Manning the Warp Star as usual, Elfilin directed us towards our next destination: a huge mall with a bunch of glass windows on it. "I bet there'll be more Waddle Dees in this mall. It should be easier to rescue them because so many animals rushed over to defend in the last place we went, so this place ought to have less animals guarding the Waddle Dees."
"You're right," Gim said as we landed in front of a few arches over the open front door. He looked up at the sign above the entrance. "Still, we should be prepared in case they decide to surprise us in this... ‘Alivel Mall’. Hopefully they don't come at us in a bunch of go-karts."
Izzy gave Gim a confused look. "Not sure why you'd be worried about go-karts being in a mall, but I'm not gonna question it since this is the same world where dogs shoot guns and food doesn't spoil even while sitting out in the open for who knows how long."
I smirked as we walked inside. "Poyo..." It wouldn't be the first time go-karts were being driven in a mall...
As we entered the mall, we heard music coming from the speakers inside.
"To think that the speakers here are still working, despite the mall being here so long that foliage has taken over alongside the other buildings in this new world..." Gim pondered as we passed under a balcony and approached a set of broken or maybe just powered–off escalators an Awoofy was casually walking up, not knowing we were here. "Just what kind of amazing technology was used to make this possible?"
"I'm not sure..." Elfilin mumbled something under his breath. "Was it used for this too, of all things...?"
"What was that?" Izzy asked.
"Nothing," Elfilin quickly answered.
"Hmm... Oh well, that doesn't matter. But what does matter is saving the Waddle Dees!" Gim pumped his fist. "Come on, let's go save them while we get Alivel Mall’d by the speakers!"
At the top of the escalators, I grabbed the Needle Ability by inhaling a spiky yellow and black caterpillar called a Needlous, then I used it to clear the way along a path by picking up the enemies in the way with my spikes while my friends followed behind. A round, skull–wearing creature called a Gabon tried to stop us by throwing bones from atop a storage building with a green Star Coin inside hidden behind boxes, but I spun quickly and retracted my spikes, throwing the enemies at the Gabon to defeat it. I kept going, picking up more Star Blocks and enemies as I rolled, until we had to make a decision: scale an Awoofy–guarded escalator on our left, or jump across a short gap to a Kabu–guarded metal platform and again to stable ground.
Gim and Izzy took the escalators while I threw the things I picked up at the Kabu and stone blocks by the bridge, revealing a Gotcha Capsule I collected as I jumped across to the other side, where I reunited with my friends as well as a Waddle Dee eating a donut with pink icing on it.
"Poor guy got shoved into a cardboard box that got taped shut," Gim explained as a Warp Star took the Waddle Dee away. "He'd escaped his cage like Wise Waddle Dee did, but he was drawn here by the sweet scent of donuts and the animals took advantage while his guard was down."
Elfilin deadpanned. "He must have been really hungry to prioritize his appetite over freedom, huh?"
"He's probably one of King Dedede's servants. The king has a lot of 'em so he sometimes loses count of which ones he's fed each day, meaning a few may miss a meal every once in awhile."
The path went left at a construction fence, but I spotted something behind it, on a blue cushion...
A white and red swirly lollipop with a star decoration on it.
With a confident grin, I picked it up and waved it in the air. "Hey! Poyo!"
Several Poppy Bros looked down at us from above the buildings on the left and right of the path, and their eyes went wide when they saw the treat. One of them turned to face another and said, "How'd he find it so easily?!"
The other Poppy Bro answered, "I don't know! I put it on the cushion like you said!"
"I said under the cushion, not on it!"
"Good grief..." Gim faced Izzy. "Listen up, my little pony. The moment Kirby shares that candy's power with you, go Leeroy Jenkins on those suckers up there like they're made of paper. Just trust me."
Izzy saluted. "You got it!"
I gulped down the lollipop and gave Izzy a high-five to share its might with her. She gasped as we felt energy welling up within us.
Gim gave me a boost up to the right building, where I saved a caged Waddle Dee and charged through the Poppy Bros there. Izzy blasted a Bomb Block on the main path, opening up the way to a ladder which she climbed up to the left building's roof where she took out the enemies there. We then jumped back down and went through the Yellow Star Door at the end of the path, but not before saving a Waddle Dee hidden in a hole behind a banner on the left side of the door.
The effects of the lollipop wore off as we continued towards a set of pink and gray lockers guarded by a Sir Kibble and a Rabiroo, with a tied–up Waddle Dee nearby.
After taking the enemies down, Izzy pranced with excitement. "WHOO! I've never felt so alive! Just what was in that sweet treat?"
"That was an Invincibility Candy," Gim replied as he untied the Waddle Dee. "Eating one makes you invincible, faster than normal, and able to defeat most enemies with a single hit for a little while."
After being set free, the Waddle Dee pointed at the lockers. "I saw something brown and flat behind these lockers, but I got caught trying to push it over by those guys you just beat up. Think you could take care of it for me?"
