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)
"Hmm?" Kasen turned her head after chatting with Galacta Knight, seeing the group return. "Oh! You found Mamizou and Mi-" She sweatdropped, realizing that Byakuren and Miko were giving each other the stink eye. "-Ko… oh boy."
"Yeah… these two were competing against each other." Reimu said as she sighed. "I don't know what's more annoying. Miko and Byakuren or Kaguya and Mokou."
"I'd go with the latter. I don't think the former argue nearly as much."
"Yeah, fair." Reimu nodded. "Seriously though, can't they have their religious spat after this is done and over with?"
"Mmm, I'm sure they'll get it out of their systems. Excuse me for a moment." Kasen walked over to the duo. "You two need to knock it off!" She said, grabbing their heads and smacking them hard enough to knock them both out.
Reimu flinched. "Was that necessary?"
"No, but at least we can have some peace and quiet for a bit." Kasen smiled.
"...Fair, I guess."
Mamizou shook her head. "Typical…" She said as she noticed Chiaki and the others walking toward Waddle Dee's Weapons Shop. "What are you guys going in there for?"
"Hmm?" Chiaki turned to her. "Oh, upgrading Kirby's copy abilities. We need Rare Stones for it work." She said, pulling out a few.
"Oh!" Mamizou pulled out several Rare Stones herself. "So that's what these are for. Pretty sure we found all of these in the desert, but I could be wrong." She said.
"...That's what those things are for?" Gilgamesh spoke up as he approached them, pulling out several more. "I found these in a lava-filled area!"
"Wait, what…? You didn't bother giving them those earlier?" Carmen asked as she overheard them.
"I wasn't paying attention to you handing them over to the gamer girl."
Carmen sweatdropped. "That figures…"
"Lava area… that's where Fecto's hiding at." Umber said. "I think that's after the desert, but it's been a while."
"Well, we'll just have to find out for ourselves!" Nyx smiled as they walked into the weapon's shop.
"Hmm? Oh! You got a blueprint?" The Waddle Dee asked as Chiaki handed it over. "...Ooooh, Buzz Saw! This should be a good one!" He said, taking the Rare Stones and went right to work on it, and then came back with it. "Here ya go!"
"Poyo~!" Kirby said after equipping the Buzz Saw Cutter ability.
"...What in…?" Chiaki knelt down, taking a look at the hat.
BB-8 let out a few chirps.
"It's not ridiculous looking. It's… uh… I think this is a can opener."
BB-8 let out a few more chirps.
Chiaki rolled her eyes while smirking. "Okay, yes, it's a bit ridiculous."
"It does look cute on him though!" Nyx smiled.
"Alright, let's give this a shot!" Iris said. "It can't be that insane."
"Poyo!" Kirby fired a buzzsaw… which bounced off a wall and proceeded to ricochet everywhere.
"IT RICOCHETS?!" Chiaki yelled as the buzzsaw bounced off the walls, forcing them all to duck as the buzzsaw went through BB-8 and popped his head clean off, which he responded by several annoyed boops as Xena telekinetically stopped the buzzsaw before it could hit anyone else.
"You think the ricochet wasn't a bit much?" Xena asked.
"Weeeell… it did seem like a good idea on paper." The Waddle Dee admitted as BB-8 put his head back on and angrily beeped at the Waddle Dee.
Chiaki shook her head. "Well, at least we know how it works."
Umber checked his whole body out. "No cuts… all twenty digits accounted for… phew…"
Jade pulled out her notebook. "Fascinating!" She wrote it down. "Buzzsaws ricochet off of walls… perhaps we can tweak this and put in lasers or energy that can cut through-" Iris smacked her upside the head. "Ooof! Sorry…"
"Let's not go overboard."
"We're not putting lasers on a ricocheting buzzsaw." Chiaki gave her a deadpanned look.
"...That does give me an idea for buzzsaw traps." Nyx smirked.
BB-8 rolled over toward a statue, his head leaning to the side and let out a questionable boop. "Hmm? What's up?" Chiaki asked.
BB-8 turned around and responded with some beeps.
"What are you talking about? There's no way that-..." Chiaki looked above him, seeing a Noddy hat on top of a Kirby statue. "...That… that… can… upgra-" She blinked and turned to the Waddle Dee. "Um… what's this?"
"Ah! Inspiration struck me a few minutes ago. I can upgrade Sleep!"
"You can… upgrade what?"
"Yup!"
"How do you… HOW do you upgrade Sleep?!" Chiaki wondered. "That's like upgrading running shoes into… faster running shoes! That doesn't make sense!"
"I'm thinking Deep Sleep!"
"That still doesn't make sense!"
"Maybe it has healing properties?" Jade guessed.
"...Yeah, it was like that in Squeak Squad, but it only healed him up by like… an inch of health." Chiaki explained. "But honestly, that wasn't enough." This so-called upgrade screams "memes".
"Hey, I'll take that inch of health over nothing." Umber said.
Chiaki shook her head. "Alright, let's go… I doubt Deep Sleep will be much help down the road."
"And if it does?" Umber asked.
"...I dunno, I'll play Pichu for a whole day in Smash, or… actually, I'll force myself to do a Nuzlocke. I've never done one before but I've heard about those challenges and all I can say is… I hate it."
"Do I want to know what that is?" Umber asked.
"You don't."
They walked out as Chiaki teleported them back to where they were, all the while Shadow walked over to Logue. "Hey, Logue, was it?"
"Hmm? Oh, hi Mr. Shadow."
"I overheard your problems with your semblance."
"You heard? Oh… that's a bummer…"
"Mind if I look at it?"
"Sure…" Logue grimaced, immediately igniting her head… unaware that Shadow scooped up some snow and put it on her hand to douse the flames. "Huh?"
"Now try it." He said as Logue did it again, and to her surprise, the pink flames didn't burn her hand as the wet snow was enough to make a cushion for her flame.
"Oh…" Logue looked at her pink fire in awe. "It doesn't hurt!"
"Perhaps we could make something for you to use your semblance without burning yourself."
"Like a special type of glove?"
Shadow nodded. "Exactly."
"Wow…" Logue said, and then felt her hand starting to burn as she immediately put it in the snow to extinguish it.
"You don't have to be afraid of something you have. You just need to learn to control it."
