DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kirby or the Kirby's Dream Land 2 storyline—I'm just elaborating on it. Kirby and pals belong to Nintendo, Hal Laboratories, etc., and I am writing this for entertainment, not profit, OK? If it is illegal for me to do this, let me know because I'm not really sure. ^_^;
A/N: Don't you just love how I never change the disclaimer? ^_~ Now, this is one of two chapters to get rid of the other "Burning Desires" I accidentally uploaded when ff.net was being weird… Well, it kept saying "error" every time I tried, so I figured it wasn't being uploaded… ^^;; Also, there's one thing I did in the story that doesn't really happen in the game. I did this to break the monotony of the same thing happening every time—you'll know what I mean when you come to it. Now here is Chapter Seven—with the creative title thought up by my Kirby pal and loyal reviewer, DestinyLord7381. Enjoy! ^_^
Battle of a Lifetime
Chapter Seven: Sparkys Begin to Fly!—Part One
Last time, Kirby and Kine were sure of their doom to find out that the star pieces had finally revealed their purpose and come to our heroes' aid. They (once again) battled Efreeti in the next stage and found the next Rainbow Drop! Unfortunately, in their excitement, Kine accidentally became trapped in a hole too deep for him to jump out of. Courageously, he told Kirby to continue without him, and Kirby knew he had to do so. With tears in his eyes, Kirby left the stage and fought the Iceberg boss: Ice Dragon. At first, Ice Dragon injured Kirby, and it seemed that Ice Dragon had Kirby trapped in a corner. But using the boss's own weapons, icicles that fell from the ceiling of the cave, Kirby destroyed Ice Dragon and is now proceeding to the next island: Red Canyon.
Kirby hopped off the Warpstar and scrutinized the landscape before him. It definitely wasn't called "Red Canyon" for nothing. It was exactly the same as viewing the majestic Grand Canyon in our world—except every part of it was a shade of red! There were crimson and brick-colored hues in the striped rock—even the river was a ruddy red from the sediment deposits. After staring at the regal scene before him for five minutes, Kirby decided to leave Lala Land and return to Dream Land (wow, under normal circumstances, that would make no sense ^^;;) to continue this important mission… (Kirby: ^_^;;;)
Entering the first area, he came up with little trouble—a few Bouncies and a sneaky Waddle Dee that tried to charge him from behind—unsuccessfully. But then he met up with the "canyon" part of this world—a deep gorge.
"I'll have to fly to get over this," he whispered to himself. "And as much as I love to do that, all I have for a weapon is a puff of air—that leaves me vulnerable." He looked to the sky. "Well, I don't see any airborne enemies, so I could probably make it." He took a deep breath until he was twice his normal size, and then he floated up and over the ravine. He landed and exhaled the air so that he wouldn't start floating again.
Kirby regained his senses from holding so much air for so long and looked in front of him: a door, guarded by a Rocky on a new type of block, and two more of the foreign blocks on either side—above some very sharp spikes.
Well, Rocky was no trouble; Kirby inhaled him and gained the Stone ability once again. Of course, afterwards he tried to sit on the new block to discover it was another type of disintegrating block!
"Boy, it's a good thing I figured this out under such safe circumstances—I'd hate to think what would happen if I tried standing on one of these above one of those mile-high chasms!"
Kirby went through the door and found he was in a room with a very unstable floor—if he even tried to crouch down to avoid an attack, he'd get skewered by more of the pointy spikes. Unfortunately, the miniboss he met up with had several attacks that Kirby usually dodged by ducking—Master Green!
"Jeez, you people don't give up, do you? I've already defeated Efreeti more than once!" Kirby cried.
Master Green laughed. "Don't worry, Kirby. You won't have to worry about fighting him again… because I'm going to destroy you here and now!"
"What, no slashing comments today?"
"No, my annoying pink friend, for I was ordered to cut to the chase!" he yelled as he whipped two of his harpoons at them.
"It's bad enough he has to shoot those things at us," Kirby muttered to himself as he jumped over the first harpoon. "But does he have to make corny jokes, too?" he finished, leaping over the second.
"Well, you've already figured out that it wouldn't be wise to duck my attacks—I'm quite surprised. But I've also decided that it wouldn't be wise for me to shoot stars—let's see you defeat me without them, you poor excuse for a vacuum cleaner!"
Kirby's eyes went wide with fear, but soon he realized that he still had Stone power. "But how can I defeat him that way? If I drop on him as a stone and return to my normal self, I'll get hurt anyway." Just then Master Green leaped at him without warning, and Kirby was able to dodge him just in time.
