Reimu had been following behind Kirby as they went and explored the path that led up towards the peaks of Candy Mountain.
Dodging countless bombardments from Shotzos, beating up any residents that were angry enough to confront them upclose and weaving around paths that were blocked by Gordos, she hasn't figured out how to make them move with her ofudas though.
She noted things about Kirby while she was tagging along with him.
Firstly, his mannerisms
Kirby seems so childlike that one would even wonder how he fights like a hardened warrior, and yet he's constantly awed by things such as how Reimu fights her opponents up close
Speaking of which..
"Oooaaaah!" Kirby and his Bronto Burt all watched as Reimu jabbed his gohei several times into the Burning Leo before swinging her weaon of choice upward, smacking the Leo on his chin and sending him into the air before tumbling away from the Poppy Sis
"G-gah!" The Burning Leo immediately recovered himself from the ground, his left hand holding onto his other hand
"You know this mountain is off for trespassers! Away! Great Dynablade resides here!"
"Dynablade?" Reimu lowered her gohei, raising an eyebrow in response "So that's that bird's name huh?"
"E-eh.. N-none of that matters! What matters is if you go away before she gets really mad!"
The Leo puffed his cheeks up and breathed out a wave of flames at the shrine maiden, prompting her to leap away and conjure up three ofuda cards in her hands, throwing them.
The ofudas would curve around the flames before slapping onto her target
"Ow! What the-"
The Burning Leo promptly blew up and collapsed on the ground with eyes swirling.. Resulting in Kirby cheering and the Bronto Burt clapping at her work
Now that's out of the way, they went on with their trek up the mountain. And the Poppy Sis went back into her thoughts
Secondly? Kirby can't speak her language, or rather the language that Dreamlanders speak in.
It was clear that Kirby knew what she was saying, he even understood many of her words, but he himself has yet to speak any kind of coherent lines. The only words that she could get out from him was just 'poyo' in lines.
It's like as if he never had the chance to learn their language nor has he ever heard of any.
Not that Reimu herself is good at teaching others on how to speak normally, that's Keine's job.
But maybe she could make the Puffball learn a thing or two.
The puffball interrupted her.
"Poyo! Poy poyo!" He said, holding up a Maxim Tomato at her with a great smile. He seems to have notoced her bruises while she was deep in her thoughts
"..." She slightly raised her disembodied hand, looking down at the tomato with a capital 'M' marked on it in confusion
"are you giving me this?"
"Poyo poy poy!" He nodded quickly, glancing down at the bruises and cuts that she received while she accompanied Kirby on their way to Dynablade's nest.
Whatever Kirby was saying, he definitely meant that he should eat, but don't Maxim Tomatoes recover the person to its 'maximum?'
She isn't the type to waste her food for obvious reasons regarding her past life.
"Right thanks" She would grab the bright red tomato before splitting it apart and biting the other half, before tossing the other back at Kirby whom promptly caught it. The puffball turned to look at him
"Ooyo?"
"Don't need that much to recover to be honest, that seemed like overkill."
She can already feel her aches relieving itself.
Anyway that's something she needed to be addressed, how would she even teach that kid something anyway? She's only good for exterminating annoying pests and troublesome opponents, nothing more.
Perhaps she could find a tutor for Kirby?
Anyway the last part about Kirby?
He's an enigma.
No further elaboration is needed anyway. He's just that weird of a Dreamlander compared to others.
...
Later on in their journey towards the mountain peak, the Knuckle Joe that was tagging alongside Kirby was, to put it in Reimu's perspective, downright dumb when it comes to fighting opponents.
Several times it ran into the target and collided, many times the Joe even just stood there and took the brunt of the attacks, distracting the enemy and allowing for either Kirby and Reimu to strike in and knock them out.
It eventually ended in them taking a rest at a small clearing.
Kirby had enough food to keep them all healed up, It just so happened that Reimu had to finally experience the Face to Face with Kirby thanks to another fight with a Candy Mountain dweller causing her to get bruised hard.
Not that it mattered anyway, it's pretty much a common tradition among Dreamlanders with relatives and friends but still, her human mind is still flabbergasted and weirded out by how it's done really.