"My daddy said the same thing… he said it'd take time for me to figure it out how not to burn myself."
Shadow lightly smiled. "Perhaps the glove can be a stepping stone. Use that to control your semblance, and in turn, there may be a time where you won't need to use the glove as a cushion to protect yourself from the fire."
Logue's eyes lit up. "Really?! Oh thank you, Mr. Shadow!" She hugged him. He let out a chuckle and patted her on the head as Logue turned around and ran off. "Hey Laura!"
Shadow stood up and then walked over to the cafe where the Ninja Turtles were having pizza and were chatting with Dante. "Hey." He said, as the five of them turned to him. "Which one of you shellheads is the nerdiest of the bunch?"
End BGM
Back with Kirby and the gang…
The group walked up to a deserted mall in front of them. "Alivel Mall?" Chiaki wondered.
"Definitely looks deserted." Nyx said.
"Well, let's check it out." Jade said as they heard a Warp Star coming in.
World 5-3: Alivel Mall - Staff Side: Hajime, Ann, Yusuke, Scout, Demoman, Magolor
"Here we are!" Ann smiled.
"I'm ready to go in!" Magolor said as they walked inside.
BGM: A Trip To Alivel Mall (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
"Wait, this place too?" Chiaki looked up at the ceiling. "They seriously have their radio working in this sand-filled dump?"
"Oh sure, sand gets everywhere, it's rough and course on ya, but it doesn't kill the radio." Umber rolled his eyes.
"I'm sure it's fine. Not like anything crazy is gonna happen." Scout said.
"...Honestly, knowing our luck, every time someone says that, something insane happens." Xena said.
"Yeah… at this point, I'm expecting an ambush after you just said that." Chiaki admitted.
"Yeesh… tough crowd…" Scout sweatdropped.
"We'll be fine." Hajime said, taking Chiaki's hand as she smiled, then they walked through where a few Primal Awoofies charged at them, but Xena teleported them away as they walked through a door where they were greeted by Phantas and Spooksteps.
Jade gasped. "This place is haunted~!"
"This mall is haunted?" Chiaki raised an eyebrow, where she immediately saw Umber stiffening.
"Aye, lad… isn't one of yer Pokemon a Ghost?" Demoman wondered.
"Funny how that works!" Umber grimaced as Jade sucked them up happily.
"Poyo Poyo." Kirby said.
"Well, I can safely say that Makoto would probably not have a great time here." Ann said as they walked through the darker staff side as they made their way to another door and walked through, greeted by two Primal Awoofies that Chiaki teleported away.
On the right side, they would see a triangle shaped hole in the wall. "What's with the triangle shaped hole?" Yusuke wondered. "Some weird attempt for modern art, I wonder?"
"I doubt it's modern art, but… that's a very unique hole in the wall." Ann said as Kirby turned his head and spotted a large ice cream cone.
"Poyo!" His eyes sparkled and waddled over to it.
"Huh?" Umber turned his head. "Pffft, looks like someone's hungry for ice cream." He said as Kirby inhaled it… only to become Cone Mouth Kirby. "...Scratch that, really hungry."
"...Wait, he has a cone in his mouth?" Nyx immediately snapped a picture. "When we're back in our dimension, I'm sending this to Pit just to mess with him with a "you are what you eat" type of deal."
"I think Ruby's gonna slap you for that." Chiaki said.
Nyx smirked. "Then it'd be worth it!"
Ann spotted some ice cream on a table with some Cappys snoozing nearby as she took a hold of it. "Can't let this go to waste." She said as she took a bite. "...Mmm! Still fresh!"
"I had a feeling it would've been." Magolor chuckled as Kirby waddled over to the hole in the wall and squeezed his way inside.
"What do you think, now is it modern art?" Ann teased.
"Mmm, perhaps it needs a little more pizzazz." Yusuke mused, as suddenly the wall exploded shortly after, which was enough for Kirby to spit out the cone out of his mouth. "Ah, yes, an exploding wall will do nicely!"
"Hate to break it to you, but your muse discarded the cone." Hajime pointed out.
Yusuke shrugged. "I'm sure I'll be inspired." He said as they walked through into the staff side again, where Jade sucked up the ghosts and noticed a circular shape in another wall this time.
"Ring mouth." Chiaki said.
"Definitely." Iris nodded as they walked through the doorway and found said Ring Mouth behind a stack of boxes as Kirby sucked it up and waddled his way over, blowing away several Scarfies and hopped into the wall, where it shattered and revealed a Waddle Dee that Chiaki teleported away once they freed him up.
They walked back out and headed past, then found several platforms moving along a spike floor, and saw a rectangle shaped hole in the wall. They hopped across the spike platforms and walked over a translucent floor where they saw a vending machine on a lower floor, then spotted rope holding a platform up. Kirby used his Buzzsaw cutter to cut the rope as Xena hopped down and telekinetically moved the vending machine toward her as she then moved it toward the rectangle shaped hole in the wall, where said wall exploded and revealed another Waddle Dee that Xena teleported away after freeing him.
"Nailed it~!" Xena smiled as they went into the next room where they would see two doorways, one of them was a star door and the other led on to more exploring around the mall.
"Wonder where that star door will lead us?" Demoman wondered as they walked inside out of curiosity.
End BGM
*KH2 Notification Soundbite*
"...Huh?" Chiaki turned to the intercom. "Is someone playing Kingdom Hearts or-"
"Warning, powerful enemies have appeared!"
Two Heartless appeared in the room. Umber raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so I guess we have Shiny versions of Heartless, huh? Nice red color you got there, Defender!"
Chiaki froze. "Did… did you just say… "Red Defender"?" She whimpered as she looked down, immediately losing all color on her face. "Kuso…" She whispered under her breath.
"What? They're just two red Defenders, no big deal." Iris said.
"Y-you don't understand… these… these are Eliminators!"
Umber summoned his Keyblade. "Well, they're about to be eliminated!"
BGM: No More Bugs! - Bug Version (Kingdom Hearts: Re:Coded)
The Elimination Round - Twin Eliminators
He's really desperate to get rid of us… Chiaki thought, quickly looking through her powers and quickly summoning the Oathkeeper.
Hajime put a comforting hand on Chiaki's shoulder. "We'll get through this."
"...Honestly? I sure hope we do."
