Chapter 20: Steel Seafood

Kirby moved through the duct at a leisurely pace. Only one enemy, another of those living helmets, got in his way. He inhaled it and swallowed to acquire Cutter ability.

Captain: "Seal the doors shut in the right wing!"

: "Aye, Captain."

Captain: "When you're done with that, get out of there! We're gonna have ourselves a good old-fashioned crustacean cookout! But it won't be the seafood getting fried! Blahahaha!"

A ways after that, Kirby came upon a metal panel that was sliding across the duct, retracting, and sliding in again. But, it was moving too fast for him to squeeze by without getting crushed.

Kirby decided to use his Cutter blade to hold it open. He placed the blade in front of (and parallel to the force of) the panel. He then managed to slide through before the blade broke, which it did moments later. Kirby lost Cutter ability.

At long last, Kirby made it to the far end of the duct. He exited it vertically and dropped to the floor. He was now in a hallway in the right wing that was identical to the one in the left wing.

Captain: "Ready?"

: "Is this okay, Captain?"

: "Are you positive about this?"

Captain: "Be quiet! This is our only chance! Release Heavy Lobster!"

There was a huge crashing noise behind Kirby, who spun around to see a gigantic, golden, lobster-like robot dislodge itself from a wall it had just smashed into. It had two large, green eyes, two big flat feet, two huge pincers, and a metal grate for a mouth. It was between four and five times Kirby's height.

It turned towards Kirby and pointed its left pincer at him. Kirby saw light begin to form inside it and jumped out of the way just in time, dodging a pink laser blast from the claw. The laser hit the floor behind Kirby and left a large, smoldering hole where it struck. (At least, Kirby assumed that it was a hole. He couldn't see through the smoke rising from it.)

The grate in Heavy Lobster's mouth slid upwards. Out of the hole sped a tiny version of it— a little metal lobster slightly smaller that Kirby. This minute copy slid quickly along the floor at Kirby, who promptly inhaled it.

Kirby shot the star back at Heavy Lobster, hitting it right between the eyes, but the blow just glanced off its metal hide.

Heavy Lobster now raised its right pincer. Kirby waited to dodge another laser blast, but it didn't come. Instead, and more quickly, the claw shook and then fired a spray of huge flames, which blasted Kirby backwards, sending stars flying from his body.

Kirby got up quickly. The flames that had spewed from Heavy Lobster's claw had alighted on whatever surface they touched, slowly melting it. Foul smoke was starting to accumulate.

Kirby ran away from the smoke, moving further out onto the Halberd's right wing. He could still see Heavy Lobster, though, and it was doing something odd. It was lowering its body between its legs, getting into some sort of crouching position.

Then it sped at Kirby.

Heavy Lobster was apparently yet another opponent with jets behind it. It smashed into Kirby, sending him flying. He heard a crash as Heavy Lobster jetted into a wall.

Kirby got up again and saw Heavy Lobster dislodge itself from the remains of the wall it had smashed into. It pointed its left pincer at Kirby, who saw the glowing light within it and dodged out of the way of another laser blast.

The grate in Heavy Lobster's mouth opened again. Another miniature Heavy Lobster came out to attack Kirby, who inhaled it and swallowed.

But Kirby didn't copy an ability.

Heavy Lobster raised its right claw. Kirby ran even before the claw began to shake. He heard it disgorge its fiery contents.

Kirby retreated farther out in the wing. He would enter a door, but he remembered that the Halberd's captain had ordered them sealed shut.

Heavy Lobster rocketed after Kirby, who did not dodge quickly enough, as he hadn't been facing Heavy Lobster at the time.

This was bad. Heavy Lobster wasn't giving Kirby any opportunities to copy abilities. Plus, star shots apparently didn't work, so Kirby was deprived of any means of attack.

Heavy Lobster backed out of the wall and aimed another laser blast at Kirby, who dodged again. The laser struck a wall, causing a small explosion there.

: "Oh no! Our battleship is being destroyed!"

Captain: "That's not important now! Go ahead, Heavy Lobster! Get Kirby!"

"Gooey! What do I do?!" yelled Kirby. "He's not giving me anything to copy an ability from!"

"Hm," replied Gooey as Heavy Lobster unleashed another miniature for Kirby to inhale. "Well, try looking for a weak point that you could hit with a star shot. I heard one bounce off its armor earlier, but maybe there's somewhere to aim that isn't armored."

Heavy Lobster aimed its right claw at Kirby. At the same time, Kirby, taking Gooey's advice, aimed the star in his mouth at the grate in Heavy Lobster's mouth.

Kirby shot first. The star smashed completely through the grate and entered Heavy Lobster's inside. Stars shot out of Heavy Lobster's mouth, along with fire and the sounds of explosions.

For a few moments, Heavy Lobster was motionless, it's pincer still raised.

Then its pincer shook, and Kirby barely had time to react before flames spewed from it again. Kirby was once again forced to flee from the smoke, which caused Heavy Lobster to attempt to run over him again. This time he managed to dodge.

Heavy Lobster crashed into another wall, turned, aimed another laser blast, fired, and missed due to Kirby dodging again.

But, when it tried to send another miniature to attack Kirby, smoke poured from its mouth instead, along with muffled grinding, clicking, and sputtering noises.

And then, a strange orange goop dripped from its mouth. It formed a blob on the ground.

