Phazon: Well, I didn't think we'd get to the point where someone found fault in the persona I gave Adeleine, but it was bound to come eventually. Let me say this for the record: I do not hate Adeleine and have no ill will towards her. I just felt that she would be a bit immature seeing as she is the only human character on this journey and still, in essence, a child. Fair enough, I'll lighten up on the so-called bashing of her character and try to make her more involved, but as far as Ribbon being the sort of mother figure to her, I don't intend on stopping that. To answer Ganon Smash, I'm no Adeleine hater and though you may feel it's OOC, I felt it necessary to have someone be a bit naïve, and it's only your opinion about who is OOC and whether or not D should be the smart one or not. If you don't feel it's funny, same for LoveMyPumas, you know, all I can say is put up or shut up, as you're taking this way too seriously and need to focus less on how they're portrayed and more on the story as a whole. I'm not angry, but I want to clarify that I don't hate her character.
Moving right along, we move to a more interesting level in Kirby 64, the mines within Neo Star. Sit back and enjoy the chapter.
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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Mining for Shards
This wasn't the first time Kirby had been falling downwards before. Through the course of his adventure, he could name opportunities when this same thing happened, but this moment was different.
Adeleine tried grabbing onto one of the stalactites, but they were far too slippery for her to grab on. Suddenly, she saw something shiny come closer into view.
"G-guys!" She yelled. "There's a crystal shard over there that we're gonna miss!"
"I can't float over there from this distance," Kirby yelled back, but Adeleine always had a plan.
The painter quickly took out a sketchpad and drew a gigantic bat, then looked to Dedede.
"Yo, King, smack Kirby over here and I'll send him into the shard!"
"Wait a second, I didn't agree to any--"
Before Kirby could finish, he felt the blunt end of Dedede's hammer slam into his puffy exterior, sending him towards Adeleine, who smacked him higher in the opposite direction towards a certain jewel. Kirby grabbed the shard fragment before falling through the chasm with the rest of the gang.
Upon falling through the crack, Kirby, Waddle, and Adeleine landed in a conveniently placed cart on an even more conveniently placed track, while Dedede and Ribbon landed in another cart.
"The heck are we?" Dedede asked as he rubbed his forehead.
"This must be the innards of Neo Star," Adeleine responded. She happened to know a lot since she occasionally traveled to Neo Star for inspiration.
It was then that Kirby felt the mine cart moving forward as he saw Waddle Dee had gotten out and started pushing the carts from behind until they picked up enough speed for him to jump in.
"Um…everyone," Ribbon piped up, "where are we going?"
"We'll find that out when the track ends," Dedede replied.
Dedede, however, wasn't able to keep the cart from running over a Poppy Brother, decked in his blue and white parka, and three Kany crabs in the process.
"JUMP!!" Ribbon yelled when she saw that huge purple rock blocking the way, but Dedede pulled the obscure lever in the mine and the cart lifted into the air, over the air and crushing two more flaming Bobo creatures.
Soon enough, the tracks were now broken up into midsections and the gang constantly had to stay on the higher level to avoid falling to certain destruction.
At a certain point, there was another Kany crab that Dedede's cart had missed, so it was able to pull apart a section of the track that Kirby's cart missed, catapulting it forward and over another purple rock where Adeleine quickly grabbed a floating Crystal Shard fragment.
"You guys!" Ribbon yelled from her cart. "Slow down and wait for us!"
But it was too late; Kirby, Waddle, and Adeleine went sailing ahead, practically squashing any enemy that was in their path. They were moving so fast, Pteran birds soon started pecking at them to get them to slow down.
"THEY'RE PECKING MY EARS!!!" Kirby wailed.
"You don't even have ears!" Waddle retorted as he avoided a stalactite that nearly connected with his face.
A Gabon jumped into the mine cart and started clubbing Adeleine with its club, but she quickly kicked it out and saw that, as the cart went deeper and deeper into the caverns, the path would soon end.
"Um…you guys?" Adeleine said cautiously as she tapped Waddle and Kirby.
"Complain later, Adeleine," Kirby yelled as he tried fighting off numerous Pteran birds and Sparky creatures that were trying to zap him to oblivion.
Sighing, Adeleine quickly painted herself a hardhat and put it on as she saw the end of the track come closer into view.
Kirby and Waddle Dee suddenly looked forward, then screamed at the top of their lungs like babies as the mine cart crashed against the broken end of the track, sending the cart up into the air and careening even further into the caverns.
Ribbon had a blank expression face as she turned back towards Dedede.
"Are you too heavy for me to carry?"
