A New Generation in the Forgotten Land

by The Kelduo

Chapter 4: Rocky Rollin' Road

This time, we touched down near two patches of tall grass that each hid an Awoofy. I didn't want to hurt the environment too much, so I dropped the Fire Ability and took them out with a textbook inhale and spit.

After jumping up a ledge, we encountered a big purple hedgehog, and its spines quickly became long and pointed as it spotted us.

"That's a Jabhog," Gim explained. "The appearance of those spines makes it safe to assume that it could give you an Ability you haven't encountered on a normal adventure for nine years!"

"Poyo!" I waited until the Jabhog retracted its spines, then I inhaled it, gaining a red hat with pointy yellow spikes all over it.

"Looking sharp, Kirby!" Izzy joked. "Are you gonna be able to poke stuff with that Ability?"

"Poyo! Needle Roll!" Curling up into a ball, I extended my spikes and began rolling around. Nowhere near the speed of sound, but rolling as a spiky ball is still fun.

We had places to go, though, so I followed my metaphorical rainbow and scaled another ledge. I quickly rolled back down when I saw something round and black heading straight for me.

"What happened, Kirby?" Izzy asked, before catching the round thing with her magic. "Oh! This happened."

Gim took the object from Izzy. "A heavy metal ball... I thought these were only used as musket shots!"

"Musket?"

"A musket is a type of gun that was used a long time ago."

"Hmm..." A gun, huh? Taking a chance, I peeked over the ledge again, and I saw a gray sheepdog with a hunter's hat and a gun with the end splayed like King K. Rool's blunderbuss hiding behind a boulder. It came out from behind its cover and fired a metal ball at me. With a smirk, I jumped over the ball, and the dog's eyes widened in fear before it disappeared into my mouth.

As I swallowed it, I felt the energy of a new Ability welling up within me. Because of that, I decided to introduce it to myself and my friends through an iconic transformation sequence, something that we heroes get to experience to the fullest.

I flipped high into the air, before a red hunter's hat fell onto my head. I adjusted it and turned on the star–shaped headlight, when suddenly, a pistol appeared in my hand. It was quickly replaced by a minigun, then a sniper rifle, then a machine gun, a shotgun, and finally, a bazooka. None of those were my type of weapon, though, and that's why I was happy to see that the final weapon to materialize in my hands was a small red and yellow blunderbuss with a star insignia on the sides. You can tell something is a Kirby–approved weapon when it's got that good star insignia!

A couple of wooden crates were nearby, so I decided to test out my new Ability by firing at them. Bang! Bang! Star bullets came from the barrel of my blaster and blew the crates to pieces, revealing some Star Coins.

"Ooh, baddies oughta watch out..." Gim made a gun sign with his hand. "Because the pink demon's packing heat! Now, what do we call this stylish new Ability?"

"Well, Kirby's looking like a really cool explorer with that hat," Izzy mused. "But that gun he's got kinda reminds me of those old–timey hunters... He's also got some park ranger vibes, though, so maybe it could be a Ranger Ability?"

"Ranger Ability?" Elfilin nodded. "Yeah, that sounds really cool! Plus, Ranger Kirby is just plain better than calling him Gun Kirby, that'd be weird."

"Poyo! Ranger Kirby!" With that shout of joy, I charged up my blaster and fired a huge star bullet into the air to celebrate the discovery of a new Ability.

"Kirby! Help me!" However, our celebration was cut short when we heard a Waddle Dee crying out for help up ahead.

After climbing another ledge, we found the Waddle Dee being held at gunpoint by another sheepdog, which Gim called a Bernard.

"Hey!" I yelled, gaining the Bernard's attention.

The moment I saw him turn his weapon to face me, I fired, and my bullet went straight into the muzzle of his gun. Sparks flew out the other end, before it exploded in his face. Without any means of defending himself, the Bernard made the right choice and ran away, climbing a ladder further along the path.

"Holy moly!" the Waddle Dee exclaimed, his eyes bugging out. "What kinda ‘think fast’ games have you been playing, Kirby?!"

I twirled my blaster and holstered it on my back with a grin. "Speedy Teatime, Card Swipe, Samurai Kirby... Quick Draw."

"No kidding..." Still dumbfounded, the Waddle Dee hopped on a Warp Star and took off.

We climbed up the ladder the Bernard used and took a short break around a stump that had a bunch of four bananas sitting on it. We each took one, excluding Gim who doesn't eat food, and ate while watching boulders fall across the path to our right.

"So..." Izzy said, "what was all that about teatime and samurai and stuff? Gim, you know what Kirby's talking about?"

