Finally got the next chapter done! Sorry for the long wait...

Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Learning to be Strong

[BGM: Green Winds Remix – Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe]

Everyone walked through the Aerogree Dimension as they would immediately see a Darpa charging at them, only for Ivy to shoot an Elfire at it to kill it and then next they would see, to Magolor's surprise, a Halcandle Dee coming over.

"Huh, that creature looks very different from the flying one." Timerra noted as she dispatched it.

"That was a Halcandle Dee." Magolor informed. "They're natives to the planet Halcandra, but I never expected to find them here too…"

The group continued on, destroying two more Darpas on the way until they came upon a blockade of steel blocks. "A dead end already?" Alear asked.

"No… Surely there's a way to get rid of this blockade, right?" Alfred guessed.

Looking down, Magolor saw a small gap on the floor that had a Bomb Block at the very bottom. "Hmm, I wonder…" he mused before conjuring a Magic Bomb and tossing it down the gap. Turns out that the gap was just the right width for the Magic Bomb to pass through and the Bomb Block was destroyed by the explosion, removing the blockade as a result. "Hey, it worked!"

"All right! Great job, Magolor!" Veyle praised.

"I guess we're lucky that you had this ability of yours restored." Ivy smiled.

"Heh, I guess so…" Magolor chuckled as they moved onwards, jumping across floating platforms while defeating Dupas and a Halcandran Bouncy that attempted to stop their progress, then they found a door at the end and went in.

The next area featured a long climb up and so they started by hopping on the thin platforms, but not before Alear struck down a Halcandran Bronto Burt that tried to ambush them. Once at the top, they now had to make their way down until they eventually reached another dead end, only this time there was no blockade… and then two rifts suddenly opened up, releasing a Dupa from each of them.

[BGM: VS Darpa-Dippa-Dupas – Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe]

"…Well, here we go again." Alfred said.

"Again?" Magolor asked.

"We already dealt with an ambush like this before we met you." Diamant explained, before slashing through one of the Dupas.

"Oh." Magolor said, and when the other Dupa was dealt with, the next enemy wave came as four Halcandle Dees appeared. "Let me help!" Magolor offered, aiming at one of the Halcandle Dees to fire an energy orb at it… only for said orb to come out pathetically small, short-ranged, and not even close to hit the Halcandle Dee. "…Ugh, I should've seen that coming." he grumbled with a sweatdrop… and then a rift opened up above him as a bigger Halcandle Dee came out about to land on him. "Uh-oh…!"

Thankfully, Veyle blew both the normal and bigger-sized Halcandle Dees away from Magolor with Excalibur. "Don't worry, you'll get your magic back soon enough!" she winked with a sweet smile. "Until then, you can leave all the enemies to us!"

"Veyle…" Magolor whispered, and then he watched as the Engage cast fought off the Halcandle Dees by themselves.

[BGM End]

'They're all being so nice to me, despite having met me just a few minutes ago…' he thought, before glancing over at Veyle. 'But especially that girl. She's just so kind, sweet, innocent, caring, always smiling and optimistic… Almost like…almost like… Like Kirby.'

At this, his sad frown that had been put to rest only minutes ago appeared on his face again. 'And if that's the case… What if she and her friends eventually find out about what I had actually done? The actions I did that led me getting sent here in the first place?

'…Will they hate me? Despise me?'

Against his better judgment, his mind started to wander back once again to that certain moment… and to make matters worse, a rebellious voice suddenly began whispering to him every single detail of it: 'Ah yes you who was mockingly congratulating your friends upon Landia's defeat, took the Master Crown when it floated on its own onto your head and had your mind and body immediately being snatched by the artifact while it proceeded to hurt and fight your own friends despite you stating before that nothing good comes out of fighting and thus you are a traitor it was you all alone who set everything up AND YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU'VE DONE−…'

Magolor quickly shuts his eyes and shakes his head before he could give in to the voice. "No, no, don't think about it, don't think about it…" he whispered to himself, hands clenching into fists. 'Yes, I did it, and YES, I got what I deserved…' after a deep sigh, he continues, '…But I'll make it up to them somehow, and that's a promise I WILL fulfill this time.

