Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A pink puffball was drifting unconsciously through the endless space of the multiverse. Distorted stars, comets, and other astral objects swirled and passed around the pink entity. How did he get into this situation? Why was he crossing through the multiverse and when will he stop? Where will he stop?

Suddenly, the hero of planet Popstar was enveloped by a bright golden ball of light and started to go through the passage of the multiverse slightly faster. It was taking him somewhere…

Hero of another world.

A mysterious voice, that sounded both male and female at the same time, could be heard around the golden orb of light.

I have been watching you for some time now. Your valiant efforts against the forces that threaten not only your planet but also your entire universe, were such a sight to behold.

Even if the voice could clearly be heard, the hero did not wake up.

And it is because of the experience that you have that I sought to seek your help. I sense something dangerous approaching, and it is not only a simple threat to the world but the entire universe I created as well. I am afraid that I cannot defeat it alone, even with all my power…

It sounded sad at that last statement. However, its tone changed back to a formal one.

I know you do not owe me anything, however, I shall reward you greatly if you are able to defeat it.

The ball of light was approaching a swirling white portal that started glowing the moment the orb was approaching.

You will find allies and acquaintances on your journey to help you in your fight. I wish you luck… Kirby, the hero from planet Popstar.

With that, the orb of light entered the portal, and it disappeared.

Has he slept enough? Yep, he did. Nap time was over.

A pink puffball groggily opened his eyes and gently rubbed them. That really was a nice nap. He should definitely nap on Nutty Noon’s sky tower more, the breeze there is so nice. However, as the puffball’s awareness focused a bit more, he realized something foreign… this was not the sky tower.

Kirby jolted up as he quickly scanned his surroundings. He was definitely not in the sky, and he didn’t remember it having trees (well, aside from Floralia). It seemed he was in some sort of forest. Did he… did he fall off the tower while asleep? No, that wouldn’t be the case, or else he would have awakened before schedule. So… where was he? 

“Hm… I’m just gonna look around, hope I will find one of my friends soon!”

The pink puffball started walking in a random direction. If this was Whispy Woods’s forest, then he had to hope he didn’t find the tree. The last time he encountered Whispy, he was banned from the forest, the reason being Marx who was with him. Although, something seemed wrong with this forest… it didn’t have any of the usual star blocks that the forests in Dreamland usually had. On top of that, he had this… lack of something, a sort of connection that was missing. He then realized what connection he was lacking: The Star Rod.

He felt this lack of connection before when he got flung into that other world by Fecto Forgo. Did that mean… “Don’t tell me… no, I can’t be too sure yet.”

However, his train of thought stopped once he passed by two perfectly lined up rocks that were identically big. He felt like the environment around him shifted and morphed upon taking a step. The trees started to change positions, lining up with other trees. Paths started appearing, all perfectly lined. Kirby leaned back at the sight of what he saw. 

“What’s going on?” he asked himself.

He looked at the sky, the blue colors and clouds looked like they were being covered by a swirling color combination of pink and orange, dancing in the air. “Uh… I guess I can confirm this… isn’t Whispy’s forest.” He looked back and noticed that the way back was covered by trees, almost like an actual wall. “Guess the only way is forward then.”

Kirby walked onwards, taking careful steps as he looked around his new surroundings. The path he was walking was completely linear until he had to take sharp 90° degrees turns, following along the path. That was until said path became a wide-open area all of a sudden. The star ally saw some things on the ground: a small stack of gold coins, some kind of big blueberry, and a small blue orb.

Of course, Kirby, being the rational hero that he is, immediately went towards the blueberry and picked it up, swallowing it whole. He let out a sigh of satisfaction. “That tasted so good, almost like a Max Tomato! I didn’t notice how hungry I was until now.”

While Kirby was so busy reminiscing about the food he had just eaten, a figure snuck behind him and pounced on him, pinning him on his back. “Huh!?” Kirby looked at the creature. It was a canine that had black fur on the face and paws, and grey fur on the rest of the body. Its face was composed of yellow eyes, a red snout, and a muzzle with sharp teeth. The creature was currently growling at the puffball. “What are…”

The creature then opened its maw to get a chomp off of Kirby. However, the puffball reacted fast and kicked the dog-like creature off of him, managing to stand up once again. “Is this gonna be like the Elfilis incident again…?” He then remembered the first encounter he had with an Awoofy in the forgotten world, this felt way too similar. Kirby sighed as the creature came at him again. 

“Ugh, I hate getting fur stuck in my mouth.” Unfortunately, he had to defend himself.

Kirby opened his mouth and started inhaling the air in front of him like a big vacuum cleaner. Unfortunately for the grey and black dog, it got caught by the force, pulling it directly towards the puffball’s mouth. The last time Kirby ate a normal-looking furry creature, he didn’t gain any ability, unfortunately, so he decided to spit out the creature directly onto a tree. The dark canine slumped onto the ground, completely knocked out.

Kirby then noticed something from the creature he just spat… it had some kind of copy essence within it. He felt the essence coming from the fur that got stuck in his mouth. However, he couldn’t tell what kind of copy ability it was. He looked back towards the unconscious canine. 

“Hm… if I find more of them, I might try inhaling one,” he told himself

The puffball continued along the weird forest, not even bothering to pick up the cold coins or the shiny blue orb. After leaving the wide area, the paths started becoming narrow again. Kirby thought about trying to fly above the forest but quickly thought against it once he remembered about the strange dome above the weird forest maze that looked dangerous to touch. So, unfortunately, he was stuck on foot here. He managed to get to another wide area, with multiple paths this time to choose from. However, instead of finding another one of those delicious berries, he found a flock of other strange creatures.

They were round and pink like him, with nubs and feet, yellow eyes, and a tail. One distinct feature that made them even more weird, was the two long leaves sprouting from their heads. Apparently, one of them was using the leaves as a form of levitation?

“That looks… unique to say the least. Reminds me of a less angry-looking Bronto Burt.” Kirby quietly muttered.

The flock hadn’t seen the puffball yet, so he could use a method that didn’t involve violence, stealth. Kirby was… not a master of stealth. Although, he could become one if he had the Ninja ability. Unfortunately, the copy essence wasn’t with him. He didn’t take any essences with him because he decided that wouldn’t be necessary. He would just take a nap on the sky tower and that was it. Now, he really regrets that choice.

Thankfully, it seemed like the flock was focusing on something else rather than him, so he could definitely bypass them now with his bad stealth. Kirby stuck close to the wall, if he was seen, he would just book it. No need for unnecessary battles. His mission now was to get out of this forest. However, when the puffball looked at what the flock was focusing on, the stealth part of his plan quickly switched to beat them all. It would all be justified once he gulped down all of those delicious berries!

He started running to the flock of pink flying creatures, then instantly noticing Kirby. Before he could start inhaling, the flock started to fly away, using the little leaves as propellers to float. Kirby stopped running, looking up to the sky before instantly grinning. “Easy food for me!” He looked back at the berries and immediately went to the pile, inhaling them all with one single suck. Once he was done, he patted himself with satisfaction. “Well, at least the food here is still delicious as Dreamland’s fo-”

“HEEEEEELP!!!!”

Kirby flinched as he heard the call for help. He looked at his surroundings, trying to find where the voice was coming from. After pinpointing the direction of the voice, he started running towards it, following along one of the narrow paths hoping it was the right one. He reached another wide area. However, this one was a bit smaller than the others. In it, there were three of those dark canines grouping up against another creature that the puffball had never seen before. It looked like a white rabbit with orange fur on the tips of their ears and the tip of their feet. “Hey!”

The dark dogs turned away from their prey and looked at Kirby, the rabbit also opening their eyes to look confused at the puffball. “Huh…?”

“If you want to get to him, you have to defeat me, you furballs!” The puffball taunted with a smirk. One of the canines started snarling and started charging at Kirby. However, the canine quickly regretted the decision once Kirby opened his mouth and started sucking. As the dark canine went into Kirby’s mouth, the bunny’s mouth opened wide at the gruesome sight.

'Alright! Give me something useful!' Kirby thought before he swallowed.

The puffball shone with a star power as something unexpected happened. He grew a grey tail, black pointed ears on top of him, sharp teeth in his mouth, and three-pointed claws on his nubs and feet. Kirby opened his now yellow eyes with red pupils as he looked at his new form. “Whoa… what is this…?”

“Be- be careful!” The rabbit shouted as one of the other canin- no, poochyena angrily rushed towards Kirby, trying to take a bite out of him.

The star ally quickly dodged the bite of the creature and retaliated with a claw swipe at the poochyena, launching it some meters away. At the display of the new power, Kirby spoke to himself as he looked at his tail. “Did I… copy a bit of their species?” That was all he could ask before dodging another bite of the other canine. This time, an instinctive feeling took over his body, and the puffball bit the attacker on the torso. He shook the Poochyena with his mouth before spitting it to the side.

He looked at his surroundings, it seemed that everything was calm now. The puffball took a sigh of relief and released the “copy ability.” His form returned to normal as the star-shaped essence was released from his body and disappeared. He looked back at the bunny, who had a very terrified expression on everything that just happened. Kirby tilted his head. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“N-no… I’m not…” After hearing the voice a bit better, Kirby noticed that they had a girlish voice. “O-on a more important note… w-who are you? W-… what are you?”

The puffball smiled. “I’m Kirby! Who are you?”

The rabbit slowly but surely got up. “My name is Banny and um…” She quickly changed the tone of her voice. “Just what was that!? Did you seriously just eat an entire poochyena?!”

Kirby waved his nubs in assurance. “Don’t worry! It is still alive, it just got transported to another place once I ate it!”

Banny grimaced slightly. “It just feels like you’re only soothing it just to make it look slightly better…”

The puffball threw his arms in the air. “But it’s the truth! I did that, like, a million times already, even with one of my best friends!”

The female bunny made a disgusted face and changed the topic. “What even are you…? You look a little bit like a jigglypuff but…”

Kirby rubbed his side sheepishly. “Well…” He mentally protested against revealing his origins. Should I tell them…? Would they freak out? He decided to go with a small lie, it wouldn’t hurt, right? “I’m a puffy! Yep… that’s my species name!” The white rabbit crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes. “What are you?”

“I’m a scorbunny. A fire type Pokémon, if you can’t remember from school.” She rubbed the patch on her nose.

The “puffy” put a nub on his chin. “What’s a Pokémon?”

The scorbunny looked at Kirby with a shocked expression. “You don’t know what a Pokémon is!? How!?”

Wow, was his disguise to blend in already down the drain? Kirby knew he couldn’t lie very well. Although, he wasn’t the worst at lying. Kirby sighed. “Well, um… long story short, but uh… I don’t think I’m from this world…”

“Huh!?” Banny flinched as she tried to process everything she was being told, rubbing her head. “So you’re telling me… you’re an alien… that came from another world?” Kirby nodded, and the bunny creature groaned. “I’m not in the mood to process this, I almost got eaten, and I just want to get out of this place. Could you help me find the exit to this Dungeon?”

“Dungeon?”

Banny sighed. “Mystery Dungeon. It’s this maze that we’re in.”

“Oh, I see!” Kirby nodded with a smile. “Yes, I’ll help you!”

“Thanks,” Banny said with a slight smile. The duo started exploring the so-called Mystery Dungeon together. Along the way, Banny picked up some of the items left on the ground that Kirby didn’t bother picking up, aside from the obvious berries and fruits he found, and put them in the bag that was with her. While on their trek through the dungeon, they also found more of the same creatures, which Banny explained were Pokémon, like her, minding their own business.

The puffball and the scorbunny also found more Pokémon that Kirby had never seen before, such as a blue round creature with feet, no arms, and grass coming out from the top of it. Apparently, they were called an oddish, as Banny said, and they had to be careful about their acid. Kirby then thought of a little test, what would he get from inhaling that Pokémon? He looked at Banny. “Hey, I’m gonna try to inhale it.”

The bunny tilted her head with a grimace. “What? Why?”

“I just wanna test something out. Don’t worry, it won’t take long!” Banny sighed and allowed the puffball to begin his test, even though she was disgusted with the whole eating Pokémon thing. Kirby charged at the sprout Pokémon, which took notice of him and began shooting out an acidic spit from its mouth. Kirby dodged and opened his mouth, beginning to inhale the oddish. After swallowing the creature that had no chance of fighting back, Kirby glowed with star power as oddish features appeared on his body. Five leaves appeared at the top of his head as the color of his body changed to blue. Kirby took a look at his new body, running a nub on the leaves on his head. “Wow… so it wasn’t just the poochyena!”

“Is this… normal to you?” Banny approached while asking. “Like… sucking up creatures and gaining their appearances?”

Kirby looked at her and grinned sheepishly. “Well… normally yes. I do suck up enemies and gain their powers. Although, copying appearances is news to me.” He turned away from her. “Actually… can I still use their powers besides just their appearances?” The blue puffball did the first thing that came with the ability and shot out an orange acid spit that, when touched the ground, immediately dissolved some blades of grass. “Oh wow, it worked!”

“Um… how did you figure out how to do it that fast…? Wasn’t it the first time you did that?” The scorbunny asked, crossing her arms.

Kirby turned to her with a smile. “Well, to put it simply… when I use copy abilities, I get the information right in my head on how to use it!” He put a nub on his chin and looked aside. “I guess the same applies to these weird form changes as well…” He smiled again. “That’s so cool!”

“Please don’t try to eat me…” Banny looked away nervously.

“No worries, I won’t!” Kirby grinned while reassuring. They began to walk again. This time, Kirby didn’t release the “Oddish Ability” since it could prove useful if they ever ran into danger. He knew that there were other moves at his disposal, so he couldn’t wait for an opportunity to try them out. However, he did notice some of these moves looked a little bit like the leaf ability, although the absorbing moves were something new to him. It would be great to recover some of his health if he ever got hit by an enemy.

Nonetheless, after a few more rooms without needing to engage in a needless fight against the Pokémon, the environment started to shift around them again. The trees returned to normal positions, the path became loose again, letting some grass in, and the dome covering the sky disappeared, letting the blue color along with some clouds be visible again. “Are we out?”

Banny sighed in relief. “Yes, we’re out…” She looked at Kirby, who had then just released his Oddish form; once released, it turned into a weird blue star with the face of an oddish in it. It made the Scorbunny a bit spooked. “I... I forgot to say… Thanks for saving me. I think I would’ve died if you weren’t there.”

The puffball grinned. “No problem! I can’t just back down when someone needs help! Also, why were you in that place anyway?”

The rabbit looked aside while rubbing the back of her head. “Um… it might sound kinda dumb, which honestly it is… but I came following some sort of golden light.”

Kirby tilted his body, looking curious. “A golden light?”

“Yeah… I’m not sure how to explain it… it was like, a ball of light or something like that.”

“Oh, I see! Have you ever found it?”

“Nope…” She sighs. “It looks like I’m going home empty-handed…” The scorbunny looked back at Kirby. “Where are you going, by the way?”

“Hm…” The puffball shrugged. “I want to get back in my world but…” He looked around him, still no star blocks or swirly-looking clouds that Dreamland has. “I don’t think it will be that easy…” Kirby looked at Banny. “Would you mind if you took me to your town?

“Um… sure, I guess? I mean, if you showed your weird abilities, people would be a bit afraid of you. Are you okay with that?”

Kirby smirked. “Don’t worry, I’m used to that! Back in my world, some of the people there were really scared once I swallowed them. Don’t worry, I won’t eat any of them, only if any of them don’t try anything funny.”

Banny sighed. “Alright follow me. I’m a bit fast so don’t slow down!” The Scorbunny grinned as she started sprinting.

“Wasn’t even planning on slowing down!” Kirby said before he started sprinting as well, following the scorbunny. He didn’t know what awaited him in this world, or if any of his friends would notice his disappearance, but he was sure they would come for him once they realized. Magolor, the Lor, and Elfilin were the dimension travel experts after all, but while they didn't arrive, Kirby would enjoy the time in this world as best as he could! Hello, new world - again!

Chapter Text

After a bit of a jog, the scorbunny and the “puffy” reached a cave entrance. Banny stopped sprinting along with Kirby and turned to him. “This is the entrance of Agyneastra town.”

Kirby tilted his body in curiosity. “The town is in a cave?”

Banny shook her head. “Nah, the town is on the other side of this tunnel.” She put a paw on her hip. “You see, the entire place is surrounded by a formation of rocks almost like it’s inside a big crater!”

The puffball’s eyes sparkled in wonder. “Woah! That’s so cool!”

The bunny just realized how childish that alien looked and acted, yet has a terrifying ability… he could deceive people really well if he wanted and that’s kinda scary to think about. “Anyways… let’s go already, dad’s gonna be pissed if I don’t show my face again soon.” Kirby nodded and they both entered the tunnel. The passage was lit up with torches attached to the wall, so any Pokémon with low visibility could be guided easily by the torches. “Also, heads up, there will be probably a guard at the end of the passage.”

“What do you mean probably? Aren’t guards supposed to keep watch at all times?” Kirby had learned that lesson multiple times by the amount of guards he had to defeat every time he invaded a castle.

“Well… sometimes, the guard will be sleeping rather than actually protecting the city.” Banny chuckled and Kirby giggled along with her. After walking a bit more, they saw a Pokémon standing by the exit, leaning against the cave wall. It seemed to be a white bipedal feline creature with red fur in some spots of its body, a big white fluffy-looking tail, and some red eyes. The most noticeable feature of the Pokémon was the sharp black claws on each paw. “Huh, so he’s not sleeping this time.”

Kirby tilted his body. “That’s the guard?”

“Yep. His species is called a zangoose.”

“Oooh, I see! I’m gonna go greet him!” Kirby beamed as he started sprinting towards the white feline.

The scorbunny flinched in surprise and extended a paw, calling out to the puffball. “Hey, wait!” Unfortunately for her, he had already gone ahead.

The guard was just minding his own business as he stared into the distance, possibly daydreaming by how he wasn’t paying attention to the pink demon approaching him. The puffball poked him on the belly and he snapped out of it, looking to the sides then down. He stared at the creature in front of him and couldn’t help but mutter, looking confused. “… what?”

Kirby waved at him joyfully. “Hi!”

The feline looked confused and looked around once more before looking at Kirby again. “Uh… are you lost kid?”

“Kid!?” Kirby asked a bit baffled. “I’m not a kid, I’m an adult!”

Before the guard could ask anything else, he saw a scorbunny running in their direction, stopping right in front of them. She started explaining a bit nervously. “Hey Zenith! So uh… could you let us through? Don’t mind the little guy, he uh… just went a bit ahead of me!”

“He…? I thought it was a she…” The guard said looking back at Kirby, analyzing the puffball.

“What!?” Kirby blurted out. “Excuse you, but I’m not a girl!”

Banny just wanted this to be finished fast so she reluctantly agreed with the puffball. “Y-yep! Definitely a boy, now if you’d excuse us!” She started pushing Kirby past the guard towards the exit of the cave.

Zenith just looked at them before leaning on the wall muttering to himself. “What a weird Pokémon… looks so much like an earless and furless jigglypuff… hope it doesn’t cause any trouble, or else the captain will be pissed… especially at me for letting a potential threat in…”

Meanwhile, Kirby was struggling, trying to get out of Banny’s grip. “Hey… let me go! I wanna go back to that guard and say to him a lot of times that I’m not a child and I’m not a girl!”

“Calm down alright!? It’s not that big of a deal, plus, you’re not the only one in this!” The scorbunny assured, trying to get the pink puff to calm down. Luckily for her, he did. “Geez, you say you’re an adult and still make a scene…”

Kirby looked away from embarrassment. “Hehe… sorry…”

“Well, in any case, we’re here. Welcome to Agyneastra town.” The scorbunny pointed in front of her to show a massive town below the hill they were standing. The puffball looked at the town and his eyes sparkled with wonder. Indeed, they could see rectangular buildings along with some head-shaped buildings being surrounded by giant rock formations like the town was inside a massive crater. The houses and shops were on different layers of the ground. In the middle of the entire town, there was a massive white crystal that seemed to be the height of the rock formations surrounding the crater. The scorbunny crossed her arms. “Like I said, it looks like it’s inside of a big crater.”

“Woah! This town looks incredible! I wanna go see everything!”

Before the puffball could sprint off again, Banny grabbed his nub, holding him back. “Just wait a second! Before you go explore, we need a cover-up story for you.”

Kirby looked back at the bunny with a questioning look. “Why?”

“Well, if it isn’t obvious, you can’t just tell other Pokémon that you’re an alien from another world, they’ll be suspicious of you.”

The puffball just waved it off with a smile. “Don’t worry, it’s gonna be fine!”

Banny grabbed Kirby by the cheeks. “You don’t get it, Kirby! Pokémon will try to kidnap you or try something stupid to you, and when you reveal your… abilities, everyone will be wary of you.”

The puffball looked away as he thought about it and, with a frown, he looked back at Banny. “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t want to cause trouble on the first day here…” Kirby sighed and the scorbunny released him. He could be reckless and childish sometimes, but he knows how to follow the advice from other people and act seriously when needed. “So… you thought about any cover-up stories?”

The bunny put a paw in her mouth to think. “How about this? Let’s just say you are a newly discovered Pokémon species, not a mythical but quite rare. Since you look a little bit like some Pokémon, people will most likely buy it.”

“Oh, I see! So, are we going to use um… Puffy as an actual species name?”

“Nope, that doesn’t even come close to a species name.” Banny crossed her arms and closed her eyes in thought, after some seconds she opened them and frowned. “I can’t come up with anything good…”

Kirby put a nub in his chin as he started thinking. The name of the entity he came from is called Astral Birth Void, as he learned some years ago. He was also connected to the stars as well… hm… Astral… “How about... Astrali?”

The scorbunny tilted her head. “Where did that come from?”

Kirby thought of a way to explain this without revealing too much, not to freak Banny out. “Uh… well, you see, my uh… parents… had Astral in their name, and since I have the powers of the stars as you saw when I gained an ability, I thought it would fit.” The puffball smiled.

The bunny thought for a little bit and smirked. ”Not bad, not bad. I don’t remember any species with that name so… I guess that’s good to go.”

Kirby smiled. “Nice!” Thinking about it, he hadn’t even come up with a name for his own species. He should’ve at least thought about it more after discovering his origins. Well… at least this was an opportunity to settle that, he is definitely gonna use Astrali as his own species name now. Kirby then looked at the town, tapping his feet in excitement as he pointed at it. “Can I go now!?”

“Yes, let’s go. But please stay by me, I don’t want to see you off my sight, and the next place I see you is in jail…” Kirby nodded and the duo entered the path to the outskirts of the town. While descending the hill, Banny spoke again. “Alright first off, does your world have currency?”

The astrali looked at the scorbunny. “Oh? Yes, it does. But it’s boring… don’t tell me your world has that too…”

“Yep, it has.” Banny pulled out of her bag a gold coin with the letter P in the middle with two lines crossing the letter horizontally. “This is called poké, it’s those coins you saw in the dungeon.”

“Oh, uh… I see.” Kirby really wasn’t that good at understanding currency, especially the coins. In the Forgotten World, he had Elfilin manage the star coins since he was better at that part. “Um… do I have to buy delicious food as well?”

“Yes Kirby, even food.”

Kirby sighed sadly. “Aw, man…”

Banny just shrugged. “That’s capitalism for you.”

At that word, he was immediately reminded of Magolor. Once the alien traveler noticed that Kirby was carrying a lot of coins with him after returning from the forgotten world with the Star Coins he gathered in his time there, he sold the puffball a lot of items (mostly useless) that he found on his travels. And yes, he took advantage of Kirby who did not know how the currency was valued. “Yeah, unfortunately…” Kirby responded.

The bunny rubbed her nose patch. “Anyways, the other thing I need to warn you about is to always have a map of the city with you. The reason Is quite obvious.”

Kirby instantly got his mood back up. “Yeah! I can’t wait to explore every nook and cranny!”

“Well… first we need to find you a place where you can sleep, of course.” Kirby then made an understanding nod. “Alright then, good. First, it’s best to see if my dad will let you live in our house because I doubt you would have any money with you.”

The astrali shook his head. “At the dungeon, I didn’t bother picking up coins.” He rubbed his back sheepishly.

“That’s fine honestly.” Banny sighed as they reached the outskirts of the town. Some Pokémon already being visible talking to each other. She was getting really nervous about this. What if Kirby does something weird she hasn’t seen before? What if the other townsfolk get weary of him and see that he isn’t a Pokémon? What if they literally attack Kirby and he retaliates!? What if-

Banny looked at the puffball beside her, however, her heart sank once she saw that the astrali wasn’t beside her. “Kirby?!” She looks around desperately and finds the puffball walking towards a goodra and a noivern talking. “Oh Arceus…”

“So, you know about that rumor about that Lucario-“ The slimy slug dragon paused once she noticed that her tail was being poked. The noivern looked at the cause along with her to find a pink puffball smiling at them. “Uh… who-”

“Hi! I’m Kirby! Nice to meet you guys!”

The noivern and the goodra looked at each other in confusion before looking back at the astrali, the dragon bat speaking this time with a deep female voice. “Um… hi Kirby… where are your-”

Banny interrupted while grabbing Kirby. “Sorry for the interruption guys! He's still a toddler, so you know how it goes!” Banny sheepishly laughed and pushed the astrali away from the dragon types before he could protest. After they were a bit far away from them, the scorbunny sighed. “Kirby, try to keep a low profile to not attract any unwanted attention, alright?”

Kirby made a frown. “But I was just being friendly…”

“Be too friendly with the wrong people, and they take advantage of you. Understand?”

The puffball sighed, she was indeed right about that. Maybe it was time to try not to get too trusting so cases like Marx and Magolor (even if he was being controlled a little) didn't happen again. “Yes, I do…” Kirby looked around and saw lots of other Pokémon walking and talking around him. To orange dragon-like creatures, to even a ball of bad-smelling gas that floated in the air. The astrali’s eyes sparkled once more at the variety of Pokémon he was seeing. “Woah… so many cool Pokémon!”

Banny released him and smiled at Kirby. “Yeah, there are a lot of species of Pokémon in the world, some being discovered just recently and all. And like I said, it’s the perfect disguise for you.”

“I can’t wait to meet them all!”

“Calm down buddy, let’s take it easy for now. Come on, my house isn’t that far.” The scorbunny motioned for Kirby to follow and they started walking on the town’s dirt street.

Kirby was looking at the townsfolk and the architecture of the town like a small child in an amusement park. Some Pokémon were looking at Kirby with strange looks, and even a yellow and white ostrich-like Pokémon flinched at the sight of Kirby for some reason before minding their own business and walking slightly faster. Kirby didn’t notice that reaction. “Are we there yet!?”

“Yeah, we’re close.” Banny was thankful that the astrali was behaving well, aside from the first contact with the other townsfolk. While they were walking, Kirby pointed at certain buildings and asked what they were for, mostly the head-shaped buildings. The scorbunny pointed at the misdriveous-headed building. “That’s Mismo’s shop. She sells all kinds of weird accessories that apparently have some magic in them. Her species is called a misdreveous” She then pointed to the shop with the head of a swampert. “That’s the general market. It’s owned by Smish, who’s a swampert.”

Kirby then excitedly pointed at a building that was unlike the rest. It was a stand fully made of metal, along with the ceiling. There were a lot of weapons on display: swords, axes, hammers, and even some protectors as well. On the counter, there was a pink girl with pink long hair who was reading a newspaper with a grumpy look. “Wow! Who’s the blacksmith?”

The Scorbunny visibly grimaced. “Oh um… that’s Ruka, a tinkaton. She’s kind of a grumpy ‘mon, but she gets her job done without any complaints strangely enough.”

“Oh, I see.” Kirby said before both of them moved forward. The tinkaton glanced at the duo before looking back at the newspaper, which on the backside of it, there was some news talking about some cult sightings.

After a minute, they arrived at a two-floored building made out of bricks and stone, a wooden door at the entrance, along with two windows on the first floor and two windows on the second floor. Banny sighed. “We’re here… hope I don’t have to face Dad’s wrath for leaving so suddenly…”

“By the way, who’s your dad, Banny?” Kirby asked as Banny opened the door.

“His name is Treth, and he is called a lucario.” The scorbunny entered the house along with the astrali and shouted. “Dad, I’m home!”

Footsteps coming from the wooden stairs could be heard along with a voice. “Banny! Where were you!? I was looking everywhere for-” A furry blue and black bipedal canine, with spikes coming out of his chest and paws, descended the stairs desperately until he stopped, looking at Kirby. “… Banny… who is this…?”

The white rabbit rubbed the back of her head while smiling sheepishly. “Well… that’s um…”

Kirby waved at the Lucario joyfully. “Hi! My name is Kirby! Nice to meet you!”

Chapter Text

The puffball waved at the lucario in front of him. The bipedal canine just analyzed Kirby from top to bottom before turning to her daughter. “Banny, could you explain to me what is this Pokémon?”

Kirby turned to the scorbunny and tilted his body. “Are we gonna tell him the truth?”

The bunny put a paw on her chin. “Yeah… it’s the smart choice here…” Banny sighed and looked at her father. “So dad… this is Kirby and he uh… came from another world…”

Treth’s eyes widened as he looked back at Kirby. “Wait… you’re from another world!?”

Kirby nodded. “I live on a planet called Popstar! It’s so cool there!”

The lucario was honestly not buying it, judging by his expression. So he decided to close his eyes and took a deep breath. In the eyes of the aura canine, he could see two burning auras in front of him, one that he recognized as a kind and loving aura that belonged to his daughter. Besides his daughter's aura, there was a monstrous aura that was constantly changing colors like a rainbow in the form of a star, it was so big that it looked like it went into the very sky. “What the!?” Treth opened his eyes and summoned a bone staff made out of aura, getting into a fighting position. “Banny, get away from that thing!”

Kirby and Banny flinched, a surprised and confused expression appearing on their faces. “W-what!? Dad, what’s wrong!?” Before she could ask more, the lucario charged forward and hit Kirby with the bone, launching him onto a wall and making a small round crater. “Kirby!!!”

“Stay back, my daughter! That thing’s power knows no bounds!” The scorbunny looked at her dad in shock. She looked back at the astrali, who slumped on the ground. “Come on you monster, show me your true colors!”

Banny got in front of her father with a serious face. “Dad, stop!” Treth flinched and looked down at the bunny. “Kirby did nothing wrong! Whatever you think he is, he is not that!”

“But Banny-”

“Dad!” The scorbunny shouted while stomping on the ground and looking to the side, having a bit of difficulty speaking to her father as her feet started to heat up a little. “I would’ve died if it wasn’t for him…”

Treth’s eyes widened a little as he looked back at Kirby who slowly got up, groaning a little. The puffball looked back at the lucario with a grimace. “Just what was that for…?”

The canine frowned, tightening his grip on his weapon before dissipating it. Treth walked up to Kirby slowly and crouched to be on Kirby’s level. “I am… truly sorry for doing that. I acted out on instinct after I saw your aura.”

“It’s fine, really!” Kirby then tilted his body. “But… what do you mean my aura?”

The lucario nodded. “Yes… auras are the essence of one’s being. Some Pokémon can see auras while others can manipulate them to their own ends. When I saw your aura… it looked like the aura of a god…”

Kirby looked aside sheepishly. Is it really that easy to find out what he actually is? Or is it that some of these creatures are just that powerful? Either way, the puffball had to come up with an excuse that might lessen his status a little. With a rub on his side, he said with a smile. “Nah, it’s just… I’m a really strong guy! And it’s also because um… I found something really powerful that made me have the power that I have now! I’m really not a god… if I was, that cool attack you did wouldn’t even hit me that easily!”

Treth analyzed Kirby with careful eyes before sighing. “Alright then…” He glanced back at Banny before getting up and looking back at the astrali. “I must thank you on behalf of saving my daughter, it is really appreciated.”

Kirby grinned. “It’s no biggie! I’m just glad I was there in time!”

The scorbunny decided it was a good time to approach and ask her dad the question she had been holding. “So… dad?” The lucario turned to her with a hum. “Can… can Kirby stay here?”

Treth flinched a little. Something as terrifying as this… Kirby staying in his house could really cause some trouble. He looked back at Kirby. “Do you have somewhere to go Kirby…?” The puffball shook his head with a frown. The blue and black canine made a thinking expression before coming to a conclusion. “Unfortunately, I cannot take you in…”

“Huh?” The scorbunny’s ears fell. “Why not, Dad?”

“Thinking about it, we don’t have the supplies necessary for a third person to be living with us. Yeah, sure, we have the space, but everything else is a bust…”

Banny frowned as she looked down. However, Kirby pat her back reassuringly. “It’s fine Banny, I’ll find another place to live temporarily, no worries!”

The bunny turned her head to the astrali. “Again, with what money?”

Treth took a step forward. “I think I can help with that.” The duo looked at the lucario who was smiling. “And I don’t mean the money issue, I meant your temporary home.” Kirby tilted his body in curiosity. “My best advice is for you to join an exploration guild.”

Banny’s ear perked up as she gasped. “You want… Kirby to become an explorer?!” Her father nodded. “Are you sure that’s the best option?”

Kirby rubbed his side. “What’s an exploration guild?”

The scorbunny looked at the puffball. “In short, they are places that recruit Pokémon to go explore, catch outlaws, and save Pokémon inside Mystery Dungeons. Like that distorted place, we were in the forest.”

The lucario looked at her daughter with a questioning but annoyed look. “Why did you even go into that dungeon alone in the first place, Banny? I know it’s a low-threat dungeon, but still…”

The bunny clasped her paws behind her and started twisting her foot. “I… I went to search for something that I thought looked important… I didn’t ask… to go with you because I thought you wouldn’t believe me…”

Treth looked a bit unamused but sighed nonetheless as he put a paw on her daughter’s arm. “Look Banny, I understand that you wouldn’t trust an adult knowing your… history, but I am your father, you can trust me with anything, understood?”

Banny slowly nodded. “Alright, Dad.”

The lucario smiled slightly then looked at Kirby. “Well, back as I was saying before… if you join the exploration guild, it’ll give you food and a place to sleep.” The puffball perked up at the mention of food. “As long as you work for them, that is.” He nodded as the canine put a paw on his hip. “Although… I think it’s rather a bit late to assign you at the moment… I don’t mind keeping you in at least for one night.”

Kirby smiled with a childish glee. “Thanks, sir!” At least the puffball was taught manners for situations like these. He never thought he would need manners, but Meta Knight insisted (forced) him to learn them. They were used basically anywhere that was a bit fancy, and honestly, Kirby found it a bit annoying. But now, it seemed he had to use it for basically everything in this world because he didn’t know how these Pokémon acted.

“Oh, just call me Treth, no need to be so formal with me.”

Or… he didn’t need to use manners most of the time it seemed. “Oh, alright then.”

“Anyways, are you hungry? I made some food as it was getting a bit late.” The canine said while smiling. Kirby’s eyes glistened as he nodded, already drooling as he thought about the potentially delicious food he was about to eat.

The family and the puffball entered the dining room of the house. Kirby stood on a hay seat along with Banny while the lucario went to fetch the food. The scorbunny turned to the astrali. “Hey Kirby, I have a question.” The puffball turned to her. “What kind of food do you eat on your planet?”

Kirby grinned as he supported himself on the wooden-carved table. “There are tons of delicious food back in my world! There are fruits, meats, drinks, and energy drinks! And my personal favorite, a Max Tomato!”

Banny’s eyes glistened as she put her paws on the table. “Ooh! I can’t wait to try them all! Except for the meats, I can’t eat any.” She sighed. Well, Kirby figured that was the case since he saw the bunnies in the forgotten world only eat grass or vegetables. “So um…”

Kirby decided to interrupt the rabbit with his own question. “So Banny, where’s your mother? Wouldn’t you have one or is it just your dad?”

Banny’s ear dropped as she looked aside, her face morphing into a sad expression. “Well… she’s…”

Before the scorbunny could say anything more, the lucario came back with two plates, balancing one on each paw. On one plate, there were green vegetables along with some pink and green berries. On the other plate, there was a mix of everything. There was some kind of cooked meat, as well as the same kind of green vegetables along with blue and red berries. Treth put the food on the wooden table, Kirby already drooling as he looked at the food. “Well, here you go. It isn’t much but-”

To his shock and surprise, the puffball opened his mouth wide and he started sucking the entire food along with the plate. He swallowed the food whole then removed the plate from his mouth and held it with his nub, even without fingers. “That was so good! Do you have more? Can I take another one?!” Kirby asked childishly.

Meanwhile, the blue aura canine just stared with his jaw dropped. He stuttered, trying to fathom how he did it. “T-the… wha-…“

The bunny whispered to him. “Trust me, this isn’t the weirdest thing he can do.”

After calming down a little, Treth recomposed himself and cleared his throat. “Unfortunately, I just made one plate for each.”

Kirby’s face dropped. “Awww….”

The lucario shrugged after picking up Kirby’s plate. “Don’t worry, in the guild you will get to eat bigger plates than this one, that’s for sure.” Kirby perked up with a big smile as he heard that.

While the Pokémon were busy eating, Kirby went to explore the house a little. The room he decided to go to was the kitchen, however, he wouldn’t try to eat anything because he promised the lucario that he would behave. As he checked the stone walls, he looked at a window and saw something he wasn’t expecting. The puffball saw a strange figure obscured by the shadows, there wasn’t anything that could be made out of the figure except for the weird red scarf around its neck and three blue digits pressing against the window. “Huh!?”

Suddenly, the figure jumped away from the window at high speeds, losing them from sight. “Hey!” Kirby exclaimed as he ran to the round window and looked through it. Instead of seeing the figure run away, all that he saw was a log of wood on the ground. Kirby tilted his body confused.

Before the astrali could think about it any further, Banny entered the kitchen. “Kirby?” The puffball looked back at the bunny. “Is there something wrong?”

He looked back out the window before looking back at the scorbunny with a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing. I just thought I saw someone.” He then shrugged. “My imagination, hihi!”

“Well… if you say so…” She suddenly perked up. “Oh! Wanna go train with me? It’s too early to go to bed, so I usually train before going to sleep!”

“Alright then, I’m down!” The puffball said with glee as he followed Banny through a back door.

The backdoor led to a wide area that had some trees around the place. There were no other houses in sight. “Woah…!” Kirby exclaimed in wonder. “Is this your backyard? How come there are no other houses?”

Banny rubbed her nose patch as she grinned. “Simple, my house is on the southeast edge of the town, so behind my house is kinda like my private training grounds!” With that, she puffed her chest and let out a small fireball from her mouth as it impacted a tree with a painted target on it.

Kirby’s eyes glistened as he watched that display and looked at Banny. “You can breathe fire!?”

The scorbunny put a paw on her hip as she posed smugly. “Yes, I can! Pretty cool, huh?”

Kirby thought back on the first time he met Banny, being cornered by those three poochyena. “Wait, if you could breathe fire from the start, why didn’t you use it on those poochyenas back in the dungeon? The only thing they could do was bite and scratch…”

The scorbunny flinched as her cool moment ended. She cleared her throat as she looked back at the puffball. “That’s… because I got cornered, and I was being pinned on the ground!”

“I don’t remember seeing you getting pinned…” 

Banny waved her paws in front of her. “A-anyways… wanna try some target practice as well?”

The puffball immediately nodded. “Of course! Can you shoot a fireball at me?”

Banny tilted her head in confusion. “Uh… why?”

The astrali grinned. “I’ll be fine, trust me!” 

The scorbunny sighed and shot another small fireball, but this time, aimed at Kirby. The puffball started sucking the air in front of him along with the fireball. Feeling its essence, Kirby swallowed it and glowed with star power. The top of the puffball’s body started burning constantly, and around the base of the flame, a golden crown appeared with a blue gem on the front.

Kirby became Fire Kirby! Banny’s eyes glistened in wonder. “Woah! That’s so cool!”

The astrali analyzed himself as he took a look at his nubs and touched the crown on his head. It seemed that when he inhaled the elements themselves, he got the normal copy ability. “Nice, I still have my old abilities!” 

“So… you could shoot fire now that you have that… fire on your head?” The scorbunny asked as she got a bit closer to Kirby.

“Yes, I can!” The puffball grinned. “Watch this!” He said as he turned to the target on the tree. He sucked a small amount of air and then shot out a flamethrower directly onto the target, burning a wide area of the trunk. Kirby looked back at Banny, who had her jaw dropped at the sight of such a powerful flame. Kirby threw his nubs in the air. “How was that?”

“For the love of Moltres flames… that looked so… INCREDIBLE!” Banny went towards Kirby and started to circle around the puffball, bombarding him with questions. “How did you make a flame that big? Are you a professional at shooting flames? Wait, is it that big flame on your head helping you or-”

Kirby was starting to get dizzy while trying to spin, following the scorbunny circling him. “Uh… I can’t seem to answer them all, sorry…” However, while spinning he thought he saw another slim figure, who also seemed to be wearing a scarf, standing on one of the branches. However, after shaking his body and looking back to the exact branch… no one was there. “Huh…?”

Banny looked at Kirby’s confused expression and crossed her arms. “Are you sure there’s nothing wrong, Kirby?” 

The astrali looked back at Banny and rubbed his back. “Oh, it’s just my mind playing tricks on me again.” He giggled sheepishly. “Anyways, let’s go back to training, it’s been a bit since I practiced with fire anyways!”

“Well… alright then.” The two of them returned to their little training session, taking turns to each hit different trees. The scorbunny kept targeting trees close to her, while the astrali targeted the trees a bit further away. However, it got a bit late and Treth called them back home. Kirby discarded the ability and entered back into the house along with Banny.

The trio went to the second floor of the house where there were three rooms, one on each side and one being the door for the bathroom. The lucario then pointed to the door on the right. “That’s Banny’s room, you can sleep there with her. However, you may need to share beds.”

“That’s fine by me!” Kirby exclaimed.

Treth nodded as he opened the door to his room. “Alright, with that, I shall go to bed. Goodnight my little bunny, goodnight Kirby.”

“Goodnight!” The astrali and scorbunny said in unison before Treth entered his room and closed his door, followed by the duo as they did the same.

Kirby looked around at Banny’s room. For lack of a better word, it was… empty. There was a wall with a single round open window on it, two cabinets on each side of the room filled with boring-looking books, and a red scarf with white stripes on it. In the middle of the room, there was a stack of hay on the floor. The scorbunny went to it and sat on it and smiled at the astrali. “Well, this is my room, hope you like it.”

The puffball hid his honest opinion about the room and only said, “It’s really cozy!” as he went to check out the room. He went to the window first and looked out, seeing some lit-up windows from other houses while he could see some torches on the street. He then looked back inside the room and his eyes locked on with the very important-looking scarf on the cabinet. “Hey, is that scarf yours?”

Banny looked at the scarf and her expression shifted again to a sad one. “No… that’s my mother’s scarf…”

Kirby perked up at that. “Oh yeah! Where’s your mother, by the way? Won’t she be late for bedtime?”

The bunny looked away as her ears dropped. “Kirby… she’s not coming home anymore…”

Kirby tilted his body in innocence. “Why…?”

Banny grimaced. “She’s dead…”

The puffball was taken back by that slightly. He wasn’t that stupid, he knew what death meant. After all, more of his recent friends had experienced having someone close die. Taranza was the most affected by grief, but after some months, he recovered with the help of the Star Allies. Well, if the scorbunny was suffering through that, Kirby would stay by her side until she cheers up again! The puffball went to Banny and stroked her back gently. “Hey, it’s fine… don’t worry, you’ll get through it…!”

Banny smiled sadly at the astrali. “Kirby, I’m fine, that was like… some cycles ago, I’m alright.”

“Well if you say so…” Kirby then smiled softly at her. “Let’s just go to sleep, alright?” Banny nodded and lay on the stack of hay on the floor. “Um… where’s the bed?”

The bunny looked at Kirby in confusion. “What do you mean? This is the bed.”

“Oh! Alright.” Kirby then laid beside the scorbunny on the same hay bed, looking away from each other. “Goodnight Banny!”

“Goodnight Kirby.” 

With that, both of them closed their eyes and fell asleep, Kirby started dreaming about the new kinds of food he ate that day, while Banny was dreaming about a really fantasized version of her encounter with the puffball. Overall, everyone slept normally…

Or… is what I would say if it wasn’t for a slim and frog-like bipedal Pokémon, with a slimy scarf wrapped around their neck, revealing themselves with a puff of smoke, his apparition being completely silent. “So… this is the destroyer of worlds that the prophecy was talking about?” The figure muttered to himself with a slightly muffled male voice as he got a sack from the satchel on his side. “This clearly must be a joke…” He opened the sack and grabbed the puffball, putting him inside it. “At least I shall give it credit for that fire ability it used…” With that, the frog left from the window, taking Kirby with him.

