The next chapter is here!
Enjoy! ;)
Chapter 6: Undersea Adventure
Stage 3-3: Currents, Currents Everywhere
[BGM: Reef Area – Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
Everyone was now currently inside of a cave that would lead them to the bottom of the ocean. "There you go." Eleven said after he casted Fullheal on Dedede, who suffered a beating from Arusu due to what happened previously. "I'm really sorry you had to go through this…"
"Oh, it's fine." Dedede dismissed. "Now I know how extremely angry he can get just from insulting his hair, and I'm definitely never doing that again."
"Well, good on you."
"Sooo… You feeling better now, Arusu?" Eight cautiously asked him.
Arusu sighed. "Yes, better." he then looked over at Dedede. "And I'll just get this out of the way… I'm sorry that I had to beat you up."
Dedede blinked in surprise. "Wait, what? You're easily apologizing to me after what you did?"
Arusu sighed in remorse. "I'm not…exactly in control of my actions when I get so angry, so I really didn't mean to beat you up like that. But once I go ballistic when anybody pushes my buttons… there's no stopping myself until I see something or somebody where I can let out my frustrations on without thinking straight."
"Oh… Well, it's okay, buddy. We all have those moments."
A small smile then formed on Arusu's face. "Yeah, you're right."
"At least Su-Su is calm again." Kirby chimed in.
Dedede shot a glare at Kirby. "You better not do that to me ever again…"
"Don't worry, I won't. Because even I will admit that was very extreme, even if it was just meant to be a playful antic from me."
"I guess everything is solved." Meta Knight said. "Now let's keep going down this cave."
Everyone else nodded in response and walked off as they came upon a hole leading to a pool of water below, and so Eleven, Arusu and Solo put on their goggles (Eight didn't have to because he still had the Water Ability on) before they all dove down and swam ahead… where they would go down a level through a waterfall.
"Wah!" Bandana Waddle Dee yelped in surprise while the waterfall dragged them all down until they stopped into another pool of water.
"That's one way to go down deeper into a cave…" Solo remarked as they proceeded to go down more levels via waterfalls, and then they would soon find a door in the last pool as they went in.
[BGM: Underwater Area – Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
They found themselves in a deep underwater chasm as the way forward was blocked by a wall, but pressing a blue switch on the floor made it open up and they all swam in… only to be suddenly pushed ahead by a current. "Whoa! What's with this current?!" Eight exclaimed.
"Gordos incoming!" Kirby warned as they swerved away from the Gordos the best they could while the current was pushing them nonstop, and then they came across spike-lined walls that moved back and forth along the way as they carefully swam past those.
The current eventually changed course to leading upwards, sweeping them up to the surface in a dry cave area under the ocean. "Wait a second, are we still underwater? How come no water is falling through these holes?" Arusu wondered.
"I have no idea…" Solo shrugged. "Must be something that this world has that we're still not aware of."
"Actually… I wouldn't be surprised if this cave works in a similar manner to Nautica; having an underwater dome around it." Eleven thought as they fought their way through a few enemies while walking along the path… and then they were ambushed by a Moundo.
[BGM: Mid-Boss (Planet Popstar) – Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
"Never seen a rock monster like this one…" Eleven said.
"This is a Moundo." Dedede explained. "He's very slow, so it's very easy to attack him… Just try not to be crushed."
Moundo began slowly walking towards them as he was getting pelted by electric balls and bombs by Arusu and Solo respectively before he jumped up into the air and attempted to crush the duo attacking him, but they easily dodged by jumping back, and then Kirby and Dedede took this opportunity to hit Moundo hard with their hammers, knocking him away and shattering his rocky body a bit.
Moundo got back up and suddenly grew a pair of feet before charging directly at the duo, but they leapt away as Moundo hit the wall and left dazed, then he was immediately hit by Eleven and Bandana Waddle Dee's spear thrusts, then Meta Knight did a Drill Rush to pierce through and shatter more of Moundo's body. Moundo shook it off and, angered, he proceeded to spin around and slide across the ground in order to slam into the group, but then Eight unleashed Geyser to launch Moundo up into the air with a burst of boiling water, causing him to land hard on the ground upside down and thus being unable to flip himself over.
