Chapter 11
Under My Control
The giant bird-like Rapture known as Storm Bringer flapped its wings as it stayed afloat in the air, all the while generating electricity around its body. The people down below readied their weapons to take on it.
Turning to Bandanna Waddle Dee, Dedede said to him, "Go back to the ship and get my special hammer! I will definitely be needing it for this fight!"
The Waddle Dee nodded. "Yes, your majesty!" he said before heading for the spaceship as well.
BGM: Tempest (Goddess of Victory: Nikke)
Storm Bringer let out a loud a screech before proceeding to fire laser beams from various parts of its wings. As the people got ready to dodge the incoming attacks, Liter shouted at Volt, "Volt! Cover!"
Volt barked as his back opened up, and several metal plates shot out of the opening and all over the place, most of them landing in front of those who were about to be shot by the laser beams. When the covers touched the ground, they immediately grew into a larger size, effectively becoming a wall, and blocked the would-be victims from the laser beams.
Dedede was surprised by the appearance of the wall and turned to Liter, who said, "I'll provide cover support!"
"Good going, girl!" Dedede said to her while giving her a thumb up.
Ludmilla was standing next to Dedede, holding a machine gun in her hand. She got out from behind the cover and, taking aim at Storm Bringer, fired a rapid burst of ice bullets at the Rapture, striking it in the center of the body with great precision. The bullets left behind trails of sparkling ice dust as they soared through the air, and when the body of the Rapture was struck, layers of frost were formed.
"Fire! Fire at it with all you've got!" a Waddle Doo shouted at the various other Waddle Doos and Waddle Dees. They pointed their magic wands at the Rapture and fired blasts of energy, striking Storm Bringer in various parts of the body.
Blanc, Mica, and Liter also contributed to the firepower with their weapons, and thanks to the star ammos provided by them by the Dream Landers, they didn't have to worry about running out of bullets at all.
Storm Bringer screeched in anger and also pain as it receives the shots to it body. It angrily fired more laser beams than before, making the people down below run behind the covers Volt created.
Meta Knight, however, didn't hide and instead flew into the air and towards Storm Bringer amidst the rain of laser beams. He moved side to side swiftly to dodge the projectiles and closed in on the Rapture, delivering a powerful slash to its body that pushed it back.
Storm Bringer let out a cry of pain as it moved back through the air, and Meta Knight slashes the air rapidly, firing energy blades nonstop and striking it in the body continuously. Storm Bringer swung one of its wings at Meta Knight, interrupting him and forcing him to fly away to his safety. Storm Bringer turned to him and fired a concentrated beam at him. He acted fast, bringing up his sword to use as a shield. Though he avoided receiving a fatal blow, Meta Knight was still blasted out of the air.
"Fire! Keep firing!" Dedede commanded everyone loudly while pointing at Storm Bringer.
Bandanna Waddle Dee came running back to Dedede with a metallic hammer placed on a cart he was dragging behind him by its handle. "Here it is, your majesty!" he told the latter.
Dedede smiled while patting him on the head. "Good! Now I can contribute to this battle!" He replaced his wooden hammer with the metallic hammer and then turned to Storm Bringer. "Beware, beast! The king has come to bring you pain!"
Ludmilla turned to him with a smile. "Now we're going to have a good show!"
Dedede got into a fighting stance with his hands gripped tightly around his new hammer's handle. The sides of the hammer opened to reveal missiles stored within them, and then with a swing of the hammer against the air, the missiles were tossed out their resting spot and went flying towards Storm Bringer, blasting it in various parts of the body.
Storm Bringer let out another cry of pain before aiming its firepower at Dedede, who got behind Volt's cover for safety. Ludmilla stepped out of the other side and fired from her machine gun.
Storm Bringer flew out the projectiles' way and generated a large amount of electricity from all over its body. The electricity grew stronger and also sparkled brighter, giving everyone an ominous feeling. "Everyone! Get for cover!" Liter called out to everyone.