'I want to atone. I really want to. Even though I know that this is going to be a memory that'll haunt me for the rest of my life no matter what happens to me from here on out…'

"Hey, Magolor!" Veyle called out, snapping Magolor out of his thoughts as he glanced over to her. "Big brother told me to warn you that we finished defeating all the bad guys!" she then directs him to a large rift, where the rest of the Engage cast was already jumping in. "Look, see? Our way out is open!"

Magolor blinked, before eventually replying, "O-okay, I'm coming!" and so he made his way to Veyle, who patiently waited for him before they both jumped in together.

[Resume "Green Winds Remix" BGM]

The rift sent them all into another portion of Aerogree Dimension. "Oh, there's more?" Ivy asked.

"Honestly, I kind of expected we would still have a long way to go through." Diamant said as they walked forward, encountering a Pierce that was quickly dispatched by the Brodian King himself… and it left behind the Spear headband. "Hm?"

"What's this?" Alear wondered as he curiously picked it up and put it on, immediately gaining the Spear Ability. "Huh?!" he glanced down at the spear on his hands in surprise.

"Whoa, Divine One!" Alfred exclaimed. "How did you suddenly become a Lance Fighter without a Master Seal?!"

"What?! But…I don't-…"

"Ohhh, right, there is this one thing that's exclusive to this universe." Magolor interjected. "It's called a Copy Ability, where you…well, copy a certain enemy's ability."

"Wow, really? That sounds intriguing!" Timerra exclaimed excitedly. "Where did you get that information from, Magolor?"

"Oh, my old friends told me about it." Magolor replied with a nervous chuckle before they went down a step, finding that the path down below was blocked by a row of Star Blocks.

"Brother, why don't you try it out on these?" Veyle suggested.

"Well… I never wielded a spear before, but alright." Alear said and, without any struggle, he managed to destroy all the Star Blocks with a single Spear Thrust, much to the entire Engage cast's surprise.

"Whoa! For a first-timer, that was smooth!" Timerra exclaimed.

"How did you manage to learn that so fast, Divine One?" Ivy asked.

"I…have no idea, actually." Alear shrugged. "It's like I immediately knew how to wield this effectively the moment I acquired the ability."

"So right after a Copy Ability is obtained, anyone is able to know what to do with it regardless of weapon proficiency or fighting experience?" Diamant summarized. "This almost reminds me of a similar effect whenever we engage with the Emblems…"

"You know, you took the words right out of my mouth." Alfred threw in. "I can't believe it's already been so long since the Emblems left us…"

"What is with these 'Emblems' you guys keep mentioning?" Magolor wondered when that piqued his interest. "Are they a thing in your universe?"

"Oh, yes, they are." Alear nodded. "They're the guardians of Elyos, the name of the world we came from. The Emblems take on the forms of legendary heroes from different worlds in a spiritual form, and even though they're not the original ones, they still inherit their memories and experiences. They can lend their power to anyone using their Emblem Ring by merging with them; we call this action 'Engage'."

"Ah, gotcha. How very fascinating…" Magolor mused as they looked down the newly opened path and saw a Cappy just below, so Magolor dropped a Magic Bomb at it to defeat it first before they went down to a narrow hallway. There, they went across some spike pits while defeating some more enemies, including two Comos in which Alear cut off their webs for an instant kill, then they finally came upon a door and went in.

The next hallway featured some elevating floors with a different enemy standing on them. One of those enemies in particular was a Sir Kibble, in which after it was taken out, the Cutter hat appeared.

"Oh, what a cute-looking hat!" Veyle smiled as she picked it up before putting it on, and then she proceeded to throw Cutter Blades at the remaining enemies, clearing the path for everyone else until they eventually came across a rift without any ambushes this time… except that this one was darker in color instead of the lighter color they kept encountering.

"Huh, for once, we didn't have to face an ambush for this rift…" Alfred commented.

"But this one looks a bit different compared to the previous ones we've seen." Timerra pointed out. "More specifically, its color."

Magolor, on the other hand, looked at the rift in worry. "Oh boy, I got a bad feeling about this one…"

"How so?" Alear asked.

"Well… you'll see when we head in."

After exchanging glances and shrugging, the Engage cast followed Magolor into the rift.

[BGM End]

The group landed in an area that oddly resembled the forested area with the boardwalks seen in Cookie Country, and looked around. "Not only was the rift different, but the area it sent us to looks way different too." Diamant noted.

