Phazon: OH, NO! NO, NO, NO! A CHAPTER I UPLOADED DIDN'T GET A SINGLE REVIEW, BUT IT GOT ALL OF THOSE VIEWS! YOU ALL ARE HORRIBLE AND I'M NEVER GONNA UPDATE AGAIN AFTER THIS!

Okay, not really. All jokes aside, as I said, the story will continue regardless of feedback, and I'm nearing one of my favorite segments of the game, so I must continue no matter what.

In response to SSJ- Sonic, that was probably the best criticism I've received, but I've a few words for it.

Maybe the fairies on Ripple Star did have names, I wouldn't know. I don't have the instruction booklet at my side, just the game and videos of the entire game played through. As for descriptions of what enemies look like, I could do that, but some of that would detract from the main story, and I'm describing most of the new enemies seen anyway. I'm doing this under the assumption that those who read have played Kirby 64, that's why. And if you hadn't noticed, I'm going for enough detail and description as it is. You said "Description actullay (spelled incorrectly) adds more feeling and enjoyment into a story" and it does, which is what I've been doing this entire time. I'm not doing a page by page, line by line, piece by piece rewrite of the game. I'm expanding on the main story without detracting from the heart of the game. As people have said, they recognize familiar locales based on the descriptions and settings, so how is it that you have not? When's the last time you played Kirby 64 anyway? You even remember what the levels looked like, because that's how I've described them thus far.

The Kibbles, that was intentional. I'm aware that they are knights and use boomerangs, but I changed that for chapter 3. And as far as me needing a little work in description, what do you think this entire story has been about in the first place? These aren't kiddy descriptions of the levels, if that's what you think, because they are not. More than that, I don't do super fast updates; I take precious time that goes into creating the best chapter I possibly can, not the best chapter possible that the fans want. I haven't rushed anything thus far, otherwise I'd be done and this fic would be incomplete grammatically and not well on my standards. Either you're setting your standards too high on my fic and expect me to basically REWRITE the game inch by inch, or you believe I'm not doing enough, which I can honestly say I am. There's no rushing- each chapter takes delicate work for as many minute details as I can fit, so please, not to be rash, but don't sound like an expert critic and expect me to "make chapters have better quality if you take your time with it," as you said, because I'm not doing this for the fans, it's so I can enjoy sitting down and writing about a game I deeply enjoy. I don't know why you think I'm rushing, but lose that, because that's the last thing I want to do with this work. Don't take this harshly.

Anyway, back to the point, this'll pick up from the last level. Ever notice how the levels don't have names, which makes it even more difficult to think up a chapter name? Ah, well, no big deal. Let's continue with the adventure.

Disclaimer: The characters, storyline, setting and all of that in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards belong and are the sole property of Nintendo and HAL Laboratories only, and I don't have them locked away in chains anywhere. Best to get the legalities out of the way before someone tries to sue. I aim to give the readers something to enjoy, but not have my story deleted by an NOA executive.

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Hidden Beach Shards

From the sandy beaches to the creeks, Kirby and co. were back at the seaside, soaking up all of the sun's rays as Adeleine built herself some tiny sand castles.

Ribbon surveyed her surroundings before turning to Waddle and Dedede. "Can't be too far, now," she said, "there aren't that many shards left on Aqua Star."

Kirby scratched what would be his head and pointed forward. "All right then, troops! The fairy says we're almost done on this raindrop of a planet, so let's get to going, got it?"

"Whatever," Dedede replied, swinging his hammer. He was eager pound something into submission, but there was no time for that.

The journey commenced and began walking ahead, stepping over any Mites that came out of the ground. However, as Mites only looked like orange balls with legs, it was hard to distinguish the difference between them and any other beach ball.

Obstacle wise, there were huge, huge sand hurdles that felt like hills, atop one of them was a Chacha- multicolored hula skirt wearing creatures that swung their maracas back and forth, even when there was no music playing.

"Um…excuse me; have you seen any crystals around here lately?"

