A/N: Oh man... I'm really sorry I've been neglecting this story everyone. I'd like to say that school has had something to do with it, since I have pretty much zero story writing time when I'm not on break. This update brings us pretty close to the end, so I'll try and wrap it up sooner than later!

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Kirby came racing out of the back of the cave and out onto the river, holding the boat over his head. Waddle Dee followed after him much more slowly and reluctantly.

"Check it out, Waddle Dee! We're right back on the river!" Kirby cheered. "We still have a chance! We can win this thing fair and square and get those Kanys back their home!"

Waddle Dee splashed into the river after him and stared straight ahead. "Woah... you're right, Kirby! Look!"

He pointed ahead, and sure enough, off in the distance they could see the main section of the river with the racers still careening down it. The branch of the river they were standing in joined together with it just a few hundred yards downstream.

"Well whaddaya know... Boomer blew us into a shortcut!" Kirby laughed. "Remind me to thank him once I'm done humiliating him in front of hundreds of people. Now let's gooooo!" He cheered wildly and ran down the river before throwing the boat into the water and jumping in.

"Woah! Kirby, wait for me! I'm the only one here with a grip on reality!" Waddle Dee cried, running after him and jumping in behind him. Within moments they had taken off and were soaring downstream once again.

"WOO! YEAH! Kirby's back, baby!" Kirby cheered as their part of the river joined up with the main one. The other racers who were sailing by were so shocked at seeing them again that Kirby and Waddle Dee had no trouble zooming right past them.

"Now this is what I'm talking about! Full speed ahead, Waddle Dee!"

"Okay, Kirby..." Waddle Dee said timidly, afraid his friend was going to do something rash again. "Remember, we have a job to do, right? Those Kanys back there are all counting on us. So we gotta finish this thing without going crazy, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, I'll be sure to - OH CRAP IT'S BOOMER! PREPARE FOR A BLOODBATH YOU INFIDEL!"

"Let me off this thing," Waddle Dee sobbed, slumping over in the boat as they rapidly approached the boat holding Kirby's rival. Boomer had been concentrating hard and looking straight ahead, but as he noticed the two puffballs pulling up next to him he did a double take and his eyes bulged.

"WHAT THE HECK?!" he screamed. "I got rid of you two for good! What are you doing back here?!"

"You fool! You must know that I am not so easily vanquished!" Kirby declared, hopping up onto the edge of his boat. "When you try and defeat me I will only come back stronger than ever before! Like zits!"

Waddle Dee groaned and sat up. "What Kirby's trying to say is, we need to talk to you guys about something. This whole race is a big scam! Mr. Gallant is using us to drive these Kanys away from their homes!"

Kirby glared down at him. "What? I wasn't trying to say that at all!"

Boomer just scoffed at Waddle Dee. "Yeah right! Like we'd fall for that! You got any proof?"

Waddle Dee was about to proudly make a retort when he paused and blinked. "Uh... not really."

"How pathetic. You guys know you can't win so now you're just lying to us to try and get us to back down! Well it ain't gonna happen!" Boomer turned to his partner. "Amp! Increase speed to twenty knots!"

"Uh... what?"

"MOVE THE BOAT FASTER!" Boomer shouted, clonking him over the head, and they immediately zoomed off and left Kirby and Waddle Dee behind.

Kirby glared at Waddle Dee. "Now do you see? These fiends can't be reasoned with! I tried as hard as I could to get them to listen and appeal to their sense of fairness, and they just shot me down!"

"That's not even remotely close to what happened..."

"Our only hope now is to beat them! Now let's go!" Kirby shouted, jumping back in the boat and leaning forward, causing them to pick up speed and throw up a spray as they took off after the defending champions.

Waddle Dee grimaced against the water hitting him in the face. "Adeleine... I hope wherever you and the other guys are, you're doing better than we are..."

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Back at the starting line, the reappearance of Kirby and Waddle Dee had sent the spectators into an absolute frenzy. As they raced alongside Boomer and Amp for the lead spot, people watching the race were cheering insanely and making last-minute bets.

"Folks, if this isn't the craziest turn of events I've ever seen!" cried Mr. Gallant. "Kirby and Waddle Dee have come back from out of nowhere and are now neck-and-neck with Boomer and Amp! I believe it's all come down to this, ladies and gentlemen, so if you bet on anyone else, now would be a good time to slink off and wallow in your failure and humiliation!"

Amidst all the excitement, Ribbon, Adeleine and Dedede came sneaking back into the crowd, fully aware they were in big trouble if Mr. Gallant saw they'd gotten free. As they tried to remain hidden, Adeleine suddenly noticed Kirby and Waddle Dee on the TV screen and pointed.