[Resume "Underwater Area" BGM]
Kirby then took advantage of the situation and first discarded the Spear Ability before inhaling Moundo to gain the Stone Ability. "I guess that's one way to defeat a Moundo…" Kirby remarked.
"Well, I simply noticed that he didn't have limbs, so I exploited that by flipping him over." Eight said.
"Very smart thinking on your part." Meta Knight complimented as they walked off where they came across a deep pool of water that Kirby had the idea of using Stone Change to sink in, bypassing a strong upwards current thanks to the heaviness of his stone form and finding an Energy Sphere at the very bottom.
"Score!" Kirby beamed after turning back from his stone transformation and nabbed the Sphere, then he swam back up to reunite with the others as they would go into the water again and head through another door.
The door took them to a vertical channel, with three other intertwined ones to the right as one of them had an Energy Sphere. The group luckily traversed down the right channel after hitting a switch on top and got themselves the second Energy Sphere for this stage, then they swam into the nearby door. From it, the group found themselves in a series of wind-swept tunnels… only that their trip wasn't exactly a breeze (heh, get it?) since they encountered several enemies that they had to jump over. This was easier said than done as they did slam into a few of these enemies along the trip, where at one point, Eight had slammed into a Gordo so hard that it was enough to knock the Water Ability off of him.
"Ugh, these wind currents were annoying…" Arusu muttered once they made it to the end.
"Tell me about it!" Dedede agreed. "Thank Nova it's over, but now we're completely bruised after slamming into all these enemies…"
"Say, I grabbed this box on the way." Bandana Waddle Dee said, as he was holding a Maxim Tomato box above his head. "Since there's a Maxim Tomato insignia on it, this could provide some Maxim Tomatoes for us to heal our injuries!" he then broke open the box to reveal eight Maxim Tomatoes for each of them, and so they ate them to heal back up.
"Much better!" Kirby smiled. "Let's keep going!" everyone then proceeded ahead, where soon enough, a Super Hot Head popped up in front of them.
"Oh, hello!" Eight exclaimed and immediately took down the Super Hot Head, before touching the Ability Star to become Monster Flame Eight again.
[BGM: Bring on the Super Ability! – Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
"This should compensate for me losing my other Ability!" he smirked as they all walked off, eventually coming across tall walking statues known as Merman Statues who would occasionally open their mouths to reveal a wooden barrel with a glowing star printed on it inside. Seeing this, Eight had the idea to unleash the fiery dragon on their open mouths, destroying the barrels and causing the Merman Statues to crumble into pieces.
The group then just kept walking with Eight in the lead as he destroyed more Merman Statues with the same method, including a few Glunks and Crabies, and even cutting through a large rope to make a platform drop and crush two Puppet Waddle Dees. At the end, the group encountered a Giant Flotzo hiding inside a shipwreck which occasionally pops out, and once he did pop out, he got immediately roasted alive by the fiery dragon.
"Whoa… Fried calamari, anyone?" Kirby asked… but just as he said that, the Giant Flotzo melted away and an Another Dimension rift revealed itself. "…Never mind." Kirby sweatdropped, and then they all jumped into the rift.
[BGM: Another Dimension – Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
This stretch featured a long series of floating water formations to the right, meaning that the purple wall was coming from the left. The group wasted no time in swimming through these water formations as they also contained Gordos and Barracus patrolling within, and a few blockades of Star, Heave-Ho and Cracked Blocks stood in the group's way of going into the next water formation.
After they managed to make it to the end, they walked a couple feet ahead where they would encounter another Fire Sphere Doomer, but the arena it was in had two walls of water on both sides.
[BGM: Sphere Doomer – Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
Despite that, the Sphere Doomer was somehow still able to encase itself in flames while inside the wall of water and then it charged at the group, only to get blown back by Solo throwing a Compressed Kaboom Bomb as everyone then proceeded to wail on the downed Sphere Doomer.
