A New Generation in the Forgotten Land

by The Kelduo

Chapter 2: Downtown Grasslands

Once we were high enough to get a good look at our surroundings, I made sure to see what kind of area we were in and where we would be going. Looking down below us, we could tell that we were in some kind of grassy plains area. But what was interesting about it were the signs that a modern civilization once lived in this place. And looking into the distance, we saw a beach area far ahead of us. But before going there, we had to search for all the Waddle Dees that needed rescuing here in these natural plains.

So Izzy turned to Elfilin for answers. "Hey, do you have any idea where those caged Waddle Dees could have been taken?"

Elfilin nodded. "I think so. The beasts that were trying to capture them are smarter than they look. There's no way they'd leave the Waddle Dees unguarded, so I bet we could find some Waddle Dees in pretty dangerous places that the beasts are usually around. So that means we should start our hunt right around..."

He manned the Warp Star and took it down to a wide, hilly area with a few fox enemies in the distance.

"...here, the Downtown Grasslands!"

We all landed, and the Warp Star flew away to wait for me to call it again.

The gang spread out and marched ahead, ready to find Waddle Dees to save. Three fox enemies saw us coming and tried to ward us off, but they were easily defeated by Bandana Dee's spear and my bombs. Gim destroyed a big Star Block one of the foxes was standing on, revealing some Star Coins, while Izzy ran past him to open a red Pop Flower tulip and earn a big red Star Coin.

"A tulip Pop Flower? That's new," Gim mused. "I feel we should do our best to open those as well!"

Jumping up to a higher area, I discarded my Bomb hat to swallow a Sir Kibble, a yellow helmet with hands and feet. I gained the Cutter Ability, donning a yellow hat with a cutter boomerang that acted as a dorsal wing. I used the Cutter to cleave some grass and a big Star Block hidden within it.

Then I joined the others who were contending with a jumping blue bunny and a Sir Kibble. I took care of the bunny as Bandana skewered the Sir Kibble. We considered taking down the nearby sleeping fox enemy, but Izzy convinced us not to. Instead, we grabbed some Star Coins off the nearby log and defeated another blue bunny, then we kept moving forward to find a blue button guarded by a Bronto Burt.

"Ooh! I wanna see what that button does!" Izzy shoved the Bronto Burt away with her magic so she could step on the switch.

Upon doing so, a yellow gate protecting a slice of strawberry shortcake raised up.

"That was lucky," Gim sighed.

"What do you mean?" Izzy asked.

"Well, you never know what pushing a switch can do. For all we know, that switch could've opened up a trap door beneath your hooves! You always want to check the situation before pushing buttons."

"Oh, okay. But hey, we got free cake!"

"Mm?" Too bad for Izzy, I had already eaten the cake. Strawberry shortcake is my favorite dessert. After finishing off the cake, I gave her a bashful chuckle. "Hehe..."

When the others came over, I saw that Izzy had gotten some cuts from the Sir Kibble. That cake could have healed her, but it still can. The only question was...

Could she handle a Face-to-Face?

...No, she was too innocent. If only there was a different way to transfer the healing powers of food from one person to another...

But maybe there was...

My hands shattered the cage that held Elfilin. Maybe they could also allow me to share the effects of restoring food. I just had to find an excuse to contact her with my hand...

Izzy glanced to her left, and I followed her gaze. She was looking down a hidden path that had a tulip Pop Flower at the end. "Wow, check it out! We found ourselves a secret tunnel!"

Bingo.

"Poyo!" I raised my hand for a high five, and she obliged. As we made hand/hoof contact, I saw her cuts go away.

Izzy noticed as well. "Huh? My cuts... Did our hoof bump make them go away?!"

"I think it did!" Bandana Dee replied. "In the Dream Universe, foods such as that cake Kirby ate can restore health. We Dream Landers are able to share their effects by an action called Face-to-Face."

"Face-to-Face..." Izzy gave Bandana a coy grin. "Are you saying Dream Landers kiss each other after one of them eats so the other can heal too?"

"Err, well..." Bandana turned red. "Kissing is one way you could look at it..." He shook himself out of his embarrassment. "Anyway! Kirby didn't want you to go through such an intimate thing, so in trying to find an alternative, he discovered that his powers had grown so much that he can share healing through hand contact."

