Everyone gasps.
There's no way...
And yet, Magolor, alive, safe and sound, without anything remaining from the battle, is floating down the ramp.
Everyone immediately take their weapon, Dedede thankful to have thought to go take a new hammer before the start of the banquet. Even Marx has taken his monstrous form, having been told what Magolor had in mind for him. Sweetie Belle is ready to knit Spiky into Spikezilla, and Adeleine is ready to unleash the painted Ice Dragon.
Magolor raises his hands in surrender. "Wait! Wait! Don't attack me! I don't mean any harm!"
Sweetie Belle, Dedede, Bandana Dee, and Meta Knight stare at him in suspicion.
"Really! What could I do against all of you at the same time? You were able to destroy the Master Crown despite it unleashing all its powers, for God's sake! What would be my chances?"
More suspicion.
"And I'm not planning to create a black hole like the previous time or to backstab you. Without the crown, my black holes aren't as powerful, and I know the backstabbing wouldn't work. You're prepared for it. Just give me a chance, please. I see that you've given one to Marx despite what he's done."
"Marx didn't try to kill us the moment he revealed his intentions," says Sweetie Belle.
"Actually... If I had known that you and Kirby were strong enough to oppose me despite my acquired powers, I would've tried to kill you too," replies Marx.
"Oh..."
"Listen. I... I regret..." Magolor starts saying, looking down in sadness. "I wanted to protect the universe from monsters... But then, I became a monster. When you defeated me, and the crown took control of me, it turned me into what I truly was. I could only watch as I couldn't control myself anymore. Then, I started feeling the corruption of the crown entering my mind, until I wanted to spread suffering and destruction. For one moment, I became like the Dark God. Pain, despair, loneliness, hate... All those dark feelings that had invaded me, I wanted everyone to feel them." He looks back up, at the others. "This is what my actions as God-King of the universe would have caused. I wanted to stop evil, but I would have only caused suffering by forcing everyone to act like my perfects little puppets of goodness. I was not better than those that I wanted to fight. Never again. The universe, even the Dream Universe, is not all white. It could have been back then, but the Ancients made errors, and nothing can be done to fix it, and certainly not by force."
"This is what we tried to tell you when we fought you," says Meta Knight.
"And I refused to listen. Maybe the crown had already started corrupting my mind without me remarking, or maybe I'm just that stupid, but the fact remains that after tasting all that pain and despair, I don't want to cause innocent people to feel them. Not anymore. I still want to help the universe, but not this way." He closes his eyes, starting to cry. "All of this to say... I'm sorry. I wanted at least to say this before leaving."
When he opens his eyes, Magolor is surprised to see Kirby just in front of him, looking at him without doing anything else. Then, he raises his right arm with a smile. "Poyo."
Slowly, not believing it, Magolor raises his hand and grabs Kirby's. "You're too good, Kirby."
"Poyo."
Sweetie Belle rolls her eyes, smiles, and approaches the two of them. "Then I'm too good too. After all, I'm the first one who gave Marx a chance despite what he's done. So alright, I'm giving you a chance. I can see that you really regret what happened. And you had good intentions."
Dedede huffs, lowering his hammer. "If this happens again, you're dead."
One by one, the others lower their weapons, and approach Magolor.
"Even if you don't want anymore to force people to 'help' them, you still can fight evil and defend them, like us," says Meta Knight.
Magolor nods. "You're right. I can do that, at least."
"Ahahah. Welcome to the club of bad guys that learned their lesson!" shouts Marx, getting to Magolor's left. "We've cookies, embarrassing stories of how we got our butt kicked by Kirby and Sweetie Belle, and even a board game where we conquer the world."
"Really? Can we backstab in this game?"
"Of course! It's how I always win!"
"Then prepare to lose for the first time! I'm unbeatable thanks to my wonderful schemes."
"Ah! You can dream! I made the sun and the moon fight each other to manipulate Kirby!"
"That's nothing! I could do it with my eyes closed!"
"Ah yeah?!"
"Yeah!"
"Okay you two, you can banter all you want inside the castle. We've a banquet still ongoing," says Dedede.
"Yeah. Don't make me use the fan," says Adeleine.
"The fan?"
"Yeah... The fan..." say both Dedede and Sweetie Belle, gulping, which makes Kirby laugh.
"Well, I can't wait to go to this banquet!" says Magolor in joy, the others not sure if he's faking it in fear of Adeleine's fan. "This explains why Sweetie belle looks like she's pregnant."
