Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.
BGM: Waddle Dee Town (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
"Alright, let's take it from the top!" Francisca said, shaking her supersoaker and shooting it as Esdeath aimed her hand, her hair a watery blue after putting the Water power up on her head, the water stopped moving as she manipulated the water around her, making it dance around her as she then added ice to it to create an ice sculpture.
"I think she's got it figured out!" Laxus said.
"Awesome!" Laura cheered.
"That's more like it." Francisca smiled.
Esdeath chuckled, conjuring up a Water Ball. "I never thought conjuring up water would be so much fun." She said.
Laxus chuckled. "Yeah, I can tell you're having a lot of fun with it." He then got in a stance. "But let's see how you can handle it in combat."
"Oooh, taking on one of the strongest S Class huntsman, eh?" Esdeath smirked, water wrapping around her arms. "Alright, lightning rod. Let's dance!"
Laxus smirked as the two of them lunged, ready to clobber each other… right as the armored truck came rolling in as they looked on in curiosity as all the other heroes curiously looked at the truck.
Inside, Donatello pulled out a walkie talkie. "Ninja Turtle to Skeleton Man, we're at the home base."
"Wonderful! I'll let the good doctor know!"
"Sounds good."
The back door opened up as everyone hopped out of the truck. "Hey! You guys got Umber back!" Reimu said, and then the TMNT hopped out as well. "...And… giant mask wearing turtles."
Ryuji noticed this while drinking hot chocolate, immediately doing a spit take. "WHAT THE EFF?! THE 2003 TMNT?!"
"Say wha?!" Futaba yelled in surprise.
"What's all the yelling?" Ann asked as she and Makoto had towels over their necks and spotted them.
"...Ann. Is that the…?"
"Uh-huh!"
"And we're not hallucinating from the-"
"Nope."
Makoto pinched herself. "OW! …Definitely not dreaming."
"We are definitely back." Meta Knight said, and then suddenly Yagami grabbed his arm.
"Come on, you're coming with me." She said, dragging him away.
End BGM
"What?! Hey! What did I do? Unhand me!" He exclaimed as Yagami secretly grabbed Adaleine's paintbrush when she wasn't looking. "What are you doing with that paintbrush?!"
"Yagami, go easy on him!" Umber said before sighing. "Welp… I'm sure he'll be fine." He turned to Xena, who was already giving him a dirty look and walked away. "Oh…" He rubbed his head. "Hey, wait up!"
"Hey, on the bright side, Umber's here so all we have to worry about is finding Dedede… and then figure out how to get out of here while trying to deal with Fecto." Sonia said.
"Chiaki, is everything alright? You look upset." Gundham said with a hint of concern. "Now that I think about it, Kirby's a bit upset too."
BB-8 let out a few beeps.
"Ah, I see… Elfilin was kidnapped by Dedede. …Wait, the little guy was kidnapped by Dedede?!"
"Oh gosh…" Sonia whispered.
"Yeah… she's… not having a good time right now." Hajime said as Chiaki said nothing and walked into the hotel.
At that moment, a portal opened up as Strange and Jack Skellington walked through the portal. "What the hell is going on?!" Ryuji said in surprise.
"Oh my… Dr. Strange?!" Sonia exclaimed before smiling. "Oh, maybe Chiaki seeing one of her favorite Marvel heroes will perk her up." She said as Chiaki looked up to see Strange, but then turned her head around and kept walking. "...Oh. She's that upset."
Hajime grimaced. "I think I know why. I'll go talk to her." He walked after her.
"So… I'm taking it these are the kid's friends." Strange said.
"Bunch of colorful people, I'll say." Jack said as he walked around.
"Well, I'll be damned!" Dante walked over to him. "Strange, my man, how you doing!"
BGM: Have a Nice Talk (Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story plus Bowser Jr's Journey)
"...God dammit." Strange grumbled.
"Ah, is that anyway to treat an old friend?"
"I am not the Strange you are familiar with as I have never met you before. However, as I have tapped into the multiverse, I came across this one universe where me and the Avengers crossed paths with the likes of you and several other… unique individuals."
"Ah, so I see you've seen Morrigan!"
"I wish I hadn't."
Dante chuckled. "She means well."
"So in the grand scheme of things, seeing you here is… shall we say, meeting up with an old acquaintance. And I must say, Dante… you look like shit. Age has certainly not been kind to you."
"Meh, I'm still the number one knuckleheaded demon hunter. What ya gonna do!"
"Charming…"
"Soooo, how are the Avengers holding up?"
"Well, let's see… Tony, Natasha and Steve are dead, Thor's off world with the Guardians of the Galaxy as far as I know, Banner is off doing who knows what, the archer with the wild mohawk has retired… shall I continue on?"
"No no, I got the whole picture. Shit… Tony died? Man, it was great to crack jokes with him. How'd it happen?"
"Used the Infinity Stones to destroy Thanos and his army, but by doing so, it did a number on his body and killed him."
"Yeesh… hell of a way to go. Anywho, how about you. What have you been up to?"
"You mean for the past three months in this god forsaken place or before I became a summon for the Alolan kid?"
"Really! You're a summon for Umber? Not bad if I have to say." Dante chuckled. "Wait… you couldn't go back to your world?"
"Apparently in this world, not even summons can go back to their universe. Believe me, I've tried."
"Well, look on the bright side, you got plenty of time to catch up with your old pal!" Dante wrapped an arm around Strange. "Come on, we got a lot to talk about." He said as he pulled him away. "Hey Vergil, look who it is!"
"Vergil?" Strange asked as Vergil turned to him. He instinctively grimaced seeing him. Lord, take me now…
End BGM
With Xena and Umber…
"Hey…" Umber approached Xena who was leaning underneath a tree.
"...Hey."
"Look, if you're that upset… I… I won't blame you. In fact, I don't really blame Yagami for what she's probably doing with Meta Knight right now. By the way, how did-"
"Being sucked into the void did something to us. Now we can be fully separated for three hours before we're forced to merge. It takes about an hour for us for our psychic powers to fully recharge. If we're separated, it puts a strain on our magic and we're only able to be apart for two hours."
"Interesting…"
"But…" Xena turned to look at him, trying to hold it together.