She shook her head
Anyway back to the topic, the Knuckle Joe acted weird in a way that it seemed like they're a puppet and..
"Hang on a second" She spoke, interrupting Kirby as he gaped at a slice of spare watermelon that he came across before his eyes turned to look at Reimu
"Is that Knuckle Joe even a real person by any chance?"
Kirby shut his mouth and lowered the slice of watermelon down, his oval eyes wandered towards the skies for a second before shrugging at her.
Huh, that's a vague answer but seems like even he doesn't know?
"Alright alright, sorry for interrupting you" She waved him off as she walked away from Kirby, twirling her gohei in hand. The puffball would look back at his slice of watermelon before he shoved it into his mouth.
The Poppy Sis would eye the Knuckle Joe as it idled around the vicinity of their rest stop.
She tried to grab their attention by waving, but all it did was give her a blank side eye before facing the puffy clouds.
Right..
"Alright" She shook her head "I think it's about time we set off once more" She would turn and walk towards the cliff walls where a gold-tinted chain ladder was attached to, she started to climb it up.
Kirby fumbled and proceeded to gather up all his lunch snacks and gulp them down before hurrying behind the shrine maiden, the Knuckle Joe tailing behind him shortly after "Poyoo! Poy poy!"
The group would soon occasionally clash again with the mountain denizens once more, but it seemed like there were less of them the more they climbed up. Even then resistance to their trek seems to not have gotten any harder besides having to avoid Gordos and traversing occasional waterfalls.
There were a suspicious number of Tacs here however as the Knuckle Joe went on to try and hold them off, one of them even got ahead and snag Kirby by the face, taking his current copy ability and turning it into a copy essense for themselves.
Reimu had no idea at the time that it was his Fighter Ability, nor he had the idea that he can copy abilities either
'Wait didn't he had a red headband earlier? Where is it now?' She immediately thought to herself
"Poy poyo!" Kirby immediately got up as she caught sight of Tac stuffing a red tinted star into it's sack. Conjuring up a line of ofudas she threw them into the escaping Tac, the ofudas slapping into it's back and exploding the thief as a result.
Then both Reimu and Kirby watched as the red star containing the stolen copy essense flung into the air and towards a deep pit.
"..." They blinked.
"Sorry" She muttered an apology to him, bowing to his direction. And Kirby gave her a sweatdrop and a smile as a response
The sounds of an explosion up caught their attention as they snapped their head behind them. A crater resided where Kirby's Knuckle Joe friend used to be, followed by knocked out Tacs all around..
Their eyes glanced towards a disembodied yellow leg on the ground not far from the crater.
Ah, a Bomber blew up.
The Knuckle Joe would emerge from the crater, his hair still smoking and his arms shaking from the damage he received earlier
"Poyo..?"
Then, with a raise of his thumb to the two , he collapsed.. turned red..
And promptly blew up too.
Reimu jumped back in surprise, then she would turn to Kirby with widened eyes.
As for the puffball himself? He would proceed to kneel down and reach his stubby arms into the air and cried out loud dramatically.
"POYOOOO!!"
She patted his back for the duration of his dramatism.
On the other hand, Knuckle Joes don't explode on death.. do they..?
...Girls are comforting, please wait warmly...!
Kirby was quick to recover from that dramatic defeat of his companion as he was now running straight ahead of Reimu, knocking down enemies and hostile cannons along the way.
Though at one point they had to travel by another form of transportation that Reimu experienced not long ago. And that was by jumping into said cannons and being launced out of them.
"No Kirby I am NOT entering that"
"Poy oyoyo!" He called out from above, waving his arms around and pointing at the series of floating white cannons with red arrow stickers plasted on either side. These were the cannons that she was talking about, and Kirby went into them earlier
"Is that really the only way to get up there!?"
Kirby nodded.
She briefly thought of rock climbing earlier but witnessing and fighting off the dangers of Candy Mountain earlier, she would eventually relented and hopped into one of the cannons that was reachable from ground.
Needless to say she was screaming like hell there.
Cannons spun around wildly much to her horror and even if she discovered how to launch herself on mental command, she crashed into the rock walls ON THE HEAD several times to the point that Kirby and even the nearby Flaming Leo were wincing upon every failed attempt at escaping the ravine.
