Welcome! And don't be intimidated by the ridiculous title!
It's back! The fourth installment in my Kirby's Insane Journey comedy/adventure series. There's going to be a lot of changes. One of the most noticeable ones will be the change in format. The previous 3 stories were written in a Play/script format (I was young and inexperienced...) while this one will be written in the more common prose format. I'm experimenting with this so if I don't like the way it turns out for KIJ4, I'll have to figure out something that works for the next sequel (yes, there is going to be another sequel).
Also, I'll be joining the cast! That's right, a self-insert. I know, some people are rolling their eyes, but I'm working hard to avoid a Gary Stu. This incarnation of myself, which I like to call "Claude the Author," will be as true of an insert as I can get...personality-wise, of course. I don't exactly own weapons from the future and can't create shockwaves with a sword (not that I have a sword to begin with). So, no single-handed PWNing of Bowser's army, no chewing out characters with no repercussions, and most importantly, no canon characters attempting to sex me up...at least, none of any of that yet ;)
And you'll find out what the Digital World Animator (DWA Machine is soon enough! If you haven't read the previous 3 stories, you still can. They can be reached through links in my bio, since 2 of them have been removed from FFdotnet, though this story isn't very dependant on the storylines of the previous ones. It's starting a new arc in this series after all.
Feedback is appreciated. I'm no review whore, but I'd like to know what people think of the story, and I'm not perfect so I may need help correcting mistakes by readers. I've been getting the hits for this story, but not the reviews, so I have no idea what the people reading it think about it! After all, this is my first direct insert. I'd like to know how it's turning out!
Now...
Disclaimer: I do not own the Super Smash Brothers or anything else Nintendo-owned, as it is owned by Nintendo after all. Original characters (such as Iris or Shyla) are owned by me unless otherwise specified, so ask before you use! And I don't claim the rights to any other real live people that show up in this story, even though they're fictionalized accounts. I'm not sure if you could anyway.
Enough with the pre-story dribble. On with the fiction!
Kirby's Insane Journey to End the DWA Machine's Abuse
By ClaudeLv250
Chapter 1:The Digital World Animator Machine
The sun shined down brightly on the colorful, wonderful, and in some people's opinions, too happy land of Dreamland. The rays of light penetrated the windows of a dome shaped house. The owner of the house stirred slowly from his slumber as the light persuaded his consciousness to reluctantly return.
It had been a year since the many worlds of Nintendo were under the threat of a quick alliance between Bowser, Ganondorf, and Mewtwo. The point of it all? Two secret artifacts known as the Amulet of Light and the Amulet of Darkness. These amulets granted immense power to anyone that wielded them, granted that they were of the right nature. Heroes would take up the Light Amulet, while villains thrived off the power of the Dark Amulet. Anyone that touched an amulet of the wrong nature would meet one of many strange fates...and unfortunately, one puffball had done such a thing.
Kirby blinked at his clock. It was past 8. Actually, it was going on 9 o' clock. Then something clicked in his mind. Today was the day! The day of the Grand Opening of the latest Nintendo World store! Kirby sat up in his bed and pressed a button on a nearby remote, causing his television to blare to life. A few more button presses and the television settled on the Nintendoverse's own coverage of the event on Earth through video footage.
If Kirby had dwelled on the thought of the planet Earth, he would have seen it as pretty intangible. What he didn't realize was that Earth and the Nintendoverse would be connected today in a way he never imagined, and that the planet just might be tangible after all...
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A crowd had formed on the outside of the new Nintendo World Store. Cameras flashed as eager and curious faces peered through the glass. However, only 20 lucky souls had been allowed inside, all part of a writing contest. These few finalists all submitted their work – Nintendo fiction – in hopes of winning an unknown prize. That prize was bound to satisfy, but even if it didn't, each finalist was invited to spend the first hour enjoying what the store had to offer. Games, consoles, handhelds...they all lined the shelves, and the stairs to the second floor promised even more with kiosks packed full of past, present, and future games. And it would be all theirs before the swarm of people outside were allowed in. Even better, they were promised to walk away with free Nintendo merchandise.
