Phazon: Sorry about the lateness of the update, chaps, but school's been murder and I'm doing the best I can with most of my stories. Thanks for the feedback, particularly those on the animals from past Kirby games. I'd heard of them at the last second when I had already updated. Anyways, we've FINALLY reached the end of Aqua Star as Kirby goes into the sea alone to find the last Crystal Shards of the water planet. Enjoy the chapter and the fight that follows!
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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Acro and the Caverns
Kirby landed in the water with a thump, taking a minute to admire the beautiful coral strewn around him. The wonderful blues, greens, light purples…it all made him gasp in shock. How one can do that underwater I don't know.
As Kirby fell, he narrowly avoided the Squibby creatures: white seahorse looking things with pink faces and black eyes that shot three tentacles out of their heads. The puffball made sure to avoid the tentacles as he hit the sand at the bottom. He saw a purple light emanating from the strange looking chasm and swam in.
The underwater caverns were huge…amazing spectacles to see. Schools of Flopper fish swam to and fro. Kirby, swimming along the calm paths, absorbed one of the Pedos: green and yellow rockets with eyes that had the Bomb ability. This was sure to prove useful eventually, Kirby thought to himself. Kirby began swimming above some deep chasms when he noticed rocks began falling from above. It was no problem that the bomb couldn't solve. Kirby began bombing his way out (in…out, he's underwater, right?) until he arrived at another cave entrance that led him to yet another room.
Now things began to get interesting. The currents in this room were much stronger than those in the previous ones. Kirby couldn't explain why, but he felt as if he should stay as far left as possible. It could've possibly done him some good later on if he did as opposed to being washed away. Avoiding the crazy looking rock structures and fixtures, Kirby got a bit too confident and almost ran into a Gordo that was ready to puncture his puffy exterior.
"Phew," Kirby gasped, "that was a close one."
Finally, Kirby saw the top of the room, where some Bomb blowfish were swimming about. Kirby could make out the faintest glisten up there in the small opening above. It took some hard strokes and swimming against the current, but Kirby was able to retrieve the shard. There was no time to celebrate, however, as Kirby was washed away by the current and into the tunnel area where he sped along the route, coming in close contact with Glunks, Kany crabs, and explosive blowfish. In order to slow down, Kirby narrowly grabbed onto the strange purple coral pole that was able to hold him…for now.
"This isn't good," Kirby said to himself, "I'm sure to be washed out of here before I even get the rest of the shards."
Looking down, Kirby saw something shining amongst the coral, and lo and behold, it was another crystal shard fragment. Seems as if things were finally going Kirby's way, right? Wrong! A Kany crab waddled along and severed the coral that Kirby held on, causing the pink puffball to go speeding down the tunnel, colliding with Gordos and Fishbones in the process. Ouch, that was gonna sting later on.
Once Kirby came to a halt, he realized he wasn't in the same area anymore, but in a battle zone. He figured that by realizing the doors sealed shut behind him and a giant Blowfish was floating around the giant rock slab in the center of the water. It made no attempt to attack whatsoever; just went around and around! Unfortunately, the current wasn't with Kirby, who began tumbling in the opposite direction and crashing into the Glunks.
Kirby hid amongst the coral, trying to think of a plan so he could crush the giant Blowfish. He couldn't do this while the current was against him, so all he did was swim frantically until he got clear aim and THREW! One bomb connected with the Blowfish, but still it did nothing.
Two more shots after another rotation and still, the Blowfish made no attempt to fight back.
"This is gonna be too easy of a fight," Kirby muttered, "if he won't even attack me back."
One more bomb did the deed as the Blowfish exploded, but it left behind no Crystal Shard fragment. Ah, well, Kirby thought, time for the next shards.
Problem, though. The currently was devastatingly powerful as Kirby was pushed forward, earning himself mouthfuls of seaweed in the process. If that wasn't bad enough, he felt a giant rock smack him in the back of the head.
"What the--" Kirby turned around and ducked just in time to avoid a rock hitting him again. Tons of rocks were flying from behind and speeding in Kirby's direction before they crashed against the stone wall at the end. "This won't be good."
