Phazon: At this point in the story, veterans of The Crystal Shards should be familiar with what should be coming up in the next chapters, but here's a recap for those who don't. The gang's found some of the shards on Rock Star and are about to trek an underground cave for the rest of the fabled shards. By the time you know it, the gang will have gathered them all and be on their way to the next planet, but let's enjoy the story until then! Still experiencing some problems with the document manager, but hey, that's all part of isn't it?

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.

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Beneath the Sand

Adeleine, Waddle Dee, King Dedede, Kirby, and Ribbon all landed on the sand, which was not normally yellow, but gave off a purplish hue due to the darkness in the cave. All around them were giant misplaced buildings blocks that children may have played with, and among those, skeletal creatures and bones were littered throughout.

Kirby stood to his feet with Ribbon at his side as they took a long look at the underground cave. It was quiet, though the sound of water lapping could be heard, but far away.

"Come on, then, let's get some more Crystal Shards."

They commenced, walking forward on the sand, which evidently started seeping into their footwear, except for Adeleine, who had packed up her normal shoes and donned a pair of sandals she painted. Dedede looked at her feet and laughed.

"You know that they're gonna dissolve once we reach the waters."

The bright smile soon faded from the painter's face, but she refused to let it spoil anything. She would simply enjoy the relaxation her feet had for now and worry about the problems later.

Up ahead were some stationary skulls, appearing to be stuck in place. Kirby cautiously poked one, and immediately, the four of them rose and took flight. These creatures, Boneheads, were skulls that remained dormant, then took flight and tried landing on top of anyone who happened to be traversing underneath them.

Three were now hovering atop Kirby, who was simply waiting for them to come crashing down. When they did, and Kirby, still possessing the single stone power, turned into Stone Kirby as his entire body now became solid rock. The Boneheads cracked upon impact, while the fourth one scurried away.

A sandy hill was slowly being formed, but it was due to an open crack in the earth that allowed more sand to seep in. Situated at the top of the hill was a Galbo, but it was quickly disposed of by Waddle Dee. Continuing along the path, which began to become more and more solid, a Mite suddenly emerged from the ground, earning a punch from Kirby's rock hard fist that sent it backwards into the ablaze Bobo.

Above were some blocks that Boneheads were situated on, but Waddle Dee jumped up, crash landed on one, and tossed the other a far distance off. Further ahead were some Bo's: black balls with eyes that simply floated in the air, knocking into someone if they got close enough. Everyone made their way around them and came face to face with a huge skeleton of what appeared to be a dinosaur. The bones were so hard, it was as if the creature had been abandoned underground for years, maybe even longer.

In the mouth, which was visible due to the skeletal features, was a glowing Crystal Shard, though no one was able to fit through any of the spaces. They'd have to find another way around, so they climbed atop the head of the dinosaur and started descending its back. Kirby thought he could pick up speed if he became a rock and rolled down the back quicker, but as he sped up, he was interrupted when he fell through a particular brown colored bone that was weaker than the others.

Kirby then saw that he had a clear path to the Crystal Shard, but blocking his path was a Gabon: little blue guys with skull helmets. They would throw bones at first, but when they realized they couldn't win, they'd throw their helmets and hightail it out of there. Kirby didn't give this one enough time to do either. The puffball grabbed the Crystal Shard and emerged from the mouth of the skeleton, disposing of the single Rock power in the process.

"There's some quicksand over there, but it doesn't look like we'd die if we fell through," Waddle Dee pointed out as he looked to the far end of the cave.

Everyone kept moving along, though Kirby, feeling the need to speed things up, picked up a Golbo and ran back to where he saw a Bobo creature. He combined the two fire powers and once had the double fireball combo. He shot himself over to where the others were taking care of some pesky Bo's and Boneheads.

"Bah," Adeleine said as she swatted a Bonehead away with her easel, "they just keep popping up like flies."

"No worries," Ribbon said, pointing to the sand funnel at the end of the cave. Adeleine approached it and placed her hand in the sand.

"It…looks like it'll suck us in and won't spit us back out."

"So the girl who can paint it all is a coward?" Dedede mocked. He wasn't in the mood to argue, so he just pushed the girl into the quicksand, with him and Waddle following behind, with Kirby and Ribbon not too far behind.

They didn't die. As opposed to sinking forever, the entourage landed on top of a small sandy hill that resembled an anthill. To their left and right were sand whirlpools, either one possibly being deadly, but there was one problem.

