Phazon: Thanks for not abandoning the story and still holding out. This level is a long one with its many layers, but I squeezed as much out of it as I could. I hope you readers have a happy holiday and New Year and don't worry. The story will continue as Kirby and company get closer to the face-off with Dark Matter on Ripple Star.

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Shards in Toyland

"I hate toys."

Dedede tapped his hammer against the slow conveyer belt he and everyone else rode, except for Adeleine, who was picking at every brightly colored object she saw. Dedede had ridden slugs that moved faster than the conveyer belts did and they were dying.

Kirby helped Waddle onto the next elevator before looking back at Dedede. "Come on, Dedede. We're so close to finding all of the shards and you're complaining about being in a toy factory."

In front, Ribbon clenched her teeth and fists. "It's not a toy-"

Cold water doused Ribbon's rant and had the fairy covering herself as she tried to remember she was inside, not back outside in the snow. She looked up and saw Adeleine, with a dripping bucket, riding the next elevator. "Why did you do that?"

"Look ahead."

Ribbon squinted at eyes at the small red rock at the top of the elevator. She shrugged when she realized that nothing was happening, except something did begin to occur: the rock began to get bigger and bigger until Ribbon realized it was rolling towards her.

Before Ribbon could react, Dedede jumped in front of her and bashed the rock of the conveyer belt, but it kept rolling on and on and on into a nearby room until…

CRASH!

Kirby didn't have ears, but he still winced at the crunching glass and spilling bolts coming from the ground floor room. The rock roller, a laughing Putt worm, tried to inch away but came under attack by Dedede's hammer.

The four rushed up several levels in a vain attempt to catch up to Adeleine, who was already at the top, pointing to something in the distance. "You guys, you guys! It's another shard thingy!"

Waddle Dee swatted away two Bouncy springs pouncing on his head and couldn't hear Adeleine's announcement, but Kirby heard everything. He inhaled and began to take flight in order to see the level Adeleine was pointing to, but gravity was not on his side and he fell back to the elevator before he could grab a nearby ledge.

Ribbon felt tiny tremors coming from the Crystal Shard, but she couldn't see the fragment either. She looked to her left, only more snow coming from outside, and ahead, another Putt work rolling a rock down at her. This time, however, Ribbon remembered she had wings and flew up and over the rock and kicked the Putt down to its doom.

When everyone arrived at the elevator where Adeleine was standing, they turned around and saw a faint glint in the distance. The shard laid on a faraway ledge, too far away for Kirby to try and fly to if he wanted that jewel.

"See? I told you I knew where it was! You guys always think I'm wrong because I'm young and-" Adeleine's rant halted when Dedede hoisted her into the air by her skirt.

"So you like to talk, right? Let's see if you can fly."

With the color draining from her face at the thought of becoming a human missile, Adeleine kicked her feet and wiggled around to try to get out of Dedede's death grip, but she did not budge. "C-come on, I can just paint myself some wings and fly there myself!"

Waddle protested. "Yes, but this is faster."

Amidst the rambling, Ribbon sighed with disgust before flying over and nabbing the jewel, muttering something about how penguins shouldn't be put in charge of castles and little girls shouldn't have easels with art works that come to life. When Ribbon returned landed back on the ledge, she walked past the screeching Adeleine and pressed the "Up" button on the wall. It wasn't until thirteen seconds later when the bell rang that everyone stopped yelling and the elevator door opened. Ribbon inched her head towards the others.

"I have the shard, now let's go."

Everyone scrambled into the elevator, though Adeleine almost lost her right foot since Dedede dropped her in order to get into the elevator first. She rushed to one end of the elevator in order to catch her breath. Her breath came out in labored puffs as she pointed accusingly at Dedede.

"You tried to kill me!"

But Dedede kept his stance. "You're just a brat who doesn't like to learn how to fly! Sometimes in life, you have to take risks if you want to get the prize!"

"Then why didn't you go?!" Adeleine threw her paintbrush at Dedede, who, and Kirby, moved out of the way before it bounced against the wall.

"Your body is light enough, and if we lose you, then we can steal your stuff since you're just a little kid!"

Adeleine's blood boiled and she clenched her fists. Before she could charge forward-

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!"

Silence penetrated the elevator and the only sound was the quiet hum of ascension as the elevator continued its way up. All eyes zoned in on Ribbon, who was pressing her hand against the stained glass on one side.

