Chapter 15: Deep Trouble

Wonderfully weightless in the open ocean, and revived with a Maxim Tomato from Gooey, Kirby swam downward.

A Squishy, a small, white squid, swam in front of him. He inhaled it and swallowed, but didn't copy an ability.

The impact from hitting the water after his fight with Kracko had been enough to make him lose his Spark ability, so now he still didn't have anything copied.

"How far down do I have to go?" he asked.

"A considerable distance. Luckily, you are now also immune to the affects of water pressure, so this shouldn't be a problem. You need to travel quickly, though. I have an exact location for this Star Rod shard, but it's on the move, and you need to intercept it."

The farther down Kirby dove, however, the darker the water became. Less and less sunlight could penetrate these depths. He did welcome the respite from fighting he gained while swimming through the middle of open ocean, but he couldn't help but start getting concerned by the increasing lack of visuals.

"It's getting hard to see down here. Please tell me I don't have to go much farther."

"Keep moving, Kirby. You still have a ways to go."

"Gooey," protested Kirby feebly, without slowing, "there had better not be anything I have to fight down here. I'm not going to be able to see it."

"I'm sure you'll be able to see it."

"...Huh?"

"My thought is that no enemy would travel through a pitch black area of the ocean just to smuggle something from one place to another... unless they have a light source. There are too many hostile creatures that live that deep for the journey to not be dangerous otherwise."

Kirby stopped swimming. "Gooey, is this safe? I don't have a light source."

"Whoa hey don't stop now! You'll be fine. You should be seeing your target's light before long anyway."

Kirby continued his descent.

"Good," continued Gooey immediately. "You should make the interception nicely at this speed."

Kirby sighed as he went.

After another number of minutes, he finally spied a faint light in the distance. And it was indeed moving at a rate that would allow him to meet up with it.

He swam to intercept. The light got brighter and brighter as he neared it.

And then he reached it.

A giant anglerfish was suddenly revealed by the light, right in front of him. It was dark brown and three times his height.

It lunged, but Kirby had already shrieked in alarm and swum upward. As the anglerfish sped forward, Kirby collided with its bright, bulb-like lure, the light source.

On impulse, and for lack of better options, he inhaled. The anglerfish's bulb entered his mouth, but it was still connected to the monster by its line. The anglerfish snapped at Kirby again, but he swung out of its way on the bulb.

The anglerfish thrashed around. Kirby couldn't do anything. He was immobilized with the bulb in his mouth. His opponent was going berserk, flailing and snapping wildly, with him dangling just out of its reach.

Kirby was quickly becoming severely dizzy. How long did he have to keep this up? And what would happen if the anglerfish threw him off? Surely it would devour him.

Suddenly he was inside the monster's mouth! The anglerfish had lunged forward in such a way that its bulb had swung into its mouth. But then Kirby was abruptly back out in open water; the anglerfish had snapped its teeth shut on the line that connected the bulb to its forehead, and had bitten right through it.

Kirby swallowed the bulb. Stars flashed in front of his eyes. But he didn't acquire a hat. Instead, a dull throbbing sensation spread throughout his body.

"Light ability!" declared Gooey. And then he continued, "This is a one-time-use ability, Kirby; use it and lose it."

With the bulb gone, there was only darkness, so Kirby activated his ability, making the water transparent and lighting up the deep.

His opponent was wheezing in front of him. A dark red liquid was slowly leaking from the end of its severed line. Kirby wondered what it was.

The monster let out a low, strangled cry, and two Tincell, one-eyed starfish, appeared out of nowhere behind it. They sped at Kirby alarmingly quickly, spinning their legs like blades, but he inhaled them both at once and shot the projectile back at the anglerfish, which exploded in a shower of stars.

So the fourth Star Rod shard was revealed, floating in the clear water where the big fish had been. Kirby swam forward and scooped it into his mouth.

"The fourth shard! Excellent!" said Gooey. "That was very efficient. Good job. Now, swim back to the surface. I'll give you instructions from there."

"...What about the power the shard gave me?" said Kirby, beginning his ascent.

"Ah, yes. This is an interesting one, and a really good one... The fourth shard gave you a momentous upgrade to your defensive capabilities, I must say. You know how every time you destroy an opponent, they burst into stars?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, this is because you are killing them with the powers of the Star Rod and the Fountain of Dreams. Anyway, from now on, the same will apply to you. Instead of taking physical damage from enemy attacks, the Star Rod will absorb as much of the blow as possible."

"...Uh, how would it do that?" asked Kirby awkwardly.