"Hey!" shouts Sweetie Belle, her cheeks burning.
Kirby starts rolling on the floor in laughter, quickly joined by Broom Sunglasses.
Back in the banquet hall.
"But how did you come back? We thought you died after you disappeared," says Sweetie Belle.
"After the crown's destruction, I found myself transported by its power somewhere beyond space and time. It was... strange. There were ruins and creatures right out of Popstar and Halcandra, and many Doomers. I'm really not sure what this place was. But I had lost my powers so I had to search for pieces of a big and powerful crystalized apple which helped me recover them. Then, I ended up fighting the Master Crown who survived its destruction and followed me to this weird dimension. It merged itself with the apple and became a huge tree that transported me to... I'm not sure if it was an illusion, but I found myself in Halcandra in the middle of its destruction. So, anyway, I fought the huge crowned tree and, taking a trick from Kirby, I used a sword that I turned giant to destroy it, destroying the Master Crown for good which left behind an apple. I was then transported with the apple to an alternate version of Popstar, in a village. There, I planted the apple which grew into a giant apple tree which would make more apples for me to recover more power. However, being the nice guy that I am, I used these apples as a currency to help a group of four Kirbys fight threats. Basically, they were giving me the apples and I gave them in return weapons and armors. By the time the Kirbys were done with their quest, I had recovered all my powers and some. The Lor Starcutter then appeared, ready to transport me back to Popstar. It seems like it understood that I was regretting everything, and decided to come save me. After that, I returned to Halcandra to repair the Lor before coming here. Popstar is a really nice world, and I wouldn't mind remaining here some time before starting my next project."
"So the Master Crown was still alive? Darn!" Sweetie Belle exclaims. "Good job destroying it."
"Thanks!"
"Your next project?" asks Meta Knight, not without some suspicion.
"Nothing bad! Do you remember when I said that I found a portal door to Halcandra? I found it in a world full of ruins of the Ancients. Well, I plan to return to this world to build back the civilization." He takes some spherical device and gives it to Sweetie Belle. "Here's a map to this world if you're curious. When you push that button here, it will indicate the way, no matter where you are."
Sweetie Belle presses the button, and she finds herself surrounded by a map of the space around Popstar, with its name, and the name of the neighboring worlds written above them. A red line starts from Popstar and continues beyond the limit of the map. Laughing, Magolor touches the line, and the map moves to its other extremity, showing a planet that looks like a ring with many ruins visible on the surface.
Its name: New Halcandria.
"It was simply named 'the Gateworld 2' before, but I decided to name it New Halcandra to symbolise the new beginning," says Magolor. "I wouldn't be surprised if Halcandra appears near this world in the future once it fully enters this universe. There was another world like this one, like the '2' in the old name suggests, but it has been destroyed by the Dark God when the exiled mages used it to invade Halcandra. You can see the remains over there," he says before using his fingers to move the map until showing a big group of asteroids, some of them clearly forming an arc and having ruins.
Looking at the remains of the world in sadness and horror, Sweetie pushes the button, closing the map. "Thank you, Magolor."
"But before that, while I'm still in Popstar, I want to do a little something to make up for what I've done. Give me a few weeks, and you'll see. But I'll need a list of Kirby's abilities, and a recount of all your adventures."
Hearing this, at least half the people listening to him raise an eyebrow in suspicion.
Magolor waves his hands in panic. "It's nothing bad! I swear! This isn't an excuse to find all your weaknesses and use them against you! Besides, I'm really curious to hear how you defeated Zero."
Sweetie Belle opens the door to her room before slowly walking in it , groaning, followed by Spiky. Dissy closes the door behind them before saying "Oh dear. A zombie has entered the room."
"Very funny Dissy," replies Sweetie as she starts taking off her clothes.
Dissy sighs. "You know what's more annoying than being called Dissy? It's that I can't take my revenge by doing the same thing to you. How could I give you a sweeter name than 'Sweetie'?"
Sweetie giggles. "One advantage I have over you." She places Yin and Yarn, before climbing her bed with difficulty, and finally settling on her back while rubbing her very bloated belly. Spiky jumps on the bed before curling beside her. "I knew this would happen... I love Dedede's banquets, but I hate them too. How has nobody in this castle become obese yet?"
"Because nobody seems to gain weight at all no matter how much they eat?"
"The perks of not being from this universe... Only Dedede seems to be able to gain weight in the lot, and even then, he doesn't seem to have gained a single pound since I appeared here despite all the food in eats. Now that I think about it, that's strange. How is he big if he doesn't gain weight?"
