Phazon: Kirby and the gang are still on Rock Star, but I'm trying to create some conflicts and tiny quips between the characters. We know pretty much the jokesters, the mother figure, voice of reason, that sort of thing, but it won't conflict much with the main story at hand. Those of you who have played Kirby 64 know that most levels are not connected and we do not see how the characters progress from one level to the next, so that I'll have to come up with myself. By the way, the reason for the delay is on FF's part. The Document Manager is not letting me upload any HTM or doc file, so I unfortunately have to upload a txt document, erase that, put the Kirby chapter into here, and get everything formatted, so my sincerest apologies if anything does not come out the way it was when I typed it. I hope is able to fix the problem, otherwise I will be editing and sorting for quite some time, but I will not dawdle with the chapters. Plesae enjoy the next chapter of the Shard saga.

Disclaimer: The characters, storyline, setting and all of that in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards belong and are the sole property of Nintendo and HAL Laboratories only, and I don't have them locked away in chains anywhere. Best to get the legalities out of the way before someone tries to sue. I aim to give the readers something to enjoy, but not have my story deleted by an NOA executive.

-------------------------------------------------

Shards in the Ruins

Kirby awoke to the sound of tolling church bells. He groggily turned on his side and came eye to eye with King Dedede, who was eying him suspiciously.

"Welcome back to Rock Star, kid," the king said to the pink puffball. Kirby felt as if much time had passed since he had fallen in asleep, when, in fact, not much had happened at all.

"How long was I out for? Feels like I've been sleeping for days and months and we were too late to save Ribbon's planet from darkness. Oh, goody me, now I have guilt! I couldn't help it, but Adeleine prepared such a delicacy for us to feast upon, from the cakes and pies, to the little treats--" Kirby's words were cut off when Dedede covered his mouth with his own.

Dedede had to chuckle. "It's only been twenty minutes." He pointed to his left, where Adeleine and Waddle Dee were occupying themselves with a football Adeleine had painted. Ribbon stood on the sidelines and watched.

Standing on his feet, Kirby looked at the others. "Only twenty minutes? Well, guess we'd better get moving."

The others overheard Kirby and followed suit. Kirby had disposed of his electric/rock combination in lieu of something different. As he picked up the lone Sparky, he saw three pillars in front of him with Kacti creatures bouncing atop them. Once he jumped, then twice, then on the third jump he threw the wailing Sparky and it combined with the Kacti, bringing forth another concoction. Kirby jumped onto the pillar and absorbed the elemental crystal.

Ribbon was continually amazed at how much she was learning about Kirby. She couldn't believe that this random generator of various power combinations was the same innocent creature she met on Pop Star. She flew to his side as he hopped down the third pillar.

"Kirby, exactly how many combos are that you can create?"

Kirby smiled and continued walking. "Ribbon, you haven't seen anything yet." His attention was diverted by a shadow on the grass in front of him. He and Ribbon looked up to see a Scarfy floating above them. Kirby looked to Ribbon and told her to back up. When the fairy was far enough back, Kirby's body changed shape, this time into the form of a small lightning rod. Immediately, a bolt of lightning struck Kirby's body and obliterated the Scarfy. Seconds later, Kirby returned to normal.

Adeleine ran towards Kirby to congratulate him, but she stopped when she eyed a mean looking hammer that stood parallel to her.

"Those are Hacks," Kirby told the painter. "Small stone hammers that like to rush right through anything. Best you be careful, or…Adeleine, wait--"

Adeleine charged towards the stone hammer with a similar hammer that she painted. She was sure she would win the duel, but her hammer was soon shattered and the Hack tackled Adeleine so hard she flew into the pillar behind her. As the Hack laughed to itself, it felt a tap from someone else. Once it turned around, a giant hammer came crashing down and crushing it. Dedede grinned whilst he heard the Hack screaming under the weight of his hammer.

