Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.
BGM: Have a Nice Talk (Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story plus Bowser Jr's Journey)
"Wait… huh? You wanna be a Technomage?"
"Yup!" Futaba nodded.
"Okay, like… where did that come from, exactly? Like, don't get me wrong, I can definitely see you as a Technomage, but… I never thought of you being a mage to begin with."
"I know, I never thought I'd be a mage myself since I'm usually the type of woman to just… support my teammates. Buff them up, heal them up if need be… standard stuff. And yet… I kinda wanna do more."
She brought out her laser pistol. "I mean, I have this… I was able to hold my own at Aperture, and yet…"
"You want to be stronger?"
"Yeah, though I don't see myself doing hand to hand, that's definitely Makoto, Ann, Ryuji and Akira's territory. But I want to do more than buffing them up, like yeah, I'll still do that, but I wanna be more than just a support. Like, come on, I can only do so much on the sidelines."
"That's true. I'm more of a support myself since… well, Iris and the twins usually do the heavy lifting. Ironic since I'm the team leader."
"You can only do so much with a vacuum. It makes sense."
"Yeah."
"But it's like… me just buffing up my teammates and occasionally healing them? Yeah, that's great but I wanna do more. I wanna be part of the action!"
Jade smiled. "Well, you have my full support on that."
Futaba playfully rolled her eyes. "I'm not surprised." She teased. "You can pretty much do a lot of crap with being Techno savvy, like you can manipulate any electronic you desire… and honestly…?" She looked at her pistol. "I kinda wanna upgrade this too. Make it more powerful, give it a bit of an edge."
She looked around the room, and then looked at the ice copy ability. "Like… freeze up my enemies with a Freeze Ray. Tons of options, ya know?"
The blacksmith Waddle Dee overheard this. "A freeze ray pistol… now there's an idea." He said to himself.
"And to be honest, there's one other reason why I want to be a Technomage. I want to get a rise out of Eggman."
"Really?"
"Yeah… because, to be honest, something's been bugging me about the network." Futaba said. "For starters, I was able to easily hack my way through, though it took me a bit longer because someone named Watts added like several dozen challenging firewalls for me to hack. It got to the point where I asked Eggman, who I thought was Tails at the time, to help me out with the firewalls since I reached a dead end. The code was easy to hack into… but, as I'm trying to rework the network from scratch, the code is just a big ol plate of spaghetti. It's enough to make even Chihiro miserable as he's the Ultimate Coder after all."
Futaba folded her arms. "I didn't think of it then, but I'm starting to think that maybe Eggman jumbled up all the code just so I would have a hell of a hard time getting the code all organized."
Jade's eyes widened. "Oh my Oum… I didn't think of that!"
"Exactly. The code was easy to break into, but suddenly it's a lot harder for me to the point where I get migraines looking at it? No wonder everyone's frustrated… Eggman probably knew I'd rewrite it so he decided to make it nearly impossible for me to write the entire network from scratch."
"He totally would… he's giving you plenty of headaches. I'm glad I came in at the right moment to help you out."
"Yeah… I'd probably be dead from the ultimate migraine that I'd more than likely get." Futaba sighed. "So that's why I wanna be a Technomage. I want to pick apart the data, clean it up, put it back into the computer and write it in the new network. He made my life a living hell, Jade… he almost got me killed when Ironwood was on the war path, and we all know that Dimentio made it worse. Not only that, but he's been making my brain hurt to the point where I almost gave up a few times..."
End BGM
BGM: Kairi III (Kingdom Hearts)
She smiled suddenly, walking up to Jade and wrapping her arms around her. "...If not for you. You convinced me to keep going, and Chihiro is cheering me on… Friya gave me a pep talk, Rotty, Coral and the other eggheads opting to help out every once in a while… you created a ripple effect where everyone wants to help out."
Jade chuckled. "Ah… it was nothing."
Futaba gave her a dorky smile. "You're a hell of an awesome girlfriend, Jade."
Jade caressed her cheek. "You're pretty awesome yourself, my cute Phantom Thief~" They both closed their eyes, leaning in… before Futaba blushed in embarrassment and went for a kiss on her nose.
End BGM
"Curse my cowardice…"
Jade giggled, kissing her on the forehead. "We'll get there."
"Yeah." Futaba broke the hug. "So… as I was saying earlier, I want to stick it to him. He made my life hell, so I might as well make a hell of a comeback and make him learn not to mess with the Phantom Thieves."
"That's my girl." Jade smiled.
"So! Let's find a way to get me to become a Technomage!"
"If you need help-" A voice said as they turned to see Penny and SAPR leaning in the doorway. "Perhaps we can help you out!"
Meanwhile…
Drill Treasure - Dig and Destroy! Drill Trial
BGM: Beginner Treasures (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
The quad hopped out of the rift portal, with Kirby already donning the Drill Powerup. "Looks like this is a trial for Drill." Chiaki guessed.
"Looks like it." Elfilin nodded as they walked up ahead to see four switches in a square cage as Kirby decided to drill underneath and dug his way around, initiating a Quake Surge after making a complete circle, where the small quake was enough to activate all four switches.
