Kirby and the Rod of Darkness
Chapter 8: The Next Step
merendinoemiliano, thanks for your review! I'm glad you like the story so far!
While the Lor Starcutter sailed through the skies of Another Dimension, Magolor ran a scan of the dimension on its computer. "Okay, so…" he began, turning to his friends, "while the Lor searches for the Dream Rod in this dimension, I have some information for you on Parallel Susie. Now, the reason I know anything about her is because...I've met her before, actually."
The others were fairly surprised to hear this. "Really? When and where did you meet her?" Kirby asked him.
"It was during one of my travels. While I was spending some time in a village in another world, Parallel Susie came from Another Dimension several times and caused some trouble there. But later on she seemed to have a change of heart, as I found her peacefully staying in the village among the other residents before I left."
"So she's not really evil?" Taranza questioned, "Why was she being so rude to Susie, then?"
"I bet she was being controlled just like Coo, Meta Knight, and Daroach were!" Susie said, "I saw Mirrobo hovering behind her, and we all saw how she started acting differently partway through the battle. I'm certain Shadread and Mirrobo were behind it!"
Magolor nodded. "If we can only free Parallel Susie from their control, she might be able to help us. But first we'd have to find her again...anyway, next topic! I'm sure you're all wondering, who is Parallel Susie? Well...you remember fighting Parallel Woods, Dedede, Meta Knight, and Kracko in the Star Allies adventure, right?" The others nodded. "All of them were born from the negative thoughts and feelings of the originals and lived here in Another Dimension. So Parallel Susie likely has the same origin, which would explain why she knew all about Susie before ever meeting her. However…"
"The other four parallel beings we met were pure evil, because they came from someone who had done an evil deed at some point, and all except Kracko had recently been possessed by a Jamba Heart," the mage continued, "But we all know Susie has never been affected by a Jamba Heart. So, this is just my theory, but perhaps Parallel Susie came into existence when Susie exited this dimension, from the fear and sadness she surely felt when she was stranded here. At that point she had never done any evil deeds. That would explain why Parallel Susie isn't entirely evil and why the two of them never met before."
Kirby, Taranza, and Susie pondered everything they'd just heard. "There's one thing I don't understand," Susie said, "As far as I know, it's physically impossible for someone to be made of thoughts and feelings. Are these parallel creatures illusions, then?"
"They all seemed pretty real to me," Kirby spoke up.
"I'm not sure," Magolor replied, "I'm no expert on the matter, and I'm certainly not going to keep Parallel Susie like a lab rat so I can find out." At that moment, the computer beeped; the mage turned to check its screen. "It looks like there are two rods in this area! I bet one of them is the Dream Rod!"
The Lor landed and its four riders stepped outside, where they were greeted by a peculiar sight. This particular area had a very dark sky where lightning flashed frequently. Right in front of them sat a giant dark red block that rippled slightly like many of the other features in Another Dimension. "What is this place?" Taranza wondered, "It's spooky…"
"I don't know," Magolor answered, "I've never seen anything like it here." He approached the block to get a closer look, only to be pulled right into its wall! His friends hurried over and jumped in after him.
Magolor found himself inside a large room, but before he could take a look around Kirby bounced off his head. Taranza and then Susie also bounced off of him and knocked him down. "Oof! Now I know how a trampoline feels," he muttered to himself while he got up and rubbed his head.
As the others got up, they all viewed the contents of the room they were now in. The ceiling, walls, and floor were dark red like the outside, and there was a door on one wall. Several capsules and strange machines were scattered around the room. When Kirby saw what was inside one of the capsules, he gasped and ran toward it. "The Dream Rod!" he exclaimed, peering into the glass while his friends joined him. Indeed, the true Dream Rod was inside this capsule, but something was not right. Instead of floating in midair and glowing brightly like it normally did, the rod was dull and lying still on the floor. "All its power has been drained!" Kirby's surprised expression changed to one of sadness.
Suddenly evil laughter was heard from across the room, and Kirby and the others jumped. They found a tall figure wrapped in a purple cape now entering the doorway. "I'm surprised you managed to get this far," he said, "What persistent creatures you are! Unfortunately, your efforts will all be in vain…" He pushed his cape aside, revealing his true appearance. He had a shadowy body and wore a white and black mask, his piercing golden eyes shining from an opening in the mask. In one of his sharp clawed hands he held the Rod of Darkness! "...For I, Shadread, Master of Shadows, will destroy you here and now!"