"Why not ask him?"
"Not now... I still don't believe that Magolor is alive, but I'm glad he's. He was like Meta Knight, he had good intentions, but the wrong way."
"Do you think he still wants to be the ruler of the universe?"
"If yes, then I'm sure that this time, he wouldn't do anything bad. He really seems sincere. However, he forms a scary duo with Marx."
"Oh yes! I never laughed so much than when those two pretended to fuse. Everyone's face! BWAHAHAHAHA!!"
"You have no idea how it is scary to think of what a fusion of those two could do."
"Anyway. What do you think Magolor is preparing?"
"No idea. It has something to do with Kirby's abilities and our adventures, so... Maybe a museum?"
"Or a video game? I would love a video game!"
"Playing myself would be fun," agreeds Sweetie Belle before she leaves her bed and goes to her desk. Sitting on the chair, she takes a paper and starts to write.
"Writing a letter?" asks Dissy.
"Yes, to tell everypony back home about Magolor. They wouldn't understand if they suddenly see Magolor alive and now my friend. Oh, and also about Spiky."
"I will make sure to ask my real self what will be Spike's reaction to this."
"I'm sure the Spikezilla part will make up for the pet part. And like I said, that's the best I could do. As for Magolor, if I decide to use the Lor Starcutter to return home, he will probably be the one piloting it, so I don't want anypony bucking him if they see him."
"The Lor can pilot itself, Magolor is not forced to come."
"Still, just in case."
"And don't forget to warn Rarity that you're waiting for a foal."
"What?"
"What, you aren't pregnant?" Dissy asks before teleporting just in time to avoid a magical beam.
A few days later.
"A... theme park?" asks Sweetie Belle in wonder upon seeing the various attractions and other things that are being built by many people and robots that Magolor has recruited.
"Exactly," shouts happily Magolor. "A theme park! Themed on Kirby's adventures and abilities! Soon, you will be able to fire on holograms of Dark Matters with a laser gun -not the harmful type, of course- in The Invasion of Darkness! You will ride on the Roller Coaster of Heroes, unless you'll prefer the Phantom Train of Evil! Or if you prefer something more calm, then there will be «he's a small ball» where you will ride on a boat and watch hundreds of little animatronics of Kirby happily sing and fight the bad guys. Of course, not all attractions will be about Kirby or the villains. I'm planning for example a carousel with the various form that you take when Kirby is on your back. And since Kirby, Dedede, and you like eating-"
"I don't like eating! The food here is just too delicious!"
"There will be many stands for food and a few attractions based on food. There will be at least one Gourmet Race each day, opposing ten racers at the same time. I'm even doing a race on boats like you had on Aqua Star."
"You didn't have to do this much Magolor."
"I know," he says, laughing. "But that's not all I'm doing. Follow me." Then, as they start walking, Magolor continues. "While I hope that you will love this theme park, I also thought that it would be nice if I could do something that could help you against the Dark God."
"Fighting at our side would be enough."
"Yes, but I was thinking about preparing Kirby to better face him. You see, you all can train like you want, you have directly access to all your abilities, but Kirby, he can't. If he wanted to train to better use his Jet ability for exemple, he couldn't, because he would have to find and inhale the right being, like a Capsule J first."
Sweetie nods. "I see what you mean. You're doing something for that?"
"Yes."
At this moment, they come in front of a huge cubic building also currently being built.
"Inside this building, there will be a giant empty room. However, thanks to the technology of the Ancients, Kirby, as well as you and the others, will be able to fill it like you want to train. If Kirby wants to train with the Sword ability for example, then he'll just need to push a button with the sword symbol, and the room will be either filled with an obstacle course adapted, or many enemies, depending on the mode he'll choose, and also the difficulty. Note that the obstacle course will never be the same twice, and that more than one button can be pushed at the same time to create complex courses. As for you and the others, there'll be buttons with your faces on them. There will even be a button for Kirby to train without any abilities! I'll make sure to come back every once in a while to update and include any potential new move you may develop, unless I find someone that will be able to replace me."
"That's wonderful Magolor!" shouts Sweetie Belle happily. But then, she groans. "This means that Kirby will become even stronger..."
"Oh yeah, you want to defeat him one day. Don't worry, Kirby isn't the only one that's becoming stronger."
"Yes, this just means that it will take even longer for me to defeat him. If this continues, I'll reach adulthood before... But, you know, there's a little problem with Kirby. All he cares about is eating, napping, and playing with his friends. Training isn't really his thing."