Umber lunged toward an Eliminator, quickly slashing at it but the Eliminator blocked with the shield. Umber smirked and rolled out of the way to flank him and slashed him a few times, only for the Eliminator to teleport away and backhanded him to a wall. "Mmmph!"
Umber winced, holding on to his arm. Damn! I'm already winded by getting hit by this guy? Maybe Chiaki was on to something… He immediately cast Cure on him. "Hey Chiaki… how much health do these bastards have?"
"Their power is scaled to our own level." Chiaki explained. "And… considering that I'm a Chaos Mage, the twins are psychic powerhouses and we have Kirby by our side…" She parried the other Eliminator as it teleported behind her and smacked his shield into Jade, knocking her away while her aura flickered.
"Nnngh! That means these guys are gonna be giving us hell… we're in for a world of hurt with two semi trucks!" Jade winced as Scout and Demoman were thrown into a locker. Ann threw fireballs while Yusuke unleashed ice magic at the Heartless, where they responded by throwing dark orbs at the gang.
"We got a semi truck of our own!" Iris said as Kamakura picked up the shield of an Eliminator and bashed its head with it, but then the shield disappeared as the Eliminator shoved it into his gut to make him slide and fall on his butt.
"Even if you've got a semi truck… it won't do much good against these things…" Kamakura winced as Chiaki unleashed Thundaga on the Eliminator.
"Rrrgh!" Umber winced, feeling himself weakened after a few dark orbs hit him. "Alright… so that's how you're gonna play?" He growled as he used Cure again, then he proceeded to slash at the Eliminator, quickly rolling over to flank him and unleashed a few plasma bolts into him. The Eliminator swung its shield to backhand him but Umber ducked and countered, then jumped back.
The Eliminator responded by firing dark orbs at him. "Let's see how you like it!" He said, pulling up a few mirrors as they reflected back and struck the Eliminator. Kirby looked over at the mirror and had an idea, quickly sucking one up.
"Poyo~!" Kirby said, becoming Mirror Kirby as he and Umber looked at each other and nodded, then they charged at the Eliminator.
The other Eliminator parried Chiaki and bashed its shield into her head. "Gragh!" She cried, slamming into a wall. The Eliminator took a step forward, only to notice the rope trap in front of him. He simply teleported away and then reappeared behind Nyx, bashing her in the back.
"Agh!" She yelped, falling on one knee as her aura flickered. Dammit… I'm stronger than this! There's no way my aura should be in the red already…
Both Kirby and Umber made quick work on the Eliminator… or so they thought as the Eliminator shattered the mirrors easily and batted Kirby away, thrusting his shield into Umber as he swiftly blocked, only for the Eliminator to parry him and shoved it into his gut hard enough to make him actually spit out some saliva, then it used an uppercut into his chin for good measure.
"Aaagh…" Umber groaned, sprawled out on his back and panting. "What do these things eat…"
"Nnngh…" Ann held on to her arm and pulled out her phone. "Mayday! We need backup on the double like YESTERDAY!" She yelled. "We're at a mall and we're getting our asses handed to us by Heartless!"
The Eliminator raised its shield up to finish off Umber, only to see Xena and Yagami giving its other counterpart hell. It quickly teleported behind them and threw its shield Captain America style, striking the twins as it bounced off and struck Iris, Magolor, Scout and Demoman to knock them down, only for Kamakura to catch it. "Let's see how YOU like it!" He threw it over to the Eliminator, however the Eliminator caught it and swung it back faster, striking Kamakura and knocking him down. "Gragh!"
The Eliminator responded by doing a little "booyah!" fist pump.
"Dammit… how are these things kicking our asses?!" Xena winced.
"Fecto's pulling all the stops…" Yagami grunted as the Eliminators charged at the group… only for a large lightning bolt to come down on top of them, as Laxus emerged from the lightning bolt and was joined by Esdeath.
"Don't worry, we'll handle this." Esdeath pulled out her rapier.
"You take the one on the right. I'll take the one on the left."
"Right." Esdeath nodded as she lunged, delivering swift thrusts into the Eliminator, only for it to parry her and bashed her in the abdomen. "Rrrgh!" She winced as she put up the Water hat and proceeded to unleash torrents of water into him, but the Eliminator held strong as Esdeath raised her sword up as water wrapped around it.
"Water… SLICER!" She swung her rapier down, unleashing waves of water at the Eliminator but it disappeared and then reappeared behind Esdeath, bashing her in the back and then hitting her with dark orbs, which was enough for her aura to flicker.
You gotta be kidding me… how strong are these things?! Esdeath wondered as Laxus was knocked on his butt after the Eliminator shoved his shield into him, his aura flickering.
Laxus growled, staggering to his feet. "That all you got?" He asked as he took a step back and inhaled deeply. "LIGHTNING DRAGON'S ROOOOOOAR!" He unleashed his roar into the two Eliminators, both of them blocking his attack where Esdeath snapped her fingers as a wall of ice shot up underneath the shields to disarm the powerful Heartless and then they were engulfed by the roar, both of them falling to their knees… only for them to raise their hands up to call their shields back.
Chiaki staggered to her feet, wiping the blood from her nose. "Don't even think about it…!" She said as Umber found his second wind as Chiaki used Zantetsuken and Umber ran over and slashed through the other Eliminator, both of them disappearing.
End BGM
"Hah… hah…" Umber fell on both knees. "Shit… the hell was that?" He groaned, wiping blood from his lower lip.
"You mind tellin' us what the hell that was about?" Laxus asked. "They didn't seem like ordinary Heartless…"
"According to Chiaki, those things are based on our power level…" Iris said.
"If that's based on our power level… then that means Ann screwed us over when Laxus and Esdeath showed up…" Magolor said, rubbing his head right around when Kirby woke up and rubbed his head.
"I thought they were weakened enough…" Ann admitted as Hajime sat up, groaning.
"Well, that could've got better…" He mumbled, reaching for Chiaki's hand as she took it, smiling at him as they both embraced one another.
At that moment, BB-8 came rolling in and chirped at them. "Where've you been, bud? You missed the party…" Ann said.
BB-8 let out a long series of boops and beeps as several Waddle Dees came in, two of them holding ice cream.
"You went looking for back up and while doing so, you saved the rest of the Waddle Dees?"
