A/N: O I I'm updating again I hope that's okay. I hope you wanted three new chapters of SoL because that's what I'm giving you today. Enjoy!
Blue eyes took another look over the new territory he had warped to, this time looking for some way to get down to the woods below the cliff he stood on. In front, there was nothing but scattered deciduous trees, but to his left was a marvelous stone formation that created something of a staircase into the wood. He darted down said stone stairs with haste, hoping that time was on his side in this battle. The sunlight above him was slowly absorbed by the leaves of the trees as he ran into the woods, half expecting some familiar enemies to pop out at him from the bushes. But there was nothing but silence. A silence that Kirby wasn't used to. There were no birds or bugs in these woods, nor were there any wild animals. Kirby skidded to a halt to make sure that this was true. No chirping birds or animals in the bushes were seen or heard. He shrugged it off, trying not to fear the place he was in. Besides, he had traveled through various woodland areas in the past, surely there wouldn't be very much difference between those woods and this one, right? Without warning the sunlight re-entered the woods, brushing past Kirby as he continued to run down the path. Now that there was more light, he felt much more safe and could see the path a little better. He continued to waddle down the dusty path, the only thing keeping him going other than a craving for apples was the need to see his friends again. The forest didn't cease to surprise him with how different it was from Dreamland. Every turn he took and behind every tree he expected there to be an enemy or food for him to eat, but to no avail. After what seemed like hours of walking he made it to the edge of the woods.
A gentle breeze carried tiny pebbles and rocky debris across Kirby's face as he took a brief pause to catch his breath. Interrupting his moment was the rustling of bushes behind him. He turned around to face the lush foliage, this time bracing himself for an attack. But none came. Kirby took a risk in standing still, making sure he wasn't alone. Some time passed, and the puffball concluded he was safe and began walking away. Suddenly, he was pinned to the ground by an unknown creature, feeling a cold hand touch him and toxic gas hit his lungs. He cried out as he turned to face his attacker head on. Oval shaped blue eyes met with circular magenta ones, making fear tickle Kirby's insides when he realized who he was facing. Standing just above him was Mario, dressed in dark purple overalls and matching hat with white undergarments. He let out a garbled groan as he gripped Kirby by his hand and threw him against a tree. The feeling of fear was too overwhelming for Kirby, and his instinct to run took over, driving him to run in circles. Mario followed very close behind, with animalistic growls emitting from his throat. He chased the puff through the woods and back to where the bushes were previously and further beyond that. When he got close enough to Kirby he grabbed him by the hand again and threw him into a rock like a baseball. The impact did little harm to his body, but temporarily stunned him. He fell to the ground with a poof, sending dust around him. Mario leapt into the air with his fist close to his waist, ready to punch him when they came close enough together. Out of panic, Kirby jumped up and kicked him in the face, causing Mario to sputter and fall to the ground. Both of them landed on the ground below, but Mario was the first to stand up with his teeth clenched and a fist launching towards Kirby. Kirby ducked just below the punch and tripped Mario before he could react further. Spotting an opening, Kirby grabbed Mario this time, throwing him back on the ground and delivering several consecutive hits to his chest. As if he didn't feel pain, the plumber got right back up and finally punched the pink puff in the face, sending him flying backward against another rock. Kirby slowly lifted his pink body up, trying to regain his stance as Mario charged at him again. His nerves frayed, the panic to great for him to think of what to do. As he saw Mario approaching as fast as he was, Kirby got an idea. He lifted one hand up in the air, summoning his hammer, and propped it over his body, letting its power charge slowly. When Mario was just barely close enough to hit him, the hammer caught fire and Kirby leapt against the rock he was thrown against to deliver a punishing blow to the plumber's head. He was rocketed into the air with the impact, causing smoke to follow him as he flew towards the horizon. He landed softly on the dirt below, exhaling with relief as his attacker suddenly disappeared from view. His eyes scanned the sky again, half expecting to see him return from the clouds above, but he didn't. "Poyo!" He cheered to himself as he turned to walk away. In a split second, something cold and slimy stuck to him from behind, pulling him the opposite way. His mouth opened to cry out, but was stopped when he was thrown into tree on the other side of the forest. Startled, Kirby lifted himself off the ground and peered up to see who his new enemy was.
