Chapter/Tale 6 End: 4 Star Bounties: Episode 6
Author's Note Intro:
Hey guys! I'm back! And hopefully before winter break, because I'll be out all those days by then! Not to mention we're going on a cruise again in January afterwards. And speaking of that, I did mention I had an idea because we went on there; that'll be likely introduced in Chapter 7. For now, how are things faring on the other side? What about those remaining on Popstar too? And have you ever wondered or struggled to get behind the mysteries revolving around one of the greatest lore in Kirby history, the Ancients? That part, it's kinda my take on it with its role being played in this story, and considering the aftermath of the previous chapter act regarding Espera's Neonatricity ability and the confirmation of it being part of the Ancients, this will all play a much bigger role in Chapter 7 too. I do recommend that if you don't know too much about Kirby assuming you're new, you should watch some of the videos on Youtube about Kirby lore and do some deep research online; only enough to learn what's going on. But this won't happen exactly until after this one; consider this a warning in advance. We're almost there to the final world, we just have to get through Chapter 7 first before anything! Anyway, prepare yourself for a bit of a shock probably and enjoy the chapter!
Dark Halberd
"Volt?! What happened to you?" Auralia squealed, making my ears wanting to go deaf and bleed. Volt's appearance confirmed her right to react this way, Volt looked like he barely survived something crazy and with a look that says that he ain't down for it again as he walked inside the room and plopped on the ground flat.
I kept my face concealed behind the manga I was reading; it was Demon Slayer. "Come on, Auralia. You know he went against Kirby and friends and lost terribly. It would seem that he, to be fair, had a huge advantage but that was just nothing more than a major bust in the end. Now look at him- he's already fried."
Volt lifted his head up angrily. "I hate you, Eclipse."
"Love you too, bro," I teased. "Anyhow, stop limping on the ground and get yourself healed up before you start bleeding out like a dead body being turned into Swiss cheese. And do it yourself, cuz I sure as hell ain't doing it."
"That's mean of you, Eclipse," Auralia defended as she helped up Volt. "That condescending tone of yours has been really aggravating lately. What's gotten into you?"
"It's like I said, he's hiding something and doesn't want us to know about it," Volt coughed. "Like say, maybe he has something to do with the prisoner's escape and what happened to Coral."
"Please, you're being overly dramatic," I stuck my tongue at him. "And even if I did, what are you going to do about it? Report me to Zero? And it's like I said as well, who really gives a damn when everything will end up just as planned? We'll just hold our end of our positions and everything will be fine. Bastard Master will get what he wants anyway."
"Why, you… ngh…"
"Save your breath, Volt," Auralia assured him and carried him to his room no prob; for a brief few moments she went in, she came out. "Poor Volt, it just reminds me so much of-"
"Geez, are you really gonna start bawling your butt off again?" Molotov groaned, standing up and leaving the room. "Screw that, I'm out."
"As do I," joined Solaris as well, joining him in the process. "How did things get to this?"
"Ah, wait up guys," Auralia quickly walked after the two. "It wasn't what it sounds like, I swear…"
The moment this whole disaster started, that's how. I went back to reading Demon Slayer- about to, when a pair of big breasts clopped on the back of my head. "Ecli-san, where did you go? You were just on the couch a while ago."
"Downside of having big boobs- you can't see what's underneath you," I called out. "I've believe we've already went through this, Pan, no little brother sandwiches or else I'll poke ya there."
"Oh, there you are," Pandora giggled as she easily lifted up her breasts from my head to leap over the couch, landing hard enough to lift me a few centimeters from the cough and slid herself into my spot whereas I ended up on her lap in the process like a child on a mother's lap. "Sometimes I wonder why I have big boobs right now. You feel really nice though." Her boobs wrapped themselves around my head along with her arms across my stomach, exposing her cleavage in the mix as she lifted and wrapped her leg over mine. I remain unfazed.
"What is it now, Pandora?" I asked, finishing the manga and used telekinesis to hand me the next entry of the series. It's pretty good; you should check it out. "Did you just want me as a couch pillow again? Besides, it's your turn to investigate Blizzard Star soon tomorrow."
"But Eclipse, it's very important and since you're kinda a clairvoyant," Pandora urged me. "I wondering if you could help me figure out something. I promise, please?"
I sighed and gave in, not to the boobs that lied comfortably on my head to the point of my head sticking out in the middle. "Alright, this better be good. If not, then so do help me, or else. Also, I ain't no fortune teller or clairvoyant."
"Interesting. So, how should I put this? Ever since Coral nearly croaked, you've been acting very strangely than before. But now I think I may know why. Have you ever had weird dreams and some memories that you're not familiar with at all at some point?" Pandora asked. That got my attention.
"Wait, what? Can you be a little more specific on that?" I cautiously asked.
"How should I say…? Dreams of being around what appears to be those little Star Kids in that haven, and I also saw you next to me as well. Isn't that strange, Eclipse? I have no memory of that and still I'm getting those memories every night I sleep," Pandora confesses. I zipped my mouth shut for a while. "Hate to say it, but I'm afraid I'm having doubts about our standing right now, such as if Zero really did create us. Were we really meant to do the things we did? I just don't know what to believe anymore."