But when he turned around, he saw a shockwave speeding straight toward him! Poor Kirby wasn't able to dodge the light-speed attack in time, and he was electrocuted thoroughly.
Oh no, Kirby thought as the Stone star left him after the immense pain. If I don't get that star back in time, Master Green will have me for a snack for sure!
Kirby forced himself to recover quickly and raced toward the star. Master Green did the same. Both of them vaulted toward it, but there was only one victor…
"All right!" Kirby yelled. "Don't call me a poor excuse for a vacuum cleaner, because that famous power of mine just kicked your… um, tentacles!" Kirby then regained the Stone ability.
"Impertinent marshmallow! You still can't defeat me without the stars!" With that, he jumped at Kirby once again.
Kirby suddenly had an idea. Quickly timing his plan in his head, he waited. When Green was at the very top of his jump, Kirby jumped as well. He turned to stone and just as the jellyfish was underneath him, Kirby dropped right on top of him! Master Green's momentum kept him going, and Kirby was able to change back to flesh and blood unharmed.
Master Green, on the other hand, wasn't so fine. He swayed, spun around… and dropped like a ton of Star Blocks.
"Wow, that was easy—I guess he was still a bit tuckered out from the last time I destroyed him," Kirby mused as Rick popped out of the bag beneath him.
Rick took a look at the spikes standing inches from his face and froze. "Kirby…" he whispered. "Whatever you do, don't jump down!"
-.-;; "Rick, I'm fully aware of the dangers underneath me—now jump up here so we can get going!"
Rick gulped and hopped straight up. Before jumping onto Rick's shoulders, Kirby released the Stone star and swallowed Master Green for Spark power. Rick tried it out for good measure and an electric beam swung in a semicircle from above his head to the ground.
"I just thought of something—since I swallowed Green the last time I fought him… how was I able to fight him again?" Kirby asked.
"Um… maybe it's a hole in the plot?"
"Nah, couldn't be—then that would mean there would be a hole in the plot of the game, too. I'll figure out how he did that, somehow."
"Huh? Game? I thought this was a story!"
*Sigh* "Never mind, Rick. Let's just get going."
They left and leaped over a few more chasms (but not before grabbing a couple stars and a tomato) and entered the next area. A few more gorges awaited them, but this time indestructible Gordos guarded the safety of the plateaus.
"Time your jumps carefully, Rick," Kirby warned, "or else you'll end up getting hurt from those spikeballs."
Rick did that, but unfortunately didn't see the one guarding the way up the mountain.
"Aah! Rick! You have to pay attention!" Kirby cried as Rick recovered the Spark star… and from his injury. ^_~
They spotted a Flamer and a Scarfy, which were harmlessly guarding Star Blocks, but before Rick knocked down the wall of Blocks in their way, Kirby noticed something.
"Hey, Rick—you know that lone Block that is lying on the ground?"
"Yeah… what about it?"
"It… kind of looks like something is behind it…"
Rick broke the Block and saw a partial white diamond in the wall where the Block had been. "Ooohh, pretty…" Rick said, and he tried to touch it with his paw. It went right through the diamond!
"AAAHH!! Kirby!! It's gonna eat me!!"
"No, Rick! I think you found a secret door!"
Rick sidled back up to the diamond and put his paw through again, this time letting Kirby and the rest of him follow. It was a small room with a Potion to their right and 1Up to their left… which were both watched over by napping Propeller Bombs!
Rick's eyes went wide with terror and, for the second time this stage, froze. "Kirby, now what do we do?" he whispered.
"Well, we could leave…" Kirby suggested.
"Yeah, but…"
"But what, Rick?"
"I'm really thirsty… and we probably need that 1Up …"
"You're willing to risk going back into that bag for a blinking drink??"
"I haven't had anything to drink since I got captured at Big Forest! I just need Burning power and I'll be fine, honest!"
Before Kirby could object, Rick went back out to release Spark and get Burning. Re-entering the diamond, Rick felt a bit braver and quietly ran to get the 1Up and Potion. Unfortunately, both Propeller Bombs woke up and came hovering after him as though there were no tomorrow! Rick tried to destroy one with fire, but the other one tried to attack him in the process.
"You're being double-teamed, Rick! You have to jump for the door!"
Rick used all his strength and bounded toward the precious diamond… but it was too late. Two Propeller Bombs plus a small room equals trouble, and Kirby once again found himself alone next to not one, but two suddenly cheerful Propellers.
