A/N: Welcome at last to chapter 12, my good fellows! Chapter title is a reference to the second world in Kirby Planet Robobot. Considering how this chapter ends, I thought it'd be fitting. Plus, Planet Robobot is my second-favorite Kirby game, under Triple Deluxe. I was ten when that game came out (got it for my tenth birthday after seeing the trailer on 3ds Eshop and getting hyped) and had absolutely no clue what Stranger Things was. Anyway, get out of the Author's Note and enjoy the dang chapter already, before I start crying or something!

Enjoy!


The four Puffballs and their four Human friends sat on the couch, El sitting cross-legged and blindfolded in front of them, the television, softly hissing with static, sitting in front of her. Greeny had, somewhat hesitantly, inched his way onto Will's shoulder, and, although surprised at first, the boy slowly warmed up to his presence.

Though he wasn't likely to cuddle the same thing that'd once possessed him (even if it was a different member of that species) any time soon, the creature was so far removed from the Mind Flayer-or Zero, as Kirby insisted on calling him-or the last Upside Down-related thing he'd held (the ever-slimy Dart) that he didn't feel weird letting the creature cling onto his shoulder, especially considering the green cream puff seemed so much like him. Besides, the little guy seemed so jittery; who was Will to deny him a feeling of safety? Perhaps this was how Jonathan felt around him. Despite himself, Will was starting to feel a bit protective of his little new friend.

Tuffy, who Kirby had forced to drop the Fire Ability, had absolutely refused to let anyone hold him, but had nevertheless eventually gravitated toward Max and made his way onto the girl's shoulder. Any raised eyebrows at his change of heart (including Max's own) were met with a scowl. As long as Max didn't acknowledge his presence, though, Tuffy seemed rather content with her, and vice-versa. They were both fiery personalities, after all.

Kirby imagined that, had Dustin been around, Keeby would have stuck with him. The two goofballs were practically made for each other; but since Dustin was not, in fact, present, he'd instead stuck with the second-goofiest person in the group, Lucas.

And as for Kirby, he was still stuck to Mike's shoulder. Leaders tended to stick together like that. That, and they were both still rather unhappy with Max. Nancy and Jonathan, off to the side of the room, simply looked on with amusement at the way the alien creatures paired up with their respective Humans.

Since Puffball Voids were at least partially (Meta Knight being half-Dark Matter was proof of hybrids) made of a positive type of Matter (either Dream or Heart) they had a natural tendency to befriend people. And after that bond was made, it wasn't long before they showed affection physically, with cuddles or (in the case of creatures with shoulders, like Dedede or Humans) shoulder-riding.

They formed emotional attachments much quicker than most creatures, and they only had to be friends with someone for a few days for it to feel like they'd known their new friend all their life.

That was why Magolor's betrayal had hit Kirby so hard, despite the fact that they'd only known each other for a week.

In any case, the Puffballs and their Human counterparts looked on in concern as El's breathing picked up and she quickly pulled her blindfold off. "What's he doing now?" Max asked in concern, voice tinged with a bit of dread. It wasn't as if El wasn't giving her reason for concern, what with how scared the psychic girl currently looked.

El simply turned slowly around to look at them all. In Kirby's opinion, she didn't look outright scared so much as... creeped out.

Kirby was starting to feel a little creeped out, himself.


While El went to go refresh herself with a drink of water, the group discussed what she'd told them.

"And that's not normal, right?" Nancy checked for the third time. "Billy staying in his room on the Fourth of July?" Max began. "No, that's not normal."

"This Fourth of July thing's like some huge holiday, right?" Tuffy asked. "Yeah," Max answered. "And this Billy dude's the town bad boy? In his room during a holiday? Yeah, that's not normal," Tuffy huffed, as if Max's opinion on the matter needed his approval before the conversation could continue. He was egotistical like that.

In any case, with or without King Tuffy's approval, the conversation continued.

"He wants us to find him," Will said slowly, as the realization came to him. "Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of," Nancy said. "If we go to Billy, then the rest of the Zeroed know where we are."

"It's a trap, I agree. We'll be ambushed," Mike said. Kirby hummed in agreement from his shoulder. "We won't be surprised," Lucas insisted overconfidently, resolutely pounding a fist into his other hand. "We'll know that they're coming, and we will kick their Zeroed butts."

