Chapter 1: Prologue 1 - Grape Greeting
Summary:
Can the trees come out to play?
G _ _ _ _ _ _
Notes:
So, there's a good chance that some of you are here from Supporting Me, and are probably slightly confused. Didn't I say that I was gonna be focusing on that for a while? Well, yes, but there's a problem.
1) Not gonna, I kinda burnt myself writing that fic. The thing about writing Duels is that it takes a lot of brainpower; most of the time, I'm doing combos from a knowledge base of practically zero, having to reread cards to make sure I'm resolving their effects correctly, and on the worst of days rewriting entire sections of the game because as Yu-Gi-Oh! player, I might as well be illiterate, and the fact that some cards can just file your taxes and punch your opponent in the face while still having time to order your lunch at the End Phase. I need a pallet cleanser, a cute one, preferably.
2) Most of the time, the stuff I write is based on my current hyperfixations, and considering I just bought M&L: Brothership and KRTDLDX this Sunday, and I'm falling out of love with HSR... yeah, this is obviously where I went.
As Supporting Me, I do intend to critique an aspect of each of these series (except Kirby, I genuinely have nothing to say), but mainly the gameplay aspects for M&L (I'm only two hours into the game), and gameplay & story for HSR, most notably combat. I have... a lot of notes for HSR, unfortunately.
Right, I'll see you and the end notes.
Bye-Bye
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Perhaps it’s just her, but… the passage of time always felt weird.
One moment, you’re in one area doing one thing. And sometimes, you blink you’re suddenly someplace else. Everything that happened previously, even if it was two minutes or two years ago, feels like a distant memory.
That is to say, Anby just woke up. She was resting underneath a tree. And, right now, she has no idea where she is. It certainly isn’t New Eridu, that’s all she knows. For one, she’s not in a concrete jungle.
All she could see for miles are rolling green, green hills with a single dirt path cutting across them. In the distance, she could also see donut shaped mountains in a literal sense: sections of earth raised from the ground, with holes in the center and glazed with grass on top.
“Hmm…? Where am I?” Anby murmured to herself. She must’ve said it in her mind only, since she didn’t feel her mouth move. She turned her head to the left, following the dirt trail in front of her. There was no civilization for miles, it seems. Not even a town off in the distance.
“...What was I even doing before this?” Anby wondered. Her mind was fuzzy, and her head hurt. The last thing she could remember was… Nicole accepted an odd commission. But, one that they would be paid generously for, and so she accepted with minimal hesitation. “But, what did that commission entail?”
Anby hummed to herself and scratched her head (strange, she doesn’t remember wearing fingerless gloves…). Should she follow the dirt path? It does seem to be the only way forward.
Anby furrowed her brow. “Unless…” She pinched her cheek. Then she pinched it again. And she kept pinching until she was physically knocked onto her back. Anby opened her and pouted. “So, this isn’t a dream, then.”
She sat up, and checked her back. Thankfully, her battery-pack was still on her person, as was her sword. She unsheathed it, and… Anby hummed. Did her sword always look this short? It must’ve been damaged from whatever happened before this moment.
Still, it was enough to make Anby feel comfortable trekking forward. She stepped out of the shade of the tree and walked down the dirt road. The sun felt much warmer on her back than it ever did back home.
“He he he…!”
Anby turned her head around when she heard that creepy laugh. Her sharp gaze immediately went to the canopy of the trees above her.
The dirt path had brought her to a secluded forest, most likely close to some kind of coast due to the salty scent in the air. And when she stepped foot inside, she felt like she was being watched. Small critters roamed the forest as well, squirrels and birds, as well as an Orange Butterfly, but none of them felt intelligent.
This gaze was studying her.
When she turned, she didn’t find anything. Still, as precaution, she placed a hand on the hilt of her sword and didn’t move it away as she continued down the path. Anby’s heart pounded in her chest.
Whatever was looking was intelligent, and malicious. She feels like she shouldn’t be so edge currently, because she’s seen nothing that could harm her so far. No Ethereals, gangsters, Hollows; nothing. Anby should feel safe. So, why doesn’t she.
Anby continues walking until she reaches a fork in the road, where there was a sign. The arrow pointing left had a picture of a castle with… bunny ears? A peace sign? overlayed on top of it, while the other had an apple tree with branches coming from the center of the trunk. There was an exclamation point below the tree.
“Hmm…” Anby scratched her chin, paying no mind to the Orange Butterfly that landed on the sign. If there is a castle, that means there must be some sort of civilization close by. Castles are made to be defended, after all. She should go there first. Besides, the explanation point underneath the apple tree is obviously some sort of warning. Best not to go there.
She turned to right and–
“Gaaah!” Anby jumped back and brandished her sword when she found a small purple… sphere . No arms, no legs, no hands, no… anything, except for a purple ball with two big eyes and a mouth, brown shoes and blue and red jester hat.
“Hello there! Hehe, Did I scare ya?” The booooy? asked her. He stood up and his toes and leaned forwards, eyes shining with mischief. “I bet I did! Sorry about giving you a heart attack.”
“It’s… fine,” Anby reassured the boy. She reached out to pat him on the head. He felt soft and smooth.
“Awww! Seems like I found a real caring person, huh?” The boy asked, pleased by the headpats. “Nice to meetcha! I’m Marx. And you?”
Anby wasn’t too keen on sharing her name. But… this boy(?) seemed friendly enough. She wondered what happened to the intelligent gaze, though. It’s clearly not coming from him. “I’m Anby. Anby Demara.”
“Demara?” Marx blinked. “Anby Demara sounds like a mouthful… why don’t I just call you ‘Anby’, huh? Save my mouth the work of saying your full name!”
Anby tilted her head. “Sure, that’s fine.”
“Great!” Marx cheered. He jumped forward and nuzzled his cheek against hers. Anby supposed he did this because he didn’t have any arms. “We’ve only just met, and I feel like we’ve been friends forever! You must be really friendly for me to feel this way, Anby!”
“Really?” Anby murmured. She wasn’t used to being called ‘friendly’. ‘Too serious’ was more common. Even ‘cold’, ‘off putting’, and ‘Replica’ on the worst of days. Being called ‘friendly’... made her feel nice inside. “I’m glad you think so.”
Marx flashed her a toothy grin. “Say, since we’re friends now…” Marx jumped back and walked to the sign behind them. “Can I ask for a favor? In return, I’ll help you with a problem of your own!” He kicked the sign, startling the Orange Butterfly. Anby watched it flutter away.
She shook her head, and looked back at Marx. “Yes, I can help you,” Anby said with a nod of her head.
“Really? Why, that’s great!” Marx hopped to her side and pointed his left foot down the path that apple tree sign pointed to. “You see, I left my ball at the end of the path over there. I would go get it myself, but I have something else I have to do.”
“Like homework?” Anby asked him.
“...homework?” Marx asked her with a displeased voice.
“Oh. You must not have homework today. It’s Sunday, after all,” Anby said after a moment, her memory slowly coming back to her. It was the weekend when Nicole took that commission. “I bet you must feel lucky, not having to do work on the weekends,” she commented, her voice sounding disappointed.
As Anby closed her eyes and nodded to herself. Marx looked at her with a half-lidded, bored gaze and rolled his eyes.
“Anyways,” Marx huffed to get Anby’s attention. “Could you get my ball for me, friendo? It can tell you how to get back home if you do!” Anby raised an eyebrow.
“Home…?” She asked suspiciously.
“Well, not gonne lie, you don’t look like you’re from around here, friendo,” Marx commented as he looked up and down at her. Anby supposed that was true. Compared to this… circus grape… she must look rather odd. “I’m good with directions! I can point you to the right way. If you get my ball, of course.”
Anby considered his proposal. She’s unsure of how a grape could help her return to New Eridu, but she didn’t think too much of it. Marx is clearly a young boy, so this must be some innocent child trying to help a stranger they just met. She’s still confused about what that intense gaze she felt earlier, but it was completely wrong.
Maybe… It came from that Orange Butterfly? It sounds insane, but that is the only conclusion she could come up with.
“Sure, I can help you find your ball,” Anby said with a nod, seeing no other way to proceed forward. “And, in return, you’ll help me go home?”
“Right back to the very apartment!” Marx said with an eager nod. “I’ll wait at the end of this path,” he pointed his head to the sign with the castle, “at the base of the mountain.”
Anby, satisfied, nodded again. “Very well. I’ll go retrieve your ball.” She turned around and continued to walk down the path that the apple tree sign pointed.
“Great, thank you!” Marx cheered, hopping up and down happily.
“Shine on, you Silver Soldier!”
Anby’s head whipped around in surprise, but Marx had already disappeared.
Anby felt that intense gaze on the back of her neck again. Ever since she started to walk down the path, it felt like someone was pressing hot iron on the back of her head. It’s likely the Orange Butterfly was fluttering behind her again, hiding from view as it studied.
Surely.
And there was something else that was bothering her. Clearly, this place isn’t New Eridu, Anby thinks to herself as she sits down on a yellow star block to take a break. Her knees didn’t feel tired, and she wasn’t exhausted yet, but for a moment, Anby needed to stew in her thoughts.
It’s likely this place isn’t even… Earth.
Anby sighed and placed her hands on the opposite shoulder.
The Hollows on New Eridu are strange and mysterious. They are, for the most part, endless labyrinths filled with monsters that can bend space, and therefore time since space and time are so intertwined. Could a Hollow have brought her here?
And, what about the others? Nicole, Billy, and Nekomata joined her on that commission. Where are they? Hopefully, safe. Nekomata and Billy can take care of themselves, and so can Nicole.
…At the very least, she’s a competent fighter.
But what about the Proxy? Was Eous and Fairy leading them, or was it the siblings themselves? She can’t remember. Being unable to remember made her angry and frustrated. Weak. She thought briefly about her sisters. The rest of Silver Squad, the comrades she failed. She clenched her fist. She won’t fail the Cunning Hares like she did her squad.
She’s going to find them, no matter what it takes.
She removed her hands from her shoulders and placed them on the side of the block. “Hmm… How would I find them, though?” Maybe she should’ve asked Marx to help her find them first before agreeing to his offer. Then again, he seems like a nice guy, so she doubts he wouldn’t mind changing their arrangement.
That being said, she should actually try to look for his ball.
Anby jumped down from the block and continued to walk down the path. “...Wait, he never actually told me what it looked like,” She realized.
Well, if it’s just a single ball, it shouldn’t be too hard to find it. And, there’s a clearing just a few steps ahead of her, so it should be there. With a hum, she turned on her W-Engine that’s connected to her pack. Her headphones started to play music directly into her ear, cutting through the constant silence making her feel a little more calm.
She reached the forest clearing, and her eyes widened. There are a lot of balls here.
Blue balls, red balls, spotted balls and footballs, all surrounding a single tree in the center of the clearing. She blinked once, and groaned.
(Hiding in the forest canopy, Marx popped his head out of a bushel of leaves and giggled. He turned to look at you, pointed to her with his wings. “Get a load of this bozo!” He told you. After another chortle, he hid back in the tree.)
Anby unsheathed her sword and poked one. The moment the sharp edge made contact with the surface, it popped. “Okay, no more of that,” She hummed, placing her sword back in its sheath. “I wouldn’t want to accidentally destroy Marx’s ball.”
After thinking about what to do for a bit, Anby came up with a plan. She organized all the balls into neat piles based on their appearances. The footballs went one pile, the blue balls went into another pile, the white spotted balls went in a separate one, the white spotted balls with a small black circle in the center of the dots went into another pile, and the white spotted balls with a small black in the center of the dots that also happened to have a single red star next on the top and…
(Marx watched with a bored expression as Anby made a new pile of balls for each one that minute difference. A ball could be completely blue like a few dozen others, and yet have a single scratch mark on it, so Anby would put it in a different pile. It was literally just slightly damaged. “Okay, I’m not here to see this, and neither are you!” He grabbed the edge of the page with his wings and pulled.)
After an ungodly amount of time, Anby placed the last white-spotted, star-studded, leaf-decorated, thorn crown-wearing blue ball, in a pile with the other three exact versions of it. There were now over fifty piles of differently colored and designed balls.
Among the balls, her personal favorites were the ones that were shaped like The Vault, Nicole’s W-Engien. There were six of them.
“Now, which one of these would belong to Marx?” She wondered aloud. It had to be the ball that’s different from all the rest, if he brought it from him. So, Anby scanned through her piles again, only to find that there were no uniquely designed balls. “That’s unfortunate,” she grumbled.
“Should I grab a random ball…?” Anby murmured to herself, but after a moment of self-reflection, she shook her head. As Nicole always says, the Cunning Hares never half-ass their commissions, so Anby shouldn’t either. There was a ball she missed.
But she scoured the floor already… not the tree. Anby looked towards the sole tree in the center of the clearing. And then she looked up at its branches. Her suspicion was confirmed; there was a single ball tucked between the leaves, one with red and blue stripes, just like Marx’s hat.
“It has to be that one,” Anby declared. The tree was quite tall, so she would have to climb up.
For some reason… that made her anxious. So, to hype herself up, she slapped her pudgy cheeks and rubbed her hands together as she approached the tree. Before she climbed it, she placed her hand on the bark. It felt tough and sturdy, so it should hold her weight.
With a grunt, Anby raised one foot to support herself against the trunk, and dug her mitts into the bark. Despite the lack of obvious footholds, that was enough to let her begin scaling the tree. She climbed up a few steps, her feet managed to slip.
Anby gasped as she supported her weight solely through her arms. And while she was relatively light, her pack and sword certainly were not. She probably should’ve removed it to make it easier.
Thankfully, there was a single branch nearby. If she held it, she could use it to reorient itself. So, she did. She used one hand to grab it, and as she loosened her grip on the bark to let the branch carry some of her weight, the branch snapped off. Anby blinked.
The tree also blinked. Slowly, Anby turned her head away from the branch and towards a new hole in the bark that gazed at her. That eye then turned angry, and the tree spun around to knock her off. Anby bounced off her head and landed on the floor.
She looked up, eyes wide with shock as the tree glared at her, the branch she snapped now apparently its nose. The tree uprooted itself, making itself slightly taller and burying Marx's ball inside its leaves. Its roots dug themselves out of the ground and writhed like tentacles as the tree opened its mouth and roared.
Impudent Big Tree
WHISPY WOODS
Whispy Woods sucked in a breath of air and launched clouds at Anby. At first, she was confused, but that confusion turned into panic as it slammed into her chest with the force of a cannonball and knocked her off the floor.
“Urgh…!” Anby finally unsheathed her sword and stabbed it into the ground to keep her from skidding across the ground. “What in the world is that?”
Whispy Woods denied her answer. Its roots buried themselves into the ground and burrowed towards her. Anby narrowed her eyes and ran away before they could shoot out of the ground and impale her. “Okay, I’ll just attack its blind spots,” Anby thought to herself.
She circled the tree to attack its side, only to find that Whispy Woods, either by rotating its trunk or its eyes, was still facing her. Whispy Woods smirked and shook its canopy, dropping an apple onto Anby’s head. “Ghhk!” She staggered backwards, and two roots dug themselves out of the ground next to her.
One lunged at her, and Anby was able to use her sword to slice it down. The other, however, slapped her cheek, making Anby swivel around, and then slammed into her back. “Am I seriously losing to a tree…?” Anby asked herself in a dizzy voice as she pushed herself up.
Nekomata would never let her live this down if she did. She had to win.
Once she was back on her feet, Anby sheathed her sword, letting her pack supercharge her blade with lightning. Anby ran forwards, dodging another set of air bullets from Whispy Woods’ mouth.
As she stood in front of it, Whispy Woods shook again. More apples rained down, colliding on the floor with enough force to leave impact craters. Anby let one drop in front of her, and after a few quick maffs in her head, kicked it. That apple bounced off the others, clearing the path in front of her.
Whispy Woods blinked, stunned by her maneuver, which let Anby get close to its trunk. “There!” She yelled as she unsheathed her sword, cutting into the wood with steel and lightning. “Now–! …huh.”
Anby noticed that Whispy Woods wasn’t on fire yet. “I thought trees weren’t fire retardant,” She murmured. Whispy Woods noticed she wasn’t moving.
So, it leaned forward and swallowed her whole. As Anby panicked inside its mouth, it began to chew noisily, the sound of crunching bone and powerful, blunt blows coming from inside it's trunk. After a few moments, it leaned back and spat Anby, making her collide with a tree on the edge of the clearing.
“...It doesn’t even have teeth,” Anby said to herself as she slid down the trunk. Whispy Woods sent more roots after her as she tried to recover. They shot up from the ground and launched her into the air, which made Anby grunt in pain as she flailed helplessly in the air.
As she descended, Whispy Woods shook its canopy again, making a glowing fruit fall down from a vine. Anby caught a whiff of TNT from it. “It’s explosive!?”
Whispy Woods shook more, causing the vine to snap and the fruit to fall. It took in a deep breath, inhaling the fruit before spitting it back out at Anby.
She flailed some more before calming down. She sheathed her sword again to charge it, and then turned her body to avoid being hit by the bomb fruit. As it flew backwards, she reached out and to grab the vine before the fruit could whizz past her, and with a twist of her body, she threw it back at Whispy Woods, making the fruit explode against its eye.
The tree roared in anger, and the roots moved up to get the soot out of its eye hole. With it distracted, Anby ran forwards and slashed wildly at Whispy Woods’ back, slamming her electrified blade into the bark repeatedly, but to no avail. The bark didn’t chip, nor did it ignite.
If anything, it made Whispy Woods angrier. The tree spun around and loomed over her once more. Anby dodged another attempted swallow, but was blindsided by another wave of falling fruit. The apples were forgotten entirely, so only tasty looking bombs dropped to the ground. Explosion rocked the floor and engulfed Anby in fire.
Once the smoke cleared, Anby was covered in soot. She coughed out smoke.
In the brief moment she was inebriated, Whispy Woods’ roots snatched her from the ground and wrapped around her body tightly. Only her head saw that light of day as she dragged over to Whispy Woods’ face.
“Ah, ack…!” Anby wheezed as the roots squeezed her tightly. She closed her eyes and concentrated on relaxing to hopefully slide out, but that didn’t work in the slightest. Whispy Woods kept squeezing.
“Really…!?” Anby hissed through gritted teeth. “After I just declared I would find… E-everyone!” She let out a hiss of pain as Whispy Woods squeezed harder.
Then, Anby opened her eyes and turned her head. Whispy Woods did the same. They both looked down, and saw an orange sphere wearing a light blue bandana with a tan face. It awkwardly waved at them with its nub arms.
“Ugh, hi?” The sphere asked in a quiet voice. Despite not having a mouth, they didn’t sound muffled. And, Anby couldn’t tell what gender they were supposed to be. “What’s, uh… what’s going on over here?”
“Nothing,” Anby said in a strained voice.
“Nothing?” The sphere looked from Anby, to Whispy, and then back to her. “That certainly looks like something.”
Whispy Woods opened its mouth to get the sphere’s attention. It then pointed to its snapped nose, which made the sphere gasp. “Oh, how could you!” They said in an accusatory voice. They placed their hands on their… hiiiiiiips? and huffed. “Why would you go and break Whispy Woods’ nose like that! Shame on you!”
Anby frowned. “It’s not my fault. I just wanted to help someone,” She said. As the conversation continued, she noticed that Whispy Woods’ grip had loosened, allowing her hand to wiggle around slightly. She inched it slowly to the handle of her blade. “A grape promised to take me home, and he said he wanted his ball back. And this tree has it.”
The sphere tapped the area where their mouth normally would be with their nub arm. “A grape, you say? Would this grape happen to have a jester hat?” They asked her. Anby quickly nodded. At the same time, she managed to grasp the handle of her sword.
“Oooooh, I get it now!” The sphere then said. “I think you’ve been tricked.” Anby blinked.
“Tricked?” She asked. The sphere nodded.
“Yeah, Marx is a little bit of a prankster. He can summon as many balls, just so you know,” The sphere told her, which only made Anby more confused. “In fact, he’s probably watching you embarrass yourself from somewhere.”
“Well, exuuuuuse me for trying to have a little fun in this day and age!” Marx suddenly shouted from the tree tops. Anby glanced at him with a look of betrayal on her face. “Whatever! I’m bored, anyway. Watching paint dry is more fun than watching you look at a ball for ten minutes!”
Marx turned around, sprouted gold wings from his back, and flew away. Not only did this leave Anby shocked, but also dumbfounded. “I…”
“You said that you needed help getting home, right?” The sphere then said, taking her attention away from her betrayer. Anby nodded slowly. “Don’t worry! I know someone who can help you! And, unlike Marx, he likes helping people.” The sphere then turned to Whispy Woods, who was watching the ordeal silently. “So, do you mind letting her go?”
Despite everything, Whispy Woods shook its trunk, and pointed to its nose again. “Oooh…” The sphere murmured disappointedly. “Looks like we won’t be able to get out of here without a fight.”
“You don’t have to. I can take care of this myself…!” Anby tried to say, as she’s not eager to put a child in danger. The sphere’s cheeks puffed out slightly.
“Clearly,” they say in a sarcastic voice. “I can fight! I’ve been trained by the best warriors in the galaxy!” The sphere then pulled out a spear out of nowhere, and twirled it effortlessly in their arms. “Lemme show you!”
With another twirl, the sphere lobbed their spear at the roots grappling Anby. Whispy Woods grunted in pain, loosening its grip even more. Anby was able to slip and draw her sword. She swung around her rapidly, slicing the roots.
Whispy Woods looked shocked for a moment as Anby broke free, and then scowled. It puffed up its cheeks, and then opened its mouth to inhale. A powerful vacuum effect began to draw the two in, and Anby, not wanting to be chewed up and spat again, stabbed her sword into the ground to avoid being sucked.
The sphere wasn’t so luck, and was slowly dragged through the air while it flailed its bitty limbs. “Ahh! Oh, geez! Sorry about this!” To avoid being inhaled, the sphere thrusted its spear into Anby’s back, producing sparks.
“Hey!” Anby huffed, but decided to not complain. Eventually, Whispy Woods ran out of breath, and began to wheeze.
“Great, let’s go on the offensive now!” The sphere said. He removed his spear from the Anby pack, and found that it was electrified. “Woah, cool!” Anby blinked. That’s not how her back should work. There also shouldn’t be a tether of electricity connecting the point of the spear to her back.
“How much did you damage my equipment?” She asked in a passive voice, trying to not sound offended or aggressive.
“I didn’t! This is something else entirely!” The sphere exclaimed. “We can now perform… a Friend Ability!” Anby blinked.
“That sounds like something from a video game,” She commented, to which the sphere simply nodded.
“Here, let me show you! Follow my lead!” The orange sphere began to run forwards, and moved behind Whispy Woods to wrap the tether around the base of his trunk once, then twice. “Now, pull!” Anby followed his instructions, and began to stomp away while the sphere tugged on his spear.
The electrified tether dug into Whispy Woods’ bark, and shocked it. The tree’s eyes went wide as it was covered in electricity until the tether broke. Now covered completely soot, Whispy Woods coughed out a cloud of smoke, and shook its body to get rid of the ashes.
“Now! Let’s hit it where it hurts!” The sphere cheered. Both they and Anby ran forwards and struck Whispy Woods with their respective weapons. Whispy Woods grunted and growled, and tried to slap them away with its roots but to no avail. The sphere was far too slippery to hit, and Anby was able to cleave the roots apart before they could reach her.
Roaring, Whispy Woods uprooted itself even further, until the entire tree pulled itself out of the ground and jumped. “What in the–!?” Anby gasped as the tree hovered over her. She couldn’t even move out of the way, as the roots shot downwards and anchored Whispy Woods to the ground. Anby narrowed her eyes, and sheathed her sword once more.
As Whispy Woods rocketed down to crush her, Anby unsheathed her blade once more. Electricity coiled around it and shot outwards, making the blade appear longer than normal. She crouched, and then shot upwards, using her sword to slice through Whispy Woods’ trunk.
When she emerged from the canopy, sliced apples fell out from the leaves, as well as Marx’ ball, which popped in the air. Anby landed on the floor, and after a few twirls, she sheathed her blade back inside.
Whispy Woods roared, and started to bounce all over the clearing, ricocheting off other trees while stars and puffs of clouds exploded from its body. Eventually, it landed in the center and hunched forwards. A single tear dropped from its eye. Streams of light emerged from the trunk, and stars burst out as well. Whispy Woods remained for a moment before fading away.
Whispy Woods spun around, and then hunched over. After dropping a tear, the holes that made up its eyes and mouth disappeared, and the tree went still.
“I’m glad we calmed him down for now,” The sphere said with a sigh.
Anby nodded. “What… was that?” She asked the sphere. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“Well, it’s Whispy Woods,” The sphere said. “It hangs out in a lot of different forests.” Anby raised an eyebrow.
“Th-there’s more than one?”
“Good question!” The sphere said unhelpfully. “Anyways, I guess we should introduce ourselves, then! Since we didn’t get to do it earlier!” The sphere adjusted their bandana and stood proudly, with their head/body held high and eyes proudly closed. “Call me Bandana Waddle Dee! But, you can call me Bandana Dee, or just Bandee if you prefer.”
“Right,” Anby murmured. That didn’t really sound like a name, she thought to herself, but didn’t think too much of it. “I’m Anby Demara. It’s nice to meet you, Bandee!”
“Samesies!” Bandee hopped forwards to shake her hand. “Where’re going to be great friends, I can tell.”
“Yeah…” Anby nodded, feeling a bit sick. When Bandee shook her hand, he moved back slightly, which allowed her to take notice of something she already knew when she woke up, but wanted not to notice. Now she has too.
…Anby was missing her arms. The only thing she had were floating gloved hands, connected to nothing, but a limb she could still move. The same applied to her legs; only her sneakers remained, and yet she could still stand and walk like normal.
In addition to all that, her body felt much shorter. The closest she could describe the feeling was as if her body had been reduced to the size of a bobble-head figure, with her head larger than the width of her body. There was also the fact that her face now lacked any mouth. “Anby?” Bandee sounded a little concerned.
“Y-yeah…” Anby said with a nod, trying to not look so shocked by the change of her body and proportions. But, since it’s now been brought to her attention, it’s really hard to ignore that she doesn’t have any arms and her hands are now floating. “Yeah, I’m…”
The shock was eventually too much for her. “Anby!” Bandee exclaimed as she fainted.
Anby Demara (LV 40)
HP: 558 | FP: 134
ATK: 297 | DEF: 112 | SPD: 70
LUCK: 25% | POW: 50%
BASIC ATK
Turbo Thunder Bolt (FP: 0)
Anby attacks with a slash of her sword. Deals Physical DMG, and deals additional Electric DMG if the sword has been charged.
Conducting Charge (FP: 0)
Anby sheathes her sword, which charges it until she deals damage. She cannot counterattack the next two enemies that attack her.
SKILLS
Lightning Bolt (FP: 9)
Anby strikes the target with an upwards slash, dealing Physical DMG, and immediately swapping out with a Benched Friend. If the sword has been charged, it deals additional Electric DMG, and has a chance of Stunning the attack target for two turns based on her LUCK.
Taser Blast (FP: 7)
Deals Physical DMG to one target, and the enemy to the left or right of that target. If the sword has been charged, it deals Electric DMG instead, and Anby also attacks the other adjacent enemy (if no such enemy exists, the first target is damaged again). Until the end of the next turn, if those enemies dealt Electric DMG are dealt Electric DMG again, they are stunned for two turns.
Thunderfall (FP: 15)
Anby sheathes her sword, which charges it until she deals damage. Once, until the start of Anby’s next turn, she automatically counters an enemy’s attack, dealing Electric DMG, then Anby switches out with a Benched Friend and allows them to start their turn immediately. Also, if that enemy takes Electric DMG again, that enemy is stunned for two turns.
ITEMS
Demara Battery MKII (x2)
Increases a Friend’s FP by 20. If that Friend can deal Electric DMG, they also gain 45 ATK until their next attack.
Cheeseburger (Food) (x1)
Increases a Friend’s HP and FP by 25 / 35 / 60 if they don’t mind / like / love this food.
FRIEND ABILITY
Anby and Bandee’s Overdrive Tether (FP: 35 + 20)
Anby and Bandee use their weapons to wrap an electric tether around all enemies. Mash their Actions Buttons at the same time to pull on the tether, dealing Electric DMG to all enemies repeatedly. Leaves all enemies stunned for two turns.
Anby and Nicole’s Grenade Engine (FP: 40 + 40)
Nicole aims her cannon upwards; press her Action Command to launch Black Holes into the air. Use the control stick to aim Anby’s sword, and press her Action Command to launch a lightning bolt at the Black Hole. Once Nicole launches 7 Black Holes, or 3 seconds have passed, the Black Holes that were struck by Anby crash back into the ground and explode, dealing continuous Ether and Electric DMG to enemies randomly. Damaged enemies have their DEF, SPD, and LUCK lowered.
Anby and Billy’s Overdrive Mirage (FP: 33 + 50)
Anby inserts her Sword into Billy’s back. Mash her Action Command to charge Billy with energy. While Billy has energy, aim the reticle with the control stick, and press his Action to fire at the enemy, dealing Electric and Physical damage to them, and stunning them for two turns.
Anby and Kirby’s Hypernova Engine (FP: 28 + 40)
Kirby drops his current Copy Ability, and immediately becomes Plasma Kirby. Anby places her sword in Plasma’s Kirby’s crown; mash Kirby’s Action Command to supercharge Anby’s sword. After three seconds, Kirby infuses his plasma with the sword, and then launches Anby into the air. As she comes down, press Anby’s Action Command to bounce off the enemy, dealing Electric DMG and stunning them, and letting her bounce onto the next enemy. Anby’s sword remains supercharged until she deals damage.
Kirby sleepily yawned as they made their way towards a lone tree in the center of rolling green, green hills with a single dirt path cutting across them. In the distance, she could also see donut shaped mountains in a literal sense: sections of earth raised from the ground, with holes in the center and glazed with grass on top.
With a smile, he sat down on the base of the trunk and yawned. They had a busy day today, so now was the perfect time to take a small rest. After stretching, Kirby settled onto the grass and closed his eyes.
The tree smelled a little like ozone, but otherwise she had no trouble falling.
Notes:
That's supposed to be a 0, not an o btw
For anyone wondering: Anby probably has the tamest redesign.
I wonder if this can be considered reverse isekai? ZZZ has the more grounded world, while Kirby's basically does whatever it wants as long as it looks cute. Ah, it'll turn into normal isekai soon.
So, what's with the Anby's profile at the end chapter? Simple: yes, I do believe I can conceptualize a gacha game's battle system better than what a team of professionals can. So, what can we do?
Well, Party's are made up of five characters, or "Friends" as this hypothetical game calls them. Two Friends are actively fighting the opposing team (Active Friends), while the other three remain in the back (Benched Friends). As with M&L/Paper Mario, to attack you need to perform an action command (most of them time just pressing the button when the attack is about to land) to deal more damage, block, and counterattack. The top friend uses the right face-button, while the bottom friend uses the left-button.
There's also a lot more options when compared to HSR. Each character has a limited number of items they can use per battle, and, although it's not mentioned, they can also guard to raise their defense slightly. This is where I get my first major criticism of HSR's combat; the lack of options. The only thing you can do is... fight. Because of this, it rarely feels like you're outsmarting the enemy to beat, it feels more like you're pummeling a punching bag until it breaks, or using your supports to drag your 1.X DPS to the finish line. And sometimes, it feels like you're forced to make a suboptimal move, or even put yourself in danger, because there's rarely nothing else you can do.
So, there's no multiple skills and basic attacks for each character, and they also hold items. The charges for items are refreshed at the start of every battle and cannot be refreshed during battle. With this, there should be a way to progress without too much trouble.
And, as a minor annoyance (almost nitpiciky), a lot of the character's kits in all Hoyo games feel word bloated. For example: here's the description for Acheron ultimate:
"Sequentially unleash Rainblade 3 times and Stygian Resurge 1 time, dealing Lightning DMG up to 372% of Acheron's ATK to a single target enemy, as well as Lightning DMG up to 300% of Acheron's ATK to other targets.
Rainblade: Deals Lightning DMG equal to 24% of Acheron's ATK to a single target enemy and removes up to 3 stacks of Crimson Knot from the target. When Crimson Knot is removed, immediately deals Lightning DMG equal to 15% of Acheron's ATK to all enemies. For every stack of Crimson Knot removed, the DMG Multiplier for this is additionally increased, up to a maximum of 60%.
Stygian Resurge: Deals Lightning DMG equal to 120% of Acheron's ATK to all enemies and remove all Crimson Knots.
Crimson Knot cannot be applied to enemies during the Ultimate."This can be simplified too:
In four attacks, deal Electric DMG up to 372% of Acheron's ATK to the target, and up to300% of Acheron's ATK to adjacent enemies.
The first three attacks deals Electric DMG equal to 24% of Acheron's ATK, then removes up the three Crimson Knots from the target, which deals Electric DMG equal to 15% of Acheron's ATK. For each Crimson Knot removed this way, this damage is increased by 60%.
The fourth attack deals Electric Damage equal to 120% of Acheron's ATK, then removes all Crimson Knots on the field.I feel like they're written this way not to provide clarity, but to make these skills seem more impressive. It does sound less fancy, and not as impressive, when I refer to "Rainblade" and "Stygian Resurge" as simply "the first three" and "fourth attacks."
