ...No, wait, it had to be because I care about protecting ponies no matter the generation for the sake of their fans, not for myself. It had to...

In an attempt to hide the fact that I seemed to be fond of the generation from which Izzy hailed, I hurriedly regained composure and forced a heroic grin, as if to say I was just doing my job as a hero. "P–poyo..."

"Guys, look! There's a Waddle Dee over there!" Saved by the bot... Our gaze followed Gim's extended index finger to a coastline further ahead, but there was no way to it except by swimming or wading, and I didn't want to risk Izzy nearly drowning and thus my accidentally losing composure again.

But I had an idea. I tapped Gim and pointed at the water separating the coastline from us. "Freeze!"

"Ooh, smart! The water ain't always gonna be this shallow, so if Izzy can't wade, why not walk over it?" Switching to Blizzard mode, the green robot rolled his yo-yo across the surface of the water, turning it into a bridge of ice for us to tread along.

This time, I stayed behind Izzy, keeping an eye out for more mischievous Blippers. It wasn't necessary, though, because they all kept away; no doubt they saw what happened to the ones that smacked her before and didn't want to suffer the same fate. The Glunk tried to break our ice bridge by shooting out a group of three orange energy pellets, but Gim dispelled the pellets with some yo-yo strikes before they could hit it. Thanks to his efforts, Izzy could levitate the Glunk away, where it sank and could no longer reach us with its attacks.

After she snacked on a watermelon slice hidden inside the crate, we proceeded to the next coastline, where a frustrated Waddle Dee was knocking some kind of big walnut-like thing against the post holding up an electronic arrow sign.

"Yo, Waddles!" Gim called out. "What're you doing with that nut you've got?"

The Waddle Dee turned and saw us. "Huh? Oh, hey, Kirby and Gim-E!" He began walking over, waving the nut for us to see. As he did, he unluckily strolled across the shadow of a pale yellow, teardrop-shaped creature hovering with leaf propellors, called a Foley. "I heard something rattling around in this thing, and I've been dying to know what's—Gyah!"

Gim wrapped his yo-yo around the Waddle Dee, pulling him over to safety as the Foley disconnected from its propellor leaves. The top of its head giving off sparks like a lit fuse, the Foley exploded as it collided with the nut, blasting open the nut and revealing its contents...

"...A baby bottle inside a nut?" The Waddle Dee stared in bemusement alongside everyone except Elfilin at the bottle. "I'm pretty sure that's not how nature works."

"That's a Knock-Knock Nut," Elfilin explained, floating over and picking up a piece of the nut. "It starts out already open but can be glued shut with a sticky resin excreted by the rims; thanks to the strong nature of the resin, knocking them around until they crack is the only way to get them back open again. Members of the Beast Pack like to use them to protect food they want to save for later."

The Waddle Dee laughed. "For a bunch of animals, those guys are pretty crafty! Maybe you guys can find some more goodies if you crack open any more of these Knock-Knock Nuts." He ran over to a few stacked crates and moved them aside to grab a pile of Star Coins, which he brought over to take with him. "Well, since you're here, Kirby, I guess that means I'm no longer stranded. See you later, and thanks for the save, metal man!"

Once he left for Waddle Dee Town, we tiptoed past a snoozing pink creature wearing an orange nightcap with yellow polka dots, a Noddy, before Gim formed an ice bridge towards a lonely islet populated only by a Sir Kibble and decorated with some grass and a palm tree.

"Heads up, guys!" Elfilin pointed towards a dark crocodilian creature with a massive head and mouth swimming around the islet. "That thing's called a Gnawcodile. They'll try to gobble you up from below, so don't go over them when they submerge!"

Izzy nodded. "Nobody's eating us on our watch. We'll blow right past that feisty feaster like he wasn't even there!"

Shoving another bothersome Glunk away from our path, the four of us ran behind the sluggish beast as it swam by. We considered our options once we made it to the islet and dispatched the Sir Kibble; we couldn't spot any more nearby patches of land to move to after this one, and the only other notable thing in the vicinity was a Gotcha Capsule floating on the water and a Knock-Knock Nut that contained an omelet. With nothing else to do while waiting for Barry, we made the decision to take the Warp Star to another spot in the Abandoned Beach infested with Beast Pack members.