BGM: Xion (Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix)
"You were gone for three days… we were worried sick about you. We tried telepathically calling you, we tried texting you… instead we got a massively bullshit error message… we were worried something happened to you."
"Something did happen to me. Dedede and I were sucked into this world and… he was possessed by Fecto. I made my escape… but I did try to call you and text you because I couldn't stop thinking about the two of you. When I tried our telepathic link… Fecto got a hold of me and I tried to fight him off. I almost succumbed to it… but Meta Knight found me and knocked me out. My final thoughts before I almost became one with Fecto? It was you."
"Umber…"
"Also, I was gone for three days? I wish I had that privilege. I was here for three months. You thought Chiaki being stuck in that realm for a year was crazy? I'm glad it wasn't three years for me! I was stuck here… for so long. Meta Knight couldn't find a way out of here, I couldn't find a way out of here… I tried using Dr. Strange to get us out but apparently, summon magic can't do squat to get me out, and then he couldn't get out…"
"So you thought the best idea was to invite the Ninja Turtles and Mr. King of Halloween here too?"
"Originally it was a pizza party to cheer ourselves up. Then… I just invited Jack for the heck of it, figured it'd be a whole party." He sighed. "Again, being stuck here for three months wasn't easy… hell, Strange wasn't having a great time either but… we were trying to lay low. And then, three months later… you and everyone else shows up."
"Wait… so you mean to tell me you were laying low all this time… all of us were looking for you in this world, and you were just playing pretend to being Fecto's lackeys?"
"I didn't like it either… and I especially didn't like what happened in Wondaria too."
"...Where were you… Haru shattered your clone…"
"I was a few yards away, in the bushes. It broke my heart seeing you cry and seeing Yagami trying to hold it together, I saw the pain in both of your eyes. Not only that, but seeing you suffer from trying to communicate with me and Fecto intervening? It crushed me… it was so bad that Leo and Jack had to console me."
"But why…" Xena teared up, trembling. "Why would you do that…"
"I was hoping that if I played "the bad guy" a bit longer, I'd get the jump on Dedede and Fecto. It was a good idea… mostly… okay, not really… we did perfect my entrance as far as Jack was concerned but-"
"FUCK FECTO!" Xena shouted, tears running down her cheeks as Umber nearly teared up as well. "You could've thrown all that away! You could've just revealed yourself right at that moment in Wondaria and we would've given you the biggest hug imaginable… after slapping you for such a horrid prank! We were worried sick about you, Umber! Can't believe you would so willingly worry us for so long and just… just…!"
"I know… I know! I'm a bad boyfriend for doing something so shitty, and… honestly, I feel terrible that I had to-"
Xena slapped him on the cheek. "Shut up… just… shut up, you Alolan idiot…" She sobbed as Umber put his hand on her cheek, tears rolling down his cheeks as well as he moved in and kissed her. Xena froze for a moment before wrapping her arms around him.
Umber pulled away, placing his forehead onto her. "I… am so sorry… for everything I did here… I never meant to hurt you and Yagami."
"Don't… scare us like that again… you… lovable… idiot…"
At that moment, Umber felt a slap upside his head as he turned to see Yagami with tears in her eyes. He sadly smiled. "Hey Yagami…"
"You're an idiot, you know that?" She quietly sobbed as he pulled her in for a hug and a kiss as well, then pulled her aside and placed his forehead on the both of theirs.
"I'll make it up to you both… I promise you that. And when we're done here, I'll let you do anything to me..." He said gently. "I love you both…"
"Love you too… numbskull…" Yagami sniffled, all three of them holding each other underneath the tree.
End BGM
Meanwhile, with Chiaki…
Hajime slowly opened the door, seeing Chiaki playing on her 3DS while having her Zelda headphones on. However, he immediately noticed that the 3DS was on full blast and not attached to said speaker. Probably playing music. He thought as he walked over to her, then sat on her bed.
"Hey. everything okay?" He asked as Chiaki looked up. He pointed to his ear as she lowered the volume on her headphones. "You feeling okay?"
"Yeah… I'm fine. I'm actually not that torn up over Elfilin getting kidnapped."
"Really?" Hajime raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"
"Positive. I know we'll get him back, so why waste time moping around?"
Hmmm… "Take off your headphones."
"Huh? Why would I-" She sighed. "Alright…" She mumbled as she took them off as Hajime took a listen.
"Uh-huh, just as I thought. Melancholic video game music. You typically listen to more upbeat soundtracks. This really got to you…"
Chiaki closed her 3DS, putting it on the nightstand and sighing. "Yeah…" She mumbled.
BGM: Despair Imitation (Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak)
"I… I legitimately thought this was going to be another Marx and Magolor situation, so naturally… I didn't trust Elfi at first. I was giving him the cold shoulder, just… trying not to form an attachment to him, but… of course I do, considering he's a cute fluffball… and then I start warming up to him."
"Yeah, I could tell you were forming a bond with him."
"Especially when he got scared over that Scarfy… eventually, I decided to humor it and thought I'd do a big ol' "I told you so" when it was revealed Elfilin wasn't a good guy. …Okay, I wouldn't try to brag about it, that's not who I am, but… still. But then… everything changed when Meta Knight explained everything to us. I… I was completely guilty over it. And what does he do? He consoles me, comforts me… he… he didn't hold it against me…"
"And that's when your bond truly blossomed, didn't it?"
"Yeah… we fought in those rifts together, I told him to hide when we fought a Fecto controlled Esdeath… he was starting to become a true friend…"
Tears swelled in her eyes, her voice breaking. "And… and then he goes and sacrifices himself just like that! And... I... I... I don't know! After all we've been through we had a lot of fun, even though at first I thought he was just pulling the strings but he wasn't!"
Hajime said nothing, watching tears fall freely from his girl's cheeks. He instinctively pulled her in and gently put her head on his chest, rubbing her back, gently kissing her on the forehead. "This is really eating you up..."
"It is..."
"Hey... we'll get him back."
"I-I know we will... but I can't help but worry that Fecto will do something to him..."
There was a gentle knock on the door as Hajime looked up to see Sonia peeking in. "Is this a bad time?" She whispered.
"I don't think so."