BB-8 nodded, letting out a few more boops as he rolled right in, pulling out several Maxim Tomatoes that he found.
"Ah… just what the doctor ordered." Umber said as he ate it up. "Sigh… welp, I'm not underestimating Heartless any more… not after that hoedown."
"Poyo…? Poyo!" Kirby walked over to a treasure chest and opened it up, revealing a blueprint. "Poyo poyo!"
"A blueprint…? After that mess?" Chiaki wondered as Kirby gave it to her. "Wild Hammer… oh, so like what Bonkers has been doing."
"So… anyone got it in themselves to explore the mall a little more?" Nyx asked.
"Honestly? I don't think I have it in me to explore the mall after that… I'm ready for a change of scenery." Chiaki admitted as they walked out of the room… only to be greeted by several enemies surrounding them. "Oh come ON!" She said exasperatedly.
The Beast Pack, Bob-ombs, Bill Launchers, Shy Guys, Lynels, Neoshadows, a Tonberry, Cruelcumbers, Healslimes and several Kremlings surrounded them all, all of them having projectile weapons at their disposal as they all fired at the group.
"What, no cake for our going away party?" Umber taunted, stabbing his Keyblade into the ground and unleashing a powerful mirror styled Reflega to knock them all back into the enemy group, and then unleashing a powerful magical explosion to finish off any stragglers.
"Whoa…" Xena said.
"That takes care of that." He said, and then right on cue, a portal opened up as they turned to see Strange walking out of the portal.
"...Did I miss the party?"
"What took you so long?" Laxus asked.
"I was held back by a couple of kids who kept thinking I specialize in "balloon animals"."
Earlier…
"Mr. Strange, do you actually do balloon animals?" Albedo asked.
"No."
"You call yourself a magician, so you ought to know-"
"Look, kid… balloon animals aren't my specialty. I'm a master of the mystic arts-"
"I don't see how that doesn't fall into balloon animals."
Strange pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oi…"
"Come on, do it for us!" Nick requested.
Strange rolled his eyes. "Alright…" He said, proceeding to cross his arms and unleashed a spell to call upon a demonic balloon animal.
"Cooooool!" Both said… and then said balloon animal exploded and let out a demonic roar that made the kids jawdrop.
"There." Strange started to open up a portal. "Now if you kids will excuse me, I need to-"
"Do it again! That was amazing!" Nick's eyes sparkled.
"Yeah, that was so cool!" Albedo grinned, causing Strange to facepalm.
Back in the present…
"The thought of a demonic balloon animal does sound interesting." Esdeath admitted.
THUD!
Everyone turned to see Umber having fallen flat on his face, utterly exhausted from the fight with the Eliminators. "...Honestly? That's a mood." Chiaki said as they walked back into the portal while Xena and Yagami carried Umber away.
Several naps later…
"Gah!" Umber sat up, looking around and seeing he was back at Waddle Dee Town. He looked to see Ann having an ice pack on her forehead, Medic was checking on Scout and Demoman, Yusuke was ice fishing with Magolor, and Kirby, now having Bonkers fur after upgrading his Hammer ability, was making snow angels on the ground. Chiaki, Hajime and JIN were having coffee at the cafe.
"Hey sleepy head." Xena smiled as he realized he was napping in Xena's lap.
"Oh… how long was I out?"
"A few hours. You definitely needed it."
"Is everyone else okay?"
"Yeah… they're fine. Those Heartless gave Ann a splitting headache… although frankly, we'd rather have that…"
"You still have a headache, don't you?"
"Migraine… possibly worse than that if it's possible. Luckily, there've been a few medical Waddle Dees that are keeping our headaches at bay."
"Probably has to do with what Fecto is doing to you…"
"Yeah… but we were more worried about you after you collapsed."
"Well, I definitely feel refreshed." He said, kissing his girl as he stood up. "Hey guys! You coming or what?"
"Hmm? Oh, I guess he's all ready to go." Chiaki said as she, Kirby, BB-8 and JIN walked over to Xena and Umber.
"Alright, let's go! I feel plenty energized after that!" Umber grinned.
"Good. By the way, another group decided to go in our stead so we could rest, but… they haven't come back yet." Nyx said. "I imagine something came up."
"Or it's a big as heck area. Whatever works." Chiaki chuckled as they took off.
Meanwhile…
BGM: Moonlight Canyon (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
World 5-4 - Moonlight Canyon: Akechi, Jack Skellington, TMNT, Marx, Meta Knight, Gilgamesh, Carmen
"Alright, that takes care of that cave." Akechi said as they walked out. "...Not sure why you needed to put pumpkins down."
"Markers, just in case someone else decided to come this way!" Jack explained.
"I was thinking of doing the same thing, but he beat me to the punch." Donatello admitted.
"Beaten by a Halloween lovin' skeleton, that's sad." Raphael chuckled.
"Halloween and Christmas loving skeleton!" Jack corrected.
"Riiiight…"
"Regardless, we still should be on our guard." Meta Knight said.
"Yeah, like… who puts Gigatzos in caves? Like… come on!" Marx said. "I'd probably do something like that for fun, but nope, that wasn't me!"
"I guess we should be thankful…" Akechi mumbled as they climbed up the ladder and hurried across the crumbling floor where Gilgamesh carried over a few Waddle Dees across as they made their way over as they would spot a red star door blocked off by a cell, until Carmen pulled out a gun and shot at a switch as Marx ran inside while Akechi knocked out a few Primal Awoofies, then Marx came back with two Waddle Dees beside him.
"Thank goodness I have wings!"
"Do I even want to know?" Leonardo wondered.
"Probably cheesed a puzzle." Michelangelo said as they hopped down and took out a few Gabons and Hot Heads, where they also quickly jumped over a spot where a pillar came crashing down, crushing a poor Noddy in the process.
"Yeesh… definitely not the ideal spot for a nap." Carmen grimaced as they climbed up a ladder, noticing an anchor just leaning on the wall.
"Hmm?" Akechi looked at and then looked around, "I wonder if this used to be part of the ocean."
"It probably did at one point." Meta Knight said as they climbed up and through a doorway where they would see an arch along with a massive canyon.
"I… guess this is where we wait for Kirby." Akechi said.