Heeding her directions, everyone got behind Volt's covers. Almost immediately after they did so, Storm Bringer generated an electric shockwave that spread throughout the atmosphere. However, the people hiding behind the covers were safe from the attack.
"Whoa… That was close…" said Mica as she looked out from the cover. She then noticed some Dream Landers lying on the ground, paralyzed. "Oh no!" Some of them were unable to get behind covers in time and received the full force of the shockwave, getting zapped badly and falling over.
With a nervous and concerned look, Dedede shouted, "Get the injured to safety!"
Some of the Dream Landers picked up the paralyzed victims and began carrying them towards the Lor Starcutter. Storm Bringer fired laser beams in their direction intentionally, but Blanc jumped in between fast and crossed her arms, creating a white force shield that blocked the beams. After that, she spun around and blew kisses at the injured Dream Landers. White glows appeared around their bodies, causing their wounds to heal and also their energy to return, much to their surprise. "You can count on me to keep you all healthy!" she said with a wink.
Seeing this, Dedede said, "Now that's one useful rabbit!"
Storm Bringer let out a screech as the electricity around its body shot into the air and then rained back down as lightning bolts all over the place. The power of these lightning bolts were so strong that some of Volt's cover were destroyed, blowing away anyone who were hiding behind them for safety.
Ludmilla and Dedede were both blown away when their cover was destroyed, and as Ludmilla was getting back up, she was struck by a lightning bolt. Dedede saw this and called out her name in shock. He ran up to her and help her. "Are you all right?"
She groaned in pain and replied, "I'm… I'm all right…"
"You're a strong woman! I know you can handle a small shock like that!" Dedede said to her in relief. He then turned to Storm Bringer. "I won't allow that thing to mock any of us any longer!"
Storm Bringer proceeded to rain down laser beams again, and everyone did his or her best to avoid them. Dedede shot from his hammer multiple missiles, some of which managed to hit Storm Bringer, while some collided with laser beams and got blown up.
Ludmilla aimed and fired from her ice machine gun rapidly. A laser beam was headed towards her, but Mica lunged at her and shoved her to safety, getting hit herself. Ludmilla gasped and ran up to Mica to see if she was all right. "I'm all right…" Mica told her. "This sort of battle is what I'm created for after all, so I can take more than a hit!"
"You still shouldn't be reckless! You're just a kid!" Ludmilla told her.
"I may look like one, but I'm older than I look," Mica told her while standing up.
Dedede called out to her. "You've got firepower, kid? Fire it at me!"
"What?! Why would I do that?!" asked Mica in surprise.
"Just do it!" Dedede demanded her. Though confused, Mica did as he said and fired a star from her rocket launcher at him. Dedede swung his hammer at the incoming projectile and knocked it into the air, in Storm Bringer's direction, hitting it in the head. "Take that!"
"Oh, so that's why…" said Mica.
Meanwhile, the Lor Starcutter took off into the air, piloted by Dream Landers who were still inside it, and activated its force shield while doing so. It flew towards Storm Bringer and fired energy balls at it multiple times before performing a quick vertical spin to throw one of its wings at the Raptor, striking it in the middle of its body hard and knocking it back. After the wing came back, the Lor fired several of its oars in succession at Storm Bringer.
Storm Bringer was constantly getting pushed back by the onslaught of the Lor's projectiles. Eventually, it took off higher into the air while screeching in anger, and then it released bolts of lightning at the spaceship. The bolts struck the force shield with such a power that it blinked.
When more lightning bolts were fired at the Lor, the latter moved aside at a fast speed. It flew in circles around Storm Bringer and blasted it nonstop, and the latter tried to shoot it down, only to keep on missing.
Enraged, Storm Bringer released an electric shockwave all around itself, hitting the Lor and sending it spinning through the air. After that, it flew at the spaceship and rammed one of its wing against it, knocking it out of the air and onto the ground.
"Oh no!" gasped Mica.