"Good, because we're coming in anyway." She said as she opened the door and walked over to Chiaki with Gundham and BB-8 behind her, the latter pushing the door to close it and then turned around.
"You feeling alright?" Gundham asked.
"Not really..." She mumbled.
Sonia knelt down. "Hey, it'll be okay. We'll get Elfi back!" She reassured. "I know you didn't exactly trust him at first, so this hits a bit harder for you, but, we'll get him back. I know we will."
"Indeed. Elfilin is a trooper for such a little creature. He helped you out in those Rift Dimensions, so I can imagine he is resisting Fecto's influence!" Gundham said.
BB-8 let out a few encouraging boops.
Chiaki softly smiled, wiping her tears. "Thanks, guys..." She said softly.
"Oh, and I know something that will also cheer you up." Sonia said, reaching in her pocket. "I managed to get a hold of the sorcerer before Dante could drive him crazy any further."
"What'd you...?" Chiaki wondered.
"Ta-dah~! An autograph from Doctor Strange~!" She said, handing it to her.
"Oh my gosh..." Chiaki whispered as she stared at it, before hugging Sonia. "I guess it was rather worrying that I didn't fangirl over seeing him."
"Oh, don't worry about it. He actually seemed rather happy to be distracted from Dante's ramblings." Sonia giggled, watching Chiaki put the autograph into her dimensional pocket for safe keeping.
"I know we'll get him back…" Chiaki sniffled. "I just hope he can hang on for that long…"
End BGM
"I'm sure he will." Hajime reassured her with a smile as Chiaki let out a yawn and fell asleep in Hajime's arms. "Oh!"
"Well, it is getting pretty late… might as well get well rested for tomorrow." Sonia chuckled, ruffling Chiaki's hair.
Meanwhile, with Strange and Dante…
"Let me get this straight. The fate of Remnant rests on the hands of getting these relics from the hands of this Salem character… and all of this drama happened because of a bad break up?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it." Dante nodded.
"To me, it doesn't sound like Remnant is worth saving." Vergil mumbled.
"To that, I agree. However… everyone has a weakness." Strange said. "If we can figure out Salem's weakness, then we can exploit that."
"She can't be killed though."
Strange smirked. "Neither can Dormammu, yet I was able to defeat him."
"Dormammu, I've come to bargain!"
"You've come to die!"
"Took me a while, but I pulled it off." Strange said. "Salem may claim she can't be killed, but she's arrogant. And I can't wait to find a way to wipe that arrogant smirk off of her face when she's finally put away for good."
"Now how are we going to figure that out?" Vergil wondered.
"We'll find a way. It's what we do best." Strange said.
"Yeah!" Dante nodded, then he saw Adaleine walk around. "Yo, Adaleine, you look a bit lost."
"I'm trying to find my paintbrush. Have you seen it anywhere?"
With Meta Knight…
Meta Knight had his arms folded, his mask having "I am a loser" painted on it while flowers were also painted, his cape had polka dots on it and his blue body had stripes. Even Galaxia had rainbows and bunnies painted on it. "I feel… dirty…"
Marx walked by. "It's an improvement."
"No, it is not."
The next morning…
"Mmmm…" Jade woke up, seeing that Futaba was snuggled up next to her and Spooks was on the foot of the bed. She smiled, kissing Futaba on the forehead as she spotted her glasses on the nightstand. She smirked, getting an idea.
"Zzzz… mmm…" Futaba woke up, rubbing her eyes. "Babe…? Oh… probably went to get breakfast." She said as she reached for her glasses, but not finding them anywhere. "Huh? I could've sworn I-"
"Morning, hon~!" Jade smiled as Futaba saw her wearing her glasses.
"I didn't know you wore glass-... hey!" Futaba playfully swatted a pillow at her as Jade laughed. "Those are mine, ya goof!"
"I dunno, I think they suit me rather well. I'm sure you can go for contact lenses~!" She said, striking a pose.
"Oh, c'mere you!" Futaba pulled her toward the bed, both of them laughing as they wrestled each other trying to get the glasses.
"I look pretty cool in these."
"You look like a nerd!"
"Takes one to know one~!"
"Oh, you little…!"
Next room over, Dark Meta Knight groaned, putting pillows over his head. "Too early for this…" He grumbled as he pounded on the wall. "Hey! If you two are having sex in there, keep it down! Some of us are trying to sleep!"
Futaba and Jade blinked, looking at each other. Futaba snickered. "He seriously thinks we were- PFFFFFFT!"
Both girls laughed, wiping tears from their eyes. "Alright, here you go." Jade said, handing Futaba her glasses back while giggling.
"Thank you~!" Futaba giggled.
Meanwhile…
Mercury snuck into Laxus's room. "Heheheh…" He smirked, pulling out a can of shaving cream and placing it on the snoring man's hand. He then brought out a feather and tickled his nose.
Splat!
Mercury blinked, as the shaving cream landed on his face instead.
Laxus smirked. "Nora tried to do the same thing to me once. It backfired for her too." He said with his eyes closed.
Mercury walked out of the room, grumbling. "Frickin' old timer dragon slayers and their good hearing…"
"Mmmuuh…?" Zapple emerged from the bed next to Laxus, rubbing her eyes. "What was that about…?"
"Just him being a prankster." He said and turned to Zapple. "So, my bed comfier than yours?"
"Seriously, have you tried my bed? It's stiff as a rock."
"Heh, I doubt it."
Once in Zapple's room…
"Seriously, this bed looks perfectly comfy." He said, leaping up and slamming his back on the bed.
Thud!
Laxus blinked, sitting up and rubbing his neck while groaning. "What's this bed made out of, concrete?"
"Told ya!"
With Lunartics…
"Mmm…" Umber stirred, seeing that Xena was cuddled up next to him with her face buried in his chest. He smiled, gently caressing her hair, kissing her forehead. He chuckled, rubbing her back.
Xena gently stirred, slowly opening her eyes and looked at her boyfriend, smiling as the two of them leaned forward and kissed one another until Xena moved and got on top of him, grasping his hands and slowly started to make out with him.
Umber broke the kiss, looking in her eyes. "You won't believe how much I missed this…"
"We'd believe it~" Xena giggled, letting Yagami take over… only Yagami was still asleep.