Enraged, Kirby used Burning power to destroy both the enemies at once and then started fire-charging the wall to release his anger (A/N: It really does help to do that if you mess up—believe me, I do it all the time. ^_~).
"Argh!! You just HAD to act on your stomach again, didn't you, Rick? Oh, this is so frustrating! But at least he was able to get a drink and the extra guy before he disappeared," Kirby vented. He then left the room and continued the way, breaking more Star Blocks and having to sneak past more Gordos and disintegrating blocks in the process. Soon he was back out in the open—with more deep gaps and a whole flock of Bronto Burts in his way.
"Oh man, if I jump over the gorges one of those Brontos will hit me… maybe I can fly over them," he planned to himself. He sucked in a mouthful of air and began his ascent… and found himself face-to-face with five more sleeping Propeller Bombs!!
Kirby's anger was rekindled, and forgetting his vulnerable position in using his air puffs as weapons, he demolished every single one. His revenge carried out, Kirby flew above the Brontos and toward the door, but not before grabbing another 1Up he spotted behind two Star Blocks in the side of the mountain.
In the next area he was again in a cavern inside a different plateau of the canyon with yet more of the deadly abysses. He decided to float over everything here, too. He looked up and saw yet ANOTHER 1Up sitting on top of two Star Blocks… of course, how to get it was another matter…
Well, maybe if I can swallow the blocks, then I'll be able to fly up there and get it! he thought to himself. He landed on the pillar underneath the Blocks and leaped up as he tried to suck up the Blocks—and it worked! He floated up through the gap he created and received another of the wonderful chances at life. Proceeding on his journey, he flew above all the dangers (including some annoying Shotzos) and met up with a new enemy: Blade.
"I have been personally appointed to keep you from getting any further, Kirby—I cannot be inhaled, and I will slice you in half if you even try!" he cried, waving his double-edged sword.
Kirby landed on the Star Block that served as one of two "stepping stones" above the ravine next to Blade. He looked at his knight-like foe, spun around, inhaled the other Block, and spat it at Blade. The enemy was gone.
"Some guard," Kirby muttered as he left the first stage.
In the second door of Red Canyon, he was relieved to be out of a mountain and back into the open. As he began to walk, a Bronto Burt flew from nowhere and hit Kirby from behind!
"Ouch! Great, just what I need—kamikaze Brontos!" Just then, he spotted a Spikey rolled up into a ball on a rock above him.
"That could work…" he figured, and he forgot about the Burning star to gain Needle power. He kept going and just as he sensed another Bronto Burt behind him, he sent out his deadly spikes. The airborne baddy never had a chance. Kirby effectively continued this plan until he reached the door.
He was in another miniboss room, but this miniboss was definitely new.
"Ah, here is my opponent," the strange enemy said in a serpentine tone. "I am Waiu, and my speed and skill with cutters will end your assault against the great Dark Matter!" With that, he sent out a cutter at Kirby and seemed to disappear!
Kirby was able to duck the cutter in time, but he had no idea what had happened to Waiu. Suddenly, Kirby felt a painful burning sensation and knew that Waiu had hit him. He turned around, and there was the robot-like ninja with a dimming fireball in his hand.
"Do you like my weapon? I call it my 'Dragonflame' (A/N: I made that up, just like Efreeti's Comet Charge—don't quote me on it, and if you don't like it, I'm sorry. ^^;;). It's very effective when used with my great speed. You couldn't even see me, could you?" Waiu chuckled. "Yes, I was up there—" he pointed upwards, "—searching for the perfect spot to stop and hit you. Only a skilled warrior such as myself can even dream to attempt it."
Kirby recovered from his burn, and he realized that spikes weren't gonna hit this guy. When Waiu disappeared again, Kirby quickly released and inhaled the star. He already knew how to beat his new enemy.
Just as Kirby had expected, Waiu appeared behind him, fire in hand. Kirby leaped over the Dragonflame, landed right in front of the startled Waiu, and the star hit the miniboss dead-on. Before Waiu could figure out what had happened, Kirby jumped out of the way, trying to figure out what else he could use to hit this guy.
"Oh, that was a lucky shot—but try to avoid this!" He leaped up and shot two cutters that came speeding toward Kirby. Kirby ducked to dodge the first and jumped to avoid the second, and Waiu once again left his view.
Kirby still needed something to hit Waiu. He looked behind them and saw the cutters on the ground. He tried to inhale them, and he realized he had a powerful weapon waiting for Waiu when he came back.
