Star's Allies

Chapter 2 - Adverse Apples

Inconvenienced by Marx but now packed with supplies, the three-man group walked out of the castle. Immediately, they are presented with a choice; which area should they go to first?

"Ya' know, we shou'd star' in Whispy's Woods. It's usually the easiest place to se'rch in, due to the low amount of environmental hazards," the king offered as he lugged his sack of food.

"How about you two go to the woods and I'll try and find as many energy spheres as I can? You know, to fix my ship."

Taranza nodded at that.

"Alright then. Dedede and I will go search for those hearts, while you find those… sphere things for your… ship, was it?"

"Yeah, those energy spheres," Magolor mentioned as he nodded along, "In that time, you two can try and find some hearts."

A nod of agreement came from all three, as the group split, going into the forest.

"Low amount of environmental hazards, what a joke! This place sucks!" Taranza shouted, his voice bouncing across the forest. Turns out, the forest was entrapped within thickets and thickets of thorns, leaves, branches, and trees, extending all the way up to the roof of the forest. "Ah. This wasn't like this a few days ago," came Dedede's lacklustre response, as he surveyed the proverbial brick wall in front of them. "This is going to take ages to cut down…"

No sooner than five minutes later, the duo has managed to cut down a single thorn standing in their way in the forest. King Dedede, who by then had already grown impatient with the process, tore down a nearby branch with his weight and lit it on fire. He flung the makeshift torch into the wall of leaves, and the wall disintegrated like it was nothing, only leaving a slightly purple mist behind. Behind the wall, was an expansive clearing, ready to be journeyed into. "Well, that's one way of doing it. You're going to burn down your country's wood supply, King Dedede…"

The duo entered the forest as they began to search for the heart in the forest.

At the same time, Magolor blinked past the wall, and had found his first sphere. "Great, great… now, where's the second one? I know there's ten in here…" As Magolor plopped the item into a portal, he began trying to find another sphere.

Magolor closed his eyes, and slowly turned clockwise, until his senses turned up positive for an energy source somewhere up to the east of the forest. As the magician trudged across the forest's lands, he stumbled upon another sphere, completely by accident, as apparently there were actually two spheres as Magolor double-checked his 'radar'. "Ooh, shiny! Lucky me!" Magolor jumped in joy.

Magolor's lucky streak of finding spheres soon ended at one missing sphere. No matter how far he extended his sense, he couldn't find the last energy sphere anywhere. "I suppose I'll find the last one later," Magolor mumbled, as he began his trek out of the forest to join Taranza and Dedede.

"At least this is significantly less of a hassle compared to that wall earlier." Taranza and Dedede has progressed in their venture towards the core of the forest. Alas, an inopportune moment caught them both off guard, as a large vine swung their way. The two managed to dodge it (barely) as they went on guard for the next vine. Before the duo could realise what happened next, three more vines extended simultaneously, the four vines closed in on the two, trapping them. Taranza had tried to chip away at the vines using his tightly-wound ball of web. Similarly, as King Dedede didn't have his hammer, he opted for a sharp stone. Both methods ended up in failure.

It wasn't until Magolor dropped by half an hour later to try and help the stuck duo. "This. Vine. Won't. Budge!" Magolor had fired his magic at the vines, to no effect. It seemed like attacks cannot damage this plant. "Ah, I shou'n't 'ave thrown that torch earlier; I cou'd've repurposed it for this!"

Taranza stopped for a moment, thinking of any other items in his person that he could use. Suddenly, an idea came to him, as he started to pull something small out of Dedede's food sack, which he handed to Dedede.

"What... exactly is this?" Dedede said, unamused. "Oh, it's a fermented Miracle Berry; I managed to shrink it down to this size after I found it in your food stash. Should have the same capabilities as the original one."

…

"And you want me to eat this?" Dedede asked, incredulously, as he stared at the miniature berry. "I don't even know what problems this might do to my handsome bod'!"

Taranza rolled his eyes, and tried to convince the king to take the berry.

"Don't worry, you can inhale things, right? So, by theory, if Kirby can use it, you should be able too!" Taranza smiled at the king, just to entice him even more.

Dedede sighed, returning Taranza's smile, albeit slightly sarcastically. Actually, It was more of a smirk rather than a smile.

"If I die here, I'll come back and haunt you." The king swallowed the berry. A shiny and rainbow-ish color took upon his skin. "See? I told you there'll be no consequences to your system!"

"Alright, fine, fine. So, I swallow the whole vine in now?"

