Disclaimer: Kirby belongs to Nintendo and HAL Laboratory.
The next week went on with Vesa continuing her practice on her magic. When Elfilis wasn't mentoring their girlfriend, they would take some time to talk with Fransisca, keeping her up to date on their mental state.
Elfilis had been getting rather twitchy, as they've been planning to destroy Lab Discovera for a while. At first, it had mostly been idle chatter, but anxiety tended to creep the angelic lancer's thoughts, wanting to get it over with.
When that day came, Vesa, Elfilis, Kirby and Elfilin left the tower and met up with Magolor, King Dedede, Bandee and Meta Knight at the Lor Starcutter. Vesa took note as her partner's fur was bristling. After all of this, it would at least be cathartic. The pink star warrior scurried ahead and waved his arm.
"Poyo!" Kirby called over.
Dedede, Magolor, Meta Knight and Bandee pause in their chatter and focus on Dreamland's hero.
"Oh!" Magolor blurted, "morning, Kirby!"
"You're ready for the trip, right?" Bandee added.
"Poyo!" Kirby nodded.
Elfilis, still tense, made their way into the Lor Starcutter. Vesa sighed as she focused on the others. Without warning, Marx popped out of the ground.
"Wow," Marx commented, "what crawled up their—?"
Magolor put a hand on Marx's mouth before he could finish.
"Marx," Magolor chastised, "I told you that you need to be more understanding and not cause issues while we're here. Otherwise, I'll just leave you at home."
Marx pouted for a brief moment.
"Anyways," Bandee continued, "what's the plan?"
"The plan is to have you guys gather up as many people as you can find," Magolor explained, "Marx will help you find where everyone is with his soul magic. Then, you lead them to a place where I put a…teleportation array. After that, we'll get everyone out."
Elfilin did a back flip.
"Sounds like a plan!" Elfilin nodded.
"Alrighty," Dedede declared, "now let's get going!"
Magolor nodded before he led Kirby, Elfilin, Vesa, Meta Knight, Bandee and Dedede aboard the Lor Starcutter. Once inside, Vesa checked the bridge for her partner's whereabouts. Before long, she saw Elfilis sulking alone in one of the side rooms. Frowning, she sat down next to them.
"Hey," she said.
"Oh," Elfilis blurted, their feelers twitching, "hello, Vesa."
Their fur bristled and their tail swayed nervously. Elfilis should've been in a great mood, confident it would be all over once their task was complete. Yet, they still couldn't shake off this nagging mental funk. Vesa leaned towards them and wrapped one arm around their waist. Elfilis blushed and returned the gesture.
"It's ok," Vesa assured them, "I'm here."
"And I appreciate that," Elfilis curled their tail around her side.
Vesa smiled softly and pressed the side of her head on their chest. Elfilis purred and held her close. They both glanced out the port window, noticing as the ship was taking off now. The Lor Starcutter sailed its way through the star-shaped portal it just made. Soon enough, the ship arrived in the skies above Redgar Forbidden Lands. Elfilis let out a soft breath, their right hand's claws digging into their own leg as they mentally reminded themselves it was just a place; an abandoned place…it couldn't hurt them anymore. Once the Lor Starcutter touched down, Vesa noticed as Elfilin floated into the room from the corridor.
"Ok," Elfilin waved his paw, "we're here!"
Elfilis stared at their little brother and nodded at him. The small chinchilla fluttered his arms excitedly as Elfilis and Vesa stood up. The ultimate life-form wasn't sure how to feel about Elfilin's enthusiasm, which they didn't share with him. Elfilin led Vesa and Elfilis out onto the bridge where Magolor, Marx, Kirby, Meta Knight, Dedede and Bandee were waiting for them.
"Poyo!" Kirby waved his arm.
Vesa smiled at the pink star warrior as she walked up to Magolor.
"So who's leading the evacuations?" she asked.
"Dedede and Marx are going to be leading the team," Magolor explained, "Marx is in charge of finding everyone and Dedede is in charge of deciding who goes where and assisting in evacuation."
"Got it," Vesa nodded in agreement.
Vesa glanced over her shoulder, locking eyes onto Elfilis.
"So where's the teleportation array?" she pondered.
"Gimme a few minutes. I'll make one over at the lab and hook it up to the one on the ship," Magolor suggested.
Magolor vanished in a purple flash of light. Dedede, Meta Knight, Bandee, Marx, Kirby and Elfilin shared blank stares.