"Zzzz…"
"Whoops…"
Xena took over. "Guess she's still tired."
Umber chuckled. "Well now~ Let's make the most of it before she wakes up~" He said as the two continued making out.
"Zzzz… mmm… wha…? …Hey! Are you making out with him without me? No fair!"
Yagami crawled out of Xena and sandwiched Umber, proceeding to shower him with kisses as well.
With Hajime and Chiaki…
Hajime woke up, stretching. He looked down to see Chiaki resting on his bare chest. He chuckled, rubbing her back as he looked at her 3DS and reached over to grab it. Let's see… what was she playing exactly?
He opened up the console. Ah, seems like she's getting back to playing Robobot. He thought, lowering the volume so as to not to disturb her. He noticed that she had just finished up Gigabyte Grounds and got into Rhythm Route. Well… I'll let her play these levels. I'll just go ahead and play a past level for a bit before she wakes up…
Half an hour later…
"Mmm…" Chiaki stirred with a yawn. She looked up to see what her boy was doing. She took a peek. "Oh, babe, go for that powerup. That helped me out in a pinch."
"Morning sleepyhead."
Chiaki smiled. "Morning…" She said as both of them heard a commotion going on outside. "Huh…? What's with the commotion outside?"
Outside…
"Isn't it a bit early for a Pokemon battle?" Iris asked, drinking some coffee.
"Eh, kids will be kids." Nyx said as several Waddle Dees cheered them on.
"I figured this would be great experience for me, so why not!" Magnolia smiled. "Alright, Xena… time to kick your butt!" She said confidently. "Let's rock, Alayta!"
"Nuuuumel!"
Xena chuckled. "We'll see about that." She said as her Quagsire was raring to go.
"Alright, you girls ready?" Umber asked as both of them nodded. "Alright… aaaand… let the battle begin!"
BGM: First Battle (Pokemon Colosseum)
"C'mon Maggie! You got this!" Laura cheered her on.
"Wy! Wy!"
"Alright, Alayta, Flame Wheel!" Magnolia ordered as her Numel wrapped herself in flames and charged at Quagsire.
Dodge it! Xena telepathically said as Quagsire dodged the Flame Wheel. "Alright, Amnesia!"
"...Am what now?" Magnolia blinked, unaware of Umber smirking.
"Quuuag…?" Quagsire tilted his head after using Amnesia before slapping his cheeks together. "QUAG!" He cried.
"...Okay…? Bulldoze!" Magnolia called out as Alayta unleashed Bulldoze on the Quagsire, only to see her Quagsire tanking it. "That's a mighty strong Quagsire you got there! Alright Alayta, let's go for an Emb-"
"Use Yawn!"
Magnolia blinked. "Yawn?"
Alayta tilted her head, looking over at Magnolia. "Num Num…"
"You can yawn too, can't you?"
Quagsire yawned, letting out some sort of bubble out of his mouth as it floated over to Numel, where it popped on her head. "Nuuuum…" Numel yawned drowsily.
What in…? "Come on, snap out of it! Ember!"
"Nuuuuum!" Alayta used Ember on the Quagsire… before conking out. "Zzzz…"
"What?! Come on, Alayta! Don't be such a lazy bum!"
"Finish her off!" Xena smirked. "Aqua Tail!"
Quagsire jumped ahead, flipping around and unleashing Aqua Tail on the Numel to knock her down into the snow, knocking the Numel out.
End BGM
"Numel is unable to battle! Xena Ayami is the winner!"
"What the heck just happened?" Magnolia wondered, rubbing her head in confusion.
"You think Umber taught her a few tricks?" Iris asked.
"Honestly? I wouldn't put it past him." Nyx snickered.
"Don't worry about it, you'll get stronger in no time." Xena winked.
"Sounds good… because I wanna know how the heck you beat me so quickly." She said, shaking her Numel awake.
"Nuuum…?" Alayta snapped out of it. "Numel Num…"
"Oh, don't worry about it. We were way out of our league." She chuckled.
Back with Chiaki…
Chiaki splashed water on her face in the sink, drying her face as she looked in the mirror. She clenched her fists. "Elfi… we're coming for you." She said as she walked out of her room and out of the hotel, right when Kirby bumped into her.
"Poyo!" Kirby said, handing her a strawberry shortcake. "Poyo poyo!"
"Oh hey bud." She smiled, taking it. "You're determined to save him too?"
"Poyo!"
"That's what I thought." She giggled, eating the shortcake. "Alright. Let's go find him!" She said after finishing it as Kirby happily nodded.
"Well, might as well show you guys around the area." Umber said as he approached. "Considering I've been around this place for three months, I've done some recon. I didn't just mope around for three months hoping I'd get back."
"What are you talking about? Strange did all the moping for you!" Xena snickered.
"I heard that!"
Chaki closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and opening her eyes. "Alright. Game on, let's go."
"Oh! Wait, before I forget… I found this in the arena before I made my entrance." Umber said, handing them a blueprint. "I figured Kirby might use it."
Chiaki opened it up. "Homing Bomb…?" She wondered while Demoman walked nearby, overhearing it.
"Oh?" Demoman walked over and looked at it. "Hmm… ach, we can do better than that!" He said as he took the blueprint and walked over to the Waddle Dee shop.
"...Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Chiaki asked as they walked after him.
"Aye, lad! Think you could change this up?"
"Oh? What do you have in mind?" The blacksmith asked as Demoman whispered in his ear. "...Oh wow! I'm gonna need-"
"Here, I have a spare!" Demoman said, handing him a weapon.
"Thank you!" He went back to work on it as the others walked in.
"Demo, what are you doing?" Chiaki asked.
"Improvin' perfection, lass!" Demoman grinned as the Waddle Dee came back.
"Here ya go, Remote Bomb!" The Waddle Dee gave Kirby the new power up, which his hat was a small cap with an eye patch, complete with the Scottish Resistance in his hand.
Chiaki's eyes widened. "DEMO, ARE YOU CRAZY?!"
"Wot? No, I'm not crazy, lass! Just drunk!"
"Oh, I'm sure it can't be that bad." The Waddle Dee said. "Besides, Kirby's not Scottish, so I'm sure he can be responsible!"