"Oh, they're just some games that Kirby would play every so often when he isn't eating, napping, or out saving the world." Gim took out a card with a drawing of a Waddle Dee on one side. "Out of the ones listed by Kirby, my favorite is Card Swipe, a memory and quick–reflex game where you have to memorize a few cards, then be the first to pick the correct card three times. I like it because it also teaches you about some of the residents of the Dream Universe."

"Really? That's neat!" Izzy looked at me. "What's your favorite game, Kirby?"

After finishing my banana, I opened my mouth to answer Speedy Teatime, but something caught my eye as I looked up.

The others followed my gaze, and we saw someone flying down to us on a Warp Star. When they dismounted it, we noticed that it looked like a dark gray replica of me.

My eyes sparkled as I ran over to him. "Shadow!"

"Kirby!" He took my hands and we jumped for joy.

Izzy looked over my dark lookalike. "Ooh, who're you? Wait, let me guess... Are you some kind of alternate–world Kirby who looks evil because he's gray but is actually a good guy?"

"Yep, he is!" Gim explained, "This is Mirror–World Kirby, but most people call him Shadow Kirby or just Shadow. He hails from the world inside the Dimensional Mirror, but its whereabouts have been unknown ever since the Dreamstalk incident. We... don't like to talk about that."

"Poyo..." Shadow confirmed as we remembered that fateful day. Dismissing it, however, he beamed as he took out something to show us: a big, multicolored, star–shaped gem. "Poyo!"

Izzy's eyes lit up. "Wow! That's so shiny and sparkly! Where'd you find it?"

Shadow pointed at the sky. "Portal!" He looked at the gem in curiosity. "Poyo?"

"Are you wondering what to do with that?" Gim put a hand under his non-existent chin. "Well, for now, why don't you bring that to the Waddle Dee Town south of here? Someone there might be able to make use of it. If you find any more of those, go ahead and do the same with them. And while you're at it, feel free to chill with the townsfolk! Oh, but before you go, there is something of extreme importance that you must acquire..."

"Poyo?"

Gim gave Shadow the remaining banana.

"Potassium."

"Poyo!" With a smile, Shadow swallowed the banana before taking off on his Warp Star. "Bye-bye!"

We continued right, avoiding the boulders and blasting everything else in our way. At the end of the path, Gim dispatched a Bernard and I tested my Ability on a target that hovered in the air with a propellor. The target broke, revealing a Waddle Dee that was trapped behind metal blocks. Izzy used her magic to carry him out while staying safe from the boulders, and I sent the Waddle Dee to the town.

After climbing another ladder, we had to go uphill while swerving past rolling boulders. In a safe spot on our left, Izzy activated a sparkling spot that spawned a trail of Star Coins leading between the stony wall and building on the right. Following it led to a side path where we climbed a ladder up to the top of the building, where we found two Cappies, an ear of corn, and a dome with a Gotcha Capsule and a Waddle Dee inside. I gave the Waddle Dee the corn and a Warp Star to take him back to town after taking care of the Cappies, and we jumped left off the building to head along a path on the left leading along the side of another building.

One more boulder dodged and a Bernard on a metal bridge defeated, and we encountered a flying target above a wall of metal blocks. Shooting it busted the metal blocks, revealing a door with an orange star above it, and a stone block path to it.

"A door with an orange star? I think that means whatever is inside must be some kind of optional quest, and we can just waltz in and out as much as we want, so..." Izzy raced across the bridge and into the door, and the rest of us followed.

---

Inside was a single Bernard holding a radio while standing next to a sign and a red switch, and in the middle of the room was a raised platform. We got ready to attack, but the Bernard lifted its paws up in surrender. Then it pointed at the sign, which had drawings of five flying targets, three Ranger guns, and a Waddle Dee.

"Five targets, three blasters, and a Waddle Dee..." Izzy stomped the ground triumphantly. "I think he means that he'll give us a Waddle Dee if we shoot five targets with no more than three shots! Kirby, you know what to do!"

"Poyo!" I climbed the ladder up to the raised platform and readied my blaster, as the Bernard hit the switch and started the radio.

The five targets flew into my vision on the far side of the platform, and began descending slowly, threatening to fly behind cover towards the bottom. I shot the lowest target on the left first, then the slightly higher target on the right, each one spawning a green Star Coin prize. Finally, I charged up and hit the last three targets grouped together in my powerful third shot. They made a macaroon, a donut, and a red Star Coin appear.

The Bernard clapped his paws before whistling, and a crow carried a chest in front of me. When I opened it, a Waddle Dee popped out like a jack-in-the-box. "Congrats, Kirby! You won me!"

Once I sent him back to town, we left through the door.

---

After jumping across another gap, the path went downhill away from the building. But as we defeated another Blade Knight and drank a milk carton sitting on another stump...

WHAM!

Looking up at the top of the building, we saw a giant boulder about to roll off the roof.

In our direction.

"...We gonna Daring Do this?" Izzy asked.