Izzy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I can understand why he'd want to do a hoof bump instead of a kiss to share health. Now then..." She excitedly pointed down the tunnel again. "Secret tunnel!"

"Secret tunnel!" Gim sang.

"Poyo...?" I asked while walking down the tunnel.

"You need to start watching more Avatar," Gim told me. "Not the movie with the blue guys, mind you. The other Avatar. I was referencing a famous song that's in that show."

"The Avatar with the four nations?" Bandana asked while opening the Pop Flower tulip.

"That's the one," Gim said as he struck the wall at the end with his yo-yo, breaking it down so we could leave the tunnel without backtracking.

We came back in front of some grass platforms near the yellow gate, so we climbed them and reached some metal and cardboard boxes. Izzy took apart the cardboard boxes, allowing us to advance to a vending machine.

Something seemed off about the vending machine, though. When I came near it, a shiver went throughout my entire body. Like, if I could get goosebumps, they would be all over me. My belly rumbled too, but I wasn't even hungry. What's more, a bunch of strange colors came off of the vending machine when I neared it.

I also had that tingly feeling when I was inhaling that car back in the auto place, but I didn't notice it because I was too focused on sucking up the car. Maybe... I could try the same thing with this...?

To test my theory out, I took off my Cutter hat and got ready to inhale.

"Why'd you take your hat off, Kirby?" Izzy asked. "Do you need to be hatless in order to inhale things?"

"Po..." I started to talk back, but then I realized that she might have a point. I've never actually tried to inhale while I had an Ability, aside from Throw.

So, keeping my Cutter hat on, I tried to inhale.

And it worked.

And I inhaled the vending machine, my body morphing to fit its shape like with the car, only instead of opening over the bottom, my mouth opened over the part where the soda cans are dispensed, so I was standing like I usually do.

"That marks the second time you stuffed a big object in your mouth." Gim-E put his right fist in his left hand. "Which means you've officially discovered a new power! We need to give it a name!"

"And I know just what to call it..."

Izzy wore a determined grin.

"Mouthful Mode."

"Mouthful Mode?" Gim gave a thumbs-up. "A fantastic name, if you ask me! It's very literal and rolls off the tongue easily, and I think it's pretty sweet that you chose ‘mode’ to be the second word in the name, but that's mostly just because I'm a robot. What say you, Bandana Dee? Elfilin?"

Bandana Dee nodded. "I like it too! Since Kirby literally has a mouthful of stuff in his mouth, the name's perfect!"

Elfilin agreed. "You're right, Mouthful Mode does suit Kirby when he's got a big thing in his mouth!"

"Then it's settled!" Gim gave me a pat on the back, which caused a can of orange soda to fall out of the opening. "From here on out, Kirby's new power shall be known as Mouthful Mode!"

After chugging the soda, Izzy pointed towards some bunnies, foxes, and a Sir Kibble who were patrolling the grassy area between us and a blue garage door with a large crack in it. "Now let's use your Vending Mouth to dispense some tasty justice!"

I aimed towards the bunnies, and... Ker–chunk! Ker–chunk! Ker–chunk! Soda cans shot into them from my mouth.

I got ready to do the same to the rest, but Elfilin stopped me. "Wait! That vending machine doesn't have an endless supply! Your friends can take out those baddies." He pointed at the garage door. "You should save your soda cans for that gate."

So I allowed my friends to dispatch the enemies, clearing the way to the blue door. After they were finished, I waddled up and fired the rest of my soda cans at the crack in the garage door. Bit by bit, it bent out of shape, before finally busting open.

I spat out the vending machine, and we walked inside. Two piles of Star Coins were present, with a Waddle Dee hiding behind one of them.

He chanced a peek out from behind the pile, before sighing in relief. "Oh, good, it's you, Kirby! I was worried those beasts were the ones who managed to break down that gate..."

Bandana Dee asked the question that we were all thinking: "Did those birds not get you?"

The Waddle Dee nodded. "Oh, they got me, all right. But I was able to escape, and so were some other Waddle Dees! Turns out there was a tricky little switch up above our heads that we could push and turn to open up our cages, but not all of us noticed them or managed to activate those switches."

"Great, that should make it easier to save you guys!" Elfilin looked around the room. "But what are you doing here?"