"Where's Adeleine?" Waddle Dee asked, scouting everywhere but up.

Adeleine was standing atop some of the large blocks and jumped off to surprise the gang, but instead landed flat on top of Ribbon.

"You should've gotten out of my way!" The immature painter scoffed, but Ribbon was fuming.

"That's it, girly! Paint me a belt right now!"

"But--"

"Do it!"

Kirby eased Ribbon and Waddle Dee in the direction of the left whirlpool. "Um…how about the three of us take this whirlpool, and you two take the other one?"

Adeleine was silently thanking the stars that she wouldn't have to take a licking from Ribbon, though she wasn't exactly happy to be stuck with Dedede alone for sometime. They jumped down the right whirlpool, while the others jumped down the left. Ribbon was still cross.

"That girl needs a good spanking, and before this is over, she'll get one."

Waddle Dee laughed. "From you?" But his laughter died when he got a menacing glare from Ribbon.

The three landed atop some blocks in a separate chamber. It had to be a trap, for the exits suddenly filled with sand that blocked their paths. Kirby looked down and saw a giant Fishbone creature firing wildly into the dark, hoping to get a first strike on Kirby. Fishbones were fishes made of three triangles that each decreased in size, but were able to fire their heads at an enemy all while regenerating their lost heads in the process.

"Waddle," Kirby said, "I'll get the big guy, and you get the little guys. Ribbon, stay up here so they don't try to steal the shard."

They all agreed and went to work. Kirby jumped down and became a blazing fireball, charging into the giant Fishbone.

The stunned, giant creature fired its head at Kirby, who dodged and launched forward again.

Waddle Dee grabbed the head of one Fishbone and threw it at the other, causing it to explode upon impact.

It took no time at all for Kirby to do away with the giant Fishbone, and apparently, better that the three of them took the left route. The Fishbone being defeated was the key to reopening the entrances to the separate tomb. The three jumped down and landed in a larger room, but their exit gave them access to another Crystal Shard fragment. Ribbon was quick to retrieve it.

To their right were bored Adeleine and King Dedede, who landed there from the start and were waiting for the others to arrive. Adeleine yelled over to them.

"Did you guys have any luck?"

Adeleine, however, did not press her luck by asking any more questions, seeing the stare that Ribbon was giving her.

"Look," Kirby said, looking and pointing ahead, "there are some more sand whirlpools that'll probably get us out of here…or take us deeper into this cave. We'll hopefully meet up at the exit."

Two on one side, three on the other, the gang charged down their separate pathways, knocking along Sandman creatures as they ran. They jumped into their separate sand whirlpools and wound up in the same room together again. All landed atop some more sandy hills and began running along until they reached one of a series of pits that could be traversed by the floating platforms that were situated above quicksand.

On the other hand, Adeleine figured that these sand whirlpools were just like regular ones, and just as she was about to dive headfirst in, when a Snipper emerged from the sand. With its large jaws, it was about to crush Adeleine until the painter was saved…once again by the mother figure Ribbon.

The painter was flustered. "Please, don't do it, not in front of the guys."

Ribbon didn't respond, just grabbed a nearby Chilly: snowman creatures that…gave off ice elemental powers, just as it was about to attack. The fairy turned it in the direction of Adeleine, who was immediately frozen by the snowman's attack. Ribbon patted the Snowman on the head and Kirby grabbed the frigid painter girl.

Everyone made their way over some more hurdles and pits, avoiding the sandy traps along the way, with the exceptional pool of water that housed some Flopper fish and Glunks underneath the surface. Glunks were yellowish anemone with red tentacles that would spit strange balls at attackers, but since they were in water, they posed no serious threat.

The last hurdle came and the gang was wary of the Snippers that were hiding under the surface. Kirby blew through the last Gabon with his fireball attack and everyone arrived at the end of this level of the cave. It was a pool of water that seemed to hold entrance to an even lower level of the cave. The four jumped down, surprised at how quickly they were making progress, which was slightly due to the fact that the painter was frozen solid…for the moment.

Kirby landed in the tide pool first, followed by Waddle, Dedede, and Ribbon. There were some more pits of sand, but there were no platforms to traverse across. Ribbon was able to fly across, though Kirby had some difficulty, him carrying the frozen painter.

"Ribbon, can't you just beat her like a normal mother would do instead of freezing her and making me carry her?"

Ribbon put her hands on her hips. "When she thaws, I'll see."