Reimu kept on landing into one of the Cannons at every failure
She wished she could fly right now, but that ability is currently locked..
Ouch.
Eventually she got out, and was met with a much needed Face to Face by Kirby himself. He nervously smiled and she gave him the stink eye.
They proceeded back to their path afterwards. With Kirby inhaling a Flaming Leo and gaining the Fire Ability much to the surprise of Reimu.
'Did he just kill that Leo?'
Of course after walking a few feet, she saw herself glancing back, and much to her shock she witnessed the space brightening and warping within itself before ejecting a knocked out Flaming Leo. Most likely the same one that Kirby swallowed up..
"Ah-" She vocalized her confusion for a bit before shaking her head
She's adding that to the list of everything weird with Kirby, with her not really caring at this point.
Though their path would lead up to a series of turns and twists with waterfalls and pools populated with all sorts of large critters. Kirby dove into one of the aquifers while Reimu dealt with the frog-like enemies that bugged them.
"Get away you freaks!" A Slippy would attempt to hop into her only yo be met with the Poppy Sis smacking a gohei inbetween it's face, the Slippy croaked out in pain as it was launched away. Sailing past a few other enemies whose eyes were squinting at her..
The aquifer that Kirby went in suddenly shone with a rainbow light, prompting Reimu to look behind her alongside a few others that stopped attacking her.
Kirby jumped out all covered in glittering rainbows.
"INVINCIBLE CANDY!?"
"WHERE DID THE LITTLE GUY EVEN GET IT!?"
"CROAK??"
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! THE PUFFBALL'S ABOUT TO RAM INTO US WITH IT!"
"HaaiyaAAA!"
Reimu's mouth was agape as Kirby proceeded to speed through the attacking denizens, scattering them around the area upon contact. That's supposed to be the rumored Invincible Candy!? She's heard of them before, only in books too..
Kirby didn't stop there either, he was going BONKERS on this place as he kept on ramming straight into other hostile denizens much to their horror and eventually out of the area with Reimu struggling to follow the sugar-dosed puffball from behind.
Fortunately the duration for his invincibility seemed to not last long, as the rainbow aura that Kirby had immediately faded away in a matter of seconds, leaving the puffball breathing for air.
"Hooy.. Hoyy.. Oh?" Kirby would turn around to see Reimu running towards him before skidding to a halt, her detached hands on her shoes while her head leaning down as she was also heavily breathing from running
"You.. Idiot.." She exhaled, then she wiped the sweat away on her forehead.
"I would've lost sight of you idiot" The Poppy Sis continued to curse before shaking her head in resignation, this kid was definitely reckless.. "Whatever come on let's go.."
"Uh.. Oyo" Kirby tilted his face for a second before he went on to tag alongside her.
And the trip continued.
They would come across one section of the Mountains where she would avoid the blast radius of the many Bombers that tend to trip and drop down on the ground.
Whatever these things were made out of and why they existed, she doesn't care. What matterrd most was the fact that they were dangerous up close and that she's taught to NOT approach any by her parents when it began to trip.
Of course, Kirby without a doubt began to burn the living devil out of them without a care, with the most confusing part of this section being the Bombers somehow not exploding and instead laid defused on these surfaces.
What Kirby failed to realize is that his flames had somehow burnt a part of a block that had bomb stickers on all side.
And the cracked ground beneath them immediately started to crumble and give way to lava
"WA-AAH AAAH!" Reimu gasped and shrieked, stumbling before she ran towards a snowy patch of land, untouched by the cracked ground that had already cracked into lava.
"AH???" She looked down, feeling a bead of sweat tearing down from her temples before she snapped her head to Kirby, where he was there in the air. Flapping his hands with inflated cheeks.
"YOU IDIOT!" She called out, she couldn't and haven't even learned on how to fly yet!
The puffball could only give her an apologetic look, a similar bead of sweat dropping down from his forehead aswell.
A few minutes were spent by Kirby struggling to carry Reimu on his back across the now visible lava lakes, it served as a way for her to cross when she couldn't fly yet and as a short punishment for the reckless puffball
Kirby landed down on clear ground with a puff, he exhaled with arms drooping down. The Poppy Sis dusted her shirt and shook her head angrily.