Elfilin landed the Warp Star near the base of a cliffside that stretched a long way forward. Up ahead, we found a Sir Kibble and a Hot Head with their backs against the cliffside on a grassy patch of dry land.

"Kirby!" The Sir Kibble saluted as we came over. "Bonkers have joined the so-called Beast Pack, and one guards the way forward. Fight your way past that ape, and more importantly, find out the cause for this madness!"

I saluted back to him. "Poyo!" I inhaled the Hot Head next to him, re-gaining my Volcano Fire ability.

He eyed my Volcano Fire hat with surprise and intrigue. "It seems you have been improving on your existing Copy Abilities. Excellent, for such enhanced capabilities will be more than useful for battling the vicious fiends and overcoming the many obstacles in this world. I bid you good luck!"

The four of us proceeded to the next plateau, where a huge spiky nut—a durian, as Gim informed me—almost landed right on top of me. I managed to dodge it in time to avoid its explosion with a backwards handspring as the one responsible for it jumped down: a big ape (not nearly as big as Gorimondo, luckily) with peach-colored skin and bluish-purple fur, which I could tell was a Bonkers despite the unusually shaggy fur and war paint on its arms and face. It took out a crude hammer made from a tree branch and a chunk of rock, which it waved menacingly with a roar.

Piggyback time. I leaped onto an all too eager Izzy's back, and my evolved Fire ability caused her hooves to turn into stone that glowed red with magma at the bottom. Her mane similarly changed to stone, and she met the scowl of the Wild Bonkers with a grin. "Let's give him a trial by fire, Kirby!"

Izzy took the initiative, swinging her hoof to launch a magma ball, but the Wild Bonkers effortlessly smacked it away with his hammer and began advancing towards us. She then plunged her hoof into the ground and caused an eruption beneath his next step, causing him to shriek and grab his foot in pain. The Wild Bonkers retaliated by tossing another explosive durian, but I inhaled it and sent it back at him, only for it to be crushed under his oversized chisel.

"That hammer's quite a doozy..." Izzy got out of the way as the Wild Bonkers swung his hammer at us. Training her eyes on it, her ears perked up. "Hey! Kirby, I need you to keep the pressure on this guy!"

A grin crossed my face as I felt Izzy was coming up with another idea to take a baddie down, and I obliged, sending a steady stream of magma at the Wild Bonkers. He defended by holding his hammer up against the magma, but the way they collided made it hard for him to see Izzy approaching. A volcanic hoof strike to the hand caused him to let go of his hammer and clutch his burned hand, leaving him vulnerable to punches to the gut and face.

With that, the Wild Bonkers was taken down, so I dismounted Izzy and claimed the Hammer ability from him.

"Don't be fooled by this ability, our equine comrade!" Gim noted as Izzy checked out my wooden mallet. "The Hammer Ability may be a go-to for some powerful blows, but it's got some utility as well. Consider how the hammer's weight is concentrated in a small area; this allows application of high force to close single targets when swung, so it's optimal for pounding suspicious protrusions on walls or the ground."

Izzy nodded in understanding. "Which means if there's something sticking out, Kirby can smash it back in and make stuff happen!"

Gim gave her an approving thumbs-up as I broke some crates and slammed my hammer into a blue sea turtle creature called a Walf. "You've got a mind like a recently honed sword—that is to say, sharp! Yep, Kirby can smack fools and gimmicks alike with that hammer on loan from the king himself."

We continued past a concrete structure and climbed a ladder on our left guarded by a measly Glunk. At the top, I walloped another Walf guarding a wooden stake atop the structure. With one good whack, I pounded the stake into the ground as a demonstration to Izzy of the Hammer Ability's utility, causing the concrete structure to lower and reveal a Waddle Dee in an alcove it was covering.

"I owe you big-time, Kirby!" the Waddle Dee cheered gratefully. "I tried to hide from those beasts, but then a huge one came and trapped me in here. Good thing they weren't interested in having Waddle Dees for dinner, huh?"

One more Waddle Dee saved, we kept going onwards, taking down a couple of Blippers in a shallow pool-like body of water to enjoy their bananas. Not many steps later did we find a yellow Star Door, but it was guarded by—

"Hey, look how talented those animals are!" Izzy eagerly pointed past the door, leaping across to a sand sculpture of an Awoofy. "They can't be all that barbaric if they're willing to go out of their way to make this adorable work of art. C'mon, we gotta at least take a moment to appreciate their hard work!"

