Chapter 39: Fortunate Indeed
"Just a little further," said Marx a few hours later.
"You said that already," said Kirby. "I'm sick of all this walking."
"But what about that break we took?"
"You mean the one where we were ambushed? You call that a break? Well, I feel weird. I'm not sure if that Togezo I ate agreed with me."
"Hey, it got you Needle power, didn't it? The enemies you left back there looked like Swiss cheese!"
"Whatever," relented Kirby. It was pointless to argue. Marx always seemed to come up with some counter-argument. Kirby didn't even know what "Swiss" meant.
Kirby pulled at a strap on his spiky helmet and continued to walk. He thought of sitting down and resting, but the maximum tomato he had just eaten wouldn't let him tire.
"Here we are!" announced Marx.
They emerged into another clearing and saw a strange figure at the other end. It was wrapped completely in scarves. They were twisted around and around so that none of its body was shown. Its hands were gloved and its feet were hidden in shoes. As Kirby looked, he saw that not all of the figure's body was covered. Bright eyes seemed to switch on beneath holes in the fabric.
"Intruder alert," it said in a hard, flat, and slightly-higher-than-one-might-expect voice.
Kirby used the camera on the phone to show Gooey.
"According to my data," said Gooey, "his name is Waiu. He has three attacks. They are throwing blades, throwing flaming ninja-stars, and moving really fast."
A C-shaped blade suddenly flew past Kirby and stuck in a tree. Waiu had thrown it.
"Looks like he wants to fight," said Kirby as he raced towards Waiu.
Kirby jumped and activated his Needle ability, but Waiu dodged and threw a flaming ninja-star. Kirby tried to inhale the star, but it was moving too fast. It touched the top of his head and Kirby screamed as that spot lit on fire. Kirby flipped over and smashed his head into the ground, extinguishing the flames. Another blade barely missed him a split-second later.
Kirby and Waiu faced each other. Kirby waited for Waiu to attack. Then Waiu was suddenly right in front of Kirby. Kirby immediately retracted into a spike ball, astounded by Waiu's speed.
This guy can move way too fast, thought Kirby. How am I supposed to beat him?
One of Waiu's blades suddenly sunk into Kirby's spikes. In a rush of pain, Kirby retracted them and destroyed it. Waiu threw a barrage of flaming ninja-stars and Kirby ran around and around, trying to dodge them. The barrage stopped and Kirby did too. This was lucky. If he hadn't, the blade that came whizzing by a second later would have sliced him in half.
Waiu appeared again in front of Kirby. This time, Kirby didn't use Needle. Instead, Kirby retreated up into a tree to consult Gooey.
Gooey, however, called before Kirby could say anything.
"I have discovered a pattern in Waiu's attacks!" said Gooey.
"Really?" said Kirby. This might save him!
"Waiu will only throw flaming ninja-stars when he thinks his opponent is on the offensive," explained Gooey, "and he will only throw blades when he thinks his opponent is either on the defensive or is not paying attention to what he is doing. He uses super-speed to eliminate the distance between him and his opponent. Does that help?"
"Yes, very much," said Kirby, relieved. "Thanks!"
Kirby hopped out of the tree and ran toward Waiu, who started throwing flaming ninja-stars. Kirby dodged and got out the phone. Instead of calling Gooey, he just whispered nonsense into it. He kept looking at Waiu to see if the guy was taking his bait. Waiu, however, was watching Kirby's eyes and when he noticed the repeated flicks in his direction, Kirby had to jump to avoid more flaming ninja-stars.
Kirby flew into the tree again and asked Gooey if he actually needed to fight this guy.
"Of course you do!" answered Gooey. "Marx led you right to him. Waiu must have the shard!"
"Darn," said Kirby. "Gooey, Waiu's too hard. If I even look at him, he knows I'm paying attention."
"Then don't look at him," said Gooey as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"But how will I know if he's attacking?" complained Kirby.
"You won't," said Gooey; and then, after a pause, he continued, "How's this: you turn into a spike ball, wait, then retract the spikes and inhale."
"Yeah, like that's gonna work," said Kirby incredulously.