Surely I didn't anticipate a twist like this ever or at all in those regards. And here I was thinking there was no convincing anybody about my reasons, seems like I was wrong here. I wonder how I should approach her about this… Pandora can be quite a mind game player, even if you were to read her mind, her actions will act differently than what she intended and can outwit the opponent unpredictably. Reading her mind won't do jack for you; you have to play unpredictably well in order to beat her in any game, even in real combat. If you were a huge pervert or rather too attentive and sensitive, you already lost before the match even started; can't be helped, for most people a rack like those is to die for- sometimes literally.
"Eclipse? If I had to guess, would it be possible that you've been having those strange occurrences this whole time before any of us knew this? Is that why you have been acting up lately?" Pandora affectionately asks me.
"My answer depends, what would you do if I told you yes?" I cautiously questioned her explicitly. Pandora slightly and gently tensed her grip even tighter on me.
"… Are you thinking I might report this to Zero? Don't worry, I won't," Pandora responds. "Not when we don't know the truth behind this completely. I can't go blindly speaking any of this like that's an okay when I know nothing about it, and I'm sure of yourself trying to discover what that could possibly mean, am I wrong?"
"… I guess when you put it that way, I suppose you're not one to backstab another guy, so I can say yes to that," I admitted, bookmarking the page I was at on Demon Slayer for this. "It's true, ever since I had those memories and dreams, that led me to doubt everything I- no, we were doing, and I could easily identify the holes in Zero's plans and the contradictions in his own words as well. It seems like the other five hasn't noticed this but us, assuming they don't have those dreams or memories. One thing's for certain, if we recall being around Star Children, then we may have been someone completely different in the past."
Pandora sighed. "All of this is really giving me a burnout; I prefer to stay cool from this speculation confusion. Anyways, if we really do have those kind of memories before, that possibly means Zero has been lying to us this whole time of our entire second lives. There's no doubt this whole ordeal has been based around his own experience with Kirby and Kailaine, but to be real, where does that put any of us, including Dark Soul? I feel as if we were just put in here for convenience like a play just because it needs so. Do we even matter or is there a role we that is much bigger than we ever realized?"
"Varies, just like the plots of certain manga like Akame ga Kill and the tone the story takes; we're safe from being killed off, that's for sure. Here, we'll have to keep playing our current roles until something does change; that's literally every plot in a video game to do your job until the plot advances forward. I think it'd be best to make sure no one catches onto us until we've uncovered everything there is to unveil specifically about this," I suggested. "Is that all you remember about it?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much everything there is to my dreams, the same thing over and over again," Pandora shook her head.
"Alright, maybe we shouldn't think about this too much today, it's a lot to process at the moment," I suggested. "But this is all I can say for now. You should focus on tomorrow as you head to Blizzard Star aka Modern Day Shiver Star; Kirby's party will be there no doubt, especially the Paintress- she might be the one who'll suffer the most this time around."
Pandora realized who I was talking about. "Oh, you mean Adeline? Yeah, she was captured along with Kailaine too, right? Does she have any connection with that particular planet at all?"
I shrugged with my shoulders. "Who can really say for sure? That planet, ever since the Crystal Shards incident, has been the one shrouded the most in the darkest mysteries of this universe. But the most shocking discovery ever unveiled about that planet is that it resembles a post-apocalyptic planet known as Earth, the origin of all humans and animals before it… froze."
Pandora seemed concerned. "All humans came from earth, but that can't be- Blizzard- no, Shiver Star just so happens to look like earth, that's all. Are you saying that humans went extinct?"
"In the Gamble Galactic Galaxy, almost if it weren't for her. That planet actually rotates every year between different galaxies, adopting different identities and referred to differently, but it advances forward between those warps. Planets like that one tends to disappear from the Gamble Galaxy often or rather goes off every once in a while. Nonetheless, no doubt humans lived there, no denying that. It's strange to see humans are almost prosperous in this galaxy than the Gamble Galaxy."
"That's definitely strange on second thought," She responds. "If so, then do you know what happened to the planet?"
I sighed in surrendering to that question. "Again, who can really say for sure? That's the greatest mystery yet- no one knows how Shiver Star became a frozen wasteland planet in the first place and no one's ever lived to tell the tale living there; I doubt even Adeline remembers the cause of the planet's demise. What I do know is that it's the same earth of any other; here, that planet's linked greatly with the Ancients and Earth's rumored with the ability to spawn other universes and other known creations. The main attraction of that planet or at least the area Kirby was at had a huge factory production; maybe the answers lies in there."
"So you're suggesting that I should check out that factory whenever I have the chance tomorrow and see what it's all about?" Pandora summarized, then she nods. "Ah, that makes sense. I understand. But it is strange how ironically there are humans still living there after a while and restored the nations and whatever there is on the planet. Yes, that is a mystery."
"The real mystery I'm trying to figure out is why you're still suffocating me with your huge rack," I said. "And where's the remote anyway? Wait a minute- Pandora." I glared sternly.