"Darn it! I thought this ship was stronger than this!" said Dedede in shock and anger.
Storm Bringer approached the downed spaceship with the intention of destroying it, but it was distracted when Meta Knight dashed past it, slashing it in the body in the process. Dedede commanded everyone to open fire at the Rapture to take its attention away from the spaceship, and they did so with their firearms, with Dedede himself also contributing to things by firing missiles from his hammer.
While firing from her submachine gun, Liter turned to Volt and said, "Volt! Double Boost now!
Volt barked in acknowledgment as his back opened up, and out came something resembling a lightning rod. The rod emitted yellow electric-like energy that resulted in a shockwave spreading out all over the place. Those who came in contact with it were covered in a yellow aura, and they began to feel a bit different. "I feel energized!" said Blanc while looking at her body.
"Double Boost increases your offensive capabilities and movement speed. It only lasts for a few minutes, so make every second count!" explained Liter.
"You bet I will!" said Mica as she took aim at Storm Bringer and fired a rapid burst of star-shaped projectiles at a faster speed than before.
"I know a good use for this!" said Blanc as she crouched down a bit, and all of a sudden, she took off running at a fast speed, running towards Storm Bringer.
"Where are you going?!" Liter called out to her.
Blanc ran to the Lor and leaped all the way to the top of it, and from there, she jumped towards Storm Bringer's head. "Here's a special performance for you! Lucky Rabbit's Leg!" Still with the aura around herself, Blanc swung her leg at the Rapture's head, giving it a powerful kick that actually knocked it back some distance.
"Incredible! I didn't know she has such leg power!" commented Mica in awe.
With a smug look, Liter said, "Of course! That's Double Boost for you! I created it after all!"
Dedede saw that his body was still glowing with the yellow aura, and he said with smug smile, "You've created something great, kid! I'm feeling energized! I'm sure I can do great things now!" He then took off running at a fast speed, much to the surprise of his followers.
"Wow! Look at the king run!" said the Waddle Doo in shock.
Dedede jumped into the air and towards Storm Bringer with his hammer raised over his head. "Have a taste of my Royal Dedede Hammer!" And he brought it down over Storm Bringer's head.
SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!
The Rapture let out a painful screech as it crashed face first onto the ground with a powerful thud, and metal shrapnel that used to be parts of its body fell down all around it..
BGM Ends
Everyone was in awe and silence at what they saw, but that soon turned into to cheers of excitement. "The king defeated monster! Hooray!"
"Woohoo! That was awesome!" Blanc said to Dedede while patting him on the shoulder.
"Heheh! Now you know why you should never head into battle without this grandma and her dog!" boasted Liter with her arms crossed, while Volt barked happily.
"Wow! He did it! I can't believe!" said Mica in disbelief.
"I knew my husband had what it takes in him!" said Ludmilla happily.
Mica shifted her eyes to her a bit and said in her head, "Honestly, I still feel uneasy about Miss Ludmilla being married to a… a… penguin…"
BGM: Welcome Your New Overlord (Kirby's Return to Dream Land)
"Die!" shouted Magolor as he formed dark energy balls over his head and then fired them at the good guys.
Kirby leaped at the incoming projectiles with his mouth open and sucked them all up, much to Magolor's surprise. He spat them all out at Magolor, but the latter teleported out of harm's way and reappeared behind Kirby, swatting him away with a hand full of psychic energy.
Hammering let out a cry as she ran at Magolor and swung her hammer at him. Magolor turned around and held up one hand to create a force shield that blocked the attack. Hammering grunted as she pressed her hammer against the shield hard, trying to destroy it.
From the side, Drilley pointed her drills at Magolor, and they opened up to reveal guns hidden inside them. The guns fired rapidly star-shaped projectiles at Magolor, who responded by moving his shield to the side and somehow bringing Hammering along with it, resulting in her getting shot in the back. Magolor then teleported away, while Hammering fell on her knees in pain, and Drilley ran up to her while apologizing.