Chiaki sweatdropped. "That's all we need… a Scottish Puffball…"
In Chiaki's imagination…
"Poyo poyo~!" Kirby "poyo'd" in a Scottish accent while drinking Chuckola Cola while shooting off bombs everywhere. "Poyo~!" Kirby pressed the button as the bombs exploded, annihilating Dedede's castle.
"Alright alright, I'll give you back your stinkin' strawberry cake!" Dedede groaned.
Back in reality…
"Aren't you overthinking it a bit?" Umber asked.
"Umber, I'm a gamer… we tend to have overactive imaginations."
"Maybe you should be called "Ultimate Overactive… uh… Imagination-er"...? This sounded better in my head." Umber rubbed his head sheepishly.
"How about "Ultimate Overthinker"?" Xena teased.
"Hey!" Chiaki frowned before snickering. "Alright, you got me there." She said as they walked back to the Warp Star and flew off.
"Have fun!" Demoman waved.
Once at Originull Wasteland…
"We go from snow area to desert?" Jade wondered.
"I know, it's crazy!" Umber nodded as they landed in the first area, and then another Warp Star landed nearby.
BGM: The Wastes Where Life Began (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
World 5-1: The Wastes Where Life Began - Akira, Daroach, Ryuji, Esdeath, Engi, Taranza
Esdeath brushed herself off. "So, that's how it feels." She said.
"You get used to it, ma'am."
"Oh, I'm aware." Esdeath chuckled.
Umber turned around. "Welcome to the Originull Wasteland." He said.
"Sounds fun, I suppose… if you can get past this sandstorm." Chiaki said.
"Eh, it'll be fine." Umber said as he looked down at Kirby with a smirk. "Let's go, chess eater."
"Poyo?!" Kirby's eyes widened.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Chiaki asked.
"Oh, did you know? Dedede told me that the reason why Kirby beats us in chess is because… he distracts us and then eats our pieces."
"HE WHAT?!" Chiaki yelled.
"FOR REAL?!" Ryuji yelled.
"So that's how he does it… definitely going to inform Yu about this later." Akira said.
"That explains a few things…" Daroach mused.
Kirby, meanwhile, started to sweat nervously as Chiaki gave him an annoyed look. "Kirby, I cannot believe that you… you… you…"
"Poyo…"
"Ooooh… I can't do it! I can't scold that cute face!" Chiaki sighed as she shook her head. "Lil' knucklehead…"
"I can! Kirby, you… you…" Umber sweatdropped. "...Huh, it's a lot tougher than it looks. Eh, let's not worry about that. Juuuust wanted to casually drop that bombshell."
So that's how he's beaten me a few times… Nyx thought.
The group walked forward through the sandstorm, immediately greeted with a Primal Awoofy as Chiaki teleported it back to town. "So that's why Gundham has a whole army…" Umber chuckled.
"You just figured that out?" Chiaki snickered as they continued through the sandstorm, finding a Sssnacker slithering toward them.
"Hmm… what do you think… Gundham?" Ryuji wondered.
"Oh, I'm sure he wouldn't mind a few sna-" Chiaki stopped herself, immediately picturing them eating his Devas. "On second thought, I'd rather not have a funeral for four hamsters."
"Couldn't he train the snakes to behave?"
"I dunno, pardner… with a big sonuvagun like that, I can imagine it'd give in to its primal instincts." Engi said. "Even if they were trained."
"Yeah, that's some red flags there." Chiaki nodded.
"Soooo, we're killing this guy? Sounds good to me." Xena said.
"Very well then." Esdeath formed an ice axe and walked toward the Sssnacker. It hissed, lunging at Esdeath as she swiftly cut through it.
"Yeah, seems for the best, honestly." Taranza agreed, noticing Daroach hiding behind Nyx. "...Uh, Daroach?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." He said as he reemerged as they continued through the sandstorm. On their way, Akira spotted two targets nearby as he pulled out his gun and shot them with pinpoint accuracy.
"Got 'em." He said as they opened up a treasure chest and pulled out a star fragment.
"Ah, one of these." Chiaki said as they looked around the open desert, looking for the other star fragments while Kirby sucked up a ring to become Ring Mouth and blew the piles of sand away.
Unfortunately, he blew them right into Ryuji.
"Ooy-fff!"
"Mmmph…" Ryuji shook it off. "Friendly fire, ya doofus!" He said as he continued to walk while Chiaki, BB-8 and Xena spotted a Squishy all by himself.
"What the heck is this little guy doing all the way here?" Chiaki wondered.
"No idea." Xena shrugged as the girls looked at each other with a nod and teleported the Squishy back to Waddle Dee Town.
At Waddle Dee Town…
The Squishy landed on top of the frozen pond right when Yusuke pulled up a frozen Blipper. "There we go." He said and then spotted the Squishy. "Hi there." He waved as a portal opened up as a Waddle Dee landed near him with a bewildered expression. "Hey."
The Waddle Dee blinked, waving at Yusuke and walked back.
Back with the others…
"Hmm…" Nyx spotted a target behind a leaning pillar. She aimed her crossbow and fired it, where the arrow bounced off the wall and struck the target. "Got it!" She smiled as a Waddle Dee appeared next to her. "Hey little guy!" She smiled as Xena teleported him away.
Kirby hopped onto a stranded freighter as Fleurina dropped down on him. She let out a caw… only to be blown away by the Ring Mouth as the Fleurina landed underneath a leaning pillar… and it fell right on top of her.
"Oooh!" Engi winced. "That'll leave a mark."
Kirby picked up a Star Fragment as the rest picked up the others, as all of them reunited and opened up some shipping containers to free up two Waddle Dees, where Chiaki teleported them away, then she spotted a treasure chest and opened it up to see a blueprint. "Oooh, another one!" She said and looked into it. "...Crystal Needle?"
In her imagination…
"You ready, Kirby?" Ribbon asked.
"Poyo!" Kirby nodded, proceeding to give Ribbon crystals.
"Lock and load~!" Ribbon grinned, peppering Scarfies with crystals.
Back in reality…
"Huh… I'm probably overthinking that one…" She said as Kirby spat out the ring while she put the blueprint in a dimensional pocket.
"I suppose we're done here." Daroach said.