"So," Bandee said, "are we moving out?"
"Yup!" Marx chirped, balancing on a beach ball, "do you guys want me to teleport you or do you want to walk?"
"Poyo poyo," Kirby answered, "poyo."
"True," Marx agreed with some creepy giggles, making everyone fidget slightly, "but where's the fun in that? Why would you travel without the risk of your innards becoming outards? Teleportation is fun like that!"
Elfilis shuddered, their feelers twitching in confusion.
"Just because you can risk pretty much any kind of damage without dying doesn't mean everyone else can," Elfilis calmly reminded the jester.
Marx paused before he sighed in disappointment.
"Oh yeah," he muttered.
Vesa chuckled nervously as she and Elfilis exchanged glances.
"Well," she proclaimed, "I'll wish you guys luck!"
"Poyo!"
Kirby led Elfilin, Bandee, Marx, Dedede and Meta Knight out of the Lor Starcutter. Without hesitation, the pink star warrior summoned the Warp star before he, the Waddle Dee and the small chinchilla hopped on. When the Warp Star took off, Marx teleported Dedede and Meta Knight to Magolor's location. Meta Knight brushed some dust off his cape before approaching the floaty manipulative mage.
"Oh?" Magolor blurted, "what is it?"
"Kirby is on his way to the lab," Meta Knight informed.
"All right," Magolor nodded idly, "I assume he won't be too long, so that's not a huge concern."
Meta Knight and Dedede shifted their gaze towards the large entrance to the lab ahead of them.
"Ok, I'll help guide you guys," Marx sat on his beach ball, "I can tell there are between 40 and 50 people inside."
Dedede took a moment to think while he rubbed his chin.
"Well," Dedede proclaimed, "let's get on moving!"
Dedede and Meta Knight made their way into the abandoned lab with Marx following close behind. The sliding front door was left ajar as it didn't function anymore. The jester happily kicked his ball at the door, creating an explosion which sent it flying down the hallway. For a moment, Dedede and Meta Knight had to take cover, only to emerge from their cover once the smoke dissipated in less than a minute.
"Well," Meta Knight commented, "that's one way to open a door."
Dedede and Meta Knight hurried inside the abandoned lab with Marx following close behind. The jester's eyes lit up as they fixated on the veteran knight.
"I didn't think you had a sense of humor!" Marx exclaimed excitedly, "oh, this is great! Now, I can tell you all kinds of jokes!"
Meta Knight shuddered and groaned as he put his gloves over his mask, wishing those words never left his mouth. Dedede checked his surroundings before he gave Meta Knight a reassuring pat on the head.
"Hey, Dedede," Marx inquired, rolling ahead of the two, "why can't you trick an unemployed jester?"
Dedede facepalmed as he and Meta Knight ventured through the empty lobby. Maybe the penguin made the right decision to kick out this lunatic of a jester.
"Because that jester is no one's fool!" Marx continued with a fit of giggling.
Dedede and Meta Knight approached a pack of Awoofies. The penguin stopped just before them and patted on his chest, catching their attention.
"Come on guys, you need to get out of here. We're doing an evacuation right now due to some issues with the lab. It's not super urgent though, so grab what'cha need and let's skedaddle," Dedede instructed, "head out to the front door and we'll get outta here before long."
The Awoofies followed Dedede's orders and prepared to leave the lab.
"Hey, we aren't just making these guys leave their home or anything, right?" Marx pondered, having gained some mental stability.
While the jester began thinking hard about the situation, Meta Knight's eyes wandered until he spotted Kirby, Elfilin and Bandee at the other side of the lobby. The pink puffball returned his glance and waved at the veteran star warrior.
"Poyo!" he chirped.
Meta Knight gave his son a nod and wrapped his cloak around himself. Dedede sprinted towards the pink star warrior while the small chinchilla perked up his large ears and waved his paw at the approaching penguin.
"Ugh, feeling guilty is awful. It's times like this when I regret deciding to be a good guy," Marx yelled across the room, unfurled his wings out and used them to pull his hat in both directions, "hey guys, why is it that I'm the only one who feels like an asshole?!"
Kirby and Elfilin focused their gaze on the frustrated jester. The small chinchilla floated over to Marx, circling around him.
"What? We're basically blowing up the homes of these critters we are evacuating. In twenty minutes, I'm probably not going to care. But right now, I feel like it's an issue," he grumbled, "I hate having morals because ever since I decided to have them it makes me feel bad about the things I do."
