Kirby and the Rod of Darkness
Chapter 31: In the Dream Kingdom, Part 2
Something strange was definitely going on at the peak of the Empyrean. "Shadread's lair is surrounded by a dark vortex," Parallel Landia told Kirby and company, "We cannot enter it safely in this state."
That sounded bad. "What about the Dream Rod?" Kirby worried, "Shadread must still have it!"
"The Dream Rod will be fine," Parallel Landia reassured him, "Even with its power drained, the forces of evil can do nothing to it."
Kirby, Magolor, Taranza, and Susie all got off the Business Suit, still watching the darkness in the distance. They were still wondering what they should do next when they heard a familiar voice call out, "Hey, Kirby!" They looked over to see a Waddle Dee wearing a bandana sitting in front of the Gem Apple tree, waving at them.
Kirby was surprised to see him. "Bandana Dee? What are you doing here?" he wondered as he and his friends approached him.
...Well, this Waddle Dee sure looked like Bandana Dee, but there was something different about him. "Um, I live here?" he answered with a puzzled expression, "I've never seen you wear that hat before. What happened to your weapon and the other Kirbys? And is that Parallel Susie with you? Something seems different…"
Magolor decided he'd better do some explaining before Kirby and Bandana Dee had a confused staring contest. It turned out that this was the Bandana Dee from the Dream Kingdom (Magolor had also met Dream Kingdom versions of Meta Knight, Rick, Kine, Coo, Gooey, Adeleine, Ribbon, and the Three Mage Sisters). After the Waddle Dee heard about Dream Land's Kirby and the original Susie he said, "Wow! I've heard of there being a world parallel to ours, but I never thought I'd get to meet someone from there! Wait till the heroes of this world see you!"
"I knew I wasn't imagining it when I thought some of you seemed familiar!" said a voice from nearby. The others turned to find a red-haired girl they recognized sitting on top of the shop.
"Parallel Susie!" Susie said as she and her allies came closer, "I thought you lived in Another Dimension."
"I do," her lookalike replied, "but sometimes I like to visit the Castle Village on my days off. It's nice and peaceful here."
"I'm afraid it won't stay that way for long," Taranza frowned.
While Magolor, Taranza, and Susie told Parallel Susie about the current situation with Shadread, Kirby went to get a closer look at the Gem Apple tree. So this was where Magolor got his stash of Gem Apples! Shiny, red, delicious Gem Apples...and it was hard to resist eating them all. Kirby may have had an enormous appetite but fortunately for his friends, he did have some willpower. He was especially careful not to mess with Gem Apples and ice cream that weren't his, or he might make Magolor and Susie angry with him. Right now, after staring at the sweet fruits for a short while, the pink hero couldn't take it anymore. Must not eat the Gem Apples! he thought. He turned and darted away in such a rush that he tripped and fell upside-down into the shop.
"I didn't know you were interested in shopkeeping, Kirby," Magolor remarked while Kirby turned himself rightside-up.
Parallel Susie sighed, having heard all about what was now going on, and she lowered herself down from the shop. "I figured Shadread and Mirrobo wouldn't give up that easily. Guess we'll have to teach those two another lesson...once we do something about that vortex."
Due to all the distractions, no one noticed Parallel Landia leaving until Landia and he came back through a dimensional rift. "There is a way to remove the darkness around Shadread's base," he informed the others, "When the Dream Rod was drained by the Shadow Gem, its light energy was scattered across the universe."
"If you gather all of the light energy you should be able to overpower the Shadow Gem and Shadow Beasts, eliminate the dark void, and restore the Dream Rod," Landia added, "Look for small radiant orbs."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get to work!" Parallel Susie declared. When she noticed Bandana Dee asleep in front of the Gem Apple tree, she went over to him and shouted, "That includes you, Bandana Dee! Wake up!" He was so startled he fell backwards into the soil.
"Talk about a rude awakening," Taranza whispered to Kirby, Magolor, and Susie, "Who made her the boss anyway?"
While Landia and Parallel Landia left to search other areas, everyone else searched around the Castle Village. Taranza found a "Shrine of Passwords" on one side of the village and tried reciting "WHEREISTHELIGHTENERGY", but nothing happened. Magolor looked in the leaves of the Gem Apple tree but all he found was tasty fruit, so he picked some more to store in his ship. Kirby and Bandana Dee looked around the shop, with the former having to remind the latter that it was not supposed to be a comfy napping spot. (Not only did this Bandana Dee not wield a spear like the one from Popstar did, he was also lazier.) And Susie and Parallel Susie used their Transporters to get a bird's-eye view of the entire town.
A short time later, a group of four Kirbys walked into the village. These included a pink one wearing a helmet and carrying a sword, a yellow one with a helmet and hammer, a blue one with a hat, glasses, and a flask, and a green one with a hood and staff. When they saw what was going on they paused in surprise. Who could blame them? It's not every day you see a spider talking to a shrine, a mage hiding in a tree, two round characters climbing up a shop, and two women flying over a town!
It didn't take long for Bandana Dee to spot the four visitors. "Hey, the heroes are here!" he called out to the others, who stopped their search so they could meet the heroes of the Dream Kingdom.
As one would expect, the four Kirbys stared in shock at the two party members they hadn't encountered before. "Huh? Is that a fifth Kirby and a second Parallel Susie?" the yellow one questioned.
"Actually, I'm the Kirby from Planet Popstar, the world parallel to this one," Kirby answered, "And that's Susie-you know, the original Susie?"
The other Kirbys seemed to understand now, and they relaxed. "Wow, really?" the green one said, "I thought I'd heard about a parallel world before! It's nice to meet you, Kirby and Susie, and welcome back to the rest of you!"
"All our names are Kirby too," the pink one added, "but you can call us Sword Hero, Hammer Lord, Doctor Healmore, and Beam Mage. We call ourselves Team Kirby!"
At that moment Landia and Parallel Landia returned, each of them holding three small balls of light in his mouth. "We found this light energy in the Dunes," Landia reported, "It is only a small portion of that which we must collect."
Once the two dragons gave the glowing objects to Kirby's party and the whole situation was explained to Team Kirby, Doctor Healmore had a proposition to make. "It seems to me that if this energy we seek exists in all our worlds, then it would be a good idea for all of us to search our respective dimension."
"He's right," Susie said, "If we split up, it will reduce the amount of time needed to achieve our goals!" Everyone agreed with this idea, so they prepared to continue the hunt. Bandana Dee and Team Kirby stayed in the Dream Kingdom, Parallel Susie and both Landias returned to Another Dimension, and Kirby, Magolor, Taranza, and Susie went back to Popstar.