Magolor reappeared in the air, and Anis and Mast aimed and fired their weapons at him. Magolor once again used a shield to block it and then warped into the air behind them to shoot energy balls that blasted them forward.
Kirby ran to Hammering and said, "Let me borrow your hammer!" He then sucked the entire hammer into his mouth.
"Wait! My hammer!" gasped Hammering, reaching out her hand to Kirby.
After swallowing the hammer, a wooden hammer materialized in Kirby's hand while a headband appeared around his head. Kirby turned to Magolor and ran at him. When the latter fired energy balls at him, Kirby used the hammer as a bat to send them flying back to him. Magolor was caught off guard by the fast homecoming projectiles and got struck by them.
Not stopping there, Kirby jumped at Magolor and slammed the hammer against the side of his head hard. Magolor was sent tumbling through the air and then hit the floor. "Take this!" Anis shouted as she fired from her rocket launcher nonstop at him, covering him in a series of explosions.
"Enough!" shouted Magolor as he formed a wormhole in front of himself that sucked in the star-shaped projectiles Anis fired at him. She stopped firing and looked at what happened in surprise. Magolor closed the wormhole and opened up another one above her, and the stars she fired dropped down from there, blasting her.
While Anis was screaming in pain from getting bombarded nonstop, Mast fired at Magolor while running towards him. Magolor used the same kind of wormhole to catch the bullets fired at him. When Mast was close to him, she swung her submachine gun like a club at him, but Magolor backed away before opening up yet another wormhole from which her own bullets came back out and pelted her in the body.
Despite this, Mast was still standing. When the firing ended, she looked at him with a smile and said, "I came here expecting treasure, but what I got was a madman possessed by a cursed crown! I don't know whether to be frustrated or excited, but I'm going to enjoy this regardless!"
Her submachine gun underwent a transformation in which it broke down into pieces and then spread out around her before combining and rearranging themselves into a ship rigging on her back. "Fire! Sail through the tempest!" The rigging fired an onslaught of bullets at Magolor, blasting him all over the body and pushing him back through the air.
Anis survived the bombardment of her own stars. With a charred body, she pointed her rocket launcher at Magolor, who was still getting blasted by star bullets, and said, "This is for before! Pinpoint Missile!" After taking aim, she fired a spinning star and blasted Magolor out of Mast's line of fire.
Kirby leaped at Magolor and slammed down his hammer onto his head. Magolor backed away with a pained and dazed expression, but he returned to his senses fast and then angrily hurled energy balls at Kirby. The latter dodged them with swift movements while approaching him. When close to him, Kirby swung his hammer over and over to hit him, but Magolor kept on dodging them while backing away from him.
Because of this, he did not pay attention to his back when Hammering jumped at his back and grabbed the Master Crown. "This thing is messing with your head, right? Then it's coming off!" she said loudly as she tried to remove the crown, but it remained tightly on his head somehow.
"No! You're not taking it away!" said Magolor, and he was immediately struck by Kirby's hammer. Kirby kept on pounding him nonstop, while Hammering struggled hard to pull off the Master Crown until her hands slipped off it, and she fell off him.
Magolor backed away from Kirby and flew into the air. "Enough of this insolence! I will no longer tolerate such disrespect!" Spreading out his hands, dark energy spots appeared on the floor.
Recognizing this attack, Kirby shouted, "Everyone! Don't stand on the black spots!"
Just in time, the girls got off the black spots they were standing on to avoid getting impaled by energy spikes that grew out of them. Magolor rearranged the positions of the black spots and made more spikes appear from them, so the good guys had to keep on moving to avoid getting impaled.
"Eat this!" shouted Mast as her rigging fired at Magolor, interrupting the attack. Anis followed up with her rocket launcher, contributing to the damage. Kirby jumped at Magolor afterwards, slamming his hammer against his head, or to be precise, the Master Crown.
