Star's Allies
Chapter 18 - Falling, Falling
Beams of light hit the duo. Taranza had started the real fight, and Magolor Soul wasn't going to back down just yet at the sight of his friend going bonkers.
Kirby sucked in a nearby dark orb that Soul made and shot it off as a star.
Dodging the two wonderfully with a combination of string techniques, Taranza hopped everywhere just to avoid getting touched. The spider gallanty flipped mid-air as he turned and passed by the shots.
Now's my chance!
This actually caused a frame of vulnerability, which Magolor Soul abuses to its full potential. He fired off an extremely quick, small ball of shadow.
It grazed Taranza's face as the spider flopped to the ground and blasted another round of fire and light.
A burning hall was what they saw as strings caught on fire, heating up the battle considerably.
Taranza, now silent, had a dull look on his face as he fired even more attacks, spinning and swirling full of white, while Kirby intercepted it to rebound it back to Taranza. Dodging the rebound, Taranza stopped and shot off one last light ball before running out of there.
Not missing a beat, Magolor smashed the ball of light and flew after the spider. Kirby similarly chased after the two, now advancing to the main door.
Magolor fired his attack, and that's where things got awry.
Meta Knight blocked the attack as he used his golden sword to slash at Kirby, wings open and ready to dive.
A bit surprised at this change, Kirby staggered for a moment, which was what the knight needed to ready a blow to the child of the stars.
Unfortunately for Meta Knight, Magolor dove at the knight first and punched him so hard it caused the knight to fly straight into a wall and cause an indent on it.
Gathering themselves up, Magolor breathed an air of relief. Just as his guard dropped, Kirby shot a star at the monster.
Kirby went in and sucked in the star, before firing it back, causing a round of tennis to appear between the two Kirbys.
Magolor, impatient, decided to add multiple projectiles to the mix. Kirby sucked them all in, keeping his attack warm, and shot off a giant star at the impostor.
Kirby widened his eyes, before diving out of the way and up comes Susie with a gun ready to blast some heads off.
Kirby flinched again, before looking at Magolor Soul to finish this one off. Nodding, Magolor cast a black hole right at Susie, for a split second-
It consumed a large portion of the wall, the floor, the ceiling, and everything else before leaving nothing…
And that's where Marx delivers a black hole of his own.
Magolor widened his eyes, not ready, as he got sucked into another dimension, pulled here and there in an obstinate amount of ways, before being spouted out of the space with a sickening boom, launched halfway across Dreamland.
Kirby, sweating, engaged in battle with 'Marx' for a second time.
Marx teleported here and there, with a familiar menacing laugh as he swept over to the sides of the hall and blasted Kirby with thunderous arrows.
Knowing the attack, Kirby jumped up precariously and sucked in the remains of the attack, flinging them back to Marx, who had expected the attack, and rolled over to King Dedede, sucking the attack back in and out as fast as possible.
Kirbu dodged the incoming star as the king hammered his way across the hall, dripping with energy. Biting a star left by the hasty attack, Kirby spat out multiple stars as the king widened his eyes and switched back to Marx, laser beaming Kirby by a fraction off his foot.
Hissing off the pain, Kirby charged the cackling jester and dove right in for a high kick, before swallowing a nearby piece of rock and became Rock Kirby, flying off into the air to pound Marx.
Marx, who worried about the form change, changed himself into Queen Sectonia.
Shocked, Kirby stopped mid-air and spat out his rock power-up, inhaling it and firing it as ammo to the queen.
With a replica staff, Sectonia blasted the star to atoms as Kirby inhaled even more of the scattered debris and started a hail of stars onto the unprepared queen.
Tanking the damage, Sectonia slammed her staff to the ground, effectively breaking the floor and leading Kirby down as the puffball fell to a precarious position; a giant, rose red crystal, with even more crystals surrounding the pink ball as Sectonia swung out her two rapiers and started a bombard Kirby with deadly pokes from the weapon.
A black ball of shadow magic soon hit her dead in the face, though. Magolor came rushing from a direction, flying with his power as he came back in his normal self, his soul tuckered out.
Kirby, greeting the magician, grabbed what the magician had procured.
The Miracle Berry. The berries had been particularly useful back then, as will it now.
Magolor bowed, as he put on a chef hat he prepared from his cloak. "Sir, we have for you a delicious and mouth-watering berry. Please enjoy the gourmet taste."
"Oh please, I'm not a taste tester. Leave that to Dedede! I just like cake, but this berry'll do fine!" Kirby joked.
