Phazon: Finally, we've arrived at Neo Star, one of my favorite planets to play on. Sorry for the shortness of the last chapter, but as I mentioned, that one is kind of a bore to me, so I wanted to get to Neo Star as quickly as I could. Thanks for your feedback in the last chapters, particularly Wii-rock, and though the last chapter was short, I'm hoping this one will make up for that. Enjoy the next installment of the story.

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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The Mighty Jungle

Dedede grabbed a coconut, carved it, and used both ends as earplugs to drown out the sound of Adeleine being spanked yet again by an angry Ribbon.

"Sheesh," Waddle scoffed, "how many more can that girl take?"

Kirby sighed; he didn't want this to continue happening, but deep down inside, he was laughing his head off. Does Kirby even have a head?

"The more…you whine…the harder this will be…" the others heard Ribbon yell over Adeleine's cries until the painter had finally calmed down.

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Neo Star's jungles were full of lush and ample forest life that stretched for miles. Other than the screech of wild monkeys from afar, the jungle was very quiet.

Kirby, equipped with the flaming sword, began slashing away at the vines and stumps that hindered his path. He disposed of the ramming Hack that came rushing towards him and prepared to jump over the stump when he froze in his tracks due to an arrow that had landed a few inches in front of him.

Yarikos were natives of Neo Star and loved to throw spears at anything considered an enemy…which was pretty much anything that wasn't another Yariko.

"So this is the group trying to get the Crystal Shards," the creature said. "Well, try getting past me."

Gladly.

Waddle Dee came crashing down on the Yariko's head, obliterating it from existence.

The gang began jumping from log to log, avoiding troublesome Mariel spiders that would drop from the trees and try to abduct them. Adeleine, as usual, began to get a bit big headed and began running faster.

"We're going through this jungle too slow," she yelled to the others, "I'm going to clear the road ahead!"

"No, you fool!" Waddle yelled at the painter, but it was too late.

Adeleine opened her eyes and saw the spike pit in front of her. The girl screeched as loud as she could and put on the breaks, her feet just inches away from the edge.

"Phew," Adeleine said, wiping sweat from her brow, "that was a close one."

Unfortunately, this moment was short lived as a Pupa spider came crashing down, knocking the girl unconscious. The Mariel spider began to ascend into the trees, a smug expression on its face for being able to knock someone out.

Dedede walked up and began poking Adeleine with his hammer. "Well, maybe this is a blessing in disguise." He then picked Adeleine up and slung her over his shoulder as he jumped onto the wooden platform and then to the grasslands again.

Waddle walked along the grassy pathway, trying to see if he could find any shard fragments. He didn't notice the strange discoloration of the path as he stepped on a certain bush and the ground gave way.

"WADDLE!!" Kirby exclaimed as he rushed after his friend, but the ground underneath was not booby trapped, but instead, was solid ground.

Ribbon surveyed the scene and formed a conclusion. "Guess all of the ground here isn't hollow, but that doesn't mean it won't contain some type of trap either."

Kirby jumped on some floating platform, causing the Pupa spiders to drop down on instinct. They all met the feel of Kirby's fire sword as he slashed through them. Then, there was a shallow area of water they approached.

"Strange that there's water in a dry, humid place like this," Kirby said, withdrawing his sword and slashing through some Kapar creatures that had nothing better to do than pester him.

After jumping across the giant logs and busting through Pupa spiders, Kirby and the gang came to another series of logs to jump over. The difference was that when Waddle slipped and fell, this time, the ground wasn't hollow underneath the grass, but aligned with spikes. The red puffball went white instantly and was pulled out by Ribbon.

"All right, that's enough," Kirby concluded, stopping on the log. His stopping threw the pace off and Waddle, Ribbon, and Dedede had to put everything they had into keeping a finite balance. "If this grass that I jump onto is hollow, I'll swallow my own hat."

"You don't own a hat!" Ribbon protested, but Kirby wasn't listening. He jumped onto the grass and it immediately gave way!

"Kirby's dead!" Waddle cried, never looking down, but assuming the pink puffball had been punctured by spikes.

"I never got to hit him with my hammer!" Dedede complained.

Kirby then jumped up to their level, a Crystal Shard fragment in his hand as he smirked and ran onward. The others joined him and they walked through a tunnel that'd been carved through a tree. It led them into a very narrow mountainous space with vines strewn everywhere.

"Come on," Kirby said, running ahead and paying no attention to the fact that the cliff they were standing on would end, "let's go get some more shAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAArds!!"

Ribbon looked over to see that Kirby had landed on yet another platform below…with another jewel in his hand.

"Ha!" Kirby said triumphantly as he climbed up to their level. "Eat it, anyone who's never found a fragment on their own."

The trek up the mountains proved difficult. Dedede, who led the way, had to fan away any random purple pterodactyls that got in his way as they jumped from branch to branch. They eventually reached the level where there was an exit shaft, Waddle nearly being punctured by a Yariko's arrow. They walked through the tunnel as Adeleine sprung back to life.