Pandora blushed. "W-well, I'm sorry. You know well that my cleavage is the only place I can hold my stuff, I can't help it if I'm so sexy and that every outfit with pockets tends to tear off because of my bust. If I wasn't a Zero Knight in the past, I wonder if I had that same problem too. Anyway, the remote's right behind you, but it's stuck-"
"You can get it out with your ice powers, not using me just to get a pleasure out of someone touching your boobs," I refuted, Pandora looks at me with cute puppy eyes and I shuddered at the mere gaze of this act.
"I certainly regret doing this," I grumbled and sighed under my breath. "Geez, fine." After reluctantly rummaging through her cleavage, I had a grasp of the remote and yanked it out from the other pile of items she had stored in that area.
"Thanks, Ecli-san!"
"You really suck sometimes. Now let me go already."
"Love you too," Pandora plants a kiss on my cheek, strokes my hair and then she lifts me up and sits me next to her. I really hope we aren't siblings sometimes when it comes to these moments. Unfortunately, I had accidentally dropped the remote when Pandora kissed my cheek abruptly, hitting the power button ironically and booting up the TV in front of us to the default channel- the news.
"Whoops. Man, I can't stand the news these days or ever since news were invented, nothing good ever comes out of them, bad news every single second. Let me take care of that…"
"H-hang on, Eclipse!" Pandora stopped me, pointing to the screen. "Look! It's Blizzard Star!"
"We interrupt your No Nut November challenge to bring you all a special news flash! As of recently, the nation of Tempestoria has suffered a great calamity today. The royal family Zenoxia's most prized possession, the Void Jewel, has been stolen in a way no one has ever saw coming! Eyewitnesses report that this is not the work of the famous band of thieves, the Squeak Squad, but rather the crime of four unknown individuals as they make off with the treasure on the run! Those four culprits have bounties placed on their heads at a ridiculously high price for the safe return of that relic!"
"Well, that's crazy chief," I joked. "What kind of band of idiots would bother stealing something like that from a family of royals, especially this one?"
"What kind of idiots would do such a thing? Let's say that some have identified all four in unique ways: a crazy genocidal jester that slayed tons of guards, a white-haired loner/traitor to the queen, an alien who did absolutely nothing (at least that's what they claimed), and a googly-eyed humanoid with a crazy long tongue that actually made off with the treasure that spiraled this whole chaos!"
"You know, they do sound familiar," Pandora wondered. "Where have I heard of people of those descriptions before?"
"They do sound like a bunch of people who'd definitely would join Kirby's party anytime soon," I shrugged. A sudden realization struck my mind in shock. "And that's the case. Holy crap! Don't tell me-!"
Pandora was thinking the same thing as well, because we both shouted, "The thieves are the members of the Star Allies?! And now every nation's after them?!"
"Goddamnit, keep it down!" Volt shouted. "I'm trying to get some sleep! Whatever it is, it better not make me beat the living crap out of ya sissies!"
"Ignoring him, what do we do about this? I can guarantee for sure no one of Kirby's party are aware of this happening," Pandora asked. "To think it was their own allies…"
"It's nighttime, so they won't find out until tomorrow," I said, scribbling down a note telepathically. "And tomorrow, that'll be the first thing they'll know once they wake up." Once I was done, I had the note warped instantly to their location. "There, done."
"Eclipse, you know, I'm actually kinda worried about those four," Pandora asked me. "Do you think they'll be okay?"
"Who the heck knows? That all depends on how they act from here on out until Kirby and friends arrive." I sighed. "Only tomorrow or what happens tonight will tell their fate."
"Wait a minute, the one with the incredibly long tongue… isn't he made out of Dark Matter as well?" Pandora raised up the question.
"…yeah, he is," I replied. "But he's the only one that doesn't have an evil spirit. He's basically a defect to Zero. Something tells me he somehow started all of this…"
Somewhere on Blizzard Star at the same time…
Welcome to Blizzard Star aka Modern Day Shiver Star, or as the common folks of the fourth wall calls it, Planet Earth. I mean, obviously yeah. In that regard, everything on that planet is exactly the same as the earth we literally live on except it's in the world of Kirby and it is called Shiver Star for an obvious reason. And it's that the entire planet is frozen; no sh*t, Sherlock! Anybody can see that! Erm, sorry 'bout that, folks.
Anyway, this time's different now. As you fans have theorized ever since Crystal Shards, the denizens of that planets, presumably humans left the planet because it was too cold for them to live on. No one knows the cause of this unpredictable winter, but it wasn't normal, that's for sure. The disappearance of the human race if it were to ever be confirmed the race were humans, is the strangest mystery of them all as well as the cause of this eternal wintertime. It doesn't make sense how humans now are just living through this blizzard after a couple of years. Where were they this entire time?
And if there are logical explanations to that, then I'd like to ask: "WHAT THE NOVA?!" I screamed. Yeah, you thought it was some commentary from the narrator, but it was actually me, an unfortunate alien that somehow turned human and now running for my dear life along with the rest of my companions that spiraled this whole mess!
Wearing a humanized version of my attire with brown hair and yellow eyes, running through the hills of sleet and snow with boots and gloves and my hat as a hood, I stumble and roll across and down the hill like a snowball and in time to avoid the onslaught of gunfire- not just any ordinary gunfire, they're amplified with said-power, enough to obliterate a body into ashes as rumored by guards.