The Waddle Dee pointed just right of the ladder in the back. "After freeing myself, I fell just outside of this place. But before I got the chance to see where I was, this big red bull thing tried to ram me! So I fled into this room and shut the door, but the thing kept charging into the door and left that mark in it. Good thing he weakened it for you five!"

"Poyo!" I called my Warp Star over for the Waddle Dee.

"You're letting me ride your Warp Star? Thanks! I'll take it to the place where I met Elfilin. You guys cleared the area of those beasts, so it should be fine now." The Waddle Dee hopped on, but before he left, he told us, "By the way, while I was on the roof of this building, I saw something shiny and blue in the distance. You might wanna check it out."

After waving to the Waddle Dee as he rode the Warp Star through the opening in the ceiling, we gathered the Star Coins and climbed the ladder to the roof so we could see what he was talking about.

And atop the building the vending machine had been standing near, there was a huge blue Star Coin. I could float over, but it would be tough to keep flying such a long distance. So instead of trying that, I tossed my Cutter Boomerang as far as I could. It reached the rooftop and came back with the blue Star Coin, which I brandished while pumping my fist in success.

The rooftop we were on also had a Pop Flower, a couple of yellow Star Coins, and some kind of capsule with a clear top and a yellow bottom.

I showed the capsule to Gim-E, who oohed in wonder. "Lucky you, Kirby! That's a gashapon, which is a collectible capsule toy that's popular in Japanese cultures. But for simplicity's sake, let's just call it a Gotcha Capsule. You never know what's inside one until you open it!" He took a closer look at it. "And it looks like the manufacturer of this is... HAL Laboratories! Awesome! You know it's good if the dudes who decided you should exist are the ones who made it! Thank your other father for making these so that you and your fans can learn more about this forgotten land and hopefully not suffer a chronic gambling addiction in an attempt to collect them all!"

"Other father?" Izzy asked as I put the capsule in my stomach dimension.

"Long story. I can tell you after our whole adventure's over with."

We dropped over the side of the building and encountered an enemy like the Waddle Dee described: large, red, and shaped like a bull. It charged right at us, but Gim stayed put as the rest of us got out of the way. He planted his feet firmly on the ground, and when the bull got close enough, he grabbed it by the horns, then slammed it on the ground.

Watching this spectacle, a nearby fox enemy thought better than to attack us and instead ran away, jumping off the cliff that the bull enemy was standing in front of. When we ran up to the cliff to see if the fox was okay, we saw that it had landed on a street and didn't look too hurt.

Gim tapped his right eye as he looked down the street. "My sensors aren't detecting any more enemies or Waddle Dees along this long stretch of road. Let's speed things along with a Warp Star ride!"

So I called my Warp Star to help us quickly get to the next area. We soared around a wide left bend, over a long straight road, and right beneath a big black metal arch, landing on a platform above a Cappy.

When we jumped down, I showed Izzy a cool move I can use with the Cutter Ability, the Final Cutter. I slashed the Cappy twice using my Cutter as a sword, then jumped up into the air and slammed my Cutter down on the ground to finish the Cappy, the Cutter flying forward after the slam. Izzy was very impressed by the Final Cutter combo.

"Look out behind you, Kirby!" Bandana Dee warned.

I turned around and saw a bomb being thrown at me by a Poppy Bro Jr. I opened my mouth to let it fall inside and instantly switched from Cutter to Bomb. That wiped the smile off of the Poppy Bro in no time, and he promptly got a taste of his own medicine.

Further ahead, there were Star Coins on top of pipes, but they were being guarded by Shotzos, black cannons that fired small but effective cannonballs.

"I can take care of those!" Izzy fired weak lasers that broke the crates the Shotzos were standing on, causing them to fall into small holes and allowing us to gather them without any trouble.

Other than a fox enemy who made the mistake of trying to attack me. In return, he got a bomb to the face.

Walking past the pipes, we found some big orange traffic cones. Ones that gave me a weird tingly feeling and gave off colors when I came close to them, like with the vending machine.

They must have been things I could get a mouthful of, so I went ahead and inhaled one.

Izzy snickered. "Hehe... You're a Conehead now!"

"Mm?" I mumbled in confusion.

Gim explained, "She's referencing a famous 80s movie. The characters in it are hilarious, mostly because of their accent, their wording, and how unfamiliar they are with human culture."

"Hmm." I've never seen whatever movie they were talking about, but that didn't matter. It was time for me to put this Cone Mouth to use.