Next thing on the docket is the Friend Abilities. Instead of traditional ultimates, each character was a pool of Friend Abilities that can be used when they are paired with a specific Friend. Except for Kirby, who has a Friend Ability with everyone. They can be activated at anytime, as long as you have the Friend Points (FP) to activate them. To compensate for this, Friend Abilities cost a lot of FP to activate. Similarly to HSR's SP, each Friend recovers 10 SP at the start of their own turn.
LUCK and POW serve as Crit Rate and Crit DMG respectively. Regarding Break Effect or Attribute Anomaly, I'll save those discussion for a later time.
And, uh, I think that's everything I've got for today.
K bye.
Chapter 2: Prologue 2 - Egg Equinox
Summary:
Tell your Scarfies to stop staring at my eyes!
G E _ _ _ _ _ _
Notes:
Welcome to another chapter of "what do you mean the notes are longer than the chapter!?" Got a fun one for you all today, hehe.
Right now, probably the hardest part of this fic is figuring out how to redesign the ZZZ characters. Anby's was relatively tame because I wanted her to sort ease everybody into it and let them know, 'this is what i'm doing, I'm turning everyone into skrunklies', and that since also Kirby series doesn't have much a strict design philosophy. Characters tend to either be balls or some random assortment of shapes with a few accessories. Probably the most consistent thing about Kirby designs, especially in more recent eras, is that every seems to have detached limbs, float because they lack legs, and seemingly have no mouths.
Compare this how hoyo designs characters, aside from the obvious. They are decked out, wearing colorful outfits with a multitude of designs on them, some accessories, and heavy use of asymmetry. There's also some... i'm going to be honest, annoying quirks, like the random thigh-strap, most women being in heels, multiple characters sharing models instead of having unique ones, and the heavy use of asymmetry, and because of all that, it's difficult to translate them into much smaller, simpler designs.
Obviously, I can't fit every single design element from the original design, nor can I simply chop off everyone's heads, attach hands and feet and call it a day. What I'm going to try and do is take the most iconic elements of a character and base their kirby-fied design off that. Off the top of my head, let's redesign Corrin.
When I think of Corin, the first thing that comes to mind is her teddy bear. So, it should be a key part of her design. She's also timid, frightened easily, and green, and uses a chainsaw in battle. Taking all that into account, I'd envision her to be another squishy green sphere with detached ball hands. In addition to that, her teddy bear also draped over her, with the feet dragging on the floor, and the head over her. She'd be able to retract into her teddy bear's stomach like a hermit crab or a turtle, and the teddy bear would also be able to spit buzzsaws from its stomach.
Boom! Corrin is now a Kirby character. Van Gogh would be jealous of my genius. Anyways, If you like what you see, why don't you leave a comment? Number go up make monkey brain happy.
Bye-Bye
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Anby woke up with a start on a soft bed. She swiveled her large head around her shoulders (she cannot tell if she has a neck anymore), and found herself in a small yet homely room with a fireplace on the wall, and a dresser next to her.
“Hmm…?” Who brought her here? The vague memory of an orange sphere befuddled her for a moment, before everything came rushing back. “Right, the grape, the tree, and that spear-wielding sphere.”
She jumped off the bed, and once again took notice that she only had appendages, and not limbs to accompany them. Curious about how they worked, she lifted the cuff of her glove and peered inside. It was hollow. She raised her foot, and like her hands, there was nothing as well. Did the same apply to the rest of her body?
Anby turned away from the door and lifted her skirt.
…
Ah, it’s not like she was using it for much, anyways.
As she smoothed her skirt, Anby heard a knock from the door. “Excuse me?” Bandee asked quietly. “Are you awake? I don’t want to disturb you.”
“Yes, I am,” Anby said with a nod of her head, which also bowed more than half her body. A few seconds later Bandee walked into the room, carrying a tray with orange juice and hotcakes over his head. He placed the tray on the corner of the bed, and handed Anby a fork.
“You must be hungry after that fight with Whispy Woods. So, I thought I’d make you something to give you back your energy!” The sphere closed his eyes and… didn’t smile, but it was easy to imagine that being his expression.
“Thank you,” Anby said. She took the fork and awkwardly turned it around in her hand. She doesn’t even know how she’s speaking, how is she supposed to eat?
Despite her inner befuddlement, Bandee continued to look at her expectantly. Anby shriveled slightly from his gaze, and she couldn’t bring himself to say no. She cut up a tiny slice of pancake and then brought the fork to her mouth.
Somehow, the fork phased through her face, and she began to chew. Anby has no idea how she’s doing any of this, since last she checked she couldn’t feel anything resembling a mouth, tongue, or throat. At the very least, the pancakes tasted good.
“Feeling better now?” Bandee asked. Anby nodded. “Well, that’s a relief. A good nap and warm meal always helps me out after a tough fight, so I thought the same would work for you!”
Anby pouted. She could’ve gone on for much longer if everything that happened to her didn’t feel so sudden. “It helped me very much, thank you,” She sighed. Thankfully, Bandee didn’t register her disappointment in herself.
“Well, I’m glad!” As Anby finished her food, Bandee walked to the corner of the room and sat down. “So, how did you meet Marx, anyways?”
“I was wandering through the forest, and he approached me,” Anby told the orange sphere. Once she finished her food, she placed the tray aside. “He offered to find a way home if I got his ball from that living tree.”
“Home?” Bandee gasped, raising their arms and placing on what she assumed to be their cheeks. “You’re lost? Oh, that’s terrible!” Anby studied their expression.
Bandee looked, and to be honest, sounded more sympathetic than Marx. Thinking back on it, the grape did sound almost sarcastic as he talked. She can’t hear that fake kindness coming from Bandee (then again, she often can’t discern fake kindness anyways). And, he did bring her food.
“Yes. But… even then I doubt he would be able to do so,” Anby murmured quietly. Bandee tilted their body / head in confusion. “You see…” She took a deep breath. “Now, this may seem hard to believe, but… I think I may be from a different world.”
She waited for Bandee to laugh, passing off her statement as a joke, or continue their confused expression. Not a light-hearted chuckle.
“Oh, that’s it?” They asked instead. Anby blinked.
“‘Th-that’s… it’…?” Anby’s bewilderment probably surpassed his initial surprise.
“Well, I know a guy who can help with that!” Bandee said cheerfully. Anby levelled a half-lidded, utterly confused at Bandee as they passed off the dimensional travel as a minor inconvenience. “He lives on this big space-traveling sailboat that can cross dimensions. We can use that to get you back home. Uh, unfortunately, I don’t have him on speed dial.”
“...Oh,” Was all Anby could say in response to that. “Do you know where he leaves this sailboat?” Bandee shook their head.
“Merry Magoland is a bit too far from here, but Magolor does frequent Castle Dedede often,” Bandee said. “We can hang out there while we wait for him to show up.”
“Castle Dedede, okay,” Anby nodded. She wondered if Bandee lived at this ‘Castle Dedede’. The castle must also be the sign back at the forest pointed. “Where is it?”
Instead of answering directly, Bandee turned around and opened the door. Anby followed him outside.
The small house they were just in was a gray, stone dome in the middle of a grassy plain, situated next to a single tree. Bandee hops on top of the house, and then on the brick smokestack. They pointed to a nearby mountain range. On said mountain was a squared-off fortress with towers on the corner of the walls, and with gate and two windows on front that resembled a frowning face.
“That’s Castle Dedede, all the way at the top of Mt. Dedede,” Bandee told Anby. “There, Magolor usually goes there to give free tickets to Merry Magoland to King Dedede.”
“K-King…!?” Anby murmured under her breath. “I’m going to meet with royalty?” She placed a hand on her chin. “Then, should I get a change of clothes? Or, maybe…” In all of the movies she watched, the king or the prince was usually a striking man. She wondered what constituted ‘striking’ in a place where everything is cute.
Bandee hopped down from the house and placed themself next to Anby. “I wouldn’t worry about formalities with the Great King. He’s, um… a simple guy.” Anby looked at Bandee with a raised eyebrow, but shrugged.
“Okay, if you say so.” Anby looked up at the sky, and spotted the sun rising from the behind swirl-shaped clouds. “How long will it take to scale Mt. Dedede?”
“From here, not long at all! If all goes well, we should reach Castle Dedede by nightfall,” Bandee explained to her.
“Nightfall, huh…?” She had to admit, Anby’s not sure if she’s cut out for this long trek. Due to the nature of Hollows, most commissions that happen inside one usually take around an hour or two to finish. Not hours at a time. That, and it’s been years since her time in Silver Squad; her stamina has taken a dive.
Bandee noticed the look of apprehension on her face. “Don’t worry about the distance too much,” They reassured her with a pat on her shoulder. “I’ve got snacks and water with me, and we can take a rest whenever you want.”
“Okay, then,” Anby said. “Let’s get moving, then.” She adjusted her pack. Bandee nodded and began to follow her, but something crossed their mind.
“Oh! Before I forget!” Bandee ran in front of her and reached into their bandana. They took out a green pin with a red battery in the center. It sort of looked like her W-Engine. “This is Badge . You can put Stickers on it, and both increase your power.” He flicked it over to Anby, and she snatched it from the air.
The Badge faintly smells of ozone. “I don’t have any Stickers on me at the moment, but I’m sure we’ll find some eventually!” Bandee added. Anby nodded. She pinned the Badge to her collar, and felt a small jolt of electricity travel down her back and reach her pack. “Great! Then we’re off, for real this time!”
Bandee summoned their spear, and pointed forwards. They began their march towards Mt. Dedede, with Bandee leading the charge and Anby close behind.
The forest was rather tame, Anby thought to herself as stood on a slow moving platform that hovered over a bottomless black abyss.
Currently, the hike to Mt. Dedede has been uneventful. The only surprises so far have been the gravity defying blocks and land masses somehow levitating in the air, the occasional bottomless pit, and a few skirmishes against the local population, including but not limited too: A golden helmet with arms and legs (Sir Kibble) angry pink balls with wings (Bronto Burts), another pink sphere with a red bow and bouncing on a spring (Bouncy) and a robot with sneakers and a baseball cap (Gim).
When asked why they were hostile, Bandee simply said “Good question.”
The platform stopped, having pumped onto another platform. The two stepped onto it as it began to float to the edge of the pit.
It sort of reminded her of a Hollow, though, with less terrible corruptive elements and if you replaced all the crystalline monsters with skrunklies. That, or she’s overthinking all of this.
It took a few minutes to reach the base of the mountain. Soft green grass had been replaced with dry dirt. The path forward became raised, becoming a path that spiraled around a tall mountain that jutted out of the earth. “Well, we’re here, Mt. Dedede! We’re already almost halfway there!”
Anby hummed. “I didn’t take as long as I thought it would,” she commented under her breath. She looked up at the sun, and saw that the sun was directly above them.
“Do you need to take a break?” Bandee asked her. Anby had to think about it for a moment. For obvious reasons, her knees weren’t sore, but her shoulders were starting to ache, and the soles of her feet (shoes?) were starting to feel a bit sore.
“I wouldn’t mind a small one. Ten minutes should be sufficient,” She told them. Bandee nodded.
“Sounds good to me!” Bandee told her, smiling despite not having a mouth. They reached behind him, and pulled out a chocolate bar. They ate it and began to chew - again, despite not having a mouth - and paused. “Ah, old habits die hard, I guess,” Bandee muttered. They took out another chocolate bar and passed it to Anby.
“Old habits?” She asked him as she tore the wrapper. Bandee nodded.
“You’re not from around here, so you wouldn’t know,” They clarified. “Sometimes when we eat food, we share it by doing a Face-to-Face.” Anby tilted her head. “You know how some birds feed their babies by vomiting food down their throats.” Anby blinked. “I promise it’s less gross than it sounds. I guess weren’t good enough Friends to have a Face-to-Face yet, hmm?”
Again, Anby has that strange feeling that Bandee is talking either about or like they’re from a video game.
Anby shook her head. She brought the chocolate bar to her mouth to bite into it - despite not having a mouth - and when she did, her teeth that she somehow still has DESPITE NOT HAVING A MOUTH made the sound of gunshot when they clicked together.
“Did you hear that?” Bandee asked her. They looked up the mountain and placed their arms over their eyes to see better. “It sounds like someone is fighting up there. But who?”
Anby listened closely to the sound of the hammer dropping to pinpoint where it came from, but that ended up being unnecessary, as the owner of the guns was somehow louder than that.
“Waaaaaaagh! Get off me–! Hey, not the hair, not the hair!”
“Billy…” Anby realized. She placed her hand on the hilt of her sword, and turned to her Bandee. “I know him. He’s from my world.” Bandee blinked, and brought their spear once more.
“What are we waiting for here, then? Let’s go help him!” Bandee exclaimed as they raised their spear high in the air. Anby nodded, and the two raced up the steep mountain path. Cave entrances dotted the wall of the mountain. Another scream from Billy was enough to pinpoint his location. “This way!” Bandee said. Anby followed them inside.
A pair of sharp teeth clamped around a strand of metal hair, making the owner yelp. “Hey! Not again, just leave me alone!” Billy yelled. He raised one hand, which retracted into his pauldron and came out as a revolver barrel. A gunshot echoed in the cave, blasting the monster off him.
The monster bounced off the rocky wall and roared; it was an orange-skinned demon head with a single eye and wide gaping mouth. Three Scarfies all floated around, screeching and snapping their jaws at Billy for disturbing their aimless floating. “You’re so annoying!” He managed to say before being cut off by a Scarfy biting his forehead.
“Billy!” Everyone froze and turned around when they heard Anby’s voice. Billy grabbed the Scary chewing on his head and lifted it like a cap to see the girl and her companion Waddle Dee run towards them. “Billy! That’s you, right?”
Unlike her, Billy’s body has completely changed to fit more in line with local population, an account of him being more head than body. He resembled his W-Engine; a black sphere with angular yellow eyes, and spiky white hair with red tips swept to the left. The red plates on cheeks were a bit higher than normal, and the red swirl was now a vent with two iron bars. Also, on either side of the head were two red pauldrons that his glove-like hands sprouted from, and on the bottom were two red block boots with white soles.
"He kinda looks like Metal General," Bandee thought to themself.
Despite being robotic, the eyes and vent-mouth could move and stretch, evident by how Billy’s yellow eyes turned into wide circles. “Anby!? That’s you!? You look…! Adorable!” He threw the Scarfy eating his face away and ran towards her. His metal hands pinched Anby’s chubby cheeks. Her eyes became half-lidded with annoyance as he cooed.
Anby raised her and slapped him with the pommel of her sword, which knocked him back. “Now’s not the time for that,” She chided him gently.
“Right, got it!” Billy’s arms retracted back into his pauldrons, and his two guns popped out. “I’m not sure how, but for some reason my pistols are integrated into my body. Doesn’t matter to me, though, ‘cause I still look cool like this!”
“Oooh! Nice weapons!” Bandee exclaimed, his eyes shining at the polished barrels of the pistols.
Then, the Scarfies snarled again. They floated above the trio, and one of the demon heads roared. “How did you make the Scarfies angry? They’re usually pretty passive unless you antagonize them!” Bandee exclaimed. They yelped and jumped back as a Scarfy bit out the floor they once stood on.
“That’s what I want to know, too!” Billy replied, aiming at the sky and shooting at the Scarfies. “One moment, I was freaking out about how I look nothing like me–!” He stiffly jumped out of the way of another Scarfy diving towards him. “And the next thing I know a bunch of balls were falling from the sky!”
“Balls?” Anby murmured. “The Scarfies must’ve thought you threw some at them, in that case.” She charged her blade, and unsheathed it as Scarfy lunged at her. The monster clamped its jaws around the blade, and yowled as the electricity stunned it. “Billy!”
“On it!” He turned around, and fired a barrage of rounds from his guns. The Scarfy yelped and was knocked away. When it hit the wall, it exploded in a burst of stars and confetti.
“Who would leave a bunch of balls in a cave, anyways?” Bandee asked as they jabbed their spear towards a duo of Scarfies hounding them. As he said that Anby’s mind went to a certain grape…
Her wandering mind did allow a Scarfy to bite her face. Anby let out a shout, the sound muffled, and started to run around the cave to try and get it off her. “Oh no!” Billy ran towards her, grabbed the horns of Scarfy and pulled. “L-let her go…!” He grunted. The Scarfy was stretched but was still latched onto Anby’s skull, as its dinky sharp teeth dug into her scalp and chin.
“You better hurry up!” Bandee said from afar as they bonked a Scarfy over the head. “Those guys explode if they’re scary for too long!”
“EXPLODE!?” Billy and Anby exclaimed. True to his words, the Scarfy began to glow and smell like gunpowder. Billy tugged harder on the Scarfy, stretching it out even wider until he was nearly ten feet away from Anby. “This isn’t working, what do we do!?”
Anby’s mind went into overdrive on how to escape this situation, considering how this world operated, it's unlikely she’d come away from this with anything more than a few burn marks, but she’d rather not tempt fate at the moment. But she couldn’t think of anything, so she pressed her electrified sword to her to jumpstart her synapses.
Somehow, that worked.
With the Scarfy stretched like a cartoon smear panel, Anby was able to see again. She spotted a rock on the side, and after doing some quick maffs in her head, she tossed her sword. The sword bounced off the rock, which made it ricochet into the wall, which made it bounce off that and impale Billy back.
“AGH!” Billy cried out, and for a moment his eyes were red. The electricity from the sword then flowed into his body. “Wait a minute…!” A newfound surge of strength filled his metallic body. Steam began to flow out of his vent-mouth as he let go of one of the Scarfy’s ear, and pressed a gun to the side of its body.
“Know this, unknown creepy demon head thing! A Starlight Knight will never leave the innocent unprotected.” The hammer dropped, and a massive bullet the size of Billy's body / face was spat out from the gun barrel dislodging the Scarfy from Anby’s face. When it collided with the wall, it exploded, and the Scarfy burst as well.
“Woah…” Anby gasped. Her hair was slightly frayed from where the bullet grazed her head. “We’re never doing that in close quarters again,” She told him.
Billy nodded. “Yeah, wouldn't want to hurt anybody with that.” He looked at his gun, wondering how a bullet that size came out of the comparatively miniscule barrel. Anby then walked behind him and pulled her sword out of Billy’s back. He yelped from the sudden pain.
Off to the side, Bandee had also defeated their Scarfy. “Phew! Looks like we’re done here!” Bandee said. The other two nodded.
The trio left the cave system, and returned to the main path of the mountain. After a quick introduction, they began to exchange stories.
“...So, yeah, I can’t remember how I got here. And I haven’t found Nicole, Nekomata, or Eous, either,” Billy grumbled in disappointment, after explaining he woke up inside Mt. Dedede. “I guess that makes two of us with memory problems.”
“That also means the others likely won’t have any recollection of coming here, either,” Anby sighed. “Do you think somebody intentionally made us forget how we got here.”
“I mean, probably?” Billy shrugged. He scratched the back of his head and said, “Thing is, I’m an intelligent construct, so blunt force trauma alone isn’t to make me forget everything. They’d had to physically access my memory banks and delete files from there.”
“Then again, we aren’t in your world anymore,” Bandee added. “Maybe some magic was able to affect your memories, or the head bonk really did work.”
Billy shrugged again. “That’s true, too…” He went silent for a few moments, before his eyes widened. “Oh, wait! I just remembered something important! Anby, I spotted Ethereals in the caves!”
“Ethereals?” Anby asked, her usually monotone voice raising in volume.
“Those crystal monsters from your world? I thought those were only supposed to exist in Hollows,” Bandee asked them.
“Yeah, usually! But I swear I saw them just hanging out in the open!” Billy said with an exaggerated nod.
“That’s… concerning,” Anby murmured. Them, and Ethereal, too? Ethereals are supposed to be in dormant states when outside of Hollow, so why are they active here?
“Do you want to investigate?” Bandee asked the pair. “I might not know much about Hollows or Ethereals, but they sound similar to something that me and my friends faced in the past, so I know they’re bad news if we let them stick around for too long!”
“Yes, we probably should,” Anby said with a slow nod. “A Hollow Disaster should not happen in this world. Returning home can wait!”
“Great, I was thinking the same thing!” Billy's eyes turned angular again, which let Anby know that he was serious about this. “Now, lemme show you where I found these guys.” He gestured for Bandee and Anby to follow him back into Mt. Dedede’s cave system.
BILLY KID (LV 40)
HP: 649 | FP: 112
ATK: 109 | DEF: 150 | SPD: 40
LUCK: 25% | POW: 50%
BASIC ATK
Steady Shot (FP: 0)
Billy shoots his guns at the target, dealing Physical DMG.
Team Starlight (FP: 0)
After an enemy is stunned, Billy can attack immediately with his guns, (including from the Bench), dealing Physical DMG
Fair Fight (FP: 0)
While Benched, if a friend is inflicted with a status condition, he can immediately switch out with them, and if he does, Billy gains 20 ATK for two turns.
SKILLS
Steady Shot (FP: 15)
Loads 3 Armor-Piercing Bullets (max. 7) into Billy’s guns that inflict Physical Piercing Battle DMG (uses 3/4 of the enemies Current DEF during damage calculation) which are consumed when Billy shoots his gun.
Dazzling Entrance (FP: 10)
Can only be activated on the first turn Billy is active. Billy shows off, which can lower all enemies’ ATK and/or DEF based on his LUCK
Starlight Ballistics (FP: 24)
Consumes all Armor-Piercing Rounds (if any) which increases Billy’s ATK by 20 for each Round consumed until the end of the this attack, then Billy spins around and fires wildly, dealing Physical DMG (Piercing Battle DMG, if Rounds are consumed) to random enemies.
ITEMS
Cinnamon-Flavored Oil (Food) (x2)
Increases FP by 40. If the Friend isn’t mechanical or Kirby, they are poisoned, otherwise, they gain 5 more FP. Kirby drops his current Copy Ability and becomes Poison Kirby
Emergency Rounds (x4)
Billy gets 2 Armor-Piercing Rounds.
Starlight Knights Zx II: The Revenge of Zero-Gravitron (x1)
Billy summons a TV (with HP equal to half of Billy’s) and watches the movie. Half of the DMG taken by Billy is also dealt to the TV. At the start of Billy’s next turn, if he and the TV are still on the field, Billy’s ATK is doubled until the end of his next turn.
FRIEND ABILITY
Anby and Billy’s Overdrive Mirage (FP: 33 + 50)
Billy and Nicole’s Mirage Ether (FP: 40 + 32)
Press Nicole’s Action Command to fire a Black Hole at the enemies and prevent them from running away. Mash Billy’s Action Command to charge his gun. Once four seconds have passed, or both characters Actions Commands are pressed at the same time, Billy fires an Armor Piercing Ether Round that explodes which deals Ether Double Piercing Battle DMG (that ignores half the enemies) Current DEF, to all enemies.
Billy and Nekomata’s Starlight Smash (FP: 43 + 40)
When the reticle appears over an enemy, press Nekomata’s Action Command to grab them and drag them to Billy; press his Action Command when she does to deal Physical Double Piercing Battle DMG to target before they escape.
Billy and Kirby’s Starlight Void (FP: 38 + 50)
Kirby drops their current Copy Ability, and becomes Mecha Kirby and dashes towards the enemy continuously for 7 seconds. When they reach an enemy, press their Action Command to launch them into the air. As the enemy ascends/descends, press Billy’s Action Command when they line up with his sight to deal Physical Double Piercing Battle DMG to them.
Billy and Meta Knight’s Starlight Illusion (FP: 40 + 39)
Meta Knight stabs his sword into the ground, knocking all enemies into the air and off screen. Billy run around the enemies' side; press the Action Button to shoot a bullet into the airAfter three laps, or after Billy shoots 8 times, any enemies hit by Billy fall back down together; press Meta Knight’s Action Command then they align with the reticle to deal Electric DMG. If they were shot twice by Billy, they take Piercing Battle DMG. If they weren't shot, they drop down and take no damage
Notes:
So, a common theme in Kirby theme is friendship. And, in ZZZ, there's a mechanic by which you get closer to the agents you've gacha for. The rewards for that all pull currency and that characters getting another mindscape in Hollow Zero... but there's a few problems I have this. First; Hollow Zero isn't fun, and I much prefer Lost Void. The extra mindscape also triggers in Lost Void too, I think, but since some select characters already get upgrades in Lost Void, it makes them feel obsolete. That, and Lost Void is also hella easy.
What would a friendship mechanic work like in an RPG, much less a Kirby game? Well, I don't have to do too much thinks, Fire Emblem already has that sorted out for me. In FE, having two units fight next to each makes them grow closer together, eventually leading to romances ending for the two characters (if they survive that is).
This game would probably have something similar: fighting together, giving items, healing or using buffs, and using Friend Abilities would have two Friends grow closer to each other. Once they grow close enough their Bond ranks up, which starts at D and goes up to A, each rank provides the pair with a different buff.
The first is Face-to-Face: Starting at C-Rank and on the turn after eating food, the Friend who ate can swap out with another character and give their Friend a lil' Smooch!~ healing the other slightly when they became active. If I can be honest, I don't see this actually being implemented, partly because China isn't particular LGBT friendly (i guess I should mention that imagine Hoyo is developing, while Nintendo has their eyes and a knife over their shoulder) and because some parasocial basement dwellers probably can't stand the sight of their waifu getting an innocent Smooch!~ by ambiguously gendered blobs like Kirby. Thankfully, this isn't an actual game. Yet.
Starting a B-Rank, Friends can now slap each other around when they get a status condition and remove it, even if one of them is Benched. This triggers randomly but has a higher chance if both Friends are Active.
And at A-Rank, the FP cost for Friend Abilities is reduced.
You'll must've also noticed that Bandee mentioned Badges and Stickers. Stickers serve as Disc Drives, or Relics from Genshin/HSR. They wouldn't have substats, only the main stat, which is now dependent on what Sticker Set you use. Essentially, Disc Drive like Fanged Metal would always give a Physical DMG bonus when equipped, which would increase for each Fanged Metal you have equipped. Only four stickers can be equipped, and for each two pair additional bonus effect would be applied. So, you can either go for a full four-piece set and get one big bonus, or two two-piece sets and get two bonuses. This is mainly done to cut down on the excessive unfun grinding. The bonuses also won't be so good that you need to always have a pair; theoretically, having four different sticker types should be fine.
I'll talk about badges at a later date, since there's an idea that I'm workshopping with them.
k bye
Chapter 3: Prologue 3 - Parfait Perusal
Summary:
*howl* they've mutated into a monster, rawr~
G E P _ _ _ _ _
Notes:
Y'all thought me complaining about kit word length was nitpicky? Wait 'till you hear my opinions on music and the bosses' Hp bars! It's a small thing, I know, but I think I can complain at least a little when a gacha game's MO is making you form an addiction to it.
So, for one, HSR straight up tells you how many phases a fight has. Then seems kind of minor, but doing so ruins the element of shock and surprise when a new phase starts. Look up reactions to the Volo fight from Legends: Arceus. The piano, Giratina's suddenl appeance, and the electric guitar when Giratina transforms into it's Origin Form all create tension and excitement that build up on top of each other. With HSR, that can't happen because you can see how many phases you have left to go through.
There's also the fact that these phase changes don't really feel like phase changes. The boss staggers for a moment once their hp goes to 0, and then they get back up. It's as if they've been weakness broken, and what I think makes this worse is that most of the time there are no physical changes to boss that indicates a phase change. Phantylia changes color, yes, but she's the only boss that does this.
And, finally, from a mechanical standpoint, all debuffs are removed from the boss because... good question. It just happens.
The way Kirby does phase changes is much better, imo. Rather than emptying it's first health bar, you damage it until you reach a certain HP value. Once that value has been reach, all damage taken is greatly reduced is it transitions between phases, which usually involves it getting bigger, changing color, or just roaring loudly to indicate that yes, the phase has changed.
Ok, current rant over. I have nothing to say in the end notes, I think.
Bye-Bye.
Chapter Text
Perhaps she should’ve expected this, but the cave system was unlike any other she’s seen… in movies. New Eridu doesn’t have many caves.
Usually, the caves in movies were dank and claustrophobic, with rocky walls closed tightly into a single thin hallway. The caves in Mt. Dedede were wide open spaces with rivers and waterfalls flowing through them, and with holes in the cavern walls that allowed some sunlight to seep through. As with the outside, bottomless pits and random floating platforms were plentiful as well.
The most entrancing part of the caves were the glowing crystals embedded into the stalagmites on the floor; star-shaped crystal orbs released warm light which brightened when Anby got closer to it. She raised her hand towards one, and felt its warm glow on her palm.
Bandee was at the front, leading them through the winding paths of the cave. Anby and Billy followed them from behind, content to let the native Dreamlander act as their guide.
“So, how are you holding up?” Billy asked sometime after a few moments of silence. Anby tilted her head. “I mean…” He gestured vaguely to her body with his metal hands, and added, “that’s gotta feel pretty weird, right? Your hands are floating . Like, how do they even work?”
“Oh.” Anby shrugged, a motion that she could only perform now by having her hands face the ceiling and move them up and down. “They just… do. It’s nothing I’m too concerned about.” Billy narrowed his eyes at her, and his vent mouth curled into a slight frown.
“Really? What happens if I do this?” He walked closer to her and waved his hand up and down, between her hand and shoulder. “Do you feel anything?”
“No,” Anby shook her head. “Just your hand moving the air around.”
“Hmm…” Billy tried to place his hand on his chin to stroke it as if was thinking, but due to his lack of arms, he could only pat his cheek. “What about this?” He reached down, and plucked Anby’s foot from the ground. Anby’s eyes widened as she stumbled, no longer able to feel the foot Billy swiped from her.
“Do you think there’s anything magnetic keeping you together?” Billy asked as he peered inside the green sneakers. Anby awkwardly hopped over to him and bonked his forehead with the pommel of her sword. “Hey!” He yipped, dropping the shoe.
It didn’t come back immediately, so Anby grabbed it and put it back on the ground where it normally would be. That was enough to feel her foot again and use it properly. “Don’t take my shoe like that,” Anby said with pout.
“Right, sorry! Just curious, that’s all,” Billy apologized. He then bumped into Bandee. “Hmm? We stopped?”
“There’s a fork in the road,” Bandee said. He pointed his spear downwards to show the foreigners. The trio now stood over a cliff, and underneath them was a lake that separated into a multitude of rivers that each led to their own smaller caves.
“Usually, forks have three or four prongs, not…” Anby scanned the room briefly, “seventeen.”
“Billy, did you remember which way you came from?” Bandee asked him. Billy’s eyes went dark, as if they were closed, and he looked up at the ceiling as he patted his cheek in thought.
“AAAAAAAAH!”
To save time and energy, Billy retracted his arms and feet to roll down the winding path. Behind him, an avalanche of balls and a crowd of enraged Scarfies chased after him.
“No,” Billy sighed. Steam floated out of his vent, and he literally deflated slightly.
“Well, that sounds like a bit of a problem, then…” Bandee hummed. Using a series of descending floating platforms, Bandee hopped down from the cliff and made it to the rocky shore of the lake. Anby and Billy followed suit, though they moved more slowly on account of them not being as used to platforming. “It’s not like we can go through each cave, one by one.”
“Theoretically, we could, but that would take too much time and energy,” Anby hummed to herself. She approached the wall of one cave entrance and looked inside. The warm light from the star-shaped ores or the sun didn’t reach far inside, and she felt cold air coming out from the cave as well.
Billy scanned the small cave entrances. Like the other sources of light, the ones from his eyes didn’t reach far. “We could break the ores from the rocks and toss them in to see what’s in there?” Billy suggested to the others.
“I don’t think any of our weapons can break rock easily,” Bandee sighed and they took out their spear. Anby nodded as well. She took out her sword, which sparked from the energy in her battery.
“...Maybe we don’t need the ores!” Billy exclaimed. He turned around and began to look for… something.
“What do you mean?” Anby asked. Bandee and Anby watched as Billy suddenly turned around and presented to them a can of ‘Cinnamon-Flavored Oil’. “...how do you flavor oil?”
“Oh, you’ll learn when you’re a robot!” Billy said, patting her on the shoulder. He shook the can in his arms, and even shot at it to make it move more vigorously. After a moment, he hummed to himself and screwed off the cap. Oil shot from the bottle, spraying deep inside each of the caverns.
“...How do you make carbonated oil?” Anby asked again.
“Don’t worry about it!” Billy said. Once he finished spraying the caves, he placed the can of oil back into his hammerspace. “There! Anby, use your sword to burn the oil!” She nodded, and unsheathed her sword once more.
After charging it, she tapped her blade against the streaks of oil at each cave entrance. The electricity sparked the oil and caused it to ignite. The flames traveled along the streaks of oil, heading deeper into the caves, and revealing their secrets.
Nothing, for the most part. From one burning cave entrance, a brown furred weasel-like animal with large front claws (Gaw Gaw) walked out, covered in soot. “Not cool, dude,” they said, before digging into the ground and covering Anby and Bandee with dirt.
Anby approached the hole. “Sorry,” She said, but was hit by another clump of dirt. It fell off her face and sealed the hole. Anby pouted.
“Hey guys, it worked!” Billy said. Anby and Bandee shook the dirt off them, and looked up to see the robot waving at them. They walked up the bath and stood at the cave entrance next to him and peered inside. The fire on the oil illuminated the inside, and they saw it. A moving pile of green, black and pink crystals.
The figure moved, retreating further into the cave and hiding into the shadows. “That’s gotta be the Ethereals I saw earlier!” Billy said. “Let’s go after it!”
