• Published 25th Dec 2020
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Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers - Lucar



Several months after her adventures on Popstar, Sweetie Belle decides it's time to start new adventures in new universes

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Chapter 125: Everbay Coast Part 1

"WE ARE APPROACHING EVERBAY COAST. WADDLE DEE SIGNATURES DETECTED," the Lor Starcutter informed.

Everyone could see with the screen that the Lor was right. The vast expense of green with the occasional abandoned city or town, forest, and hill was replaced by an area with a more tropical climate and look. As both Elfilin and the name said, it was a large bay filled with a huge amount of islands of various sizes, with lots of beaches, tropical trees (mainly palm trees), rocky cliffs, and the occasional abandoned buildings. And some Clockers could be seen flying away with captured Waddle Dees.

Galacta Knight immediately exited the ship to chase them.

"Do you still detect that mysterious figure that followed us?" Sweetie Void asked.

"YES. THEY WENT AWAY AFTER THE FIGHT AGAINST THE APE, BUT THEY JUST RETURNED AND ARE NOW HIDING BEHIND THE CLIFFS."

"I don't like being stalked," Flamberge said.

"Bah. Let's leave whoever it is. If they decide to attack, then we will deal with them," Sweetie Void said with a dismissive wave of her hoof. "The more urgent is to save the Waddle Dees. Lorry, drop us near the nearest captured Waddle Dee."


The Lor dropped the heroes on a small beach at the extremity of the bay, just a few meters from the water.

Before they could even take a step, Apple Death received a call. "Uh. That's mah Twilight." She answered. "What is it, Twilight?"

She made sure to put on the speaker so the others could hear whatever the alicorn was about to say.

«It's to inform you that we were attacked by a huge ape, but that we managed to push him back. Also, Meta Knight arrived during the ape's assault and he helped us.»

«Not that we needed his help! We were totally kicking this ape's butt!» they heard a Rainbow Dash shout.

«The help was still welcome,» Twilight replied.

"Meta Knight is with you? Great!" Sweetie Void exclaimed. "Wait. A huge ape? Did he have a white mohawk haircut?"

«Yes, he had one. Black fur, grey skin, red war paint.»

"And ring piercing the left nostril?"

«Uh. Yes, he had one, now that you say it.»

"So that was Gorimondo? What the heck? We just defeated him! Well, DK just defeated him."

"Seems like he already recovered and went to recapture the Waddle Dees that we saved," Apple Death said. "Wait, Gorimondo?"

"Yeah, that was the name on his boss splash screen."

"What?"

"Forget about it." Sweetie snickered behind her hoof.

«Pinkie! You are a bad influence!» a Rarity shouted.

«Anyway, Meta Knight now wants to know where you are, because he wants to join you,» Twilight said.

"We're in Everbay Coast, a large tropical bay," Apple Death answered.

«I know which bay you are talking about, I flew over it,» Meta Knight then said. «I'm coming.»

"Ok! You won't mind if we don't wait you? You should still be able to find us easily. Just look for the Lor, and we shouldn't be far," Sweetie Void said.

«Yes, go on. It won't be a problem.»

"Alright."

«In other matters, the rebuilding of the town is advancing well, especially with the help of all the Waddle Dees you saved,» Twilight continued. «Many houses are already finished, as well as a couple of businesses. The Waddle Dees even built a house for you, Sweetie Void, as well as for Kirby and Bandana Dee, for if you need to take a rest. For the others, they are building a big inn. Among other projects is a coliseum, of all things...»

"That's not surprising. Fighting is pretty much everyone's favorite sport on Popstar, especially in Dream Land. Whenever there is a festival, you can be sure that there will be some fighting tournament, or something generally involving a lot of violence between participants, all in good fun."

"Wait. Why do you get your own house while we get the inn?" Phantom asked.

"Because almost everyone on Popstar pretty much worships Sweetie Void and Kirby, and Bandana Dee is known as THE sidekick, while you guys are just "the guys who accompany our heroes"," Marx explained joyfully.

"And it is also more likely that Sweetie Void, Kirby, and Bandana Dee will regularly spend time here while we will probably only visit occasionally at best," Francisca added.

"She is right. Since the Waddle Dees seem decided to settle here, then I can see myself coming back here from time to time, and this world isn't bad," Sweetie Void said. "And if you think that you will also return here, then I can ask the Waddle Dees to build a home for you too."

Phantom shrugged. "I guess that I will decide about it once we're done with this adventure."