Once all four switches were activated, the path opened up as a small opening in a large cage opened up. Kirby drilled through while Elfilin and BB-8 easily crawled/rolled through while Chiaki simply teleported to the other side as Kirby popped up next to her as Digguhs appeared, where they would easily take care of them, and they were replaced with Rabiroos, which Chiaki simply teleported to Gundham.
Another Digguh showed up along with some Kabus as the former threw rocks at the group, but he and the Kabus were swiftly destroyed when Kirby initiated a Quake Surge to destroy them, then they went to the next area that had a small pillar, and was greeted by a Rabiroo that Chiaki teleported away, then four Awoofies ambushed them, but Chiaki teleported them to Gundham, and then four Rabiroos and a Digguh popped in, where Chiaki teleported the Rabiroos away and then Kirby drilled into the Digguh to defeat it.
"That was hardly a fight…" Elfilin said.
"I call it speedrunning strats." Chiaki grinned as they went to the next platform with a taller pillar surrounded by spikes as they were greeted with four Scarfies, where Elfilin instinctively hid inside Chiaki's hoodie, and a Digguh where Chiaki obliterated the Scarfies while Kirby took care of the Digguh.
Two Jabhogs appeared next where Kirby initiated a Quake Surge to get rid of them, and then eight Scarfies showed up along with a Glunk on the tower. BB-8 beeped in frustration, pulled out his stun gun and electrocuted a few Scarfies where Chiaki took care of the rest and Kirby destroyed the Glunk.
A platform arrived with the Rare Stone shortly after. "A-Are they gone?" Elfilin asked with a whimper.
"Yeah, I'm not letting them hurt you." Chiaki said gently as Elfilin emerged from her hoodie with a happy expression as they nabbed the Rare Stone, and then a portal opened up as they jumped in.
End BGM
BGM: Abandoned Beach (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
The quad hopped out as they stared at a tower in front of them. "Guess we're climbing that." Chiaki said.
"Nice of you to join us."
"Hmm?" Chiaki turned her head.
World 2-3: Scale the Concrete Summit - Yusuke, Mewtwo, Shadow, Taranza, Soldier
"I see that's where you've been getting the Rare Stones." Yusuke said.
"It appears that the rift portals are also prominent in this world." Mewtwo said.
"Yeah, but they're not so bad. They're like little mini challenges for you to do and the reward are these Rare Stones, which is basically how you upgrade Kirby's abilities."
"Suppose if you run out. Then what?" Shadow pointed out.
"I'm… sure there's plenty to go around." Chiaki said.
"Let's hope you're right."
"I wonder if it's possible to upgrade something without a Rare Stone?" Taranza wondered.
"Put me in a room full of robots for five minutes, I'll grab all the cash after I'm through with them." Soldier said.
"...What?" Taranza looked at him weirdly.
As they started to walk, Kirby sucked up a Needlous to gain the Needle ability and they started to climb up, though Mewtwo decided to levitate up while Soldier rocket jumped, using the platform a Shotzo was on as they got up a floor, then Soldier spotted a wanted poster.
"What in…" Soldier grabbed the wanted poster. "What in the name of hell is this! Chiaki, you're on a wanted poster!"
"Huh?" Chiaki turned to him as he tossed the wanted poster to her. "Well, I guess the Beast Pack is wary of what I'm capa-h-hey, wait a minute! They got everything right except for my eyes! My eyes are pink, not yellow!"
"Ahem, Chiaki? Remember when you went under a transformation after you finished training with your Chaos Magic? The side effects were tattoos on your arms and your eye color changed to yellow." Yusuke pointed out.
Chiaki blushed in embarrassment. "R-right… my bad… I tend to forget that my eye color changed too." She sheepishly admitted before burning the wanted poster.
"I'm still convinced that you are a student under Merasmus!" Soldier said with folded arms.
"Merasa who now?" Taranza asked.
"I think he said… Merasgus?" Elfilin scratched the back of his head in confusion.
"No, he said Merasmus." Shadow said.
"I don't think Merasmus is even here." Chiaki said. "...Though, strangely, I felt a magical presence when I visited Solana Town the other day… buuuut, I think those were just Dragon Quest monsters, or some Magikoopas, I dunno."
"If it's Merasmus, I'm gonna pull another rabbit out of his ass!" He said.
"...Poyo?" Kirby asked.
"No, Soldier's not a magician. Thankfully."
"I could be!"
"That's a big nope from me." Chiaki said while climbing a ladder as they reached the third area where Mewtwo noticed a bomb block as he used a Shadow Ball to destroy it, and uncovered a blueprint.
"A scroll?" Yusuke wondered as Chiaki hopped down and picked it up, unraveling it.
"Oh! It's a blueprint for… Clutter Needle?" She tilted her head as she put it into a dimensional pocket. "We'll look into that later." She said while nearby, Kirby sucked up a locker and leaned back to where he fell on his back to free up a Waddle Dee.
