Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Anime Hearts ❯ Chapter 9: Perils on Pop Star ( Chapter 9 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

NOTE: Okay, now I know something like this chapter has already been done, so please don't point that out. I will try to make my version very different from the one already made.

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Chapter 8: Perils on Pop Star (1)

After several mishaps, the group finally made it to Anime City, where they were greeted by Gene and Jim.

“Hey, see you made it back.” The red-haired man smiled.

“Yeah, well, we almost didn't make it.” Kaneda replied, casually putting one hand behind his head and grinning goofily.

“And who are these guys?” Jim put in, pointing at the others with them.

“Well, this is…”

Suddenly, Len pushed his way past Kaneda, muttering, “We're survivors of a cataclysmic annihilation of our home world and we're very tired, so if you could please…”

Gene raised a hand to silence him. “Okay, okay. Come on, I think we have an empty house somewhere.”

----

Sometime later, they were all at the new house, a nice two-story deal.

“So all this is ours?” Lyserg asked, looking out a window in amazement.

“Yep.” Gene answered. “It's got six bedrooms, two bathrooms, and all that other stuff.”

“Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to take a long hot bath.” Said Jun, as she casually threw a towel over her shoulder and walking off towards the direction of the bathroom.

“She's settled in quickly.” commented Amidamaru.

“That's for sure.” Trey agreed, nodding his head.

“Well, it looks like you've all set,” Ed commented, so we'll just…”

“AAAH! GET OUT YOU PERV!”

SMACK!

A door slammed, and Rio entered the room, a big red handprint mark on his face.

“You opened the wrong door, didn't you?” Tokageroh questioned him.

“Yes…” (2)

“I think we'd better make an `Occupied' sign.” Yoh commented, a sweatdrop running down his face.

---

Sometime later, Kaneda, Ed and Al were making their way towards a particular house.

“Why are we going there again?” Ed asked Kaneda.

“I told you, we have to get this thing checked out.” The other boy answered in annoyance.

At the house, they pushed open a door to find Sakura busy dusting a table. She looked up at the sound of the door opening and smiled at the trio.

“Well, hello again. What can I do for you?”

“We sound this, and thought you'd want to take a look at it.” Kaneda explained, pulling the blue stone out of his pocket.

Sakura took it from him and examined it carefully. “Yes, this is a Summon alright. Let's see who's in it.” She placed it on the floor, pulled out her key and announced, “The key that hides the forces of darkness! Show your true identity!” The key extended into a staff again, and she brought it down on the stone. “RELEASE!”

There was a flash of light… and in the stone's place was a light blue turtle-like creature.

Its vermillion eyes blinked rapidly as it awakened. “Squirtle…? Squirtle squirt squirt!”

“Aw! Cute!” Sakura exclaimed, bending down to reach the creature's eye level.

“Yeah, but does it speak English?” Ed questioned.

“I think I can handle this.” Kero said. He flew down to the turtle, saying softly, “Hello there. How are ya doing?”

What followed was an amusing conversation between the two, though only Kero could understand what the creature was saying. (3)

“…Yeah….uh huh…uh huh… I see.”

Finally, he looked up at the others. “This guy says its name's Squirtle, and it's called a Pokemon.”

”Oh yeah? What can he do?” Ed asked.

”Squirtle squirt!” The creature announced, and dug into its shell before producing a pair of pointed sunglasses (4), and put them on. It took a deep breath, and blew out, producing a jet of water that sprayed Ed in the face. “Squirt squirt!” it exclaimed happily.

“Okay, okay, he can come along.” Ed groaned, wiping his face.

“Squirtle!” the creature exclaimed happily, before vanishing back into the stone.

Sakura picked it up and gave it to Kaneda, saying, “Is there anything else you'd like to tell me?”

”Huh? Oh yeah! We also found this other stone!” Kaneda gave it to her, and she examined it closely.

“Looks like another spell stone, this one for the ability Time Stop. That allows you to halt time temporarily.”

