• 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 126: Everbay Coast Part 2

Following the trail of the Waddle Dees led the heroes to some concrete tower at a part of the bay with more land. They already spotted no less than two cages at its very top, with the Clockers not daring to get away with Galacta Knight patrolling the sky. Instead, the birds seemed to count on the defenses placed all over the tower to protect them.

Too bad for them, with some of the heroes being able to fly, said defenses revealed to be totally useless. Some heroes flew straight to the top of the tower, others went all over it dealing with the Beast Pack members guarding it while searching for any other hidden Waddle Dees, and the remaining ones dropped from the Lor at the base of the tower, thus taking it from all the levels at once and leaving no chances for the animals to escape.

Searching the tower payed as Kirby found another Waddle Dee in an alcove hidden behind green lockers. The puffball used his new power to wrap the lockers and make them topple to reveal the prisoner.

The assault on the tower lasted less than a minute despite the rather big number of Shotzos placed a little everywhere, especially beside the many ladders, with some Gordos here and there.

"These stupid cannons really are invulnerable to anything we throw at them," Present Sonic said in frustration while kicking one of the Shotzos, making sure to remain at its side and not at its front as the cannon continuously fired forward. "I can shred metal no problem with my spines, but not a scratch on these things!"

"It's making you wonder what they are actually made of, uh?" Diddy questioned while observing the scene.

"A frustratingly solid living metal, and let's leave it at that," Flamberge said. "At least, chucking it works, so chuck it out of this tower-thing and let's move on. There's nothing left to do here."

"Leave it to me." DK effortlessly lifted the Shotzo and threw it into the water beside the tower.

The Lor then came to pick them up at the top of the tower before dropping them a bit further on some platform at the base of a much larger and taller concrete structure. An anthropomorphic swan with some kind of tutu shaped like a whirlwind was awaiting them, but then, Fox landed feet first right on her face before he bounced away, followed by Ness, Marx, Link, Diddy, Present and Past Sonic, and Anubis. As the stunned swan recovered, she just had time to see something metallic dropping toward her before Sweetie Void, who turned herself into an iron pony version of the lucky cat statue, landed right on her, burying the poor bird's head into the concrete.

"Don't mind if I drop in?" she said.

"Normally, her head should now be a flattened gory mess," Phantom remarked, mentally groaning at Sweetie's pun.

Sweetie giggled. "Thankfully, the Dream Universe and the ones influenced by it have a very cartoony logic."

Enemies were already coming, and the group fought them off before advancing, beginning to climb the structure. Some of the heroes used the staircases that were going left, then right, then left again, then right again, while others climbed/jumped up the walls or flew, all the while dealing with the various enemies that came their way. Most notably were Twisters that used the walls and railings to bounce like pinballs while twisting. A Big Kabu at the end of the series of stairs was constantly unleashing Kabus in an endless wave. Of course, the two Sonic quickly dealt with him as they climbed everything in the blink of an eye.

Behind the Big Kabu, the path continued up a slope between two ledges before it turned right with another staircase to the right ledge. Then from said ledge, there was a small metal footbridge going to the other ledge in which there was a small pond with some Blippers. A path continued up some slops toward the top of the structure and another led to a door.

After a game of short straws, Bandana Dee, Dark Meta Knight, Spiky, Dixie, and Pikachu went through the door while the others continued.

Poppy Bros Jrs. were rolling bombs down the slopes from the top of the structure, but Diddy, Fox, Krystal, and Jeff stopped them with their respective weapons, allowing everyone to reach the summit, some balcony with many flower pots, two benches, and a decorative arc, without risk. A last few enemies were awaiting them there, around no less than three cages, but this didn't slow down the heroes who freed the Waddle Dees and took in the view while waiting for their friends, with Krystal confirming that a few Waddle Dees with ahead. However, they may have to use the Lor again as there were no other paths.

Meanwhile, Kirby observed the arc, thinking of something.

It wasn't long before Bandana and the others returned with a freed Waddle Dee. Apparently, Dark Meta Knight had to do all the work as, to free the Waddle Dee, they had had to press three switches in quick succession to open a gate. The problem was that the switches were in or along a path entirely covered in spikes, so the only way to reach them and get them in time with to fly rapidly. Pikachu probably could have gotten them with three Thunderbolts in quick succession, but it was easier to let Dark Meta Knight do the job.

