Star's Allies
Chapter 14 - Rolling Rocks
Magolor descended into the open maw of the volcano. He really was questioning the dangers of going inside a volcano, but that wasn't going to stop him.
Hey, you sure you're gonna live? The volcano might blow up…
Soul, that is a one in a million chance, now way it'll blow up. I've seen how it operates; it's dormant.
Ahah. Dormant? Well, an explosion might just set things going…
His soul ranted on, and Magolor tuned him out.
"Oi, you still sure this is safe!?" Taranza spat, shivering in fear.
"I'm pretty sure rational people aren't supposed to willingly lower themselves in a volcano!"
Magolor rolled his eyes. "The damn thing is dormant, okay!? Plus, I need that energy sphere, so chop chop!"
"Someone's in a foul mood today…" the arachnid mumbled.
We really shouldn't judge people like this. Plus, I'm sure he's been getting a lot colder recently. Taranza, dear, just don't copy him, okay? I've noticed you're getting testy, too…
Well, uh, I'm sorry?
Good enough, Taranza.
"Yo, dudes! This heat is rockin'!"
Rick was fantastical, looking none the worse for wear.
"Sorry, my brother gets like this when he encounters exciting things…" Kine apologized on behalf of his 'brother'.
Nobody responded to his apology.
The team kept on descending until they hit the warm ground, with pools of lava begging to be stepped on.
"Alright, everyone, we need to exert, uh, caution, so just stay far far away from the lava pits and we should be fine," Magolor warned them.
"Isn't that common logic, though? Ya' know, not step on a pit of lava?" Taranza reasoned.
"Warnings work best if reminded of. Now then, let's split up until we find my pesky sphere…"
Kirby and Marx braved the cold air, until they felt the wash of warm air coming from the top of the volcano.
"Looks like we're getting closer."
"No shit we're getting closer. Look at how far the ground is."
"Marx, your language, please!"
The two paced their steps accordingly. Buffeted by the terrain, they had to slow down.
"Oi, this is taking so long, and my foot's hurting..."
"Marx, suck it up once in a while, okay?" Kirby stated, starting to get annoyed at Marx's whining.
"...what's that about language, again?"
"For goodness sake...!"
The two climbed further and further.
Marx, who was done talking, started thinking. His line of events was quite blurry, what's with sleeping at that old man's house for who knows how many days.
Speaking of that, maybe he should ask his soul. It started getting active, but then it died down again.
Say, soul, what's your thoughts on what happened the last few days?
There was silence in his mind.
Nobody answered.
Uh, hello?
No soul. What happened…?
His mind went straight to the clock piece in his bedroom.
On his bedroom.
He buried his face into his hat, as Kirby slowly turned around, watching Marx head first into his hat on the ground.
"...what?"
Marx groaned. He was gonna have to get it, won't he?
"I have to go back to the Jamba Base. I might've forgot something…"
"Oh boy. Alright… I trust you can go there alone?"
"Give me a few hours and I'll manage."
Kirby offered him his services.
"I'll call you a star, and it will stay with you until you come back."
Marx was going to have to ride the speeding star again.
"I hate this, but I have no choice, huh?"
"Why did you even forget something in the first place?"
"We were in a rush, dammit!"
A star swooshed by. Marx jumped on it.
"Alright, see ya lateeeeeeaaaaaa-"
Marx was cut off by the fast paced star.
Kirby was now alone.
"Okay… break time for me. Where's the nearest shelter…?"
...
Hyness propped up to give insight to the remaining mage sisters.
"So, as you so oh know, the trickster lay upon us the worst case scenario."
Flamberge smacked her hand.
"Well yes! Now, can I go burn him with my flamethrower!?"
Hyness held a hand against that statement.
"You shall naught! Only me can go hurt-y that man."
"...old lady, you're not making sense again. I know you do this for theatrics!"
"Well, Parmesan, I am one but the most intelli-"
A rip tore across the base, the barrier broken once again.
"He's here! Sister, ready your torch!"
"Oh, I'm going to give four degree burns, alright!"
The star crashed into the base, with its passenger slightly harmed by the debris coming from the crash and slight confusion from knocking into the barrier. It was luck that even made him stay on the star without arms. He just ducked and prayed to Nova that he won't be ejected out to space in transit.
"Oof, owie…"
Marx gathered his courage and burst into his room, taking his piece of clockwork from Nova.
"Got it! Now I-"
His door slammed open and a bright orange light came in, heat on high as Flamberge cornered Marx in his own room.