"…Hey, does anyone else feel a bit uneasy about this place?" Veyle asked.

"Oh, good, I thought I was the only one…" Ivy said.

"I know why you're all feeling this way." Magolor spoke up. "It's because of…" he directs behind them. "…that."

What was behind them, you may ask? …An advancing wall of purple matter. The exact same one that kept dogging Kirby and his friends' steps in their various short Another Dimension trips.

[BGM: Scattered Souls across Isolated Isles – Kirby and the Forgotten Land]

"Huh?! What is that?!" Alear asked in shock.

"I would explain it, but I'm afraid there's no time for that right now! We need to run!" Magolor hollered, already making a run from the purple wall and so the Engage cast had no choice but to comply.

They began to race to the left across several wooden bridges and gaps, not even bothering to deal with the enemies in the way except for one Armor Halcandle Dee blocking the door. The next area beyond the door now resembled the hills of Cookie Country, with the group continuing to run away from the advancing wall across the plains while avoiding the falling unstable pillars of rock. Soon enough, they finally came upon the exit past the crumbling rock pillars and immediately went in.

[BGM End]

"Phew… We made it." Alfred sighed. "But hey, I'll take the running away from a purple wall of sorts as a great workout for me!"

Diamant chuckled. "I imagined you would say something like that." he then turns to Magolor. "Still, you owe us an explanation now that we're safe."

"Ah, right." Magolor said. "Remember back when I said that Another Dimension needs powerful energy for it to sustain, otherwise it would erase itself? Well… that purple wall swallowing up everything is the result of it."

"Oh…" Alear's eyes perked. "So then, are you saying that the area we've just been in no longer exists?"

"Yep."

It was then that another dark-colored rift opened up in front of them, only this time it was larger in size. "There's another one of those rifts… and this one is bigger." Timerra pointed out the obvious. "Wonder where it will take us this time."

"I just hope it won't be like the previous area we've been." Ivy said.

"No, I don't think so…" Magolor pondered. "Although I have a feeling that whatever we'll encounter on the other side is something big."

"Then we must get ready to face it." Diamant said as everyone else nodded, and they all hopped into the rift.

[BGM: Battle on the Horizon – Kirby's Return to Dream Land/Deluxe]

Everyone popped out of the rift, finding themselves in a green-tinted tomb chamber resembling the exact same one from Raisin Ruins in Kirby's dimension. "You know, Magolor was right. I also do feel the presence of something big in here…" Veyle trailed off as they looked around.

"Let's proceed with caution." Alear advised as they did so, until they came upon… a wizard's hat with a lightbulb in it lying on the floor.

[BGM End]

"…What's with the wizard hat?" Alfred wondered… but before any of them could inspect any further, a pair of disembodied hands suddenly came down from above and grabbed the hat.

The group watched as the hands wiggle the hat, expecting someone to come out of it… only to release a puff of smoke instead. Expressing surprise at that, the hands then proceed to shake the hat aggressively and finally the one they were expecting comes out: a creature that looked just like Mr. Dooter, only that he resembled more like a wizard than a genie with a clothing to match. Additionally, his skin was brown-black in color compared to his normal counterpart's light blue.

That was Electricky Dooter.

Immediately, everyone took a defensive stance. "I suppose that's the big thing you two were sensing, right?" Ivy asked Magolor and Veyle.

"That's right." Magolor said, while Veyle nodded before she stepped in.

"Stand back, Magolor! We'll handle it!" she said.

Magolor at first wanted to let that slide, but after looking down at his hands a little, he quickly spoke up, "…No, let me fight too!"

Veyle was surprised. "Are you sure about that? As we saw before, you're still too weak to fight…"

"I know that… But despite that, I want to assist you all the best I can if it means toughening up my body and mind!"

"Heh, now that's the spirit!" Alfred exclaimed approvingly. "I used to say that a lot during my first training sessions!"

"Well, in that case… You can join us, then." Veyle smiled.

"I'll heal you up if needed." Ivy assured.

"Thank you." Magolor said.

Just then, Electricky Dooter's body began crackling with green electricity, which caught everyone's attention. "It's about to attack!" Diamant warned, and so they readied their weapons.

"Get ready!" Alear exclaimed.