"Credit where credit's due, they do seem to have decent artistry amongst themselves. We saw that with the propaganda against Kirby we saw through that tunnel." Gim went over to observe the sculpture as well, and Elfilin and I followed suit. "Such an intriguing peculiarity of this animal-made monument!" Gim lightly knocked on the sculpture, and it didn't budge. "This sand is packed very tightly. Whoever put this together clearly did not want it to come apart, no matter what."

Elfilin nodded, pressing his paws up against the sculpture. "You're right about that. It's almost as if..." He trailed off, his huge ears picking up a sound Izzy and I couldn't hear. "Kirby. Bust this open."

Izzy did a double take. "You want to deface the animals' property?"

Gim understood Elfilin's logic, also detecting a faint sound from the sculpture. "Sorry, but it's got to be done. This was built not just for amusement, but for the purpose of concealment."

"Aw, okay. I'll be sure to make it up to them after our whole adventure is done and over with."

Having prepared myself to destroy the animal sand sculpture, I held my hammer out behind my back for a wide swing. However, when I brought my hand forward, the hammer was missing! We turned around to see what happened to it.

Behind us was a pair of dangerous enemies, the ones who were guarding the door. Floating orange blobs with catlike ears and a cute, unassuming face; one of them had my hammer in its mouth.

"Don't you know not to take what isn't yours?" Izzy chastised. "Bad floaty kitty! Come on, give it to us, give it..."

She tried to take back the hammer with her magic, but the familiar creature only strengthened its grip. It angrily spun around and transformed into a monstrous cyclops form, sending a chill down her spine.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure kitties aren't supposed to turn into monsters..."

"Those ain't no kitties, Izzy," Gim warned as I jumped and did a spinning kick, knocking the aggressive blob away and freeing my hammer. "One thing you need to know when you're up against a Scarfy like those two: When they get mad, they get MAD."

"And here I was, thinking most of the regular enemies Kirby took on would be all cutesy the whole time. This'll teach me not to make assumptions!"

The angered Scarfy came back and began flashing as it dove for Izzy. She was able to get out of the way, so it instead ran into the sand Awoofy, invoking an explosion that destroyed the sculpture and revealed an unconscious Waddle Dee inside of it.

Seeing the mistake its comrade made, the second Scarfy grinned sheepishly before wisely taking off.

"HAH!" The Waddle Dee woke with a start, gasping for air after we freed it from the sculpture. "Ah, ugh... The warm sand caused me to doze off, but the next thing I knew, I was totally covered in it. That's got to be one of the cruelest pranks an animal has ever pulled on someone..."

With the next Waddle Dee saved and Izzy's composure regained after having the poyo scared out of her by the Scarfies, we continued onward through the door.

On the other side of the door, we found ourselves up against another obstacle: the water ahead had plenty of whirlpools littering it.

"Watch out, you two!" Gim scanned the whirlpools. "These ain't the kind of water twisters you're used to, Kirby, the kind that just spins you around like near the City Wharf in that place you test out your air-riding skills. Nah, bro, you'll get sucked right in if you get too close." Gim experimentally shot out his Blizzard Mode yo-yo over the nearest whirlpool, and whatever ice it formed was quickly shattered and pulled into the vortex. "...Yeah, there's no cheesing our way across the whirlpools either."

We treaded carefully past the whirlpools and took out the Walf and Glunk that tried to break Gim's ice bridge, as well as a Scarfy that tried to ambush us from atop a cliff on the right.

"Hey, don't you guys think that's a bit weird?" Before we kept going, Izzy pointed out the face of the cliff the Scarfy had come down from. Several parts of it were jutting out. "You'd think one of the animals would've climbed up there with those to act as a lookout, but it was a floaty guy hanging out at the top instead. Those crafty critters had to have made some use for that conveniently formed rock face..."

Elfilin nodded in agreement. "Izzy's got a point. The animal members of the Beast Pack had the cleverness to set up traps like the giant boulders we had to swerve past with Kirby's Car Mouth, so they should definitely have the smarts to utilize that rocky cliff and climb up to the top rather than having a floating or flying creature get up there instead..."