“But we covered the floor in fire,” Anby correctly noted. Billy blinked.
“Don’t worry, I can clear it in no time!” Bandee said, pressing their hand against their cheek, as if they were hitting their chest. Bandee raised their spear over their head, and began to twirl it rapidly. It kept spinning until he achieved lift off. “Let’s go!” Bandee said, kicking his feet / shoes around. “Grab on and I’ll carry us over!”
Anby and Billy blinked at Bandee first, and then each other. “Don’t question it,” Anby said as she grabbed onto Bandee’s foot. Billy shrugged and did the same with the other.
“Okay, let’s go!” Bandee said as he flew over the fires and went deeper into the caverns.
The inner caverns of Mt. Dedede didn’t show any signs of Ether Corruption, which did bring Anby some relief, but also concern. Ethereals can’t exist with substantial amounts of Ether, so the fact that she couldn’t see any evidence of it made worry slightly.
Eventually, the small cave walls opened up, and Bandee descended. Billy and Anby landed on either side of their new Waddle Dee companion, weapons at the ready. Nobody came to combat them. “Aww, I wanted some therapeutic action!” Billy said, literally deflating once more.
“Maybe we should’ve asked that Gaw Gaw if they saw something when we had the chance,” Bandee thought aloud.
“I don’t think he would’ve wanted to talk to us,” Anby commented, sheathing her sword to let it charge. She scanned the new open room they were; the star-shaped ores were rarer, making the shadows harsher. “Maybe we can attract the Ethereals to us?”
“How do we do that?” Bandee asked her.
“Oh? That’ll be a cake walk!” Billy chuckled. He clapped his arms together and rubbed them together eagerly. “For when you’re an honorary Starlight Knight…!”
He took a few steps forwards, and spun in place. He brought out his guns and pointed them to the ceiling. “Villainy will stop at nothing to snuff out your brilliant light!” He fired his guns, and the bright flashes revealed several dark figures behind him.
“Hey, that really worked! You really did find them!” Bandee clapped for Billy. That only made the robot blink.
Anby scratched her chin. “Billy, can you shoot again?” She asked. With a nervous nod, he did, the flash from his gunfire illuminating the area again. “Strange. I don’t think Ethereal is supposed to be that tall.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Billy asked. And then he was slashed across the back by a humanoid body, but with broken arms that ended in sharp crystalline blades (Alpeca). Anby caught him before he could bounce too far away.
The Ethereal were nearly double Bandee and Billy’s height, and only a head taller than Anby (on account of her not being a sphere). The black singularity that constituted the Ethereals’ heads released guttural roars at them, making all three of them skid backwards.
It would’ve frightened a casual explorer, but Billy and Anby were used to fighting Ethereals, and Bandee has faced far worse than a creepy crystal man. “Let’s get ‘em!” They drew their weapons and lunged.
Billy’s bullet slammed into the first Alpeca in the singularity, which sent it flying backwards. The remaining Alpeca’s flinched in surprise, which gave Anby the opportunity to dash between them, slicing at their hips with her electrified sword. They screeched in pain, and were silenced as Bandee took their spear and stabbed each one in the hand. Each Ethereal burst into stars and confetti once they were felled.
The last Ethereal, the one that Billy launched away, smacked against the wall and fell back to the floor. Once it realized its brethren had been slain, it hissed and retreated deeper into the cave. “We can’t let that guy get away!” Billy said, trying to shoot at it from afar. “I don’t know what’ll happen if we do, but it’s better to be safe than sorry!”
“Roger.” Anby raced after the Ethereal, being the fastest one in the group. She was just able to reach its tail, before the walls beside began to crack. She skidded to halt and jumped back as two cloaked figures wearing golden masks with a singularity in the mouthpiece of its mask (Ahriman).
The first Ahriman let out a ghostly wail as it raised its hand and slashed down. Anby blocked with her sword, and instinctively raised her leg to slam her knee into the Ethereal’s chest. The only thing that happened was the cuff of her shoe slapping weakly against the cloak.
“Huh?” Anby was slapped backwards by the second Ahriman’s bladed arm.
“These guys, too!?” Billy fumed, steaming exiting his vent as he and Bandee caught up with Anby. “These are annoying!” He fired at them, but the Ahriman closed their mouths, shielding their singularities. “And they’ve never done that before.”
“Ethereals also aren’t supposed to run away. They crave only destruction,” Anby huffed as she jumped back up. The Ahrimans slid their bladed arms against the other, making the metal shriek in protest.
“Do you think someone gave them brains?” Bandee asked.
The first Ahriman thrusted its arm forward. With a quick swing, Bandee deflected the blow, and Billy shot at it to disorient the Ethereal. Anby dashed forwards and jammed her sword between the mask’s slit, and with a tug, forced it open. The second Ahriman, tried to strike her while she was busy with that, but Bandee jumped in to defend her and whacked it away with his spear.
With the mask of the first Ahriman open, Billy was able to shoot and destroy it. Meanwhile, Bandee jabbed his spear wildly at its face, eventually cracking its mask and leaving small holes in it. Billy’s arm retracted into a pauldron, and he loaded in his armor-piercing rounds into his gun’s chambers. “Starlight Cannon!” He yelled as the bullet flew out from the chamber. The mask shattered as the bullet flew through the hole and struck true.
Both monsters moaned in pain and burst apart into clumps of stars.
“Starlight Cannon?” Anby asked as she sheathed her sword.
“I tried to shoot out that giant bullet from earlier, but it looks like it didn’t work,” Billy said with a shrug as his guns turned back into hands. “Oh well! I’m sure I’ll figure out how to do it later.”
“So, the Ethereals are now doing things they aren’t supposed to do. That’s what you said, right?” Bandee asked as they inspected their spear to make sure it wasn’t damaged.
“That’s right. The Ahriman’s I’ve faced never closed their heads and blocked their weak points,” Billy said. “Maybe there’s something about this world that makes them act differently?”
“Their shapes also haven’t changed, either,” Anby pointed out, and then she gestured to her own new logic-defying body. “Why is that?”
“Well, we probably won’t get answers until we head deeper inside!” Bandee said. “Maybe there’s someone commanding them?”
“Commanding? Ethereal?” Billy snorted at the supposition as they continued to walk through the caves. “That doesn’t sound likely. Those guys are completely uncontrollable! The closest thing I’ve heard of that ever happening was some guy trying to shoot his shot on Palicus. It ended badly.”
Anby pouted. “Either way, we need to find all the Ethereals here and destroy them.”
“Right!” The others agreed.
The air felt weird. It wasn’t stale, but it was… intense.
“How long have we been walking…?” Billy asked in a nervous voice. “This cave sure doesn’t seem to have an end.”
“I’m not sure,” Anby asked in an equally quiet voice. “Are we still under Mt. Dedede?”
Bandee didn’t answer immediately. They were too taken aback by their current surroundings. “I think…” They began.
The star-shaped ores began to move, as if the now purple bedrock they were embedded in were liquid. Stars, circles, and squares floated lazily in the air, bumping into each other and off the walls, drifting aimlessly. Billy reached out to touch one star, but swerved out of the way. “Aww…”
The road they followed spiralled downwards; multiple roaring waterfalls of liquid that shimmered like rainbows fell down in an endless black abyss, forming loop-de-loops and curling the in air, or sometimes even intersecting with other waterfalls. Bubbles of rainbow liquid also floated in the air, glowing softly.
“It feels like we aren’t supposed to be here,” Anby murmured. She turned her head away from the impossible sight. “And neither should it.”
“The Alpeca!” Billy said as he watched the Ethereal that got away slink into an opening on the side of the wall. They raced after it and entered the opening as well.
The path became narrow and more claustrophobic after a while. They had to stand in a single file line to even fit, which kept them from rushing through it. That ended up being a good thing.
“Guys…?” Billy said in a hushed voice. “Voice.”
Bandee stood at the edge of where the walls began to widen. Anby positioned herself over him, and Billy stood on top of her head. Anby grunted, so she kept her hands on Billy’s boots to keep him from falling.
What they saw was being dressed in a white cloak with gold trimmings. In front of her were a handful of Ethereals; Alpecas, Ahrimans, a third type with a mostly liquid-like body, aside from claws, a headpiece, and lines of energy running through it (Nassellaria), and a much taller humanoid Ethereal with a right sword arm and a left shield arm (Dullahan).
In addition to that, there were also four Gaw Gaws with them. Strangely, neither side was attacking.
“Dammit!” The owner of the white cloak turned around, revealing a gold mask on their face, and a disembodied glove tossed a syringe onto the ground, which made it shatter. Gold, thick liquid spread across the ground. Their voice was masked by a synthesizer as well, making it sound more scratchy. “Why isn’t it working! If the elixir is easier to synthesize, why won’t it work!?”
Two of the Gaw Gaws looked at each other, and then back at the cloaked person. “Hey, can we go back home? I think I left the oven on.”
“No!” The cloaked figure screeched. “Not until I figure out what I’m doing wrong!” At her anger, the Ethereal growled, making the Gaw Gaws sweat nervously.
“Umm…” One Gaw Gaw stepped forward and tapped their captor on shoulder. “Ma’am, if I may…”
“What!?” The Gaw Gaw flinched and jumped
“Well, that Elixir isn’t made with us Gaw Gaws in mind. Is it possible that the physiological differences between us and the intended target makes us incompatible with the elixir?” The frightened Gaw Gaw asked them.
The cloaked figure glared at the Gaw Gaw, making the shrivel. A moment of tense silence followed. “...Actually, you make a good point,” The cloaked figure muttered. “But I have no way of getting back to New Eridu! Argh!”
“New Eridu!” Billy gasped loudly. His sudden outburst made Anby lose her balance, so she and Billy both fell, taking Bandee with them. They all bounced onto the floor. The Ethereals and the cloaked woman all looked in the direction of the trio. The Gaw Gaws took that as their moment to dig away.
“Who’s there!?” The cloaked figure demanded to know. Immediately, the three picked themselves and drew their weapons.
“The guys who are gonna end this creepy club meeting! Hands where I can see them!” Billy exclaimed, his eyes glowing brightly. He stood in the center and had both guns pointing forward, while Bandee and Anby stood to his left and right respectively, and their bodies and weapons leaned in forward in the same direction.
“Oh, how quaint…” The figure giggled quietly, placing his hand on their masked chin. “A gumdrop, a Nendoroid, and some sort of crappy crane game prize think they can match the power granted by Hollows?” The Ethereals behind her hissed.
“Be my guest.” The cloaked woman dropped her cocky facade and turned away. “Destroy them.” She disappeared in a burst of purple clouds and square particles. The Ethereals behind her roared, with Dullahan standing in front of them and waving its sword forward, ordering the charge.
“Here they come!” Bandee warned.
The Dullahan let out a warbled cry as it slammed its shield into the ground and pointed its sword forward, calling the other Ethereals into the fight.
“Let’s get rid of the smaller guys first! that’ll make the Dullahan easier to deal with!” Billy said as he loaded his guns.
“On it!” Bandee and Anby said.
Anby charged at the Nassallerias first. One caught her blade, but the monster’s mass didn’t equate to its strength, so Anby easily cleaved its fingers off and freed her sword. The other began to charge a sphere of energy above its hands, but Bandee tossed a spear at it, striking it in the singularity. It dropped the sphere which made it explode on itself. After Anby sliced the first one with her electrified sword, two shots from Billy, each to the Nassalerias’ singularities, was enough to take them out.
Dullahan howled and slammed its shield into the ground with immense strength. The shockwave caused the trio to bounce in the air. As they were airborne, the Alpeca’s neck pieces covered their singularities, and a moment later black blobs of ether were spat out. Bandee yelped as they were hit and launched back; Billy was also hit, but he dropped to the ground with a rock and landed on his head.
Anby was able to swerve around the blob launched at her, but an Ahriman hounded her, slashing downward with arms. She raised her sword to block, but the force was able to knock her down anyway. Anby angled her body and landed on her back, which let her bounce back and slashed back at the ghostly Ethereal’s gold mask, chipping off a piece.
“Guys, I can’t back up!” Billy then said. His feet flailed in the air, and his hands could barely reach the ground. “My arms are too short to touch the floor!”
“You don’t have arms,” Anby corrected him as she parried another blow from the Ahriman.
“Don’t worry, I got you!” Bandee said as they recovered. They started to run towards him, but yelped and jump back as the Dullahan slashed in front of Billy. “Nevermind.” The Bullahan made a sound similar to scoff, and kicked Billy backwards.
“My ‘do!” Billy yelled as he skid across the floor, the friction with the ground filed down his metal hair.
The Bullahan ignored Billy’s cry, and drove the sword through the ground towards Bandee. With a yipe, they jumped out of the way, but was bonked on the head by one of the loose pieces of debris that the sword dislodged. Bandee’s eyes turned into swirls, and they began to stumble. The Dullahan stabbed forwards, but Bandee stumbled too much to be an easy target, despite being dizzy.
Dullahan growled, and in its anger, Anby was able to stab her sword into its back. The electricity poured into the Ethereal’s body, making it twitch. With it stunned, Anby whisked Bandee away from it.
Meanwhile, the Alpeca’s wear bullying Billy. They poked and prodded him with their broken arms, being more a nuisance than a threat. “Can you guys get lost already!” At random, he fired his gun; the recoil pushed him around, making him slam into the nearest Alpeca. “...Lightbuld…!” He pointed his gun to the ground and fire. Like before, the recoil launched him into the air.
“I am so smart!” Billy laughed as the Alpeca’s looked up at him with stances akin to shock. “Eat led, jerks!” A rain of gun fire down on the monsters, peppering their bodies in bullet holes until they collapsed. “And he sticks the landing–!” Billy exclaimed, landing dramatically, but stumbled slightly. He righted himself and posed for no one. “...Nailed it!”
That only left the Dullahan. The monster let out a powerful howl, and its body flashed red briefly. “Phase 2 already…?” Bandee said in a slurred voice as they recovered from their dizziness.
The Dullahan lunged at the trio. Bandee was luckily lucid enough to raise his spear and countered the sword. Billy shot at the monster's abdomen, and Anby rushed forwards to stun it. It dropped its shield in front of her, and Anby’s sword clanked off the rock-like shield harmlessly. It then surged forwards, slamming the shield into Anby’s cheek.
Before she could fly away, Bandee tossed their spear, and managed to strike her pack. “Grab it!” They told Billy. The android nodded. He raised his gun and shot it at a stalagmite, which made it fall down. It hit Anby in the head, which made her ricochet over Billy’s head.
“Why am I so bouncy?” Anby asked no one when she was about to fly over the Dullahan’s head.
“Don’t worry about it!” Billy said. He managed to grab the spear at the last second and pulled. Anby kept flying, but the spear was connected to her by an electric tether. “What the–!”
“Use it like a lasso!” Bandee told him. They also had another spear in their hand, somehow. Still, Billy followed their directions and began to spin the tether in the air. Anby yelped as she was dragged along with it.
The tether wrapped around the Dullahan’s knees and shocked it, making the monster shriek. The tether then flickered away, which let Anby drop to the ground and strike the back of its other, making the knight-like monster kneel. It still tried to back, swinging its sword arm wildly to slash at her. Bandee tossed his spear at the monster’s singularity, making the beast freeze and wail.
“Seems like these can’t bite through our tough plastic!” Billy quipped as he fired his guns. At the same time, Anby jumped forwards and sliced her blade through the Dullahan’s hand. She landed next to Billy, while Bandee jumped up and cheered with joy as the monster began to twitch and writhe, releasing bursts of clouds from its body until it exploded in a collection of glittering stars.
“They can’t bite, and we aren’t made of plastic. You’re metal,” Anby said in a deadpan voice.
“W-well, no, but… y’know how the creepy person called us toys earlier?”
“...we might look like them, but we aren’t toys,” Anby said.
“Oh, forget it…”
With the Ethereals disposed of, Bandee put their spear and looked around the now barren cavern. “They disappeared completely!”
“Well, at least the monsters have been taken care of,” Billy said with a sigh. “Damn shame we couldn’t get any explanations, though.” His guns retracted back into his arms, and followed after Bandee. “Yo, Anby! You coming?” He called out his fellow Cunning Hare.
Anby frowned, and placed a hand on her sword. Just then, the ground ruptured behind each of them. Bandee yelped and Billy cursed as more Dullahans, seven in total, appeared behind them. Anby’s eyes widened in panic as each of them were disarmed and–
Her eyes went even wider as a bright gold flash cut through each of Dullahans in an instant. They froze, and slowly, the sliced parts began to slide off their bodies. Each Dullahan burst into stars.
“What the heck was that!?” Billy asked in a panicked voice, frantically looking around for something to shoot.
“That gold, it couldn’t be…” Bandee gasped. The other two looked followed their gaze towards one tall stalactite in the center of the room, where a cape-wearing, masked sphere stood, wielding a golden blade. The sphere turned around and regarded them with piercing yellow eyes. “ Meta Knight !”
“Oh my god he looks so cool…” Billy breathed, his eyes sparkling.
“Bandana Dee,” Meta Knight said in a surprisingly deep voice. The man sheathed his sword and hopped down. “What are you three doing all the way down here?”
“...‘All the way down here’?” Anby murmured quietly. “Aren’t we still under Mt. Dedede.”
The knight turned to her, but after a moment faced Bandee again. “Oh, so here’s the thing…” They began to say.
It took a moment to explain everything to Meta Knight
“I see…” Meta Knight hummed. His gaze turned to the two foreigners, studying them.
“E-excuse me?” Meta Knight faced Billy fully as the robot nervously stepped closer to him. “You remind me of these heroes from back home. The ‘Starlight Knights’! They’re champions of truth and justice, and fight bad guys all the time–!” Billy paused, and his cheeks became flushed. “Ah, oh geez, I must look…”
Wordlessly, Meta Knight reached into his cape and took out a pen, uncapped it, and wrote his signature on Billy steel-plated hair. “Awesome…!” Billy breathed out.
“To answer your earlier question, we are only a few miles away from the core of Planet Pop Star,” Meta Knight told them, which made everyone gasp.
“Really! We’re that far?”
“Shouldn’t gravity have crushed us all if that were true?” Anby asked.
“Gravity would’ve also made the planet take the form of a sphere, and yet Popstar remains shaped as one,” Meta Knight said with a dismissive grunt. “I was investigating these strange monsters… Ethereals, you called them, as well. They’ve started to appear in areas near Mt. Dedede, and other select areas.”
“Why here, specifically?” Billy asked. “Does it have something to do with that weird hole back there?”
“Perhaps, but that is something I am currently unsure of,” Meta Knight said with an annoyed sigh. “That hole leads directly to Dream’s Deep , the outer shell of the Popstar’s core. I imagine that the energy it emits is somehow drawing the Ethereals, or those that command them.”
“... Dream’s Deep …” Anby whispered.
“Gosh, that all sounds concerning,” Bandee said quietly. “In that case, we better make are way back to Castle Dedede right now! Not just for you guys, but to make sure the Great King is alright!” A chorus of agreement came from Billy and Anby as they nodded their heads. “What about you, Meta Knight? Are you going to come with us?” Billy moaned in disappointment as the masked knight shook his head.
“Not today. I have other matters to attend to,” He said. “However, I can lead you in the right direction.” He drew his sword again, and threw it against the wall. The handle bonked against a star-shaped ore, which ended up being a button. The ground rumbled, and a section of the wall parted like water.
“This path will lead you directly into Castle Dedede. But be warned; you will face opposition,” Meta Knight told them. “The guards are on high alert, and have been ordered to not let anyone inside.”
“If that’s the case, can’t you tell them to let us through?” Anby asked Meta Knight, who shook his head.
“No. I am not their superior, and Dedede’s honor guard are fiercely loyal to him,” Meta Knight explained. “Do not worry about leaving too many unconscious. After a minute or two, they’ll bounce back up as if nothing happened. They shouldn’t follow you deeper inside in order to stand their ground against further invaders.”
“And if they do follow us?” Anby asked him. Meta Knight remained silent.
“Well, I guess that’s settled, then,” Billy said, pointing his thumb to the newly opened path. “We go, bust some heads, and meet with the king! Sounds simple enough, even for fledgling Starlight Knights like you guys!” He patted Bandee and Anby on their shoulders (do spheres have shoulders? Billy does, or at least his pauldrons imply that) excitedly.
“Let’s go! A new adventure awaits us!” Billy spun on his heel and began to run up the path.
“Here ye, here ye!” Bandee said as they followed him. Anby hummed and began to follow them. However, she paused, and turned around to look at Meta Knight. He returned her gaze.
They nodded at each other.
Anby followed Bandee and Billy up to the first Dungeon.
BANDANA WADDLE DEE (LV. 40)
HP: 512 | FP: 142
ATK: 201 | DEF: 98 | SPD: 80
LUCK: 25% | POW: 50%
BASIC ATK
Spear Thrust (FP: 0)
Bandee thrusts their spear forward, dealing Physical DMG
Charge (FP: 0)
Bandee holds their spear back and focuses. Bandee’s focus breaks if they take DMG greater than or equal to 23% of their Current HP. They cannot counter attack while focusing.
Waddle Spear Toss (FP: X)
Bandee tosses their spear, throwing one for every turn they charged at a random enemy (except one that has a Splinter, if any), dealing Physical DMG and giving them a Splinter if Bandee has charged for 2 or more turns, until end of their Friend’s next turn (Splinters increase the DMG enemies take by 10%, except from Bandee, max. 3 per enemy). Consumes 3 FP for each spear tossed.
Waddle Spear Barrage (FP: X)
Bandee jabs their spear repeatedly into the enemy, dealing Physical DMG and giving them a Splinter for every two strikes, until the end of their Friend’s next turn. Consumes 1 FP for each jab.
SKILLS
Waddle Copter (FP: 22)
Bandee and their Friend are swapped out with two Benched Friends. The Friend that takes Bandee’s place can act instantly, however, Bandee cannot be swapped in until the start of that friend’s second turn unless he is the last Friend standing.
Turn Around Mow Down (FP: 9)
Can only be activated once while Bandee is benched. If a friend is attacked, Bandee can give the attacker a Splinter, until the end of the attacked Friend’s next turn.
ITEMS
Breakfast-in-Bed (x1) (Food)
Can only be used on a sleeping Friend. Fully Recovers their FP, and wakes them up. Also, if they like / love this food, they gain 10 ATK for two turns.
Apple Juice (x5) (Food)
Increases a Friend’s ATK by 60 for one / three turns if they like / love this food. If they dislike / don’t mind this food, they gain 20 SPD.
1-Up (x1)
Can only be used on a defeated friend. Recovers half their HP, and Bandee swaps out with them.
Assist Star (x3)
Randomly gives a Friend 35 ATK / DEF / HP / FP.
FRIEND ABILITY
Kirby and Bandee’s Void Rain (FP: 32 + 20)
Kirby drops his Ability, and then moves into the background and begins to inhale. Aim with the control stick, and mash Bandee’s action button to toss as many spears as possible into the vortex. Once three seconds have passed, Kirby spits out every spear, dealing Physical DMG randomly to enemies, and giving them up to two Splinters.
Bandee and King Dedede’s Gordo Tether (FP: 35 + 35)
Bandee wraps a string around a Gordo, and begins to swing it. When it is knocked into an enemy and launches them in the air, press Dedede’s action command as the enemy falls back down to knock them in the air again. After four rotations, press both action commands as they fall back down to deal Physical DMG to them.
Anby and Bandee’s Overdrive Tether (FP: 35 + 20)
Chapter 4: Prologue 4 - Parsnip Posse
Summary:
He's Kirby, she's Kirby, you're Kirby, I'm Kirby! Are there any other Kirby's I should know about!?
G E P P _ _ _ _
Notes:
So, of the things that I didn't really like about ZZZ at the start was definitely the TV Mode. At first, I thought they were charming and pretty fun way to tell the story while saving resources, but playing through Hollow Zero made it really obvious when the cracks started to show.
For one, the ZZZ simply does not trust you to do anything on your own. It doesn't matter what you're doing, how many times you've done it before, or if you were going to do it anyways; ZZZ always tells what you need to do. Even worse, there's some instance in which, if you fail the puzzle multiple times, the game either A) gives you the answer, or B) completes the puzzle for you. This game is targeted at teens, not actual children, and even then, actual children could probably finish a Professor Layton game on their own.
The second part is how the story is presented in these segments. During story segments there were times when the game would freeze to show something and lead you to the next objective. That I think is fine on its own. But, with the TV sections all but removed from the game, they best they can do is add text and voice overs during the combat sections. Text doesn't switch over to the next line for, like five minutes, even though the combat lasts thirty seconds. Also, it's hard to immerse myself in the story when I'm playing through the same maps every mission.
And lastly is the fact that the removal of TV Mode, and with Phaethon now being able to enter the hollows themselves, essentially gutted the story relevance of Fairy and Eous. Aside from a few funny jokes in 1.5, Fairy has basically done fuck-all since 1.4, and Eous is useless because now the siblings do what his original purpose was.
(im going to go into my thoughts on ZZZ's, HSR's, and Kirby's storytelling in a later chapter, but giving Phaethon the ability to go into hollows this earlier on is, without a doubt, the worst story decision i've ever witnessed).
Now, I'm going to explain how I would fix that.
See you in the end notes.
Bye-Bye
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The path Meta Knight opened for them eventually led to a large door. It was made of metal, and had a red frame. Above it, stars shimmered and spun around. In the center of it was a pixelated image of some sort of… beaked creature with a hat, and doing a peace symbol with its fingers.
“This door better not be locked. I don’t want to go out this cave system the long way,” Billy groaned.
“It shouldn’t be. Once we get close enough it’ll open and let us inside,” Bandee reassured him.
“Doesn’t mean it will be easy,” Anby cut in. “Meta Knight did say we would face stubborn opposition…”
Billy scoffed at her words. He summoned his guns and struck a pose, with one pointing up and the other crossing his body. “Unluckily for them, we’re stubborn…er! Yeah! Going through this secret path will be a cake walk.”
“I doubt will just be wading through mobs of enemies,” Bandee said in response to Billy’s confidence; or rather, arrogance. “A secret path won’t be very protected if the only thing standing between us and Castle Dedede are soldiers.”
“We should expect the unexpected, Billy. This world is already illogical compared to our own. I won’t be surprised if, say, ghost suddenly appeared and possessed one of us,” Anby said in a deadpan voice. Even though her statement was hypothetical, it was enough to startle Billy.
“Gh-gh-ghosts!?” Billy stammered. He composed himself quickly and coughed into his fist. “Anby, don’t say something! Even in this world, I doubt ghosts exist, ha ha ha…”
“Well, I doubt that we’ll encounter any ghosts in this path,” Bandee reassured him. Though, it didn’t actually provide Billy with the reassurance he wanted.
“Uh, what do you mean on ‘this path’...?” Billy asked quietly. Bandee looked at him, blinked, and then walked towards the door.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything,” The young Waddle Dee mumbled as they approached the door. they knocked on it. The pixilated visage of Dedede looked down at them, and the eyes flashed. The ground began to rumble. Slowly, the iron doors dragged themselves open. “Let’s go!” Bandee said. they ran inside.
“Uhhh… I don’t wanna fight ghosts…!” Still, Billy followed after him as did Anby.
Once they all entered, the door quickly slammed shut, dust rising as the iron bars rose from the ground and locked the door tightly. Dedede’s eyes flashed once more.
Anby paused when the pathway widened significantly. The walls were no longer rock, but made of yellow bricks. Red banners depicting the peace sign in yellow were hung on the walls, and there were statues of King Dedede as well, seemingly placed randomly around the room.
On the other side of the room, there was another door similar to the one they just entered. The only problem was it was on the other side of a large chasm. “Well, how the heck are we supposed to get over there…?” Billy asked as he looked over the edge. The drop was quite steep.
“Is this what you meant by the path protected by more than just enemies?” Anby asked? Bandee nodded.
“There’s probably something that opens a bridge to one the other side,” Bandee speculated. “Maybe in one of those statues.” Anby turned to where he pointed, and frowned at the collection scattered across their side of the room.
“They’re all different,” She realized.
Multiple statues were blocky, like it was made out of individual pixels. Somewhere more detailed than others. One looked more polygonal than the others, while the rest were more detailed. Of the detailed statues, one was stouter, the other was taller, and the third resembled a more polished version of the polygonal one.
“Hmm…” Billy hummed. He ran towards the least detailed pixelated statue. “What happens if I move this, then?” He punched it, and the statue tipped over, revealing a switch. “Bingo!” he jumped on it, but nothing happened.
“Huh?” Billy jumped on it again and again, but the switch wouldn’t budge. “Hey, guys, help me out here!” Anby and Bandee regrouped with him, and all three jumped on the switch. It still didn’t budge.
“I suppose we aren’t heavy enough to push it down? Let’s try stacking multiple statues on it,” Anby said.
Billy grabbed the GB statue tipped over, and placed it back on the switch. Anby then grabbed the SNES statue, and Bandee did the same with the GBA statue. All three were stacked on top of one another, but the switch still didn’t budge.
Also, the statues were stacked precariously on one another, so they tumbled to the ground and knocked Anby and Billy to the ground. Meanwhile, Bandee was flattened underneath the SNES statue. “I think we’re doing something wrong,” they mumbled, their voice muffled.
Billy lifted the statue; it took a moment for Bandee to reinflate. “I noticed there was a code on the base of the statue.”
“Really?” Anby quickly knocked all statues onto their sides, which made their eyes flash red. Immediately, they warped back to their initial locations, and two Sir Kibbles dropped from the sky.
“Intruders! Prepare to have your butts kicked!” They cried out. The first Sir Kibble pulled the blade out of its helmet and tossed it at Billy. He yelped and jumped back so that the blade only scratched Meta Knight’s signature.
“Not cool!” Billy returned fire at the Sir Kibbles, shooting the first one blade away from them. While the second deflected his bullets with ease, it wasn’t able to deflect Anby’s foot from meeting its visor, so it stumbled backwards. A few swift jabs from Bandee caused it to burst into stars, and the same happened to the other Sir Kibble when Billy smacked the barrel of his gun against its head.
“Right, I have no idea I have that many bullets left in the tank, so let's try not to get into any more fights, please?” Billy asked politely.
“Noted.” Anby lifted the first statue with the switch over it. “There’s also writing on the switch, too. It says… ‘Old and New’...”
“‘Old’ and ‘New’? What’s that supposed to mean?” Billy wondered.
“Oh! I know, I know!” Bandee cheered. They first grabbed the N64 statue, and placed it over the switch. They removed that one, and then placed the more polished statue over it. That did the trick, as the eyes of the statues turned green.
A bridge began to draw out from the other side of the room, connecting to the cliff on their side. Also two spiked bars appeared, rolling along the bridge.
They jumped over it easily and reached the door. “Well, that wasn’t too hard! If the rest of the path is like that, then I doubt we’ll be here for long!” Like before, the door slowly opened and they walked past.
“I don’t think it will be that easy,” Anby said as they continued to walk forwards. They only opposition they faced were a handful of Blade Knights, but nothing too powerful.
Halfway through the hallway, the ground began to shake. Bandee let out a yipe as a wall rose up from the ground, splitting them apart from Billy and Anby. “Hey, what givessss-esssssss!” The ground opened up, and both of them fell onto a treadmill.
“Urgh…” Anby grunted as she stood up. She looked behind her, and found a wall of spikes. “Oh, that’s concerning.”
“I think it’s worse for me!” Bandee cried out. Billy yelled in shock as he and Anby saw the Waddle Dee on the other side, separated by a glass wall. And, his side didn't travel. That was because his spiked wall inched closer to him. “I’d rather not be a pancake, please!”
“On it!” Billy looked around, and found a big red button on the other side of their room. “Anby, over there!”
She dashed over to it, and jumped a few blocks that stood in her way. The blocks exploded, and bars of fire shot out from them, knocking them back. Billy grabbed her and tossed her once a gap in the fire bars was visible. Anby flew over the button, but punched downwards to hit.
The first wall on Bandee’s side rose, but at the same time, the treadmill on the Cunning Hares’ side began to spin faster. “And there’s a wall blocking us too!” Billy cried out as he and Anby began to sprint to not get skewered.
“Don’t worry, I’ll think of something!” Bandee reassured them. They spun their spear in a circle above and flew into the sky.
Bandee found a collection of buttons on the floor on the ground a few feet ahead of them. They dropped the ground, pressing the first, and ran along the others. They only flashed yellow when Bandee was on them, and immediately became red once they got off them.
“Oh, so that’s how we’re playing, huh?” Bandee flew into the air again, and with a grunt of effort, multiple spears began to drop from the one lifting them up. Those spears clattered on the buttons, making them all flash yellow.
The wall in front of Anby and Billy rose up, revealing the next set of switches. Only, the path was blocked by a UFO with yellow eyes with a flickering antennae (Dubior). Anby blinked as it launched an electric sphere at her. She tried to deflect with her sword, but the speed of the treadmill increased. She tripped, and the sphere hit her cheek and knocked her into Billy.
“Agh!” Billy and Anby skidded against the floor, nearing the spike. The only just barely avoided getting poked by the spike, when Billy shot at the ground and the recoiled launched them forwards. The Dubior twirled in the air, and its eyes turned into > <.
“It’s laughing at us!” Billy shouted. He and Anby dodged an incoming barrage of electric spheres, each pattern more difficult to dodge than the last. “Fire and a UFO? Why can’t we get something simple, too!”
