Preface: Hello, again! Hope you enjoyed your April Fools' Day! I was particularly impressed by the glory of Minecraft Plus!, even though I was expecting a fake snapshot like usual... Anyhoo, today's chapter is the penultimate part of the current story arc, but it has mostly low stakes as part of the 'breather' we're currently in. Without further ado, let's get started!
MINECRAFT MANAICS RPG
THE WHISKER HAVEN SAGA:
OF PLAYERS & PALACE PETS & KNUCKLES
Previously...amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Danny, Liam, and Kevin were summoned to the kingdom of Whisker Haven, where they learned that they must find a third set of Gadgets of Order across the multiverse in order to expose an imposter of the kingdom's guardian, Ms. Featherbon. So far, the team has achieved the first gadget from the spooky depths of Whisker Woods, the second gadget from King Bowser in the Mushroom World, and the third from King Creep as he unleashed an infestation of creepers on Whisker Haven.
Now...the gang returns to the Pawlace to begin their search for the final Gadget of Order.
Roll Call:
Danny - Alfred von Any: Hero with emotional issues. The leader.
Liam - Willy Blanq: Expert crafter. The maker.
Kevin - Nevile Napoleon: Part-gangerman player. The brains
Spawny and Spawnette - Damien Laquet: The rabborg siblings. The heart.
Buzzer - Jim Cummings: Fly from the future. The fairy.
Pumpkin - Bailey Gambertoglio: Princess Cinderella's puppy. A prim and proper pooch.
Treasure - Sanai Victoria: Princess Ariel's kitten. Courageous and loves water.
Knuckes the Echdina - Asher Angel: Angel Island native. Master Emerald guardian.
Chapter 31:
In the Chaosverse of Copyright, Part Six:
Hearts, Hooves, Stars!
[Main Party Selected: Danny, Liam, Kevin, Buzzer]
[Supporting Party Selected: Spawny, Spawnette, Pumpkin, Treasure, Knuckles]
[Character Selected: Kevin]
[Current World: Whisker Planet]
[Current Location: Whisker Haven Pawlace, Throne Room]
Your eyes dot around the room, making sure that the coast is clear before the others come in. You can hear a bit of snoring, but you aren't sure where it's coming from, so you decide you can try and be quick. "Okay, I don't think anyone's watching!" you tell the others.
Pumpkin has a small pep in her step as you all enter the room. "This has been fun," she tells everyone. "I'm actually a little sad that this will be the last gadget we have to find!"
"Eh, don't be too sad," Knuckles says. "I have a feeling that we'll be reuniting sometime after this."
"He's certainly correct," says Buzzer, "but we mustn't get ahead of ourselves." He hands the yellow-glowing Order Gadget to Pumpkin. "The final gadget lies in a calm town located on a star light years away from the real world," the fly explains.
"Er, okay. I'll try," says Pumpkin, unsure that the description she received would be enough. She squeezes the gadget and closes her eyes. The final portal opens up, revealing some kind of town with a drowsy-looking sky and a multitude of strange flying creatures, waddling heads, and living mushrooms.
Suddenly, it hits Danny where you are going. "The Kirby world!" he says. "This should be interesting!"
"Yeah, I've always wanted to meet the puff face-to-face!" agrees Liam.
Knuckles rolls his eyes. "Please do not go all fanboy again."
"We'll try to restrain ourselves," says Liam, elbowing the echidna in the chest.
"I'll get them back on track if they get too distracted," Treasure promises. "Now let's get going! Time's a-wastin!"
You all begin to walk towards the portal, when suddenly Buzzer freezes in place. "You okay, Buzz?" you ask the fly.
Buzzer unfreezes from the trance he went into. "What? Oh, yes, I just had a vision." He looks behind you, seemingly trying to see who was snoring. "Go on ahead. I would like to see something."
At his command, you shrug and join the others through the portal. Even though you've been working with him for months, sometimes Buzzer still confuses you.