"You both are acting like idiots, so don't try to out argue one another! Adeleine, Dedede is right: risks do have to be taken if we want to find all of the shard fragments-"

"HA!"

"-but not for the sake of amusement or pain."

Adeleine's tongue was almost out of her mouth, but she noticed that Ribbon could see everyone's reflection in the glass and decided against it.

Ribbon continued as the elevator began to slow down. "We don't have them all yet…but we're making progress. It's almost over…"

As the elevator doors parted to reveal another level, the darkness in Ribbon's mind and the fog surrounding Ripple Star began to vanish simultaneously. Yes, putting everyone's life on the line meant a few sacrifices, but she was not about to let any of them die for the sake of her own matter. In the end, she realized that she had to handle the problem herself.

"…so what more can we do?"

Ribbon floated into the room with everyone- Adeleine and Dedede at least five feet away from each other for now- trudging behind her in silent recognition.

Kirby's eyes ran in zigzags across the room. The lime floor complemented the turquoise, violet, and bronze trees that slept on the side of the space. Two Sawyers, miniature red and gray saw blades, began carving down the middle and sides of the level in an attempt to bring down the floor. Waddle Dee noticed this and uprooted a nearby Mahall blob by its green hat.

The Mahall tried to squirm around, but it didn't have hands or legs. "H-Hey, what are you doing?! I'm gonna-"

Waddle Dee threw the Mahall at one of the Sawyer saws and sent both smashing into the wall while Kirby rushed the others into the elevator before it left. "Come on, Waddle! If the room goes, we should go!"

As the doors closed after Waddle Dee jumped in, the remaining Sawyer stopped cutting up and realized that the perpetrators had fled. A faint creaking sound echoed throughout the room and the Sawyer began to sweat bullets when it realized what it had done. The last move it made was a quick rotation to the left as the ground began to split.

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On the second level, Ribbon winced when she heard something like an explosion ring in her ears as the lower level collapsed on itself. Lights flickered on and off, paint chips peeled from the walls, and Glom frogs ducked back into their holes.

Nostalgia hit Adeleine on the head as she slid down one of the giant triangles and imagined herself back on the playgrounds, but like other playgrounds, there was the school bully, and Dedede was there at the end of the triangle to halt her fun. "Something wrong with you?"

"I feel like I'm back in nursery school!"

Dedede swung his hammer over Adeleine's head. "You're gonna wish you were back in nursery school when I'm-"

Before Dedede could finish, Adeleine scurried off into the elevator along with Kirby and Waddle Dee. Dedede felt a shiver run down his spine when he heard the rapid fluttering of Ribbon's wings. "How about you start moving?"

Everyone whisked into the elevator. Kirby jumped up and down at the thought of reaching the toy factory again, but when the door opened, his reaction was the opposite. "Another level?! This toy factory stinks!"

Adeleine, however, rushed into the room with a huge grin. "But look, Kirby! This one's more fun than the others!"

Pupas, the familiar red, black, and yellow Hershey kisses creatures, dropped down from their suspended ropes, but jumped back up in horror when three smiling Ticks became straight needles ready to puncture and point. Fun wasn't the right word, but Adeleine and Kirby just looked at one another. "First one to the end gets to take Dedede's hammer!"

"What?!" the king yelped from behind.

Kirby and Adeleine ran forward, swinging from one Pupa to the next as if they were back on the jungles of Neo Star. Ignoring Kirby's Tarzan yell, Adeleine took out a scrap of paper and painted a pair of scissors. She looked down at Kirby and cut the Pupa's string, sending the both of them towards a waiting Tick.

"HEY, YOU CHEATED!" Kirby floated back into the air and tried to become a lightning rod again, but he stopped and remembered he got rid of that power up in order to find something better.

Adeleine flipped off of a giant blue block and strutted into the elevator with pride written on her forehead. "Ha, I beat you, Kirby!" She looked over to the approaching Dedede. "So I guess I get to take your hammer."

Dedede said nothing, he just grabbed Adeleine and held her over his head again and waited for everyone to enter the elevator. Kirby tapped his foot impatiently for losing and having to go to yet another level, Waddle stared at the wall, Ribbon kept looking at the shard to see if it would react again, and Adeleine just wailed on and on. "Hey, where are you taking me?! I'm a girl; I don't want you guys to see up my skirt!"