I waddled over to a couple of metal crates, jumped up above them, then turned upside-down and used my pointy head to smash into them, revealing some Star Coins. I did the same thing to a Kabu and a Sir Kibble standing on a metal crate. Up ahead, we found a big crack in the ground. I tried smashing down into the crack, and the ground fully broke apart, revealing some Star Coins and green pumpkins.

We turned left and jumped down to a Pop Flower being guarded by three foxes. I let Izzy take care of the foxes before opening the Pop Flower. I broke open another cracked spot in the ground to gain more Star Coins before continuing forward to stab another red bull enemy while Bandana poked another fox and Gim opened a Pop Flower tulip on a barrel.

Heading right, we came across a cracked spot in front of two Shotzos guarding the way ahead. I stabbed the crack, making a path underneath them. Just after the Shotzos, the path turned left, but another Shotzo was guarding the way.

However, Izzy pointed toward a pipe with a small crack on top of it, water sputtering out of it. "That pipe looks pretty weak. I bet a good poke with your head could do something to it!"

"Mhm!" I jumped up and thrusted my head into the crack on the pipe. The crack opened into an entire puncture, causing a geyser of water to shoot upward out of it.

We rode the water up to a balcony, where we encountered the scholar Waddle Dee again, only this time he was out of a cage like the Waddle Dee in the building.

He turned from looking at a stack of metal crates on an upturned storage crate on the ground and saw us. "Ah, it's you four! And I see you've got Elfilin with you as well!"

Izzy nodded. "Yep, we took your advice and went on the road to our right! You're pretty smart, aren't you?"

The Waddle Dee chuckled while adjusting his glasses. "That's why they call me Wise Waddle Dee, Wise Dee for short. I don't like to brag, but I was able to escape my cage thanks to the convenient switch above me, as did some other Waddle Dees." He pointed down at the Shotzo. "When I landed, I launched myself up here using that Shotzo to stay out of reach of those beasts. But now that you're here, there's no need to be up on this balcony anymore."

I promptly summoned my Warp Star for Wise Waddle Dee.

"When you find more Waddle Dees, it is vital that you have your Warp Star escort them to the ruined town south of here, where I had last seen Elfilin before being taken away." Wise Dee boarded the Warp Star. "Also, I recommend breaking that stack of metal crates over there before proceeding. Until we meet again!"

He took off, leaving me to pierce the crates he was looking at and gain another Gotcha Capsule from them. Then I had to spit out the cone so we could all climb another ladder.

At the top, a Sir Kibble and a Poppy Bro ran over to us.

We got ready to kick their butts, but the Sir Kibble held out his hands to stop us. "Wait, Kirby! We need your help!" He pointed towards a large green swordsman with brown fur around its neck and wielding a heavy stone sword. And behind it was a bird holding a Waddle Dee in a silver cage, so the swordsman must have been guarding the Waddle Dee to ensure that no one would free it. "Something has caused that Gigant Edge to become feral and unruly, and now he has begun attacking everything that dares to get near, even those he once considered to be his friends or colleagues such as myself."

"We think those weird beasts are the reason why the Gigant Edge turned wild, because he doesn't hurt or bully them in any kinda way, but beating them up didn't do anything!" The Poppy Bro shivered in fear. "Please stop him, and find out how he went nuts and get things back to normal! I can't play with my bombs while those wild creatures are around!"

"Leave it to us!" Bandana Dee watched the wild Gigant Edge swing its sword a couple of times before pointing it at us. "That sword looks really dangerous, though..." Bandana looked at Izzy. "One hit from it could cripple you! Are you really up to this challenge?"

"Don't worry, Bandana Dee. I got some tips from Gim-E." She walked towards the Wild Edge, as I chose to call the feral Gigant Edge. "And now it's time to put them to use..."

"Poyo..." Just in case, I walked up behind Izzy and to her right, ready to intervene if things went wrong.

Izzy took a fighting stance.

The Wild Edge raised his sword.

And he swing it overhead... but it wasn't falling towards Izzy.

It was heading for me.

"Eep!" I sidestepped right, avoiding the sword by inches. It made a huge gash in the mixture of grass and concrete that made up the ground I was standing on. "Poyo?!"

"W... What?!" Izzy stared at the cut left in the ground before turning her gaze to the Wild Edge, who was pulling his sword back out of the ground. "I'm literally right in front of you! Why go for a different target when you can just chop what's right before your eyes?"