Kirby fell to the floor, and as Magolor was reeling in pain, the former pulled back the hammer that then emitted fire somehow, and then he jumped at Magolor and swung the fiery hammer upwards. "Hammer Flip!"
The powerful uppercut from the fiery hammer sent Magolor flying high into the air until he came to a stop from hitting the ceiling and then fell back down on his front. "Did we do it?" asked Drilley, looking at the seemingly unconscious Magolor.
Magolor suddenly shot back up with a look of anger. "Enough! I will no longer tolerate such insult!" Holding his hand into the air, he created a large sword out of thin air and wielded it with both hands. He charged at Kirby and swung it, and the latter jumped out of the way to avoid it. When the sword struck the floor, a shockwave was sent forward, leaving behind a large gash on the path it traveled.
"Whoa… That was scary…!" commented Kirby.
Magolor swung the sword against Kirby over and over, but the pink ball jumped around with acrobatic movements to avoid them. Mast, Anis, and Drilley fired from their weapons at Magolor, halting his attempt at hitting Kirby. He turned to them and swung his sword against the air, firing an energy blade. All three of them ducked to avoid it.
Kirby leaped at Magolor and attacked with his hammer. Magolor swung his sword at him, and even though the hammer is made of wood and looks like it should be destroyed easily, it somehow managed to remain in one piece when it came in contact with the blade. Magolor and Kirby swung their weapons multiple times against each other, but Kirby was eventually knocked away and disarmed of his hammer.
Kirby hit the floor hard, causing a yellow star to fly out of the back of his body. The star bounced around for a bit before turning into Hammering's hammer. "My hammer!" she said happily as she ran to pick it up. "I miss you so much!"
"You're finished!" shouted Magolor as he raised his sword over Kirby and readied to bring it down, but Hammering ran up to him fast and blocked the incoming blade with her hammer.
"Not on my watch! About time you let go of that stupid crown already!" Hammering angrily said to Magolor. Hammering pushed Magolor's sword back, and then she hit him hard with her hammer. Next, she jumped up and brought down the hammer onto the Master Crown, causing cracks to appear on it that she noticed. "Seems to be working!"
Magolor cried in anger as he recovered from the blow and readied to swing his sword at Hammering, only to be disrupted by a pair of drill missiles fired by Drilley. The drill missiles exploded when they hit the sword, blasting it out of Magolor's hands without destroying it.
Kirby then rushed over to the disarmed sword and picked it up before jumping into the air with it raised over his head. He swung it down onto Magolor after flipping the blade over to its flat side.
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!
Magolor backed away from Kirby, while the Master Crown cracked even more and also began glowing. The former let out a loud scream of agony as the crown suddenly exploded in bright light, engulfing him completely. The others backed away from the explosion, which soon died down, and Magolor was seen back in his original form. After he fell unconsciously onto the floor, Anis asked, "Is… he still alive…?"
Kirby ran up to Magolor and patted him on the head. "You all right?" Though Magolor gave no response, he could still be seen breathing, showing that there was still sign of life.
"Man… What trouble you caused us!" grumbled Drilley as she walked up to them both and looked at Magolor angrily. "All this treasure hunt ended up being more troublesome and dangerous than we thought because of you!"
"Don't blame him! That treasure was cursed and called out to him, and admittedly, also to me…" said Mast in embarrassment as Morgan landed on her shoulder after staying out of the fight the whole time.
"The crown must've called out to you two because it saw how greedy you both are," said Kirby.
"Um guys…" said Hammering in a nervous voice. "I don't think that looks like a good thing…" Everyone turned to look at what she was talking about and saw her pointing at the crystal apple surrounded by twirly branches that was there when they first entered the room. Shards of the Master Crown were seen embedded into the apple.
Purple miasma appeared and surrounded the apple, which began to glow brightly, taking the form of a ball of light. The good guys backed away with worried looks on their faces as the ball of light grew in size, while the miasma orbited it nonstop.