The elevator doors parted and Dedede grinned at the waiting green I3 block. He placed Adeleine on the block, halting her angry tirade, and stood back. He frowned, however, when Adeleine noticed the growing shadow and huge block headings towards her and causing her feet to spring to attention and propel her into the next elevator. She avoided the rotating Gordo's spikes and narrowly lost her paintbrushes and crayons to I3 blocks, but Waddle, feeling generous, grabbed them before they were crushed.

Kirby looked up at the I3 block and spoke. "Excuse me, but have you seen any flying sparkling crystals around this toy factory?"

The I3 came down again, but the resounding shockwave didn't make Kirby falter. Instead, he spoke louder.

"I said have you seen a crystal fragment somewhere in this toy store!"

Several tense seconds passed before the I3 at last narrowed its eye on Kirby and addressing him with a booming voice. "Pink one, one who speaks loudly speaks longest. The jewel is found in the Pupa's nest." The I3 ascended as Kirby ran under it and into another elevator. As the doors closed, everyone stood in silence and tried to dissect the clue.

Adeleine put her thinking cap, a cap she drew with a T on it, on her head and sat on the floor. "We just past a bunch of those Pupa chocolate looking thingies, so do you think we missed it?"

"No, there may be more ahead if we don't get off of this maze."

"Relax, Kirby, we've only been through a few levels."

The bell ringing was followed by the doors parting and Kirby was the first to step onto the floor. "All right, bring on whatever you've got! I'm tired of elevators, now give me some fun!" Kirby's anger was calmed by a cannonball smacking him into Waddle Dee and the elevator doors.

The room was littered with rapid fire cannons which were accompanied by bomb wielding Poppy Brothers. The Brothers had done well to wear their parkas during the winter weather even though they were inside.

Adeleine's nose caught a whiff of…something unexplainable. She could not describe the scent, but whatever it was had her running off in a huff through the door before the others could grab her.

"Wait, Adeleine, where are you going?!" Dedede's words stumbled on top of another just like he did when he tripped over Waddle Dee.

"I think I can feel one of the jewels somewhere!" Adeleine's voice echoed from the other room. "Don't wait up for me!"

Ribbon dodged another cannonball and bomb. "Wait up? You're running…oh, what's the point?" She looked to the others. "Come on, guys, let's rescue her before she gets herself into trouble."

"Again."

Ribbon nodded. "Again."

Before he entered the room, Kirby inhaled one of the Poppy Brothers and threw the black elemental crystal at another one to see if something new would happen with two bomb creatures.

After Kirby stepped in, the door sealed shut. He knew this feeling already and expected something to shoot out of one of the blue or red flowers littered in the center of the room, but nothing happened.

Ribbon almost jumped out of her skin when the Crystal Shard began vibrating again. "There's a piece somewhere in here, but it must be hidden."

"And the starving artist is still missing." Dedede added.

Several black Bo balls materialized out of thin air and began to seep through the walls, one after another. A slurp sound accompanied each one that oozed through the walls as Kirby and Waddle Dee eased their way to the center.

"If these guys are holding the shard, we shouldn't have any-"

Something big and hard crashed down on the two and it wasn't Dedede's hammer. The blunt object suspended above them was a giant Pupa inching its way up and through the ceiling.

Dedede slammed a Bo against the wall and dodged two others that dove in for a tackle. "Where'd it go?!"

Ribbon looked up and down for the shard and didn't notice the growing shadow around her. Before the Pupa came crashing down on Ribbon, a missile intercepted the Pupa and sent it hurdling into a wall. Ribbon looked over and saw three more missiles fly out of Kirby's mouth and low three Bo balls into oblivion.

"Kirby, how did you-?"

Kirby spat out a dud rocket and leapt to the left as another Bo tried to attack him. "I don't know…but it makes my mouth burn." Kirby's body expanded until he could hold no more and spat four missiles at the Pupa before it could get through the wall again. The Pupa warbled and groaned, but was still able to retreat.

Waddle Dee jumped from one side of the wall and headbutted several Bo in Dedede's direction, where they met his hammer. "These things keep on coming! We'll never get out of here!"

"How did the artist get past this?" Dedede wondered aloud as the ceiling opened again.

Ribbon shrieked and flew to one corner just as the Pupa almost smothered her, but she had to retreat to another corner when a Bo started oozing from the wall. Three of the balls gave chase as repressed memories of escaping Ripple Star flooded Ribbon's mind. She had failed…no, never again! Ribbon turned around in mid flight and held the Crystal Shard, which began giving off a violent glow, to fend off the Bo with the power of light.