"That's what I thought, that's why I will install a system of rewards. For the courses, if he's able to finish them in a given time, he'll receive food. The better the time, the more he'll get food, and the better the food will be. Same if he chooses to fight enemies by waves. He'll get food depending on the number of waves he passed before getting 'killed'."
Sweetie Belle sighs at this. "Me and the others will also get food as reward, right?"
"Of course! You must be rewarded for your efforts!" He pretends coughing. "You're not forced to eat it, if you're worried about..."
"Yeah, I know. I will give it to Spiky if I want. But knowing me, if there are cakes, candies, ice creams, or cookies, I'll have a hard time resisting. I'm becoming too much like Dedede."
"So you like eating!"
"I like sweets! But this doesn't mean that I like eating tons of them! I'm not to that point! Because contrary to Dedede, eating so much has an effect on me!" She crosses her forelegs in annoyance. "If I could eat like him and not gain any weight, then yes, I would like to eat, and I would devour mountains of cakes, cookies, and anything else without minding."
"Sorry for you."
"Anyway, after everything you're doing for us, I should do something for you, so... would you like to have a role in our series? The time of a few episodes at least, since you will eventually leave Popstar?"
"I would love to! I always dreamed to put my acting talents into use in front of a camera."
"Yeah... Your acting talents..."
Thus, in the series, Magolor will be known as Magolor the Dark Wanderer. A vagabond wizard from space using magic of darkness who will help Sweetie Belle fighting the Dark Matters the time of his stay.
His character will immediately become the second most loved one in the series behind Sweetie Belle, because Magolor can't help but play dark and cool, which people love. But he's not able to beat Sweetie's cuteness.
"So, you want me to train you into using Dark Matter magic?" asks Magolor.
Sweetie Belle nods. "Everything to become stronger and one day beat Kirby."
"Alright. But not here. Let's go inside the Lor Starcutter."
The Lor Starcutter has remained where Magolor has left it on the ramparts of Dedede's castle, so it doesn't take long for them to enter it, Spiky following them.
"Hello Lor Starcutter," says Sweetie Belle once inside. Knowing that the ship has a mind of its own, she has taken the habit to say it every time she enters it, even if the Lor has yet to reply. "So, what now?" she asks to Magolor.
"Now, we return to the other dimension!"
"What?! But doesn't it have collapsed after the Master Crown's destruction?"
"A part of it collapsed, but not all. But what remains has been made worse, so expect a multiplication of wild rifts between the other dimension and this universe. Thankfully, the majority of the Doomers were exterminated by the collapsing."
"But why do we need to go to the other dimension?"
"To learn how to use Dark Matter, you'll need to learn how to draw the Dark Matter in the environment, because..." He waves at Sweetie Belle to continue.
"Because we don't produce Dark Matter. The Dark Matter only comes from outside."
"Exactly! The problem is that because the Dream Universe has been created from dreams with some Heart and Soul put in there, there isn't much Dark Matter. You could still try to learn how to draw it here, like I did, but it would take longer, and it would be harder. However, the other dimension is full of Dark Matter, so learning how to draw it should be a matter of hours at worse, or of minutes at best. The best would be to go to the void between the dimensions since Dark Matter is the energy of the void, but it would be too dangerous. Who knows what is hiding in the void..."
"Okay. I understand. Let's go to the other dimension then."
Magolor doesn't even tap anything on the keyboard before the Lor Starcutter takes off, opens a portal, and flies through it.
"The joy of using a ship with a mind..." says Magolor with a laugh.
"Thank you Lor Starcutter!"
Magolor looks at the screen showing the outside. Yep, they are in the other dimension. It's the same mess of chaos with solid space here and there, and even a real star shaped like a cube of all things.
"Okay. Now, we must exit the Lor. It'll be easier to draw Dark Matter outside, there's too much Dream Matter inside the ship."
The Lor Starcutter opens the door, and Sweetie Belle and Magolor exit the ship, Sweetie Belle using a shield platform to move in space.
"And now, we can start." Saying this, Magolor puts a blindfold around Sweetie Belle's eyes. "Now, try to feel-"
"I already feel it, I think."
"What?!"