[Character Selected: Danny]
[Current World: Planet Popstar]
[Current Location: Dream Land, Vegetable Valley]
[BGM: Kirby: Planet Robobot Soundteam - Kirby 3D Rumble]
As soon as I exited the portal, I took a huge waft of air. "Ah, smell that fresh Dream Land air!" I said, happily.
"You can't! You're looking through a screen!" Liam playfully chastised me.
"Well, you know what I mean," I teased back.
"This place sort of reminds me of Whisker Haven," said Pumpkin, admiring the scenery. "If perhaps a tad more dreamy."
At that moment, Buzzer appeared out of nowhere, now sporting a baby blue coloration. "Apologies for the inconvenience," he said. "I was doing some last-minute preparations." He flew ahead of Pumpkin and turned towards some kind of mountain. "Now then, my senses are telling me that the Gadget of Order is someplace called the Fountain of Dreams!"
"If you're headed to the Fountain of Dreams," we all suddenly heard a high-pitched voice say, "I think I can help!" I turned around and my jaw practically dropped. The ever-familiar pink blob with the adorable face was staring back at me.
"You're Kirby," I breathed in surprise.
The blob shook my hand. "Welcome to Dream Land, stranger!" he said. It was so weird hearing him say actual words! "You kinda look like Mario!"
"Yeah, I get that a lot," I responded.
"Well, ahoy there, Kirby!" said Treasure. "Haven't seen you since the time travel incident!"
"And is that you, Knuckles?" Kirby continued. "I haven't seen you since the world merging incident!"
"'Time travel incident?'" said Liam in confusion. "'World merging incident?' What are you guys talking about?"
"Err, long story," said Knuckles. "We'll tell you later!"
"Anyway, I was just about to head over to the Fountain of Dreams," Kirby explained. "I woke up from my after-lunch nap, and for the first time in a while, I had no dreams!"
"(That does not sound pleasant!)" said Spawnette, understanding how severe the citation was in this place.
"That must mean the Star Rod's been tampered with!" said Kevin, remembering what happened the last time something like this happened. "Say, how about we team up?"
"Yeah, I can do that!" said Kirby. "Oh, wait! Lemme get something from my house!" The puffball ran inside his dome-shaped abode and just as quickly came back out, holding a blue sack with a mushroom icon on it. "This here's called an Item Bag," he explained. "When you reach inside it, you'll get a random power-up from the Mushroom Kingdom! This one's special, so you'll get six power-ups instead of the usual three!"
I took the Item Bag and placed it inside my inventory. "Thanks, Kirby!" I said. "Now lead the way! Let's get going already!"
"Don't worry!" said Kirby, taking the lead. "I know a shortcut!" With that, we started to casually walk through the streets of Dream Land. It was actually pretty relaxing - I could see some of the Cappies taking water out of the well, a few Bronto Burts enjoying the sky, some Waddle Dees fishing...basically, all of the enemies from the games were just enjoying life.
Kevin took a big stretch as we began to come towards the more mountainous region of the land. "Y'know, this is turning out to be a pretty relaxing chapter," he said. "I think we might even get to end early!"
[BGM: Jun Ishikawa - Gourmet Race Intro]
Eventually, we stopped in front of a humongous cliff. "Here it is! Gourmet Mountain!" Kirby said.
"This cliff is a mountain?" said Treasure in shock. "How will we get up?"
"Oops!" said Kirby. "I forgot that some of you can't fly!"
"No matter! I will just teleport all of you to the top of the cliff!" said Buzzer. He spun around us three times and flew all the way to the top of Gourmet Mountain. Within seconds, we were suddenly teleported to a small grassy area on top of the mountain. I could literally see the clouds right next to me.
"Whoa!" We saw a small orange figure with a blue bandana wake up in shock. "You guys came out of nowhere!"
"Sorry about that, B.D.," said Kirby. "We were teleported." He pointed to all of us. "They're my new friends, et cetera."
"I'm Bandana Waddle Dee!" said the familiar figure. "What brings you to Gourmet Mountain?"
"We're trying to find a shortcut to the Fountain of Dreams," said Liam. "It has an ancient artifact that could determine the fate of the multiverse!"