"Nonsense!" Gilgamesh pulled out several hang gliders. "We glide like kings! …And king that dresses like a queen."
Carmen sweatdropped. "So… that make me a… Quing? Kiueen? …What am I saying, that's ridiculous!"
"Yes, it sounds ridiculous when you say it." Gilgamesh agreed, proceeding to glide through the canyon with the green Awoofy beside him. "Isn't this a wonderful view, Enkidu!"
"I swear, one of these days, I'm gonna smack him…" Carmen shook her head.
"I don't think that will help." Akechi said.
"Knowing him? You're right."
All of them took the hang gliders, though Meta Knight and Marx decided to fly by themselves and glided across the canyon.
End BGM
As Gilgamesh flew, he would spot something moving in the sand. "Hmm?" He wondered as gears started to emerge from the ground along with a Heartless emblem on the forehead. "My, you look intimidating!" He said as the Heartless sank back down to the ground.
"Ha! I see you are impressed by my appearance!" He said… when suddenly, the massive Heartless leaped out of the ground.
BGM: Shrouding Dark Cloud (Kingdom Hearts III)
"WHA?!" Gilgamesh yelled as the massive Heartless clamped its massive jaws onto Gilgamesh and pulled him off of his hang glider, sending him crashing down to the ground.
"What the?!" Carmen wondered as she leaned forward as did the others, all of them landing on the ground as Gilgamesh was tossed to a cliff wall.
"Hrrrgh! Alright, if you wanna go, we'll fight to the death!" He declared as the others ran up to him.
"You okay?" Carmen asked.
"Of course I am! This beast won't be in a few minutes!" Gilgamesh said as Akechi immediately went into his Persona attire as the Heartless emerged from the sand.
Mechanical Sand Shark - Antlion
The Antlion charged at the group, forcing them all to roll away as Gilgamesh brought out his swords and slashed at the large Heartless, stabbing it with Excalipoor as the Antlion turned its head and batted Gilgamesh away, right as Carmen jumped in and slashed the Heartless with her scythe.
The Antlion dug underground, and then reemerged, spitting out bombs only for Jack to pull out a candy cane and then batted it away, striking the Heartless as another bomb went flying toward Michaelangelo, where he immediately caught it.
"Hot potato!" He said, throwing it back at the Heartless. Crow ran toward the Heartless and slashed at it, but the Heartless went back underground… and then breached out of the sand in a corkscrew, knocking Crow in the air as Meta Knight flew in and grabbed him to save him, then Meta Knight threw him down on top of the mechanical Heartless as Akechi flipped over and landed on his feet, proceeding to do Megidiloan on the Heartless.
The Antlion roared, trying to buck Akechi off of it as he slid off, but not before impaling it with his Quasar Saber and slid off, digging the saber deep into its mechanical like body as he jumped back right as Jack threw pumpkin bombs at it with Donatello using his bo staff as a bat to bat away some pumpkin bombs.
Marx charged up. "Any moment now…" He said after the Antlion went back underground… and then came back up as he immediately started firing a flurry of arrows while the Antlion chucked bombs at them. Meta Knight retaliated by using Mach Tornado to send them back at it, then Gilgamesh slashed at it while Enkidu started firing rockets at it.
Suddenly, a Triple Plasma shot struck the Heartless as they turned to see Umber and the others coming to their aid. "Nice of you to join us!" Akechi said.
"Sorry we're late, we had to upgrade Kirby." Chiaki said as they looked to see Kirby with the Twin Drill powerup.
"Well, hope that can deal with whatever this blasted Heartless is!" Raphael said after getting knocked back by the Heartless as it aimed and fired a laser at the group but Marx fired a laser back at it, both of them colliding and unleashing a powerful explosion.
"That's an Antlion. It tends to dig… underground…" An idea came to Chiaki. "Hey bud? I got an idea." She knelt down and whispered in Kirby's nonexistent ear.
"Poyo!" Kirby nodded and dug underground.
"So what do we do, buy him some time?" Iris asked.
"Yeah!" Chiaki nodded, summoning the Metal Chocobo Keyblade.
"Fine by me!" Iris smirked as Umber threw a Waterga at it to get its attention away from Carmen as it charged over at him, but he rolled out of the way right as the Antlion smacked into a boulder, stunning it for several seconds where Leonardo and Raphael proceeded to jump in and slashed it while Jack climbed on top of it and lassoed it with Christmas lights, and then got on top of it.
The Antlion shook it off and realized Jack was on top as it tried to get him off, but he stayed on as he guided the Antlion into a cliff wall, jumping off at the last second as the Antlion slammed into it to stun it.
The Antlion turned around and then charged again, going underground to try to pull them into the sand… only for Kirby to launch it up into the air and pierced through it, and then turned around midair and started spinning as a large drill.
"GEEGA DWILL BWEAKA!"
Kirby pierced through the Heartless, going through its mechanical body and dove into the sand and popped out several feet from it as the Heartless slammed into the ground behind him where Umber ran toward the stunned Heartless, doing a few flips before slamming his Keyblade into the Heartless emblem, destroying the Heartless as the heart flew away.
End BGM
Chiaki smiled. "That's my puffball!" She grinned.
"You thought of that on the fly, didn't you?" Akechi asked with a knowing chuckle.
"Well, it would've been a missed opportunity." She giggled.
"Seems like you guys had it covered." Nyx said.
"Yup, we sure did!" Jack nodded as they walked through the canyon until they reached the end of the area, where they would see a golden cage with three Waddle Dees, but also a glowing spot between three cacti.
"Hmm?" Jade walked over to the glowing spot, digging through it and found a switch. She curiously pressed it as a cave door opened up as a Waddle Dee walked out. "Oh hey little guy!" She waved.
"I guess that's all of the Waddle Dees." Chiaki said and with a nod, two Warp Stars appeared as they hopped on and took off to their separate ways.
BGM: The Smell of a Scary Beast (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
The Warp Star landed on the ground as they spotted an entryway into a wall. "This feels like a boss fight…" Chiaki said.
"Well, let's not keep the guy waiting." Jade said as they heard a Warp Star coming in. "...Already?"
"Well, Warp Stars do tend to be fast." Umber said.
World 5-6: Collector in the Sleepless Valley - Sonia, Gundham, LAFF, Makoto, Futaba, Penny, SAPR, Mewtwo
"Hiiii!" Kirby waved.