"We got a Waddle Dee over here!" Taranza called out as Chiaki teleported him away while Kirby spat out the locker and joined them up while Shadow picked up a gachapon and opened it up, revealing a Kabu figurine.
"...Hmph." He put it away as they reached a Warp Star and flew off, then they landed in a whole new area where they would see essences for Chakram Cutter and Ice. Kirby looked at both before deciding to go for Ice and they climbed up the stairs, where they heard a screech as Fleurina landed in front of them.
"You must be a newcomer… I don't even recognize you." Chiaki said. Watch, she's probably in Star Allies. She thought as even Kirby tilted his body. …Or maybe not?
Fleurina spun around, putting up a wind shield right as Soldier shot her with the Rocket Launcher, which deflected the rocket. Kirby immediately ice skated toward her and then breathed ice into her, freezing her slowly as Fleurina tried to fight back but was frozen solid as a result.
Shadow then jumped up and swiftly did a heel kick to the head, shattering the head instantly as the ice statue of Fleurina fell over and shattered instantly.
Chiaki grimaced. "Didn't even stand a cha-" A Tornado essence popped up immediately after. "Oh hello!"
"Poyo!" Kirby immediately sucked it up, ditching the ice for Tornado while a bird came down with a Waddle Dee, where Mewtwo freed him up and teleported him back to Waddle Dee Town.
BB-8 beeped sarcastically, noting how fast he ditched the Ice powerup as soon as he picked it up.
"He likes to keep his options open." Chiaki giggled as Kirby spun around with the Tornado, sucking up anything in his way. Star Blocks, Twisters, Squishies, nothing stood a chance. They kept climbing up until Kirby hit a switch, where a bird came down with a caged Waddle Dee as Kirby Tornado'd his way around.
"Interesting… from what Futaba had told me, the Tornado copy ability is quite uncontrollable." Yusuke mused.
"Not to mention overpowered." Chiaki added, recalling how she easily dominated Mecha-Kracko and Yadgaine with the Tornado copy ability in Squeak Squad.
"I suppose that's true." He nodded as Kirby snagged the Waddle Dee, who was a bit dizzy from the tornado.
"He's one with the elements. Perhaps he learned to control it." Shadow guessed.
"I was thinking the same thing." Mewtwo agreed as Chiaki teleported the Waddle Dee away where Soldier shot down a Kirby wanted poster, where they all saw a red star door as they went in and saw a spike pit along with some switches in the spike pit, one of which was embedded in the wall.
Kirby quickly Tornadoed his way through, hitting all the switches to free up the Waddle Dee in a cell door. Chiaki and Mewtwo levitated over the spike pit, the former carrying BB-8, Shadow Triangle Jumped off of the wall, Soldier Rocket Jumping over while Taranza provided spider web trampolines for Yusuke to vault over.
Once they reached the other side, another cell door opened up to reveal a Waddle Dee. "Another one?" Chiaki wondered as she looked up to see a sign. "Spikes touched: Zero" She tilted her head. "Ooookay?" She shrugged as she and Mewtwo teleported the Waddle Dees away.
They then walked out and went forward, Kirby blowing away a Blade Knight and a Poppy Bro as they reached the end… or so they thought as Kirby looked at the arch overlooking the area. "I guess we reached a dead end." Chiaki said as Kirby sucked up the arch to become Arch Mouth Kirby, where he immediately started to glide away. "Or not!"
End BGM
BGM: Blue, Blue Breeze (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
"Wait up!" Shadow said as he jumped over and landed on the right side of Kirby where Yusuke hit the left while Soldier dropped down on the middle.
"Poy-mmph!" Kirby grunted while Chiaki, Mewtwo and Taranza flew together with Elfilin and BB-8 sitting comfortably in Chiaki's hoodie as they glided/flew around the big open area.
"This is pretty cool!" Chiaki said as Kirby went through some yellow rings, followed by a red ring as they flew around some rock pillars while weaving around some confused Bronto Burts as they weaved past some Gordos and went into a small factory, weaving around moving pillars before heading out, where Kirby moved to the left and weaved around some Gigatzos while Chiaki and Mewtwo looked at a cracked rock wall and moved over to investigate.
Mewtwo unleashed Confusion while Chiaki telekinetically tore the rock wall apart, then they moved through and found a Waddle Dee on a ledge, where both of them teleported him away, then flew ahead to catch up with Kirby.
"Where'd you guys go?" Taranza asked.
"Oh, we took a detour." Chiaki responded.
"Alrighty then!" He said as Kirby came to a gentle landing as they all hopped off, then Kirby spat out the arch, then BB-8 spotted a wanted poster. He let out some offended chirps and rolled over to it.
"Huh?" Chiaki noticed the wanted poster was all about him, where BB-8 continued to beep angrily. "Oh come on, they did not make you look fat." She said as she removed the wanted poster and destroyed it, which in turn caused the rock wall to open up and revealed a Waddle Dee where Chiaki teleported him back to Waddle Dee Town.
They climbed up a few ledges and destroyed the golden cage that contained the three Waddle Dees.
End BGM
Two Warp Stars appeared, where Yusuke and the others went back to Waddle Dee Town with the three Waddle Dees in tow while the quad prepared to head over to the next area.