The Chacha paid Adeleine no mind as she went ahead and shook those maracas like there was no tomorrow. It was only when it was suddenly crushed by the weight of Dedede's hammer did the maracas stop.

Waddle patted the king on his back. "Nice one," he said as they continued down the sandy pathway.

Adeleine jumped along the floating brown platforms when she suddenly lost her footing and suddenly was overcome by immense pain. Her backside was now within the grasp of an angry Kany crab, and it pinched and pinched and pinched the painter girl for her dear life. She was blazing down the pathway, leaping high over the sand pits where she would have been consumed by a large Snipper.

"Adeleine," Ribbon called, "just stand still!"

The painter girl did when she reached some peculiar looking sandcastles with red flags atop them. Next to them was a very good sand sculpture of an elephant, but Adeleine had no time to admire that. Waddle broke her concentration by coming over and body slamming the Kany crab into nothing.

Chuckling, Adeleine put her hand on the back of her head as she walked on. "Guess I'm not as smart as I thought I was."

Dedede rolled his eyes. "Could've fooled me," he muttered to himself.

Everyone grew impatient with the abundance of sand in this seemingly endless…sand! They eventually arrived at some shallow waters, though they were being bombarded by Shotzos- cannons that shot at various projectiles that got in their line of fire. The gang had come in contact with them before and knew they were impervious to damage, so they avoided the blasts and trudged through the water.

Before continuing, however, Kirby discarded his power up in lieu of something more fitting for the situation. There were some blocks suspended above him, and one of them hosted a Kapar; and of course, they could be identified by those green crowns they threw. Kirby avoided one throw and absorbed the creature before it could run, but the puffball wasn't done yet.

"You guys go on ahead," he said as he fell towards the water, "I just need one more thing, first."

Kirby fell into the drink with a 'Splash!' as he narrowly avoided some spiky coral that would've punctured his puffy exterior. His target came into view in the form of a green fish that he couldn't identify at the moment, but he'd seen it before and knew they possessed the Bomb ability. Removing the green elemental crystal from his mouth, Kirby aimed carefully and threw the crystal towards the fish before it could explode. Now the puffball was reunited with that ninja star attack he'd grown attached to back on Pop Star. He swam until he reached the rocky cliffs where he climbed out and saw everyone waiting for him.

In the next area, there was no sand whatsoever, so there was a collective sigh of relief from everybody who had grown sick of that sand, but that didn't mean things were going to get any easier. There was a large rocky mountain before them that the Crystal Shard was reacting to, so obviously, they had to get inside there and get the jewel.

The problem? After getting past the mean looking Gordo that was ready to puncture them with its spikes, Kirby and crew found themselves on a rickety looking bridge.

Kirby walked across and motioned for the others to follow. "Come on, there's no trouble here!"

How wrong he was, for once he stepped on one of the final planks, Kirby was shot in the air by a geyser beneath the plank and he was sent skyward. He grabbed onto a Pteran bird and hovered over the hole that would lead him into that rocky mountain.

Kirby fell and fell and fell some more until he landed, finding himself in some sort of rocky oasis with water dripping down the sides of the inner caverns. Staring at a strange green and black rock, Kirby threw a ninja star at it and watched as the rock crumbled from the explosion. Underneath all of the debris was a Crystal Shard fragment that he grabbed. He then stepped onto the center rock and was launched upward by a huge geyser. Soon enough, the exit shaft came closer into view as the puffball jumped and landed on the other side of the mountain, discarding his elemental combo in the process. The others were on dry land, waiting for Kirby to come, though some Gordos hovered above him, never moving as he cautiously stepped on one plank.

He immediately stepped back as the plank was shot up and obliterated by the Gordo's spikes.

Kirby mentally counted to three as he ran as quickly as his feet would take him across the bridge, each of the planks shot up behind him and was destroyed by spikes as he jumped over the logs and landed aside Waddle. The pink puffball absorbed the Cairn and figured it would come in handy later on.

There was what looked like a seesaw that Kirby got on one side of as he looked into the distance and saw dry land across the vast open sea. The question was: How would they even get there without having to swim and avoid being eaten by sharks?