Waddle Dee went to help Adeleine, while Dedede made sure there was nothing on his hammer. There was nothing, but before he could walk on, he heard a faint rumbling noise, but thought it nothing. The second he tried to move on, Dedede was pulled back by Kirby in time to stop him from being crushed by the giant pillar in front of him.

"Thanks for the save, puffball," Dedede said to Kirby as he cautiously approached the next pillar. In all, there were four pillars, but Dedede found his way over when he grabbed a Pteran bird, which was entirely not enough to take the King's weight. He safely landed on the other side next to some Bouncy springs and waited for the others to make their way across. Ribbon, of course, flew, as did Kirby when he floated over, Waddle Dee was able to jump the entire distance, though he had to carry Adeleine on his back in the process.

Dedede led the others up the small ascending staircase as he smashed through another Scarfy creature that eyed him wrongly, as he did with the Ghost Knight that tried to block their way. As he stopped for a second by a pillar, he heard a thump come from the other side.

"Sounds like something big and angry is on the other side," Ribbon said softly.

Kirby took a peek and discovered it was only a wild Nruff: hairy, brown pigs that loved ramming into whatever they saw fit. This one in particular was running between two pillars without a care in the world. As it ran towards Kirby's direction, it gobbled down the chocolate ice cream bar that Kirby was eying. The puffball was now fuming mad. It immediately went down on the Nruff and pounded the life out of it, but it didn't cough up any ice cream.

"And I'm really hungry, how do you like that?"

Adeleine jumped across the floating platforms above Kirby, as did Waddle Dee and King Dedede, who was quick to take out another Scarfy that didn't get a chance to eye him. Kirby joined them, but tried something different. In front of him were a Sparky and a blazing Bobo creature. Normally, Kirby avoided combining Fire and Electricity, but he had to give it a shot. He absorbed the Sparky and spat it at the running Bobo, creating a new crystalline that Kirby absorbed. Waddle Dee approached Kirby and spoke.

"I'd be care if I were you, Kirby," Waddle said as he pointed to the stone arches before them. On top of them were Rocky creatures, basically rocks with eyes and legs that fell on top of anything beneath them. Kirby, being as calm as he was, took out a thin electrically charged sheet of paper out of nowhere. He looked to the others.

"You all may want to move back," he advised. He then rapidly rubbed the sheet of paper on his head for about seven seconds, and immediately at the seventh second, Kirby's head was aflame and he found himself blazing down the path and past the stone arches.

"Friction burn, I assume," Ribbon said as she flew after the burning puffball. Adeleine, Waddle Dee, and Dedede took out the Rockys that fell when Kirby passed, then caught up with Ribbon and Kirby.

When they finally caught up with Kirby, with the flame dead, they saw he was staring at the strange fixture in front of them. It must have been a building in the form of an ancient coliseum, but completely ripped and torn down until only…these remains were left.

Kirby examined the structure from top to bottom and started floating to the top of it, where he came eye to eye with a pair of Mumbiess- floating gray and white balls that had no way of attacking except for floating into someone. Kirby floated for a few seconds and blew out a small puff of air that obliterated Mumby 1 and 2. As the others made their way up to Kirby's location, they all saw a sandwich floating there, waiting to be eaten. Adeleine stepped forward.

"I should get it; I'm the youngest one here."

She was quickly pulled back by King Dedede, who told her that growing kings of prominent lands should feast on such a sandwich, but Waddle Dee was making his way towards it himself, before being tackled by Kirby. Ribbon saw the commotion, pocketed the Crystal Shard and grabbed the sandwich herself. The second she was about toeat the sandwich, the others went on the offensive, but the tiny fairy shielded herself with an ability she learned on Ripple Star. The others were so busy fighting amongst each other that they didn't notice that the ground they were on was beginning to crumble.

Adeleine was quick to worry. "Anyone else notice that cracking noise?"

It was too late, the cement gave way and the gang fell onto a lower level with another pair of Mumby creatures eying them and the sandwich. Finally, Adeleine made a stupid mistake.