"Heya~!" Penny smiled.
"Logue didn't want to come?" Nyx asked.
"Shadow's helping her out with her semblance." Sonia said.
"...Huh? I thought she didn't have one." Chiaki said.
"Truth be told, she has one but was afraid of her own semblance since it hurts her." Sonia explained. "Honestly, if I had a semblance that hurt me, I wouldn't want to admit it either… poor kid."
"Yeah, Sonia-sensei got a biiiit curious when she spotted Shadow chatting with Logue." Laura explained. "She gave her a big hug when she explained what was going on."
"Aww, cute!" Nyx smiled as they walked through the lair.
"...Mmm…" Umber grunted.
"You okay?" Xena asked.
"Something about this lair… it feels familiar." Umber said as they walked around it, seeing a bunch of wanted posters everywhere.
"Aw man, mom's gonna kill me… I'm on one of those things." Laura pouted as Sonia quickly slashed it to pieces.
"Not anymore~!" She winked as they worked their way down, Kirby finding a Wild Hammer essence and equipping it, then they walked into an arena, where they would see three Kirby figurines and a cage nearby that held Elfilin.
Chiaki gasped. "Elfi!"
BB-8 chirped, rolling over and getting in front of her, refusing to let her take another step. He let out a few warning beeps.
"He's right." Penny spoke up. "Look carefully."
Chiaki narrowed her eyes, seeing that it was nothing more than an Elfilin doll. "...Oh."
"Shoot, it almost had me going for a second there." Nyx admitted as they walked into the arena… when suddenly a large goofy armadillo slammed into the ground behind them.
End BGM
"YA-HAAAAA!" The armadillo laughed.
Umber grimaced. "Oh… hi Sillydillo…"
"Sillydillo?" Chiaki quietly mouthed with a raised eyebrow.
"Hmm? Umber! What are you doing siding with these troublemakers?"
"...Wait, you two know each other?" Magnolia asked.
"Yeah… remember when I said I was here for three months? I was… shall we say… making friends with the Beast Pack." Umber admitted. "Sillydillo and I hit it off rather well."
"Well, that's… somewhat charming." Futaba sweatdropped.
"Oh and um… these are my friends, Sillydillo."
"Oh, these are your friends you spoke highly about? Which one's the girlfriend? Is it the orange haired android?"
Penny rubbed her head. "Aheheheh… I don't see myself forming a relationship, honestly."
"The blue haired one!"
SAPR blinked, tilting her head. "No, I think you're mistaking me for some other blue haired life form."
"The one with the glasses!"
"Sorry, I'm taken to this doofus right here." Futaba pointed to Jade.
"Yeah, hi, I'm the girlfriend." Xena said. "...Actually, we're the girlfriends." She corrected, Yagami hopping out.
"Ooooh! You lucky man, you!" Sillydillo elbowed Umber, causing him to blush a little.
"Yeah… well um… this is kinda awkward for the both of us…" Umber said.
"Aww, we have to fight each other?" Sillydillo frowned. "No hard feelings, Umber?"
"No hard feelings…" He nodded, summoning his Keyblade.
"Good… because I'd hate to be bored!"
BGM: Vs Dangerous Beast (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)
Armor-Plated Prancer - Sillydillo
Sillydillo pulled out a cage. "Time to cage you up!" He exclaimed as he swung it at the heroes, where they avoided the cage as Makoto went running in and slugged him in the gut as Umber joined her and slashed him away.
"You say he's a good friend and yet he's trying to cage us all!" Makoto said.
"I didn't say he was perfect, in fact, he's a bit unhinged!"
"Yeah, I noticed!" Makoto backflipped to avoid getting caged as Futaba pulled out her ray gun, switching it to "freeze ray" and proceeded to shoot out icicles at him.
Kirby looked up at the Kirby figurines as he jumped up and batted them away with his hammer, striking Sillydillo in the face as Chiaki threw chaotic blasts at him with Xena and Yagami backing her up with telekinetic blasts of their own as Mewtwo threw Shadow Balls at him.
"Grrrr! Alright, let's make the arena bigger!" He jumped up and slammed into the ground, cracking it as the floor caved in as everyone fell. Xena quickly made platforms to cushion LAFF's fall.
"Thanks Xena!" Nick grinned, proceeding to make a sand golem as it charged directly at Sillydillo, where he curled up into a ball and charged forward, barreling through the golem and forcing LAFF to get out of the way as he bounced off the wall and barely nicking Albedo
"You kids might want to stay back. This guy's all over the place!" Sonia advised.
"Probably for the best!" Laura nodded as the four took cover as everyone rolled out of the way again as Sillydillo smacked into a wall to daze himself, where the Ayami twins looked at each other and nodded, pulling out their Pokeballs and calling out their Quagsire and Clodsire.
"Aqua Tail!"
"Sludge Wave!"
Sillydillo turned around, only to get slapped by Screamy's Aqua Tail and then struck by the Sludge Wave. Sillydillo growled and rolled toward the two, but the twins pulled them away to safety as Sillydillo turned around and charged again, only for Mewtwo to use Confusion to flip him over.
"Wah!" He yelped as Jade and Futaba both fired icicles at the large armadillo where Iris jumped in and slashed him and Makoto delivering a powerful uppercut when Sillydillo got back up.
"Let's make this interesting!" Gundham blew into a whistle as several Primal Awoofies ran through portals and dogpiled on Sillydillo, pawing at him as Chiaki levitated off the ground and threw energy waves at him when she had a clear shot.
"Hup!" Sillydillo pulled out a mannequin. "May I have this dance~?" He asked as he proceeded to dance around with it.
"...What the heck is he doing?" Chiaki asked.
"Okay, all in favor of getting this guy a girlfriend when we're done here?" Nyx asked as everyone, including Umber and the Primal Awoofies, raised their hands as Penny and SAPR both fired lasers into Sillydillo.
Sillydillo proceeded to throw his "girlfriend" into the crowd, but the twins caught her and sent her back, slamming her into Sillydillo. "Oooof!" He grunted as he curled up into a ball and charged at them, where Umber used Reflera to knock him away, then he rolled around the group.