Instantly, they noticed this area was a lot wider than the jungle had been. There was no grassland seeing as there was no land at all save for where they were. To reach the opposite end, Kirby and the gang would have to do so by using vines. Well, except for Ribbon since she could just fly over there.

Kirby made like Tarzan and began swinging from vine to vine, occasionally missing the first attempt and waiting for the vine to come back. A Bumber floated down from above and knocked him down a little but, but it hindered him not.

"Swinging across is kind of easy for me," he explained to Ribbon when he landed on the other side. "I did it all the time back on Pop Star with trees, so it's another nature."

Dedede was the next, fearful that the vines would collapse under his weight and he'd fall into the land below. Ribbon was not about to attempt flying him over, for he was far too heavy for that feat.

Waddle followed suit, followed by Adeleine, who simply painted herself some wings and flew across. Ribbon took this as a mock.

"Oh, so now you think you can sprout wings and fly whenever you want to, right?"

Adeleine shrieked and hid behind Dedede. "No, not again! Not twice in one day!"

"Guys," Kirby interrupted, pointing to the tunnel, "let's keep going."

The fight stopped and the entourage continued, but Waddle came to Kirby's side.

"Come on, Kirb," he said, "don't tell me you don't think all these fights are hilarious."

"I do," Kirby replied, but then looked back at Ribbon, "but I don't want her to find that out if you know what I mean."

"I don't."

They entered another narrow region comprised of some grassy platforms and a skinny bridge. The exit and entrance tunnels were sealed off by high amounts of shrubbery as Yarikos materialized on the platforms and before Kirby and the gang, a giant Galbo.

"All right," Kirby called as he withdrew his sword, "I'll take the dino and you guys stop the Yarikos from interfering."

Dedede took out his hammer and jumped to tackle the Yarikos, as did Waddle and Adeleine, though Kirby had to maintain his distance from the Galbo, which, he remembered correctly, breathed fire.

But the fire here was unlike that of normal sized Galbos; these flames could've turned Kirby into a marshmallow in a second.

Kirby got in three solid strikes with the flaming sword and managed not to get burned, but looked in horror when the Galbo expanded and got ready for the final breath of fire.

"Kirby, watch out!" Waddle yelled as he prepared to jump down, but Ribbon beat him to it. The fairy from Ripple Star shielded Kirby with the power of the Crystal Shard, which produced a protective barrier to shield them from the flames that leapt about, threatening to destroy the bridge they were standing on.

"Kirby," Ribbon called, "strike now while I can still hold this barrier up!"

Kirby nodded, withdrawing his sword as he jumped into the air and did a nosedive, sword first as the fiery blade blazed through the Galbo's flame attack. Soon enough, there was a massive explosion as the Galbo was split in two by the flaming sword.

Amidst the smoke stood Kirby, triumphant with blade in his hand as the others jumped down to join him. They left the zone just as the bridge behind them collapsed and the shrubbery dematerialized.

It was another drawn out area with no ground underneath. Now, instead of single vines, there were logs held up by four strong vines from above. Clearly, everyone would have to jump from log to log and hope it would support their weight.

The jump from log one to two was simple enough, yet the third continued swaying back and forth, back and forth, back and forth until Kirby was the first to jump onto it successfully. The others joined and continued jumping, yet had to duck to avoid the Pupa spiders dropping from above. Two more swaying logs until there were more stationary ones, but when Kirby jumped onto it, he had to float into the air immediately, for it didn't support his weight and collapsed. Luckily, as Kirby ascended higher, he grabbed another shard fragment that he tossed to Ribbon. The two of them reached the end.

"Who's gonna go first?" Dedede asked, waiting for Adeleine to protest, but she did not.

"I know, I know," the artist muttered, "just give me a boost."

The boost was a kick to the booty, which launched Adeleine towards the ground where Kirby was standing. Dedede and Waddle made their way over with little difficulty as they ran into the tunnel.

There it was again: lollipop that drove Kirby into sugar rush mode. Before anyone could do anything, Kirby gobbled the lollipop and felt his body overcome by a powerful force as he propelled himself forward, blasting through the Yariko's arrows and the pink Flora flower creatures from above. He ran through the cave, leaving the others trailing behind.

"You'd think," Dedede muttered to himself, "that a puffball that eats so much wouldn't get so hyper with some candy."

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Kirby recomposed himself while wandering through the cave when he suddenly felt Ribbon smack him upside the head.

"This would make this another sugar rush for you."

Adeleine rubbed her still sore bottom. "Why does he only get a slap on the head while I get one on my--"

Ribbon clenched her fists. "Would you like another one?"

The artist immediately shut up.

Suddenly, the Crystal Shard began reacting wildly, but the source was underground.

Dedede withdrew his hammer. "I got a way to do this. Everyone stand back."

"Why?"

The answer came when Dedede slammed his hammer down harder than he ever had before, creating a giant crack in the earth as the gang found themselves…plunging towards certain trouble yet again.

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Phazon: Well, I didn't know how to tie in getting to the end of the first level and entering the next, so I'm hoping this is enough. If so, I'd appreciate your feedback, but if not, meh…nothing I can do about that. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and the next one will be up soon.