The Sphere Doomer snapped out of it and teleported away from them before swooping down at them as they dodged, only to suddenly turn around and swoop down again, but Eleven was ready and countered it with Counter Wait as Bandana Waddle Dee jumped above it and did a Moon Drop to send it to the ground, then Eight rushed in and delivered a critical hit with his sword.
The Sphere Doomer recovered and soared from one side to the other while spitting out red orbs as Kirby quickly sucked them up, but before he could spit them out at the Sphere Doomer, he saw it going into the water to do its flaming charge again… only for Arusu to approach the water and do a Spark Attack near it, electrocuting the Sphere Doomer and cancelling out its attack as it screeched in pain, thus giving Kirby the chance to spit out the Star Bullet at it and finish it off.
[BGM: Silence of Another Sky – Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
"You know, I WOULD question how that Sphere Doomer was able to encase itself in flames while in the water… but since using fire underwater is already possible in the Mushroom Kingdom, I guess that would be redundant." Arusu remarked as he took the two Energy Spheres the beast dropped.
"Sometimes, my world does follow Mar-Mar's world's logics." Kirby giggled. "Like breathing in space and walking on clouds, for instance."
"…I kind of imagined that latter one would apply here as well." Solo chuckled, and then they all left the realm via rift.
[BGM End]
Now back in the regular dimension, the group walked past the shipwreck from below and went down into another deep pool of water. Eventually, after swimming down deeper enough, they would press a blue switch to uncover an entrance leading to an old underwater ruin.
"Looks like we'll be exploring another ruin, only that this time it's an underwater one." Meta Knight said.
"Well, we did find one of the ship's wings in a ruin, so it's no surprise that we might find the other wing in another ruin." Dedede stated.
"Hmm, that is a good point there." Meta Knight replied, and they all swam into the ruins.
Stage 3-4: Underwater Perils
[BGM: Undersea Walk – Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
"Uh…what's with the cheery music?" Bandana Waddle Dee wondered.
"What cheery music?" Eleven raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, I guess these guys still aren't aware of this part of the fourth wall yet…" Kirby thought before quickly interjecting, "Never mind that, you guys. It's nothing important."
"Well… if you say so." Eight shrugged as they swam through the hall, where they encountered several rotating spiky bars along the way. "Oh, boy…"
"I am not liking the sight of this…" Dedede trailed off, and then they carefully maneuvered around the spiky bars until at one point, Kirby found a Parasol Waddle Dee walking around in a small air pocket as he decided to suck it up to gain the Parasol Ability again.
Then, as they kept swimming along the halls, Meta Knight spotted a Round-trip door in another small air pocket off the main path and went in to get an Energy Sphere in there before coming back out to join the others. Later, they would go into a door after swimming past all the spiky bars without any harm, taking them to another portion of the ruins that featured blue switches that would open up walls, and also featured a couple of dry rooms as one of them had a Water Galbo in which Eight slashed through it to take it out, then he put on the Water crown to gain the Water Ability again.
"This is more like it!" he said and the group kept swimming through the watery passages, but then Dedede saw a Round-trip door that led him to a side-chamber with several Barracus guarding an Energy Sphere as he easily dealt with the enemies before he went to claim his prize.
Soon, they would exit this room of the ruins and into another one that featured more tunnel-like halls. "I just hope we won't encounter any more spiky hazards from here on out…" Dedede hoped, but unfortunately…
"Uh, I would say otherwise…" Solo trailed off once they were facing their next obstacle: huge spiky ammonite fossil shells spinning along the halls.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding…" Dedede muttered as they proceeded to carefully swim past the shells and got to a point where they were being chased by a larger one, forcing them to keep apace ahead to avoid getting hit. On the bright side, after the group found a nook to hide, the shell glided past them and ended up destroying a blockade of Metal Blocks at the end of the path and uncovering an Energy Sphere, which the group took it before going up the current leading to dry land and heading through another door.
[BGM: Cave Expedition (BETA ver.) – Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
In the next area, the group made their way down until they came across a black spherical object. "Oh, what's this thing?" Kirby wondered as he picked it up and started walking ahead with it… until it suddenly grew a bit. "Huh?!"
"Did it just…increase in size?" Bandana Waddle Dee asked.
