Chapter 22: Power #5 and Unexpectation
"Gooey," said Kirby a little while later, "my new power is to... flatten myself."
"Huh?" replied Gooey.
"To duck," clarified Kirby, "but since my head is almost my whole body, I can duck by flattening myself against the ground."
"Ah," replied Gooey. "Well, I'm sure that will come in handy at some point."
"Whatever," said Kirby, clearly disappointed that his new power wasn't cooler. "I'm comin' back to the surface. Supposedly this ocean's harbor is where I'm supposed to go next. I only need three more shards."
After closing the connection, Kirby began swimming upwards.
Eventually, Kirby could see a fish above him. It was larger than the types of fish he had faced so far (not counting Sweet Stuff). When Kirby was close enough to see it in detail, it suddenly shouted, "Watch out! Acro's behind you!"
Kirby, surprised by the fish, looked down. A gigantic killer whale was speeding towards him. Kirby swam upwards as fast a he could, but Acro kept gaining.
"Quick! Jump in here!" shouted the fish and opened its mouth wide.
"I'm not going to let you eat me!!!" yelled Kirby.
"I'm not going to eat you!" the fish yelled back. "I'm going to save you! I can swim much faster than you!"
"Fat chance!" screamed Kirby. "I'm not gonna be a morsel for a cute blue fish like you!"
"Fine!" answered the fish. "But I'm your only hope! If you refuse, Acro will tear you apart!!!"
Acro was getting quite close now and Kirby's legs and arms were getting tried. He weighed his chances and chose a ride in the fish's mouth.
He jumped in and immediately felt his pace accelerate. He was going so fast that he was flattening unintentionally. He looked down at Acro. Acro was still slowly gaining. Kirby could see Acro's features more closely with every second. Kirby could see a cut on Acro's side. Then he could see the deep wrinkles in Acro's forehead. Then the deep blue color of Acro's eyes. Acro opened his mouth wide showing razor-sharp bloodstained teeth. Faster! Faster!! Faster!!!
Acro was four inches away! Three inches!! Two inches!!! One in– POW! They were out of the water. Shooting up into the sky followed by Acro. Kirby could feel, as though in slow motion, the speed of ascent decreasing. Kirby knew that when they stopped, they would fall right back down into Acro's waiting jaws.
BAM! A warpstar came out of the sky and rammed into Kirby, sending the fish flying. Kirby was safe!
"Nice timing, Gooey," said Kirby. "I thought I was a goner."
"Don't you know I'd never let you fall?" Gooey replied. "Nice heartbeat by the way. I've never heard faster or louder."
Kirby tried to calm himself, but in the end there was no need, for completely filling the Orange Ocean Harbor was something that had cannons big enough to stop anyone's heart.