"Hmm…" Chiaki opened up the dimensional pocket and looked at the blueprint in question. "You guys wanna make a detour back to town first?"
"Sure! I wanna see what Clutter Needle is." Elfilin said as Kirby "Poyo'd" and BB-8 beeped in agreement.
"Alright, let's go take a look real quick!" She said, teleporting them all back to Waddle Dee Town.
BGM: Waddle Dee's Weapon Shop (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
"Hey hey! What brings you here?" The Waddle Dee asked.
"We found this blueprint lying around." Chiaki said, handing him the blueprint.
"Ooooooh! Clutter Needle? I'll be right on it!" He said as Chiaki handed him the Rare Stones as he went right to work. Chiaki casually looked around, spotting the Crash copy ability nearby as she looked around, before doing a double take and went back to the Crash copy ability.
"Huh?! Crash can be upgraded?!"
"Yup!"
Inside Chiaki's imagination…
"POYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Kirby cried, unleashing a powerful nuclear explosion that disintegrated Popstar entirely, leaving nothing but planetary chunks.
"Poyo poyo~!" Kirby sat on a grassy chunk of the planet, happily eating a fried apple next to a severely burnt Whispy Woods.
Back in reality…
Chiaki paled. "That's all we need… a Kirby Hydrogen Bomb…"
"You don't look so good." Elfilin said as he flew off and then came back with a bottle of water. "Here, drink this!"
"O-oh, thank you…" Chiaki downed the water bottle.
"Here you are! Clutter Needle!" The blacksmith tossed it to Kirby where he sucked it up.
"Poyo!"
Chiaki jawdropped. "Oh my goodness… that's from Crystal Shards! Awesome!"
"Eh?" Elfilin examined the hat. "A cactus, a corkscrew, a castle tower, a red arrow pointing up, a conical sea snail shell, a bamboo head, a rocket ship, a bee stinger… I don't see a crystal in this thing! Unless it's well hidden and I'm just not seeing it…?"
BB-8 chirped a bit.
"Game? What game? Oooooh, you mean like "Find a crystal from within this clutter"?"
Chiaki snickered. "Sure, let's go with that."
End BGM
Chiaki then teleported the quad back to where they were and hopped on the Warp Star and flew off, only to find two rift portals opening up as they decided to split up.
BGM: Beginner Treasures
Tornado Treasure - Up and Over! Across Spike Road - Kirby, BB-8
The two of them hopped through as they looked around, while the Tornado ability appeared on Kirby's head. "Poyo?" He looked up and smiled. "Poyo!"
Kirby immediately started using the Tornado, picking up BB-8 as they barreled through some Twisters and some spikes, while also barreling through some boxes. Kirby continued to spin around while BB-8 was tossed around and crying out in dismay as Foleys were knocked out, boxes were destroyed, Kabus were thrown about, BB-8 butting heads with a few Twisters, bombs were reflected back at Poppy Bros, more boxes were either destroyed or thrown around and crushing Kabus and Twisters,and Scarfies were thrown down into spike pits as Kirby ended his tornadic rampage as soon as he got to the Rare Stone.
"Poyo!" Kirby smiled and then noticed BB-8 dizzily rolling around and letting out a few groaning boops. Kirby walked over to him and patted him on the head as they went to snag the Rare Stone.
Chakram Cutter Treasure - Fling, Twirl, Return! Hit the Switches - Chiaki, Elfilin
Chiaki and Elfilin landed on a platform as the former spotted a Chakram Cutter essence. "Hmm…" She walked over to it and picked it up, putting it on her head as Chakram cutters appeared on her hips.
"Ooooh, I wanna try it too!" Elfilin picked it up and put it on his head, as Chakram Cutters appeared in his hands. "How do I look?"
"Oh my gosh, you look absolutely adorable!" Chiaki gushed.
Elfilin blushed. "Aw, thanks…" He bashfully said as they walked to the first two switches as Chiaki threw the Chakram cutters at the switches, activating them as platforms appeared as they went up and were greeted by two Awoofies, which Chiaki promptly teleported to Waddle Dee Town.
Four switches were up front. "I got it!" Elfilin threw the Chakram cutters, barely missing them while a Bronto Burt sighed in relief. "Hnngh! Hup!" Elfilin tried a few more times with Chiaki encouraging him to keep trying.
"Hiyah!" Elfilin tried once more, this time cutting through a Bronto Burt and activating all four switches. "Yeah! Woo! It's all in the wrists!" He said, high fiving Chiaki.
They went up and found two switches on both sides of the platforms as Chiaki took the left and Elfilin took the right as they both threw the chakrams at the switches, then they went up ahead as Chiaki took care of the three big Kabus that tried to attack them.
"Wah! Hey! Watch it!" Elfilin yelped as three Sir Kibble tried to attack him, but Chiaki cut through them.