Marx… decided that he wasn't going to fire his laser again. He just recovered from it, and he wasn't ready to knock himself out again.
So, he opted for the acrobatics.
Marx procured a ball, and flung the object onto the wall.
"Ha! You missed…!"
It bounced off the wall and hit Flamberge. It wasn't strong at all and was simply a distraction. Marx tried to dash out.
"Wait- hey!"
Ignoring the bar of flame right above him as he sped out the door, clockwork in his mouth, he swept beside Partizanne and hopped on Kirby's star.
"Bye bye, cheese lady!"
Partizanne said nothing and hailed lightning after him.
Marx, panicking on that sight, decided that now would be a good time to bail out.
"Star, go!"
It didn't move.
Marx was fried by the electricity.
"Hah! That'll teach you," Partizanne scoffed at the jester.
"Owie! Why, your attacks are strong… but I must flee now, so uh, keep 'em for next time, alright?"
Mumbling under his breath, Marx panicked even more. "Come on, come on, fly already…!"
He smacked the star. It flew, and with its passenger unprepared for the sudden takeoff, he was nearly flung out of the star before managing to duck his head and stay in that position until landing back on Dreamland.
The sister were left with two holes on the wall, a shattered barrier, and a scorched room.
Hyness came up to them.
"WHAT YOU PEOPLE MAKING!? DIMWITS!"
Hyness berated them, crazily swinging at them.
"I swear, these days, I can't take a good break…"
…
Kirby sat by a fire in a cave as he waited out the undying cold that was nighttime in the mountains.
It was nearly as bad as Freeze Star, but he managed.
Chattering to himself about his plans was somewhat of a good idea.
Being halted like this wasn't usually part of the plan.
A familiar sound came.
"Ah, he's back."
A bright, shining star came, ejecting Marx into the mountainside.
He face-planted right to the side of the volcano, before managing to open his wings and fly in the cold, before finding Kirby waving at him and the pink ball's fire.
Once inside, Marx sat on the ground, dropping his precious clockwork beside him, before letting out his thoughts.
"Kirby?"
Marx gathered his breath, before bellowing out, "YOUR RIDE SUCKS!"
Kirby looked flustered, and responded to the critique.
"I mean, it's my ride, I'm used to it…"
"I'm not! It's a death trap, I tell you!"
"...It's one of the speedier ones. Relax, please."
Marx silenced himself.
"Oh, fine. Got the thing I was looking for, by the way."
Kirby looked over it.
"A clock… gear?"
"It came with me when I left Nova," he explained.
"Oh. Oh." Kirby didn't say anything anymore.
The two sat in silence as the night continued. Soon, they slept, saving energy for another day of climbing.
...something moved. Another Kirby watched them as they slept. As the night progressed, it began flooding the cave with paint.
Paint dripped everywhere. Everywhere and everywhere and everywhere. The environment was a different mess when the duo would wake up.
And a snicker from the painter topped her new piece, "Prisoner".
Night had already rolled around, and the ship crew was tired. They rested back in the ship. They had not made any progress at all. No sphere was found, and some people were too squeamish about the heat and the danger.
They weren't about to give up though, and continued their activity the next day.
Lowering down into the volcano once again, this time they expanded the territory of their search, into the caves of the volcano, at least the ones that are visible and not covered in lava.
"OI! Guys, I might've found something…"
Taranza waved out, calling for his fellow searchers.
"So you see, this isn't the sphere…"
Magolor raised his eye. "I can tell. The sphere is buried deep in the volcano. This is why I suggested we search the caves today, because you see…"
"I kinda forgot to check where it was yesterday…"
Magolor returned to a sheepish demeanor, fumbling over his words again.
"So, uh, anyways, er, continue?"
Taranza sighed. "We got something much bigger."
Taranza led the crew to the peculiar cave he went into.
Inside was some grand white structure, made from marble, with weird statues half-broken from age.
Despite being made from marble, parts of it were burnt, blackened by charcoal and ash.
"Whoa…" Kine took in the sight.
They went in.
Inside, was a strange sight, indeed.
Nothing was there. It was completely blank. Nothing at all. They advanced to the next room.
A single table made from obsidian lay on the floor, half-chipped and on it lay a tablet.
They approached this table without hesitation.
Magolor took one look at it.
The rest of the team followed suit.
"This… this is Halcandran."
"What?"
"Halcandran, the writing is Halcandran. Why is this here…?"
Taranza stared at Magolor. "If you recognise the writing, mind reading it out loud…?"
Magolor held the tablet, and began to read.
"We arrived on the planet of the star, through the use of the Lor Wayfarer.