"Well, thanks for the update," Apple Death said to Twilight. "And good job for pushing... Uh... Gorimondo back. Don't lower yer guard in case he comes back. See y'all soon." She ended the call and turned to the others. "Well, let's go. Meta Knight'll join us on the way."

"Yeah, uh... About that..." Present Sonic pointed at the water just a few feet away from the group. "I can't swim."

Phantom snorted. "That's an understatement." She looked at the others. "As soon as he enters water, he sinks like a brick. He can't swim at all even to save his life. The best he can do is walking at the bottom. Which, I guess shouldn't be a problem here. The water isn't deep."

"Yet," Present Sonic added. "Knowing my luck, we will eventually reach deeper water."

"But if the Dream Universe's influence toward this one is enough, then you won't have to fear drowning. In the Dream Universe, we can breathe underwater. I guess that I should test it," Sweetie said.

"No need!" Elfilin interjected. "I can already confirm that we can't breathe underwater in this universe. Well, I can, but normal animals can't."

Sweetie Void tilted her head. "Why can you breathe underwater? Do you secretly have gills under your fur?"

"Not at all! I'm just... biologically special? I can survive in every single environments I encountered so far, even in the vacuum of space, and I explored the whole planet, from the top of the highest mountain to the bottom of the deepest abyss."

Many around whistled.

Jeff was about to ask something, but he was interrupted by Elfilin who asked, "So, what are we going to do about the two Sonic?"

"Well, I guess that we will settle with the usual "walk at the bottom and get out of the water before drowning"," Present Sonic said. "At least, there are little pieces of land sticking out of the water here and there, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"I could also shapeshift into a boat to transport you," Sweetie Void informed.

Phantom rose an eyebrow. "You can shape-Of course you can..." She sighed. "Or I can materialize one."

"Or I can levitate you!" Little Ghost exclaimed.

"Ah can levitate ya too," Apple Death said.

"I think that we will settle with Phantom's boat," Present Sonic said, and Past Sonic nodded.

"We will also use the boat," Fox said for himself and Krystal.

"Us too," Ness said for himself, Jeff, and Poo.

"Alright then! One boat for anyone too lazy to swim, right up!" Phantom shouted while she cracked her knuckles. Then, she used her phantom powers to create a small fishing motorboat big enough for a dozen people.

The boat was also entirely black, had a red skull with two crossed red blades as a figure head, and was very angular with lots of spikes and, to put it simply, was the edgiest fishing boat anyone ever saw. It even had skeletal red wings sculpted at the sides!

There was a moment of silence, and then, about half the team burst into laughter, some falling over.

Phantom gave all of them an annoyed, not at all amused look.

"W-wow! You are giving Shadow a run for his money!" Present Sonic shouted between laughter, making Phantom glare at him.

She then saw Dark Meta Knight looking at the boat, the two exchanged a glance, and they gave each other a silent fist bump.

Once everyone calmed down, the two Sonic, Fox, Krystal, Ness, Jeff, Poo, and Pikachu climbed on the boat. Meanwhile, Link put on the Zora Mask and walked into the water, followed by the Kongs who didn't mind swimming, as well as Bandana Dee and Spiky. Kirby used the Water Ability to surf on it, Sweetie Void walked on it, and Anubis followed her example using his aura to form some barriers to walk on (so yeah, he was cheating). All the others were flying/floating.

They didn't have far to go however. After a few Blippers and a Glunk on a crate, they reached another small beach at the foot of a cliff with a single palm tree as well as a Foley and a Noddy. Behind the palm tree was a small wall of crates hiding a hole in the cliff with a Clocker with a captured Waddle Dee.

A big, black crocodile with a disproportionately large head (recognized as a Gnawcodile by Elfilin) with a Sir Kibble riding it came to stop them, but Link easily eliminated them.

"That was the only Waddle Dee in this area," Krystal informed. "The next one is some distance away in this direction," she pointed out.

"Alright. Be the guide," Bandana Dee said.


They eventually reached a cliff with several pieces of land, beaches or not, at its feet. On one of these pieces, a Bonkers with frazzled fur, red war paint, and a stone chisel for a hammer was waiting for them. Not far of him, against the cliff, was a large block of concrete with a wooden stake on top of it.

"This is a job for either Hammer, Stone, or Steel, unless we simply decide to pulverize the concrete," Sweetie Void said to Kirby.