"I got your back!" She smiled as Elfilin threw the chakrams at the moving switches, hitting them all as a portal opened up as they hopped in and teleported to another platform with moving cages, and were met with four Sir Kibbles. Chiaki took care of them while Elfilin timed his throws and activated a few switches while Chiaki threw hers, and then telekinetically guided them to the other switches until all of them were activated.
"There we are!" Elfilin said as they went over to the Rare Stone and snagged it, then a rift portal opened up as they hopped in, then found themselves at a new area where Kirby and BB-8 joined up with them.
End BGM
They also heard a Warp Star coming in as they would look to see who'd be joining them.
World 2-4: Fast Flowing Waterworks - Zan Partizanne, Gooey, Hajime, Bandana Dee, Heavy, Haru
BGM: Fast Flowing Waterworks (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
"Talk about bringing in the cavalry." Chiaki giggled.
Hajime shrugged. "Ah, it is what it is." He chuckled as the two hugged, then they walked through a platform where Kirby, now back in his Clutter Needle ability, rolled around and skewered two Kabus and shot them away as he did the same thing to a Waif.
"I think we have to go down through this current." Haru said.
"I was just about to say…" Zan agreed as they all hopped in and let the current take them.
"Current is a bit faster than Heavy thought!" Heavy said.
"It's not that bad!" Chiaki said and noticed a pillar up ahead. "...Oooor maybe it is." She sweatdropped as they swam around to avoid it while also avoiding some Gordos in the water as they saw a Waddle Dee stranded on top of a platform as Gooey used his tongue to snag onto the platform and hopped over. He grabbed the Waddle Dee and threw him across to safety as Hajime caught the Waddle Dee.
"Got ya!" He said as he set him down as the Waddle Dee hugged Gooey and then Chiaki teleported him away. They would then spot a tin of fish on a locker as Gooey hopped up and ate it up happily.
"...Did that have number one on it?" Zan wondered as Gooey spat out the tin, only caring about the fish that he ate.
"Yeah, it does." Chiaki said on close inspection as she conjured up water and washed it to get Gooey's saliva off of it as she then put it in a dimensional pocket and then walked through the door.
They then hopped over some streams while taking care of a Poppy Bro as they then climbed up a ladder while a Needlous moved about and curiously watched them where they reached the top and walked across a bridge, where they were ambushed by hostile Squishies, Blippers, Waifs and Foleys.
"You fools, you're in your domain!" Zan said, her spear crackling with electricity as she shared the electricity into Bandana Dee's spear as they both dipped their weapons in the water and electrocuted everyone. "Power sharing…?" Chiaki looked on with intrigue while Haru shot down the Foleys.
Once they were all taken care of, two treasure chests appeared as Bandana Dee opened up the first one and pulled out a blueprint while Hajime opened up the second and pulled out a Waddle Dee.
"Hey, little guy!" He said, pulling him out as Chiaki teleported him back to town and then Bandana Dee handed Chiaki the blueprint.
"...Chain Bomb?" Chiaki wondered as she unraveled it.
"Ah, so it's probably a chain reaction." Haru guessed.
"Or… knowing Kirby, he probably has his own spin to it." Chiaki said.
In her imagination…
"Hup!" Kirby swung a chain around that had a bomb attached to it as he swung it down on the ground, causing an explosion that knocked around several Poppy Bros as Kirby continued to slam it down on the ground… to the point where Castle Dedede started crumbling when Kirby threw it at walls to take care of some Scarfies.
"MY CASTLE! NOOOOO!" Dedede yelled.
"Poyo!" Kirby smiled nonchalantly.
In reality…
Hajime sweatdropped. "You're probably overthinking it…"
"Sooo… Demoman's Ullapool Caber?" Heavy wondered.
"Hmm… I can definitely see it happening." Haru nodded. "Sounds totally awesome too!"
"...Honestly, I think that's terrifying." Elfilin said.
They hopped down and walked ahead, taking out a Chilly as they hopped into the water and took out a Waif, and then noticed a bomb block as Heavy punched it where it opened up a wall as Zan flew on in with curiosity, and then spotted a switch where a bird flew down with a caged Waddle Dee, and it also had a timer.
"Hmm…" Zan flew up to look at the puzzle in front of her. "Ah, pick a wall… meh!" She zipped across in a flash and knocked the bird out, freeing the Waddle Dee. "There you go, little guy!" She said, picking him up and zipping back before Chiaki walked in.
"Oh!" Chiaki said in surprise as Zan put the Waddle Dee down, patting him on the head as Chiaki teleported him away. "Speedrunning tactics?"
"I suppose you could say that." Zan chuckled as they walked back out where Haru found a hidden gachapon and opened it up, where the prize was a Tortuilding figurine.
"Aw, it's cute~!"
"...You find that cute?" Hajime asked.
"Yup!" She smiled and put it away.
"To each their own." He shrugged as they went into the next area, where they found some stairs that Kirby could suck up, but they would also notice a switch where Heavy pressed it as a door opened up where Hajime ran up the stairs and found a gachapon, prying it open to reveal a Needlous.