Magolor raised his eye at Kirby, usually not the one to make such jokes. Appreciating the thought, he blocked an incoming attack and resumed their conversation.
"Where'd you-" Kirby dashed left to avoid a red crustal from spiking him, "find this?"
"You know, just oh screw off-"
Magolor danced, as he barraged the queen with flying black orbs, going right up to her face and gave her a quick explosion right up there.
"The, ugh, the Dreamstalk!" Magolor answered, taking a hit he missed while avoiding the rapier hits.
With his cloak slightly torn and blood leaking out, Magolor shot a pleading look at Kirby. "I'd really appreciate it if you can do your thing!?"
"Yup!" Kirby consumed the berry as a reminiscent feeling washed over him, with the confidence, the euphoria, as things calmed down and sped up all at once.
Kirby opened his mouth, and began to inhale everything. Magolor, surprised, dove out of the way as the suction became stronger and stronger, turning the attacking Queen Sectonia to running for her life. Diving out of the line of fire by transforming into Kirby himself, a counter-suction began, as a battle of winds commenced in the hall.
Kirby didn't lose to this unpowered version, however, as he had the advantage of the Miracle Berry. Outplayed, Kirby got sucked in to Kirby's force, his shining and shimmering body decreasing in size as he stopped inhaling. Rather, he started choking.
Choking and coughing, Magolor went to see what's up as he patted the puffball on the back before Kirby launched a dark coalesced amount of Jamba Hearts, shaped in a ball, right to the ground, cracking the crystal.
Magolor shot off a good amount of attacks to hinder this new enemy, and caught off guard from the disorienting experience, the creature took all of the hits and collapsed. Magolor, not letting this one go free, shot off another set of attacks before being stopped by a wall of flames.
Flamberge, coming out from behind them, stepped in the fight as she protected the dark mass up close. "Don't interfere!" she scowled, as she held her flamethrower. "Now, tell me where's Francisca before I burn you all into a crisp."
"Why should I?" Magolor taunted. "We are not in a position to be threatened. Rather, we should threaten you," the magician gave a short laugh.
He stopped. "Release the Jamba mess and walk free from that hellhole and we'll all be fine."
"No! Absolutely not! Hyness was the one who gave new life to us. As repayment, we serve her! Now, give me Francisca!"
Another battle was started in the hall; rather the cracked and half-broken crystal, still present after the Sectonia fight.
Taranza wiggled as he stared at the walls and Hyness herself.
The rope was tight, even tighter than what his strings would be, as the cultist cackled and scowled at the sight of struggle. "Aaah, I must congratulate Termina. HAH! Our dark lord… has received our love! Love, kekekeke!"
Hyness raised her hands up in the air, her head backwards.
"Now, I leave. Jambuhbye. Ke!"
Hyness stumbled out of the room, leaving Taranza to wallow at his situation. To think that they would infiltrate the castle and kidnap him was unthinkable.
...
The night was fresh, especially for the sleeping Taranza, with his window open for the cold, cold air to seep in.
A yellow beret came into the room, thrown by a yellow-haired Partizanne as the mage crept up the sills.
"Good. WHAT A GREAT SITUATION!" She flipped, from calm to ecstatic. This, however, caused her target to wake up.
"Wha?"
"Ah, you. Lovely~"
Zan Partizanne smashed Taranza's head with her fist as the spider was knocked out, unconscious.
"Lord Hyness was right. He really was a glass cannon. AMAZING! O-oh, how I weep…" the girl cried, as she unceremoniously dumped Taranza in a bag.
Carrying the poor arachnid off into the night, another came into the room. A black mass stepped in, as it took shape into a familiar spider.
…
That happened. He was knocked out. And now he was stuck. "Pah," he scowled.
Unfortunately for them, they just didn't know where spiders get their web from.
It's going to get messy. Taranza secreted some poison into his webs as he shot out some, covering his bindings in corrosive chemicals, leaving himself free and released.
"Hah! Fools!" he got cocky as he laughed. Taranza looked a bit ill, however, looking back at his escape. "Really don't like using that, poison never kept me going after that incident…"
It was an incident that Taranza would never tell for the rest of his life.
Shutting himself up after the small victory, Taranza decided that he would exfiltrate himself.
They made the wrong choice when they decided to remove the only guard standing post by his bindings. What an idiot!
Kirby danced around the heat and flame as he and Magolor burst out their attacks occasionally, sometimes nailing their opponent and other times missing way off their target.
"Hah...hah…" Flamberge panted, tiredness starting to take a toll on the fire mage. Kirby was profusely down on the ground as well, tired, along with Magolor, who was sitting down.