With everyone here, Kirby decided to try his stuff and inhaled the arc, using his new power to stretch around it and take the form of something like a deltaplane. And then, he glided away in the direction pointed out by Krystal earlier before everyone's disbelieving stares.

"Warn us next time!" Sweetie yelled before she materialized a carpet, made it grow bigger, asked everyone to go on it, and made it fly with everyone riding it.

"Wow! A flying carpet? I never expected to ride on one!" Elfilin exclaimed happily.

"I think that most of us never expected that," Pikachu said as he looked down in wonder from the edge of the carpet.

Diddy rose a hand. "Not me. We have flying carpets in my world."

"Why a flying carped?" Apple Death asked.

"Why not?" Marx replied.

"I just wanted to try something exotic," Sweetie explained.

"So cool..." Ness muttered.

Flying alongside Kirby, they went forward above the water, between islands and rocks, not encountering any real obstacle. They passed under a natural rocky arc, and encountered a trio of Bronto Burts that scattered in panic. Following a river between rocks, separated by several small dams that turned it into a succession of basins, Kirby then rammed into a Scarfy before they reached a huge rock that separated the river in two. Here the Bronto Burts returned with many more friends, and the heroes who could fire projectiles had to defend the flying carpet from them. They also had to avoid many Gordos placed in the way by other Bronto Burts.

At the end of the river, they arrived at a building and entered it through an entrance that was rather narrow for all of them. A Buffahorn attempted to ram them as they were just above the floor,, but Kirby instead ram into it with a spin, sending it out of the way.

Inside the building, which revealed to be partially submerged, or more like it had basins separated by more dams, they had to fight off even more Bronto Burts as well as some Scarfys while avoiding Gordos, Gigatzos firing at them, and metallic pillars-things that moved left and right. The heroes were happy to leave the building, only to end up in a canyon with more enemies, and the lack of place won't help in avoiding the Gordos and Gigatzos. But then, Kirby spotted some cracks in the cliff at the right and flew toward them, and the others decided to follow him. Kirby then rammed the cliff with a spin, destroying the cracked part and opening a hole into a cavern that let them avoid all the enemies. There weren't even any stalactites or stalagmites serving as obstacles.

In the end, they traversed the canyon without any problem. Better yet, they flew right into a Clocker transporting a cage with a freshly captured Waddle Dee, totally taking the poor bird by surprise. They then reached another river separated into basins by dams, and then left the canyon behind.

It wasn't long after that they finally reached what seemed to be their destination judging by the presence of a golden cage with three trapped Waddle Dees, on some island with... a landing runway? The three Clockers tried to escape from some sort of terrace with the cage upon seeing them approaching, but they were stopped by Galacta Knight who got in their way. Three slashes later, and the three birds dropped, now totally naked.

"We had it, you know?" Sweetie Void shouted.

Galacta chuckled. "Well, I got it."

Sweetie Void, and some of the others, pouted.


"Oh great... Now, we're going inside waterworks..." Present Sonic groaned upon seeing what they were approaching in the screen of the Lor.

Phantom smirked. "Don't worry, it's like peeling off a bandage. It's a bad moment to pass, it will be over quickly, and then you will get a lollipop if you are good."

Both Sonics glared at her. But then, Present Sonic grinned. "Well then, I holding you for that lollipop at the end."

Sweetie Void leaned toward Link, who was the closest to her at this moment, and whispered, "Am I the only one feeling like these two will eventually smooch each other?"

"Uh..."


They landed on concrete atop a strong stream of water, not far of some pipes with grids on them serving as catwalks. They could use these to reach a ledge at the opposite side, a bit further down to reach another pipe with grids that would then leads them to a ladder to another ledge just above the water. This way, they could jump into the water without risk.

So, of course, the heroes chose the other way: jumping into the water from the top, the craziest among them pushing the more hesitant ones.

At least, DK and Spiky kept the two Sonics on their back.

The strong current carried them, and they quickly found out that the Beast Pack was prepared for them. Gordos, Gordo Bars, Blippers, Squishys, and Wafts were all over the stream.