"Back home, experimented ponies can feel the magic around them, which is a form of energy. For unicorns, it's easier. I couldn't back then, but thanks to Knuckle Joe's training, I was able to learn to feel energies, starting with the one coming from my soul. But since then, I never focused on this, prefering to train to better use my energy and my magic, and to become stronger. But now that I think about it, I could have helped searching for the crystal shards, or the Energy Spheres thanks to it. The instant you said that I would need to draw Dark Matter, I knew that I would have to feel it first, so I've done like back at Knuckle Joe's training, only, instead of feeling inside me, I felt outside me. And now, I can feel four energies around me. I recognize the same one as the one coming from my soul, the Soul Matter, only there aren't much. There's that energie that feels like the love barrier that princess Cadance and Shining Armor used at the wedding, but different, which I suppose is Heart Matter, and like Soul, there aren't much. There's the energy that was coming out of the crown and that I could feel even without focusing, which I suppose is Dream Matter, which, by the way, feels a little like my magic, and there is much more of it, probably leaking from the Dream Universe. And there's that fourth energy that is everywhere, and that feels empty. It reminds me of when I was possessed by that Dark Matter... That's Dark Matter, right?"
"You're right, that's Dark Matter. Very impressive. But that was the easy part. Now you have to draw it."
At this, Sweetie frowns. She has never learned to draw magic from the environment back at Equestria, and has never learned to do anything like that since coming here. But learning it, with all this energy around her...
I'm an idiot! I should have trained earlier to draw energy from around me! I would be able to do my most powerful attacks without getting tired so quickly! I could have become much more powerful a long time ago! Maybe I would have already beaten Kirby!
So she starts focusing on the Dark Matter around her, trying to find out how to will it to come to her. She knows the key is her horn, and to a lesser extent, her hooves, so she starts using them to try to draw the Dark Matter like she uses them to draw magic and Soul Matter from inside her.
Excepted... To help her draw those energies from inside her, she has that... system... she doesn't remember what it's called, that guides the energy through her body to her extremities, mainly her horn, but also her hooves, and like she has understood when she has started throwing cutter blades, even her tail (the fleshy part, not the hairy part). Wings too if she had them. But to draw the Dark Matter from outside to those parts, there's nothing.
She has to create a system to guide the Dark Matter to her.
It takes many difficult minutes of fail and retry, but eventually, she's able to create some magic lines, invisible to the eye, that are able to draw the Dark Matter around her to her horn, and to form it into a ball of darkness like Magolor's black orbs at the end of it. Thankfully, the Dark Matter being all around her, she just had to create very short lines to reach it. But now, she's slightly winded. Creating those lines and using them to draw the Dark Matter before assembling it into a ball has taken a great amount of effort.
She hears Magolor clapping. "Good job Sweetie Belle! You did it. As you can see, this is not the perfect solution for unlimited power, but once you master it, coupled to the physical endurance you develop, you will be able to fight for hours without getting tired, at the condition that you don't decide to spam huge attacks from the start."
"Thank you Magolor."
"Do you want to continue?"
"Yes. I'm not too tired yet."
A few minutes later.
"Magolor, throw one of your black balls at me."
"Uh? You're sure? You're still blinded."
"I want to start training to avoid attacks just by feeling their energy. This way, it'll be easier for me to avoid attacks coming from behind."
"Clever! Okay, be ready! But... You know that it's not perfect, right? My body releases energy, but if I was to punch you, you couldn't tell which hand I would be using or its exact trajectory. Same with weapons if they aren't coated in energy."
"But at least, things like lasers or energy balls shouldn't be a problem anymore. Against the Dark God, it should be very useful."
"Better than nothing, yes. Ok, here I come!"
Sweetie Belle collapses on the floor inside the Lor Starcutter, exhausted and injured. Maybe she should have waited a few hours to rest a little before starting that second training. And gosh, despite not having the crown anymore, Magolor is still a powerful wizard!
"Let's return to Popstar so you can rest."
"Yes. Thank you." That's when Sweetie Belle sees Spiky bringing a Maxim Tomato to her. "There's food here?"
"Of course! Remember the fridge? During my stay, I filled it with Popstar's food, including a few Maxim Tomatoes, just in case. I'm actually thinking of turning a room into a food generator with the help of the Dream Matter generated by the Lor. This way, we will always have something to heal no matter where we go with the Lor, and we will never starve even if we find ourselves in a long journey. And I'm speaking of in other dimensions, not the Dream Universe where food is everywhere."
"Uh... Won't food in other dimensions not heal us anymore?"
"Thanks to the Dream Matter of the Lor, they will always heal us."
"Great!"
Magolor cuts the red ribbon.
"Welcome to Kirbyland!"