"Yep," Taranza replied. With that, the king proceeded to inhale. Unfortunately, he failed to account for the power the Miracle Berry gave him, as well as Magolor, who was still trying to pry the vines open.

Magolor also happened to be right in front of the vine Dedede was facing.

"You guys okay in there? I got another bomb this time, I'm gonna set it off- holy shit!" Magolor, in that instant, panicked. A lot.

Dedede, who inhaled the vines, providing a clear path, also took in Magolor by accident. Taranza, wide-eyed at the event, devolved into laughter as he saw the Dedede go shock-still with his stomach bloating, clearly visible under his coat. Seeing Dedede still in shock, Taranza decided to add to the madness by shouting 'Spit him out! Spit him out!', to which the king panicked, and responded by shooting the Magolor out. However, Dedede forgot that he still has a star in his mouth, and with Magolor on one end of the projectile, the star crashed onto multiple trees, off into the landscape.

Dedede opened a closed his mouth a few times, before settling on chasing Magolor down, mumbling small apologies along the way.

"Oi! Wait for me!" Taranza hollered, as he followed the king.

Taranza and Dedede has rushed to help their fellow friend.

…

"Aaaaaaaaah!"

At that point, Magolor's head was already spinning as he spun and spun on the star, flying at top speeds across the forest. He's had worse headaches, but this one was definitely on the leaderboards of 'worst headache ever'.

The empty black void of the king's mouth did not help, either. Nor did the bomb.

"This is not what I asked fooooooooor!" Magolor screamt, as he and the star tumbled across Whispy Woods. As the energy slowly dissipated after crashing into many, many trees, Magolor tumbled to the ground in a massive clearing. As he struggled to stand up, an apple came flying by him, landing right beside the poor magician. He looked up at the one who threw the giant apple. It was Whispy, who had an angry look on its face. Magolor stared at the tree, and tree stared back at him.

"Oh, you're joking."

Magolor scrambled back a mere meter away from his original position, as he started to fire his shots at the guardian of Whispy Woods.

Taranza and Dedede arrived on the scene to see Magolor, half-panting, as he threw his magic and completely missed his target. It looked like he'd missed a lot of shots. Scratch that; it didn't even look like he'd managed to hit one, judging by the multiple holes near the roots of the tree. The area around him was a complete mess, too, filled with large apples and uneven ground.

Noticing the duo approach the scene, Magolor pointed his finger at them, albeit not that accurately, and shouted, "If you two want to help get to it already, will you?" As he spoke that line, an apple flung right at him, clocking Magolor on his head as the apple rebounded and fell on the ground. Magolor thought that his vision was dizzy; oh no, that was just the beginning. As his head continued to spin, he heard a stifled chuckle come from Taranza.

Not a moment to soon, Taranza erupted into laughter, which Dedede responded with a light punch to Taranza's face. "Not the time," the king spoke, as Taranza's laughter turned to chortles due to the sudden attack. "Fine, fine," the spider exclaimed as he calmed down, setting his projectiles on the ready.

Seeing that his two teammates are actually taking this seriously this time, Magolor took a sigh of relief.

"Finally," Magolor breathed, turning back to the tree, as he threw some magic at Whispy.

Wind flew at the trio, but it wasn't enough to hinder their performances against Whispy. "Just fire until you get tired!" Taranza yelled, as another ball of fast web shot at the tree. A bomb came soon after, as Magolor threw it at its face. Another fire of magic, web and food (Dedede still had no weapon), and the tree suddenly became enraged

In a moment, the tree grew larger.

"What…?" Magolor stopped.

"That's very fair!" Taranza reacted, looking at the blasphemy that was happening in front of his eyes.

Whispy has grown about three times in size, and with that, his projectiles was also enlarged. As the tree began shooting even larger apples and projectiles. "Uh, guys? I don't think this is goin' ta' be good," the king mentioned.

"Well, yeah, no kidding," Taranza pointed out. "That much is obvious… say, didn't you grew larger too back then? Actually, isn't it every day?"

"...are you implyin' I'm fat? Not that I take offense, of co'rse," the king assured.

"This seems to be the trend…" Magolor sighed, as his palms slowly circled around his spell. In a sudden moment, Magolor's spell was cancelled as Whispy started blowing hurricane levels of wind, flinging the trio to the nearby trees, hanging on the branches. Whispy began a second move; spinning rapidly, as if it were a helicopter circling in the sky, and lifted up into the air as the tree moved at a fast speed to the three currently tree-bound attackers. All in all, it really looked like a tornado.