Chapter Text

“Yo… ink… he one…?”

Some muffled voices could be heard as a puffball groggily opened his eyes.

“Well… Pa… cia… sai… was the destro… pla… ts… in the prophe…”

Kirby was a bit dizzy as he woke up. For some reason, he felt that in his sleep he moved a lot more than usual. But that didn’t matter, because once his vision focused again Kirby realized that the floor was different than when he went to sleep. The floor was made out of bricks, and he wasn’t even lying on a stack of hay anymore! 

Kirby frantically looked around, wanting to find out where in Banny’s bedroom he was. The walls were fully made of bricks and in one of the walls, there was a window covered with wooden planks, barricading it. Kirby got up with a jump and looked around a bit more before turning behind him to find sets of iron bars instead of a wall. Wait a minute… this ain’t a bedroom. “Where am I…?”

After putting the puzzle pieces together, while shaking the sleepiness away, the puffball realized that he was in a place that he would have never expected to be in… a prison. Kirby walked to the iron bars and looked around outside his cell. There were two Pokémon with golden badges on their torsos standing on each edge of the cell. One was a bipedal blue otter-like creature that had white whiskers and a shell on each leg. The other Pokémon was a gray bipedal creature that seemed really muscular and had four arms. However once Kirby got a good look at their face, he flinched. “Buff Dedede!?”

The muscular Pokémon looked at Kirby with a confused look before looking at the otter. “Hey, dat thing woke up.” Oh wait, it isn’t Dedede, but the mouth looks a bit similar to his beak. “Should we call the mayor or…” 

“No, wait.” The blue otter spoke next. “If it hasn’t tried to attack us on sight yet, it might be intelligent. Maybe we should try to ask it a few questions first.” The muscular Pokémon nodded in agreement and the otter Pokémon turned to the puffball. “So destroyer of worlds, do you have a name?”

Kirby tilted his head in confusion. “Des-… destroyer of worlds?” Wait a second… the only being with that title that he met before was Void Termina…? Have they met Void Termina before!? 

The two Pokémon looked at each other in confusion before looking back at the astrali, the gray Pokémon speaking this time. “Uh… yeah. The one from… the prophecy dat said one was comin’.”

Welp, fortunately, they haven’t met him. Kirby sighed in relief, however, something was a bit off. What prophecy were they talking about? Before the puffball could speak again, the otter spoke while punching the wall. “Alright you pink freak, enough games! What’s your goal here, destroy our planet and move on to the next!?”

Kirby waved his nubs in front of him defensively. “Wait, you got it all wrong! I’m not a destroyer of worlds!” He then rubbed his side and answered sheepishly. “I’m actually a Pokémon just like you guys!”

The gray humanoid Pokémon clenched two fists in front of him. “Don’t play dumb with us! Dat mayor’s secretary or somethin’ saw ya powerful aura, it literally surpasses all common Pokémon and even mythicals! … or she says…”

Kirby realized that trying to defend himself wouldn’t work with these guys. He would’ve waited for his sentence patiently if it wasn’t for the fact he remembered something. Wait! Treth was gonna introduce him to the guild today so he could get somewhere to live, he needed to be there in time! 

The puffball squeezed through the bars and looked at both Pokémon guards who were looking at him in utter shock. Well… the iron bars were really spaced out from each other, it was really easy for someone like him to just pass through them. “Sorry, but I need to go. I have something really important and I need to go to find a Lucario-”

“He’s escapin’!” The muscular Pokémon shouted before punching the puffball towards a wall. The astrali slumped to the ground and shook his body, getting up and into a fighting position. The gray Pokémon turned to the otter. “Call back up! I’ll hold it off from esca-”

Kirby opened his mouth and started sucking up everything in front of him. Fortunately for him, the muscular Pokémon got caught in the vacuum and started being pulled towards the puffball. He tried resisting, stomping on the ground trying to stay in place, however, it was all for naught once the puffball raised the force of the vacuum, swallowing him whole. The astrali glowed with star power and his body changed.

The blue otter stumbled on his back as he looked at Kirby’s new form with horror, his whiskers dropping as he began trembling. “W-what did you…”

The puffball now wore a gray beanie-like hat that had three brown ridges at the top, and coming from his back came four gray muscular arms with clenched fists on them. Kirby looked at his back and his new arms and his eyes sparkled with wonder. “Woah…!”

“Y-you monster…” The otter said shakily as it backed away further from the puffball that turned to him. “Y-you… a-ate him with no remorse…”

Kirby waved his nubs in front of him along with the muscular machamp hands. “W-wait! It’s not what it looks like, he’s fi-”

The blue otter threw one of his shells at Kirby like a boomerang, unfortunately for the Pokémon, the puffball blocked it. Although, that was the time he needed to get the heck out of there as the shell returned to him. He tapped his badge and started shouting. “GUARDS, GUARDS! THE THREAT ESCAPED AND IT ATE ONE OF OUR OWN!!!”

“Wait!” Welp, that is unfortunate. The otter Pokémon was gone and it just left Kirby staring at the hallway with two of his machamp arms stretched out. The puffball sighed, he didn’t have time to explain, he needed to get out of there fast to go back towards Banny’s house! 

“Huh?! What am I doin’ ‘ere!?” 

Kirby looked at one of the cells and saw the machamp he swallowed. “Sorry for that, gotta borrow your power for a bit!” 

With that, the puffball dashed off, not leaving any time for the machamp to protest. “Come back ‘ere, ya pink monstah-! I’m gonna clobbah ya so hard dat-” 

Before the puffball reached the stairs, he looked to see a window with thicker iron bars than his cells. That surely puts a dent in his plans of just flying away. Although he could just punch the bars with his new ability, he didn’t actually want to cause issues for the construction team who repaired the place. Nonetheless, he jumped and looked out the window to see where he was.

It was daytime and it seemed that he was still in Agyneastra town by the giant rock formations surrounding the buildings. It looked like he was in a pretty high place since he couldn’t really see the ground level of the town in much detail. Guess he gotta overcome a lot to leave this place-

“Freeze!” The puffball looked away from the window and saw two other Pokémon with the same golden shield badges on their torsos. One Pokémon was a bipedal canine with red and white fur, red eyes, and a white mane with black tips acting as a kind of hair. The other Pokémon was a black and yellow feline with a star-shaped tail that had yellow eyes and a small black-furred mane. The female canine spoke again with a gruff voice. “Go back to your cell, or else we’ll be forced to use force!”

Kirby knew there would be no use talking to them, so he started dashing towards the stairs. “Hey!” The feline started running towards the astrali, coating his own body with electricity as he tried to tackle Kirby. The puffball dodged, however, the small lion was in front of Kirby now. “We’re not gonna let a monster like you escape!” 

Kirby sighed. It seems they were dead set on capturing him, after all, they think he ate one of their own. He had no other options, he had to fight to the exit! “Sorry for this!” Kirby apologized before clenching one of his machamp arms and punching the feline a distance away. While focusing on the feline, the puffball failed to dodge a rock thrown at him, making him fall to the ground. “Ah!”

“We warned you!” The canine said before slamming a paw on the ground. Before Kirby could get up, a stone pillar came out of the ground below him, launching him into the air. “Now you will pay the price!”

Kirby recovered his stance midair and looked back at the pillar of stones. With his four arms ready to go, he started punching the pillar consecutively with his machamp arms as he fell. Once Kirby reached the ground, he dashed towards the bipedal wolf and grabbed her with the gray arms, spinning rapidly before throwing her into a wall and knocking her out.

Before the puffball could dash towards the stairs again, he saw that the black and yellow feline was dashing towards him with an electrical current dancing around his body before growing into a yellow electric aura.

The astrali dodged the electric tackle before running after the small lion and started to punch him repeatedly with his four arms as Kirby screamed while attacking. “Hoaaaaaaaahh!” After the barrage of punches from the Close Combat attack, the feline was launched into a wall, making a small crater around him before slumping to the ground, knocked out as well. “So sorry…”

Kirby sighed in relief before running away to the stairs. While running down the stairs, he thought about something off-putting about the previous floor. There were a lot of empty cells on that floor. Maybe it was because there weren’t a lot of criminals in here? Yeah, that was probably it.

After skipping some floors, the stairs stopped on a certain floor. The puffball would’ve liked it if this was the main floor, but unfortunately, on another window, he had seen that he didn’t even descend through half of the building. However, it seemed that this floor was the halfway point. “Just gotta hang in there a bit more!” 

He started to run through the hallways while looking at his surroundings. He saw that in certain cells there were Pokémon inside them. Well, at least there were criminals in this place. However, it seemed that time slowed down for a moment as one of them caught his eye. It looked to be a hooded bipedal Pokémon, and the hood they were wearing had a three-eye pattern on the head, and multiple eyes on the rest of the cloth. For a split second, Kirby saw the figure look at him before time resumed again as the puffball continued to run-

Just to be stopped by a ball of electricity hitting him in the face and knocking him to the floor. After a second of recovery, the astrali opened his eyes slowly to look at the source of the ball of electricity. It seemed the source was an orange mouse-like Pokémon with yellow ears, a white belly, and a thin tail with a lightning-shaped tip. This Pokémon also wore a white cap, with the same golden badge in front of the cap, that was obscuring his eyes. The mouse tipped off his cap. “I heard a monster was causing some trouble in the upper floors…”

Kirby recovered his composure and jumped back up again. The puffball had a determined face as he clenched the fists on his machamp arms.

“Mark my words, destroyer of worlds… my name is Kotaro, warden of the Agyneastra Prison…” The mouse Pokémon lifted his cap, revealing his black and white eyes as his cheeks started letting out small sparks of electricity. “And I’m pissed off by your rampage!”

The electric mouse started creating a ball of electricity in his paw and disappeared in an instant, letting out a lightning effect. “Wha-” Kirby looked around in shock before he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back as an electrical current ran through his body, getting launched away and sliding on the ground with his face. ‘So fast!’ Kirby thought before getting up again and looking back at the fast Pokémon. 

The mouse started to do some fast zigzags with his lighting speed, only leaving speed mirages as he reached the puffball. However, the astrali focused on where the mouse stopped after each turn of the zigzags, and when he was close enough, Kirby clenched two of his machamp fists and punched the electric rat as he tried to attack Kirby with a point-blank ball of electricity. Both moves clashed as Kirby received a bit of small electric damage, forcing him to retreat a little. 

The rat grinned. “What is wrong, destroyer of worlds? Why don’t you release your full power already?”

Kirby was starting to get a bit angry. Hope he doesn’t start to sound like a broken record soon. “I already told you guys that I’m not the destroyer of worlds of some prophecy!” 

“Your actions up until this point say differently…”

Welp, no convincing this guy either it seemed. The puffball looked to the side and saw the stairs in another hallway. He doesn’t have the time to explain, he’s in a rush. “Sorry, but I gotta go, it’s important!” 

The puffball started running towards the stairs but a small bolt of lightning appeared in front of him, revealing Kotaro with his cheeks releasing small sparks and another ball of electricity in his paw. “Where do you think you’re going!?” The orange mouse tried pressing the ball onto Kirby’s face, however, Kirby managed to dodge it and deliver a two-punch blow on the raichu’s side, launching him onto the iron bars of a cell and bending them a little. “Why you little…”

Instead of slumping on the ground, Kotaro swiftly jumped up and readied two electric balls on his paws, avoiding the grabs of angry Pokémon prisoners as well. With a grunt, he launched the two balls directly at Kirby. However, the mouse would have never expected Kirby to discard his ability and open his mouth to suck the electric balls. In his moments of surprise, Kirby shot back the two balls in the form of a two-star projectile, circling around themselves before hitting Kotaro in the belly.

“Gah!” He shouted before being launched away, falling on the ground on his back along with his hat beside him. The mouse grunted in pain, having difficulties sitting up with all the bruises on his body. “This… this power…”

“Sorry again! I promise that I’m not evil!” Kirby said after getting close to Kotaro. Before the mouse could protest, Kirby started inhaling the mouse. He grunted, trying to maintain his ground, but unfortunately for him, the vacuum was too strong and he got inhaled. 

The puffball glowed with star power again, and he got a new change to his body. The color of his skin became orange, with some yellow stripes on his back. He grew two pointy yellow ears and a long thin tail with a curved lighting-shaped tip, while his eyes changed to black with white pupils and his cheeks changed to yellow as well. Kirby inspected his new body and was mesmerized by it. “Woah… so cool! And these electric moves look awesome as well!”

“Wha-...? I’m… not dead…?”

Kirby looked back and saw Kotaro sitting in the hallway a distance away from the puffball. Kirby smiled and shouted. “Nope, you’re completely fine! I would give you an explanation, but I’m short on time, so see you!” He then started dashing towards the stairs once again, leaving the raichu hanging once he called out to the astrali.

The puffball started descending the spiral staircase while thinking about the horrible scenarios that could happen once he found Banny and Treth again. They’re gonna be so mad at him for ditching them as he was about to get assigned as part of the guild! He couldn’t just see Banny’s sad face again, absolutely no way! 

Before Kirby could go faster with his new abilities, he saw more guard Pokémon going up the stairs. “There it is!”

“Get it!”

One Pokémon was a blue snake-looking Pokémon, with two orbs at the end of his tail and close to his head, a small horn, and two wing-like parts on each side of the head. The other Pokémon was a red reptile with a singular horn on the back of the head and a flaming tail tip. The two Pokémon were quickly climbing the stairs, trying to reach the puffball.

Kirby acted fast, jumping from where he stood and using the Iron Tail move to coat the tip of his raichu tail in pure iron. The astrali spun in the air as he fell on the blue serpent, hitting its body with the iron-coated tail tip before bouncing off of him and avoiding a fireball shot by the flaming lizard. While in midair, Kirby zipped to the ground and formed an Electro Ball on one of his nubs, before throwing it at the dragon that kinda gave small flashbacks from Landia. 

The ball hit the lizard, shocking him and making him fall to the ground unable to move. “Dang it, not a paralysis!”

The puffball took that as a sign to leave, so he continued making his trek down the stairs a bit faster than before, not bothering to hear whatever it was that the guards shouted. He needed to get back to Banny fast!

Kirby picked up the pace and used the ability Volt Tackle to increase his speed while descending the stairs, looking like a giant orb of electricity doing spirals. 

After a small while, the puffball reached the end of the stairs, the lighting orb around him disappearing. “Nice!” Kirby looked around the place. It seemed there were no other prison cells on this floor, meaning one thing, he managed to reach the first floor! He could already see the feel of the floor being much different than before, the walls were more polished, the floor looked clean along with some carpets, and the rooms had better-looking doors in general.

However… something was off. There were no other Pokémon visible on this floor. The astrali tilted his body in confusion before walking, cautiously, forward. As he walked, he couldn’t hear any sound whatsoever, unlike the previous floors, like no one was there at the moment. Well… he did take out a few of the guards. “Well, that means no more obstacles! Banny, here I come!”

Kirby started dashing through the main hall of the place, his face coated with excitement as he ran past the many closed doors, except for one. But that didn’t matter, he was free! Kirby went through a set of double doors and found out that he was on a less fancy imperial staircase. The puffball was pretty sure Dedede had one on his castle. But that didn’t matter at the moment. 

The astrali jumped from the elevated floor and landed on the ground level. Kirby looked around and saw that this place was also empty, but it did look beautiful. There was a drawing of that same golden badge on the ground, and behind him, there was a reception desk that was also empty. Kirby looked at the exit, seeing the sunlight pour into the building. Kirby smiled and started walking towards the exit.

“Halt!”

The puffball stopped as his raichu ears perked up at the sound of a male voice, starting to look around to find the source of the voice. His eyes locked onto a figure that was standing on the handrail of the elevated floor. The figure was a bipedal-looking Pokémon with gray and white fur, two gray horns curling upwards, and a small fluffy gray and white tail. It seemed to be wearing rectangular glasses as well. “Do not go any further, pink shapeshifting destroyer.” 

The goat-like Pokémon jumped from the handrail and landed on the ground, slowly rising up from their landing. He folded his arms behind his back as he opened his eyes again. “We finally meet… the being from the prophecy that I held onto for many decades…”

Kirby looked aside. “Uh…” He looked back at the Pokémon with a sheepish shrug. “You got the wrong guy.”

The newcomer Pokémon narrowed his eyes. “You do not fool me that easily. My secretary has seen how monstrous your aura looked as she walked into this town that I own.”

Kirby tilted his body. “Wait, you’re not a guard?”

The Pokémon shook his head. “No, I am not.” He put a paw on his chest. “My name is Shitsuji, an indeedee, and I am the mayor of Agyneastra town.” 

Kirby flinched in surprise. “The mayor!?”

Shitsuji nodded. “Indeed.” He walked a bit to the side, looking away from the puffball. “Now you may be wondering… what am I doing in a place like a prison? The answer is really simple.” He looked towards the ceiling as he folded his arms behind his back again. “As the mayor of this town, I must assure the safety of it. If there is a dangerous threat, I will try my best to deal with it as my last stand, no matter what.” He lowered his head, looking forward again as a purple aura started to appear around his body. “In case you did not get it by this point…”  The indeedee gave Kirby a menacing side-eye. “You are a dangerous threat to this town…”

Right as he said that a purple shockwave came out of him and stopped around the edges of the room. Now the main hall was coated in a swirling purple dome with some yellow and blue particles floating lazily around the terrain. Kirby looked back at the indeedee who extended his arm forward as his glasses reflected the light of the dome. “Come!”

The Butler Mayor
Shitsuji

Kirby did as he said and started to do something quick and simple. He used the move Quick Attack to get a surprise attack off the Pokémon, however, once he got centimeters close to Shitsuji for a small punch, he suddenly stopped moving. “Huh?”

“What is wrong? Scared all of a sudden?” The indeedee said before forming an orb of darkness in front of his extended paw, hitting the ball of darkness point blank at the puffball. Kirby was launched backward and slid across the floor before getting up quickly with a backflip. “If you still have some common sense, I would recommend giving up.”

Kirby threw his nubs in the air.“I basically told almost all the guards here, I swear I’m not your enemy!”

“Tell that to the guard you swallowed, you hungry destroying monster…” Shitsuji launched another ball of darkness directly at Kirby, however, the puffball dodged the attack and readied his Electro Ball on a nub, running at the indeedee while shooting it. The mayor simply sidestepped away from the ball before raising his arm to block an Iron Tail that followed the electric move. Since it was skin and bones against pure steel, Kirby won the clash and pushed the emotion Pokémon a distance away. After recovering his composure, he brushed off some dust from his shoulders. “Impressive… but…” He then adjusted his glasses. “That was weaker than I was expecting…”

“Because I’m not your-”

“Silence! Do not waste your breath, monster!” Shitsuji dashed kinda slowly towards Kirby, almost as if he was walking as his paw began to glow green. The orange puff dodged the strange punch really easily by crouching, delivering an Electro Ball at point blank at the mayor, directly hitting him on the chest and launching him into the air as sparks of electricity began to dissipate close to the goat-like Pokémon. 

Shitsuji recovered and landed on the ground safely before a white purplish glow started forming on the tip of his paw. “Die!” The indeedee released from his paw a purple beam of psychic energy.

Even though Kirby managed to dodge the initial blast of the laser beam, the Pokémon moved the beam where Kirby was standing, forcing Kirby to run around while avoiding the laser. ‘I didn’t know Pokémon could reach this level of strength!’ He thought before he did a backflip, avoiding the beam before it disappeared. ‘In that case, I gotta use the stronger moves too!’

Bolts of lighting started crackling around the orange puffball making Kirby glow with electricity surrounding him. The astrali then enveloped himself on an electric yellow ball with the move Volt Tackle and charged towards Shitsuji, literally flying with the move. “Cease this worthless effort!” The indeedee said before firing more balls of darkness at the puffball. However, as the orbs made contact with the electric sphere, they dissipated. “How-”

The Pokémon interrupted himself, crossing his arms in front of him to defend against the attack. Once the Volt Tackle made contact, they clashed, sparks of electricity flying out in every direction. They stayed like that for a couple of seconds before Kirby put a bit more oomph in the attack as he shouted. “Hoooaaaaaaahhhh!!!” 

After the clash ended, Shitsuji was pushed back a little more, his feet sliding across the floor. Meanwhile, the electricity surrounding Kirby disappeared, and Kirby retreated with a jump, getting more distance between him and the Pokémon. The indeedee started panting a little bit as he adjusted his glasses again. “You are… quite the trouble are you not? But still… I was expecting more from you. Are you perhaps simply toying with me?”

Kirby sighed and responded, tapping his feet anxiously. “No, I’m giving everything I got. I’m really not the guy you think I am.”

“Well then, why should I believe you? You ate a civil Pokémon right in front of a guard and somehow got their appearance, along with the fact there’s an emotion dancing around your very being at the moment… desperation, am I right?” Kirby tilted his body in confusion. “Know this, I am a Pokémon that can read emotions and even feed off of them. Depending on certain emotions in certain situations, I can tell when someone is lying.” He then narrowed his eyes. “And this desperation of yours, clearly means you are in a rush for something really important…”

Kirby frowned. “Look, it’s important to me, and I don’t have time to explain it! So please let me go and-”

The indeedee started chuckling before laughing a bit loudly. After a small moment, he calmed down and smiled a little. “You expect me to let you go, after the chaos you caused, and ate two Pokémon? Yes, the warden counts as well, judging by your current appearance. Even if your claims about not being the creature from the prophecy are true…” Before Kirby could protest, Shitsuji spoke again, his smile fading as a more menacing look settled in on his face and he started glowing again.  “If you think that you can go free of charge after doing something despicable like that… you really are an idiot.”

The psychic Pokémon extended his arms sideways with a shout as another shockwave came out of him. Kirby looked around and saw that the strange purple dome had disappeared and was replaced with a blocky dome, space twisting and swirling around the new room. Well phase two, time to hit even harder! 

Kirby rushed in, only to… walk instead? Wait, something wasn’t right, he knew he was running, but… why was he so slow? Kirby looked down and saw that he was in his usual stance from how he runs, however, he was slower than usual. “Huh? What is happening-?”

“This is… Trick Room.”

Kirby flinched as he heard the voice, it was almost like it was behind him. However, when he looked behind… no one was there. “What?!”

Shitsuji’s voice was reverberating around the room. “You must be confused. Allow me to explain.” He appeared in front of the puffball. “In this dome that I created, dimensions twist and turn around us.” The indeedee disappeared in a blink of an eye, only leaving behind dust and rubble. “This unstable room switches the speed of each Pokémon caught in it.” He appeared on the right side of Kirby. “The fastest becomes the slowest.” He then appeared on the left side of the puffball. “And the slowest becomes the fastest.”

Kirby tried to concentrate and hit him with a slow point blank Electro Ball on his side, however, he hit nothing but air as the ball hit the wall, making a small crater with some sarks.

“In easier terms for you to comprehend…” Shitsuji appeared behind Kirby, looking down at him with a condescending look. “You are too slow, and I am too fast.” Kirby slowly turned around, just to receive a hit on the face by a glowing green paw, being launched backwards. Before the puffball could reach the ground, in an instant, the indeedee dashed where Kirby was about to land and leaned his body downwards, delivering a kick that sapped Kirby of his energy as he was launched in the air.

“Waaaaah!” Kirby screamed as he was launched into the air. But before he could recover again, Shitsuji jumped in the air and charged on both of his paws another beam of psychic energy. Once he was above Kirby’s slow-moving body, the indeedee released his beam, launching Kirby to the ground and burning his entire body with the amount of psychic energy on the beam. Rubble and dust flew around the attack.

After the laser dissipated, Kirby was left on the ground with bruises all over his body, dust settling around him as he was back to his pink old self. Shitsuji landed a small distance away from the puffball. “This is what the guards were struggling against?” 

While the indeedee was approaching Kirby, the blue otter guard stood behind the handrail on the elevated floor, quietly muttering. “Please mayor, destroy this pink abomination…”

Shitsuji looked down at Kirby before crouching a little. “This is honestly so pathetic… it seems you were right… you are clearly not the being from prophecy. However, the crimes you have committed shall not go unpunished.” 

The goat-like Pokémon started charging another beam on the palm of his hands. Kirby coughed a little. “Please… let me… explain…”

The energy started to glow even more brightly. “I shall not hear any further words from you-”

“Yeah, mayor! Clobbah dat pink hungreh monstah!”

All the attention was directed towards a machamp who was resting his lower hands against the handrail while his upper hands were punching the air in excitement. The blue otter’s eyes widened as his jaw slowly dropped. “Y-you’re… alive?”

“Hm?” The muscular Pokémon looked to the side and nodded. “Yeah, ‘course I am! Once dat thing ate me whole, I suddenly appeared ina cell ‘stead of bein’ in some kinda weird stomach! After bustin’ outta there, I came chasin’ for dat thing, but at least it was bein’ handled by the mayor!” 

The shell Pokémon started tearing up. “I-I…”

As the blue otter started crying while hugging the confused machamp, who pat him on the back a bit sheepishly, Shitsuji dissipated his laser and looked back at Kirby with a confused look on his face. “How…?”

Kirby sat up slowly and rubbed the side of his head. “That’s what I was trying to tell you… once I inhale someone, I don’t actually eat them, I just absorb and copy their abilities and they are… ejected from my body. The same happened to uh… Jotaro? No Kotaro, yeah that raichu.” Kirby looked aside. “Don’t ask me how it works, it just… happens?”

Shitsuji looked away deep in thought, before deeply sighing. The blocky dome around them slowly dissipated as the indeedee bowed to Kirby. “I am… truly sorry for using my blind sense of justice against you. My actions have been rash and thoughtless, driven by the mere belief of some prophecy. I would understand if you do not forgive me.”

Kirby smiled. “It’s fine, don’t worry! I’ve been through worse than this. I forgive you!”

The emotion Pokémon looked aside. “I… do not believe that a simple apology is enough to make it up to you…” He folded his arms behind his back as he looked back at Kirby. “If there is any request you want from me or anything from Agyneastra’s town hall, I will happily accept.” 

Kirby waved him off. “Oh don’t worry, I don’t need anything!” Suddenly, he remembered something really important. “Actually… I do need something!”

Chapter Text

In a certain cell of the Agyneastra prison, a hooded Pokémon lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling. They looked dead, however, they were subtly breathing, reminiscing about something as sunrays poured from the window.

Suddenly, the windows were obscured by some kind of shadow that looked foggy and blurry. The hooded Pokémon took notice of its presence and got up, looking at the figure and kneeling to it. “Lord Sinder.”

The shadow revealed a yellow eye as it looked through the window. It spoke with a soft yet ethereal voice. “ Has the pink vessel appeared in the prison yet?”

The hooded Pokémon nodded. “Yes, it has. Its power was a sight to behold. It defeated every guard of this place without trouble, and if it wanted… it could destroy the entire prison just to escape it. After all, the aura that it has shows its true potential.”

“Excellent… so the prophesied being has finally come to this world. That means it won’t be too long for the summoning to take place.” The foggy figure blinked. “ Well done, your job there is done. Someone will be sent there to get you. We need every member for the summoning, and I do mean everyone. You know what to do to get out of there, I shall be waiting.”

The hooded figure stopped kneeling and got up. “Yes, Lord Sinder.” With that, the foggy shadow disappeared and the Pokémon turned back to the hallway. It looked at its black paw with blue nails that started oozing some dark mist. “Just a little more before the summoning starts happening…” The Pokémon grinned behind the hood as their whole body was turning into some kind of dark liquid along with the hood, looking like they were melting. “I can hardly wait…” They said before fully turning into a black liquid and leaving the cell through the window.

It was high noon, the Pokémon of the town were enjoying their delicious meals in their homes or on the streets of Agyneastra, while others walked on it to do their business, ranging from delivery, walking or just chilling, talking to other Pokémon while also avoiding a wagon being pulled by an equine Pokémon.

A puffball and the mayor were sitting in the front of a yellow and red wagon, being carried by a flaming horse with a big horn (that Kirby learned was a rapidash). They were riding on the streets of Agyneastra town, from a request from Kirby that Shitsuji happily accepted. Kirby looked at the mayor and asked. “So you know Banny and Treth?”

The indeedee nodded. “Indeed. Treth and his wife were once famous explorers in the guild of the town, so I also know of their daughter. They were basically the strongest exploration team Agyneastra Town could offer. However, one day… they went on a mission and tragedy struck, and Vanny, the mother of Banny, died as a result…”

Kirby tilted his head. “But how did she die…?”

Shitsuji sighed as he looked a bit more somber. “Treth said that once they were at the Sky Temple dungeon… they were ambushed by filthy criminals. Vanny and Treth fought their hardest, until one of the criminals got a lucky shot at Vanny, pushing her to the ledge where she, unfortunately, fell to her demise.” Shitsuji looked back at Kirby. “You see, the Sky Temple is on a floating island, and they were ambushed at the edge of the building.”

Kirby looked down in sadness. “Oh… I see.” Now he felt more pity for the young scorbunny, her mother taken away from her so early. Now Kirby wanted to get right back at those malicious Pokémon if he found them. 

“Anyways… it seems you have caused quite the commotion back in the prison…” The mayor turned to Kirby with a playful smirk on his face. “Can you even pay for all the damage you did there?”

Kirby sheepishly rubbed the top of his head. “Uh… nope!” Suddenly, something clicked in Kirby’s mind. “Wait, I have a question.” 

The indeedee tilted his head. “And what would that be?”

“Why didn’t any of the prisoners try to escape there? I thought Pokémon were super strong.”

Shitsuji smiled. “That is an easy question to answer. Inside those cells, there are power inhibitors that prevent the use of any Pokémon ability in there and also weaken the Pokémon in general. However, as you may have seen, the guards of the prison have special badges that bypass the inhibitors completely, allowing them to use abilities in those cells.”

“Oh! So that’s how that machamp was able to leave the cell!” Kirby concluded as the indeedee tilted his head confused. “Oh, it’s just that once I inhaled him, he appeared in a cell. Thank goodness he had that badge with him!”

“Yes, thank goodness indeed.”

After a certain amount of time, Kirby and Shitsuji arrived at Banny and Treth’s home. The rapidash stopped in front of the house and Kirby hopped off the wagon along with the mayor, already rushing to the door.

However, before any of them could knock, a lucario opened the door and looked down at Kirby. “Kirby! Where have you gone!? My daughter was so worried about you and-” He then looked at the indeedee beside the puffball. “Mayor Shitsuji!?”

He folded his arms behind his back with a smile. “I hope we are not interrupting a meal.”

“Uh…” Treth waved his paws in front of him. “N-not all, mayor!”

The indeedee chuckled. “Please, just call me Shitsuji.”

Suddenly, from the door came Banny, who had a worried look on her face before her eyes locked on Kirby. “Kirby… is that you?”

The puffball grinned. “Yup! It’s me!”

The scorbunny ran to the astrali and started shouting a bit in annoyance. “Where WERE you!? I was so worried! Dad almost convinced me that you ran away!”

“Well um…” Kirby rubbed the back of his body while smiling sheepishly. “I was… in jail…”

“WHAT!?”

“Hey! At least I wasn’t in jail ON my first day, so that’s something!”

Banny was completely dumbfounded before Shitsuji butted in. “It appears that I have to explain a few things. Would you mind if I enter your home for the time being, Treth?”

The lucario stuttered a little before saying. “N-none at all ma-... Shitsuji.”

With that, everyone entered the house, everyone taking a seat on a couch, while Kirby sat on a stool. The indeedee then told everyone what happened at the Agyneastra prison, from Kirby’s capture and onslaught to their showdown. He added next. “I shall admit, it was my fault. I ordered his imprisonment and treated him as an enemy to Pokémon kind, all because of a prophecy I heard long ago…”

Kirby waved him off. “And like I said, I forgive you!”

Shitsuji adjusted his glasses as he smiled at Kirby. “You are too kind.”

“Wait a minute…” Banny said, calling everyone’s attention. “How did you know Kirby was in town and exactly knew where he was going?”

The indeedee simply responded. “It was thanks to my secretary. She had seen you two walking on the streets, and since she is a Pokémon that can also read auras, she got a hold of Kirby’s monstrous aura.”

“Is my aura really that scary…?” Kirby asked, putting a nub on his chin. Treth just simply nodded. “Uh… alright then.” Suddenly, the puffball remembered something. “Wait! Is there still time for me to enter the guild?” He looked at the lucario. “Can we still do that today?” 

Treth nodded. “Well of course we can. The guild doesn’t close until the evening.”

“Yay!” Kirby exclaimed excitedly as he hopped off the stool.

“I can take you to the guild if you so desire.” The mayor offered as he got up from the couch. “I do not think that just bringing you here would justify all of my actions.”

Kirby turned to indeedee with a smile. “Thanks, Shitsuji!”

The lucario smiled. “Well then, I guess it’s time to say our goodbyes, right Banny?” Treth looked at the scorbunny who was looking away with a nervous look on her face. “Banny…?”

“So Dad…” She turned to the canine with a sheepish smile. “Well… I’d like to join Kirby and form an exploration team with him!”

Treth flinched. “WHAT!?”

“I… I’ve been thinking about it, and I’d like to continue on my mother’s path!” She looked aside. “When I first went to that mystery dungeon, I felt the thrill of exploration that you guys felt whenever entering an unknown place… and I felt… that feeling… it was calling to me.”

“But… but Banny-”

Treth tried to protest but was interrupted by the scorbunny. “Dad, I know… it’s scary, and I might get hurt, and I might not have the best experience, but if I stick with Kirby, we can overcome any obstacle!” She turned to the puffball in question. “Isn’t that right, Kirby?”

“Yeah!” The lucario turned to the astrali with a look of disbelief. “Don’t worry Treth! I’m gonna do my best to stay by Banny’s side! No matter what!”

Treth tried to form some words, but nothing was coming out of his mouth. The lucario sighed and looked at Banny. “There’s no way to talk you out of this, right?” Banny and Kirby shook their heads. “Alright… fine.” Banny muttered an excited yes to herself. 

The indeedee was curious where all of that led up. However, something curious caught his attention, looking directly towards Treth. Even though he expressed nervousness and distress, there was a hidden emotion behind all of that act… relief. But why?

Treth got up from the couch and walked up to Kirby. He looked down at him with a serious face. “Do you promise that you’ll stick close to my daughter, no matter what?”

Kirby nodded with a determined look on his face, before doing a childish salute. “Yes, I will!”

The lucario nodded and looked towards the indeedee. “Mr. Shitsuji, could you take my daughter to the guild with you, if it isn’t an issue?”

The mayor nodded. “There is no issue. But if that is the case, we must depart quickly, I still have other business to attend to.”

“We’re going now?” Banny asked and the indeedee nodded. She fist-bumped the air in excitement. “Yes!” She then ran up the stairs and after a short while she came back with a red scarf with white stripes on it.

Treth’s eyes widened. “That’s…”

“Don’t worry, Dad, I’ll take care of it!” Banny said before jumping and hugging the lucario, the canine smiling proudly. “Bye, Dad. I’m gonna visit sometime, alright?”

“Be sure to visit my daughter.” Treth enveloped his arms around the scorbunny, looking aside. “I’ll be waiting...”

Meanwhile, Kirby was watching from the side, smiling warmly at that father and daughter moment, however, Shitsuji was looking at the scene with a bit of suspicion. Once they were done, Kirby and Banny waved Treth goodbye before Shitsuji led them to the wagon. Once on it, Shitsuji motioned to the rapidash that they could go now.

With that, the lucario watched them go, as the wagon slowly but surely moved farther and farther away from the house. He entered back in his house and a mischievous grin crept its way into Treth’s face as he started chuckling. "Finally." 

The mayor was a bit thoughtful on the way to the guild, still wondering what the emotions he read from the lucario were all about. Relief… why was he relieved that his daughter was leaving home? And what was that grin building up on his face when they were leaving? Something wasn’t right about that, but he couldn’t ponder on that now, he had to take the puffball and scorbunny to the guild.

After a certain amount of time, the galloping sounds had stopped along with the shaking of the wagon, making Kirby and Banny wake up from their small nap. Shitsuji turned to them with a smile. “And here we are!”

Kirby flinched and shuddered at that, Banny, unfortunately, noticed. “Something wrong Kirby?”

Kirby turned to her sheepishly. “Oh, it’s nothing. I was just reminded of something, hehe…” The astrali now wondered if this world would constantly remind him of the forgotten world… hopefully not. He had dealt with enough Fecto Elfilis, there couldn’t be another version of them here… right?

“Well, anyways…” Shitsuji called their attention, motioning for the building in front of him. “Welcome to Starlight Guild!” 

The building in front of them was a massive one. It was basically the same size as a mansion, if not bigger. In front of the building, there were red double doors with glass windows surrounding it like an archway, blue and violet painting, with gold patterns embedded on the walls close to the windows. Above the double doors, there was a balcony that had the view of a large portion of the town, since the guild itself was on an elevated level of the ground. “Woah…!” 

Shitsuji jumped off the wagon and put a paw on the rapidash’s neck while Kirby and Banny hopped off the wagon as well. “Thanks for the ride, Umany.” 

“No problem, mayor!” The rapidash said before dashing off with the wagon behind her back. 

The indeedee turned to the puffball and the bunny. “Are you two ready to enter?”

Kirby and Banny nodded and spoke in unison. “Yes, we are!”

The mayor smiled and nodded as well, opening the doors and entering the guild with the two of them. “Hope you find it nice here.” The inside was following the same color scheme as the outside, using the blue and violet painting. In the main hall, there was a ramp leading up to an elevated floor, benches on either side of the ramp, and a chandelier with glowing crystals above the stairs. On the edges of the massive room, some doors led to other rooms as well. In the middle of the elevated floor, there was a double door with yellow coloration and some yellow bits of paint around it, making it look like the sun. 

Some Pokémon that Kirby had seen and never seen before roamed around the halls of the place. Some looked like animals and others inanimate objects given life and one particular pink and furry puffball that looked a bit like him if it wasn’t for the eyes, the curly hair, and the pointed ears.

Kirby looked around in amazement at the mansion-like place. “Woah, I love it!” Kirby exclaimed.

The indeedee chuckled before motioning a paw to the walls. “You see, the aesthetic came from the idea that instead of exploring mystery dungeons one day, we will one day start exploring space by itself, and see what mysteries it hides.”

Banny’s eyes glistened in awe. “Woah! That’s awesome! Hopefully, you guys can achieve that goal in some way!”

“Yes, I hope that too.” The mayor then started walking towards the ramp before looking back at them. “Now let me guide you to the guildmaster’s quarters.” 

The astrali and the scorbunny followed Shitsuji right into the yellow ramp. Some Pokémon members shot questioning and confused glances at Kirby before going back to their own business once the indeedee shot a quick glance at the Pokémon.

Once reaching the elevated level, the butler Pokémon immediately opened the door to the guildmaster’s room. Inside it, there was a desk with some stacks of papers on it, a nameplate, and some other objects along with it. On the sides of the room, there were cabinets with some kind of artifacts and some miniature statues of strong-looking Pokémon on them. Behind the desk, there was a big glass door that led to a balcony, and beside the door, there was a painting of a stylized sun and moon on both sides. 

There was a Pokémon in the room, it was someone that Kirby was certain he’d seen before… the ostrich-like body, the cerulean blue eyes, and that white short hair… that figure was on the back of the puffball’s mind, but he couldn’t remember for now. The ostrich-like Pokémon turned to them with a smile. “Oh mayor, you’re-” She then looked at Kirby and suddenly flinched with a scared look on her face. “HUH!? It’s-It’s-”

While Kirby tilted his body a bit confused, Shitsuji stepped in while adjusting his glasses. “Do not be alarmed Krystal, he is not our enemy.”

Krystal pointed one of her talons at Kirby. “B-b-but that aura…! T-th-the prophecy-!”

The indeedee folded his arms behind his back. “It appears we have made a great error.” He turned to Kirby with a smile. “This little one appears to almost fit the description of the being in the prophecy, however, he was not the one.”

“T-then who…”

Kirby walked forward with a smile. “Hi! I’m Kirby! Nice to meet you!”

The ostrich looked aside to the mayor with a nervous frown, the indeedee nodding in return. She sighed and looked back at Kirby. “... hi… Kirby…”

Shitsuji went to the ostrich side and motioned a paw towards her. “Banny and Kirby, this is Krystal, an espathra and my secretary.”

“Nice to meet you, Krystal!” Banny said while waving her paw.

The espathra said sheepishly. “Same goes for you…” She then looked at the smiling puffball with a grimacing look. “You too…”

“Anyways, onto official matters.” The indeedee went behind the desk before sitting on the chair. He then turned the nameplate, revealing his name embedded in it.

Kirby tilted his body. “Wait, you’re the guildmaster as well?”

Shitsuji nodded and adjusted his glasses. “Indeed, I am. What? Can I not be mayor and guildmaster at the same time?”

Banny crossed her arms. “But wouldn’t that be too difficult for you? Not only do you have to manage an entire town, but you also have to manage a guild as big as this one!”

“It is not that difficult. Because, while I am in the town hall most of the time, Krystal stays here managing the guild, while also having a small amount of time to be my secretary.”

The ostrich Pokémon sighed. “Too much paperwork…”

The indeedee shot a smirk at her. “Even if you can do it faster than others due to your telekinesis?”

“Shut up…”

Shitsuji chuckled before looking back at Kirby and Banny. “Anyways… let us start with the basics. First of all, I need to ask you some questions.” He clasped his paws together and leaned forward on the desk. “Why do you want to form an exploration team? Answer honestly.”

Kirby started. “I wanna form one because I don’t have anywhere else to go, and I chose to work here because I love helping others in need!”

The guildmaster nodded then looked at Banny, waiting for her to say something. “I…” She was looking down at the scarf that was on her paws before clenching them and looking at the indeedee. “I wanna continue where my mom stopped! I want to help give courage to the Pokémon that need it while also helping them with their daily struggles! Not only that, I want to feel the thrill that my mom and dad once had when they were on their adventures together.”

Shitsuji nodded again with a smile. “Impressive. Really impressive. Your mother would be proud of you, Banny.” He shifted his position, pulling out a paper from a drawer from the desk. “Now, I need you to fill out this paper with your names, age, gender, and team name.”

He placed the paper on the desk and Kirby and Banny took a look at it. It was a form for an application for a new team. Kirby tried to read the paper but already got tired just by looking at the initial sentences. “Ugh, too many words…” He then looked at Banny. “Could you fill it out for me?”

Banny looked at Kirby with an unamused face. “Seriously?” The scorbunny sighed and grabbed an inky crystal-made pen. She started signing the form before she was hit with a roadblock, that being Kirby’s age. “Hey… how old are you again?”

Kirby tapped a nub on his chin before responding. “An adult!”

“Um… I meant… for how many cycles have you lived?”

Kirby looked aside before shrugging. “I dunno, I didn’t keep track of it.” He then threw a nub in the air. “But I’m pretty sure that I’m an adult!”

The others in the room looked a little unsure if that was the case until the scorbunny responded. “Sure…” She then wrote “ adult ” in the correct box to fill. After that, there were no other problems in filling out the form before getting hit with another roadblock at the end of the paper. “ Team name …” Banny looked at Kirby. “Do you have any ideas on what our team name should be called?”

Kirby thought about it for a second. He couldn’t just name the team Star Allies, because that’d be way unoriginal and it’s already used. Since the guild has a theme about space, the puffball thought it would be a good theme for the naming convention. He definitely should put star in the name, no doubt about it, but what would combine well with it? Star Knights? No, sounds too much like the Meta Knights. Explorers of Stars? No, it sounds more like a title more than a name… then what should be a good name…?

Suddenly, an invisible light bulb appeared on Kirby’s head. “I got it!” Suddenly, Kirby snatched the pen from Banny’s paws and searched the box for the team name. He wanted to write it down so badly after thinking of a really good idea. After finding the box for the team name, he started writing it down in a bit of sloppy writing (give him a break, he hasn’t written anything in months!) After finishing it, he showed it to the scorbunny. “Look!”

Banny squinted her eyes as she read it out loud. “S-star… war-wardens…?”

“No, it’s Star Warriors!”

“Ooh, I see.” After thinking about it for a second, Banny nodded. “That’s a good name, Kirby!” She then put the paper back on the desk and passed it over to the indeedee. “Alright, we’re done!”

The guildmaster read the paper silently before putting it down on his desk. “Alright then, it is now official.” He smiled. “Welcome to Starlight Guild, Team Star Warriors.”