"Buzz off," she said to both of the Mumbies as she grabbed the sandwich and threw it at one of the enemies. Instead of it just hitting it, the Mumby's center opened and it consumed the sandwich. Content, it flew away, with its jealous and hungry counterpart following behind it.

Do I dare look behind me? Adeleine thought to herself. Finally, she thought it'd be best that she didn't turn around, so she jumped to the lower level, with the gang on her tail. Before Adeleine could even land on the next level, she was grabbed by her ear by Ribbon, who gave her a stern mother-like look.

"What are you gonna do?" Adeleine inquired. "Is Mama Ribbon gonna beat me because I threw away the sandwich?"

Just as Ribbon was going to bring her hand down on Adeleine's bottom, the Crystal Shard was reacting again. Kirby and Waddle Dee went to check it out.

The two were on the last level of the strange cement structure and were about to be punctured by a Ghost Knight when the floor suddenly gave way and the puffballs landed on a tiny platform above some dirt…which was holding a Crystal Shard. Waddle Dee grabbed the shard and the two whisked away before the Ghost Knights could even pull out their lances and strike.

All landed on solid earth again outside of the structure and began walking towards a large building in front of them. A Kacti bounced in front of them, but Kirby grabbed it and tossed it towards another Mumby that was floating their way. As the group walked towards the building, Kirby smelled cake. Not a lot of cake, but it was something that would keep him filled. Waddle noticed that Kirby had a strange grin on his face and asked why.

Kirby tried to cover his grin. "Um…just glad to be finding those shards pretty quickly, that's why!" The others went in, whilst Kirby jumped on top of the arch atop the entrance, gobbling down the piece of cake.

Kirby walked into the building, which wasn't exactly as lit as he expected it to be. It wasn't also connected, as he hoped it would be. Instead, platforms were aligned in their path, leading to the exit on the other side. Seemed simple enough to jump from platform to platform, as a certain plumber did in his past days, but this time there were some ghostly looking creatures that were throwing globs of fire down on the entourage.

"Are those Noo creatures?" Kirby asked Waddle Dee, who replied he wasn't sure. They all began jumping across the platforms, but the glint of a Crystal Shard fragment caught Kirby's eye, though the shard itself was floating right there near the darkness. He took one quick jump down, grabbed the shard, and tried desperately to float back to the top, but he could only get so far. "I'm not gonna make it!" Kirby wailed as he nearly grabbed one of the ledges, but found himself falling…falling…rising…ascending back to the ledge by Ribbon's hand.

"Now, you didn't think I'd let you fall, did you? After all, I did land on your head back on Pop Star." The two comrades continued along the platforms and headed into the next room.

It was a more open, expansive area than the previous, and had large polls of water that seemed to stretch for miles, but didn't in reality. There were no bridges to cross the water, just some floating blocks that could be used as stepping stones.

Adeleine walked over to the edge and looked into the water. "I can see my reflection at last!" After admiring her face for a few seconds, she stepped onto the first block, mindful of the Pteran bird that kept flying back and forth, possibly throwing off her balance. As Adeleine made her way across with Dedede following behind her, ready to push her into the water, a Flopper suddenly emerged from the depths of the water. Floppers were red and yellow fish that lurked below the waters and waited, but they did no real harm to anyone. Adeleine stared at the water for a second to see if more were coming.

"Come on, fishies, I want to get a good image so I can draw one of you."

Suddenly, Adeleine felt her body moving forward without her command, the water coming closer and closer into view until the painter found herself submerged in the drink. Dedede had since made it to the other side and was laughing his head off from Adeleine's misfortune. The painter had no time to retort, for some Floppers were soon interested in the girl's shoes and gave chase. Adeleine swam and swam and swam some more before finally reaching the ledge where Dedede was eager to kick her back into the water. She had other plans, as she quickly bit down on his leg.

