Disclaimer: Kirby belongs to Nintendo and HAL Laboratory.
Once Elfilis returned from taking a sample of the worm creature Kirby fought, Magolor opened a wormhole with the Lor Starcutter's terminal.
"I marked the ground with a small runic circle so I can locate this place again later," Elfilis informed Magolor, "there's a lot of interesting flora and fauna around here."
"Excellent!" Magolor chirped, "we should be clear for takeoff."
Kirby and Elfilin fidgeted with excitement as Magolor flew the ship into the wormhole. The Lor Starcutter emerged from the other side, hovering above Vesa's home planet. Elfilis's feelers twitched as they sensed the location of the lab.
"I'm going to find a quiet place to wind down," they sighed.
As Elfilis turned to leave the bridge, Vesa gave them a concerned expression. The ultimate life-form paused for a moment. She placed her hand on top of their head.
"T-Thank you," Elfilis blushed.
Their tail swaying from side to side, Elfilis gave Vesa an affectionate lick on the forehead.
"I'll be ok," Vesa assured them, "I won't be heading down there by myself, you know."
"I know," Elfilis agreed, "I'll make sure Marx doesn't do something stupid again."
Vesa took a step back, allowing Elfilis to leave the bridge. She headed outside the ship and met up with Kirby, Elfilin and Magolor at the entrance to Wondaria Remains. The three focused their eyes on her as soon as she caught up.
"Hey, Vesa!" Elfilin waved his paw, "you ready to head on in?"
Vesa took a moment to examine the gate, taking note of the ticket booth. She vaguely remembered crowds would wait in line until they got tickets to get inside the park. A couple vines draped over the ticket booth.
"Well," she proclaimed, "let's take a trip down memory lane."
Vesa led Kirby, Elfilin and Magolor through the gate and they ventured through the large circular area where the statue stood in the center now coated in rust, leaves and moss. She remembered her father snapping a photo of her sitting in front of this structure. Kirby remembered standing on top of the rocket for only a brief moment. Climbing up the stairs, she took note of the directory and the wooden cut-out of an astronaut and an alien, which patrons would pose behind.
"Well," Magolor commented, "this place certainly needs a lot of work done. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of theme I want for the place. Maybe just a bunch of stuff inspired by the events that always seem to happen around Popstar?"
"I dunno," Elfilin shrugged, "but I'm sure you'll find inspiration somewhere in here!"
"Probably," Magolor agreed, "I just need to give everything a good look before I decide on what I'm going to do with it. A lot of this damage can be reversed with magic, but I'll need to strip the paint and a lot of the decoration."
Vesa, Kirby, Elfilin and Magolor crossed the bridge and walked under the arch at the other side. From there, they meandered through the park. Passing by a Rabiroo and several Awoofies, the pink puffball took note of the rides that used to be active when he and the small chinchilla initially explored it. Now, none of the rides were functioning anymore. Even the runaway parade cars didn't budge a single inch.
Passing through a gate and climbing a ramp, they noticed a roller coaster car ahead. Kirby and Elfilin examined the roller coaster tracks while Magolor took some mental notes.
"Say," Elfilin asked, "did you ever go on the roller coasters while you were here?"
Vesa shook her head.
"My father wouldn't let me," she explained, "it would've been too much for my body to handle at the time."
"Well," Magolor assured her, "you might get a chance when I get this place up and running again, maybe if everything goes smoothly and there are no unexpected issues."
Magolor calculated the amount of time it would take for him to renovate as he continued mentally drawing up a blueprint. Vesa smiled and folded her arms behind her back.
"Thank you!" she replied, "I'll be looking forward to it."
Vesa, Kirby, Elfilin and Magolor continued to venture through the park, where the human showed the others the various carousels, fountains and so on. After that, they stopped by the tent housing the House of Horrors.
"Well, this one's a bit disappointing," Magolor shrugged, "honestly, we could just have Marx hang out in here some days and scare people. I'm thinking he'll work here Mondays and Fridays on that part, stand up comedy Tuesdays and Thursdays, and do circus tricks on Wednesdays. The park will be closed on weekends to give people time off. Or…I dunno, I'll need to think on the schedule more."
Vesa placed a finger on her chin.
"Maybe if you talk with Marx," Vesa suggested, "I'm sure you two will come up with something you can work with."
