HO. LY. CRAP. I've got nearly 3,000 hits on this story with only 12 chapters. WOW.

Chapter 13:Getting a Better Ride

The duo were now circling the Halberd, trying not to get shot down by a stream of bullets chasing after them.

"IT'S GAINING ON US!!"Trent shouted, staring back at the deadly stream with wide eyes."HURRY UP AND LAND THIS THING!!"

"I'M TRYING TO, DAMN IT!!"Josh screamed. He then noticed the main cannon charging up out of the corner of his eye. He screamed at the top of his lungs, gaining Trent's attention and alerting him to the cannon as well.

"DO A BARREL ROLL!!"he screamed as the cannon fired. Josh then pulled the left side up to spin out of the way, but they were unable to avoid the massive beam, and were sent flying towards the woods.

"CURSE YOU, PEPPY HARE!!"Josh screamed."CUUURSE YOOOOUUUUUU!!"

5...SECONDS...LATER...

CRASH!!

The two groaned as they slowly stumbled to their feet.

"Good shot..."Trent coughed out, eyes spinning. They shook their heads, trying to regain their composure as they stood up.

"Uhh, pretty birdies,"Josh muttered drunkenly, seeing a few birds flying straight at them, not realizing they were about to get hurt.

"Uh oh,"Trent muttered, quickly throwing a couple of bombs and destroying them. Josh gasped.

"NOT THE BIRDIES!!"he screamed, still not completely right in the head.(Like he ever was.) He glared at Trent."HOW COULD YOU!?"Trent calmly raised his hand and smacked Josh across the face, snapping him out of it. He blinked once, eyes out of focus."Thank you. I needed that..."

"Can we get going, now?"Trent asked, eyebrow raised.

"AWAAAEEEY!"Josh shouted dramatically, running forward.

"Wrong way, man,"Trent said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. Josh paused mid-step.

"Uhhhh...AWAAAEEEY!!"he shouted again, flying in the direction Trent pointed to. Trent sighed, smacking his forehead before following him. More birds flew overhead as Josh took out a smiling flower, then Trent grunted as he was struck with an energy attack by a Knuckle Joe. He quickly threw a bomb at it, destroying it. Josh jumped to take out another flower, but it pulled away from him for a moment, then shot forward and snapped it's petals around him. He started flailing around madly to escape.

"Oi,"Trent grumbled, calmly rolling a bomb under it. The bomb exploded and destroyed the flower, allowing Josh to fall on his rear.

"Ow,"he muttered, standing back up. He plucked his headband off, returning to normal."You want this?"

"Sure,"Trent said with a shrug, taking the strange glove and transforming into a Knuckle Joe with wings and a hat like that of a Birdon's. He looked over his shoulder at his new appendages."How do I use these things?"

"Eh, you'll figure it out. Let's go,"Josh said dismissively. They both ran forward again, seeing a doorway in a tree. They went inside, seeing the tree was actually much bigger on the inside. Neither of them took note of it, blowing up a bomb block above them and revealing a series of floating platforms. But before they could jump up, they saw TAC charging towards them, throwing his hand forward and grabbing Trent, who shouted as he was pulled into TAC's bag. The little theif ran in the other direction."OH NO YOU DI-IN'T!!"Josh shouted, running after him. The theif reached a wall, then turned around to see Josh kick him right in the face, forcing him to release Trent.

"That sucked,"Trent said flatly as Josh inhaled TAC, becoming, weirdly enough, Copy Kirby.

"I always found this power to be incredibly redundant,"Josh remarked as they jumped up, destroying another bomb block and revealing another set of floating platforms, as well as a door. They decided to ignore it and continued to climb, taking out a few fungus creatures along the way. They quickly ascended two sets of ladders, and at the top, they saw some Poppy Bros. balancing themselves on large apples."Wow, that's pretty impressive."

"Uh huh,"Trent muttered, not really caring. They climbed up another set of ladders, then walked through a door. On the other side, they noticed a pair of ability trophies above their heads, ice and cutter.