"There they are! Show no mercy, but spare them as well! We need them alive, men!" One soldier shouted and fired at me.
I erected a mini black hole to swallow up the bullets in time the moment I reached the bottom of the slope. It vanished in a flash. I shot my hands forward to summon a spell symbol to fire Revolutionary Flames at the soldiers, and it bowled through a cluster of them like a bowling ball. At least I was careful of how I attacked…
Unlike the jester in his jester-like attire similar to Marxanae's, except it was the original, the one and only who was getting a kick out of thrashing the guards like bowling pins, freezing them with ice bombs and wiping the floor with them.
"Hey, hey, hey! You guys suck so bad, it's so boring clearing out you suckers in one shot!" He laughed.
There were two others with us, one of them was barely dodging the bullets, having silver hair and a vest with a golden, red and green color scheme as well as white long pants and brown shoes also tumbling through the snow. The other was a blue haired, black eyes that looks googly from time to time, wearing a blue sweater vest that reached beyond his knees and on half his legs with blue shoes. He curled up into a ball as he was the one getting the attention the most of the guards.
"Get the boy in blue and that traitorous spider too!" Another shouted, firing without mercy. "Kill the jester!"
"I thought we were supposed to bring them alive."
"Ugh! You know what I meant!"
"What about the other guy?"
"Meh, leave him be," They replied.
So they think of me as nobody important? Why, if I was feeling the same as when I first met Kirby, I'd slaughter them without thinking and then throw them all in a black hole! Somehow, I just got dragged into all of this.
"Hey Maggie, pick up the pace!" The jester called out, firing hails of arrows he conjured at the guards, piercing through bullets and through bodies as well in a flash. "Same for you, Mr. 'I'm suffering from depression and need a girlfriend' and the guy that started all of this!"
That's right, if you haven't figured it out, I'm Magolor. The jester going trigger happy is obviously Marx, the white-haired guy, even in his human form called a spider is Taranza, and the rolling boy with googly eyes is Gooey. Together, we make up the Star Allies, but you already know that, so why do I bother explaining myself? I mean, we're already in enough deep crap right now as you can see.
Trying to avoid trouble is a struggle for me, for all of us. Evident in the predicament right now as we dash through the snow of this accursed planet. At times like these, it's when often I wonder, how the hell did we get into this mess? All I could do is check my handheld navigator which is a Nintendo Switch. Four red dots indicated the four of us here and a gold star represented our goal.
"Okay, the Starcutter's just up ahead! Gooey and Taranza, you go on ahead first!" I commanded.
"Go where? There's a cliff up ahead!" Asked Gooey, unraveling from his ball form as he gazed over the edge. "Magolor, you need to get your brain checked- woah!"
Taranza pushed him off the cliff and he fell into the invisible roof hatch of the ship docked there. "God, just get on the ship, will ya?! And stay put- we don't need any more screw-ups at this point!"
"Gooey's in; good," I exhaled. "Yo, Marx! Time to bail before they ship out the Godbeast on our asses along with the Royal Family!"
"Aw, leaving already? I was about to show my next party trick- the 'split-yourself-in-half-to-make-a-black-hole!' trick!" Marx playfully groaned in amusement. "Oh well, I'll just use this instead. Well, we hope you enjoyed the show, now it's time for you to DIE!" For his exit, Marx waved his hands and wielded green small seeds between his fingers and hurled them like daggers towards the ground ahead of him, causing wild plant stems to sprout up like crazy as a blockade for us to slow them down.
After that, Marx backdashed away and hopped into the ship's hatch and I was about to do so as well when I realized Taranza hadn't retreated yet when he should've. "Taranza, hurry up. I know things didn't go the way you'd thought it be, but now's not the time to brood if you're life's in danger!" I urged him.
"…yeah, I know," Taranza sighed deeply, forcing himself over the edge to jump into the hatch.
I shook my head while unconscious firing more flames and deadly needles as a countermeasure before I also mark my leave as the last person into the hatch. Still inside the invisibility mode, the Lor Starcutter stealthily embarked from the dock and set sail into the wintertime snow rain, shaking off the pursuers off our trail.
"Damn it, they got away somehow!" The guard's captain growled, which can be heard from the Lor, a feature that I installed in her to be able to pick up what others say from miles away. "Send out the word! We must get that Void Jewel back and the idiot who stole it along with the traitor!"
Inside the Lor Starcutter
"Thank Nova, we made it out alive," I gasped and exhaled with relief. The other three were spiraled on the deck in the command control, well, Gooey and Taranza. Marx was balancing himself on top of his prank ball in the meanwhile.
"Haha, can you believe the looks on their pathetic faces?!" Laughed Marx. "I haven't had this much fun in a while!"
"And where's your sanity for wiping out those people?" I refuted. "Whatever happened to your moral standards?"
"Wish I could say the same for any of the Star Allies, mostly Kirby," Marx answered. "I think his whole inhaling things technique is just a trigger into awakening everyone's fetish for vore. You think you know a guy. BTW, I never had any standards."