"Wow, that's heavy," said Bandana Waddle Dee. He pointed towards the northwest. "I think it's thataway, but I think that's where the Gordos like to roam."
"Gordos? Those spiky thingies?" I said, to which B.D. nodded. "Gah, just when I thought this was gonna be a relaxing chapter!"
"Don't worry! We'll get past them together!" said Pumpkin. "Just like what we've been doing anyway!"
Just before we could begin to walk towards that shortcut, we heard stomping coming our way. Two large yellow feet stopped in front of us, and I careened my head back to see the smiling face of a blue penguin-like creature dressed in a red coat and beanie with a tan robe and strangely-patterned belt. "Hi, King Dedede," I said, sheepishly. "You're looking healthy, today!"
"Relax, strange fella," said Dedede. "I'm looking for that puffball!" He picked Kirby up with his large hands. "Listen, Ka-bee, I'm sure ya after da Star Rod, zoi. I'm in a good mood, so how about we do a quick race through dat first course, just like old times, zoi!"
"Alrighty," said Kirby, trying to squirm out of Dedede's hand. "But if I win, you have to give the Star Rod back!"
"I'll come with you," said B.D., taking Kirby's arm. "I had a bit of a light lunch, and I'm still feeling hungry!"
"Alright if I go, too?" Kevin asked me.
"I don't see why not," I responded. I then whispered into his ear, "If Dedede wins, fight him." After that, Kevin walked right up to Kirby and faced Dedede.
"Okay den, it's settled!" said Dedede. "Let's go, zoi!"
"Catch you on the other side!" Liam shouted to Kevin as they walked away. After that, the rest of us walked towards the northwest, eager to try and get to the Fountain of Dreams.
[Character Selected: Liam]
[Current World: Planet Popstar]
[Current Location: Dream Land, Gourmet Mountain]
[BGM: Kirby's Return to Dream Land Soundteam - Challenge]
"Whoa-ho! Bandana Waddle Dee wasn't kidding!"
Liam looked over the pit that his group had arrived at. It was long, filled with spikes, and blocked by several walls of spiky orbs with eyes on them.
"(So how are we gonna do this?)" Spawny wondered aloud. "(Maybe sis and I can turn into our Wind forms and float across as tornados!)"
Danny set down his ender chest. "I have a spare set of elytra," he said, digging around. "Maybe you could use that, and I can break out that Item Bag I was given." He took out a gray pair of wings and some red-striped firework rockets.
"What good will some fake wings do?" asked Knuckles in disbelief.
"You'll see," said Liam, donning the elytra. He prepared the firework rockets in his hand. "Ready when you guys are!"
Spawny and Spawnette stuck their hands behind their backs and allowed the wind to enter their amulets. Before long, their clothing changed, making it appear as if they were made out of clouds, in addition to Spawny's crown turning silver with a small tornado in it and Spawnette's cone hat becoming a tiara with a wind gust shape. "(Yep! We're good to go!)" said Spawny.
After mining up the ender chest, Danny took out the Item Bag from his inventory and reached inside. "C'mon, baggie! Gimme something good!" he said. Pulling his hand out, he found a yellow mushroom with brown stripes on the head. "A Bee Mushroom? Well, it'll have to do." He let the power course into his body, and he donned a brown helmet with antenna and yellow overalls with a bee stinger-like bottom.
"I will never understand the power-ups from that world," Knuckles mused, picking up Pumpkin and Treasure onto his back.
With the group ready to cross the gap, they all jumped into the air. Flapping his tiny wings, Danny slowly floated past the Gordos, barely dodging the spikes. To help him out, Spawny and Spawnette twirled around, becoming tornados that allowed them to fly through the air as well as help Danny stay afloat. Meanwhile, Liam glided through the air with his elytra, using the firework rockets as a boost, and Knuckles glided using his natural abilities, with the Palace Pets riding on his back.
"This is actually pretty fun," said Treasure, holding her arms out to let the wind course through her fur.
