Chapter 50: Freeze, Please
Kirby and Chuchu used warpstars to fly to Ice Passage.
A frigid gale welcomed them. Ice Passage is the coldest place in Dreamland, next to Great Iceberg, which is the home of Ice Dragon. Ice Passage is so cold, that all the rocks are covered with a sheet of ice.
Kirby and Chuchu first entered an ice-crusted tunnel.
Chuchu, with the ability to balance herself by extending her tentacles, seemed fine on the friction-deficient surface. Kirby, however, slipped and slid all over the place.
"Oh, come on, Kirby," said Chuchu as she picked him up for the eighth time as they traveled through the tunnel. "Just try to balance."
"I can't!" moaned Kirby as his feet slid out from under him again.
"Kirby, I have good news," announced Gooey. "I have been compiling information and have a very long list of all the combo-abilities you can get."
"Ack!" choked Kirby. "Don't read them all to me! That would take forever!"
"Good reasoning," replied Gooey. "There are 78 in all. Anyway, there are three that I think you might find useful in this winding ice tunnel."
"Yeah?" said Kirby, sliding into a wall.
"Here they are," recited Gooey. "Number one: Fan. The combination is High-Jump + Cutter. A huge fan will attach to your back and propel you forward. Number two: Ice-Skater. The combination is Ice + Cutter. You will grow a pair of ice-skates and instantly become a master ice-skater. Lastly, number three: Laser. The combination is Spark + Beam. You will be able to shoot lasers out of a device you will wear. "Laser" is actually an acronym. It stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation."
"...and it ricochets off walls too!" added Chuchu, clearly reciting something she had learned.
"Yes, exactly," continued Gooey. "With the Laser ability, you will be able to shoot beams that will bounce until they hit something that can be affected by them. This ability may come in handy as you travel through small tunnels."
"Okay. Thanks," replied Kirby. "I'm gonna try one right now."
Kirby summoned High-Jump and Cutter abilities to become Fan Kirby! Dark goggles appeared over Kirby's eyes and a huge electric fan attached to his back.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" yelled Kirby as he fired up the fan and shot through the tunnel at an amazing speed. He could only barely hear Chuchu's astonished "Wait!" before she was so far behind as to be inaudible.
The tunnel that Kirby flew through never branched off, so he just kept going, unable to stop. He eventually gave up on trying to get the fan to slow down and just trashed his power. The problem was that he stayed hurtling along, the ice preventing his speed from dropping.
Kirby couldn't stop. He was spinning out of control. He was getting dizzy... he closed his eyes and tried not to scream. He felt that if he opened his mouth, he would vomit.
"Yes, I have a lock on him!" announced Meta Drone. "He has no ability and is traveling southeast at a speed of 16 miles per hour."
"Where?" replied Meta Knight quickly.
"He's currently about half way through tunnel R-1."
"Excellent, the shelter in that tunnel hasn't been used in ages. Let's give its security system a test-run, shall we? Send a message over the wiring that the shelter should seal itself shut just as soon as something enters. Got that?"
"Affirmative," confirmed Meta Drone. "Message sent."
Kirby awoke minutes later in a cubic room that was made completely out of ice.
"Ha, ha! I've got you, Kirby!" said Meta Knight's voice over some sort of hidden speaker. "You're trapped and you have no power!"
"Oh, yeah?" retorted Kirby, standing up.
Kirby summoned Needle and Fire abilities to become Fire Arrow Kirby! Kirby shot flaming arrows in every direction, melting all the ice.
"What's he doing?" exclaimed Meta Knight. "He can't do that! He has to inhale something!"
"Damage to the shelter," said Meta Drone, "67, 73, 80, 85, 94, 99%."
"It's not possible..." said Meta Knight in disbelief.
Kirby melted all the ice, revealing stone surfaces and a metal door on either side of the room. A sparking wire protruded from the ground and Kirby went over to examine it. Since he could discern nothing specific from it, he summoned Spark ability and sent a huge amount of electric current through the wire.
Two things happened immediately. One: the doors on either side of the room began to open and shut, again and again, very quickly. Two: well, Kirby wasn't to know about this but...
All the Meta Clan quickly leapt away from Meta Drone, who had suddenly started shuddering and emitting sparks everywhere.
Meta Drone's voice came from the electrical blur, it's pitch and tone changing erratically.