Fear rose from the pit of his stomach again, as he spotted Yoshi looming over him with deep indigo scales covering his body and strawberry red eyes contrasting against his face. A long, slimy tongue lolled out the side of his face, which had slick looking suckers on the very end of it. A garbled noise similar to the one Mario made rumbled in its throat as the tongue proceeded to shoot out to him again, threatening to launch him in another direction. Kirby dodged out of the path of the tongue as quickly as he could, then followed his up with a kick to Yoshi's stomach, knocking the dinosaur off balance. Feeling sudden confidence fill his body, he then attacked more, this time punching him in the nose and his mouth. Yoshi hissed angrily at Kirby, but couldn't attack due to how rapid Kirby's were. Eventually, Kirby unleashed a powerful kick to Yoshi's abdomen, causing Yoshi to fall on the floor. Kirby stood up a bit taller than he usually was, trying to look bigger and tougher than he really was. That toughness disintegrated when three other Yoshi leapt out of the bushes with a snarl. The gang of Yoshi growled at him menacingly, closing in on him between the woods and the bushes behind them. "P-poyo!" he said, backing up slowly until his body felt something touch him again. When he turned around, he met with another pink puffball, this one with a deep violet red bow wrapped around its head that was torn slightly. Its big, beady turquoise eyes were staring directly at Kirby, which was only made scarier by the drool coming out of its oval shaped mouth. No sound came from it, but its expression said it all. What happen to friends?, Kirby wondered, moving away from all of his enemies as they circled around him. One of the Yoshi lashed its tongue at Kirby, who avoided it. The cold tongue whipped around the Yoshis head when it missed and ended up hitting Jigglypuff in the eye instead. The Yoshi retracted its tongue, growling at Jigglypuff as she turned her focus to them instead of Kirby. Within just a few seconds, the four of them were fighting each other, with Kirby watching a few feet away. Part of him wanted to find some way to break up the fight, but he also knew that these weren't quite his friends if they were turning on each other this quickly. Then it came to him. He lifted his hand up into the air again, letting the hammer appear out of thin air, and began to charge its power as his opponents mindlessly fought each other. Once the mallet caught fire he jumped on top of all four of them and gave the hammer a powerful swing.
With a loud crack, they were all separated from each other as their heads hit the trees behind them. Their bodies fell limp onto the green grass below without protest. Kirby silently studied their bodies from where he landed, half expecting them to get up and start snarling at him again. The smell of smoke wafted in his face suddenly, making him cough and choke on it. Each of the fighters' bodies were slowly melting like ice cream in the summer, with a filthy looking pastel yellow liquid dripping down the sides of their heads coating any other color they had on the rest of them. Kirby clenched his cheeks at the sight and the stench, trying not to vomit. Something else rose from the mysterious yellow carcasses, floating up above them and towards Kirby curiously. If he squinted a little, he could see faint faces inside them of organisms he had never met before. The first of them had the face of an owl-like creature, with magenta feathers covering white ones over its body. The second featured a creature that looked similar to a small dog or fox with its brown and tan fur and tall pointed ears on its head. "Hello there, mystery hero! Thank you for saving us both!" The first light said to him. "Poyo!" Kirby replied, still trying to comprehend what was floating in front of him. "My name is Celeste. I was looking for the mayor before I was swept up by some kind of blinding light and forced against my will to fight you in someone else's body! Its been so dreadful. Do you think you can help me?" She asked him. He lifted a hand to his mouth, taking a few seconds to think about her question before lifting both hands up into the air and giving her his most confident "Poyo!". She giggled at his adorable noises and floated closer to him. "So you'll have me then? Great! I don't know what I'll be able to do for you in battle, but I promise I'll do what I can to help!" Kirby hopped into the air with a smile on his face, clearly he was either excited to have traveling buddies or to have others help him find his friends. Both lights faded suddenly, making Kirby worry if they would come back for him. A surge of strength began to flow through his body now, making him feel lighter on his feet and overall more courageous than before. "Oh! I didn't mean to do that! How do you feel mister?" Celeste asked him. "Poyo! Poyo!" Kirby cheered. "You feel stronger? Okay, well how about we go find others like us? Maybe we can help them in return for their strength." Kirby smiled again, and turned back to face the dirt path in front of him. He climbed over a set of gray stones in front of him and continued searching for his friends.