Sweetie Belle's Carousel
Sweetie Belle is sitting on a seat looking like her Fire form that is slowly moving up and down while turning around the center of the attraction. All seats are actually looking like one of her different forms, and a music box version of the song she has sung with Kirby at the party after Zero Two's defeat is playing.
Gonna start slowly and not do all the big attractions right away. And heck! It's an attraction about her, so enjoy!
Dedede's Dinner
She takes a ball that looks like a giant watermelon, and waits for the big statue of Dedede in front of her to open its mouth before throwing it.
An attraction that focus on Dedede's appetite rather than his hammer, fun!
he's a small ball
He's a small ball after all
He's a small ball after all
He's a small ball after all
He's a small, small ball
"Ugh. By the end of this ride, I'm gonna have this song stuck in my head for years," complains Dedede.
"But the animatronics are so adorable!" replies Sweetie Belle.
The Invasion of Darkness
Sweetie Belle fires a laser from her gun, and the holographic Dark Matter disappears. Quickly, she lowers herself to let Bandana Dee fire at another Dark Matter while she herself fires to another one coming from the opposite direction.
Maybe she should ask Magolor to create a real laser gun for her? Nah.
Marx' Maze of Madness
Up, down, left, right, twist, turn, moving, upside down, spinning, fake mirrors. This maze is turning her crazy! Where's the exit?!
The Lor Starcutter
It's not the real one. This one has a few rows of seats on the top, and moves like a pendulum. There's a second one that can do full circles!
Poor Broom Sunglasses is clinging to her in panic.
"You, you'll not go on the roller coaster, right?"
"Never! I would die!"
Vul's Wheel
Even him has gotten an attraction. A giant statue of him is fakely holding a Ferris Wheel that looks like the wheel of the Halberd. Perfect to have a great view of the park, and of a great part of Dreamland.
It's beautiful.
Many hours of fun later, testing as many attractions as she could, tasting the delicious and original recipes that many of the stands are proposing freely, watching small movies that resume their adventures, and getting goodies, Sweetie Belle leaves the theme park with Kirby, Dedede, Meta Knight, and Cape Knight, following Magolor as they go to the cubic building that's also finished.
"Best theme park ever!" shouts Sweetie Belle.
"Poyo!"
"Mmhmmhmmh mmhmmh mmhmmhmmh mmhmmh Arg! I can't stop humming this song!" shouts Dedede.
"It was amazing Magolor. You're really good at designing a theme park," says Sweetie Belle to Magolor.
"Thank you. I worked hard to create it. I'm glad you all loved it."
"Now I can't wait to see this new training building."
"And I will happily give you a demonstration with Kirby."
Not long after, they enter the building, entering a small room with a single console full of buttons in front of the entrance, a big window revealing the next room, which is a giant empty room that takes all the building, and a door leading to this room. Magolor goes to the console and presses two of the black buttons at the left, before waving at the console.
"Go on Kirby, press the button of your choice, but not the black ones, they are for the difficulty and to decide if you want to do a parkour, or a fight. Right now, I've activated the mode parkour at the easiest difficulty."
With Magolor's prompt, Kirby approaches the console, looking at all the buttons on it. He easily recognizes the symbol on all of them, each representing one of his abilities, or him without abilities, as well as his friends, exactly like Magolor said. Thinking for a moment, he decides to press the second button, which is the one with the Sword ability, the first button being the one without any abilities.
Immediately, the room at the other side of the window is plunged in light, and beside the console, a hole opens in the floor, and out of it comes some pedestal with the hologram of him with the Sword ability.
"Step on it," says then Magolor.
Kirby nods, and steps on the pedestal. The next instant, he finds himself possessing the Sword ability as if he had inhaled a Sword Knight or a Blade Knight or whatever else that gives this ability.
Then, the light in the other room disappears, and the door opens, revealing that it is now filled with walls, platforms, and various obstacles forming a parkour. Bronze, silver, and gold coins are also floating here and there.
"Your goal is to reach the finish line as fast as possible while collecting all the coins you can. Bronze coins are 10 points, silver coins are 100 points, and gold coins are 1000 points, and if you get hit by anything, you will lose 200 points," explains Magolor. "The better your time, the more you collect coins, and the less you're hit, the better is your score. The better your score is, the better the reward is: more and better food."
The instant he hears that the reward for a good score is more and better food, Kirby enters the room and starts the parkour, going as fast as he can while making sure to avoid the obstacles and to collect the coins.