"Matrix cannon, go!" Futaba called as a cybernetic cannon materialized as Sillydillo went inside of it, then Futaba aimed it up at the ceiling and fired, as Sillydillo was shot up and slammed into the ceiling.
"OOOOF!" Sillydillo fell to the ground, KO'd.
End BGM
"Sorry about that, big guy…" Umber said as he had an idea. "You know, we could have him on our side, just as a big-" He glanced over at the second graders. "-Screw you to Fecto."
"How are we going to do that?" Chiaki asked.
"Poyo!" Kirby smiled as he walked over to Sillydillo, and then pulled up a Friend Heart.
"Huh?" Chiaki tilted her head in confusion as Kirby threw the Friend Heart at him, where an aura glowed around Sillydillo before it stopped.
"Nice!" Futaba fist pumped.
"I actually forgot he had that…" Yagami said with Xena nodded.
"...Okay… what? What the heck just happened? What was that?" Chiaki wondered.
Futaba looked at Chiaki and then looked at Sonia and Gundham. "How has she not played Star Allies yet?" She asked as both shrugged.
"Come on, let's get this big guy back to-" Umber noticed some bushes rustling. "Hmm?" He wondered as a small Grimm burst through the bushes… but it wasn't just any Grimm.
It was a small bunny rabbit.
Umber gasped. "Ah SHIT, not this thing!"
"A rabbit Grimm?" Penny wondered.
"That's not just any rabbit Grimm… that's the same Grimm that Seryu and I had encountered!"
Xena's eyes widened. "That's the Grimm that makes people go insane?!"
"The same one, yes!"
BGM: Ripple Star (Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards)
MOTHER BUCK TEETH! - The Nameless
"Umber told this to us too…" Iris said. "Let's skin this bastard alive!"
The Nameless proceeded to bounce toward them and jumped high into the air, flashing its buck teeth to try and chomp down on Mewtwo, but he simply used Confusion to flip him around as Umber quickly slashed it away.
The Nameless shook it off, before it decided to go underground. "Great, this thing digs now!" Umber grumbled as Penny and SAPR scanned the ground as it popped up near Kirby.
"Poyo!" Kirby hammered it, but it went back underground and popped up behind Kirby as he turned around and tried to hammer it, pretty much playing "Whack-A-Bunny" with it with Kirby being unsuccessful with the Wild Hammer.
The Nameless popped up behind Chiaki and then hopped up on her shoulder. Chiaki turned to it only for it to kick her in the face to knock her down and then proceeded to stare into her, its eyes glowing red… only for BB-8 to roll over and electrocuted the Grimm which gave Chiaki time to get back up and punted it away.
I see what's it's doing… it's not relying on its red eyes after last time. It's toying with us to wear us out so it can make us go insane and kill each other right after! Umber thought to himself as Penny fired lasers at the Grimm, but it simply danced around the lasers and the bullets that Sonia shot at it with.
"QUAAAAG!" Screamy used Aqua Tail, but it bounced up and landed on its head, using its head as a launching pad toward SAPR, its eyes glowing directly at her.
"Huh?" SAPR tilted her head as she backhanded it away. The Grimm got back up in confusion before shaking it off… before deciding to catch itself on fire.
Umber's eyes widened. "Wait… I know that move… Flare Blitz?!"
"How does a Grimm know how to use a move a Pokemon can know?" Mewtwo asked, throwing Shadow Balls at it.
"It probably learned how after Marowak vibe checked it!"
"Clearly, you didn't give it a harder vibe check!" Futaba snarked, quickly using a Defense matrix on her friends as The Nameless charged ahead with a Flare Blitz straight for Makoto as she took a step back, nuclear energy swirling in her hand as she Mafreidyne punched the Nameless as it slammed into her, both of them knocking each other back as Makoto sprang back up.
The Nameless shook it off, glancing over to see a carrot lying on the ground with a box hoving above it. It gave an aside glance with a "Really? They really think I'm that dumb?" look as it burrowed underground and then snagged the carrot underground before emerging safely away from the trap, smugly smirking at them as it ate the carrot.
"Ooooh… that was my only Super Carrot!" Nyx groaned.
The Nameless finished its snack and was ready to use Flare Blitz again… when a hand grabbed its ears as Magnolia held it and used her semblance. "Sup." She smiled, before unleashing a heated up punch in the spine to knock the creature flying.
"Ooooh! That'll hurt!" Laura giggled as Magnolia hopped back in her hiding spot, all of them nodding and quickly moving to a different hiding spot. The Nameless shook it off and turned toward LAFF's hiding spot, only for Gundham to have the Primal Awoofies dogpile on the Grimm… only for his dismay when the Grimm made them go insane and caused them to kill each other before it ate them all up within seconds.
"Oh, it's that kind of rabbit… okay! Anyone got a holy hand grenade?" Chiaki asked.
"Sorry, I didn't think I needed to stock up on those had I known we were going to fight this Satanic rabbit from HELL!" Futaba said.
"Ya could've just said "no"..." Chiaki sweatdropped as she immediately looked into her screens. "Let's see… come on, come on…"
Jade shot fireballs at The Nameless, where the Grimm dodged it and bounced over to her, giving her a good rabbit kick to knock her on her butt, only for Iris to swoop in and slashed at the Grimm to get it away from her.
"...Alright, that's it!" Jade said as she reached into her pocket. "It's time I used this when I visited Alola!" She declared, pulling out a wristband of some kind and called out Pikaboo.
"Hmm? Oh, so that's what Acerola gave you…" Umber mused. "I didn't know she had a spare Z-Ring!" I'm gonna have to ask her about that later…
"Alright, you ready, Pikaboo?" She asked, attaching it to her wrist.
"Kyu!"
Jade smirked. "Then let's rock and roll!" She said, tapping her Z-Ring as she did a pose as her Mimikyu filled up with energy… and then proceeded to zip around the entire arena, catching the Grimm's attention as it tried to keep up with the Mimikyu, and then Pikaboo hovered above it with its real eyes glowing red as it latched onto The Nameless, where it proceeded to clobber the hell out of it before spitting out the now completely bewildered and dazed Grimm.
"Aha!" Chiaki summoned a DK Barrel cannon as Kirby hammer flipped the Grimm into the cannon as Chiaki lit the fuse and shot it out of the arena, where a star shined brightly in the sky. "Sayonara, sucker!"
