PART 17: Reflection
Ribbon now lived in a house on a cloud. The house was small, quaint, two-stories tall, it had flowerpots in all of the windows. The house was about as big to her as an average two-story house would be to you. The house was also a perfect replica of her original home before it was destroyed. And the house also had a secret.
Objects in the house had been enchanted so that they were telepathically linked to certain people. At her command, she could see, hear and smell a certain person's thoughts and actions. Different objects were connected to different people, such as the mirror on a wall in her room, which was twice as large as she was. The mirror was connected to Kirby, and the mirror also connected to every other object in the same way. She even had a smaller mirror telepathically connected to herself.
With these, her access to the rest of the world was incredible. Dead or not, she now had the ability to see everything that happened to anyone at any time.
Right now, she was in her room, wearing bunny pajamas and attempting to fall asleep and having no such luck. Even her teddy bear wasn't helping, which was supposedly impossible. Mr. Snuffles always helped. She got up out of bed, her long pink hair flowing down past her shoulders without the ribbon, and tried to get a glass of water. The faucet handle didn't move when she pulled it, so she pulled harder.
The faucet handle flew off and went flying through a window, shattering it. She smacked herself in the face in a "D'oh" fashion, and went outside to get the handle. She walked across the cloud for a few seconds, then remembered that the cloud wasn't a solid object and fell through it. Without bothering to wonder exactly why her house didn't fall through the cloud as well, she muttered "This just isn't my day".
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Kirby ran around a field of flowers, oblivious to the fact that he was dreaming. Everytime he stepped on a flower, it'd pop back up again instantly. Since there wasn't much else to do besides run around a field and speak in your native language (POYO!), Kirby was doing just that. Like a maniac. But he was like a kid again, although there were large gaps between the memories from being three years old, the memories of being over a hundred (teenage years to a Dreamlander), and the memories of being over two-hundred (about an adult). No matter, he could now clear his head of all his sadness and run around like a happy maniac again.
Eventually, Kirby became bored and began to think of something fun to do. He thought of the demons Dedede would send out, and the image of a giant golden clock that jumped around and fired soundwaves appeared in his mind.
Just like that, a giant golden clock appeared. It's hour and minute hands made a mustache shape, and it was really large, towering above Kirby's stature. Luckily for Kirby, this was his dream, so he could make his enemy as smart and stupid as he wanted and he could use whatever power he liked! An image of himself with a yo-yo popped into his mind...
Just like that, another version of himself with a baseball cap and a red yo-yo appeared. This version of himself was red and grinning. It wasn't exactly what Kirby had originally had in mind, but he closed his eyes and thought of a yellow version of himself with Ninja powers, a green version of himself with Sword powers, and himself with Bomb powers.
Just like that, Kirby flipped into the air and exploded in a flash of pyrotechnics. He reformed out of nowhere wearing a blue hat which had a yellow bobble at the end on his head. He was now carrying a bomb as large as he was!
"BOMB!" he screamed as he landed on the ground and the other Kirbys attacked the clock monster in a mad rush. The red Kirby stood on his head and began to spin around like a top, the yo-yo flying around him as he began to spin faster and faster. The green Kirby attacked the clock by rapidly slashing it over and over and over with his sword, then jumping high into the air sword first and releasing a powerful shockwave across the ground. The yellow Kirby hopped around like a rabbit, leaping around the enemy and throwing small swords at it. Kirby rolled around everyone and chucked bombs at the enemy, hitting every single time as the enemy was blinded by the smoke from the eruptions.
The enemy exploded in a cloud of smoke, and Kirby squealed. He always loved fighting enemies, especially with a team.
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Ribbon smacked herself over and over again as she fell.
"Stupid...stupid...stupid...stupid..." she repeated over and over again, until she suddenly stopped. "Wait a minute! I have wings!"
She stopped falling and her wings began to flap at the speed of a hummingbirds. She flew back towards the cloud like a small rocket..
And she hit her head against it with a crash. She spun around dizzily for a few seconds, regained her footing (metaphorically speaking) and flew around the cloud and toward her home. She landed on the doorstep and dusted herself off, and then remembered she had forgotten the faucet. She smacked herself again and gave up and walked back inside, trying to fall asleep again.
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Kirby had summoned a ton of enemies with his mind, and was now fighting them as a team, unleashing tons of different powers and manipulating every part of his dream at his will. He could summon bursts of lava, more Kirbies, water, floods, tornadoes, any ability he choosed...