Arusu then took notice of the skull insignia on the object, and that led him to come with an unnerving conclusion, "Oh… That thing is clearly a bomb."
This caused everyone else to pale up. "B-B-But… Wh-why do we need a bomb for?!" Bandana Waddle Dee questioned.
"Perhaps we need it to blow up something." Meta Knight guessed, and then the Balloon Bomb got even bigger. "…But you better hurry, Kirby. That bomb will just continue to grow until it blows up, and who knows how dangerous the explosion will be?"
Kirby gulped. "You're right…" and so he hurried down with the Balloon Bomb while the others followed behind, and the moment it started flashing red, Kirby began to grow frantic but made sure not to drop the bomb. Then, once he saw a barricade of Crystalline Blocks, Kirby quickly threw the now-gigantic Balloon Bomb as he and the others took cover, and with a loud kaboom, the bomb exploded into fireworks, destroying the blocks and revealing an Energy Sphere.
"That was quite the explosion…" Eleven said with a grimace, before Kirby floated over to the Energy Sphere to claim it.
"Well, at least we took cover." Solo replied, and then the group went down the ladder to go into another pool of water, finding a door in it as they went in.
[Resume "Undersea Walk" BGM]
"Okay, so we had to deal with lots of spiky obstacles around these ruins." Dedede recalled. "What could possibly be worse than that?" and the moment they all swam out of a narrow chamber in the ruins… they were met with dozens of Barbars, with some of them being quite large.
"Aaaaand this area is filled with Barbars…" Eight trailed off.
Dedede paled up. "Oh HELL no! That's the absolute WORST thing this place could offer!"
"Alright, take it easy. Just swim around and away from them very carefully…" Meta Knight advised.
With that, they once again carefully swam past the Barbars' greedy maws while also getting the last Energy Sphere of this stage on a ceiling cache, and soon finally made it to complete dry land.
[BGM End]
Everyone sighed in relief. "We made it…" Dedede sighed. "I don't ever want to see their faces again…"
"Same, Great King…" Bandana Waddle Dee added.
"Hey, if it makes you all clear your minds off of them… I managed to snag some wrapped candies before the Barbars could eat them." Kirby interfered as he held eight wrapped candies on his stubby hands. "Want some?"
"That would be nice." Eleven said and they took each a wrapped candy, unwrapping the wrapper to reveal a pink-colored spherical candy before popping it into their mouths. "Mmm! This has a very sweet flavor!" Eleven exclaimed.
"Oooh! It's tutti frutti flavored!" Kirby's eyes sparkled.
"Tutti…frutti?"
"It's a type of flavor consisting of a combination of many different fruits, mainly cherry, watermelon, raisins, pineapple, and sometimes nuts."
"All these fruits combined to make this flavor? Oh, wow…"
"We're just learning new things almost every day, huh?" Solo chuckled, leading his comrades to chuckle too in response as the group proceeded onwards.
Stage 3-5: Puffin' up
The group soon arrived into an old hallway, having a floor made out of fossilized coral while the foreground had stone clamshells with pearls that worked as spotlights.
"Whoa, is that an old underwater city over there?" Eight piped up during their walk while pointing to the background as the others followed, making them all breathe in awe at the sight: there was indeed a large underwater city with buildings shaped like various shells and sporting windows that appeared to be luminescent, giving off a pretty glow in the waters.
"Amazing…" Eleven breathed. "It's almost like the underwater city of Nautica from my world!"
"And for an old city, it sure looks pretty bright and still in good condition instead of drab and decayed…" Dedede observed.
"It could be just recently abandoned, then." Arusu pointed out. "Still, I've never seen anything like it…"
It was then that Meta Knight began to feel an unpleasant presence. "Mmph…"
[BGM: Omen of Battle – Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
Everyone glanced at him. "Something wrong, Meta?" Kirby asked.
"I can sense something nearby, and it's coming from right over there." Meta Knight pointed to just up ahead.
"Do you think it might be the guardian of the left wing part?" Eight guessed.
"I'm not sure… but it IS highly possible. We better stay alert."
After a nod, everyone walked ahead and only stopped once they came upon a small mound of pink corals in the floor.