I rolled my eyes, tending to both Gooey and Taranza. "That's your reason? Using Kirby as your moral compass? Ugh, forget it. Don't even think about taking back those words if we get caught by the Zenoxia Guard. I mean, look at us! We're in some deep shit right now!"
Gooey opposed this. "So, what else is new? It's not that bad this time."
I shot him a dirty look. "Says the guy that got all of our asses into this mess. What the hell were you thinking, swallowing the Royal Family's Void Jewel? And that wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Dark Meta Knight screwing over Taranza! In fact, where is that bastard right now?"
"Who knows? He's a mystery, alright," shrugged Marx. "An edgy mystery. Then again, he's Meta Knight's mirror clone with more edginess than the Ultimate Lifeform. But you're right, he shouldn't have done in Taranza like that; he hasn't recovered from that incident at all, or rather he still can't get over his grief even now."
The spider sniffed a little. "No, it's my fault for even doing this in the first place. The queen, she looks so much like her that I just couldn't help it. I didn't think that would throw us into a situation like this."
"Hey, no need to apologize, Tazzy," The jester assured the spider. "To be honest, she did look an awful lot like her after a comparison. Maybe Darky wanted you to see her but how could he intend that if he hates matchmaker?"
Gooey shook his head. "I really don't wanna know what he was planning to do then."
"Whatever the case, we can all agree that we blame Dark Meta for this," I restated- everyone concurred. Tapped on the keyboard panel at a relaxed pace; before that, I had attached the Switch to the control panel and the modified Joycons to their respective places to transfer the data collected. "And now the entire planet's after us all thanks to a certain somebody eating a jewel, which I also blame DMK for that also."
"Well, technically in a way, he is kinda made out of dark matter because of Dark Mind," Gooey speculates. "So I guess he's more mischievous than Marx is, except he's more edgy."
"He can keep his edgy to himself! Mischievous is my calling!" Marx munched on a chocolate bar. "And he's a loner."
"Nonetheless, we're stuck between a rock and a hard place," I sighed. "Even if we did return the jewel peacefully, it's off with our heads because of the bounties on our heads. There's no way we can risk that, even if we are stronger than the entire militia force."
"Then what do you suggest we do? Either we fight or hide, what's it gonna be?" Asked Marx.
"Both if they manage to get us; don't underestimate this planet," I stated. "It has the most countless amount of casualties and deadly wars in the past, not to mention this is where all our manga material and technology had originally sourced from before Techno Star. These humans are ordinary at first glimpse but deadly because they're ambidextrous when it comes to fighting back in power, deadly when provoked. But as long as we play it safe, no trouble will come across us."
"Geez, I hope you're right about that," Taranza sighed. "But how do you propose we do that?"
"Say, last time I heard ever since the whole planet assault happened, I heard that Kailaine's not the only target for Dark Matter," Marx explained. "If I remember correctly, they were after the seven elemental princesses of the Cosmic Galaxy and they also abducted Adeline too. But it seems like that never happened once Kirby got in the way, so by now they should've met six of them at the moment."
"Oh, are you suggesting that we try to find the last elemental princess of this planet?" Taranza guessed.
"Yep," Marx chewed and swallowed the last piece of his chocolate bar. "And we should call Daroach while we're at it. He may know something about that Void Jewel and that princess may know something about this Godbeast of this planet."
"That's a great idea, Marx," I said. "In that case, I'll see if I can find the nearest area where she resides- her name was Vanja, right?"
"Of course," Marx answered, I searched up her name on the computer and hit up the location on the screen when the info was confirmed. "Bingo! I got a hit! She's near the area known as Internationa Drivera and there's a cruise ship called Shivera Starshine that she also owns for whatever apparent reason! Either way, where we're at, it's gonna take possibly all night if we don't wanna get caught and ambushed by the Tempestoria Army and I also need to restock on certain necessities as well there; that area has plenty for that need."
"So… it's gonna be all night to get there, huh?" Gooey said. "Somehow, I feel like we're gonna get hunted down easily, even with the Starcutter in a cloak mode."
"And what makes you think that way?" Taranza asked.
"I dunno, I can barely think anyway."
"…you're hopeless, Gooey," Marx facepalmed himself. "Besides, what's so special about that stupid jewel anyway that would get the entire planet on our butts 24/7?"
"It's an artifact of the Ancients," I directly answered, setting the course to the area of our destination. Gooey was also scanned without his consent automatically. "So far, it seems not even Lor can analyze what exactly it's supposed to be at the moment. But it does seem generally unstable and at this point, it can tell that the jewel would've malfunctioned and trip havoc out of control, yet for some strange reason, being inside Gooey's stomach must've settled it down as if it was comfortable with him, so that'll be a mystery, but it does appear that Gooey's powers has significantly increased more than his old form."
"Really? What about Kirby or any of us?" Taranza asked.
"Kirby and Karly, that's a good one. Simply put, although they aren't able to inhale enemies and objects, the Copy Essences substitutes for their Copy Abilities in which they're able to trigger at will. However, there are certain cases where certain body conditions interferes with the trigger at will setting, rendering them ability-less for a few moments. If they were undergoing some sort of metamorphosis, it surely would definitely slow it down a bit, but their normality state becomes definitely formidable as a result," I explained.