I decided to investigate, platforming and hovering my way up the footholds to where the Scarfy had been. At the top, there was another stake to pound with my hammer, so I went ahead and did so. Back down near the water, on the opposite side, a part of the cliff face slid back and revealed a passageway.

"Woo! Your utility and Izzy's logic make a great pairing!" Gim cheered as I hopped down. "How's about the two of you go check out what's in there while Elfilin and I scout ahead?"

What Gim asked of Izzy didn't make any sense. I couldn't risk Izzy drowning, and Gim was our main means of getting Izzy across water safely with the ice bridges from his Blizzard Mode yo-yo, so why would he even think of having her—

"Copy that, Gim! The puffball and I are off to investigate!" My question was answered when Izzy used her magic to levitate herself and float into the side path. Wouldn't be the first time I'd heard of a unicorn using self-levitation, but it was still a clever way to take care of that problem.

I followed after her, and after taking the right path in a split, we found ourselves in some sort of side chamber where a tall wire fence almost entirely split the room in two. Metal blocks above powerful water currents made a path around to the exit, where another caged Waddle Dee sat without a Clocker... at least, that's what it seemed like, but that'd be too easy, just like the one on that Rocky Rolling Road. I spotted a red Clocker with a purple beak hidden away in a sneaky little alcove, ready to swoop in and grab the cage as we'd get close.

Instead, I chose to whack the stake near the metal bridge, which caused a plate filled with birdseed to slide out of a slot next to the cage. The Clocker eagerly flew down to the birdseed and began pecking away, during which a timer it had been holding in its beak started to tick down.

Getting the picture, Izzy hoisted me onto her back and started across the metal blocks. About halfway across to the other side, though, sat a Glunk on the water's surface. It shot a Bomb Block on the underside of the metal blocks, causing them to burst apart right in front of us!

"Hang on, Kirby!" Izzy had good enough reaction time to leap over the growing gap. She just barely made the jump, and we made it to the caged Waddle Dee in time.

The Clocker heard the sound of a cage breaking and turned around, only to find us sending the Waddle Dee back to town. Unbothered by its captive being rescued, it went right back to eating as we took the exit...

...which led us right back to where we had gone in, but through the left path instead.

"Nothing major to report, guys!" Gim and Elfilin came back from their scouting session, with Gim carrying a Gotcha Capsule. "All enemies in the way have been incapacitated, including Gnawcodiles for the time being, and we acquired a Gotcha Capsule to open once we return to Waddle Dee Town."

I stored the Gotcha Capsule as Izzy levitated onto the ice bridge. "We scored another Waddle Dee," she explained. "It was being guarded by this neat red Clocker that we distracted with some birdseed."

"A red one? Those are Timer Clockers," Elfilin noted. "They've got a big appetite and are very laid-back, so they take a lot of snack breaks."

"I dunno about you, but I think they should've been called Tick-Tock Clockers."

Elfilin couldn't hold back his laughter. "Pfft, haha! I should tell that to the animals after this mess is all taken care of!"

As Gim stated, the Gnawcodiles we encountered through the rest of the submerged path were left relatively harmless; he had frozen their maws shut, so they couldn't chomp at us as we proceed past them and out onto dry land where we went on to the next area.

The first thing we saw as we exited the Star Door (besides a flopping Blipper that Izzy shoved back into the water) was a building sunken into the water. Towards the front of the roof was a group of symbols with lights built into them, held in place by bent metal pipes. One of the pipes was dislodged from the roof, though, and a Waddle Dee with a camera was trying to lift a ring-shaped symbol into place.

"Oh, hey Kirby!" The Waddle Dee put down the ring and came down to meet us. "I wanted to take a picture of this sign for Wise Waddle Dee so he could help us better understand this world's culture, but it's incomplete. Think you guys could keep the round symbol in place for a moment?"

My mouthful senses started tingling again as I approached the ring, so I knew just what to do. "Poyo!" Inhaling the ring, my body stretched out all around, and my mouth opened real wide so I resembled a giant capital O.

I stepped into the gap between the first and third symbols, and the Waddle Dee held up his camera and took the picture.

"Picture perfect!" he cheered as he put away his camera. "Now I can get this back to Wise Waddle Dee so he can try and decipher or translate this—"

"Hotel," Gim interrupted.

