Chapter 8: Rocky
It was a beautiful day in Dreamland and today Kirby was taking a walk through the mountains of Yogurt Yard. However, this peaceful walk was soon broken when the puff noticed something falling from the mountain that he had been walking alongside. Looking closely at the falling object, he noticed that it appeared to be a stone block and immediately scrambled to jump out of the way, making it just in time.
"Ah! Rocky! Watch where you're landing!" he shouted. The stone block turned back into his stone crown-wearing friend, Rocky.
"I'd love to, but I cannot control the rate at which I fall." He replied, matter-of-factly.
Kirby only sighed in response. "So, what are you doing here anyway?"
"You see that big mountain? I'm trying to climb to the top of it."
Kirby looked up at the huge mountain next to him. "Ok, but why?"
Rocky cleared his throat. "You see, it's a family tradition. Once we hit that certain age, we are expected to climb the largest mountain we possibly could."
"Certain age?"
"You'll understand when you're older."
Ignoring that statement, the puff asked another question. "Well, if you have to climb a tall mountain, you could've also gone to Orange Ocean and climbed the mountain that leads into Rainbow Resort. That's so big you can see into space!"
"Isn't that where that battle-crazy teacher of yours and his lackeys live? Yeah, no thanks. I'll just stick to this one."
That was when Kirby noticed that he was struggling to stand up. "How many times have you attempted this?"
"At least sixteen times. I lost count at some point."
The puff gave a worried look. "Rocky, why don't you take a break? You must be tired by now."
"I don't get tired. My body doesn't require sleep."
"Well…ok, but you must be hungry, right?"
"I'll eat when I'm done."
"How long have you been at this anyway, Rocky?"
His friend blinked a few times, as if attempting to remember what the time was. "What day is it?"
"It's…Tuesday, why?"
"Eight days."
Kirby couldn't hide his shock. "Eight days?! You've been at this for eight whole days?!"
"Well, if it's now Tuesday, then yeah."
"If that's the case, then you really should take a break!"
"No! I refuse to take a break until I finish climbing this mountain! I'll have plenty of time to rest when I'm done!"
"Then at least let me help you!"
"No way! This is something I gotta do on my own! If I do it with help from someone else, then that won't count! The only way for it to mean anything is for me to do it by myself!" Rocky began walking back towards the mountain.
"Wait a minute, how about if I come with you?"
The stone turned back to him. "Kirby, I said I don't want you to help."
"I'm not going to help you! I'm going to keep you company! Maybe if someone comes with you while you're climbing, you'll be encouraged to reach the top this time!"
Rocky seemed to ponder the suggestion for a moment. "Well, ok then. As long as you promise not to help me, you can come along."
"I promise! Now, let's go!"
With a nod, the two began the process of climbing the mountain.
It was about five to ten minutes into the climb at the moment everything was going well. Due to this, Kirby decided to make a bit of small talk to help pass the time.
"Hey, Rocky, I've always meant to ask you this, but never really knew how to…"
"Hm? Oh, go ahead and ask."
The puff hesitated for a moment to speak, as if trying to figure out how to word his question. "So, um… how do you climb with just your feet?"
"It's part of my biology. I don't know the exact specifics, never really cared to learn, but we can stick to any earthy surface. That's how we are able to get around fairly easily and quickly despite not being that fast."
"Do you have to focus in order to pull that off or...?"
"Yeah, if I lose focus, I'll lose my grip and…well, you already know what happens after that."
"If that's the case, is it really fine for you to talk to me like this while you're climbing?"
"Sure, it is! I think I'm good at multitasking! As long as nothing else happens while we're climbing, I'll be perfectly fine!"
Kirby was about to ask more when suddenly the mountain started to rumble. Shortly after that, a giant boulder was heading towards the pair at an alarming rate. In response to this, Rocky turned into a stone statue to protect himself, but it was obvious that the impact would have thrown him off the mountain. Thinking quickly, Kirby pulled out his Fighter Ability headband and attacked the boulder with a Smash Punch, changing its trajectory away from them. Noticing the lack of impact from the boulder, Rocky changed back and looked at his pink friend. If he had a visible mouth, he would have been frowning.
"Kirby, I thought I said no helping."
"But I wasn't helping, that boulder would have hit me if I didn't do anything about it. I was stopping it from hitting me."
Rocky sat there for a moment to think. "...oh yeah. That makes sense. Thanks for not getting hurt, Kirby." He then continued to trek up the mountain.
"Uh… you're welcome?" The puff gave a shrug and followed after his friend.
The duo continued up the mountain and engaged in a bit of small talk, despite Kirby being slightly more on edge.
"So, Kirby, have you been on any interesting adventures lately?"