"And this is how it works," says Magolor to the others. "There's not much to show for the fight mode. it simply consists of surviving as many waves of enemies as possible. In the bigger difficulties, there'll be the bigger enemies like Bonkers or Fire Lions, and at the top difficulties, you'll end up fighting the really powerful enemies you encountered in your adventures, like Whispy Woods, Kracko, the Grand Doomer, or HR-H. The highest difficulty is pretty much what you would call a boss rush."
"Oof... As strong as we've become, I don't think we would survive long just fighting those guys one after another," says Dedede.
"Unless we go in together," says Sweetie Belle. "We can, right?" she asks to Magolor.
"Yes, of course! If you, Kirby, Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana Dee wanted to go in like the good old times, then press the five respective buttons -Kirby will have to choose his ability- before entering. However, little warning in case you do that: the enemies will be stronger to compensate."
"Wait. Does this mean that we could fight the Master Crown possessing you again? Or Zero? Dark Mind? Dark Nebula?"
"I... avoided putting them in there. I thought that it would be too much. But if you want, I could add an ultimate difficulty where you would end up fighting them one after another."
"Do it," says Sweetie Belle, Dedede, and Meta Knight at the same time.
Later.
Sweetie Belle is on the rampart of Dedede's castle, beside the Lor Starcutter with Spiky, Kirby, Dedede, Bandana Dee, Marx, and Magolor.
"It was nice to be here. I had so much fun. Like I thought, Popstar is a very nice planet to live in. I'll make sure to come back often," says the egg-shaped alien.
"And we will make sure to visit New Halcandra one day," says Sweetie Belle.
"I'll make sure to prepare the traps," says then Magolor.
...
He starts laughing. "I'm kidding."
After that, bidding each other goodbye, Magolor enters the Lor Starcutter, and the ship takes off before opening a portal and disappearing in it.
"He's still a trickster," says Dedede with a huff.
"That's why he's my best pal!" says Marx.
"Making the two of you our worst headache..."
A few days later, in the middle of the night.
Sweetie Belle is sleeping peacefully in her bed, Spiky curled between her legs.
Until everything suddenly starts shaking. In just a few seconds, Sweetie Belle jumps out of her bed and takes her whip, alert while trying to keep her balance.
An earthquake? It has never happened since she has appeared here. Well, she is here for less than a year, which is not much time to judge if there are many earthquakes in an area. The thing is, this is Dreamland, in planet Popstar, the planet where every bad guys in the universe seem to take their turn trying to conquer it, so who knows is this earthquake is not caused by one of them?
With this in mind, she quickly runs to the window in the hope of seeing something. And seeing something, she does! She sees that the castle is somehow leaving the ground!
"What the..."
"Roar?" she hears Spiky roaring cutely in confusion.
"The castle is..." A vine then creeps into her room from the window. "Wait. No way." She returns looking outside, this time looking down at the walls, and discovers...
That the castle is being lifted into the sky by a giant beanstalk.
"You're kidding me..."
"What's going on?" she hears Yin and Yarn ask.
"We are being lifted by a beanstalk..."
...
"You aren't kidding?"
"Nope."
"Well... This is unexpected," she then hears Dissy beside her. "What will you do?"
Sweetie Belle starts putting on her clothes. "Join Dedede and see with him how we will get the castle back on land. And prepare ourselves for possibly another adventure. Sorry Spiky, but I'll have to knit you into your doll form."
"Roar..."
"I know, but we must be prepared."
Once she has everything, clothes, whip, Yin and Yarn, and Spiky doll, she exits her room and runs toward Dedede's chamber, only to be told by his guards that he has already left it and is now in the throne room, so she joins him here.
"Ah, Sweetie. Do you know the situation?" asks Dedede upon spotting her coming.
"The castle is lifted by a beanstalk. Anything else?"
"Nothing so far. But we were wondering where this beanstalk comes from."
"And we've got a bad feeling about this," says Cape Knight.
At this moment, the castle stops shaking. One of the Waddle Dees near the windows looks outside and says "We've stopped rising."
"How high are we...?" asks Dedede.
"....High enough than a cloud just passed in front of me."
"Great... How are we getting out of this mess?"
"The castle is totally wrapped by the beanstalk," says a Bronto Burt. "We will need to cut it to free yourself."
"Fool! The castle would fall, and everyone that can't fly with it," replies another Waddle Dee.
Dedede then yawns. "It's too late to think of a way to get out. My brain needs sleep. We will continue thinking of a way tomorrow morning."
"The castle has been lifted by a giant beanstalk!!!" they suddenly hear Bandana Dee yell as he enters the throne room.