Flamberge fired a cheap shot at them both, before Magolor shot an attack of his own and clashed against the fire. "Can we try something… hah…. else?"
"Can't think of anything, here. She's good…" Kirby admitted. "Great," Magolor groaned, as he timely blocked another cheap shot from Flamberge.
"At this point… it's just a match to see who collapses first, huh…"
Flamberge scowled, before slightly wobbling and got up. "You all tell me where Francisca is… kidnappers…"
"Kidnap?" Kirby questioned.
"KIDNAPPED!" Flamberge went off again, blasting out her flamethrower at Kirby. "Nope!" Magolor sucked all that in a small black hole, before collapsing in exhaustion.
"Ah, he's out…" Kirby realised, murmuring, as he turned his attention back at Flamberge.
"We didn't kidnap… her. She wanted to help, help me."
"...help you? Don't screw around with me! I know you, you all did this to stop Lord Hyness' plans to revive the Dark Lord…"
"She's, agh, in the castle, she got knocked out, by the black entity…"
"...Dark Matter's spawn? But why…" Flamberge worried, before leaving. one last message as she stumbled out the hall.
"Don't get me wrong. I will pummel all of you down. But my sister's safety comes first. First… I-"
Flamberge promptly fell to the hard, cold, cracked ground the floating crystal offered as she went unconscious.
"Ah…" Kirby smiled, before thinking about the sisters. Finally, some heart after all…
Kirby went to sleep at the floating crystal, surrounded by gentle winds and the cold, cold air.
…
Underneath a bed, Francisca awoke in a start, bangung her head against the underside of the bed and crying in pain at the sensation.
"Kirb- Kirby? Where did you go…?"
Crawling out of the underside, she soon saw a dreadful sight. A limp, black mass. Dead. Frozen in fear, she mumbled to herself. "Why… why is this here? I thought… this wasn't part of Miss Hyness' plan…?"
Those black blobs shouldn't be here. Flamberge has said so herself; if she saw one, run.
Could it be that those hearts she and her sisters (and Marx) collected were… causing the problem? They were black, the same black, but Miss Hyness told her it was for love, because it was a heart. It made things lovely…?
Confused and addled by the fact, Francisca watched the courtyard thrown into a massacre as Mister King Dedede and Miss Susie protected the castle. They were in a battle, a battle fiercer than any warrior could participate in, along with a swarm of Waddle Dees poking the blobs with oversized pointy sticks.
Shaking off the confusion, Francisca decided that a talk would be best. Stumbling her way out of the door, she walked down the flight of stairs and approached the door to the courtyard, before finding it flung open by a mass of black goop.
In fear, she pierced the creature with ice and pushed it away with water, the monster flying away and crashing into more of their kin before standing up like nothing happened and kept on walking to her.
King Dedede soon came flying in, wielding a hammer, and smacked the goop away, throwing one the Dees nearby to try and land a spike on its side.
Understandably, the Dee missed their throw, but she clapped anyway. King Dedede noticed her standing around. "Hey, Franc'scah, I thin' ya' name was? Mind helpin' us throwin' these guys around?"
"Oh, of course! It would be a delight, Mister King Dedede."
"Oh, shucks. D-drop the king…" Dedede laughed, before getting hit.
Susie rammed straight to Dedede. "What in the hell are you doing!? Are you blind in the eye or not? Mind you, we're currently having a war here!"
"Aight, aight, woman, yikes… can't ever gimme a brea', I swea'..."
Dedede managed a quick "See ya!" to the blue haired mage before Susie uppercutted the King's beak.
Maybe she should leave them be for a minute…
"Oh dear, I leave the country and aye, be it up in flames…" Francisca jumped at the sound, turning around quite fast. Behind her was Daroach, off his ship for once and wielding a cutlass.
"Ta' tell ya the truth, I'm not exactly a killer, but I try."
Daroach then charged into battle, with a "See ya, lady!" mixed in there. When Francisca thought it was done, a massive crew of pirates stormed after their captain in mixed reaction, some cheering and others weeping at joining this mess.
Meta Knight landed on the field, as Galacta Knight supported him from above. "Make it a competition, lad, we don't got time!"
"Ha! And to think you knew swordplay?"
The two battle-hungry warriors rushed into battle, as Francisca watched it all, her confusion increasing every minute.
"...I really should go see Miss Hyness, she ought to have something… Need to find Kirb."
Francisca stopped herself, before drawing out a long "E..." to the end of her last sentence, and rushing off to the skies to find either the pink hero or her mother, whoever is first…
Maybe the smoke in the distance'll help.