Just then, Li arrived, carrying a large magical tome, which he dropped on the table. “Hey, what do you have there?”

“Look, it's another spell stone!” Sakura gushed. “And you know what that means!”

”Uh…no we don't.” said Al.

“Well,” Li explained, “You've learned all the basic spells. We have a keychain we give to people to prove they've leaned the basics.”

“Neat! What is it?”

”Wait there.” Li started rummaging around though a trunk until he found what he was looking for. “Here we go.” He said, holding up the keychain, which was a pink ring with a star in the middle. He then removed the previous keychain- the Soul Sword (5) - and attached the new one. Instantly, the Keyblade turned bright pink with a pair of white wings on the handle.

“There. What do you think?”

There was silence. And then…

“ARE YOU FREAKING CRAZY?! I CAN'T USE THIS!”

”Why not?”

“IT'S PINK FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!”

”What's wrong with pink?”

“IT'S GIRLY! THAT'S WHAT IT IS!”

”The Sorceress' Star keychain is supposed to be pink, Kaneda!”

The others sighed and sweatdropped as they watch the two boys argue.

“This may take a while.” Kero said with a sigh.

*

About a half hour later, the trio left the old house, with Kaneda grumbling loudly. “I can't believe I have to use a pink Keyblade!” he complained.

”Aw come on. It doesn't look that bad.” Al said. “Don't you wanna try it out for a while?”

Kaneda groaned. ”Oh fine, but the next chance I get, I'm changing the keychain.”

“I hate to interrupt,” Ed interjected, “But we should really get going.”

”Ah, right. Let's go then!”

*

Later… the ship slowly made its way towards another world, one shaped like a huge star.

“So, we got a Heartless reading?” Kaneda asked.

“Yeah,” Al replied, “And to get to this new world, we have to go though another World Barrier.”

”Hopefully, I won't be as bad as having to use a pink Keyblade.”

Ed blinked. “…You're still not over that?”

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World Name: Pop Star

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On the world's surface, three rather small figures ran across a big field. One was obviously female and had yellowish skin & hair in a ponytail and wore a pink and green dress. Another one also had yellowish skin and wore overalls with one strap down. But the third one was a pink ball with short arms, red feet, and a cute face.

“Hey, hurry up! We haven't got all day!” The girl scolded the other two.

“We're coming, we're coming.”

“Poyo poi!” the pink creature exclaimed.

Suddenly, a huge flash of light filled their vision.

“What was that?” the boy asked.

“I dunno. We'd better go check it out!” the girl replied.

The trio hurried up a hillside, and then stopped as they saw three figures standing there. They resembled Cappies, the local species, but one had a mop of dark hair and wore a white shirt underneath an orange jacket. Another had blond hair in a long braid, and wore a red jacket with a strange black symbol on the back along with a black shirt that had white trimming. And the third… well… looked more like a Cappy-shaped suit of armor than anything else.

“Who are those guys?” the boy asked.

“I dunno. But they don't look like the monsters that have been running around lately…let's go so what they want.”

*

Meanwhile, Ed, Al, and Kaneda were busy examining themselves and their surroundings.

“Man, this is weird!” Kaneda said, looking himself over.

“You're tellin' me!” Ed commented. He then glanced over at his brother. “Huh? How did the World Barrier affect you?”

Al merely shrugged. “I guess it must depend on the world itself.”

Kaneda raised both `hands' and said, “Okay, okay, let's just start looking for…WOAH!” He took one step forward… and fell flat on his face.

“Ow…this is gonna take some getting used to.”

“Hey there!”

The trio looked up and saw three beings making their way towards them.

“I've never seen you three around here. Where are you from?”

Ed shuffled nervously. “Uh… far away…”

“…Really far away.” Al added nervously.

Kaneda pushed himself up of the ground and turned to his friends. “I think we should introduce ourselves, guys.”

The other two nodded. ”Oh, right.”

Ed was first, saying “Hi, my name's Ed, and this is my little brother Al.”

Al waved. “Hello.”

”And I'm Kaneda,” the last one put in.

