Chapter 4: Capsule J2

It was another peaceful day in Dreamland. Today, Kirby was taking a walk through a park situated in Cookie Country when he saw a paper airplane flying through the sky. Curious, the puff chased after it, jumped up, and grabbed it out of the air. There was only one person that he knew this could be from! He ran in the direction the plane flew from and saw Capsule J2 sitting on a bench, silently throwing airplanes while seemingly lost in thought.

"Hey, J2!" Kirby called out while bounding towards him.

"Oh, hey Kirby..." he seemed to barely acknowledge him as he began folding another plane.

"What's the matter? You seem down."

"Oh...it's nothing much..." The jet finished folding the paper. "Just I have an air show coming up in a few days, but I've yet to come up with any new ideas." He held it up silently, as if reading the wind.

"Ah! Maybe I can help you out with that!" The moment Kirby said that, the plane immediately crashed to the ground.

"...you, huh? Well...I guess with how you tend to think outside the box, you'd be a great help. Sure thing."

The puff gave a smile in response. "Great! Now, let's get started!"

With a nod, the duo walked off.

They came to a large field with a small cliff, perfect for taking off and landing. To start off with brainstorming, Capsule J2 performed various air maneuvers to show off what he had come up with so far for the aerial show. Kirby could only watch in awe at the sight. Soon, the jet landed on the cliff.

"That was amazing! Why do you think it needs to be improved?" he asked.

"While it is very good, yes, I feel like it needs something else. Anyone can create a show to wow the crowd, but it takes true skill to take it to another level."

The puff understood what J2 was saying. It was something like how he could instantly use his Copy Abilities, but it took practice and training to draw out their full potential. That was when he began to think hard.

"How about we…set you on fire?"

The jet stared back at him in silent horror. "...please rephrase that."

He then explained in an excited tone. "You know! Like a fire show! You'd be like a comet soaring through the skies!"

"Or a jet plane crashing down..."

"Hmm? Did you say something?"

"Let's just skip the talk about fire for now, Kirby." J2 sat back down on a nearby bench and began to think again. Kirby followed along and sat next to him.

"Hm…I think I got something! How about instead of setting you on fire, you use a staff that's on fire! Then you can perform a lot of cool air moves while twirling the staff around!" The puff exclaimed.

The jet scratched his head for a moment before finally saying "Well, let's try it out with a regular staff first. I'd rather not jump straight into doing it with fire…"

With an understanding nod, Kirby tossed him a staff while he flew in the air. While maneuvering, he performed a few simple throws before landing back on the ground with his hand outstretched. He slightly looked around in panic upon seeing that the staff had not fallen yet and was hit in the head by it instantly.

"Ah! Are you ok!?" Kirby exclaimed.

"Yeah…this idea has potential, but I'll need a lot more time to perfect it. Thanks for the suggestion, though. I'll probably use it in a future show." He returned to the bench to continue thinking, with Kirby joining him.

It didn't take long for the pink puff to speak up again. It was shortly after the two of them took a break to eat lunch.

"Ah! I got another idea! How about you spin around in the air super-fast and create a small tornado! I think that would be super cool!"

J2 thought for a moment in silence. "…that has some potential. Let's try it out."

With that said, he took to the skies again. He spun in several loops in the air to create a tornado, going faster and faster with each passing spin. Soon, the pink puff noticed that he was going way too fast for comfort, causing the resulting tornado itself to go out of control. Quickly, Kirby copied the Jet Ability and began to fly in the opposite direction to stabilize the tornado to a slowing halt and the duo landed on the ground.

Capsule J2 gave a sharp exhale. "The idea is good, but I just don't think I'm ready for that level of speed yet…"

"Yeah, if it wasn't for me, someone could've gotten hurt from that!" The pink puff exclaimed, sitting back on the bench to continue thinking of more ideas. His friend joined him with a sigh.

Several more failed attempts later, and Capsule J2 still could not find a good idea. The frustration of it all was clearly starting to catch up with him as well.

"Look, we've been at this for hours, I think we should just give up and…"

"No, we shouldn't! I said I'd help you and I will! Even if it's the last thing I do!" the puff replied with a serious look in his eyes and a pout on his face. The jet only gave a bit of a sigh in response. He had been familiar with Kirby long enough to understand that expression meant that he was serious.

"Wait! I think I have an idea!" Kirby jumped off the bench and ran off. Later, he returned with the Sword Ability.

"Ok, Kirby, but what does this have to do with…?"

"Just watch!" The puff gave a puff as the sword became a fire sword.

"…that's cool and all, but how exactly does it help?" the jet uttered.

"What did I just do?" The child replied in his normal cheerful voice.

"You…combined two… different… things…" J2 paused for a moment before continuing. "Are you suggesting I combine two separate maneuvers?"