'Well, that's very, very fair,' Taranza thought, as he tried to web himself to the ground. As Taranza lowered to the ground against the extreme wind using his web, He threw a rope of web to Magolor, which allowed him to attach to the ground below. As for Dedede…

"Hey, King!" Taranza shouted over the wind. "What!?"

"Let's use that weight you've got, yeah!?"

"What are you planning? WAIT, NO, DON-" Taranza threw another rope of web to Dedede, and instead of attaching him to the ground,began to swing the king around like some sort of rock. With his best efforts, the makeshift attack gained velocity and speed, as the king started to look like a miniature tornado of his own.

Now, Taranza focused. He couldn't miss, as he only had one shot at the actual throw. With the right timing as the wind faltered for just a second, Taranza released the rope he was swinging 'round and 'round.

The king flew in the air, though slightly delayed by the wind, but still had enough speed to pierce through the mighty wind like a blunt knife. The attack hit home, as King Dedede hit Whispy's mouth, effectively getting his head stuck in the mouth and stopping the creation of wind.

…

A moment of silence came as King Dedede started to flail his feet and trying to push on the tree with his arms in order to escape. Sadly, it did not work, which was good news for Taranza.

"Perfect!" Taranza congratulated himself as he cackled, prompting Magolor to stare at Taranza incredulously. Nonetheless, Magolor took the chance, and fired a bomb to the tree. Actually, it was multiple. Stuffed into a giant bomb.

As Magolor transported the bomb using portals to guarantee his shot, Taranza flung another web, this time much larger compared to the ropes he used earlier, trapping the bomb to the side of Whispy's trunk. As the tree tried to wiggle the object free, the bomb exploded, catching Dedede in the crossfire. The tree opened its mouth slightly, as Dedede was released, and shed a single tear on its left eye.

A black heart came out of the tree's mouth along with the king, which was quickly bombarded by Magolor and Taranza, shattering it.

Meanwhile, as the king reoriented himself as he was released from the Whispy's mouth, the moment he got his clarity back, Dedede immediately tackled both Magolor and Taranza.

"Were you crazy!? I was really sure you've gone ment'l durin' that fight!"

"An' you! You buil' anothe' bomb and threw it on me!"

Dedede was angry. Scratch that; he was furious. He had been used as bait— both figuratively and literally; he'd been put in massive danger! And to top it off, Magolor threw a bomb at him!

Dedede grumbled, as his eyes met Magolor's. "It was Taranza's plan, not mine," the magician simply responded.

The king's eyes turned to Taranza, as the spider turned his back, looking at the trees, whistling all the while. Sighing, Dedede turned back, muttered something along the lines of "...should've known it was Taranza who's dunnit…"

"Well, we're done here. Should we go?" Taranza prompted.

"Yes, yes, just hold on a second…" Magolor replied, closing his eyes.

…

"...alright. Let's go." With that, Magolor floated up and out of the clearing.

" 'right, 'right… Let's head somewhere else, then…" the king crankily mumbled as he gathered some air and followed Magolor.

Ten seconds later, Taranza was left alone in the forest clearing. As he facepalmed, he started walking following the general direction the two were heading.

'I don't think I mentioned that I can't fly that well when I'm exhausted…" the thought crossed over Taranza's head, as he exited the forest. Taranza's magic reserves were abysmal; if he used them, he surely would land him unconscious and that wouldn't so the team any good. So, he chose his second option, the one most readily available to even the most basic of Waddle Dees

Magolor and Dedede waited. And waited. Standing at the edge of the forest, the two couldn't see Taranza, so they opted to pass time by waiting (board games was Dedede's suggestion, however he didn't bring his chest board back in the castle).

As more time passed, the two got bored, and started to do their own things. Magolor was still surveying the nearby area, trying to find his last energy sphere. In that time, Dedede managed to gather a large log, and began shaping it into a new mallet. As Dedede fashioned himself a new hammer, a single question rang through his mind: where was Taranza?

…

"Stupid vines! Get out of my way or I, the great Taranza, will smite you to oblivion! Ahaha, hahaha!" Taranza chuckled as he finished that sentence. The walk turned to jog. Then to a run. And back to walking.

...

Taranza was still walking. "Why is this forest so big…?"

By the time Taranza the thickest part of the woods, the sun wasn't visible anymore. "Oh, great. Even better!" Taranza cried out, as he walked. Again.

When he finally made it out of the forest, it turned to night, and found the small group's 'campsite'.