"Yeah, looks like it." Taranza nodded as they walked ahead, finding a Warp Star and blasting off with the others to another location, where they would see several Scarfies around.
"Poyo." Kirby shot several bombs with the Poyo Resistance and then detonated them, destroying them while kicking up a lot of sand. Once the sand dissipated, they would see a Primal Awoofy covered in sand, blinking a few times before sneezing.
"Poor guy." Umber chuckled as Xena teleported him to the town as they walked forward, where a Hot Head trembled in fear of being blown up as the others walked around him, though Esdeath patted him on the head as they dodged the falling pillars or just let Chiaki and the twins stop them and let them through while Kirby noticed cracks in the ground and happily blowing it up, freeing a Waddle Dee as he got out. Once everyone was safe, the trio let them fall and they teleported the Waddle Dee away.
They kept going until they found another crack in the ground and Kirby blew it up. "We have to watch out for this little guy. I think he's having way too much fun." Ryuji said. "We might start calling him Demoman Junior!"
Chiaki sweatdropped. "I'd rather see Gloria take the role of Demoman before Kirby aaaaaand I just realized that giving her explosives would be a terrible idea."
"I'm still amazed they let her get away with a lead pipe." Nyx said as Xena and Yagami went inside the hole that Kirby had made, with Esdeath following them.
"You guys go on ahead, we'll catch up." Esdeath said as they nodded and walked off.
The twins walked inside and saw a whole row of leaning pillars ready to fall down at a moment's notice. The girls looked at each other. "You wanna go wild at this one?" Xena asked.
"Thought you'd never ask~!" Yagami smirked as she raised her hand up and made them fall instantly. "Timber!" She giggled, where in the distance, she also freed up a Waddle Dee. "Oh! Didn't know a little guy was in here."
"Nice one, sis." Xena giggled as they walked over and teleported him away.
"You girls really have a knack for your psychic powers, don't ya?"
The girls turned to Esdeath approaching her. "Yeah, we do." Xena nodded.
End BGM
Esdeath smiled. "You two have been through so much trying to find Umber…"
"Yeah… but, now we're dangerously close to being Fecto's minions… we don't know how long we have left…" Xena mumbled. "Hell, we told this to Umber before we went to bed!"
BGM: Sad Girl (Super Mario Galaxy)
"There's… something you should know…" Xena said.
"What is it?"
"We… we tried communicating to you for so long that we're… close to being possessed by Fecto… in fact, we actually did for a bit until Shadow knocked us both out when we were fighting Esdeath…"
Umber frowned. "Oh Arceus… Xena…"
Xena trembled. "We don't know how much time we have left… but… the thought of it… it… it scares us." Scared tears rolled down her cheeks. "We're scared… and we don't know what to do because it's just a matter of time before Fecto scoops us up and we-... we don't want to think about what would happen when we're-"
Umber hugged her. "Xena… Yagami… I'm going to make damn sure you two won't be possessed. We're going to kill that son of a bitch because I am not okay with my girls getting brainwashed by him."
"Umber… we're… not sure if you can keep that promise…"
"Babes… I'm gonna try. Because by golly, if he thinks he's going to possess my beautifully chaotic girlfriends, he's gonna have to go through me."
He pulled her in close to him, kissing her as Yagami took over for a few seconds to kiss him back before Xena took over again. Umber pulled away, grasping her hands. "I… I'm scared too, but I'm going to try my damnedest to make sure that pathetic alien won't kidnap the both of you."
Esdeath hugged the girls. "You don't have any parents to comfort you over this. The only family you have is JINXY."
"Yeah…" Xena nodded.
Esdeath smiled. "I know what it's like to lose your parents. I've been down that road before… losing them is the hardest thing for a child to experience. You lost yours during a war, I lost mine to Grimm…" Esdeath tightened the hug. "I'd be lying if I said I don't miss them… I still miss my biological parents."
"We miss them too…" Xena sighed.
Esdeath pulled away, looking at the sisters. "Both of you are strong and I know possession can be quite scary… I'm personally not a fan. But, we'll get through this. I'll make sure of it."
"Thanks Esdeath…" Yagami smiled.
"Ya know… Weiss is right. You do give off the best hugs."
Esdeath smiled sweetly. "I do my best." She said. "Now come on, let's go catch up with them."
End BGM
With a nod, the three of them walked into a doorway, where they would come out near a ladder where the others witnessed Engineer shooting down a Sssnacker.
"Hmm? Howdy ladies. I see you took a detour." Engi tipped his helmet to the trio.
"Yeah, we did some sight seeing." Esdeath nodded as they climbed up the ladder and saw three Waddle Dees in the cage as Esdeath busted them out.
"Alright, let's head back now!" Ryuji said, hopping on a Warp Star as they took off while Chiaki teleported the others back to the Waddle Dee Weapons' Shop, where she handed the Waddle Dee the blueprint with a few Rare Stones.
"Ah, excellent!" He said as he went inside and went right to work, and then came back with the Crystal Needle ability as Kirby sucked it up.
"Poyo~!"
"...Yeah, I definitely overthought that one." Chiaki said.
"She admits it~!" Umber grinned.
"Oh shush." Chiaki giggled as she teleported everyone away.
Meanwhile, outside, Logue sat down on a bench away from the others. She looked at her hand as she closed her eyes, pink flames coming out of her hand. "Agh! Nnnngh!" Logue whimpered, putting her hand in the snow to extinguish the fire.
"Still can't get a hold of it?" Laura approached her.
"No…" Logue pulled her hand up, her hand looking a bit burned. "I know my daddy was ecstatic when I unlocked my semblance but… I…"
"You're afraid because it hurts you, doesn't it?"
"Yeah… it's a bit embarrassing. I hated that I had to lie earlier but… I didn't want them to worry that my own semblance hurts me."
"Yeah, I had a feeling." Laura nodded, rubbing her back. "We'll find a way to make it so it doesn't hurt you."
"That's what my parents said too…" She sighed sadly.
Nearby, Shadow overheard the duo. "Hmm…"
Meanwhile…
BGM: Forgo's Treasures (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
Toy Hammer Treasure - Smack to the Top! Hit the Nails! - Chiaki, Umber, BB-8
The trio landed on the ground. "Looks like we got a tower to go through." Umber said.