Link was at the front, in his Zora form, swiftly avoiding any obstacle while throwing his boomerang-fins or slashing with them. Behind him, the Sonics jumped from DK and Spiky's back to repeatedly Homing Dash the enemies. Dark Meta Knight was in the air, sending sharp crescent waves with his sword. Little Ghost and the Three Mage Sisters were at his sides. The others were pretty much left only having to swim (or surfing in Kirby and Sweetie's case) to avoid the Gordos, but one of them regularly had to take down a lucky enemy who managed to not get hit until then.

Toward the end, a Clocker with a cage thought that he was safe behind some Gordos, in some ring thing partially out of the water, but the bird was quickly proved wrong.

Then they reached the end of the stream with a Glunk guarding the exit door. After everything, they really didn't know why the animals expected that a simple Glunk would be able to even slow them down. Anubis simply kicked it aside and everyone continued through the door.

They arrived at a new section of the waterworks building where the stream of water continued by passing into a canal that traversed the place in a zigzag pattern that cut the ground into three parts, with the first two parts having upper levels with green barriers. At the opposite side of the place, at the end of the canal, was a ladder. Poppy Bros Jrs were present, ready to throw their bombs, especially if the heroes decided to take the swimming path. Bombs would rain on them. And Needlous were at their sides for protection.

Some heroes remained at the door to fire at the enemies, covering the others who went close and personal. The place was quickly cleared of all hostile presence, and the heroes climbed the ladder to an upper section with a catwalk above a basin full of (thankfully calm) water.

It was also full of enemies. Blippers, Squiskys, Glunks, Walfs, and there were also Foleys flying above. And Clockers were coming, transporting even more enemies.

The catwalk being too small, some of the heroes were forced to go into the water and fight in it. Fox, Krystal, Jeff, and Pikachu remained on the catwalk, out of range of the Glunks, to fire at the Clockers to stop them from bringing reinforcements, and Little Ghost, Meta Knight, and Dark Meta Knight also helped dealing with them while the fillies, Marx, and the Mage Sisters dealt with the Foleys, leaving the rest to take care of the aquatic enemies. Elfilin even helped by headbutting one of the fishes as it jumped out of the water to attack Fox.

The battle over, they followed the stream again down a couple of levels, fighting some Chillys, until reaching another door. But before, they destroyed a Bomb Block that revealed another door in a small basin at the left. Kirby went in, along with Marx, DK, and Fox. The others continued ahead.

They were now outside the building, concrete wall floor leaving place to more natural cliffs and ground with still some artificial elements here and there, and water was still present, but calm. There were also various sets of stairs that Kirby could certainly move thanks to his new power, but since he wasn't here currently, the heroes did without, which wasn't a problem.

There was a prison gate at a ledge further up that could be reached with one of these stairs, and the gate had to be opened by pressing a switch just before the wall of the ledge. However, this switch was one of these that had to be maintained so the gate remained open. So, one of the heroes, Poo, volunteered to remain on the switch, allowing the others to reach the gate and save the Waddle Dee that had been trapped behind.

Arriving at a pond, while the heroes fought Balloon-Meisters and Squishys, Sweetie Void pressed another switch, this one not needing to be maintained, to rise a bridge out of the water. The Sonics were very thankful for that.

Then was a second prison gate on a ledge, at the other side of the pond. Well, to be more exact, it was three gates one after another, meaning that the heroes had to find and press (and maintain) three switches to open all of them and reach the two imprisoned Waddle Dees, all the while fighting various enemies like Chillys, Bouncys, Glunks, or Poppy Bros Jrs. A first switch was just at the other side of the bridge that rose, and the last two were just beside each other in a small hole at the other side of a small mount that served as stairs to reach the ledge with the three gates. Anubis pressed the first one.

It was just as Diddy and Dixie pressed the two other switches that Kirby and company returned with a freed Waddle Dee. Where they ended up, the Waddle Dee had been at the opposite end of a long basin separated into several sections by multiple cracked walls and protected by Gnawcodiles. A small boat and a ring-shaped object had been present at the beginning.

So, instead of simply flying above the walls, Kirby and Marx turned this into a game. Kirby used his new power to inhale the ring like he did to the other one earlier and climbed on the boat with DK and Fox, using the air bursts to move it. Marx then flew up and told Kirby which cracks to destroy, as some of the cracks led to dead ends, making it a game where Kirby had to find the right path while being guided by Marx. DK was more than happy to show off and destroy the cracked walls with his bare fists. Fox was here in case any enemies tried to attack them.