Dedede grunted. "What do you think, fairy girl?"
Ribbon sighed, then looked back to the Crystal Shard, which she was sure had enough power for some form of protection.
"Hold on to me," she told Dedede as a protective shield began covering the two of them. They still felt the sudden jolt from the mine cart hitting the broken section of track and falling after the others.
Ribbon and Dedede landed smoothly on the ground next to Adeleine, who had since taken her hardhat off. On the ground, with swirls in their eyes, were the dazed Kirby and Waddle Dee, who hit the ground just a bit too hard when their mine cart shattered upon hitting the ground. Dedede approached the pink puffball and started poking him with his hammer.
"Wake up, pinky," he said to Kirby as he began opening his eyes.
When he did, Kirby led his troop down the wet, rocky paths. Eventually, they arrived at a point where they saw a shadow and looked up, seeing the creature that cast the shadow was an I3: green cubes with an eye on them. They loved to come crashing down on anything under them, as other creatures have wanted to do.
"I've got an idea," Kirby said, making the motion as if he would snap his fingers. He quickly zipped off and was back in a second with a hardhat on whatever his head was.
"So now you're copying me?" Adeleine asked, placing her hands on her hips.
"It's for the dynamite power up," Kirby replied, "which is a mix of rock and bomb elemental powers. Hopefully, if I set it down here, the I3 will be blown up when it crash lands."
Everyone turned tail and hid somewhere, whilst Kirby threw the dynamite on the I3's shadow, cautiously moving under it so it would come down. Instantly, the I3's single eye looked down and saw a being. The I3 came crashing down while Kirby ran away, though when the I3 landed on the dynamite…nothing happened at all.
Kirby slightly came from behind the stalactite and was amazed that the I3 survived; they must have been made of some tough substance to survive dynamite.
"Huh…well I'll be," he said as the others approached him.
Instead of trying to come up with another plan, they just waited for the I3 to go back into the air, and then ran quickly across like mice. They then ran under some blocks, avoiding the arrows from three Fishbone creatures.
Dedede was walking along when he saw some large holes embedded into the walls on his left. The second Waddle tried walking across, he was pulled back by Dedede, who saved Waddle in time to avoid being devoured by a Glom; frogs that live inside hole in the walls that enjoy eating something and then spitting it back out.
"You could've gotten eaten…AGAIN!!" Dedede screamed at the top of his lungs, his scream echoing throughout the caverns.
"Let's just go," Adeleine muttered, slapping her forehead in frustration.
There was another series of I3 creatures, yet the number of spaces to hide seemed to decrease each time. Next, more and more Glom frogs seemed to come out of the holes, but they tried grabbing Kirby with their tongues, believing he was a piece of cotton candy, but Kirby threw some dynamite on their tongues and when the tongues retracted back into the mouths of the Glom frogs…KABOOM!!!
They walked on, ignoring Kirby's naivety and avoiding the bullets shot by the Wall Shotzo situated on a block.
After avoiding yet another I3, the gang continued walking up the path, occasionally getting splashed by globs of water or, in Dedede's case, pinched by Kany crabs. Eventually, they walked through the shaft and entered another, larger cavern.
Wall Shotzos were aligned throughout the ceiling, some of them hanging onto stalactites and constantly shooting down at random targets.
As Kirby jumped to the next ledge, he found it was a bit slippery. Quite obvious, seeing that there were waterfalls that were drenching the ledges. He suddenly found himself slipping on the water, only for Ribbon to rescue him from falling towards darkness.
Dedede suddenly stopped at another platform upon hearing a 'squish' noise, indicating that he'd stepped in something that was not water. He had stepped onto a Drop: blue jelly-like substances with red dots in the middle that usually dripped from stalactites.
"EWW," he moaned like a schoolgirl, "I STEPPED IN WATER WITH A RED DOT ON IT!!"
"…No comment," Ribbon said, rolling her eyes.
The ledges started descending lower and lower until the entourage arrived on one ledge that was completely clear. Walking through the cave, they emerged in another larger cavern that had pools of clear, purplish-blue water with Kany crabs strewn about.
A Zoos; yellow guys that float on dark clouds and throw thunderbolts at their foes, was floating above. Kirby would've taken the opportunity to absorb it, though he felt the dynamite would come in handy, so Waddle laid waste to the little guy.
As Adeleine avoided falling over a Flopper fish, she saw that they were descending even lower; the paths descending sort of as a waterfall would, yet the flow of water was a lot less strong. On one level where the water level was a bit higher, there were some holes with water in them, but Dedede regretted getting his face close to one, only to have a Squibby: white seahorse creature things with pink faces and black eyes, hit him in the face with its tentacles.