This time Waiu landed right in front of Kirby, and once again Kirby was burned. But he was able to hold on to the cutters, and when he knew the time was right, he sent them flying right for Waiu. The miniboss was hit double, and he went down. Kirby swallowed him and gained Cutter power. Another sack dropped from a tree above and Coo wiggled out.
"Coo! You promised you wouldn't get captured again!"
"I didn't."
"… Come again?"
"Well, I realized that Red Canyon is a really big place… and I'd probably never be able to find you to help you… and I knew you'd eventually run into a miniboss, so… I captured myself!"
"…"
"I sneaked in here and crawled into the bag when Waiu wasn't looking. He probably figured a Propeller got me."
"…Oh."
They entered the door to the next area, which seemed to be a sort of maze. It wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for one tiny problem…
"Coo!! Look behind us!"
Coo did, and saw that a stone wall was closing in on them, ready to crush them into any other wall in their way!
"Time to fly!" yelled Coo, and that he did. He navigated through the stone maze, avoiding enemies and breaking Star Blocks with cutters before he could be crushed against them. But when they got to the final door, they found the most horrible thing: it was surrounded by dozens of Star Blocks!
Coo started cutting through them furiously, the wall quickly closing in. It seemed he'd never reach the door in time. The door moved closer and closer, and Coo broke through more and more layers. Finally, when the wall was just inches way, Coo found the door and flew through it JUST as the wall slid past them!
Both Coo and Kirby rested outside the third door before entering, their hearts pounding and eyes wide.
"OK, I did NOT need that!" Kirby abruptly cried. "This mission is tough enough as it is!" After a couple minutes, our heroes entered the third door.
They came upon three more doors: one on the ground, one on a high pillar, and one in a shallow pool of water.
"Which one should we go in?" asked Coo.
"I don't know—I don't know what they're for! Maybe if you try one, we'll be able to figure out what the others are, too."
Coo agreed, and flew up to the one on the pillar. They were in another miniboss room!
"Oh, good grief, I get so sick of these!" Coo cried. He looked over and saw a new enemy who was obviously related to Blade.
"I am Butch," the ax-holding enemy told them. "Beat me, and you get your little feathered… oh, wait, you're already there. Well, then whoever comes out is a surprise, now, isn't it? I hope you don't like surprises, because your chances of getting that far are pretty slim," he said, and he tossed his battle-ax at them.
Coo and Kirby rolled their eyes and Coo shot a cutter at him. He was gone.
"Man, he and Blade are nothing compared to the regular minibosses," Kirby stated. Coo nodded his head in agreement.
The bag opened, and the strange blob appeared once again. "Hi, guys! Long time no see!"
"Hey! You're the little guy who restored our power in Big Forest!"
The mysterious creature smiled. "Yep—I am also the spirit of a future friend. I go into the bag when the friend who belongs in there is already free. Then I have a chance to help you!"
"So, you're saying Coo was supposed to be in here?"
"Yep, yep—and Kine is in the door with water, and Rick is in the door on dry land—but you have to pick one and only one to help you with the rest of this stage."
"I better choose wisely, then," Kirby replied. "But… who?"
"I think you better choose in regards to what's ahead," Coo suggested. "If there's wind, then keep me. If there's water, then you want Kine. If it's dry land or ice—"
"Ice? Where's ice gonna come from? It's practically a desert here!"
"I don't know, Kirby—but you never know what could happen. May I continue with my point, please?"
O_o "Oh… sure. Sorry."
"As I was saying, if it's dry land or ice, you'd want Rick because he's better on land and doesn't slip on ice."
"Do you know the terrain in this area?" Kirby asked the blob. He sadly shook his head.
"I've told you all I can—you'll have to find out on your own, but you can only go so far before a force field stops you."
"Well, I guess we'd better see as far as we can, then." The cryptic friend nodded and healed them before disappearing. Coo and Kirby left and flew as far as possible before being blocked by the field. But they were able to see far enough to know who would be best in continuing the journey…
To be continued…
Next chapter: Who was the enigmatic stranger who helped Coo and Kirby? Which door have our friends chosen? What did they see that made them so sure? Will it be a wise choice? And whatever happened to Rick? You have to read and review to find out!
A/N: Wah! Cliffhanger! And if you haven't gotten this far in the game then it might not be so obvious as to what's next. ^_^ If you have, then you know there's going to be a lot of secrets discovered. ^_~ I know this took me a long time to get up (stupid school—senior year is a royal pain), and I'm very sorry if it's even cornier than before. -.-;; But I still like writing this, and I'm going to work on it as much as I can on the weekends. And remember, Venus loves you! {VEnusAUR! (^o__~^)}