Shadread pointed his rod at Kirby's team, causing it to fire a dark beam at them, but they dodged it by moving aside. Magolor sent a series of fiery orbs at him, and while he was doing this Kirby inhaled one of the orbs to become Fire Kirby. Shadread was easily able to avoid the attack by teleporting himself around the room, so the others joined the offense. Taranza threw small balls of magic power, Susie used her Blaster to shoot lasers, and Kirby breathed fire. But none of these attacks seemed to affect the villain, so Magolor summoned a black hole right over his head. Still, Shadread was unaffected. He merely covered himself with his cape until the black hole was gone. "That didn't even leave a scratch!" Taranza was bewildered.
"Ahaha!" Shadread laughed, "As long as I have this Rod of Darkness in my grasp, your pathetic abilities cannot harm me!" That gave Kirby an idea. When his enemy raised the rod to attack again, he quickly struck it with a burning tackle. At this, the Rod of Darkness cracked and then shattered in a burst of darkness, which knocked both Kirby and Shadread back. "No! How could you…" the latter yelled.
Everyone watched in horror as the dark blast extended in all directions, breaking every capsule in the room in the process. "We've got to get out of here!" Magolor shouted. With Taranza and Susie following, he raced to the wall that had pulled him in and jumped right through it. Kirby grabbed the Dream Rod from where it lay before doing the same.
Kirby, Magolor, Taranza, and Susie all ran as fast as they could to the Lor Starcutter, stopping inside to catch their breath. "That was a close one!" Susie said.
"I didn't know the Rod of Darkness was going to explode like that," Kirby said. He gazed sadly at the powerless Dream Rod in his hand. "What are we going to do about the Dream Rod? It's useless like this."
"I think we need to speak with Landia, the guardian of ancient treasures who lives on Halcandra," Magolor spoke up, "He should know how to restore its power." Kirby remembered Landia. He had once fought the large, reddish four-headed dragon after Magolor told him he was on a rampage. But in reality, Magolor only wanted the guardian defeated so he could steal his crown. After this was done, Landia, who had split into four smaller dragons, came to Kirby's aid. King Dedede, Meta Knight, Bandana Waddle Dee, and he each rode a dragon into the fight against Magolor. Fortunately, after being defeated and having to destroy the crown himself, the mage learned his lesson.
Since the Lor was able to travel quickly, it didn't take long for it to reach Halcandra. When the ship landed near the top of a volcano, Magolor told the others, "Landia lives just ahead, at the peak of the volcano." His friends started toward the entrance but stopped and looked back when they noticed he wasn't following. "You three go on ahead," he said, "It's probably best if I stay here because, you know, I stole Landia's crown and all that. I don't know how he would react if he saw me again."
So Kirby went with Taranza and Susie to the peak of the volcano. They found that the surrounding environment, like most of this planet, was largely volcanic, but they could also see a section filled with machinery in the distance. As soon as they arrived at their destination, they spotted Landia himself standing on a tall spire nearby; he then flew down and landed in front of them. The four-headed dragon was bigger than the three adventurers and looked a bit intimidating, but he remembered Kirby and could tell they had no ill intentions. "Welcome, travelers from a different dimension. I am Landia, Guardian of Ancient Treasures. I sense you have come in search of answers. Tell me, what is it you seek?"
At first Kirby, Taranza, and Susie were caught by surprise because while they clearly heard a wise voice, the dragon's mouths did not move. He was speaking into their minds. They quickly regained themselves and Kirby explained their situation. "Do you know about Shadread? We just encountered him in his hideout, and we found the Dream Rod there with all its power drained." He held up the rod he was holding.
"There has been trouble in this dimension ever since Shadread and his robot arrived here from places unknown," Landia replied, "Somehow he managed to steal the Dream Rod and drain its energy by creating countless copies and scattering them throughout your galaxy. We tried to stop him, but his power was too great. He cannot be harmed as long as his Rods of Darkness exist." The dragon fixed four pairs of green eyes on the Dream Rod and continued, "In order to defeat him, you must destroy the Rods of Darkness and restore power to the Dream Rod. And to do that...you must gather positive energy by forming positive feelings, kind actions, and strong bonds in the galaxy."
When Kirby and the others returned to the Lor, they told Magolor about everything Landia had told them. "So that Rod of Darkness we destroyed wasn't the only one?" he asked.
"I'm afraid not," Taranza answered, "Landia said there are many more scattered throughout the galaxy."
"Well then, let's not waste any time! We have to find those rods!" With these words, Magolor piloted his ship out of Another Dimension.