"As for the rest of us, we'll gain buffs or new powers beyond our comprehension gradually through any means; we couldn't use our powers at first when the curse rolled in, but after a little while we slowly rose our way back to action, getting stronger like it was some sort of RPG," I rocked my head a little. "We really don't know why, but if it's acting like one, that would explain the strain impaired on our mana. Perhaps the Void Jewel is a painkiller to Gooey, so it won't be a problem for him."
"Lucky, so that's why he kinda never runs out or feel the pain," Marx groaned. "Then again, he barely has anything to feel anyway."
"I resent that," Gooey sighed.
"What does this all mean, though? Zero could've cursed us as anything else that would've been more effective, but humans? It's true that they're naturally weak, but by anything they're the most deadly species of them all because of their ability to adapt to power. Could his plan have something to do with that fact?" Taranza theorized.
"It's all too riddled with holes to even determine that at the moment," I answered. "We'll just have to wait for the answers to turn up eventually. Perhaps that'll come into light when we find the Princess of Snow over there. First things first, we assume new identities."
"Screw that! I say we kill them all!" Marx howled. "Yeah, screw them over and dirty our hands!"
"No, how about we just talk it out instead?" Gooey suggested.
"Gooey you retard! We're freaking wanted criminals! Those bastards ain't gonna listen to reason now that you've gone f**ked up and ate whole that stupid jewel!" Marx shouted. "We've gotta kill them before they do us in!"
"Forget your plan, Marx! Murder isn't the answer to this!" Gooey reasoned. "That'll only make things worse!"
"Shut up! How do you suggest we reason this out?!"
"It's the jewel they want back, not our lives. I just need to barf it out somehow and peacefully return it before it gets digested."
"DIGESTED?!" We all hollered in that regard.
"Hey wait a minute, I don't think the jewel is easily digestible," Taranza objected. "Actually, it isn't at all!"
"Phew… dude, don't scare us like that," I gasped and exhaled. "And even so, that means we'll have to go back to the nation we escaped from all over again and that Godbeast on the loose on our butts."
"Wasn't the Godbeast the one who has the Gem Star captive? What is it doing outside of the barrier anyway? A Soul Jewel Spirit was needed to break the barrier, so how is it doing that?" Marx questioned.
"Strange indeed… could it be that it's not the victim this time and that someone else is?" I theorized. "I think that the real victim has possession of the Gem Star Diamond somewhere on this planet! Our best bet is to track down the area corrupted with that amount of dark impulsive energy and head in that direction! First, finding Vanja is our current priority! Maybe she can find a way to extract the jewel from Gooey in time to fix this whole mess!"
"Then it's settled," Marx grinned toothily. "To Internationa Drivera we go! Say, what are we gonna do exactly after that?"
"Dunno, just go wherever the trail takes us from here," I shrugged. "And it's also a good opportunity to gather information about that jewel; this planet is full of Ancients Artifacts left to right. Perhaps Susie might know something, but with this whole crap we've been through, I wasn't able to call her then. I wonder if something happened to her… god, I hope not."
"Who wouldn't be safe from any of this?" Gooey commented. "Next thing you know, it'll be raining bleeding one-winged angels from here on out."
"That reminds me, I have yet to actually finish the game, Maggie," Marx said. "I'm on the final boss and I died- like pretty freaking horribly. The theme is godlike, it goes something like: Bells, gods, sweet cherries, dingle dells, magic cheese. Extra trilogy, jingle jam, runny pee! Kirbhiroth! Pretty catchy, huh? Whoever came up with those lyrics deserves a raise!"
"Seriously? Those lyrics are what the players end up hearing in that phase the first time," I sweatdropped. "I'll have to walk you through that fight that I've personally beaten on my first try blind." I bragged.
"Bull, everyone's died at least once on that phase, especially the Nova which takes an awful lot of time to even attack. I literally went to grab a soda and took a nap, waking up just in time for my party to be struck, and because I forgot to heal, I died there. Tragic, ain't it?"
"Probably…" Taranza sighed.
The three of us glanced over at him with sympathy. He must've not gotten over his depression crisis after all. Seeing the queen must've reminded him of his own best friend that he unfortunately lost trying to get back. Thanks to Darky, he's been suffering for the past few weeks now, even with the curse in play. When we found out about this, we rushed over to where he was and did our best to help him, but just like Susie, no amount of therapy would ever be enough to cure his cognitive trauma, especially when that queen bears a striking resemblance to his best friend.
I pat him on the shoulder. "Hey, it'll be alright. We'll fix this somehow."
Taranza sniffed. "…thanks. I'll manage, I guess."
"Wait, how long will it take to get to Internationa Drivera?" Gooey asked.
"The entire night."
"Aw, phooey," Gooey groaned.
I would explain more, but I hope you get the gist of it as there's so much more you'll have to process later on, so I'm just gonna leave it at this. Here starts one of what I consider to be the longest nights we've ever experienced.
Meanwhile…
"Ugh…" I groaned.
"What's wrong, Kirby?" Karly softly asks.