Kirby shielded his eyes to avoid the bright light and missed his opportunity to get another hit on the Pupa, but was sure from its slow ascent that it was about to die. Kirby narrowed his eyes on the ceiling and waited for it to part again, but nothing happened save for Ribbon, Dedede, and Waddle Dee fending off arriving Bo.

When a ray of light pierced the room, Kirby jumped into the air, took in a huge breath, and fired one last rocket into the ceiling before the Pupa could spring down. The resounding explosion from within the walls resulted in a shard fragment materializing through the wall and slowly floating down to the center of the room.

Dedede kicked another Bo into the wall. "We got what we needed; now let's get out of here!"

Ribbon was the last one to exit the room after grabbing the jewel.

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Kirby sighed not because the battle was over, but that he didn't walk into a room with an elevator. The glass wall to his left could have used a bit of decoration to make the room a bit festive in comparison to the other rooms. Kirby leapt back when a piece of red peeked at him from behind the glass, followed by black hair and the rest of Adeleine's body.

Adeleine waved and tried to speak, but the others couldn't hear her, so she decided to paint. With fruit on her mind, Adeleine drew a melon, peach, and an orange in order to see if Kirby would leap at the two dimensional works of art. Her prediction was right when Kirby collided with the glass.

Dedede hit the glass a few times with his hammer, but no matter how hard he tried, the glass would not break. When Adeleine stuck her tongue out and made a face, Dedede only slammed the glass harder and faster and even tried to bite the glass, but Adeleine didn't even attempt to step back or hold in her laughter. She collapsed to the ground in a heap of chortles and snorts.

"Leave her." Kirby and Waddle Dee saw the shard shaking in Ribbon's tiny hands. "If a fragment is nearby, we need to hurry up and find it. We can come back for her later."

Everyone shrugged and followed Ribbon into the next room. Adeleine was still on the floor, laughing. In the next room lay different colored switches, ranging from red to violet to brown to any color Kirby could think of. Waddle, however, was confused.

"The door isn't locked, there aren't any creeps or anything around, so what's with the switches?"

Dedede sat down on the pink switch. "Maybe if we press them in order, we can find another shard."

With kiwi on the brain, Kirby leapt over and up to smash the pound the green switch, yet nothing happened and no surprise fruit fell from the sky. "Darn it, I was so close, too!"

Ribbon studied the switches in order to find a pattern. What were they supposed to correspond with and why? Then, something hit her. Before she could remember what Adeleine drew on the wall and seeing if there was a connection, Waddle Dee, wanting to match up with something his color, sat on the orange switch and caused a Crystal Shard fragment to materialize above Ribbon's head. She looked up and frowned. "Why did that just happen?"

Kirby, Waddle Dee, and Dedede all shared a similar look of confusion before shrugging and accepting that it was a coincidence before moving on after Ribbon grabbed the jewel. Dedede came back to hit the purple switch with no response. "See? This toy factory is broken!"

The next room, from the snapping Kacti cactus, angry Yariko spear chuckers and Venus fly traps gave off a garden variety vibe. In the midst of oncoming spears, Dedede swung his hammer around swatting every Yariko in his path. "This place makes no sense! It keeps on changing!"

But Kirby, after Ribbon pushed him out of the way of a Kacti's jaws, looked three rooms ahead and smiled. "But it looks like there's another elevator not that far from here. We'll be out of here in no time."

Waddle Dee walked without hesitation into the room. As he prepared to ask a floating Gordo for directions, Waddle heard a rumble and he checked behind to see if anything was coming, but it was only Kirby and Ribbon waving their arms up and down as if to say 'Move.' Waddle ignored them and was snatched by Dedede at the last second before the huge block could squash him. "You're just as reckless as the starving artist."

Dedede took one step forward, but moved back when the orchid block inched forward and sent ripples through the ground. After walking through the hole, he strained to see what was hidden by the huge tank before him. He looked to Waddle Dee, who was just as confused. "Do you think the artist started working with clay?"

"Never mind what it is." Ribbon flew to the top of the clay tank and beckoned the others to follow.

Kirby bounced off of Waddle Dee to propel himself into the air, but flapped up and down when he saw the awaiting water and hungry Flopper fish. He floated with ease to avoid falling into the water, but paid no attention to the caves on his left and ended up in a Glom's mouth.