"Huh, I wonder..."Josh mumbled, floating up and aligning himself with the trophies, activating his copy visor. The beam struck both trophies, absorbing their information, and causing Josh to transform. He was now wearing a blue parka, as well as having a pair of ice skating blades appear on the bottom of his feet."Okay, it's a good thing I know how to skate."He tried raising a foot, then immediately slipped backwards and fell on his rear."Just...not in this body, apparently..."He tried standing up, but immediately slipped again."A little help would be nice!"Trent chuckled, helping him to his feet."Okay...I'm good."He slowly moved forward, a trail of ice forming on the ground behind him. Trent walked in front of him and started walking backwards.

"Aww, does the wittle-bitty baby need me to hold his hand?"he asked in a baby-ish voice. Josh's eye twitched as he glared.

"I KILL YOU!!"he screamed, skating forward with perfect balance. Trent grinned, turning on his heel and running away, his plan having worked perfectly. However, they didn't get too far, thanks to a Bonkers appearing in front of them out of thin air. Trent managed to stop himself in time. And Josh, instead of flying past him and crashing into the Bonkers like you people would expect by now, actually adjusted his feet correctly and skidded to a halt right next to his partner. Trent then looked at him with a surprised expression.

"Wow, that was impressive,"he remarked.

"Hey, I'm not totally unlucky."Josh said. Trent cracked his knuckles while Josh prepared to dash forward. Suddenly, there was a massive stomp, causing Josh to slip forward and fall flat on his face."YOU SAY NOTHING!"Trent snickered, then turned around to see another Bonkers. Josh quickly pushed himself to his feet again. They both got back to back, Josh looking at the Bonkers ahead and Trent looking at the one behind. They both looked at each other and nodded, then dashed towards their respective Bonkers.

Trent hopped to the side to dodge a hammer swing, then jumped up and punched it in the face. The Bonkers grabbed him and tossed him into the air, rearing it's hammer to smack him like a baseball. Almost instinctively, Trent began to flap his wings, keeping himself airborn and out of the Bonkers reach. The gorilla grunted angrily, hopping up to try and hit him, unsuccessfully, I might add. Trent continued to fly around the Bonkers, occasionally diving to punch it.

"What's the matter, pal? That big hammer keeping you down?"he taunted. The Bonkers then hurled it's hammer at him with grunt."WHOA!"

Meanwhile, Josh was skating in circles around the other Bonkers, dodging it's swings instead of attacking. While he was originally just messing with it, he had noticed the trail of ice he was leaving, and had decided to use it to his advantage. He just created a large ring of ice around it, keeping it from moving. But there was a problem he had noticed, the ice continuously melted, so he had to keep on skating around to keep the big monkey immobile.

"You can't hit me! You can't hit me!"he said in a sing-song voice, then laughed maniacally. The Bonkers roared angrily, then started spinning around at high speed."OH, SNAP!"

Though the Bonkers spun in the same direction Josh did, it only meant that he had to skate faster to keep from getting hammered like a cheap, pink nail. Fortunately, he was spared from the painful fate when another hammer flew right into the Bonkers' head, knocking it to the ground. Josh skidded to a halt, a confused expression on his face. He then turned his head to see Trent flying down to him, who had taken care of the other gorilla.

"You're welcome,"he said as the Bonkers stood up, picking up the other hammer in it's left hand and glared at the two. They glanced at each other for a moment."Well, that's different."

"We really should be use to this by now,"Josh muttered as it jumped at them. They rolled in opposite directions as the Bonkers smashed the hammers into the ground where they were just standing. Trent flew forward and punched it in the gut, causing it to double over in pain. This gave Josh the chance to jump up and slash it to ribbons with the blades on his feet in a flurry of kicks. The Bonkers fell over, flashing red. Without a word, Trent placed his hand on it, turning into a Bonkers himself.

"Yeah, I like the Hammer ability that much,"he said before Josh could ask."Besides, we might need it."The puffball shrugged, then they both advanced, destroying a bomb block and hopping up a high platform, only to hit another, revealing a very small hole in the walls above them. Josh floated through it, seeing yet another bomb block, which he barely managed to slash at with his feet. He landed on the ground, and looked down the small hole.