"I feel… a disturbance," I said grimly. "Like some people we know had screwed up at this very moment. I can feel it, it's like they were convicted of a crime and now they're wanted criminals."
"That's deep."
"I know, right? It's not as if any of that were true, just a sick feeling I have," I sighed. "Let's just get back to sleep… hey, where's Adeline?"
Karly darts around to find her. "I don't see her anywhere. Maybe she had to use the bathroom or something."
"Seems legit. She'll be back any minute now," I yawned, turning back to sleep. "G'night."
"I guess… g'night," Karly slumbered into her pillow as if nothing major was taking place.
Deep down, I somehow knew that wasn't the case with Adeline.
Popstar- Cold Trails
"Geez, another universal crisis event on TV? When will this ever come to an end?" Sighed Tuff. It was nighttime. The castle under some major construction to near completion was taking place as the Waddle Guards under Waddle Doo's command, who is really a guy with an eyepatch, scurried to restore it along with the damages done to not just Dreamland but the entirety of Popstar's neighboring areas.
"As long as it takes for Kirby and the others to end this," answered Tiff. To be frank, she was still on edge after the whole incident before Star Dream's initial attempted and failed genocide. What's more, she doesn't fully trust Dedede yet, but she's getting there as her initial thoughts of him were slowly being erased. That wasn't her priority to think about at the moment.
At this point, the Chaos Gate was almost at its birth; however, this one was gonna be born special in the events that takes place in the near future, just you wait. Commander Blazel was also gradually recovering and helping any way he can despite his fatal injury as his arm was getting forged into something stronger.
"Well, here we are almost, guys. The Chaos Gate is almost complete!" He said.
"Thank the stars," Escargoon gasped for a break, dropping whatever materials he was carrying and then some as well. "I really wish this wasn't so convoluted to begin with."
"Say, what are we supposed to do once we exactly finish this portal?"
"Our first priority is to rescue everyone that has been captured and taken to Crystal Star the moment the seal around the planet is broken," Blazel answered. "But that's also a bold risk to take since we don't fully know what it's really like at Crystal Star, even if it was just a gist of things in short. There's a lot of things Dark Matter could change while we're gone and we don't have anybody that has escaped Zero's range."
"Are you saying that they've imprisoned every single person on your home planet?" Tiff gasped.
"That's most likely the case of what any overlord like Zero would do- to prevent any resistances from rising up against him and only focus on Kirby and the others," Blazel speculated. "Most likely the scenario here, I'd suspect no one that I'd know of would've escaped his grasp easily. It must've been all in one swoop. For someone to make it out alive would be a darn miracle…"
"I agree, especially when we don't have enough people to scout it out anyway," Sword admitted. "And the fact those bastards keep popping up whenever they want is really troublesome as well."
'Well then, why don't we just rally more allies?" Blade suggested. "Ones that haven't been captured yet. Once the gate is open, we can use that as a chance to scout out the planet's current position before anybody else raids in. Still, that is also a problem because even anyone from Popstar won't be enough to free the entire planet from their control."
"Hey, we don't have to worry about that yet, none of that will happen until they successfully rescue the last two gem spirits," Blazel spoke, shaking his head. "I just hope nothing chaotic takes place on Blizzard Star and that no one does anything so stupid."
Escargoon had to object to that when the TV turned itself on the news. "Erm, you might regret saying that. Everyone look." Everyone's attention has averted to the news by then and guess what the stitch was? That's right.
"WHAT THE NOVA?!" Everybody screamed. "MARX, GOOEY, MAGOLOR AND TARANZA ARE WANTED CRIMINALS?!"
"Oh my god, they f**ked up!" Sword groaned.
Blazel may not have known, but he was also in shock when he figured out instantly why. "Let me guess- they're your friends, aren't they? And they stole the nation's most valuable treasure and now the entire planet is out for their blood?!"
"Apparently that's the case!" Tiff answered.
"Sweet son of a prismarine, I knew I should've kept my mouth shut. Jesus, the price for their heads are unreasonable beyond compare! That's how you know that artifact is very valuable, it's not even worth trying to find a replacement! This is gonna be very troublesome for Kailaine and the Star Warriors when they find out about this, but they're probably hunkered out by now! They'll just have to find out the next day! Does anyone has some way of contacting one of them?"
Everyone shook their heads no. "It's no use, we've tried to contact those four multiple times before this, and they've never responded. Maybe at one point they were gonna call, but they couldn't because of this."
"What's so special about that Void Jewel anyway as they call it?" Asked Tuff.
"It's compatible with unstable and literal Dark Matter, and Blizzard Star will not get any mercy from Dark Matter when tons of that aura surfaces; it attracts tons of Dark Matter and it's loaded with rumored artifacts made by the Ancients themselves! And if the jewel is provoked somehow, it'll erect deadly aura powerful enough to erase the planet as we know it! The only way to prevent is ironically if you were to possess a form or aura of Dark Matter!" Blazel explained. "If Zero were to discover such a thing like that-!"
"It means we're utterly screwed!" Escargoon hollered. "Doesn't anyone know how dangerous that jewel is?!"
