Kirby and the Rod of Darkness

Chapter 34: Need For Speed

One sunny afternoon, Jet Kirby was soaring all around the Lor and greatly enjoying himself. "Woohoo!" he cheered, "Flying around like a jet is so much fun!"

Magolor, Taranza, and Susie watched him from near the ship's entrance, noticing how speedily yet smoothly he moved through the air. "You know," Magolor said to Susie, "I've always wondered which of us is the fastest-you, me, or Jet Kirby?"

"Why don't we find out by having a race?" Susie suggested.

Kirby and Magolor liked that idea, but Taranza wasn't exactly happy with the position he was given. "Why do I have to be the referee?" he questioned.

"You're the only one of us who doesn't have a high-speed move," Magolor replied, "Besides, we need someone to tell us when to start."

Taranza sighed. He actually wished he could have been in the race too, but being the referee was better than nothing. "All right then," he said. The other three got in position, lined up side by side. Kirby charged up his Jet power, Magolor prepared to use his Magolor Surge, and Susie charged up her Transporter. "Ready…set...GO!" Taranza shouted, throwing a web straight up in the air.

The three racers took off and zoomed across the field. At first all of them appeared to be of equal speed as they stayed right beside each other, but then something unexpected happened. Magolor wasn't quite watching where he was going, so he didn't notice he was nearing a tall apple tree until it was too late. Unable to stop, he crashed into the tree and was soon buried in apples.

Now it was just Kirby and Susie. The two of them were neck and neck, each of them eyeing the other and moving as fast as they could. Unfortunately for Susie, she chose a bad time to take her eyes off the path. She ended up tripping over a log and falling into a small pond. Noticing he was the only one left, Kirby stopped and jumped up and down in victory. "I win! I win!"

Of course, one problem with having Taranza as the referee was that he couldn't really see what was going on since he couldn't keep up with the others. By the time he made it to where Kirby was, he was too out of breath to say much other than, "Yes...yes, you win."

Magolor popped out from the pile of fruit covering him. "If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, this'll keep him away for months!" he remarked.

Susie was pulling herself out of the water when Magolor rejoined Kirby and Taranza. She was dripping wet and not very happy. "Ugh! Now my hair is a mess!" she complained before hurrying back to the Lor.

Her male party members watched her leave. "What was that all about?" Taranza wondered.

"Not sure," Magolor answered, "I don't always understand women."

Kirby looked back when he heard a voice he recognized say, "Oh look, a tasty cheese ball!" There was Gooey, standing a short distance away and gazing at a piece of light energy. He was just about to pick it up with his tongue when Kirby quickly snatched it away. "Hey, it's not nice to steal food!" he frowned at him.

"This isn't food at all," Kirby told him, "Have you ever seen a glowing cheese ball?"

Gooey looked carefully at the shining orb in his pink friend's hand. "I guess not," he admitted disappointedly, "But I'm so hungry!"

Kirby pointed toward the nearby pond. "Why don't you try to catch some fish from that pond over there?" Unsurprisingly, Gooey loved that idea and immediately dashed to the pond.

Meanwhile in the Lor, Susie had dried herself off and was now in her room. She was seated in front of a mirror with her helmet down so she could comb her long pink hair. Soon she heard Magolor call out to her when Kirby, Taranza, and he returned. "Susie, are you in there?"

"I'll be right out," Susie called back. She put her helmet back on her head, placed her gold hair clip back in her hair, and left the room to find her friends waiting. She noticed the light energy Kirby was holding right away. "Oh, you found more of the Dream Rod's power!"

"Gooey almost ate it but we were able to stop him," Taranza said, "I think we'd better tell our other friends about our mission before we have any more close calls."

It took a little while, but Kirby's party was able to gather together their friends who were in Dream Land. These were Bandana Waddle Dee, King Dedede, Meta Knight, Rick, Kine, Coo, Gooey, Adeleine, Nago, Pitch, Chuchu, Pick, Mine, Shiro, Pitch's mom, and Nyupun. "Everyone, we have something important to tell you about today," Kirby explained, "Shadread is back and he's scattered the Dream Rod's energy all over the place! We'll need your help to collect all the little balls of light and restore it."

All the others agreed to help out with the mission, although Gooey had to remind himself he wasn't looking for cheese balls or popcorn balls. "I actually saw a little ball of light myself a few hours ago," Adeleine said, "but I didn't know what it was. I even made a painting of it." She took out a canvas with a painting on it that looked just like one of the radiant objects. "I couldn't tell for sure but it looked like it was moving toward the Dreamstalk."

Magolor, Taranza, and Susie glanced at one another with a hint of surprise. "Does that mean it's gone to Floralia?" Taranza wondered aloud.

It turned out that Kirby, Nago, and Chuchu hadn't been paying attention for the past few minutes, as all three of them were thinking the same thing. Suddenly they took off, with Nago dashing about with a sponge and Chuchu riding a flying broom. "Kirby, where are you going?" Magolor called out, but Kirby didn't hear him. He was already a good distance away.

The thrill of a good race was irresistible to Kirby, Nago, and Chuchu as they darted across the hills and grasslands. Several Mites quickly burrowed underground when they saw them approaching. It wasn't long before Nago found himself falling behind, but he had an idea on how to catch up. When he came to a slope he jumped onto his sponge and rode it down the hill like a sled; but he didn't know there was a small ledge at the bottom. Soon he and his sponge went flying and bumped right into Kirby, knocking him down. Chuchu stopped with a triumphant expression and said, "Looks like I win!"

Once Kirby and Nago stood back up, all three of them discovered they were near the Dreamstalk. They caught sight of something small and bright rapidly ascending to one of Floralia's islands. As soon as Kirby saw this he cried out, "We have to tell the others about this! Come on!" Nago, Chuchu, and he began speeding away from the Dreamstalk.

Kirby was the first to make it back to where the others were. He was going so fast he couldn't stop. "Look out below!" he yelled. Magolor, Taranza, and Susie moved aside when he came crashing down from above.

There was a brief pause before the round hero slowly pulled himself out of the soil and rubbed his sore head. "Um...are you okay?" Magolor asked him.

"I think so," Kirby responded, jumping to his feet, "We saw one of those orbs going straight to Floralia!"

Nago and Chuchu arrived at that moment. "It was hard to tell from the ground but it looked like it went to a jungle of some kind," Nago added.

Taranza knew what he was talking about right away. "It must have gone to Wild World! I guess we'll have to go and find it."

Meanwhile Gooey kept staring at Chuchu's levitating broom. "That looks like fun," he commented, reaching for the broom with his tongue (he didn't have hands).

Chuchu, who didn't really like sharing her broom with anyone other than Kirby, was not going to allow that. "No! My broom!" she growled, smacking Gooey's tongue away.

Susie decided it was time to split up before chaos ensued. "The rest of you search around Dream Land," she told the others, "The four of us will check Floralia." Kirby, Magolor, Taranza, and she headed back to the Lor while everyone else set off.