[BGM: Hot! Elemental Boss Battle – Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe]

Magolor began by throwing a Magic Bomb at Electricky Dooter, but he simply swatted it away and retaliated by leaping into the air to stomp on Magolor. Magolor managed to roll out of the way, but he ended up getting electrocuted due to Electricky Dooter's stomp sending out an electric shockwave.

"Are you okay?!" Veyle asked in concern.

"D-don't worry, I'm fine…" Magolor groaned as he got up. "Just got caught off-guard…"

Ivy then launched a Elwind spell, but Electricky Dooter dodged out of the way and snapped his fingers as three electric skulls popped out of thin air, and juggled them a bit before tossing them at the Elusian queen. However, Alear came in front of her and managed to get all three skulls stabbed into his spear like a shish kebab and Spear Threw it at Electricky Dooter, followed by Alfred throwing a Spear and Diamant jumping up and slashing him in the face.

Electricky Dooter snapped out of it, and leapt high up into the air in order to try and hit the group with lightning strikes. They managed to avoid the strikes, but the Engage cast wasn't expecting Electricky Dooter to come back down sending another electric shockwave that hit and electrocuted them. Magolor, who managed to escape the attack this time by hovering in the air as much as he could, took this opportunity to fire three Magic Spheres at Electricky Dooter, who then retaliates by sending out Green Snakes, Darpas and Dippas from out of his hat at the magician. Thankfully, by this point the Engage cast recovered from the electric attack as Veyle quickly took care of the enemies with Cutter Blades, then Ivy would launch a Thoron at Electricky Dooter to send him into a wall.

Electricky Dooter recovered and adjusted his hat… before casting a spell upon himself to double in size, surprising the group as he would go into his hat and float above them while charging up electricity and attempting to attack them with more lightning strikes. Again, the group managed to avoid the lightning strikes… but then the hat would next summon a large scimitar being wielded by one of Dooter's hands.

At this, Alear, Alfred and Timerra nodded to each other. "Guys, get behind us!" Timerra yelled as they did so and she and the two spear-wielders rose their spears to block a swing from the scimitar, ensuing a power-struggle match. Seeing that Electricky Dooter was distracted by the trio, Magolor saw another opportunity.

"Any of you guys, give me a boost!" he said. Diamant volunteered for this, picking up the magician and throwing him up in the air and right above the hat where Magolor would throw down a Magic Bomb, striking it head on and forcing Electricky Dooter to reappear back out, where he would receive spear blows from Alear, Alfred and Timerra immediately after until the wizard punched them away and into another wall… and that action also caused Alear to lose the Spear Ability by the impact. To make matters worse, Dooter's punches also caused skulls to fall down from the ceiling and hit Diamant, Ivy and Veyle, leaving them dazed.

The moment Magolor landed, Electricky Dooter proceeded to lunge towards him by doing an electric tornado spin. "Ack!" Magolor exclaimed as he had no time to dodge that and prepared for the worst… when suddenly, a Bolganone spell hit the wizard and cancelled his attack as Magolor looked over to see that Veyle, who was the first to recover from the daze, was the one who attacked.

"You won't hurt him any further!" Veyle declared, proceeding to take out several Cutter Blades and infuse them with Obscurité magic before throwing them at Electricky Dooter, damaging him severely. After that, she would do the same attack… but in the form of a Hyper Boomerang instead.

[BGM End]

The hit from the Obscurité-infused Hyper Boomerang turned out to be the last one, as Electricky Dooter was knocked to the ground while his hat fell off and exploded. Seeing that the battle was won, Ivy immediately proceeded to heal everyone back up with a healing staff.

"Are you doing fine, Diamant?" Ivy asked. "Considering how much you get uncomfortable towards magic…"

"Don't worry, electric magic doesn't bother me as much as fire does." Diamant reassured.

"I see. That's good to know." Ivy smiled.

It was at this moment that a glow came from the remains of the explosion as everyone turned their attention towards it, and saw that from within the glow was another Fruit Fragment.

"Look! The second Fruit Fragment!" Alear exclaimed.

"Yay!" Veyle cheered. "Now more of your abilities can be restored, right Magolor?"

"Oh, you bet!" Magolor said as he went over and took the Fruit Fragment, then a light-colored rift opened up. "That should take us back to the Ethereal Altar, I can feel it."

"Alright, let's get going." Alear said and they all hopped in, leaving the Aerogree Dimension.

To be continued…

Pyred Dimension is next!