"Ribbon, Ribbon, look! Kirby and Waddle Dee are back! They're not dead!" she cheered.

"Great. Then I can strangle them for making me worry so much. Now you two remember the plan, don't you? We have to expose Mr. Gallant."

"Question. How do we do that when he has no pants to pull down?" asked Adeleine.

Dedede promptly smacked her again. "What she means is, we have to get people to recognize his evil plan. And the only way to do that is to get a confession out of him. Which is where I come in," he said with a grin, whipping his hammer out.

Ribbon shook her head at him. "Sorry Dedede, but as much as this guy probably deserves it, we have to do this nonviolently."

Dedede scowled. "Nonviolently? Then why'd ya even bring me along?!"

"For moral support, mostly. Because Adeleine..." Ribbon turned to face the young painter. "I hate to say it, but I'm counting on you for this one."

Adeleine blinked slowly, then looked over her shoulder to see if Ribbon was in fact talking to somebody else. "What... seriously?" Her eyes lit up. "You actually trust me? You're giving me the super secret important mission?!"

As she whooped and cheered and started doing a touchdown dance, Dedede shook his head. "Well, this proves it. Ribbon's finally snapped under the pressure. She's gone off the deep end."

"Trust me, both of you, I know what I'm doing," said Ribbon. "At least I hope I do... Dedede, you and I have to worry about the actual race. If Kirby and Waddle Dee don't manage to win, we're going to have to get that Crystal Shard by any means necessary. Think you can handle that?"

Dedede grinned and nodded. "You had me at blunt force trauma!"

"I didn't say... never mind. Adeleine, your job is to get Mr. Gallant to reveal whatever his plan is. Now listen closely, here's what I need you to do..."

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The river race had reached its climax. Kirby, Waddle Dee, Boomer and Amp had left all the other racers behind as they zoomed down the rapids at a breakneck pace, fighting for the lead and drawing ever closer to the finish line.

"For the last time, we're telling the truth!" Kirby shouted over at them over the roar of the water. "You gotta stop chucking bombs at us, and not just for the obvious reason that we're awesome! You're gonna destroy this river just like Mr. Gallant wants!"

"Man, I knew you were a loser, but I didn't know you were a loser and a wuss!" Boomer cackled as he kept throwing bombs at his opponents. "Quit trying to worm your way out of this!"

Kirby and Waddle Dee yelped and screamed as they maneuvered crazily out of the range of the explosions, zigzagging back and forth. Kirby scowled at Boomer, wanting nothing more than to bust out his own explosives, but he'd be no better than Boomer if he did that...

"Face it, you'll never beat us!" the Poppy Bro crowed at them. "We're the champs here, and you chumps can't change that no matter how hard you try!"

Kirby stuck out his tongue. "Oh yeah? Well at least we could get girlfriends!"

Boomer's eyes bulged. "Why you - SAY THAT AGAIN!" he bellowed in a rage, grabbing the edge of his boat.

As they continued to argue, they completely failed to notice the river branching off into two again. There were a bunch of very large and colorful signs set up along the riverbank, urgently warning the boats to stay to the left. So naturally, both of their boats went off to the right.

As usual, Amp was the only one really paying attention. "Uh... Boomer..."

"How could you be so stubborn?! We're trying to tell you something important and you won't even listen to us!" shouted Waddle Dee.

"Yeah, and we're totally hotter than you!" added Kirby.

"Hey Boomer..."

"Get real! You guys need to just give it up! I'm not falling for anything you have to - "

"BOOMER!"

Boomer turned to glare at Amp, along with Kirby and Waddle Dee. "What?!" all three screamed at him.

"I really hate to interrupt, but while you were going at it with those two we went off course again... I think you remember what happens when you go off course right before the finish line."

Kirby looked worried. "What? What happens?"

Boomer seemed to know what Amp was talking about, though, and he suddenly grew deathly pale as he realized it.

"Oh, right... the waterfall."

All four of them suddenly turned and stared ahead, realizing their boats had been going faster and faster this whole time. It was now apparent that this was due to the fact that the river dropped off just up ahead of them, leading to a waterfall that was hundreds of feet tall.

Everyone's eyes bulged.

"THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" Kirby and Boomer shouted at each other as all of them started frantically trying to backpedal, but it was no use. The current was far too strong. There was nothing they could do.

"YEEEAAAAAAAAAUGGHHHHH!" all four of them screamed as both of their boats went over the falls before any of them could do a thing. As they hurtled over the edge they all fell out of their boats and tumbled head over heels, down and down, shrieking all the way as they plummeted toward the bottom and were swallowed up by the misty spray of the falls below.