"Yup! What do you think?"

The jet paused again to think. "Well, I think it's worth a try. Let's do it!"

The pink puff gave a nod as his friend gave a running start to take off of the hill.

"Ok, Kirby, I'm going to start with one trick, and I want you to count to 30. Once you reach 30, I want you to shout out "Now!" and then I'll switch into a different maneuver!" He yelled back, receiving a nod in response.

J2 began by shooting straight up. When he was a decent height in the air, he began to spin around in a corkscrew motion. He started to pick up speed, but it was not nearly as fast as earlier. They didn't want a repeat of earlier. The higher he flew, the more he began to look like a drill piercing the very skies above.

"NOW" Kirby shouted.

Upon hearing that, J2 shifted gears. He started to fly around the screw-like cloud he had created while performing the midair somersaults. After the fifth of his somersaults, he started to pick up speed and spun around the area five more times. After the fifth of those spins, he flew back and looked at what he made. The initial screw shape now looked like a drill that pierced the heavens above.

"Ok, yeah, this combo idea seems pretty good. OK, KIRBY, LET'S KEEP GOING!"

"YEAH!"

And with that, the duo continued training until sunset.

A few days passed and with each day the duo continued to train from morning until sunset and with each round of training, they made small adjustments to improve their new technique. Soon, the day of the airshow came. Kirby was surprised at the number of people who came to a small village just to watch an aerial performance. Though he didn't mind, the more people that saw it, the more shows his friend would be able to do. As he was looking around, he noticed J2 talking with a few other jets.

"Ah! Capsule J2!" The puff cried while running over to meet him.

As he ran towards him, he noticed that next to J2 were three other jets: a dark blue one, a light green one and a smaller maroon one. He assumed these three to be his teammates that were also participating in the show. His friend never really talked about them much with him, so he was somewhat excited to meet them himself.

"Hey Kirby, thanks for coming!" He replied, turning towards the excited ball of energy running towards him.

"No problem! I wouldn't miss something like this for the world!"

"Oh, he a friend of yours?" The light green jet questioned.

"Huh. You really are that popular, aren't you, hime-sama?" The dark blue jet wearing glasses said with a grin.

"Shut up. He's just a good friend of mine."

"I believe you've said that before, hm?"

"That's something completely different."

"I just came to say good luck with the show! I'm sure you guys will do a great job!" Kirby cut off their conversation.

"Yeah. Thanks again."

"Look alive, you three. We're going to be starting in a bit." A smaller maroon colored jet said while walking over towards them.

"Understood." J2 turned to Kirby, who nodded.

"I'm going to watch the show. Good luck!" With a wave, he walked off to wait for it to start.

The crowd around seemed to increase as the minutes passed. Kirby began to feel more fidgety the more he had to wait. It was likely a natural response to his own excitement to see the performance, and it was a commonly observed habit from what his friends told him. Not only that, but he felt a bit hungry. While waiting, he had already eaten the two lunches he had brought in case it would happen and was already wolfing down the third he had brought. But he knew he couldn't leave to grab anymore snacks or meals. He wanted J2 to know that he was there! It crossed his mind to start questioning why they would have it so late in the day. Wouldn't it be better to see an outdoor show if there was a ton of light out? The moment he began to think about that, several lights surrounding the stage flashed on, startling the puff.

"Listen to my song!" An unfamiliar female voice shouted from the stage as music began to play.

This made Kirby slightly confused, since Capsule J2 specifically mentioned this event being an airshow, not a concert. If he knew that, he would've signed up to be the singer himself! That was when he noticed the jet clouds appearing beside the stage. It appears that the team had taken off already. Between the jet trails in the sky and the beautiful singing from the long-haired hat-wearing Waddle Dee on a crystal mountain stage, it was a scene that managed to mesmerize the pink puff. Then came the big moment of this performance. J2 shot straight up into the sky. When he reached a decent height, he began to spin around in a corkscrew motion. He continued through the motions of their rehearsed performance, just as planned. That was, until the moment he completed it.

No one knew exactly what happened, maybe it had something to do with the wind, some other slip up, or perhaps it was even done on purpose, but the Waddle Dee on stage seemed to trip and fall right off the crystal mountain. The audience gasped and Kirby wished he had the Jet Ability right now to help, but he then noticed something that gave him relief. His friend, J2 managed to dive quickly down through the drill he had created and caught the singer just in time. As if making a swift recovery, the singer continued to sing as if nothing happened, now being carried by the jet. After that certain incident, the rest of the performance continued without a problem.

However, during the end performance, the puff looked up and noticed something in the sky. Alongside the drill that had been created was a giant cloud of sky art that looked very much like himself. Upon closer inspection, he could see that his friend was trailing away from it. The thought of it brought a smile to his face. However, in his heart, part of him wished that he was also flying in the sky with his friend.