Chiaki nodded. "Yeah, but we got this." She smiled. "Let's go Elfi-... oh…" She frowned, sighing.
"You usually do these with him, don't you?"
"Yeah…" She nodded before she shook her head, slapping her cheeks. "No need to get all mopey now!" She told herself. "Let's go get this Rare Stone!"
"Yeah, we'll get him back!" Umber nodded.
BB-8 looked up, letting out a few curious boops.
"Hmm?" Chiaki looked up. "You think we could just skip all this?"
BB-8 nodded.
"He's right. It looks like we can fly up there without hammering those nails in."
"Well, in that case…" Chiaki levitated off the ground and flew up, snagging the Rare Stone and then coming back down. "Oh yeah, definitely speedrunning strats~!"
Umber snickered while BB-8 let out a few chirps. "Alright, let's go." He said as they walked into the rift portal and popped out in front of a resort, where JINXY and Kirby popped out nearby with a Rare Stone of their own.
End BGM
"Well, you guys worked fast." Jade said.
"Eh, speedrun strats." Umber shrugged. "How about you?"
"It was a Gigant Sword thing. We let Kirby handle that one." Nyx said. "...Although Iris joined him."
"Come on, like I was going to let him have all the fun." Iris chuckled as they walked through the entrance of the resort and out the back door to find a swimming pool, and then they would look up to see a Warp Star coming down.
BGM: Gerudo Valley (Super Smash Bros for Wii U/3DS)
World 5-2 - Searching the Oasis: Haru, Animal Friends, Sonia, Reimu, Byakuren
"Alright, let's go~!" Haru smiled as they walked through the deserted pool area.
"Something tells me this used to be a very popular resort…" Reimu said. "Unfortunately, now there's poison crawling around."
"Well, what can ya do?" Umber shrugged as they walked ahead, wandering around the poisonous pools as they jumped over platforms to get across the poison and then Sonia spotted a Sssnacker.
"Ooooh, we could use that for Gundham's old personal Beast Pa-... wait… no… bad idea. His hamsters will be food." Sonia said as she pulled out a gun and shot the creature before it could do anything.
"Poor thing…" Haru said.
"Probably for the best." Ricky shuddered as they walked into a secret area where they would find a secret pool and a Noddy resting on a beach chair and some watermelon next to it.
"Poyooooo~!" Kirby drooled as he hopped on the other beach chair and sucked up the watermelon… and also the Noddy by accident.
"Welp, that's a problem…" Reimu sweatdropped as Jade freed up a Waddle Dee that Xena teleported back to town.
"Poy… Poyo…" Kirby pulled out a pillow and slept. "Zzzz…"
"Aww!" Haru gushed as she gently picked up Kirby and gave him a piggyback ride, which prompted Chiaki to take a picture from her phone.
"Aaand that's my new screensaver." Chiaki giggled as they walked out, only to be met with a Poison Croakum.
"Oh shit!" Umber flinched.
"What's wrong?" Xena asked.
"I tried hurting these guys… you can't hurt 'em!" Umber said. "Even Strange and the Turtles couldn't take them out, which only frustrated Strange and Raph…"
"Sooo, ignore them?" Byakuren asked as the Croakum turned to them.
"Ooooh yeah." Umber nodded as it spat out poison where they quickly got away from it, but then Haru brought out a grenade launcher and shot a few in its mouth, where said grenades exploded and made the Croakum bulge up, but went back to normal a few moments later with smoke coming out of his mouth.
"...Crud." Haru sweatdropped as she took off and hopped on the Warp Star to get out of there and headed to the next area, where they were greeted by Totengas, where they were promptly cut down as they made their way, and then Byakuren noticed a treasure chest as she hopped down and opened it up to discover a blueprint where Byakuren took a peek.
"Hmm?" She tilted her head as she hopped over. "Hey Chiaki, take a look at this one."
"Oh?" Chiaki wondered as she took a look. "B-B-BUZZ SAW?!"
In her imagination…
"Poyo poyo~!" Kirby dusted his hands together and turned to Super Meat Boy. "Poyo!" He said as he looked to see that Kirby unwittingly made an impossible buzz saw maze for him to go through.
Meat Boy said nothing, letting out a groan and a sigh and went right to work.
"Poyo!" Kirby waved, telling him good luck… only to see him get turned to shreds a moment later with blood splattering everywhere.
He went wide eyed and casually turned the other way with a small innocent hum.
In reality…
Chiaki grimaced. "Kirby, I know you're sleeping, but we don't need a Super Meat Boy incident."
"Ya know, they made a sequel to that." Sonia said.
"They did?!" Chiaki whimpered. "Oh no, here we go again…"
Sonia patted her on the back. "I'm sure it's not as bad as the first game."
"It's gonna be hell, I'm calling it." She shuddered while up top, Xena found a Waddle Dee and teleported him away as they went through the bottom while Rick and Nago went inside the tower and found a blue pipe.
"Mrow!" Nago hopped on the pipe as it started to roll, where Rick hopped on with him as they started to roll uncontrollably.
"Waaaaaah!" Rick yelped as they rolled over countless Totengas as they launched off a platform and slammed right into a broken wall, freeing up a Waddle Dee while also getting comically flattened.
Pitch, Coo and Chu Chu flew up toward the duo. "Are you okay?" Coo asked.
"Never better…" Rick rubbed his head as Nago shook it off as they hopped down where Xena teleported the Waddle Dee away and then went into the next area where Kirby soon woke up.
"Poyo…?" He rubbed his eyes. "Poyo poyo…"
"Morning, sleepyhead~!" Haru said gently, putting him down and patting him on the head as BB-8 let out a few snarky chirps.
"Aw come off it, it was an accident." Chiaki said as Kirby spotted a Digguh and immediately sucked him up for Drill as they wandered around and spotted another Poison Croakum where they avoided it and found a leaking pipe, where Kirby proceeded to swallow a lot of water.
"...I'm tempted to pop him." Umber snickered as Kirby waddled over to the Poison Croakum and drenched him with water to kill him. "Wait, THAT'S how you kill them?"