As answer, Kirby went toward the Bonkers and observed him. More specifically, he observed the Bonkers' hammer while the Bonkers began to attack him. Kirby had no problem pushing back the hammer with his own Hammer, and after a few seconds, he closed his eyes. There was then a flash, and Kirby's usual Hammer attire was replaced by a frazzled haircut like the Bonkers' and his hammer was replaced by a stone chisel.

This surprised the Bonkers who took a few steps back, getting on guard. After admiring his new weapon a couple of seconds, Kirby charged it until it was set on fire, and then jumped toward the Bonkers and swung vertically. The Bonkers tried to block him with his own hammer, but Kirby's hammer smashed it to pieces and bonked his head so hard that the Bonkers was planted into the ground until only his head and his right arm remained out.

Needless to say, the Bonkers was out for the count.

Sweetie Void winced. "Ouch... I fear to see the Grand Hammer version of this one."

Meanwhile, DK took care of the concrete block by smashing the wooden stake, making the block lower into the water until it revealed a hole in the cliff with a Clocker and a captured Waddle Dee hiding in it.

The heroes then had to abandon the boat as they had to traverse a path into the cliff after some Scarfys. The path led to a basin surrounded by cliffs, so Phantom had to re-materialize the boat. Seeing the presence of many whirlpools, some of which were moving, she made sure that the boat will be able to resist the strong currents. No way it will be able to avoid them.

A bit further, on a ledge, Dark Meta Knight found a stake and called Kirby to come pound it, opening a secret path in the left cliff. Sweetie Void, Little Ghost, and Link entered it while the others continue, with the Mage Sisters dealing with a couple of Gnawcodiles. As the group reached the basin's exit path after a trio of whirlpools circling each others, Sweetie Void, Little Ghost, and Link returned with the news that they found and freed another Waddle Dee. They had had to pound another stake and reach the revealed Clocker and the cage before the bird could escape.

Again, before taking the path, the heroes had to abandon the boat, because it was on land.

It led through the cliff to another, larger basin with what seemed to be a partially submerged building complex. They first arrived on the roof of a hotel with the neon sign missing the O which was leaning against the ventilation.

It was finally as they were on the roof of this building that Meta Knight came from the sky. Instead of going right for them, Meta Knight went for the golden cage that the Clockers tried to hide behind and under palm trees at the other side of the basin. All the Beast Packs members around went to rescue them but were easily defeated either by Meta Knight or by Sweetie's group, including Kirby who used his new power to inhale the O and take a circular form with the mouth wide open. In this new form, Kirby functioned pretty much as a giant air slingshot. He inhaled a huge amount of air to inflate, and then expelled all of it in a powerful gust of wind that blew everything in its path. While Kirby was slow and had difficulty moving, like it was the case for most of these new forms this new power allowed him to take, Kirby frankly found it fun.

These forms were not as good as Kirby's powers at their full potential, but they were nice to play with, and against weak enemies like the Beast Pack, they added some fun to the adventure.

On the way to Meta Knight, Krystal pointed through a fence at an island out of the way. Little Ghost passed through the fence and flew toward the island where she found another cage hidden and guarded by three Gnawcodiles and a Chilly. She made short work of all of them and brought the cage back to the others.

With this, Krystal confirmed that they saved all the Waddle Dees around as the heroes gathered with Meta Knight.

"Nice to see you with us, Meta Knight," Sweetie Void said. "Any idea of where Dedede is?"

Meta Knight sighed. "Yes."

Sweetie groaned. "Let me guess. He is brainwashed or controlled or possessed or whatever makes it so we will have to fight him?"

"Yes."

Sweetie Void groaned again, joined by Bandana Dee while Marx laughed and said, "At this point, this is a running gag."

"And whatever brainwashed him also attempted to take possession of me, but I was able to resist them. But while I don't know what they are, I can already confirm that they are extremely powerful. Have your mental guard up at all time in case it attempts to do the same to you."

"You heard that, everybody? If you feel that you are being mentally attacked by something, warn us IMMEDIATELY!"

Everyone nodded.

"Dedede is at the extremity of this continent, in a frozen land, helping these animals in capturing the Waddle Dees there." At this, Meta Knight looked down, ashamed. "I failed to stop him."

A few seconds of silence followed. Kirby's jaw dropped.

"Are you saying that you fought the King... and LOST?!" Bandana Dee shouted in shock.

Even Dark Meta Knight couldn't believe it. "You lost to him?!"