"You're a little too late, Bandana," says Sweetie Belle. "Go around the castle and double the guards. If they see anything fishy, then they must wake us immediately."
"Okay!"
"Wait, no, triple the guards."
"Okay!"
Surprisingly, nothing happens during the night. So once morning comes, all the leaders gather in the throne room to continue the discussion of last night and answer this question: How will they get the castle back down?
"I fear we will have to rebuild it..." says Bandana.
"I would rather avoid it," replies Dedede as he taps his chin. "I know! We will attach everyone that can fly in the army to the castle, and they will lift it and deposit it back at its place!"
Sweetie Belle raises an eyebrow. "Will every flying creatures in the army be enough to lift the whole castle?"
"If not, then we can always use balloons."
"The problem with balloons is that we don't know where we will land. We could find ourselves in the ocean," comments Cape Knight.
"Mmmh... The Warhammer? Maybe?"
"It could work."
"INTRUDER!!!" suddenly yells a guard entering the room. "Someone has entered the castle! He's beating all the guards that get in the way!"
"It's only now that there's an intruder? The night was the best moment to attack the castle," says Sweetie Belle.
"Any info on the intruder?"
"He's some kind of flying spider that uses magic. And we think he's coming-"
The guard hasn't time to finish, finding himself propelled forward by some purple energy coming from behind.
Entering the room, like the guard has described, is some spider whose body hovers above the ground, six disembodied hands at his sides, but no feet. He doesn't look that threatening with his red scarf and his rather small size, the only things making him look threatening being his rather cute looking two fangs protruding from each side of his mouth, his curved horns, and his jagged cape (not counting the disturbing fact that, as a spider, he possesses eight eyes, with two white ones on his face, two orange ones above them in his hair, and most disturbing of all, four orange ones at the back of his head, which they can see when he turns around to attack the guards that come from behind), but Sweetie has learned to not judge someone by their looks. Marx and Magolor have proven to her that you can look non-threatening, but be very dangerous. And before that, there was the parasprite incident.
And there's the fact that he's easily beating everyone that attack him. In the space of a few seconds, all the guards in the room are KO. Bandana Dee and Cape Knight also try to stop him, but the spider expels them with some kind of magical shockwave, and nothing remains between him, and Sweetie Belle and Dedede.
"Who are you?" asks Dedede.
"Oh, sorry, how rude I am. I enter a castle, and I don't even present myself to the king. My name is Taranza." And without warning, he charges a magical ball and fires it at Dedede. A shield quickly appears in the way, stopping the attack.
"Do you really think that I would let you harm him?" asks Sweetie Belle.
"Out of my way."
Taranza does the same magical shockwave as previously, but Sweetie jumps back to avoid it, takes her whip, and attacks him with it. Taranza floats to the left, dodging it, then flies back.
"Amazing. You seem to be quite the experimented fighter to be able to counter me."
"Ah!" shouts Dedede proudly, pointing a finger at Taranza. "Sweetie Belle is the strongest, most powerful warrior in this castle! You've no chance against her!"
"Oh really now? This isn't you?"
"Erh... I'm still strong enough to clobber you!"
"Oh! Goodness me! I almost got the wrong person! This would have been bad."
Suddenly, Taranza shoots a magic string at her that she dodge. This string is followed by a few others that also doesn't hit. So Taranza starts throwing big dark magical ball at a surprising speed for their size, and Sweetie Belle is forced to protect herself with a shield. While behind her shield, she creates two swords of ice that she immediately throws at Taranza, who easily breaks them with his magic, but is forced to stop attacking for this. Sweetie Belle takes the occasion to run toward him, prepared to punch him in the face, only for Taranza to smirk.
Then, as Sweetie Belle is just in front of him, Taranza puts two of his hands in front of him and creates a ball of strings all around Sweetie Belle, who finds herself immobilized.
"Caught you."
"What?"
Sweetie Belle tries to move to get out, but little by little, she finds her strength disappearing, and before long, she finds herself in some kind of trance. She still can see and hear what's going on but... it's as if she's lost all control of her body.
"Hey!"
"Mmh?" Taranza looks up, and sees Dedede dropping toward him with his hammer.
"Release Sweetie Belle right now!"
Taranza flies back to dodge him, then starts flying toward the window. It's at this moment that Kirby enters the room, and spots Taranza flying through the window with Sweetie Belle trapped in that ball of string under him.
Sweetie Belle can't even look in despair as Taranza flies away from the castle, higher and higher in the sky.