"I think those beasts have a grudge against Kirby," Elfilin told her. "He must be the biggest threat to their plans, so they want to take him down first."

"So that's why he chose to attack Kirby instead of me, huh? Well, no beast is gonna make our pink puffball go down for the count on my watch!" I was lifted onto Izzy's back by her lilac–colored magic, and she gave me a determined smile. "I'm not letting your game be over, so we'd better work together to take on this tough guy!"

"Poyo..." I was concerned for the unicorn, but with the intense fire burning in her eyes, I couldn't say no. And this was just a mid boss, so it would be good practice for us battling together as one. "Poyo!" With that, I waved off Bandana Dee and Gim. "Poyo poyo."

"Oh, you want us to leave that Wild Edge to you two?" Gim gave a thumbs up as he backed away alongside Bandana. "Alright, just be careful!"

Then, with a quick flash of light, I used the Piggyback technique from my Dark Matter journey to give Izzy Moonbow the benefits of being an animal ridden by me: as my mount, she was able to share my current Ability, Bomb.

She probably didn't know that, but this wasn't the time to tell her, because the Wild Edge got his sword ready for another strike.

"Alright, shields up!" Izzy's horn glowed, and a magical shield covered us. However, instead of lilac like her magic is usually colored, it was dark gray. "Huh? Why is my shield...?"

The Wild Edge slashed at our shield.

BOOM!

Surprisingly, our shield exploded upon contact, knocking the Wild Edge's sword out of his hand.

"Whoa!" Izzy craned her head to face me as the Wild Edge slowly ran over to where his sword had fallen. "My shield... Did you make it do that?"

"Po poyo." I pointed at my hat then at her. "Poyo, poyo."

She had a confused face for a few seconds. Then she gasped.

"...No way. You mean that since you're riding me, I get to use whatever Copy Ability you've got?!"

I nodded.

"..." She charged up her horn, and a black orb formed at the tip. "Let's blast this sucker."

Izzy launched the orb at the Wild Edge as he was picking up his sword, hitting him in the back of the head and making him fall on his face from the explosion. While he was down, I hurled a barrage of bombs at him. After the seventh bomb, he got up and turned towards us, protecting his front with a huge, spiky shield. But Izzy lobbed an explosive orb with a bunch of backspin on it, causing it to roll back towards us after hitting the ground behind the Wild Edge, which made it strike him in the back and knock him on his butt. This opened him up to another bombing session, ending in him collapsing on the ground.

The Sir Kibble cautiously walked up to the unconscious Wild Edge. "Hmm... It seems that merely defeating this wild Gigant Edge did not revert him back to normal." He turned towards me and Izzy. "Kirby, my belief is that you and your friends must defeat the true villain behind this before the Gigant Edge and any other residents of Pop Star turned feral will go back to their usual selves. For now, you may do with this fallen swordsman as you so desire."

"Poyo." I jumped off of Izzy before copying the Sword Ability from the Wild Edge.

Izzy gave me puppy dog eyes. "Aww, I wanna see what I can do with that Sword Ability..."

Gim shook his head. "Sorry, Izzy. Using Piggyback with Kirby will make you stronger than usual, but we should save the big guns for tough baddies and ones that deserve a beating. Besides, having Sword Kirby ride you will probably only turn you into a discount Epona."

"Hmm... Yeah, you're right. Being too OP would make this adventure way too easy early on." Izzy motioned towards the caged Waddle Dee. "Anyway, do your thing, Kirby!"

"Poyo!" I went up and freed the Waddle Dee the same way I freed Elfilin. Then I called my Warp Star for the Waddle Dee... before realizing that the way ahead would require a Warp Star ride.

So Bandana and I boarded the Warp Star alongside the Waddle Dee, and all of us flew to the next part of the Downtown Grasslands.

---

We landed in a park area, near a lamp post on our left and two park benches on our right. Elfilin, Bandana Dee and I got off the Warp Star, leaving the saved Waddle Dee to ride it back to safety.

Up ahead, there were two buildings we could access: to the left, one guarded by two bunnies and a Sir Kibble, and the roof could be reached by climbing up a ladder and jumping across the parts of the building that were hitting out; and on the right, one guarded by two foxes, a Blade Knight, and a bull enemy, and the roof could be reached just by a ladder. Just right of the left building, a traffic cone was suspended in the air by a vine hanging from a tree. And straight ahead, there was a big, rugged turtle enemy using a cracked concrete slab as a shell.