Meta Knight silently nodded.

...

"What kind of world are we that Dedede won a fight against you?!" Sweetie Void exclaimed. "He never won a fight against you! You are Popstar's number one without counting Kirby's family!"

"Whatever took possession of Dedede made him more powerful," Meta Knight said. "Or... It would be more exact to say that it seems to have awakened in him some powers that he hadn't learned yet to use. Unless he was hiding them since the last time we saw him fight."

Sweetie snorted. "Dedede? Hiding new powers? He would have boasted about them to everyone willing, and even unwilling, to listen. Everyone on Dream Land would have learned about them within the day. How far are we of that frozen land?"

"We traverse this bay, and then a giant theme park, and we will reach it."

"Oh! I know this park! I can't wait to have all of us visit it! It's a really fun place!" Elfilin shouted.

"A giant theme park?"

"Yes, a giant theme park."

"That's a new one."

Present Sonic laughed. "For you, maybe, but not for me. Eggman loves to make giant theme parks in his likeness."

"Bowser too, from what Mario told me," Apple Death said.

"Seriously?"

"Yep/Eeyup!"

Sweetie Void sighed. "Villains and their ego..."


Aboard the Lor Starcutter, Krystal led everyone to a submerged industrial area, with lots of factories, silos, warehouses, and other such buildings which had their feet in the water if they were not entirely underwater. The most common sight out of the water were chimneys.

"I guess that I will get out the boat again," Phantom said.

Apple Death looked at a message she received in her phone. "Uh. Gorimondo attacked the town again."

"Already?! That ape must be as determined as Eggman!" Present Sonic exclaimed.

"Drop us on that building over there, Lorry," Sweetie instructed, and the ship complied.

The heroes didn't encounter much dangers at first. A lone Squishy, then a reddish-brown sea lion known as a Balloon-Meister which, as the name indicated, attacked by sending balloons, but what the name indicated less was that the balloons were explosive, before they reached a group of buildings with platforms moving back and forth between them. There, things already started to be a bit more dangerous for the ones continuing to swim as there were whirlpools around the buildings. On the building themselves, there weren't many enemies, but the moving platforms weren't that big so they had to be careful if they didn't want to fall into the water.

On the second building, on an elevated part, were Bombers that were ready to drop to explode. Krystal dealt with them with fireballs, Sweetie having told everyone about these dangerous enemies. With Krystal focused on the Bombers, the others who could send projectiles dealt with any other flying enemies while the ones swimming like the Kongs and Link dealt with the few Blippers around. Krystal also dealt with a third Bomber on a third building after two more moving platforms. Once the Bomber was eliminated, Past Sonic Homing Dashed a Balloon-Meister on the same building from the boat while Meta Knight and Dark Meta Knight each took care of a Glunk at both sides of the sea lion.

Once Krystal arrived on the building, she went to where the Balloon-Meister had been and pointed down at a crane that had the hook holding something underwater.

"There is a Waddle Dee underwater. Don't worry, I can feel that he's still alive."

Hearing her, Link plunged deeper into the water and came back out a couple of seconds later with a treasure chest that revealed to contain a Waddle Dee.

"Without Krystal, we may have missed this one," Jeff said.

"Smart hiding place," Poo agreed. "We will have to keep looking underwater for more hidden chests."

A bit further, on a circular building, they encountered a new mole-like enemy that Elfilin named Digguh. When Kirby inhaled one by curiosity, he got a whole new Ability: Drill, which came with a drill hat that allowed Kirby to dig and move underground.

"Better than the Animal Ability, I imagine," Sweetie Void said, and Kirby agreed with her with a nod. While the Animal Ability was nice to dig, it was much slower. The Animal couldn't also dig into concrete contrary to the new Drill, and this was a BIG plus on these buildings.

This new Ability had a lot of potential, and Kirby couldn't wait to test it more. It was already proving to be redoubtable against the Beast Pack members who couldn't do anything against him attacking from under their feet/paws, excepted the Digguhs. Flying enemies were more problematic, but if they were flying close enough, Kirby could still get them with a jump out of the floor. But against grounded enemies, it will quickly become an effective regular in his repertory. He was sure of it.