"No, not really. It's been mostly quiet recently. Oh! But I was invited to go play some tennis with Bandanna about two weeks ago! Dedede and Meta Knight joined us, too! Bandana was paired up with Dedede and I was paired up with Meta Knight! It was all a lot of fun... until Dedede became a sore loser and started using a Gordo as the ball and Meta Knight's competitive side was triggered... and he turned it into a spontaneous training exercise for me..." he uttered with a sigh.
"Yeah, stuff like that makes me question why you hang out with those two so much." Rocky gave a blunt response.
"Oh, because they're actually really nice once you get to know them!"
The stone paused his walking for a moment to look back at him. "The so-called king who once took all the food for himself and causes more problems than he solves and the battle-crazy nutjob who'd probably cause a full-scale war that could destroy the planet just to satisfy his battle lust? Gimme a break..."
"That's not entirely true! Both of them have gotten better over the years! Like the last time Dedede took anyone's food was when he was possessed by the Jamba Heart! Plus, Meta Knight himself told me that he actually hates war!"
"Ok, if that's the case, then why did he try to take over Dreamland?"
"Oh, because he wanted to force others to fight since I was the only one who protected Dreamland at the time."
"...that's a war."
"NO IT ISN'T! WHY WOULD HE DO SOMETHING HE HATES?!"
"Battle lust? The guy loves to fight people."
"That's completely different from a war!"
"Uh-huh." Rocky continued climbing.
Kirby gave a pout once he realized that his friend wasn't paying attention to him. It frustrated him how stubborn that rock was at times with changing his mind or learning about certain things. He decided to change the subject in response to that.
"Oh, by the way! The other day, I tried breaking the previous record for my Warp Star marathon!"
"Warp Star marathon? What's that?"
"It's a marathon where I race around the entirety of Popstar three times! Think of it like a race with 3 laps."
"I guess I can see why that would be fun for you. I'm not too big on going fast myself. So, did you beat the record?"
"By one second!"
"WAIT, YOU DID IT BY ONE SEC-?!"
Just as Rocky shouted that, he seemed to lose his grip on the earth beneath him, causing him to fall from the mountain. Out of instinct, he transformed into a stone statue. Still holding the Fighter Ability, Kirby jumped down beyond where Rocky was falling and kicked him onto a nearby ledge. There was a moment of silence until the stone transformed back.
"Hm? What happened?"
"Oh, you managed to land on the ledge here. Thankfully, we're not too far from where we left off, so we can easily regain the progress we lost." Kirby pointed up towards their previous spot, not too far away.
"I see. Well, let's keep going then." His friend then continued to trek up the mountain. Kirby gave a slightly relieved sigh. He knew that Rocky wouldn't be able to feel the kick, but it was still a worry to him considering the circumstances of this situation.
It was almost an hour since Rocky almost ended up on the ground again and the duo were making a decent amount of progress. Soon, Kirby could feel a wind begin to blow. Part of him was hoping that meant they were almost at the top. The two friends agreed to refrain from any more exciting stories but kept up with smaller conversations to fight off the looming silence.
"So, Rocky, you mentioned that this was a family tradition. How many attempts did it take for your family?" he hopped up a few more paces to better keep up with his friend, as he was beginning to lag a bit behind.
"The earliest family member I can remember doing this was my great-great-granddad, who took about 110 or so tries to do this."
"Huh, so this is a family tradition that goes back that far? That's really interesting!"
"Yup. Then there seems to be a gap in the records until around my grandparents' time. Grandad claims that he did it in a single attempt, but we think he's lying. Grandma took about 50 tries, if I remember correctly. My father took 27 tries; my mother also took 27. They were childhood friends and decided to climb together."
"Aw, that's sweet! And what about the others?"
"My eldest brother took 28, just one more than our parents. Then my other brother took 26, and finally, my sister impressed all of us with only 18 tries. I want to try and surpass that if I can."
"Well, I'm sure you can, I can almost see the top from-woah!"
Suddenly, Kirby felt a powerful gust of wind that almost knocked him off the mountain. He managed to grab onto one of the rocks before he could be blown off. That was when he noticed that Rocky was struggling to stay in place. Thinking quickly, Kirby inhaled deeply, capturing all of the wind. He then swallowed everything he inhaled, resulting in him copying the Tornado Ability in the process.
"Kirby! Didn't I tell you not to help me?!" Rocky shouted.
The puff then gave a yawn in response. "Oh, I'm sorry! I just had to let out a yawn and I must've accidently inhaled... heh heh..." he uttered with a timid laugh.
The rock seemed to give a shrug in response. "So, uh... what about you, Kirby? ...wait, that was a bad question..."
"Oh, no it's fine! All my friends are like my family, you know?" the puff replied with a bright smile.
"Ah, that makes sense. You know that family doesn't have to be biological to be real family, right?"
"Yeah, it doesn't." Kirby gave a small smile. There was a brief pause in their discussion. "Though...I'd be lying if I said I didn't wonder what my parents were like..." there was a slight sense of longing in his tone that told Rocky to change the subject immediately.