But that didn't matter right now. Everyone's attention was focused on the man standing in front of the group: Shigeru Miyamoto. His visits to the U.S. were infrequent, but today's was highly appropriate. But the man hadn't spoken a lick the entire event, and despite being the center of attention, was not the one at the podium speaking to the crowd. Actually, no one knew who exactly who the heck the guy speaking was, and he looked quite silly with his spotted bowtie and glasses, as well as his messily put together tuxedo. Everyone else, including Miyamoto, wore casual clothing.
The spectacled man had been giving a speech for the past twenty minutes, most of it not even relevant to the contest...he dwelled on the history of the company, and how big of a deal it was to personally connect with the community of fans it had. No one really payed any attention or bought anything the man was saying – even Miyamoto wore a dull, almost spaced-out look on his face. Most of the finalists had zoned out, pondering the grand prize. The rumors about the prize went from underwhelming to ridiculous.
A clearing of the throat brought everyone's attention back to the man at the podium. His lengthy speech was over and he announced that it was time to reveal the winner of the contest. Of course, he did this with a goofy, toothy grin.
One person in the group cringed at the smile. The man had quite clearly shown the large gap between his teeth, which made his appearance even more bizarre. 'He really shouldn't smile like that...' he thought to himself.
Surprisingly, it was Miyamoto that handed the man the paper with the name of the lucky writer that would win a prize beyond imagination. The spectacled man read the paper and paused, to give a dramatic effect. Once he realized that his audience was annoyed with him, he proceeded to speak.
"...is there a Claude here...?"
There was silence, for Claude himself was stunned with this revelation. When no one answered, the man asked once again.
"...Claude? Come up to the front if you're here."
Finally regaining sense, Claude scrambled from his chair and towards the front. There was some applauding from the group, but there were also jealous glares of death-bringing, one in particular that was quite unsettling. Claude realized that he still didn't know what the prize was, and when he started to ask, a ruckus had already started. Chairs were thrown about and the young writers had retreated into corners of the store to avoid the rampaging teen responsible.
"IT'S NOT FAIR!" He screamed, nostrils flaring like a bull. Another chair was tossed.
"SECURITY!" the spectacled man cried out, hiding behind the podium in anticipation of a flying chair. Two burly men grabbed the screaming teenager and dragged him towards the store's exit.
"I've read all of your stories and none of them were as good as mine! I should have won...!" He continued ranting long after being tossed out of the store, bringing attention to himself from the crowd outside.
Claude rolled his eyes, thinking, 'He doesn't even know what the prize is and he's already screaming about how he deserves it.' With little warning, he was quickly told to follow Miyamoto to his prize, which waited near the back of the store.
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Kirby stepped out of his house for some fresh air once the coverage on the Nintendo World Store had ended. The winner was announced and some kid made a fool of himself, getting thrown out of the store as a result. But that seemed to be distant now as Kirby strolled aimlessly about, waving to the occasional friendly face he'd see. You could also say that he was patrolling. He was the protector of Dreamland, and often the entire planet of Popstar depended on him in dire situations; in some rare cases, the entire star system.
There was a low humming in the background. Kirby frowned when he realized what it was. A blue object had appeared from over the horizon and headed in his direction. It was the Blue Falcon, restored to its natural color. The car stopped near Kirby, not before shredding through a few trees in the process, and Captain Falcon hopped out to greet him. Kirby could only wonder who gave this man the legal right to drive a car, let alone how he managed to win an F-Zero Grand Prix with such driving skills.
"Hey Kirby!" he called out, waving to his pink comrade.
"Hi Falcon," Kirby said with a false cheery tone. Captain Falcon had a talent for getting on his bad side, and he didn't doubt that it would happen again today.
"Why are you here?" he asked Falcon, hoping to get a decent response.
"Oh, I was just...around," Falcon replied, his eyes becoming distant.
