Kirby and the Rod of Darkness
Chapter 26: An Unexpected Encounter
A week had passed since Shadread's defeat and all was peaceful in Dream Land. Kirby was back to his typical life, Taranza was once again guarding Floralia from Royal Road's castle, and Susie resumed her work at the Haltmann HQ. Everything was back to normal, or so it seemed…
Kirby woke to the morning sunlight shining brightly through his window. He yawned and stretched, and when he sat up he spotted a few things that reminded him of his latest adventure. There was Tedhaun's hat on the table, his star-shaped cushion beside the table, the Gotcha figure Elfilin gave him for Christmas on the fireplace mantel, and an empty box of chocolates in the corner which he'd kept for some reason. "Ah, home sweet home," he said to himself, "Adventures are fun, but it's always nice to get back to my normal life."
At that moment there was a knock at the door. Kirby got out of bed and went to the door; when he opened it, he jumped back in surprise at what he saw. Standing in front of the doorway was...another Kirby?! "Hiii!" he said with a wave.
Kirby looked the mysterious visitor over and realized there was something off about him. He had ears, yellow gloves on his floating hands, and no legs! The hero soon knew who this imposter really was. "Good one, Magolor!" he laughed.
Magolor removed his Kirby mask. "I wondered if you'd figure out it was me!" he chuckled.
"So, what brings you here today?" Kirby asked his friend, letting him come inside.
"Oh yeah, I didn't come here just to show off my Kirby mask," Magolor answered, "I actually came to tell you about something important. You see, I had a virtual meeting with Taranza and Susie about an hour ago. Susie said she saw something very suspicious and thought we should be informed about it, so she's coming to Popstar to tell us about it."
Kirby was curious. What could Susie have seen? He didn't have to wonder about it for long, because Magolor and he heard a noise coming from outside right then. Upon exiting the house, they spotted the spaceship that was Susie's headquarters descending and landing in a nearby field. How things had changed, Kirby thought as the two of them headed toward it. The last time the HWC came to Popstar, it did so with intentions to mechanize the planet and steal its natural resources. That was back when Susie was the secretary of the company and her dad was the president, but all that was in the past now.
When Kirby and Magolor neared the HQ, they were greeted by a worker robot standing beside it. "Kirby and Magolor," it identified them, "you may enter. Ms. Haltmann awaits your arrival."
The door to the HQ opened. Kirby and Magolor were about to enter the doorway when the latter paused and looked around, noticing someone was missing. "I wonder what's keeping Taranza?" he wondered aloud, "He said he'd join us as soon as possible."
"Wait for me!" a voice called out right then. It was Taranza, who was rushing toward his two pals; he was in such a hurry that he was unable to stop and ended up crashing into them. This resulted in all three of them rolling like a ball into the HQ and down the hall, until they bumped into the wall near the office. Several robots close by appeared confused at the unusual entrance. Susie, who had entered the hall to meet her friends, was initially surprised but then couldn't stop herself from laughing.
Once Kirby, Magolor, and Taranza recovered from rolling into the wall, Susie took them into the office. "All right, so I'm sure you're wondering what kind of suspicious thing I saw," she said to them, "Well, I'll show you." Taking a seat at her desk, she brought out her tablet and showed it to them. "Last night, one of my workers caught this footage outside the company headquarters." On the screen, a large tiger-like creature was roaming around in the bushes, but there was something very peculiar about it. Its entire body was as dark as a shadow except for its eyes, which were bright yellow and gleamed in the moonlight.
"What is that thing?" Taranza uttered upon seeing the mysterious creature.
"It looks like a Galbel," Kirby replied, "only way creepier!" He'd encountered Galbels before, but none of them looked like this one!
"The worker who spotted the creature analyzed it before it ran off," Susie informed the others, "Apparently it's made up entirely of an unidentified energy, with the greatest amount being contained in its core." She put her tablet away and continued, "As you know, part of my job here at the Haltmann Works Company involves exterminating savages-that is, evil beings who want to harm innocent lives. And that unusual Galbel, according to my research, was last seen heading straight for Popstar! That's why I came to discuss the matter with you."
Before anyone could say another word an alarm suddenly went off. A robot rushed into the office and cried out, "Ms. Susie! An intruder has been detected in the lab!"
Susie sprang from where she was sitting. "But that's impossible! There's no way a stranger could get inside without being caught!" She raced to the lab with Kirby, Magolor, and Taranza following.
When the four of them arrived in the lab they stopped short, unable to believe what they saw. There, standing in the center of the room and staring right at them, was the very same creature they'd just seen footage of! "I-it's that shadowy Galbel!" Taranza exclaimed in shock, "What's it doing here?"
"Is it following Susie around or something?" Magolor added, "Or maybe it's following all of us around…"
At this point the shadowy beast began advancing slowly toward the group. Susie almost shuddered at the thought of an eerie tiger hanging around her home. She felt a bit tense as she drew her Blaster and pointed it directly at the Galbel. "Freeze! I'm not afraid to use this blaster, and I will use it if you come any closer!"
It ignored this statement and broke into a run. Susie fired a series of shots at it, but they had no effect. "I think it's time for Plan B-run!" Magolor told his allies, and all four of them ran out of the lab.
Kirby followed his friends as they raced throughout the HQ, the mysterious Galbel chasing them persistently. However, he got an idea when he came to the exercise room. He jumped up on the treadmill, waited for the Galbel to get close, and then...when it tried to pounce at him, he quickly jumped off the treadmill and turned it on. Now the beast couldn't stop running in place! Of course it wasn't going to put up with that, so it soon leapt forward with enough force to knock the treadmill over. "I guess some people just don't understand the importance of physical fitness," Kirby remarked. When the Galbel tried to swipe at him he dashed after Magolor, Taranza, and Susie again.
The chase continued until everyone made it to the hall. Two Haltmann robots who happened to be there, when they saw what was happening, shot electric beams from their blasters at the Galbel. This caused it to freeze in its tracks, paralyzed. "Now's our chance!" Taranza said. Before the tiger-like creature could recover, he launched a ball of magic power at it while Magolor tossed Gem Apple bombs at it. After all these attacks were completed it finally disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving only a shiny yellow gemstone behind.
The two robots scanned the sparkling object. "This gem is brimming with the same type of energy that was contained within that creature," one of them determined, "I believe it was the source of its power."
Kirby, Magolor, Taranza, and Susie tried to approach the jewel to get a closer look, but before they could get close it suddenly flashed with a bright light. They were forced to cover their eyes to avoid being blinded, and when they uncovered them the gem was gone! "Where did it go?" Taranza wondered.
"I saw it levitate out the main entrance with impressive speed," one of the robots pointed toward the entrance.
Susie sighed. "Just when I was planning on studying it. Well, looks like we'll have to go looking for it." She turned back to the two robots. "Tell the other workers to guard the headquarters while I'm gone."
"Aye-aye," they responded as they watched the others leave.
Unfortunately, Kirby and company found no trace of the yellow jewel after searching around outside the spaceship. "That gem could be anywhere on Popstar!" Taranza said, "How are we going to find it?"
"Maybe we should go back to the Lor Starcutter," Magolor suggested, "It should be easier to search from there." He paused for a moment. "All this seems very familiar, doesn't it?"
"Yeah! It'll be just like when we were looking for the Rods of Darkness!" Kirby spoke up, "Things never stay uneventful around here for long! Let's go!" And so, as they headed to the Lor once again, another adventure was ahead for our heroes.