“Billy, shoot me,” Anby then said. Billy blinked.
“What!?” He exclaimed, placing his hands on the top of his head. The literally gears in his head began to turn in his head, and in that moment his single brain cell connected with Anby’s single brain cell. “Oh, I get it!”
Anby sprinted forwards and then jumped. Billy then fired his gun, hitting her pack. When the bullet connected, the recoil launched her in the air and over the Dubior, making its eyes go O O. Behind it were two batteries. Anby stabbed her sword into one, and then ran over to the other. The Dubior shot at her, and at the last moment it dodged, filling the battery with energy.
The walls on both sides opened. Bandee ran to the end and let out a sigh of relief, reaching a circular room with a door and Dedede’s banner above it. Billy and Anby did the same, even as the Dubior continued to fire at them.
The Dubior became angry, its eyes turning into \ /. It flew over to the Cunning Hares + Bandee and let out a warbled cry. In a flash of light, a humanoid stag beetle with gloves and shoes appeared (Bugzzy). Its mandible clicked together in rage as it roared, summoning two small roundish-yellow creatures with beetle horns (Beetley).
“Get the small ones first!” Bandee told them as Dedede’s arm went on the offensive. Dubior remained in the air, firing potshots at the group while Bugzzy and the Beetley’s marched forwards. Billy yelped as the stag beetle clamped mandibles where he last stood.
“Can we talk about this–!” Billy yelped as Bugzzy managed to nab his hand. The bug jumped into the air and suplexed Billy into the ground. “No? That’s cool…!” Bugzzy then kicked Billy away, right into Bandee.
Bandee let out an ‘oof!’ as Billy collided with them. At that time, Beetley tried to snatch Billy and fly away, but it struggled to do so. Billy’s metal body was too heavy for the bug to reasonably lift. Once Bandee recovered, a few spear jabs was enough to take it out.
Anby clashed with the other Beetley, blocking jabs from its horn with her sword. Anby went wide with a diagonal slash, and the Beetley hooked its horn inside her glove. With a flick of its horn, Anby’s hand went flying away as it had been sliced off, and landed on the other side of the room. Bugzzy then appeared behind her, snapping its mandibles around her and lifting her into the air. She flailed her limbs, kicking Beetley away while her remaining hand pounded against Bugzzy’s eye.
Billy then shot Bugzzy’s back, making it drop his friend. Bugzzy turned around and charged at Billy, eager to suplex him again. While Bugzzy was distracted, Anby ran to her limp hand, but was forced to jump away when Dubior flew above it, and shot more electricity at her.
While Dubior was distracted, Bandee slowly flew towards it, and pounced on its head. With a grunt, they tugged on the antenna, pulling it away. Anby recovered her hand, and stabbed at Dubior underbelly.
“Billy! I’m leading it to you!” Bandee told him. They tugged on the antenna again, dragging Dubior towards him and Bugzzy.
“Got it!” Billy stopped and allowed Bugzzy to snatch him. It jumped into the air to suplex him, and Bandee jumped off Dubior and kicked it towards the stag beetle.
Billy forced himself free, and Dubior crashed into Bugzzy. Both slammed into the wall, with Dubior’s eyes turning @ @. They both burst into stars, and the door ahead opened.
“Security is really picking up; we should be close!” Bandee reasoned. They lead the way into the next room.
Like the first room, they were met with a large cliff. Cyclopian spheres with small tufts of hair on the forehead (Waddle Doo) stood on floating platforms, watching the trio as they walked in. Near the bottom was the next door.
“Well, it looks like we can just jump down there,” Billy said, looking over the edge. “What are these guys gonna do, huh?” One of the Waddle Doos narrowed their eye, and launched a beam sphere at him. Billy jumped back. “Well then–!”
Before he could finish, a floating spark of electricity with orange gloves dropped down from the sky (Plasma Wisp). It waved at them, and then snapped its fingers. Shields of plasma surrounded the Waddle Doos. The Plasma Wisp then waved goodbye and floated back to wherever it came from.
“I suppose we can’t simply take them out now, huh?” Anby muttered. One Waddle Doo nodded, and fired again to prove her point; the plasma shield increased the speed, size, and power of its beam sphere. Billy yelled as it grazed over his head, scraping off more of Meta Knight’s signature.
“Let’s investigate our level, first. Maybe we’ll find something here?” Bandee suggested. They nodded and split up.
After a brief runaround, Billy dug up a battery hidden in the corner of the room. “Hey! Is there any place to put this thing?” He asked.
“No, I don’t see anything,” Anby told him. “Unless…” She peaked over the edge, and frowned when she saw a small platform next to the door.
“So, we have to get it down there, huh? It’s not a problem for us!” Billy took a few steps back, and forwards. “Go! Starlight Slugger!”
The battery dropped like a rock into the pit. Slowly, Bandee and Anby turned to look at him with blank stares. A moment later, the battery landed on his head, and Billy collapsed on the ground. “Why is it always me…!” he whined.
“Bandee, can you carry it down there?” Anby asked.
“I need both my hands to spin my spear fast enough to fly,” Bandee told her with an apologetic look. “Plus, the Waddle Doos might try to shoot me down.”
“I think there’s an easier way to do this,” Billy said, still on the ground. “Anby, you carry the battery and Bandee flies over the pit. Then, Anby throws the Battery down, and Bandee flies both of you back here to safety!”
“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to try,” Bandee said with a shrug. Anby nodded, and she took the battery off Billy’s head. Bandee jumped and Anby latched onto his foot, while the other hand gripped the battery. Once they were above the pit, the Waddle Doos fired. Bandee yelled as the air became filled with fast moving energy bullets.
“Are we close enough? My arms are getting tired!” Bandee warned her. Anby, silently, tossed the battery forwards. It landed on the area in front of the door, and a magnetic force pulled it to the stand. It clicked in place.
Billy hummed in confusion as a lightning rod rose from the ground underneath him. More rods appeared, floating next to the Waddle Doos. Bandee returned to the cliff with Anby. “...Now what?”
Billy jumped off the lightning rod, and placed a hand on his chin. “Let’s try lighting it up!” Anby charged her sword, and tapped the blade against it. Electricity condensed around the tip, but nothing else happened.
“I feel like we’re missing something here…” Anby hummed. While she and Bandee scratched their heads, Billy stared at the electricity on the lightning rod.
“...Hey, Bandee, spear me!” Billy said. Bandee gave him a spear, and watched as Billy pressed the tip against the electricity. When he walked back, lightning was connected to the tip by a tether.
“Wow, Billy! You’re really smart!” Bandee cheered, making Billy raise his head high. “Oh, but I can’t throw that far. The spear will fall down before it reaches the battery.”
“So, now what?” Anby asked. “It’s not like we can somehow change the direction the spear is thrown at mid flight.”
“That, my dear Anby, is where you are probably wrong!” Billy summoned his gun. “I’m the best sharpshooter I know! This should be a breeze!”
Bandee nodded, and drew his arm back. They tossed it forwards, and the spear grazed the top of the rod. The tether connected to the rod. The Waddle Doos realized what was happening, and they started to fire at the spear to shoot it down. However, Billy’s bullets moved faster than the energy sphere. With a few precise shots, the spear managed to hit every lightning rod, and struck the battery.
The door soon opened, and revealed the next room. Now, the only problem was that they needed to reach the door without being fried.
“These tethers look like ziplines,” Anby murmured.
“Well, when you put it like that…” Bandee produced two more spears for the Cunning Hares. “Let’s see if this works!”
The Waddle Doos gasped as Bandee placed his spear above the tether and slid down. They tried to shoot him, but gravity let the Waddle Dee move faster than their attacks, so he reached the edge with no issue.
Anby did the same, as did Billy. They slid down without issue. The Waddle Doos looked disappointed as the trio reached their destination. The platforms they were on floated up, and they disappeared.
“We did it!” Bandee cheered happily. “Now, let’s get moving!”
He ran into the door, and the others followed. Once they were through, the door slammed shut behind them.
What greeted them on the other side was a massive staircase. Some of the merlons had torches on them that didn’t light up until the trio passed by them. “Well, that certainly isn’t ominous,” Billy grunted.
“It’s like we’re about to fight a big enemy, soon,” Anby noted.
“You mean, like this a pre-boss room where we’re given the chance to heal up and switch party members around?” Bandee asked her.
“Yes. As well as dramatic musical playing in the background that ends with a stinger once the final enemy appears,” Anby added.
“I feel like I’m missing the joke,” Billy groaned. “Well, whatever.”
As they continued walking, they heard metal echoing from above them. Looking up, they saw a series of metal tubes and pipes leading upwards. There were windows on them, which let them see Waddle Dees carrying metal, nails, and wood over their heads.
Bandee stood on the tips of toes to look more carefully. “They’re building something?”
“But what?” Anby walked faster, jumping up two or three steps ahead of the others. She reached a circular room with a hole in the middle, which itself was made from multiple segments. And inside the hole was a machine.
It was a large machine with a thick, robe-like armor on the sides of the body and match behind it. The right arm was a giant hammer, while the left was a crank. On the machines shoulders were a trio of Waddle Dees in the control deck, typing away while the ones outside painted the metal or hammered loose nails into it.
Once the Waddle Dees noticed the trio, they paused. They started to panic, with the builder Waddle Dees scrambling away from the machine. The three pilot Waddle Dees slammed their hands on the controls, causing the machine to light up. It shuddered and stood up straight, now fully activated.
The machine raised its hammer arm and slammed it on the ground, causing the blue core in the center of the machine’s body to light up.
Anti-Kirby Machine
DEDEDESTROYER Z
“That machine again!” Bandee exclaimed as the 3DZ raised its hammer arm and slammed it down on the ground. The three scattered to avoid being flattened.
“Again? You’ve fought this thing before?” Billy asked. He positioned himself on the far side of the room and fired at the 3DZ’s armored sides. “How do we beat it?”
“W-well, I didn’t fight myself, but…” Bandee’s voice trailed off as the hand crank began to spin, making the center of the machine charge with energy. “I’m more concerned about what it does!”
The crank stopped, and the machine lurched forwards; a blue blob with a party hat flew out from the center and landed on them. It jumped up, and glanced at everyone with a blank stare. Then, it summoned a bomb from thin air.
“I knew it! The Kirby Printer!” Bandee said as Blue Bomb Kirby tossed the explosive at Anby.
“Kirby Printer?” Anby asked. She knocked the bomb away and then ran towards Bomb Kirby. The fake easily jumped over her slash and kicked her in the back, sending her rolling into Bandee.
“It was one of the Great King’s inventions to try and get back at Kirby! It didn’t work, but still–! Look out!” Bandee pulled Anby out of the way, just as the 3DZ’s hammer slammed down on them.
“That center piece is the Kirby Printer, right?” Billy asked, waving his gun at the blue core of the 3DZ. “My bullets aren’t strong enough to do much damage!”
“And we can’t reach it, either,” Anby noted as the fake Kirby threw another bomb at her. She dodged it, and tried to slash at it again, but the clone twirled out of the way and punched her cheek.
“There should be something nearby…” Bandee looked around the room. “Hold down the fort for a moment!” They ran somewhere out of view, which made Billy gasp.
“H-hey! Where are you going–!” He grunted as another Kirby, this one yellow, was launched out of the Printer, and landed on top of him. This time, it had white and blue rope headband, and wielded a giant mallet. Hammer Kirby bonked him over the head with it, and swung it into front of his face.
Anby and Billy crashed into each other and fell on the ground, back to back. Hammer Kirby raised its mallet, and Bomb Kirby summoned another explosive.
“Switch?” Billy asked. Anby nodded.
They stood up, and Billy grabbed Anby tightly with one hand. He spun around and tossed her at Hammer Kirby, while Billy shot at Bomb Kirby’s explosive.
Hammer Kirby’s tried to swing at her, but the mallet made its movements too slow to counter Anby’s flying kick. Her foot met its squishy cheek, and she bounced off, and once she landed, she drew her sword and slashed the off the head of the weapon. Hammer-less Kirby’s eyes widened as a few more slashes knocked it unconscious.
Meanwhile, Bomb Kirby was being zoned out; with its only method of attack being to bombs, all Billy had to was shot when it summoned one to blow it up. It only took a few premature explosions to knock that Kirby unconscious too.
The pilot Waddle Dees gasped as the Kirby’s were defeated. With a few rapid button presses, the hand crank began to spin again. Billy shot at it, but his bullets weren’t big or strong enough to make it stop; not even his armor-piercing rounds worked.
“Now what? We can’t fight these guys forever!” Billy exclaimed.
“I found it!” Billy and Anby turned around to see Bandee carrying a large cannon over their head. “Load the Kirbys in here and the cannon will launch them at the Kirby Printer!” Bandee grabbed the unconscious Hammer Kirby and threw it into the cannon. It spun around, and then fired at 3DZ. The pilot Waddle Dees yelped as Hammer Kirby slammed into the exit, making the entire machine shudder and spark. The hand crank stopped moving as well, and the 3DZ lurched forwards, hitting the ledge.
“They’re open to attack now! Let’s wail on ‘em!” Bandee said. They tossed their spear, and Anby slashed at the cockpit with her sword, frightening the pilot Waddle Dees.
As Billy reloaded his guns, the Bomb Kirby from earlier recovered. It shook its head and tossed a bomb into Billy’s back. He grunted as the explosion knocked onto his face. “Oh, right, that guy!”
With the trio momentarily distracted, the 3DZ lifted itself up and swung its hammer in a wide arc in front of it, smacking everyone away, including the cannon Bandee brought with them. The machine sparked as it landed upside down on the ground.
“The gimmick!” Bandee cried out. He spun his spear above his head to correct himself, and grunted as Anby and Billy grabbed his feet. Bomb Kirby wasn’t so lucky, and tumbled down into the pit.
“Can we still use it?” Anby asked him as they dropped down.
“Maybe, but I need some time to fix it!” Bandee told her.
“How much time would that be?” Billy asked, his attention on something other than the cannon. “Because we don’t have much of it!” Two more Kirbys, a gray Cutter and red Sand dropped from the sky to attack them.
“Just keep them busy!” Bandee said as he started to poke the cannon with his spear. “And defeat them too quickly! We want them to be KO’d to load them as quickly as possible!”
“Oh, so we have to hold back?” Billy guffawed. He ate his own words as Sand Kirby struck him with pocket sand, and then with a hardened sand fist.
“Take this seriously,” Anby sighed as she locked blades with Cutter Kirby. She pushed him back, and it tossed a voller of cutter blades at her. She dodged and blocked the majority of them, and with her blade she spun around and lobbed it back at Kirby. It blocked with another cutter, but was shocked as Anby had infused some electricity into it.
Anby noticed a shadow passing over her and the stunned Cutter Kirby. She jumped back as the hammer of the 3DZ smashed into the ground, squashing Cutter Kirby into a gray pancake. “Billy!”
“What!?” Billy asked her; his eyes were currently blue screening since Sand Kirby kept throwing pocket sand into them.
“Lead him over here!” Billy was punched once more in the eye and ran backwards slowly. Sand Kirby chased after him, riding on a wave of sand to catch up quickly. As another hardened sand fist came down, so did the hammer, flattening the fake Kirby.
Both Cutter and Sand reinflated, but were dizzy. “I’m done!” Bandee then said. Anby dragged Cutter by the head blade and tossed it into the cannon, while Billy shot Sand into it.
The 3DZ swung its hammer as Sand was fired out from it. Anby tossed her sword at it, stabbing the electrified blade into the robot’s joint. The entire machine shuddered an unknown electrical current made in its inner workings go haywire. Sand Kirby crashed into the Kirby printer, and burst into stars; so did Cutter Kirby, making the machine collapse the ground with heavy thud.
As the pilot Waddle Dees scrambled to get the 3DZ back up and running, the three bum rushed the cockpit. It almost looked comical, with the pilot Waddle Dee all but slamming their hands on the controls and Bandee and Anby slapping their weapons against the cockpit, with Billy shooting it from afar.
Eventually, the pilot Waddle Dees got the machine to work again. It swiftly moved away from the edge of the platform, and swung its hammer to force everyone away. The crank turned and another Kirby was ejected from Printer; a grey Sword.
Anby gasped as Sword Kirby dropped in front of her and assaulted her with rapid strikes. Immediately, she could tell that Kirby was different from the others. Did her electricity somehow supercharge the printer as well? Clearly, it must have, since she was easily disarmed and kicked to the side.
Sword Kirby didn’t bother to chase after her. Instead, it ran straight towards the cannon. Billy moved to intercept it, but looked at the last moment to see that he was about to be bombarded by a missile shooting out from the 3DZ’s back. He grunted and aimed upwards instead of at Sword Kirby.
While he shot down the missiles, Sword Kirby slashed its sword down the middle of his body, knocking Billy onto his head again. “Don’t let him get to the cannon!” Billy yelled as he struggled to pick himself up.
Just before Sword Kirby could reach it, Anby and Bandee simultaneously jabbed their weapons at him. Sword Kirby blocked it, but was knocked back by a bit. The 3DZ also moved closer and raised its hammer. As Bandee attacked in front of, Anby moved behind to box Sword Kirby in. However, the sword wielding sphere was more than capable of keeping up with them; the swords and spears were mere blurs as they made the opponent falter.
The hammer of 3DZ descended, and all parties jumped out of the way. Sword Kirby jumped backwards, and as it did, Bandee charged and tossed four spears at it. Sword Kirby was suddenly poked and prodded, launched further back while in freefall. Anby reached the ground first, and dashed forward to slash through Sword Kirby.
That knocked it out. Sword Kirby’s eyes were swirls as they landed, which was punctuated by the sound of a squeaky toy. She picked it up and tossed it at Bandee, who loaded Sword Kirby into the cannon.
Before they could fire, the 3DZ launched another barrage of missiles. Billy found his footing and started to fire at them, making them explode before they could reach the cannon. The 3DZ then placed its hammer in front of the Printer.
“We’re going to need more firepower for that!” Billy said. Anby immediately understood. She charged her sword, and slapped it against the base of the cannon. Electricity flowed from her pack, through the steel of her blade, and right into the ignition chamber.
Sword Kirby was shot out incredibly fast, barreling through the hammer and the printer. The pilot Waddle Dees all froze as the small explosions began to rock the 3DZ. One Waddle Dee waved a white flag, while another pressed the eject button. Helicopter blades sprouted from the top of the cockpit, and allowed the Waddle Dees to fly to safety.
Meanwhile, the Dededestroyer Z kept jerking as small explosions made its hull burst and crack. Eventually, streams of light flew out of the cracks in its armor, and brightly colored stars burst out from it. The machine faded away a moment later.
As the burned remains of the 3DZ fell into the pit below them, the ground rumbled. A staircase leading even higher emerged from the hole in the center of the battle field, spiraling upwards.
“That’s gonna be our ticket out of here,” Bandee guessed.
“Still, I feel kinda bad for the Waddle Dee guys,” Billy said with a shrug. “They have to rebuild that really cool looking robot, now.”
“Oh don’t worry about that!” The group turned around to see one builder Waddle Dee waving at them from the pipes hanging from the ceiling. “It took too many resources to rebuild the Kirby Printer; we’ll just make something else!”
“Oh, okay?” Anby murmured. The builder Waddle Dee waved again and retreated into the pipe. “They seem really friendly; despite everything we did.”
“That’s just how Waddle Dees are; we don’t really hold grudges,” Bandee said with a shrug. “Anyways, let’s go! Castle Dedede, here we come!” They cheerfully began to walk up the stairs, humming a joyful tune to themself.
Anby would’ve frowned, if she had a mouth. Luckily, Billy was still able to read her expression. “What’s up?” He asked as the two began to follow the Waddle Dee up the spiralling staircase.
“Nothing…” Anby murmured quietly. “I’m just not sure what to expect.”
“Me neither,” Billy admitted. “Gonna be honest, I’m a little jittery.”
“I know. I can hear your mechanical parts clanking together,” Anby deadpanned.
“Wait, really?” Billy patted his spherical body with hands. “Do I need to apply lubricant everywhere, now?” Billy’s eyes flickered, mimicking a blink. “Anyways, that’s not the point!”
Billy placed a hand on Anby’s shoulder and patted it. “We’ve faced big scary monsters, robots, and some crazy cultist guy that turned into a big monster! I think we can handle anything this world throws at us, even some king!” He reassured her. Anby’s cheeks lifted slightly.
“Yeah, you’re right,” She said with a nod.
Behind them, a glowing orange butterfly was perched on a stalactite.
Notes:
Dungeons.
Ideally, I'd want the story non-combat sections to be mini-dungeons, similar to the ones in early 2D Zelda games. Short, but sweet, puzzle gauntlets with being forced into combat sections for failing the puzzles or not maneuvering around these areas correctly. At most, the characters would speak quicks or guide you in the general direction (not directly too) the objective, but other than that, everyone would be silent to let you work things out on your own.
Does it solve the outstanding issues I have with the TV sections? Well, no, but I would be willing to accept the mid story if they were at least fun to play. This, of course, if Hoyo is willing to let me use my own brain instead of dragging me towards the exit.
Alright, that's all I have.
k bye
Chapter 5: Prologue 5 - Eclair Earldom
Summary:
"Welcome to Brandburger, home of the burger, how can I help you?"
"Yeah, can I have, uhh, the Etheric Matter meal?"
Notes:
Did you know that... Kirby can speak? Well obviously, yeah he does, someone has to voice his grunts, sounds and anime shouts. But, surprisingly, for me anyways, there was a CD drama released for Kirby's Adventure back in 1994. Here, Kirby was voiced by Taeko Kawata according to the description of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol0sJ5O_blc&t=230s. Makiko Omoto, Kirby's current VA, didn't pick up the roll until
Now, that got me thinking because a large part of marketing gacha characters are the VAs, and... Kirby characters don't really have voices? Take for example King Dedede: yes, in the anime he's voiced by Ted Lewis (ENG), and Kenichi Ogata (JP), but that's in the anime only. In the games, Dedede's grunts are done by Mr. Sakurai himself for smash, and Shinya Kumazaki for the more recent titles. Magolor himself is voiced by one of the series' composers, Hirokazu Ando, though I'm not sure he does these lines from RTDL: (https://youtu.be/L84rVFdJ6GA?t=285) That's not to say all of the Kirby cast aren't voiced be trained VAs.
For example, Leongar from Forgotten Land is voiced by Kenta Miyake, who is also the voice from Vector (Sonic, also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6lMC5JHF80), Avdol (JoJo), and the mage sisters, Francisca, Flamberge, and Zan Partizanne, are voiced by Reina Ueda, Rie Takahashi, and Ryuka Yuzuki, who also voiced, Sparkle/Hanabi (HSR), Hu Tao, and Candace (both Genshin) respectively.
Now, I bring this up because Voice Work in the States isn't as respected as it is in Japan. While you do have people in tied to a certain role, it's not like those voice roles are sacred; they can be replaced if someone decides it's time for a new voice, just take a look at Sonic's english Voice Cast from Adventure to SxSHG throughout the years. Now, I'm wondering if those same voice actors will return.
Now, it makes sense if Sakurai or Kumazai don't return to voice Dedede; to my knowledge, they aren't trained VAs. On the English side of things, Dedede from the Anime and games are basically different characters. Ohmoto would return for Kirby, obviously, but what about the Mage Sisters, or Leongar? Kirby is not a series you follow the voice actors, unlike gachas. In Ogata returned to voice Dedede for the 3DS special, but not for the games. Not only that, the VAs I mentioned previously don't speak, they only do grunts, roars, and shouts. There's not really any voice to get attached to, unless you're already a fan of those VAs.
thanks for listening to my tedtalk. I've got no gameplay things to add, so...
K bye.
Chapter Text
The spiral staircase eventually led to a hatch on the cave ceiling. The Cunning Hares - 2 + Bandee examined the hatch briefly, unsure of what to do.
“What are the chances we get knocked all the back down to bottom? I don’t want to climb all that,” Billy said with a groan.
“It couldn’t have been that far,” Anby said, turning her head to look at Billy. “We’ve only been walking a few minutes–” She also managed to catch a glimpse of the bottom of the staircase. Except she couldn’t see the bottom.
“Oh,” Anby muttered.
“Don’t worry about it!” Bandee reassured them. “We already beat the boss, so the chances of us getting into trouble now is low!” They tapped the hatch with their arm, and it began to slide open with a harsh grinding sound. Anby and Billy flinched and turned away as the warm sunlight blinded them briefly.
“Let’s go!” Bandee urged them. They walked up the steps, and Anby and Billy followed them up.
The top of Mt. Dedede was barren. There were no plants or flora, and in general seemed relatively unfriendly compared to the rest of the world the Cunning Hares have explored, including that weird cave system near Dream’s Deep.
Castle Dedede looked just as unfriendly. Anby frowned up at the dour face built into the castle’s foundation. From a distance it looked a little silly, dare she say mildly amusing, but up close it looked… slightly more intimidating than usual.
“You know, for a castle this doesn’t look very royal,” Billy commented.
“...Now that you mention, it does seem very basic. From the movies I’ve seen, castles are usually opulent, expensive places decorated with gold. This looks like it was made with brick and mortar,” Anby hummed. She tapped the brick wall with her knuckles.
Bandee chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah, the Great King isn’t really… uh, well off, I guess you could say?” They then shook their head and let out a small laugh. “Still, he’s the best King you’ve ever met! You’ll never see another politician with his level of care.”
Billy leaned closer to Anby and whispered, “Considering our world, is that uplifting or depressing?”
“...Yesn’t,” Anby said.
They moved towards the frowny gates, where two large and cylinder-shaped green knights with large swords and shields stood (Gigant Edge). The Gigant Edge on the right drew its sword and slammed it on the ground.
“Halt!” It shouted loudly, with a vaguely bri’ish sounding voice. “All those who wish stand in the presence of the noble, great, heroic, awesome, delightful, gluttonous, cool, poggers, kind, awesome–”
“Oh, wait a moment…?” The second Gigant Edge, with a swedish accent. “Bandee, is that you? How ya doin’! Golly gee, it’s been, like, ages since I’ve last seen ye, mate. Where’ve ye been?”
“Oh, I was having a playdate with Kirby!” Bandee told them with their cheeks turned upwards and eyes closed. “Also, I found these guys. They’re from another dimension.”
“Hark!” The british Gigant Edge exclaimed. “If these beings are from Another Dimension, why isn’t the fabric of space-time distorting around them?”
“...What?” Anby asked. Billy’s eyes blue-screened from confusion.
“No, not Another Dimension, just from a different world,” Bandee clarified for the Gigant Edges.
“There’s a difference?” Anby asked her fellow Cunning Hare. Billy just shrugged.
“Oh, okay, then,” The swedish Gigant Edge said. “Yeah, c’mon in, the Great King’s been lookin’ for you,” The other Gigant Edge tapped the wall, and after a few moments, the gates to the castle opened. Bandee casually walked in, and Bill and Anby cautiously followed after him.
The inside of the castle was similar in style to the secret cave from earlier; yellow bricks and red banners with Dedede’s logo emblazoned on them. Inside, there guards… at least, that was the closest thing that Anby could consider them as. Waddle Dees with spears talked amongst each other, or played board games with each other.
“Oh, hey Bandee,” One of the guard Waddle Dees playing… chess (on a 5x5 board, no less) waved at them.
“Hi!~” Bandee waved at them with both hands. “Have you seen the Great King anywhere? I need to ask him a favor.”
“Oh, uh, about that…” The guard Waddle Dee awkwardly scratched their chin. “Uh, the Great King is currently… unavailable, I guess is the right way to put it.”
“Unavailable?” Billy asked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Anby wondered allowed. For some reason, she felt a chill go up her malleable back. “Is he…”
“Well…” The guard Waddle Dee made a sound that was similar to hissing through teeth.
Then, a door slammed open. Anby and Billy pulled out their weapons as they heard loud stomping from the balcony above. A deep voice, inhaled, and then bellowed…
“HAND ME ANOTHA BAG O’ THEM CHIPS!”
Immediately, all the tension left their bodies. They looked up to see a blue furred(?)/feathered(?) and fat avian creature wearing a red with white fur trimming, arms with yellow gloves and feet/shoe things, as well as a beak. On his head was a knitted cap with a gold ridge and a white puffball on top, and he also had a red and yellow obi around his portly tummy.
“Is that a penguin?” Billy asked.
“What was that!?” Billy flinched and hid behind at the loud shout from above. The penguin creature on the balcony leaned against the railing and scanned the room, and their expression brightened when he noticed the bandana wearing Waddle Dee. “Bandee! That you? Finally, you–!”
Anby blinked and Billy gasped as the Penguin suddenly tipped over. The Waddle Dees’ on the balcony with him dropped their spears and pulled on his feet to keep him from falling down. “Great King!” Bandee gasped in a panic. “Don’t worry, I’ll catch you!”
Bandee got underneath the penguin, just as the guard Waddle Dees lost their grip, and the fell to the floor, landing on his head and squishing Bandee. “Argh…! Mah head…!” The penguin groaned in pain, rolling off the now flatter-than-a-pancake Bandee.
Anby and Billy looked at the penguin rubbing his head, and then at each other. “There's no way this goofball is a king, right?” Billy asked in a hushed voice. Anby shrugged.
Bandee reinflated a moment later. Soon, they and a group of Waddle Dees rushed to his aid, carrying with them ice packs, cushions, plates of fruit and chip bags, and a coloring book. “Great King! Are you alright? Are you hurt?”
The king pushed himself onto his feet, and patted Bandee on the head. “Yeah, I’m good…!” He groaned. The penguin then looked forward and noticed the two foreigners standing a few feet away. Billy stiffened.
“Is this the part where we bow or something?” Billy again whispered to Anby.
“Oh, that sort of stuff isn’t necessary!” Bandee reassured them. With an almost giddy excitement, they walked behind the Cunning Hares and pushed them closer to the penguin. The other Waddle Dees parted and presented the king excitedly. “This is our Great King of Dreamland himself, King Dedede!”
Multiple Waddle Dees blew on party favors, and others pulled on party poppers. King Dedede rolled his eyes, but there was also a light smirk on his beak. “Yep, that’s me!” He said proudly, placing his hands on his hips, and then continued in a carefree voice, “Now, who are these folks? They ain’t goin’ around causin’ trouble in my Dreamland, are they?”
“No, absolutely not!” Billy said with a shake of his head/body. “We’re here because we need help getting home.”
“These guys are from a different world, and they need help getting back.” Bandee quickly explained.
“Anotha one o’ these guys?” King Dedede asked, which got Billy and Anby’s attention.
“Another one? You mean, there’s a person from our world here?” Anby asked, moving closer to the king.
“Well, I’m not sure he’s from da same world, but the guy does say he ain’t from around here.” King Dedede explained, crossing his arms over his chest. Billy deflated slightly, and Anby’s tense posture relaxed slightly. “...Not who you’re looking for?” King Dedede asked.
Anby shook her head. “Nekomata and Nicole are both girls…”
“Oh, well that’s disappointing…” Bandee murmured. They shook their head and looked back up at the king. “So, what happened? You seemed really steamed before you fell off the balcony. And, the Gigant Edges outside said you wanted to see me?”
“Oh, that?” King Dedede's face was passive for a moment, before a frown crossed his beak. “Oh, yeah! Ah can’t believe I forgot for a moment! Someone done ruined mah favorite chair!” King Dedede stomped back upstairs, and the other followed him.
“Ain’t nobody mess with my favorite! Once I find the sucker who done this, I’m givin’ ‘em capital punishment! I’ll tie ‘em up to a poll… and make ‘em do silly dances fo’ me! That’ll teach ‘em not tah mess with King Dedede!” Anby and Billy shared a look with each other. Billy drew a line over his vent mouth, and Anby nodded in agreement.
After running up some stairs, the king led them to a large set of doors, which knocked open with a powerful whack of his large mallet. Billy and Anby gasped as they saw a gold and red throne covered in purplish black rocks with green glowing stripes on them.
“What is that?” Bandee asked.
“It definitely ain’t rock candy, that’s for sure,” King Dedede shrugged.
“You ate the etheric matter!?” Billy screeched.
“Well, what else am I supposed to do with it?” The king said with a shrug.
“Etheric matter… Ethereal…” Bandee hummed to themself. “Oh! Is this the stuff those weird crystal monsters are made of?”
“That’s correct. Normally, they’re only supposed to appear in Hollows back in our world, not out in the open,” Anby began to explain, with Billy nodding alongside her. “Despite being an energy source, they can form into Ethereals, and they’re also highly corruptive.”
“Huh, so there’ gotta be a lotta these piles of all those funky monstahs are showin’ up” King Dedede nodded to himself. Then his eyes widened. “Wait, what!? Corruptive!?” He opened his mouth and pulled out his tongue to wipe it clean with his hands. “Bandee, quick, get me toothpaste and mouthwash!”
“Yes, right away Great King!” Bandee said. They rushed out of the room to procure the requested items, while the King scrambled to the other two with a worried, panicked face. “Give it to me straight, how much time do I got left live!?” Dedede asked with teary eyes.
“I honestly don’t know…?” Billy said hesitantly. “Back home, we’ve got these little sticks that tell us what our Ether aptitude is.”
“Ether wuzzat now?” Dedede tilted his head.
“Some people are more resistant to the corruptive property of than others,” Anby clarified. Almost immediately, the king stood back up and laughed heartily.
