Kirby and the Rod of Darkness
Chapter 3: In Another Dimension
Another Dimension was a mysterious place-so mysterious that no one even knew its name. It was only known as "Another Dimension". All four of these adventurers had been to this strange world before, although Taranza had less experience than the others. He had only spent a short time there during one of Kirby's adventures. Kirby, on the other hand, had ventured through the dimension multiple times on his past adventures. Magolor, known for his interdimensional travels, had spent time there searching for ancient artifacts and battling Kirby when he was still a villain. But Susie probably had the roughest experience of all…
When she was just a young child, she had been accidentally sent to Another Dimension and had to fend for herself there until she found a way out. Kirby didn't know all the details, but he did know what the dimension was like. Given its dangerous environment and fearsome inhabitants, the fact that Susie survived the ordeal at such a young age was nothing short of a miracle. She couldn't help but feel somewhat nervous whenever she returned to this place, and Kirby could tell. He gave her a reassuring smile, which gave her the boost of confidence she needed. Susie reminded herself that she wasn't a helpless little girl anymore. She was grown up now and had her weapons and her friends by her side. She would be fine.
Somewhere deep in the dimension was a dimly lit room with deep red walls; on one side of the room stood King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Marx. While the former two were red-eyed and standing still as if in a trance, Marx was simply balancing on a ball like he often did. A small round robot with a face somewhat similar to Kirby's and a mirror on its top hovered around the room using a copter on top of the mirror. It approached a shadowy figure seated by a large computer while beeping repeatedly. "What is it, Mirrobo?" the figure turned to face the robot.
"Beep beep! I detect four non-native uncontrolled life forms in the dimension!" Mirrobo's eyes illuminated blue and on its mirror appeared a map of the area. Kirby, Magolor, Taranza, and Susie looked like glowing blue silhouettes when they were zoomed in.
"Hmph. Uninvited guests. We must do something about them."
"Ooh, pick me! I want to fight them!" Marx hopped up and down eagerly on his ball.
"You'll get your turn. Mirrobo, send out the Sphere Doomers!"
"Roger," the robot answered.
Kirby's team wandered about the dimension in search of King Dedede, Meta Knight, and the Dream Rod when a giant round orange winged creature descended behind them. "Does anyone else get the feeling we're being watched?" Magolor asked.
At that moment, the Sphere Doomer lunged forward and caught Kirby in its jaws. "Kirby!" the others exclaimed.
Taranza knew what to do. "Kirby, grab on to the Dreamstalk!" He pulled a small beanstalk with a pink flower on top out of the ground in front of the Doomer. (No one knew how he was able to pull Dreamstalks out of nowhere, but they suspected it was some sort of magic.) Kirby quickly grabbed the tall plant and slid down until he was back on land.
"Looks like a Sphere Doomer," Magolor remarked upon seeing the otherworldly beast, "I've met these guys lots of times before. As you can see, they're not very friendly."
Suddenly the Doomer ripped the Dreamstalk right out of the earth and started swinging it around like a baseball bat. Kirby and the others had to jump back several times to avoid being pounded by it. They ducked when the Doomer threw the Dreamstalk at them, which then smacked into a wall and dissipated. "How dare you treat my Dreamstalk like a club!" Taranza was not happy. He created a huge ball of magic power and launched it right at the Doomer. The fierce creature was injured by the blast but still ready for more.
"Here Doomer, have a snack!" Magolor tossed Gem Apple bombs into the Doomer's mouth. It looked confused until the bombs exploded, which caused it to flail about and vanish in a puff of smoke.
Magolor chuckled to himself; he loved pranking enemies with his Gem Apple bombs. Kirby hopped up and down cheerfully at the victory, but his little celebration did not last long. After a few moments a swarm of purple Doomers descended in front of the group, eyeing them menacingly. "Aah! They're everywhere!" Kirby cried out.
"Leave this to me," Susie said. With her controlling it, the Business Suit leapt over some of the Doomers so that they formed a ring around it. All the monsters charged at the pink machine...only to be battered by its now rapidly spinning arms.
The others watched with astonishment. "Wow...maybe that's why it's called a Business Suit," Magolor commented, "'cause when Susie uses it, she means business!"
It didn't take long for every one of the Doomers, unable to escape the attack, to be finished off. "Way to go, Susie!" Kirby cheered.
With the Business Suit stowed away once again, the former secretary approached her allies. She giggled, feeling quite happy with herself. "Aww, it was nothing. You know, I studied the Sphere Doomers when I was lost in Another Dimension as a child. I learned that they have a tendency to attack without taking their personal safety into account."
"And how did you manage to do that without becoming lunch?" Taranza asked.
"It wasn't easy!" Susie admitted.
All of a sudden, the entire area began to shake. Everyone looked around to find that the ceiling above them was slowly dropping from the sky! "The ceiling! It's caving in!" Kirby cried out.
There was only one thing to do in this situation and that was to run. The team ran as fast as they could until they arrived at a platform that had no ceiling above it. They stood very still as they watched the ceiling make contact with the floor where they had been standing before, and then they sighed in relief. Magolor was the first one to say something. "Is it just me, or is someone trying to kill us?"
Suddenly evil laughter rang out from seemingly nowhere, and everyone jumped at the sudden sound. "Wh-wh-who's there?" Susie questioned.
"How foolish it was of you to enter this dimension," the menacing voice continued, ignoring the question, "My assistant can sense your very life force, which means we know exactly where you are at every moment. As long as you stay here, you are not safe!"
After these words were spoken, there was silence for a few moments until Magolor spoke again. "In all the time I've spent in Another Dimension, I've NEVER heard anything like that!"
"Someone knows where we are at all times?" Taranza said, "I don't like the sound of that-" He was cut off when a portal suddenly opened directly above him and his friends and pulled them in. "H-hey!" he shouted in surprise.
The next thing Kirby and the others knew they were falling out of the portal, landing in a heap on the grass. Susie noticed that the sun was setting and King Dedede's castle was still glowing on a mountain in the distance. "I guess we must be back in Dream Land…" she observed before hearing Kirby mumbling from below. It was then that she realized she was sitting on Taranza, who was on top of Magolor, who was on top of Kirby. "Oops...sorry," she promptly got off of them.
Taranza and Magolor stood up and brushed themselves off, looking disappointed. "Well, that was an unproductive search," Taranza said, "We still don't know what happened to King Dedede, Meta Knight, or the Dream Rod!"
Kirby was the last one to get up, as he was still recovering from being at the bottom of the pile. "Now I know how a pancake feels," he said before noticing how unusually empty his stomach was, "Speaking of pancakes, I'm starved!"
At this remark, the other three realized that they too were quite hungry. All of them had had nothing to eat for hours (except for Kirby eating beach balls and feathers, but that didn't really count), and their bellies were growling like angry Grizzos. "I have an idea!" Magolor chimed in, "Why don't we all go to the Lor Starcutter? I may be able to locate the Dream Rod using its computer, and we can get a bite to eat while we're there as well!" Everyone agreed that was a good idea, and so they rode the Warp Star to Magolor's ship.
I realize that Magolor may actually be native to Another Dimension...either way, the "non-native" term Mirrobo uses is simply referring to the fact that the four characters came to the dimension from elsewhere.
While I was originally not going to add any OCs to this story, I thought it would be a good idea to make a new villain (along with his robot sidekick, Mirrobo). They are the only characters in the story who belong to me.