Chapter Text

An orange and tan creature panted heavily as it ran down the dirt path, his blue bandana waving wildly in the wind. If only his little yellow feet could carry him faster. The path led towards a castle with windows appearing as angry eyes from afar.

Bandana Waddle Dee sprinted at a fast pace towards Castle Dedede, desperation visible on his face as he dashed by other Waddle Dees, Waddle Doos, Poppy Bros Jrs. and some other species. “Excuse me!” “Sorry!” “It’s important!” He assured as he occasionally bumped into some civilians. ‘I just hope the others had some luck in finding him…’

Bandana quickly ran past town and went straight to the angry-looking castle in the rocky hills. He wanted to hear the answers from the others as quickly as possible, after all… Kirby wouldn’t vanish without a trace like that… right? There was no possibility of Kirby even THINKING of doing that, so he had to be somewhere around Popstar, right?

After entering the Castle Dedede, he immediately went into the throne room, not bothering to even say a small hi to other guards of the castle. He barged into the room, opening the doors in an instant as he looked around the room. As usual, the self-proclaimed king himself was sitting on his throne, looking concerned about the current situation. Meta Knight was also there, his expression hidden behind his iconic mask as usual, along with Elfilin and Susie (for some reason). They all looked at Bandana, making him ask. “Any luck on finding him today?”

They all shook their heads. “Unfortunately, no…” King Dedede admitted. It has been three whole days since Kirby’s disappearance, and yet, no leads so far. On the day before the disappearance, Bandana asked where the puffball was going since, once the sun was starting to set, Kirby was going in an unusual direction from the way he normally does. Kirby answered he was going to nap at the Sky Tower in Nutty Noon, the reason being he was trying to find a breezy place to nap. 

However, the next day, Kirby did not show up anywhere. They even went to check in on the Sky Tower, Elfilin’s rift ability cutting a lot of time to get there. However, once they reached there, Kirby was nowhere to be found, they even had asked some ninjas of the Moonja clan there. They had said that they saw Kirby enter the tower, but not leave it. It was like he vanished out of nowhere. 

Meta Knight fully turned to Bandana Dee and explained his reports, his deep voice showing the seriousness of the situation. “I scouted the entirety of Nutty Noon again to find at least a clue, yet nothing. Using that time in the skies, I also went to Floralia to ask the inhabitants there to see if they had spotted Kirby, but that effort yielded the same results.”

Elfilin sighed, the small chinchilla perching on the ground. “I tried finding him everywhere in Popstar… I even tried to go underwater in Onion Ocean, even though I don’t like getting wet… I couldn’t find anything as well.” 

“Hm… so it is true. Pinkie really disappeared out of nowhere.” Susie mused as she put a hand on her chin. “That honestly makes things a bit more difficult.”

The Waddle Dee looked at Susie as he tilted his body. “What are you even doing here anyway?”

“Simply put, I came here looking for Kirby himself.” That made the group a bit confused. “I wanted to convince him to participate in an advertisement about Haltmann Works Company’s new product.” She then hesitated a little before adding one other thing. “And to be… the lead tester of said product.”

King Dedede sighed. “Look, unfortunately, he isn’t here at the moment as you may have noticed, we’re still trying to find him, but you’re welcome to help us search”

“Ah, at least I can put that little thing to work now.” She replied before pulling out an advanced-looking tablet, with the Haltmann logo plastered on the back of it, from her pockets.

The masked knight turned to Susie. “And what is that little thing, Ms. Haltmann?”

Susie flipped her hair and started messing with the tablet. “Well, after the Void Termina incident… I decided to put a tracker on Kirby without him realizing.”

Bandana said in surprise. “You did what!? Why?!”

The president responded. “Well, after learning about his origins, I just decided it’d be best to monitor his movements for a little while. So, I put a pink-colored nano chip on him so I could track his location. Ever since then, I’ve been keeping track of his movements across the universe until… I stopped checking entirely.”

Dedede rolled his eyes. “So much for putting your trust in the Star Allies…”

Susie just shrugged. “Just safety measures if the child of the literal God of the universe suddenly snaps.” She then looked back at her tablet and started checking for the location of the chip. “Hm? Strange…”

Meta Knight crossed his gloved nubs. “Is something wrong?”

“I don’t know if Kirby managed to damage the chip or not, even though I made it so it could withstand almost any kind of attack, but… look at this.” She showed the readings of her tablet as the group clustered together to see the contents. The tablet was showing a black screen, along with some symbols that demonstrated that there were no numbers. “It doesn’t seem to show his location entirely.”

“But… what does that mean?” Elfilin asked.

Susie responded. “It could mean some things; he could’ve either entered a place that can jam the chip’s signal; he could’ve also destroyed the chip, which I find unlikely, or… he might be in a different dimension entirely.”

“Wait, does that mean he could be in the Mirror World?” The Waddle Dee asked.

Elfilin looked at everyone’s concerned faces and felt compelled to ask, however, Meta Knight spoke first. “I don’t believe that is a possibility.” Everyone looked at the masked warrior with questioning looks. “While in my time in Floralia, I also spotted my doppelganger in some of the lower areas. I don’t know why he was there and it wasn’t even my place to ask about his goals there, but I did ask about Kirby. Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen Kirby there nor in the Mirror World.”

“But what if he was lying?” The king asked while tilting his head.

Meta Knight gave him a side-eye look. “I would have known if that was the case.”

“But if that isn’t the case… then what is? We still have no clues on where Kirby could be at this point!” Bandana Dee pointed out. 

Susie flipped her hair and spoke, calling their attention. “I think we’re all missing something important.” They looked at her as she put a hand on her side, looking at King Dedede. “You said to me that Pinkie was last seen in the Sky Tower, correct?”

The blue penguin nodded. “Yes, that would be the case.” 

“You see, while in some of my earlier visits to Popstar, I went to visit that Sky Tower in Nutty Noon you guys have mentioned to me. There, I found something pretty interesting about that place.” She looked back at her tablet. “In my recordings, there were large portal energy readings at the top. The Sky Tower… is a direct gate to Another Dimension.”

“Wait, really!?” King Dedede and Bandana Dee shouted in surprise.

The masked knight made a hum in thought before nodding his head. “Ms. Haltmann might be right.” He then turned to the Waddle Dee and the penguin. “Remember that giant Sphere Doomer we fought when we were collecting parts of the Lor?” They both nodded. “It does explain why the Grand Doomer was there in the first place and why the skies there were all distorted.”

“But what does all of that have to do with Kirby’s disappearance?” Elfilin asked, putting a paw on his chin.

Meta Knight turned to the chinchilla. “Isn’t it obvious? Kirby might’ve been kidnapped by an inhabitant of Another Dimension while he slept.”

“W-WHAT!?” Dedede, Bandana, and Elfilin sputtered, shocked about the whole situation.

“Kirby… getting kidnapped?” Elfilin asked, a bit confused about this new piece of information. “Why would someone want to kidnap him of all people?”

Susie looked away for a moment and muttered. “I mean, I would understand why…”

“In any case, we at least have a clue of where he might have gone.” Dedede said before frowning and looking away. “But it just had to be there of all places…”

“I heard about your history with Another Dimension, guess we all have something in common with that place.” She mused.

“Yeah… same here…” Elfilin admitted as memories from Forgo Dreams came to mind.

“It seems so…” Meta Knight noted. “However, there’s another pressing matter in our hands. How do we find Kirby as we navigate through a dangerous place like that?” Bandana was about to speak before the knight spoke once again. “No Bandana, one mission with the traitor is enough, a second mission with him is something that I don’t even want to think about.”

“But Meta, there are no other options! Who knows what Kirby might be enduring in that place?” The Waddle Dee argued. “We need every help we can get!”

Dedede stood up from his throne and nodded. “He’s right, ya know… but think about it, at least he ain’t Marx, that’s for sure.”

Meta Knight’s eye twitched behind his mask. He still didn’t fully believe that Magolor actually turned over a new leaf, but Kirby always kept insisting he did turn good and he wasn’t fully intending to betray them. However, despite all of that, Meta never believed that. Nonetheless, they were right, they didn't have a choice in the matter, it was either getting him to help or having Kirby be stuck in that place for eternity. The masked knight sighed in annoyance. “Fine… let’s get him.”

Elfilin tilted his head in confusion. “Uh… guys?” Everyone in the room turned their heads to the flying chinchilla. “Who’s him ?”

“Oho! You came to the right mage for help!” Magolor said as he clasped his hands together. “I just can’t sit idly and let my best friend just be stuck in that awful dimension all by himself!”

Bandana, Dedede, Meta Knight, Susie, Elfilin, and Magolor were standing right in front of the Lor. It was actually Elfilin’s first time at the Lor and the first time meeting Magolor as well since he was rather new to Popstar. Although something about the Lor made him have a sense of familiarity, he couldn’t put a finger on why though… so he just decided to ignore it for now. 

Magolor looked at Elfilin. “Oh, a new face? Hello there little one, nice to meetcha! My name is Magolor!” 

Elfilin’s tail perked up when he realized that the… egg-shaped mage was talking to him. “Oh, uh, hi! Nice to meet you too! The name’s Elfilin!” He then realized that Magolor was looking at him with a rather curious expression. “Um… something wrong?”

“Ah.” The mage waved it off. “It’s nothing, you just reminded me of something I saw in a book once.” He then looked aside for a moment and thought to himself. ‘But that magic inside him… almost feels like the spatial magic from the Lor…’

Elfilin rubbed the back of his head as he smiled sheepishly. “Alright then.”

“Anyway…” He turned to the rest of the group. “You said Kirby probably was kidnapped, right?”

Bandana nodded. “Yes, and he was also taken to Another Dimension.”

Magolor put a hand over his scarf in thought. “Interesting… he was the last person that comes to mind that could get kidnapped.” He then perked up. “But that doesn’t matter! My best friend might be in trouble and he needs our help! Hop on the Lor and we’ll go to Another Dimension ASAP!”

The Star Allies (except for Susie who flipped her hair) nodded their heads in determination along with Elfilin who did the same. They entered the Lor as the bridge retracted itself and the door of the ship closed. Inside it, the baby blue colors and the technological feel of the place were enough to make the flying chinchilla let out a “Woah!” of amazement. 

“Pretty neat stuff eh?” Magolor gloated.

Meta Knight looked at Susie in curiosity. “Why are you coming with us? Don’t you have any other important business to attend to?”

Susie simply responded. “Kirby, at the moment, IS part of the important business. Because without him, I can’t launch that product to other companies.”

The knight looked at her in suspicion. “And what would that product be?”

The president grinned as she looked at Meta Knight. “Company’s secret. Unfortunately, I cannot tell until it is officially released.” Meta Knight just looked at her with an amused expression behind his mask.

After admiring the sights, the blue chinchilla looked at Magolor. “Um… what does this ship do again…?”

Magolor’s stance came to a stop before he looked at the others in the group. “You didn’t tell him!? How could you not tell him about this magnificent vessel that can travel to other dimensions!?”

Dedede nonchalantly answered. “Elfilin here can also do just that.”

The mage tilted his head in shock. “HUH!?” 

“It is a long story…” Meta Knight said before taking a step forward. “Now mage, activate your ship. I want this “ rescue mission ” to be done as soon as possible.”

“Geez, fine, fine!” He said while glancing at Meta Knight before looking back at Elfilin. “Once we’re sailing, tell me ALL about your abilities, alright?”

Elfilin looked away while scratching the side of his head. “Uh…” He then looked back at Magolor with a sheepish smile. “Sure…”

“Great!” Magolor went to the controls of the ship and activated the flight command before pointing at the giant monitors that showed the outside of the large vessel. “To Another Dimension!” Soon enough, the Lor started to levitate, swinging its oars as it lifted itself from the ground. The ship started to take flight, soaring through the skies of Dreamland for a small while before shooting a beam of light from the star-shaped emblem in front of the ship. The beam opened a star-shaped hole in the sky, followed by the ship flying into it at lightning speeds with its boosters. 

With that, they were all once again in Another Dimension. 

“I hope you’re alright Kirby…” Bandana Dee muttered off to the side.

“Welp, now that we’re here and sailing…” Magolor turned to Elfilin and went to him, grabbing his paw. “Now tell me ALL about your powers and what caused you to have them! I NEED to know!” 

Elfilin stuttered a bit nervously as he looked away. “A-alright…” Ooh boy, that search was gonna take a long while…

Chapter Text

The newly formed Team Star Warriors were led to their quarters by Krystal, the espathra secretary. Even if they were being led, it was more like they were leading her to the quarters since the espathra was walking behind them, just analyzing their every move (Kirby especially). She just had to be sure if that small, pink, and round ball of cuteness had an evil side. There had to be, almost every being has one, Pokémon or not.

After passing through some doors in the guild’s quarters, they reached a door with the number 427 engraved on it. Krystal finally got in front of them. “We’re here.” She then looked at the door as her cerulean blue eyes glowed purple, opening the door with telekinesis, letting Kirby and Banny enter their room.

“Woah…!” Both said in awe while looking at the room. It was slightly bigger than Banny’s room, with two hay beds in the middle, some shelves on the side of the room along with a window beside one of the shelves. In the middle of the room, there was a small cardboard box between the beds that had some objects poking out of the box.

“What’s all of this?” Kirby asked when he got close to the box and started inspecting it.

“This box contains all the necessary items we give to recently formed teams.” Krystal said while entering the room and going to the box in the middle of the room. She then started pacing around the room. “There are your badges, a map of the entire continent, two scarves that increase your attack and defense, two explorers satchels, and some berries to replenish your health-”

Kirby suddenly announced. “I already ate them.”

“WHAT!?” The espathra blurted out as she looked back at Kirby, the puffball wiping his mouth with his nub and taking out a brown bag from it. The ostrich Pokémon looked down at the box to see that indeed the bag containing the berries was already gone. She looked back at the puffball with a “seriously?” face. “Y-you… what…?”

Banny called out. “Kirby! Those berries were supposed to be used in a pinch, not now!”

“Oh…” Kirby then looked away while rubbing the back of his body. “Sorry… I was hungry.” Anyone would be, after all, he was stuck in a prison the entirety of the morning! The puffball was honestly surprised by how he actually went an entire morning without thinking of food, probably because of the adrenaline at the time. 

Krystal sighed. “Well, whatever. You can buy more later.” She walked towards the door before looking behind her. “You can use the rest of this day getting acquainted with the guild, then tomorrow you can start on your first mission. Don't go expecting a big one right off the bat, understood?”

Banny saluted to the espathra. “Yes ma’am!” 

Kirby saw what Banny was doing and then did a salute as well. “Yes uh… ma’am!”

Krystal sighed again. “Just call me Krystal. Have a good day, explorers.” 

The ostrich Pokémon left the room and closed the door, leaving Kirby and Banny on their own. Out of nowhere, the scorbunny squealed in excitement, startling the puffball a little. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long, although I could never get the courage to do it!” She turned to Kirby with a smile on her face. “Thank you, Kirby, again! Not only for saving me, but giving me the courage to tackle my dream!”

Kirby sheepishly smiled. “It’s no biggie, really. I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help you!”

Banny nodded before she looked to the side, her smiling faltering a little. “I wonder if mom is smiling right now…”

No! She can be that depressive again at a happy moment in her life! Kirby has to do something! “Uh… she definitely is!” Kirby said abruptly, pulling Banny out of her thoughts as he grabbed her paws. “Anyways, could you tell me more about the items in the box?”

Banny blinked before rubbing her nose patch and smiling. “Sure.” Both went to the box to look at the items. Banny pulled out from the box two crystal star-shaped badges with a small pair of silver wings on the side of it, showing it off to the astrali. “These are the badges of the guild. It’s your identity as an explorer. These badges differ from guild to guild, my parents had the same badges as these since they worked in the same guild.”

“Wow! They look so pretty!” The puffball said while picking up one of the badges. “Where do I put them?”

“Um…” Banny thought about it for a second. “I guess… I guess you can put it on a satchel since um… I doubt you could wear a scarf.”

“I can wear a scarf!” Kirby said before picking up the red scarf in the box, and putting it around his body. Somehow, when he put on the scarf, it just stayed around his body normally, not falling at all. He then put the badge on the front of the scarf. “See?”

The scorbunny tilted her head in pure confusion. “How does…” She shook her head. “You know what? Never mind, it’ll just hurt my brain trying to understand how you work.” She then motioned back towards the badge. “Anyways, from what I remember from the explanation from my parents, the red button in the middle of the badge has multiple functions. If you hold the button, you can speak to your team members, and if you press the button two times, you can warp back to the guild outside of Mystery Dungeons since they jam the teleport.”

“Nice! These badges are so useful then!” Kirby happily commented.

Banny nodded with a smile. “They are indeed.” The scorbunny then put her badge back on the box. “We won’t need them today though, since we won’t go on a mission today.” Kirby nodded before putting his scarf and badge back on the box as well. Banny clasped her paws. “SO, what are we gonna do for today?”

Kirby put a nub on his chin as he thought about it. “Um… I wanna go explore the guild!”

“Knew you were gonna say that.” The bunny said while grinning. “I can show you the place, after all, I’ve been here before a lot of times already!”

“Thank you!”

Banny and Kirby left their room and started to walk around the quarters of the guild. On their way, they saw a lot of Pokémon that made Kirby’s eyes glisten in wonder. There were some canine and feline ones, some kind of creepy mimic wearing a costume, some mice and lizards, and some others as well. “Wow, there are so many types of Pokémon here!” The puffball said mesmerized before looking at Banny. “I wonder if they are all friendly.”

“Uh…” Banny looked aside for a moment. “I’ll admit that some explorers here uh… are not that friendly and kinda have a big ego as well. But that’s a minority.”

“That’s good to know! I know how to handle guys like those!” Kirby said while throwing a nub in the air.

“That’s good at least, you look like someone that could get messed around pretty easily.”

After getting out of the guild quarters, they entered the main hall again and went to the left door of the building. “This is the cafeteria.” Banny said while crossing her arms with a smug smile. “I knew you desperately wanted to come here, so I brought you here first.”

Kirby’s eyes glimmered in wonder as he looked at the big room with multiple wooden tables and delicious smells filling the place. The puffball said nothing as he went running to the counter at the corner of the room, weaving and dodging any Pokémon that almost bumped into him and dropped their plates. 

“Wait up, Kirby!” The scorbunny shouted and ran after the astrali.

Kirby grabbed one of the plates beside the counter and took it to the counter where a floating orange oven with two red-mitten hands was standing. The floating oven with its eyes looked at the puffball in curiosity before happily asking. “Hi there, are ya new here?”

The puffball put the plate on the counter and nodded while smiling at the strange Pokémon. “Yep! I’m new here and I’m hungry! Are you the chef here?”

The oven put a hand over her (judging by the voice) mouth while chuckling. “Sure am! What can I get ya?”

Kirby threw his nubs at the air as his eyes glistened once more. “I want a bit of everything you have!”

The Pokémon smile faltered a little before leaning in. “E-excuse me, come again? Did I hear that correctly?”

“You heard right! I want a bit of everything-”

“Kirby!” Both heard a voice coming from the side, revealing to be Banny, who was panting a bit. “Please stop doing that, you already surpassed my energetic energy, I don’t think I’ll ever surpass yours…” The bunny then realized that the puffball was talking to the chef and she immediately smiled sheepishly. “Oh uh… hi there Tici. Um… you must be really confused right now on who this is, but… this is Kirby, an astrali.” 

“Well, Kirby, huh?” The oven crossed her arms. “Well, this little fella just told me they wanted to eat every piece of food in here. Have ya told him that this is not an “all ya can eat buffet” and the food is limited?”

The scorbunny nervously laughed. “Sorry, uh… I forgot.” She turned to Kirby and leaned into him, whispering. “Just choose like… two things to put on your plate.”

The puffball sighed in disappointment, all of the delicious food he could eat… limited to only two. “Aw, man…” The puffball looked up and saw his (sadly) limited options of delicious food. He picked the most colorful-looking foods and Tici put them on his plate. One was a star-shaped sandwich and the other was a red drink that reminded him of a Max Tomato in color. “Thank you.” He said with an enthusiasm lower than his usual quota but still smiling.

As the puffball went to an empty table, Banny sighed and looked at the rotom. “Could you give me the berry salad, please?” Tici nodded as Banny went to grab her plate.

After getting her food and utensils, the bunny joined Kirby on the table where he was sitting, his sandwich already gone from sight. Some Pokémon were looking at him with their eyes widened. “Hey, Banny! The sandwich was really delicious!”

The scorbunny giggled, ignoring the stares towards their round table. “Don’t say that in front of Tici or she might start gloating about her cooking.”

Kirby tilted his body. “Speaking of her, what species of Pokémon is she? I didn’t know that ovens were alive in here.”

“Oh, you have ovens in your home world?” Banny asked and the astrali nodded before taking a big sip of the red juice, which tasted like cherries. “That’s neat! But anyways, Tici is not the oven though, even if it does sound funny if she was.” She chuckled at the thought of an oven opening up to speak. “Her species is called a rotom. They are little wisps of electricity that can enter any objects with electricity in them. They are in almost every house, being used as everyday objects that use Tera energy that came from the big crystal in the middle of town.”

Kirby asked in concern for the rotoms. “But wouldn’t they get tired of being in those positions for too long though?”

“Most of them prefer being in that state, but there are the minority that prefer being in their original wispy forms.” Banny explained, noticing the worried look from the puffball.

“Well, at least they are enjoying it!” Kirby then inhaled the whole glass, however, before he could spit it out, the doors of the cafeteria swung open in an instant, startling all the Pokémon in the cafeteria.

They looked to the door and saw a pink and furry puffball with emerald green eyes and a red ribbon on her ear. She angrily scanned around the room before her eyes landed on the pink puffball with no fur. “There you are!” She said before running towards Kirby with the tip of her feet. 

The puffball decided to just swallow the glass whole, they could find a replacement later. The other puffball stopped in front of Kirby, panting a little bit. Seeing her a little closer… she looked a bit familiar, he might’ve seen her somewhere while in this place. “Hi! Do you need anything?”

“YOU!” The pink Pokémon said before jumping on the table in front of the puffball, her cheeks puffed in anger. “How dare you come waltzing in this guild and immediately steal the title of cutest Pokémon in the guild!?”

“Uh… I didn’t do that…?” Kirby said a bit uncertain about the situation. Well… his friends always said he was cute, even with his weird abilities.

The ribbon-wearing Pokémon pointed a nub at the astrali. “Yes. You. DID! If I’m not the cutest member of the guild, what’s the whole point of being part of Team Cuties!”

“Uh…” Banny interjected. “Who are you again…?”

The jigglypuff scoffed and sassily posed. “You should’ve known by now that I’m Starlight Guild’s prettiest member, Purina!” She then pointed her nub at Kirby again. “Until this knock-off doppelganger stole the title from me!”

Kirby happily waved his nub. “Hi, Purina! My name is Kirby, nice to meet you!”

“Don’t wave at me with that friendly attitude towards me gumball!” She shot back. However, before she could get more insults out, someone called out to her.

“Purina!” 

They looked behind to see a figure that looked like a stitched doll resembling another kind of Pokémon with a doodle face on the head, a wooden tail on the back, and apparently two small black holes on the torso. They also seemed to wear a blue bowtie on the left ear. Purina groaned in annoyance as she began to tap her feet. “What is it now, Marionne?”

The strange Pokémon stopped in front of them and jumped on one of the stools of the table. Now seeing a bit better, the puffball noticed that the two small black dots on the torso were their actual eyes. They spoke with a boyish voice. “Please don’t pick a fight with the newcomer already, she…” He took a look at Kirby with a bit of uncertainty. “They… just got here, they can’t just steal your title that easily.”

“Then why do I keep hearing small little whispers about another pink puffball being cute rather than only me, huh!?” The furry puff said to the cloaked Pokémon, who just looked to the side a little nervous. Purina then looked at Kirby again. “Mark my words, Kirby. You’ll see the power of my cuteness over your team!” 

The puffball was about to say something before Purina jumped down from the table and walked away from them. Marionne looked at Kirby and rubbed the back of his torso with a black claw coming from under the cloth. “I’m uh… sorry about my partner’s behavior, she doesn’t like it when there’s another cute Pokémon in the same place as her…”

“It’s alright! I don’t mind having a competition once and a while!” The puffball then looked to the side a bit sheepishly. “Even though it’s not about food this time.” He looked back at Marionne. “Nice to meet you! I’m Kirby!”

“Uh… Marionne…” He said while nervously waving before hopping off the stool. “Wait for me, Purina!”

Team Star Warriors saw the clothed Pokémon leave the cafeteria, closing the doors behind him. Kirby turned to the scorbunny while giggling a little. “They were kinda silly! Do you know them?” 

Banny shook her head as she looked at the door. “Nope, never heard of them. But I think I remember seeing the jigglypuff and the mimikyu around…” She then looked back at Kirby as she realized something. “Oh yeah, you don’t know the species’ names. The pink furry puffball is called a jigglypuff and the clothed Pokémon is called a mimikyu.”

“Oh, I see! Purina looks a little like me, doesn’t she?”

“I mean, I did tell you look like a Pokémon. I guess jigglypuff is the most similar-looking species to you it seems, so you’ll blend in pretty well.” Banny smirked as Kirby grinned.

After a while, Banny finished her food and the team left the cafeteria, going to explore the rest of the guild. After passing by a door that led to what looked like a massive assembly hall, Banny led the puffball through a hallway before reaching another set of double doors. The two entered the room and found themselves in another large room. “This is the training ground. I used to watch the explorers train here while my parents took care of some guild affairs.”

“Wow! This place looks amazing!” Kirby said as he eyed the vicinity of the place. Targets lying around the walls and ceilings, sandbags were being kicked by a bipedal red avian Pokémon, while other Pokémon were practicing their attacks on Pokémon-shaped dummies. It reminded him a little bit of the training quarters of the Halberd, but… with no moving targets nor dummies. “This place is huge!”

“Perfect place to practice your weird powers all you want!” Banny said while putting her paws on her side. 

“Nice!” The puffball said ecstatically before looking at Banny. “Can we spar together? I’m kinda curious to see how you fight!”

The scorbunny looked perplexed about the proposition. It was then that she remembered what the mayor said about what Kirby did in the prison, literally defeating almost all of the guards there with no issues, and that he also has, in her father’s words, the aura of a god. Banny looked away rather nervously while scratching the back of her head. “Well… I…”

“Oh, newcomers!” 

Team Star Warriors turned to the source of the voice and saw a bipedal Pokémon with blue-colored skin and wore a karate outfit with a black belt around his waist, approaching them with a smile. Banny recognized the Pokémon and said. “Mister Lee? You work here now!?”

The karate Pokémon’s eyes widened a little bit in surprise. “Banny!? You’re here too?”

Kirby between him and Banny in confusion before tilting his body. “You know each other?”

Banny smiled as she turned to the puffball. “Yes, we do! This is Leenon, he’s a sawk that was my battle teacher back at my school when I was younger.” She then looked back at the sawk. “By the way, do you still teach in that school?”

Leenon crossed his arms. “I do. And the younglings there have a clear potential in them, I can tell. But enough about that.” He then looked at the puffball beside the scorbunny. “I never met this little one before.”

Kirby smiled and waved as usual. “Hi! I’m Kirby, nice to meet you!”

The sawk smiled. “Nice to meet you too, Kirby.” He then analyzed Kirby from top to bottom before humming to himself. “I can see that you have quite the fighter potential within you…” The fighting type grinned. “I decided, let me test your strength right now!”

Banny flinched and blurted out in shock. “WHAT!?” Looks like Mr. Lee hasn’t changed at all. But what if Kirby doesn’t want to fight? Yeah, that means her previous teacher won’t be eaten (yes, she was still skeptical about the whole “appearing close to him once eaten” thing) and he’ll be fine. So there was nothing for Banny to worry about-

“Yes, I’d love to battle!” Kirby agreed.

Yeah, that sawk is dead.

The scorbunny shook in fear as the puffball and the sawk went to a flat arena beside the training objects. Banny knew that Kirby could control his powers well, but what she was really worried about was that her teacher loved to go all out on really strong opponents. And if he discovers Kirby’s true potential… things might go a bit over the edge. She sat on the bench she always sat on where she watched the explorers fight for fun. She had to calm down, it’s not like they were about to fight to death. 

She has really been insecure and anxious lately, hasn’t she…? She didn’t remember being like this before, but it was probably because of grief. Well, no point in thinking about it now, she has to focus on the present and future. And the current present was her new friend and her old teacher fighting… oh wait, they are about to fight!

Leenon got in his usual fighting position as he watched Kirby get a pair of… boxing gloves from a stool next to the arena. Why was he picking that up? It’s not like they decided it was a boxing match. “Are you ready?” The sawk asked as some Pokémon stopped their training to look at the arena.

“Wait a moment…” Kirby said before he swallowed the boxing gloves whole, making the Pokémon’s jaw drop a little in surprise along with the other Pokémon that were watching. Kirby shone with star power, although not changing much, a red headband with a star embedded on the front appeared around his head, turning him into Fighter Kirby. The puffball smiled and turned to Leenon. “Now, I’m ready!” 

The sawk saw the puffball jump, doing a front flip before landing on the other side of the arena and getting into battle position. He knew that this Pokémon looked special, but not to the point of doing… whatever that was. He regained his composure and got into battle position again. “This is about to be interesting.” He said as he popped the bones on his neck. “Now… let the battle begin!”

Banny clutched her knees as she watched the two rush against each other, both clashing hand and nub against each other. “Here we go…” She muttered to herself.

Kirby jumped back a bit after the clash, and rushed in again, attacking the blue Pokémon with a Vulcan Jab attack. The sawk blocked the multiple fast hits with his arms before deflecting one of the hits, using his other arm to hit Kirby with a Karate Chop. However, Kirby dodged the hit with a back flip and shot a small blue projectile with his nubs, hitting Lee in the chest. 

“Ngh.” He grunted as he jerked backwards, putting a hand on his chest. It hurt a little, but not that much to make a fuss about it. “Heh, nice moves you got there, looks like you’ve fought a lot, ain’t that right?”

“Yup!” Kirby responded with glee. “I’ve fought against lots of strong people!”

Leenon grinned. “Nice, that means that I won’t need to go easy on you!” Suddenly, a red aura appeared around the sawk as he shouted. His muscles bulged from under the cloth, buffing the Pokémon a little bit as he grinned. “Come on… show me what you got!”

Kirby made a determined face before rushing in at the karate Pokémon, using Vulcan Jab again to hit multiple times. However, it seemed that the hits were doing less damage than before. Leenon chuckled a little bit before he glowed red again, but this time, the red glow focused on one of his fists. He suddenly punched Kirby through his jabs, launching the puffball upwards. 

Kirby shook out of the numbness his body felt and recovered in mid-air. The astrali then came back down with a diving kick towards the sawk. Caught a bit off guard by the kick, he tried to block the kick with his arms, however, the kick bypassed his desperate block, hitting him in the chest again and making him stagger back a little. “Ngh!”

Kirby bounced from him and landed a small distance away from him. He put his nubs together and began charging something. “Giga…” A blue glow started emanating from the puffball’s nubs, growing in size. “Force…” As the blue glow continued to glow, yellow particles were appearing around it, sparks of energy coming out of Kirby’s feet as well. And suddenly… the blue turned into an orange-red that looked like flames. “Blast!” 

The puffball let go of the energy that, once left his nubs, turned into a flaming and fast fireball. Leenon was caught by surprise by such an attack and as a result, tried to defend against it with his arms. However, the force proved even more powerful than a normal fireball of that size since it pushed the sawk out of the arena before completely breaking his defenses, hitting him square in the belly. “Urgh!”

He was launched a bit far away as the fireball dissipated into the air. Lee landed on his back with a grunt, a part of his attire with a black mark, and after a moment of grunting and moaning in pain, the sawk got up as other Pokémon approached him. He shook his head before looking back at the pink puffball, eyes narrowing. He suddenly started chuckling before busting out loud with a laugh. “Wow, what a sparring match, I’ll say!” 

Kirby smiled and rubbed his back. “Glad you enjoyed it!”

“Oh, I did!” The karate Pokémon stood up and nodded. “It seemed my gut was correct, you have the potential to become a great fighter unless you are already one yourself! And if that’s the case…” He suddenly bowed. “It was a great pleasure battling with you.”

Kirby, instead of bowing back, nodded. “It was a pleasure as well!” The puffball turned to Banny. “Hey Banny, did you like the-” He then noticed that the scorbunny was completely frozen in place, just standing still silently while staring at nowhere. “Banny?” Kirby went to the bunny and nudged her, shook her, tapped her… nothing seemed to be working. “Wonder what happened.”

“Oh, I see what’s going on.” Leenon said as he walked over to Banny. “She usually does this when she worries a bit too much. Happened sometimes at the school when one of her friends was battling a strong student.”

“Oh, well… I kinda noticed that she worries a lot.”

The sawk nodded before lifting the bunny and putting her on his shoulder. “You’re her partner, right? Could you show me the room you are residing in, if you are residing in one of course?”

“Alright then!” Kirby then started leading the sawk to their quarters, Lee excitedly asking about the abilities that Kirby used as the other Pokémon watched them leave the training ground. 

Shitsuji walked through the streets of Agyneastra town, waving back at the town citizens who waved at him as he passed by. It was a beautiful afternoon, he had to admit, it was the perfect temperature to go enjoy the beach day he always dreamed of… oh he wished he was going to a beach, just relaxing as the waves hit his paws, that’d be the perfect vacation.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. Ever since that pink puff had shown up, the indeedee has been getting really tense. At first, he believed that puffball was an invader from another world, possibly relating to the prophecy about the being that would coat the world in darkness. But after the fight he had with Kirby… he’s been getting conflicting feelings about said prophecy. Was it actually real? Did the seer get the estimate of time wrong? Because he was pretty sure they entered the exact time frame of said being appearing. And if that’s the case, would he attack other beings that look slightly off to him?

He shouldn’t let conflicting feelings and thoughts like those interfere with his work as mayor and his duty to protect the town. That’s why he decided to talk to the town elder. Some new inhabitants in town may think that he’s the elder and the mayor of the town once they learn about his age, however, the elder is a Pokémon that lived for many, many eons before him. So he would be the best one to give advice on a situation like this, and possibly give insight on a potential threat that may or may not exist.

After a few minutes of walking, he finally reached the center of town, where the elder resides. He slowly looked up, observing the splendor and shininess of the Tera Crystal that the town guards. He took a deep breath and muttered to himself. “No need to over exaggerate, just tell him what is wrong and he will understand… hopefully.”

He adjusted his glasses and walked towards the white crystalline structure, stopping in front of it. He put a paw on a certain spot of its surface, feeling the cold and solid surface brush against his paw pads. After some seconds, a light wave was released from where his paw was touching, sending it through the front of the crystal.

Suddenly, a portion of the crystalline surface disappeared, revealing an entrance into the big crystal. The indeedee sighed before entering the crystal, the entrance disappearing behind him, leaving the emotion Pokémon in the darkness. 

It wasn’t long before a white light started to illuminate the inside of the place, reflecting from every little surface of the place. It would be kind of blinding for a Pokémon that hates the light or lives in the darkness of the night. Everything around him was made out of crystals, the floor, the walls, the ceiling… it was like walking through a light maze. 

However, that didn’t stop Shitsuji from going further into the crystal building. It was quite large, so it was quite spacious for a big Pokémon to live inside the building.

Well, someone as big as the elder, that is.

It was then that he reached a large area of the building, where instead of the normal white lights shining around the crystal, this one was shining with colored lights instead. A rainbow of colors swirled around the room, making it look like a kaleidoscope more than anything.

And at the end of the room, there he lay, in his lustrous and shiny crystal shell with those colorful symbols on his back. His white mane around his indigo head and indigo front claws flowed majestically along with his fluffy fur behind his shell. He was sleeping and snoring quite loudly on a big hay-made bed. Even though the snoring was a tad bit annoying, it made him adorable.

Shitsuji cleared his throat and spoke. “Elder Terapagos.” The giant crystal turtle continued snoring peacefully. “... Terapagos…” Still nothing.

The indeedee sighed and pulled out from his satchel a small yellow bell, ringing it a little bit. The snoring ended, making the crystal turtle wake up. “Weh? What time is it…?” He asked a bit groggily, looking around slowly before he looked at the emotion Pokémon in front of him. Terapagos smiled and waved as best as he could. “Oh, hi there Shitsuji, what brings you to my home?” 

Shitsuji bowed. “Apologies for my sudden visit, elder Terapagos. I came to urgently ask-”

“Oh come on Suji, we’ve known each other for so long, no need to speak to me like you’re speaking to a king.” Terapagos chuckled.

The indeedee stammered sheepishly. “I-I’m sorry Terapagos, it is just that I-... I’m so used to it since I normally speak to everyone like this…”

“You should drop it at some point. Pokémon may think that you’re living in the past rather than the future.” The crystal turtle giggled, making the goat-like Pokémon blush in embarrassment. “But anyways, did you come here for another hangout? When was the last one… cycles ago?”

“I think it was…” Shitsuji muttered to the side. He had known the turtle way before the creation of Agyneastra town, in fact, they founded the town together. The Tera Crystal in the middle of town that powers some everyday devices was made by Terapagos after all, a weird power that Shitsuji still doesn’t understand completely yet. The indeedee shook his head, a more serious look on his face appearing. “B-but no, I came here to speak to you about something.”

Terapagos tilted his head. “And that is?”

The indeedee sighed. “Well… recently, a being from another world appeared, and this one is… not like the so-called ultra beasts that came before him.”

“Oh, a new strange visitor? How wonderful!” The turtle beamed. “What is he like, have you met him?”

Shitsuji looked to the side with a grimace. “Yes, I did…” He clenched his paws slightly. “And I did something really stupid to him…”

The crystal Pokémon frowned, noticing the conflicting expression his friend held. He tapped the hay with his claw. “I think you need someone to talk to, and that’s what friends are for, right?” He smiled.

The goat-like Pokémon looked at the inviting space on Terapagos’ bed and his fluffy mane. His instincts of relaxation were at war with his rational and formal thoughts, he decided that it was best to just accept it already. He sat on the bed and stretched his legs, looking at the crystalline ceiling, countless thoughts racing in his head. “So… can I?”

“Mhm, you can tell whatever it is that is troubling you.” 

Shitsuji nodded and started to speak while adjusting his glasses. “So… do you remember that prophecy that we kept on our minds?” The turtle nodded. “Well, the being that I told you about almost looked identical to the being described by that seer, even Krystal said that she saw the aura of a god inside him.” He leaned back a little, looking at the ground. “I don’t know if it was the stress of my duties as a mayor, or something else, but something made me order to lock him up in jail. Although… when he tried escaping, I saw him as nothing more than a threat and decided to take matters into my own paws...” The indeedee looked down at his paws, a shameful expression plastered on his face. 

“What happened next…?” Terapagos asked

The goat-like Pokémon sighed and looked aside. “I tried to kill him myself.” That made the legendary Pokémon’s eyes widen a little bit in surprise. “I just don’t know what came over me. I stopped listening to reason, I didn’t even let him explain himself once I saw the things he could do. I just…” He sighed. “At least he managed to stall me out until I realized what I was doing was wrong. Even still… how can I call myself a mayor if I cannot be just with any being that is not a Pokémon?” 

The indeedee finally laid on the bed and just stared at the ceiling, while the crystal turtle Pokémon sighed and spoke. “Indeed, you went a little overboard on trying to kill a being with no concrete evidence that he was a malicious being, but at least you didn’t and realized your mistake right after, and that’s what matters. Now, did that being forgive you?”

“... yes, he did… and I still feel like I need to do a lot of things for him just to redeem myself…”

“Just his forgiveness is already something to indicate you don’t need to redeem yourself anymore for his sake. He forgave you for what you did, and that’s what matters at the end.” Terapagos said with a smile, patting the indeedee’s head with a claw nail. “You can relax now.”

Shitsuji looked to the side and muttered. “Relax, huh…?” However, it wasn’t as simple as that of course. “It would be nice to just relax, however, another pressing matter is on the way.” He sat up again, adjusting his glasses. “About the prophecy… the events prescribed to us are about to happen, right?”

The turtle frowned. “Yes, it appears that its events are about to unfold if said prophecy was even correct.”

“You see, that is the issue…” The goat-like Pokémon looked back at the crystal legendary with a concerned look on his face. “I don’t even know if the prophecy is about to happen anymore. It was also because of my blind belief in it that I hurt that puffball in the first place…”

“Hm… we don’t know for certain if the prophecy will happen or not. Although, we should keep an eye out for any suspicious activities around town as usual.”

“It is what I have been doing for some time now…”

The turtle slowly nodded. This prophecy stuff was eating Shitsuji alive, wasn’t it? If only there was someone else to help with so he could feel a bit more at ease… wait, maybe there was someone. “Hey… how about we get some external help with this matter?”

The indeedee tilted his head in confusion. “What do you mean by that? I doubt the Satelion kingdom would hear us out with a prophecy with no evidence.”

“No, I wasn’t talking about any nearby kingdoms or towns. I’m talking about being you… fought. Yeah, uh… what is his name?”

Shitsuji sighed. “He called himself Kirby.”

Terapagos beamed. “Kirby! We could get this Kirby to help us in the investigation! I mean… he could himself if he managed to stall YOU, of all Pokémon, out from killing him. And I know you’re dummy-powerful.”

“Well… hm…” The indeedee put a paw over his mouth as he thought about the case. Indeed, Kirby could potentially aid them in this investigation. After all, he managed to defeat almost all of the guards in the prison by himself and then managed to stall him for a long time, even making him use his secret technique. That puffball has the potential, and a good place to start could be the cult members appearing all around the place. “Very well. I’ll talk to him once I get back to the guild.”

“Sweet! I’d also like to meet him. After all, I want to see the being that managed to stall you out.” He giggled. “Could you bring him tomorrow to me?”

“Hm… I shall think about your case, Tera.” Shitsuji smirked as he got up, Terapagos giggling as he chuckled. “Anyways, thank you for the talk. It was very enlightening for me.”

“Aw, no problem Suji, come back at any time!” The crystal turtle said while waving at the indeedee, who waved back as he left the colorful kaleidoscope-like room. Terapagos sighed before smiling a little. “Oh Shitsuji, always with his duty being his hyperfocus…” His smile then dropped, thinking back on an issue that plagued his mind lately. The crystals that he had spread throughout the town had been going missing lately, making him unable to feel certain parts of the town anymore. Maybe it was best to not tell Shitsuji to not get him more stressed than he already is. “Maybe something really is going on…”

Chapter Text

Through the seemingly endless cosmic sea, avoiding cosmic platforms and spiky crystalline asteroids, a large floating blue vessel soared in the strange dimension. Inside the ship, a part of a group called the Star Allies goofed around the ship as it scanned for a pink puffball presumably lost in Another Dimension.

Meta Knight walked up to Magolor, who was standing in front of the large holographic monitor of the ship that was scanning the surrounding area around the vessel. 

“Have you found him yet?”

The wizard turned to the knight and shook his head, scratching the side of it. “Unfortunately no… the Lor is scanning Another Dimension as best as it can, although, no traces of him yet.” He turned back to the screen, tapping some buttons on the console below it. “As I said before, I’ll warn everyone when I get a read. No need to check on me every minute.”

The masked knight huffed, taking a subtly defensive tone. “It’s not even every minute. I am just worried about Kirby.”

Magolor’s ear twitched as he waved it off. “No need to worry Meta, I’m doing my job just fine. It’s not like I’m here on this screen planning something evil.” Meta Knight tilted his body as the mage looked at him in disappointment. “Yep, I noticed it. You’ve been keeping watch on me almost all the time since we departed. What? You can’t take your mind off of the Master Crown incident? I thought building that theme park would at least restore a tiny bit of trust in you.”

The knight sighed. “Do you think it’s that easy to just repair someone’s trust after you broke it in a way like that?”

The mage lowered his head, looking back at the console as his ears dropped. “Do you wanna know the real reason why I’m staying in Dreamland until now, instead of just… exploring the universe?” He looked back at Meta Knight, a regretful look in his eyes. “I stayed here in hopes that I could make up to all of you after everything I did.” He sighed. “I was hoping all of you could feel a sense of trust in me… although… it seems that’s not the case.”