"I know," said Pumpkin. "It's almost like the magic carpet Sultan keeps telling us about!"
A few Bronto Burts began to fly through the area, so Liam activated the rockets to blast through. "Doubting my elytra now?" he asked Knuckles.
"Oh, shuddup!" said the echidna, not wanting to hear that he was wrong.
Danny stopped flapping his wings for a quick rest and bounced off of a Bronto Burt. "We're actually making good time!" he said, using the rabborgs' tornado forms to cross another wall of Gordos.
"I know," said Liam. "It's almost like something bad is gonna happen any second…"
As if on cue, Danny suddenly crashed head-first into one of the Gordos. Taking a good deal of damage, his skin's outfit reverted to its usual appearance and he began to fall towards the spikes.
"(We have you, Daniel!)" Spawnette shouted, moving under him. Caught in the vortex, Danny was thrown over another wall of Gordos...and once again falling into the spikes.
"Not so fast!" cried Knuckles. The echidna turned around in midair, glided around the Gordos he just passed, and caught Danny in his arms.
"Whew! Thanks for catching me!" said Danny. He was genuinely impressed that Knuckles caught him, even though the echidna seemed exasperated at his past antics.
"No problem," said Knuckles. "But you're pretty heavy!" Sure enough, the four of them began to descend at a rate where the echidna could not turn upward,
"(Hold on!)" shouted Spawny. He twirled over to Knuckles and positioned himself under the echidna, sending him, Pumpkin, Treasure, and Danny into the air.
"Whoo-hoo!" shouted Treasure, enjoying the ride.
"How can you be so excited?" asked Pumpkin. "There's nobody to catch Danny now!"
Sure enough, Danny began to descend towards the spikes for the third time in this bit of the story. Thinking quickly, Liam took out the arrow from his dispenser, stuck a potion of healing into it, and placed it back inside the redstone contraption. After one last quick rocket boost, he aimed the dispenser at Danny and fired at him. The makeshift tipped arrow made contact with Danny's body, dealing only one damage point and sending him flying to the other side of the pit. "Bullseye!" Liam cried in victory.
Danny sat up, recovering from the unorthodox help he just received. "Thanks, guys," he said. "I really thought I was done for there!"
Liam landed on the ledge, followed by Knuckles and the rabborgs. "Hey, if we let you fall, that's going against 'no player left behind'."
"I'll admit, that is a good rallying cry," added Knuckles, placing Pumpkin and Treasure on the ground.
Danny picked himself off of the ground. "Speaking of no player left behind, it looks like Kevin's not quite done yet." He turned to the others. "What do you wanna do in the meantime?"
[Character Selected: Kevin]
[Current World: Planet Popstar]
[Current Location: Gourmet Mountain, Pumpkin Grand]
[BGM: Jun Ishikawa - Get Up and Go-urmet!]
The ground is hard and perfect for running across. Food is scattered here and there, ready to be eaten. It all looks perfect for a race.
"Okay, so I guess all three of ya will be racing as one," says Dedede. "Whoeva eats da most food will win, not whoeva crosses the finish line first, zoi!"
"That all seems fair," you say. "But watch out - I can eat surprisingly fast!" With the last few seconds before the race begins, you type "/gamemode c" into the chat box to enter Creative mode - you're gonna need it if you want to win.
"We'll see," Dedede says with a chuckle.
"Okay, three…" B.D. counts down, "two...one...go!" With that, all four of you begin to run down the course. Kirby opens his mouth and inhales a nice helping of chicken a la king, followed by Dedede helping himself to an orange cocktail. Noticing some food on a platform in the sky, you jump twice and begin to fly through the air.
"Hey! You can fly!" Kirby says, impressed, as he swallows a mouthful of cake.
"Don't question it," you shout down. With an open of your mouth, you inhale a delicious assortment of pancakes, eggs, and bacon.
"Wow! He can inhale like Kirby can, too!" says B.D. as you jump back down. He polishes off a kebab he made on a spear, consisting of strawberries, grapes, and steak, the food absorbing into his face due to the lack of a visible mouth. "Mmm! These go surprisingly well together!"