"That's our best option..." Gim pointed down the path. "Cause my sensors are picking up a Waddle Dee at the end of the path, in the boulder's way!"

"Poyo!" With the confirmation that the animals were willing to squish a poor innocent Waddle Dee, the three of us darted down the path, quickly moving around and jumping over rubble in the way with the boulder just feet behind us.

At the end of the grassy downhill path was a small square park with a caged Waddle Dee in the middle of a huge crack in the concrete. But... there was no crow guarding the cage. The mystery was solved when a crow swooped out from behind a park bench to swipe the cage, but I shot it down and saved the Waddle Dee before running ahead to let the boulder break through the crack and fall down.

Elfilin shuddered. "Yeesh, it's pretty scary to see the Beast Pack using tactics like threatening to run over an unguarded Waddle Dee, only to troll us by making a Clocker try and take it away at the last second!"

"What's a Clocker?" Izzy asked.

"Oh, those are the birds carrying the cages. I didn't think it was important to mention since we've only seen them carrying Waddle Dees so far."

"Wait... Clocker? Beast Pack?" Gim pointed a finger at Elfilin. "Are you a part of all this animal nonsense?"

Surprised by Gim's sudden accusation, Elfilin began to sweat. "No I'm not! Why would you say something like that?!"

"Because you gave the animals a collective name, the Beast Pack." Gim crossed his arms. "So spill it, Dumbo. Why'd you call 'em that?"

"They gave themselves that name! I can understand them for the most part, and that's how I learned what each of the animals are called, as well as their group name."

As we dropped down a couple of smaller buildings, Izzy asked the next question. "So Gim didn't have to tell us their names, and you could have? But why didn't you speak up earlier?"

One more jump and we landed in a parking lot, where we found a Waddle Dee inside a car like the one in the auto shop. But this car was surrounded by Buffahorns, Bernards, and Jabhogs, and all of them got ready to attack when we showed up.

"...We're not in a good place to discuss this." Elfilin promptly hid behind me.

Gim chuckled. "Finally, it's about time they made us start trying! Big K, you mind stepping back and letting me show what Iz can do?"

"Hmm..." I hummed before giving them some room, my blaster ready in case things went wrong. "Poyo!"

"Glad to hear you've got faith in me, Kirby!" Izzy did a couple of leg stretches before grinning at Gim. "Just say the word, and these bad boys are gonna get rocked!"

The Buffahorns charged.

"Use their inertia!"

Heeding Gim's command, Izzy cast a freezing spell that put the ground on ice. The Buffahorns slipped on the ice and couldn't stop, so they crashed into the buildings we had jumped down from. They tried again, but with a dodge and a push from Izzy, the ice made them slide off the edge of the road.

The Jabhogs extended their quills, and the Bernards used the quills as cover and shot between them at us.

"Those pokey boys ain't protected everywhere!"

Izzy created a flat magical shield halfway underneath the Jabhogs, then she flipped it up. Both the Jabhogs and the Bernards were launched into the air, and Izzy knocked out the former with laser beams to their bellies. "And that's how it's done!" Izzy cheered.

The Bernards retreated behind the car to shoot at us, but realized their mistake as I inhaled it and took on my Mouthful Mode. Left with nowhere to hide, they fled along the road ahead.

"Whoa!" the Waddle Dee inside the car exclaimed. "Kirby, did you just inhale this whole car?!"

"Nah, just most of it," Elfilin replied as he joined Gim and Izzy on top of me. "It's a new thing he learned after coming to this world, and we're calling it Mouthful Mode."

"Oh, cool. Say, Kirby, can you do me a favor? I heard that there's a treasure somewhere at the end of this road, but those animals ambushed me so I hid in this car. Think you could drive me over there?"

"Mhm!" I mumbled with a nod.

"Great! Just be careful, though. The road's pretty narrow, and you might bounce us off the road if you accidentally bump into a wall too hard. But at the same time, you can't go slow all the time either, because I saw a bunch of obstacles that take up too much of the road to go around, so you gotta break through them."

"Thanks for letting us know," Gim replied. "I'll help with the trickier turns."

I drove straight along the narrow path, hugging the edge so I don't bump into the buildings on my left on accident, taking out a few Cappies in the process. Then I turned right and made a sharp left turn, which Elfilin thought we weren't gonna make, but Gim grabbed the building's window and used it to help us turn.

Next, I had to swerve around boulders falling from our left then drive up a raised part of the road, and I jumped over both of the gaps in it and took it all the way to the end—a crack in a building. We saw a caged Waddle Dee and a pile of Star Coins inside, so I busted right through and Izzy laser–beamed the Clocker, letting Gim rescue the Waddle Dee.

I backed out and jumped down onto the main path, which was thankfully wider with only a couple of Kabus on it, but once I turned left...