The masked puffball analyzed Magolor for any signs of acting in his tone. He was an expert when knowing someone was lying, the only reason why he fell for the mage’s plan in obtaining the Master Crown was because his friends said to drop his suspicions off the mage. However this time… he noticed that Magolor was being genuine about his feelings. Meta sighed again and spoke. “Look, mage. I had a very troublesome past with many betrayals happening around me, so I of course try to not let my guard down for people claiming to have good intentions.”

Magolor scratched the side of his head. “What are you even trying to say?”

“All I’m saying is… it’s not your fault that I can’t trust you. For the others, what you’ve done and are doing right now is enough for someone to place their trust in you again.” The knight adjusted his cape as he turned around. “If you keep doing what is right, I may start trusting you more later.”

As Meta Knight walked away, Magolor looked back down deep in thought. Was he right? Has he done enough to compensate for what he did? He didn’t know, but hopefully, he might be able to fully pay off his debt one day. But for now, he had to focus on finding his best friend, the one who saved him from becoming a vessel for that wretched crown. He looked back up at the monitor with a determined look in his eyes after adjusting his hat. “Don’t worry Kirby, we’ll find you in no time, I’ll pay off my debt for you no matter what!” He muttered to himself.

Meanwhile, in another room of the Lor Starcutter, Bandana Dee was showing Elfilin around the ship. Since he had been there sometimes, it was fitting that he should show the newcomer the unfamiliar place.

“And here we have the cargo room.” Said the waddle dee as he pointed to the various boxes littered around the room with his nub. “If I remember from what Magolor told me, these boxes contain various items he managed to find on his explorations around the universe.”

The gemini flew over to the wooden and cardboard boxes, starting to look at them in more detail. “Woah… so many boxes here.” He looked back at Bandana and asked. “Is he a collector of sorts?”

The waddle dee looked aside. “Eh… sorta. He mostly stores these items in hopes that someone buys them. He specifically targets people with bad decision-making when it comes to money.” He then shook his head. “But no, he’s not a scammer, even if he looks like one sometimes.”

“Oh, I see…” Elfilin said in understanding. Now he had a clue of why all of the star coins he and Kirby gained in the forgotten world suddenly disappeared one day, and the puffball didn’t even bother to tell him. Although, not like chinchilla was annoyed, he was a bit disappointed that he couldn’t spend more money on those capsule machines. He continued to examine the boxes until his ears suddenly perked up at a sound coming from one of the boxes. It sounded like… breathing? The flying chinchilla looked around the pile of boxes before turning to the waddle dee. “Do you hear that?”

Bandana tilted his body and walked to the boxes as well in confusion. “Hear what?”

“It sounds like someone’s breathing…” Elfilin said, putting a paw on his chin as he continued looking around. “Is someone inside of these boxes?”

“Now that you said that…” Bandana Dee started looking around the boxes, starting to hear the sound. He started walking around slowly as the noise started getting louder, tensing up from the noise. He took out his spear and readied it as he looked around, Elfilin trailing behind him. “Stay close to me.”

“Uh… does he also store feral creatures here…?” The gemini whispered, a bit nervous due to the atmosphere.

Bandana answered uncertainly while whispering. “N-not that I know of…” He said before noticing a potential box with the source of the noise. He pointed the spear at the box and whispered. “I think I found it…” Elfilin gulped as the waddle dee slowly approached the cardboard box.

“B-be careful!” Elfilin whispered from a distance, floating upwards to get an upwards view of the box. Bandana Dee nodded as he got to the box. The waddle dee analyzed the box before he could hear the sound better.

It sounded like snoring. Someone was sleeping inside the box.

Curiosity overcame Bandana’s feeling of nervousness as he decided to hesitantly open the cardboard box. While peeking inside it, the blue chinchilla slowly approached the object as well to see what was inside it. “Huh!?” The waddle dee blurted out in surprise.

Inside, a pink creature with no arms was sleeping. They wore shoes, a bowtie, and a red and blue jester hat with white spots on it. Elfilin tilted his head, wasn’t that one of the creatures that was always sleeping? “Isn’t that… a noddy?”

Bandana slowly shook his head. “No… that’s not a noddy. Although his name is-”

Suddenly, the jester stopped snoring and opened his eyes, looking at both Elfilin and Bandana Dee. He started smiling as he spoke. “Oh lookie! What do we have here?” He jumped and landed beside the box, summoning a beach ball out of thin air for him to balance on. “Hey hey hey! If it isn’t my favorite waddle dee, long time no see buddy ! I thought that you left lil’ ol’ me since you and the rest of the buffoon gang disappeared out of thin air!”

The waddle dee sighed and holstered his spear. “Cut it out, Marx. I’m pretty sure the portals were the talk of Dreamland when they occurred.”

“Eh, whatevs.” The (not) noddy’s attention was then directed toward the blue and floating chinchilla. “Whoa, I didn’t know rats learned how to fly! Not counting the thief of course.” He giggled.

Elfilin replied a little annoyed. “Hey! I’m not a rat!” He released a huff, calming down a little. “My name is Elfilin, and yours is…”

The jester lifted a foot, still balancing in his ball. “Name’s Marx, just your lil’ friendly jester around Dreamland that loves to joke around with his friends!”

The gemini smiled. “Nice to meet you Marx, I hope we can be great frien-”

Suddenly, a crazed cackle left Marx's mouth, his mouth changing into a wide grin as he laughed. After a moment, he started bouncing on his ball as he looked back at Elfilin. “You’re such a fool! I can’t believe you fell for it, I can already tell you’re gonna be one of those idiots that I will LOVE to mess with!” He stopped bouncing before his tone shifted into a menacing one as he approached the chinchilla. “What I am is a being of pure chaos and mischief, hehehehe!” 

As Elfilin shuddered in nervousness, the Bandana Dee got between the two of them and looked fiercely at Marx. “I said to cut it out, Marx.”

The jester rolled his eyes as he leaned back from the rodent. “You’re such a fun killer. It was just a teensy tiny bit of harmless teasing, of course.” He chuckled. “Now that you and the fun gang are back, where is Kirby? I can’t wait to release a nice dose of pure power at him again!”

The waddle dee sighed. “He’s missing and we’re currently looking for him. We are in Another Dimension.”

“WHAAAAAT!?” Marx suddenly spread golden wings with colored floating hexagons below the gold part, making Elfilin flinch in surprise. “Why did no one tell me earlier!?” He then flew out of the room calling out a name. “MAAAAAAGS!!!”

The blue chinchilla was with his eyes widened. What the heck was all of that? He looked back at the waddle dee and asked while stammering. “Wh- wha… is… is he normally like that?”

“Unfortunately…” He said with a huff.

In the control room of the ship, Magolor and Susie were managing the scans around the place before a scream from the hallway interrupted them. The door slid open, revealing a flying Marx that flew directly toward the egg-shaped mage, stopping in front of him. “MAGS! Why didn’t you tell me Kirby. Was. MISSING!?”

Susie facepalmed and muttered to herself. “For Nova’s sake, why is here…?”

Magolor rubbed the back of his head. “Whoops… I uh… forgot to tell you about that.” He then looked away and muttered. “And I forgot you were sleeping in my ship for today…”

“Doesn’t matter! I need him to pull one of my best pranks on him since I’ve been craving a good prank for ages since they were sucked into that portal!” He grabbed Magolor’s sides with his wing claws. “Where. Is. HE?!?! ”

Magolor just took the claws off of him. “We are currently looking for him, and we have suspicions he was kidnapped and taken to Another Dimension.”

“Where we are right now.” The president added before looking at her tablet, her tone changing. “We got a horde of Sphere Doomers headed our way!”

Magolor nodded before activating the microphone on the console. “Attention guys! We got a horde of troublemakers approaching. You guys head to the deck while me and Susie continuing to scan around!”

Marx giggled behind Magolor and started floating up. “Oh, this is gonna be a nice warmup before we eventually find that pink menace!” The jester vanished and appeared on the deck of the ship, looking back to see the visor of the vessel opening up. From the ship, came King Dedede, Meta Knight, Bandana Dee, and Elfilin. Marx grinned. “Took too long! If the enemies were already here, I would’ve already annihilated them!”

Dedede and Meta Knight flinched in surprise. “Marx!?” Meta Knight continued with a question. “What are you doing here!? How did you get here?”

“Was sleeping here, nothing much.” A screech made their attention be directed elsewhere, the horde of doomers getting even closer. “But for now, how about we focus on our new friends here?” Marx grinned as he inflated his cheeks before he shot out from his mouth a giant laser directed at the Doomers, making them spread.

“Get ready, gang!” Dedede said as he readied his hammer along with Bandana and Meta who readied their weapons.

Elfilin was a bit nervous, but he was gonna go through this no matter what. He had the power now, he trained for situations like this. He could do this, he could defend himself this time! 

When Kirby and Eliflin defeated Chaos Elfilis, the gemini got some of Elfilis' powers along with some of their memories. Even though his powers are not at their full potential, he can still hold his weight in battle… hopefully. 

Steeling himself up, he focused his power and summoned a smaller version of Elfilis’ spear, although way shinier than the original one. 

“Since I’m the next best thing to the puffball, I think I’m allowed to say it,” Dedede said before lifting his hammer. “Let’s go Star Allies!” Everyone lifted their weapons and with that, the battle started. 

The group split off, charging at different groups of Doomers. Bandana Dee focused on a group of two fire and electric Doomers, the latter starting to launch balls of electricity at the waddle dee. He dodged the balls of lighting and ran up to them, jumping and repeatedly jabbing one of the green avians. After finishing, he used the Doomer as a platform and jumped from it before exploding into a puff of smoke, making a downward trust at the other electric Doomer.

After said avian exploded, Bandana landed on solid ground and rapidly blocked against fireballs shot by the two fire Doomers. After some seconds of guarding against the fire, he slashed the two fireballs away and summoned another spear out of thin air on his nub. The waddle dee then threw the two spears at the two doomers, making a direct hit on the two before both of them burst into smoke. “Yeah, I got it!”

Meta Knight flapped his wings, flying into a group of fire and ice Doomers. He started slashing the Galaxia in the air, sending blue slash waves at the Doomers as they responded with fire and ice balls that clashed against the waves. The fire avians covered themselves in fire and started spinning, charging at the masked knight. He huffed before making Shuttle Loop and flying towards the attack, winning the clash as he slashed the three fire doomers in a flash. The three Doomers then exploded in a puff of smoke.

The knight landed on the ground and looked back at three gray avians who started throwing ice shards at the knight. However, Meta lifted a glove and the projectiles stopped in midair, aiming back at them. The ice shards then flew back to their respective doomers and impaled them before they combusted into smoke. 

King Dedede was using his infamous Super Dedede Jump, slamming some purple Doomers with his weight as he landed back down. “Heh! It’s nice to be back into action!” He then looked at some blue Doomers charging at him, shooting water projectiles at the penguin. The king grinned and started spinning along with his hammer, deflecting the water projectiles before hitting the spherical avians themselves and knocking them far away.

After spinning, Dedede looked at three more purple Doomers around him, grouping up together before charging at the king. He smiled before readying his hammer as he began focusing, building up strength on his hammer. As they got close enough, King Dedede swung his hammer hard , launching the Sphere Doomers away before they exploded into a puff of smoke. “Alright!”

Meanwhile, Elfilin was dealing with his own set of enemies. There were four elemental Doomers he was fighting: fire, ice, electric, and water. At the same time, the doomers released their projectiles at the chinchilla. He opened up a small star-shaped portal in front of him, making the elemental balls go into it before opening another portal behind the avians and releasing their projectiles against them. The avians exploded in a puff of smoke and Elfilin smiled. “Yes!”

The gemini’s ear twitched and he turned to see four more Doomers (this time being purple ones) charging at him. Elfilin flinched and vanished into a portal before the spherical avians could get a hit on the floating rodent. The doomers stopped and started looking around, confused. Elfilin then emerged from another portal behind them and lifted his spear in the air, summoning spear-shaped energy projectiles beside him. He raised the spear even higher and the energy spears were launched at the Doomers, stabbing them and making them explode into smoke. “I… I did it!”

A maniacal cackle made Elfilin’s attention be directed to it. He could see Marx teleporting around a group of Doomers while making a creepy face, making them confused and a bit scared. “Aww, what’s the matter? Can’t keep up!?” He laughed as he continued to teleport like crazy before appearing in the eyesight of a single gray Doomer. “PEEK-A-BOO! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” His laugh started becoming distorted as his body suddenly split itself in two, making Elfilin, who was watching the scene, flinch in horror. In the crevice where was once Marx's body, a blackhole appeared, sucking the spherical, and winged creatures whole, not leaving a single trace of them.

The vortex disappeared before Marx’s body glued itself together, humming. “That right in the spot!” He looked to the side to see another group of Doomers heading his way, charging at him. He grinned maniacally before flying straight to them, shooting lightning-coated arrows from the hexagons of his wings, piercing the Doomers and making them disappear with a puff of smoke. “Hehehe, I should come here more often! This place is so much fun!”

As the rest of the enemies were retreating, Elfilin flew towards Meta Knight and asked. “Um… do you have to deal with that every time he’s around…?”

Meta Knight sighed as he holstered his sword. “Sometimes…”

The fighters grouped up and King Dedede spoke. “We did it guys! That was a well-fought battle!” The others nodded.

Marx added as he dissipated his wings before he landed. “Man, I could be doing that ALL day!”

Bandana Dee sighed before looking at Marx unamused. “We definitely know you could do that…” He then perked up as he looked at Elfilin. “But hey, for your first standalone fight, you did well!”

Elfilin blushed a little bit and looked away, rubbing the back of his head. “T-thanks…!”

Suddenly, Magolor’s voice could be heard from a speaker. “Nice job in defeating those pesky Doomers, guys! Even though we could use a small celebration for such a feat, we have some urgent news! Come to the control room, me and Susie found something that might be a clue we need to find Kirby!”

Bandana tilted his body in confusion. “Really? A clue? What could that be?”

Marx rolled his eyes. “Don’t just stand there pondering what that could be. Better to just go and see it for yourself!” He opened his wings again. “After all, I want Kirby back as fast as possible, so see ya there!” 

After Marx teleported away, King Dedede huffed in annoyance. “Well… he’s right for once. Let’s go see what this is.”

The others nodded and went back inside the ship. They wondered what kind of clue Magolor was talking about, would it be something small and not helpful? They hoped that wasn’t the case.

After reaching the control room, they saw that Marx was already there, balancing on a beach ball. Magolor turned to them and clasped his hands. “Ah, you’re here, wonderful!”

Dedede stepped up to them and asked, putting his hands on his sides. “So what’s the situation here?”

Susie turned to them and flipped her head. “I’ll go straight to the point. While scanning around the place, we found energy readings near our current location.” She tapped on her tablet as she spoke. “When we focused our scans on said place, we found traces of a portal that opened and closed recently.” 

“Remind me again, when was Kirby last seen?” Magolor asked, putting a hand over his mouth.

Bandana answered. “I last saw him almost three days ago.” He then tilted his body. “Why do you ask?”

The president explained while looking at them again. “Because, funnily enough, the energy readings that we saw are still fresh, and our sources deduce that the portal opened about two to three days ago.”

The Star Allies looked in shock at each other before Elfilin asked. “Wait… doesn’t that mean?”

“Yep!” Marx said while smiling, starting to bounce on his ball. “Put one on one together and you realize that Kirby is not even Another Dimension anymore since the kidnapper I was told about probably thought it was a wonderful idea to take Kirby somewhere else!”

“Wait, if he’s not in Another Dimension, then where does that portal lead to?” Meta Knight asked after stepping up to them.

“Due to the incredible tech of the Lor Starcutter, we can confirm that Kirby is in another world entirely.” Magolor said, making the Star Allies’ eyes widen in shock. “Although… there is no information or recorded history about that world.”

“That means it’s a new world that just appeared on our radar.” Susie confirmed before putting away her tablet. “And it’s because of that we must prepare first before entering that place.”

King Dedede made a thinking face before asking the mage. “Magolor, can the Lor open portals that were previously closed?”

“Why of course it can!” Magolor beamed before patting the console. “This baby can do anything portal-related, even open portals previously closed by another.”

The penguin nodded. “Alright then.” He then started speaking to everyone currently in the room. “Star Allies, we are going to enter a potentially dangerous world to save our friend and leader, Kirby. But to enter such a mysterious world, we need to be prepared for anything, that’s why we will prepare today and depart tomorrow. Are you with me, Star Allies?” He asked while raising his hand.

Everyone raised their nubs/hands/paws/claws, some more enthusiastically than others. Dedede went back to Elfilin, Bandana, and Meta Knight while Magolor and Susie started to manage the ship meanwhile Marx teleported away, muttering something about sleep. Bandana Dee said with glee. “That was an awesome speech, sir! You’re getting better at it!”

Dedede rubbed the back of his head. “Thanks, Bandan! Although, I could’ve done it a bit better.”

Meta Knight nodded. “It is as they say. “ Practice makes perfect. ” You will be speaking like a king one day.”

“I can’t wait to see it!” Elfilin added. “And I’m sure Kirby would love to see it as well!”

The penguin blushed. “Thanks, y’all.” He then put his hands on his side. “But anyways, let’s go back to Dreamland for now. We have much to prepare.”

They nodded before the Lor turned around and made another star-shaped portal, leaving Another Dimension completely.

However, as they left, a black mass of energy saw them leave. “Who was that group? And why they were investigating that world? Do they… no, I cannot allow any interlopers to intrude on my plans.” The mass of energy opened many eyes, each displaying a different color. “I shall strike them down before they can do anything against me. That world shall be mine!”

Chapter Text

After the little sparring match with Leenon, the sawk, Kirby enjoyed the rest of the day in the guild. He had put Banny to bed before going to the cafeteria and eating more food there since he became hungry after the battle. The chef was starting not to like Kirby a little because she felt like the puffball would empty the entire food stock because he looked like a starving creature. Nonetheless, she served the food without complaint and the puffball was satisfied.

After dinner, the puffball immediately went to check on the scorbunny before going to bed. It looked like she was still unconscious, so Kirby thought she would probably be awake in the morning. He then went to sleep without any second thoughts. 

However, while the astrali slept, the white bunny beside him woke up, sitting up and looking around. After taking in her surroundings, Banny got up from her hay bed and scanned the room again, looking for her bag. After spotting it, she went to it and looked inside it, not finding the item she was looking for. “Where-?” She checked her body before her paws ran through her neck, finding the item she was looking for before sighing in relief. She took her paws off of the scarf and went to the window.

The moon was showering its comforting rays of light down at the town, providing a beautiful light for the whole world to see. Banny supported herself on the window and stared down at the moon as a breeze passed through her, lifting her mother’s scarf a little.

Banny can’t believe that this is finally the day that her explorer career finally begins. This is what she has been thinking about ever since her mother passed away, the day that she would continue where her mother left off and expand her legacy even more. It was a big dream, sure, but she had a feeling that she could be able to accomplish it. Kirby was there to help her after all. 

She grabbed her scarf and muttered to herself. “You’ll see, mom, I’m gonna continue your legacy and become one of the best explorers in the world! Just like you.” She nodded to herself and went back to her bed with a clear head. After all, she needed to be in her best state before tackling her first mission tomorrow.

It was a new day, the sun was rising slowly into the sky, shining rays of sunlight toward the world and showering Pokémon with a comforting warmth. 

Team Star Warriors, ignoring the rays of light entering their room through the windows, soundly slept on their hay beds, a snot bubble being visible coming from the puffball as he snored contently. However, the front door of their room opened, revealing a bronzong that floated close to them. They swung its body side to side, making a tolling sound like a bell. “It’s time… to get up. Wake… up.” 

After the tolls, Kirby’s snot bubble popped and he woke up beside Banny who woke up as well. Team Star Warriors slowly but surely got up, the puffball stretching his body while the bunny did the same. Kirby looked at the floating metal bell and waved at it. “Hi, good morning!”

The bronzong stared a little at the puffball, being a little weirded out by Kirby’s act before replying with a huff. “Good… morning.”

Banny adjusted her scarf and looked at the astrali with a smile. “Good morning Kirby, slept well?”

Kirby turned to the scorbunny and grinned. “Good morning Banny! I slept well! Hope you did too!”

Both members of the team smiled before the floating bell in the room did a fake cough, making them turn to them. “Guildmaster Shitsuji… has requested your presence at his office once you had… woken up. That is… all, have a… nice day.”

The bronzong floated out of the room and left Kirby and Banny alone. Kirby tilted his body in confusion. “Shitsuji is calling us?”

Banny crossed her arms. “Remember that we were gonna be assigned a mission today? That could be the reason.”

“Oh, I see. Well then, let’s not make him wait for us!” Kirby said excitedly before rushing out of their room.

Banny smiled. “Wait for me, Kirby!” She said before following the puffball, keeping up with his pace. 

The hallways of the Starlight Guild were quiet, after all, only a few teams were considered early risers. Nonetheless, Team Star Warriors saw some other teams roaming around the guild, yawning, groaning, and stretching before doing their usual tasks around the guild. Kirby and Banny eventually reached the guild master's office. Kirby did the honors and knocked on the double doors with his nubs. A voice on the other side could be heard. “Come in.”

With that, the puffball and the bunny entered the room, seeing the indeedee sitting behind their desks, writing something on some papers. Krystal was beside him, looking at some forms with telekinesis “Hi!” Kirby said to the mayor and guild master with a wave. 

“Hey.” Banny said with a smile.

Shitsuji looked up from the papers and smiled while the espathra grimaced at the sight of the puffball. “Good morning Team Star Warriors.” He put the pen on the table and shifted his position on the chair, clasping his paws together. “Have both of you slept well?”

Kirby responded first while throwing a nub in the air with enthusiasm. “I did, and I had some nice dreams as well!” Even without the fountain of dreams, it appears that he can still have good dreams, probably because of his positiveness. 

Banny looked aside as she crossed her arms. “Eh… woke up in the middle of the night, but it was nothing bad.” She then looked back at the indeedee before adjusting her scarf pumping a fist forward with a grin. “But I can assure you that I’m ready for whatever mission you throw at us.”

Guildmaster Shitsuji nodded. “That is good to hear. After all, for a dungeon mission to go smoothly, the Pokémon need to be well rested.”

Kirby then put a nub on his chin. “Also, what’s the mission about anyway?”

Krystal took a step forward with a stern look on her face. “He was going to get there.”

The indeedee looked at the espathra with a frown. “There is no need to act that way towards Kirby, Krystal. I know that you are being cautious, but he is not gonna cause any trouble, alright?” The ostrich didn’t say anything and looked away with a huff. Shitsuji just sighed, figuring that the work stress was getting on her nerves. He looked back at the exploration team. “Anyhow, as you know, I have called you here to give information on your first mission as part of Starlight Guild.”

The guild master then pulled out from his cabinet a map. Kirby and Banny approached his desk and inspected the map, it was a map of the entire continent with the name of specific locations marked on the map. Kirby looked at it in awe. “Wow…!”

The mass of land shown on the map looked big, Kirby almost mistook it for a star combined with a crescent moon because of how it was shown on the map. Shitsuji pointed his paws at a south part of the map, a location named “Meteorite Woods.” “This is where your first mission shall take place, in the mystery dungeon called Meteorite Woods.”

Kirby tilted his body as he supported himself on the table, looking at the goat-like Pokémon. “Why is it called that?”

Krystal sighed and decided to answer for the indeedee. “It’s because there have been many reports of the forest attracting many meteorites, so it’s called Meteorite Woods.” 

Kirby nodded in understanding before the indeedee continued, making his paw finger run a path. “Meteorite Woods is southeast of Agyneastra Town, twenty kilometers from the town exactly.” He adjusted his glasses and clasped his paws, looking back at Team Star Warriors. “Your mission is a simple one. If I remember correctly, there is a certain chest in the deepest room of that dungeon, said to contain something important inside it.”

Krystal looked at Shitsuji in confusion, about to ask something before Kirby asked first. “What’s in the chest?”

The guild master hesitated to say something, looking aside before eventually saying. “That is the matter… we do not know. However, I have a strong belief that there might be something in that chest that might help with the town’s current situation.” He sighed before his look changed into a serious one, looking at the scorbunny. “Banny, have you heard about the reports of cult sightings around the continent?”

Banny’s ear twitched as she heard that, putting an arm on her side. “Yes, I remember hearing some talk about that.”

Kirby tilted his body, confused. “Cult sightings?” 

The bunny turned to the puffball and responded. “Apparently, there are some Pokémon with cloaks running around the continent, doing all sorts of bad stuff all around the place.” Banny then frowned. “There were even reports of them killing some Pokémon…”

Kirby grimaced, sounding disappointed. “That’s cruel… why are they doing that?”

“We do not know.” The indeedee said, making them turn to him. “That is why not only our town but other towns and kingdoms are working to resolve this serious matter. And we believe that chest might have something to defend against them.”

The espathra then sent a telepathic message to Shitsuji’s mind, a bit confused. “What is the meaning of this? I thought the mission was supposed to be something else entirely.”

The mayor sent back a telepathic reply with a glance at Krystal. “Let us discuss this matter after Team Star Warrior leaves, alright? Do not worry, I know what I am doing.” He looked back at the duo and smiled. “Are you ready for the mission, Team Star Warriors?”

Banny and Kirby threw a limb in the air, saying in unison. “Yes, we are!”

Shitsuji then put a paw forward, smiling. “Then off you go!”

With that, Team Star Warriors left the guild master’s office, and Banny told Kirby they should go hit the stores before closing the doors. The indeedee sighed before Krystal spoke up. “So… why did you change the mission out of nowhere? I don’t even remember hearing something about a chest in that place… wait, is that made up?”

Guildmaster Shitsuji clasped his paws close to his face, shaking his head. “No, it is not. That chest is very well real.” He said before getting up from his chest. “The reason why I changed their initial mission was because of our situation with the cults.”

The espathra looked at him as he saw the indeedee walking towards the balcony. “What about them? Did something change?”

He nodded before opening the glass door and entering the balcony. “Yes… their whole behavior seems to have changed. It has been bothering me for the past couple of days, and us being on the time that the prophecy is about to happen is not helping.”

The ostrich Pokémon followed him, seeing the beautiful sights of the sea mixed with a lush green forest. “Even if that’s the case… why change the mission? I mean, do you even believe the chest you told me about is real?”

“I do because I was the one who put it there in the first place.”

That made Krystal flinch. “What!? Why!? Why didn’t you tell me until now?”

He rested his arms on the armrest of the balcony before looking back at the ostrich. “It was a secret held between me and the Elder. I put it there to retrieve it once we felt that desperate times were coming, like now.”

The espathra, frowning a little, asked a bit nervous. “What even is inside that box…?”

The indeedee hesitated to say, looking back at the view in front of him. “In that box… there is something… or rather someone that might be a huge help in dealing with those cultists running amok.”

Krystal tilted her head but didn’t question any further about the box. “Are you sure sending them was a good idea? You know Meteorite Woods isn’t an easy dungeon, and you’re basically sending beginners there.”

Shitsuji smirked a little. “I know that Banny might have some difficulties there… however, Kirby is a different case, after all, if it wasn’t for my cheating strategies… he might’ve won a battle against me.”

Krystal flinched in shock. “WHAT!?”

Team Star Warriors were outside of Starlight Guild, the morning sun shining slightly above the rock giant rock formations. Even though it was a bit of an early moment in Agyneastra town, there could be seen a lot of Pokémon walking around, doing their usual business, shops already being open, and the officers already patrolling the streets. Kirby was a bit relieved that the beating he did in the prison didn’t interrupt the cops’ schedules.

Banny adjusted her scarf and bag as a breeze hit them both. She then looked at the puffball, putting her paws on her side. “Alright, before we go to the dungeon, we need to be prepared for anything. Let’s stock up on items since you ate all of the berries we got for free.”

Kirby sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry…”

The scorbunny shook her head. “It’s fine, gives me an excuse to show the shops more closely.” She said before starting to run. “C’mon, let’s go!”

“Right behind you!” The puffball responded before following the fire bunny at the same speed. The duo went to the commercial district of the town, where shops Kirby had seen before laid open for any customers. They stopped at the center, some Pokémon giving small glances at the astrali before moving on with their business. “And we’re back!”

“Indeed, we are.” The scorbunny said before putting her paws on her side again, looking around the place. “So… where do you wanna go first?”

Kirby looked around while making a thinking face as he looked at the most interesting-looking stores. However, once he looked at a certain metal and blocky stand, he saw a bunch of weapons laying in display on the front…

The puffball knew where he was going first.

“That one!” Kirby said as he pointed to the metal stand.

Banny grimaced as she looked at that place. “But that’s Ruka’s store… are you sure you want to go there, remember that I said she’s kinda grumpy?”

The astrali waved it off. “No biggie! She can’t be that bad!”

“But why do you even wanna go there in the first place? Can you even hold a weapon?”

He threw a nub in the air. “Yep! I can hold lots of weapons! And if my old abilities are still here… then I can gain their abilities!” Kirby said before rushing off towards the metal stand.

“Hey, wait up!” Banny shouted before following the puffball.

Ruka sighed in disappointment. She couldn’t believe it, how couldn’t there be a single customer in this town yesterday? Like, sure, she had moved in recently to continue her blacksmith business, but that doesn’t justify not having any customers for an entire day. If it keeps up like this… she may have to move again. 

The tinkaton sighed before opening a bottle of Shroomish champagne and gulping half of the content inside of it. She limped back on her chair with a groan. “But this place is so nice though… like, so much better than whatever pit Elypso Town came from…” As she was about to take another shot straight from the bottle, the tinkerer noticed another pink Pokémon standing in front of her blacksmith stand, making her lower the bottle in confusion. “The heck…?”

“Hi! My name is Kirby! Nice to meet you!” The puffball said enthusiastically.

Ruka stared at the puffball for a small moment before rubbing her eyelids, seeing if it was a mirage due to her excessive drinking.

It wasn’t.

A scorbunny then showed up beside the puffball, Ruka remembering that she was kinda famous around the town because of the reputation of her parents. What was she even doing here since she never went to her shop? And who was that Jigglypuff-looking knockoff? 

“Hey Ruka, uh… how’s it going…?” The Banny (if Ruka remembered correctly) said.

The tinkaton put her bottle aside on the floor and got up from her chair, walking towards the counter. “‘Sup… what are you kiddos doing here…?”

The puffball, apparently named Kirby, put her… his… their(?) nubs on the counter. “I came here to buy a weapon! What is the best weapon you have?”

Ruka was a bit dumbfounded. Yes, the rates of a customer showing up in this town were low, sure, but now having actual kids purchasing from her? Heck yeah, she will definitely take it-! No, she couldn’t let it over her head, weapons are dangerous, especially for kids. “Sorry, but I can’t let kiddos own weapons, especially if you’re gonna use them to pull pranks.”

That seemed to make the puffball’s eye twitch in slight annoyance. “Why does almost everyone here think that I’m a kid?”

Banny crossed her arms and responded. “Well… it could be by your size, your voice, the way you act towards everyone…”

Kirby threw their nubs in the air. “But I’m already an adult and I already carried plenty of weapons before!”

That caught Ruka’s attention. “You said you carried weapons before?”

The pink puff turned to the tinkaton. “Yes, I did! Do you believe me?”

Ruka sighed. She knew where the puffball was coming from, consistently being underestimated by being small, pink, and girly-like appearance. Maybe they’re right, they may be an adult like her. However, she needed to confirm that. “Alright then, I’ll tell you, actually, I might give you one for free since you remind me of myself a bit too much.”

Kirby gasped as their eyes glistened while Banny looked at Ruka in confusion. “Really!? Thank you-”

The tinkaton then lifted a finger, interrupting the puffball. “On one condition of course.” The pink tinkerer smirked as she ducked behind the counter to grab something, still speaking while out of the puffball’s and the scorbunny’s view. “Prove to me that you can wield a weapon no probs…” She then came back into view with her signature weapon, a giant steel hammer, crafted by her hands with one of the most sturdy materials in the world. “With a lil’ friendly match between us. You can choose the weapon of course.”

Banny flinched in shock. “Not this again!”

Ruka’s confusion with what the fire bunny said was short once the puffball threw a nub in the air. “Alright! I’m down!”

The scorbunny looked at the puffball a bit annoyed. “Kirby, but what about our mission!?”

Kirby looked at the bunny and smiled. “Don’t worry Banny, it’ll be quick! And think about it, a free item!”

“But…”

Kirby held Banny’s paws and smiled. “I’m gonna be fine! And it’ll be quick, I promise!”

As Ruka rested her war hammer on her shoulder, the scorbunny sighed and nodded, looking back at Ruka. “Alright, we’re gonna do it.”

The tinkaton grinned. “Sweet! Let’s go to the town’s battle court.” She then picked up a bag from behind the counter and started throwing some weapons that were hanging from the ceiling inside it. Before leaving the stand, she picked up another bottle, this time a beer. “C’mon, let’s see if your claim is true or not.”

The puffball nodded as they started following the tinkaton. Ruka didn’t know what that gumball-looking Pokémon could do, however, she had a feeling that they might not be as disappointing as she originally expected.

At the battle court of the town, Team Star Warriors and the blacksmith leading them stopped on a battlefield. The place showed signs of previous battles that have taken place in there because of the state it looked, even with some previous repairs being visible.

Ruka threw the bag of weapons on one side of the field, the sound of hard clanking metal could be heard coming from it. “In that bag, there are some weapons ranging from a small dagger to a battle axe. Choose just one, ‘kay?”

Kirby nodded and walked to the side of the field where the bag was while the tinkaton smugly walked to the other side of the field, her hammer casually resting on her shoulder while she gulped down a bottle of beer. The puffball looked into the sac of weapons before spilling its contents on the floor, throwing the bag aside. 

There were five weapons: a bow and some arrows, a spear, a sword, a hammer, and an axe, all completely made of steel. Kirby looked back at the tinkaton, seeing her twirl her hammer casually like it was no big deal before putting the bottle aside. Since she was using a hammer, the puffball thought it was fair if he wielded a hammer as well.

After all, it was one of his most powerful abilities.

“What are you choosing, Kirby?” Banny asked, crossing her arms as she held a conflicted expression about all of this.

The astrali smiled and went to grab the war hammer made for his size. He picked it up and realized it was much heavier than he initially imagined it to be, almost dropping it. Ruka smirked as she noticed it, resting her giant hammer on her back. “What’s wrong? I thought you said you carried weapons before, after all, you must’ve known that they would be heavy.”

Kirby then picked the hammer more firmly with one nub and held it, drawing a little confused expression from the tinkaton on how the puffball could grab it. “Alright, I’m ready!”

Banny said from the side. “Be careful, Kirby!”

Kirby nodded to the scorbunny as Ruka readied her weapon before lifting a finger. “Rule’s simple, hit me once and you win, okay?” He nodded, a bit confused about why it was that easy. “Alright then…” She grinned. “Let’s begin!”

The puffball made a determined face and got into a stance. However, before the tinkaton could rush in, the astrali threw the hammer up in the air and opened his mouth wide, earning a shocked expression from Ruka. The steel hammer fell right into Kirby’s mouth, the pink puff swallowing it whole before he began glowing with star power.

“What the!?” The tinkerer let out in shock.

As the glow died down, Kirby appeared wearing a white and blue rope headband, holding a wooden and double-sided hammer with a star mark on each side of it. Kirby twirled his hammer on his nubs and lifted it. “ Now I’m ready!”

Ruka looked at Kirby bewildered. Did he just eat one of her weapons whole and gained a silly hat and a new hammer? Now that was interesting. She then grinned again. “I dunno what the heck you just did… but you’ve just piqued my interest even more now!” With that, Ruka rushed in, jumping in the air and doing a single spin before bringing her hammer down at the puffball.

Kirby sidestepped out of the way of the giant hammer, almost losing his balance because of the ground below him rumbling as the hammer smashed the floor. Kirby regained his composure and looked back at the tinkaton, lifting her hammer again. “That’s some crazy strength!”

“Thanks for the compliment, better not torchic out now, it’d be super disappointing.” She grinned as she rested her hammer on her shoulder again. “Show me what you can really do!” 

Kirby’s face morphed into a determined one as he rushed towards Ruka, spinning sideways along with his hammer as he did the Hammer Swing attack. The tinkaton brought her hammer down and blocked the move. Kirby stopped spinning and raised his wooden mallet above him before slamming down on Ruka, the pink tinkerer jumping backward to avoid the attack. However, the pink puff kept trying to slam the tinkaton, the tinkerer carefully evading each slam before blocking one entirely with her own weapon. 

Meanwhile, Banny was watching from the sidelines, her muscles tensing up a little as the clash of weapons ensued. The scorbunny gasped once Ruka shoved Kirby’s hammer to the side and kicked him on his side, the puffball almost losing balance as he slid some centimeters away. “Kirby!”

“Caught you slacking!” Ruka shouted before she jumped again and slammed her hammer down at Kirby, who had nowhere to dodge.

“Hup!” However, instead of bracing for impact, Kirby’s hammer went up in flames out of nowhere and he deflected the slam with a Hammer Flip as time seemed to slow down, making Ruka’s eyes widen in shock. The flames suddenly disappeared and Kirby took the opportunity to hit the tinkaton on the side with his wooden hammer. 

Ruka grunted as she got launched a bit far away from the force, sliding and making her drop her hammer from the impact. She looked back at the puffball after regaining her composure and catching her breath. “Welp… color me impressed, you actually do know a thing or two about weapons.”

The astrali smiled. “I told you!”

The tinkaton put a hand on her side and smirked. “Heh, it seems so.” Suddenly, some claps could be heard around them. It was then that they noticed that some Pokémon were watching on the side of the battlefield. “Where did…?”

“That was a nice battle!”

“Hey, ain’t you that blacksmith? Dude, I should visit ya sometime!”

“Wow, I didn’t realize weapons were so cool, I need to get one later!”

They could hear the relatively small crowd say. Ruka was dumbfounded, she’d never expected this kind of reaction towards weapons from a crowd like this, heck even her business gain popularity. 

A smile slowly crept up the blacksmith’s face before looking at the puffball, seeing him eject a star-shaped object with a hammer icon on it before it disappeared completely. She didn’t comment on it. “So… as promised… I’ll let you have a free weapon, not only that, I’ll let you have those too.” She said while pointing a thumb toward the other weapons that were on the other side of the field.

Banny asked as she got close to the puffball and the blacksmith. “Wait, you’re giving more weapons to us for free?”

“Feelin’ generous today, after all, puffball over here brought me potentially bright customers.” She motioned her arm to the Pokémon to the side of the battlefield still cheering them on before putting her hand on her side. “So go on and take them.”

Kirby’s eyes glimmered before nodding in appreciation with a smile. “Thanks, Ruka!”

“You're welcome.” She grabbed her hammer and rested it on her shoulder before walking to Kirby and patting him on the head. “Hope whatever your mission is, goes well for you both.”

With that, Ruka walked away as the crowd of Pokémon dispersed, after the hype of the battle died down. Kirby turned to Banny with an excited face. “Banny, we did it! We got some items for battle and for free!”

Banny sighed. “I don’t know if I should feel excited that we got stuff for free or question how you do the stuff you do. Nonetheless… free items baby!” She said excitedly, realizing that she didn’t have to waste a single coin on a weapon. The scorbunny then went to the remaining weapons on the floor. “C’mon, let’s grab these and go to other stores to buy supplies!”

“Alright, Banny!” The puffball said before helping Banny gather the weapons. With that, Team Star Warriors went to the other shops to buy items for their first mission. The scorbunny had to hold Kirby back from eating the fruits when he saw the delicious berries hanging from the swampert’s shop. 

After an hour of preparing, the team eventually left the town and stood at the entrance, the puffball looking around the place before the bunny pulled out a map from her bag and looked at it. “Alright, just as the guild master said, the dungeon is at the southeast of town. It’s gonna be a long walk, are you ready Kirby?”

The astrali lifted a nub in excitement. “I’m super duper ready!”

“Going on your first mission, huh?” 

Team Star Warriors turn to the source of the girly and condescending voice, seeing Purina and Marionne approaching them. The shiny Jigglypuff snickered. “Hope you don’t fail and blackout first thing, it’d be soooooo bad for us!” 

Kirby assured. “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine! Banny and I are pretty strong, right Banny?” He said while looking at the scorbunny.

Banny crossed her arms, a bit confused if Kirby was pretending not to notice the sarcasm or if he was that oblivious. “Uh… yeah, we are.”

The mimikyu beside Purina leaned closer to her. “Uh… not to cut the talk but um… we gotta go.”

“Right, that stupid errand…” Purina muttered with a sigh before flipping her tuft of fur in her front as she walked away. “Welp, see you around, Team Star Losers. Hope you have fun failing the first of many missions.” She laughed as she walked away.

Marionne just sighed and kept following the Jigglypuff, waddling under his costume. The furless puffball meanwhile, smiled as he waved to Purina. “It’s Team Star Warriors, but see you around!” Kirby then looked back at Banny. “She keeps thinking we’ll fail, but we’ll show her that we can do this!” 

The scorbunny sighed before responding. “Sure, we will.”

Team Star Warriors started their trek toward the mystery dungeon, walking peacefully since they weren’t really in a hurry. The sun was shooting its sunrays from a diagonal angle, meaning that it was probably the middle of the morning. Small bird Pokémon chirped from the trees and some bug Pokémon crawled their way onto some trees while others hung in a cocoon. The puffball was truly adoring the sights he was seeing, this new world almost resembling his own.

After some minutes, Banny realized that it was becoming quiet, really quiet, even with the chirping of the flying types around the area. The scorbunny despised being in a silent environment for so long, it just caused some small chills in her for some reason. So to fend off the silence, she started the small talk with Kirby. “So uh… can I ask you something, Kirby?”

The astrali looked at the scorbunny and smiled. “Of course, you can ask!”

“So… did you have any friends back in Popstar?”

Kirby’s smile reached a point that Banny had never seen before. “Yep! I have a lot of friends back in my world! There’s Bandana, there’s Dedede, Meta Knight, Gooey, Marx, Magolor, Elfilin, Susie, Taranza, Daroach, and there’s way more than that, I didn’t even reach half! And they’re all strong as well!” 

Banny was a bit dumbfounded after hearing all of that. She didn’t know if the puffball’s friends looked like him or not, but the fact that Kirby considers them strong, even knowing his strength, made Banny have a hole in her stomach as her heart rate accelerated a little. Hopefully, she doesn’t get to meet them, Kirby is already enough. “Uh… I’d… love to meet them someday!”

“Yeah, I can’t wait to introduce you to them!” 

Banny looked away sheepishly. “Yeah…”

The duo continued along the path of the forest, having other kinds of small talk so that Banny would get her mind out of the puffball’s powerful friends. After an hour and a half, the team had finally reached Meteorite Woods. At the entrance of the dungeon, two identical rocks looked like they came from space because of the number of small craters on them. They sat a small distance from one another, almost looking like they made part of an invisible archway that led to the inside of the dungeon.

However, that was not all. As Team Star Warriors stepped closer, they realized that something was weird with the dungeon. The air around them felt strange, they were feeling lighter than normal, which made walking feel weird.

“Woah… what’s happening?” Asked Kirby.

Banny responded. “I think this dungeon has low gravity, meaning…” She then jumped as high as she could, pouring as much strength into her legs for the impulse. However, she jumped way higher than she could normally reach, making her flinch a little bit before descending slowly to the ground like a feather. “We get to jump higher and fall really slow.”

The astrali said in awe. “Oooh! I see, in that case, then this would be a good ability for this dungeon!” Kirby pulled out from the bag he was wearing the bow that Ruka gave him. He then swallowed the bow whole, making the scorbunny cringe as he glowed with star power. On the top of his head, a purple hat with a golden feather appeared, along with the hat, he gained a pink bow with orange tips that had a star embedded in the middle of it. Kirby became Archer Kirby!

Banny crossed her arms and tilted her head. “Do you have the ability to copy literally anything?”

Kirby put a nub on his chin as he thought about it. “I think I can… but I don’t really remember.” He then shook his head and holstered his bow on his back, looking like the weapon had stuck to his body. “Anyways, let’s enter the dungeon! I can’t wait to get the treasure!”

The bunny uncrossed her arms and grinned. “Yeah, let’s do it!”

With that, Team Star Warriors entered the dungeon and finally began their first mission as an exploration team. They stepped inside the dungeon, and just like before when they entered one, the sky was covered in a dome full of swirling colors, the path behind them suddenly became covered with meteorites and distorted trees and the path suddenly became linear.

They were now inside Meteorite Woods for good.