"Around?" Kirby repeated, slightly annoyed.
"You know, in the neighborhood," Falcon explained.
"I know what it means," Kirby muttered. This was going no where fast, so he decided to strike up a subject of his own. "I see the Blue Falcon is blue again...er, Bluer Falcon."
"It's just Blue Falcon again," Falcon said. "I replaced the green paint job with another blue one when Samus sat me down and explained to me how stupid calling a green car 'Bluer' was," he enlightened his pink friend. "I wish somebody would have told me sooner."
Kirby raised a brow and folded his flaps-for-arms over his chest, "I'm sure someone did..."
There was a short silence as neither exchanged a word. Then Captain Falcon's face lit up.
"I know what other reason I came here for!" he shouted excitedly. "Fox and Iris had their baby!"
Kirby rolled his eyes, "I knew that when it happened a few months ago."
"Oh..." Falcon said, shoulders sagging. But then his face lit up again when another thought struck his mind, something rare within itself. "Wanna go see the baby?"
Kirby was caught off guard by this. Falcon having an idea he might go with was definitely a rare occasion. He hadn't seen the baby yet, not even pictures. A visit sounded good to him.
"Sure, why not?"
"Great!" Falcon clapped his hands together excitedly. "I'm sure the baby would like you since you're kind of like a woman yourself."
"...what's that supposed to mean?" Kirby asked, his brow raised once again.
"Well you're pink, and many girls wear pink. And you have mood swings like women do, and..." Falcon trailed off when he saw the look on Kirby's face. He had obviously said something wrong. Again.
"Oh really!" Kirby yelled, anger quite evident in his voice.
"See!" Falcon pointed at him accusingly. "Mood swings just like that! You were happy and now you're mad!"
"That's because YOU make me sick!" Kirby spat. He raised one of his little flaps and a brown hammer materialized from thin air, a star imprinted on both sides of the mallet's head. He waved it threateningly at Captain Falcon, who dashed in the opposite direction.
"GET BACK HERE!" Kirby screamed, chasing after Falcon and occasionally swinging at him whenever he felt he was close enough. He didn't land a hit, but that only motivated him even more.
'That's it,' Falcon thought to himself. 'I'm never visiting Kirby again unless I'm wearing body armor...'
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Claude had been told to follow Miyamoto into a back room of the store for his prize. The man still hadn't spoken a word as he led him down a hall, music and sounds echoing from the games the finalists that hadn't won were unleashed upon. They had arrived at a metal door that looked thick and sturdy. Miyamoto whipped out a card from his pocket, his other hand occupied by a small stack of papers. He slid the card through the door's security system and was granted access by the sound of a 'ding.'
It was here that things started to feel surreal for Claude. Here he was, following Shigeru Miyamoto downa new metal hallway hidden behind the door. This was getting stranger by the minute. They arrived at another door requiring security clearance, unlocked with yet another swipe of the card. This led to a dark room, almost completely pitch black save for the few flashing lights along the walls. The door closed and Miyamoto flicked a light switch on. The room was a decent size, but consoles and panels lined the walls, whose purpose Claude could only imagine. The room was pretty plain beyond this as there were no decorations or furniture beyond a few chairs. It seemed that this room only served one purpose, and Claude spotted it dead center in the room.
It was square shaped and stood about 3 feet tall. Claude leaned over it to notice glass covering the flat surface, with nothing but darkness beneath that.
"What's this thing?" He asked Miyamoto, who had retreated to one of the corners of the room and began fastening some headgear to his head. He then rolled his eyes at his own question. Miyamoto hadn't said a word the entire time, and he barely spoke English. What kind of answer would he get?
Miyamoto turned to him, smiling like a giddy child on Christmas day. "It's the Digital World Animator Machine!"
Adding the author to his own story is a bit insane, though with a series like this, it'll work and lead to more possibilities. The first (and second) chapters are a little on the slow side for this series, as they are setting up the rest of the story. Hopefully things will really pick up by the third chapter, which I'm working on right.