“Really? In that case, you’ve all gone and got me worried for nothin’, ha ha ha!” Dedede summoned his hammer and swung it around, striking poses once he reached the apex of the swing. “Ah’m the toughest guy I know! I definitely know I got more ether resistance than the common…” He then studied Billy and Anby for a moment. “Whatever you guys are supposed to be.”
“Still, you should probably brush your teeth, just in case,” Anby said.
“Yeah, right,” Dedede said with a nod.
Bandee popped his head into the room at the moment. “Great King! I’ve got your favorite strawberry-and-lemon flavored toothpaste for you!”
“Ah, really? You’re the best, Bandee!” The king ran over to his right-hand friend.
“Oh, hey wait!” Billy then said as the King scrambled away. “That other guy, where is he?”
“He’s in the library!” Dedede said before disappearing out of the throne room.
Anby and Billy were silent for a moment. Tensely, they both glanced at the collection of ether crystals sprouting from the Dedede’s throne.
“Okay, I know this place isn’t like New Eridu, but ether crystals? Out in the open?” Billy said, exasperated.
Anby nodded. “It’s concerning. I don’t think we’re inside a giant hollow at the moment. We haven’t been turned into terrifying monsters, yet.”
“Maybe this strange guy in the library knows something about this?” Billy asked. Anby simply let out a sigh.
“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to ask.” She said, her voice more monotone than normal.
Billy’s vent dropped slightly. He gently grabbed Anby’s hand and pulled her along, traversing through the halls of Castle Dedede. With some helpful guidance from the guard Waddle Dees, they were led to a room with a smaller, less extravagant door.
Gently, Anby pushed the door open. The library was also fairly small. There were bookshelves, at minimum, twice Anby’s size, and for the most part, they seemed to be filled with childrens books, rather than novels or academic texts.
“...I imagine the food storage is probably much larger than this room,” Anby commented. Billy snickered and shook his head.
“Hellooo-ooooo?~ Anyone here?” Billy shouted into the air. A few moments later, they both heard a thud and a soft grunt, coming from the back of the room. Anby and Billy looked at each other, then nodded.
The deeper they went, the more books were missing from shelves. In the back was a small table, surrounded by big, thick books. Sitting at the table was a being wearing a thick black coat, and had a torch for a head. Coming from the torch, and seeping from under the cloak, was purple fire. Sparkles occasionally twinkled out from the flames.
Also, he was tall. Very tall. Nearly twice the size of King Dedede, if not two heads taller. He didn’t have arms, either. The book floated in front of him, but was moved in way that made it seem like he was holding it with invisible hands.
“Oh? Visitors?” The fire being hummed in a deep voice. “I wasn’t expecting guests.”
“Uh, hi…?” Billy said nervously, waving his hand. “Do you, like, have eyes or something, because I don’t…”
The fire being’s head flames crackled. Anby’s not sure if that was supposed to portray amusement or annoyance. “I can see through these flames just as any normal person can,” the being continued, making that fire flare up for emphasis.
“Right…” Billy said with a nod.
Anby stepped forwards. “My name is Anby. This my companion–”
“Partner!” Billy cut in.
“Billy,” Anby continued. “And you are…?”
“Please, refer to me as Apollo,” The fire being spoke. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“You too,” Billy started. “So, uh, the king of the place, Dedede. He said you were from another world?” Apollo’s head flames flickered. “Well, so are we. We come from a city called New Eridu, and we were wondering if you were also from that place?”
“New Eridu…” Apollo hummed to themselves. They closed the book they were holding and set it down on the table. “No, the place doesn’t sound familiar. I apologize. I come from the planet Sizzlai.”
“Oh…” Anby sighed. She half knew he was going to say otherwise; fire people don’t exist in New Eridu. “I assume you’re trying to find a way back home, like us?” Anby then asked, motioning to the books surrounding the table.
“Partly. I first arrived here a few years ago and I must say, I found myself fascinated by this planet, so I elected to extend my stay here. Besides, I believe that the research I perform here can aid my own studies back home,” Apollo said, grabbing another book from the pile and opening it.
“Oh, you’re a scientist? That’s cool!” Billy said excitedly. “I’m sure you’re much better than the last scientist I met!” He shivered.
“Are you talking about Grace–!” Anby tried to say, but her voice was cut off when placed a hand on where her mouth normally would.
“Shh! Don’t say it out loud! Even here, I feel like just saying her name might summon her!” Billy whispered, looking from side to side frantically. Anby rolled her eyes in exasperation.
“Since you’re here, I’m aware you know of the… outburst the King has made over his throne?” Apollo asked them, to which the pair nodded. “Excellent. I was wondering if you could snap off a piece of that material for me and bring it here?”
“A piece of Ether? I’m not sure if I feel comfortable touching that,” Billy said with a nervous shrug. “Anby, you got gloves on you?”
“My hands are only gloves,” Anby said with a huff, and then she blinked. “Wait, does that mean if they get corrupted, so do I? But my hands arms are disconnected from my body…” Anby’s mind began running a mile a minute, forming hypotheticals that were less pleasant than the last.
Billy reached underneath the desk, pulled out a paper sword, and slapped Anby on the cheek with it. “Let’s not overthink these things right now,” Billy said as Anby pouted at him. He turned back to Apollo and asked, “What do you need the Etheric matter for, anyways?”
“A project I’m working on with Magolor. I’m hoping that the material could provide us with higher quality research.” Apollo told them. Anby raised an eyebrow.
“What kind of research are you conducting?” Anby asked him.
Apollo’s fiery body brightened slightly, and then the castle rumbled. “That sounded like it came from the throne room,” Billy said. “C’mon, let’s go!” The robot ran off, leaving Anby behind. She started to follow, but took a moment to glance at Apollo’s flaming body before chasing after him.
Anby and Billy barged into the throne room. Inside, multiple guard Waddle Dees were not dyeing their job, and instead hid between the pillars and shivering in fear. The only ones out in the open were King Dedede, whose beak was filled with a toothbrush and toothpaste suds, carrying his hammer, and Bandee, who had their spear.
The Ether crystals had grown around the throne, almost encasing it entirely. Behind it was a flash of light that cast a large shadow on the wall. Anby’s eyes widened at it; a horned sphere with shackled hands, wings and an ornate crown on its head.
“Ha ha ha ha…! Yes, yes!” A booming voice came behind the throne. Sparks showered from behind the parasitic crystals and a loud whirring sound echoed in the room. “Finally…!”
The sparks died down, and the shadow’s owner popped out from behind the throne. All the tension left Anby’s body as a small, egg-shaped thing with horns (no, they moved too fluidly to be horns) with a welding mask and a torch. After placing the torch down, they removed the mask, revealing blue robes with yellow, gear-shaped markings on the hood and chest area, as well as a white cape.
“Got it…!” He said in a cheeky voice, yellow eyes glowing mischievously from behind the dark shadows cast by the hood. He raised his hand and shook a piece of purple crystal in his hand: etheric matter.
“Nice job, Magolor!” Bandee cheered as the spooky lighting stopped. The Waddle Dees peaked out of there hiding places to see that everything hadn’t burned down.
“So, how long befo’ ya get rid of everything here?” Dedede asked. Guard Waddle Dees ran up to him with a large bucket, which the king spit the toothpaste and brush into. “I wanna sit in mah seat with a bag o’ chips!”
The floating mage first loosened his belt to pull on his outfit and dropped the ether crystal inside. “Well, not at this rate. Welding it off’ll take too much time. Sorry, buddy…” Magolor sighed, floating up to pat the disgruntled king on the shoulder. “However, I can hook you up with same day-passes for the park?”
Dedede’s eyes locked onto Magolor’s floating hand as he reached into his hood, and pulled out three red and gold tickets. “It all comes with an all-paid expense buffet…!”
“Sold!” Dedede swiped the tickets from the mage and looked at them eagerly. “You can take a week for all I care!”
Bandee sighed at the king and mage’s antics, so they turned away, which is when they noticed Billy and Anby. “Oh, hey guys!” They said cheerily, waving at the pair. “How did your talk with the guy go?”
“Pretty… interesting, I guess?” Billy said with a light shrug. “I’m more concerned about what you’re going to do with that.” He pointed a finger at the floating egg, which only made him chuckle.
“Hee hee, that’s a secret!” The chuckling mage told them. “So, you must be the two foreigners that Bandee told me about, him?” He floated closer, eyes glowing as scanned them. Anby placed a hand on her scabbard. “Oh, I’m dying to know you work !” Billy shrieked and jumped away from the egg.
“Oh, so overdramatic!” The egg giggled. “I am Magolor! Proprietor of Merry Magoland, the greatest theme park in the galaxy, and magical researcher extraordinaire! Pleased to be of service!”
“That’s an odd combination of jobs,” Anby commented blandly. “So, about your ship…?”
“The Lor Starcutter, yes! It can take you home! I just need to know the exact spatial-temporal coordinates of your home dimension in relation to Planet Popstar, do you?” Magolor then quickly asked. The question completely flies over both Anby and Billy’s head.
“The what of who now?” Billy asked.
“Yeah, I thought so,” Magolor sighed and shook his head. “So, listen; the Lor Starcutter can’t just take me anywhere I want to go, that’s not how it works. I either need that world’s exact coordinates, or it needs to be somewhere in the Lor’s travel logs.”
Billy and Anby turned to look at each other. Immediately, her face scrunched up. “Well, that’s unfortunate,” Was all she had to say.
“So, what are the chances that your ship just so happens to have our planet on the travel logs?” Billy asked awkwardly, in a stiff voice. Magolor blinked and placed his disembodied hands on his hips.
“Only between one and… oh infinity,” Magolor said casually, which made the two freeze. “It’s not like the Lor already has over 30,000 planets logged, and it will take for-EVER to sort through them all.”
“...Ah,” Anby murmured. So, that’s it then. She inhaled sharply and let it out. “Regardless, it’s not like we’ll be leaving immediately.”
“Yeah! We still need to find Nicole and Nekomata!” Billy told them. Magolor’s ear twitched.
“And, it’s not like we need the Lor to get you guys back home! You came here without it, afterall!” Bandee added, rushing to Anby’s side.
Dedede walked up to Magolor and pinched one of his ears. Magolor yowled like a cat and tugged it away from the king’s grip. “Ya’ll can stay here in the castle while we look for your friends. Once mah guys get rid of the funky crystals, that is.”
Magolor stayed silent for a moment, but a short glare from Dedede and Bandee prompted an eyeroll from him. “And, I guess I can check through the travel logs whenever I have free time,” He sighed.
And then Magolor clapped his hands. “Say, you foreigners must’ve had a crazy day today, huh? You all probably need some time to destress, wouldn’t you say?”
It was then that Billy remembered that Magolor owned a theme park. “Wait, is this some thinly veiled marketing to ploy to get us to spend money we don’t have?”
“Nonsense, of course not!” Magolor said while looking away. “It was always going to be in the house!”
“His money-hungry mannerisms remind me of Nicole,” Anby whispered to Billy. The android nodded at her.
“Well, what do you say?” Magolor asked them again. “I’ll even give you a small allowance to enjoy more than just the courtyard.”
“I think it would be fun! A great way to end the day, don’t you think?” Bandee said; they ran up to Anby, and grabbed her hands while jumping up and down. “And, we’d get to play all sorts of fun games together, too!”
“It does sound relaxing…” Billy admitted.
“And, my park is a popular tourist destination…! Lots of people from all over the planet, and sometimes beyond, come to visit it,” Magolor added. Anby could hear the grin on his face.
“...then we’ll go to your park,” Anby said with a nod. Magolor clapped his hand together in excitement.
“Excellent!” The egg exclaimed. “I’ll go fetch Apollo. The Lor Starcutter is waiting for you outside!” Magolor rose into the air and floated out of the room.
“What about the Etheric Matter?” Anby said as the door to the throne room slammed shut. Dedede chuckled at her question and raised his hands.
“Don’ worry! I got the best team to handle it!” he clapped his hands, a number of Waddle Dees, one of which carried a welding mask, appeared. The welding Waddle Dee raised his hand into the air while the others said ‘wanya!’ Eventually, the weight of the welding mask made the welding Waddle Dee tip over and fall. “Best team of experts I could find. They’ll have the ether whatchamacallit out by the time we’re done!”
“Are you sure you should let those guys handle the ether?” Billy tried to say. The welding Waddle Dee deflated slightly (he wanted to use the welding torch for once). “Like not to insult you or anything, but we really shouldn’t touch it unless you actually know what you’re doing with it.”
“...Ah, fair enough,” Dedede relented. He clapped his hands again, the Waddle Dees dispersed. Except for welding Waddle Dee, who sat on the ground dejectedly. One other Waddle Dee had to drag them out of the room.
“We’d probably lock the room so that nobody can get inside and get hurt,” Bandee suggested.
“Sounds good. I’ll tell my guys to up security around here,” Dedede said as he walked out of the room. “C’mon, let’s head out!”
A small murmur of agreement echoed in the room, and everyone slowly filed out. As the door to the throne room closed, and was locked from the outside…
A cloaked figure emerged from a sudden burst of dark clouds and square particles.
KING DEDEDE (LV. 40)
HP: 644 | FP: 170
ATK: 501 | DEF: 199 | SPD: 25
LUCK: 20% | POW: 52.5%
BASIC ATK
King’s Hammer (FP: 0)
Dedede raises his hammer and bonks against the enemy’s head, dealing Physical DMG.
Head Slide (FP: 4)
Dedede charges for an attack, but ends up tripping and lands on all enemies, dealing Physical DMG to them and dealing 12% Recoil (the DMG the enemy took, ignores Dedede’s DEF) to Dedede.
SKILL
Macho of Dedede (FP: 12)
Dedede flexes and intimidates the enemy, reducing all of their ATK for until the end of their second turn.
Roar of Dedede (FP: 9)
Dedede roars loudly, which can taunt all enemies for four turns, and raises his DEF until all enemies have attacked once.
D-Medallion (FP: 20)
Can only be used on Benched Friends, and cannot be activated if there is an Active Friend because of this effect. Dedede hands one Friend a special medallion, which allows them to join the fight as an Active Friend until three of their turns have passed, or Dedede has been KO’d.
The King of the Show (FP: 99)
Dedede is already perfect, so this skill doesn’t need to do anything important. The first time this skill is activated today, there’s a 10% chance for one enemy to lose 99% (basic enemy) 72% (midboss) 64% (minor boss) 32% (major boss) of their MAX HP, as they are unable to fathom Dedede’s sheer swagger.
ITEMS
Bag o’ Them Chips (x3)
Increases FP by 32 to a Friend and one D-Medallion, if possible. If they like this food, then they also gain 32 ATK. Friends with D-Medallions will like this food.
King’s Mask (x1)
Dedede equips the Mask, which increases Dedede’s DEF and ATK by 50 and taunts an Enemy based on how high it’s ATK is and Dedede’s LUCK.
Gordo (x1)
Dedede tosses it into the air, and slams it into the targeted enemy. Deals Physical DMG based on Dedede’s ATK, and the Gordo bounces back to a random Friend or one with a D-Medallion for two turns. When an enemy attacks a Friend with a Gordo, they take a minor Physical DMG before the attack lands.
FRIEND ABILITY
Bandee and King Dedede's Gordo Tether (FP: 35 + 35)
Kirby and King Dedede's Hypernova Gordo (FP: 44 + 32)
Kirby drops his current ability, and becomes Hammer Kirby. Dedede takes out a stack of Gordos; flick the left stick to toss them at Kirby and press his action button when the Gordo are in range to knock them into the enemy, until Gordos are left. Each Gordo deals Physical DMG, and one placed in front of each Active Friend until the end of that Friend's next turn.
Meta Knight and King Dedede's King Galaxia (FP: 39 + 40)
Dedede and Meta Knight join hands and begin to spin in the air. Mash their action buttons to charge the attack, and when the flew down, press both their actions buttons together to deal Physical and Electric DMG. After the attack, Dedede is stunned, his DEF is lowered, and he cannot switch out until the end of his second turn.
King Dedede & Caesar King's Royal Payback (FP: 34 + 39)
Can only be activated while no Friends are affected by this ability. Caesar and Dedede defend their Friends. Raises the DEF of all Friends. If a Friend is attacked, Caesar and Dedede immediately use their first Basic ATK on the enemy that damaged them, but removes that Friend's DEF buff. This only applies once per Friend.
Chapter 6: Prologue 6 - Tycoon Tiramisu
Summary:
Greetings, gentleclowns! May we interest you in a PNG? It's a mere $600! All proceeds go to ruining your love life!
G E P P E T _ _
Notes:
Jesus, this past week had a tight release schedule. Deltarune, Switch 2, ZZZ 2.0? It's a shame to admit that only one of these was truly, unequivically, peak.
For as much like this game, I also love being a hater, so let's on hate on ZZZ's 2.0. Spoilers inbound.
Perfomance has tanked significantly this patch. My laptop isn't the most powerful machine, but by lowering the graphical fidelity, it was able to run the game at a mostly smooth 30fps. Now, the game stutters every fight. It's even more noticeable in the new exploration.
The new temple managment system would've been fun if I weren't forced to engage with it in the middle of the (mid)story. It grinds progression to a halt for what? A dozen unskippable tutorials and conversations with NPC's I do not care about? Ha, no thank you. I don't care if there's free polychrome, i'm not touching it ever again.
Plus... I'm sorry, if you put me musicing voting with Hoyo-Mix and Toby Fox, I'm going to vote for Toby Fox and hack everyones accounts to vote for him too.
And now for the story.
My first problem with Yixuan herself, who is not a very interesting character. She feels retread of Miyabi specifically, what with her aloof demeanor, deadpan voice, and constant denouncement of evil. Her backstory is similar as well, having lost a female family member to a cursed sword related incident during the Hollow Zero disaster. She's not even remotely as funny as Miyabi, so I can't find enjoyment there, either. Ju Fufu is more entertaining than her. Plus, when she's introduced in 1.7 Yixuan waltzes in like a bum: She takes four Thanatoses, enemies that annoying but defeatable in the endgame. Meanwhile, Miyabi solos Nineveh.
also her shorts are stupid >:[
The second is the how this story starts! The blimp is taken out, and one Phaethon sibling mentions that the attack was specifically targeted. And nothing comes of it. No Exaltists walking in to make sure the siblings are dead, and Yixuan thinks its A-OK to let Belle walk around Waifei casually. Like, yeah, Ju Fufu is strong, but some extra precautions would saved the immersion.
Can we talk about the dialogue bloat? There's so much pointless talking! Ju Fufu's tour of the peninsula was fine, but inside the Hollow, when you talking to everybody who took the bad rock cancer medicine? They all say the same thing, they're all in pain. We get it, I don't want to talk to these randos who do not matter.
The exaltists literally show up out of nowhere. I think earlier would've been a way simpler, non-intrusive way to introduce the fact that they were here. Literally, during the walking sections (with painfully easily skippable dialogue, mind you) Ju Fufu literally says 'oh, it's gotta be those damn Exaltists, donychano?' No foreshadowing, no build-up, NOTHING! Exlatists are here, fight this guy this obviously evil doctor; except no, don't fight him, fight this random cult leader who shows up out of nowhere and gets hype moment and aura'd out of existence.
But the worst part of the problem is Phaethon. Ooooh, FUCKING Phaethon. Letting them enter the Hollows is still the worst story decision ever made for this game. Phaethon being the Hollows has contributed NOTHING. They are only a danger magnet to be saved for the current shilled character (at least Hugo threatened them (he could threaten me and I'm ace)). Everything they can do, they can do with Euos or can be done by Fairy.
I'm gonna be honest fam, I checked out during the weird infection scene. No matter how funny I found Ju Fufu funny, the story she was in wasn't entertaining.
Thankfully, I haven't played through all of 2.0 just yet. There's been praise for the Cinema event, and the Mecha event has been better than the main story. And, unlike HSR, I like this games combat, so a poor story isn't a dealbreaker for me.
I probably soured the mood, so to lift your spirts, here's Tenna dancing to his boss theme for an hour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDE-Qm8NyJA&t=828s
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Anby had her face pressed against one of the Lor Starcutter’s windows, watching the rolling green land zoom past them. Billy stood nex t to her and did the same, but he was gasping audibly whenever they passed something that looked cool, like a lake, a series of floating buildings resting on clouds, or the pinwheel tree.
King Dedede walked up to them, unfazed by the sights. “Not used tah seein’ stuff like this back home?” He asked them. Anby turned around, but Billy kept his eyes glued to the window.
“Nothing like it,” Anby confirmed by shaking her head. “Even large open plains like the ones below are a rarity.”
“Dude, the forest is entirely orange…!” Billy gasped, pressing his face further against the window. Somehow, his cheeks became lightly smushed. “Doesn’t that only happen in the fall or something?”
“Why is that?” Bandee asked innocently, stepping next Dedede. Behind all of them, Magolor and Apollo stood in front of the Lor’s console, quietly chatting to one while the piece of etheric matter Magolor soldered off earlier floated inside a tube between them.
“Well, mainly because of that,” Bily said, pointing to said tube. “Some Ether forms into crystals… and other times they turn into freaky black hole thingies called Hollows.”
“Black hole thingies?” King Dedede cocked his head in confusion. “You tellin’ me that not-rock candy can warp space. I don’ believe it!”
“It’s true, though,” Anby said. “Billy and I come from the last city on our planet. Most of our world has been consumed by Hollows; even half of the moon is covered in them.”
“Th-the moon, too?” Bandee gasped in bewilderment. “Gosh, that must be super scary, living in a world like that!”
“Eh, you get used to it,” Billy shrugged. His eyes flickered, as if blinking, and Dedede and Bandee looked at him.
“Now, y’all realize that sounds heckin’ depressing, right?” Dedede bluntly said.
“Saying it out loud does sound weird, I’ll admit, but really, New Eridu isn’t as bad as we make it sound like, honest!” Billy said. Next to him, Anby nodded.
“Maybe, once Magolor finds out where our world is, we can go to New Eridu and show you around?” Anby suggested, raising one floating hand to her cheek. Bandee looked somewhat eager, but the king was apprehensive. Then, Anby remembered how easily Magolor persuaded him.
“I can also show you this burger place I like. It has everything kind of burger you can think of,” Anby said offhandedly.
“Borgah?” Dedede asked inquisitively. It’s like luring a pig with a carrot stick. “Hmm… I suppose we can visit this… New Eridu place once in a while…”
“I agree! It sounds like fun!” Bandee nodded happily. “And, maybe we can help out with the Hollows, too!”
“Uhh…” Billy’s vent mouth curled downwards as he spoke. He and Anby glanced at each other and shared an uncomfortable glance. “Maybe? We’d, uh, certainly appreciate the help, I guess.”
“Oh, I get it! You’re worried we might get hurt!” Bandee realized.
“Well, yeah. You like marshmallow,” Anby bluntly said. The comment made Dedede snicker.
“Hah, that’s a new one!” The king guffawed, rubbing the top of Bandee’s head. The small Waddle Dee’s cheeks puffed out as he slapped Dedede’s with his arms.
Bandee took out his spear and began to twirl it around him, the weapon blurring. “I’ll have you know, we’re some of the toughest fighters Popstar has ever known!” They boasted. They thrust their hand into the air which caused the spear to fly up and the blunt end to bonk on their head. “Ow…!”
“Well, he is a good fighter,” Billy admitted.
A few moments of silence passed before Magolor clapped his hands together, getting everyone’s attention. “Theydies and gentlethems!” He announced loudly. “We’re arriving at our destination soon. Be sure to have your passes ready! I’m not sure if I calibrated the security system correctly today , hah hah…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Anby asked.
“Also, we don’t have passes!” Billy added, raising his fist in the air. Anby looked at him incredulously
“Don’t worry, I’ve got them right here!” Magolor floated to the pair and produced two plastic red and gold cards from his hood, each one bearing his face. “These aren’t your passes; they also let you play the Sub-Games my establishment oh-so generously provides!”
Anby and Billy took the cards. While Billy ‘ooh’d’ and ‘aah’d’, Anby glanced at it skeptically. Her expression turned deadpan at Magolor's gold-trimmed face. “How do they work?” She asked.
“Well, I’m so glad you asked!” Magolor floated into the air and pulled down a projector screen, which made Bandee and Dedede jump backwards to avoid getting hit.
“My park passes have a total of 240 Vigor , see?” Magolor explained. He took out a pointing stick and slapped it against the image the screen projected (with a suspiciously pink ball standing in front of a familiar video store, with a familiar UI at the top of the screen) “You get back one Vigor every six minutes , so it’ll take a full twenty-four hous for the pass to restore all of its Vigor.”
Magolor threw his stick away and pushed the screen back up. “Different games at different difficulties require different amounts of Vigor to be spent. In return, you can earn Stickers and other helpful items if you win! And, you can also overcharge your pass, up to a maximum of 1000 points of Vigor!”
Anby blinked. “So, we don’t have to spend any money to play your games? How does the park make money?”
Magolor chuckled. “Oh, don’t worry…” He told them, slowly turning away from them to look at you past the screen. “I’ve got other ways to make what I need!”
Bandee coughed into their hand.
“Anyways, we’re here!” Magolor said. H e floated back to the Lor’s console and typed in a few commands. The ship shuddered as it descended, and once it landed, the circular opened, sunlight flooding.
“Welcome, everyone…!” The mage said, floating to the entrance and displaying it proudly. “To Merry Magoland!”
Anby and Billy walked outside of the Lor slowly, their eyes widening as they bore witness to a castle more resplendent than even Dedede’s, though more egotistically designed, considering the fact that Magolor’s face was the roof of the castle.
The front entrance was shaped like the gear motif on the mage’s robes, while multiple large and twisting towers rising into the air. Slowly, Anby and Billy walked forwards, silently taking the spectacularly friendly sights.
After swiping their passes on the security doors, the two wandered into the courtyard. In front of the castle were multiple doors with images above them, depicting a pick ball doing various fun activities. Waddle Dees and other creatures wandered the area, holding ice cream cones and fruit cups.
“Alright, well, I leave you all to your devices, then!” Magolor said, looking out from inside the Lor. Apollo had leaned downwards so he could be visible from the entrance. “Apollo and I will continue our research on the etheric matter. Try not to cause any property damage! I will sue.”
The Lor slammed shut.
“So, what do you guys feel like doing first?” Bandee asked the two foreigners.
“I know what Ah’m gonna do!” Dedede said, holding out the passes that Magolor gave to him. “Endless buffet, here I come!” Bandee chuckled awkwardly as the king rushed to the back of the castle.
“Oh, dear… I better go after him in case he gets a food coma or something,” Bandee sighed. He bowed at the foreigners apologetically. “Sorry, I really wanted to go play games with you!”
“Don’t worry about it, Bandee!” Billy reassured him with a pat on the head. “We can have fun together some other time, really!”
“Oh, well okay!” Bandee turned around and began to run towards Dedede while waving goodbye at the Cunning Hares. “Have fun, you two!”
As the King and his retainer left their line of sight, Anby turned back to face the castle and the multiple games plastered in front of it. “So, which one should play first?”
“I’m not sure… Which one would Nicol e play first?” Anby asked Billy.
“Uh, hmmm…” Billy carefully examined the selection of sub-games displayed on the screens above the doors. “I’m not sure. None of these games seem to be money related… but!” Billy pointed upwards at one game: ‘Dedede’s Drum Dash’.
Anby and Billy climbed up the steps of the castle to read the rules and look at the example videos to learn how to play. “Seems like it's some sort of rhythm game? Should be simple enough!”
Anby adjusted the headphones on her head. “Should be easy enough for me. I’ll give it a try and see if Nicole is in there.”
“In that case, I’ll go check if Nicole is at one of the other games!” Billy said. He raised his hand, and without looking, Anby high-fived him. “Good luck!”
As he ran off, Anby grabbed her pass and swiped it against the door. Slowly, it opened, and Anby cautiously walked inside the room.
Anby blinked. She found herself standing on some sort of platform. The walls of the room(?) were now decorated with bright pastel colors depicting an autumn forest with swirling clouds above the trees. And below her were large tambourines that floated above an endless white abyss. One was even in her hand.
“Wh-what the–!?” Anby looked behind her, but there was no door.
“Ready?” Her eyes swiveled around frantically, and she gasped when she Waddle Dees wearing hard hats and walking on catwalks above her. The deep voice came from a Waddle Doo carrying a clipboard. “You’re on in five, four, three, two…!”
He went silent, and music started to play. However, Anby was too startled to recognize that the sub-game had started, or that the platform she was in disappeared. “Waaaaaaiiiiiiii–!”
Her voice trailed off as she fell deeper and deeper. The Waddle Dees didn’t react.
“Well, that’s 0 points, then. Whose next?” The Waddle Doo asked.
The door to the sub-game opened, and Anby was unceremoniously thrown out. She bounced on her head and skidded against the f loor, only stopping at the center of the courtyard. For a moment, she remained still, looking up at the sky. One curious Waddle Dee stopped in front of her, and placed a jenga block where her nose normally would be before walking away.
Anby’s eyes narrowed, and she clenched her fist.
She raised his fists and slammed them against the ground, which knocked her back onto her feet. Anby then stomped back towards the sub-game’s door, swiped her card, and walked in as soon as the door opened.
“Oh, you again?” The Waddle Doo asked as she appeared on the platform again.
“Yes. I’m not losing this time,” Anby said. Her monotone voice had a bit more fire to it than normal. She raised her hand, and removed her headphones.
“Okay,” The Waddle Doo sighed. “Everyone ready?” The worker Waddle Dee’s let out a combined shout of ‘Wanya’! “Good!”
Anby leaned forward and repositioned her feet to be shoulder’s width apart. “Ready? You’re on in five, four, three, two…!”
As soon as the music started, Anby hummed along, her head nodding along to the beat. She jumped off once the platform she started and landed on a floating tambourine, which bounced her back up. She hit her own instrument for extra points once she reached the apex.
Anby looked forward, using the coins as a guide to know where to jump to. She didn’t need to focus on grabbing them, as the coins (which had Magolor’s face on them) were absorbed into her.
Waddle Dees were also bouncing on tambourines, they weren’t moving towards others, and they didn’t seem to be other players. Anby slammed her feet into the tambourine, which launched her over them. Off to the side was a gong; Anby smacked her tambourine into it, which caused coins to fly out and into her.
Anby scanned the track in front of her. Large Gordos floated in the air, which meant she had to go for lower jumps soon. As soon as she thought that, Bronto Burts flew down from the ceiling and unfurled a large banner, also with Magolor’s branding in the center.
Anby huffed. They must be going easy on her if they think she can’t remember the placement of the Gordos.
Anby jumps face first into one of the spikes of the Gordos and bounces one space back. She reoriented herself on the descent, and felt that the center of her face was indented.
“One minute left!” The manager Waddle Doo informed her. Anby blinked in surprise and continued to bounce forwards, intentionally bouncing lower to avoid getting hit again. After a few more beats, the Bronto Burts flew away with the banner. The goal was up head, indicated by a drum and a banner of a certain pink fellow with blue eyes.
Bouncing a few more times, and jumping over a handful of Waddle Dees, Anby was able to make it to the end, landing with a decisive thud. “There, I did it!” Anby said breathlessly.
The Waddle Doo walked next to her, tapping a few screens on his tablet. “That you did. Not bad for a second-timer.”
“Don’t you mean first-timer?” The Waddle Doo glanced up at her.
“So, here’s your score!” They said. They turned the screen around, and Anby deflated when she saw the score. 378, and there was a suspiciously medal-less dark circle above it. “Your prize!” The Waddle Doo said, handing Anby a Sticker of a blade of grass.
The door to the sub-game opened, and Anby was unceremoniously thrown out. She bounced on her head and skidded against the floor, only stopping at the center of the courtyard. For a moment, she remained still, looking up at the sky. One curious Waddle Dee stopped i n front of her, and placed a jenga block where her nose normally would be before walking away.
Anby raised her hand, and looked at the grass sticker. It was mocking her.
Before she could invoke wrath on it, she heard Billy’s familia r metal footsteps approach her. “Howdy, pardner!” Anby tilted her head up, and saw the android with his eyes ><ing down at her, and had a cowboy hat on his head. “How goes yer day?”
Anby showed him the grass sticker. “Oof, that’s rough, buddy,” Billy said sympathetically. “But like what I got!” He leaned over her, and showed Anby two stickers; one was of that pink fellow riding a pink fellow-shaped mech, and a flying battleship with Meta Knight’s mask on the front. “I'm thinking of putting this one on my W-Engine when we get back home! I wonder what kind of megazord it turns into!”
The only thought Anby was confusion as to why so many people have their faces plastered on everything. She wondered if everyone had a big head because their body is mostly head.
…does that mean Billy will become more egotistical soon?
“So, did you find Nicole yet?” Billy asked her. Anby rolled onto her and shook her head.
“Not yet. My assumption was wrong,” She told him. “Perhaps it’s because the coins weren’t shaped like Dennies?”
“Maybe we can find a game that’s work related?” Billy suggested. Anby blinked at him, confused. “Well, work means a paycheck, right?”
“That does make sense,” Anby said with a nod. “But, these games seem work related, though… Which one did you play?”
“‘Kirby on the Draw’! You shoot down criminals, western sheriff style! Is that work related enough?” Anby looked to where Billy pointed to, and saw the pink fellow in a sheriff hat and wielding a pistol.
“No, I think we need something… simpler,” Anby said, looking at all the games in front of the castle. “Like that one!” Billy followed her hand, and he frowned when he saw she pointed to ‘Waddle Dee Café: Help Wanted!’.