In truth, this 'campsite' consisted of leaves, sticks, and a bonfire. With nowhere to sleep on, the leaves and sticks were repurposed to make three small beds, fit for most of the people in the group (King Dedede did not approve of the size nor how shabby it looked).

"Hey, hello! You've missed me yet?" Taranza began, as he sat down on the lush grass below him. "You're late. Very late." Dedede commented as he chipped the last of his wood, finally having a hammer to battle with again.

"I noticed, thanks," Taranza said dryly, as he stood up and slept on the shoddy bed. He didn't care that he could make better beds; he was tired from the fight, tired from walking, and tired from getting berated by the king. The instant he laid down, he slept like a rock. His stomach grumbled, however, indicating the obvious, that he shouldn't probably go to sleep on an empty stomach. As he woke up, he went and walked to the food sack that Dedede carried with him.

Noticing that Taranza hasn't eaten yet, Dedede turned at the spider, and tossed him a roasted apple, to which he ate it whole as best as he could; then went back to sleep again, on the ground.

"Sheesh." Dedede picked up the now truly unconscious spider back to his leaf bed, and turned to look at Magolor. The magician, who was commissioned to try and connect the hammer head and the rod, was currently trying to interlock it in place using multiple pieces of wood. As he finished, he handed it to Dedede, which the latter took gratefully and swung it at a nearby tree.

The hammer stood intact, with little to no movement on its complicated joint. Dedede gave Magolor a quick "thanks", before setting down his hammer beside him as he slept.

Magolor was the last one, the last person currently awake. He thought of what fun it was to try and solve a problem from scratch, to invent and create something, to experience your own creation. Lor wasn't certainly his own, but he loved it the same as his other, personal creations. It was like he grew attached to the stolen ship, though the (sentient?) ship itself had forgiven him. Another quick thought to all those times where he had actual fun, along with the adventure, the ride he was currently in. He really was looking forward to this… while Kirby might not be here, at least he could sleep peacefully knowing that they'll come save him, instead of them being complete jerks. As Magolor climbed on his makeshift bed, his eyes drifted close, and peaceful darkness surrounded him.

Kirby wasn't sure where Marx had brought him. The pink puffball had stared at the same darkness for over an unspecified amount of time; it was quite hard trying to keep track of time here; he was getting bored. If Marx wanted to try and complete another villainous plot after the Nova incident, Kirby would go and defeat the jester again, despite seeming to have died in space a long time ago.

In a sudden flash of light, Kirby was greeted by three individuals in an unknown place, as voices rang and Kirby started to get sleepier.

"Yes, I've put the sleep mode on him… what else did you want me to do?"

Murmurs came about, with a few moments of clarity in between them.

"Flamberge, tie the ball up, will you? And at least, try to do a complicated knot this time…"

Kirby's consciousness couldn't stand it anymore…

"Oh, good, he's going night night now. Me like night. Kekekeke. Good work, as always. Now, time to gather more…"

All went black in Kirby's world.

…

Kirby stirred, as he was tied up, hung on a wooden pole, and watched as there were now five people in front of him. A slight amount of uncertainty made it to Kirby's face, as they began to converse with each other.

"Flamberge, you sure this guy's our sacrifice? He looks sooo cute!"

"Yes, yes; you've been obsessed with this pink ball, but he's our main course for Master. You prefer him to be alive?"

"Of course not," a small, awkward chuckle came, as she continued.

"I jest, I jest." Kirby swore a small whisper came after that word, forming the word "maybe".

Okay, they're maybe incompetent, and one of them's apparantly obsessed with me. Alright..."

...that's a really big maybe.

"Hey, at least he'll be company for a while. I wonder if I can fry him?"

"Partizanne, you foolish fool; no fry fry in my altar tonight, alright? Kekekeke."

...suddenly, I fear for my life. This guy has some bad sense of humor.

Some time passed, and whoever talked in front of him suddenly started to become clearer to see.

As Kirby's vision returned more and more, the puffball began to notice the appearances of the four individuals right in front of him. They looked like a cult, to say the least, noted by their hoods and intricate designs along with some mention of "altar" earlier. Upon further inspection Kirby noticed that there were three who looked similar. One was a red-haired one, another blue, the other a bright yellow. 'Must be sisters,' Kirby assumed, as he turned to look at a fully cloaked individual. It was somewhat hard looking at this person's face, as it was completely covered with cloth. If Kirby had to guess, this one would be their leader, noticeable in the difference of clothing. As the hooded one stepped forth, he(?) spoke.

