Chapter 15 – An Ally From Our World

Royal Playground - Dedede Resort

"WAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

*THUD*

"Ow. My head. Why are black holes so rough when spitting you out?" I ask.

"They normally don't, Am." Ringo said. "Usually when you get sucked in one, you never come back out. We just keep getting lucky."

"Well, well…I didn't know you knew so much about black holes, Ringo. Not your first time in one?" Marx asked.

"Unfortunately, it's not."

"Us three happen to know someone who can travel through dimensions. And he's rather a pain to deal with." Arle said.

"Us three?" Adeleine asked.

"Raffina's never met him, but she was with us during that time." I said.

"Wait, was it that the time we ended up in Ringo's world and met her for the first time?" Raffina asked.

"Yeah, it was. I'm surprised you remembered that, Raffina." Ringo said.

"Hey, my involvement may have been minor, but I still helped. I did tell you who Amitie was."

"Yeah, true. That did help a lot. Thanks, Raffina."

"No problem."

After we all recovered from being regurgitated by a black hole, we walked around a bit until we found a gate with a sign on it. I went up and read the sign out loud. Which read:

"Welcome to Dedede Resort. Owned by the great and powerful King Dedede. Have some fun and play some minigames. Although you'll never beat the king's high scores."

"Hmph. Someone sounds cocky." Raffina said.

"So right through here is Dedede Resort?" Arle asked.

"Yeah. And the whole minigame system is rigged. There's this super special prize if you do beat the high score, but Dedede made up these ridiculous scores that no one could beat. Just so he could scam people of their money." Adeleine explained.

"He keeps denying that it's rigged, but most of us already figured it out." Ribbon added.

"Most of us?" I asked.

"Some people still believe they can beat the ridiculously high scores. But just come here for fun." Bandana-Dee wrote on his board.

"I see."

*NEW HIGH SCORE!* *NEW HIGH SCORE!* *NEW HIGH SCORE!*

Just then, we heard some kind of alarm that repeated that phase for a couple of seconds. The alarm was so loud that I kinda jumped a bit.

"Wait, what?! Someone other than Dedede got a high score?!" Ribbon asked.

"Great. It's probably that guy again." Marx said, sounding kinda grumpy.

"That guy? Who is that guy?" Ringo asked.

"Not too long ago, this weirdo boy showed up out of nowhere and started winning all the games. I tried beating him earlier, but he canned me every time."

"Wait, you were here earlier? Did you fly all the way here?" I asked.

"No that's too far. I just used the boat back on Orange Ocean."

"THERE WAS A BOAT?!" Adeleine shouted.

"AND YOU HAD US GO THROUGH THAT BLACKHOLE FOR NOTHING?!" Raffina shouted.

"Hey, hey, hey. It wasn't for nothing. I had fun…at least." Marx chuckled.

Adeleine and Raffina just grumbled underneath their breaths.

They must really not like Marx now…


As we entered the gate to Dedede Resort, Arle, Ringo, Raffina, and I looked around the place to come to realize that it really looks like a decent resort. Granted, I've been to one myself. But Raffina's told me and Lidelle a bunch of stories about the times she's gone with her family. She even showed us pictures of them. Yeah, it made me jealous a bit, but luckily Raffina didn't brag about it to anyone…well besides Klug.

"So, Marx. This weirdo boy…you know what he looks like?" Arle asked.

"Well…can't really describe him, but I'll know when I see him." Marx said.

And after a few more steps…

"Ha! There he is!"

We looked at the person Marx was talking about. Us four other-worlders were really shocked to see who this person was…

…Especially Ringo.

"M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-MAGURO?!" She stuttered.

"Huh? Oh! Hey, Ringo! Didn't expect to see you here! And even Arle, Amitie, and Raffina are here!"

"Wait, what? You girls know this weirdo?" Marx asked.

"He's not a weirdo! This is Maguro. He's my childhood friend and we go to school together."

"So, who are your new friends, Ringo? They look kinda cool."

"Well, for starters…this is Kirby. He came to our world not too long ago and when we brought him back, we heard that his world is in trouble. So we're lending a hand." I explained.

"I see. Well …nice to meet you, Kirby."

"Hiiiii!" Kirby said.

"He's actually kinda cute."

"I know, right? So adorable." Ringo said.

"It's nice to meet you, Maguro." Adeleine said. "My name's Adeleine. One of Kirby's friends. This fairy girl next to me is Ribbon."