And then came the second to last part of their trip, the slopes.
Kirby would eject his current ability and eyed the walking microphone with awe, eyes sparkling while Reimu raised an eyebrow at him. He hasn't seen another living object like that!
And the only microphone that he saw was either the inanimate ones he used during his adventure against Dedede.. and the other one that was used by the announcer at the boxing arena.. Hey wait, these walking ones look the exact same as the one used by that announcer!
Kirby ran forward and opened his mouth, the Walky stumbling forward in surprise and flailed it's feet before it got inhaled by the pink puffball.
Previously he only spat the inanimate ones out to let out a massive echoing attack, knocking back any hostile people that were going after him. Bit that was because he didn't develop Copy Abilities at the time until later on in his first adventure, so what would happen if he gulped this one down instead?
He squished down to try and copy the Walky's essense. And out came er... whatever ability that was..
He looked at himself, seeing only his skin flashing a dim yellow every so often.
Huh, maybe it's just like his Crash ability..?
"..What does that do?" Reimu questioned, pointing her gohei at Kirby, to which he responded with a shrug.
"Poyo" They'll find out later hopefully.
"Er.." She didn't really know about what he meant, but otherwise they were gonna continue on.. until a pack of Scarfies would immediately block their way, smiling deceptively so as to try and lure their next prey.
Unfortunately Reimu knew that their disguise was a ploy, like a youkai, it would transform and attempt to eat their faces whole before self destructing if they ever fail. She conjured up a few ofudas in her hand..
But not before Kirby interrupted that.
Without a warning, he brought out a cap and a microphone and shouted into it with all his lungs
"UUAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIII!"
She grimaced immediately, covering her nonexistent ears with her eyes closed in pain. The deafening sound would also hit the Scarfies, but it wasn't just their ears being bursted, but the sound wave also knocking them away into the walls and leaving them blacked out on the ground
"Aaaugh.. crap.." She rubbed her ears before gritting her teeth at Kirby who sheepishly smiled at her once again.
Next time he's definitely warning her
They climbed another pair of chains, but not without being blocked by another pair of Scarfies and a.. helmet-wearing pineapple.. Jungle Bombs were they? Plant like beings that spat out bombs just like a Poppy Bro. They banded together just to try and stop the duo from progressing.
"Poy! Poyo!" Kirby glanced over to Reimu and gestured her to cover her ears
"Wait" She got the gist "Are you saying you're gonna do that again!?" The Poppy Bro received a nod in response
"I- oh well, make it quick then! My ears were practically about to burst there!" And so she did, she covered her ears.. The places where she can hear out from of course.
The Jungle Bomb would raise an eyebrow at them, and Kirby nodded at her before bringing out a headphone and a mic, one hand on his left and the other holding onto his weapon
"HAIYAAAAAA!"
The opposing band did not fare well. And Kirby and Reimu went on their merry way, with the latter complaining about potential ear problems.
They did encounter another opposition this time, with what looked like parasols and another Jungle Bomb going after the two.
Kirby gestured Reimu to covered her ears again, she reluctantly agreed once more and then he unleashed his biggest shout.
"TESCOOOOOOO!"
The Jungle Bomb and the rest of the parasols didn't even stand a chance to defend themselves against that attack.
And so they finally went ahead, no potential band of denizens to block them this time.. Hopefully
"God.. My ears are gonna go deaf after this tour"
"Poyo.." He seemed sorry.
Marisa's ears twitched, she turned her head towards the direction where three consecutive echoes were from. She seemed to have recognized the tone of these shouts but couldn't really pinpoint as to what it is..
Oh well, whatever it was she's sure it was something else entirely different, ears like these can pick up all sorts of stuff after all, it can even pick up subtle sounds too! At the cost of loud sounds being painful to her..
What was she doing again? Oh right!
"If you give me a sample of that hat of yours, I will definitely give you back one ten times bigger than that!"
"No way! I ain't giving my precious cap away! Even if it's just one amall chunk of it!" The cappy held the mushroom cap closer to him.
"Aw come on! It's only just one sample.."
"I said no!"
The top denizens of Candy Mountain would turn towards the loud screams coming from down below, their face contorting into that of anger.