"Poyo!" Kirby nodded in agreement.
"He can plot, manipulate and scheme," Magolor replied, "but if you actually organize something, his skills just don't seem to fit into place."
"Oh," Elfilin drooped his ears.
"A few of these rides I'm planning on are probably going to have Kirby be a part of them," Magolor continued, "he's just too cute not to be an adorable merchandising opportunity, considering he was involved in pretty much every major event to occur in Popstar's recent history."
Merchandising was one thing, yet Magolor was still enticed by the prospect of fulfilling his dream.
"Poyo!" Kirby chirped.
Elfilin seemed to perk back up as he did a back flip.
Continuing their stroll through the park, they stopped at a large Ferris Wheel. Vesa smiled as she clasped her hands together. Her mind drifted off to the moment she rode the Ferris Wheel with her brothers and sister. She remembered being nervous at first, but when she got on, she recalled the fantastic view of the park from up high.
"This Ferris Wheel," Vesa said to herself, "brings back so many memories."
Elfilin blinked twice.
"It does?" he blurted.
Vesa nodded.
"I remember it was said taking a ride on the Ferris Wheel gives a romantic atmosphere," she added, "especially if you ride it at night. The lights make the park even more beautiful looking at it from above."
"I can see that," Magolor agreed, "I guess making it a place for teens to make out and stuff is essential in some ways. Romance is a draw, for sure. Maybe we could set up some nice ambient lighting to give a nice romantic atmosphere. Marx would love to stay out here at night and spook couples who are trying to get frisky on the rides since they absolutely will try."
Vesa couldn't help but burst into laughter at that remark.
"Yeah," Magolor sighed, "people will try and do that thing anywhere, and since the most common race on this planet now consists of dog people, I suspect it'll be even harder than normal."
Vesa thought of inviting Elfilis over to the park once it was complete, but she quickly reminded herself the lab was still there. She doubted the technology there was still running considering the angelic lancer drew in all pieces of their essence from the abandoned machinery. An idea popped into her head; who could she negotiate with to arrange a demolition of the lab? Maybe that could give her partner a benefit of their mental health.
"There's a lot of work to be done," Magolor spoke, "some of these rides are too busted for me to consider using them still. Most of this tech seems so asinine and poorly made. I'm not even comparing it to the Lor Starcutter, or anything. It's like they were expecting magic to fill in the gaps, but there isn't enough magic on this planet to be able to do that."
Magolor started digging through the circuitry of the Ferris wheel's engine and control panel. As he scrutinized the components, he came to a startling epiphany.
"Oh," Magolor blurted, "I think I see where that power was coming from now."
Blinking twice, Vesa sprinted up to the floaty manipulative mage.
"Elfilis, you mean?" Vesa clarified, "I saw them extract their essence from the technology we had here before we moved to Popstar."
Magolor took a moment to process this information.
"Well," Magolor commented, "judging by the fact Elfilis is not a fan of this place, and the knowledge that they were trapped here for quite some time, I'm pretty sure your species largely stopped making things super complex in favor of just using their magic to force it to close the gaps in your tech. This is primitive magitech at best and shoddy work at that. No runes anywhere, just shitty tech and there was likely some kind of biological component to the batteries that let it hold the charge so well if this is the level of craftsmanship involved…"
"Poyo," Kirby sighed.
Elfilin lowered his head and patted the pink star warrior on the head. Magolor continued to rant about how the tech on Vesa's planet was a mockery of any real magic using tech and how he planned to burn the memory from his own mind later, considering how making him look at such tech angered him. The pink star warrior and the small chinchilla resorted to tuning it out. Vesa listened in and nodded along, though she kept her eyes locked onto Elfilin and Kirby.
"Really," Magolor concluded, "all of this leads me to believe your species was on a downward spiral anyway. Elfilis was a finite resource in the way they were using them and if they kept at it and killed them, the human race on this planet was likely to fall into anarchy."
"Kirby," Vesa asked, "is that lab still there?"
Kirby and Elfilin blinked and fixated their eyes on her.
"Poyo!" Kirby nodded.
Magolor took a moment to interpret Kirby's speech before making a brief glance to the right.
