Guest Star Kelduo: Justice from Afar

by The Kelduo

Chapter 44: The Blizzard Gauntlet

I knew the Crystal Mountains would be windy, given that they're covered in snow, so I kept Paper Mario in my pocket to protect him from being blown away. "How's it going, King Dedede?" I asked.

The king replied, "Why'd the Crystal Mountains have ta be so steep and tall? Mah feet are killin' me! And mah hammer done froze! ...Oh, wait, it's just a Blizzard Hammer now. Ah guess that ain't too bad."

"Maybe you should have gotten more exercise."

"Course I got exercise! Tons of it! Ah came all the way out here to the mountains!"

"But not on foot. Your Incineroar carried you 7/8 of the way to the Crystal Mountains, and you walked the rest. Then you had Crabominable carry you 3/4 of the way up the mountain before it fainted, and that brings us to now. I, on the other hand, walked the whole time, and I still am."

"SHADDAP WILL YA?!"

"Sure I will, if you'll stop complaining about my advice."

"Bah, fine..." The king huffed.

I turned to my left, where my Delphox was holding a flaming stick for warmth and clarity. "Are you alright, Delphie?"

"Delphox..." Delphie sighed.

"I know. But don't worry, we'll be out of here as soon as we find the Energy Spheres. Can you see anything?"

Delphie held the stick in front of herself and gazed into the flame. Hopefully the wind wouldn't cause the flame to falter, because staring into the flame gives Delphie's species a focused state of mind. "...Delphox! Del!" Delphie pointed towards the highest mountain of the range.

I replied, "Good job, Delphie. Guys, that's our destination!"

King Dedede looked where Delphie was pointing, and his jaw dropped nearly to the ground. "Oh, ya gotta be kidding me..." Then he fainted.

I groaned, "Delphie... use Ember."

Delphie crouched near the king. She then took her stick and held the flaming end to the king's gluteus maximus.

The king jumped up in record time. "GAH! Hothothothothothothothothot!" It's amazing how a fire-heated butt can make someone run so fast.

"Delphie, hang onto me." Delphie did so, and I pressed some buttons on my wrist-mounted Communicator, generating an Enerbeam that I used to latch onto King Dedede, pulling us along for the ride.

We stopped a few feet from the peak of the mountain, because the king sat down to extinguish his flaming rear. "Never. Do that. Again."

"Only if you won't faint again."

"Can't promise ya that."

"Fox Delphox!" Delphie stopped our argument and pointed at the very peak.

The king asked, "If that's where the Energy Sphere is, then why can't Ah see it?"

Delphie shook her head in annoyance. "Del..." She took her stick and stuck the end into the peak.

I nodded. "It's buried, huh? I'll take care of that. Nobody make any sudden movements or noises. This requires patience and silence."

I carefully stepped towards the peak and tightened my focus. As I excavated, I could see some blue shining through. I began to reach for the Energy Sphere, but...

"Ehhh... Ahh... Ah-CHOO!" The clumsy king caused the ground to rumble. The snow began to shift.

I glared at Dedede. "You really need to cover your sneezes, King Dedede. You caused an avalanche."

"Ah can't help it if mah nose is itchy."

The snow began to slide quickly down the mountain. I yelled, "Run!"

"Delphox. Del!" Delphie alerted us to the direction of the avalanche. Instead of towards us, it fell down the north side of the mountain range.

Dedede groaned, "Great, more running?"

I answered, "Nope. After you!" I pushed the king down the slope, belly first.

Suddenly, Paper Mario came out of my pocket. He folded himself into a pair of thin strips and positioned himself under my feet. Then some kind of paper samurai came out of my other pocket and thrust itself into my hands.

"Great idea, Paper Mario! I've skied many times before, when Team Mario and Team Sonic competed at the Olympic Games." I returned Delphie to her Poke Ball before pushing myself forward with my Kartana ski poles. "Follow that penguin!"

This was a breeze, and it was really fun, too. I even got to jump over ramps a few times!