We were faced with a sharp incline that had three boulders on it, one in the middle of the road and the other two further back on the sides. They were each held back by metal blocks and a bomb block.

Three Bernards came out of hiding and each shot a bomb block, causing the boulders to roll towards us.

Luckily for us, they didn't roll very fast at first, so I had plenty of time and room to maneuver around them and reach the end of the road, which had three caged Waddle Dees hanging above a raised circular garden and two stacks of metal crates in the back corners of the area. I spat out the car while Gim dispatched the Clockers and freed the Waddle Dees.

As they took off on my Warp Star, the car door opened, and out came the remaining Waddle Dee. "Yes, I made it! Thanks so much, Kirby! Now, where is it...?" He began to look around for something.

"What're you looking for?" Izzy asked. "Can we help?"

"Well, about that treasure I told you about, apparently you have to find a switch to make it appear. The switch is hidden, too." He peeked inside the trash cans on the sides of the area. "Hmm... Nope, nothing but trash in here..."

Gim eyed a tree in the back right corner. "Say... Does the switch have some sparkly, perhaps reflective attributes? 'Cause if that's the case, it might be up in that tree over there."

"The tree? ...Of course! That must be it?" The Waddle Dee ran to the tree's trunk and faced me. "Kirby, you mind if I use that gun you've got there?"

"Poyo." I took off my Ranger hat and gave it and my blaster to the Waddle Dee.

"Alright! Thank you so much!" The Waddle Dee climbed up the tree and vanished into the canopy...

Click!

"By the stars, I've found it!" He poked his head out of the tree. "Hey, when you leave, can you have your Warp Star come back here to take me back to my saved Waddle Dee comrades? I'm gonna be here awhile."

We looked at each other and shrugged. "Okay then," Gim replied. "Just be careful not to get caught by the Beast Pack again!"

"You bet I won't. Not with a star gun in hand!" The Waddle Dee charged up and fired the blaster, only for the recoil to make him fall out of the tree. "I'm still okay!"

With a sigh and a chuckle, we took my Warp Star to the next closest area Elfilin thought Waddle Dees might be held captive in.

Author's Note:

Waddle Dees rescued: 29/???

Yep, I'm bringing back a beloved character from the game Amazing Mirror, Mirror–world Kirby! The grayscale alternate Kirby from the Dimensional Mirror will help Kirby by exploring each of the rifts that appear throughout the New World, called the Treasure Roads, and take the Rare Stones he finds to the Waddle Dee Town. He will also play an important role later on.

The Ranger Ability transformation sequence was inspired by Hammer Kirby's transformation sequence from Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, and it won't be the only one referencing the anime transformations.

Wondering how Kirby reacted so quickly to the second Bernard getting ready to fire? Well, I pulled inspiration from the Quick Draw mini game from Kirby's Adventure, in which you must hit A as soon as you see the enemy take out their gun in order to fire your boxing glove before they do.

And you don't just use a regular boxing–glove pistol each time; for the fourth enemy, Bonkers, Kirby uses a boxing–glove bazooka, and for the final enemy, King Dedede, Kirby takes cover as his boxing–glove cannon blows the king to kingdom come barely one tenth of a second after he pulls out his own gun!

One tenth of a second... Kirby is a legend when it comes to games that test your reaction time.

Also, yes, the Sonic Adventure 2 and Deltarune Chapter 2 references were fully intentional.

Comments

[Maximum Pink]

Hey, sorry I didn't comment after this chapter uploaded in fear of sounding rude, there was simply not much to comment on. However, I will try and make some comments. It's interesting that Shadow Kirby appeared I hope there will be more surprise cameoes here! The Ranger transformation sequence was also very good, I liked how goofy it was~

[Maximum Pink]

11489821
Wait, scratch that last bit, I just remembered Shadow Kirby appeared last chapter. Sorry, that maybe wasn't as surprising as I thought it. I forgot about his cameo last chapter do to it being pretty long since the last update

[The Kelduo]

11489821

Hey, sorry I didn't comment after this chapter uploaded in fear of sounding rude, there was simply not much to comment on

It's okay, I understand. But just you wait. The chapters should become more interesting once we get to the first boss level, where Waddle Dees will finally have a good purpose other than just providing amenities at the Waddle Dee Town!

Wait, scratch that last bit, I just remembered Shadow Kirby appeared last chapter.

Well, he didn't actually appear last chapter. I just foreshadowed his appearance in this chapter through Kirby's phone call.

I hope there will be more surprise cameos here!

Who knows? Maybe there will...

The Ranger transformation sequence was also very good, I liked how goofy it was~

There'll be more goofy transformation sequences, I can assure you that. Be on the lookout for Toy Hammer, Pencil Drill, and Clutter Needle, just to name a few!