"Well," Elfilin replied, "I'm sure Leongar and Clawroline will be more than happy to provide new homes. Clawroline is especially nice when you get to know her!"
"Yeah," Marx frowned, "but why should they need to leave this one? Just because two people feel bad about this place, it needs to become everyone else's problem? I get the idea of taking revenge. Trust me, I do. But this feels…this whole situation leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
Kirby and Elfilin shared worried glances before the pink star warrior walked up to the jester.
"Poyo?" Kirby asked, "poyo?"
"Nope," Marx answered, "I only really started to think of the issue after we got here and started forcing people to abandon their homes. I'm trying to be a better person when I can, and this just felt off to me. We're planning on blowing this place up, just to make two people feel good because the place is blown up. Villains blow other people's things up to make themselves feel better. I'm trying to leave that part of myself behind…you know…when I can."
From there, Kirby, Elfilin and Dedede exchanged glances with Meta Knight and Bandee.
"Well," Bandee sighed, "maybe we can wait until Marx gets a chance to talk to them?"
"I mean sure we should talk about it. But what about you guys?" Marx pointed at everyone, "I get that you guys are all trying to help, but this isn't really helping too much. These people shouldn't need to move out of their home for—"
Marx's eyes glowed pink for a moment, which caused Dedede and Meta Knight to shudder. They wouldn't be getting much else from Marx for a while.
"I wonder if there are any other members of the Beast Pack's high command still in here," Elfilin pondered.
"I dunno, maybe," Marx muttered, "I always get the worst headaches when this happens again."
Kirby and Bandee sprinted their way towards the door to the elevator. They searched both directions for a flight of stairs. It didn't take long for them to find some stairs nearby.
Since they couldn't ride the elevator, Kirby led Elfilin, Bandee, Meta Knight, Dedede and Marx up a few flights of stairs. The jester resorted to dismissing his ball and flying up the stairs. When they reached the top of the stairs, Kirby wandered down the empty hallway. Marx withdrew his wings and summoned his beach ball, proceeding to balance on it.
"You know you can always let me know if you want to hear a joke," Marx mentioned, eyes locked onto a door to a room, "oh, and there's another group in there."
"Poyo!"
Elfilin and Kirby happily hopped up and down before they dashed towards the door.
"Glad that I don't need to deal with the guilt anymore," Marx said to himself, "that was awful. Ok, let's get these people out of here!"
When Kirby and Elfilin entered the room, they spotted a few Mookies, a Jabhog and a few Bernards. The pink star warrior stood on the tips of his toes and waved his arms.
"So, uhh," Elfilin stammered while holding up his little paws, "if you guys could come with us and evacuate the building, that would be great! Please don't shoot at us?"
The occupants shifted their gazes to the pink star warrior and the small chinchilla.
"So would it be ok if you guys could leave the building, please?" Elfilin added nervously.
"Poyo," Kirby replied with great confidence, "poyo. Poyo poyo!"
Elfilin drooped his ears and wagged his tail nervously. The Mookies and Bernards exchanged glances for a moment before they nodded. The small chinchilla let out a sigh of relief. Honestly, he hasn't gotten used to the fact being a part of Elfilis proved he didn't have lungs.
Kirby and Elfilin led the group out of the room, the pink star warrior gesturing them to the stairs. Kirby twirled on one foot and waved his arm at Dedede.
"Poyo!"
King Dedede nodded at the pink puffball as everyone gathered around him. Elfilin simply floated above the pink star warrior, his large ears twitching with anticipation.
"Sire," Bandee asked, "orders?"
"Well," Dedede rubbed his chin, "I'm thinking we should split up. Meta Knight here can probably work on his own. Kirby, Elfilin and Marx can be a group, and I'll go work on tryin' to keep the locals from getting antsy or runnin' off. Wouldn't be good if they wandered back inside or went somewhere else where we can't find 'em."
Dedede's eyes locked onto Bandee.
"Bandee," Dedede proposed, "you can come with me to help keep the peace with the locals, or you can go with Meta Knight."
Bandee took a moment to think over the options. After a moment, he approached the king and gave him a salute.
"You can count on me to assist you, sire!" Bandee proclaimed.
"Then I don't think much else really needs to be said," Dedede gave a wink, "this should be pretty straightforward."
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.