"I can feel the lingering rage filled magical energy saturating the air from the volcano at the distant continent," Magolor said, "the rage, sadness and terror that is saturating with magical energy is enormous. I wouldn't be surprised if people died up there, where spirits, ghosts and shades could form."
Vesa immediately thought of that one moment she saw a fellow test subject die before her eyes back in Lab Discovera. She felt her chest tighten and she could hear her own breath quicken. Magolor soon set down the components after having tinkered with them a little.
"All right," Magolor proclaimed, "I patched this up a bit, but it's going to need actual parts soon before I can either make this magitech more modern."
Magolor paused and shifted his gaze to Vesa, who was still petrified with fear.
"Hey," he called out, "you doing ok?"
Vesa didn't respond, the memory of the fellow patient changing into a mummified corpse lingering fresh in her mind. Kirby and Elfilin cautiously approached her, the pink star warrior waving his arm.
"Poyo? Poyo?"
Vesa glanced around her as she balled her right hand into a fist. She squeezed her eyes shut. With her left hand, she clutched her forehead.
"Our escape plan failed," Vesa muttered to herself, "didn't it, Elfilis?"
Magolor and Kirby exchanged confused glances.
"Escape plan?" Magolor paused.
"Poyo?"
Elfilin swished his tail nervously.
"Uhh, Vesa?" Elfilin stammered, "are you ok?"
After taking a few deep breaths, Vesa opened her eyes and shook her head.
"I-I've seen enough," Vesa answered, "I'm ready to go back to the ship."
"Oh," Magolor nodded, "well then, let's do that."
Magolor recognized such signs of mental issues, having spent years hanging out with Marx. He remembered waking up to screaming, crying, laughing or any other number of emotions at night; mostly screaming and crying, though. He couldn't remember what he was dreaming about, but it never failed to upset him when he had such dreams.
Magolor led Vesa, Kirby and Elfilin on their way out of Wondaria Park. When they passed by members of the Beast Pack, the pink star warrior and the small chinchilla took it upon themselves to wave at the residents. Once they exited the abandoned theme park, they made a beeline for the Lor Starcutter. Once they made it inside, Elfilis immediately emerged from the hallway, their feelers attentive as they examined Vesa.
"Are you all right?" they asked, "you look a little pale."
Vesa shook her head. Elfilis, having cast diagnostic spells, approached her before lifting her into their arms, holding her close. Vesa immediately threw her arms around the tall space rodent and buried her face into their shoulder.
"T-That lab," Vesa confessed, "i-it also gives me bad memories. That patient, the way he died…"
Tears streamed down her cheeks. Elfilis gave her a brief puzzled look, having seen plenty of human test subjects die in a lot of gruesome ways. They nodded at Kirby, Elfilin and Magolor before they carried Vesa out of the bridge. Elfilis entered an empty bedroom where they sat down. After a few minutes of sobbing, Vesa took a deep inhale through her nose and a slow exhale through her mouth, repeating this a few times. She blinked and gazed into Elfilis's eyes.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I imagine that lab is still there on that mountain in Redgarica," Vesa told them, "part of me is thinking someone with malicious intent could search the lab for anything they could use for their own gain."
Elfilis ran a finger down the back of her head.
"Does this mean," Elfilis paused, "I get to turn it into a glass crater? I wanted to before, but I wasn't sure if I'd be able to resist the urge to destroy the entire planet if I did."
Vesa took some time to process those words. All the while, she cupped their face with her hand.
"We'll have to consider how we're going to destroy the lab," she said.
Vesa felt the ship vibrate as if it was beginning to take off.
"Orbital lasers," Elfilis suggested with confidence, "we can sort through the rubble afterwards."
Vesa didn't really say much, so she lay down on the bed. Elfilis lay down next to her. In response, she nestled into their embrace. They purred softly as they held her head near their chest mane.
"Let's hope that orbital laser just wipes the lab clean off the map," she mentioned.
"And if that doesn't work," Elfilis added, "then I can do it more than once. Or I could just hold it for a minute or so to ensure nothing is left but dust and ash."
Vesa nuzzled their cheek.
"We might want to ensure any wildlife that's wandered in there is evacuated from the lab first," she reminded.
"I believe Kirby can get the job done," Elfilis gave Vesa a kiss on the forehead.
Feel free to make some fanart related to this fanfic!
And leave a review so Kirby can use them to buy snacks for him and Elfilin.