King Dedede ran around and around with Adeleine chomping down hard on his foot, all while screaming "She's bitten me! The little brat bit me!"

Waddle Dee came and tried prying the girl off of Dedede, though it ended with all three of the clowns plunging into the water.

Kirby and Ribbon made their way across and helped the three out of the water, trying to calm them down in the process.

Adeleine was the first to protest. "Well, he shouldn't have pushed me in the first place!" Before she could protest more, she felt a sharp sting across her bottom through her skirt. Floating behind her was Ribbon.

"You need to stop being so immature at your age. I'm not your mother, but I will spank you like I was. I did grow up around predominantly women, after all."

This conversation was interrupted when everyone realized they were standing on a large marble colored block. It didn't seem problematic, but it did when the stone started ascending by itself to the top where it would be smashed against another rock, crushing anything else in its path; meaning the gang. Everyone quickly jumped off and landed safely on the ground, but Kirby saw that they were in front of a menacing Kapar: green ducks with green pointy crowns that would throw them. These creatures contained Cutter powers, but Kirby wasn't in the mood for dawdling. He picked up the Kapar and threw it into the unsuspecting Ghost Knight that was situated on one of the floating platforms above.

"Excuse me for a second, everyone," Kirby said, "but I'll be back in a jiffy."

To make sure he did, he rubbed the charged paper against his head once again and shot out of the large room like a lightning bolt. He returned just as quickly, explaining that he wanted to absorb a Rock creature for its power, just in case.

Dedede saw that there was another one of those large marble slabs in front of them, so everyone had to hurry up and rush across it before they were crushed. This continued until they reached the end of the path, where there was a Flopper flopping on the ground. Somehow, it had been taken out of the water.

Adeleine cautiously approached the fish. "So little fella, you wanna be back in the water? Well, here you GO!" With that, she kicked the fish far, but it did land safely in the water as if nothing had happened. The painter thought about laughing and jeering at the fish, but she got a stern look from Ribbon, who had her hand whipped back as if to strike again.

The problem was reaching the exit, at least it was problematic for Adeleine, Waddle Dee, and King Dedede. The exit was on a high ledge of stairs that were situated far up. Kirby and Ribbon simply floated to the other end, but this wasn't easy for everyone else who lacked wings or flight abilities.

Floating in front of them were three Pteran birds, perfect for the situation at hand. Waddle Dee went first, running at full speed and grabbing one of the pink birds, demanding that it take him to the top. The Pteran bird instead pecked at the red puffball until it fell into the water.

Adeleine had painted herself a jet pack that she was going to use, but she wasn't getting away that easily. She felt something holding her back.

"You gonna paint me one of those new fangled paint machines right now!"

Rather than protest and possibly incur the wrath of King Dedede, Adeleine whipped out her easel and painted another jet pack that immediately fell out of the easel and into Dedede's hands. They both strapped their packs on and rocketed towards the high staircase where the others were.

Meanwhile, Waddle Dee was contemplating on how he could reach the ledge, all while he was still sinking in the water. He never did notice he was standing on another large gray marble slab that started rising out of the water and towards another slab at the top.

"Waddle, move out of the way!" Kirby called to his ally. Waddle looked up and immediately jumped off, landing aside Kirby, who had found the exit to the large room. As they walked through, they found themselves outside, but upon looking over the edge, they were a lot higher than they were when they first entered the building.

"How'd we end up all the way up here?" Waddle Dee asked while scratching his head.

"You've been traveling throughout the castle, have you not?"

Everyone's attention was directed to the Ghost Knight standing in front of them, ready to attack.

"Have you come to battle Pix? Well, you will have to come past me first!" Kirby's body suddenly became solid rock as the Ghost Knight stabbed once and only once, ruining his lance. Kirby gave him a good mega punch that sent him off of the pathway and down the side of the castle, yelling all the way down. The puffball turned back to the others.

"Well, let's continue along."