[BGM End]
And just then, before the group knew it, a pair of eyes suddenly popped up from the mound as it shook and sunk into the ground. The ceiling rumbled as dust fell from it, and then the 'mound' burst out of the floor, revealing it to be a purple and white fat pufferfish.
Fatty Puffer.
"So the guardian is…a fat pufferfish?" Solo raised an eyebrow.
"Don't question it too much." Dedede said, readying his hammer. "Let's just get this done with."
[BGM: White-Hot! Boss Battle – Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
Fatty Puffer started hopping towards the group before puffing up into a ball and rolling at them, but they jumped out of the way as Fatty Puffer slammed into a wall and got dazed, and while the others proceeded to attack the pufferfish, Eleven had taken notice of Fatty Puffer's puffed up state and thought:
"Hmm, maybe this guy could be popped up like a balloon…" he then glanced over at Bandana Waddle Dee and said to him, "Hey Bandee, once we get the chance, let's try poking our spears hard enough into this guy's body while he's puffed up!"
"Oh, you mean we can try to pop him up like a balloon? Sounds like a plan!" Bandana Waddle Dee replied.
Fatty Puffer soon recovered and leapt up high into the air in order to body slam everyone, but they again jumped out of the way as Kirby, Dedede and Meta Knight swung their weapons at him repeatedly, then Fatty Puffer retaliated by spitting out various fish and Blippers at them as Solo quickly unleashed a Dual Kaboom Bomb, the first explosion taking out all the fishes while the second one damaged Fatty Puffer as he would try to retaliate by spitting out blobs of water at the Hero, but he blocked them with his shield as Eight came in and squirted water at Fatty Puffer with Waterspout.
Seeing this, an idea sparked into Arusu's mind and he began charging power while calling out to Eight, "Eight, could you drench him in water for me?"
"Sure!" Eight nodded and did it so by casting Tidal Wave, and then Arusu would immediately fire a Spark Wave at the drenched Fatty Puffer, electrocuting him severely as he howled in pain and fell to the floor.
"Heh, gotcha!" Arusu grinned, but then Fatty Puffer got back up and roared… before he suddenly puffed up to an impressive size. "Whooa…" Arusu looked up appallingly at him as he would jump back to start rolling at the group again.
"Watch out!" Bandana Waddle Dee shouted and the group quickly stepped out of the way from the rolling Fatty Puffer as he would slam into the wall again, but instead of becoming dazed like last time, he instantly recovered and began to pull his head back… before shooting out a huge continuous stream of water out of his mouth that caught Kirby, Arusu and Solo into it as they were washed away onto the wall, immediately getting their Copy Abilities knocked right out of them.
As for the rest, they were able to avoid the blast by staying in the air, with Dedede, Meta Knight and Bandana Waddle Dee using their flying methods, Eleven doing a Spear Copter, and Eight doing a Fountain Hover. They all landed back on the ground after the stream stopped, and then Fatty Puffer next stomped the ground repeatedly as stalactites suddenly appeared on the ceiling and fell.
Luckily, none of the stalactites hit the group as Fatty Puffer then puffed himself up again to get ready to roll at the group again… but then Eight got an idea and lifted up a fallen stalactite by conjuring up a water spout below it before launching it right into Fatty Puffer's mouth, which actually corked it like a champagne cork as the pufferfish's eyes widened in shock and was trying to spit the stalactite out, but it wouldn't come off and thus he was stuck in his puffed up state.
With a smirk, Eleven saw the perfect opportunity to execute the plan. "Now, Bandee! With me!" he called out.
"Right on!" Bandana Waddle Dee nodded and with that, they both ran over to Fatty Puffer and thrusted their spears into his body as hard as they could… and he 'popped' up, flying around everywhere in the room before slamming on the ground in defeat, and released the left wing Lor part.
[BGM End]
"And 'pop!' goes the pufferfish!" Eleven exclaimed and high-fived Bandana Waddle Dee before he went to claim the ship part.
Everyone else was left in stunned silence by what just happened, until Meta Knight broke it, "Well… that works, I guess." he shrugged. "Let's head back."