The duo nodded to themselves and began their walk inside the dungeon, following along the straight path as they took in their surroundings. They suddenly stumbled upon a wide area where they could get a better view of the dungeon. The dungeon looked like a normal forest, however, it was full of space rocks, some were even shining with an ethereal glow, purple crystals were littered around the place as well with some purple whisps of energy dancing around them. 

The place looked like it belonged to another planet because of how the place looked. 

“This place is so cool…” Kirby said with his eyes glimmering. 

“True.” Banny agreed before shaking her head, trying to not get hypnotized by the sights. “Although, we need to be careful, who knows what kind of hostile Pokémon could be waiting for-” Suddenly, the scorbunny tripped on a round and brown rock embedded in the ground, almost falling on the ground before Kirby held her paw for her not to fall. At least the low gravity helped.

Kirby released a very childish giggle. “Or we could almost trip around if we aren’t careful.”

The bunny looked back at the puffball while flailing her arms and flushing. “I wasn’t paying attention!” Banny’s ear suddenly twitched, making her stop flailing her arms as she felt a vibration coming from behind the puffball. She looked behind Kirby only to see the round rock she tripped on start shaking before slowly rising and floating. “U-uh… Kirby…” The puffball tilted his body. “Behind you...”

Kirby turned around and looked at the floating rock in front of them. It looked like a small meteorite, with some craters around its body and two big ones that almost looked like eyes. On its side, there were five small holes where some pointy bits were poking out, almost looking like a star. The puffball took a step back before the floating rock charged at them. 

Team Star Warriors dodged the charge by jumping back from it. Kirby took out his bow and manifested an arrow into existence, putting it on the string of the bow and taking aim. “Banny, what Pokémon is that?”

The scorbunny started heating her feet, and grass started to burn below her. “If I remember correctly, that’s a minior! I learned from class that they’re pretty sturdy.”

The minior started being covered by a whimsical aura as stones suddenly started floating beside the Pokémon before being launched at the duo. Kirby weaved through the stone and Banny kicked a stone with her foot, launching it into a tree. The puffball released the arrow and hit the floating meteor, piercing it and making a crack in its rocky body. 

The rock type then started spinning in midair, shaking the arrow off of its body as it started to pick up in speed. Banny noticed what was about to happen and ran to the rock, her feet flaring up. “Oh no, you won’t!” She said before jumping and doing a flaming dive kick at the minior, hitting the blunt part of the meteor Pokémon and making it stop the charge. She hit it again with another foot and bounced off of it. 

The crack on the minior’s body started growing and growing before its rocky skin completely cracked, revealing the true pink-colored body of the Pokémon and its swirly eyes and white mouth. The puffball looked confused at the floating meteor. “Huh? That was only armor?”

“Ah, yes, it was, I forgot to tell you that part.” Banny said before taking a battle stance again. “Come on, let’s knock it down before it adjusts itself!”

Kirby nodded. “Alright, let’s do a combo! Be ready, after my arrow!” The scorbunny nodded before the puffball jumped in the air, a bit higher than usual due to the low gravity. He manifested another arrow on his nub and put it on the string, aiming down as he began to charge. The arrow started glowing with a bluish aura before the puffball released the arrow as he was falling. The arrow hit true, making the minor stop their telekinesis with the rocks as the astrali turned to Banny. “Now!”

The scorbunny held her scarf as she picked up a pebble from the ground, muttering to herself. “Just like you, mom.” She dropped the pebble on her feet and began freestyling with the pebble in low gravity, heating the pebble until it was completely encased in flames. With the low gravity, it was way easier to kick the flaming pebble directly to the minior’s face, hitting it and sending him knocking to the ground. 

Kirby slowly landed on the ground and looked at Banny with a smile. “Good job, Banny! It seems like you know your way in a fight!”

Banny rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Thanks… but I’m pretty sure I would’ve lost the fight if you weren’t there. It had a type advantage over me.”

Kirby tilted his body in confusion. “Type advantage?”

Banny realized something and mentally facepalmed. “Oh right, I forgot you don’t know that.” She lifted a paw finger. “You see, every Pokémon has a type with them that defines them in battle. I am a fire type, which means most of my attacks are related to flames.” She then looked around feeling a small sense of dread. “Um… let’s continue the talk while we walk, okay?”

Kirby nodded and they started walking around the wide area they were in, the scorbunny picking up some money and some other useful items on the ground. Kirby helped as well, mostly picking up the berries there were around the place until they entered another narrow corridor. 

Meanwhile, Banny continued her explanation. “So… continuing from what I was saying before, there are a lot of Pokémon types, and when certain types clash, they gain an advantage over each other in battle. That minior we just fought was rock and… flying, if I remember correctly. Rock typing has an advantage over fire typing so it had a clear advantage over me.”

Kirby nodded in understanding. “I see. How many types are there?”

“Um… last I checked… 18 types to be exact. Not sure now since the number keeps increasing when scholars around the world find new types. I think I heard the possibility of sound typing existing but… last I heard it was up to debate to see if it counts as a type or not.”

“That’s interesting! Can you teach me later about all the types?”

The scorbunny nodded with a smile. “Sure!”

They continued to walk normally, taking some 90-degree turns in some of the narrow and tight pathways before encountering themselves in more wide areas, which, fortunately, had no hostile Pokémon in them. Unlike the other time, Kirby had his bow ready on his nub in case any enemy tries to sneak up on them.

It wasn’t until a few more rooms that they found another Pokémon, this time two of the same species. Two small, floating, bipedal Pokémon with colorful blinking fingers and a strange pattern on their large forehead, stood in place as they pointed their fingers around, most likely scanning the area around them. 

Before Kirby stepped in, Banny put a paw in front of him and whispered. “Wait, let’s sneak around them, it’s best to avoid most battles in a dungeon.”

Kirby nodded before out of nowhere, he pulled out a cardboard stand with a poorly drawn bush, big enough for both the puffball and the scorbunny to hide behind it. “This’ll help us sneak around them!” He whispered back as he crouched behind the fake bush.

Banny had a mixed expression, but it mostly expressed sheer confusion. “W-what is…”

“Don’t worry, it works… most of the time!” Kirby whispered before motioning for the scorbunny to crouch along with him. 

The bunny sighed and crouched behind the astrali, muttering to herself as Kirby started moving the bush. “This is such a stupid idea…”

Team Star Warriors stuck around the edge of the rectangular room, only moving when Kirby deemed it safe enough. Meanwhile, the two elgyem’s fingers flickered with colors, releasing a red light that scanned around the environment. When the puffball noticed the light coming closer to them, he stopped moving along with Banny, making the cardboard stand in place. 

The scanner passed over the bush , however, the alien Pokémon just kept staring at it for a moment. It then decided to look away as it kept scanning around the area along with the other elgyem before moving away. The puffball peeked over the cardboard bush before deciding it was safe to move again. After getting into a safe enough distance, the astrali whispered. “I think it’s safe to leave the cover.” 

“You think so?” Banny asked.

Kirby nodded with a smile. “Positive!” He said before standing up again along with Banny, picking up his cover and storing it away… somewhere. “Let’s continue!”

The scorbunny nodded and the two continued their adventure in the dungeon. It wasn’t long until they encountered a problem in the shape of a sun-shaped floating rock in one of the corridors. Since the pathway was narrow, they had little room to sidestep the attacks of the solrock. 

Kirby sprung to action using low gravity to jump up, letting Banny hit the rock and psychic with an Ember that came out of her mouth and followed up with an arrow from his bow. The solrock, obviously, didn’t like being hit by flames and arrows, so it retaliated by launching rocks at the team. The puffball deflected some of the rocks with his bow while Banny shot small fireballs at other rocks. 

The scorbunny then ran past Kirby and attack the sun knock-off with a jump kick, hitting the rock onto a tree. Kirby and Banny took this opportunity to run, not letting the solrock recover to attack them again. 

They ran to another wide room, this area a little smaller than the other rooms, looking like a perfect square that split into four different pathways. At least the room was enemy free and it seemed that the solrock didn’t bother to follow them. 

“Did… did we get away from them?” The scorbunny asked while panting a little and looking behind her.

“Yeah, I think we did.” Kirby said, checking behind him to fully confirm his claim, fortunately, he was right. He sighed in relief before he looked around the room, realizing that there were more of those purple crystals they’d been seeing throughout the dungeon. It looked like that, for some reason, this was where the crystals were mostly clustered. “Woah… what is this place…?”

“It looks like the source of these crystals must be nearby…” The scorbunny noted before she caught something between the crystals. It looked to be a… “Wait… is that a chest?”

The puffball followed Banny’s gaze before spotting the small chest she mentioned. Team Star Warriors moved closer to it to inspect it. It seemed that the chest was made out of silver, with some wooden outlines on the edges of it, along with a six-pointed star pattern engraved on the lock. On the sides of the chests, it seems some of the crystals were attaching themselves to the chest. “Is this the chest?”

“I think it is… meaning this is the final room of the dungeon.” The scorbunny deduced.

“Sweet! Let’s grab the chest and bring it back to Shitsuji!” The astrali said happily.

Banny put a paw on her chin as she took a look at the crystals that were attached to the chest. “But how are we gonna get the chest out of the crystals? It looks like it’s stuck with the crystals…”

Kirby readied his bow. “Simple!” He then manifested two arrows and put them on his bow. “We break the crystals!” 

Banny flinched. 

However, before she could say something, the puffball started charging his shot. The arrows started to glow a little bit before purplish blue orbs appeared at the tip of the two arrows. Kirby shot the arrows at the crystals, shattering them completely. The chest dropped to the ground, free from the crystalline cuffs. “See? Easy!”

The scorbunny grimaced. “Kirby, that could’ve been dangerous, what if you activated some sort of trap?”

The astrali turned to Banny and grinned. “Don’t worry, we’re fine, and it’s not like anything happened!” As he said that, the rest of the purple crystals in the room started disappearing, even the shattered ones as they became purplish whisps before dissipating into thin air. “Huh?”

Banny took a defensive stance as she readied for something to happen. “Are you completely sure about that…?”

Both took defensive stances, waiting for anything to come out and attack them… however, nothing came at them after several seconds. Kirby sighed in relief before holstering his bow. “See, I told you, nothing happened!” Banny opened her mouth to say something but immediately shut it once realizing that, indeed, nothing happened. The puffball went to the chest and lifted above his body with his nubs. “Come on, let’s get out of here with the chest!”

“Well, alright then…” Banny said before starting to follow the puffball. "This was too easy... way too easy... well, it is the first mission, I guess." She muttered to herself, holding her scarf close to herself. However, one of her ears flickered and she looked behind again, spotting nothing. She narrowed her eyes in carefulness before continuing to follow Kirby out of the room.

Unbeknownst to Team Star Warriors, between the darkness of the forest, two purple lights flashed to life, looking like two eyes staring from the darkness. A robotic voice could be heard. “The chest has been compromised. Locate the thieves and recover the stolen chest no matter the cost.”

Chapter Text

Elfilin’s eyes groggily opened up, his half-conscious form slowly taking in his surroundings that he suddenly woke up in. 

He was here again, wasn’t he?

His small-furred body lay curled on a misty white floor. Everywhere he looked, even beyond the horizon, was a white foggy void. He had been here before, multiple times even, and he would sometimes appear here ever since that incident in the forgotten world. However, after defeating Elfilis once and for all in their chaotic form and becoming one again with them, he didn’t appear in this place alone. 

The small chinchilla slowly but surely sat up, adjusting his sitting position and looking around as he called their name. “Elfilis…?”

“I am here.”

Elfilin turned around and saw his other half, standing behind him with their arms crossed. The blue chinchilla took in their form, analyzing it to see if there was anything different this time. Nope, Elfilis was still the same as they looked originally, with their teal and orange fur covering most of their body, an orange fur scarf around his neck, large clawed hands, giant ears that resembled wings, a big and furred tail, large antlers and fellers, and blue eyes with purple pupils. It was the appearance that they retained after they joined back together.

The gemini stared at each other for a moment before Elfilin replied. “O-oh, uh… hi sibling!”

Elfilis sighed and rolled their eyes. “How many times do I have to tell you to not call me your sibling?”

“U-um… sorry, it’s just that you feel like one to me…” Elfilin said while looking away sheepishly.

The ultimate life form stared at their smaller half for a moment before taking a deep breath. “Fine… I guess I shall humor you…” They said with a slight pinch of salt in their mouth.

Elfilin smiled. “Thanks!” 

They had been meeting in this weird dreamscape for some months, casually talking about some things that happen in Elfilin’s life while Elfilis talked a bit about themselves when their sibling asked. At the beginning of their talks, Elfilis still had some leftover anger from being separated, they detailed that he lacked the empathy that their smaller half had, which was the reason they crafted that mad plan to get Elfilin back them so they didn’t eventually die.

As their time together progressed in the white void, Elfilin noticed that their bigger half was slowly changing to a more calm, nicer, and more collected version of themselves, even if they acted a bit rude sometimes. Elfilin still didn’t tell Kirby about these meetings they were having with Elfilis since he didn’t want to worry his friend. 

Eliflis uncrossed their arms and sat on the misty ground, awkwardly crossing their lanky and thin legs. “Tell me, has something interesting happened with you lately?”  

Ah yes, even if they were one again, one of the gemini’s conscience was left in the dark with everything that happened around the body. Elfilis had no control anymore, heck, they couldn’t even access Forgo Dreams anymore because Elfilin, basically, was in control of everything now. The blue chinchilla felt bad for their other half, so he was starting to think of ways how to let his sibling in control at least for a moment. 

Elfilin put a paw on his chin. “Well, something is happening…” He then lowered his head with a sigh. “Although, it’s nothing good…”

Elfilis tilted their head. “Oh really? What is it?”

“It’s… it’s about Kirby… he was kidnapped.”

The bigger gemini raised an invisible eyebrow. “Really? That pink puffball of raw power that had defeated me… twice… kidnapped?” Elfilin nodded and Elfilis couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “How could a being as powerful as Kirby, who had managed to defeat the ultimate life form, let himself get kidnapped so easily like that?”

The blue chinchilla looked away, his mind desperately searching for an answer. “I… I don’t know. It just really doesn’t sound like him to let himself get kidnapped and I don’t know who could possibly kidnap someone like Kirby! Like, who has the potential to cross dimensions and kidnap a really powerful being under the nose of everyone?”

Elfilis crossed their arms and looked to his side in the distance. “A god, perhaps.”

Elfilin looked back at his older sibling while trying to process their words. “Huh… what do you mean?”

The hybrid looked back at their smaller sibling and said. “It means exactly as I have said it. Who else has the power to kidnap a being like Kirby if not an actual god?”

The blue chinchilla’s eyes widen a little bit as he thought about the implications. That… would be probable, Kirby never spoke of anyone wanting to kidnap him or even dare touch him wrong… except when his cake was stolen, but that was a completely different thing. “So… a god is behind all of this…?”

“Possibly.” Elfilis said flatly before a realization made their eyes widen a little before they released a sigh, making Elfilin tilt his head. “Elfilin, if you do go after Kirby, which… I know you will, you know what will happen, right?”

The smaller sibling asked. “What… what will happen?”

“Simply put, you will have to fight a god.” Elfilin’s eyes widened at that claim. “If the god that kidnapped that puffball has malicious intentions, the most probable scenario is that you would have to fight them to get your precious friend back.” Elfilis uncrossed their arms and stood up again, looking down at their smaller half. “I know you are capable of battle, however, you do not have enough experience to face an opponent as powerful as a god.”

Elfilin started to float, getting to Elfilis’ head level. “But if the fight happens, I won’t be alone! All of Kirby’s other friends will help me find him, so I don’t have to worry about facing whatever god is out there alone!”

“Are you completely sure? Are they strong enough to be on par with a godly figure?” The blue chinchilla tried to retort, however, he stayed silent, looking down in disappointment. He knew that they were really strong, but to be on the same level as a god is saying a bit much… “As I expected.” Elfilis said, closing his eyes in understanding. “However, you have the potential of being on the same level as one.” That made the younger sibling look to perk up and look at his older sibling as they opened their eyes. “You were born from me, an ultimate life form created to combat gods and such beings. You hold the same powers as I do, so, it is only natural that you can reach the same level that I once reached.”

Elfilin thought about it for a moment about what his sibling had said to him. He was right, even if they didn’t say it, he was weak. For years, he didn’t even bother to train to learn his abilities, maybe, it was just to forget about the past. Heck, he didn’t even know why he didn’t learn them when he had the time. Now look at the situation, his mistake was coming back to bite him on the tail. The chinchilla sighed. “There’s no time… we’re about to go into the world where Kirby’s kidnapper took him. Even if I did some training in that new world, it still wouldn’t be enough…” He looked away. “I’m… not like you, who learns stuff fast…”

Elfilis, seeing the distress on their other half’s face, sighed and crossed their arms. “Well, in any case, I have hope that you will figure something out before a possible clash occurs. After all, you not only evaded capture from that terrible civilization, but you also managed to stay undetected for years from me. You can handle yourself.”

The blue chinchilla smiled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. “Thanks, sibling.”

The ultimate life-form didn’t reply, instead, they looked upwards and spoke. “You are waking up. We shall meet again another time.”

Elfilin nodded before he waved goodbye at Elfilis before his body slowly disappeared from the misty white void, his vision going black. 

The chinchilla’s slowly opened his eyes once again, blinking the stars out of his eyes and letting consciousness return to his body. Elfilin rubbed his eyelids while sitting up, uncurling himself as he looked around the place. He had slept in Kirby’s like the last few months, the spherical house being really cozy even in different worlds.

Elfilin looked at his paw, his mind going back to the conversation he had with his other half. He clenched his paw and had a determined look on his face. “I’ll get even stronger, so that one day, I’m gonna be able to protect you as well, Kirby!”

With his new resolve, he started floating, getting everything ready for the decisive day.

“Alright, is everyone here?” Asked King Dedede as he looked to the group in front of him, receiving nods from said group. 

In front of him was a part of the Star Allies, standing on the patch of grass to the side of the Lor Starcutter. Bandana Waddle Dee, Meta Knight, Elfilin, Susie formed the group, and, even if he preferred he wasn’t there, Marx. 

Beside Dedede, Magolor stood with him on the ramp that let inside the big blue vessel. The mage, excited, lifted a finger while smiling behind his scarf. “Hope you’re all ready because we’re about to explore an uncharted world! Who knows what might be waiting for us in that place? We need to traverse it with caution to find our friend, understood?”

“I’m definitely ready!” Marx said while excitedly bouncing on his ball. “But I sure hope that world isn’t deserted or else I’d die of boredom!” 

Bandana Dee clenched his nub, a look of determination appearing on his mouthless face. “We need to find Kirby, whatever it takes! He must be missing his home and friends so much, that’s why we need to bring him back!”

Meta Knight nodded, unfolding his cape slightly. “Bandana is right. We must find Kirby, hastily. Our kidnapper probably didn’t kidnap him out of nowhere, after all, why cross dimensions just to kidnap a random creature? There must be a reason for that.”

“Agreed.” Susie said, flipping her long pink hair. “They definitely wanted Kirby for something because they probably know about Pinkie’s potential. So this mission should be the top priority for me.”

Elfilin looked at Susie while tilting his head. “Wait, but I thought you only accepted going on this mission because you wanted him for testing purposes?”

The President looked away sheepishly and cleared her throat. “Well, that’s another slight factor for my acceptance. I do know honor, of course.”

The flying and blue chinchilla sighed and looked back at Magolor and Dedede. “Um… I’m still trying to learn the full potential of my powers, so I may not be able to do much… but I’ll be there for Kirby, no matter what!”

The blue penguin grinned and clenched his gloved hand. “That’s the spirit, everyone! Let’s go get that puffball and bring him back right where he belongs!”

The entire group lifted a hand/claw wing/nub/paw as they shouted “Yes!”, some more enthusiastically than others, and entered the Lor, being followed by Magalor and Dedede. The automatic door closed behind them and Magolor spoke. “Alright, do we have everything we need for this journey? Like, food, supplies, and all of the goodies?”

“Yep! We’re all set and ready to go!” Bandana responded with an invisible smile. 

“Alright then!” The mage pulled his gloves tighter. “It’s time for me to do what I do best!” He said before going to the console of the ship.

Marx giggled before bouncing off of his ball. “Hey Mags, don’t crash the ship, we’re all counting on ya!” The jester said with a wink.

“Heh, nice joke but like that’s ever gonna happen!” Magolor said proudly before tapping a few buttons and looking at the giant holographic screen above the console. “All systems, check. Energy Spheres, all working in order. We’re all good to go!”

While the mage was managing the ship, Dedede went to Meta Knight and asked him, putting his hands on his sides. “Did you bring some copy essences for when we find Kirby?”

The masked knight nodded. “They’re all stored in my cape.” He said before he lowered his voice into a whisper as he leaned a bit closer to the king. “Along with those as well, like you told me to.”

King Dedede whispered back. “Good.” He then looked back to everyone else as he felt the ground below him get lighter, the ship starting to float. “Everyone, gather around!” The penguin called and everyone, except Magolor, clustered around him and Meta. “Let’s review our mission. As you know, this isn’t a vacation to another world, but a rescue mission. Our primary objective is to find Kirby and immediately bring him back here.”

Meta Knight took a step forward, continuing for Dedede. “In case the inhabitants of that world are not friendly, we try to minimize the number of fights as much as possible, or else that would delay our mission.” As he was talking about that last part, he was looking subtly and specifically at the jester. 

Marx scoffed. “Man, just when I wanted to have fun… can I at least pull my delightful pranks at the locals? That surely will make them act less hostile toward us, right?” He asked with a mischievous little grin.

Meta Knight just looked at him and flatly said. “No. Do that, and we won’t hesitate to strike you down.”

The jester sighed. “You guys are such party poopers. Oh well then, be sure to keep me well fed, or else you know what happens.” He menacingly giggled.

Elfilin stammered a little bit and nervously turned back to Dedede. “A-and uh… if I remember correctly… if the inhabitants of the world are not that hostile… we ask them for information, right?”

“That’s correct, Elfilin!” The king said as he grinned again. “Since we don’t know how big that world is, we need a little bit of information about the world and maybe some clues to make it easier to find Kirby.”

Susie nodded her head in agreement. “Indeed. Since my Pikie scanner won’t work since there are no satellites installed in that universe, we will need every help from the natives we can get…” Susie crossed her invisible arms. “And if they’re not that tech-oriented yet… I can go back there and expand the Haltmann business and make vast technological advancements in there.”

Bandana noticed the slight tinge of enthusiasm in the pink-haired CEO’s voice and asked. “Ah, so this was the main secret factor that made you want to come with us, right?”

The President sighed and shrugged. “What can I say? It’s a huge profit that would not only benefit my company, along with their world, but it would benefit you to find the puffball as well. After all, my help is valuable, is it not?”

The Waddle Dee looked aside. “I guess so…”

Dedede cleared his throat. “Anyways, we don’t know how many days we will be spending on this mission, that’s why we brought a lot of food for this exact reason. We don’t know what’s edible in there or not, so don’t go eating everything that looks remotely like our food, alright?” The group nodded. “Alright, that’s it for now, let’s just chill for now until we get to our destination.”

The small group agreed and disbanded. Meanwhile, the Lor Starcutter was flying across the skies of Dreamland before slowly shooting a small beam from the star-shaped emblem in front of it, the beam opening a star-shaped portal in the air. The jets of the ship flared up and the vessel flew at light speed when entering the portal, the tear in space disappearing right after.

Once again, the Star Allies were in Another Dimension, the swirling of vortexes, asteroids, and cosmic matter making the dimension look intimidating and ethereal. Unlike last time, they weren’t gonna be there for long, so there wouldn’t be an issue of Sphere Doomers taking notice of them. The crew was in the direction of where they last saw the scans of the previously opened portal, chatting idly with themselves along the way.

“So then, Elfilin, I know you’ve told me about your powers but you never told me about how you got it. Care to explain?” Magolor asked, a curious look presenting itself on his half-cloaked face. 

“Uh… I was born with them.” Elfilin said, hesitating a little.

Magolor tilted his head along with one of his ears. “Really now? Did one of your relatives have the same powers as you did?”

The floating chinchilla looked aside for a moment, debating if he should tell his origins or not. He felt that he should at least tell Kirby’s friends about the source of his powers. If Kirby trusted them, so could he! “Well um… I was born from a being called Fecto Elfilis, they’re my other half. So you could say that we are siblings!”

Magolor put a hand on his chin in thought. “Fecto Elfilis, huh…?” The chinchilla could hear the mage muttering about something as he looked away, however, he couldn’t quite hear it. Then, he turned back to Elfilin with a smile behind his scarf. “My, you were born weirdly, no wonder you don’t hear that every day!”

Elfilin looked aside while rubbing the back of his head. “Yep…”

Suddenly, some beeps could be heard from the holographic screen of the Lor. Magolor went to the console to check what it was. “Oho, looks like we made it!” The mage said enthusiastically as the other members of the star allies on the ship grouped up in the control room. In the holographic screen, there was footage of a camera that showed the outside of the ship, a red circle in the middle with some text to the side of it. Magolor turned to them with a grin. “Is everybody ready to enter this new world?”

Marx bounced on his ball excitedly as he made a wide grin. “Yeah, baby!”

Bandana raised his spear. “Ready for anything!”

Elfilin did a small loop in the air before raising his paw. “I’m going in, no matter what!”

Susie flipped her hair as she held her tablet in her free hand. “Let’s get this done as soon as possible so I can get back to my business.”

Meta Knight nodded silently while Dedede smiled as he put his hands on his sides. “We’re gonna get in there and get that puffball no problem.”

Magolor made a thumbs up. “Great!” He turned to the console and started pressing some buttons. “We’re gonna go in… now!” He pressed one final button and the Lor Starcutter started flying ahead.

The star emblem of the ship started glowing before, once again, shooting a small beam of light, the beam making a giant star-shaped portal so that the vessel could go in.

“Hey, Mags?” Marx called out, making the mage turn to him as he pointed a wing claw at the holographic screen that was starting to beep. “What’s that beeping red dot on the camera?”

Magolor turned to the screen and tilted his head in confusion. “That’s an energy reading… coming our way fast-”

KABOOM

Suddenly, before the Lor could safely enter the portal, a massive black beam that came out from a dark misty cloud impacted the side of the ship, causing an explosion on the hull while also damaging some internal parts of it. However, not only that, the force of the beam, carried a shockwave to happen inside the ship. Energy Spheres started to leak out of the ship and got sucked into the portal that the Lor had opened.

The Star Allies screamed as the shockwave passed over them, their bodies being coated with red lighting for a moment before all of them fell on the ground unconscious as the Lor passed through the portal. For some reason, Elfilin stayed a little more conscious but was a bit dazed by the blast and lighting, not being able to keep his eyes open for long but long enough to see a weird white glow envelop the Star Allies. He then inevitably closed his eyes and lost consciousness.

The star-shaped portal then closed behind the ship.

The sound of an alarm could be heard in the surroundings, echoing throughout the ship as red lights flashed around the place along with the monitor also flashing red. 

“Ngh…” Elfilin, with a lot of effort, managed to slowly open his eyes, his head throbbing a lot and his movements being sluggish. The chinchilla put a small paw on his head, grunting and narrowing his eyes from the pain in his head. He looked at the ground as his awareness slowly returned to him, the headache disappearing as well. “Where… where am I…?”

The psychic chinchilla looked at his surroundings for a moment, seeing the pristine gray walls, holes with exposed wiring, some knocked-over boxes, and the undamaged console and glitchy holographic screen. Then it dawned on him as bits of his memories returned to him, he was inside the Lor. “What… happened here…?”

He tried to remember what had happened to the ship before he blacked out, however, all he could remember is hearing an explosion, an unbearable amount of pain, and seeing the other Star Allies… wait a minute. “Wait, the others!” 

Elfilin started to float and look around the floor but immediately flinched once his eyes laid on the creatures currently laying on the ground. “Huh!?” There were six different creatures on the cold and steel floor: on one side of the room, an orange otter-like creature with two tails, wearing a floater on the neck, and a blue bandana on the head; a massive black and blue penguin with two big flippers for hands that looked like blades and a crown-like appendage embedded on the head, wearing a very familiar kimono; a dark blue-furred puffball with two animal-like ears, wearing a mask that obscured their face, a cape, gloves, shoulder pads with the letter M engraved on it, and purple boots. 

The blue chinchilla realized something once he looked at specific parts of the creatures’ bodies. “No way… it can’t be…” He looked to the other side of the room, seeing other three creatures laying on the ground: a spherical pink creature with no arms and with some green leaves sprouting from the of the head, wearing a blue and red jester hat and red bowtie; a brown-furred bipedal feline with a blue flower on the neck, a blue cloak with leafy appendages at the end of the cloak, a blue scarf, and a brown mask on the face; and a bipedal plant-like creature with strong-looking legs, white skin, yellow arms and hands, pink long hair, wearing a white helmet as well.

The bandana, the mask and cape, the kimono, the jester hat and bowtie, the blue scarf, and the pink long hair and white helmet. There was no doubt about it, these creatures WERE the Star Allies. Elfilin backed away from the creatures, his mind racing with questions that had no answer and only managing to voice one question. “Just what’s going on here…?”

Suddenly, he saw that the otter, who was probably Bandana, stir awake, slowly opening his brownish eyes, taking in his surroundings. “Ugh… what happened…?” He looked around, his face morphing into confusion once he saw the others. “Huh… who are…” His eyes then landed on Elfilin. “Elfilin…? Is that you…?”

Well, there goes away his suspicions that he also changed as well… which brings more questions for later. But now, he had to help the others. “Yes, it’s me… Bandana?” Elfilin said unsure while floating to the two-tailed otter.

“Yes, it’s me as well-” Once he went to put a paw on his head, he finally noticed that there were a lot of things wrong with his body. He stared at his paw for a second before looking at his new furry and longer body. “What in Nova’s name!?” He shouted to himself as he got in a sitting position where he could see more of his body, his expression turning into one of shock and horror. “What happened to me!? Why is my body different!?” He asked while his tails started to lash out a little.

Elfilin put his paws forward in a calming manner. “Calm down, alright!? You’re not the only one going through this, okay?”

Bandana looked away from his new paws and looked at the floating chinchilla. “I’m… I’m not…?” He then looked at the other creatures inside the ship, noticing the familiar clothing and body parts. “Wait… are those…”

Suddenly, multiple grunts filled the room, meaning one thing… “They’re waking up…” Elfiin said with a gulp, already expecting how their reactions are gonna go. The rest of the Star Allies’ eyes slowly opened up, revealing that their eye color stayed the same but with a small difference in their eyes because they were turned into a different species.

Once they got to their senses after waking up, they just stared at each other for a moment before everything went into chaos. They screamed in shock and surprise (except for the furry puffball) and took out their weapons as they got up. The big penguin took out his hammer, the puffball took out the Galaxia, the round being with leaves summoned wing claws out of nowhere and started floating, the bipedal feline made a small spell circle around their paws, and the plant-like creature took out a pink and white gun from behind them.

It seemed that everything would turn into a battlefield for a moment, however, the penguin, who was, apparently, Dedede, came to his senses first and realized. “Wait a moment here!” He called out, halting everyone from tearing themselves to pieces. “Are you guys… the Star Allies…?”

All of the creatures’ eyes widened as they looked at the obvious body parts, clothing, and weapons on the other creatures. They slowly lowered their weapons and magic as they took in the different sights of everyone in the room. Meta Knight spoke first as he looked at his new furry body. “What happened to us? Why did we change?”

Magolor looked at his new body, seeing how he basically tripled from his original size, gaining long legs and arms. “I mean…” He started saying before he summoned a dark sphere of energy on his paws. “I ain’t complaining, I still got my powers.” He said as he dissipated the orb. “Although… I feel like I gained another type of magic…”

Susie looked at the ground a bit desperately before finding her tablet. She picked it up with her new weird limbs with a bit of difficulty. “Ugh… no opposable thumbs…” As she adjusted the position of her tablet, her other hand tried to take off the natural face mask that was covering her mouth, however, she couldn’t take it off. She huffed in annoyance before tapping a few things on her tablet before activating a scanner that shot red lights at her face. Once scanned, she looked back at the tablet, seeing that no results were found on the species she was. “Dangit, no luck here…”

After Marx had landed, he inspected himself for a moment. “Eh… I almost didn’t change…” He shrugged with a grin. “Welp, I at least have my godlike powers and that’s what matters!”

Bandana walked to the others in concern. “Are you guys uh…” All eyes turned to him. “Are you still yourselves? Mentally, I mean...”

Marx put a wing on his cheek as he made a thinking face with a smile. “Well besides my growing hunger for pranks and power that I normally have… yep, I’m mentally sane!” The plant-like creature looked at Elfilin for a moment. “Wait a sec! Why didn’t the flying rat change?”

Everyone looked at Elfilin for a moment, expecting an answer from the chinchilla. He put his paws in front of him, waving them defensively. “I-I don’t know! I just woke up and found out that I was still the same and you guys weren’t!” He then looked away. “Although… it may be because of my origins…”

Marx, Magolor, and Susie tilted their heads (while Marx only tilted his body) in confusion. Dedede put one of his big flippers on his chin. “Hm… could be true, you were born from a creature claiming to be an ultimate life form that could level a god.” The penguin then looked at the other three, who had their eyes wide open. “Ah… forgot to tell you guys that, our bad.” He sheepishly grinned.

“That’s not fair! I have godlike powers and I still got changed!” Marx said, complaining like a child.

Meta Knight looked at the jester with an unamused face behind his mask. “That’s because your powers are not on the same level as an actual god. Nova only gave you the necessary power you needed to conquer Popstar, however, it did not put Kirby in the equation because he was out of Popstar in the moment of your wish.”

Marx scoffed to the side while Magolor walked to the console of the ship. “Still unfair in my opinion!”

The feline mage tapped a few things on the console and looked at the holographic screen, a grimace creeping up on his masked face as he saw that the Energy Spheres deposit had completely depleted. “I’m getting an annoying sense of Deja Vu…”

Bandana Dee looked at the screen before looking at Magolor with a frown. “Do we have to go Energy Sphere hunting again?” The two-tailed otter sighed once the mage slowly nodded. “Man… it’s gonna be even harder in a completely different world…”

“Finding them won’t be an issue.” Susie said as she walked to the console on her new powerful-looking legs. “I can locate them with my scanner, which, to put it simply, will track the energy to make it easier to find them. However… the problem will be with the places we can find them… which might not be favorable. And of course... we need at least one so my tablet can find the same energy readings in a ten-kilometer radius.”

“What now then…?” Bandana asked, mostly to himself.

The feline mage looked back to the otter, managing a small smile. “Good news though, at least the important parts of the ships aren’t gone this time.”

King Dedede suddenly called out while raising a giant flipper. “Everyone, gather around!” The transformed Star Allies (except Elfilin) clustered into a wheel, some taking the chance to analyze their bodies a bit more. The penguin cleared his throat and began. “It seems that our situation has changed drastically for the worse.” He said before everyone nodded their heads in agreement. “However, let’s not panic because of this outcome. Our objective still didn’t change even with these setbacks.” 

Meta Knight nodded. “Indeed.” The masked puff then looked at the brown-furred feline. “Magolor, have you managed to know where we currently are?”

Magolor nodded. “Yes. It appears that we’ve landed on a forest clearing in the undiscovered world. Fortunately, no wildfires have been provoked, however… we possibly could’ve attracted some attention from the inhabitants of this world. So they’ll probably arrive sooner or later…”

The knight nodded. “We shall deal with them when the time comes. Meanwhile, let’s take a moment to gather our thoughts before we start exploring. We’ll make the Lor our meetup point where we will rest at the end of each day.”

Bandana then put a paw on his chin as he asked. “Wait, who’s gonna defend the Lor when we’re out exploring?”

The mage grinned while lifting a paw finger. “Ohoho, don’t worry, the Lor can very well protect itself in case of an attack, it’s sentient after all!” He then looked aside with a sheepish smile. “Or so… legends say.”

“Gee, way to make us feel safe while we’re asleep.” Marx said with a roll of his eyes before winking. “Well, seems that I have to cause the ruckus myself if that’s the case!”

Dedede rolled his eyes. “In any case, that’s all for now. Let’s start with doing small repairs to the Lor-” Suddenly, some beeps could be heard coming from the console. As Magolor walked to the control panel, the penguin asked. “What is it this time?”

The mage said while tapping some buttons. “Two unidentified life forms approaching the ship.” The holographic screen then showed footage of a camera outside of the ship, above the entrance of the Lor. 

“That soon…?” Elfilin asked as he and the rest of the group watched the giant screen. From the distance, they could see two blurs showing up in front of the camera, getting more detailed as they got closer to it. One figure was a yellow and blue canine creature that walked on four legs and had red eyes. The other one was a bipedal creature coated in armor, having a red helmet, thighs, and shoulder pads, blades on its torso, on the back of its steel-like gloves, and its helmet as well. Both creatures were wearing red scarves with a strange-looking badge engraved on the piece of gear.

Susie commented as she made an analytical look. “Interesting-looking natives we got here…”

“Not only that, the Lor can detect magic inside them as well, which means they could very well fight.” Magolor said before looking at the rest of the group. “Alright, who’s gonna greet them and start first contact?”

Marx summoned his wings and started floating. “Oh, oh, me! I wanna go out there and greet them the only way I know how!” He said in a menacing tone as a wide grin was plastered over his new body’s face.

The Star Allies, except Elfilin who looked at Marx in nervousness, stared nonchalantly at the jester before Magolor cleared his throat. “Anyone who’s NOT Marx.”

The jester dropped the grin and pouted silently, looking away with a scoff. Dedede then instantly raised his flipper. “I think I should go. I’ll try to get some info from them.”

“I’ll go with you, Great King!” Bandana Dee offered, raising his paw as well. “I’ll help you in case of any trouble.”

The penguin smiled before looking at the rest of the group. “Anyone else wants to come as well?”

Elfilin looked away and thought for a moment. He should go with them in case things go wary to teleport them away with a portal. Not only that, any simple action can help in getting stronger instead of just doing nothing and letting others do the work. 

He had to get stronger, for Kirby’s sake!

The chinchilla looked back at the massive penguin and nodded. “I’ll go with you guys as well! I can use a portal to get us back into the ship in case of trouble, alright?”

“Okay, it’s decided.” Dedede said before he started walking to the exit. “C’mon guys, Magolor will provide backup from inside.”

“Alright!” Elfilin and Bandana said as they started to follow the massive penguin.

Susie turned to the brown-furred feline and tilted her head. “Do we even know if these creatures can speak the same language as ours?”

Magolor stayed in silence for a moment as he looked back at the holographic screen, enhancing the zoon of the camera to look at the creatures in a bit more detail. “I sure do hope so, it’d make our jobs way easier.”

“What do you think it’s inside that ship?”

“I dunno, just hope whatever’s in there has any value.”

“But what if there’s some kind of weird alien crew in there? It did come out of the sky, right?”

“Ya worry too much, let’s just sniff around for somethin’ useful, and if there are hostile aliens inside it, we simply defeat ‘em.”

“I don’t think it’s that easy…”

A duo composed of a bisharp and manectric, named Team Thunder Slice, was walking through a forest clearing close to the borders of the Cosmion Kingdom, being a bit relaxed even in a mission such as this. 

They have received word of a flying ship that came out of the sky through a portal. Honestly, it sounded a bit unbelievable coming from the mouth of one small group of forest mons alone, but it was enough to call the attention of Team Thunder Slice, mostly using this as a chance to make money. 

Their guild missions weren’t paying well.

Wattor, the male manectric sighed. “Like I said before, ya worry too much!” He started wagging his tail, excitement plastered on his face. “Imagine the loot we can find in there! The weird-lookin’ money, the weird alien tech we’d have to our advantage in battle, and of course, the alien hotties!”

Liun-chi, the female bisharp, looked at her partner with an unamused face. “That last one is only a you thing…”

The electric canine shot out a spark of excitement as he answered back. “But ya get my point, right? It’d be like when the elgyem and beheeyem came to our world with some of their futuristic techs, but instead, WE get to show the tech to everyone else!” The bisharp was about to reply when a massive baby blue-colored ship came into their vision in the distance. Wattor grinned. “There it is!”

The manectric started running towards the ship in excitement. “W-wait a second!” Liun-chi called out, trying to keep the same pace as her partner but falling behind a little.

“Treasure, treasure, treasure, treasure-!” Wattor said excitedly as he ran towards the ship, interrupting himself once he saw the outside of the ship materialize a metallic round door out of nowhere. “Huh?” He skidded to a stop, tilting his head and seeing the door open and release a metal ramp. 

Meanwhile, the bisharp caught up to the electric canine and stopped running once she reached him, panting for breath as she looked down and put her hands on her sides. “Why are… you so…” She then looked up, seeing the ship with an open door. “Impulsive…”

“Hey, uh… why did that door open outta nowhere?” Wattor asked, his excited face changing to a curious face.

Liun-chi looked at the manectric with an annoyed look. “How am I supposed to know!?” She then looked back at the ship. “Maybe it’s the crew I warned about-”

Suddenly, from the round door came three figures they were not expecting. An empoleon clad in a fancy-looking kimono and red robes, fit for a kingly figure; a buizel with a blue bandana that had a symbol on it that they didn’t recognize; and an unidentified blue flying creature that had rather large ears, almost looking like a minccino combined with an emolga. The trio of Pokémon and weird creature walked (while the creature floated) to Team Thunder Slice and stopped in front of them, the empoleon starting to speak first. “Greetings, my name is King Dedede, and these two beside me are Bandana Wa-... Bandana Dee…” He motioned to the buizel before motioning to the weird fusion. “And Elfilin.”

Bandana Dee and Elfilin waved rather sheepishly while saying in unison. “Hi.” 

King Dedede then looked back at Wattor and Liun-chi. “Can you understand us?”

The manectric and bisharp looked at each other for a moment before looking back at them, Wattor speaking first. “The heck do ya mean if we can understand ya? You’re a Pokémon like us, so ‘course we can understand ya.”

The trio looked at themselves before looking back at Team Thunder Slice, the buizel asking first. “What’s… what’s a Pokémon?”

The two explorer’s eyes widened before the bisharp asked in surprise. “How can you ask what’s a Pokémon while you’re Pokémon yourselves?” As the three beings that came out of the alien ship tilted their heads, Liun-chi continued. “Well, I don’t about the flying blue rodent, but you two are definitely Pokémon.” She then pointed a Dedede. “You’re an empoleon-” She then pointed at Bandana. “And you’re a buizel. Both Pokémon like us.”

“How didn’t you guys know that before?” Wattor asked while tilting his head.

“Well…” King Dedede began, rubbing the back of his head with his small yellow claws on his flippers. “We… weren’t really Pokémon before.”

Team Thunder Slice let out a giant “WHAT!?” in shock because of this huge information. They looked at themselves for a moment of disbelief before they leaned close to each other and started whispering to one another. “What in Arceus' name are they!? Are they actually like the humans you’d seen in legends that save the world?” The manectric asked.

“Of course not, you dolt! These guys came from a floating ship, and in the legends, no humans came from ships that fly in the sky!” The bisharp responded.

“Then what are they!?” Wattor asked again.

“Uh…” Elfilin began, making the team look back at the trio. “Sorry to burst your bubble but we can hear you guys…”

They dropped the whispering and the bisharp immediately said. “Then answer this, what were you guys before turning into Pokémon?”

“A waddle dee.” The buizel said.

“A penguin.” The empoleon said.

“Uh… myself?” The… thing said.

Wattor responded with an unamused look on his face. “Yeah, no idea what the heck those are…”

Liun-chi crossed her arms, asking again. “Then at least answer this: why are you guys here?”

Dedede took a step forward, putting a flipper on his chest. “We came looking for a missing friend who supposedly was kidnapped and brought to this world.” The team tilted their heads. “A round and pink puffball who goes by the name of Kirby. Have you perhaps heard of him?”

Wattor instantly shook his head. “Nope, never heard of ‘em.”

“I see…” Bandana said, looking aside a bit disappointed as his tails dropped a little. He then looked back at them and asked. “Hey, uh… have you seen like… gears encased in a translucent sphere that looks like a bubble by any chance?”

The bisharp sighed. “Also no…”

Dedede hummed to himself before asking. “Hey, can you at least tell me where the closest town is? We need to gather information on those two things, so we’d like to see if any inhabitant there had spotted them.”

Lian-chi hesitated a little before pointing her hand in the direction Wattor and she came from. “There’s a town a couple of kilometers to the south belonging to the kingdom of Cosmion. You may be able to find your info there.”

“We can lead ya there if ya want.” Wattor offered.