The answer came when Dedede got on the other side and slammed the high end with his hammer, catapulting Kirby far off into the distance. Ribbon picked up the pace and flew after him.

"Don't worry," Waddle yelled, "we'll catch up!"

Kirby landed a far ways off on solid ground, staring off at the multitude of logs in front of him. Ribbon floated to his side and began flying ahead. When she paused by stopping on one of the logs, it soon began sinking as she jumped off.

"Guess we can't stay on those too long," she concluded.

While Ribbon flew across, Kirby jumped from log to log, careful not to hang around too long before it went down. Soon, there were Fishbone creatures, and Kirby got another crazy idea for a power combination. He took out the rock elemental power and tossed it at the Fishbone, creating a green and brown crystal. Continuing, Kirby arrived at the rocky cliffs and began climbing higher until he reached the top where Ribbon stared into the hole. They knew this pattern already.

"I'm betting it's a trap," she said to Kirby as they jumped down.

As they guessed, the opening was sealed as a giant Kapar appeared and began throwing a humongous crown towards Kirby, who jumped over it while Adeleine contended with the bumbling Bumber creatures as they floated down.

The new ability allowed Kirby to transform into some sort of random creature that was impenetrable to damage. This was enough to bring down the Kapar when Kirby kept lunging himself forward, Ribbon adding by throwing Bumbers into the giant Kapar until it gave way and exploded, along with its minions. The Crystal Shard fragment materialized above them and Ribbon added it to the current one as the two continued down.

The two began falling and falling until they ended up in the drink, Kirby transforming now into a fish. When he released the transformation, the wall before him shattered as he and Ribbon swam up to see a wide cavern. The Shard began acting wildly, so there had to be another piece, but how would they reach it? Ribbon could of course fly up there, but Kirby intervened and began turning into random animals. First it was some amoeba, then into a bird, and lastly, a rat. However, the rat was able to scale the walls, much to their advantage.

When he grabbed the shard, Kirby released the transformation and the two fell back into the water and swam on, emerging on the other side and standing before a platform with a Splinter log on it.

Ribbon leaned over to Kirby. "Can it hear us?"

"I don't doubt it," he responded, "there are still things about this world that confuse me."

Shrugging her shoulders, Ribbon cautiously stepped onto the platform, causing it to tilt and the Splinter log to roll towards her until Kirby whisked her away to safety. This was going to be the same for the next few levels that had more and more logs, so Ribbon flew Kirby above the platforms and avoided the logs in the process until they jumped over the last hurdle and began falling.

They reached the bottom, where the rest of their comrades were waiting as they stared toward the light. Pressing on, they swam and swam until they reached the surface.

Everyone was now outside and back at the seaside, but all was not complete yet. There were still some missing fragments that had to be found, and a lone Poppy Brother stood at the edge of some purple cliffs, staring into the deep underwater world below.

"If you're looking for those jewels," he said, "the rest of them are down there. About four of them landed here awhile ago, if you were curious."

All was indeed well as the entourage clapped their hands ecstatically before the Poppy cleared his throat.

"As I was saying, there are fragments about, but be careful. The tales of the hideous Acro the whale are flying about, and I don't think he'll be giving up the jewel that landed in his territory without a fight."

Kirby looked back to the others. "Guys, stay here by the seaside until I get back. I'm going it alone from here."

"But Kirby--"

"No 'buts,' Ribbon," Kirby interrupted, "I can handle myself and I'll be sure to get those shards back from under there. Plus, I don't have to worry about suffocating or anything like that, but I don't know about the conditions of everyone else, so I'd like it if you all sat this one out, all right?"

The others nodded as the Poppy brother patted Kirby on the back.

"You're a fine leader, you are, my friend."

Smiling, Kirby jumped high into the air in a dismount and plunged forward into the deep depths of the sea…alone.

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Author's Note: We're finally nearing the end of Aqua Star, which will be wrapped up in the next chapter as the gang approaches one of my favorite planets. Sorry if this update took awhile, but with school and all, it may be that way, so I hope this lives up to expectations. Read and review, and I'll see you next chapter!