A thick cloud of dust and dirt brushed against dark gray metal, earning a faint noise from it. The wind dropped the dirt underneath the enormous metal platform, helping to build a small mound that may as well have been man made. Kirby spotted the metal platform from about twenty feet away, staring into the colors it reflected from the sunlight and the curious glimmering substance flowing through the surface of it. He looked around again, and he cheered internally at the sight of one of his best friends. Mario was standing on one edge of the platform, this time with his usual red hat and blue overalls instead of some outlandish color like before. Though he had his back turned to Kirby, the puffball could already tell it was him just by what he was wearing. His body kicked into gear again as he darted to the platform with his hands just above his hands. He gripped onto one end of the platform and pulled himself on top of it, looking up to see his friend still turned to him. "Poyo! Poyo poyo!" Kirby shouted. Mario's head shot back to him, a pair of deep red eyes scanning Kirby's body briefly. He turned to face his former friend, a thread of drool spilling down over his chin and a low growl sounding from his throat. Now Kirby was regretting going after the person he believed to be his friend. Mario raced towards him with his hands outstretched, reaching to grab Kirby. He ducked just in time and tripped Mario over with a kick to his ankles. Mario groaned at the contact before Kirby brought another kick to the plumber's face. He skid against the smooth surface of the metal, feeling no pain whatsoever. Mario lifted himself off the ground, charging at Kirby again. Kirby bounded into the air, giving Mario three more kicks in the face and launching him backwards. Despite the direct hit, Mario was able to stand back up again, wiping drool from off his lip. He jumped up after Kirby, raising a clenched fist to spike the Popstarian down onto the hard metal. At the impact, Kirby felt his insides churn slightly. Upon his descent, Mario stretched his legs out and prepared to deliver a downward kick to Kirby. But the plumber underestimated Kirby's reaction time, and he managed to roll underneath his attacker before delivering a horizontal kick to him. Mario flew straight up in the air, trying to figure out what exactly was happening. Kirby followed close behind him, giving him a powerful kick to the face again when Mario began his descent. A loud growl came from the plumber when his head hit the metal ground, and he hauled himself up to stop an incoming kick from above. A gloved hand reached out and caught Kirby by his foot, bringing him closer to the plumbers body. A set of teeth came out of seemingly nowhere, digging into Kirby's flesh as the puff struggled for freedom. Mario removed his teeth from the spot where he bit Kirby and chose a different one closer to his right cheek, earning a pained cry from him. Kirby's foot came to repeatedly bash Mario under his chin in a desperate attempt to free him from the grip of his enemy. After about the fourth kick, Mario finally let go, allowing Kirby to thank him with a kick to the chest. Mario didn't go flying as far as he had before with the impact and rather stumbled backward. Kirby didn't waste any time in the fight, and followed the kick up with another very strong vertical kick. Smoke bellowed from Mario as he shot backwards to the other end of the stage. He took a knee and tried to recollect his energy, only glancing back up when he saw Kirby rushing towards him engulfed with bright red flames. The flames soon engulfed Mario as well, earning a raspy shriek of pain and knocking off the stage onto the dry ground of the desert about a foot below. Kirby peered over the edge cautiously, hoping that he would no longer have to fight Mario anymore. To his dismay, the plumber slowly rose from the ground, looking up ferociously at Kirby. The entire left side of his torso and arm was beginning to swell up like a balloon, showing the same pastel yellow flesh Kirby's earlier foes had. Outlining where the muscles on his shoulder, chest, and arm were almost charred, meaning if Kirby had been more precise with his hit he may have actually burnt the plumber to a crisp. Mario jumped into the air with a loud grunt, punching Kirby twice in the face making blood drip on his gloves. The Popstarian hit the middle of the stage with a quiet poof, with Mario chasing behind him growling loudly. He rose his fist up, expecting Kirby to stand up straight and knock him back down again, but Kirby brought his foot to hit Mario's chest. When the plumber was stunned, Kirby tried using his dash attack a second time, this time hitting the plumber a bit more accurately than before. Instead of launching him vertically, the attack only nudged him slightly backward, leaving him engulfed in flames again as Kirby stepped back and watched anxiously.