“Kaneda? What kind of weird name is that?” The boy in the overalls asked.

“Tuff be nice!” the girl snapped at him. She turned back to the trio. “Sorry about that. My name's Tiff and this is my brother Tuff.” The boy waved. “And this…” she said, pointing to the pink puffball, “Is Kirby!”

”Poyo poyo!” the creature beamed.

“Is that all he can say?” Ed asked her.

Tiff shrugged. “We're not sure, really. Come on! We'll show you around!” she started to run off, but saw that Kaneda, Ed and Al were still standing there.

“What's the matter?”

Kaneda scratched the back of his neck nervously. “Uh…er… where we're from… we walk kinda differently.” He then laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck. Great…that sounded really smart!

The girl put her hands on her hips and cocked her head. “Is that so? We'll I guess we'd better show you how we move around here. We'll start by having you trying to catch Tuff. Ready? Go!”

What followed was a rather funny scene as the trio practically fell all over themselves trying to catch the boy. Finally though, they accomplished their task.

“Good. Now on to our next lesson…”

”Tiff, look out!”

They spun around and saw a group of brown and black hornet-like Heartless flying towards them, enormous stingers aimed and ready.

“Don't worry; we'll handle `em.” Kaneda grinned. He whipped out his Keyblade (and grimaced, remembering its color) before rushing into battle alongside Ed and Al. The wasp creatures (whom we'll refer to as `Dark Hornets') shot out the needles on their abdomens at the trio. Al raised his shield and the stingers bounced harmlessly off.

“Okay, go!”

Kaneda and Ed raced forward, with Kaneda swinging his weapon and slicing a dark hornet in half.

“Artic Freeze!” Ed yelled, and several Dark Hornets were surrounded by ice before falling to the ground and shattering into many tiny pieces.

“There's too many of them!” Tiff shouted. Suddenly, Kirby jumped forward, mouth open wide as he began sucking them the remaining Dark Hornets up like a vacuum, and then spat them out and sent them flying over the tree line. Kaneda, Ed and Al just stared, mouths agape.

”Oh yeah, I forgot to mention he could do that.” Tiff said.

“Kirby! Tiff! Tuff!” They turned around to see two small creatures flying towards them. Both creatures were orb shaped with small arms and legs, and eyes on the top of their bodies. But one was light blue, and the other was pink with a yellow bow on its head.

Tiff seemed to recognize them, for she waved and yelled, “Hey guys!” The two beings floated over to them, and she made a gesture, saying, “Kaneda, Ed, Al, I'd like you to meet Fololo and Folola. Guys, this is Kaneda, Ed, and Al.”

“H-hi.” The blue one panted.

“What's the matter?”

“Dark creatures are all over town!”

”What?!” Tiff and Tuff looked worried.

”We gotta go to the town!” Tiff exclaimed. Looking at Kaneda, Ed and Al, she added “You'd better come with us, this could get dangerous!”

When the group arrived in Cappy Town (the local village), they found it totally empty, save for a purple horned ball named Hopmon, which they sent back to the ship using a teleporter.

“Where is everyone?” Al asked.

”I dunno, but be on your guard just in case anything happens.” Kaneda warned.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a Shadow Wolf leapt at them, snarling loudly… Kaneda held up his Keyblade… but before he could strike, something sliced the Shadow Wolf to ribbons. Standing in front of them was a small creature wearing armor with a cape attached to the shoulders. Behind the armor, two golden yellow eyes glinted brightly.

“Are you alright?” it asked in a slightly accented voice.

Tiff nodded. “Y-yeah, thanks Meta Knight.”

“You shouldn't be out here. It's too dangerous.” The figure warned. He then looked at the other three standing next to her. “And who are they?”

”Huh? Oh! I forgot. Meta Knight, this is Kaneda, Ed, and Al. They're from far away.”

Meta Knight's eyes narrowed. “I see. And what are they doing here?”

Ed stepped up. “We're here to find the Key-OW!” he rubbed the spot where Kaneda elbowed him and glared.

