Reminder: These chapters have unfinished sections. The missing portions are denoted by [underlined brackets].
Chapter 18: Back for More
Kirby inhaled the first darker swordsman he saw, copying Sword ability, which had served him well the last time he used it.
A spinning brown cylinder with a rounded top was sliding quickly towards him. He had a split second glimpse of holes for its eyes and mouth before cutting it in two. It disappeared with the usual stars.
More were coming. He sliced and jumped through them. Those he dodged exploded behind him.
He ran through a door and across a room where he was attacked by more of those living helmets and pineapple-shaped bombers.
He entered another room where he found an elevator that could only take him to two floors: the one he was on and a lower one. He pressed the down button.
Emerging from the elevator, he found two more of those ninja enemies between him and another door. They threw their little daggers at him, but he inhaled them and shot one of the ninjas with a star, eliminating it.
The other bounced backwards and then jumped off of the wall, headed for Kirby.
Reacting quickly, he impaled it with his sword. The ninja burst into stars.
He walked through the door into a large, bare metal room.
: "Release the Demon Beasts!"
: "Mr. Frosty ready!"
: "Bounder ready!"
Captain: "Kirby won't stand a chance against two of Nightmare Enterprises' finest! Wahahahahaha!"
A metal panel in the middle of the floor slid away. Two creatures were then raised into the room via a metal platform below.
One of the creatures was over two times Kirby's height. [remaining description of Mr. Frosty]
The other creature was only a little taller than Kirby. It had no facial features other than two big, blue, soulless eyes that looked like crystal balls. [remaining description of Bounder]
Kirby readied himself. He didn't know what these two were capable of.
The larger one turned around and bent over, giving him an unpleasant view of its blue bottom. He couldn't see what it was doing. A moment later, it flipped over, throwing a large block of ice in his direction.
It was easy to assume then that the larger enemy was Mr. Frosty, and the smaller was Bounder.
Kirby inhaled the ice block and shot the star back.
Immediately, Bounder jumped in front of Mr. Frosty. He spun as the star shot neared him, catching it and redirecting it back towards Kirby.
This move was nearly instantaneous and caught him completely by surprise. He did not have time to dodge before the star hit him in the face. He was bowled over by the shot. Stars flew from his body and he lost Sword ability.
He got up quickly enough to see Mr. Frosty leap toward him, mouth wide. He dodged out of the way to avoid being swallowed whole.
Bounder, meanwhile, had jumped onto one of the room's walls and clung there.
Kirby turned back toward Mr. Frosty, who was showing him his bottom again. Mr. Frosty threw another block of ice, which Kirby inhaled and immediately shot back.
Out of nowhere, Bounder sped across Kirby's line of vision. He had apparently jumped horizontally across the room, from one wall to the opposite one, intercepting the star shot in midair and spinning it back like he had with the first one, reversing its trajectory.
Kirby didn't dodge fast enough and was once again struck by one of his own shots.
He dodged out of the way of Mr. Frosty trying to gobble him up again. But then he was suddenly hit hard in the side by Bounder, who had sped across the room a second time, striking Kirby as he passed.
Mr. Frosty threw another ice block, which Kirby inhaled and this time decided to swallow.
Stars flashed in front of his eyes. A golden headband with a blue-purple crystal at its front appeared on his head, and big blue ice crystals sprouted from his scalp.
"Ice ability!" declared Gooey.
Kirby blew hard at Mr. Frosty, unleashing a stream of freezing air and ice particles.
Mr. Frosty didn't even flinch as he was blasted by the cold. Then Bounder made another horizontal jump and struck Kirby as he had before. Kirby lost his ability.
Mr. Frosty tried to eat Kirby again. Kirby dodged and spun around, looking for Bounder. He spotted him crawling along a wall.
He looked back at Mr. Frosty, whose telltale hindquarters were pointed at him again. He tried inhaling the icy monster, but this had no effect. Mr. Frosty threw another ice block, which entered Kirby's mouth. He swallowed it, regaining Ice ability.
He ran towards Bounder and blew at him. But the wall crawler was too quick, jumping upward to the ceiling and then springing downward, smashing down directly on top of Kirby. Then he bounded off and latched onto a different wall. Kirby had lost Ice ability again.
He spun around and saw a block of ice hurtling toward him. He inhaled it and swallowed, acquiring Ice ability for a third time.
He ran around in such a way as to face Mr. Frosty while keeping Bounder in his peripheral vision.
Suddenly, Bounder sprung at him.
This was his chance! Reacting quickly, he turned and inhaled.
Bounder sped straight into his open mouth and was swallowed.
Disappointed that he hadn't copied an ability, but glad that he had defeated Bounder, Kirby turned back to Mr. Frosty, who was preparing to throw yet another block of ice at him.
He inhaled the ice block when it flew in his direction and shot the star back at Mr. Frosty, who opened his mouth and ate it.
For a few seconds, the two opponents stood still. Then Mr. Frosty exploded in a shower of stars.
: "No! He beat them!"
Captain: "Inconceivable! How the heck did he survive?!"
Kirby exited the room through the far door.
He entered the middle of a hallway that led to his left and right. There were no doors here apart from the one he had come out of and the ones at the hallway's ends.
The door at the right end was unblocked, but a group of PBJs was guarding the left door, accompanied by...
