//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Cloudy Park // Story: A Sweetie Dream Land // by Lucar //------------------------------// They were dropped on a cloud, somewhere around the volcano of Cloudy Park. Kirby jumped on Rick so he could better defend himself. Thanks to the Cutter Ability, Rick could throw Kirby around like a boomerang, with the puffball cutting all enemies that touched him. Some meters, enemies, and blocks later, they could already see that this area, and potentially this whole island, will be a pain. The following path was full of Scarfys that they had to eliminate to jump from cloud to cloud. At the edge of a cloud, Sweetie made the mistake of looking below, seeing how high they were. She gulped before quickly taking a big breath to resolve herself. She had to continue, she will not fall, Kirby, Coo and Gooey were here to catch her if she missed her jump. A Propeller tried to ram Kirby and Rick from below a cloud in front of her, but they were saved by the filly shooting a lightning bolt at it. Well, lucky for them that she stopped because of her curiosity! They reached a bigger cloud with two Poppy Bros. Jr. running on fruits. The first one was an apple, while the second one was a tomato! They didn't last five seconds. The group now healed, they continued. Kirby jumped from Rick to go in Coo's claws, while Sweetie asked Gooey to hop off of her back so she could go on Rick while digesting, not being able to move too much with how stuffed she was now. Gooey decided to go inside Kine's mouth instead, giving him the possibility to spit lightbulbs from his mouth. From the next cloud, they saw that they now had to jump between two Gordos moving up and down between this cloud and the next one. It repeated two more times until they could reach the door. That forced Rick and Kine to time their jumps while Coo just had to fly above the Gordos, lucky owl. After the door, they appeared on a tall pillar of stone, the base hidden by clouds. When they looked around, they found that they were in a true field of pillars of stone, going beyond the clouds. They had to jump from pillar to pillar, Coo dealing with the flying enemies again while Sweetie shot beams at the enemies on the pillars. She also had to shoot some Star Blocks to drop a Shotzo. After the Shotzo, they discovered the cloud equivalent of the snow and stone blocks from the previous islands, forcing them to jump quickly to continue and pass a door that was on one of them. Behind the door, they were back on clouds with a small bridge linking two of them. On the opposite cloud was another of these brown parasols that quickly fell from the assault of Coo's sharp feathers, Kine's lightbulbs, and Sweetie's beams. This whole thing revealed to be a lost of time because they gained nothing of this fight and the door led them back to the previous area. Thankfully, the cloud blocks had reappeared, so they didn't fall, but they quickly had to jump to not fall anyway after their destruction. Sweetie dropped a second Shotzo the same way as the previous one before they had to jump on more pillars. They then reached a bridge made of cloud blocks but they could also choose to go below and continue jumping from pillars to pillars. Kine decided to take the pillars while Rick ran on the bridge, Sweetie shooting the Bronto Burts trying to stop them helped by Coo. They then reached another group of cloud blocks with another door, this one floating in the air. Some carefull jumping later, they passed it. After it, they had to climb. To do it, they could choose between using the clouds, or using air currents to propel themselves. They would gladly take the air currents, but there were Gordos in the way, so they alternated between taking the air currents and jumping on the clouds to avoid the Gordos and some projectiles from Sir Kibbles. Reaching the top cloud, passing through it, they found another tomato by destroying some blocks on an indestructible one. Stopping resisting, Sweetie just ate her part without saying anything. The door was hidden behind another pair of blocks. They found themselves on a platform made of indestructible blocks like the one a few seconds ago, the platform being on a big cloud with other similar platforms. Gordos were moving around some of these platforms, forcing the group to watch out. Farther, they found transparent blocks with a penguin on them. It wasn't hard to find the link. Kirby gave up the Cutter Ability and ate the penguin to obtain the Ice and was able to destroy the blocks thanks to Coo launching three ice projectiles on them only to find nothing under. After that, they ended up fighting a few knights like the ones earlier. Among them were knights that Sweetie hadn't seen yet. They possessed a black body like the others, but also heavy purple armor with a light purple cross in the front, and the head was smaller than the body. They used a big spiked flail as big as Kirby, making Sweetie gulp. Thanks to the Abilities and the filly's beams, they didn't have any problems fighting them. They reached the door which was trapped between indestructible blocks and the transparents blocks. Destroying them with the ice, they were able to go through it with a jump. They ended up on ground with a pipe propelling a strong current of air at the edge before them. This current helped them reaching a flying platform of similar ground with another pipe releasing a current. They saw before them a platform too far to reach, but they could fall on it from other platforms similar to the actual one above it. To reach