Meta Knight sized them up before he said, “Humph. You three may stay, but all of you should keep inside at all costs.”

”But, Meta Knight--!”

“That's enough. I don't want to see you getting into trouble.” With that, he turned and walked away.

Kaneda angrily started yelling at him. “Hey! Come back here! We're not done yet!”

”Forget it.” Tuff sighed. “There's just no talking to that guy.” He turned to his sister. “Do ya think we should take them to see Kabu?”

The girl shrugged. ”Why not? He might know what's going on.” Turning to the others, she said, “Come on! We got something to show ya!”

And with that, she ran off, the others trailing after her.

Somewhere else, Meta Knight walked down the empty streets, muttering to himself.

“These creatures appear to be coming from the castle. What in the world could King Dedede be up to…?”

*

Meanwhile, the group was making their way into a forest, fighting off any Heartless that came their way.

“Okay, why are we doing this again?” Ed grumbled.

“We told you!” Folala said, swooping down beside him. “We're going to see Kabu!”

”He's a powerful Tiki that knows everything!” Fololo added.

“Poyo poyo!” Kirby beamed.

“Hey, we're almost there!” Tiff said, pointing. “Come on!”

They reached a clearing where a huge tiki-like thing stood silently. Sleeping next to it was a green blob with a leafy tail.

“Woah…”

“This is Kabu.” Tiff explained. “He's been here for as long as we can remember.”

”Yeah, and he can see the future!” Tuff added.

“The future huh?” Ed muttered skeptically. “Okay, how about a prediction then?”

There was silence for a moment, before the great tiki spoke out. Startled, the green ball ran off and jumped into Ed's arms. “I see a great darkness that threatens to engulf everything. Find the Crystal Star, and it will lead you to the heart of the world.”

“Is that it?” Kaneda asked when it as over.

“Sure looks that way.” Fololo answered.

Tiff said nothing, just took a few steps, then turned to faced them, saying, “You know what? Someday, I want to be able to go wherever I want. And I really wanna see new worlds. Do you think that's weird?”

Kaneda shook his head. “Not at all. I used to feel the same way.”

Tuff raised an unseen eyebrow. “Used to?” he asked.

“Uh, I mean I still do.” Kaneda silently grimaced. Gotta remember to watch what I say!

Ed rolled his eyes, and his gaze fell on something. Turning, he spotted a star-shaped carving in a particularly thick tree. “Hey, what's this?” he asked.

Everyone turned to look. “I dunno. I've never seen that there before.” Tiff said.

“Huh. That's weird…”

Somewhere else, in a large castle, King Dedede paced back and forth impatiently. “Where is dat darned snail with dat report?” (6)

Right on cue, a large grayish-purple snail came slithering in. “I'm here, sire.”

The king frowned. “Well it's about time. Whaddya have to report?”

His servant shuffled uncomfortably. ”Well, uh, the Keyblade bearer has been spotted in the area, sire.”

“WHAT?! That meddling brat'll ruin everything!” Dedede looked angry for a moment, before relaxing. “No matter. Da Heartless `ll take care of `im! HAHAHA!”

Back in the forest, the group was wandering among the trees and talking amongst themselves, having already sent the green ball, Leafmon, to the ship.

“So, how'd ya learn to fight those monsters?” Tuff asked Kaneda, Ed and Al, as he, jumped over a fallen log.

“Uh, well, we've been doing it for a while now...” Kaneda began, but Kirby suddenly started waving his tiny arms around and shouting in his odd language.

“Poyo poi poi!”

“Huh? What is it Kirby?” Tiff questioned him curiously. The little puffball pointed out to an enormous tree sitting on a big rock, which had at one point split apart. Its roots curved around the where the rocks formed an opening.

“Cool! Let's check it out!” Tuff shouted, running towards it.

The others ran after him into the `cave'. Small pinpoints of light peeped through the cracks, adding a scant amount of light to the dark area.

“Wow. It's kinda creepy in here.” Al whispered.