Meanwhile, the heroes passed a few more whirlpools and took care of avoiding Gordo Bars moving out of the water before diving back in. Arriving at another group of buildings linked by bridges (guarded by Gigatzos) in addition of a moving platform, they fought several enemies including ambushing Squishys before Kirby reached a scissor-lift that he thought he could inhale (or more like wrap around) to reach an alcove high above where there was apparently another Waddle Dee. But Kirby decided against it this time and directly flew to the alcove with Wing before he used Drill to dig out a treasure chest with a trapped Waddle Dee in it.

At the same time, Krystal pointed at another crane with the hook underwater, and Diddy plunged to get another treasure chest with a third trapped Waddle Dee. And also, Meta Knight flew to an island far out of the way to deliver yet another Waddle Dee that the Beast Pack probably thought that the heroes wouldn't spot there. The Awoofy supposed to guard him was even sleeping and hadn't even bothered to bury the chest. For this, Meta Knight decided to reward the idiot canine by not harming him.

And with this, Krystal confirmed that all the Waddle Dees in the close area were saved. She then pointed at a large cliff in the distance and said that the next Waddle Dees were just there. Sweetie Void looked toward the cliff, said, "I'll come back!" and flew toward it, reaching it in just a second. Seeing what there was, she teleported back to the others, and then teleported everyone on a ledge against the cliff that formed a path passing by several structures that moved back and forth in and out of the cliff for some reason.

The ledge was rather narrow, and even very narrow in some places. So, many of the group were forced to fly to not take place, or to ride on each others like Diddy on DK or Pikachu on Spiky's shoulder.

After passing a first narrow part (where they had to advance in line one at a time) and knocking out a lone Digguh that threw stones at them, they reached the first moving structure which was made of two levels. When the structure moved into the cliff, the top level went all the way into it, leaving only the bottom level out. However, the bottom level wasn't that large, so, again, the heroes were forced to advance in small numbers at a time when they couldn't go on the top level. To not help, there was a Gigatzo firing at the bottom level, but Little Ghost quickly got rid of it by levitating it and throwing it away. A Balloon-Meister also attempted to use the occasion to bomb them with explosive balloons, but Sweetie Void caught the first balloon and threw it back at the sea lion, dealing with it.

A second similar structure followed, excepted that the bottom level didn't go all the way to the other side so the heroes traversing it had to jump. Little Ghost and Apple Death threw away the two Gigatzos firing at the structure this time, one at each level, and Fox shot down the stone-throwing Digguh further ahead.

Finally came a third moving structure which was the beginning of a concrete path formed by a larger building that included a tower with a cracked section. This time, the bottom level of the structure was only a small platform while two Gigatzos fired at the top level. The two cannons were quickly thrown away like the others, so the traversing heroes didn't have to mind them, making all of it much easier. Apple Death, Little Ghost, as well as Phantom dealt with the many Gigatzos that followed and that were firing at the path ahead.

Sweetie Void was about to join in dealing with the Gigatzos but then saw that there was a Waddle Dee trapped behind a golden prison gate in the tower. Instead of destroying the gate, she looked around and spotted a blue pipe on top of a slope leading right to the cracked part of the tower.

Understanding, she grabbed Kirby and dropped him beside the pipe. She then pointed at said pipe and said, "Eat."

Kirby looked at the pipe, then back at Sweetie Void before he nodded in understanding. He then used his new power to inhale the pipe and have his body almost entirely cover it. Finally, he rolled down the slope, crushing everything in his path, before he jumped up the ramp at the end and crashed right into the cracked part of the tower, destroying it and entering the floor of the tower just above the one where the Waddle Dee was trapped.

Kirby was stopped by the still mostly intact opposite wall and he dropped on the floor right on a switch that opened the prison gate, allowing their friends walking on the path to free the Waddle Dees. At the same time, the flying heroes reached a tower structure at the end of the path on which three Clockers abandoned a golden cage with three Waddle Dees, judging that they would rather escape without the cage but alive instead of attempting to escape with the cage, which would end up in an obvious failure thanks to Galacta Knight patrolling the sky, or remaining there waiting for their doom.

"Smart birds," Marx said.

Krystal then confirmed that all the Waddle Dees in this area were saved.

And Apple Death then received a message saying that Gorimondo attacked the town yet again.

"Stubborn, the big fella."

"Like a fly repeatedly hitting the glass," Poo said with an exasperated shake of his head.

Author's Note:

Did you know that the alphabet appearing in the game can easily be translated? Each symbol corresponds to a letter. You can already get many thanks to the subtitles of the opening, and the rest is easy to get. You can find the whole alphabet on the Internet, which I'm using to translate the various signs and billboards.

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