They walked along, but were wary of a few things. Some cannons in the background were firing at them at will, along with some angry Pteran birds that suddenly swooped in to strike, then flew away, but everyone kept their heads together and walked on. Adeleine approached a pair of Galbos: tiny red and white dinosaurs that had a special ability that the painter was soon to find out.

"What a neat looking dinosaur!"

Kirby was well aware of the special ability that Galbos possessed. "Don't touch it!"

"This is one of the coolest things I've ever--" Adeleine didn't finish her sentence, for the Galbos opened their mouths and breathed piping hot fire on the young painter. The Galbos shrugged past the others and walked in the opposite direction. Adeleine was struggling to put out her ablaze body.

"Don't just stand there, put me out!"

Kirby had an idea. Floating above Adeleine was a Propeller creature. Propellers were blue balloon creatures floating by their propellers, which didn't seem like much, but they did possess ice powers. Kirby grabbed a Propellor and tossed it at Adeleine, extinguishing the flames and calming Adeleine. Ribbon came to Adeleine's side with a stern look on her face.

"Just one more time and--" Ribbon made a slapping noise with her hands, and that was more than enough to Adeleine to think that a fairy like Ribbon would be stern enough to actually administer a spanking to a naïve painter girl.

Kirby, Dedede, and Waddle cleared the path of Sparky, Ghost Knights, and other creatures and entered the next area. It seemed a bit more intricate than the others due to its enclosed space. In front of them was a thick brown wall that Kirby and Waddle tried smashing, but to no avail.

"It's too thick," Kirby said, at last, "I can't budge it."

Dedede took out his hammer and brushed Waddle and Kirby aside. "Stand aside, my turn." The King winded up and brought the hammer down, smashing the wall completely and revealing a chain that led to higher levels. Dedede summoned for Kirby to get on his back…half-heartedly.

Everyone followed Dedede as he smashed through some more walls and found a ladder he could climb. He was cautious, but Ribbon told him to go ahead and climb, for the Crystal Shard was reacting to something up ahead.

Kirby jumped off of Dedede and floated to see if it was safe, which it wasn't, as there was a Galbo waiting to burn anything that came in its line of sight. Kirby kicked the Galbo into the wall and called out that the path was clear. Dedede made his way across some gaps and found another wall, which he smashed completely. Behind that wall was another Crystal Shard fragment that Ribbon added to the growing one.

Kirby pointed out the weak walls that Dedede obliterated in seconds and the gang continued climbing chains until they reached the top level. There was an exit in front of them, but they were unsure of where it led to. Kirby cautiously approached the edge of the exit and saw there was only a dark pathway in front of them, but there was light at the end of the tunnel, so everyone plucked up courage and walked through until they found they were…back in the desert, but there were no pyramids, no cacti, no enemies, just a long stretch of road with a suspicious black hole in the center of it all.

Endless grains of sand were leaking down this hole that led into what appeared to be an underground cave. Adeleine was hesitant to jump, but the Crystal Shard reacted wildly to whatever was down there.

"Come on," Ribbon said, "let's get down there and find those crystals!"

No one jumped into the hole all at once, but there was a way to figure out who would go in first. Dedede made sure of that.

"If your name is Adeleine and you act like a brat, jump in."

The painter may have been young, but she was not all that ditzy as she had been made out to be. "I'm insulted you'd say such things about me, why I may have a few--" Adeleine continued rambling until her back was turned and she was facing the hole. Waddle Dee whispered to Dedede.

"Send her for a ride."

Dedede gave one shove and Adeleine found she was once again falling, but this wasn't water she was heading towards. She rushed to paint another parachute so she could land with ease. Dedede once again forgot about that, so he and Waddle jumped after the painter.

Kirby looked to Ribbon and smiled. "That wasn't unexpected." "You got that right," Ribbon responded as she took Kirby's hand. "Shall we?" "Yes, let's!"

The last two jumped down into the hole as the search for Crystal Shards on Rock Star continued.