Right now, he was facing down an army of super-smart Dededes with over a thousand Kirbies, each a different color and carrying a set of abilities he had created. Some wielded dodgeballs, others ran really fast, some wielded baseballs and baseball bats, and some jumped high. He had made an athletic set of abilites, which were not very useful, but Kirby was having too much fun to care. He closed his eyes and smiled as the Sports Kirbys launched thier athletic arsenal, making the Dededes explode as the Baseball Gernades smacked against them, as the Track Bomber dropped mines at thier feet, and as the Napalm Dodgeballs filled the enemy with missiles upon contact.
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Ribbon walked over to her mirror and began to brush her hair for the sake of passing the time until she could fall asleep. As she looked into the mirror, she realized what was worrying her.
"I just realized what was worrying me!" she screamed out of nowhere. "It's...it's...errr...nevermind. I lost it." With that, she continued to brush her hair absent-mindedly, until she realized what was worrying her again.
"KIRBY!" she yelled out of nowhere. The mirror jumped to life, the images on it beggining to spin around wildly, faster and faster until...static. Nothing. No response.
"That must mean that Kirby isn't in Dreamland..." she said, getting the brush caught in her hair in the process.
"Curse this thing!" she yelled, and the brush melted. She smacked herself again.
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Kirby suddenly began to feel very drowsy, so he thought about coffee. A cup of coffee appeared over his and landed on it with a crash, showering Kibry in glass and hot coffee. Kirby began to ran around in circles.
"OW! HOT! HOT!" he yelled, flailing around wildly, like a chicken with it's head cut off. He closed his eyes and wished that the coffee would vanish. It did with a small poof, and he smiled again. This time, he envisioned himself carrying a cup of coffee..
A small version of himself appeared with a cup of coffee.
"Here's your coffee, Kirby." it said as it vanished and Kirby took the coffee. Kirby drank the entire thing in one swallow, and then he started to shake wildly, as if he was going to explode. Kirby's eye seemed to pop from his head as he exploded in a hyper sugar rush. His entire body began to glow.
"COFFEE, COFFEE, COFFEE, COFFEE! WISH UPON THE KIRBY!" Kirby screamed insanely, running into walls. The other Kirbys began to do the exact same thing. Everything was chaos...sort of. Kirby was having more fun than ever and he had just had coffee. He loved coffee. He liked lollipops more, but he loved coffee.
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Finally, Ribbon untangled the brush from her pink locks and shook them. She stared into the mirror firmly and stated "Mirror, show me Kirby's dreams."
The reflections in the mirror began to swirl wildly again, until an image appeared of Kirby in a strange void running into walls over and over again while screaming something about chickens, bombs, cans of soda, green chuchus, someone named Pishi, and chu-chus. His eyes were large, as if he was in shock or overly hyper or both. Ribbon mentally shook herself and rubbed her eyes to make sure she was looking at and hearing everyting right.
Same thing. Kirby had just slammed right through a wall, and was now jumping back and forth through the hole he had left. Ribbon mentally shook herself again and then talked into the mirror, accidently changing a voice setting in the portal at the same time.
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"Kirby!" yelled a deep male voice in Kirby's head. Kirby looked around, and heard staticy noises. Suddenly, a female voice interrupted him.
"OK...this is the right one..." it said. "Kirby, I need you to calm down, stop being hyper, and wake up. I need to see where you are." it said.
Kirby didn't bother trying to listen. Instead, he looked around and began to spin in circles, trying to find the source of the voice. The voice sighed and there was more static.
"I HAVE TAKEN OVER YOUR SOUL AND HAVE KILLED EVERYONE. WAKE UP AND KILL THINGS AGAIN." the voice said in the fakest sinister voice possible. Kirby fell for it and began to pinch himself crazily, trying to wake up.
Suddenly, he was interrupted by a hand holding onto his shoulder. Kirby looked up into the eyes of a larger and much more wiser-looking version of himself. That version held a tight grip on his shoulder.
"Ribbon, it is I. Tell me how to awaken." commanded the older Kirby.
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Ribbon stared in shock. TWO Kirbies? It wasn't possible! The mirror was focused on the younger one, but she wasn't sure which was which, and even if she did, she didn't know how to wake them up or where they were.
"I don't know!" she almost yelled into the mirror, forgetting to change her voice beforehand.
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"I DON'T KNOW!" yelled the dark, sinister voice. There was static again.
"I mean...I don't know." corrected the female voice. The older Kirby sighed, and kept a firm grip on the younger Kirby's shoulder. The caffiene was wearing off, and the younger Kirby was becoming drowsy again.