"Sweet." He said, putting it away where Kirby simply shrugged as they walked ahead, saying hi to a friendly Chilly as they walked through a pathway and went down some stairs, where Gooey spotted a golden fish as he jumped in after it, where it swam away… and then came back with a treasure chest that contained a Waddle Dee where Bandana Dee freed him up and Chiaki teleported him back to town.
"Nice work, Gooey! …Gooey?" Chiaki would then see Gooey eating up the golden fish, causing them to sweatdrop.
"Huh. Guess little blob likes fish." Heavy shrugged as they walked ahead, seeing several logs ablaze as Chiaki extinguished them and found another tin of fish behind it, where she dumped out the fish as Gooey ate them up, then Chiaki put it into storage as they walked ahead and pressed two buttons nearby, freeing up two Waddle Dees that Kirby and Heavy pulled out of the jail cells, then Chiaki teleported them away.
"Does that get tiring teleporting them away?" Zan asked.
"Not entirely. I actually enjoy it." Chiaki smiled.
"Alright then!" Zan nodded as they went into the next area, which had strong currents as they hopped in and went through the currents, only to be met with a whirlpool as Chiaki levitated out of the water and brought everyone else out, while Gooey snacked on another tin of fish that was caught in the whirlpool, where Chiaki stored the empty tin of fish as they would then see the last Waddle Dee caught in a bigger whirlpool where Zan zipped down and saved him as they then went inside a tunnel which spat them out on a beach, containing a golden cage with three Waddle Dees.
Chiaki also spotted a garbage can with a sign above it. "Empty tins of fish go here!"
"Okay." Chiaki opened up her dimensional pocket and pulled them out and tossed them in, which in turn, the rock wall opened up to free up a Waddle Dee.
"That's all of them." Hajime said as Haru broke the cage with the Loch' N' Load.
"So! Shall we take a look at that Chain Bomb~?" Haru asked.
"Yeah." Chiaki nodded, clapping her hands and teleporting them all back to the shop.
End BGM
"Oh, back so soon?" The blacksmith asked as Chiaki handed him the blueprint. "Ooooh, Chain Bomb! I'll get right to it!" He said as he went right to work after she handed him the two Rare Stones and then came back with it as Kirby sucked it up.
"Alright, moment of truth!" Chiaki said as Kirby planted bombs on the ground, where they would see a chain connecting to the bombs, which on the last bomb Kirby planted, it resulted in a huge explosion.
"...Huh… that's it?" Haru asked.
"Hmm… ya know, I liked little girl's version better." Heavy said.
"Indeed. This feels a bit… anti-climactic." Zan agreed.
"What was her version?" The blacksmith asked.
"Attaching a chain to a bomb and throwing it around." Hajime said.
"So like a bomb flail? …I can tweak that easily!" He said, taking the hat and quickly tweaking it before handing it back to Kirby. "Here ya go!"
Kirby conjured up a bomb and saw a chain attached to it. "Poyo~!" He smiled as he started swinging it around where everyone ducked as the bomb hit the ground and a wall, exploding on contact as the bomb stayed in place.
"Yeah, that's way better!" Chiaki smiled.
"I still find it terrifying!" Elfilin said with BB-8 booping in agreement as everyone else walked out.
"Alright, let's go!" Chiaki said as the quad teleported back to where they were and hopped on a Warp Star, only to come into contact with two rift portals as they split up and went inside.
BGM: Beginner Treasures
Volcano Fire Treasure - Light 'Em Up! Lantern Switches - Chiaki, BB-8
The duo hopped through as they saw a Volcano Fire essence. Chiaki decided to wear it as she felt a fiery inferno raging inside her while BB-8 did the same, only he donned a Flametrooper helmet and had a flamethrower.
BB-8 let out a few devilish boops as they went to the first lantern switch as Chiaki unleashed a stream of lava to the first lantern switch, while also melting it in the process as they went to the next area, where they split up as Chiaki lit the first one up and BB-8 lit up the second, all the while terrifying a Hot Head as they went to the next one, where a Gordo Bar moved around as Chiaki melted the Lantern Switches while BB-8 tried to burn the Gordo Bar, only it didn't do anything.
BB-8 tilted his head in confusion, wondering why the Gordo Bar wasn't melting as Chiaki lit up the last switches. "They can't be hurt. They're invincible." Chiaki pointed out, causing BB-8 to boop sadly as they went to the next area, where Chiaki put up a lava wall to block the Shotzo while lighting up a lantern in the process while BB-8 happily lit up the three switches.
Another platform appeared as Chiaki dismissed the lava wall as they hopped over the spikes and found eight switches with a rotating Gordo Bar. The two of them lit up the switches while BB-8 occasionally hopped to avoid getting batted by the Gordo Bar as they went over and grabbed the Rare Stone.
Stairs Mouth Treasure - Step it Up! Moving the Stairs - Kirby, Elfilin
Kirby sucked up the stairs in the first area and hobbled over to the switch, all the while Elfilin flew over and picked up an Awoofy to avoid being crushed by Kirby as he placed the stairs on a switch and they moved toward a portal.
"Hmm… this one looks tricky." Elfilin said as he looked at Kirby. "Can you switch directions as stairs?" He asked as Kirby shook his head.