“Like, I know Nicole really likes money, but…” Billy gestured vaguely to the sub-game. “Minimum wage fast-food retail worker? Really? ”
“The Cunning Hares are an odd job agency,” Anby reminded.
“Well, yeah, but…” Billy eventually sighed. “Oh, what the heck, it’s worth a shot. Let’s go in together, this time.”
“Right… whose pass will we be using?” Anby asked.
“...One, two, shoot?”
“One, two, three, shoot.”
Billy and Anby played rock-paper-scissors. They tied, both shooting paper. “Wait, we can only do rock and paper,” Billy said once he realized they don’t have finger s.
“Let’s just use your card,” Anby sighed.
Billy and Anby walked up to the door, and the former swiped his card against the door. It opened and they walked inside together.
When Anby’s vision returned, she felt a paper hat on her head. Billy had one as well, and they were standing behind some sort of food stall. “Well, I certainly feel like I’m being paid less than I deserve,” Billy joked.
They heard someone clear their throat behind them. A chef Waddle Doo walked out from the door behind them, carrying a tablet. “Ah, you’re here for the part-time gig, right? Good. Here's today’s menu.” The chef Waddle Doo placed an Energy Drink, Maxim Tomato, a Burger, and a Car-by Cake.
The curtains in front of them parted to reveal a long line of hungry Waddle Dees that disappeared behind the horizon. “We are definitely being paid less than we deserve,” Anby said.
“Remember, keep the customers happy and don’t mess up their orders,” The chef Waddle Doo told them. “Now then, ready?”
A bar appeared in front of them. “Five, four, three, two…!” A whistle was blown, and the bar started to trickle down.
A Waddle Dee walked up to the counter. “Hi, can have a… uhhhhhhhhhhhhh…” Billy and Anby exchanged nervous glances. “Uhhhhhhhhhhh…”
“How about this… thing?” Billy asked, picking up the Maxim Tomato. The Waddle Dee blinked, but shook their head.
“No, I’m thirty, now that I think–” Anby immediately pushed the Energy Drink into the Waddle Dees arms. “Oh, thank you!” The Waddle Dee waddled away.
“What the–! Shouldn’t we be nicer?” Billy asked Anby incredulously. She wasn’t looking back, and instead looked up at the bar above their heads.
“We don’t have time for niceties!” Anby said. She pointed to the bar, and Billy gasped when he noticed it was red and already half empty.
The next Waddle Dee walked up to the counter. “Can I have a bu–?” Billy threw it to the Waddle Dee, and hit it in the face. “Thanks!” The Waddle Dee murmured, their voice muffled by the burger as they walked off.
For the next few minutes, Anby and Billy were hard at work tossing the Waddle Dees their orders. At some point, Anby stopped turning back and forth and started to spin continuously. This went on for minutes until Anby got dizzy and Billy had to grab her head to stop her from spinning.
“How many orders are left?” Billy asked. Anby dizzily leaned over the counter, and her expression dropped. The line hadn’t moved an inch.
Billy’s eyes flickered. Anby remembered how she first met Nicole.
An indefinite amount of time passed. Anby was laying on the floor, face first; her appendages were scattered haphazardly across the diner kitchen. Billy, meanwhile, had Burger on his head. Slowly, he dragged himself to the counter, and pulled himself up with a heavy groan.
“H-here…” Billy gasped, tilting his head down to drop the burger onto the Waddle Dee’s face. “H-have a… nice… day…”
The Waddle Dee pouted. “You took too long!” They huffed, and then stomped away. Billy remained on the counter for a moment, unmoving. Then, his eyes blue-screened and his body ragdolled, falling on the other side of the counter with a thud.
Chef Waddle Doo then walked into the kitchen. “Excellent effort, part-timers! Even if you all did choke in the last half.” Billy dialed up, and Anby weakly raised the hand that was resting on top of her right foot next to the pots and pans.
“Now, your score! Ergh, let me just…” the Waddle Doo turned Anby’s body so that she now stared blankly up at the ceiling, and the Waddle Doo lifted the tablet over her head, and there was a bronze medal above the point total. “Here’s your prize!”
The Waddle Doo slapped a sticker of a Star Block and a blade of grass, and they did the same for Billy, who was still dialing up. A single tear leaked from Anby’s eye.
The door opened, and Anby and Billy were unceremoniously tossed out of the subgame. Billy landed with a metallic thunk and rolled forwards slightly, while Anby bounced on her head and skidded against the floor, only stopping at the center of the courtyard. They both looked up at the sky.
One curious Waddle Dee noticed them, and placed a jenga block where their noses normally would be before waddling away.
“Never again?” Billy asked.
“Never again,” Anby confirmed. She stood back up, and Billy rolled onto his feet. “So that’s two games down, and with no sign of Nicole…”
“What are chances that she’s at the food court?” Billy suggested. “We haven’t ea t en anything expensive and tasty since Nekomata joined the Hares. If Dedede can be bribed with food, then food must be excellent. I’d say… five Michelin stars!”
“I’m pretty sure Michelin stars only go up to three, but your idea is sound,” Anby admitted. “I think Dedede and Bandee went that way?”
The pair began to walk briskly. They couldn’t feel any of the earlier exhaustion from the part-time jobs (no way in hell that’s a minigame). What happens in the Café stays in the Café, apparently.
Anby and Billy walked quietly through the courtyard. They were about to reach the path that led to the buffet, until Anby noticed something egg-shaped in the corner of her vision. “Magolor?” She turned around–
And paused. That wasn’t Magolor.
For once, that’s a lot of pink. The egg was covered from head to die in thick, fluffy pink hair instead of robes, and instead of horns where two long pigtails, which grazed the floor, were tied together by black bows. Also, rather than having large mittens for hands, they had gloves with long cuffs and discernible digits; three fingers and a thumb. Instead of a brown belt, they had a black jacket with a popped white collar that was held in place by a black, gold studded belt with a heart buckle that also had a small Amillion plush hanging from it.
Essentially, they looked like a genderswapped, girliepop version of Magolor.
The pink thing turned around, revealing a pale face hiding behind all luscious pink threads of hair. “Hey! I’m not that money-swindling, smooth lying, deceptive egg trickster of a mage!” She yelled at them with her eyes closed from frustration. When she opened them, bright green eyes glared at the two.
“Oh, that’s just Nicole,” Billy said, but Anby didn’t hear him. Slowly, she and Nicole walked and floated closer to each other, until they were face to face.
Anby raised her hand, and Nicole did the same, and they pressed their palms together. Somehow, Anby’s gloved hand separated into distinct fingers, and the two managed to interlock their fingers.
“Nicole…” Anby whispered quietly. Her eyes watered slightly as they simply looked at each other. “Y-you’re here… I found you…”
“Anby…” Nicole whispered back.
Nicole took her hands and used them to pinch Anby’s cheeks; she cooed. “Anby, you’re so adorable!!!~ Ohmygod, I could die happy just smooshing and pinching your cheeks like this!~” Anby’s expression turned deadpan as Nicole cooed.
Like with Billy, she bonked her sword’s pommel against Nicole's head, making the floating-egg shaped woman fall to the ground. “Hey!” Nicole whined, floating hands caressing the new bump hiding beneath pink locks.
“It’s really you!” Billy cheered. He ran over to his boss and helped her up. “Nicole, you have no idea how much I missed you! I can finally be paid again!” He did his best to hug her, but the best he could do was pat the side of her midsection.
Anby also hugged Nicole, placing both arms on her back and pushing her closer towards them. Nicole let out a grunt as she squeezed between them. “H-hey, I miss you guys too, but I also miss being able to breathe!”
“Oh, right!” Billy was the first to pull away. Anby kept her arms on Nicole’s for a few moments longer, only stopping when Nicole patted her back as well. “So, boss…”
“Oh, right, you’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation, huh?” Nicole said, clasping her hands in front of her in a manner to a certain deceptive egg. “Well…”
Like the others, Nicole unfortunately couldn’t remember how she first arrived. One moment, darkness, the next, Merry Magoland. She appeared in the center of the courtyard, with a Waddle Dee stacking jenga blocks on her stomach. After shooing him away, Nicole looked for the rest of Cunning Hares, and when that proved fruitless, she went back to her old tricks.
Swindling people of their money.
Magolor took notice quickly, and proclaimed: “Hey, you can’t scam people and empty their wallets! That’s my job!”
(“I think I figured out why she sorta looks like him,” Billy whispered to Anby. She barely managed to hold a chuckle, and let out a quiet laugh as Nicole threw a Gem Apple at Billy’s head when she heard him.)
“...And now that rotten egg has me doing odd jobs around his park to ‘pay him back’! The audacity, honestly!” Nicole huffed. She couldn’t cross her arms, for obvious reasons, she placed her fists on her hips instead.
“That does seem kinda harsh, I guess,” Billy commented. “What did Magolor have you do these past few hours?”
“I’m on janitor duty…” Nicole groaned, floating down to the floor. “It’s even worse because someone is a sloppy eater!”
“Oh. That would probably be King Dedede,” Anby supposed.
“K-King!?” Nicole gasped. She looked around, and floated closer to Anby to whisper, “If I sneak him extra food from the kitchen, do you think he’ll reward me generously?”
“Honestly, he might,” Billy sighed. Nicole’s eyes rolled back into her head and became dennies.
“You don’t say…!” She rubbed her hands together and giggled. “In that case, maybe I can–!”
“You’ll do no such thing!” Nicole yelped as a voice came from inside her. The long hair in front of her parted, and a small coin-shaped device with a screen on the front and Magolor’s face on the back flew out of her. “Dedede is my walking ATM! Get your own!”
“Magolor?” Billy said when he saw the egg-cat-boy-magician on the screen.
“That wasn’t real money!?” Nicole gasped.
“Hee hee, this is my special camera! It also doubles as a communication device!” Magolor said in a mischievous voice. “I didn’t stop pestering Susie until she made it for me. Anyways…”
The coin turned to face Anby. “So, Apollo and I have finished analyzing the Etheric Matter from Dedede’s throne room. The results… may shock you. Come back to the Lor. It'll be easier to explain everything.” With that, the video feed shut off, and the coin disappeared back into Nicole’s hair.
“What? Etheric Matter? Throne room? What have you two been up to while I was away?” Nicole asked them with narrowed eyes. “You didn’t get hurt, did you?”
Billy let out a tiny laugh. “Why? Worried about the medical bills?”
“Wha–!? No, of course not?” Nicole huffed, dramatically looking away from them. “...Okay, maybe a little.”
Billy laughed again. Anby didn’t, but her cheeks lifted slightly, as if she were smiling. “It’s great to have you back, Nicole.”
“Yeah, I bet it is.” Anby thought she could see smile beneath the shadows that Nicole’s overgrown hair covered her face. “Anyways, let’s get to Lor!” Nicole spun around and floated away.
“Yeah–Hey, wait a minute, the Lor is that way!” Billy said, pointing behind him. Nicole floated backwards in the direction Billy pointed to. Billy and Anby followed her.
Nicole spun around as she examined the chrome material that the Lor was made for. Anby could hear the cash register in her mind. “Magolor?”
The egg and Apollo stood in front of the Lor’s console with the Etheric Matter safefully contained in a cylindrical tube hovering between.
“Ah, you’re here, great!” Magolor said, clasping his hands together. “You won’t believe what we learned! It’s such a doozy.”
“Did you figure out a way to get back home?” Billy asked, to which Magolor hissed uncomfortably.
“...Perhaps,” Apollo said. He let out a sigh, which made his flames turn to a dull purple. “These crystals subtly distort space-time… but not the space-time of Popstar.”
“Huh?” Nicole blinked and narrowed her eyes. “What does that mean? How does that make sense? And how did you even figure that out?”
“For the first two, we have no idea,” Magolor told her. “The last part one involves a flashlight. I assume you all know how seeing works, yes? Good.”
“Actually–” Billy raised his hand, but Magolor promptly ignored her.
“So, shining a light on doesn't actually get you a reflection. Well, not the correct one, anyways. To demonstrate!” Magolor floated over Billy and picked him. As Billy flailed in Magolor’s grip, the mage opened his head and flicked a switch, causing Billy’s eye to brighten. He shined the light on the Etheric Matter.
The Etheric Matter didn’t become brighter from exposure to more light. Instead, it strangely became… darker? For a brief moment, a shadow shaped like a shard of rock passed over it. “How does that work?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Apollo said when Anby finished her questions. “We assume that this crystal is somehow metaphysically tied to its point of origin, which may or may not be your home dimension.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” Billy sighed. “Can you put me down, now?”
“Oh, right.” Magolor unceremoniously dropped Billy onto the floor. “Now, onto more exciting news; the crystal’s chemical composition!”
“What is there to say about its composition? It’s Ether, isn’t it?” Nicole asked them impatiently.
“Well, Popstar doesn’t have Ether, or Hollows… or does it?” Magolor asked dramatically. The Cunning Hares blinked in confusion. “Well, you’ll be glad to know that Hollows don’t exist. However, Ether does, actually.”
“Where?” Anby asked.
“Everywhere,” Apollo told them. “It accounts for nearly… 84% of the planet’s atmosphere.”
“Wait… 84 PERCENT!?!?” Billy shouted, placing his hands on his head, absolutely flabbergasted.
“That’s…!? What th-the–!? How is that possible?” Nicole whispered softly.
“...How have we not been corrupted yet?” Anby asked in a shaky voice.
“Beats me,” Magolor said with a shrug. “Either Ether itself wasn’t the cause of everything bad happening to your home, or there’s something about Popstar, perhaps its magical nature or the will of the planet, itself that’s preventing you from being turned.”
“The… will of Popstar?” Nicole asked. Magolor nodded.
“Popstar is a strange place. It can heal itself; after the debacle with Sectonia and the Haltmann Works Company, all the damage done to the planet was reverted in a matter of seconds. That’s not something an ordinary planet can do. Whose to say that same healing property can’t apply to certain individuals as well?”
(“Why do I get the feeling that Magolor isn’t talking to us?” Nicole whispered to Anby. She shrugged)
“But even if that was the case, we’re constantly breathing in Ether, and apparently there’s so much of it! There’s so much of it! How come there haven’t been any Hollows, Ethereals… anything before now!?” Billy asked.
“Well, our Ether is chemically different from yours,” Magolor said. “You see–!”
“This is the part where you explain something in a scientific manner, only for us to not understand whatever you said, which makes you explain in a dumbed down way, isn’t it?” Anby commented.
Magolor froze in the air, and slowly, Apollo’s torch head turned to face the magic egg. “Partypooper…” Magolor huffed under his breath. “TL;DR, you know table salt’s individual elements, sodium and chlorine, are dangerous by themselves, but together they’re chill? The same thing happens when Ether is combined with the other elements of our atmosphere.”
“So… we have nothing to fear, then? We aren’t going to be corrupted in our sleep?” Nicole asked cautiously.
“Nope. You’re A-OK here!” Magolor confirmed. “So… how much money have you spent–?”
The Lor suddenly turned dark. Only Apollo’s flames and Billy’s eyes lit the room. There was a moment of silence before the light turned back, only instead of white chrome and cyan lights, the Lor was dark grey, and emitted burning red lights.
The screen of the console flickered on, and the group were met with the sight of being dressed in a white cloak, and a gold mask covering their face.
“Hello, Magolor,” The cloaked being said. “I’ve been told the Lor Starcutter can cross dimensions?”
Behind her fluttered an orange, glowing butterfly.
NICOLE DEMARA (LV. 40)
HP: 558 | FP: 134
ATK: 209 | DEF: 98 | SPD: 65
LUCK: 25% | POW: 50%
BASIC ATK
Cunning Combo (FP: 0)
Nicole smacks the enemy with her suitcase, dealing Physical DMG.
SKILL
Sugercoated Bullet (FP: 13)
Nicole fires an Ether Grenade from her suitcase, dealing Ether DMG and lowering that enemy’s DEF.
A Hare’s Cunning (FP: 22)
Nicole thinks up a nasty plot. For Nicole’s next two attacks, the stat drop of her skills increases, and also decreases the enemy’s SPD.
Corrupting Energy Field (FP: 11)
Nicole thinks of a way to make money. The next time Nicole uses ‘Sugercoated Bullet’, it affects all enemies.
Jack in the Box (FP: 17)
Can only be activated when an enemy attacks a Friend, before damage calculation. Nicole smacks the attacking enemy with her suitcase, dealing Physical DMG and reducing the damage that friend will take from that attack.
ITEMS
The Vault (x1)
Scatters coins all over the battlefield which distracts non-Ethereal enemies for 1 turn, preventing them from attacking. Defeating distracted enemies increase the amount of money won from battle slightly.
Carlishe Hair Moisturizer (x3)
Increases by 25 SPD, except Kirby, who becomes Poison Kirby instead.
FRIEND ABILITY
Billy and Nicole’s Mirage Ether (FP: 40 + 32)
Anby and Nicole’s Grenade Engine (FP: 40 + 40)
Nicole and Nekomata’s Grenade Smash (FP: 40 + 37)
Nekomata spits out hairballs from her mouth. Use the left stick to aim, and fire from Nicole’s suitcase with her action button to hit them. Once Nekomata spits out 8 hairballs, any of them hit by Nicole will orbit around enemies, and the remaining ones strike the enemy, dealing Physical DMG. At the start of an enemy’s turn, 1 orbiting hairball will strike them, dealing Ether DMG lowering their DEF, SPD, and ATK for two of their turns.
Kirby and Nicole’s Ether Hypernova (FP: 34 + 40)
Kirby drops their current Ability, and immediately becomes Beam Kirby. Mash Kirby’s action command to charge a massive energy ball. With the left stick, aim Nicole’s suitcase and press her action command to fire a bullet that implodes into a Black Hole, dragging enemies to it and lowering their DEF. use the Black Holes to drag enemies into Kirby’s energy ball. After seven seconds the ball explodes, dealing Ether DMG to all enemies inside it.
Nicole and Magolor's Revolution Grenade (FP: 29 + 47)
Magolor summons the Lor, which begins to fire Star Bullets. Aim Nicole's suitcase with the left stick, and press her action command to fire Black Holes to drag the enemies into air so they can be hit by the Lor Starcutter. After six seconds pass, mash Magolor's action command to power up and then launch his Revolution Flames, dealing Fire DMG and lowering the damaged enemies ATK and DEF.
Notes:
Man, grinding is soooooo boring! If there was a way for it to be fun and not make it the same fight over and over again...
That's where Merry Magoland comes in! Instead of combat, your main method of grinding will be playing these Sub-Games! Each Sub-Game is associated with a certain material or Sticker, but don't fret! If you don't like that sub-game, you can always choose have that material be dropped at a different sub-game. So if you only want to play Megaton Punch, and get every material to build your characters, you can!
Regarding what Sub-Games are available, I'd so a grand majority would be returning from Kirby games. The Arcade games in ZZZ aren't that fun, IMO. Endgames modes will also eventually be placed in Magoland, as well.
Now that we got gameplay out of the way, lets talk character design. Nicole's Dreamy Form ws honestly a little tricky to come up with, mainly because of her iconic character element: her boobs. Sorry, her boobs. Sorry, her bo-- PINK HAIR. You can't exactly translate her bo-- PINK HAIR into a Kirby design on its own. So, I decided to take elements from Magolor's design, mostly his general body shape. They're both money-hungry gremlins, so I found it fitting.
Nicole kept her jacket, but it's effectively a cape now due to the lack of arms and shoulders, and I also fused her collar and belt together.
Right, that's all I got today. Only two more chapters left until the end of the prologue!
k bye
Chapter 7: Prologue 7 - Titan's Okra
Summary:
Are you threatening me? Are you threatening me with city-level feats?
GEPPETTO
Notes:
The finish line is in sight. We've got one more chapter, an epilogue, and then this story we'll go on hiatus so I can start writing for "Supporting Me" again! Once I finish that story's first arc, I'll alternate between writing two chapters for "Zer-0" and "Supporting Me" so I don't burned out from writing either story. We cool? We cool.
(this is a not-so-subtle ploy to get you to check out supporting me if you're fan of RWBY and/or Yu-Gi-Oh!, btw)
For now, though, we got some housekeeping to take care of in regard to how characters are built. Starting with Leveling Up:
Friends can max out at Level 10 when they're first received and can ascend to gain another 10 Levels. They max out out level 40, so only three ascensions are needed to max them out. Meanwhile, Basic ATK, Skills, Items, and Friend Abilities can be powered up with their respective upgrade materials, up to Level 10. Because Friends don't have Core Passives in the traditional sense, that doesn't need to be upgrade, and instead materials from Bosses are used to increase their Max level.
Now, that brings up the question of what materials are used. Some of you may have noticed that Characters, while associated with certain damage types and fulfill different roles, don't actually have Elements or Classes. This is intentional; a big major proponent of HSR's poor balancing and current enshitification is how ill-defined each of its paths are. You've got healers and supports doing damages, you've got the class being described as tanky, despite some using HP for damage, you've got Nihility being a confused mess, unsure of whether or not it's a damage overtime, debuffer, or being assigned the class even though they got thousands of buffs and debuffs and Remembrance, which is associated with a gimmick rather than a single defined playstyle. A gimmick... THAT ALREADY EXISTED BEFORE THE PATH EXISTED!!!
Disrespectfully, Fuck Remembrance and whoever came up with it.
Materials are going to be character specific, instead. For example, Anby deals Physical and Electric DMG, has stunning mechanics. So, she'll need materials used to increase her Physical DMG, Electric DMG, and stunning potential. Depending on how much the character needs, they'll need a wider variety of materials, but each character will use the same number of materials as all the others.
This all means I can add as many damage (very relevant) types and playstyles as I want without having to worry about ruining the games balance :)
And... I think that's it for now. I'll see you at the end of the chapter.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The inside of the Lor Starcutter was silent when Bandee and King Dedede rushed inside after Magolor contacted them. Except for the sound of its electrical parts beeping and booping, the entire ship was silent. “You…” Anby whispered, breaking the silence as the hooded figure glared down from them at the screen.
“Wait, you’re the person who summoned those Ethereals in the caves!” Billy then realized. “Where are you now!?” Nicole looked at the two of them, confusion in her shining green eyes.
“For the moment, my location is not important,” The cloaked figure deflected. “As I said, I am in need of your Lor Starcutter.”
“Hmm…” Magolor hummed curiously. “I’m not sure… What do I look like to you? Some interdimensional taxi driver?”
“I mean,” Bandee tried, but Magolor placed a hand in the center of their face.
The figure on the other side clenched their fist. “Oh… you think this is a request, isn’t it? Well, you’re wrong. It's a demand.”
“But, I only have a limited supply. You’re going to have to pay an exorbitant price for a ride,” Magolor said mischievously, giggling under his breath. “How about… 600,000,000 Gem Apples for a ride? Surely, you can pay for it, right?~”
“Argh, you…!” The figure grunted.
“What did you expect from this?” Nicole huffed from the side. The figure glared at her, and when she did, Nicole turned to face the screen. “If you’re going to negotiate, you need to have something of worth, otherwise the other party can demand any price they want.”
“That there freaky ahh mask is probably the most expensive thing on them, heh-heh!” Dedede taunted the masked figure.
“Yeah! What she said! You’ve got no power over us!” Billy exclaimed cockily.
“...No power…?” They could hear the (likely metaphorical) smile growing. The figure moved to the side, where Castle Dedede was visible in the distance. “Think again.”
Everyone except Magolor as the light around it began to distort it. In a matter of moments, a black sphere burst out from the Castle’s center, consuming the castle in its entirety, except for the front gates. Once the shape of the sphere stabilized, a chromatic filter of green, pink, and yellow surrounded the sphere.
“M-mah castle!” Dedede shouted, placing his hands on his head. “What did mah castle ever do to you!?”
“It’s… a Hollow…” Apollo muttered in a shaky voice. His flames turned darker.
“I’m shooketh, truly,” Magolor sighed. “You expect me to give you my ship just because you made a silly reference? Puh-lease! Have some class.”
“Magolor, there are still civilians inside the Castle,” Anby hissed at him.
“My civilians!” Dedede added in a panicked voice.
“I’m aware,” The mage sighed. “But, seriously? You must really not know just who exactly you’re messing with…” The figure said nothing as Magolor leaned closer to the console.
“Anyway, thanks for calling Merry Magoland! I hope you have a Mago-tastic Day!”
“Wait, what are you–!?” The masked person was cut off when Magolor turned off the video feed. The Lor also returned to its usual white and blue color scheme.
“Magolor, I feel like you aren’t taking this seriously,” Anby said with a hint of judgement in her voice. His ears twitched.
“Trust me, I’m taking this as seriously as I need to, not more and not less,” The mage said with a cocky voice.
“So, you aren’t taking this seriously?” Bandee asked him as Magolor began to type something into the Lor’s console.
“Of course not! No small-time villain will spook me, not after what I’ve been through!” Magolor pressed one final key. The Lor shuddered, and a portal appeared behind everyone. “So, Nicole?”
The leader of the Cunning Hares turned back to Magolor. “Your group seems to be the most experienced with Hollows. How do we deal with them?”
“Ah…” Nicole paused for a moment. “The simplest way would be to get rid of all the Ethereals inside the Hollow. The size of the Hollow equates to the amount of Ether inside.”
“Ah, that’ll be easy to do, then!” Magolor exclaimed, placing a hand on his chest. “We’ve got some of the most powerful on the planet with us! Oh, and you guys, I guess.”
“...Now, I get making fun of these guys,” Dedede said, nodding his head to the Cunning Hares (Nicole pouted, Anby gave him a deadpan expression, and Billy crossed his arms and turned away), “but now why do ah feel insulted?”
“It’s… probably nothing, Great King…” Bandee said while giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Should we get Kirby? I’m sure he’d be happy to help us.”
“Only when things get truly dire,” Magolor said. “We don’t need to interrupt his nappies for something as unimportant as this.”
“Okay, if you say so,” Bandee shrugged. He turned around and pointed to the portal. And, that’ll take us to Castle Dedede, right?”
“Yup!”
“Good! Then let’s go! I needa save my Waddle Dees!” Dedede turned around and immediately ran towards the portal.
“Hey, wait!” Nicole tried to say. “There’s more to Hollows than just–!” But by that point, Dedede had jumped through.
“Great King!” Bandee nearly jumped in with him, but Anby grabbed their arm before they could.
“Hold on, we’re unprepared to enter the Hollow. Nothing good will happen if we jump in blindly,” She told them. Bandee looked at her with teary eyes,
“But… the Great King…!” They said worriedly.
“...can take care of himself. He’s not the King of Dreamland for nothing,” Magolor said. “So, what exactly is the issue?”
“Two things; navigation and communication,” Nicole explained. “Hollows distort space-time and signals. This makes the Hollow a large maze that is near impossible to navigate, and no way to communicate with anyone outside.”
“Very, very troubling indeed,” Apollo sighed. “I assume your world has found a way to circumvent these problems?”
“Well, yeah, but it involves technology that we don’t have,” Billy groaned.
Magolor placed a hand on his chin. “You’re right, we don’t.” His eyes brightened considerably, revealing the brown fur and thin whiskers the shadows of his cloak usually hid. “We have something even greater. The Lor!”
Everyone sans Bandee looked at him. “What about the Lor? I thought it could only open portals?” Magolor guffawed and floated up to pat the purple fire man on the shoulder.
“Please! This isn’t just any dimensional-farring sailboat! It’s a dimensional-farring sailboat… created by The Ancients!” He paused dramatically for a few seconds. “This is the part where you gasp in awe.”
Billy slowly raised his hand. “...I’m a really old robot, you know. My creators also have a cool name too; the Old Civilization.” He waited for Magolor to respond.
Magolor gave Billy a deadpan stare.
“Anyways, a lot of the Lor’s tech was made with this unstable space-time wishy-washy stuff in mind.” He snapped his finger, and the coin communication device flew out of Nicole’s hair (which made her jump(?) backwards) and was plugged into the Lor. “I’ll just implant a piece of the Lor until this comm. That way, we can make use of its systems while we explore the Hollow from inside. Of course, we’ll need someone to stay out here to lead us through it.”
“That’s something I can happily do,” Apollo said, stepping forwards. “I fancy myself as more of an intellectual than a fighter. I doubt I would be of much use in the Hollow.”
“You’re made of fire. I’m fairly certain you’re the most dangerous person in the room,” Bandee said. That comment bruised Anby and Billy’s egos slightly.
“Well, I don’t exactly know how to use them in combat…” Apollo admitted weakly.
“Don’t worry about that, old friend. I’ll help you train with them eventually!” Magolor commented. That made the fire man stiffen slightly.
“So, we got our proxy now, do we?” Nicole asked. “Then, let’s not waste anymore time. We have a Castle to save… and rewards to claim! No doubt Dedede will reward us handsomely for saving the Waddle Dees. And the castle, too.”
“Hah! I like your style, Nicole!” Magolor laughed, placing a hand on her head and patting it. “So, are we already? Good. Let’s bounce!”
“But the two of you float–!” Anby began to say, though she cool voice turned into a sharp yelp and when Magolor chuckled Nicole inside the portal. “Nicole!” Anby dove in after her.
“After she told you to not rush in, too,” Billy sighed, to which Bandee rubbed the back of their head awkwardkly.
“Well… at least we have a plan?” Bandee said with a shrug. As Magolor floated into the portal, Bandee and Billy chased after him.
The world around them distorted as green, blue, and red lights, as well as black bubbles, flickered around them.
Anby landed in the center of a long hallway, on a red carpet that bore design on Dedede’s obi. Off to the side, statues of the king lined the hallway, with large mallets pointing to a wide door at the end.
Anby frantically looked to the side. “Nicole? Nicole, where are you!?” She paused when she felt a finger on her head. Anby looked up to see Nicole’s levitating hand, which pointed down. As it turns out, Anby actually landed on her. “Oh!”
Anby stepped off her and helped Nicole back up. A few strands of pink hair were loose, and Anby did her best to fix them. Nicole slapped her hands away. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”
“But,” Anby tried to fix Nicole's hair again, but this time Nicole held her back by holding her hands. Like before, Anby’s hands split into separate digits so their fingers could intertwine.
“No buts,” Nicole told her with narrowed eyes. “I’ve literally never fought like this before. I’ve got some learning to do before I can impeccably run circles around my opponents!” Anby’s eyes became halflidded, and she sighed.
The rest of the Party dropped down from the portal, which flickered for a moment before losing stability.
“Well, shucks…” Magolor sighed. His coin communicator flew into the air and faced him. “Apollo? Can you hear us?” For a moment, only scratchy interference was heard from the comm, but the voice from the other side came through eventually.
“Not exactly loud and clear, but it’s audible,” Apollo told them. The coin turned purple, and Magolor’s face on the back of the coin turned a billowing purple lame. “The Lor is taking in data from the Hollow. We should have a working map in a few minutes.”
“I don’t think we have minutes to search for the Great King, rescue the Waddle Dees, and find whoever that masked person is,” Bandee murmured. “We should probably start exploring.”
“And, I’m pretty sure moving around might make the scan easier to finish, since it’s taking in more data. I think that’s sort of how it works back home?” Billy suggested, though his voice sounded unsure.
“That’s good enough logic for me. Let’s get moving, then,” Magolor said.
Bandee took the lead, with Nicole floating close beside him. Magolor, and Anby, and Billy followed closely behind them, weapons at the ready in case any enemies should attack them.
The end of the hallway had a staircase leading upwards, with Dedede’s emblem plastered on the front of the door. It grinded against the floor as it opened slowly. Cautiously, the Party walks through, entering deeper into the depths of Hollow Dedede.
Somehow, the door led into the Castle’s courtyard, lit up by the mid-morning sun; a stone pathway with a broken fountain in the center and splitting a garden into two led to another door, though this one was broken in. On each side of the pathway were beds and bushes of flowers with spires of etheric matter jutting out. And, the left side specifically had a ladder leading up to one of the Castle’s towers.
“The Great King has been here!” Bandee said, pointing to the broken door. They ran towards it, but jumped back as two spires of etheric matter burst in front of him. Blobs of ionized ether burst free, and took the forms of a pair of Blade Knights.
“Doppelgangers!” Billy realized.
“Remember, taking out Ethereals makes the Hollow smaller,” Anby added
“Right!” Bandee summoned his spear and parried a slash from the first Blade Knight. As he pushed back. Magolor snapped his fingers and launched Revolution Flames at them, burning the Blade Knight to a cinder. The second Blade Knight tried to retaliate against Bandee, but it was blasted by Black Hole from Nicole’s suitcase.
Sort of; rather, Nicole parted the hair in front of her chest area, which caused the cannon of the suitcase to pop out. Nicole giggled mischievously as the cannon retracted back into her hair.
“Now, there’s a chance we might have to fight a copy of the Great King,” Bandee muttered worriedly. “Or even worse, one of them might trick him into thinking he’s one of us!” With increased panic, Bandee ran inside the broken doorway.
“I think you can relax; Doppelgangers aren’t as smart as they real deal,” She said, then placed a hand to her chin. “Then again, Dedede doesn’t strike me as particularly… bright.”
“Oh, yeah! Ethereals are smarter in this world!” Billy suddenly remembered. Nicole’s eyes widened.
“WHAAAAAT!?”
The group descended deeper into Hollow Dedede. The hole they walked led them out of the corner tower and onto the castle walls, with the courtyard visible to their left. There was a bastion directly in front of them, and off to the side were a few floating platforms, with a key on the last one.