[BGM: Onion Ocean – Kirby's Return to Dream land]
After a quick cut, everyone had left the ruins and back out in the open of Onion Ocean, where the Loyal Bodyguards would find a few bushes as they proceeded to get out of their swim trunks and into their clothes once again.
"Ah, I sure missed wearing this!" Eight smiled as he was tightening his bandana.
"It's nice that we're finally back wearing our normal attires, but I will admit; it was fun dressing up in swimwear for this area." Arusu admitted.
"Agreed." Solo nodded.
"Alright, let's head back to the crash site and return the other wing!" Eleven said and everyone nodded, as Kirby called out his Warp Star that would take them all out of Onion Ocean and back to Dream Land's countryside.
[BGM: Lor Part Restored! – Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
There, after tossing the left wing part at the Lor, everyone watched the part glowing before becoming a light that spiraled and swirled up and then down towards the Lor, and attached itself to the side that was lacking a wing. The left wing then shimmered towards the camera in all its glory, and the ship floated back down to its spot.
[BGM: Magolor, the Distant Traveler – Kirby's Return to Dream Land]
"Welcome back, everybody! With the left wing back in place, the wings are finally complete!" Magolor exclaimed. "It's finally looking like a real Starcutter again! If you can find those last two parts, the Lor will be flying again in no time. Keep at it, everybody. I believe in you!"
"You can count on us, Magolor!" Eleven replied. "And how are your repairs going, by the way?"
"Well, I've made quite a bit of progress repairing the Lor's interior. You see, the Lor Starcutter is an extremely high-tech vehicle. It's loaded with all of the latest technology from my home world. As I probably said to you all before, this baby can cut through dimensions! And it can also fight…if necessary."
"Fight?" Meta Knight raised an eyebrow. "Just like my own battleship?" he thought.
"Why, yes. In fact, it can do almost anything, if the heart of the pilot is true. Once the repairs are complete, I'd love to take you on a trip."
"Sweet! We're all really looking forward to meeting your home planet!" Kirby chirped.
"Heh heh, I know. I've traveled a lot in my time, but your planet really is something else, Kirby. And I'm amazed at how kind everyone is! But none more so than you all. I just can't thank you enough for all of your help, everybody."
Everyone smiled. "I think you already thanked us a lot, but we still appreciate it nonetheless." Solo said.
"Okay, now where's the next part located?" Arusu asked.
"Let's see…" Magolor went over to his console. "The only parts remaining are the emblem and the mast… Maybe you should go for the emblem next." he zooms in on the emblem's location: in a snowy and icy landscape. "It appears that it has landed in White Wafers, a cold region."
And nigh immediately, Eight paled up in horror upon hearing this. "C-COLD?!"
"Oh, no…" Kirby, Eleven, Arusu and Solo all thought the same thing with troubled looks as they knew fully well about Eight's fear of the cold… whereas Magolor and the rest of the Kirby cast just looked at them in confusion.
"Um, I have no idea what was that sudden outburst about… but I just know you can find the lost part with no problems!" Magolor said. "Best of luck to you, everybody!"
[BGM End]
Even after they left Magolor's ship, Eight still had the look of not looking forward to what's coming up next at all. "Why did it have to be a cold region…?" he murmured quietly with a whimper, but loud enough for everyone to hear as the quartet who knew about his fear couldn't help but glance at him in pity, while the rest just looked even more confused.
"Uh… Is there something wrong with Eight?" Bandana Waddle Dee asked.
"Yeah." Dedede added. "Care to explain what's gotten into him just by hearing the mention of a cold region?"
"Well…" Eleven trailed off. "…We'll tell you on our way there."
To be continued…
I always found amusing how perhaps one of the hardest stages in the game that's full of hazards and it's very hard to not get hit has a very cheerful music playing in the background. In fact, I was originally going to name that stage "Group tries to avoid underwater perils while I play unfitting music" instead of what the chapter has, but I decided against it since I didn't want to offend the ones who don't think the music is unfitting.
White Wafers is next... but let's just hope that poor Eight finds an Ice Ability as soon as possible!