"Pla-a-a-p-p-p-pla-la-la-plan-pl-pl-pl-plan-n-n bee-b-bee-bee n b-bee-ee-ee fa-a-a-a-a-f-f-f ee-ee fail-ail-a-a-a-a-" the voice started to get slower and lower in pitch, "aaaaa-aaaaaaaaaiiiiiii-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllllllllllllllllllllled."
Meta Drone stopped sparking and his yellow eye turned black.
Kirby fried the cable until it disintegrated and the doors to the room stayed open.
Kirby suddenly heard his name being yelled from a passage beyond one of the doors. The yelling became louder every second. About a minute later, Chuchu came sliding into the room.
"There you are!" she said. "Don't run away like that!"
"I didn't mean to," replied Kirby. "I lost control of my ability."
"You are so weird!" exclaimed Chuchu. "You can transform at will into bizarre forms and then you go berserk with them. Some way to be a hero."
Kirby did not respond. He had been struck dumb by this statement. Up until now, Kirby had thought his battle strategy made perfect sense.
Meta Sword detached Meta Drone's broken body from the wiring system of the shelter. Meta Axe removed his metal cap as Meta Drone was lain down in front of Meta Knight.
Meta Knight said nothing. He looked down upon Meta Drone in sorrow. It was the first time any of the Meta Clan had been killed.
The Meta Clan all stood there for a few minutes, not saying a word. The wind howled around them, adding to the morose atmosphere.
Eventually, Meta Knight looked up. He seemed to come out of a deep state of meditation.
"Meta Chain," he said, "strap Meta Drone to his warpstar and pull it behind you using your chain."
"Yessir," replied Meta Chain gruffly and proceeded to follow Meta Knight's orders.
"Meta Knight! Sir!" exclaimed Meta Blade. "Meta Drone has just been killed! Shouldn't he have a proper burial or something?"
"We have no time for that now," replied Meta Knight. "Besides, he can be repaired."
"Sir, that is impossible," interjected Meta Axe. "Our technical expert would normally handle this type of matter, but that was Meta Drone and he obviously can't repair himself."
"Then he will need assistance won't he?" said Meta Knight.
Silence.
"Right now we must act as though he is dead," continued Meta Knight. "Kirby might know. Why else would he have electrocuted that wire?"
"Well," put in Meta Axe, "it could have been curiosity or—"
"Shut up!" interrupted Meta Knight. "Meta Drone is dead, Kirby killed him, and Meta Drone's death... must be avenged."
Kirby and Chuchu emerged from "tunnel R-1" to find themselves atop a huge snow-covered mountain. A blizzard was raging around them and even Kirby (who, as a Dreamlander, was rather climate-resistant) had to shiver.
"Snow!" exclaimed Chuchu. "Oh, I love snow!"
Kirby did not respond. He had just heard something strange.
"Do you hear that?" he asked Chuchu.
"What?" said Chuchu.
Silence. Only the howling wind could be heard.
"I don't hear any—" began Chuchu.
"Shh!" hissed Kirby.
There it was again! That noise! Kirby now realized what it was: voices. After a few more seconds, he recognized Meta Knight's voice. The Meta Clan was headed their way.
"It's the Meta Clan!" shouted Kirby suddenly.
They were within eyesight now and getting nearer every second.
"Stand back, Kirby," said Chuchu, pushing him aside.
"Chuchu," shouted Kirby, "you can't fight the Meta Clan all by yourself!"
"Oh yes I can!" answered Chuchu and she made a swift swiping movement with one of her tentacles. Kirby stared as Chuchu held up a perfect snowball.
In an instant, Chuchu made the same movement with all the rest of her eight tentacles and held up a snowball in each.
"Let them come," she said as she faced the approaching Meta Clan.
Kirby hesitantly backed away.
Just as the Meta Clan got within range, Chuchu began spinning her tentacles very fast and they were blasted by a bombardment of snowballs.
The battle was short. In the end, Chuchu sat in a pit of snow (she had been throwing so much at the Meta Clan that she had had none left to stand on) and the Meta Clan had retreated.
"Chuchu! Great job!" shouted Kirby into the pit as Chuchu began to climb out of it.
"Thanks!" replied Chuchu.
"'Course," continued Kirby, "it's not much different from what I do."
"Oh, come on," retorted Chuchu, surfacing from the pit. "It's completely different."
"No, you went berserk with an ability of yours just as I do."
It was Chuchu's turn to be speechless. She tugged at the ribbon she wore and looked to the side.