"You mean El and the Kirbies will kick their butts," Max corrected. "Hell yeah, we will!" Tuffy happily agreed, ego no doubt inflated to three times its former size. "Yeah!" Keeby cheered enthusiastically, causing Lucas, whose ear was right next to Keeby, to wince at his companion's volume.

"That's too risky," Mike argued. "Awww," Keeby whined. Tuffy pouted and huffed indignantly. "What, you think we can't do it?" He asked. Mike opened his mouth to respond, but Nancy beat him to it. "It's unnecessary," she said. Tuffy did his best impression of a raised eyebrow. "Oh? Do tell," he challenged. "Well, for one thing," Kirby interrupted before Nancy could start. "We can't go whaling on Humans, Tuffy. They're not like Waddle Dees, Bronto Burts, Chips, Dedede, or anything else on Popstar. You can't just beat them up and then hand them a Maxim Tomato if you happen to go too far. They're fragile; especially considering how rough you are when you beat people up."

Tuffy and Keeby only continued to pout, with Tuffy letting out an indignant 'Poyo', while Greeny sighed in relief now that a fight no longer seemed imminent. "Yeah, and anyway, killing the Zeroed won't stop Zero. We have to find out where this is spreading from. We have to find the source," Nancy said.

"We have to find where he's hiding..." Kirby muttered in realization. "Billy knows where," El suddenly piped up, back from her visit to the kitchen. "Billy's been there. To the source. To where Zero is."

"Yeah, but-" Mike began, at the same time as Kirby began, "But, El-" only for her to cut them both off with "It's a trap. I know."

At the seeming lack of an answer, everyone went silent in thought, until El spoke up again, slowly, as if weaving her plan together as she spoke. "We can't go to Billy, but... I think there's another way."

Everyone looked at her, intrigued.

"A way for me to see where he's been."

While the Humans all looked at El, the Kirbies looked at each other; and in a rare moment of unanimous agreement, nodded determinedly.


https/youtu.be/HfiI7eMfoTQ

Go check out this Landia lyrical cover before I kill you. And check out his other Kirby covers while you're at it.

Anyway, A/N time!

A/N: Told ya you'd probably get one before summer break. I'm sorry for the short length, but if I stop here and write the rest of E Pluribus Unum (another short chapter), you guys get to have two chapters before the hiatus kicks in in full! So, yeah. I thought this was a good stopping point, and a nice little morsel of fluff (the Kirbies gravitating toward their spirit animals-sorry-Humans) and suspense. I always imagined Keeby (Yellow), Greeny (Green), and Tuffy (Red), as being the happy one, the nervous one, and the Rainbow Dash-type jerk-with-a-heart-of-gold-one, respectively, and long before I wrote this fanfic, I assosciated them with Dustin (Keeby has to settle for Lucas for the time being), Will, and Max, respectively. I'd have Kirby stick with El, but she was busy this chapter, and I actually think he'd gravitate more toward Mike, as they're both rambunctious boys, and while Kirby and El share the leadership/general protagonist thing in common, Kirby's just a bit too much for El, who's a more quiet person. If El had to be paired up with a Puffball, it'd probably be Meta Knight (and I've always thought, even before I wrote this, that they'd totally be friends and an interaction between them would be cool, since they're both mysterious, quiet individuals), but they won't be meeting each other till later, so she has no Dream Land equivalent for now. Thus, Kirby's paired up with Mike. With that said, you'll notice that, in prior chapters, Kirby got along fine with Lucas, Dustin, Will, El, and (to a lesser extent) Max. This is because, as explained in the last chapter (not the Status Update one) the three colorful Kirbies are embodiments of those traits within Kirby. Kirby himself can gravitate toward any of the kids, because he has the preferences and traits of Keeby, Tuffy, and Greeny within him.

Anyway, with my ranting over, I just want to thank you all for being patient with me. I'm still not gonna be writing like crazy until summer break, but the little break I took was just what I needed, because I actually enjoyed writing this chapter, while for the past few I've been burnt out. Rest assured, I will never give up on this fic, no matter how burnt out I get.

That said, though, I'd really like if you'd leave a review. It dramatically boosts my motivation to write. And that aside, makes my day, and this fic, (thanks to the added motivation) better. It doesn't matter how short it is. Every review means the world to me (and lets me know that you haven't given up on me and people are actually reading this). So please do that.

With that said, I do hope you enjoyed. Have a good day or night, and I will see you guys...

Next time...