Dedede crunches an entire box of cheese crackers. "Well, get ready for da star blocks coming up, zoi!"
Indeed, you find a small covering of yellow blocks with white star icons on them nearby. "I got this," you say, casually walking up to them. With a single punch, the blocks vanish due to your current being in Creative mode.
"That's pretty impressive," Kirby compliments you as he sucks up some peapods and star blocks. The peapods he swallows, while the blocks he spits out as stars of their own.
"Alright, here comes the final stretch!" shouts B.D., munching on some more food. "We gotta eat as much food as we can!"
"Not so fast!" shouts Dedede. The self-proclaimed king takes out his wooden hammer and smashes it on top of you three, making you flatter than a lambchop. "Hahaha! I'm gonna win, zoi!"
"Hey! He cheated!" Kirby shouts, upset.
"Well, if that's how he wants to play this game…" You open up your Creative inventory and search for the light blue splash potion of swiftness. "I say we make ourselves faster!" you proclaim as you toss the potion at the three of you.
"A magic potion?" asks Kirby. "But I don't think cheating's-"
"No time, Kirby!" shouts B.D. "C'mon! We gotta get more food!"
At the Waddle Dee's request, you all run as quickly as you can, wolfing down whatever food you can find. Apples, bananas, waffles, more pancakes, french toast, rice balls, jelly-filled donuts...all these and more are swallowed by your character, the puffball, and B.D. as you slowly start to overtake King Dedede.
"Hey! How'd you get so fast?" says Dedede in shock. "Whoa!" Kirby slides under the bird, causing him to fall face-first.
"I don't like cheating," says the puffball, "but you cheated first!" He joins you and B.D. in making one last sprint towards the finish line, eating the M-spotted tomato at the top together as the potion finally wears off.
[BGM: Kirby: Planet Robobot Soundteam - Kirby Dance (short)]
"Yes! We won!" you shout happily. Kirby starts to do his signature victory dance with B.D. as you type "/gamemode s" into the chat to return to Survival mode. You walk up to King Dedede. "Star Rod, please!"
"Ugh, okay, fine!" says Dedede, taking out the red-striped white rod with a star on it and giving it to you. "But if Nightmare takes ova Dream Land dis time, don't come cryin to me, zoi!" After that, he picks himself up and trudges away in defeat.
Kirby runs up to you and takes the Star Rod from your hands. "Good thing it wasn't split into seven pieces this time," he says.
"In the meantime, I've learned a valuable lesson," you say to the puffball.
"That sometimes cheaters do prosper?"
"That, and rice balls and jelly-filled donuts taste nothing alike!"
Kirby chuckles. "I don't know why people keep thinking that!" He takes your hand. "Now c'mon! I know another way to the Fountain of Dreams!"
[Location Change: Rainbow Resort, Fountain of Dreams]
[BGM: Hirokazu Ando - Rainbow Resort]
As you finally make it to the magical land where the spring awaits, you find Danny and Liam, playing some sort of game with their hands. "One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine…" they chant. Then, Danny slams his hands down on Liam's. "Ten! That makes eight in a row!"
"Oh, no fair!" Liam shouts. "I literally never even heard of Quackadillioso until today!"
"Uh, I hate to interrupt your tournament," you say, "but we got the Star Rod!"
"Yes, finally!" says Knuckles. "I was afraid I was gonna go insane watching these two!"
"Well, I thought it was pretty exciting," Pumpkin protests.
"Okay, is everybody ready?" Kirby makes sure.
"Yes, I'm ready!" says Liam. WIth that, the puffball jumps on top of the waterless fountain you've been looking for and places the Star Rod into the empty slot on top of the fountain. Instantly, the water starts to pour from the top once more, shooting out into the air.
Danny takes his sword out, ready to fight. "What is it?" asks Treasure, confused.
"Sorry. I was just preparing for if Nightmare came back," Danny answers.
"Yeah, Dedede did say something about Nightmare," you agree.
