Phazon: The creek area isn't exactly one of the most interesting areas in Kirby 64 in my opinion, but it's a level nonetheless, so I have to flesh it out as much as possible. As I said, this will be a fully detailed novelization and nothing's going to stop me from doing so and making this a memorable Kirby 64 fic. Anyway, to bring others up to speed, Adeleine received her just desserts and everyone finds themselves at the creeks.
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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A Jewel of a Waterfall
Logs continued flowing down the gentle ravines as Kirby and Waddle waded through the water and over the rough, rocky paths. The pink puffball absorbed a Sparky creature as the entourage approached the rickety bridge suspended by some larger rocky cliffs.
Dedede climbed atop the rocks and began traversing the bridge, pushing away the annoying Bouncy spring creatures that got in his way.
Bringing up the rear were the ever happy Ribbon and the not so happy Adeleine, who was still griping over her incident with the fairy from Ripple Star.
"You didn't have to hit me so hard," Adeleine protested. "You've got the power of the shard behind you, so you're stronger than me by default."
Ribbon smiled, casually twirling the ever growing Crystal Shard in her right hand as she stared into the precious jewel.
"I could ramble on and on about how you deserved that, but--" Ribbon paused and picked a piece of fruit from a tree, "it's fruitless for me to continue, don't you think?"
"Stop making fun of me and using fruit as a metaphor!"
Kirby looked back as he discarded the Sparky and went for a Cairn creature when he heard some arguing. "Would you two hurry up and get up here with us?"
The two ladies (well, one, in terms of maturity) caught up to the rest of the gang as they saw a lone Poppy Brother tossing his bomb up and down.
"Are you all looking for the sacred crystal shard fragments?"
"Have you seen one come by?" Kirby replied anxiously.
The Poppy pointed ahead to the tunnel. "Fell somewhere into that cave…but, beware of giant crabs."
Adeleine nonchalantly picked up one of the smaller Kany crabs, which snapped anxiously to be freed.
"Like this one? Well, these are no problem for us."
Dedede started pushing the group ahead, eager to go on and leave this…strange little bomb man behind.
The rocky paths were rough enough, but the gang soon had to trek through the shallow waters and enter the mysterious cave.
The cave itself was lit by the strange glowing light emitted off of the flowers alongside, not to mention the ever fluttering Propeller creature that spouted ice in every which way.
Waddle Dee approached the rocky bridge and warily stepped on the first ledge. Surprisingly, it collapsed under the tiniest of steps. The red puffball looked back to the others and summed this obstacle up in one word.
"Run."
Kirby, Ribbon, and Waddle zipped so quickly across that you'd never notice the stony bridge starting to give way. One more step and it'd collapse there and then.
King Dedede felt a shove from Adeleine.
"You're the stronger one," she explained, "you go first."
The second that the king began running at full speed, he felt a tug. Adeleine held tightly onto his robe and didn't intend on letting go until they were safely across.
"Let…me…go…girl," Dedede strained under the weight of the little painter, but she wouldn't budge. Soon enough, Dedede had made it across the stony bridge, but Adeleine, holding tightly and being dragged under his weight, soon slipped and began falling…falling…falling into the dark ravine.
Waddle and Dedede looked to Ribbon with curious eyes.
"Do we have to?" Dedede asked.
Ribbon sighed. "I suppose we can't leave without her, and besides, I'll get to administer more punishment if she gets out of line again."
"Amen to that!" Dedede exclaimed.
"Amen to what?" Asked Adeleine, who was now wearing a jet pack she hastily painted as she fell. "They don't call me the princess of painting for nothing."
"But they don't," Waddle intervened.
Adeleine rolled her eyes as she disposed of the pack. "I'll ignore that."
Slip sliding on the waters in front of the gang was a Penguin, hoping it wouldn't be absorbed by the all mysterious Kirby, but the pink puffball paid him no mind and began climbing the ridge, setting his sights on the ablaze Bobo.
"And now," Kirby said, "we have some fun."
He took the brown elemental crystal from his mouth, waited for the Bobo to come in his direction, and threw it, hitting the target dead on. From this came a red and brown elemental crystal that Kirby absorbed.
"Come on, then," Ribbon called as the shard began to glow, "it can't be that far now."
It wasn't, as the entourage entered the next chamber and the exit shafts sealed shut. Before them was a complex structure of some sort, but everyone could hear the distinct sound of pincers pinching.
Ribbon floated underneath some wooden bridges and saw at the very top a Crystal Shard fragment that was protected by some red and brown surface that the shard couldn't penetrate.
"We'll just have to take out the Kany crabs first," Waddle concluded, "while Kirby can go for the big one."
And the plan went into action. Dedede and Waddle occupied separate levels and began taking out Kany crabs left and right, while the pink puffball approached the upper plateau and came eye to the with a giant Kany – bigger than any he'd ever seen. He was so distracted by the monstrosity that he was nearly sliced in half when he avoided the Kany's pincer.