"Kirby's here!" shouted the yellow-suited Poppy Brothers Senior, the panic in his voice not apparent on his smiling face. He pointed in Kirby's direction. "Sic 'im!"
The yellow-suited Poppy Brothers Juniors pulled out their weapons and made for Kirby.
He blew at the one in front, freezing it solid. Then he kicked it at the others. It slid across the floor and smashed into one of its fellows. Both burst into stars.
He repeated this with each of the PBJs, dodging bombs, boomerangs and punches that came his way. He impressed himself by managing to take them all out without being hurt.
He turned to face the Senior, who was still by the door with a few PBJs that hadn't attacked. They had brought through the door a large orange block with a bomb painted on it.
"Quick!" the Senior was saying. "Let's activate this thing and get out of here!" He laid a bomb next to the block and retreated. The PBJs followed.
Kirby ran after them, but then the bomb exploded, and so did the block.
The blast shook the whole hallway. Metal crashed down, completely blocking the door he was headed for. There was no way through.
: "Poppy did it! Kirby's progress has been stopped!"
: "There's no way he'll be able to get through the switch rooms."
Kirby turned around and walked to the other end of the hallway, where he entered the other door.
On the other side was another metal room. The wall opposite him had two yellow doors, one on either side. Each door had a red dot painted on it where a handle would normally be. There was a large red button on the floor to his right, and one of those living helmet enemies stood between the two doors.
The enemy threw its blade at Kirby, who blew at it, making it fall to the ground, encased in ice. The enemy stepped backwards as though considering retreating, but Kirby ran towards it and blew at it, freezing it too.
He looked around the room. The only interesting thing in it was the red button on the floor. He went over to it and stepped on it.
The yellow door across the room (the one farther away) slid open. He walked over to it, but he had barely gotten a quarter of the way there before it shut. He walked the rest of the way and tried to reopen it physically. This didn't work, nor did it work on the other yellow door.
He tried stepping on the button and running as fast as he could to the open door. He had gotten little farther than halfway before it shut. Clearly only really fast people were supposed to be able to get past this room.
But, then he thought of a way he could cheat. He walked over to the frozen enemy, slid it across the room, and placed it on the button.
The door slid open. Kirby casually walked over to it and passed through it.
The room beyond was very small, with a second red button in its center.
He looked at it for a moment, and then tried stepping on it. Predictably, the second yellow door opened. He ran for it, but just couldn't get there in time.
So he picked up the enemy's fallen blade. But when he placed it on the button, he found that it was not heavy enough to depress it.
He picked up the blade again, thinking.
Getting an idea, he stood on the button and then jammed the blade in between button and the floor around it.
He got off the button, which remained depressed!
This didn't last very long, however. The ice around the blade cracked and then shattered. Suddenly thinner, the blade popped out and the button was reset.
Determined to make this work, Kirby blew on the blade to coat it with ice again and then repeated the process of stepping on the switch and jamming it.
Then he raced to the second door, and managed to get through just before it closed.
He had entered a very narrow metal hallway, just wider than he was, but considerably taller. On the floor in front of him was a third button. At the other end of the hallway was a third yellow door.
Uh-oh, he thought. How was he supposed to get out of here?
He tried stepping on the button and running as fast as he could towards the door, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get farther than about three quarters of the way there before it shut again.
However, on his third try, he realized that he was unconsciously propelling himself towards the door with his arms as well as his feet, using the former to push against the walls.
Yet he still needed more acceleration.
He thought of something he could try. He blew along the floor between the button and the door, creating a long sheet of ice.
Then, he ran, stepping on the button, and leaping forward onto the ice. He slid on his belly, thrusting himself faster forward by pushing backwards on the walls. His speed increased with every push, and he shot through the door at the end of the hall.
As the door shut behind him, he surveyed the next room. It was another large metal one. It had one yellow door in the center of the wall across from him, but there were two buttons, one to his left and one to his right.
Puzzled, he walked over to the left button and stepped on it. He heard a door open, but did not see one do so. Now even more confused, he walked over and stepped on the other button. This did open the fourth yellow door, and he immediately saw a fifth yellow door close beyond it.
He ran over to the open door and managed to get through it before it closed!
But, then it did close, trapping him between two closed yellow doors.
There was a moment of panic as Kirby looked back and forth between the doors, eyes wide. Then he noticed a little red button on one of the walls. He pressed it, and the fourth door reopened, but only for a moment. He pressed it a second time and then leapt back into the previous room before the door shut again.
Back in the room with two buttons, he considered the task ahead of him. Apparently he was supposed to run from one button to the other button and then through the doors. That was why the fourth door had stayed open longer.
He attempted this a few times, but had known before he had started that he wasn't fast enough on his feet to make it.
And there was no way for him to reopen the door that led back. He had no way out.
"Gooey," said Kirby finally, "I'm stuck."
"Been a while since I last heard from you! What's the problem?"
He explained about the rooms with red buttons and yellow doors.
"Hmm," said Gooey. "Well, you still have Ice ability, so why not try holding a button down and freezing it in place?"
Kirby stared blankly. The solution was so simple. Why hadn't he thought of it?
He stood on one of the buttons and blew all around its edges. It froze solid and the yellow door remained open. He did the same thing with the other button, and proceeded to the next room.
"Thanks, Gooey."
"It's what I'm here for."