"Really? That was fast, even for a robot!"

Gim tapped the side of his head, where his temples would be if he had those. "Shortly before beginning our adventure through this forgotten land, a reliable mechanical comrade transmitted to me folders containing information about this world; one such folder covered the new world's language, which can be deciphered into English but itself is spoken differently due to being a language of its own rather than a mere code. I haven't bothered to look through the more spoiler-y files such as lore and background, and I don't check out entries such as the names of various animals either until we encounter them for the first time, so as to ensure we go into this just blind enough to be surprised."

"Oh. Well, at least Wise Waddle Dee will have something new to learn anyway."

We quickly learned that my Ring Mouth wasn't just good for looking like an O. By taking a deep breath and exhaling hard, I could blast out air like a cannon, which I used to blow away some crates in the path as well as several enemies that tried to stand in our way.

After launching some more ground-bound Blippers back into the water where they belonged, I was also able to use the gusts to spin a windmill nearby, which raised some ground that had some Star Coins to collect. Now knowing that there were windmills that acted as switches, we used a Scarfy-guarded log and another sunken building to platform safely around a Gnawcodile to another Windmill Switch on the left. Activating this Windmill Switch raised some ground, as well as a boat tied to a metal dock.

Seeing the boat, Izzy got a look in her eyes that gave me a bad feeling.

"And... gust!" WHOOSH! "Gust!" WHOOSH! A few seconds later, she and Elfilin were captaining the boat, Bluster Mode Gim using my wide-open mouth as a sail. I wished I could see where we were going, but at least I could see what she maneuvered us past, and from the sound of it Izzy was a competent enough captain who knew to attack or break through stuff with the boat by having my gusts give it a burst of speed. The boat was sturdy enough to send the Gnawcodile we went around earlier into the air!

Thanks to my boating Ring Mouth, we could speed over a whirlpool to a Knock-Knock Nut that held a Maxim Tomato, then shoot past some Walfs and break through a weakened wall in the cliffside to reach a room guarded by three Gnawcodiles that received the same treatment as the first one we charged into. I left behind the ring and leaped onto a bountiful islet in the middle, where I got the Ice Ability from a living snowman called a Chilly and rescued a Waddle Dee wearing a delivery hat.

Noting the hat he was wearing, Izzy hopped over to the islet. "Hey, by any chance, do you happen to know a Bronto Burt named Barry?"

The Waddle Dee nodded, a hopeful look in his eyes. "Barry's my coworker; I'm Delivery Waddle Dee. He helps by making deliveries while I do the packaging and paperwork. Why, have you met him?"

"Sure have! He should be waiting for you down south in a town full of Waddle Dees if he's not already bringing a delivery Kirby and I are anticipating."

"Great! Then I'm headed there right away so we can resume our business. See you, potential future client and Kirby!"

Once Delivery Waddle Dee was on his way back to Waddle Dee Town on the Warp Star, I got to showcase the frigid powers of my newly acquired ability. I demonstrated to Izzy that I could skate over the water, making a path of ice as I went so Izzy could safely follow without needing Gim to make any ice bridges for her. The four of us left the hidden room and returned to near the whirlpool, where we left the water to rescue the Waddle Dees in a golden cage that looked to be unguarded aside from its Clockers... that is, until we looked up. Way up high, several Foleys were detaching from their propellors and dropping down to detonate on us.

They didn't account for the possibility of me freezing them with ice breath so they couldn't self-destruct.

Author's Note

Waddle Dees rescued: 55/???

Sorry this chapter took so long to release! I've been busy with online college classes, not to mention collaborating with other writers in this Fimfiction group called The Storyboards (before that was a thing, I instead did stuff in the group Friendship is Awesomes). If you have OCs and are interested in sharing them with other writers, go check it out!

Prologue: In the Star of the Storm

It's a beautiful day outside on my home planet. When you open your ears, you can hear birds singing, with the occasional shrill cry of the mighty Dyna Blade soaring through the sky. And when you look around, you can see the many flowers blooming, and sometimes the telltale smile of a Lovely. On days like these, Dream Landers such as myself...

Should be having a nice, peaceful stroll down a quiet path. In my case, alongside a teenage human boy with spiky brown anime hair, big baggy pants, and a giant key for a sword.