"Nightmare?" says B.D. "But I thought Kirby vanquished him years ago!"
Buzzer flies out of your inventory and inspects the water. "It seems that this Nightmare is located in some kind of strange realm within this fountain's waters!" he says.
"So we have to go inside the Fountain of Dreams?" says Kirby in disbelief. "But that's a sin! We could be in big trouble!"
"Well, you've got a choice," says Liam. "Go to Hell, or whatever corresponds to it in your world, when you die, or have the entire multiverse be turned into it!"
At his words, Kirby starts to think. He turns to B.D., who gives a reluctant nod. "Okay, we'll come," says the puffball.
You all stand in front of the Fountain of Dreams, its magical waters calling to you. With one last look at the outside world, you all jump in, ready to face whatever you'll find.
The last thing you hear before the world begins to change is Kirby and B.D. whispering "Ancients, forgive us for what we have done."
To be continued...and next time: a different kind of Nightmare Realm!
Next chapter: For their penultimate challenge, our heroes have to conquer the trials of "A Different Kind of Nightmare Realm" within the Fountain of Dreams itself! Thankfully, Buzzer brought along a guest from Whisker Haven, but will they be enough to face off against the horrors the Maniacs have to face down there? Plus, a dreamy foe returns...
Postface: Chapter complete! I'm really glad about how I redid this chapter - the climax was originally really lacking IMO, so getting the chance to redo it was pretty swell!
Trivia time! As you can see, my previous stories involving Kirby are canon in this timeline - my stories are being welded together! Feels good to have reached this point! In the meantime, although this is a Kirby-based chapter, there's still a few Mario elements in here...the Item Bag was taken from one of my inspirations, Azurixx's Mario & Sonic: Heroes Unite! It was based off of a similar item from the Mario Party games, reworked to give power-ups instead of party items. Why did I double the amount of items it gave, though? Because I'll be including it later in the story! Naturally, another power-up shows up: the Bee Mushroom! This bad boy stems from the Super Mario Galaxy games - I included it because I wanted another flying power-up, and the power-ups from the Galaxy games were a little unique compared to the normal games. I did realize that the elytra could've been used instead to make it more Minecraft-y, which is why I had Liam use it!
On the Kirby side, I'm pretty proud of the Gourmet Race section. I called the area 'Gourmet Mountain' off of the name given in the Kirby Super Star manual, which was 'Gourmet World'. If you're wondering who B.D. is, he's my take on that Waddle Dee who wears a bandana that accompanies Kirby in the more recent games. Don't ask why I included him - he's just happy to be acknowledged! Another thing I'm proud of his how I depicted King Dedede - I combined aspects of the two releases of the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! anime, including his Southern accent from the US version and his tendency to end sentences with "zoi" from the Japanese version. As for Kevin entering Creative mode, in case you didn't know, they've recently made it so that rather than not being able to eat at all in Creative mode, you can just eat an infinite amount of food! Lastly, the Fountain of Dreams is a bit of a major locale in the games. It first appeared in Kirby's Adventure (which introduced Copy Abilities), where King Dedede took the Star Rod powering it and split it into seven pieces to stop the Nightmare creature from taking over Dream Land, though that caused everyone to stop dreaming! It has since reappeared several times, most recently in Kirby Fighters Deluxe. That little bit about diving into it being considered sinful was from another Kirby fanfic, The Dream Land Story, however.
That should be it! Please read, review, and share around, and I'll see you next time for what horrors await our heroes! Stay diamond, everyone, and have a happy Easter, if you celebrate it!
-Alfred
~Minecraft and everything related to it are properties of Mojang Studios and Xbox Game Studios. Characters, ideas, etc. from the Mario and Kirby franchises are properties of Nintendo Co., LTD and HAL Laboratory, Inc. Characters, ideas, etc. from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise are properties of Sega Corp. The Palace Pets and everything related to them are properties of The Walt Disney Co. No copyright infringement with any of these companies nor financial gain was intended in the making of this story. Any resemblance to real-world people or events are either coincidental or done fictitiously.~