King Dedede brought himself up after Waddle. "Hey, where's the puffball? He came before us, right?" After five seconds, Dedede shrugged and jumped into the water. He began swimming to the other side, but something knocked the wind out of him: Kirby at one hundred miles an hour when the Glom spit him back out.

Waddle Dee jumped to the other side of the tank alongside Ribbon. In the tank, Kirby and Dedede did cartwheels, back flips, and spins as they were tossed around the tank until Dedede grabbed Kirby by one of his shoes and hoisted him onto dry land. Ribbon shook her head. "No shard?"

"Nothing, but that Glom stole my missiles and now I don't have anything!"

The awaiting room was accompanied by the sound of crunching gears as giant colored nuts and bolts stacked on top of one another. Kirby approached one of the overturned gears, but jumped back when a Cairn creature sprung forward from the hole. Before all three of its parts could go back down, the Cairn was overcome by harsh winds and found its way into Kirby's stomach. "Rock does a lot of good in the snow, I think."

Dedede smashed another Sawyer saw and tiptoed to a gear. With a feral yell, he brought his hammer down to the opening, much to the horror of a hidden starving artist. "Wait a second, I'm not evil! Don't smash me!"

Dedede's hammer stopped three inches away from splitting Adeleine's face. It would just take one good whack to set her straight, but he sighed and put his hammer when he remembered that beating the artist around was Ribbon's job.

And Ribbon exercised that right when she seized Adeleine by the ear and set her by the exit. There was more confusion on her face than anger. "How did you get out of that room?"

Adeleine shrugged. "I drilled my way out."

"And that worked?" Dedede asked, only getting a nod out of Adeleine before looking around. Where'd Kirby go?"

Kirby, enjoying the drill he had created by throwing the rock power into a nearby Punc, was mesmerized by the scratching lines on several star TVs. "Hey, guys, the show's about to start!"

Dedede groaned and grabbed a screaming Kirby just as the static on the televisions started to clear. The last thing Kirby heard before being dragged through the corridor was something about a man did something "best at N.M.E." and how it must be done "with a money back guarantee."

In the next room, everyone sighed with relief at the sight of windows again. Adeleine walked forward first. "I told you we'd get out of here; now let's stop get out of here before-" Adeleine's victory speech was cut off when a cannonball smacked her in the forehead. She leapt behind one of the purple pieces of glass and winced every time a cannonball hit the glass with resounding force.

The three cannonballs in the center of the room fired one after the other, almost nailing a perfect shot each time. Kirby leapt over boxes and pieces and more than once almost ended up with a bruise on his face. He jumped into the air and shot a drill at the cannonball, but the drill bounced off of the cannon and hit Waddle Dee in the face.

"Run towards the elevator!" Ribbon pointed towards the awaiting elevator doors as everyone rushed in and tried to regain control of their breathing. "Is everyone alive?"

Adeleine stretched her back. "I've been better."

As the elevator began its descent, Adeleine noticed Ribbon clutching the shard and muttering something under her breath about "I have to do this."

"Are you all right?" Ribbon rushed to the edge of the elevator when Adeleine approached her.

Ribbon blew a few strands of hair out of her face. "I…I'm fine, Adeleine."

Dedede yawned as the elevator doors parted and revealed the outside world and everlasting snow. "Good, I was starting to draw up my wish list."

Everyone stepped back into the refrigerator and looked around for some form of life or shard, but nothing. The snow was still heavy and coming down, to Adeleine's discomfort. She painted herself another sweater. "We can't stay outside forever, I'll freeze. What we need is a nice and warm toy factory." Adeleine winced when Ribbon slapped her on the back of her head.

"What are you looking at, Kirby?"

Kirby was peering down an open manhole cover. "I thought I heard something, but it was probably nothing. Is the shard reacting?"

Ribbon checked the shard; a minimal shake, but nothing extraordinary. "A little." Before Ribbon could say more, Adeleine pushed her aside and clutched her new fangled sled.

"Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's go sledding!"

Adeleine's only response was the wind humming as Dedede grabbed the sled and broke it in two. "No, now do me a favor and don't look down."

"Why?"

Adeleine approached the manhole on her hands and knees and thought she heard something, too. All of a sudden, with a bump, she found it getting darker and louder until she realized that she had been pushed down. Kicking her legs and scrambling for her art supplies, Adeleine's scream was amplified by the manhole cover.

Kirby, Waddle Dee, and Ribbon, before climbing down the convenient ladder, looked at an adamant Dedede, who stood with his shoulders crossed.

"I told her not to look."