As their eyes got used to the dimness, they saw that there was a sort of small chamber up ahead, housing a small pillar with a peacock blue crystalline star on top. And crouching behind the pillar, almost hidden in the shadows, was a yellowish-white ball with fin-like things on its head, but they didn't see it, for their attention was focused on the star.

“Wow!”

”It's so pretty!”

“Wonder what it's for…?”

Kaneda stepped forward, ready to take the object when…

“Look out!”

”Huh?”

He glanced upwards, and saw a figure falling towards him, and he managed to jump away before the creature landed. They saw that it was an enormous spider, jet black in color with splotches of red on its back and abdomen. Eight crimson eyes glittered in the semi-darkness as its pincers clicked menacingly. The yellowish ball gave a terrified squeak and rushed out from behind the pillar towards them. Tiff picked it up and held it close to her.

“Stay back, we'll handle this!” Kaneda warned, pulling out his weapon. Ed and Al did the same, and they rushed into battle. The spider reared back and spat out a glob of acid at them.

“Incoming!”

They jumped out of the way as the acid struck the ground, burning a hole in it.

“Hey! Didn't your mom ever tell you not to spit?”

Ed shouted. The spider merely clicked its pincers and spat out more acid, forcing Tiff, Tuff, Fololo and Falala to duck for cover. Kirby, on the other hand jumped forward, intent on fighting.

“Kirby!”

The little puffball just kept running at the spider, which had resorted to shooting needles from its abdomen. Kirby took a deep breath and sucked up an incoming needle. There was a flash of light, and when it cleared, Kirby now had spikes growing out of his body.

“Wow! Needle Kirby!” Tuff grinned

Undaunted, the spider leaned forward and spat out more acid, which they barely avoided.

“Okay, that's it!” Kaneda growled. He leapt forward and struck the creature across the face with his Keyblade. It reared back, screeching in pain.

”ELECTRO BOLT!” Ed blasted it with electricity, and it staggered backwards. Then Kirby took a deep break and launched his spikes at the spider, piercing its body. The spider let out a final screech before it collapsed, legs curling upward in rigor mortis.

“I think its dead.” Kaneda panted. He then turned his attention on the crystalline star. “Hm… something about this is familiar.”

“Wait, wasn't there a star-shaped thing in a tree near Kabu?” Falala asked.

“Hey you're right! Come on, let's go!”

Later, after sending the creature, named Upamon, to the ship, the group stood around the star carving in the tree. “Well, here goes nothing…” Kaneda said, as he started to place the star in…

“What do you think you're doing?!”

Everyone jumped as a voice boomed out of nowhere, and then Meta Knight suddenly appeared and destroyed the Crystal Star with a single slash.

“Meta Knight… why?!” Tiff burst into tears and ran out of the area.

“Hey! What the heck was that for?!” Ed demanded.

Meta Knight's eyes narrowed, and his voice was calm, yet firm. “You three are not from this place, or even this world.” Pointing at Kaneda, he said, “You are the Keybearer, are you not?”

The boy's jaw dropped. “H-how'd you know?”

”It was easy, judging by the way you walk like you hardly know how to. As the Keyblade Master, you should know better that to meddle in the affairs if other worlds.” He told them sternly.

“Yeah, but…”

“But nothing! You have violated this principle! The one with the Keyblade only brings despair and ruin.”

“Kaneda's not like that!” Al protested.

“Humph. I'm wasting my time here.” He turned and left, leaving the remainder of the group in quiet shock. (8)

Somewhere else, Tiff sat on a log, crying her eyes out.

“What's the matter, dearie?”

Startled, the girl looked up, and frowned when she saw Escargoon.

“Oh, it's you. What do you want?”

“I overheard your problem,” the snail said, “And I think I know someone who can help…” at that moment, King Dedede appeared, a deceptive smile on his face.

“As it so happens, my dear, I know you want ta see other worlds. And ah'm just da penguin to help ya.”

“And why should I trust you?” Tiff demanded.