"Apparently!" Sonia giggled as Kirby got rid of the poison and then spat out all of the water, where he dug into a small passage with Drill and hit a switch, opening up a doorway for the others to enter as they all went through a door.
As they did, Kirby saw several digging spots and went straight to digging. "I'm surprised he can dig with just a pencil sharpener." Nyx said.
"It's Kirby, he'll find a way~" Haru giggled as Kirby kept digging until he came up for air, and came up with two Waddle Dees, where Xena and Chiaki instantly teleported them away.
"Poyo?" Kirby looked around. "Poyo Poyo!"
"Guess he got it out of his system." Umber said as they went back and climbed up a ladder where they would see a few Totengas and a Poison Croakum up ahead.
"I got it. We call in a water balloon airstrike." Xena said.
"Sounds good to me." Reimu said as Kirby hopped down and filled himself up with water as Coo and Pitch flew down to try and carry him.
"Or, ya know, we can do a Kine Super Soaker again." Chiaki pointed out
"That can work too!" Haru said before turning her head to see rift portals opening up. "Guys!"
They turned to see the portals dropping in Dark Nuts, five Silver Lynels, Air Soldier Heartless, two Hinoxes, a few Deathstalkers, and several Monoeyes.
"Five Silver Lynels?! Talk about desperate..." Chiaki said.
"The Deathstalkers aren't gonna be a cakewalk either." Iris said.
End BGM
"Then perhaps you could use some assistance!"
Byakuren's eyes widened. That voice... She looked up as did the others as Miko and Mamizou landed in front of the heroes.
BGM: Shoutoku Legend ~ True Administrator (Touhou 14.5: Urban Legend in Limbo)
"Miko?! Mamizou?!" Reimu said in surprise. "Okay, I thought-"
"She knocked me out of my possession." Miko said as Mamizou flashed a peace sign. "Now then..." Miko unsheathed her sword. "Let's dance, creatures of Fecto."
Byakuren growled, conjuring up danmaku. "I'm not going to be one upped by some Taoist!"
"Then try to keep up, Buddhist."
Oh boy... Reimu, Chiaki and Mamizou sweatdropped.
"Riiiight, we'll provide air support. How you guys holding up?" Sonia asked.
"He drank too much water! Hnnngh!" Pitch grunted.
A Silver Lynel lunged at Miko, swinging its sword but she backflipped and pulled out a spell card, unleashing Laser of Seventeen Articles to annihilate the Silver Lynel as Byakuren grabbed the tail of the Deathstalker and swung it, destroying the small army of Monoeyes and the Deathstalkers, pulling off the stinger and shoving it into a Hinox's eye while Miko parried a Dark Nut.
"Should we... help?" Haru asked.
"...You want to be caught in the middle of that?" Nyx asked.
"Good point." She nodded as Jade found a switch and hit it, where a platform underneath the water ballooned Kirby rose up, making Pitch and Coo's lives easier.
"Thanks, now we just gotta... get him into the air!" Coo grunted as Reimu decided to help out.
"Hnnngh!"
An Air Soldier crawled away from the chaos that was happening, only to get destroyed by Umber. "Don't even think about it." He said as a Dark Nut was knocked away and tried to get away, but bumped into Mamizou.
"Hey." She greeted as she unleashed danmaku on him, covering him with fish and tanuki danmaku and then kicked him away deep into the Originull Wasteland.
Soon after, all that was left was the Poison Croakum who was cowering in fear over the chaos that was happening, only to look on in surprise when Byakuren and Miko literally butted heads against each other.
End BGM
"I don't know why you had to show up. We were getting along just fine without you!"
"Oh, here you go again with your "holier than thou" attitude!" Miko said. "Ya know, your followers may like you, but you're no saint considering what you did to my temple, miss "I'll just plant the Myouren Shrine on top of me"!"
"It was for a good reason! It was to prevent your ressurection!"
"Well, that didn't work out so well, did it, you fake Buddhist!"
The Poison Croakum sweatdropped before it shrugged and attempted to poison the both of them, only for Kirby to dump water on top of it from above to kill it.
"Poyo!"
"We probably should've done that from the start." Chiaki said, telekinetically holding Kirby in place with Xena.
"Yeeeeah... oh well." Xena shrugged as Kirby landed and freed up two Waddle Dees where the duo teleported them away.
"Come on." Mamizou grabbed their arms. "You can argue who's boobs are bigger later."
"Oh, that's no contest at all." Byakuren snarled as Miko shot her a glare.
"This is gonna be a headache..." Reimu groaned as they snagged the last few Waddle Dees trapped in a cage.
"Alright, let's go... I'm curious as to what this buzz saw ability is." Chiaki said.
"Poyo?" Kirby wondered as they teleported back to town with Miko and Mamizou in tow.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Originull Wasteland...
The Dark Nut slammed into the ground, rubbing it's head.
The ground underneath it moved as he looked down to see mechanical gears rising from the ground. A head popped out with the Heartless symbol on the top of its forehead inched forward to the Dark Nut quickly... before it sunk to the ground.
The Dark Nut looked around, wondering where it went before it shrugged and walked away, only to be instantly pulled into the ground and vanished. A few moments later, the helmet was spat out of the ground and landed nearby as the Heartless moved directly toward the heroes.
Back in Atlas...
"This was the spot where her trail went cold." Seryu said.
"Hmm..." Kirumi rubbed her grin. "Alright, let's take a look here..." She activated her semblance, where her green eyes brightened.
In her vision, she would see footprint residue of Esdeath, where she would also see some residue of where a portal once opened up.
"Mhm..." Kirumi's semblance deactivated. "Miss Esdeath was here. Her footprints stopped right here, and I've seen remnants of a portal that she more than likely stepped into, possibly willingly."
"So she was taken? To where?" Emerald asked.
"Unfortunately, I don't have an answer to that. So unless we have somebody who can answer that for us, I'm afraid this is all I can do."
"Hmm... actually, I believe we do." Klein said.
"We do?"
"Are you familiar with the Future Foundation, Kirumi?"
Ibuki: Ooooh, Kirumi and Kyoko-chan are gonna meet! Nice!
Yup! Shout outs to Wizard Magics for the Remote Bomb idea and DarkRebellion for the Pokemon fight with Xena and Magnolia!