Kirby and the Rod of Darkness
Chapter 11: In the Mirror World, Part 2
Dark Meta Knight was a knight of few words. He was also hard to figure out. When Kirby was searching for the Jamba Hearts many familiar faces joined him, but Marx and Dark Meta Knight surprised him the most. While the others were either his friends from the beginning or former enemies who became friends with him later, those two never did anything to make up for their misdeeds. Marx at least had an incentive (he had a big appetite and knew he would find plenty of food along the way), but Dark Meta Knight's reason for helping out was still something no one knew.
Kirby and his friends ran toward the mysterious knight in an attempt to stop him from getting his hands on the Rod of Darkness, but they were too late. When he grasped the dark rod Kirby and Shadow Kirby lunged forward, but then he suddenly disappeared as if by magic. Kirby and his lookalike ended up landing on the grass, looking up at where the knight had been standing. "He...he vanished!" Shadow Kirby uttered in surprise.
"That must be how Dedede vanished," Taranza commented.
Kirby sighed and stood up. "We'll have to look for Dark Meta Knight later. Right now we have to catch that rod!"
The Rod of Darkness was now speeding away from the five travelers, so they chased after it. As they ran, they noticed the scenery starting to change and the air growing hotter. They stopped when they lost track of the rod, now finding themselves in a volcanic place containing plenty of lava. "This is Mustard Mountain," Shadow Kirby told the others.
"I take it that's not mustard spouting from the volcano," Magolor eyed a tall volcano that appeared to be constantly erupting.
"Nope! I wouldn't recommend putting it on a hot dog."
All of a sudden something swooped down from above, and everyone quickly ducked to avoid it. They looked up to find a huge fiery bat-like creature flying above them. "That's a Batafire!" Kirby said. The flaming creature launched fireballs at him and his friends, which they dodged by moving out of the way. Then Kirby spotted an Ice Copy Essence close by, so he used it to become Ice Kirby. "Sorry Batafire, but it looks like it's time for you to...chill out!" He leapt onto one of Batafire's wings and breathed icy breath at its body. This caused its flames to weaken and begin to cool off, and the bat-like monster flailed about in response. Kirby had to hold on tightly to keep from being thrown off.
Susie had an idea. "Pinky, blow some ice over here!" she called out to Kirby, holding up her Blaster. He struck the weapon with icy breath, granting Susie Ice abilities. She fired freezing shots at Batafire until it was frozen solid, causing it to come crashing down and allowing Kirby to get off its wing. Magolor used this chance to summon a black hole right over the frozen Batafire, which finished it off.
There wasn't much time to celebrate the victory because something dark soared by a moment later. Everyone followed it until it darted upward and stopped above a platform way up at the peak of the mountain. "There are two Rods of Darkness way up there!" Shadow Kirby pointed up at the platform, "But how will we get to them before they start moving again?" Although the two floating objects were in the distance, the darkness emanating from them still made them recognizable.
"Leave this to me," Kirby spoke up, taking out his pink cell phone to call the Warp Star, "Calling all Warp Stars!"
No sooner had he finished saying this than about ten Warp Stars dropped down from the sky, sending everyone flying. "I think you should have rephrased that," Magolor said.
Kirby, Magolor, Taranza, and Susie got on one Warp Star, Shadow Kirby got on another, and they all flew to the platform at the top of the mountain. Once there, Shadow Kirby launched a barrage of needles at the two Rods of Darkness, causing them to completely deteriorate. "Well, that was easy," he remarked.
"Not so fast!" a voice shouted right then, and a big white cloud with a single eye in the center descended above the group. It was Kracko, a longtime rival of Kirby who just couldn't seem to learn that he was no match for the pink puffball. "Did you really think I'd let you get away that easily?"
"Kracko? What's he doing here in the Mirror World?" Taranza wondered aloud.
"Beats me," Kirby answered, "He seems to follow me wherever I go."
Kracko sent bolts of lightning at his opponents. They did not want to become lightning rods, so they all scattered and evaded the attacks. Shadow Kirby rolled right into Kracko with his sharp needles sticking out; while he did harm the enemy this way, he also got his needles stuck in the puffy cloud. "Uh-oh…" he said, unable to free himself. He was zapped and sent flying by a pair of circling electric beams. Kirby, Magolor, and Taranza charged at Kracko but had to jump back when they were nearly caught in a downpour he sent at them.
While the others were battling, Susie was a bit distracted watching the heavily falling rain. "I wonder what makes Kracko's rain harmful," she mused, "Is it toxic? Is it electrified? I should like to study it sometime."
"Susie, we're in the middle of a fight here!" Kirby reminded her. He surrounded himself in a blast of ice in an attempt to freeze the water, but this was a slow process. Taranza, knowing what to do, placed a spiderweb over his head and used it to bounce directly above Kracko. Once there, he summoned the "Queen's Phantom", which zapped Kracko and his raindrops with electric beams. The powerful attack caused the cloud-like enemy to explode while he shed a tear at his defeat. Then, POOF! His eye was gone. "That was awesome, Taranza!" Kirby cheered.
The two Warp Stars Kirby and the others used to reach the mountain's peak returned, so they rode on them as before. They soared through the air while Kirby and Shadow Kirby ate various foods that were somehow floating in midair along the way. Finally, they landed on a cloud and performed a victory dance. When they were finished Taranza said, "Why did I just have a sudden uncontrollable urge to dance?"
Kirby shrugged. "Who knows? It happens to me all the time."
When everyone returned to Rainbow Route, where the Lor Starcutter was situated, Magolor scanned the dimension using his computer. "Looks like there were only two Rods of Darkness in this world," he told Kirby, Taranza, and Susie.
Shadow Kirby, who had been viewing the surrounding areas through the telescope on the deck, suddenly rushed inside. "We have a problem!" he cried out worriedly. He hurriedly led Kirby's team to a spot containing several cherry trees. Most of the cherries had been knocked off the trees, and Marx was sitting beneath them gobbling up the fruits! "That crazy jester is eating up the best cherries in the Mirror World!" Shadow Kirby complained.
"Let's show him he's not the only one who can play pranks!" Magolor told him. He made magic needles rise up from the ground beneath Marx, causing him to leap straight up like a jack-in-the-box. Then Shadow Kirby rolled right into him, jabbing him with his needles. When the jester landed on his face, Magolor and Shadow Kirby high-fived.
The darkness came out of Marx while he was lying in the grass; after that he opened his eyes and got to his feet with a confused expression. "Whoa, what a crazy dream! I was working with some guy called Shadread, and he wouldn't let me do what I wanted, and most of the time I was starving! Talk about a nightmare!"
The others glanced at one another before Kirby spoke. "Uh, Marx? I'm afraid you weren't dreaming at all…"
Once everything was explained to him, Marx looked shocked. "You mean all that stuff actually happened?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Magolor replied, "But don't worry, we're going to get to the bottom of this!" He turned toward his ship. "Come on, let's get back to Popstar. I think we have some things to discuss."
Magolor, Taranza, and Susie went inside while Kirby and Marx went up to the deck. While the Lor lifted off, Kirby waved at his dark gray lookalike. "Bye, Shadow Kirby! We'll keep an eye out for Dark Meta Knight!" he called out. Shadow Kirby waved back and watched as the Lor exited the Dimension Mirror.