When we finally reached the end of the avalanche, the king was lying on his side smugly, with an Energy Sphere in his hand. "Heh heh heh! Ah am a Supahstar Warrior!"

I smiled. "Well, you sure got the finishing pose down. And you got the Energy Sphere. I'll give you those."

16/45 Energy Spheres obtained

I looked around and saw that I was no longer in the Crystal Mountains anymore. I was about to tell the others where we were, but my Communicator rang. "This is Team Amy, reporting from the Crystal Empire. What's going on, Button Mash?"

"You're at the Crystal Empire? Great, because the Energy Spheres changed their location from the Crystal Mountains to the Crystal Empire somehow."

"Yeah, that's because the king caused an avalanche by sneezing."

"Really? So he really does sneeze as an idle animation... Okay, now that the Energy Spheres are now in the Crystal Empire, you have the advantage. There's no strong winds or cold temperatures there, and you may get help from the townsponies."

"Thanks for the help. This is Amy, signing out." Click! I turned to the others. "Since we're at the Crystal Empire, our first objective is to visit Cadance at her castle. Follow me."

I led the king and Paper Mario to a large castle, with a huge crystal tower at the top. The guards at the front stopped us, but a friendly voice said, "Don't worry about them, guards. Let them in."

The guards moved aside, and we proceeded. While Canterlot Castle looked amazing, the interior of the Crystal Castle was beyond amazing. Everything was made of crystal, and it looked like it would perfectly suit Diancie, the mythical Jewel Pokemon.

A pink alicorn met us in the hallway. "Greetings, newcomers to the Crystal Empire. I am Princess Cadance, and... oh?" Cadance looked the king over. "You seem familiar to me. Please wait for me one moment." Cadance teleported away, and she came back with a paper in her hand. "Excuse me, but might you be King Dedede, the same one portrayed in this drawing?"

King Dedede looked over the drawing. "Huh, looks like that little pink rascal Kirby drew this! But Ah gotta admit, he did a pretty good job. He got mah symbol perfectly drawn! And mah hammer looks its best! It looks ready ta clobbah da toughest of monstahs!"

"Ah, so you do know Kirby, the hero of Equestria! Are you his friend?"

"Eh, Ah'm not exactly his friend, but Ah've helped him beat up some really bad dudes every once in a while."

I added, "We once worked together with more of his friends to defeat this world-destroying monster named Void Termina. However, we were knocked out by debris, and we ended up here."

"Void Termina? Would it happen to look like this?" Cadance showed us another hand-drawn picture. "Kirby had Flurry Heart destroy this one with a laser beam as a demonstration of what he and his friends did to it, but I used a reconstruction spell to put it back together."

"That's Void Termina! And a laser beam is pretty accurate, although we didn't finish it with a laser. That was the penultimate attack. The final attack was sending all the friends we'd made to directly attack the fiend."

"Loyal friends who will always be there for you? You must be excellent friends indeed! Anyway, what brings you three here to my castle? Might it have anything to do with strange blue orbs falling out of the sky?"

"You've seen some Energy Spheres?"

"If they glow and have a single gear inside, then I most likely have. Princess Celestia told me about them, and that they were to be given to Kirby and his friends. I had the guards search for nearby Spheres, and they found four in the Crystal Mountains, only for them to be caught in an avalanche. They brought the Spheres to me, and I put them in my throne room. Are you here for them?"

"That's right. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being here in Equestria, but I don't want to be trapped here. Sticks must be worried sick. She's probably thinking that I was abducted by something crazy like alien spiders or psychic dragons."

"Well, whatever the case, as long as it's for a good cause, it appears you need them more than I do." Cadance warped away and returned with four Energy Spheres. "Promise me you will use these for a good cause."

"I Pinkie Promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. And I never go back on Pinkie Promises. I wouldn't want to upset Pinkie Pie."

"Very well, then." Cadance gave me the Energy Spheres. "Good luck searching for Energy Spheres, miss."

"Oh, right. I'm Amy Rose, and this is Paper Mario. It was an honor to meet you, Princess Cadance."

"The honor was mine."

20/45 Energy Spheres obtained