They didn't have any difficulty defeating the Gnawcodiles guarding the Waddle Dee. Kirby just rammed them with the boat. And just like that, the Dee was saved.

And now, Sweetie sent him to the town, quickly followed by the two imprisoned behind the three gates, and the heroes continued through a door atop some stairs, returning inside the waterworks building.

The first obstacle upon entering, without counting the lone Sir Kibble who tried to ambush them as they passed the door, was a new stream of water with very strong currents. The problem with this stream was that it circled around a tank, and the exit was blocked by iron blocks, so the heroes would be forced to do circles in the water while fighting Blippers until one of them managed to press a switch that destroyed the blocks.

Thanks Void some of them could fly, if not outright teleport to the switch.

A large basin followed, excepted that there was a large and powerful whirlpool in the center because the water was draining through a hole that had formed at some point. And not only the heroes had to press a switch again to destroy more iron block blocking the exit, but they also had to be careful of the many Gordos placed everywhere at the surface of the water. So, while the switch was quickly pressed by Meta Knight, the swimming heroes had to fight the strong current while avoiding the Gordos and while trying not to miss the exit. Link was a huge help thanks to his Zora form, as well as the heroes who could fly so they guided the others while holding their hands.

But it wasn't over as an even bigger basin with an even bigger whirlpool followed, with more Gordos, Gordo Bars, and even Glunks shooting down projectiles from floating Star Blocks. Also, a Clocker thought that he was smart by remaining flying above the whirlpool with an imprisoned Waddle Dee. Using the same strategy as before, the heroes reached the exit, some of them dealing with the Glunks with their projectiles.

Finally, they entered a pipe which was like a waterslide that led them out of the waterworks building where Galacta was waiting for them with three more freed Waddle Dees and the remains of a golden cage surrounded by three knocked out Clockers.

"Took your time."

"Hey! Don't complain! You have the easy job!" Sweetie Void shouted.

"And the boring one by the same occasion."

"Oh, come on. You like making these animals pee themselves as you patrol the sky like the angel of doom that you are. Don't say the contrary."

Galacta only let out a chuckle at this.


"We are almost reaching the opposite end of the bay," Elfilin informed. However, he seemed a bit worried. "But... We are also approaching his territory..."

"Who's territory?" Fox asked.

"Tropic Woods."

...

After several seconds of silence, Sweetie Void and Bandana Dee groaned, to the wonder of most of the others. Marx burst into laughter, and Meta Knight and Galacta Knight facepalmed.

"Seriously? There is a Woods in this world? HOW?! We aren't even in the same universe!" Sweetie Void questioned.

"We just can't escape the Woods, uh?" Marx said.

"Uh... With some luck, we won't have to fight him," Bandana Dee said only to receive stares. He sighed. "Yeah. Shutting up. That was stupid."

"And it just so happen that the Lor is currently approaching a huge palm tree on top of this island over there. And there is a golden cage with three Waddle Dees just in front of it," Zan Partizanne told them as she observed the screen.

"Ooh. Using the Waddle Dees as baits to force us to fight him. Of course these animals would do that," Sweetie Void sighed. She turned to the others. "Let's get this over with. Who is up to fight a tree?"

"Is this the kind of tree that sets itself on fire to explode on us upon defeat?" Ness asked.

Many of the heroes looked at him weirdly.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Uh... Uh... No, this is not the kind of tree that sets itself on fire to explode on you upon defeat. Seriously, what the heck?" Sweetie Void asked.

Ness shrugged.

"Uh... However, since this one is a palm tree, I wouldn't be surprised if he uses explosive coconuts. Palm trees back in the Dream Universe have a lot of these."

"This would be a nice change from the usual apples," Marx said.

"I would much prefer fighting a tree throwing apples at us than one throwing explosive coconuts," Bandana countered. "Then again, Whispy has started to use explosive apples lately, so this isn't much better..."

"Are you seriously saying that there are trees throwing explosive fruits in your universe?" Present Sonic exclaimed. "And they aren't robotic trees?"

"Nope! Totally one hundred percent natural living trees!" Marx confirmed. "Excepted that time when most of Popstar was mechanized by aliens. Then, yes, there were robotic trees throwing explosive fruits. Fun time."

"What?!"

"Ahem! We are deriving! So, who wants to fight a tree?" Sweetie Void asked again.