"We're wasting time," Dedede said as he threw Waddle Dee across the gap. He, however, had a bit more difficulty, as he did not have the…physique to launch himself across the gap. Instead, he walked towards the center and waited for the Snipper to rise.

"What are you doing, Dedede!" Waddle exclaimed.

Dedede smiled and assured them all was fine. "Something I should've done a long time ago!" As the Snipper emerged, Dedede repeatedly brought his hammer down on the creature, hoping it would have enough lumps to succumb to its sandy pit.

"Take that, ya lousy, flippin' scorpion thingy!"

It took a second for Dedede's mind to register that his hammer strikes were doing barely any damage to the Snipper, so he simply hightailed it and rain, but not without getting his foot pinched in the process by the Snipper.

Ribbon felt something tapping at her while she waited for Dedede to trudge all the way up the sand whirlpool, but she turned around and saw it was a Mariel spider that was eying her shard. The girl from Ripple Star shrieked, but not in horror.

"Get away, GET AWAY FROM THE CRYSTAL SHARD YOU FIEND!"

She didn't realize until too late that she had kicked the Mariel spider into the next pit, where it was devoured by a Snipper that was soon satisfied that it had been filled.

Slowly, but surely, everyone had traversed over the last two pits and they arrived at a body of water.

"Well, this looks inviting," Waddle said sarcastically, "we don't actually have to go down there, do we?"

"It may be the only chance we have of finding an exit," Kirby responded. "Otherwise, we may be stuck down here forever and turn to skull and bones like all those other creatures."

"So let's get down there and mosey on outta this cave!"

Yes, Adeleine had defrosted in time to see the underwater passage. The painter took a few steps back before running at full speed towards the drink.

Adeleine yelled out as she dove. "Look out above!"

As she landed in the water, Waddle Dee yelled after her. "It's look out BELOW! BELOW! Oh, I'm gonna teach her something about words!"

Wouldn't you know it? Waddle dove after Adeleine, with the others following behind. As they headed toward the tunnel, it revealed a sort of narrow cavern where the pressure would push people down. The entourage began descending down, dodging the various shots coming from the Fishbones lined across the walls.

Ribbon found she was descending a bit slower than the others. Not too slow, but she wasn't keeping good enough pace with them. Adeleine saw this and tried to help. Her speech was made a bit clearer by whatever came through the bubbles.

"Hey, Ribbon, I know how you can sink faster." Adeleine didn't try swimming upward, just pushed as hard as she could. Ribbon didn't understand at first, but saw the advantage when a huge bubble emanated from Adeleine's backside and the painter began to descend faster.

"Ha-ha, I did it!"

It was then that Ribbon recognized that same grimace on Adeleine's face – when Ribbon awoke on Pop Star, she had that same…problem in the morning, but she wouldn't let that get to her again. Instead, she, with time, fell to the level of the gang, and they found another exit shaft, but it lead into yet another room.

The current was still against them, but the Crystal Shard reacted to whatever was above them, so they'd have to fight through the current.

As Kirby ascended past the various Fishbone shots, he looked above and saw some giant skeletal bones falling towards him. It narrowly missed him, but it didn't end there. There were various giant bones falling with the current, so the gang had to be careful to avoid getting walloped with someone else's remains and bones.

Upon reaching the level where the exit was, Kirby was quick to swim up to the Crystal Shard fragment and return to the safe area before being crushed by another giant bone. The exit shaft, strangely shaped like a dragon's mouth, was their exit out.

"Come on, now, let's get out of this cave!" Kirby called as he led them through.

They swam and swam and swam some more, wondering when they'd reach the surface. Their prayers were answered when they entered a clearing. It was an underwater pool that was situated right where they wanted to be…smack dab in the middle of the desert.

Adeleine jumped out of the water and her attention was soon focused on the giant black and purple pyramid that was some distance away.

As the others emerged from the watery depths, they too saw the pyramid a ways off. The Crystal Shard began reacting wilder than ever.

"The rest of this planet's shards must be on that pyramid."

Suddenly, the pyramid began to move, and it was soon arising out of the sand and levitating in air.

"You mean that floating pyramid!" Kirby said to his comrades as he began running towards the pyramid. "Come on, gang, it's high time we got the rest of the shards and got off this planet!"

And off they went.

Not many shards remain on Rock Star. Things are looking up for Kirby and the gang. Next chapter, the mysterious pyramid and Kirby's decision.