End BGM
"According to my data… that Grimm is not evaporating." Penny said. "...That's a pretty sturdy Grimm."
"Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine." Chiaki waved it off, watching Futaba happily glomp her girlfriend.
"Well… all's well that ends well, right?" Nyx asked.
"Yeah." Umber nodded.
Mewtwo, however, sensed something amiss. He unfolded his arms and slowly walked around the arena, seeming to be alerted over something right as LAFF emerged from their hiding spots. "Mewtwo?" Makoto's voice echoed. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know…" He responded. "...Chiaki, do you-"
"Yeah… I'm sensing it too." Chiaki nodded as the both of them tensed up, looking around, unsure of what the cause could be.
"What's happening?" Nick asked as Mewtwo looked to see Xena and Yagami both petting their Pokemon, Chiaki side glancing at them before she moved her head to Sonia.
"Chiaki…? You're kinda freaking me out here, why are you looking at me like that?"
The two of them slowly kept looking around as they both closed their eyes. Instantly, Chiaki's tattoos glowed brightly, both of them opening their eyes as Mewtwo instantly aimed his hand at Xena and Yagami while Chiaki used her Majora's Wrath tentacles to hold them in place for good measure.
"Guys?!" Umber said in surprise. "What the hell are you-"
Xena smirked. "That's some neat trick… your psychic ability, Mewtwo."
"I could say the same with your Chaos powers, gamer girl." Yagami smirked with her.
BGM: Tension (Super Mario Galaxy)
"Girls?!" Umber's eyes widened.
"I'm afraid your girls are on sabbatical, Umber."
"Fecto…" Mewtwo glared as the twins' eyes turned red.
Yagami chuckled. "You know, Umber… did you really think I didn't know that you were pretending to be on my side? That you thought you could get away with it, faking everything for three months while making friends with my Beast Pack?"
Umber clenched his fists, growling. "You knew…"
Xena gave him a smug look. "Of course I did. I kept tabs on you after your friend knocked you out. I waited for that opportunity, waiting for the right moment to strike. My patience has paid off in the end."
"So you decided to hijack two girls that were desperate to get their boy back… and you decided NOW to hijack them after the fight with that Grimm?" Sonia glared.
Yagami laughed. "Foolish human. I've hijacked them since the very beginning! The moment they used their telekinesis to find Umber, I immediately hijacked them, knowing everything I needed to know. Did you really think I'd let them go so easily? They were my puppets this entire time."
"YOU WHAT?!" Umber yelled.
Xena grinned. "That's right. I let them do their own thing so as to not raise suspicion. Their voices were mine, their actions were mine… all of it! They were in a daze, unaware of what they were doing."
Chiaki growled. "What about us then! Mewtwo and I used our telekinesis to find Umber and we got a splitting headache ourselves!"
Yagami smiled nonchalantly. "While it's true that I had my grasp on you and Mewtwo, I decided to let you both go so I could focus my attention on these two."
Instantly, they teleported away as they reappeared behind the group, where they all turned around.
Umber trembled in rage. "You… you son of a bitch… you had your fingers all over my girlfriends ever since they got here?!"
Xena giggled. "That's correct, Umber. I've been watching through their eyes."
"So you allowed your Beast Pack to fall even though you had a firm grasp on the twins?" Gundham asked.
Yagami let out a sigh. "The Beast Pack is expendable. After all, I have connections to all the worlds at my disposal. Why stop with just the Beast Pack? If it means furthering my goal to become the Ultimate Lifeform once more, then so be it."
"Quag! Quaaaag!"
"Clod! Sire Sire Clod!"
"Oh, I almost forgot about you two." Xena said as both girls aimed their hands and unleashed telekinetic waves at the two. Mewtwo immediately teleported and quickly put up a telekinetic force field to block the attacks.
"Fecto!" Nyx glared. "You have some nerve hijacking our girls from the very beginning…"
Yagami let out a mocking laugh. "Just like you humans have some nerve showing up in this world. If only you remained extinct!" She then smirked.
Umber growled. "You… you are going to pay for everything!"
Xena shook her head, chuckling sadistically and smirked at Umber. "Umber, Umber, Umber… no good deed goes unpunished. You can thank me later… and I look forward to meeting you at the battlefield."
Immediately, Xena and Yagami conjured up telekinetic bombs and threw them at the ceiling to make the arena cave in on them while the twins flew off, Yagami merging inside of Xena with a smirk on her face and flew off victoriously.
In the cave, both Chiaki and Mewtwo telekinetically caught the boulders and tossed them to the side, leaving everyone unscathed.
End BGM
"What… what just happened?" Futaba asked.
"Fecto happened…" Chiaki growled. "To think he had them wrapped around his finger without us the wiser…"
She immediately snapped her fingers, teleporting them away.
Back at Waddle Dee Town, Esdeath was the first to spot them. "Hey, you're back! …And you have an armadillo with you." She said. "...Where are the twins?" She asked as none of them said a word. "Where's Xena and Yagami?" She asked again, before it hit her. Her eyes widened as she put her hands over her mouth in horror. "No…"
"Rrrrgh…!" Umber immediately marched over to Dante who was chatting with Ryuji and Meta Knight. "Hey Dante!"
"Hmm? Oh hey Umb-... whoa, what's gotten you upset? You're acting like your girlfriends got robbed or something." He said, only his eyes widening when he saw that the girls weren't there. "...Oh shit, he hijacked them, didn't he?"
"Dante… I need you to do me a favor."
"What's that?"
"I need you to train me."
Ibuki: ...Ooooh Fecto... YOU'RE IN FOR IT NOW, BUDDY BOY!
Yup! Also, apologies for the wait, took the day off on Christmas and worked on the chapter off and on since I was taking it easy. But anywho, what'd y'all get for Christmas? I got a few T-Shirts, a lot of candy that disappeared with a few days, a Super Mario 2023 calendar, a Super Mario Monopoly game, Splatoon Amiibo cards, Pac-Man World Re-Pac and Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core. I'm in the factory world in Pac-Man and I just started chapter 4 in Crisis Core.
Ibuki: As for Ibuki, she got these noise cancelling headphones and a new stereo system!
Oh, and thanks Jacob for the idea that Jade got herself a Z-Ring!