The buizel waved it off. “Nah, don’t worry, we can go there later. We still need to tell that to the rest of the group back at the ship.”

“Ah, alright then. I guess… that’s our cue to leave then.” The bisharp said a bit disappointed She was hoping they would go back to the town with at least something. “See you guys sometime-”

“Wait a sec!” The manectric exclaimed while raising one of his paws, a smile forming around his muzzle. “Are there any hot girls in yer ship?”

Liun-chi’s eyes widened at that question and she immediately punched Wattor on the head, the electric canine covering his head with his paws as he started whimpering. She then grabbed the manectric by the tail and started dragging him away. “Bye!” She shouted to the trio while she walked away from them.

Wattor was clawing the ground he was being forcefully dragged away by his partner. “B-but the hot alien girls…!”

“You already hit on enough girls volt for brains, now get moving!” With that, they started walking back to Cometon town.

Bandana, Dedede, and Elfilin all went back inside the Lor, the door closing behind them on its own. “So uh… that was something…” Elfilin commented.

Bandana sighed. “Susie would’ve obliterated him if he even got a meter close to her…” The waddle-dee-turned-buizel then piped up. “At least we got a small lead on where to go rather than nothing.”

“Yep, indeed.” King Dedede agreed, walking back to the other members of the star allies who were close to the console. Marx was sleeping on a knocked-over box, while Meta Knight, Susie, and Magolor turned away from the holographic screen to look at the group. “So… you guys managed to hear our conversation?” 

“Yes, we managed to hear everything thanks to the Lor’s advanced audio systems installed on its cameras!” Magolor said while lifting a finger.

Susie looked away while one of her eyes could be seen twitching in annoyance. “Even the unnecessary parts…”

“So with that information, we’ve acquired, I may know what you are gonna suggest we do, correct?” Meta Knight asked, his cape folded to cover most of his body.

The empoleon nodded with a grin. “Of course, you do, Meta. Tomorrow, we’re gonna investigate that town to find any clues on the location of some Energy Spheres, and, if we’re lucky enough, find info on Kirby’s location.”

The Star Allies nodded in determination while Marx just grumbled in his sleep, probably in agreement.

Chapter Text

Team Star Warriors had done it! They had completed their first mission under the Starlight Guild!

Kirby and Banny were out of Meteorite Woods, the puffball (without any copy abilities) carrying a fancy-looking treasure chest above him as they walked on the path to Agyneastra Town. The Mystery Dungeon was a fun activity for the puffball, it challenged him with fun Pokémon adversaries and was pretty to look at!

Although, for the scorbunny…

That Mystery Dungeon felt suspicious, WAY too suspicious. It was too easy, way more accessible than it looked. The Pokémon found in that dungeon did make sense to be there, and since it had low gravity, some battles were bound to be easier because they could aim their attacks in the air for longer. However, that was not the issue. The issue was that the place didn’t look that heavily guarded with such a treasure to be hidden deep inside the place. Or maybe… it was a minor treasure that wasn’t really worth having a lot of security? But that wouldn’t make sense.

Guildmaster Shitsuji said that the treasure was something valuable to be used against the cultists, so whatever it is that is inside the chest, it must be powerful enough to make cultists quiver in fear. The actual question was: ‘What even is inside the chest…?’

Banny tried to think what kind of item was inside the box; a weapon? A magic item able to summon a barrier? A forbidden berry? Whatever it was, the Guildmaster would know what to do with it and use it against the current threat.

As they walked forward, the fire bunny looked at the chest for a moment, a thought of opening the chest crossing her mind for a split second before disappearing. She shook her head, not letting the little demon in her shoulder persuade her with their silent and mischievous whispers. Banny obeyed the Guildmaster’s order until the end. Their mission wasn’t done yet, they still needed to deliver the chest back to Shitsuji.

Although, she still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. She didn’t know what it was, but it was still there, crawling on the back of her mind warning her that something wasn’t right. 

Banny looked at the puffball beside her, seeing his cheerful attitude as he hummed a song while carrying the chest like it didn’t weigh anything. Maybe she should ask Kirby for reassurance. “Hey, Kirby…?” The puffball turned to the scorbunny in confusion. “Don’t you think this dungeon was a little… uh… too easy?”

Kirby made a thoughtful look and shrugged as best as his body allowed. “I dunno. I’ve only been in two dungeons so far so I wouldn’t be able to tell.”

“But like… with an important item laying in the depths of the dungeon, it’s kinda required having a bit more security around it, don’t you think so? It’s not really an abandoned ruin or something like that.”

The puffball hummed in thought. “Now that you say that… eh, they probably forgot about it and left to do something better!” He said with enthusiasm.

Just as Banny expected, a positive and reassuring answer from the astrali. Perhaps Kirby just liked to see everything on the positive side of things to not stress himself? Or is he hiding something that makes him see everything positively? Either way, Banny saw the little puffball as an enigma she couldn’t quite crack. However, it was that positiveness and cheerfulness that reassured the scorbunny that everything would be okay and would be fine.

It was those traits that had gotten her to where she is right now.

Suddenly, panicked-sounding chirpings of flying type Pokémon could be heard above them as the shaking of leaves could be heard in the distance. Team Star Warriors stopped walking and looked at their surroundings in confusion and shock. “W-what was that!?” Banny asked concernedly

Kirby frowned and replied. “I don’t know… but whatever that was must be huge.” 

Suddenly, the duo could feel some vibrations across the ground rhythmically, slowly but surely getting more noticeable. The vibration then started turning into slight tremors, shaking up dirt and small rocks on the floor, growing in intensity. “W-what is this…? What’s happening?” Asked the scorbunny as she looked down at the ground.

“These tremors… they feel like footsteps!” Kirby detected as he started looking around a little more warily than usual. “And it seems whatever it is, it’s approaching us.”

“What!?” Banny let out a bit shocked. Her ears were twitching a lot after each tremor as they were getting stronger with each step. What was approaching them? And why was it going in their direction? What Pokémon was this big and caused this many tremors as it just walked ? “Just… what could it be…?”

The tremors had gotten to a point that made the team of explorers almost stumbled onto the ground but quickly regained their composure. They managed to pinpoint where the giant steps were coming from, seeing something poking out of the foliage of the trees that were quickly collapsing one by one. Eventually, the giant Pokémon got there, destroying the last set of trees in its path.

The Pokémon revealed to be one that Banny had seen mostly in history books and among other miscellaneous talks around other towns and villages she had visited, a golurk. It was bigger than any trees and it looked way more intimidating than other golurks that she saw on books. Its body had a darker color, its eyes were glowing purple along with the massive fissure on its torso and the markings on its shoulders and hands, as well as the many cracks along its limbs. However, what made it stand out more than any other golurk was the many purple crystal-made spikes that seemed to be making a trail from the fissure on its torso and ending on its left shoulder, the biggest spike being the one on the shoulder. For some reason, those crystals felt familiar…

That thing was gigantic compared to Team Star Warriors, it made Banny shiver to her very soul. It wasn’t really after them… right?

The golem stopped in its tracks and slowly but surely turned its head towards Kirby, staring at him for a few seconds as the puffball tensed a little. “You have the chest. Make the situation easy for both of us and return the chest to its rightful place.”

It then dawned on the scorbunny a realization. The crystals on the golurk’s body were the same ones they had encountered in the dungeon. The golurk was the guardian of the chest. “Crap, I knew that dungeon felt too easy for no reason.” Banny then looked at Kirby. “What do we do Kirby?”

The puffball then put the chest on the ground beside him before taking a step forward to the golurk, a determined and serious look on his face. “I’m sorry big guy, but our guild master requested we bring this chest back to the guild! It’s really important!”

The giant golem stared for a moment before finally responding. “If you do not comply with my demands…” It spun its torso around like a top while taking a step forward, the purple crystals on its body starting to glow. It then stopped spinning its body and bore its fists in front of it. “I shall crush you!”

“We’re gonna fight it!?” Banny asked while looking at Kirby with an astonished expression. “Are you crazy!?”

“I’ve beaten bigger foes than him, don’t worry, we’re together in this!” Kirby then grabbed from the bag the small battle axe that he got from Ruka and threw it in the air, swallowing whole as it fell into his mouth. The astrali shone with star power, a wooden-made cap with steel outlines and two horns on the side appearing on the puffball’s top. On his nub, a double-sided axe with a star emblem in the middle appeared. Kirby became Axe Kirby! “We’re gonna win this battle!” He said while pointing his axe at the golem.

Banny was shaking in pure fear, they were actually gonna fight this giant of a Pokémon just to get the treasure chest back to the town. And this was only their first mission!

But whatever the case, Banny would do it! She would make her mother proud by being the best explorer of Agyneastra town after her, and that was a promise she made herself! 

She would not back down, no matter what!

Banny, with her new resolve, nodded to Kirby and looked at the crystallized golem with a battle stance. “It’s our mission as explorers and we won’t back down from that!” 

“The chest shall be protected, it is my prime directive and I shall not let thieves shift that directive!” The Golem then released a rusty metal screech to the air and the battle started.

Crystalized Giant
Golurk

The golem took some heavy steps to Team Star Warriors, readying a punch with its giant hands. The duo dodged the glowing Mega Punch from Golurk, Banny, and Kirby jumping in different directions to avoid the punch. 

Banny ran to the golem as it slowly turned its head to the scorbunny, her feet starting to heat up as she started to scorch the grass beneath her. She jumped in the air and tried to do a flaming dive kick at Golurk. However, the giant Pokémon spun its torso around and slapped Banny out of the air and onto the ground with a big hand. The bunny bounced a little on the ground before sliding across the dirt.

Meanwhile, Kirby took the opportunity to jump into the fray, swinging his axe along with his body in a spinning move in the air. The golem noticed that an attack in the back was coming and suddenly vanished into the ground with a shadowy purple aura surrounding it. Kirby landed back on the ground, looking around in confusion trying to figure out where the giant had gone. 

Suddenly, a shadowy aura manifested behind the puffball, Golurk appearing from it. The Golem then arched its arm back while lowering it and delivering a giant uppercut to the astrali, launching him into the sky. “Yaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!” Kirby screamed as he rocketed into the air. 

“Kirby!!!” The scorbunny shouted as she looked at the scene. She then got up to her feet and started running to the giant again, this time shooting Embers from her mouth at the golem. The fireballs hit true as they hit the chest of the giant Pokémon, however, it seemed that didn’t even phase it. Banny stopped running and tensed when Golurk looked at her but she didn’t look afraid, she looked cautious. 

The fire bunny was right to be cautious because she sidestepped to the right once the golem tried throwing a fist coated in a shadowy and ghostly aura. As Golurk was busy retracting its arms while focusing on Banny, it failed to hear a battle cry coming from above. Banny looked upwards and saw Kirby spinning like a sawblade with his axe while falling down. Once the golem took notice, it was a little too late as Kirby managed to hit its right shoulder. Bouncing off of the attack, Kirby landed on the ground and saw the damage it caused on Golurk’s rocky body. There was a small crack on its shoulder, it was small but noticeable.

Banny regrouped with the puffball, checking for any injuries on the pink puff. “Are you alright, Kirby?” The puffball nodded at the fire bunny before looking back at the golem who was slowly approaching them with its heavy steps.

“Such unfounded resistance is respectable.” It said as it got closer to them. “However, do not think I shall go easy on you because of it. The chest shall be recovered and protected until my master comes back!” The crystals on Golurk’s shoulder glowed a faint hue of purple along with its eyes before they detached themselves from its shoulder and started floating in the air, aiming the tips at Team Star Warriors. 

Kirby and Banny flinched once one of the crystals rocketed towards them. “Dodge!” Banny shouted before the two explorers jumped to the side, avoiding being impaled by the glowing purple rock.

Kirby got up and looked at the golem. “Missiles, really!?” Suddenly, another crystal missile launched itself towards Kirby’s direction, this one being smaller than the other. Kirby then swung his axe down and chopped the crystal in half as it made contact with the blade of the weapon. “If that’s the case, take this!”

The puffball then charged something with the axe above him, the weapon glowing red a little. The scorbunny got up while looking at Kirby in confusion. The astrali swung the axe down again, this time hitting the ground. From the axe, a red wave of energy was released and it traveled along the ground until it reached Golurk. The energy wave suddenly erupted into a pillar of flames that struck the golem’s chest, making it recoil a little and stumble to the ground on its rear.

Banny was awestruck seeing the power of her partner. It was already clear that Kirby could wield such intense flames as seen in some of his other abilities and the literal fire ability but to the point of pushing a giant Pokémon with a lot of strength to the ground? It made the scorbunny question if Kirby had a legendary-like status back in his world. “Woah…”

Golurk slowly but surely got back up. “It seems that I underestimated you. Perhaps I failed to process that smaller Pokémon can also be strong despite their small size.” It looked back at them with its eyes glowing again as the crystals that were used as projectiles started regrowing on its shoulder. “However, I shall correct my miscalculations and apply the correct amount of strength to this battle so that my mission shall be completed!” 

The Golem released another rocky and rusty screech, baring its fists as Banny and Kirby tensed. Suddenly, Golurk’s legs retracted into its vest-like torso, making it look like it lost its legs for a moment. Then, flames started coming out from under its torso, sending hot winds and scorching the grass below it as it lifted into the air slowly like a rocket. 

It flew into the skies above, making Team Star Warrior look up to track it. “Wait, where is it going!?” Banny asked a little shocked.

“I dunno! But this looks bad…” Kirby said as he tightened the grip on his axe, readying for anything that the Golurk would throw out.

Banny got close to Kirby and readied her stance, her face morphing into a brave expression. “Whatever it is, I’ll stand right by your side!”

Kirby nodded in agreement before realizing something. The sun was getting covered up for some reason. The puffball tilted his head and realized that there was a slight shade below where the two explorers were standing, slowly growing in opacity. He then made a terrible realization. “Banny, move!” 

The scorbunny, a little startled by the shouting, looked up for a brief second before making the same realization that the puffball had. She screamed a little before the puffball tackled her away from the gigantic impact, a mere second before the Heavy Slam hit the exploration team.

Banny and Kirby rolled on the grass, boosted by the gigantic shockwave that the impact from the attack caused. Thankfully, they rolled away at the right moment since crystal spikes came out of the ground around the giant Golem. Team Star Warriors stopped rolling once they both impacted the same tree; Kirby hit the trunk first and lost his axe ability before being followed by Banny who used the puffball’s body as a cushion to soften the impact. The two explorers slumped onto the floor and looked back to the battlefield to find an enormous cloud of dust, cloaking their vision.

After the dust had settled they found the enormous giant of a Pokémon slowly getting up after the impact, seeing its menacing purple eyes stare back at the team. 

Battered and a bit bruised, Team Star Warriors got up quickly, the two members quickly formulating a plan in their heads. “What do we do now, Kirby…? Do you have a plan?” Banny asked, taking deep breaths.

Kirby looked back at Banny and smiled, lifting a nub in the air. “Yes, I do!” 

The scorbunny tilted her head. “And what is it?” 

The puffball looked back at Golurk as it was slowly but surely approaching them. “Hit it really hard!” 

Banny looked at Kirby with an expression of disbelief for a brief second before asking quickly. “You’re joking, right?”

“Nope! But… if you do want the details, just shoot a fireball at me, I thought of something amazing!” The astrali said with enthusiasm as the fire bunny tilted her head. “I remember seeing you kick a rock and it combusted into flames, so I thought I’d try something!”

Banny thought for a second before a realization formed in her head, her expression shifting into a grimace. “Are you sure about this…?” Kirby then nodded, flinching a bit as the footsteps disguised as small tremors were getting closer to them. Banny sighed before frowning in uncertainty. “Alright then, here it comes!”

Kirby jumped back a little before Banny released a fireball from her mouth, aiming at the puffball. Kirby then opened his mouth wide and started inhaling the air in front of him, the fireball being sucked directly into his mouth before he swallowed. The puffball shone with star power again as the top of his body started catching fire, and a golden crown with a blue gem in front of it appeared around the flames. Kirby became Fire Kirby! “Get ready, Banny!”

The scorbunny nodded and looked back at the golem with a determined look on her face along with Kirby. The Golem stopped moving and spoke. “Your attempts at defeating me are pointless. Surrender the chest now, or…” The crystals on its shoulders started floating again and aimed at Team Star Warriors. “I shall not hesitate to crush you.”

Kirby took a step forward while pointing a nub at Golurk. “We’re not gonna back down when we got a mission to complete!”

Banny added while also pointing a paw at the crystalized Golem. “That’s right! We’re gonna take the chest right back to the guild master to guarantee the safety of Agyneastra Town!”

Unbeknownst to the duo of explorers, the glow in Golurk’s eyes faltered a little as the town’s name was muttered. 

“Banny, now!” Kirby shouted before jumping up into the air and curling his small limbs, making the astrali look like a pink ball before he started spinning and covering himself with flames. 

Banny jumped after the puffball with a “Hup!” and arched a foot back a little. She then brought her leg forward and horizontally, kicking Kirby with a lot of force while giving more heat to the big fireball that was currently the puffball. The fire around Kirby grew in size as he rocketed towards the giant Pokémon at a fast speed. 

Golurk tried to intercept the projectile with its crystal missiles, extending a giant hand forward and launching three purple rocks at once towards the fireball. Unfortunately for the giant, the three crystals shattered once in contact with Kirby, failing to stop the fireball targeting it. The Golem had its guard wide open, being too slow to stop Kirby and receiving the hit right on the chest.

The impact was so strong that managed to launch the giant Pokémon a small distance backward, knocking it onto the ground. The fire then dissipated around Kirby and he landed on the ground, staring at the Golem for a moment. After seeing no movements from it, the puffball looked at the scorbunny who was on the ground, and grinned. “We did it! We beat it!”

Banny looked like she had seen a ghost (although, quite literally a ghost type) because of how stunned she was. She- no, they did it! They actually beat a golurk that was powered up by those weird crystals! 

The scorbunny looked down at her paws and muttered. “We did it…” She then clenched them and looked back at Kirby with a smile. “We actually did it, Kirby!” The scorbunny ran to the puffball, looking at the giant golem meanwhile. Its eyes stopped glowing, which meant it was knocked out… hopefully, they didn’t destroy it beyond repair. Banny looked back at Kirby with a grin. “I can’t believe we beat that thing. It’s all thanks to you, Kirby.”

The astrali embarrassedly rubbed the back of his head as he ejected his ability out of his body. “Nah, it wasn’t just me, you helped as well! It was the power of teamwork!”

The fire bunny looked aside and muttered. “Teamwork, huh…?” She then smiled as she looked back at Kirby. “You’re right, it was a team’s effort.”

Suddenly, Kirby grabbed Banny’s arms and pulled her a bit away from the giant Pokémon’s body. “Come on, dance with me!”

As Kirby finished pulling the scorbunny, she looked at the puffball a bit confused. “Dance…?”

“Oh, it’s just that I do this whenever I defeat a big bad guy!” The astrali explained while throwing a nub in the air. “Just follow my movements or dance the way you like it!”

“Uh… alright then?”

Kirby grinned before turning away from the scorbunny, starting his dance. He jumped while doing a single spin in the air before cartwheeling aside and jumping back to his original position. Following up, he did a small dance before doing three consecutive jumps, the last one being a twirl. He then finished it off with a small backflip and put a nub in the air. “Hai!”

While the puffball was doing his dance, the scorbunny did her dance at the same time. She started with a triple jump, the last one being a backflip, following up with a small dance with her feet as she put her paws on her side. She then did a twirl in the air before shooting small flames from her mouth around her two times, ending the dance with a kick in the air. After the excitement of the dance wore off, she commented. “Huh… that felt more refreshing than expected…”

The puffball then looked at the fire bunny with a grin. “That’s how you do it! I could notice you managed to do it really well!” 

The scorbunny rubbed the back of her head a bit sheepishly. “Thanks, might start doing that when the next big foe comes around.” After chuckling a little, Banny looked around for a moment. “Anyways, where’s the chest?”

Kirby looked around along with Banny, and after squinting his eyes in a certain direction, the puffball found the chest a certain distance away from them and went towards it. He analyzed it for a moment before picking it up and putting it over the top of his round body once again, turning to Banny. “Come on, let’s head back to the guild!” He then looked around for a moment. “Which way is it again…?”

The scorbunny giggled before walking to the puffball, passing by him. “It’s this way, I still remember.” The astrali nodded and started following after Banny.

Meteorite Woods

Mission: Success

Team Star Warriors had finally returned to Agyneastra Town after a bit of a walk. The path towards the town was, thankfully, without any unfortunate hostile encounters. The exploration team had a nice walk, covering the silence with some small talk here and there while healing themselves with berries. 

Inside the small tunnel that leads inside the town, the zangoose guard eyed the exploration team with suspicion once he took a look at the chest. However, after a brief explanation without some important bits (that being the golurk), Zenith let them in with no issues. 

After a brief walk through the town, ignoring the few stares that the townsfolk gave because of the chest, Team Star Warriors finally reached Starlight Guild swiftly. They entered the Guildmaster’s office, getting Shitsuji’s attention away from some paperwork on his desk. Krystal wasn’t in the office with him.

The indeedee smiled and adjusted his glasses. “Ah, welcome back, Team Star Warriors. I see that you managed to complete the mission.” He clasped his paws on the desk as the puffball put the chest on the ground. “Well done, I knew you had the potential to finish an easy mission.”

Banny and Kirby looked away, scratching the side of their faces in unison. “Uh…”

The guild master tilted his head with a confused look. “Oh? Was there an issue in your mission?”

“Well… uh… how should I say it…?” Banny started, rubbing her arm and twisting her foot. “Apparently, there was a strong golurk with some purple crystal powers or something and it attacked us…” That made Shitsuji’s eyes widen a little bit before looking away thoughtfully and putting a paw over his chin. The scorbunny noticed but asked a different question while crossing her arms. “What even is in this chest anyways…?”

The indeedee then sighed as he got off his seat. “I am afraid that I need to explain a few things…” He folded his arms behind him and walked in front of the desk and looked back at the team. “I am the one who put the chest in that dungeon.”

Banny and Kirby’s eyes widened. “WHAT!?”

Shitsuji sighed. “I apologize for not mentioning that sooner. I should have told you about it earlier so your mission would be easier.” He then looked away quite ashamed. “However, the stress of these days would have made me forget about Mu’dir anyways…” The Indeedee looked back at them. “Let me explain. Some cycles ago, I put this chest in Meteorite Woods, under the guard of an old construct that looked unusual from others of its species. I learned later that millennia ago, it was created by an indeedee that was the ruler of an old land. It saw me as its master and wanted to please me for probably those reasons, so I assigned it to protect the chest for me and it happily obeyed my orders.”

Kirby then tilted its body. “But why did you put the chest in the forest in the first place?”

Shitsuji then went behind the desk again and pulled out a key from the drawer, inspecting the star-like design on it. “I was asked to by a friend.”

Banny tilted her head. “Who was it…?”

The indeedee smiled before walking to the chest and kneeling in front of it. “She is currently in this room, sleeping as we speak.” Team Star Warriors looked around the room for a moment before looking at the guild master in confusion. He smirked as he inserted the key into the keyhole of the chest and twisted it, opening it up without much fanfare and a creaky noise. 

Kirby and Banny gathered around the chest to see what it had inside. In the chest, there was one big sheet of paper with yellow, orange, and white colors. Kirby tilted his head a bit confused. “Did we seriously go into that forest just for a piece of paper?”

Shitsuji chuckled. “On the contrary, Kirby, this is the thing I was talking about that would help us against the cultists, my friend.” The indeedee then took a bell out of his fur and rang it for a second. After a moment, nothing seemed to happen before the piece of paper suddenly started floating in the air and started folding itself into multiple parts, the folding becoming way more complex. After the paper stopped folding itself, it looked to be a small origami being with two arms, two legs, and two antennas, wearing a fancy piece of cloth, and only having a mouth for a face. Shitsuji got back up and said while motioning a paw to the being that was currently analyzing their surroundings. “Team Star Warriors, meet my friend, Karikiri, the kartana.”

Chapter Text

After organizing and repairing some parts of the Lor, the newly transformed Star Allies went to sleep in their respective rooms. It was an arduous task trying to lay in bed with their new forms (for some team members), either their bodies were too broad or they couldn’t adjust to having longer limbs. 

Even with all of those issues, the Pokémon fell asleep quickly, not being that bothered by their body differences. Even without the Star Rod, they managed to get a good night's sleep, some members dreaming, some others having, unfortunately, nightmares, and the rest not having dreams at all. However, Elfilin had a different case of a dream…

The blue chinchilla woke up once again in the same foggy dreamscape that he sometimes enters while he sleeps. He took in his surroundings, taking in the white and misty horizons of his mindscape. Elfilin never wondered why this place was the way it was. He theorized a few times that it is that empty because a subconscious part of his mind wishes to be whole again with Elfilis, or because Elfilis feels alone and wants more company rather than his other half alone. 

He felt terrible for his other half, hoping that one day they would be able to be their own person rather than needing Elfilin to become themselves again. Hopefully soon. 

The psychic chinchilla sat up again and called out for their other half. “Elfilis!” His voice echoed throughout the white void, slowly getting quieter after each echo. Elfilin waited for a while, looking around to see if his older sibling had appeared yet. However, after some time, Elfilis didn’t appear. 

Elfilin tilted his head in confusion. “Elfilis?” He called out again, but just like the other time, the ultimate life form didn’t appear. ‘Where did they go?’ The chinchilla thought to himself, not receiving an answer. 

That was strange, Elfilin was sure that Elfilis lived in this whitespace, and since that was the case, why weren’t they appearing? He knew that they could hear him, so why weren’t they responding? Unless…

“Did they…? No, that’s impossible. They didn’t have a body anymore, so there was no way they could be gone like that, right?” Elfilin said to himself, looking around to see if he’d spot Elfilis anywhere. “So what happened…?”

Elfilin stopped looking around and sighed. He decided it wasn’t a good idea to think about situations like these where he would get no answers. So he decided to just lay on the puffy white ground of his headspace and fall into a dreamless slumber.

The Star Allies were up and running once the sun rose from behind the mountains on the horizon, showering the morning sky with an orange color as it adjusted to take in the bright blue skies. The group woke up with a grain of salt, still slightly perturbed by being in a completely different body. However, that didn’t deter them from doing their morning tasks completely. 

Magolor was the first one to wake up because of the built-in alarm set up in his room. Traversing the ship on this new body felt faster with his longer legs. He was slightly thankful for this change since walking felt like the same speed when he ran. Did that mean… he was slightly faster now? Well, whatever the case, at least people would stop calling him an egg. After all, would an egg have ears and hands?

Speaking of the new body, Magolor looked down to analyze it for a moment, he still retained his brown fur, his scarf, and when he looked at himself in the mirror, his yellow eyes, however, everything else felt alien to him. But that didn’t bother him, he at least retained all his magic (unlike last time), and not only that, he was with his ship! However, he needed to study this body because of the magic potential not only his body gives but the others as well. 

‘That’s for later though…’ Magolor thought as he reached the kitchen. ‘Right now, we have bigger issues that involve the Energy Spheres.’ The feline magician went to the gray counter and rested his arms on it, yawning because of the sleepiness slowly leaving his body. Beside his arms, an invisible trap door opened on the counter, producing a cup of coffee and some toast. “Thanks, Lor.” Magolor said as he took the food before the trap door closed. “Do you have enough for everyone, though?” A green light shone all over the room, making Magolor smile. “Good.”

Suddenly, the same trap door opened up again and a small robotic hand appeared while holding various sheets of paper. The mage tilted his head and took the papers. “What are these…?” He then looked at the documents and noticed that those were magic scans not only from him but from the other members of the Star Allies currently aboard the ship. “Oh… you took scans from everyone while we were asleep?” The room flashed green for a second as the feline smirked. “Efficient, aren’t ya? It’s what I like about you.”

Magolor then analyzed the results of the scan, starting with him first. The mage hummed in curiosity as he saw that on his file there were parts of not only darker magic than he had but also nature magic as well, combined with his other abilities. “So we did gain new tricks…” He muttered to himself as he continued to look at the other files. Susie and Marx had the same nature-based magic readings while Marx also had some… venomous magic readings, besides his chaotic abilities. Bandana Dee and Dedede had water-based magic while the penguin also had some steel ones as well. Ironically enough, Meta Knight had readings of a magic style that didn’t suit him at all, being one of fairy magic. Now that was comedy.

The feline mage then got to the last file, that being Elfilin. Before reading his file, Magolor didn’t expect anything different readings besides spatial magic and psychic magic since Elfilin was lucky enough to have his body stay the same. However, once the masked feline took a look at Elfilin’s file while taking a sip of his coffee, he almost choked on his drink once he saw what was in the paper. He didn’t know if it was the effects of that pain they felt before they transformed or if the chinchilla was hiding something but these readings were, definitely , not normal. It was just like his normal magic but doubled- no, ten times more powerful. It was like the same energy readings of a god. “W-what the-...”

“Something wrong, mage?”

Magolor turned his head around and saw Meta Knight on his new but almost identical body, cape folded around him as usual. Magolor sheepishly smiled as he cleared his throat. “Not at all, my good sir!” He then looked aside for a moment, thinking of a way to not bring up the topic of well… an entity almost as powerful as a god being currently on this ship. His eyes returned to the knight. “Why are you up that early in the morning? You don’t have a sleep schedule like me?”

The masked puff responded bluntly. “I do.” Meta Knight then walked towards Magolor as he continued. “It’s just that I’m used to waking up early to patrol around Popstar in the morning. I take my duties very seriously, along with the other Meta Knights. And… it’s harder to sleep once the Star Rod isn’t coating our minds with good dreams.” Once he reached Magolor, he saw the files on the magician’s paw. “What are those papers?”

Magolor snapped back to the papers. “Oh, uh…” He hid Elfilin’s file beneath the other documents, pretending to shuffle through them. No need to cause panic and concern this early in the morning. “These are magic reading scans that the Lor took from everyone while everyone was asleep, even myself.”

The feline mage handed some of the papers to the masked knight, making sure Elfilin’s file was not given. Meta Knight saw the files for himself, Dedede, and Bandana. “I’m afraid that I don’t know how to read magic readings. Please enlighten me.”

“So basically, everyone here got new types of magic in their bodies alongside the usual magic they already had.” Magolor explained while looking at his own file, running a paw on his chest. “I got plant-based magic while I maintained my old magic, for example. And if you’re curious as to what magic you got, it was fairy-based.”

The dark blue puff’s ear twitched, making him raise an eyebrow at the feline mage. “What…?” 

“Yep. You know, like, the magic that Ribbon uses besides her blaster.” Magolor expressed with his paws, trying to make a sprinkle motion while smirking behind his scarf. “The sparkly pinky stuff that fairies usually do.”

Meta Knight stayed silent for a moment, his eyes disappearing behind his mask. “I see…” He eventually let out, handing the papers back to Magolor after he was done analyzing them. “I think these new abilities should prove useful to us. However, it’s best to rely on our old abilities for now until we train with them at a later time.”

Magolor nodded as he put the papers back on the desk. “My thoughts exactly. Sure, I know some here would enjoy having magic abilities, but let’s not push our luck until we master them. After all, I think our skills alone are enough for us to visit that town today.”

Meta Knight nodded. “Anyways, let us wait for the others to get up and ready themselves. We still need to decide what to take with us.”

With that, both of them waited for the rest of the Star Allies to wake up. After everyone else had gathered in the kitchen, Bandana yawned, highlighting otter-like teeth in his mouth for a moment. “Good morning everyone…” He said while rubbing his eyes.

Marx giggled as he looked at the buizel. “You know, it’s kinda weird seeing you with a mouth after a lot of time without one. Should’ve stayed mouthless once you transformed as well.” 

Bandana frowned as his tails lashed out a bit in annoyance. “Would’ve preferred that happening to you instead…” He retorted.

Marx grinned, showing a creepy smile with no fangs from his new body. “Oh, getting feisty are we?”

“Enough.” Meta Knight called out, looking at Marx. “Continue acting this way and we might not let you come with us to the town.” 

The pink sprout being looked away, looking quite annoyed. “Tch, fine…”

Dedede stepped up and asked. “So… we’re all going to the town from what you said earlier, right?”

Meta Knight nodded. “Indeed. I believe that everyone here might have reasons for wanting to explore this world besides just looking for information alone. So it’s best to have everyone be in on this exploration.”

Magolor raised a finger, looking proudly. “And not to fret! As I said, the Lor has a vast array of defense so any local trying to snoop in and steal it won’t realize what hit them!” He chuckled.

“I agree with Meta.” Susie added, crossing her arms. “I think there’s a chance we might discover more about these bodies rather than just magic readings from our own bodies. Sure, we know that we have new abilities, but I don’t even know how to use them.”

Elfilin looked at Dedede and said. “Think about it, Dedede. The more people we have with us, the less chance we might get picked off by the Pokémon who live in that town.” As the blue chinchilla talked, Magolor eyed him with concern and suspicion. “Not only that, we might be able to find info faster that way!”

Dedede stroked his chin with his tiny claws while thinking about it before shrugging. “I don’t see the problem with it.” He then put his flippers on his side while grinning. “As long as everybody behaves, there’s no issue with everyone going together!”

Meta Knight hummed in agreement before looking at the rest of the Star Allies. “Does anyone else reject the idea?” The group shook their heads. “Alright, after everyone gets ready, we shall leave for the town. Sounds good with everyone?”

“Yeah!” The group responded.

After eating their breakfast and grabbing important items from the storage, the Star Allies finally stepped out of the Lor Starcutter, some of them shielding their eyes from the sun that watched over them from the horizon. 

A bright breeze blew over them as they walked through the canopy of the lush green forest. Chriping could be heard from the foliage of the trees and bushes, following the sound was the crunching of leaves made by their own feet. Elfilin looked behind, seeing the Lor turn invisible as the group slowly got away from it. “Oh, the Lor can turn invisible as well?” The chinchilla asked while looking at Magolor.

The feline mage narrowed his eyes subtly to Elfilin behind his mask before smiling. “Why, of course! It did that once we were asleep too. Not only it can do that but many other things! You wouldn’t want to be facing this ship all on your own, it’s all I’ll say.” The mage said while folding his arms behind him. He looked aside before stepping a bit closer to the chinchilla, lowering his voice a little. Luckily, they were behind the others. “Say… have you been feeling something weird recently…?”

The psychic looked at the feline mage in confusion. “Weird… how?”

“Eh… I dunno. Before we all blacked out, there was a shocking pain that probably had or probably had not turned us into these… Pokémon. You remember feeling some sort of pain before we blacked out?” Elfilin nodded, making the mage hum in thought. “So… you probably must be feeling something else rather than a body transformation, right?”

Elfilin put a paw on his chin, thinking about any sort of weird feelings that happened to him. “Um… not really? I feel fine, really.”

Magolor tilted his head. “You sure? Like, not even a magic type like us?”

“Well, earlier you said that these new powers are probably connected with your new bodies, so since I didn’t gain a new body…” Elfilin summoned his small spear and swung it slowly in the air. “I still have my old powers, and I didn’t feel any kind of new magic appear within me.”

“I see…” The mage looked aside for a moment before looking back at Elfilin again with a forced smile. “Thank goodness you remained the same. Although, I wonder what kind of new body you would’ve gotten…” He scratched his chin in thought.

“I mean… seeing what the others got, probably something similar to my actual body.” The chinchilla deduced.

“Yeah, that could be the case.” 

As Magolor and Elfilin spoke with one another, Susie was seeing the data she was receiving on her tablet after a single sample scan from a blade of grass she plucked a small second ago. “Interesting…”

Bandana Dee got a bit curious as to what Susie was doing and approached her, trying to peek at her tablet but failing because of his short height. “What are you doing?” He asked as his tails twitched subconsciously.

The humanoid plant Pokémon looked at the Buizel and responded. “Ah, I’m just making a small analysis of the surroundings of this area. From a single blade of grass, my tablet can scan its contents to determine the development of life on this planet. From the data I gathered, it seems like this planet has an estimate of being more than a billion years old. The flora of this place seems developed and healthy, it almost seems like the very air you breathe heals your lungs from how clean it is. Not only that, the percentage of UV rays here is in a moderate degree, meaning that this planet has the perfect temperature for life to flourish here for an undetermined amount of time by neither being too hot nor too cold.”

Bandana looked aside a bit overwhelmed by the amount of info he just received. “Wow… all of that info by just a single blade of grass you plucked from the ground?”

“Yep, incredible isn’t it?” She glated while flipping her pink and leafy hair. “And that’s not even factoring in the probable magic that flows throughout the place if these Pokémon bodies have something to say about it. All of these perfect conditions for any life to flourish usually require the work of magic from powerful beings residing on some planets. It’s something I saw while traveling to other planets for business.”

Bandana put a paw on his chin, thinking about the new information he gained. “I see…” He looked back at Susie. “Do you think that this planet has deities like that as well?”

Susie shrugged. “That I wouldn’t know. Sure, there could be deities here because of how this planet seems so clean and healthy. But since there are Pokémon with nature-based magic, it could be the work of them since they have intelligence from what we saw.” Her tone shifted a little to an excited one as she grinned behind her mouth mask. “And since they’re intelligent… oh I can definitely install a Haltmann factory here if they’re not that developed yet.”

Bandana sighed as he looked unamused at Susie. “Of course in the middle of this situation, you’d think of profit…”

Meanwhile, Marx rolled around on his ball as his beady eyes trailed the environments around him. “Man, I hope we encounter someone soon, this world can’t look THIS boring!”

Dedede reassured Marx. “We’re in a forest, Marx. Of course, there wouldn’t be almost anyone here outside from the wildlife.”

As Marx was about to respond, he spotted in the corner of his eyes a small brown squirrel with round cheeks stepping out of a bush. The jester grinned maniacally as he looked at the squirrel. “Oh lookie! The first friend in this new world…”

The squirrel with the inflated cheeks looked at Marx and immediately froze once it saw chaotic wings come out of the pink and round Pokémon with the jester hat, the berries and seeds falling out of its mouth. 

Before Marx did anything, Meta Knight put the Galaxia in front of the jester. “Don’t, or else…”

Marx retracted his wings, rolling his eyes. “Gee, I was just trying to scare it…” He looked back at the brown rodent, grinning at the success he achieved in turning the poor squirrel into a petrified statue. “And it seemed like it went all according to plan, hahahaha!”

Dedede rolled his eyes and sighed. “At least control yourself in front of the Pokémon, understood?”

Marx grinned as he looked at the big penguin. “Depends, hehehe…”

Meta Knight sheathed his sword and responded. “We let you come with us, we could very well take you back to the Lor. I’m sure you wouldn’t want that, right?”

Marx stayed in silence for a moment before sighing reluctantly and looking aside. “No…” He then instantly grinned back as he started bouncing on his ball. “Although I hope that this town has some delicious food because I’m already starting to become hungry again!”

Dedede and Meta Knight sighed hopelessly.

Eventually, the grass started making its way to a carved dirt path as trees started appearing less and less. As the green mostly disappeared, some buildings came into view, signifying the group that they had reached the town. The buildings had two types of shapes, round ones that were one floor in height, and square ones that had two or more floors high, being made of either cobblestone, wood, or rarely steel from what the Star Allies could see. Some of these buildings were shops selling some items that the group, of course, didn’t recognize.

In the streets of the town, the Star Allies found really strange creatures that varied in shape and size, presumably Pokémon, walking around the city, minding their own business. A yellow and black lizard walking on two feet, a floating keychain with a face at the top of it, a chipmunk with inflated cheeks and red and yellow eyes, a zebra with lightning pattern as its mane, a round palm tree with legs and tree heads that resembled coconuts, and lots of other Pokémon.

The Star Allies were a bit in shock as to what they saw. They expected Pokémon to be very strange creatures with some variety sprinkled on them. But from what they saw, some of the Pokémon looked way more similar to the beings seen in Popstar than anything they were expecting. 

“Holy Nova… the variety of these creatures…” Marx said before he started leaning forward as a creepy smile started forming on his face. “They look like the perfect target for my pranks… and if they have magic within them… I can get so creative and test if they have what it takes to best me-”

“NO!” shouted the rest of the Star Allies (except Elfilin) at the Jester. 

Marx rolled his eyes in annoyance. “You guys just LOVE ruining my fun, huh?”

Magolor sighed before looking at some of the Pokémon of the town. “Hm… I’m not sure what more I expected from these Pokémon after we encountered those other two back at the Lor. I thought that they’d be more… grandiose, fitting from a civilization from another universe.”

Meta Knight looked at Magolor. “Don’t make assumptions just yet. We have barely scratched the surface of what they’re capable of. We must remain cautious while we gather information.”

“I think we should split up because this town looks… kinda big.” Bandana commented.

“Bandana is right.” Susie backed up the idea. “We will have more efficiency in searching for clues on Kirby’s location if we separate in groups and search some parts of town. That way, we may cover more ground without wasting a lot of time.”

Dedede nodded. “Then it’s decided. Let’s split the groups.” He tapped a flipper on his beak as he hummed in thought before pointing a flipper to Magolor and then Marx. “Magolor and Marx can be together to investigate the western part of the town. Make sure to watch him at all times Mags, alright?”

The feline mage did a small salute with his paws while he winked. “You can count on me, I won’t disappoint!”

The sprout Pokémon turned to Magolor with an innocent-looking face, inflating his cheeks a little bit to increase his cuteness. “Oh Mags, can I please go buy ice cream alone in this city? It’s sooooo hot today and one would really hit the spot!”

Magolor turned to Marx, staring at him with a deadpan face before blatantly saying. “No.”

Marx dropped the face before groaning in annoyance. “Ugh, and here I thought you’d be different from the goody-two-shoes over there.”

The mage folded his arms behind his back, smiling behind his scarf. “Don’t worry, there’ll be a time when you will be allowed to do your pranks.”

Dedede nodded before pointing at Susie and then at Bandana Dee. “Next up, Susie and Bandana will be investigating the east part of town. You two won’t mind if you team up, right?”

The buizel rubbed the back of his head, grinning. “Well, I wouldn’t mind partnering up with Ms. Haltmann.” He then adjusted his namesake bandana and looked at Susie. “How about you?”

Susie adjusted the grip on her tablet and looked at the two-tailed otter. “Well, I see no issues being on a duo with you. Your kindness combined with your scouting skills will prove useful for this mission.”

“Alright then!” Dedede beamed before putting his flipper on his chest. “I shall go with Meta Knight to investigate the north section of the town.” Meta Knight nodded while looking up at Dedede as the penguin turned to Elfilin. “And Elfilin, how about you stick to the south part of the town? I’m sure you can handle being on your own, right?”

The blue chinchilla nodded with a determined look. “Don’t worry, I can protect myself this time!” 

“Hey! Why does the rat get to be alone!?” Marx questioned a little angry while looking at Dedede.

Meta Knight simply responded. “Try to guess.”

“Uh… um…” Marx tilted his body to the side. “He has better looks than me?”

Everyone just stayed silent for a moment before Dedede sighed. “Let’s just… start this already, alright? Let’s regroup here once when…” The empoleon looked at the sun, noticing that it was still some meters above the mountains. “When the sun reaches its peak, how about it?”

“Sounds good!” Bandana affirmed, his tails wagging a little. 

“Seems acceptable to me. Makes me have some spare time to take some detours.” Susie said while flipping her hair.

“I have no objections to that!” Magolor clasped his paws.

“Yeah, whatevs to me.” Marx said while looking aside, eyeing some of the Pokémon walking around as he thought of possible pranks he could pull off if given the opportunity.

Elfilin did a small loop in the air as he spoke. “I have no problems with that!”

“Alright gang! With that let’s go-” As King Dedede turned around, he bumped into someone, making him grunt and take a step back. “My bad-!”

Taking a better look at the figure, they were a cloaked four-legged creature with a black hood. In the hood, there were multiple golden eyes spread throughout the entire cloth of the Pokémon. Even if the cloak covered most of their form and face, they could still see a bit of white fur, a blue tail with the shape of a curved blade, blue claws, and the most apparent feature of them all, a single blue and curved horn poking out of the hood. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t paying attention myself.” They said in a serene and whispering female voice.

The figure started walking away, not before taking a single glance at Elfilin. In some seconds the figure walked away from their vision, heading towards the forest. The Star Allies just looked at the cloaked Pokémon go away before Marx commented. “Wow, they have such the LOVELIEST fashion sense. Anyone else agree?”

Elfilin grimaced a little. “I dunno… they looked off…”

“Eh, whatever, maybe it’s just one of this world’s quirks.” Magolor deduced before looking at Dedede. “So, shall we go?”