In it, we found a strange substance. Soul.
It was in its residents.
In theory, it was the culmination of the person's 'other half', if you will. The one who desires.
This… interests us. So, we…"
Magolor was silenced.
Taranza looked at him weirdly. "Uh, continue?"
"We, uh, hold on… we performed multiple experiments on it.
In short, it was a success. We split a single person into three, resulting into three beings.
Now, the body, the mind, and the soul run amok. The heart, split between all three, a thought perused… by one of our older experiments.
The mind had calculated thoughts. Shown empathy.
The body was foolhardy and short-tempered. Shown empathy.
The soul was pure and naive, its desires always surfacing. Desire to know, desire to play, desire to do anything… and shown empathy.
We took the soul and observed her quite nicely.
The other two didn't like that.
Whenever we separated these beings, they go aggressive.
They gathered weapons and attacked us.
We were able to cull this ability by removing all primitive and modern weapons from the facility."
Taranza wondered. "...That's it?" he asked.
Magolor flipped the tablet over. There was hasty scribbling on the back of it, made using some sort of media. He read it.
"As I'm writing this, the building is under attack.
A crazy witch blew our operations open.
She brought the three out of the facility.
However, we managed to leave a dent in her.
We cursed her soul, with what magic we knew. Removed her mind piece by piece. Smashed her heart to pieces. All taking time, a ticking time bomb; before sooner or later, she'll go crazy...
And then they obliterated us. A being without these essential ingredients is no being at all. Simply machines.
I am the last remaining Halcandran scientist on Popstar.
I am going to go back to Halcandra. Alone.
On the Lor Wayfarer. I pray for safety."
Magolor returned the tablet into its original spot. He looked around. There was a large hangar area.
He went there.
A single button was left. He pressed it. The side of the volcano opened up, leading to a great exit out of the cave.
Taranza stumbled with him to the hangar. "Well, I think our writer didn't make it out. All of 'em."
The ship was in shambles, its mast lopsided and its hull wide open, creaking as the wind blew on it.
The animal trio had their mouths agape, unable to say anything after the tablet.
Ka-clink! Ka-clink! Ping!
CLANG!
Like an organ crashing down, something rumbled the entire volcano.
"What was that?"
They rushed out, not having a good feeling.
…
The Lor Starcutter was frozen solid, falling on the opening of the volcano.
"Okay…"
Kine voiced his concerns. "Uh, I don't think we're alone here."
Someone circled around the ship.
They noticed the crew in the volcano.
"Oh, so you're Magolor? You're the one causing this mayhem, sir?" Her voice sounded like a young, female child.
"ER, NO!?" came Magolor's shout.
"Mhmm… but you broke the universe that one time! Kirb told me! And now you're back! So, imma' give you a beating, alright…"
Her eyes glanced over the crew. Standing in front of a particular cave she recognised, white marble barely sticking out.
"...wait. This environment. That cave…"
The attacker stood in silence before questioning the crew. "Why are you in there. Nobody is supposed to be left in there. Unless… you're cooperating with those meanies!"
She prepared her attack, the environment losing heat as the energy turned to absolute zero.
Magolor switched to his soul form.
"Oh no you don't! Taranza!"
Taranza followed suit.
"Hell no! Not cool, man!"
They started their fight against the mysterious attacker.
Kirby and Marx woke up to a weird sight.
They were stuck in a strange contraption, with a blade strung by a rope, with themselves locked in place by two pieces of wood, and a basket below them.
"See? Ehehe, this is my new masterpiece!"
A figure came from behind them.
"It's interactive! Ahaha!"
All around them was a painted sight of Waddle Dees, booing them. Behind the crowd was buildings that Kirby hadn't seen before. Marx didn't even know what was going on.
"Oh dear me, seems like you don't know what's happening. It's my piece, 'Prisoner'. You're the prisoners, and I'm the executioner!"
Marx had had enough. "Who are you!?" he exclaimed loudly.
The crowd stopped booing.
"Me? Why, I am the best painter around, you filthy peasant. I am Adeleine, of course."
"Adeleine!?" Kirby shouted himself, in confusion.
"Puhuhu. Yes, Adeleine, Lil' Kirbs. Oh, how your sweet face will be mine forever, like a piece of art…!"
Marx was sick of this. "Okay, that's it."
He fired a seed.
Adeleine, curious, inspected it.
"Oho, what must this be? You're disgusting, you know-"
A full-sized plant grew immediately, sending Adeleine up to the roof of the cave.
"WhY yOu!"