Ness raised his hand. "Since it won't explode, then it's alright."

"Ness it is, then! But seriously, what is it about explosive trees?"

"Well..." Jeff began.


Ness dropped from the Lor just in front of the golden cage, before the large palm tree that was supposedly Tropic Woods. The tree was at the very top of a mostly circular island, on a cliff, and was facing a large area surrounded by fences at one side and a real barrier made of plants and stones at the other. As soon as he arrived, the three Clockers transporting the cage flew to hide behind the tree.

The tree then shook, and suddenly, a face made of three holes - two for the eyes and one for the mouth -, a small branch for a nose, and even a patch of bark bristle for a goatee appeared and glared at Ness before roaring.

Tropic immediately made giant coconuts fall here and there on the arena, and as Sweetie warned, they exploded. So Ness began to move around in order to avoid them while sending weak a stream of fire at the tree with PK Fire. This took Topic by surprise and some of the fire reached him. But quickly enough, Topic opened his mouth and took a huge breath, inhaling the flames before he spat all of it back at the boy whose was the turn to be taken by off guard. He still had enough time to react to put up a PK PK Shield to absorb some of the fire and send some of the damage back at the tree.

Tropic resumed dropping coconuts on Ness who decided to attack instead with PK Thunder, raining lightning bolts on the tree. Getting annoyed, Tropic rose one of his roots high into the sky to serve as a lightning rod and sent another to attack the boy who quickly jumped aside before firing more PK Thunders, this time right from his fingers. He had to move again to avoid the root that continued to chase him, and eventually decided to destroy it with a PK Rockin, destroying the other root that served as lightning rod and hitting Tropic Woods by the same occasion. However, as Ness sent the PK Rockin, he didn't see the giant coconut fall right on him, exploding immediately upon contact.

Despite all the damage he took from the explosion, Ness quickly recovered and healed himself with PK Life Up, then cast PK Shield before he fired other PK Thunders at Tropic from his fingers, only to gasp as the tree raised a big metallic fence out of the ground with his roots and used it to catch the bolts. Then Tropic went on to try to smash the fence on Ness who quickly leaped and rolled away before sending another PK Rockin. This one, Tropic couldn't stop with the fence, and the attack destroyed the roots holding it, making him drop it and depriving him of his shield. Ness didn't wait to resume his assault despite Tropic trying to get him again with his coconuts and even spitting air bullets in small waves.

Ness saw the sand at his feet move and moved aside, barely avoiding being pierced by a root, and then leaped to avoid another only to be hit by an air bullet. Sent on the floor by the bullet, he barely had time to roll out of the way of a third root coming from under him while using a PK Fire to destroy a coconut that almost dropped on him. The resulting explosion still pushed him against the ground.

When he was able to look again, he saw that Tropic had four roots risen, ready to strike him.

"PK STARSTOOORM!!!"

"Wha-?"

Meteors suddenly rained all over the arena, destroying the roots and repeatedly striking Tropic.

"Ow! Argh! Eyouch!"

Tropic quickly used more of his roots to "punch" the oncoming meteors to destroy them, even grabbing the metal fence to use it as a racket. While this effectively protected him, this resulted in the roots getting damaged.

Once it was over, a very weakened and injured Tropic Woods took heavy breathes to recover while glaring at Ness.

Then Ness used PK Offense Up, followed by PK Rockin.

For a fraction of a second, Tropic had a look of horror before he was struck by the buffed wave of psychic energy, which was finally too much for him. He let out a long groan of pain and admitted defeat, shedding a tear while barely clinging to consciousness.

"You... win..."

Ness was proud of himself for this victory against this, admittedly, rather strong and quite crafty opponent, but then was reminded why he was here in the first place as the three Clockers transporting the golden cage came out from behind Tropic Woods and, seemingly understanding that there was no way for them to escape with the cage, decided to drop it before the boy before flying away in panic.

Ness then opened the cage just as Sweetie Void arrived.

"Awesome fight! But you got lucky, that guy was rather underwhelming. He didn't grow to two times his size, or didn't try to inhale you, or to jump on you, or to fly around by spinning with his roots extended like an helicopter. The fence was a nice touch however."

Ness was visibly sweating as he stared at the filly. "And you were bemused by trees putting themselves on fire to explode?"

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