Kirby swam, ducked, and dodged as many rocks as he could, earning thumps every now and then until he landed in a safe zone that conveniently housed a crystal shard fragment. Finally, Kirby looked ahead and saw a light coming from an opening up above and swam for joy…until he was brought back to reality when a rock ran smack dab into him.
Of course, it did little damage. Kirby was so soft, it'd take an inferno at the least to harm him.
Hmm…an inferno?
Kirby swam higher and through the opening. He ended up in a larger, open cavern. Probably the largest underwater cavern he'd been in so far, he figured. No noise, no enemies, not even a fragment of the Crystal Shard awaited him as he arrived at what he perceived to be the last area of Aqua Star.
"Darn it," Kirby swore, "I thought the guy said something about a killer--"
SWOOOOOSH!
Something large and gray swam past Kirby. The puffball those bite marks as he rubbed his sore side before facing this underwater beast known as Acro the whale.
"You are Kirby, star warrior, are you not?"
Kirby was actually surprised that the creature was capable of speech, even more surprised that he actually understood every single word.
"That's me," Kirby responded, "and I take it you're Acro. I believe you have something precious to me."
Indeed, Acro did have something for Kirby: a skull head that it spat out of its mouth. Kirby narrowly avoided it before going on the offensive. He pelted Acro with bombs, but was too focused on fighting to avoid the spikes from the Golbo hitting him in the face.
"You haven't one yet!"
This time, Acro spat three skull heads at Kirby, but Kirby simply jumped from one to another and threw one final bomb at the mighty whale. Kirby was fighting hard, but exhausted. It was hard to believe that this was the same Acro that fought him before. Something didn't add up; this one was more villainous.
Either way, Acro sinking to the ocean floor didn't signal the end of the battle. The ground beneath him began collapsing and Kirby began swimming higher, avoiding all of the debris falling his way.
Acro was back for round two and began spitting out missiles, though Kirby combined one of them with his Bomb ability and created a new concoction: rockets!
Kirby spat out three simultaneous rockets that chased after Acro all across the sea until they hit their target. Acro grew tired, his life force fading. However, he wasn't going out without an ace up his sleeve. He backed down for a few seconds out of Kirby's view and then swam viciously toward the pink puffball in an effort to swallow him whole, only to come face to face with a missile. Acro groaned and warbled as his body began giving off steam. At last, the mighty whale of Aqua Star exploded and gave up the jewel. Kirby floated upward to grab the final Crystal Shard of the planet. Feeling triumphantly, he swam towards the surface.
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Under the bright, brilliant sun, Kirby and the gang looked towards the waves lapping against the sand. Adeleine picked up a rock and began throwing them towards the water in an effort to make them skip. Dedede and Waddle followed suit, but Kirby was to outdo them all. He picked up a rock…he leaned back….he winded up for the pitch…closed his eyes…and was washed away by a tidal wave.
When Kirby awoke, he saw Dedede and Adeleine jumping after Waddle into the Crystal Shard that revealed the next planet.
"Hey, wait for me!" Kirby yelled as he jumped too. The Crystal Shard glowed brilliantly as it was shot out of Aqua Star and headed towards the next.
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Neo Star was known for a lot of things; the climate, the jungles, the caves, the volcanoes…it was a complete package. For now, the gang found themselves in the midst of the jungle, except for Adeleine, who was swinging from the vines like a wild animal.
Unfortunately, the painter girl lost her grip and fell on top of Ribbon. Bad timing for both of the females. Instantly, Adeleine felt herself once again draped over Ribbon's lap.
"Oh, yeah," Dedede said, relaxing on a log alongside Dedede and Kirby, "this is gonna be a long one."
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Review please and I hope you enjoyed! Sorry if this was a bit of a bore fest, but that last level in Aqua Star isn't one of my favorites, so I tried to get through as much as possible. Next chapter will be up soon, so enjoy the story and we'll return with the gang's exploits on Neo Star next time.