She painted a bow and arrow and shot the rope dangling the blades over Marx's head with her newly crafted weapon.
"Oh no, whaTeVer wiLl i Do?"
Marx was unamused. He teleported out. He was done with the farce.
He shot his own arrows, but not at Adeleine. He aimed it as the restraints covering Kirby.
"Ah, thanks!" Kirby dusted himself before standing against the painter."
"Ohoho. nO eScApe."
Adeleine shot out a pitch black goo from her paintbrush. It painted the ground, before coming alive as a blob of black. It started chasing the duo.
Kirby inhaled it and shot it back at Adeleine.
"No thank you, have the attack yourself, alright?"
Adeleine made herself a racket and started their match of paint pingpong.
Marx took the time to fire arrows at Adeleine and distract her from dodging.
Kirby reflected the black paint back, and it hit Adeleine. She cried in pain… before smirking under all the dark goo.
She gathered all the paint she had on her, and flung its entirety onto Marx, intending to take out what she thought was the stronger of the two.
She wasn't thinking right, literally and figuratively. The Jamba Heart affected her thought process.
Also, the funny thing is, is that Kirby was the stronger one. That, and Marx had insane power himself. You know, giant lasers, raining arrows of lightning, all those wacky draining attacks.
Marx fired a laser through the whole thing, blasting the paint and the painter twenty inches in deep rock.
Kirby looked at him. "...That's overkill."
Adeleine coughed up a dark heart.
"Overkill or not, it got the job done."
Marx blasted the heart with another laser, destroying it.
"Ooh… I think I'm going back to sleep again…"
Marx collapsed, a repeat of last time.
Adeleine fell back to the cave floor, and the paint slowly chipped away, going into the painter's paintbrush.
"This day is not getting any less confusing."
"And it will get evEn moRe cOnFuSINg."
Kirby whipped his line of sight to see… another Adeleine…?
The beaten Adeleine and the 'heart' melted into black goop.
"sAy, iT waS nICe of yOU tO wAsTe aLl yOur aTtacKs oN thaT sUbStiTute."
Kirby readied his stance. Another battle.
"mY TuRN."
The paintbrush came out full swing, and with a small whip, Adeleine swung the tool, covering the cave once more in paint.
Marx whipped his head up as he awoke groggily. His head was pounding. Hard.
All around him was nothingness. Simply black, the space extending to who knows how long. A figure approached him.
Himself.
"Say, you've been outcasting me for so long? Why…?"
Marx did not answer.
"I just wanted to feel the power. To feel good. To feel like on top of the world. But you repressed me. You rejected me after Kirby beat us. Why?"
Silence.
"I tried to help you. Gave you advice, even more now than in the past! And you're ignoring me?"
Marx stared at his soul.
"I was done with everything. I didn't care anymore. My life is worth more than power. I value my continued existence rather than my own desires. Needs over desires, soul," Marx finally spat out, as if it had been on the tip of his tongue for years.
"Needs over desires," he breathed out.
…
Cold wind punched him in the face. That, and paint.
He looked up from the ground to see Kirby being Kirby, always on a fight.
Well, he was dead tired. He really can't help without overexerting himself.
Marx laid there on the ground, unmoving as he thought about that conversation.
His recent years had been dark. Figuratively, and literally.
Afloat in space. Beaten, with no one in sight, no one in mind.
His last piece of the wish-granting star was the small piece of clockwork he had.
Helped by a cult who needed him to do bad deeds. He had grown out of it. He was done.
That resulted in him forcefully putting in alien hearts into powerful inhabitants. And taking Kirby with him.
Kirby…
The puffball was too gullible, sometimes. He hoped that Kirby would learn from his mistakes after the pink ball felled him, and he did. Kirby learned.
He kept on chasing after his dreams.
While Marx… took the short route.
Heard of Nova, and came butting in last minute to make sure he himself got the power.
Himself.
…
Kirby always extended his help to others. Marx did not. This is why he was always felt alone.
He had no friends to back him up.
He wanted to learn from his mistakes, but…
Somehow, he felt that it was too late to do these types of things. You break one's heart, and it'll never piece back.
You ruined them for life.
You scarred them, took advantage of others.
Took power.
Power power power power power power power power-
Marx shook his head. He shook it furiously, like a man gone mad. He split in two.
Kirby kept on his battle, eyes on the ready and mouth open wide for the rebound. It became like another tennis match, the Adeleine bouncing her attack to Kirby and himself bouncing it back until eventually, it hit…
He'd try to outplay the artist, but it seemed like she only wanted one attack to be focused upon, and so they went at it, throwing attacks to and fro with alacrity and precision.