I hatched a plan. "Poyo!" I pointed at Bandana and Izzy, then at the left building, then the traffic cone. "Poyo poyo, poyo!"

"Got it!" Bandana jumped on Izzy. "Let's go see what's up on that rooftop, and cut the vine while we're at it!"

"Alright!" Izzy reared up onto her hind legs before galloping off to the left building.

Then I pointed at Gim, then the right building. "Poyo poyo!"

"I'm on it, Mr. Star of the Show! Time to check out the right side!" Gim-E ran off to take on the baddies guarding the right building.

And Elfilin and I went straight, heading for the hanging traffic cone so I could quickly gain Cone Mouth. I made sure to keep away from the turtle enemy, but to our surprise, it stretched out its neck several feet and almost managed to snap down on me with its strong jaws. To keep it from giving me too much trouble, I stuck my sword in its mouth to keep it from snapping shut before continuing to my destination under the cone.

"Special delivery!"

Hearing Izzy's voice from the roof of the left building, I looked up and saw Bandana Dee's spear fly through the vine holding up the traffic cone. I opened wide and let it fall into my mouth, regaining Cone Mouth. Shortly afterwards, Bandana Dee floated down to me with his Waddle Copter, Izzy hanging onto his feet.

After landing, Bandana Dee gave the turtle enemy a suspicious look. "...That thing's hiding a Waddle Dee! Kirby, do your thing!"

"Mhm!" I jumped up and pierced the turtle's shell, shattering it and jabbing the turtle's soft body. The turtle spat out my sword, as well as a Waddle Dee, before going unconscious.

"How about that! The turtle really was hiding a Waddle Dee!" Izzy asked Bandana, "How'd you know?"

Bandana Dee comforted the rescued Waddle Dee, who was clearly traumatized from getting eaten by the turtle. "I'm the captain of King Dedede's Waddle Dee army, and I'm also a Waddle Dee myself. As the leader of my own species, I've grown to have a gut feeling that tells me when a Waddle Dee is nearby."

A Warp Star carrying another Waddle Dee came from the right building and picked up the Waddle Dee we just rescued before flying off, then Gim jumped down from the building. "So you're basically like a Waddle Dee radar?" he summarized.

Bandana nodded. "Pretty much."

"Cool!" Gim-E pointed up at the right building's roof. "Also, that Waddle Dee on the Warp Star? He was stuck in a dome up there. Just took a little elbow grease to open it."

"Poyo..." A dome? Maybe I could have opened it with Mouthful Mode...

We continued forward, with Izzy opening a Pop Flower tulip near a tree before I knocked two foxes away with a Cone Mouth stab. Then we used a garbage disposal to jump up to the base of a tall building, and continued up across platforms going clockwise around the building. Along the way, Bandana took care of a Kabu patrolling one of the narrow platforms, and Izzy baited a bull enemy into charging off of the platform it was on, revealing a fifth Pop Flower tulip that she gladly opened.

One more jump later, and we found another leaking pipe. But before I could pierce it...

"Um, excuse me..." A Waddle Dee climbed up to us. "I couldn't happen but notice all these red Pop Flower tulips blooming out of nowhere. Are... Are you the ones who did that?"

"We sure did!" Izzy answered, cheery as usual. "They're too pretty not to open!"

"Really? Thank you so much! I've been wanting to make them bloom, but there were so many beasts around, and..." The Waddle Dee bashfully chuckled. "I'm not really a fighter, and there was no way I could stand up to those creatures. So thanks for taking care of them, and for making those flowers bloom!"

"No problem!" Bandana replied. I called a Warp Star for the ‘rescued’ Waddle Dee, and he hopped on. "Wise Waddle Dee will be waiting for you. This Warp Star will take you to him and the others."

"Thanks, Bandana! Bye bye!"

After the Warp Star left with the Waddle Dee, I pierced the pipe and we took the geyser of water up to the roof of the building.

And on the roof was an even bigger turtle that wore an entire building as its shell. Through the windows, we could see a gold cage with three Waddle Dees trapped inside. The only path would take us counterclockwise around the turtle to a cracked pipe with a red X seal on it. And the geyser would lead up to a metal platform high above the turtle.