"Can you at least explain this bizzare lapse in my memories? I do not understand it. It seems strange...it feels strange...it is strange." the older Kirby stated, as a gentleman's cane materialized in his other hand. He spun it around and awaited Ribbon's answer.
"Hmm...I don't know what's going on either. Do you have any idea where you are?" Ribbon's voice said, echoing in thier minds. The older Kirby shook his head and closed his eyes for a second. "No. Everything is clouded by a solemn and unpenetrable shadow. I can not see past it." the older Kirby stated, opening his eyes as they rolled back into thier proper position. The younger Kirby had fallen asleep at his knees.
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"They're alive..." Ribbon whispered solemnly, as she knotted her ribbon into her pink hair and sighed. It's not like she wasn't glad they were alive, she was quite the opposite. But she was still worried...
Her worries were suddenly confirmed when the reception of the mirror began to short out, replaced by her regular reflection. Randomly, the image of the two Kirbys would pop back into existence again, the younger Kirby asleep and the older Kirby staring at something, looking both ready for battle and perfectly calm at the same time, but the reason the image was shorting out was unknown. The reflection flickered back to existence again, and that's when she thought she noticed two small red eyes glowing at her from the background. When she turned around, there was nothing there.
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"Ribbon! Ribbon!" the older Kirby yelled. "Can you hear me? Respond!" the older Kirby shouted. The dream-world was mutating wildly. The ground cracked, volcanoes spewed, and everything was surrounded by a sinister fog...
The older Kirby pulled out a black cape and swung it in front of the younger Kirby and himself. The fog bounced off the cape as he held it like a shield. The ground began to crack underneath his feet as the younger Kirby began to twitch in his sleep.
"A nightmare within a dream...it's pulling this world apart..." the older Kirby realized, grabbing the younger Kirby, wrapping them both in the cape, and jumping away from the earthquake splitting the ground. There was an erratic explosion behind him as enormous bursts of steam and lava erupted from within the confines of the ground.
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Ribbon looked into the mirror again. It's powers and the lights had shorted out completely, and now her reflection was the only thing that could be seen within the mirror. There were also a pair of red eyes in the back of the room, but when she turned around, they were not there. She was holding the smaller mirror in her tiny fists as if she was going to use it as a weapon.
The blinds were covering the windows, so she couldn't see in front of her at all. Regardless, she had ducked underneath the desk that the mirror was on, and she was holding the small mirror in her hands. She would face away from the rest of the room and look into the reflection, trying to find the source of the small red eyes. She could see them..they were about twenty feet away from the window.
Deciding to risk a risk, she crawled out from underneath the desk and rolled under her bed, which had just large enough of a gap to let her underneath. Just large enough, unfortunately, and as she rolled underneath it, she hit her head against one of the supports.
"OW!" she yelled, quickly covering her mouth a second later. Cautiosly, she turned away from the rest of the room and looked into the mirror's reflection. The red eyes were literally snaking right toward her, now only ten feet away. She squeaked and began to roll out from underneath the bed, the eyes zig-zagging back and forth in the mirror's reflection, giving thier invisible chase.
She reached the window just as the eyes in the reflection barely grazed her side. She pulled the blinds and they sprung up, and she quickly rolled away from the window as the thing with the mysterious eyes screeched and escaped back into the darkness. She got to her feet and stood at the end of the light's rays, looking into the mirror for the eyes again.
She saw them in the mirror and angled the mirror so that it faced the window and the eyes at 90 degree angles. The light from the sun's rays bounced off the mirror and shone at the place where the eyes were, and there was a flash of light as the eyes opened wide and exploded.
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The older Kirby held the cane out to his side and it stretched out until it was over five feet long. He placed it against the ground and used it to pole vault over an enormous canyon. He landed safely on the other side, his cape flapping behind him and the younger Kirby in his arms. As soon as he landed, he ran forward and stopped at what could only be described as an enormous multi-colored whirlpool.
"The void.." he whispered. He laid the younger Kirby on the ground and shook him slightly until he began to stir. The dark clouds parted, and the lava stopped flowing immediately. The younger Kirby began to speak, but the older Kirby put a finger to his lips.
"Shh.." he whispered into his ear. "Stay here." With those words, the older Kirby jumped into the whirlpool-like void and disappeared. The younger Kirby stared, mesmerized.
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With a flash of light and a rumble, something shot from Ribbon's large mirror like a rocket. It was Kirby, only he was wearing a long black cape and was slightly larger. Before she could say anything, the older Kirby threw the window open and jumped out of it.
"Yeah, I love you too." Ribbon said sarcastically, pouting.