"Well, it's your only hope!" said Gooey.
"Fine..." said Kirby, not sounding as though it was.
Kirby leapt from the tree and turned into a spike ball. He tried listening for a blade being thrown.
"Now, Kirby!" shouted Marx.
Kirby retracted his spikes, opened his mouth, and a blade went right in. Kirby then combined his Needle ability with the blade's Cutter ability.
Kirby's spiky helmet disappeared and then, instead of getting a new hat, Kirby turned green. Kirby watched as each of his arms grew to about ten times their original length and suddenly become covered with monstrous spikes. Kirby was now... Snare Kirby!
Kirby swung his massive arms to quickly knock away another blade. Waiu threw more flaming ninja-stars, but they just bounced right off Kirby's spikes. Kirby ran toward Waiu, swinging his arms. Waiu kept jumping back, remaining just out of Kirby's reach. Kirby backed him up against the trees with his swinging arms. Waiu looked left and right and suddenly disappeared using super-speed. Kirby made one violent swing and connected. Waiu flipped over in back of Kirby; he had been hit in the waist. Kirby ran and clapped his arms together, crushing Waiu between them. Kirby could feel Waiu's body smash between the spikes.
Kirby sat there for a few seconds; then he slowly separated his arms to reveal...
"He's a robot?!" yelled Kirby in surprise.
Waiu's carcass lay in the middle of the clearing. It barely had a recognizable shape. It was crushed and covered in holes that contained sparking wires and punctured metal panels.
An hour later, Kirby and Marx had completely dissected Waiu and had found...
"Nothing!" shouted Kirby. "Where is the star rod shard?!"
"I don't know," said Marx, rummaging through what was left of Waiu. "It should be here!"
"Then why isn't it?!" shouted Kirby insanely.
"I don't know," repeated Marx, "but we'll get to the bottom of this. You mark my words."
Silence. Kirby spent the next few minutes seeing if he could juggle some of the Waiu pieces. He had earlier trashed his Snare ability in order to gain the ability to pick up stuff and not destroy it in the process. Kirby had also received a maximum tomato and a hearty congratulations from Gooey.
Kirby then remembered something that had happened during his fight with Waiu and thought he should show gratitude for it.
"Thank you," he said to Marx, "for what you did back there. Without you telling me when to inhale, I might not have beaten Waiu."
"It was nothing," said Marx. "After all, I am here to help. You know, I heard you and Gooey talking in the tree. You really depend on the guy, don't you?"
"Yeah, I guess so," confirmed Kirby.
"You know what I would really like?" asked Marx.
"What?" said Kirby. "I do need a way to reward you for your help."
"I would really like to have a look at that phone," answered Marx.
"Oh!" said Kirby, startled. "Um... I'm not sure if that's such a good idea."
"Why not?" asked Marx. "You trust me, don't you? What's so dangerous about letting me hold a phone?"
"Well..." said Kirby, trying to come up with some excuse not to give it to him, "I just don't... um... you might..."
"Fine!" sulked Marx. "I just wanted one little favor after I saved your life! But nooooooo. I can't even be trusted with a cell phone for ten seconds!"
"Oh, all right," said Kirby, giving in. "Here you go."
"Yay!" said Marx happily as little claws appeared on either side of his head. Marx grabbed the phone and almost squealed with glee, "Oh, this is so cool! So, you just talk into here and Gooey can hear you?"
"Yeah," said Kirby unenthusiastically.
"Thanks!" said Marx highly enthusiastically, while inspecting all the little buttons on the phone.
"By the way, Marx," said Kirby, turning around and looking off into the distance, "where do you think we should head now?"
No answer.
"I know that phone is interesting," said Kirby, getting annoyed, "but would you please just listen to me for a second?"
Again, no answer.
Kirby turned around.
Marx was gone.
"Marx?" said Kirby. "Marx?"
Silence.
"Marx!" shouted Kirby. "MARX!"
But there was no Marx. Kirby sat there in the clearing, looking around and around.
"Marx?" he said feebly.
Marx was gone. The cell phone was gone. Kirby... was lost.