Kirby and the Rod of Darkness
Chapter 39: Halfmoon Hustle
As soon as the Lor landed on Halfmoon and its riders went outside, they found themselves on a very unique planet with multiple environments. The area they landed in was a type of jungle where the wind blew continuously. The first thing Magolor did upon leaving the craft was address his fans (that means you, readers): "Hello there! Here we are on Halfmoon, the eternal planet! I don't know why it's called the eternal planet or why it's called Halfmoon, because it doesn't look anything like a half moon to me."
"Uh...Magolor, who are you talking to?" Kirby, who was standing nearby with Taranza and Susie, asked him.
Magolor turned back to his pals. "Oh, just some friends of ours. We can't see or hear them but they can see and hear us." But they just looked at him like he was out of his mind, so he changed the subject. "Ahem...anyhow, I think we'd better get moving before this wind blows us away."
"Good point," Taranza responded, taking note of the strong wind slowly pushing the four of them across the path under the starry sky, "Why is it so windy here anyway? And why is the sky so dark? I thought it was morning!"
"Because Halfmoon is a weird and windy planet," was Kirby's not very scientific answer, "And it's always night here."
Just when the adventurers turned and were about to move on, Susie caught sight of a Bomber falling from a dangerously close ledge. "Watch out!" she shouted. She and the others backed away just in time to avoid the explosion it created when it hit the ground. However, they weren't safe yet-many more of the explosive enemies were walking aimlessly ahead of them! "There are Bombers everywhere!" Susie cried out in alarm.
"Don't worry," Kirby said, "I'll take care of them!" With those words he inhaled the nearest Bomber and became Crash Kirby.
"Uh-oh…" Magolor uttered, knowing what was coming. Though it could only be used once, Crash was one of the most powerful Copy Abilities out there, and getting caught in its blast wasn't fun even for an ally. That was why Magolor, Taranza, and Susie tried to run out of range...but they weren't fast enough. BOOOOM! Kirby released a fantastic burst of energy that sent every Bomber in the area flying far, far away. As for his friends, they weren't really hurt by the blast but they still went flying to a lesser extent. When they finally landed on a small platform a short distance away Magolor commented, "Oof! I've heard of a crash landing, but this is ridiculous!"
Suddenly the three of them realized they were lifting off the ground, because the platform they'd landed on was actually a Warp Star! Kirby, who no longer had a Copy Ability, saw it soar past him and started chasing after it. "Hey, wait for me!" he called out to his teammates, but they were unable to control the Warp Star. He had to leap onto a shorter tree and then a taller one in order to reach it.
After gliding through the remainder of the jungle, the Warp Star landed in the next area and disappeared. Now Magolor, Taranza, and Susie were surprised to find that this area, though it wasn't windy, had a peculiar trait-the terrain was made entirely of stars! "Look at all these stars!" Taranza said, "We couldn't have flown all the way into outer space, could we?"
"Nope, we're still on Halfmoon," Kirby answered, "I told you it was a weird planet!" He wasn't so surprised since he'd already been here.
"Even the coolest stars in outer space are much too hot to stand on," Susie stated, "Therefore these ones must be fake." Of course none of them could tell for sure what these unusually cool stars were made of, but they knew that wasn't really important right now.
Moving on, the four of them rode several mine carts which ran over a series of stakes, destroying every starry wall in their way. The mine carts also knocked out some Gators (who were probably very lost) roaming the path. After that, using another Warp Star to navigate around some electrical objects led to the end of the starry region. However, there was one rather big problem preventing our heroes from advancing further: a horde of shadowy Gators! "Oh great! More Shadow Beasts!" Taranza grumbled at the troubling sight.
Magolor tried to fight off the beasts with fiery orbs but it did little more than slow them down. More and more of them kept coming at him; he barely avoided being bitten by one that pounced at him. "I don't want to become Gator food!" he cried out, swiftly moving back.