So it would seem that these rumors were true, the mountain trespassers, they're here... Words from less powerful denizens were at least trustworthy this once.
"Bonkers shall now grab their stuff.."
A Bonkers would grab their hammer from the cliffside and mounted it on his back with a snarl, the great ape would look over to their other companions and gesture them to come over
The Frosty would shrug and tag alongside the hammer wielding gorilla, looking over to his back to see if the other two were following
And sure enough, the Poppy Sr Twins would hop over to the Frosty with a massive grin on their faces, each of them juggling a massive bomb with their detached hands.
The four of them would begin to traverse down the mountain in order to confront their intruders.
"-and after this whole shebang, you should learn our language you illiterate puffball, can't believe I had to say this to you"
"Pooyo.."
The two would casually walk up the mountain, their feet treading across the mountainside snow. They were getting near the peaks with how windy it's starting to get, and Reimu could see the shadow being casted from the giant bird up close now.
No one was stopping the two just yet but she had to brace herself for any confrontations just to be sure.
The companion besides her? Not so much, he's just been there happily overtaking her from the front, at this point she's considering if letting him take her role as an incident resolver is a bad idea or not seeing how he acts more reckless and childish compared to the likes of Marisa..
She sighed.
And as she continued forward, something inside her stirs.. An intuition, she grimaces and makes a proper stance to prepare.
Kirby would turn to look at her with a curious look, but not before understanding and standing back, looking forward as he looks around..
And spots a Rocky glaring at him from atop a set of colorful blocks.
It jumps down and shakes the earth as a result, making both Kirby and Reimu place their hands on the ground to stabilize themselves, but this was not the main purpose of said action.
It was to pretty much alert the others of their presence
"Bonkers found you pinky!"
"Ah!?" Kirby looked up before seeing a gorilla run towards him with a growl on his face, he hopped out of the way when a hammer came barreling towards his position from the ape.
Reimu stepped back with a mean look while Kirby retreated back to Reimu's side, making another fighting stance too, yet this one was improper.
"No one tresspasses Great Bird's home!" The Bonkers roared "Not with no permission!"
"Aye aye!" A Frosty would hop over besides the Bonkers, shaking their arms around "How 'bout we teach em a lesson this time!?"
"Yeah! This is for the mooks below!" The Twin Poppy Srs would echo simultaneously, jumping over and threw their bombs up and down with their hand "We ain't gonna stand around and watch them get rocked and rumbled like paper no more!"
The two groups would pause, glaring at each other while clouds rolled across the lands, the winds blowing making their clothes flutter and flap.
"Kirby?" She whispered
The puffball turned to Reimu, letting out a small 'oh?'
"You go for the hammer guy, im dealing with the snowguy and pyromaniacs"
Kirby would look down before nodding, and then he returned to his fighting stance...
And so the wind howls with a pregnant silence..
[Battle with the Boss - Kirby Super Star Ultra OST]
"GET THEM!" The Frosty howls, breaking the silence and signaling the brawl between the two groups, with Reimu leaping forward with their gohei ready and Bonkers roaring and darting straight for Kirby, the puffball yelping and running back shortly then.
The Frosty would leap out of the way to avoid the gohei swing before turning his back, leaning down and preparing an attack, unfortunately this meant the Poppy Sis was seeing the bum of said Frosty in all it's glory.
"What the hell?"
She immediately turned to her left and leaped out of of the way, an explosion rocking where she used to be at, backflipping several times before she stopped. Looking up to see one of the Poppy Srs hopping in and preparing to throw another.
She conjured up a few ofudas to throw back at the pyromaniac, right as the Poppy Sr threw his too. The two attacks slamming into each other and exploding in the air, Reimu's ofudas however were numerous and so the few that didn't slap into the bomb went ahead and sailed into the Poppy Sr.
Before she could see the results, she had to redirect her attention towards another Poppy Sr that was preparing to throw another Bomb, she tried the same method again only to receive an Ice Block thrown right into her face
"Aha! Got you young punk!" The Frosty exclaimed with a laugh
Reimu was pretty much holding onto the large ice cube with a shocked look, getting hit hard right in the face relaly does you wonders especially when you're about to crash into something.
"Crap!" She looked around, trying to get off.