"What's… What's happening…?" asked a scared Hammering.
"This definitely looks like a bad thing…" said a worried Anis.
"I've never seen anything like this before…" said a wide-eyed Kirby.
Back outside, Dedede and his subordinates were looking at the temple Kirby and his group went into, wondering what they were doing in there. "They sure are taking their time…" said Dedede. "Perhaps I should go in there and see what is happening."
The Bandanna Waddle Dee approached him and said, "Your majesty, Miss Liter did a check up on the Lor Starcutter and said that it is still in a good condition. The damage earlier wasn't anything serious."
"That's good to know," said Dedede, turning to look at the Lor. He also took note of Storm Bringer, which was lying on the ground not too far away from the spaceship. "That mechanical beast looks concerning… I get the feeling that it's not down for the count yet… We better get out of here before…"
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" screamed Anis at the top of her voice as she came running down the staircase leading to the temple with her group members. Drilley was also seen carrying the still unconscious Magolor underneath her arm.
Anis's scream caught everyone's attention. They looked at the returning group and wondered what happened, and that was when they noticed the temple shaking and even cracking until the whole thing burst open, and out from within it came something big.
"What is that?!" asked Blanc in shock.
A large tree with arms and wings made of leaves had burst out of the now destroyed temple. Wrapped around its arms and trunk were golden vines. Lastly, there is a golden eye on the tree trunk, surrounded by a golden frame shaped vaguely like the Master Crown.
Everyone was in shock as he or she looked at the appearance of the tree-like entity that was flying in the air. "What… What sort of monstrosity is that?!" asked Dedede.
"That's the treasure you're looking for! You won't believe the amount of trouble it caused us! I hope you're happy you finally found it!" Anis said to him, sounding angry.
"What do you mean that's the treasure?!" asked Dedede in confusion.
A loud screech could be heard as Storm Bringer suddenly sprung back to life and flew into the air. Everyone turned to look at the revived Rapture in shock as it faced his or her direction, or rather, the tree. However, before the Rapture could do anything, the tree fired a red laser beam out of its eye that pierced the Rapture through its body in an instant.
Just like that, Storm Bringer suddenly exploded into pieces that rained down all over the place. The Tyrant-class Rapture was no more.
Everyone's eyes were widened in shock at what he or she saw. "Such… Such power…!" commented Meta Knight.
"At least that's one nuisance down…" said Liter.
Everyone then turned back to look at the tree possessed by the Master Crown, which let out a loud roar that seemingly caused the whole place to shake.
"Um… Your orders, king…?" Hammering asked Dedede.
Dedede sweated nervously and said, "I don't think that thing's going to let us retreat so easily, and who knows will happen if we just leave it be…"
"So let's fight it!" said Kirby, who seemed fearless and ready to fight.
"Yeah! Let's show this giant monster who's boss! This is the ultimate finale to the ultimate treasure hunt!" agreed Mast fearlessly while punching the air, while Morgan squawked and raised one wing in an attempt to mimic her.
Dedede let out a deep breath and then said, "All right, everyone! Get ready to fight for your lives! Let us take down that monster !"
"YEEEEEEAAAAAH!" shouted almost everyone else while rising his or her weapons.
Anis looked the tree with a frustrated expression and said, "When can we go back to our world…?"
TO BE CONTINUED
You thought it's gonna be over after Storm Bringer and Magolor's defeats? Nope, because I decided to throw in the final boss of Magolor Epilogue as well!
In the game, Double Boost increases attack powers of allies, while Liter Boost reduces Burst cooldown time. Here, I portrayed Double Boost as increasing both attack and speed, the latter being a reference to Liter Boost, as I think that being able to use your Burst skill again sooner can be compared to increasing one's speed.
I always found it strange that despite Mast showing having Azur Lane and Kantai Collection-style rigging on her back in her official artwork, she is not shown having such a thing during gameplay and instead uses a normal submachine gun, so I came up with the idea that her gun can transform into the rigging.