Dedede looked in the direction where the Pokémon headed off with a frown before snapping back to reality and looking at Magolor. “Ah, yes, let’s go.”

With that, the Star Allies split up into three groups and one solo to gather information in Cometon Town. 

The opportunity for profit in this world was already showing promise!

As Susie walked through the Pokémon filled town with Bandana Dee, she was already imagining everything that she could do to sell her products in this world. Not only that, if the locals are kind enough, she could even go back here to not only sell Haltmann Works Co’s products but to build an entire environment-friendly factory to produce products here directly.

However, for that dream to come true, she’d have to rely on universe-warping technology. Since Star Dream was destroyed, summoning objects and traveling to other universes had been an arduous task and an expensive process that took a small toll on the company’s pockets so she had to rely on that less and less. 

Maybe this universe is what she needed to finally get the company more customers than ever before. 

The CEO suddenly snapped away from her thoughts as she heard Bandana’s voice. “So…” Susie looked at the two-tailed otter. “Which of these Pokémon should we start questioning first?”

Susie looked around for a moment, trying to spot the perfect Pokémon that looked best suited to answer their questions. The first Pokémon that she spotted was a gray bipedal lizard with some golden scales on their arms and claws, tail, and their forehead. Susie noticed they were eating a primitive fruit rather… savage-like without even closing their mouth. Yeah, nope, not that one.

The plant Pokémon then looked at the next Pokémon who appeared to be a skunk with purple and cream-colored fur. Their large tail was curled up above them, covering the top of their body and having the tip act like some kind of hair. However… just by leaning in a bit closer to identify the lesser details, she could smell a putrid kind of smell that would make her faint just by being close to that smelly creature. Why were none of these Pokémon that approachable!?

“Something wrong, Susie…?”

The CEO turned to Bandana with a sheepish look before clearing her throat. “Sorry, I was just evaluating who could be the best Pokémon to ask the questions to. But the Pokémon around here look like… uh…”

“Like savages?” Bandana finished for her with an inquisitive tilt of his head.

Susie flinched a bit, but before she could try and come up with an argument to deflect that claim, she realized that she had been caught red-handed. She sighed and admitted, her arms limping in defeat. “Yes…”

“I think you need to stop thinking so lowly of the non-developed beings you encounter. I mean… your company goes to other planets to help those civilizations who need proper development in tech, right?” 

Susie looked away while crossing her arms. “Well yes, but… I’m not the one who personally goes to those planets to make the first contact and such. I… usually hang in the office until everything is laid out and ready…” She sighed and looked back at the bandana-wearing otter. “Fine, I’ll just say it. I’m ashamed to say this but I’m usually disgusted by the… primitive acts that non-developed civilizations do. Sure, it’s just in their nature to do it, however, it just makes me cringe a little every time.”

Bandana put a paw on his chin, humming before looking back at Susie. “It makes sense. You were raised in a very advanced society, weren’t you?” The plant Pokémon nodded. “I figured as much. However, you just have to accept that some civilizations are not as advanced as yours. Sometimes, some diplomatic meetings will be hard due to culture shock, but it’s pretty normal from planet to planet.”

Susie stared at Bandana for a moment, adjusting her hair as she looked aside. “I guess so… I should stop being pretty picky about it as well.”

“Yeah!” The buizel smiled. “In no time, you’ll learn to accept each civilization’s differences before you boost them into a more developed state!” He then looked around, motioning a paw around him to the sights of the town. “So why not start with this one and accept their differences? You can start by understanding them by just simply talking to them!”

The CEO frowned behind her mouth mask, thinking about her current thought process so far. She sighed and looked aside, not quite meeting with Bandana’s eyes. “Alright then, let’s see if your proposal holds some worth.” Susie then started looking around for another Pokémon that looked willing to answer their questions. After one more look around her surroundings, she found a bipedal black and red vulpine Pokémon, sporting a massive mane of red hair with black tips that were tied at the very end of it. Said Pokémon was also wearing a blue scarf with a crescent moon-shaped badge around their neck. “Hm… how about we go ask that one?”

“Hm… sure, they look approachable.” Bandana agreed.

With that, the duo went to the fox-like Pokémon who was leaning on the wall of a building, looking around like they were waiting for someone. Once they got close enough, the red and black figure looked at them and asked in a mix between raspy and gruff male voice. “You two need something?” 

“Yes, we are. We would like information on two things if you can spare a bit of your time.” Susie asked, adjusting the grip on her tablet.

The zoroark eyed the tablet for a moment in plain curiosity before looking at Susie’s face again. “Sure…? What is it?”

Bandana took a step forward and asked as Susie started tapping on her tablet, looking for an image. “We’re looking for a missing friend of ours, and we’re gathering info to see if someone’s got a lead on him.” 

After finding the image she was looking for, she turned her tablet around and showed the fox-like Pokémon a picture of the pink puffball. “Have you seen him?”

The zoroark looked at the picture, his face morphing into one of pure confusion when he looked at the picture. “What is that?”

Bandana raised an invisible eyebrow. “Uh… that’s our friend, Kirby. That’s what he looks like.”

“That…” The Pokémon paused, trying to find the right words to describe the being he was seeing in the picture. “He… he doesn’t look like any Pokémon I know of.” He shook his head, his ears twitching a little as he shrugged. “Sorry, but I ain’t got any info on them.”

Susie turned her tablet away from the bipedal vixen, a frown forming in her mouth. “I see… well, thank you for your-” 

“However… I can tell where you probably can find him.” The zoroark offered with a sly smirk on his muzzle.

Bandana tilted his head. “Oh, really? Where!?”

“I’ll tell you don’t worry, on one condition.” He said while lifting a claw. He then pointed at Susie with a grin. “I want your tsareena friend over here to spend some private time with me.”

The buizel flinched, throwing his arm back from the absurdity of that request. “WHAT!?”

Rather than looking completely enraged or baffled by the intensity of that condition, the tsareena had a nonchalant expression after hearing what the vulpine Pokémon had proposed. Susie had received requests like that before a lot of times, all ending in the same way. It seemed that this wouldn’t be completely different.

 She tilted her head, putting her tablet away in a shoulder bag that she got from the Lor. “Oh, really? That’s the condition?”

“Yep! How about it, girl? You won’t regret a thing~”

The buizel looked at the CEO with a panicked look on his face, grimacing from the situation. “Please don’t tell me that you’re gonna agree with him, right?”

Susie didn’t even look at Bandana before taking a single step forward and calmly asking. “Is that the only way you will be giving that precious bit of information to us?”

“Yep, no other way.” The zoroark said with a sly grin. Just from the look on his face and overall confidence, it seemed like he had done that trick multiple times.

Susie closed her eyes as she put a single leafy hand on her hip close to the bag. “I see. If that’s the case…” In one swift motion, the tsareena pulled out of her bag her signature white pink laser blaster, pointing at the surprised zoroark. But before he could do anything, she pulled the trigger and shot a small paralyzing laser bullet at the vulpine Pokémon, shocking him and making him faint on the ground. “Then take that condition and use it on a fool, not me.”

As Susie put her gun away, a lot of the Pokémon who were walking around stopped what they were doing to watch the scene with dumbfounded expressions. The buizel looked at the twitching body of the Pokémon before looking at Susie. “Did you really need to do that?”

Susie shrugged and responded. “He got what was coming for him. So I’d say he deserved it.” She began walking away from the scene. “Come on, let’s ask someone who has at least isn’t a weirdo.” 

Bandana sighed and started following the CEO while adjusting his bandana. “Alright then.”

Well, that understanding and talking thingy didn’t go completely as she planned for the first time. But that wasn’t a problem, she just got unlucky with a bad egg of this civilization. There were more (and hopefully good) Pokémon to talk with anyway.

Marx was getting annoyed, REALLY annoyed. 

The others were trying to stop his fun, just because they wanted to look good in front of these Pokémon to make a good first impression. Bah! Who cared about first impressions? He was just on this trip to have fun and get his favorite dumb and pink, prank victim and sparring partner back to him. He was the only one who could satisfy his hunger for fun so Marx needed him back.

He hoped that splitting up would make it easier for him to get some prank appetizers during his time in this world, however, that wasn’t the case, unfortunately. For some reason, Magolor was also stepping into the goody-two-shoes side of the gang. That was strange. Why did Magolor suddenly start thinking that he should be on the saint side out of nowhere? He never really cared if Marx was having fun or not so what gives? What was he trying to prove?

Whatever, he needed to get his fun one way or another. As everyone knows, Marx is a great deceiver, meaning he will get what he wants if he plays his cards correctly and tricks idiots. Magolor, unfortunately, was no idiot, meaning Marx had to think smart to get at least some enjoyment out of this boring town.

The sprout Pokémon looked at Magolor with a grin on his face. “So Mags? Where do you think we’ll find our best source of that juicy info?”

The feline mage put a paw on his chin, humming in thought. “Hm… I dunno. Besides, we don’t know much about this town so we wouldn’t know the best hotspots for info trading.”

Marx started looking around, trying to find suitable targets- Pokémon for info. Some of them looked rather muscular and menacing while some others looked like leaves that would get pushed around by the wind easily. Actually, that comparison had some truth since he was seeing the slimmest bipedal bug Pokémon that had body parts made out of leaves. However, none of them looked that interesting to ask some generic questions and make them look interesting for the jester. 

However, while looking around, Marx found a location that, if movies were proven right, should be an interesting place for the fun he might be looking for… “How about that place?” Marx motioned to the building with his round body. “Those sorts of places not only sell good foods and drinks but also have a ton of people having info on themselves.”

Magolor looked at the building the jester was pointing at with an unamused face. “You’re kidding… right?”

The place in question was a wood-made building, shaped like the head of a certain purple feline creature. The building had two windows (which looked like they belonged to a second floor) that looked like the eyes of the head and two doors that looked like a saloon from those movies. Heck, right above the doors, there was a sign reading “Crescent Saloon” in big bold letters! If Marx remembered correctly, inside these buildings there were three important things: food and drinks, drunk guys, and last but not least, bar fights.

The perfect location for chaos to reign free!

Marx looked back at Magolor with his innocent smile. “I think that’s the perfect place to find some info on Kirby and the Energy Spheres, right?”

The feline mage crossed his arms in uncertainty. “I don’t know about this… it gives me those unfriendly places vibes… isn’t there a better place for us to look at?”

“C’mon Mags! Haven’t you seen movies that had saloons in them? Those places are packed with that juicy info I was talking about!” Marx argued. “Besides, what if we don’t investigate this place? We might miss out on people who might even have an Energy Sphere!”

Magolor had a thoughtful look on his face, seemingly mulling over the possibilities on his head. The jester had his smile faltering a little, thinking if his convincing argument didn’t work. But thankfully… “Fine… let’s check that place out.”

Marx grinned ecstatically. “Great!” He jumped and summoned a ball beneath his feet, balancing on it with ease. “Let’s go then! We might have even more spare time if we get this done quickly!” 

With that, Marx rolled to the building on his ball while being followed by a sighing Magolor. After getting to the building up close, the jester released an “Oooh!” of wonder and excitement, mostly thinking about all of the possible scenarios happening inside that building. Magolor meanwhile looked at it in curiosity, possibly thinking about the architecture of the world. Boring stuff as usual.

Without any further prompts, the duo walked straight into the establishment, the set of double doors swinging back and forth behind them after their entrance. The two Pokémon looked around the place, taking in their sights of the building and getting a feel for the area. One of the first things they noticed was the smells that lingered around the place: alcohol and musk. The inside of the building looked way less welcoming than the outside. Moldy walls, a leaky ceiling, creaky floors, and empty tables that had a lot of trash on them. On the occupied tables, there were some Pokémon that were drinking without a worry in life. They all wore scarves, headbands, armbands, or other kinds of accessories since they varied in size and bulk. Two figures that stood out to the jester were a buff-looking bipedal feline with some kind of fire belt around their waist and the other was a bipedal rocky lizard with some iron horns and plating around their body. 

Oh did they look like the perfect guys to underestimate everything in their way. They wouldn’t even suspect that a round weed sprout had faced a god once.

“Wow uh… quite an inviting place this is…” Magolor said with a bit of sarcasm, his ears folding a little once he saw most of the bar start looking at them.

Marx just smiled, knowing it was shaping up to be quite a good time. “Relax, this will be quick!” The jester then throttled forward in his ball, humming a small tune to himself and feeling the stares of other Pokémon that stopped what they were doing to look at his unusual appearance. Well, not like he expected a lot of Pokémon to wear jester hats.

Marx looked behind him to see Magolor following him, his face twisted into a scowl as he looked at the Pokémon who were eyeing him weirdly. Perfection. At this rate, someone would get territorial and challenge the newbies while drunk soon… 

Both Pokémon got the counter of the bar. Behind the counter, there was a purple leopard with cream-colored fur on some spots and underbelly and a tail with a scythe-like tip. They seemed to be standing on their hind paws, leaning on the counter while scrubbing a glass with their forepaws. The feline looked at the newcomers tilted their heads and asked with a motherly female voice. “Oh? What interesting individuals we have here.” She eyed the two of them for a more analyzing look before smiling. “Care for a drink?”

When the leopard said it, the jester realized he was feeling a bit thirsty, so he decided that he could at least treat himself. “Well, a drink would be nice-”

Before he could ask for his drink, a brown-furred paw shut his mouth, making Marx muffle a little. “Actually, we came here to ask some questions!” Magolor said with a sheepish smile behind his scarf. “You wouldn’t mind answering them, right?”

The bartender had a scowl on her face. “You’re the king’s guards, are you? I already told others like you that my saloon is not selling Tera Crystals illegally. Go find the actual culprit instead of just following fake leads.”

The mage shot a confused glance at the leopard. “Uh… no we’re not? Do we have your kingdom’s crest or something similar in our clothes?” He opened his arms while taking his paw off of Marx’s mouth. 

The bartender made an analyzing look at them again before sighing. “I’m sorry about my accusation. Just the stress from the kingdom I suppose…” She looked aside for a moment before looking at them again. “So… what did you two want to ask?”

Marx responded. “Well, we’re just wondering if by any chance you spotted a pink, round, and dumb-looking puffball who goes by the name of Kirby. He’s short and kinda around my size. Have you seen ‘em?” 

She put the glass aside along with the dish towel and thought for a moment. She then tilted her head and asked. “What accessory that jigglypuff was wearing?”

The duo looked at themselves for a moment before Magolor looked back at the leopard again and corrected. “Uh… he isn’t a… jigglypuff. He’s a… well, a round and pink being with two nubs and red feet. Yes, our description is correct.”

The leopard frowned and shook her head. “Then I’m afraid I haven’t seen him. I don’t even know any clues where you could potentially find him.”

Magolor grimaced as he adjusted his scarf. “I see… by the way… we have another question if you don’t mind.”

The bartender narrowed her eyes a little bit, tilting her head. “And what would that be?”

Marx then hopped off his ball and landed on the counter, the sudden movement not startling the leopard. “Have you seen some floating gears that are contained in a weird bubble thingy around here?” 

As the question was asked, the jester glanced behind him and noticed a Pokémon with big quills covering its entire back and large claws suddenly getting off their table and leaving the bar. He, of course, ignored it and looked back at the bartender who answered. “Oh, you mean those weird gear thingies that rained out of the sky yesterday night?” 

Marx and Magolor’s eyes widened a little before Magolor asked a bit more desperate than before. “Could you tell where at least one of them is?”

“Hm… if I heard correctly…” The leopard tapped a paw on her chin. “It seemed like a team of explorers found one of them and took them to the guild. That’s all I know.” Her tail swished a little bit before leaning forward with an inquisitive look. “Why are you even asking about them? It’s like you guys know something about them…”

Before Marx could respond with his best snarky comment yet, Magolor stopped him milliseconds before he could drop it. “Well, we were just sent here to investigate this phenomenon. That’s all.” He smiled sheepishly before looking at Marx. “We’ve gathered all the info we can, let’s go Marx.” 

The jester looked at the feline mage and said “Okay!” before jumping off the counter. It then downed on Marx something terrible! ‘Wait a second! We did the entire questionnaire thingy and not a single drunk Pokémon tried to have beef with us!’ He saw Magolor bidding goodbye to the bartender and his mind went into panic mode. ‘Unacceptable! There must be something, anything before we step out of that door!’

Marx looked around rather desperately, finding out that the buff cat was looking at him with a scowl on his face. Something came up in the jester’s mind, it was a stupid thing to do, but it could just work… 

The pink sprout Pokémon smirked and stuck his tongue out, taunting the big and buff feline. After the taunt, Marx waited for any reaction to happen, hoping that he would fall for it. Fortunately for him…

He did.

“The heck are you looking at me like that? Wanna go? I’ll burn you down to a crisp!” The buff cat said irritatedly, getting off his seat and towering over Marx. From up close, he could see a slight blush on his face, signifying that he was drunk.

The jester simply smiled innocently, like he hadn’t just taunted him a second ago. “Oh, why would you want that, you silly lil’ kitty?” Marx mocked with a cute face.

The red and black feline’s rage almost boiled up to a breaking point. It readied its claw, sparks of flames coming out of it. “You asked for it, you stupid clown!” 

Before the poor wrestler-looking cat landed a swipe at Marx, the jester grinned maniacally as his wings sprouted from his sides and his manic-looking grin widened to the edges of his face. He started levitating in the air. “You wish to challenge me…?” Oh look, the buff cat flinched a little! This was going better than he expected! “I hope you don’t regret your choice later on-”

Suddenly, he felt someone tugging one of his leaves. He grunted in pain before looking at the source, finding Magolor looking at him with a severe look. “Really Marx? Can’t you stay put for even an hour?”

Marx dropped his creepy act and flailed around while being held by the mage. “You got it all wrong Mags! He started it!”

Magolor sighed. “Sure…” He then looked at the buff cat with an ashamed look. “Forgive his attitude. He just loves picking out fights.” Without giving any more info, Magolor walked away with Marx still in his grip.

The other Pokémon in the bar looked at each other with their eyes widened before a pawmot eventually asked. “What in Giratina’s name was that oddish…?”

The aggron said a bit shaken from what he saw. “No clue…”

This world really intrigued Meta Knight.

The masked knight was fascinated at the variety of Pokémon this civilization had to offer. Some of them looked like bugs and animals, some looked like they were inhabitants of Popstar, while others looked like creatures he would never have thought could exist. The fact that they could make a thriving civilization even with significant differences in their body types just like Popstar did impressed him even more.

Perhaps this was an alternative universe of Popstar? No, it was still too early to make assumptions.

It had been some time since he and Dedede started asking some Pokémon if they had either seen Kirby or Energy Spheres nearby. Unfortunately for them, they had found no results thus far. 

Suddenly, while he was walking in one of the dirt streets of the town, a rather daunting realization appeared in his head. He decided to voice his concerns to the penguin beside him. “Dedede…”

The empoleon looked at dark blue jigglypuff with an inquisitive look. “What is it?”

“It’s just speculation, however, it might be a possibility…” Meta Knight looked at Dedede and stopped walking, the penguin stopping as well. “What if Kirby ALSO became a Pokémon as well?”

That made Dedede’s eyes widen for a bit, making him look away deep in thought. “Well… doesn’t his, uh… origins kinda nullify that effect just like it did with Elfilin?”

“Do you remember that his body had a significant change on some occasions? The same thing could have occurred here.”

Dedede rubbed a flipper behind his head. “If that’s the case… then our search might be even harder.”

“Fortunately, it is not a lost cause yet. Remember that we have brought this as well?” Meta Knight says before pulling out from his cape a small yellow, faintly glowing, five-pointed star, making it visible to only Dedede and himself. 

Dedede smiled a liitle. “Oh yeah, now that’d be helpful! Forgot it was connected to Kirby.” As the knight put away the star. “So… what now? Because even if Kirby hasn’t transformed, he might not even be in this town.”

Meta Knight hummed in thought. Thinking about it now, it had been at least an hour and a half since they started searching for information on Kirby or the Energy Spheres’ location. The others had probably much more luck finding out the info they were looking for, so they could lay back from the questions for now and wait for them to share the info they had gotten. 

“I think we’ve done all we can up until this point.” Meta Knight said, looking to Dedede again. “Let’s lay low for now and familiarize ourselves with this town a bit. After all, it’s the closest town to the Lor.”

Dedede nodded, and with that, they started walking aimlessly around the north part of town. During their walks, they started to notice some aspects of the way of life of the Pokémon. It seemed that even with major differences from one another, they worked in harmony to solve the daily issues and jobs. Everything felt coordinated and proactive. None of these Pokémon truly felt… lazy… Meta Knight was starting to like this place, despite the current situation they were in.

As they walked, a Pokémon that resembled a floating black sword with the edges painted red, having two black limbs with yellow hands folded behind him, and a black and golden shield in front of it, subtly stared at the duo with its yellow eye on the hilt. The masked knight noticed the sword Pokémon and stopped to look at it, it kind of reminded him of a swordory from Popstar but much more menacing. “Can we help you?” Meta Knight asked, making Dedede stop and look at the Pokémon with him.

The sword Pokémon fully turned to the duo and said in a fancy-sounding male voice. “Is my eye deceiving me, or is that a sword I see sheathed on your scabbard? I have never seen a jigglypuff like yourself hold a sword…”

“Your eye is not deceiving you. This is the Galaxia, a powerful legendary sword that chooses its wielder to not fall into the wrong hands.” Meta Knight explained, unsheathing his sword for the blade Pokémon to see.

The sword Pokémon, mesmerized by the golden sword, asked the knight. “Could I take a closer look?” The jigglypuff nodded before the other Pokémon leaned closer, having an analytical look on his… face? “My… the gleaming gold, the sharp edges on the side and the… power emanating through it…” It seemed that a realization dawned on him and he backed away. “I’m sorry. It seems that I forgot to introduce myself.” He put a yellow hand in front of his shield. “My name is Arlibur, it’s a pleasure meeting you.”

“It’s a pleasure meeting you as well. My name is Meta Knight.” The masked knight was introduced.

The empoleon then put a flipper above his chest. “And I’m Ki- uh… Dedede, pleasure meeting you.”

Arlibur folded his arm behind him again. “Nice meeting you two and…” He looked at the dark blue jigglypuff. “Meta Knight? Are you a knight of the king or…”

Meta Knight shook his head. “No, I don’t work for the kind of this land nor any king. I work for myself, acting as protector of my land.” He avoided saying the word planet.

“I see…” The aegislash eye drifted away. “Say…” He then looked back at the duo. “Would you be available someday later for a spar? I would invite you now, however, I have some important business to attend to and I’m afraid there isn’t any time for a spar.”

Meta Knight was in a state of mild disbelief. Now not only there were Pokémon that resembled swords… and they liked to spar as well? The knight was starting to like this place more and more. “Well, I’m uncertain if I would have any time for side activities like that since I came to this land for a mission. Although… if there is any time for spare in this mission, I’ll heavily consider.”

The sword beamed. “I’m glad to hear that! But anyway, I must go now. See you whenever masked knight.”

Meta Knight nodded, sheathing his sword. “You too, Arlibur.” With that, the sword floated away, leaving the knight and king on their own. 

Dedede grinned, teasing the masked knight a little. “Would ya look at that! You already have a sparring partner in this world. And what’s a better sparring partner than an actual sword?” He giggled a little.

Meta Knight humphed, looking aside a bit in embarrassment. “Well, this time, I didn’t seek a worthy-looking challenger, they came to me this time.” Still, deep inside, he was grateful that this encounter happened. He was hoping that he would find some spare time in this mission, subtly wanting the spar between him and Arlibur to happen. 

“Well, anyways, shall we head back to meet with Elfilin to see how he’s handling it so far?” The empoleon asked.

Meta Knight turned to Dedede, nodding. “Yes, let’s check on him.” With that, the duo started to walk back to the southern part of the town. From all the speculations the masked knight had about this world, none were true. If he was being honest with himself, he was liking this world so far.

Elfilin sighed tiredly, perching himself on a mailbox.

It had been probably more than an hour by that point. After asking the same question to so many different Pokémon, heck, even knocking on some residences to ask the questions, no significant progress had been made. He was even starting to doubt if Kirby was in this town in the first place.

Even with those thoughts, he pushed through, asking even more Pokémon as time passed. Still, it was the same result as last time with no leads. 

While he was asking around, he noticed that some Pokémon were looking at him weirdly, like they knew he wasn’t one of them. He then realized that they actually thought of him like an alien when some Pokémon voiced their suspicions, asking him what kind of Pokémon was and where he came from. Of course, he kept it as vague as possible when he answered, even calling his species Fectonie to make them believe that it was a real species when in reality that name had just taken inspiration from his and Elfilis's surname. 

Besides that, something really weird had been happening since he woke up, something he didn’t tell Magolor at that time when he asked about the chinchilla to not worry him. He had this… slight migraine on the back of his head for some reason. That felt strange to him because he never felt a headache like that ever since he opened his first portal. Not only that, some faint unintelligible whispers could be heard in his head. At first, he thought it was because of the headache, making him think he was imagining things. But, as time passed, the whispers were getting louder and louder, making the chinchilla realize that he wasn’t imagining things.

“Ngh…” Elfilin grunted, clutching a paw on his head as the migraine in his head grew a little for a moment before shrinking. “This is starting to become unbearable…” He then looked around, seeing that the movements on the streets had died down from before. After a bit of thinking, he decided to ask at least one more passerby to see if he had hit the jackpot or not. 

“Just one more wouldn’t hurt…” He forced himself to fly again, his levitation starting to falter a little. He had to be strong, he couldn’t let some mild headache hinder his psychic abilities, he was doing this for Kirby’s sake! 

The chinchilla floated around a little bit on the streets of the town, looking for a good Pokémon for the question. After some seconds, he found a Pokémon that looked willing enough to answer a question. It was a Pokémon that resembled a bipedal cactus with arms and legs with some spikes covering its limbs and even its torso. It was also wearing a green straw hat, that obscured one of its eyes, and an armband with an emblem that resembled an eclipse with a black moon covering the sun. If the hat was part of its body, Elfilin had no clue. 

Elfilin got close to the cactus-like Pokémon and waved at it, halting it in the process. “Hello, would you uh… be willing to answer some questions for me? They’re kinda urgent…” 

The Pokémon tilted their head and asked in confusion. “Uh… okay…?” He said with a male voice-

‘What the heck is this Pokémon?’

Elfilin flinched a little at the sudden question and started looking around for the source of the new voice that sounded like it was millimeters close to him. For some reason, it sounded like the same voice as the Pokémon in front of him. Where did that voice come from? And who is the owner?

“You… you good?” 

The psychic chinchilla looked back at the cactus Pokémon, a sheepish expression on Elfilin’s face as he rubbed the back of his head. “Y-yep, I’m good. Just uh… thought I heard something…” He shook his head and kept a straight face this time. “So… I wanted to ask two things. Firstly, have you seen a pink and round puffball that looked so carefree?”

The Pokémon looked aside in silence for a moment before eventually answering. “No…? I mean, not that I remember.”

“I see…” Elfilin sighed in defeat before asking the cactus Pokémon another question. “So the other question I wanted to ask was… have you seen… gears that float around these bubbles somewhere around here?”

The cactus Pokémon stayed in silence, this time looking at Elfilin with an unreadable expression before saying with a bit more certainty, unlike the last question. “Nope didn’t see any of that-”

‘Does this flying rat know? No, he’s probably asking just for his friend and looking for those gears as well.’

Elfilin subtly clasped a paw in his head, grunting a little in pain.

‘Even if that’s the case, better to not take any risks and just leave town. Can’t let them steal my loot.’

The chinchilla groaned, making the cactus-like creature stop talking and lean a bit closer to Elfilin. “Dude, you sure you’re alright?”

Elfiin ignored the question and asked a question of his own. “W-what do you mean… steal your loot…?” The cactus Pokémon’s eyes widened in surprise. “Do you have an Energy Sphere…?” The cactus Pokémon kept the silence before immediately darting off from there. Elfilin stuck a paw forward. “Hey, wait a minute!”

“Elfilin, what’s wrong?”

The psychic rodent turned his head back and found Dedede and Meta Knight walking towards him. They stopped in front of him as Dedede tilted his head. “We heard you calling out to someone, what happened?”

Elfilin fully turned to them and explained a bit hastily while waving his arms in a panicked state. “I was asking a Pokémon if he’d seen Kirby or the Energy Spheres somewhere, but out of nowhere, he just said that he’s gonna leave town because he’s afraid of someone stealing his loot! I think he might be hiding an Energy Sphere with him!”

The empoleon gasped as the jigglypuff flinched a little. “What!?” Dedede let out a bit of shock. 

Meta Knight then looked at the penguin with a serious look on his face. “Dedede, call the others! We need to catch up to that Pokémon.”

The penguin nodded and pulled out from his red robe a star-shaped smartphone. “On it!”

The masked knight then turned to Elfilin and asked. “Elfilin, what did that Pokémon look like? We couldn’t get a good view of him as he ran away.”

“Uh… he was a cactus-like being with arms and legs and wearing some kind of hat in its head. That’s… that’s all the most noticeable features.” Elfilin said while rubbing the back of his head.

“Thank you. Once everyone gets here we’ll immediately start looking for him.” Meta Knight said.

Elfilin nodded, ignoring the stinging he felt in his head. “Y-yes, Meta!” As the knight turned to look at Dedede, the chinchilla looked away with concern on his face as he thought about the way the cactus was talking to him. The way that he suddenly shifted his response to something else as he was about to deny it looked unnatural. And from the sound of his voice, he seemed so close to him, like he was breathing down his neck as he spoke even though… he wasn’t. 

Did he…?

No, he couldn’t. He could only make portals and summon spears to attack. So he didn’t need to think about impossible scenarios like that… right?

Chapter Text

A floating origami being was looking around the room, their body expression rather dormant like they had woken up from a long slumber. Wait a minute. Didn’t Shitsuji say… “she”?

Karikiri’s head locked onto the Indeedee, staring at him for a moment before she started floating around him. “Sujiiiiii!!!” She exclaimed hyperactively in a female voice, circling him at fast speeds before hugging his neck. “ImissedyousomuchthatchestwassuchaboreIcoulddonothinginthereitwasliteraltorturebeingwithoutyouorTera!!!” 

The Guildmaster adjusted his glasses before patting the kartana’s back with a smile. “I missed you too Kiri.” 

Banny finally spoke up, her head spinning from a lot of confusion. “Wait, wait, wait! What the heck is going on here!?” Shitsuji and Karikiri looked at the confused scorbunny. “What even IS a kartana? And why was she even IN that chest to begin with!?”

Karikiri stopped hugging Shitsuji as she put her hands on her face. “Awwww! Look at ‘em cuties!!!” She said excitedly before flying to them, circling them, and hugging Kirby. The paper-made being looked back at the Indeedee with a pleading look (somehow). “Can I keep them!? They look so squishy and comfy to hug!”

Kirby was cringing a bit from Karikiri’s sharp edges that made her body poke him. “I-it kinda hurts to hug you…”

Shitsuji chuckled as he shook his head. “I am afraid not, Kiri. These two are explorers of the Starlight Guild, and they are quite formidable as well.” He then looked at Banny, who he could tell was silently hoping for some answers. “Ah yes, I think you deserve to know some answers to Kiri’s situation.” He folded his arms behind his back. “Banny, are you familiar with the type of Pokémon known as ultra beasts?”

The scorbunny crossed her arms. “Well, from what little I heard about them… they are savage creatures from other universes, right-?”

“Savages? SAVAGES!?” The kartana exploded in an angry tone. She then started to float around the room. “Who in their right minds decided to call my species SAVAGES!?” She then picked up a pen and started drawing on some really specific parts of her body. “Tell me, bunny girl!” She dropped the pen and floated to Banny, stopping in front of her. “How could they call something like this a savage!?”

Karikiri started unfolding her body before folding it again in a different manner. Instead of her usual form, she took the appearance of an origami bipedal being resembling a human if Kirby matched up the features with Adeleine’s. The purple part of her body was now part of the torso resembling a dress and the yellow part of her resembled hair. Her face was a simple, but poorly drawn, dot eyes with a smile. Her antennas, however, had stayed from her usual form, making her look like a paper girl with antennas or horns. 

Kirby released a “Woah!” in amazement, his eyes starting to sparkle a little bit.

Banny was a bit in disbelief at what she just saw. “U-um…” She looked aside nervously before shrugging and smiling sheepishly at the kartana. “I-I guess that’s cute…!”

The ultra beast unfolded and folded her body back to her usual form, huffing in pride. “Of course, I AM cute!” She then looked at Shitsuji, who looked silently at her with a smile. “Oh, right, you were giving them the backstory. My bad, you can continue.”

Shitsuji chuckled as he adjusted his glasses. “I am glad you did not change, Kiri.” He then looked back at Team Star Warriors and continued his explanation. “So, as I was trying to say… yes, Banny, ultra beasts are creatures that came from other universes. However, they are not as savage as you think.” Hi lifted a paw finger. “You see, historians might not know, but when the ultra beasts first came to this world, they were being controlled by an outside force. I do not know what this force was nor can I theorize what it could be, but it had malicious intentions, that is for certain.”

Kirby tilted his body. “Wait, she came from another world just like me?”

Karikiri released an audible gasp as she looked at the puffball. “Are we… Ultra Besties!? ” With incredible strength, she lifted Kirby into the air and spun around with him as she hugged the astrali. “YEEEESSSS!!! We’re Ultra Besties! I knew you looked a bit different from all the Pokémon I’ve seen so far!”

Kirby tried not to struggle so much on her hold. However, he was starting to feel a bit dizzy from all the spinning, not even managing to mutter a single word. “C-cou-cou-...!”

Shitsuji cleared his throat. “Kiri, I think that you are being a little excessive.”

The kartana flicked an antenna to the indeedee who regarded her with a smile. She sighed and put the puffball down who almost lost his footing after being put down. She looked at Kirby while looking down. “I’m sorry…”

Kirby put a nub on his head as he tried to adjust his vision. “I-it’s f-...fine…!”

“So.. as I was saying before…” Shitsuji made everyone’s attention snap back to him. “The ultra beasts themselves are not to blame for the savageness, well, aside from some but I am not blaming them either.” He then motioned a paw to Karikiri. “Kiri over here came to this world the same way, however, she was lucky enough to come across me on her path of destruction.”

Kiri crossed her arms, turning her head away. “Don’t remind me of that… I hated every second of it.”

A frown crept on Shitsuji’s face. “My apologies Kiri, however, they deserve to know the truth. Unfortunately, not many Pokémon know the true nature of Ultra Beasts, so they will misjudge them because of their previous actions.”

The scorbunny tilted her head. “Wait, how did you manage to free her from… whatever controls them once they enter this world?”

The indeedee looked at Banny. “With my psychic typing and my natural empath powers, I was able to remove the entity’s influence from her mind, giving her control again… after I knocked her out, that is.”

The kartana made a motion as if trying to roll her eyes before turning to Team Star Warriors and adding. “Not only did he manage to do that to me, but with other ultra beasts as well!”

Kirby asked curiously. “You can stop brainwashing?” Shitsuji nodded and raised a nub. “That’s awesome!” He then put his nub below his mouth as he muttered. “Maybe one of my friends needs to learn a few tips from you…” His mind instantly wandered to a certain king penguin, the punchline of brainwashing jokes.

Banny looked at the ultra beast. “But wait, that still doesn’t explain why you were in the chest in the first place. If what Shitsuji told us is true… then why did ask him to lock yourself in the chest?”

Kiri put a hand on her chin. “Well… it’s kinda complicated…”

Shitsuji lifted a finger. “Basically, it was at a time when the world was in grave danger. So if the world potentially ended, she locked herself in a chest so she would not feel a thing.”

Even if it sounded impossible, the kartana blushed in embarrassment and flew back to Shitsuji and started trying to slap him with the blunt part of her hands, however, it did nothing to him. “I told you to tell NO ONE that! You were supposed to tell anyone who asks that I was willing to sacrifice myself for the greater good of the world!”

Shitsuji giggled, patting the ultra beast. “I am sorry, I cannot help myself but indulge in a slight bit of teasing. Especially in times such as these where I need to find something to distract myself a little.”

Banny put a paw on her chin in thought. “Wait, but didn’t the last calamity happen many cycles ago? Why didn’t you take her out of the chest after that threat has been dealt with?”

“She said to only unlock the chest in case of an emergency. And that is what I did.” The indeedee said while folding his arms behind his back. “I respected her wishes.”

“Huh!?” Kiri blurted out in a confused and surprised tone. “It’s been literal CYCLES since I was put in that chest and you’ve only taken me out of it NOW!? I didn’t mean it like that! I meant an emergency AFTER the calamity! Has there been seriously no emergencies for cycles!?”

“There was not, until now, that is.” Shitsuji while adjusting his glasses. Before the kartana could complain any further, the indeedee turned to look at Kirby. “Now that I have explained everything, I have a favor to ask you, Kirby.”

The puffball tilted his body. “What is it?”

“Me and the town elder wish to speak with you. I would like to request that you come with me to take you to him. Of course, Banny can come as well if she desires.” The mayor offered with a smile.

Banny gasped. “The town elder!? Isn’t he the creator of the Tera Crystals!? Why would he want to speak to Kirby?”

Shitsuji crossed his arms. “Do not fret, Banny. It is nothing serious…” He then looked aside a bit uncertain. “Well… mostly.” He then looked back at them with a reassuring smile. “But still, the elder is a nice Pokémon. So there is no need to feel afraid.”

Kiri shrieked in happiness as she floated around excitedly. “Finally! I can finally feel that fluffy mane of his and nap on it!”

Kirby asked the kartana. “Wait, you know who this elder too?”

“Yep!” The ultra beast answered cheerfully. “Shitsuji, Tera, and I were and still are the bestest of best friends!” She then looked back at the indeedee and asked. “We still are, right?” The empath nodded before she raised her arm. “We still are!”

Banny was a bit speechless after hearing that being said so casually. However, since the puffball didn’t know the true importance of the town elder, he said it with glee. “Wow, you guys are pretty close friends!”

“That we are.” Shitsuji nodded before starting to walk off his office. He then looked back and asked the puffball. “Will you come with me, Kirby?”

Kirby raised a nub. “Of course!” He then looked at his partner and said cheerfully as he started walking behind the Guildmaster. “C’mon Banny!” 

Banny, getting her act together, started following the puffball with an unsure look. “Sure…”

Banny couldn’t believe it. She just couldn’t.  

She was about to meet with the Pokémon that created one of the most valuable materials in the entire world. Not only that, but apparently he was friends with an ultra beast and the mayor as well?

It was at this point that Banny realized something that she had not considered until now. She didn’t really know a lot about the mayor in the first place, did she? 

The scorbunny only knew that, like most indeedees in the world, he was old, really old. Not only that, but he also was really powerful. Powerful enough to go face-to-face with someone like Kirby! What was the extent of his power? Was he that powerful enough to gain the friendship of an ultra beast and a Legendary Pokémon?

Just what was the mayor hiding?

They had been walking through Agyneastra Town towards the elder’s home. Terapagos, the town elder, lived in that white crystallized construct in the middle of the town, his home being the center of attention. It felt fitting for the creator of the Tera Crystals to be living in a home made of them. Even if his home was really valuable, no one dared to mine even a little bit of the crystals because it was against the law.

And also because Pokémon feared the elder’s power.

She had never met the Legendary Pokémon before. She had only heard some rumors like Pokémon saying that Terapagos had the power to create life out of the crystals’ mysterious power. Of course, rumors like that were outlandish and not true. However, Banny couldn’t help but humor that idea a little since the elder was rarely seen outside his home, and records on him were scarce. Since Terapagos was a one-of-a-kind Pokémon, the townsfolk could only speculate what the elder’s true power was…

To make it even worse, Banny was about to meet such Pokémon in the flesh and, ooh boy, was she terrified.  

Even if Karikiri and Shitsuji’s claims of Terapagos being a nice Pokémon were true, the scorbunny couldn’t help but feel a tad bit unnerved if that wasn’t the case. Sure, she tends to think a bit negatively about some stuff, excessively so, but as a prey species, she couldn’t deny being extremely cautious, even in the safest situations possible.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she looked at her surroundings and noticed they were at Agyneastra Town’s center. Many townsfolk walked around her and the rest of the quartet, however, they noticed some of them stare at the kartana with suspicion before going on their merry way. 

Banny frowned at this. She couldn’t imagine what Karikiri must’ve been thinking, being the odd one out, an outsider whose appearance was judged by the actions of others of her species. Heck, they weren’t even in control.

The scorbunny approached the paper-made ultra beast and called her attention in a low voice. “Hey…” The kartana’s antenna twitched as she looked at the fire rabbit. “I know those looks must make you feel like you don’t belong, but don’t worry, I’m here to support you if you really need it!”

Karikiri looked at Banny for a moment before she let out a laugh. “What’chu talking about, girl? Those stares mean nothing to me! Let them look, makes me feel like I’m their beauty model!”

Banny stared for a moment as the kartana did various poses before looking aside feeling a bit embarrassed. “Ah…” She rubbed the back of her head with a grimace. Maybe she thought a bit too much… again.

“And here we are.” Shitsuji said while Kirby subtly flinched, the scorbunny noticing that flinch. Again, those exact words caused Kirby to flinch again. Is he also hiding something? Strange… maybe she needed to know him better so she doesn’t cause a certain trauma to trigger.

Karikiri floated in front of the group and looked at the crystal building in front of her. “Oh wow, this place didn’t change one bit!” She looked at the indeedee and asked. “Is Tera still the introverted turtle that he is?”

Shitsuji shrugged. “I cannot say for certain, however, he does leave his home more frequently now.”

“That’s great! Wonder what’s gonna be his reaction when he sees me again, shihihihi!” She giggled, putting a hand in front of her.

“That is what we shall see.” The mayor said before walking to the building and putting a paw on it. Suddenly, a small wave of light pulsated from Shitsuji’s paw to the entire building before an entrance magically appeared beside Shitsuji.

Kirby blurted out in amazement. “Woah! That’s so cool!”

The kartana floated in front of Kirby and gloated. “That is only one of many tricks the Tera Crystals can do my outworldly friend! You have yet to see their true potential!” She said with a dramatic tone, trying to make the crystals even more special than they seem to be.

Banny crossed her arms and asked. “Yeah, what ELSE can they do?”

“Shihihihi!” Karikiri made a shushing noise while putting a hand blade on her mouth while whispering. “Secret!”

Great, just what Banny needed to hear to add to her overly cautious nature…

“Let us stall no further.” Shitsuji called their attention, making the three look at the Guildmaster. “The elder awaits for our presence.”

As the kartana floated inside without any further prompt, Team Star Warriors nodded and followed Shitsuji inside the crystal building. 

When they entered the elder’s home and the door closed behind them, they saw nothing but darkness for a small moment before the entire place lit up from hidden lights somewhere in the room. Since their eyes weren’t ready, Team Star Warriors were blinded by the reflected light of the crystals. After their eyes adjusted, they were mesmerized by the sight of the crystal-made room.

The rocks were shaped like hexagons, jutting out from every angle of the room, even the floor titles were hexagon-shaped, even if they were equally-leveled. “By Moltres’ flames… this place is so beautiful…” Banny admitted while Kirby stared at the crystals, silently awestruck by the shininess of the place.

“That is something any Pokémon can agree on.” Shitsuji agreed, smiling at the duo as he motioned a paw around. “The elder’s crystals are something that can enchant any Pokémon by their light properties, even the Pokémon that call the darkness their home.”

“Heh! I knew you’d be amazed by Tera’s amazing crystals! Speaking of that old ‘mon…” She started flying deeper into the building while shouting. “Oh Teeeeerraaaaaaa~!!!”

The indeedee folded his arms behind his back. “That should wake him up from his nap.” He then looked back at the duo of explorers. “Come along now, he shall be delighted in meeting you two.”

Kirby nodded and started following the mayor along with a hesitating Banny.

The scorbunny took a deep breath. It was fine, she could do this. If the others were calm about it, then she could definitely be at ease. After all, it was the town elder! One of the Pokémon that was there when Agyneastra Town was first founded! So if the town stayed as prosperous for ages as it was at the current day, then that meant that there was no need to fear Terapagos, even with his status as a Legendary.

The trio ventured further into the building, entering a kaleidoscope-ish room that was swirling with colors. And at the back of the room, there he was. Terapagos stood there, groggily waking up because of the floating paper alarm around him that was repeating his name over and over again. 