The king frowned and put on a face of mock pain

“Why ah'm hurt! And I jus wanted to help! After all, those new friends of yahs are from otha worlds themselves!

That got her attention. “What?”

King Dedede grinned. ”Now ah see yer interested. Your friends couldn't have got here witout use of dat special key. Listen, and ah'll tell ya what ya need to do…”

“Who does that guy think he is?!” Kaneda complained for third time that day.

“I still can't believe you guys are from another universe!” Tuff exclaimed.

“Yeah, yeah, that's getting old.” Ed muttered.

Kirby, now back to his plain old form, waved his arms in the air and loudly chirped, “Poi poi poyo!”

Suddenly, there was a huge explosion that rocked the whole area, sending them to the ground.

“What was that?!”

”I think it came over there!” Al said, pointing.

When they reached Cappy Town, it was still empty as when they had last left it.

“Anybody else but me find this unnerving?” Ed asked.

Just then, they heard evil laughter echoing through the area.

Tuff froze. “That voice! I'd know it anywhere!”

The figure of King Dedede loomed out of nowhere, holding a scepter-like object in one hand and laughing evilly. Nearby, Tiff stood in shock.

“Y-you tricked me!” she exclaimed.

“Oh yeah, ah did, didn't ah? Well too bad!”

Kaneda and the others ran up, looking startled. “Tiff! What's going on?”

The girl in question looked down. “He…he wanted me to get the Star Rod (9) for him and I... I…”

”Wait, what?”

“The Star Rod is a powerful magical object,” Fololo explained, “And it gives the user great magical power.”

“If it fell in the wrong hands,” Falala added, “The results could be catastrophic!”

“Gee, ya think?” Ed muttered.

The wicked king grinned down at them. “Well, well, look what we got here. Da so-called Keyblade Master an' his little pals. How pathetic.”

“What was that!?” Kaneda growled, bearing his weapon

“Wait! He's much too powerful!” Tiff pleaded.

“Darned right!” Dedede smirked. He raised the Star Rod high in the air when a familiar figure appeared.

“Stop this now!” Meta Knight ordered, leaping toward him with his sword out.

“Pah!” The king scoffed do yah really think yah can stop me!?” From the wand's tip came an energy blast that sent Meta Knight sprawling into a wall.

“Meta Knight!”

“Humph. An' don't get inn mah way next time!” He turned to look at Tiff. “As for you, my dear, we had an agreement. Time to take yo to anoter world-the world of darkness!”

Just then, Escargoon slithered up, looking uncomfortable and ringing his hands together. “Uh…Sire… we have a problem. The Keyhole isn't here!”

“WHAT?!” The penguins faced turned livid, as he grabbed Escargoon and shook him. “WHAT DO YA MEAN IT'S NOT HERE!?” He frowned, dropping the snail and muttering, “Okay then, no matter, I got the Star Rod, so let's get outta here!”

They hopped into an expensive-looking car, and drove off in a cloud of dust, but not before the king shouted, “Ah'll be back for you brats later. Yah can count on it!”

When they were gone, Tuff ran to Meta Knight's side, shouting “Are you okay?”

”I'm fine, just a little, shaken.” Came the answer. Meta Knight tried to stand up, but stumbled.

“Take it easy,” Ed warned, “You're still hurt.”

“Please… head to the castle… stop King Dedede!”

Kaneda nodded. “Don't worry, we'll get him.”

They started to run off, but Tiff stopped them. “Wait, I'm coming with you!”

”Huh?”

”It's my fault all this happened, I gotta help stop him!””

“Count me in!” Tuff shouted. Kirby waved his arms in agreement.

Kaneda sighed. “Okay, okay.” Turning to Fololo and Falala, he said, “Do you think you two could make sure everyone stays safe?”

”Sure!” And with that, they flew off.

“Okay, let's get that Star Rod back!”

“Remember, King Dedede has a powerful machine that can only be destroyed with magic!” Meta Knight called after them as they ran out of the village.

The castle rose high into the sky, a stone structure that loomed overhead. And guarding the way in were two reddish balls carrying spears.