"C'mon up!"he said. As Trent proceeded to do just that in star form, Josh happened to look up, noticing a slightly higher area on the other side of the small hole."Ooh, I forgot about that."He floated up just as Trent returned to normal right next to the spot where he was. Raising an eyebrow, Trent jumped after him. They walked along a small floor of blocks, seeing a stake in the middle."Hey, you were right."He blinked once in mock confusion."You were right? That can't be good."

"Shut up,"Trent grumbled as Josh snickered, pounding it in and causing the blocks disappear. They dropped into an enclosed space with a 1-up, a Maxim Tomato, and another stake near the far wall. While Josh proceeded to pick up the items, Trent hit the other stake, revealing a small path in the wall that he knew he couldn't fit into.

"Here you go,"Josh said, tossing him half of the tomato and walking into the crawl space. Trent calmly plopped the super vegetable in his mouth, then nearly choked as he heard Josh shout "NINJA!" He coughed a bit as Josh walked back out, now donning the Ninja attire."Sweeeet..."Trent grumbled under his breath as they went back the way they came, destroying another bomb wall, revealing a path that led downwards, where a Kabu."WAAAAAAAAAAAA-DOKEN!"Josh screamed as he flew down with a ninja kick, destroying it. Trent shook his head, then jumped down as Josh destroyed another bomb wall, showing two Scarfies and a Wheel Trophy."HIIIIIIIYAHYAHYAHYAH!"Josh threw a flurry of kunai at one scarfy as Trent batted the other into the wall. They both looked at the trophy, then each other.

"I'll take it if you stop making those stupid screams,"Trent said.

"Awwwww...doken,"Josh muttered. Trent glared, which made him pout."Oh, fine."

"Good,"Trent said, taking the trophy and becoming a Wheelie. Josh quickly jumped on him.

"Let us be off!"he shouted dramatically. Trent just stayed in the same spot, engine idling."Uh, what of part of 'Let us be off' do you not get?"

"I can't defy gravity, dude,"Trent said dryly.

"Huh?"Josh asked, looking up to see where they needed to go."Oh..."He quickly floated up through it and the doorway, Trent following in star form as always.

"Now let's go,"Trent said as Josh jumped on. They shot forward, blazing along the trail as they hopped over spike floors and crashed through enemies, until they eventually saw a wall coming up fast. Josh grinned like the lunatic he was. Trent would have grinned too, but wheels don't have mouths. Trent jumped towards the wall, but instead of crashing into it, he turned his body so that his wheel hit the wall, then they painlessly slid down, landing on one of three large springs below and bouncing up to the second level. They shot forward, crashing through a bomb block.

"Oh, I don't think that was a good idea,"Josh muttered, staring backwards at the rapidly receding floor of blocks that revealed lava beneath.

"Gee, ya think!?"Trent asked sarcastically as they crashed through another bomb block, repeating the process. They quickly hopped up to another platform, barely managing to avoid the lava. They rode up a ramp, bouncing off what little wall there was, and turned in the other direction, riding up yet another hillside and going through a door. Josh hopped off as they moved forward, seeing a pair of Burning Leos."Self-Destruct!"Trent flashed red as he crashed into one of them, turning into one himself as Josh slashed the other one with his close-combat knife.

They both climbed up a ladder, seeing two cannons at the top on either side of them. They went to the one on the right, Trent breathed fire on the fuse, then followed Josh into the cannon. They braced themselves to be fired, so imagine their surprise when the cannon spun upside-down and shot like a rocket.

"HOW DOES THIS EVEN WORK!?!"Josh screamed as they were propelled through the sky.

"WHO CARES!?"Trent replied over the roaring fire. A few seconds passed before they were spat out of it, falling a few feet to the ground, where Dyna Blade was looking at them intently. They backed away slightly, but to their surprise, the bird lowered it's head. They looked at each other for a moment, then shrugged and climbed on. The bird screeched, then took off into the sky, flying towards the Halberd. The duo looked at each other again, the same question running through their minds.

How did she know where to go?

XXXX

End of Chapter

Well, that took forever, as usual. Sorry.