But, most importantly, in front of the Bastion were a trio of sleeping Waddle Dees, trapped inside a cage of Etheric Matter.
“This is funky…!” Bandee gasped as they smushed their heads between a set of merlons. “We were just in the courtyard, and now we’re up here? This is the Hollow’s doing, right?”
“That’s right. Though, I always thought the Hollows back home usually had more consistency to them,” Anby commented, mainly to herself. “You don’t suddenly enter an airport when walking down a street back home.”
“A possible side-effect of the amount of Ether in our atmosphere, probably,” Magolor surmised. “Apollo? How are things on your end?”
“The Lor is deciphering data as we speak, though it’s happening slowly,” The living flame sighed quietly. “Perhaps a sudden influx of data steamed directly into the Lor will allow it to create a more accurate map.”
“Uh, Castle Dedede doesn’t have many computers… Oh! But there is one in the Great King’s study! It was the castle’s blueprints!” Bandee excitedly told them while stepping out of the merlons. “Will that be enough?”
“Perhaps. For now, you all should focus on rescuing the Waddle Dees and finding Dedede,” Apollo said.
“Speaking of…” Billy pointed to the trapped Waddle Dees. “We all agree that’s a trap, right?”
“Set by the Ethereals?” Nicole groaned.
“Probably? Watch, if I take just a few steps further…!” Billy inched closer to the trapped Waddle Dees, and just as everyone predicted, Ethereals appeared. A Tryfing roared as it sprung from the ground, joined by two Doppelganger Poppy Bros. Jrs. One of the Poppy Bros. tossed a bomb at the platform the key was on; the platform cracked and began to fall down.
“Someone might want to grab,” Magolor said nonchalantly as he flew towards the Ethereals.
“On it,” Anby said, and she leapt onto the platforms. As she landed on the first one, an arrow was embedded into the ground just where her foot was. Anby looked up to see a Spynum shooting at her from the Bastion.
The Spynum fired again, and Anby shifted to the right slightly so that the arrow would between the gap of her shoulder and hand. On her next jump, she had to use her blade to deflect another arrow. The last platform, however, was a hallway down the castle wall, and both it and the key were about to plummet down the mountain. Anby narrowed her eyes, watching both the key and the Spynum nervously.
“Toon Force, don’t fail me now,” She breathed. The Spynum fired, and Anby jumped off. She grabbed the edge of the platform with her glove, but gravity kept pulling her down. She thrust her sword downward as far as she could, making her hand fly nearly four meters away from her. Once she hooked the key around her sword, Anby imagined an invisible arm flexing to lift herself up, and she suddenly shot back up into the air like a bungee cord rebounding.
Anby then tossed the key at the Spynum, knocking it off the bastion. Nicole grabbed it, and gave her thumbs up. “How did you do that?” She asked.
“I have no idea,” Anby said. She jumped back onto the wall, and watched as Billy killed the Tryfing with a headshot. “Is this for the Waddle Dees?”
“Only one way to find out!” Bandee stepped forward and tapped the cage with the sharp end of his spear. It glowed, and then shattered, making the Waddle Dees fall onto the floor.
“Oof, my head…” One Waddle Dee groaned while rubbing the top of their body. “Woah, what happened here? The castle looks really funky.”
“Too make a long story short,” Magolor began.
He exposited everything offscreen.
“Ah, got it,” the Waddle Dee said casually. “We’ll head to the entrance, then. Please save all of your friends and our Great King, too!” One by one, the Waddle Dees walked out of the walls, through the courtyard and back into the entrance hall of the Hollow.
“Doesn’t look like there’s anything else up here. Let’s go back to the courtyard,” Magolor said, and floated back down the walls.
Back in the courtyard, Nicole and Magolor scanned the area while floating up in the air. “There seems to be some sort of rope hanging from the ceiling,” She noted. Nicole floated to it and tugged on the handle, but it didn’t budge. Magolor assisted, but even together they weren’t heavy enough. “Can someone help?”
“On it!” Billy climbed up the ladder and grabbed onto Magolor’s cape. The mage let out a choked sound as Billy’s weight pulled them all down. Some of the bushes on the courtyard were moved back, revealing a secret passageway hidden underneath. Also, another cage of sleeping Waddle Dees descended from the sky in front of the fountain.
“Sweet!” Nicole let go of the rope, which made the rope slide back into place. The Waddle Dees floated back up, and the bushes also retreated back into their original place. Anby walked to the bushes to try and cut them down, but inexplicably, her sword bounced back. “Wha– Are those bushes fake!?”
“Eh he… After the Haltmann Corporation blew up the castle, the Great King wanted to make sure every part of the Castle was easily repairable…” Bandee told them, a frown evident in their voice. “But I didn’t expect that decision to bite us back! We’re going to have to split up!”
“It seems three people need to stay and pull down on the rope. Weight doesn’t seem to a factor,” Anby also added.
“In that case…!” Magolor grabbed Billy by the metal hair and tossed him down the tower. Anby and Bandee took their place on the rope (but not before Anby handed Magolor the key), causing Billy to have his head smacked by the descending Waddle Dee cage. The hit freed them, and they also landed on top of him.
The Waddle Dees thanked them, and retreated to the entrance hall. With them freed, Magolor was free to drag Billy underneath the castle.
“So, what are we going to do while we wait?” Bandee wondered.
As soon as the words left his non-existent mouth, more Ethereals spawned in the courtyard; Fauns (which held spears and mallets rather than signs), and Doppelganger Knuckle Joes.
“So…!” Magolor eagerly sidled up next to Billy, making the android flinch. “Old Civilization, eh…?”
“Uh, well…” Billy hissed awkwardly. Watching Magolor rub his hands excitedly only made him more nervous. “Imma be honest, I don’t actually know much of the stuff that happened centuries ago.”
“Oh, don’t worry! I fancy myself a bit off a historian, too! And besides, a quick scan from the Lor, should reveal… all your secrets!~”
Billy shrieked and hugged the wall as the sudden vision of an insane mechanic flooded his processor. “Wa-wa-wa-wait! Y-you don’t have to pull me apart!”
“I wasn’t going to do that, silly,” Magolor replied condescendingly while patting his shoulder. “But… now that you mention it…!~” Billy shrieked in a panic and ran down to the end of the hall.
The pathway under the courtyard led into the small library. Aside from the occasional spire of Ether, it looked relatively untouched. Even the mountain of books Apollo left on the desk looked the same– actually, no.
“Someone rifled through them,” Billy realized, noting the texts strewn across the floor. Some pages were ripped out, and the table looked like it was broken in from frustration.
“Seems like whoever our masked Mr. Mystery either hates books, is an avid reader of… something.” Magolor scoured the books on the floor.
“Bandee said that computer is also here, right?” Billy remembered. Magolor nodded, and tossed him the communication coin. “I’ll go look for it, then.”
Billy looked around the room, and his eyes dimmed in frustration when there was no computer in sight. There wasn’t even any plug or wires anywhere. “Hey, how much electricity does this world use, anyways?” He asked.
“Most electricity is powered by magic. The Lor has solar panels on it, though,” Magolor told him. Billy tilted his head.
“Solar panels…?” He asked.
Magolor grunted and floated above the books. “All of these texts are on Popstar’s cosmology, chemistry, and biology.” He placed a hand on his chin and stroked his belt.
“Oh! Back in the caves, that masked guy was making some sort of serum!” Magolor turned around inquisitively, eyes shining. “I don't know the whole story behind it, but it's probably the same serum that turned a police chief into an Ethereal that kept his sanity… uh, technically speaking, anyways. She also mentioned it was easier to synthesize here in Popstar.”
“You don’t say…” Magolor murmured, his eyes shining even brighter. “Now, about that computer.”
Magolor floated around the room, eyes scanning the bookshelves. “Now, I think Dedede has a special switch hidden here to hide.”
“Why would he need one?” Billy asked. “To hide his search history?”
“No, no. It’s so that nobody can ruin his high score in ‘Gourmet Race’,” Magolor joked. He grabbed one green book from the shelf, which had a large, yellow 4 in the center of the cover. “Go, look on the other side, for a book like this one.”
Billy nodded and scanned the bookshelf. There was a ladder for him to climb and scan the top shelves. “Found it!” Billy grabbed the book. Behind it was a Bomber.
Magolor blinked when he heard a loud explosion come from behind. “Billy? Are you okay?” He asked casually. Behind him was a crater, and Billy was in the center; he was laying on his right, with his left boot pointed backwards and the right boot straight, and with both hands also pointed behind him.
“Nice job, Petah,” Magolor snarked. He took the book from Billy’s hand and grabbed the third one with a seven from another shelf, replaced it with a burger that had his face on the bun, and moved to the back of the room where there was another shelf, which had three empty spots in the center. Magolor put the books in the correct order - 4, 2, 7 - which made the bookshelf rumble. It slid down.
Behind it was a dinky square-shaped desktop with a flickering screen.
“What!? That’s the computer that Bandee was talking about?” Billy asked as he clawed his way out the crater.
“Yes, of course it is!” Magolor nodded and he took out his comm coin and plugged it into the monitor. “Bandee bought the cheapest option because anything more expensive would cause the King to go bankrupt.”
“Be honest, how much of the Castle’s budget goes to food?” Billy asked. Magolor coughed into his fist.
“Downloading the castle’s blueprints now,” Magolor said with a click of a button. Billy glanced at the screen, and saw that the food storage was the largest room in the castle, rivalled only by the… boxing ring? “Apollo, is the Lor getting this information?”
“Indeed it is. I’ll calibrate the space-time stabilizer to the schematics I just received, and…!” The purple flames blazed pridefully. “The data I’ve received has given this Hollow clarity. We’re now able to proceed normally.”
“Well, that’s great!” Billy said. “Let’s head back to the others. Hopefully, they’re still holding onto the rope.”
The pair were about to leave the room, until they heard a growl. Billy looked around frantically, while Magolor looked unfazed. With a casual flick of his wrist, a Deadly Needle sprouted from the ground, forcing the enemy Hati out of hiding.
The feral wolf-like Ethereal howled and lunged. Billy yelped and ducked underneath its sharp jaws, while Magolor adjusted his height by a little bit. “I think I can tame it,” Magolor hummed as he summoned more Deadly Needles from the ground; Sharp points made of cosmic soup sprouted from the ground and grazed the Hati, making it shriek as more cosmic soup spewed out from its wounds.
“Where did you learn how to do that?” Billy asked as he fired his guns at the open wound, making the Hati writhe in pain.
“Evil crown. Would not recommend,” Magolor said.
“...Of course, that explains everything,” Billy sighed. One more shot from his weapon makes the Hati howl and go crazy. The wound from the Needle seals up and the Hati lunges at them again. Its jaws snap around Billy’s head, and his metal creaks in protest.
“Agh! Let go!” He pointed both guns and fired wildly into the Ethereal’s skull. The monster releases him and headbutts him away. “Magolor!”
“I know. Thanks for keeping him distracted for me!” Magolor said. Billy looked up to see a large pile of books above the Hati. Magolor waves playfully, and lets the books fall, crushing the Hati. The pile scatters as the Hati bursts into stars.
When it did, another bookshelf slid out of the way, and revealed another trio of trapped Waddle Dees. Magolor freed them with his Deadly Needles, and the Waddle Dees travelled back into the entrance of the Hollow.
“Let’s regroup with everyone else,” Magolor said, floating out of the library. “Apollo, what’s the quickest way to the courtyard?”
“Travel back the way you entered the library,” He told them. “That path will now take you to the castle’s main hall.”
“On it! Come, Billy,” Magolor said, dragging the android with him.
As Apollo told them, the entrance to the library had taken them to the castle’s main hall, onto the balcony. There was another door on the other side which had a padlock securing the door, and there was a much larger door between them, with a large eye-shaped padlock securing it. They saw pieces of the broken door from the courtyard scattered inside.
“Didn’t this door lead to the throne? What’s with this giant spooky padlock? I didn’t see it earlier today,” Billy commented.
“Must be the Boss Room. It’s probably where the center of the Hollow is located, and our masked friend is most likely there as well.” Magolor quickly reasoned. “We’ll probably need some sort of Boss Key to enter.”
(“Is it just me, or do most of these explanations feel a little video-gamey…?” Billy whispered to himself.)
“Going in there must lead us back outside,” Magolor then said, looking back at the remains of the broken door.
“Should we look for Dedede while we’re here? He shouldn’t have gone far away,” Billy asked him, to which Magolor shrugged.
“Sounds like a decent idea. There’s strength in numbers, after all, and our allies outside certainly need the number boost,” Magolor said, floating down the stairs. Under the balcony were two more doors; the one on the left was also broken.
“Wait, but we’re the ones with less people,” Billy said.
“No, Silly Billy! I have five people’s worth of strength, obviously.” Billy’s vent mouth turned into a frown as they walked through the broken door.
The door they walked through led into a hallway made of stone bricks. Prison cells, rusted from years of neglect. Occasionally, the sound of water dripping onto the brick floor echoed across the stone hall.
“What sort of people are placed down here?” Billy wondered.
“Waddle Dees, apparently,” Magolor said when he peered inside the cells. There were about five of them sleeping in the etheric cages per cell. “There must be a mechanism that opens all of these cells somewhere in the back. Apollo?”
“There’s a collection of levers in the back. Pulling them down in the right order will release all of them,” Apollo said as he read through the blueprints for the castle. “The code can be changed, however.”
“Well, that’s slightly irritating…” Magolor sighed. He and Billy made their way to the back of the room, where the hallway began to widen, and screams of fear became more apparent. They shared a glance and sped up.
“Agh! Get back here, ya masked weirdo!” They heard Dedede shouting from the center. At the end of the hall was Dedede, tied up and hanging upside from the ceiling. There was some sort of mechanism next to him that held a syringe with a golden liquid. “Lemme down, I’m gettin’ dizzy…!”
“Dedede!?” Billy gasped. The king heard him, and awkwardly shook his body so that he faced them.
“Mags! Robot guy! Oh, thank goodness ya’ll are here!” He said, tears of joy trailing up his face. “Now gemme down from here!?”
“How did this even happen…?” Magolor hummed to himself.
“The weirdo who kidnapped all my Waddle Dees tricked me!!” Dedede told them, still struggling in his restraints. “She had one o’ them shadow copies lower mah guard, and then she hit me over the head!”
“Did she mention anything about a ‘Creator’?” Billy asked him.
“I think so? She hit mah noggin pretty hard, but I can recall… ‘somethin’ somethin’... ugh experiment serum…’ somethin’ like that, anyways.” Magolor hummed at the response.
“That gold liquid in there must be that serum that turns people into Ethereals, then?” Magolor asked himself. “Lets them keep their sanity, you also said… Maybe we inject Dedede with some, and see if that theory holds up!~”
“MAGOLOR IF YOU DO IMMA TEARS DOWN YO’ PARK BRICK BY BRICK!!!” Dedede shouted at the top of his lungs. Magolor giggled playfully.
“Yeah, yeah…” He floated closer, and to his surprise, the syringe inched closer. Dedede shrieked again.
“MAGS!”
“I-I’d back away from there!” Billy also warned the mage. Magolor scoffed.
“What do I look like, some amateur?” He did as he was told. “I don’t think we should break it either, lest we want Dedede to be doused in mystery juice.”
“I sure as heck agree with that!” Dedede nodded vigorously.
After looking across the room, Billy noticed the levers that Apollo mentioned at the edge, in front of a desk. After taking a few steps to make sure the syringe didn’t slide closer to Dedede, he walked over there and inspected every inch of the desk. “Doesn’t like there’s a code here!”
“Code? Code fo’ what!?” Dedede asked.
“Well, clearly he doesn’t know it either…” Magolor reasoned at the king’s confusion. “Apollo, go check with the others, and see if they can find any sort of code.”
“Of course.” The coin floated out of the dungeons.
Anby stabbed the last Faun with her sword. As the monster burst into colorful stars, she noticed a glint. “Another enemy is approaching from inside the castle.”
Immediately, Nicole and Bandee stood next to her and started lobbing their projectile into the castle, ruining the interior. A few seconds later, Anby raised her hand, and the two stopped attacking. The comm coin floated out.
“Glad to know your instincts are sharp. But, maybe it should be pointed to the enemy instead,” Apollo said, sounding only a little frazzled.
“Oh, sorry…” Anby murmured. Her cheeks were slightly red from embarrassment.
“What happened to Billy and Magolor? Are they alright?” Nicole asked the floating coin.
“They are safe, and they found the king, too.”
“Yay!” Bandee cheered.
“The king is tied up and about to be turned into an Ethereal,” Apollo added.
“WHAAAAT!?” Bandee cried.
“We need some sort of code to free the king from his bindings. I have been sent to assist you in finding one,” The living flame then added.
“Code, huh…?” Anby reached into her skirt and pulled out the key she grabbed from the castle walls. There was nothing on it written on it, however. “Maybe this key holds the answer.”
“Where would it even go?” Nicole asked her curiously. “There’s nothing out here with a large keyhole.”
“But inside, there is.” Apollo turned around and floated back inside the castle, the others followed him.
They entered the main courtyard, and Apollo led them up the stairs and onto the balcony. On the left side of the Boss Door was a locked door. Anby used the key to unlock it; the chains on the door shattered, and the padlock fell with a loud clunk. Nicole carefully pushed the door open, and gestured for the others to follow.
The door led into a large dining room. Chandeliers, now polluted by Ether crystals, hung from the ceiling. Three long dining tables with white and red table clothes were inside, scattered and broken across the floor.
Anby slowly walked through the dining room. With her sword, she pushed away the broken remains of the wood fabric, but doing so revealed nothing. “Well, this doesn’t tell us anything… What about in the kitchen?”
Bandee nodded. “The King does hide a lot of important things in there,” They said casually.
Nicole floated through the window that led into the kitchen. Inside was a safe, in addition to multiple stoves, ovens, microwaves and dozens of pots and pans, and in the back was a large safe. “Bandee?”
“On it!” The loyal Waddle Dee jumped up and grabbed one of the vault’s handles. With Nicole, they pulled down on it. After a grunt, it turned and opened, revealing trapped Waddle Dees and a sheet of paper with Xs stacked on one another. After freeing the Waddle Dees, Bandee read the paper; there were Xs arranged neatly in rows; first two, then four, then one, then three. “That’s gotta be the code to free the king! Let’s head back!”
Nicole and Bandee regrouped with Anby, and the three of them were about to leave the kitchen. But before they could, the door suddenly slammed shut in front of them.
“Oh no!” Bandee exclaimed. “Here comes the Midboss!”
In confusion, the Cunning Hares turned around and saw a Doppelganger take shape in front of them, forming into a large purple monkey, with fur styled to look like a pompadour, and that wore denim jeans. The monkey then summoned a large mallet and slammed it on the ground.
Bonkers ran towards the trio, raising its mallet above its head when it reached them. Nicole and Bandee jumped out of the way, while Anby drew her electrical sword. She blocked the downwards swing, but wood was a poor conductor of electricity, so Bonkers was left relatively unscathed.
Bonkers completed the swing, which made Anby skid backwards and trip on the broken table. Before it could capitalize on it, Bandee charged from the side and jabbed the doppelganger with their spear, making it yell.
As Bonkers jumped away, Nicole popped out from her hiding place under rubble and fired a black hole from her cannon, hitting its back. The monster growled as it remained in the air, damaged by the gravitational pull of the black hole. Bandee took the opportunity to reel back their arm, spear in hand.
Once the black hole disappeared, Bandee threw five spears at Bonkers as it fell; it knocked three away with a swing, but two were lodged in its muscular arm. It stumbled when it landed on the floor, and in a flash, Anby ran towards it.
She jumped up and tried to slash its back, but Bonkers blocked it with its hammer again. Anby jumped back, and Bonkers chased after her. As it chased her, Nicole grabbed her suitcase and pulled it out of her hair. With Bonkers’ back turned to her, she flew over to it and smacked its head with her suitcase. Bonkers dropped its head and gripped its head.
Nicole smacked her suitcase against Bonkers’ cheek, again, and Anby finally slashed her sword across Bonkers’ chest, stunning it. Bandee rushed towards it again, and quickly jabbed its spear into its chest. The greaser monkey skidded backwards from the fierce hit, but was brought back by Nicole’s black holes.
One more slice from Anby’s sword was able to take out the Bonkers. The doppelganger’s disguise was dropped, and exploded into a large collection of stars. In addition to that, it also dropped an ominous looking key with a head that looked like a horned eye.
“That definitely goes on the scary door we saw earlier,” Nicole said. She placed it in her hair, next to her cannon. “Now, let’s go free the king!”
Billy was tapping his foot anxiously when he heard footsteps coming from behind. He turned around, and his eye brightened when he saw Anby and the others approaching. “Guys! You’re back! Did you find the code to free Dedede?”
“Please…! I’m feeling sick…!” Dedede groaned. His blue feathered face was looking disturbingly green.
“Don’t worry Great King! I’ll save you!” Bandee rushed to the levers. He first pulled the second, then the fourth, then the first, and finally the third.
With a loud creak, the bars to the cells retreated into the ground, freeing the Waddle Dees. In addition, the rope tying Dedede snapped. “Wha–!? Hey!?” He flailed wildly as he fell. Thankfully, Magolor and Nicole grabbed him by the food to keep him from slamming into the ground. He still landed hard on the floor, though.
“Dooaaaaagh…!” Dedede groaned. He sat up on the floor and rubbed his head. “Wh-what I’d miss…?"
“Great King, you’re safe!” Bandee exclaimed. He tackled the king to the floor with a hug and cried tears of joy. “You scared me! Please don’t run off like that again!”
“B-Bandee…!” The king groaned. He patted the Waddle Dee on the head, and then he noticed the crowd rushing towards him. “Holy moly!”
Everyone stepped out of the way as the crowd of Waddle Dees all landed on Dedede, eager for a group hug that smushed him onto the ground. Eventually, the Waddle Dees except for Bandee all left the Hollow, though, Dedede was as flat as a pancake on the ground.
“Gee, the Waddle Dees certainly adore you!” Nicole giggled as Bandee used their spear to pry him off the floor. “Ah, if only my employees treated me with such respect…”
“Hey, I think you’re cool!” Billy said. Anby also nodded vigorously.
“Daaaw, thank you!~”
It took a while for Bandee to scrap the king off the floor, and even more time to reinflate him. Nicole took that moment to explain to Billy and Magolor what they did while the boys waited in the dungeon.
After the exposition, Magolor clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Now that everyone’s free, I’ll take a sample of this.” He raised a bucket over his head and moved closer to the large syringe. “If you mind, kingy?”
“Yeah, yeah. But don’t call me ‘kingy’!” Dedede threw his large mallet, hitting the plunger. The gold ooze squirted out and filled the bucket Magolor carried. He then sealed it with tinfoil, and set it on the floor.
“Now, all that’s left is to deal with that masked person,” Anby said. Her voice sounded a little eager.
“Heck yeah! I needa break off that mask! With my hammer!” Dedede exclaimed with a righteous and vindictive fire in his eyes. “Follow me, soldiahs! We’ve got a boss to beat!”
Dedede marched out of the dungeons eagerly. “You got it, Great King! Justice!” Bandee said, raising their spear over their head and falling in line behind the monarch.
“Let’s go, justice!” Billy said, following them.
“...I feel like they’re going to hit their head on something if we let them go,” Anby commented.
“Well, it’s not like I have any intention of letting our muscle get turned into scrap!” Nicole grabbed Anby’s wrist and dragged her out of the room. “C’mon! We don’t have any money to pay for hospital bills!” Anby remained in place as Nicole took her hand away. She blinked, and followed her once Nicole was out of the room.
“My, what a merry band we are…!” Magolor said. “I sure do hope this whimsy and banter continues in all our future adventures!” He added, slowly turning his head to look past the screen. He winked and exited the dungeon as well.
Now standing in front of the ominous door. Nicole pulled out the Boss Key and raised it into the air. The Key levitated up from her palm and turned in the air before slamming into the keyhole. It twisted, and the horned padlock shattered. The chains fell to the ground, and the door slowly opened.
“Let’s do this!” Dedede walked inside, and the others followed him. The group of six disappeared behind the door…
Which slammed shut behind them.
MAGOLOR (LV. 40)
HP: 498 | FP: 151
ATK: 266 | DEF: 98 | SPD: 60
LUCK: 25% | POW: 50%
BASIC ATK
Magic Sphere (FP: 0)
Magolor launches a tightly packed magic at the enemy, dealing Magic DMG. Has a chance of placing a Tax Counter (max. 4 per enemy) on the damaged Enemy, based on his LUCK.
No Refunds! (FP: 0)
At the end of an enemy's turn, removes one Tax Counter from it and deals minor Piercing Magic DMG for each Tax Counter remaining on that enemy.
SKILL
Magic Bombs (FP: 19)
Magolor summons a bomb, and tosses it at the main target. It explodes, dealing Magic DMG, and also scatters three Tax Counters randomly amongst all enemies.
Revolution Flame (FP: 14)
Magolor charges his magic and fires three flaming orbs at the enemy, dealing Fire DMG. Enemies damaged by this attack can have up to 7 Tax Counters.
Deadly Needles (FP: 25)
Magolor begins to store magic energy (max. 3 charges). If an enemy attacks an Friend, Magolor can summon Deadly Needles spring up from the ground and impale that enemy for the amount turns Magolor has charged before they harm the Friend, dealing Magic DMG. While that enemy is impaled, the damage they take from Tax Counters is increased.
All Sales Are Final! (FP: 9)
Magolor blows on a whistle, and Landia (max. 4, 1 per enemy) appears over the enemy. The next time that enemy is damaged by ‘No Refunds!’, a Tax Counter is not removed.
ITEMS
Manager’s Garb (Cooldown: 7 Turns)
Magolor puts on his Manager Outfit. For 2 of Magolor’s turns, ‘Magic Sphere’ places always places a Tax Counter on the enemy, separate from the naturally placed on it.
Roulette Wheel (x5)
Randomly uses one Item from another Friend’s inventory.
Mago-Magi Burger Supreme Combo (x3)
Restores HP and grants minor Regeneration for three turns, but decreases ATK and SPD slightly as well.
FRIEND ABILITY
Nicole and Magolor's Revolution Grenade (FP: 29 + 47)
Magolor and Marx’s Black Hole Cannon (FP: 50 + 50)
Magolor and Marx take turns summoning Black Holes by mashing their Action Buttons, dealing Piercing Magic and Piercing Dark DMG respectively. Whoever dealt the most damage restores 47% of their FP and gains ATK for 3 of their turns.
Magolor and Taranza’s Web of Revolution (FP: 52 + 40)
Taranza covers the field in a web, and Magolor infuses it with magic. The next two times an ally attacks, they deal Piercing DMG.
Magolor and Kirby’s Hypernova Revolution (FP: 40 + 39)
Kirby starts inhaling automatically above the enemy. Magolor buries Deadly Needles into the ground that bury towards the enemies; once a Deadly Needle is underneath an enemy, press Magolor’s Action Command to make it impale the enemy and knock them into the vortex. After five seconds, Kirby closes his mouth and chews, dealing Double Piercing Physical to inhaled enemies and spits them back out.
Notes:
That's right, the immediate next chapter will be the fight against the Boss! I wonder if anyonehas figured who it is... :)
There's also some new mechanics introduced, specifically for Dungeons that occur in Hollows. First off is the seemingly random maps. Going in through one door doesn't take you to the natural next room. It instead takes you to a predetermined next room. By progressing through the Dungeon, you'll eventually find a story item that descrambles the room and returns the dungeon to its original layout.
Th next gimmick is Splitting Up. There will be times when your team is forced into different parties to progress. You can choose how to split them up and forced enemy encounters will be adjusted for the smaller team count.
There's a small detail regarding Hollows, specifically the music. Depending on where you are, the track that plays will usually fit the vibe of the events currently happening. While that remains true in Hollows, music in their will always be chiptune.
And, that's all got for today.
See you for the boss...!
Chapter 8: Prologue BOSS: Master of Strings, GEPPETTO
Summary:
Its immense, terrifying form harbors violent Ether energy, yet it moves with the unsettling grace of a puppet, often performing strange and unpredictable actions. In the absence of sufficient observational data, an encounter with Geppetto in Hollow Zero typically heralds enormous dread and inescapable death for any investigator.
Some scholars speculate, drawing from the records of Parasitic Ethereal Swarm, that this horrific outer shell is merely a facade, while a volatile potent Ether Core lies in command within.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
In the deepest d epths of the Hollow, the distortion of space time had become stronger. Most of the castle had been broken away, remnants of the walls floating in a void filled with red and black clouds. The only place (except Magolor and Nicole) could stand was a red carpet that spiraled like a corkscrew, leading to a black singularity with a deep red event horizon. Streams of red and black energy flew in from beyond the room and were sucked in by the singularity.
In the center of the singularity was a spinning, shining star that had smaller stars emerge from it and trail down, making the outline of a door.
“Hm, spooky,” Magolor sighed as he floated down the path.
“When I get my hands on that masked weirdo, I’ll show ‘em that mah mallet is spookier then this !” Dedede grumbled angrily as he stopped forward. Bandee followed suit, waving around pom-poms as they followed him.
Anby, meanwhile, had a conflicted, contemplative look on her face. “This room feels…” She murmured softly, gazing at the singularity and the red tinted clouds around her. “Anby, Billy…?”
It was hard to tell what Nicole’s expression was, but her green eyes were darker and duller, as if she was also lost in thought. “Well, the vibes certainly seem familiar. …Ugh, the black hole in the sky is giving the creeps.”
“Black hole in the red sky…” Billy hummed to himself. “That part feels familiar… is it–!”
“Guys, you coming?” Bandee shouted from the other side of the room. From their perspective, they, Magolor and Dedede were upside down, standing in front of the door of stars.
“Oh, yeah!” Nicole nodded. “We can talk about this later. Let’s put a stop to this and get our reward!”
“Right!” Billy and Anby chased after Nicole as she floated down the winding corkscrew path.
“What were you about to say?” Anby asked. Billy thought for a moment, but his eyes turned into yellows Xs.
“I lost my train of thought…!” He groaned. “I’ll try to remember after we beat this guy. Maybe Mags can help.”
“Already nicknaming people, huh?” Nicole smirked.
Once the Cunning Hares reached the others, they all looked up at spinning stars. “...This would definitely be a poster shot,” Anby said, making everyone look at her.
“I know, right?” Magolor said. “Anyways, hup!” He floated up and down, entering the door. Everyone else jumped inside. For a brief moment, their visions were distorted by red, blue, and green bubbles.
Inside the castle’s throne room, the white cloaked, gold masked figure floated in front of Dedede’s throne. She looked up, admiring the sight. Large spires of etheric came out from the plush red seat, expanding multiple feet into the air.
She heard the telltale sound of a fissure opening behind her, and her head fell to the ground. “So… you’re here.” After a pause, she slowly turned her head over her shoulder. “Isn’t this a beautiful–”
“Get ‘em!” The woman turned around, and the eyes under her mask widened as a barrage of black holes, spears, magic spheres, bullets, and a flying Anby and Dedede were launched at her. She teleported away just before the projectiles could hit her.
“Where’d she go?” Anby said, whirling her head around with her sword in hand.
“My throne!” Dedede wailed. He ran towards his favorite chair and kneeled in front of it, tears rolling down his cheeks as he witnessed its half destroyed state. “What’d the creep lady do to yah! Oh the humanity!”
“Oh, shut up!” The masked woman reappeared in the air. While her expression was still hidden, the sound of her voice and the way she floated in the air made it clear she was angry. The woman then coughed into her fist.
“Ahem… as I was saying…” He r hands returned to her back. “This world is a lovely, beautiful place. Unlike ours,” She said, looking squarely at the Cunning Hares.
“...What’s that supposed to mean?” Nicole asked her.
“You can’t tell?” The masked woman asked cockily. Behind her, a beautiful orange butterfly fluttered behind her. “The Ether in the atmosphere! There’s so much of it, so much of The Creator’s life force constricting this world!”
(Bandee tapped Billy on the shoulder and asked, “Is this another doomsday cult scenario?” Billy stared at them.
“What do you mean ‘another’ ?”)
“Ah knew it! The dame IS insane in the membrane!” Dedede said, raising his hammer over his head. The masked figure glared at him, but Dedede didn’t even flinch.
“Enough!” She shouted in frustration. “This only ends in one way. Me with the Lor Starcutter!” The masked person pointed their finger at Magolor, who looked bored. “You. I’m giving you one last chance. The ship. Now.”
Magolor yawned loudly. “Honey, this is a six-on-one.” His eyes suddenly became dull and cold, and lacked their usual mischievous glint. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”
The masked woman scoffed. “I know what must be done… for the future of New Eridu!” She exclaimed.
Everyone readied their weapons.
The masked woman lingered in front of the crystalline core of Hollow Dedede. She laughed quietly, and her disembodied hands reached behind her head. The hands shot back out, now tightly gripping thin, sharp blades twice the size of her body.
An insane, shaky laugh echo e d in the chamber as she teleported in front of the Etheric crystals.
Self-Impaled Rose
DINA
Anby immediately dashed forwards, eyes wide and sparking as she slashed her sword downwards. Dina flew out the way, and retaliated with a lightning fast jab. Anby jumped out of the way, and the attack was parried by Bandee’s spear. They turned around and jabbed at Dina’s face, making the Exaltist float back to dodge.