“Great. Now how are we gonna get in?” Kaneda muttered.

“I got an idea.” Ed whispered. Picking up a rock, he threw it against a wall. Hearing a noise the guards ran off to see what it was.

“Okay… now!”

They all ran inside, making sure not to be seen by any one else. “Okay, which way?”

Tiff pointed. ”There!”

The group ran up steps and though long hallways until they reached the throne room. There, King Dedede was walking around and waving the Star Rod, while Escargoon watched.

Kaneda, Ed and Al stepped out, as Ed shouted, “Okay, King Dedede, your time is up!”

“Wha!? How did you get in here?! Aw, nevermind that. GUARDS!” The reddish creatures appeared and attacked them, but were easily taken down.

“Grr… If ya want something right, ya gotta do it yourself!” He pressed a button and a shield surrounded him, then held out the Star Rod and started attacking with magic blasts.

The group ducked and dodged before Al noticed the machine had a huge color-changing gem on it. One minute, it was a firey red, the next, a calm blue, and then a sunny yellow.

I wonder…He turned to the others and shouted, “Hey Kaneda! I think if you use the correct magic on that machine right there, it'll do damage to it!”

“Really? Okay, let's see what happens if I use this… Inferno Blast!” Fireballs pelted the gem, and the machine started to shake violently.

“Hey! Careful with that!” The king yelled, throwing another energy blast.

“Personally, I'm more worried about our repairs bill!” Escargoon yelled from behind a pillar.

And so the battle raged on, with the group dodging blasts while attacking the machine with the right spell. (10) Finally, the machine blew up, and the shield went down.

“Uh oh! Retreat!” The king and his servant disappeared into a hidden passage behind the throne, leaving the group behind.

“Hey! Come back here and fight like a penguin!” Ed shouted, beating on the wall.

“Let's go, we need to get the Star Rod back!” Tuff yelled, waving to them as he headed out the door. The others followed suit.

*

As they left the castle, the first thing they noticed was that a strong wind had started to kick up.

“What's with this weather?” Kaneda yelled, “It's like a hurricane!”

Suddenly, Kirby was nearly blown away, but Al grabbed him in time.

“There's gotta be a way past this wind!” Ed yelled.

“Hey, I got an idea.” Tiff said. “Al, give me your shield!”

“Uh okay…”

After taking the object, she told Kirby, “Now suck this up!” The little puffball obliged, and soon he had a large metal shield.

“Shield Kirby, huh?” (11)

“Come on, let's get going!”

“What, with that thing? No offense Tiff, but I don't think it'll work.”

Suddenly, the shield grew larger until it practically dwarfed them.

“On the other hand…”

After a while, the winds stopped, and Kirby returned to his normal state, but not before handing Al the shield.

“Okay, so where did they go…?”

”Without warning, the ground began to shake as a huge robot shaped like King Dedede wielding a huge hammer lumbered into view. (12) And guess who was piloting it?

“How d'yall like my MechaDedede?” The King gloated. “Now ah'll squash you in style!” To finish his point, the robot brought its foot down own them, but they rolled away at the last second.

”How the heck are we gonna defeat that thing?!” Ed shouted.

“We don't know until we try!” Kaneda yelled back. “There's gotta be a weak point!”

By this time, the robot brought its hammer down, and although it didn't squash anything, it also created a shockwave that knocked them off their feet.

“Hahahah! You can't stop my all-powerful mech!” The king boasted.

Meanwhile, Tiff watched as the group struggled to fight the robot, with no success. I don't get it! The robot's gotta have some weakness. That's when she spotted the protruding joints on the robot's ankles. That's it! “Guys! Go for the ankles!”

”Heh. The old Achilles' heel, right?” Kaneda smirked. “Typical. Okay, let's get him!”

“Oh no you don't!” The front of the hammer opened to reveal a bunch of missiles that shot off at them.

“Look out!”