"Poyo…"
"Ah, so you're stuck in that position… okay, let me see here." He flew up and examined the three stairs. "Let's see… ah! Okay, here's what you gotta do." He guided Kirby on the stairs where Kirby swallowed up the stairs and hobbled around, all the while Elfilin noticed a Rabiroo as he flew down and pushed him out of the way to avoid getting crushed by Kirby. "Yipe!" He moved out of the way in time as Kirby pressed the last button as they went into the next portal.
"...Oh goodness gracious, this one is a hodge podge!" Elfilin said in dismay as he looked around to analyze it, noticing two sets of stairs were joined together. "...Okay, I think I figured it out!" He said as he guided Kirby to the switches, which took some time since Kirby hobbled his way around, but thanks to Elfilin's guidance, he was able to press the last switch as they went into the portal and found the Rare Stone.
"Poyo!" Kirby smiled.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Elfilin said proudly as he high fived Kirby as they snagged the Rare Stone and hopped into the rift portal.
End BGM
The quad hopped out, the Volcano Fire disappearing for Chiaki and BB-8 as they walked up ahead, and heard a Warp Star coming in.
World 2-5: The Tropical Terror - Ann, Gundham, Flamberge, Hyness, Magolor
BGM: The Smell of a Dangerous Beast (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
"Need some help, girlfriend?" Ann asked with a wink.
"I don't even know what help I need yet." Chiaki giggled as they walked along the path as they would see Copy Essences for Clutter Needle, Chakram Cutter and Volcano Fire.
"Poyo…" Kirby looked at all three of them before smiling. "Poyo poyo!"
"Oh, going without?" Chiaki asked as Kirby nodded. "Alright, we'll forgo the copy abilities then!"
"Highly unusual…" Hyness mused before shrugging. "Ah, I'm sure he's got a good reason." He said as they walked ahead.
"So uh… Magolor…" Elfilin flew toward him. "Is there a… reason why Chiaki doesn't trust you that much? I asked the same thing about Marx."
"Oh? Well, I'm not as bad as the clown… although there was this one time I tricked Kirby and the gang to help me take down Landia so I could have the crown all to myself."
"Ah, so you wanted to be king?"
"This crown contains cosmic power to where I can manipulate spacial boundaries to my whim. I could conquer any dimension I so desired."
Elfilin paled. "Oooooh, I totally get it now…"
"Luckily, Kirby and company knocked me to my senses and I turned over a new leaf!"
"Yeah, and now I hear you're scamming people for a quick buck for brawls or whatever." Chiaki said. "All for what… apples?"
"Eh, nobody's perfect!" Magolor shrugged it off.
"...How can you be so nonchalant about it?" Elfilin sweatdropped.
"Simple! They're apples made out of gemstones! They're worth a fortune!"
Chiaki sweatdropped. "There it is…"
"How much worth are they?" Hyness curiously asked.
"Quite a lot!"
Hyness nodded. "Yup, I see nothing wrong with that!"
Flamberge groaned. "Yeah, I think I'll pass…"
They climbed up a ladder as they would see several Waddle Dees in cages. "Hiiii!" Kirby waved.
End BGM
"Hold on…" Chiaki looked at what was up ahead and then immediately grimaced. "Oooooh, I feel so sorry for what's about to happen." She said, looking at a massive palm tree that woke up.
"Palm Tree Woods?" Ann guessed as the tree roared at them.
End BGM
BGM: Vs Dangerous Beast (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
Unfriendly Fronds - Tropic Woods
"Close enough!" Chiaki said.
"I'll take it." Ann snickered as they got in battle stances as Tropic Woods spat out puffs of air at them where they easily dodged as Hyness conjured up shadow hearts and fired lasers at Tropic Woods while Kirby ran ahead and Hammer Flipped him in the face.
Tropic Woods roared, responding by showering massive coconuts at them but Kirby sucked them up and spat them back out where Ann ran ahead, did a few acrobatic flips and kicked Tropic Woods in the eye before backflipping.
"Honestly, I feel like this tree has wasted potential." Gundham said.
"Eh, it's a cousin of Whispy. What can you do?" Chiaki shrugged, holding an NES Zapper in her hand as she shot it up while Flamberge threw fireballs and Magolor threw Gemstone Apples at it.
Tropic Woods roared as he soon hunched over.
End BGM
"I feel like there's a phase two to this." Chiaki said.
"Hmph. Even if there's a phase two, I doubt it will be much." Gundham said as Tropic Woods gained his second wind and roared loudly.
BGM: Boss Battle - Return to Dream Land (Super Kirby Clash)
Immediately, the ground underneath them rumbled as roots came out of the ground and grabbed a hold of Kirby and Panther. "Ack!" Panther yelped as the roots swung them around and slammed them into the ground. "Oooof!"
A massive coconut fell off of him as Tropic Woods sucked it up and then spat it out where it exploded into miniature coconuts. "Whoa!" Chiaki rolled out of the way as Gundham ducked.
"Now it's a real fight!" Gundham exclaimed with a smirk as a root came up and grabbed a hold of Flamberge.
