Kirby and the Rod of Darkness
Chapter 17: Return To Royal Road
Thank you everyone for your continued support! :)
It didn't take long for Shadread to find out about his unusually large Rod of Darkness being obliterated. "I can't believe this!" he ranted, "The same four beings managed to destroy a powered-up Rod of Darkness! How are they so easily able to overcome everything we throw at them?"
Mirrobo hovered to his side. "Perhaps I should go study and identify them further," it suggested, "Then we will know what we are up against and we may discover their weaknesses."
Shadread looked pleased with this suggestion. "That's an excellent idea, Mirrobo. Go and analyze them, but be sure to stay out of sight and to let me know about any information you find."
"Roger," Mirrobo replied before teleporting away.
The morning sun was shining brightly over Royal Road, one of Floralia's six floating islands. This particular island was the highest one, located at the top of the Dreamstalk, and most of its space was taken up by an enormous castle. The castle was previously home to Queen Sectonia; even though she was gone, Taranza and the queen's insect-like former minions still lived there.
The Lor Starcutter descended and landed outside the castle. "Thanks for bringing me to Floralia, Magolor," Taranza said to the ship's pilot, "With all the Rods of Darkness appearing everywhere, I wanted to see how things have been going here." Because there were no Rods of Darkness in sight today, the team of four decided to take care of a few other things.
"No problem," Magolor replied, "Susie and I have been wanting to check out your homeland, anyway." Taranza led Susie and him outside, but Kirby didn't follow them because...well, he hadn't paid a bit of attention. He was too busy chowing down on his third stack of pancakes to notice what was going on. Susie came back in, grabbed him, and took him outside.
As soon as Kirby, Magolor, Taranza, and Susie exited the Lor, a group of People of the Sky who saw their arrival approached them. "Welcome back, Taranza!" one of them said, "We haven't seen you in weeks! We were getting worried!" The People of the Sky were creatures native to Floralia who looked a lot like flowers. They'd once lived under Sectonia's cruel reign, even being imprisoned by her until Kirby rescued them. Now that Floralia was peaceful again, they lived freely and had since been reconciled with Taranza and the other former henchmen.
"Sorry I've been away so long," Taranza answered, "I was unexpectedly sent on an adventure with my friends. How have things been here? You haven't seen anything unusual, have you?"
"No, everything's been fine!" another Person of the Sky spoke up, "But we'll let you know if we do find anything unusual."
Taranza was glad to hear that the Rods of Darkness had not come to Floralia so far. Once he was finished speaking with the flower-like natives he took Kirby, Magolor, and Susie to the castle's entrance. "This is the castle where Sectonia used to live," he told them, gazing up at the giant structure for a moment before turning to Kirby, "Kirby, you'll be pleased to know it's no longer a hostile place." And the pink hero was happy to hear that because last time he was here, he had to smash through the entrance on a Warp Star while Shotzos fired at him from the walls.
Everyone entered the palace, completely unaware of a certain robot appearing behind a nearby wall and watching them intently. Once inside they strolled through a long hall, taking in the scenery along the way. The floor and pillars bore a colorful pattern and a design resembling a night sky decorated the walls. Sectra Dees and Sectra Burts roamed about the interior, no longer aggressive due to Sectonia's absence. "It definitely has a regal air about it," Susie commented.
Kirby looked up at the wall, finding a crescent moon on one spot way up high, which reminded him of something. "Hey Taranza, do you know about the secret room up there?" he eagerly pointed up at it.
The silver-haired spider paused with a shocked expression. "How did you know about the secret room?"
"Well, I found it last time I was here. The moon often seems to hold a secret-at least for me."
The others just looked at each other, not exactly understanding what Kirby was talking about. Since he seemed so eager to show them the hidden room, they followed him to the crescent moon and went inside. There they found a room of decent size, but its only contents were some big Star Blocks and four Copy Essences. "We used to keep important items hidden in here," Taranza explained to his friends, "but it's just a small storage area now."
Kirby and Magolor approached the Star Blocks floating in midair, noticing they appeared to spell out something. "HAL," Magolor read, "I wonder what that stands for?"