Hopping left and right, Kirby got to the side and began testing out his new combination attack, which came in the form of a mini volcano he could call his own. Spewing from his top were molten fireballs that began burning the giant Kany. If it had a voice box, it would be screaming its heart out at being burned away, but it did not, so its death came in the form of a giant explosion that rocked the cavern the gang occupied.
Walking to where the beast once stood, Kirby put two and two together and began spewing fireballs again, shattering the surface as he saw the shard floating there. Of course, he got it and tossed it down to Ribbon.
The exit shaft crumbled as bright light broke through, revealing the forestland and ravines once again. Kirby slightly lost his footing and fell onto the logs beneath him, but one would never notice due to his puffy exterior.
The currents were too strong for any of them to take, even Dedede, so Waddle found and quickly crafted some wooden boxes that could be used as makeshift boats. The problem is that they weren't well constructed and could probably bust apart at any second.
Kirby, Ribbon, and Waddle occupied one, while Dedede and Adeleine…after multiple attempts, occupied another as they began to let the currents take them down.
The ride began slow and smooth, occasionally having to jump over some snapping Kany crabs and avoid some collisions with obstacles, but everything was turning out fine. The wind and currents carried them along as Ribbon spotted something glowing when they approached a waterfall.
"Shard ahead!" She exclaimed as she flew from the box and grabbed the shard fragment and safely flew back to the boat.
In the other boat, Adeleine was constantly screaming for her dear life as water splashed her, while Dedede grew impatient.
"Hey, Waddle," he called, "when's this ride gonna end?"
The answer came soon enough when both makeshift boats were careening over a large waterfall as they fell from their rides and landed in the water.
Kirby pressed on. Surely, they didn't need some silly old boats to survive here in the creeks, but something new was about to take place. Floating above the puffball's head was a candy cane surrounded by some type of mystical force. Of course, he couldn't help but devour it, but the second he did, he found himself taken over by a surge of energy as he started rushing ahead, down the ravines and leaving the team behind.
"Wow," Ribbon mused, "he sure loves his candy. Come on, we can't let him get away!"
Kirby rushed and rushed and rushed down the waterways, taking out the Sir Kibble knights that tried to halt him, the Floppers that flopped in his way, and the Nruff pigs that tried overtaking him. This moment of invincibility wouldn't last forever, as the puffball began losing his hyper nature and slowed to a halt at the bottom of a small waterfall.
"Whoa…killer sugar rush."
He turned around and saw that the waterfall behind him had a hollow center which housed a Crystal Shard fragment that he grabbed. Guess he'd better get it to Ribbon.
Soon enough, Kirby arrived at the end of this obstacle and looked ahead, never hearing the screams of his comrades as they scrambled on the dirt road behind him.
"Stop lying around, guys," Kirby complained, "stop sitting around and let's start climbing those waterfalls!"
As Kirby walked on, Dedede rubbed his sore forehead as he looked to Waddle Dee.
"Does he remember anything after eating sugar?"
Waddle shrugged what would be his shoulders. "You'd think so, but no."
Splinter logs aligned the waterways and began rolling involuntarily towards Kirby, who had to jump out of the way to avoid being shish-kabobed, the same went for the entourage who was dragging behind.
To quicken the pace, Kirby grabbed a Pteran bird nearby and hoped it would fly him high enough to avoid the logs, but the bird itself grew tired under Kirby's weight and dropped the puffball onto a platform.
A Galbo was about to burn Kirby alive, but the puffball made use of this and combined two Galbos in order to resurrect the larger fireball that could be used to propel himself forward.
Once he was high enough, Kirby launched forward, blasting through Pteran birds and Bouncy springs that couldn't get out of the way in time. More than that, he avoided all of the logs that he otherwise would have had to avoid the hard way. He arrived at the end of the waterway and saw none of his comrades.
After a good…fifteen minutes, Ribbon was the first to approach Kirby, battered and tired, protected by the shard's power. Waddle, Dedede, and Adeleine soon came afterward.
"I'm…going…to kill you," Adeleine declared as she took a step forward. She took another step and charged towards Kirby, who stuck his foot out and tripped the painter, sending her down yet…another waterfall. Of course, everyone followed suit and jumped after her.
Give it a good half an hour and now the gang stopped flowing down the waterfall and looked at their current location, which was nothing like the creeks they just came from.
Adeleine opened her eyes. "How'd we end up back at the beach?"
"Must be some sort of transcontinental waterways connected between the forests and beaches and the waterfalls washed us out to shore," Waddle explained.
Kirby got off of Ribbon and got ahead of the entourage, pacing back and forth like a general leading his squadron.
"Come on, troops," he said bravely, "let's get the rest of the shards!"
He began rushing down the sandy beach, leaving the others stunned. They walked on, but were confused.
Ribbon muttered under her breath. "To think I used to be the overenthusiastic one."
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Seems like Kirby is taking his role of leader a bit too seriously, but it's all worth it in the end, right? Tune in next time as the quest for the remaining fragments of the Crystal Shards continues. Next time on Kirby 64: Out of Darkness Comes Light! Read and review!