Before the ice cube containing Reimh on it could crash into one of the blocks in the background, she was quickly snatched out of the ice cube by Kirby who let out a relieved sigh.
"Kirby..? Ow sorry" She scratched her hair before grimacing, she's not used to fighting on the ground that much huh..
Kirby raised his hand up in the air, lifting a hammer up.. Wait where did that come from?
Reimu looked around for a Bonkers, the opposing group was there in the background looking at them shocked, but other than that there seems to be no signs of that Bonkers around.
"You inhaled him?"
"Hai!"
"HE DEVOURED BONKS!" Frosty yelped in fear
"Now you've done it!" Both Poppy Srs would echo simultaneously with an angry look, before the three would rush towards Kirby and Reimu.
Reimu would lock onto Frosty and proceeded to throw countless ofudas at the walrus. Who then proceeded to jump high into the air and attempt to land on Reimu.
She would step out of the way once Frosty landed, her current stance allowing her to not fall over and proceeded to attack the Frosty with her gohei, several thrusts to his stomach and a downward smack to his head.
She had to rely on her memories during the Night Parade of One Hundred.. Er.. Oni Every.. Four Days? Incident..
That was a mouthful even in her mind.
Frosty stepped back with swirly eyes, his hand on his head as he struggled to stabilize himself, not before Reimu finished him off by having ofudas surround him on all sides.
Then, Reimu turned her head back, an explosion engulfing the Frosty and lit up her back as she watched Kirby finish off the Poppy Srs.
She widened her eyes just in time to see Kirby literally slam one of the Poppy Srs upwards with what looked like his hammer being set ablaze. Her eyes squinting to see if the Poppy is still awake.
It was knocked out cold, and he was sailing in the air and into the ground.
"No! Brother!" The lone Poppy Sr gasped before turning to Kirby in horror "A-ah!?" Kirby rushed to him with his hammer raised.
"Nuh! Not this time!" The Poppy leaped into the far back before he began hopping back and forth and tried to rain down bombs onto the puffball, but he strafed each and one of them, one time he skidded to a halt to avoid a bomb being set off in front of of him but otherwise he maintained his speed. She decided to help out by throwing a few more distractions into the last standing pyromaniac's nearby surroundings
The Poppy Sr grimaced but a set of ofudas blowing up his surroundings would catch him offguard, turning his head to Reimu who was smirking.
"Why you-" And then he saw Frosty all charreed up and smoking, horror set in and he turned just in time to see a hammer right infront of his face.
WHAM!
The Poppy Sr flew towards one of the blocks, crashing into it and splitting the red block he crashed towards into two. The mid-boss would eventually slump towards the ground with a groan.
And both incident resolvers would stare at the knocked out Poppy..
"Haiya!" The pinky raised his hand into the air in victory before turning towards Reimu "Hay! Poy!"
"What?"
Kirby would gesture to her as if she has to come ovwr to him with a smile on his face.
"As in like- What are you even trying to convey to me?"
Kirby brought a hand to his chin, before he tried to speak out one word in particular, one that he heard during the post incident party back at the shrine.
"Duh.. Du-dancuh!"
"What" And Reimu was dumbfounded for once. Kirby finally spoke one word that she understood, but it was because he had to convey something like that to her..
"Danceah!"
As in, Reimu joining Kirby in a dance? Like the time he did with that penguin?
No, that'd be too much of a dignity loss if she were to do it, she immediately shook her head at Kirby with a distained look on her face
"Absolutely not! You do that to yourself then!" And then she crossed her hands with a pout.
"Aah.. Poyi.." He raised his hand to his head and scratched it, a bead of sweat trailing down as he smiled awkwardly before he assumed a straight pose.
And began to do the victory dance.
All the while Reimu sighed out loud in the back ground, but deep in her mind, she heard what sounded like a faint victory tune, almost as if the universe was playing a music in tandem with Kirby's dance.. Her head slightly swaying to both sides in rhythm but her scowl deepened.
Yeah she's still not doing that, but hey, now that these four were out fo the way, there's only one thing that's in their minds now.
The troublemaker of this incident.
And she stared deeply into the mountainous peaks, where Dynablade resided.
...
We're getting near the end of this arc! This chapter is around 5100 words jeez lol.