"Thanks for showing me the healing powers of the Fountain of Dreams, Kirby!" he said. "After that sparring match we had, I really needed it. I had no idea that a little pink puffball could be so tough!"

"Poyo..." I smiled at him before looking up to the sky. The sky was nice and blue, speckled with white clouds. But the sky wasn't what I was really thinking about. In fact, the words of the newest Smash Brother caused me to think of my dad.

My dad is a really nice guy, but you don't want to upset him. He's super strong, and I mean so strong that it would take an army of the most awesome good guys in the universe to even make him sweat!

But what I really love about him is simply the fact that he's my dad. That he made me. That I have the privilege of being the son of the most important resident of the Dream Universe. As I walked down the road, I silently thanked him for making me, and for training me on how to use the powers I inherited from him.

And that reminded me of my time on the planet Equus, where I first unlocked my inner power. I made so many friends there... Too bad they had to pass on...

With a sad look on my face, I took out a few pictures that were taken in Equestria. One of them was a group photo of me; the pink Earth pony Pinkie Pie; the orange Earth pony wearing a cowboy hat, Applejack; the white unicorn with the deep purple mane, Rarity; the yellow Pegasus with the pink mane, Fluttershy; the cyan Pegasus with the rainbow mane, Rainbow Dash; the purple alicorn Twilight; and the young purple dragon with the green spines, Spike. Another was of me kicking apple trees with AJ. Next was one of Rainbow Dash trying to outrace me on my Warp Star. After that, Pinkie and me dancing together.

Each and every one of them was amazing and unique in their own way. Rainbow Dash had the determination of Susie rebuilding the Haltmann Works Company from scratch, and if the Pegasus had the smarts to do it, the company would have been all built in a week. Pinkie Pie, while a little too crazy for me sometimes, always managed to make me smile with her antics. Rarity would generously offer her advice on how I could use my various Abilities stylishly. Applejack would always let me eat any leftover apples after harvest, and she got a kick out of my enormous appetite. Fluttershy cared so deeply for animals and cute creatures like me, so she would be right at home in Dream Land. Twilight Sparkle was such a bookworm that loved to research things but wracked her brain trying to figure me out, though she quickly put that aside when she learned something very surprising about me. And Spike was your everyday boy who loved comic books and liked helping Twilight with things, and he thought I was an awesome guy due to having sweet powers and using them to save my home planet time and time again.

But I would never be able to see them in person again. They were taken away from me by natural causes. Nothing will be able to replace them...

"Hello! Earth to Kirby!" Sora's sudden exclamation snapped me out of my obliviousness to what was going on around me as I thought about my dad and the Mane Six. "I was asking how you're so strong. Can you answer that? Or at least show me how?"

"Poyo!" The answer to his question was at King Dedede's castle. It was a long way there, so instead of walking, I took out my pink cell phone and got ready to press a button on it.

But I didn't need to, because we saw something yellow shimmering in the distance. As it came closer, we noticed that it was in the shape of a star, and that there was something spherical and green on top of it.

"Yo, Kirby!" it said in a cybernetic male voice. The star slowed to a halt three feet in front of us, and the neon green thing jumped off so we could get a better view of it.

It took me a moment to recognize the green robot with the two gloved hands, blue visual lenses, and clear glass vocal module. I beamed when I put two and two together.

"Gim!"

"Yep, that's me!" We gave each other a high five. "Though, you probably forgot this since we last saw each other, but ever since I got my upgrades, I go by Gim-E as well. The E stands for Enhanced. Sorry if my makeover is still making me look less familiar to you. Anyway, what's up, my radical pink buddy? Are you and that human friend of yours busy?"

"Not really," Sora answered. "We're just taking a little walk, that's all. Though I was wondering about why Kirby's so tough. You seem to know him pretty well. Can you tell me anything?"

"I can do you one better. There's a recording you can watch at King Dedede's castle that can teach you the origins of Kirby's power! But I gotta borrow Kirby for a moment, so you'll have to go there on your own." Gim-E motioned towards the Warp Star he rode here on. "Hop on, Kirby! I wanna show you something really cool!"

I nodded and got on. No clue what he wanted to show me, but from the sound of it, I would really want to see it.