"No problem! I've moved heavier stuff than this!" Izzy used her magic to topple the locker, and behind it was a brown paper like the one that had a painting of me on it. Unlike that one, this paper instead had two vertical parallel lines of purple paint on the left, with the rightmost line being interrupted by two horizontal parallel lines to the right. Between the horizontal lines was a red arrow pointing right, underneath a burger. Were the purple lines making a path that split off to the right, with that path being what the arrow was pointing down?
The Waddle Dee looked over the paper in curiosity. "Hmm... I think these might be directions, or maybe hints to where my captured comrades are! Because if we go over here..."
He led us a little further to where the path went left. Along the path was a conveyor belt, and the path branched off right three times. Above each side path was a sign: the first path had a sign of a cream soda; the second, a burger; and the last, a curry.
"That must be it! I think you'll find my friends if you go down the path with the burger sign, and keep following directions of other signs the animals made!"
After he left for the Waddle Dee Town, we took the burger path, defeating the Hot Head guarding it.
We entered a dining area where a few Awoofies were digging into some food at a couple of tables. We passed by a table where two Awoofies were sharing a burger and fries, and they only glanced at us before going back to eating.
Gim looked at them as he stepped onto a circular platform and opened the treasure chest on it, releasing a Waddle Dee. "...You fluffy boys ain't gonna come after us?" Gim asked. "Even though we just saved this fella?"
An Awoofy drinking a cup of iced tea pointed at an analog alarm clock sitting on its own table. The time showed a little after noon.
"Even the animals have break time, huh?" Izzy mused, completely ignoring the five burgers on an unoccupied table near the circular platform as I sent the Waddle Dee back to town. "This Beast Pack must be really organized!"
Grabbing a burger from said table, I caught up with the others and ran up the escalators to the next floor.
We got a load off our feet on a conveyor belt on the breezeway we ended up on, and we let it take us to the end before getting back up as a Needlous and Hot Head ran our way. But they weren't interested in fighting us. Instead, they were running away from something.
Investigating, we reached a turn, and at that turn was a huge, white, furry walrus with a worn-out pair of black overalls and a blue beard. It looked like a feral Mr. Frosty to me and Gim, so we chose to call it a Wild Frosty.
Remembering what Gim said back in the Downtown Grasslands about using Piggyback against only tougher enemies, I jumped on Izzy's back again, and her fur became bristled and sharp like needles.
"Heads up, Izzy!" Gim warned as Izzy tested her Needle Ability, firing her spiky fur like machine gun bullets. "Needle isn't exactly the best offensive Ability. You'll have to get sneaky and crafty."
"Crafty?" Izzy grinned as her horn glowed, a light purple circle appearing on the ground between us and Wild Frosty as he roared. "Buddy, did you forget how good at that I am?"
The Wild Frosty charged at us, and as he ran over the purple spot, a spike shot up and stabbed him in, uh... a very painful area.
As he laid down and held his frosty parts in agony while whimpering like a mouse with its tail in a trap, Gim, Elfilin, and I gawked at Izzy. "Dang..." Gim mumbled. "What did that Wild Frosty do to you to deserve such a fate?"
Izzy folded her ears back sheepishly as I dismounted her and put the Wild Frosty out of his misery by inhaling him to gain the Ice Ability. "I was aiming for his foot... How was I supposed to know he was gonna slide a little to the left as he ran?"
"...Let's just keep going."
We continued left past some cardboard boxes and random burning logs, which I doused with my ice breath, then we went right by a nearby conveyor belt that was transporting boxes to a lower area. Next, we came across a pair of conveyor belts that were each being patrolled by a Bronto Burt.
I got ready to put the first Bronto Burt on ice, but he backed away. "No, wait! It's me, Kirby!"
"Huh?" Gim looked at me. "You know this fluttering dude?"
I shrugged as I froze an Awoofy between the belts. "Poyo." All Bronto Burts look the same! How should I know this one in particular?
"Right... I look no different than others of my species... Here, maybe this'll help jog your memory!" The Bronto Burt dove under the conveyor belt and came back up wearing some kind of referee hat. "Remember me now? I'm the Bronto Burt that reffed Slam Hockey! I still remember how painful it looked when the red Whip Kirby stole the puck from you and threw it right at your face..."
"Oh!" I exclaimed as I kicked the frozen Awoofy into the Bronto Burts on the second conveyor belt, leaving no enemies in the vicinity to overhear us. Only the people who were there know about that specific match. I never told anyone because the red Kirby kept pressuring me so much that I would've lost if the blue Kirby hadn't accidentally distracted him with praise. I was so embarrassed... "Poyo!"
"Slam Hockey?" Gim asked. "That's the event in Dedede's Cake Royale where contestants yeet a big hockey puck at each other to score points, isn't it?"
The Bronto Burt nodded. "Sure is! I got a lot of foot exercise in by carrying the Kirbys back into the arena when they got sent flying. Everyone calls me Referee Bronto Burt at the Cake Royale, but I wear many hats. I come from a line of Bronto Burts that take on jobs which require carrying stuff, so I use the family name, Barry."
"Nice to meet you, Barry the Bronto Burt!" Izzy tilted her head. "But why aren't you gonna attack us? Everyone else we came across in this new world, besides the Waddle Dees, were part of the Beast Pack, so..."