After the performance finished, Kirby ran around the venue looking for J2. Soon, he was able to spot him talking with his teammates.

"Ah! Capsule J2! That was an awesome show!" The puff ran towards him with excitement.

"Thanks, Kirby. It's because of you that I was able to pull off that trick to wow the crowd." His friend responded with gratitude.

"Uh-huh! I thought it was so cool! It was even better than when we practiced it! And combined with the music and stuff!" His excitement caused him to speak faster and faster.

"I could tell you were amazed by it."

"Even with that slight mistake, it was still a great show." The green jet added.

"Yeah. She gave me a bit of a heart attack when she did that…"

Their conversation was cut off by J2's glasses-wearing teammate. "You know, J2, if you really wanted help so bad, you could have asked me!" He said in a friendly-smug voice.

Without missing a beat, J2 responded. "What, and separate you from your girlfriend?" He pointed towards the short maroon jet. Both jets blushed in response to that, the reason why, Kirby didn't fully understand.

"We aren't together!" The two jets shouted at the same time. Once they realized what had just happened, their already-present blushes became a darker shade of red.

"I rest my case." J2 said simply, his tone indicating that he was satisfied with that counterpoint. Shortly after that comment, the singer Waddle Dee and another dark green Waddle Dee walked up to the group.

"Good work today, J2, despite that hiccup in the performance." The singer said.

"You! Did you trip off the stage on purpose?!" he pointed directly at her.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Though, I trusted you to be able to catch me, is that bad?"

"If I was too late to catch you, it would have been…" he uttered in irritation, only to be cut off by the second Waddle Dee.

"J2 that show was amazing! Sheryl was also amazing, but you both were amazing together!" As the girl Dee prattled on, it began to remind Kirby of something…or rather someone.

"Hm…the way she acts around him reminds me of Ribbon…I wonder why that is…oh well, it's probably just my imagination!" The puff was immediately broken out of his thoughts by the girl Waddle Dee.

"Oh, you're Kirby, aren't you? J2 talks about you so much that I was excited to meet you! My name's Ranka! It's great to meet you!" She shook his stub-hand vigorously.

"Nice to meet you, too!" The puff exclaimed, unfazed by the sudden greeting.

"Ah, so you're that hero friend that he talked about." The singer began, looking him over. "I think you'd look a bit more noble based on how he talked about you…"

The puff gave a pout when she said that.

"Despite how he looks, he actually saved the planet from catastrophe many times." J2 uttered.

"It was just an observation. I'll guess I'll just have to take your word for it."

"Don't mind what she said too much. Sheryl's actually a pretty nice person once you get to know her." Ranka whispered to the pink puff, who gave a nod in response.

Other unfamiliar conversations began to happen, ones that Kirby couldn't really follow along with and it began to make him feel a bit awkward walking along with the group. Not only that, but it seems like that the friends had other plans for J2. If that was the case, he should probably leave. Just as Kirby began to start walking, he heard a voice that stopped him in his tracks.

"Hey, hold up." He turned back to see that it was J2. "Where are you going, Kirby?"

The puff hesitated a moment before scratching his head while answering. "Oh…well, it kinda looks like your friends wanna spend time with you, so I don't wanna hold you up and…"

"You know that you can still stick around, right?" That alone was enough to stop Kirby in his verbal tracks. "I mean, Ranka was so excited to meet you, as you saw." He continued.

"Are you sure? Do you think they would mind?" The pink puff questioned back, receiving a slight laugh in response.

"Kirby, you have nothing to worry about. Now come on, we're grabbing dinner. I'm sure you're starving after waiting so long for the show."

The puff averted his eyes sheepishly once he pieced together that the jet had noticed that he ate three whole lunches while waiting for the show to start.

"Well, come on! I'm sure Sheryl wouldn't mind paying for your dinner!"

"Ok then!"

The puff ran to catch up with him. As the duo continued to walk together, Kirby's mind recalled his thoughts during the show. "Hey, J2…maybe next time I can join you in the air show? If it's fine with you, of course."

He got a slight smile back in response. "Sure thing, Kirby. I'd love to fly with you."

And with that, the two friends caught up with the rest of the group.

Well, this took a bit longer than I thought to finish. Though that should be a bit more expected now that my classes are in full drive now. It was probably also because this chapter was a bit difficult for me to finish. Either way, I'm sorry to keep those who are interested in this story waiting and I hope you understand.

Omake (Bonus)

Walky: Uh...due to unforeseen circumstances, we needed to have a replacement for tonight's music performance.

J2: Huh. I wasn't told about this...

Mic Kirby: Listen to my song, everyone! First is a song called "Do You Remember Love?"!

J2: Oh no...