them, they just had to use the pipe, then another before letting themselves fall. They reached the platform in a pool of water between two Glunks where there was a door. That was an one way door leading to an underwater area with strong currents, but thanks to Kine, they were able to go against it to reach another door by clinging to him. They got themselves in a room against a green jellyfish. After avoiding its tentative to shock them, they had no problem beating it. But they then discovered that this whole thing was another lost of time, returning to the area with the pipes. They still returned in the water area to let themselves being pushed by the water current, reaching more doors, only to get the same result. Sweetie's left eye twitched. They finally passed the platforms with the pipes and passed the door that really led to the next step of their journey, finding themselves in a room with two Shotzos on blocks made of electronics. Understanding that they were vulnerable to the Spark Ability (so the jellyfish was for that?), Gooey went back on Sweetie and she aimed at the blocks, destroying them and dropping the Shotzos into the void below... only for nothing to happen, the door already here since they appeared in the room. That made Sweetie and the animals give deadpan looks at nothing. The next area, back on clouds, had a strong wind pushing them back, but they could see that they had to go against it to reach what was probably another door behind some indestructible blocks. However, only Coo could fight the wind, so he had to go alone with Kirby. They came back one minute later with the Cutter Ability. With nothing else, they let themselves being pushed by the wind, having to avoid many Gordos in the way until they reached another door that led, to everyone's joy, to a Rainbow Drop Room. And it turned out that the blocks in this room could be destroyed by the Cutter Ability! A few seconds later, they left the room, the sixth Rainbow Drop warm inside Kirby's stomach. After the next door, they just had to walk on more clouds linked by bridges made of cloud blocks. While running, they ended up chased by a group of Waddle Dees with a Bouncy, but some beams from Sweetie stopped them in their momentum. After some time, they had to destroy Star Blocks blocking their way with a Sparky hidden inside before finding themselves having to jump in water. Liquid water in a tunnel made of cloud. Go figure. And there were frogs in it. Frogs in liquid water... on clouds. Yet again, go figure. After everything she saw, that didn't surprise Sweetie anymore. The next area was the most annoying one as of yet. They were not on clouds anymore, but another air current pushed them until they had to fall in a pit. In their fall, they passed by a few Star Blocks in the walls. Coo was able to fight the air current to destroy them with Kirby, but the others were forced to continue down, then back, then up again beside other blocks before returning where they started, revealing this place to be a loop. Still pushed by the wind, they ended up falling again, this time going through the hole in the wall that Coo was able to create, only to end in another, smaller loop. Coo had already destroyed the blocks of this one and the next ones too. After a few more loops, they finally reached the door at the center, the animals stopping to take their breath. "I hope there will not be more areas like this one. This island is one annoying moment after another." After the door, they appeared on cloud blocks above a Sparky. From here, they had no choice but to walk on more cloud blocks to go down a few levels. After that was a series of falls with Star Blocks and cloud blocks blocking their way. In their fall, they encountered a new enemy that creeped them out: a disembodied floating head of a mummy! And more than one too! They couldn't see the head itself with all the cloth around it, but they still could see an eye through a hole. The mummies remained where they were, and the heroes quickly discovered that they moved only when nobody watched them. Coo eventually decided to deal with them. Sweetie hugged Rick, trying not to think of them. If it wasn't for the Fountain of Dreams, I would probably have nightmares tonight. Why are there things like that here? I though that Dream Land was a land of dreams. These things are more from a nightmare! After more falls and eliminating more of these mummy heads, they finally reached the door, putting this awful area behind them. Except these mummy heads came back in the next one where they revealed that they could appear like the Kabus. Speaking of Kabus, they were here too but the group was able to avoid them, as well as the Propeller ambushing them from under a cloud. They entered a room where they fought a big Gordo, as easy to beat as the previous one. After the Gordo, they appeared in a tunnel of cloud going up in diagonal and full of Gordos. Coo got hit by one of them, getting trapped, and Kine ended up jumping on another by accident. The door at the top of the tunnel led to a similar tunnel, this time underwater, with more Gordos. This time they were able to avoid them, even if they got some close calls. Passing the next door, they were now in the sky, pulled up by a wind, so they didn't fall despite the absence of floor. But the wind made Coo, Kine and Sweetie hit their head against Star Blocks above them. Ouch... There were yet more Gordos in the way, and many more blocks, and by the time they reached the end, Sweetie had some more bumps on her head. Luckily, they found two energy