"Calm down, calm down," the hooded one spoke in a sing-song voice. "We want our friend to get some space, after all. He needs the rope to not be naughty, after all. We'll offer him in blood later. Kekeke!"

'Seems like this one's also sadistic,' Kirby thought, as the four crowded in front of him.

One question rang through Kirby's head right now; where was Marx? As he raised his head slightly, he saw the jester.

The jester was at the back of the room. Funnily enough, he seemed to look... pitiful? His face turned apologetic after noticing that Kirby was staring at him. The red one suddenly walked to Marx after some time and gave him a pat on the back. The emotion vanished. He instead had a smile on his face, and not a good kind of smile. Oh no, it was a smile used when he smacked Kirby out of the way to make his wish to Nova. Like someone Kirby very much suspected, Marx talked about how he nabbed Kirby in the best way possible, and of his past exploits faking his plot for power (Funnily enough, he didn't mention that he was left for dead in space, which Kirby noticed as he followed their conversation).

After the three sisters(?) were satisfied, they left the room. Leaving only Kirby and the two left in the room, Marx began, "Look, I told them what you want me to talk about, and I nabbed Kirby. Can I get some rest?"

"Yes, yes, dear Marx. Sure, sure, come from me."

"Right. Thanks, Hyness."

Highness? Is this guy some sort of royalty or something? He's way too nuts to be similar like King Dedede!

Kirby made a face at the cultist as Hyness left the room which made Marx chuckle at Kirby's antics. Immediately after Marx checked the vicinity, checking the door, the apologetic face came back up, as he started to talk.

Marx took his first deep breath.

"Alright, look: I know this doesn't look good, but hear me out. That person, Hyness, has already predicted that Dedede and whoever he's with will come and save you, so don't worry about escape, alright? In the meantime, can you keep your mouth shut, Kirby? And not blab this to anyone else?"

Kirby's first thoughts were, "I thought you died in outer space back then," which the puffball said out loud.

With a sigh, Marx continued, "I don't even know how I was alive. All I know is that one second I was in space, and next I was experiencing immense pain, coursing all throughout my body." Marx explained, as he fiddled around with his circus ball. He continued.

"So... at that point, I don't think I was conscious anymore, until a few days ago when I found myself waking up in this place… they forced me to help them despite me not wanting to, but I didn't tell them that, so I'm clear."

Marx took his last deep breath, and moved on, "In other words, I want you to play along, and maybe we can escape first before that dumb false priest can detect a new future. What do you say? I promise, I don't have any ulterior motives, or anything like that ever since I made the sun and moon fight."

Kirby took that all in for a full minute, while Marx tapped his shoes on his circus ball impatiently. Kirby gave a long sigh, and agreed.

"Fine, why not… you seriously better not backstab me this time, alright? Both of us want to get out of this place, so let's cooperate."

Marx flashed a smile at Kirby, with a small "Sure!" soon after. As Marx took his leave, Kirby wondered what the he'll do in the coming days, and if the looming catastrophe threatening Dream Land will be removed without himself to help the country. Another thought of Taranza and Magolor, both who apologized and became good, both following Dedede in their adventure. As Kirby thought about those two things, he truly wondered if Marx was really planning to help him as he drifted off to another sleep.

Whispy, Winded Tree

A tree long born into the woods of wind and corrupted with the power of the Jamba Heart, this tree has experienced multiple bouts on fights against multiple foes. His powerful wind can damage foes and push them back, as well as his massive apples and spiky projectiles. In truth, he is a guardian of nature, who was angry at the denizens of Dream Land for taking the forests' trees and materials to use for themselves without permission. Most just assumed that the tree can't feel what happened around him, but he sure did, setting up traps to those who dare venture into the forest. However, that did not keep the persistent ones away, and so, a thorny barrier emerged, slowly but surely around the forest's edge, closing off routes and preventing would-be adventurers and experienced lumberjacks from taking things that aren't theirs to take.

AN:

A good note to end things, as we see how Kirby fares in his predicament. Marx is a great actor being the one who made an unsuspecting Kirby collect stuff for him. (Mind you, Magolor did that too, but he came back and built Kirby more challenge rooms in his theme park.)

With the Whispy fight done, you may think that we're moving on to a new area! Nope. Join Dedede, Magolor and Taranza next time as they (will most likely) get flattened by a ridiculous boss.

...Fanfiction really didn't want to cooperate with my line breaks.

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