"So, uh, have you been to Kawasaki's recently? I heard he's come up with a new dessert menu recently."
"Oh, of course I have! I was the taste tester! It's for some kind of flower and garden themed event and…"
Rocky continued to listen, internally happy that he avoided a pitfall like that.
As they advanced further up the mountain, the winds gave way to rainfall. Thankfully, Kirby had brought the Ability Item for Parasol with him just in case it rained on his walk earlier.
"This rain might not bother you too much, Rocky, but I rather not deal with it." He said with a slight sigh.
"Nah, it's not a problem to me."
That was when Kirby decided to resume his small talk with his friend.
"So, Rocky there's something that's been on my mind for a bit. When you fall, you instantly transform into a stone right?"
"Yup, it's pure instinct. Don't even need to think about it, which suits me just fine. I know that I'm practically indestructible. "
"Ok, that I understand. What I don't understand is why don't you just try sticking your back to the mountain?"
His friend looked back at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you told me that your feet stick to any earthy substance. If that's true, why don't you just try sticking your feet back to the mountain?"
Rocky paused for a moment to register what his friend just said. "Hold on, let me try it."
Rocky did a hop upwards before quickly placing his back on the mountain before he could fall any further. "Huh, that actually worked. Well, that would've saved me a ton of time had I known that. Hey, Kirby, do you think that counts as you helping me?"
"Um… not really?"
"Good enough for me. Let's keep it up, shouldn't take too long-…" Rocky was caught off guard by a raindrop hitting his head. "...oh no."
The rain began to pour down even harder than before, to the point where the two could barely see anything other than the relentless torrential downpour.
"Kirby, where are you!?" The stone shouted.
"I'm right below you! Keep going, Rocky, you're almost done! Don't let a bit of rain stop you!"
Kirby's words gave Rocky all the motivation he needed to keep going. Unbeknownst to Rocky though, Kirby had switched back to using the Tornado Ability and began to draw the rain towards his position by using the wind. While he wasn't able to completely stop the rain from hitting Rocky, he was able to make things easier for his friend.
Meanwhile, Rocky was pushing himself further and further to scale the mountain. Slowly, he continued his climb, trying his best to ignore the rain and stay focused on his prime objective: getting to the top of this mountain.
"Just a bit more… a bit more… a bit more…" He kept repeating that phrase to himself, using it to stay on task and focused.
Suddenly, his left foot slipped, but before he could plummet, he focused all of his energy to his right foot, which was still on the mountain.
"Just one more push… just one more… come on, foot! Don't fail me now!"
After regaining his balance Rocky continued his climb until, with one last push, he finally reached the top.
"I-I did it. I finally did it. ALRIGHT!" Rocky shouted with all the energy he had left.
As if responding to his victory, the rain finally stopped, and the Sun's warmth began to shine on the rough rock. It didn't take long for Kirby to reach the top, as he decided to forgo the climbing and used his tornado spin to get up quickly.
"Congratulations, Rocky! I knew you could do it!" the puff exclaimed upon landing at the summit.
"It wasn't easy, but I'm glad I'm finally done! I'm done with rock climbing for a while." He gave a relieved sigh before continuing. "Anyway, I should be thanking you Kirby."
"Uh… thanking me for what, exactly?" Kirby replied nervously, afraid that his friend knew what he was up to this whole time.
"For keeping me company. I think a good friend's encouragement was what I needed." Rocky replied, looking clearly happy.
"Oh, of course! It wasn't a problem! Though, next time we hang out, can it not involve mountains? I think I've had my fill of climbing and stuff for a whole month…"
"Yeah, I have to agree with you there. I'm getting kinda sick of them, too. I mean, it doesn't help that I live on one."
There was a moment of silence as the duo took in the view around them, knowing very well this will more than likely be the last time they get to see such a thing for a while. It was a beautiful view, one where you could see almost all of Dreamland from the top of it. Kirby rarely traveled to the top of these mountains ever since the incident with the Star Rod, and even then, he couldn't take the time to enjoy it like now.
That was when he realized something.
"So, Rocky… how do we get down from here?" Kirby questioned, looking down from the tall mountain.
"Oh, that's easy!" Rocky then suddenly jumped off the summit of the mountain and transformed into a stone block, plummeting towards the ground at an incredible speed.
Without saying a single word and responding only with a blank expression, Kirby swallowed a rock to copy the Stone Ability and plummeted after him.
This chapter... was completed a lot faster than I thought it would be.
Omake (Bonus):
A (slightly edited) conversation between me and my beta reader when we first started working on this chapter.
BR: Ok, we're going to be doing Rocky next. What notes do you have for Rocky other than he's male and a rock?
Me: He's male and a [freaking] rock.