Dodging some paint spikes, Kirby swerved and blasted the rebound onto a piece of rock above Adeleine. The blast knocked some of the cave off, and so a rain of rocks fell upon Adeleine.
She patched it up with some paints and went back at it.
"Ah, I need to take care of the paintbrush first!" Kirby realised, cursing himself for not aiming for the weapon of attack first.
It wasn't usually a target of choice Kirby would aim for. Usually he'd pummel the enemy and that's that.
This time, it'll be a tough fight…
"!"
The wind was sucked from him as Marx opened a black hole from inside of him, sucking everything.
Everything. He wasn't holding back.
Kirby held on to the walls of the cave as he saw Adeleine, unprepared, get sucked into the black hole.
Another Adeleine popped up from the wall opposite to Kirby.
"Damn! I thoUght I hAd it!" she cursed, as her duplicate dissipated into nothingness.
The black hole sucked even more, and Kirby found himself holding on to the stable handholds the rock formed into and he held for dear life.
Adeleine did the same, actually fearing for the hole now.
It was a battle of who would last.
And so the two hung on the walls as Marx kept his black hole up, unaware of the world. The jester began to fill the air with his screams.
It was unpleasant, ringing with discordant notes and unpaced shrieks.
The black hole grew even stronger.
Adeleine was up to her fingers.
Kirby was, too.
…
Adeleine involuntarily let go, shrieking herself as she was sucked into the black hole.
The shrieks joined for a second, before leaving Marx alone in his screams.
The black hole did not stop.
"You've done it! Can you stop now!" the puffball shouted. It fell on deaf ears.
"Stop! Stop! STOP!"
Kirby couldn't hold on any longer. He let go, falling into the black abyss.
Lava was frozen as blasts of ice and water flew across the mouth of the volcano.
Taranza fired another ball of light before backing out slightly.
He headed to the animal trio, who were currently taking refuge in a small cavity.
"Oi, you hear me?"
"Yes, Marx?" Coo answered.
"Look, we're not hitting her. Can you- I don't know- help, or something? It would be appreciated…"
Rick instantly stepped out.
"Ah, my fire is strong enough not to be doused. Let us fight this unruly woman!"
The hamster charged out. Kine followed, mumbling a quick "He's like this, sorry…" to Taranza.
Coo shrugged and flew to them, beginning to form blasts of wind, aiming for the assailant.
All this happened when a blast suddenly blew their eardrums.
"Holy shit, the noise! There's an explosion?" Taranza spoke.
"WHAT!?" Rick shouted. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!?"
"Hh. THERE'S AN EXPLOSION SOMEWHERE; I DON'T KNOW WHERE!"
"WHAT!?"
"Oh forget this, I'm not dealing with this right now."
Taranza turned his head back on the girl.
She flew out the volcano.
…
She seemed… worried.
...worried?
Why was she worried? Did something go unplanned?
Oh wait, she's leaving?
Magolor held off his attack and he flew down to Taranza.
"Something's wrong. She kept on babbling on how the danger was elsewhere."
Taranza formed a face. "What?"
"Ske kept on babbling on h-"
"Okay, stop. I have no idea what you're saying, but our enemy is talking to herself."
Magolor tried his best to palm his own face.
The girl suddenly flew down to them.
The two readied their attacks.
"I want to talk to both of you," she requested.
Taranza stumbled mid-attack, firing his into the lip of the volcano.
Magolor stopped his.
"I can't hear you. You know, explosion and all."
Francesca questioned Magolor. "What? Sorry, I can't really hear y-"
"No more! Stop talking! We'll handle this after our eardrums aren't ringing anymore!" Taranza fumbled out.
Adeleine, Acrylic Illusionist
A girl affected by the powers of the Jamba Heart. She uses her trusty brush to paint, wherever she goes. With the Jamba Heart, her already strikingly real paintings become so real, they merge into the real world as permanent beings with minds of their own, albeit primitive.
AN:
Hmm. This took longer to write. I suppose I am slowing down, yes, but hey, it arrived. A number of days out of schedule. Well, I don't really have a schedule. I mostly just write whenever I feel like it.
Sometimes I want to do this or that, and other times it may come down to a single idea or writer's block.
I somehow made Adeleine look like a crazed woman from the French Revolution. Whoops.
All part of the experience, I'd say. Oh, by the way, merry christmas and happy holidays.
Guest (WHAT THE BIMPS): Yes, they'll all be together, like a happy family! Also, merry christmas to you.