"Well, it'll come in handle some way," Adeleine concluded as she picked up the Squibby and used it as a sacrifice to destroy the Zoos that tried to shock the gang with its thunderbolts.
Kirby made quick work of the Kapar that tried to slice him in half with his crown before sliding down a stalactite and noticing the obscurity in the wall behind him, that was strangely colored black and brown.
Ribbon approached the wall and tapped it. "It feels a bit hollow, almost as if it can be broken easily."
"Lemme at that thing," Dedede boasted as he stepped forward, giving the wall three hard slams from his hammer, but to no avail. It was then that he felt a hat being placed on his head.
"For protection," Adeleine said as she winked at Kirby; obviously noticing the plan. She then placed similar hardhats on the heads of Waddle and Ribbon.
Kirby took out a wad of dynamite, ordering everyone to hit the deck. They all got the idea and hid inside the tiny water holes whilst the puffball threw the dynamite towards the wall before running himself.
BAM!
When Kirby looked up, the smoke had cleared and there was no longer any wall, but a Crystal Shard fragment that he snatched up instantly.
Everyone recomposed themselves and walked through the dank cave entrance to wind up in a strange room aligned with rocky, brown tiles. When the cave entrance behind them was sealed shut by a large rock and the entrance before them already locked, they took out their respective weapons and prepared for battle.
As opposed to some huge, destructive, MASSIVE, enormous foe to battle, the gang had to contend with…
"An army of DROPS?!" Adeleine exclaimed loudly, putting her hands on her hips. She then approached one of the Drops and watched before turning back to the gang. "Look at them; they don't even move!"
"Give it a rest, Adeleine," Ribbon told her, "with all the bosses we've encountered, a break like this is good. So let's savor it and kick some Drop butt!"
"All right," Adeleine said, at last, though she was hoping for a more challenging enemy.
Waddle and Dedede slammed dozens of Drops into the walls left and right, never tiring from the onslaught of water droplets. Adeleine painted herself a mop and took the Drops out, janitor-style, Ribbon simply stepped on a Drop one after another.
Kirby, on the other hand, had to stand on the sidelines this time. He willingly accepted; as he was sure that using dynamite in such a…confined space was sure to do more damage than wanted.
Eventually, everyone else had defeated all of the immobile, worthless drops, and the entranceways opened, leading the gang into a bit of a more open space. As Kirby stepped off of the platform to the lower level, he nearly ran into a Gabon that wanted to thrash him with his bone, but Dedede came hammering away and obliterated it.
Before them was a series of rising and descending platforms not unlike the gray marble slabs seen on Rock Star.
"On my mark," Kirby commanded the troop as they prepared to run, "three…two…run!"
Kirby sprinted forward and was followed by Waddle and Adeleine, yet Dedede and Ribbon had to wait for the slab to lower before coming to join the others.
As they progressed, avoiding the slabs and getting crushed, Adeleine began to feel a little…a little…a little…
"CLAUSTRAPHOBIC!!" Adeleine yelled at the top of her lungs as she felt the spaces getting narrower and smaller.
There was a section where there were two slabs as opposed to one, crushing anything that got in between them, including the Galbo that was so caught up in its argument with the Glunk that it didn't notice it had stepped exactly between the two slabs when they came together.
At last, another slab lowered and revealed a bright light, signaling that the gang had reached the end of their excursion in the caverns. When they walked through, Kirby had to shield his eyes from the light, but when he adjusted, he saw that they were high up in the sky, near the mountains.
Adeleine scratched her head in confusion. "How'd we go from the bottom of Neo Star to the top that quickly?"
The Crystal Shard began reacting once again; a shard had to be close, and I mean very close by.
"No time to explain," Ribbon said as she began flying forward, but for whatever reason, Adeleine had zoomed ahead of her and was running away faster…faster…faster…
Adeleine was gone.
Dedede brought his hammer down on a Mariel spider and groaned. "Here we go again."
And so, the quest for more shards and Adeleine continued on Neo Star.
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Phazon: For those who have played Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, you will understand why I am having Adeleine go farther ahead, as she plays a vital role in the level that will be elaborated on in the chapter to come. For those who haven't; fear not, Adeleine hasn't been shut out of the story; she's just going to work on something a bit more vital at the moment. Well, I hope you all enjoyed this installment of the story as the gang gets closer to their goal of eliminating darkness and stay tuned for the next chapter of Kirby 64: Out of Darkness Comes Light.