Flamberge stood slowly as her head wracked in pain and the surrounding looking a bit too fragile for her tastes. That crystal really handled the beating oh so well…
Spying on her enemies(…?), she confirmed that both of them are still asleep or unconscious. That's good. Flamberge sighed to herself as she started to try and finish the job. "Flamberge!"
She turned to the source of the yell. It was none other than her beloved sister, Francisca. Surprised, she went and hugged her sister. "Ah, where have you been? I was searching for you, you know!?" she nagged angrily.
"Oh, I got caught up between a group of friends," her sister replied. "Friends…?" Flamberge cocked her head.
"Yup! Turns out Kirby is a really nice gal! I had sooo much fun last night, you won't believe it! We played this and that…"
Flamberge chuckled. To think that her sister was in good hands after all, even if they oppose Hyness' plans…
"For once, I'll make an exception…" she sighed.
Flamberge lets them both go. It was courtesy, to repay what they've treated her sister to. Mid-tangent as Francisca talked about this and that, Flamberge stopped Francisca before she got too far. "Okay, okay. Calm down, yeah? Let's hear all this later…"
"Mmhm!" Francisca nodded. "I have to tend to these two… they are your friends, yes?"
Finally noticing the two beat up bodies, Francisca gasped and helped Kirby stand back up, though the puffball slept in delight as he slumped back down.
Francisca started to cry. "Sister, I think she's… she's…"
"Ah, calm down! I swear I didn't harm them too bad!"
"You did this!?"
A back and forth ensued, with Flamberge arguing that they'll manage and Francisca, enraged that her sister harmed the two berating in anger. Such were sibling troubles, another day to add in daily life.
"Ugg…" Magolor stirred, as he started to push himself up, looking at the two mages. Flamberge began to reassure him. "Sorry about that, but I just had to confirm, okay yeah maybe I went too far, but-"
Francisca complained. "That isn't sincere!" she pouted. "I did the best I could, what do you mean!?"
Magolor decided that he didn't have time for this and went straight back to the land of dreams.
…
The mass of creatures ended after the last few hours of daylight, King Dedede exhausted beyond belief. It was lucky that Meta Knight had called for backup, not that he'd expect a gang of pirates, who lived in a ship right next door.
Then again, there were three ships now parked right beside the castle; this might get weird soon enough.
Ignoring it, he tiredly went back to his room after a long day of shouting and getting shouted at and hit by Susie.
The king yawned as he opened the doors to the royal bedroom.
Not dealing with any of this anymore, the king slept soundly that night, though he thought that he would have nightmares from all the creatures.
…
In another room, Francisca and Flamberge were talking and listening respectively as Kirby and Magolor lay asleep on the comfy beds. "So then I approached them and they were all like…"
Francisca's story certainly held an impression. After listening to it, she nodded, and Francisca would continue.
However, this time…
"Sister, I've got a slightly bad question to ask…"
"Well, ask away," said the older sister.
"Can we, uh, trust Miss Hyness? You need, from all of Kirby's stories, she kind of stopped everyone from conquering the world and what not; yeah…"
Francisca cut off there, as Flamberge realised the implications. Their loyalty… was it true loyalty?
They've been following Hyness for blind since that day in the volcano laboratory, and she's treated them oh so well the past years.
But now…
Her motives were questionable, her actions erratic, and her thoughts jumbled, praising the Dark Lord and the collection of the hearts…
No, no. She mustn't question it. It's impolite.
"Francisca, listen to me."
"Yes?"
Flamberge took a deep breath. "We'll find answers, alright? Back in base. We'll find answers."
Francisca went closer to her sister. "Okay."
Taranza was in deep hell. Nevermind hell; oh, no, he was in deep hell. Being at the core of the enemy base spells death, one way or another.
This was truly a bad situation. An overreaction must occur.
And so he overreacted. Getting it out of his system in bits of laughter and giggles, Taranza blasted his way through with his soul form. The moth kept on blowing up each and every door she came across, with the logic that he'll eventually find the exit. It's like those sayings in a maze; stick to the left wall and it's a piece of cake, or something like that. Who knows, Queen Se- er, Secty told that story.
So he did what he did and went off, following the left wall earnestly, sometimes going into rooms he was definitely not supposed to be in...
Who knew this place had a lot of empty rooms and extremely long hallways? The longer it took to travel across the corridors, the more horrid the experience. Bored, Taranza decided from that floor onward that he'll blast the floor if he has to. Grumbling at the long and winding pathways, he walked around some more, before his soul had had it.