"Hmm. It's sort of hard to explain. Okay, here's an example: Let's say you get sliced by a sword. Instead of receiving a painful cut that remains on your body, stars will fly out of you. With every hit, the power of the shard diminishes. Eventually it will fail and you will take damage as usual. It can be recharged through rest. Though a Maxim Tomato should replenish it instantly, conveniently enough."

Kirby still didn't quite understand, but he was distracted at this point by a school of Blippers to his right. Blippers were slightly aggressive red-and-yellow fish, which wore scuba goggles for some reason. They swam at the Dream Lander, who inhaled them all and swallowed, but didn't copy an ability.

He looked around to see if there were any other enemies nearby, and spotted something in the distance below him, though it was approaching rapidly. It took a moment before he could see it clearly, but his eyes widened and he began swimming upward as quickly as he could once he had worked out what it was: a killer whale somewhat bigger than the anglerfish.

"Gooey!" he shouted as he swam. "A killer whale is after me!"

"A killer whale? It must be Acro! Run! I mean swim! Get away!"

Kirby whined slightly, continuing to swim with all his might, but Acro gained on him far too quickly, and then teeth clamped horrifyingly onto his body.

Just as Gooey had described, swiftly disappearing stars burst from his body. Ripping flesh and intense pain were replaced by instantaneous healing and a bizarre stretching sensation, the latter of which, while of course not as unpleasant as pain, was still very distressing.

Kirby yowled as Acro thrashed around wildly without letting go, the water becoming thick with stars.

Then, a heavy impact! Flailing! Bubbles! Confusion. Darkness.

The feeling of rushing water.

"Kirby, what's going on?" said Gooey's voice loudly. "You're fast approaching the surface."

Kirby wiggled a bit. He was apparently stuck partway inside something, his lower body and feet sticking out in the water. He was no longer being attacked, though, as far as he could tell.

"Uh, I'll send a Warp Star!" Gooey was clearly just as confused.

Moments later, Kirby's feet exited the water. He could feel himself rise into the air... and then plummet for a moment before whatever he was stuck inside landed on something solid and fell over.

Then the opening of what he was stuck in widened a little, allowing him to push himself out. Immediately after he did, he had to grab onto the side of the Warp Star he suddenly found himself on top of to keep from falling into the water below, water which Acro surged upward out of to bite onto him again but fell back into after Kirby pulled himself up.

Being disoriented did not help Kirby share the Warp Star at this time. But he currently had to share it with the being that he had apparently been trapped inside moments before: a blue sunfish with yellow fins, which was about two times his height and had a very big mouth.

"You will pay, Kirby!"

Kirby nearly fell again upon being startled by that hellish, rumbling shout. He shakily looked down at the water, where Acro was looking back at him.

"You have not seen the last of the Underwater Mafia!" were the killer whale's last words before he dove back underwater and was gone.

Then there was silence. Kirby looked back at the blue fish that had... saved him from Acro? That must have been what happened. He had no idea what to say, though.

"So," said the fish at last, "you're Kirby."

"K-Kine?" sputtered Gooey almost immediately. "What's going on here?"

"I just saved your Dream Lander, Gooey," said Kine. "Now could you please send another Warp Star? There isn't enough room on this one for the two of us."

"Uh, right away!" There were faint sounds of tapping for a moment before he continued, "We're indebted to you now, Kine. But I'm still confused; how was it that you came here to save him? You just happening to be at the right place at the right time in the middle of the ocean... It can't have been a coincidence."

"Maybe we can figure out how it happened; I don't entirely know myself. I trailed Sweet Stuff out here, but lost track of him. Shortly after that, my radar sensed Acro a ways above, moving quickly. I went to see what was going on and you know the rest."

"Ah-ha! Well, I have good news for you: Kirby already took care of that monster you were tracking."

"And Acro went after him to take revenge. I see."

There was silence for a few more moments. Kirby tried to make out Kine's expression, but a couple things made this difficult. One was that the fish was still on his side, and another was that he always left his mouth wide open when not talking.

Then the Warp Star arrived, bearing a Maxim Tomato. Kirby boarded and ate. Being around Kine made him feel thoroughly awkward, but he couldn't figure out why.

There was also something he felt was nagging at the back of his mind, something at least somewhat important...

"Gooey..." he said, remembering suddenly, "how did Acro know my name?"

"Oh. Ah, yeah..." Gooey sounded bitter. "It was while I was teaching you to fly a Warp Star that I got the news. Apparently either Lololo or Lalala told someone about you, and then the word spread. Welcome to celebrity, Kirby." It was quite clear that this was not a good thing.

"So," interjected Kine, "Gooey, could you tell this Warp Star to take me back to Iceberg? Ice Dragon is still rampaging."

"Done."

Kine sped off into the distance.