"H-Hi." Ribbon said shyly. She had a blank stare on her face while saying it. Maybe she noticed Maguro's secret already.

"Anyway, these two are Bandana-Dee and Gooey. They don't talk much…or like, at all. But we found a way to understand them."

Bandana-Dee and Gooey simply just waved.

"And then this thing right here is Marx." She said in a distained tone.

"This thing?! I'm a person too, you know!" Marx sounded insulted.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

"Well then nice to meet you all, then." Maguro said.

"Maguro, what are you doing here? How did you get all the way to a different universe?" Ringo asked.

"Well, to be honest, Ringo…I have no idea."

"Huh?"

"I was in the park practicing my kendama when all of a sudden this red beam of light came out of nowhere. It was so bright, I couldn't see anything. And then next thing I knew, I was here."

"Just like that?" Raffina asked.

"Yep. Poof. Just like that."

"That's…pretty strange." Arle said. "You didn't question it or anything?"

"Well, at first I was freaking out, but then I found this sweet place. Soon I forgot I was even here…until I heard Ringo's voice."

"Yep. That sounds a lot like you, Maguro." Ringo said.

"Wait a sec…a red beam of light? Hey, Maguro. While you were here, did you happen to see something called a Puyo Soul?" I asked.

"A Puyo Soul? Nope. Sorry, Amitie. Never heard of it."

"Fiddlesticks."

"What's a Puyo Soul, anyway?"

"Well…it's actually what creates and controls puyos."

"Whoa! Seriously?! That sounds pretty cool!"

"Yeah, but they've proven to be quite dangerous." Raffina said.

"We found out that they have the power to possess people. We already have one, and we're trying to find the others before they possess more people and eventually destroy Dream Land." Arle explained

"I see. That sounds really bad."

"We've got a lead that King Dedede may have them at his castle. So that's where we're going." Adeleine said.

"Hm. Well, I don't really know who this King Dedede is, but I did see this big penguin guy not too long ago."

"Big penguin guy? That's Dedede!" Ribbon said.

"He was here?!" Adeleine asked.

"Yep. Sure was. He looked kinda mad when I beat one of his high scores on these games. He had like a red hue around him and glowing red eyes. I didn't challenge him again after I saw that."

"Red hue and red eyes?" Adeleine asked. "Guys, it sounds like Dedede got himself possessed by the Puyo Soul."

"Hmph. Serves him right for stealing them." Raffina said.

"Yeah, but now we have to fight him in order to get him back."

"And whenever Dedede's possessed by something, it's really hard to beat him." Ribbon added.

"Wait, he's been possessed before?" Ringo asked.

"Yeah. Including right now, he's been possessed 7 times." Bandana-Dee wrote.

"S-Seven times?! Geez, and I thought I had it worse." Arle said.

"You were possessed, Arle?" Ribbon asked.

"Yeah, but only once. It was by that guy we told you about. The one who can travel through dimensions."

"Oh, wow."

"Anyway, Maguro, did you see where Dedede went?" Ringo asked.

"Yeah, actually. He went that way towards that castle over there." Maguro said, pointing to said castle with his kendama.

"Yep. That's Castle Dedede!" Adeleine cheered.

"Poyo!" Kirby also cheered.

"We're close to getting the second Puyo Soul!" Arle cheered.

"Wanna come along with us, Maguro? We could really use the help." I asked.

"Sure, why not? I'm kinda bored with these games, anyway."

"Hmph. You're only bored cause you cheated." Marx said.

*BONK*

"Ow!"

"Just ignore him. He's a bit of a pain." Adeleine said after hitting Marx with her paintbrush.

"Fair enough." Maguro said with a shrug.

"Alrighty, then! Let's go get that Puyo Soul!" I cheered.

"Yeah!"

"Poyo!"

Once everyone agreed, we ran towards the direction of the castle. To finally defeat King Dedede and take back the Puyo Soul.

But…for some strange reason, my hat started twitching like crazy. It only lasted a few seconds, so I figured it was nothing.

But…still…

I'm starting to not trust my Red Puyo Hat anymore…

A/N: Another new party member! You know I said I was going to add three more characters from the Puyo world to the group? Well, Maguro's one of them. Not telling who the other two are. It'll spoil the story.

Also, I've decided to change the rating from K+ to T. The stuff that's coming up, especially next chapter, is too much for its current rating.

That's all I got to say. Feel free to review, favorite, and/or follow the story. The king…he's here. And he's looking for a fight. Next chapter!

Thanks for reading.