The yellow flesh began to swell up in his chest and right shoulder, raising up like yeast in an oven. Mario's mouth opened to an unholy width and screeched as loud as he could manage before the vessel bursted suddenly. Chunks of flesh in every size flew in every direction, covering both the metal platform and Kirby. A piece of it landed in Kirby's mouth, making him sputter and cough sickeningly. Out of the mess that was the now destroyed vessel came a floating light like the one Kirby had found in the woods. It floated closer to the ground and started to trace the outline of a shape that was familiar to Kirby. A glint of light caught Kirby off guard as the form of the real Mario appeared in front of him. Mario's eyes shot open, and he stumbled a little as he glanced around fearfully. "K-Kirby? Where am I?" He asked him. Kirby did his best to explain the current situation in his poyo language, which was difficult to understand, but Mario got the message. "So they're gone correct? That means its just us now…" Mario staggered to his feet, Kirby waddling beneath him to help support his weight. His eyes scanned the desolate environment, trying to understand the situation a little better. "So now we're in the middle of nowhere, huh?" He asked the pink puff, who nodded in response. Once the plumber's strength returned to him, he straightened his posture and stretched his joints out, earning popping from a few of them. "Do you think everyone else is somewhere here?" Mario asked him again. Kirby simply cocked his head to one side. "Maybe we could try to find our way around this place. We never know what we might find around here." Kirby cheered a little at the suggestion. "We should hurry though, its getting dark," He said, pointing in the direction of the setting sun. Though the sun hadn't set low enough to be dark at all in the sky, any blue it had once had was now turning a citrus orange with some yellow in between the sun and the sky. It was only now that Kirby began to realize how little he had done to try and save his friends; and how sleepy he was getting now. "C'mon Kirby. Let's see what we can find."
Jagged rocks and red dirt surrounded the structure that they had come across, making it look as if some unknown rock monster would shut its jaws on it. The structure itself was circular in shape, with four bridges connecting it between four different places surrounding the outside. Stone steps led to the center, with small ruins occupying it. Surrounding the very edge of the platform were huge stone pillars that were almost like columns, with moss and plant life strewn about on the surface of them. Stone pathways on every side gave way to bridges leading to a completely different scene. Kirby and Mario took in the sight for a few seconds, silently debating on what to do. Thick fog was on the left and right sides of the bridges, and the north bridge was too dark to see. Mario slid down the rocky side of the hill they stood on, approaching the structure with Kirby following suit. They climbed to the very top of it, taking another look around to look into their options. Very faintly in the fog one could make out little blue lights that were floating about aimlessly, except for the north bridge, which was completely dark. Mario double-checked their options atop the flat platform, then coming up with an idea. "Kirby. I have a plan. We should split up; I'll take the right, and you go left. Then we'll meet back here in the center if we find our friends. Got it?" Kirby smiled and nodded in response, striking a courageous pose at the plan. "Okay. Be careful out there," Mario told him, feeling fear rise in his belly as he prepared to leave the only friend he knew of on this world. Both heroes gave each other sorrowful, anxious looks before entering the darkness before them.