Barry landed and explained himself. "They made me join the animals too, but I was in the middle of looking for a couple of my Waddle Dee friends. So now I'm stuck having to work with the animals while also having to cope with separation anxiety..." He grinned. "That didn't stop me from trying, though! I made sure to use my time wisely, remembering the layout of nearby places and where important stuff is in case a certain pink hero came along."
"And he did!" Izzy beamed.
"Yep! Granted, I didn't learn a whole lot of important things, but I did find out this..." He looked around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping. "One of the higher–ranked members of the Beast Pack resides at another mall further north. He stays outside in the central lot, so you might be able to sneak into the mall and surprise him from within, but there's a problem with that: the mall's entrance is behind stone gates that are sealed by chains and bones. You'll need help if you want to make it inside."
"Alright, thanks!" Elfilin paused. "But what're you gonna do while we're still adventuring?"
"Well, once you guys clear out the area of bad guys, I can break my cover and go look for my buds."
"Or, you could wait at the Waddle Dee Town while we go find your friends and send them there," Gim offered. "It's much safer there than... well... Anywhere else we've went in this world, so far. After all, Bandana Dee's there to protect the townsfolk!"
"...Hey, that's a pretty great idea! You just inhale me to send me there, Kirby, and the animals will think I just went down like all the other weak enslaved civilians of Dream Land! Thanks a lot!" Barry allowed himself to be swallowed by me and sent to town, while we continued onward.
We jumped up and crossed a wide conveyor belt threatening to make us fall if we didn't walk against the direction it moved, then we jumped down to four Bronto Burts and conveyor belts, the former moving clockwise and the latter moving counterclockwise around a spike pit. Gim took out the Bronto Burts while I put out some more burning logs, letting me reach a ladder that led up to a switch. I pressed it, and it destroyed some metal blocks a Clocker was hiding behind with a Waddle Dee. It tried to be clever by flying above the spikes, but Izzy pulled the cage away with her magic so we could free the Waddle Dee and proceed through the next door.
We came out in a small dining area next to a huge part of the mall, with three side paths on the left and three on the right. The signs on the left paths were cake, a hot dog, and cake; and on the right, popcorn, tea, and a cone of blue ice cream.
But on the other side of the dining area was another set of pink lockers, so I took care of the Rabiroos in the area and came to the lockers. I'd felt that this was something I could use Mouthful Mode on, but Izzy had taken down the first one we encountered before I had the chance, so I tried inhaling this one instead. I latched onto the front of it with my mouth, and after wiggling back and forth a bit, I pulled it down before spitting it out. Behind this locker was another map, but this one had the right corner torn off. Here, the sign said to take the path with the cake sign, but there were two cake signs. Which one were we supposed to take...?
"Hey!" Gim vaulted over the counter of the dining area and ran up to a green storage cabinet. "Maybe there's something behind this one too!" With his robot strength, he managed to pull it down, revealing a small room behind it.
In this small room was an Awoofy that had just been awoken from its nap, as well as the missing corner of the map. The corner depicted an ice cream cone. This meant we had to take the cake path across from the ice cream path, so that's what we did, casually dispatching enemies in the way.
The cake room was a lot like the burger room. Two Awoofies were sitting at a table eating a slice of cake each, and in the middle of the room was an Awoofy holding his belly in pain in front of a long table with one slice of cake on it, the many crumbs on the table suggesting that he'd eaten way too much cake. Poor guy didn't know that only King Dedede and I can eat that much cake in one go...
We got on the stage, opening the three chests on it to get some Star Coins and a Waddle Dee, then we went up the escalators to the next floor.
Now we had to go up two more flights of escalators, which were guarded by Awoofies, a Poppy Bro, and a Needlous. They thought they could surprise us, but my ice stopped the Needlous in its tracks before I kicked it towards the other enemies, allowing us to continue to the top.
Here, we found another set of green storage lockers at a wide dead end. I got ready to inhale it, but Gim stopped me before pointing at some bolts holding it in place. "Hold on, yo. This thing's bolted straight to the wall. It won't budge easy." He carefully knocked on the wall. "This wall... It's hollow. There's something behind it!"
"But how do we get past the wall if the lockers won't move?" Izzy asked.
"Why bring down the lockers..." Gim grabbed a pair of handles on the lockers and yanked them over and over again. The lockers only wiggled a little bit, otherwise staying upright thanks to the bolts. "...when you can do some mall renovation?! Kirby, you better take cover!"
"Hm?" Hearing a rocky cracking sound as he tugged, we looked at the wall and saw that cracks started forming. I created a barrier of ice around Elfilin, myself, and Izzy. "Poyo!"
Elfilin shook in worry. "Kirby, you sure this is gonna hold up against a wall?"
"Elfilin... You're talking... To the kid..." Gim strained, before the wall finally broke off of the building and began to fall our way, at which point he ran back towards the escalators. We closed our eyes, and it broke as it hit my icy shield. "Who's the child of his home universe's god."
"Right... I think one of the Waddle Dees told me that..."
Behind the wall was a golden cage of Waddle Dees, and the Clockers holding it were so surprised that we took down the wall that they didn't even think to escape, so we took them down and freed the Waddle Dee trio before moving on.