drinks and a tomato in the way, healing said bumps alongside a few other injuries, excepted the pain coming from her stomach. Urg... Destroying one more block hiding the door, they passed it. They were now... Oh Celestia. Cloud blocks! Cloud blocks everywhere! They were literally in a tunnel made of cloud blocks! With a Gordo blocking the way! Kirby got out of Coo's claws, and Sweetie reluctantly got down of Rick. Everyone immediately started to sprint, avoiding the Gordo in the way even if the animals and Sweetie had to press themselves against the wall. At the end, they had to jump up on a platform where they took their breath before running the other way, avoiding another Gordo. Another jump up on a platform with another small break, and they still had to run, jump, run, jump, run again and again. After a few more jumps on three platforms in a row, they saw that they were in a dead end. Turned out the cloud blocks of the floor at the end were hiding the rest of the way, leading to more cloud blocks that they had to wait to disappear under their feet. After that was more platforms to jump on, leading to more cloud blocks hiding the way below. It went on another time before they could continue after jumping on a few more platforms. After some more running, they finally reached the door, getting out of this torture! At the other side, Sweetie, Rick and Kine were on the floor, breathing heavily, while they felt a wind against them, not strong enough to push them. Sweetie Belle turned her head to Kirby. "And it's the third time you do that? How are you doing it?" she asked him. Kirby only shrugged in answer. Ten minutes later, they decided that it was enough and resumed their journey with Sweetie going back on Rick only to end up having to fight against the wind to go forward, making their jumps more risky. Coo, again, was the one with less problems, so he and Kirby led the way, beating all the enemies. They jumped above pits, then above a few Gordos, and they reached two bridges made of cloud blocks, forcing Rick to run and Kine to jump quickly, Sweetie hitting the enemies on the bridges with her beams so they weren't stopped to fight. After the bridges, they reached the door, only to be sent in a small room with five other doors. Having already found the Rainbow Drop, they didn't have to take risks, so they decided to test the doors one by one, starting with the one in the center. This door led to another small room full of Scarfys that they didn't have any problem to beat, being able to avoid their explosions. Back in the previous room, they tested this time the door at the right of the first one they took, leading to... nothing. Third time was the charm. They took the door at the left of the first one and they ended up in a room with five energy bottles! Jackpot! Sweetie decided to let the others have their pleasure, still full. But that wasn't counting their generosity, Kirby, Gooey and the animals all letting a small part of their bottles for her. How could she refuse after that? After the door, they were back on rocky floor, having to fight a jellyfish with a small wind from behind. Like the previous one, it didn't last long against all of them. The next room had nothing of interest except a single block vulnerable to Spark, too bad destroying it didn't help. After the room, they were in another tunnel area with wind pushing them. Gooey then gave up his actual Ability and ate one of the Poppys in the way to gain the Bomb. With Gooey having the Bomb, and being inside Kine's mouth, the blob released bombs that were actually round mines that could float and explode underwater. Pushed by the wind, they had to fall through a few levels of clouds while fighting more Poppys, some of them on apples that Kirby and Gooey ate. They also had to pass a few cloud blocks in the way and a few other enemies including Gordos before reaching a section of the tunnel submerged, finding another bottle that Rick took in his arms before passing the door at the bottom. After an annoying underwater maze that seemed to take hours, they found the exit door leading to another submerged cloud tunnel with a current pushing them up until they got out of the water where Rick found himself ambushed by two Gordos, taking heavy damages while dropping Kirby. The current still pushing them up, the puffball didn't fall back into the water, instead helping taking out the many flying enemies in the way, mainly Bronto Burts, but also some Propellers and Waddle Dees with the living parasols. Once at the top, they reached a cloud where they could rest where they found another bottle of energy drink and a tomato somehow floating in the air. Now even the food can float... Drinking the now two bottles and eating the tomato, the group was ready for what awaited them after the door. They found themselves on a giant cloud arena, and they immediately understood that they reached the lieutenant of the island. The thing was... where was the lieutenant? They looked around, searching for... well, anything, really. After the living tree and everything else, they could end up fighting anything. Although Kirby had an idea of who they may fight. Cloudy area were HIS playground after all. Then, in the middle of the group, a bump appeared in the cloud. They took a step back as the bump grew in size until something appeared in it: an eye, looking right at them. Kirby didn't lost time and threw blades after blades at the eye until it got back in the cloud, only to repop beside Kirby, shooting lightning bolts at them. They were all able to jump