"Now follow me!" With a snap of his fingers, wind swirled around him, signifying that he switched to Bluster Mode. Then his eyes flashed yellow. "Ooh, just got an update from my main man Roborygon! I'm not sure if you've met him, Sora, but he's a pretty cool robot. Anyway, let's see here... Interesting... Is that so..." He shook his head. "Gotta make a small change in our plans. Sorry, Sora. I know you wanna check out that video, but you better go home. Don't want you getting involved in this."

"Oh. Uh, okay..." Sora merely walked back the way we came, confusion in his voice.

After he left, Gim-E got onto his head and began spinning quickly, the wind causing him to rise up slowly before soaring away. I followed him on my Warp Star.

Half a minute passed before he finally stopped flying towards wherever we were headed. He turned upright and pointed forward.

"There!"

At first, I didn't see anything.

But after a few seconds, it revealed itself.

A huge black storm cloud peeking over the horizon. Not even ten seconds went by, and it already covered the skies as far as my eyes could see. Strange white spots formed in the cloud, shaping themselves into stars like the dimensional rifts that lead to Another Dimension. Strong winds came from the storm, threatening to pull us in. Luckily, I was clinging tightly to my Warp Star and Gim-E was in Bluster Mode, so we were safe for now.

My eyes were wide as saucers as I watched the storm for a while before I sprouted a determined grin. "Poyo!" This was just what I wanted. A new adventure!

"I knew you'd like it! Now let's go save the day again!" Together, we flew around in search of citizens that needed rescuing.

As we scouted the area, we saw many things getting caught in the storm and yanked into the dark cloud. Some victims included Star Blocks, apples, trees, and a few other kinds of things attached to the ground. And the round, adorable, orange citizens of Dream Land, Waddle Dees. Left and right, the poor, mouth–less creatures were getting lifted off the ground and flung into the star shapes in the storm.

There was no way I'd sit back and let them get sucked into the storm clouds... Especially not my best Dream Land friend Bandana Waddle Dee, who was desperately clinging onto his spear he had thrust into the ground in order to avoid getting pulled in!

"Poyo! Poyo!" I called out.

"Kirby?! I'm so glad you're—whoa!" His spear dislodged itself from the ground, and Bandana Dee got pulled towards one of the white spots.

"Gim-E!"

"On it!" Gim-E threw out his yo-yo, imbued with wind, and it wrapped around my friend before it was too late. "Gotcha!"

Bandana Dee wiggled around in fear before realizing the yo-yo saved him. "Whew, that was a close one... Thanks to both of you!"

"Poyo..." I sighed in relief now that my best friend was saved. But now that he was okay, I shifted my focus to figuring out what's up with the black storm. I had to find out the cause of—

"TREE INCOMING!!!" a girl's voice wailed from very close by.

"Wha—?!" I barely had time to heed the warning, and when I looked where I was going, I saw a big tree branch heading right towards me.

WHAM!

The branch knocked me clean off my Warp Star and into Gim-E, who released Bandana Dee, and all three of us were pulled into the nearest rift.

Most trips I take through dimensional rifts are pretty calm, but this was way different. My whole body got manhandled as I got tossed about in the rift, like a bunch of huge, invisible hands were turning me into a clay sculpture. To say it was uncomfortable is putting it lightly. I'm probably literally unable to vomit, but if I could...

Regaining consciousness, I felt itchy and queasy all over. I couldn't see anything, but I could hear the sound of an ocean splashing against a shore. Was my head stuck in something?

Suddenly, something rolled me onto my back, and I found myself gazing up at a nice blue sky, with a few leafy branches decorating the edges of my line of sight.

I sat up and brushed off the sand that was sprinkled on my face. As I had guessed from the sound of water, I was on a shore somewhere, and I happened to be facing the entrance to what looked like a rainforest.

"Poyo!" I jumped to my feet and got ready for adventure.

"Great, you're awake! Now the gang's all ready to set out!" the girl's voice I heard earlier said.

"Huh?" At my sides stood Gim-E and Bandana Dee, but they weren't the ones talking. The voice came from behind me, so I turned around.

To my surprise, the one who spoke to me... was a pony.

A unicorn mare with a coat colored like lilac flowers, a mane colored blue like the ocean, purple hooves, and happy magenta eyes.

"Hi there, Kirby! My name's Izzy!"