"Doesn't look like it, so you better pray that one of your friends knows how to contain this unstable jewel by chance. As long as it isn't exposed to high levels of Dark Matter, they should be fine, at least for this very moment with the nation of Tempestoria after them and all. All we can do is just wait until tomorrow to see what happens."
"Yeah, that would be the best thing to do now," sighed Tiff.
And there you have it. Now the plot thickens from here with the fact that the Void Jewel takes Dark Matter to activate. If it were to fall into Zero's hands, it would prove to yield disastrous results. Just what is the secret behind Blizzard Star and its influence with a mass aria of literal Dark Matter anyway? How will the others react to this untimely situation that awaits them tomorrow? And most importantly, why did those four f**ked up back there? That is a trial to come for another time…
But the real biggest question of them all, what's going on with Adeline? Is there something she knows that not even her friends know? That will remain a mystery until then…
To be continued…
End of Chapter 6!
Author's Note Summary:
And I'm afraid we're all out of time! It's a pretty good thing this one is short unlike the other ones for convenience, otherwise I wouldn't have finished this before my trip. So once again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter despite it being shorter, but these lengths might do me well in the future if it kicks in for me.
Down to business, the intro of the note states specifically that Chapter 7 will be based around the 64 Crystal Shards theory of Shiver Star. Basically, it's everything you can imagine it to be. However though, if you are unfamiliar with the Kirby lore, things won't make much sense at first, at least that's how I see it. It's probably in your best interest to do the research on your own if you want to understand the concept behind it; I will say I had no idea what they were thinking making Shiver Star look like earth, but I'm not one for complaining like that. If they really intend more than that, the theory that humans once existed in the Kirby world would make sense. Yeah, make sure to find that out on your own time. I was planning to turn this chapter into a little Ancient theory, but I held back on that. I wanted things to gradually reveal itself during the few chapters in the future.
And actually, you'd be surprised when I say Chapter 7 is the only one I haven't thought out at all. Here, like the last episode, it was starting in Eclipse's POV after the Chapter 6 disaster and as usual rains down his sarcasm on his "brother" Volt while "giving in" to his older "sister" Pandora, the knightess with the biggest rack of the army, tied with Dinah out of the females in Kirby's party. To anybody's surprise, it seems Pandora is also going through the same thing Eclipse went through with unfamiliar memories. And this is also an important thing to keep track of as the story progresses. But with this and that particular moment, this is where things take a turn.
Now we introduce a crazy new flash occurring on Blizzard Star starring a crime heist and four familiar characters vaguely clued until it switches further into that respective point of view. The four members of the Star Allies: Marx, Gooey, Magolor and Taranza, the culprits of the theft of the Royal Family's prized possession, the Void Jewel. By surprise, this was an idea requested by Akin2018 who has been a fan of the story, and so shoutout to him for this idea and thanks! It also reminded me that I had to include these characters at some point in the story. So with that, inspiration was flowing again; I mean, I had no central crisis at all planned unlike the other chapters, so this gave me a boost. Thanks Akin2018!
So yeah, with all of that drama going on, a bit of foreshadowing from Kirby and Karly's deduction on Adeline and with Popstar's remaining denizens aware of this crime, this will take us straight to the beginning of the chapter before the last. This was shorter, but I hope you still enjoy it nonetheless. And I'm still open to suggestions, so feel free to do so there. By the way, make sure to check my profile often for occasional updates and polls; I had just released a new one regarding my original/fan stories made. No one has voted yet, but I have made my decision on which one I wanna publish! Hopefully I don't regret this in the end… and it shall be… Persona! So you'll see my two Persona entries before this Saturday, I hope. Keep in mind I had to change a lot of things just so I wouldn't be backed up by the bus with an F, so please don't lash out on me and don't f**k up either.
Sorry, I've been watching a lot of Final Fantasy 7 Abridged by TeamFourStar with the newest episodes recently and I'm slowly becoming like abridged Barret with the whole "don't f**k up" catchphrase and that Wallace Wisdom of his. Moving on, consider these two entries your presents for the break because this Saturday is when I'll be leaving for my trip. Anyway, this is about all I can give you for the end of 2019, so when I come back, it'll be 2020. Wow, time really does fly by, it almost feels like it was just yesterday. To be honest, I didn't think I'd ever get to where I am right now, to the year I'm able to graduate. Now here I am, huh? But it's too early to be thinking about that stuff anyway!
Next time on Kirby and the Legendary Crystal Princess, our warriors will venture off into the calm before the storm and vice versa as they try to attempt tracking down the four convicts all over Blizzard Star while encountering assassins, armed forces of Tempestoria and Zenoxia's royal queen's wrath in a blend of shenanigans while with the aid of one of the other famous Star Ally, discovering the deadly secrets surrounded by the famous Crystal Shards lore of Blizzard/Shiver Star! What awaits our warriors on their final task before the ultimate challenge? Can Kirby and the team pull this off in these white wafers?
As usual, let me know your thoughts and ideas in your reviews or through PMs, don't forget to follow/favorite this story to keep up with the updates as well! Also, if you know any good anime endings, let me know that in your reviews as well/PMs too. Consider this your present everybody! With that, I'll see you all next year in 2020! Take care of yourselves!