Kirby stared at it. The blob wiggled for a moment. But then, as suddenly as any of Heavy Lobster's actions, it jumped at Kirby.

Kirby did not have time to react before the blob collided with him. It splattered onto his face, coating it in an orange ooze. Kirby had closed his eyes right before being hit, out of instinct, but when he tried to open them again, he couldn't! They had been gummed shut!

Kirby tried rubbing the stuff off his face, but to no avail. He couldn't see Heavy Lobster! He didn't know whether it had started attacking again or not!

It had. Flames blasted Kirby. He flailed about as he was propelled through the air by the attack. He landed on something molten, and knew he was taking even more damage. He could tell there was smoke in the air. He was choking on it. He coughed, and knew he was coughing out stars; the smoke was damaging his insides.

He ran blindly and hit a wall. Moments later, he was run over again by Heavy Lobster.

Kirby got up as he heard Heavy Lobster extricate itself from another wall. He waited, knowing the laser attack was coming next.

He dodged, but too early. The laser hit him in the face.

Kirby was sent bouncing off multiple walls before he came to rest. As this happened, Gooey exclaimed, "Heavy Lobster's attacks are using up tons of defensive stars! Is there something wrong with you?"

Kirby got up... and opened his eyes! The laser had blasted all the goop off his face!

"There isn't now," replied Kirby.

More ooze, however, was already dripping from Heavy Lobster's mouth. As soon as it had formed another blob, Kirby inhaled it.

But, before he could shoot a star shot into Heavy Lobster's mouth, it brought its claws up in front of its face, shielding the opening.

Kirby waited for the claws to part. Heavy Lobster couldn't use either its laser blaster or its flamethrower with them in that position. But, then it lowered its body. Kirby recognized what that meant, and dodged out of the way, star still in his mouth. Heavy Lobster rocketed past him and smashed into another wall.

Kirby waited for it to turn around. It did, but it kept its claws in their defensive positions. Kirby decided that he might as well swallow if he wasn't going to be given a chance to hit Heavy Lobster with a star shot. He did so.

Stars flashed in front of his eyes and a gray baseball cap appeared backwards on his head.

"Paint ability!" declared Gooey. And, then he continued, "This is another one-time-use ability, Kirby. Use it and lose it."

Kirby used it, causing a huge explosion of paint.

The walls, ceiling and floor were all heavily spattered with the multicolored substance. Kirby looked at Heavy Lobster. It was moving its pincers back into their regular positions. Kirby saw that their sides had been coated in paint, along with large portions of Heavy Lobster's body. The paint evidently did not react well with the metal that Heavy Lobster's armor was made of; it had turned the places it struck an unpleasant dark burgundy.

Heavy Lobster began to twitch. Its pincers moved erratically.

: "OH NO! Heavy Lobster's blind!"

Captain: "What?! Paint ability?!"

: "It's no good. It can't see at all!"

Captain: "Unbelievable! Kirby's still alive!"

Kirby looked at Heavy Lobster's eyes. They had both been covered in paint, and had changed from green to dark pink.

Heavy Lobster fired one of its rockets, but only one, which caused it to spin on the spot. When it stopped, it fell forward with a crashing noise. It got up again and raised its right claw. Unfortunately for Heavy Lobster, however, it was aiming diagonally down the hall away from Kirby.

Heavy Lobster let loose its flame attack, melting even more of the Halberd's wing while missing Kirby entirely. It then fired another of its rockets, spinning again. It stopped, fell, and this time fired both, causing it to scoot directly across the hall, emitting a loud scraping noise as it ground along the floor. It hit the wall on the hall's opposite side and stood up again.

Heavy Lobster used another rocket thrust to spin. Then, it raised its left claw and shortly fired a laser blast, but its aim was off by a number of feet to Kirby's left. Kirby had not moved at all since he had used Paint ability.

Heavy Lobster spun a fourth time. It was now facing the wall again. Suddenly, there was an explosion from inside it. Heavy Lobster fell backwards and then onto its side. Ooze dripped sideways from its mouth into the ground.

Kirby ran forward and inhaled the blob that formed. Then he shot it back into Heavy Lobster's mouth.

Heavy Lobster exploded like the Combo Cannon. Metal and fire flew in every direction, some of it hitting Kirby and causing more damage.

More explosions joined the scene. The wing was blowing up. Kirby had to evacuate!

Kirby ran past the remains of Heavy Lobster. But, as he did, something caught his eye.

He chanced doubling back. He ran over to where Heavy Lobster had burst and, to his amazement, spotted the fifth Star Rod shard in the rubble!

Kirby scooped it up quickly and ran back towards the main part of the Halberd. As he ran, he ate the shard.

"The fifth Star Rod shard!" exclaimed Gooey. "It was in Heavy Lobster?!"

All Kirby could reply with was a yell, as he was suddenly engulfed in explosions and blasted out of the wing.

Kirby fell and fell...

: "Major damage to the right wing!"

Captain: "Don't worry! We've regained our balance. Now, did we get Kirby?"

: "We got 'im, Cap. He fell off the ship when the wing exploded."

Captain: "Great! Ahahaha! Now we just have to keep him off!"

Meta Knight: "With that out of the way for now, a meeting should be held. The damage to the wings and the main cannon constitute a considerable setback in our plan."

Kirby landed far below in the southwestern part of Yogurt Yard. He watched the Halberd fly slowly out of sight beyond Frozen Hills, further southwest.