"I don't know," Kirby replied, "but I see it all the time." He thought for a moment. "Maybe...Halcandra and Landia? Hammer and Leaf? Hamburger and lettuce? Mmm...now I wish I had a Kirby Burger!" Magolor and he both laughed; then the pink puffball had another idea. He used the Circus Copy Essence in the room to become Circus Kirby and positioned himself atop the first row of blocks. "Hey Magolor, check this out!" he called out to the mage, and he began to somersault from row to row.
"Heh, not bad!" Magolor said to him, and he hovered up to the top of the blocks as well, "How about this?" He used his "Magolor Surge" to swiftly jump across the rows. All the while Taranza and Susie could only stand there and watch their two allies' antics.
Once Kirby and Magolor finished their acrobatics, Taranza led Susie and them through several more rooms. Some of them contained gears and mechanical platforms while others were filled with beautiful crystals (the latter of which was where Kirby rescued the People of the Sky from their imprisonment). Unbeknownst to them, Mirrobo was following them from a distance the whole time. Finally they came to the topmost chamber, which was connected to the terrace where Kirby had once fought Sectonia. This one contained various objects including the late queen's magic staff, a large mirror on one wall, and a table with photographs and other items on it.
"There's something I want to show you guys while you're here," Taranza said to his friends as they all entered the chamber, "This used to be the queen's room. After her passing, it was made into a memorial of her as she was before her corruption." He approached the table and picked up a small framed photo, his other party members gathering around him to view it. "This is a picture of me with Sectonia before she turned evil." In the photo, Taranza stood beside the queen in her original form-a spider-like creature who looked a lot like him, but more feminine.
"So she used to look somewhat like you," Susie remarked, "She must have been a good queen back then."
"She was," Taranza smiled slightly at the memory, "She liked to admire herself in the mirror sometimes, but she wasn't overly vain at that point. Floralia was peaceful under her reign and everyone loved her, especially me. But then I gave her the Dimension Mirror and...you know the rest."
At that last sentence the spider-like magician turned his gaze downward, his face clouded over with sorrow. He remembered how the mirror's power had transformed Sectonia into a tyrant obsessed with her own beauty. Even though she no longer cared for him as a result, he remained loyal to her because he was her henchman and former best friend. In the end, Taranza helped Kirby defeat Sectonia although it was painful for him, because he knew there was no other option. She probably would have taken over all of Popstar and killed every living thing there otherwise.
Susie came to her friend's side. "Taranza, I know it's painful to lose someone you care about. It takes time to mend a broken heart, and even then you never stop missing your loved one. I know this myself. But you always have memories of the good times, as well as all of our support, to help you through it." Then she turned to Magolor, who looked like he wanted to say something. "Don't say it!" she ordered him.
Kirby, who had not witnessed the whole "lovebirds" incident in the Mirror World, looked on with confusion before he decided to change the subject. "I'm so glad to have you as a friend, Taranza-we all are!" he said cheerfully, "Even if we started out as enemies, I'm really glad I met you and we're friends now!"
Taranza smiled. "Thanks, everyone. I'm truly grateful for your friendship and support. You really are the best!"
As the four of them turned to leave, Magolor had a thought. "It just occurred to me, Taranza...if Floralia has no ruler now, doesn't that mean you could become king?"
Taranza paused; he was taken aback by this question, and at first he didn't know how to answer it. "Well, I, uh...I never thought about that, I guess. Either way, I'm happy just being the protector of Floralia." He didn't know if his homeland would ever have another ruler, so he'd taken it upon himself to protect it and its inhabitants from anything that might threaten them.
Kirby, Magolor, Taranza, and Susie made their way through the castle until they returned outside. As they approached the Lor, Susie brought up something that was on her mind. "You know, checking up on Taranza's homeland reminded me of something: my workers surely need recharged by now. I should probably go and check on them."
"Can we come too?" Kirby asked eagerly.
"Of course! I'm certain you'd like to see how my company has changed."
Meanwhile, Mirrobo had remained well-hidden and unseen and was currently informing Shadread of its discoveries through his computer. "One of them is the supposed hero of Planet Popstar known as Kirby; another, a wizard named Magolor; and another, Taranza from Floralia, who was once good friends with the late Queen Sectonia. As for the other one...I believe I will learn about her very soon." The Lor was now lifting off from Floralia, so Mirrobo began to carefully follow it to Susie's headquarters.