Things weren't going any better for his companions. Susie tried firing at the Gators but it didn't seem to affect them much. "There are too many of them!" she told the others urgently, "We have to find another way!" She was right-if they wanted to go any farther they would have to find a way past these enemies.
Kirby thought for a moment before an idea came to him. "I know!" he spoke up, "A Friend Train should take care of them!" His allies agreed that was a good idea, so they all lined up and ran in place for a few moments. Suddenly a smokestack appeared on Kirby's head and the "train" took off. Since Friend Trains somehow made their members as invincible as if they were made of iron, they barreled right through the Shadow Beasts as if they were simply Star Blocks.
Choo-choo! went the train as it charged into the next area. It was a sort of mountainous zone containing platforms, spikes, and small bodies of water and lava. The wind constantly blew upward and Shotzos on some platforms shot at their uninvited guests, yet none of those things could stop the Friend Train. It chugged right up the wall until it hit the ceiling above the next door, causing Kirby and pals to drop to the nearest platform. Of course running around like a train was a tiring task, so they took a few minutes to rest and catch their breath before going through the door.
Inside the door was a place unlike the rest of the planet. It was a spacious cavern appearing to be made entirely of shiny blue crystal; a breathtaking view of glittering crystals was visible in the background. "Wow! This place is beautiful!" Susie breathed.
After getting closer to the center of the cavern Kirby stated, "There's one thing here that's not so beautiful...Computer Virus."
"Computer what?" Magolor was a bit puzzled. After all, he didn't see any computers anywhere around.
As if on cue, three computer windows opened up out of nowhere: one for the enemies, one for their HP, and another for the battle text. No one knew whether the windows themselves were Computer Virus or if they were projected by an unseen entity. It was a very odd opponent.
The first enemy to appear was the Magician, who dropped to the ground briefly and gave Kirby and company the chance to attack. "What is this, a role-playing game?" Taranza commented, but he knew his only option was to play along. So Kirby used a Mirror Copy Essence close by to become Mirror Kirby, and everyone attacked together until the Magician returned to the proper window. They had to dodge an ice spell before it was their turn to strike again, and then they defeated the Magician.
Susie, Taranza, and Magolor did not fail to notice the way Computer Virus only referred to them as "Kirby's friends" or "helpers". "Why are you treating us like we're nameless?!" Susie questioned the computer with a displeased tone, "For your information, my name is Susie Haltmann and I'm the head of the Haltmann Works Company!"
Taranza and Magolor were equally unhappy. "And I'm Taranza, the guardian of Floralia," Taranza added.
"And I'm Magolor, the interdimensional traveler," Magolor spoke up, "If you don't know anyone besides Kirby you must be outdated and unintelligent!" In response to these remarks the upper window displayed the text "The helpers insulted the computer!" Fortunately computers didn't have feelings so it simply brought out the next opponent, the Evil Knight.
"Come on guys, we can't lose focus!" Kirby called out to his irritated pals, knowing they couldn't waste time arguing with a computer. So they all fought the Evil Knight in the same turn-based way they fought the Magician. After watching out for his sword-slashing and knife-throwing attacks they were able to take him down.
The final rival to face was the Great Dragon, who breathed fire, created a harmful gust by flapping its wings, and slashed with its sharp claws. Still it turned out to be a not-so-great dragon, as it was defeated almost as quickly as the Evil Knight. Following the victory, the topmost window gave Kirby and the others the message that they gained experience (not that it mattered) and their Roundness, Heroism, Teamwork, and other useless stats increased. Then the windows closed one by one and were replaced with four pieces of light energy.
"That was the weirdest boss fight ever," Magolor commented, taking the radiant items, "A weird boss fight on a weird planet! At least we got what we came here for." Kirby, Taranza, and Susie followed him out of the cavern and back to the Lor so they could find their next destination.
Sorry the fight against Computer Virus wasn't as good as it could have been. For some reason I found the turn-based battles difficult to explain.