I say we just blow the floor open.
"Oi, we're here to get out, and not cause property damage. We might be in trouble, but this is not an emergency," Taranza spoke, sounding like a crazy person talking to thin air.
Screw it! Here, gimme gimme…
"Eh? Wait, wha-"
Taranza felt the world disconnect from all around him. No sensation.
No touch from the air, no smell from the machinery, no sight to see, no sound to hear, no….
There was black. That was when he crashed in this deep black void.
Soul cracked a knuckle. "Ah, might've caused permanent brain damage, then again, he really wouldn't let go…"
Soul Taranza chuckled at themselves as they made the slightly pessimistic joke.
Lightly banging Taranza's head to the nearest wall, Soul let out a chipper laugh before creating such a blindingly white orb that the area was covered in a bright light all the way to the next day.
…
An explosion rang out from who knows where, followed by multiple others. That certainly woke Kirby up in a state of shock, as he looked at his surroundings, panicking, before recognising the room and looked out the window.
The dead of the night. Right…
That fight certainly was tiring. That monstrosity had taken a lot out of him…
Mentally, Kirby hoped that Hyness wouldn't be as difficult to deal with as that black mass.
Sighing, Kirby went back to sleep. He needed to rest, after all. Their fights were not done. Not done… just yet.
The room with the Heart, the antechamber, had always been such a lovely place…
and yet
Hyness threw himself in the ground at such an honest failure. He had thrown all of his shadow aspect on to that…! All of it, all 100%! And it still… it still…!
"Ahaha! Why! Why this difficult really!? Keke… Such a wise method of fighting…"
Truth be told, Hyness was drained. Out of the magic she has mastered left, it was those so incompetent to even use to serve the dark lord!
What was light magic going to have to do!?
Hyness rambled on and on, a head nod here, a wild shake there, a near full 180 just a minute later…
Her sanity was driven to insanity once, and this was the breaking point for her insanity. This was time to enter the second state. In-insanity.
Or maybe just plain nuts.
Hyness cackled in chortled laughter as she furiously scratched her hood.
These actions, of course, were noticed by Zan Partizanne, who walked in on her.
"Lord Hyness, are you okay!? I really am not, but are you?"
"Ah, ah, the joys of love. The pain of LOVE! Ah, such is the Jamba Heart, the deep, deep sorrow…" Hyness slowly laid lower, and lower, and lower, as she eventually fell onto the ground. "I may be dead by the next few days."
This confession brought no expression to Zan Partizanne. As loyal as she is, professionalism needed to be kept.
"Akh, Can Pou- Er? I… your name…."
Hyness mumbled this as she scratched her head to the point where they just started tearing, even past the hood, and into her skin.
"I, can't remember…" Hyness slowly spoke, aa if holding back tears.
"Uwah! Such love is lost? But… what love had been lost…?"
Zan Partizanne once again held no emotion, though her facade was breaking quick.
Hyness stared at her assistant, her yellow-haired assistant, as she tried to remember her name. "Ah, keke, I remember now. Your name is «●●●»!
It wouldn't come out.
It just wouldn't.
Why is it not coming out!?
"«●●●»."
"«●●●»," she repeated.
"«●●●»…?"
Hyness bolted out of the room as Zan Partizanne cried against the heart, her own begging for love.
Amorphost, Morphlike Entity
Created from the deepest heart of Jambastion's own ruler, this creature was born from the affinity of shadow magic that Hyness had on her, the full dose.
Made with vile intentions, this monstrosity seeks for a heart. It longs for a heart. And yet, it cannot find any hearts, any love. Thus, it tries other hearts for size, testing out their own capabilities, copying what already existed, because it cannot satisfy its own desire.
AN: Oh wow, another boss.
Yeah, this one wasn't in Star Allies, but I like throwing in these types of things just because. Not to mention, we've had these sorts of things sometime before.
This chapter really hits off the last one. Turns out Taranza isn't really Taranza, and that Taranza was just chilling in a cell room somewhere. He's vibing the floor, now.
Also, action! Thank god, I needed another fight sequence. This one lasts… somewhat longer, yes? Trust me, I can and I will make the boss fights terrible if I don't hold myself back and say it's for the good of the story. Like damn, I pictured a good fight and it only lasts 500 words? Hm.
...This far in and I just noticed that my underlines don't load into FFN. Thank god I use bold like a sensible person. Now, time to see if special characters load in…
Thanks for reading this chapter, and I suppose I'll see you all in the next one.