out of the way before they counterattacked. The eye got back in the cloud and popped out again in another place, but this time the eye flew out of the cloud, floated in the air and surround itself of four smaller orbs that rotated around it. Yep, it was him. Kirby immediately pushed everyone out of the way just in time to avoid a charge of the eye before it started to fly around in an unpredictable manner. Despite that, they were still able to hit it many times until they knocked it out of the air. The eye then rolled on the cloud, seemingly already beaten. "We have already beaten it?" Sweetie Belle asked, only for Kirby to shake his head and signing them to step away from the eye. "You know about this thing?" Kirby nodded before saying a single word: "Kacko!" "Kacko? Wait..." Sweetie remembered, back during the day of the Nightmare incident. Dedede had given the pieces of the Star Rod to a few lieutenants and other creatures that he trusted. She remembered him saying their names. One of them was Whispy Wood that they fought this morning. Then there were Mr. Bright and Mr. Shine that they fought just in the previous island. And then, he had said this name: Kracko. Was this that Kracko? The one that Dedede qualified as "his strongest lieutenant"? The eye then started to float again in the air, but this time, clouds were gathering around it, growing, and growing. Spikes appeared all around the cloud, and it started to take a pink color at the bottom and a blue color at the top. Before long, the cloud was at a side that dwarfed all the other lieutenants excepted Whispy Wood, and the eye opened, looking angrily at them. They could hear the cloud rumble, like during a storm. This was Kracko. He charged at them, beams of spark going around him trying to shock them. They barely avoided it as Kirby already sent everything he had against the cloud while being carried by Coo. Smaller Krackos then popped out of him and tried to ram them only for Sweetie to destroy them with her beams. Gooey attacked Kracko, sending bomb after bomb from inside Kine's mouth as the fish hopped around, always facing the cloud. Rick followed his idea and started to run around farther, letting Sweetie on his back shoot at the eye. Lightning then rained under Kracko as he flew around the arena, electrifying Kine and Gooey while ramming Coo and Kirby. Following that, he shot lightning projectiles from his eyes in Rick's trajectory, the hamster jumping at the last second. Seeing his attacks on the hamster not working, he created a strong wind, pushing both Rick and Sweetie toward the edge of the arena, threatening to make them fall. Rick found himself having to run against the wind to avoid this fate, even able to gain some distance, only to be surprised by the wind suddenly stopping before being charged by Kracko, almost being sent beyond the edge. He saved in extremis Sweetie, who was sent a little further and started to fall, catching her hooves with his paws before pulling her back. Kracko was suddenly attacked in the eye by Kirby, back in Coo's claws with the Cutter Ability, stopping him from focusing on Rick and Sweetie Belle. He then felt a bomb explode behind him, sign that the blue blob was also back. Rick took Sweetie on his back and benefited of the distraction to run away from the edge back to the center of the arena, Sweetie hugging him. Kracko then shot a lightning bolt directly at Coo, the owl avoiding it by some miracle, still getting some feathers of his left wing burned. He then charged at Kine, hitting the fish who was sent flying before he shot another lightning bolt at him, this time knocking him out for good. Gooey got out of the unconscious fish's mouth, took back the Bomb Ability, and went toward Sweetie and Rick. Sweetie saw him and understood what he wanted to do. She took a big breath, not thinking anymore about almost falling to her death, before she jumped from Rick's back. Gooey then jumped on her and Sweetie could now materialize bombs again. She immediately attacked Kracko with them while Rick stayed close behind, just in case. Little Krackos popped out again of his cloud and started to approach the filly only for Rick to destroy them with some good punches. Coo came back without Kirby and scratched his claws against Kracko's eye. He only got for reward another lightning bolt before being rammed by the cloud. The owl hit the floor and didn't wake up. Kracko then sent another lightning bolt toward Kirby who dodged before attacking with more blades. A last bomb finally had reason of him, the cloud disappearing and the eye closing, falling, rolling on the cloud, and finally falling from the arena. Gooey jumped from Sweetie's back and went toward Kine alongside the filly while Rick joined Kirby at Coo's side. Soon, the two animals were back to consciousness, badly hurt. Helping them, everyone regrouped to recover from the battle at the edge of the arena. They decided to rest for a few hours as they admired the end of the sunset, the stars appearing in the sky with the moon coming from the other side. As the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, Sweetie turned her eyes toward the last island, their ultimate goal: Dark Castle. Kracko had been a pain, he was not the strongest lieutenant of Dedede for nothing. So... how much harder will be the fight against the king himself? Kirby sat down beside her, looking at the fortress too with determination, followed by the others. Many hardship probably awaited them, but as long as they were together, they will not fail. They were ready to end this.