As Dina was floating back, Billy positioned himself at her blindspot and fired. The sound alerted Dina, and she blocked the first bullet with her sword, but Bandee jabbed his spear into her mask. She staggered backwards, and the next volley of bullets smacked into her.
“Argh!” Dina grunted. She was about to lunge forwards, but was hit in the back by a Deadly Needle. Magolor giggled behind her.
“Six-on-one, remember!” He taunted her. Dina snarled and slashed the Needle in hand before lunging at him. Magolor spun around and stuck out his tongue before lobbing a barrage of Revolution Flames at her.
Dina slapped them away with her second sword. Another barrage of attacks was launched at her, so she teleported back into the sky, her hands now empty. She raised them into the air, causing knives of etheric matter to appear from behind her. “Out of my sight!” She swept her hands forward, and the knives rained down from the sky.
“Eek!” Bandee exclaimed as the numerous blades impaled the ground near him. “Can somebody stop this!?”
“On it!” Dedede and Nicole yelled at the same time. While the King opened his mouth and inhaled, Nicole fired from her suitcase. The combination of the inhale and black hole sucked in all the flying projectiles. Dedede was even able to spit them back at Dina. She ducked underneath the blade and teleported again.
She reappeared next to Anby, with her blades drawn. The stoic girl raised her blade to defend herself from Dina smashing her swords against her. Heavy grunts left Dina’s as she applied as much force as she could into her downwards swings.
“Reckless,” Anby murmured. Dina raised one sword, and the three seconds it took for Dina to bring it down, Anby stepped back, leapt forward, and slashed her electrified blade against Dina’s chest. “A single movement should not be wasted,” The clone taunted her.
“You…!” Dina whirled around and tried to stab her in the back. Anby let her body hover higher over her feet, making the sword graze only the edge of her skirt.
“Better,” Anby admitted before slashing Dina’s face. The mask chipped slightly.
Dina staggered backwards, floating clumsily while trying to correct herself. As soon as she stabilized. She felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned only and saw the barrel of Billy’s gun between her eyes.
Billy fired, knocking Dina off balance again. “What’s the matter? Can’t handle this world’s beauty anymore? Hah!” Billy laughed, firing his armor piercing rounds. Dina used her blades to defend herself, but the bullets chipped away at the steel. The top half of one even snapped off.
“Don’t give her a moment to recover!” Bandee said, weaving between bullets as they ran to Dina. The masked woman growled as she pointed her sword at them, and fired a laser. “Eep!” Bandee spun their spear like a helicopter to swerve out of the way.
“She laserin’ in mah castle!” Dedede exclaimed. He grabbed Bandee from the sky and chucked him back down. Bandee recollected themself in the managed to kick Dina in the face, knocking her back. They jabbed her in the face as well, launching him back into Dedede, who swung his ballet to smack Bandee into Dina again.
“You…!” Dina growled. At every corner, she harassed, poked and prodded by attacks she could barely react to. “You…!!!” She blocked hammer swings, bullets, swords, spears, and she could barely catch a breath. “YOUUUUU…!”
“Told you this wasn’t a good idea,” Magolor said cockily. Dina whirled around to see him lazing on the cancerous etheric growth sprouting from Dedede’s throne. “This really wasn’t your smartest idea, huh?”
He waved his hand, causing a rune to appear underneath her.
“Everyone, scram!” Dedede said. They booked it, just as Magolor snapped his fingers. Dina’s eyes widened as black hole appeared beneath her and sucked her in. Magolor took a smoothie, pulled down his belt, and took a sip as Dina wailed in pain.
“Aaaaah…!” Magolor smacked his lips, and the black hole closed. The area where it was exploded and Dina was flung out from the explosion.
Dina landed on the ground, f a ce-first, causing the mask to crack completely. Magolor nodded to himself, and tossed the smoothie behind him. Dina groaned as it bonked off her head.
Dina groaned as she placed her hands on the floor and struggled to float back up. After a few moments, she collapsed.
“So, that’s it then?” Dedede asked with a huff. He crossed his arms and laughed. “Golly, this whole thing sho was easier than I thought it’d be! She didn’t last a minute in the ring!”
“Now, that you mention it…” Bandee murmured. “Anby?” She turned around to look at them, “In a movie, what would normally happen if we beat an underwhelming villain?"
(“You’re all so infuriating!”)
Anby placed a hand on her chin and hummed silently. “Normally, the opponent is either upstaged by the surprise villain who was pulling the strings the entire time, or they summon a large beast that may or may not get them killed.”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Dina shouted, pounding her fists on the floor. She floated back up and turned around. The re m nants of her mask crumbled off her face, revealing a mouthless face with short orange hair and bright purple eyes. “All of you, just…! Quiet! I’m done listening to all your quips and jokes!”
Everyone stood in silence. “I mean… I think it’s clear we aren’t taking you very seriously,” Bandee said with a shrug. “Oh! But we can pretend to be intimidated if you want. Right guys?”
“Nah, she ain’t worth it,” Dedede said flatly.
“She doesn’t look particularly threatening,” Anby said.
“Gonna be honest, you have the same amount of aura as a wet blanket,” Billy added. “Oh! Forming a Hollow in the castle was scary at the moment, though. Props for that!”
“...Any amount of fear I did feel kinda went away when you started whining,” Nicole said in a disinterested voice while inspecting her gloved nails.
“Six-on-one,” Magolor reminded her.
Dina’s eye twitched. She placed her hand over her eyes, and let out a loud shout of frustration, which soon devolved into unhinged giggles. “Oh, I am going to savor this!” She growled.
Vivian, gasping her air, stumbled away from Tepes’ twitching body, the Ethereal slowly dissolving into pixels. Once she turns the corner, the monster lets out a haggard breath, and the lights of its body dimmed.
“I was brought here… brought to this Land of Dreams for a reason…!”
Tepes’ body blackened, crumbling to dust. Above it was a butterfly, slowly fluttering down from the sky.
“I refuse to believe I died in vain! I won’t accept it! No, no no no…!”
As the butterfly slowly came down, the shadow of the ethereal darkened. Suddenly, tendrils of black shadow wrapped themselves around Tepes’ body. The butterfly swerved away from the tentacles, and watched as the monster was dragged down into the ground. Tepes’ shadow remained. In the center was a blood red eye.
The eye glanced at you, before closing. The shadow of Tepes’ disappeared shortly after.
Dina trembled in front of the core of Hollow Dedede. “And I k now why, in this land, I perfected my father’s serum! With it, the Age of Hollows in New Eridu can finally begin! I… I can make him proud! I can make him smile from the grave! I can finally… I can finally rip Vivian apart, limb from limb!”
AND YOU WON’T GET IN MY WAY
She raised her hand again and brought them down, opening a large portal in the air. Something dropped from the sky and landed with a thud on the ground, in front of the core.
“Huh, you were right!” Magolor said to Anby as a massive figure loomed over them. It stood on two arms with purple glowing crystals on its wrists and a golden crest on its head. A singularity was in the center of its pointed face, and in the middle of its body were multiple singularities that connected its front half to a long, clubbed tail. And from its back, three tendrils with their own singularities floated lazily above it.
Dina reappeared above the massive Ethereal, with a syringe with gold liquid in her hands. “Let the Creator… refine you!”
She plunged the liquid into the monster, which made it twitch. The monster writhed in pain, hands gripping its head as a yellow glow surrounded it. Two more sharp arms sprouted from its shoulder, as well as six more tendrils from its back.
The singularity in its face began to spin, and after clicking back into place, the monster stared down at them with a blood red eye.
“Okay, that is sufficiently scary, I have to admit,” Bandee said. The Ethereal’s eyes zeroed on them.
“Round two, you guys ready!?” Billy asked in a panicked voice. Like before, everyone summoned their weapons.
A large, monstrous hand slammed on the floor, leaving a large print on the floor. The monster's bloodshot eyes twitched in its skull as it leaned back, supporting its weight on its tail and howled into the sky.
Empowered Parasite Swarm
GEPPETTO ZX
Geppetto used its hands to launch itself in the air, and streams of energy began to pool in its red eye. “Big laser!” Magolor warned as everyone ran away in a pan i c. With a shout, the red eye widened and golden beam shot out from its pupil, shattering the floor.
“Wh-what in blazes issat!?” Dedede asked, hiding behind a stone pillar that was cut down by another laser. “That’s one freaky looking Ethereal jerk!”
“I thought the yellow serum only turned people into sane Ethereals!” Billy shouted from the other side of the room. He tried running around, but the black holes in the midsection opened to reveal more eyes. He shrieked as smaller lasers were shot at him.
“Have you ever seen it used on an insane Ethereal?” Magolor asked. Geppetto began to float in the air, and roared. It extended its four arms and swiped them forwards, claws scratching the air.
Anby silently moved backwards to avoid the clawswipes. She tried parrying, but the sword was too small to properly defend her. One forceful swing was enough to send her colliding with the wall.
“Anby!” Nicole growled and fired at Geppetto, causing black holes to bubble on its arm. The monster snarled and whirled around; Nicole ducked underneath a smack from its tail.
“So, does anybody have ideas on how to beat this thing!” Bandee asked while in the air, helicoptering above the battle. They looked hopefully down at Anby. “Well? Have you fought this before?”
“No,” Anby told him in a focused voice. She pried herself off the wall just as Geppetto growled.
It flew up in the air and plunged its tail into the ground. With a snarl, etheric energy left its body and traveled into the tail’s club, which released a shockwave that traveled quickly through the ground. Billy tripped on it, but Nicole grabbed him and flew away before Geppetto to smash him with a spare hand.
“In that case, let’s not worry too much! Hit the eye!” Magolor summoned his (lamp oil, ropes,) bombs and tossed them. Geppetto swatted them away with its sharp nose, which made Magolor turn into low quality pixel art out of offense. “Rude!” Magolor was slapped away by the tail.
“I think somebody needs to get its attention while the others attack!” Billy said. He fired his guns at the arms of Geppetto, but that didn’t seem to faze. He reloaded, and then added, “What can even get attention?”
“Someone like me, obviously!” Dedede said. He threw his hammer at Geppetto’s arm, which bounced off. “Hey, wise guy!” The monster didn’t notice him. “Hey, ugly!” Geppetto whirled around and glared at him.
“Nice going. You’re an excellent distraction,” Anby said. Dedede glared at her, though he didn’t have much time to yell at her since Geppetto began crawling its way towards him.
Nicole floated behind the monster, smirking to herself. “This should slow it down!” She exclaimed, pulling her suitcase out of her hair and lifting it over her head. Multiple black holes shot out of the cannon and collided with the tail, ripping out pieces of the club.
“Not by enough,” Anby noted as she saw Geppetto barely slow down. She jumped up and landed on the club as soon as the black holes disappeared. She ran up the tail, but the eyes in the center looked at her, and started shooting energy bullets at her. Anby narrowed her eyes and kept running.
Those bullets were shot down by Billy. “Keep going, I’ll cover you!” She heard him say. Anby nodded and continued to run. She leapt over the midsection and stabbed her blade into the black holes.
Geppetto screeched. All four hands reached for her, and Anby grasped as grabbed onto her torso and pulled her away; her appendages fell to the ground. She struggled to free herself as Geppetto pulled her up to its face and roared. Before it could hurt her, Magolor burned its face with Revolution flames, and pinned its grounded arms down with Deadly Needles.
“Here.” Magolor casually handed Anby back her limbs. The hand grabbed her sword and jabbed the blade into Geppetto’s fingers, making it drop her. Nicole quickly flew over and lifted her in the air.
Geppetto howled in rage and leapt backwards. The tendrils above it shined, and released multiple fast-moving black orbs. Dedede and Bandee did their best to beat them away, but there proved to be too many for them to keep up; the black orbs exploded and knocked them back.
“Magolor, can you use that big black hole again!?” Billy asked as he ducked beneath a stone pillar. The cat-boy-mage shook his head.
“I used up all my magic reserves to show off!” Magolor told him.
“WHY!?”
“I’m sorry, but movie and video game tropes aren’t the first thi n g on my mind all the time!” Magolor shouted back.
“Should I be offended by that?” Anby asked Nicole.
“Let’s worry about that later, honeeeeYYYYYYYY–!” Nicole swerved out of the way of an incoming laser, which flew through the area where Anby’s arms would’ve been.
Geppetto howled, and its body split where the singularities had separated it. The eyes shot out thin lasers that carved out sections of the floor. With a roar from the Geppetto, the lasers thickened and began flying all over the room.
“Gaaah–! Woah, woah!” Billy yelled as a laser burned the floor in front of him. The ground split, cracking audibly as the floor was pulled apart to reveal a red and black void. Billy would’ve fallen in had Dedede not grabbed him, and Bandee flew them into the air.
“Close combat and projectiles aren’t working as well as I thought they would! Now what!?” Bandee asked as he rapidly spun his spear to fly.
Magolor, the only one not carrying someone, hummed to himself. He looked up, and noticed the six tendrils floating above Geppetto. “Those don’t have eyes…!” He noticed. “Hey!” Geppetto looked in his direction, and shrieked as it received a mouthful of energy spheres. “Cut off those things!”
“On it!” Nicole said. She spun in the air and tossed Anby onto Geppetto’s back. Anby spun in the air and launched her hand at the base of the tendrils, which kept her from flying away. Once she settled on it, she pulled at her blade and slashed, hacking at the stem as if she were using an axe.
Geppetto howled as the first one was cut off. Anby went to work at hacking off the second one, but the mid-section lasers began to blast at her again. For some reason, her mind went to a science documentary she saw earlier.
“Nicole!” Anby said, as she stabbed her sword into Geppetto’s back to anchor herself. Immediately, she understood; Nicole fired her black hole, which expanded just behind Geppetto and dragged the laser around.
The large ethereal shrieked as two more of its tendrils were sliced off. The gold energy radiating throughout its body intensified, and spewed out from the stumps of its tendrils. It floated in the air, and then slashed at the air with its claws; space-shattered, and Geppetto pulled the tear open before sliding inside.
Multiple portals appeared, and dropped Ethereals onto the battlefield; Fauns, Tyrfings and a Faurbati. The monsters roared and charged.
“Finally, mindless mobs!” Billy exclaimed. He got his guns ready, and blinked as a shadow loomed over him. He looked up and gasped as Geppetto’s clawed hand rapidly descended. He fired up, shooting off the monster's fingers which allowed him to just barely jump away and not be crushed. He did face-plant into the crowd of Ethereals, though. “Guys, the mobs are fighting back!”
“I realized!” Nicole flew down to avoid being slashed by Geppetto’s other claw. “And the big boss is being a coward and hiding away!”
“So, now we have to figure out a way to force him out?” Anby asked. She ducked underneath Faurbati's fist and stabbed it in the chest. “Let’s take these monsters out first. It should reveal itself once we’re done!”
“On it! Guys, lead them over here!” Bandee called out to the others. With the black holes from Nicole’s suitcase as well as taunts from Billy and Magolor, the lured the Ethereals directly under Bandee and Dedede.
“Comin’ in hot!” Dedede said as he let go of Bandee’s legs. With a grunt, he descended rapidly. “What the–!?” Dedede cursed when his body was briefly entangled in thin purple wires, but the speed of his descent and his weight made them snap instantly. He continued downwards, and flattened all the Ethereals in one fell swoop. “Now where’s the big boss?”
Instead, more portals opened, and more Ethereal poured out, each one growling and snarling. “Again?” Billy whined.
“There has to be something we’re missing…” Magolor hummed. He kept dodging swipes from Geppetto and Ethereals to conserve his magical energy.
“Maybe Geppetto got tired of fighting us directly?” Anby wondered
“Well, it’s not like it can keep summoning Ethereals forever?” Bandee asked her. Anby hissed awkwardly and shrugged.
“No, there’s gotta be something else…” Billy hummed to himself. He then remembered the wires that Dedede was entangled in briefly. He summoned his guns and fired them at the portals that kept summoning Ethereals. Loose purple strands fell slack, and the Ethereals that were connected to it died instantly. The strings also fell slack, and hung limply from the edge of the portal.
“The big freak’s gotta be in those portals!” Billy said. “Is there a way we can drag it out?”
“Drag it…?” Bandee said as he dodged Farbauti's fist. “Wait! Nicole and Magolor can both use black holes! And Great King can inhale, too!”
“Magolor, can you make another black hole?” Anby asked him.
“I’ve recovered just enough power to make one briefly, but it should be enough to drag that monster out!” Magolor told her. “You guys ready?”
At once, Magolor swiped his hands, Nicole fired a massive blast from her suitcase, and Dedede took a deep breath. Magolor’s black hole spawned exactly where Nicole’s black hole formed, causing the two to fuse and release gravity waves that smashed the nearby Ethereals to the ground. Those threads were pulled into the newly formed black hole. Geppetto growled from the other side, which grew into a loud roar as an arm was pulled.
“It’s working! Great King!” Bandee said.
“On it!” Dedede took in a deep breath and began to inhale. The black hole managed to drag out Geppetto’s head, and once it gave out, it was in the way of Dedede’s vortex. The Ethereal growled, and used two hands to grip the edges of its portal and keep itself from falling out.
Anby sheathed her blade and dashed forward. Her electrified sword sent a shock through Geppetto, causing it to lose its grip briefly. Dedede’s mouth opened wider, his beak practically reaching the floor now, which successfully pulled Geppetto out of his hiding spot. He then swung his hammer once it came close enough, knocking it into the air. “Get ‘em!” Dedede wheezed.
Magolor raised his hands once more, and large Deadly Needles impaled and restrained the large Ethereal. “Billy! Now!” Nicole fired three more black holes nearby. As Anby and Bandee attacked the dazed Geppetto, Billy fired at Nicole’s black hole, aiming so that it would orbit one vortex, and then fly into the pull of another, increasing its speed.
Those bullets ricocheted off each other, increasing their speed as well until the black holes were covered in copper steams. When the black holes gave out, the bullets were all aimed at Geppetto’s head.
Hundreds of bullets pierced the center eye at once. G old liquid spewed out from the bullet holes, making Geppetto shriek in pain. It gripped its head tightly, stars and clouds of gas bursting out from its body until it collapsed on the floor, twitching.
“We… beat it!” Anby exclaimed breathlessly.
“Th-that means the Hollow will disappear soon, right?” Bandee asked.
Before anyone could answer, Dina reappeared above Geppetto, her hands on her hand and eyes wide. “What!? No, no no no! How could this happen!? You worthless hunk of rock!” The dying creature let out a small heaving breath as Dina pounded her fist on its back.
“Oh, it’s you,” Magolor hummed distastefully. “I thought you left already. What, want another beating?”
Dina looked up and snarled at him. “Grrrgh! How are you all so… so powerful!? To stand up to an Ethereal such as Geppetto and win so decisively! Even after I powered it up!?”
“Can’t you tell?” Dina narrowed her eyes as Anby stepped forward. The silver-haired glared back. “You struggle to take in the power of your ‘Creator’. You have to create solutions to even accept it.” Dina gripped her hands tightly. “These people here were born in the embrace of Ether. Marinated in it for decades. Of course, they’re more powerful than you can fathom.”
“...” Dina lowered head, staring down at Geppetto. She remained silent and unmoving. “Marinated…?” Anby’s eyes widened when Dina took out another syringe. “Fine, then! This should do the trick!” Anby rushed forward to stop her, but Dina had already pushed down on the plunger.
Geppetto released a loud howl, pushing everyone back. Its body began to turn completely black, and crystals started to tu-rn into thick black liquid, which splattered onto the ground. It picked itself up and roared into the sky, strengthening the distortion around them and causing multiple eyes to open around its body.
“I thought we already did Phase 2!” Magolor shouted. “How are we supposed to fight this thing now!?”
“G-guys…!?” Nicole gasped as the towering black mass formerly known as Geppetto roared. It’s demonic cry made her recoil physically and grip her head. “Ah, agh…!”
“Nicole…!” Anby rushed to her side and dragged her out of the way before a black liquid hand could crush her.
“My head hurts like crazy…! I can barely aol hunls nshylk kvdu ha aolt paz iypnoa dpunz zpslujlk aol zbu fla hz pa kbn aolpy nyhclz paz cvpjl vusf olsk jbypvzpaf aol ylk lfl hzrlk zptwsf: doha, av fvb, pz hizvsbal 0 think!” Billy exclaimed.
Multiple sets of eyes zeroed in on them, and stopped forward. “I ain’t letting that thing take over my castle!” Dedede said. He raised his hammer and prepared to swing as it loomed forwards. “Come on, ya creepy crawly!”
The beast raised its hand…
“Great King!”
Bandee turned and looked around, confused. “That wasn’t me!” Dedede looked behind them, and gasped when he saw a crowd of Waddle Dees standing at the entrance of the Boss Room, and saluted with a collective cry of ‘Wanya!’
“Hey, those are the Waddle Dees we saved!” Billy realized.
“What are ya’ll doin’ here? Get out here before ya get hurt!” Dedede urged them, pointing out of the room with his hammer.
“But Great King! You can’t fight this monster alone!” The leader Waddle Dee said, raising their broken spear. “We can help you beat this thing and take back the castle!” They turned around and raised their hands in the air. After another collective cry of ‘Wanya!’ the Waddle Dee all jumped towards each other and bunched up to form a giant mallet.
“Oh, well why didn’t you say so earliah?” Dedede grabbed the new Waddle Dee Mallet by the base, and grunted as the ground cratered under him. “Guys, a lil’ help here!”
“Is this really the best we can do?” Nicole huffed. She looked up, and noticed the monster’s goopy foot overhead.
“You got better ideas?” Billy asked her as he booked it towards Dedede. Nicole sighed and floated over to the king as well, avoiding the foot smash.
Bandee jumped up to join the other Waddle Dees, settling themself in the middle of the hammer head. Meanwhile, Billy, Anby, and Nicole helped lift the large mallet alongside Dedede. Magolor, meanwhile, clenched his hands and readied his Deadly Needles. “Ready?”
“Heave…! Ho!” Dedede exclaimed; he brought the hammer down, and the all Waddle Dees at the base launched their pudgy fists forwards to smash the eye of the monster before them. What used to be Geppetto shrieked as it was punched in the eye. It skidded backwards and grinded to a halt by digging its large claws into the ground.
The monster roared and raced forwards. “One more time!” Nicole said.
“Heave…! Ho!” Everyone swung the hammer to the side, but the monster blocked the strike with its arm. It growled, and raised the other hand to attack. Magolor thrust his hands upwards, and a Deadly Needle flew up from the ground, pierced through the monster’s lower jaw, and reappeared through its eye. It roared in pain and reeled back, allowing for another fierce smash to the eye.
Black ooze stained the ground as the monster recollected itself. Instead of charging forwards, energy began to pool in its pupil. “Uh oh,” Magolor hummed. “Try to hurry up with this last hit, will you?” As the monster fired a massive laser, Magolor summoned a stat-shaped shield around the others.
It began to crack from the power of the laser.
“Ack–! You heard mage!” Billy said.
With a grunt, Dedede lifted the mallet over his shoulder with some assistance. The other did their best to support the weight of Waddle Dees, taking heavy step after heavy step towards the monster. The first arm of the star-shield cracked off.
“I…! Don’t know how much more of this I can take…!” Magolor grunted. His eyes glowed brightly as he pushed another surge of his magical reserves into maintaining the shields. The second arm cracked off.
“We’re almost there!” Bandee cheered them on. They grabbed pom-poms from their hammer space and started to wave them in the air. Allowed Waddle Dees followed their lead. “C’mon, push, PUSH!” The third arm snapped off.
With one final step, the group managed to stand in front of the dark beast. With a guttural howl, its pupils widened, and the laser grew in size. Magolor grunted as he struggled to maintain the shield. The fourth arm shattered.
“One…! More…! Time…!” Dedede heaved as tensed his arms. With loud grunts, he and Cunning Hares lifted the Waddle Dee Mallet all the way over his head. Geppetto roared, and the fifth arm snapped off.
The mallet descended, and smashed into the largest eye. The black goop was blasted off, revealing Geppetto ZX. Gold liquid spewed out of its wounds, and the puppet master returned to its original form. Geppetto gripped its singularity with its hands, and dragged them down as it roared. Large, rainbow-colored streams of blinding light burst out from the head, and soon…
Geppetto’s head exploded in a flurry of sparkling stars, and the hollow around them shattered as well.
Anby blinked her eyes open, which hurt lightly. Her vision returned to her quickly, and she found herself back in Dedede’s throne room. While the royal chair was still half-destroyed, the ether crystals that sprouted from it were long gone.
“Apollo?” Magolor asked. The coin flew out from his head and turned on.
“I have a clear visual on all of you, now. I can confirm that the Hollow has completely disappeared,” The fire man confirmed. “Well done, all of you.”
“...We did it?” Dedede blinked, looking somewhat dumbfounded. Then, the Waddle Dees all charged at him for a big hug, tackling him to the ground, with Bandee at the helm. “I mean, yeah-ha-ha-ha! We did it! We saved the day!” Dedede laughed loudly.
“You’re the best, Great King!” Bandee cheered as he nuzzled the king’s cheek.
“That means we can get a reward soon, right?” Nicole asked as she casually joined the group hug, smushing herself between Dedede and Bandee. She blinked eagerly, while Bandee chuckled awkwardly and Dedede glared at her.
“Wait…” Billy looked around the room, confused. “What about the girl that attacked us? Where is she?” Anby scanned the room briefly. When she turned to look at the door, she noticed it close by itself. She ran out the room, and followed Dina to the castle’s courtyard.
“Wait!” Dina paused at the edge of the fountain. Anby ran towards her and raised her blade. “You aren’t going anywhere.”
Dina turned her head slightly. “You…” She whispered softly. “You’re close with that proxy, right? Camille may have been worthless in the end, but at least she provided that nugget of information.” Anby flinched slightly, but didn’t point the blade away from her. “Hmm. Vivian seemed rather fond of her, too. It makes me wonder what both your reactions will be if…”
“Don’t bother thinking of such hypotheticals,” Anby said through gritted teeth. “I will never let you leave this place. And the people here will never let you harm it.”
“...I know that much,” Dina sighed. “After Vivian took his life, I always dreamed what it would be like to join my father in the loving arms of the Creator…”
Anby raised an eyebrow, and lowered her guard briefly. “But, now I have a much better dream.”
Dina turned around completely. Knives made of Etheric material appeared and circled around her. “Now, I’ll dream of that proxy’s face as I carve out your skull!” Dina flew at Anby, who sheathed her sword to electrify it.
…But suddenly, Anby and Dina paused, and they looked up.
“Anby!?” Nicole flew out of the broken castle entrance, followed by the others. “What are you…” She let out a shaky breath when she noticed what exactly caught Anby and Dina's attention.
A glowing orange butterfly fluttered down from the sky, glowing gently. Nobody spoke as, seemingly, the butterfly sucked in all the warmth from the surrounding environment. The butterfly landed on Dina’s head. She gasped quietly and felt the warmth of a gentle fire ignited during a freezing winter.
Everything went white.
[ PROLOGUE - CLEAR ]
Kirby yawned as they woke up from her nap. He raised her arms to the sky to stretch, and then sat back down on the soft, grassy ground. She smiled and sniffed the air.
It smelled like friendship! They wondered what he should do on this bright, beautiful day. After some thought, Kirby decided… to take another nap! So, she yawned again and leaned back against the tree that wasn’t there anymore.
What? Kirby let out a yelp as he landed on the ground. The tree! She jumped back up and looked around frantically, but their favorite sleeping tree wasn’t here anymore! What in the world happened!? Kirby looked around frantically for the tree, and while he did find something, it wasn’t the tree they were looking for.
Instead, it was a large purplish-sphere hovering above the ground. Kirby frowned and turned away dejected. She wondered if he did something to make the tree mad… Oh well, they can always find another tree to sleep under.
So, Kirby turned around, his blue eyes widened. What’s this!? All around the green, green field, multiple spheres like black holes emerged from beneath the surface, ripping up the ground and sucking everything nearby inside of it. It’s impossible…
Kirby slept through the apocalypse!? Again!? WhO cOuLd HaVe SeEn ThIs CoMiNg!!!!111!!1
Obvious joke aside, Kirby looked around the field, wondering what could have caused such a mess. No thought was spared for his friends, as she knew they could all defend themselves.
So, they looked up, and spotted something in the sky. A purple UFO flying across the sky, leaving red trails of light as it flew on by. Kirby thought to himself for a moment.
Strange black holes… weird ufo… the color red…
A light bulb!
Clearly, that UFO thingie must be causing all those black holes! So, now Kirby has to follow it, and kindly ask it to stop! But, that usually never happens, so they’ll probably have to smash until it's unrecognizable to save the day.
Kirby jumped up and ran in the same direction that the UFO flew in. It’s time for a new adventure!
[ LEVEL 1 - LICORICE LAKE ]
KIRBY (LV. 40)
VOID
In the old capital under the gaze of the moon,
Seven travelers of the World’s Void once made a decision:
To allow a king of the mortal realm to bestow honors upon them.
To this day, most of the new capital’s seven badges lie forgotten,
Gathering dust, a fact known to few, while the joyous city
Remains confident in her impenetrable protection.
The cheerful fellow smiles brightly,
Playing, smiling, laughing.
Defending the city is important,
But taking a moment to make sure everyone is happy,
Is just a noble.
Yet, those seated at atop the pinnacle
Of the new capital are restless
Each harboring their own fears.
Let’s make sure they’re okay, too.
After that, lunch and a nap!
HP: 750 | FP: 300
ATK: 500 | DEF: 250 | SPD: 100
LUCK: 30% | POW 60%
BASIC ATK
Headbutt (FP: 0)
Kirby jumps into the enemy, dealing Null DMG.
Inhale (FP: 0)
Kirby breathes in deeply. It removes any buffs the enemy has, and if they’re small enough, Kirby can suck them up. The enemy frees themselves at the start of Kirby’s next turn, which deals minor DMG to Kirby.
Swallow (FP: 0)
If Kirby has an enemy in their mouth, they swallow it, instantly defeating it, and then gains a Copy Ability based on that enemy’s abilities, which includes but is not limited to:
Sword
Fire
Hammer
Spear
Mecha
Ranger
Mirror
Beam
Fighter
Rock
Poison
Spark
Animal
Magic
Water
Sleep
Cleaning
Whip
Wheel
Jet
and more!
While Kirby has a Copy Ability, they cannot use “Inhale”, “Headbutt”, “Swallow”, or “Star Bullet”. If Kirby has nothing in their mouth, they can gain a Copy Ability based on their current Gear Loadout instead.
Star Bullet (FP: 0)
If Kirby has an enemy in their mouth, they spit it out as a Star Bullet, which deals Null DMG based on Kirby and that enemies combined ATK.
Drop Ability (FP: 0)
If Kirby has a Copy Ability, they can dispel it, placing a Copy Star on the field (max. 3) which remains for two turns before shattering. Enemies and Friends can attack the Copy Star, and Kirby can inhale it, which lets him gain that Copy Ability instantly.
SKILL
Gear Change (FP: 0)
Kirby can change his current Gear Loadout to one of 24 different Loadouts you have saved. If you don't have 24 Loadouts saved, you can also use the Loadouts of other Friends that aren't in battle.
ITEMS
Maxim Tomato (x3 / Cooldown: 5 turns)
Fully restores a Friend’s HP.
Invincible Candy (x3 / Cooldown: 12 turns)
Makes a Friend impervious to all damage and debuffs for two of their turns.
Energy Drink (x3 / Cooldown: 8 turns)
Increases a Friends ATK and SPD by 150 for three of their turns.
Friend Ability
Combine Kirby’s powers with their Friends to unleash powerful attacks!
Notes:
Roll credits. We have finished the prologue, and are now moving onto to our next Arc, Licorice Lake. As I said before, I'll finish "Supporting Me's" first arc before continuing this, so it'll probably be a while before I pick this back up (remember to check that story out if you're interested).
Before I leave, there's one more gameplay aspect that I want to talk about, and that's Kirby themself, and how much of fucking nightmare it would be to build them in any sort of gacha game, especially one with the Hoyo blueprint, and its ironically what makes his games approachable in the first place: her copy abilities.
The first question is whether to make them part of Kirby's base moveset or to add them in as separate characters. As you can probably tell, I went with the former, because having Fire or Poison Kirby would defeat the whole purpose of the Copy Abilities; Kirby is meant to adapt to his environment, take advantage of the tools they have. Having the abilities separated undermines this, I can only see this happening if Hoyo, for some reason, has a problem releasing 4-stars at a regular rate so that people can gain access to new and different playstyles for a low cost.
wait...
The second problem is that gacha characters DEFINITELY aren't built with adaptability in mind. For the most, they have a strict intended playstyle meant to power crept by the next big thing a year later (or immediately, if you're HSR). This plays into the gear they have, which is sometimes specifically made for them, or one just have one that works really with them to that point that using anything else is detriment to that character's success. Again, this flies in the face of Kirby's design philosophy because her has 30+ different playstyles.
this also means you're probably going to have, like, three to five sets of Gear for Kirby, which requires who knows how much time in the grinding mines.
So, in order for this version of Kirby to work, you need a system in which Kirby can change his gear on the fly to actually adapt to any situation, which means you need a gear loadout system. This would probably be the first Hoyo game to actually launch with a gear loadout system because probably Kirby absolutely needs one in order to even function properly.
Realistically speaking though, they wouldn't release all the abilities at once. Likely, there would be ten at first, and likely one or two added to Kirby's repertoire per patch.
That's all I got for today. See you in, like, a month.
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