Kaneda froze before he remembered something. Raising both hands, he yelled, “T-Time Stop!” then shut his eyes and looked away… seconds passed… Kaneda opened both eyes and was stunned to see the missiles hanging in the air, barely moving. “Woah…”

“Hey Kaneda! Those missiles aren't gonna stay there forever you know!” Ed shouting broke him out of his stupor. “Huh…? Oh right!”

Fortunately, Kirby saved him the trouble of figuring out what to do with them. He sucked them all up, and spat them back out at the robot. Dedede slammed the controls and yelled, “Hey! You knock that off!”

“Now! While he's distracted! Go for the heels!” Tiff exclaimed.

“Gotcha!”

He ran forward, and with a well-executed slash, struck both heels in a single blow. The blade cut through the metal like a hot knife through butter, and the robot suddenly staged backwards.

“Everybody out of the way!”

They moved backwards as the huge mech fell over with a loud crash. When the dust cleared, King Dedede was lying unconscious in the rubble, Star Rod still clenched in one hand.

“I'll take that!” Ed grinned, snatching up the object.

Back at Cappy Town, the heroes were greeted by a large crowd, including the recovered Meta Knight. “So, you defeated him did you not?”

“Thank Tiff,” said Tuff, pointing to his sister. “If she hadn't seen the weak spot on King Dedede's mech, we woulda been done for!”

The girl in question looked down. “Meta Knight… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let King Dedede trick me like that.”

Meta Knight said nothing, and then spoke up. “I suppose it's partially my fault too.

Tiff blinked. “Huh?”

“I was afraid you'd do something rash, so I destroyed the crystal star, which can reveal the Keyhole.” Looking at Kaneda, he asked, “Can you seal it up?”

”Of course. That was out plan from the start.” Kaneda grinned. “Where is it?”

”The Keyhole is located near Kabu, but you'll need to use the Star Rod.”

Pretty soon, they reached the hidden grove where Kabu rested. Tiff pointed the Star Rod at the star marking, and a Keyhole appeared, and Kaneda locked it.

“Hey Kaneda…”

The boy turned to look at her. “Yeah? What is it?”

”Your world… what's it like?”

“Oh yeah… sorry about having to lie to you.”

”Nah, it's okay. Maybe I can travel to other worlds too. I'll find a way…somehow.”

Ed shrugged. “Well I guess well be going.”

“Hold on, I need to give you something.” Tiff pulled out a keychain with a star on the end. “I've had it for a while, but you can have it. I also have these weird notes.” She gave them a folder with DARTZ'S REPORT #3 stenciled on it. “I hope you come back again some day!”

“We will, don't worry.” Al said.

And with that, they headed back to the ship, waving to their friends.

Meanwhile, King Dedede slowly got up, holding his forehead.

“Ow mah head…what happened?”

“I think we got beaten.” Escargoon moaned, sitting up.

“Wha? The Star Rod's gone!” Dedede shouted.

“I knew we shouldn't have tried that idea.” Escargoon muttered. “Moron…”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?!”

”Uh…uh…nothing Sire!”

”Don't lie to me! You come back here!”

But Escargoon ran as fast as his slimy feet could take him, hoping to get far from the angry king.

To be continued…

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And Chapter 9 is finally done! And I apologize if this is too similar to what someone else did. Please tell me if I need to make any changes.

1- This is what I'm referring to the world as.

2-Sorry, I couldn't resist!

3-Well, since he's kinda beastlike, I figure he can understand other creature's languages or something.

4-Yes, that's Ash's old Squirtle alright.

5- What the previous keychain is called.

6- Come on! Did you actually think I'd write a Kirby anime-based chapter without him?

7- I hope I'm getting his accent right.

8- Gee, hope I didn't make him too tough…

9- Since the Star Rod is the only magical item from the Kirby games that I'm aware of, I'm putting it in here, even though I don't know if it was in the cartoon or not.

10- You know, Red - Fire, Blue - Ice - Yellow - Thunder, ect.

11- This is an original Kirby form, by the way.

12- Since everyone else is using giant villains by this point, I figure I'll try something different.