"Ack! Oh, you want to get hands on?!" Flamberge disintegrated the roots instantly with her fire. "I'LL GET HANDS ON MYSELF! RAAAAAAH!"
She conjured up her own sword and then fire slashed him where Magolor cut through the roots to free up Kirby and Panther, where the latter conjured up a massive fireball and threw it at Tropic Woods, who responded by spitting out exploding coconuts.
Magolor summoned the Lor Stacutter as BB-8 hopped on. "Chaaaaarge!" Magolor exclaimed as the Lor Starcutter charged at him, but Tropic Woods pulled up a gate to block the Lor Starcutter, bouncing it away as BB-8 was knocked off, but Hyness caught him.
"Now it is my time to shine!" Gundham pulled out a whistle and blew into it. "Go, my children of darkness! Rain hell onto that block of wood!" He declared as portals opened up as Buffahorns and Awoofies came out and charged ahead, where his Devas were riding on top of the Buffahorns, where Chiaki could have sworn she heard one of his hamsters screaming "YEEEEHAAAAAW!"
Tropic Wood's eyes widened in surprise as he tries to blow them away but the Buffahorns powered through as they busted through the roots and destroyed the cages easily, slamming into the massive palm tree as the Awoofies headbutted Tropic Woods.
Kirby charged up his Hammer Flip. "Poyo!" Kirby called out to Magolor.
"You got it!" Magolor called upon his Lor Starcutter again as BB-8 and Kirby hopped on as the Lor Starcutter charged ahead and slammed into Tropic Woods as Kirby launched and slammed his fully charged Hammer Flip into his face and BB-8 tased him, where Tropic Woods roared in pain and fell limp, complete with a tear rolling down his cheek.
End BGM
"Poyo!" Kirby smiled happily.
"Never thought I'd be manhandled by a tree…" Ann said.
"Same..." Flamberge mumbled as Hyness freed up the Waddle Dees, Gundham happily praised and petted the Beast Pack while Chiaki walked over to a treasure chest that also appeared and opened it up, revealing a blueprint.
"Another blueprint?" Chiaki wondered as Elfilin curiously looked over her shoulder as she opened it up.
"Noble Ranger?" Elfilin wondered.
"Sounds promising!" Chiaki grinned as they hopped on a Warp Star and they all flew off.
Meanwhile, with Futaba, Jade and the Atlas Sisters…
"Mmm…" Jade had her arms folded as they were in the middle of brainstorming.
"What's up?" Futaba asked.
"Something about this is bugging me." Jade said. "Eggman mentioned to you, back when you thought he was Tails, that he was curious about Remnant's network, right?"
"Yeah?"
"And of course, after you successfully hacked into it, you found out Cinder's plan to overthrow Beacon during the Vytal Festival, which Eggman used to his advantage and broadcast to the entire world after you stole Roman's heart, not to mention outting Cinder and revealing Salem to the world. That should have been the end of it, but…"
"You think there's something else?"
"Yeah, something about this is bugging me. If that's all he wanted, he would have stopped… but since he went out of his way to spaghettify the entire code to make your life hell… then he must be planning something."
Futaba rubbed her chin in thought. "Yeah, you're right… I didn't give it much thought because I was mainly focused on rewriting the entire network."
"He's on to something. I feel him messing up the network to make your life miserable is just a distraction."
Penny looked at Jade. "Are you saying he's up to something?"
"Yeah…" Jade folded her arms, looking a bit disturbed. "What exactly could the doctor be planning?"
Meanwhile, with Eggman…
"Hmhmhm… preparations are almost complete." Eggman said with a chuckle. "Status report."
"Esdeath is still quite angry. Everyone is chipping in to calm the general down but progress is slow." Orbot said.
"Excellent. Once Esdeath has simmered down, she will no longer be an obstacle and then… Atlas will be ripe for the taking. OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"
Just what could Eggman be up to?
Ibuki: He's certainly up to something!
Yup... and now for something that I need to address. The Bomb upgrades in Forgotten Land. As someone who loves throwing bombs around in Kirby games, I was pretty excited to upgrade the Bombs and wondered what I could do with them! ...By the time I played around with Chain Bomb in the demo, I first thought "Okay, this is kinda dumb... I'm sure I'll figure it out in the main game." and then... well... yeah no, I don't like it. As someone who has a love for explosions... Chain Bomb just didn't do it for me. I found it pretty disappointing.
Ibuki: Pretty much the weakest of the upgrades.
Oh yeah... and then there's Remote Bomb. Oh yeah, let me chain together remote control bombs. That sounds pretty coo- HEY, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?! HOLD STILL! ...Ugh... so much for that. It got to the point where I actively avoided Bomb all together in Forgotten Land... like, come on, you could've made the Bomb upgrades so much better. Chain Bomb was disappointing but Remote Bombs? It annoyed the hell out of me.
HAL, you could've knocked it out of the park with the Bomb upgrades, but instead... ya blew it. Anyway, that's like the only complaint I have with Forgotten Land. The Bomb upgrades SUCK.