Izzy and Gim stared at each other.

Then Gim looked at me. "So... Do you want to take the long way, or the quick way?"

"Mm?" There was a... quick way?

"Sounds like you want to know the quick way. Okay, do it, Izzy!"

Wait, what did he mean for Izzy to—

Poke!

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" A sudden sharp pain in my butt sent me flying high into the air.

But I recovered in time to see that I was high enough to reach the metal platform, so I moved in the air and landed on it. While there, I picked up a Gotcha Capsule and a couple Star Coins that were waiting there to be collected. And then, I waddled up to the edge of the platform, over the turtle's building shell.

And I jumped. GERONIMO!

My cone broke the entire building shell and defeated the giant turtle in one fell swoop, leaving only the gold cage with the Waddle Dees. Spitting out the cone, I freed the Waddle Dees.

Elfilin flew around and high fived all of us in celebration. "Way to go, everyone! I think this is a pretty good time to finish this first trek."

"Finish up? But there are still a bunch of Waddle Dees that need us to rescue them! Unless..." Izzy put a hoof on her chin. "You mean we should take a break somewhere?"

Elfilin nodded. "Yeah, that's right! And I think I know just where to go. Kirby, get your Warp Star over here!"

I obliged.

"Waddle Dees, Bandana, Kirby, hop on!"

We obliged, and Gim and Izzy got ready to take off too.

Elfilin manned the Warp Star. "Let's go see how the saved Waddle Dees are doing! Come on, everyone! To the ruined town!"

Author's Note:

Waddle Dees rescued: 9/???

That's right, I justified why clearing missions rewards you with Waddle Dees, and I'm gonna continue to do so for the rest of them.

As for the Gotcha Capsules, I'm not gonna include all of them. Only the ones that I obtain from my second run of Forgotten Land, which I will do as I write the chapters so the collected Capsules are fresh on my mind.

It'll be quite a while before the next chapter comes out, though; I intend to beat the full version of the game before working on the rest of the story, because I don't want to get any details wrong about the lore or anything else vital to the story. And also because I really want to play the game.

The chapters will also take a while because of how long and detailed levels in Forgotten Land are compared to previous Kirby games where the levels were shorter and only in 2D.

And special thanks to Lucar and his story A Sweetie Dreamland for inspiring me to have Izzy utilize Kirby's current Ability when he's riding her!

Comments

[The Kelduo]

11191224

I was expecting you to acknowledge the end of G4

And I intend to do that in a later chapter.

While it's never explicitly stated, the G5 movie is implied to take place centuries after G4 ended

Wait, what?! Man, I had no idea... mostly because I haven't watched the movie.

I'm going to assume there's some kind of time difference between Kirby and My Little Pony. Like, for instance, four years on Planet Popstar translates to four thousand years on Equus.

Yep, a time difference is what I'm going for. It's kinda the only excuse I could find to put a G5 character in the story.

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Well, that's how all modern Kirby games start, with a beautiful day outside. How could I not make the reference?

[Maximum Pink]

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And I intend to do that in a later chapter.

I think I phrased that poorly. When I said "I expected you to acknowledge the end of G4," what I meant is that I thought you had already acknowledged the end of G4 in the story with Kirby's picture scene, but I wasn't expecting the story to actually take place after the Mane 6 had died. Like I said, when I saw the story involved G5 and Izzy Moonbow, I honestly assumed that Izzy would have gotten involved via time travel shenanigans, as Helix and Hooves already established that time travel exists.

Granted, I don't consider this route you took with the story to be bad. I just have to admit, the way this story played out kind of caught me off guard...

Wait, what?! Man, I had no idea... mostly because I haven't watched the movie.

Huh, you didn't know that? I don't want to come off as rude, but that's a bit surprising, as I remember that being one of the main things people were talking about when the movie first came out.

Also, you haven't watched the movie yet? That's a bit surprising, but does also explain some things I found weird about the story. Speaking of which, I don't want to come off as pushy or rude, but you should probably watch the movie, or at the very least read a summary of it. Not only is it just a good movie, but also... well I don't how to say this in a way that isn't brutally honest, so please forgive me when I say that it isn't a good idea to write fanfic of things you haven't even read a summary of. Even if you don't have Netflix, someone has probably uploaded the movie on Youtube or something already.