Banny was a bit taken aback by the size of the giant turtle Pokémon with a crystallized shell, fluffy mane, and tail. However, as she took a closer look at his face, she noticed that he looked… kinda cute. He had the face of a Pokémon that accepted any kind of affection without any hesitation.

Alas, she had overthought unnecessary stuff, again…

Terapagos yawned a little bit and looked around as he slowly gained awareness of his surroundings. “Huh…? Who-”

Suddenly, Karikiri floated in front of Terapagos and happily announced. “Missed me, Tera!?”

The crystal-shelled Pokémon’s tired voice was instantly replaced with a cheery one. “Oh, Kiri!” The kartana instantly embraced Terapagos’ head with a hug, even if she was so much smaller than him. “It’s been so long! How have you been you cheeky paper girl!”

“Ugh! You have no IDEA of how bored I was inside that stupid chest! I could do nothing for literal cycles!” She then tightened her tiny embrace. “Oh, I missed you, Suji, and you again because of that fluffy mane of yours!”

“Heh, at least you’re out of the chest now!”

“Yep! Now if you excuse me…” The kartana released the turtle’s head and lazily fell on Terapagos' shell like an actual piece of paper. “Your mane calls for me…”

“Hm? Kiri?” Shitsuji tilted his head as he called, getting no response from the kartana. He then could hear the sounds of snoring coming from the ultra beast as her mouth opened and closed.

“Hohoho, I can tell that she wanted to see me just for this.” The elder said joyfully before turning to the others. It was then that he finally took notice of Team Star Warriors. “Oh? And who might these little ones be?”

Shitsuji motioned a paw to the explorer duo. “This is Team Star Warriors, elder Terapagos.” He pointed at the scorbunny who stiffened a little bit. “This is Banny, daughter of Vanny and Treth. And this…” He pointed at the puffball who happily waved. “Is Banny’s partner, the being from another world that I told you about, Kirby.”

“Hi!” Kirby cheerfully greeted.

“H-hey…” Banny nervously greeted.

Terapagos shot an analyzing look, staring a bit longer at Kirby. For a second, Banny thought that the elder turtle grimaced a little bit before smiling. “Oh my! So this is the infamous Kirby who almost bested Shitsuji in a brawl, eh? It’s a pleasure meeting you! You too Banny!”

Banny tilted her head. “Y-you know about what happened between-…?”

“Of course, little scorbunny! After all, Shitsuji himself came to me yesterday to tell me that since he couldn’t get it out of his mind!” The indeedee blushed and looked away from everyone as the elder chuckled. “Anyway, how are you enjoying our world so far, Kirby?”

Kirby joyfully answered. “I’m enjoying it a lot! Although, I’m not sure when I’ll return since I’m waiting for my friends to get me… but I’ll enjoy as much as I can!”

“Wait, your friends can travel through universes?” Banny asked while tilting her head.

The puffball nodded. “Yep! Not all of them can, only two of them, but they’re probably looking for me right now!” He then put a nub on his chin. “Although, I’m not sure when they’d arrive.”

Ah yes, he had to leave at some point… it honestly saddened Banny that she couldn’t be in an exploration team with Kirby for a long time, however, she had to face the facts sooner or later. Kirby was not from this world, so he’d probably feel homesick. Heck, he was probably feeling it right at the moment and hiding it from Banny! She just had to hope that she doesn’t become too attached to him once he goes…

“Banny.” The scorbunny looked at Terapagos and stiffened a little bit. “Are you alright? I couldn’t help but notice your conflicting expression.”

“Ah…” Banny sheepishly smiled and folded her arms behind her back, tilting her foot a little. “It’s nothing, I’m just rather nervous about uh… meeting you.”

“Dear, there’s no need to worry! I’m a cool ‘mon! Or should I say… a cool “dude” as the younglins say nowadays?” He chuckled a little. “You know, Banny, I’ve met your parents before.”

The scorbunny perked a little as she tilted her head aside. “You… you have?”

The crystal turtle nodded. “Indeed. Shitsuji introduced them to me, speaking highly of them as the best explorers in the Starlight Guild. Oh, and he wasn’t kidding. I’ve even seen them in action in one of the rare times I leave this place. And that scarf you wear brings me fond memories of those days.”

Banny gripped her scarf on her paw with a melancholy look on her face. “My mom…” She looked back at the turtle. “How was my mom back then?”

“Oh, Vanny? Yes, I remember her, even if it’s been a bit… she was a really kind Pokémon and wasn’t afraid to put her own opinions on matters and take said matters into her own paws.” Terapagos smiled a little before realizing something. “Oh, shoot! I forgot to say, I’m sorry for your loss…”

Banny gave a little smile. “Nah, it’s alright, don’t worry. It’s been a few cycles.” Suddenly, Banny was hugged from the side by her puffball partner. “Huh?”

“I’m here with you if you need me, alright, Banny?” Kirby reassured the fire bunny.

The scorbunny knew that reassurance wouldn’t last for long, but she appreciated it anyway. “Thanks.”

Meanwhile, Shitsuji got beside Terapagos and whispered something to him, the turtle perking up a little. “Oh right! Kirby, there’s something I’d like to ask of you if you wouldn’t mind.”  

Kirby stopped hugging his partner and looked at Terapagos with an inquisitive look. “What is it?”

“As you have probably heard from your time here… there have been a lot of cult sightings, not only in Agyneastra Town but in various other towns and kingdoms.” The elder frowned a little. “They’ve been causing insecurity and spreading chaos around the continent and it’s getting really out of hand… not even Shitsuji here can keep up with everything this cult does.”

Shitsuji looked away and sighed, adjusting his glasses. “Even though I hate admitting it, I cannot bring safety to all of the town if these activities keep growing at the rate they are.”

“That’s why we’d like to ask if you could assist us in investigating this dangerous group in hopes of finding more answers to put an end to this. I may not have told you, but, I can see that you hold infinite power inside of you.” 

Shitsuji and Banny made a shocked expression as Kirby looked aside a bit nervous. The indeedee was the first to speak. “I-infinite power?” He looked at Terapagos. “Elder, you cannot be serious, right? A being, god or not, cannot hold infinite power, no matter how strong they are!”

“Y-yeah. Sure, he might have the aura of a god inside him, but that doesn’t mean he’s THAT powerful, right?” Banny asked a bit nervously. “After all, he can get hurt!”

“You two are getting it wrong. Just having infinite power doesn’t mean that he is immortal and invincible. Sure, he might not die to old age, but he certainly can die by other means.” Terapagos’ shell shone a little. “Having infinite power means that your power can increase to an undefined level, to a point where you could transcend universes and become not only a god but something even beyond that. Right now, Kirby is on the same level as any mortal, however, if certain conditions are met, he could reach a point where no one in the entirety of the multiverse would be able to beat him.”

Banny’s mouth went agape, making her look at Kirby with a terrified look. She was almost too afraid to ask, but she decided to confirm it anyway. “B-but you said that you obtained an object that made you like this… is there an object like that in your world…?”

Kirby sheepishly grinned as he rubbed the back of his head. “So uh… I might’ve lied to not uh… scare you guys. I was born this way.”

“Tell me little puff, how were you born?” Terapagos asked while tilting his head.

There could be seen some hesitation on the puffball’s face, however, he spoke anyway. “So… I was born from a god in my world called Astral Birth Void. They are a being that reincarnates into certain beings once they come across strong emotions. I’m one of their reincarnations, being born of positive emotions.” He looked aside. “That’s what I learned recently when I encountered a certain group in my world who worshipped them. So… yep! That’s the actual truth.”

The room became silent for a moment, both Shitsuji and Banny trying to process what they had just heard. Terapagos however, spoke up first. “So you are demigod then… born of positiveness…” The turtle then smiled. “My, I’m not sure why Shitsuji didn’t notice that before, or else he wouldn’t have attacked you.”

The indeedee continued staring at the puffball before he looked away. “Elder Terapagos, you know that I can only feel emotions, not auras, right? Besides, Krystal could not get a clear reading because Kirby’s aura is so overwhelming.”

Terapagos rolled his head, being sarcastic. “Excuses, excuses.” He giggled before looking back at Kirby. “Anyway, back to what I was requesting before. Kirby, will you help us uncover more of the cultists’ secrets and possibly take them down for good?”

Kirby immediately nodded in determination. “Yep! You can count on me and Banny! Right, Banny?” The puffball looked at the scorbunny, making her flinch a little.

Banny was still trying to wrap her thoughts around the fact that she met a demigod and possibly befriended them. She couldn’t believe it, she was right to fear Kirby even if he said that he wouldn’t hurt anyone as long as no one messed with him. But that’s exactly what she was even more afraid of happening now!

What would happen if Kirby got so angry because of a slight inconvenience caused by a jerk? Sure, he might be a being of positive emotions and he might not get too mad but… what if he reached a breaking point? Like, something inside him snapped as he couldn’t take it anymore and unleashed his true power?

Just what has Banny gotten into!?

“Banny? Are you alright?”

The scorbunny was snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the astrali or whatever he actually was, because, who knows? He could even be pretending that being… a round and pink puffball was his true species. 

“U-um… y-yeah… I’m… I’m alright…” Banny said nervously.

“Oh dear, don’t be afraid of him.” Terapagos said, floating closer to the duo as Banny felt a bit intimidated by the size difference. “He might have all that hidden potential in him, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be a danger to you or anyone else.”

“Yeah!” Kirby confirmed, looking at Banny with a smile. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna go mad with power or something like that! I just want to make all my friends happy, and that includes you!”

Banny looked at Kirby to spot any sign of dishonesty or any facial expression indicating that he was lying. However, there were no signs of lies anywhere, he was genuinely being truthful. “Kirby…” The scorbunny had no reason to not believe him. The puffball had only been nice to her the entire time since they met, heck, he even saved her life. She couldn’t be that distrustful of him after everything he had done in her life in the last three days. 

Sure, Kirby might be a really powerful demigod that could have the power to destroy an entire kingdom. But still, he was just as kind and loving as any normal Pokémon. 

Banny smiled and folded her arms behind her back, twisting her foot a little. “I’m sorry Kirby. I’m sorry for being a bit distrustful of you.”

“Don’t worry Banny!” Kirby said before hugging the scorbunny again. “I’m sorry for keeping my origins hidden from you. I didn’t want to scare you…”

Banny looked down and smiled, patting the puffball. “I would’ve done the same… so no worries there.”

Terapagos beamed, his shell flashing a little rainbow of colors for a second. “My, that’s wonderful! I’m glad you were able to forgive yourselves.” He smiled proudly before patting them both with a single claw, revealing an indigo arm coming from his mane. “Anyways, that’s all I wanted to talk about for today. I really hope you’re able to succeed in your investigation, Team Star Warriors.”

Kirby and Banny saluted and said. “We will Elder Terapagos!”

The turtle chuckled before saying. “Please, no need for formalities, call me Tera. You don’t want to become like Suji over here, right?”

Shitsuji looked aside in embarrassment as Banny and Kirby laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of their heads.

Chapter Text

The Star Allies ran through a forest, hastening their pace as they dashed through the canopy of trees and bushes. Most of them were actually on their feet, except for Bandana Dee who was being carried by King Dedede on his arms since he was still trying to figure out a way to go fast on his new body. 

Suddenly, a masked and dark-blue jigglypuff landed right beside them, folding his bat-like wings behind his cape as he started running along with the group. The kimono-wearing penguin looked at him and asked. “You managed to find him?”

“Unfortunately, no. He must be far ahead, however, if we follow this trail, we might run into him. He can’t have infinite stamina after all.” Meta Knight said.

Marx looked at the knight and smirked. “Ain’t he a cactus though? If the flying rat’s right, that means he probably has a water storage somewhere.”

“But remember that we’re in another universe, Marx.” Magolor reminded, a leafy drone attached to an invisible string coming out of his body without him realizing. “Rules might be different here. And as you saw from some of these creatures, some of them are even sentient inanimate objects.”

“Still, what if the guy can’t tire out and we just lose him forever?” Mark asked.

Elfilin shook his head. “But still, we gotta try finding him. We need that Energy Sphere to get out of this world!”

Bandana nodded. “Yeah. We gotta get to him no matter what-”

The buizel stopped himself once the group passed under an archway made by two tree branches coiling around each other and the world seemed to distort around them. The sky was covered by a myriad of swirling colors, looking like a kaleidoscope-esque effect. It covered a large area and was shaped like a dome. “What the…” Susie said as she looked at the sky, the other Star Allies stopping to stare at the weird sight. 

Meta Knight looked away from it to look behind him, seeing that the path they came from was blocked by thick tree trunks and thorny bushes. “Hm… it seems we’re trapped.”

The other members of the group looked around them to find that the environment completely changed. What was once a straight path suddenly turned into a wide rectangular-like area, branching off into different smaller paths. Trees were lined up linearly, blocking off any attempt of just passing through them. “What… what’s going on…?” Elfilin asked slightly nervous.

“That thing in the sky looks tasty!” Marx said as he looked back to the group, opening his wings. “Can I fly up to it?”

“Well, if you want to figure out that it might instantly kill you by burning you to ashes… be my guest.” The tsareena said as she pulled out her tablet and looked at it. “Because I’m getting large spatial distortion readings all around us. And you know what happens when you touch the edge of one, right?”

The sprout jester groaned as he rolled his eyes. “Just what I needed… can’t fly out of here…”

After jumping out of Dedede’s arm, Bandana put a paw on his chin and spoke. “Wait… if we entered this spatial distortion, that means that guy who has the Energy Sphere also went through here! He might still be around here somewhere!”

“True, that means we still have a chance to track him down!” Dedede nodded with a grin.

“Still… that doesn’t explain why there’s a spatial distortion here. Are they natural to this world or not?” Magolor asked with his arms crossed.

“Who cares! Let’s just use this place to our advantage and get the guy!” Marx started hovering a few meters from the ground as he giggled. “I’m gonna have so much fun when we find him…” Suddenly, the pink oddish felt something tickle his face. He looked up to see some droplets of water falling. “Wasn’t it sunny just a few seconds ago?”

Rain started falling all around them, the smell of humidity clouding the air. They instantly got wet by the rain. “It must be raining here because this place might be separated from the outside of the distortion.” The masked knight said before turning to the rest of the group. “I have a suspicion that this place might be a pocket dimension.”

“A pocket dimension? Does that mean we’re stuck here!?” Elfilin asked a bit panicked.

“Well, if we found a way in, there’s definitely an exit somewhere else.” Magolor grinned, putting a paw on their chin. “Meaning, the cactus Pokémon is looking for it as well.”

Dedede raised a flipper. “Alright, now that we might have a lead, let’s look around the place. It’s better to stick together since we don’t know the dangers of this place. Understood?” The group nodded except for Marx who just rolled his eyes in annoyance.

With that, the Star Allies started walking around the moist grass path, each of their footsteps giving a wet crunch sound. After taking a certain path, they realized that the layout of the place was some sort of maze with multiple areas. So they decided to keep track of the places they went so that they didn’t end up going in circles. 

While on their trek in the pocket dimension, they noticed some items lying on the ground, most noticeably, what looked like some kind of gold coins. Magolor’s eyes instantly sparkled once he took a small glance at the small stack. He went to it and picked it up, analyzing it. “Ooh, do the Pokémon use this beauty as currency?” 

Bandana sighed as he looked at the masked cat. “Really, Magolor? We’re in another world and you’re already getting distracted by money while looking for something even more important?” 

The mage put the gold coins in his bag and looked back at the group with a sheepish smile. “Oh, you know how it is. Can’t have enough money in any universe. After all, if they have the same monetary system as us, better stack some for later.”

Meta Knight huffed. “Very well then. However, don’t go overboard and try to scam the inhabitants of this world like you did in ours.”

“Hey, what I sold wasn’t a scam!” He looked away and crossed his arms. “The people of Dreamland just didn’t know how to use the items I found in my travels, simple as that!”

Dedede rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, Mags. Let’s just continue-” The empoleon looked at Elfilin and hummed in thought as he saw the chinchilla clutching his head. “Elfilin? You okay there?”

Elfilin looked at the king and laughed sheepishly. “Oh, hehe… it’s nothing-” Suddenly, the chinchilla grunted and groaned, his levitation faltering as he clutched his head. “Gah!”

“Elfilin!” Bandana called as he went towards the blue rodent, grabbing him before he completely fell on the ground. “What’s wrong? Something wrong with your head?”

The other members of the group circled the two-tailed otter and stared at Elfilin, some with worry and others with curiosity. The psychic chinchilla eventually answered. “I… I sense… some creatures… I don’t know what they are, but they aren’t friendly… and they are approaching…”

Their eyes widened as their muscles tensed, the Star Allies looking around them warily. Magolor’s ears flickered as he grimaced. “He’s right, there are a number of them coming.” A glowing purplish hexagon with runes appeared around Magolor’s paws. “Be on your guard guys!”

They nodded as Meta Knight, Dedede, and Susie pulled out their main weapons, the masked knight unfolding his wings along with Marx who grinned. “Oh wow, the fun finally arrived!”

Bandana looked around with a nervous frown before looking back at Elfilin. “Can you fight?”

The chinchilla shook his head away from the pain before he started floating again. “I think… I can. I just need to… filter out these thoughts.”

The buizel nodded. “Alright then…” He turned aside and adjusted his namesake bandana, pulling out his spear and readying it. 

Meta Knight looked to both sides before saying. “Here they come…”

Even with the pelting of the rain, the leaves and bushes started shaking a bit more than they were supposed to. It didn’t take long for the first creature to come out of the bush. It was some kind of blue amphibian creature with orange fins on the side of its cheeks and two gray ones on the top of its head. Its muscles bulged from how buff it was.

“Is that a Pokémon…?” Susie asked while tilting her head, the creature seemingly studying them. 

“Be careful guys, I’m sensing some hostile vibes from it…” Elfilin warned as he clutched a paw on his head. 

He was right because the fish clasped both of its fists together before releasing a ferocious croak, almost like a roar. It was then that more Pokémon of different species appeared. Two monkey-like creatures with cream fur a tail landed on tree branches, a blue bipedal frog with a lazy-looking expression appeared with its orange cheeks inflating, and a green bipedal creature with a lilypad sombrero came out of the bushes with an annoyed expression on its face.

All of the Pokémon(?) were around the Star Allies, trapping them in a circle. They slowly started approaching, releasing croaks and grunts as a method of intimidation. 

“Alright guys, let’s beat these creatures!” Dedede said with a determined face.

“Oh, I was waiting for you to say that!” Marx exclaimed before cackling maniacally, diving into the ground, and disappearing into the floor. 

Susie aimed her blaster at one of the mankey and shot a laser at it. The shot narrowingly missed, only managing to burn some of the furs on the monkey’s side. It clearly was pissed so it decided to jump at the tsareena in retaliation. Of course, Susie didn’t even let it scratch her, kicking the mankey in the face with her new powerful legs out of instinct. The mankey was launched onto a tree, its back colliding with it. Susie looked at her legs in surprise. “Wow… I wished I had this in my original body.”

The other monkey obviously didn’t like what the CEO did with its friend. It climbed down from the branch it was standing on and ran at the distracted tsareena. However, the mankey was caught by surprise once it was rocketed to the air with Marx’s help, laughing as he launched the feral Pokémon. “Pee-ka-boo! Hahahahahahaha!!!”

Marx followed it up by spreading his wings and launching a myriad of electric arrows at the Pokémon. The arrows exploded with sparks once in contact with the mankey, launching it into the distance. 

Meanwhile, Bandana was focused on the croagunk, the poisonous frog charging at the buizel with its hands covered in a purple and grimy glow. Even with a different body, Bandana’s fighting style remained the same. He parried the barrage of poisonous punches with his spear, and once it got unbearable, he jumped back, almost losing his balance with his new feet. He focused back on the opponent in front of him with a scowl on his face, noticing that the frog wasn’t approaching anymore.

The croagunk then opened his mouth and released mud balls, the projectiles flying right towards Bandana. After getting over the surprise of the sudden attack, the buizel dodged the mud balls by sidestepping and even jumping over one of them, however, the ball hit the tip of one of his tails, making the twin-tailed otter fall on the ground and lose his footing. His new fur was already wet from the rain, combined with the dirty mud, which made the smell he was already dealing with much worse. 

He quickly got up and shook off the mud by spinning his tails like propellers out of instinct. It was then that he noticed that his tails spun like an actual propeller, he even did it again to make sure that he was not imagining things. “Wait, then can I…?”

Bandana interrupted himself once he heard the sounds of splashing footsteps getting closer to him. He narrowingly avoided a poisonous jab to the stomach by jerking away his body from the frog. He jumped to the side before grinning. “Alright, let’s test this out!” He quickly coiled his tails around each other, almost looking like he tangled them. It felt weird for the Dee-turned-buizel having another muscle to his body, let alone two. However, he got used to it in his free time when he was inspecting his new body. 

Now it was time to put it into action!

The buizel started spinning his tails clockwise as he slowly but surely started rising into the air. Bandana smiled in awe for some seconds before focusing back on the croagunk who shot more balls of mud at the airborne otter. Bandana managed to avoid all of the mud projectiles before flying towards the frog, thrusting his spear directly onto its stomach. As the poison amphibian was launched at the tree, Bandana landed on the ground and grinned. “Yes!”

During that fight, Magolor was caught up in his brawl along with Elfilin. Both cat and rodent dodged pressurized water blasts from the lombre. Magolor shot a dark sphere towards the Pokémon, the lombre dodging the orb before rushing in at them at a moderate speed. “Oh, seems like it wanna play! Elfilin, could you open a portal in front of it to bring it right in front of us?” The brown Meowscarada requested with an innocent smile.

Elfilin tilted his head before doing what he asked. “Uh… alright?” The psychic chinchilla extended a paw and opened a portal in front of them and the lombre, making it get to them much faster. 

The jolly Pokémon skidded to a stop and flinched once it got face-to-face with the duo. Magolor folded an arm behind him and smirked. “Much obliged!” He raised his free paw, making a summoning rune appear on his paw. From the symbol, a giant sword that looked like the Ultra Sword but with a purple color palette and a gear emblem on the hilt came out of the rune. The lombre’s jaw dropped as he couldn’t help but watch the giant sword that came down on him with a swing on Magolor’s arm. He was launched away to another part of the labyrinth of the dungeon. 

Elfilin just stared at the magician cat wide-eyed, no words being able to come out of his mouth. 

Magolor just stared at his paw and inspected it. “Huh, I only needed one hand- or paw to summon that thing.” He grinned. “This body is more powerful than I thought it’d be.”

As Magolor and Elfilin dealt with the lombre, Meta Knight and King Dedede were busy focusing on the strongest Pokémon there, the swampert. Meta Knight barely managed to block a strike from the mudfish Pokémon’s muscular arms. The dark-blue jigglypuff then deflected it and kicked the swampert away from him, jumping back. 

Dedede took this opportunity to jump in while swinging his hammer down on the swampert. Unexpectedly, the mudfish caught it in his hands, making Dedede’s eyes widen. “What the-” It pushed the hammer up before taking the opportunity and punching Dedede in the gut, launching the empoleon far away. 

Meta Knight called. “Dedede!” A scowl plastered itself on the knight’s face behind the mask as he looked back at the mudfish who croaked at them. The Galaxia started glowing blue before the jigglypuff swung it in the air three times, sending three crescent slash waves at the mudfish creature. However, out of nowhere, it summoned a giant rock sphere before clapping it and crushing it into smaller pieces with his fists. The rocks fell on the waves like the rain, destroying them.

Dedede groaned as he sat up while shaking his head. “Wow, this guy’s tough!” Dedede jumped back up and gripped his hammer harder on his claw fingers. “Seems like brute force won’t be enough like most other small fries we fight…”

“Hm… wait a minute.” The masked knight turned to the empoleon. “Remember that Magolor told us this morning that these bodies came with new types of magic?” Dedede nodded. “We said we would stick to our old ones, perhaps it is time to change that.” He looked back at the swampert who was charging at them with their shoulders raised to tackle them. The knight and the king avoided the strike by sidestepping the attack. “We should try to figure out a way to use them to our advantage here.”

“But how?” Dedede asked as he tensed a little bit, looking back at the swampert. “How are we gonna figure out how to use those abilities?”

Meta Knight closed his eyes for a moment before a thought came over him. “We have to think like the magic casters themselves. Since I have a bit of fairy magic in me… instead of thinking of using the power of darkness, I should be thinking of using the power of… light.” The masked knight saw the mudfish taking a few steps forward before launching a jet of water directly at the knight. With a flicker of his cape, he twirled away from the projectile and readied his sword. 

The masked knight concentrated. To use his powers of darkness, he usually had to think about the dark memories of his past, the many betrayals he endured, and the hardships he faced, among other things. However, if that was what it needed to draw the darkness in his magic, then to draw the power of fae light was to think the opposite. Meta Knight thought about the good memories in his life, the happy moments of celebration after a good battle, the friendships he held dear close to his heart, and the support that he received from his crew and other miscellaneous friends. 

The Galaxia started shining again, however, instead of the usual dark blue glow, it was a light-pink glow that was brighter than usual. Meta Knight opened his eyes and slashed his sword in the air again, launching three bigger crescent waves of fairy energy towards the swampert. It was caught by surprise this time and was too slow to dodge it, leaving it to get hit in the chest and be launched a bit away. Dedede let out a small gasp before grinning. “Way to go, Meta!”

Meta Knight huffed and looked at Dedede. “It’s as I thought. My powers are connected through positive emotions rather than negative ones. However, I don’t think that’s the case with all of our bodies.” He looked back at Dedede. “You hold the power of water and steel. Do you have any idea of what you compare water and steel on your mind to draw out your power?”

As the empoleon hummed in thought, a guttural croak made their attention snap back to the swampert who was slowly approaching them with an angry look on its face. Dedede hardened the grip on his hammer as he thought of something hard and heavy, something that could draw the steel power from him. He then thought of his powered hammer that he used when he put on the mask those times. After thinking back on that, Dedede noticed that his hammer was a bit heavier than before. He looked at it to find that the hammer had been fully turned into metal, even down to the hilt. “Oho, sweet!”

The mudfish Pokémon charged again at the duo, however, Dedede was ready and changed as well, swinging his hammer down again. The swampert grabbed the hammer again, however, it was having more difficulty trying to hold it off. The empoleon grinned and applied a bit more strength to the hammer, the feral Pokémon succumbing to the weight and getting bonked on the head. It became a bit dizzy, limping around as stars circled its head. Dedede then swung his hammer sideways and launched the swampert away.

All of the current threats were cleared, leaving the Star Allies looking around, searching for more threats to appear. After a certain amount of time, the group relaxed and let down their guard. “Seems like we beat them all for now…” Meta Knight commented before sheathing his sword.

Bandana dee sighed as he fell on the moist ground, not minding that his fur was getting a bit dirty. “Man, these creatures can put up a fight… were they even Pokémon?”

Magolor put a paw on his chin as he thought. “Hm… I’m pretty sure they were. After all, Pokémon do have magical capabilities.”

“So that means they can be wild and civilized at the same time?” Marx asked. “Oh wow, what an interesting society! Do you think they have livestock of their own species just because they’re feral?” He asked with an excited smile.

The Star Allies looked away in thought as Elfilin sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “Maybe we shouldn’t be thinking about that…”

Susie just shook her head as she looked back at her tablet, not minding the water droplets that fell on the screen. “Anyway, we still have time to catch that Pokémon, I’m seeing readings of an Energy Sphere nearby, even though the signal here is a bit jammed.” She looked back at the group. “Meaning, that cactus Pokémon still is somewhere around this pocket dimension.”

“Alright then, let’s not waste any more time. We gotta find him before he finds the exit of this place!” Dedede declared.

With that, the Star Allies started to move again, taking another random path in hopes they were getting closer to the thief. During their trek, they found some strange items and fruits lying on the ground. They had to hold back Marx to take a bite from the fruits, but then he made a good argument that he was in a different body so the food wouldn’t be poisonous to him. It was impressive that the jester could have a good response sometimes, even though it was rare. 

They decided to follow Marx’s argument and each member picked a fruit of their own. Their mouth watered once they took a bite of each strange fruit, even Meta Knight seemed to like it as his wings fell out of his cape completely relaxed. The food was heavenly . And for some reason, it seemed like they restored a bit of their stamina as well. Probably related to the magic that flowed around the world.

After their meal, the Star Allies continued to wander around the rainy forest’s labyrinth. During the walk, Magolor approached Elfilin and said. “Soooo… Elfilin, would you like to tell me what was that?”

Elfilin looked at the magician cat with a frown. “What was what?”

“You know… you feel the presence of the enemies when they were far away from you?” He folded his arms behind him after adjusting his scarf. “Have you always managed to do that?”

The chinchilla looked aside. “I… I dunno…” Magolor tilted his head in curiosity. “I don’t know the full extent of my powers yet, and everything is just happening too fast for me…”

“Hm… you said you came from another being, right? Could your relative do that along with everything you do normally?” 

Elfilin put a paw on his chin as he thought about it. “They… they could. Am I just getting a bit of his powers slowly then?”

Magolor shrugged. “I don’t know, that’s for you to figure out. Although, it’d be interesting to learn more from your abilities. Let me know if something new comes up, alright?”

Elfilin looked at the brown Meowscarada and tilted his head. “Why?”

Magolor looked aside for a moment. “Well…” He looked back at the floating rodent. “I’m a bit knowledgeable with portal magic, and knowing about a being that can do that by will intrigues me. After all, I’m the owner of a magnificent ship that can travel to other dimensions by itself!” He gloated, putting a paw on his chest. “But anyway, I think we can help each other. When we go back to Dreamland, how about we study your magic together while you help me out with my business? What do you say?”

Elfilin looked in thought for a moment before smiling. “Sure, I don’t see why not-” 

Suddenly, Elfilin groaned loudly as he clutched his head with his paws again. The Star Allies looked at him and approached the chinchilla. Marx smiled as he got closer. “Oooh, does that mean more friendly faces are coming to greet us!?”

The blue chinchilla managed to stutter out. “M-more Pokémon a-ahead… an-angrier than the others…” After that, he took deep breaths, recovering from the mental assault on his mind.

Dedede grabbed Elfilin and put him on his shoulder. “I think we should avoid these guys for now, we don’t need to take on every enemy.” The empoleon stated and the Star Allies gave a collective nod… except for the oddish.

Bandana looked around after realizing there wasn’t the usual groan of Marx. He put a paw on his chin and asked. “Wait, where’s Marx? Wasn’t he here just a few seconds ago?”

“Yuuuhuuu~! Why hello there ya slimy fellas!” 

The group could hear the voice of the jester just a bit away from them, coming from another wide area of the labyrinth. Susie groaned in annoyance and facepalmed. “I can already tell these next days are just going to be us babysitting him, won’t it?”

“Better than to keep him locked in the Lor and let him destroy it from the inside out.” Magolor shrugged as he walked to the room where Marx currently was.

The rest of the group unwillingly followed with tired expressions on their faces. In the other area, they found three Pokémon of the same species, being purple slime creatures with small hands and huge mouths, lying on the ground unconscious with Marx standing in front of them with an innocent smile on his face. He waved a wing claw at the group and said. “Guys, you won’t believe what just happened! They just saw my cute little face and just fainted out of nowhere! Am I actually just that ugly?” He asked while trying to do an innocent baby face.

Meta Knight just stared at him before just uncaringly saying. “Let’s just move on…” 

“Agreed.” The rest of the Star Allies monotonously said as they bypassed the unconscious bodies and the jester who just sighed.

“Welp, I’m just that ugly then.” He giggled to himself before saying. “Who am I kidding? I’m fabulous, of course!” He then started following the rest of the group.

While walking on the linear path, Dedede asked Elfilin who was still perched on his shoulder. “So Elfilin… it’s clearly obvious what’s going on with you. Are you like… gaining the rest of their power as well?”

Elflin scratched his cheek and responded with uncertainty. “Maybe…? I think that might be the case…” He then looked down with a grimace. “I’m scared… I’m scared that I won’t be able to control it.”

Bandana smiled as he looked at Elfilin, clenching his paw in determination. “Don’t worry Elfilin! Whatever happens, we’ll be here supporting you, alright?”

The blue chinchilla looked at Bandana and Dedede, getting a confidence boost with their cheery expressions. Elfilin then smiled. “Thanks, guys!” 

Meanwhile, Meta Knight and Susie were discussing another topic. As Susie looked at her tablet, she spoke. “This place is really strange… even for a spatial distortion combined with a pocket dimension…”

The masked jigglypuff raised an eyebrow at that claim. “How so?”

“As you know, this place distorts space around them, creating these labyrinths that are basically a pocket dimension. I thought that these places were a set labyrinth, however, from the few readings I was able to gather from this place, they can shift and distort inside themselves, creating entirely new layouts.” Susie explained before her eyes narrowed. “Although, there’s an even weirder aspect to these places. My tablet picked up some major particle formations from random molecules grouping up and separating at the same time all around us.”

Meta Knight tilted his body. “So you are saying…?”

“Yes, this place has complete access to atomic reconstruction. Meaning, they can create any kind of matter anywhere inside the labyrinth.” Susie had thought for a moment as she looked at the trees, only seeing. “Those fruits that we ate earlier… they didn’t come from trees, the trees here don’t have the capability to produce fruits.”

Meta Knight hummed in thought. “So every item we came across until now, was made by this place alone?”

“Possibly so… maybe even the Pokémon here…” The tsareena looked back at the jigglypuff. “Isn’t it weird that creatures who have achieved sapience still act feral despite the literal kingdom they’ve built next door? Sure, some of them could live in forests still, but I’m pretty sure they can act rationally if the little bit of forest we saw wasn’t burned or destroyed.”

“You have a point.” The knight looked up, seeing the strange and colorful dome surrounding the place. “It might be the same case as Popstar’s. Most creatures in our home have sapience and can have intelligence, however, some individuals of the same species either choose to live in cities or the wild. The individuals who choose to live in the wild can still talk and think, even though to a lesser degree.” He then looked at Susie with acknowledgment in his eyes. “So you might be right, Ms. Haltmann.”

Susie flicked her leafy hair. “If I am right, then I’d like to study this place a bit more. Haltmann Works Company might be able to reverse-engineer the magic happening in this place and probably make a valuable product that’ll have the power of creating anything with your will alone!” She put her hands on the side with a gleeful smile behind her mouth mask. “Oh, I can just see the number of phone calls from our elite buyers we’ll receive when we announce the product!”

Meta Knight frowned, already thinking that an item that could create anything in the world would lead to a lot of problems. “Right… but that’s for later. Right now, we have a job to do.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Susie reassured.

The group walked a bit more around the labyrinth. It had been almost two hours since they entered the strange pocket dimension. After their last talk, they found more items on the floor that currently didn’t hold any value for the team… except Magolor who picked up the gold coins they came across, and Marx who ate the fruits they encountered. 

Along with the item scavenging from the two Star Allies, the team also found more hostile Pokémon which, just like before, were feral. They managed to avoid some Pokémon while some others… Marx couldn’t help himself.  

After a bit more trekking, the group came across an area unlike the others. Once they got into the wide part of the path, the rain had stopped all of a sudden, the moist smell and air disappearing along with the rain. The team could see the dome surrounding the sky come down and make part of an archway formed by two identical damp rocks that mirrored each other’s position. There were no items nor enemies in this room.

Bandana shook the water off his fur, fluffing up a little once the drops were thrown off. “Is that it? Is that the exit?”

Magolor did the same as well before brushing his scarf. “That seems like it, the dome ends there.”

“But we haven’t found that bozo yet!” Marx complained. “Does that mean he-”

“Finally out of this Arceus forsaken place…”

The Star Allies turned around and found another Pokémon, but this time he wasn’t feral. It was the same bipedal cactus that Elfilin had encountered in the town, wearing the same scarf armband as before. The Pokémon looked at the team and flinched once he spotted them. “W-what the-!?”

He was interrupted when Elfilin shouted. “That’s him! That’s the guy!”

The cacturne immediately did a 180 to go back in the linear path from before. However, before he had the chance to go far, the ground erupted in front of him and Marx came out of the ground with his wings spread. He maniacally grinned at the cactus Pokémon who took panicked steps back. “And where do you think you’re going, plant thief, hehehehe!” 

The thief fell on his rear as something fell out of his bag and started floating in place, shining brightly in the canopy of the labyrinth. Magolor immediately pointed at it after recognizing it instantly. “That’s an Energy Sphere!” 

Before anyone had the chance to grab it, the cacturne snatched it by jumping at it and covering it with his body. After looking up, he saw that he was surrounded. The needles in his body started rising in tension. “This item belongs to the Black Sun Gang! I’m not gonna let some nobodies take it from-” 

The Star Allies immediately raised their weapons and magic, pointing at the cacturne with a stern look on their faces.

“Eek! Fine, it’s yours, you can have it!” He said before throwing the magic gear at the gang, Magolor letting go of his fighting position just to grab it. The cacturne warily got up and started walking away sneakily. 

However, he was immediately stopped by a sharp golden sword pointed at his head. He yelped before the masked jigglypuff spoke. “We know you’ve stolen this from somewhere. Our blue friend here read your mind and knows that you got your hands on this item by stealing it. Who did you steal it from?”

“Wait? H-how? I’m a dark type and-”

The sword leaned closer as Meta Knight demanded calmly, the cacturne putting his arms in front of his face. “Answer my question.”

“Fine, I stole it from the guild in that town! There, happy?” The masked knight slowly lowered his sword as the cacturne started taking steps back. “Okay then uh… I’m gonna go if you uh… don’t mind…”

Before he got away far enough, he bumped into a flying oddish who wore a creepy face. “Boo!”

The cacturne screamed as he ran away to the exit of the dungeon. Bandana watched him go before asking the jigglypuff. “Did you just let him get away?”

The knight sheathed his sword again and looked at the buizel. “He’s not worth our time, we got what we wanted. Besides, I don’t work for the king of this land.”

“Heh, got a point there. Just happy we found at least an Energy Sphere!” Magolor said happily as he looked at the gear in his hand. His ears then lowered before sighing. “Out of 120…”

Dedede shrugged. “Don’t worry, we’ll find them all eventually. Just like we did last time!” 

Bandana put his paws on his side. “Yep, should be a piece of cake now that we have more people with us and an actual scanner for those things!”

Susie nodded. “Indeed.” She then started looking around. “So… I guess we should head back now.” She then looked at the path they came from. “I doubt we’ll be able to go back the way we came since the way we entered this place is blocked.”

Magolor raised a finger and motioned. “If this is a spatial distortion, we just gotta go through the exit, then go back AROUND it to find the path we came from.”

“Yes, that seems like the optimal way to do it.” Dedede agreed.

With that, the Star Allies mutually decided to do it. They exited the dungeon and looked around the place. The scenery didn’t change that much, aside from the trees looking thicker than the other path they were on. 

The group decided to send Elfilin to scout the area to see where they exited. The chinchilla flew high up, looking around and squinting his eyes to see in the distance. He spotted Cometon town, a bit farther than he would’ve liked, but at least they didn’t get sent to another part of the world when they traversed through the distortion. Close to the town, the chinchilla also saw a clear area devoid of trees. He realized that was where the Lor had crashed. 

After being aware of their location, the Star Allies went back to the direction of the town. When they got to the outskirts, Elfilin pointed the way back to the Lor. It was almost dusk, so it felt nice to go back to the Lor after such a packed day. 

On the way back, some thoughts from the day still lingered on some people, specifically, Meta Knight. Bandana noticed the thoughtful body expressions of the knight and asked with a tilt of his head. “Something wrong, Meta?”

The masked jigglypuff looked at the buizel before shaking his body. “It is nothing, Bandana, it’s just something does not sit right with me…”  He put a gloved nub on his chin. “That cactus Pokémon. It seems he’s part of a group called the Black Sun Gang… but the issue is… why was he trying to get an Energy Sphere for that gang?”

“Uh… probably to use it for their personal gain?” Bandana deduced while rubbing the back of his head. “I mean, it’s probably a criminal group. He did steal it from another place.”

The masked knight just hummed in thought without saying anything else. He was a bit skeptical that the group just wanted an Energy Sphere for no reason. They might know what the spheres can do…

However, before the knight could think about that for longer, the group arrived at the area where the Lor was supposed to be. Instead of just spotting the ship first, the Star Allies saw a less pleasant sight. At a certain distance from them, stood three Pokémon who took notice of the Star Allies. They all wore the same golden badge resembling a stylized sculpture of a sun. The Pokémon consisted of a bipedal bee with drills for hands, a quadrupedal dinosaur-like creature with a shield face, and a bipedal reptilian creature with a mushroom hat. 

The team tensed for a moment before Marx happily started walking to them. “Oh lookie, more fools to beat up!” 

Magolor put a paw in front of the jester before he could take another step. “Wait a second! Those Pokémon seem civilized, the mushroom guy is even wearing a scarf!”

Elfilin tilted his head. “What are they doing here…?”

“Well, only one way to find out…” Dedede started walking to them along with the rest of the Star Allies. The trio tensed for a moment when the group approached, however, they relaxed once Dedede waved at them. “Hello there. What are fancy fellows like you doing here?”

The beedrill looked away as they rubbed the back of her head, embarrassed. “Hehe, fancy…?”

The breloom, who was in front of the trio looked at the bee with a groan. “He meant in a formal way, not in a flattering way.” He sighed before looking back at the Star Allies, crossing his arms. “We’re here on orders of King Solgaleo. We are guards of the Cosmion Kingdom and we came to investigate the floating ship that crashed around here.” 

The team tensed a little, did the guard just say… king? 

Chapter Text

Banny was worried. Extremely worried.

Why wouldn’t she be? Of course, any normal Pokémon like her would be worried about the situation she got wrapped up in. But of course, she was the only normal Pokémon surrounded by crazy Pokémon and two other-worldly beings!!!

And now they want them, them to help against a dangerous cult, or cults wreaking havoc in the entirety of the Eclipse continent!? What do they even see them as? Well, they probably see Kirby as a savior because of his… well… godly origins. But what do they even see Banny as!?

Oh, that’s right. Terapagos mentioned her parents, he probably thinks that she’d definitely be on their tier as explorers… but she barely started yet! She won’t reach her mother’s level in literal cycles from now!

The four Pokémon left the elder’s place, but with a new member, however, who decided to come out of the crystal “ palace” as well. They were waiting for the big turtle legendary to come out. Eventually, however, the big crystal suddenly created a huge hole for the floating turtle to come out at the base of the crystal. However, they were caught off guard when Terapagos suddenly glowed a bright blue as his form started shrinking and morphing, bit by bit.

Eventually, Tera’s transformation finally seemed to finish and Banny could not believe her eyes. After all this time, she had associated the elder with this terrifying image of power, being the creator of one of the most valuable materials of all time, a Pokémon of unrivaled power that could potentially rival himself with other godly beings…

… Now that image was shattered once she gazed at the cute indigo turtle a bit taller than her and Kirby.

Limbs and a tail came out of a small hexagonal scintillant shell, along with a neck that came out of the shell. Not only that but, on the top of his head, some crystals came out of there like it was some kind of hair or fur. And who could forget the star-like eyes that glimmered and reflected light easily?

Terapagos stretched his limbs a bit as he spoke with a sigh of relief. “Another day out of that cranky old space!” He turned his head to Shitsuji with a smile. “I’m still so glad you invited me out of my shell to do some things together! Quite literally actually, hehe!”

“Why, it was nothing to thank me about. It is what friends do after all.” The indeedee said curtly as he adjusted his glasses. “And to be fair, it was your idea to go out to eat together that one time.”

“Awww, don’t worry Suji, I know you would’ve suggested the idea either way from how much you like Tera!” Karikiri responded by spinning around in the air, going in circles around the two Pokémon. She then got between them and twirled. “The team is back together!!!”

Banny couldn’t help but cross her arms together and smile at the group’s reunion. She wondered how big their friendship would be if the calamity from before hadn’t befallen the world. Still, though, she also wanted Team Star Warriors to be this close sometime, she’d love that.

The scorbunny turned to Kirby and asked. “Hey, Kirby?” The puffball looked at her and tilted his body in confusion. “Do you ever think we’re gonna act like them once we work as a team like this for more time?”

He smiled at the rabbit and responded “Of course we will, Banny! You’ll see!” Suddenly, the entire mood was interrupted when the belly of a very hungry astrali rumbled. The Pokémon and the Ultra Beast looked at him as he nervously spoke while grinning. “Um… so… about that restaurant we planned on going…”

“Oh, are you a hungry lil’ fella too!? Thought it was just Tera over here!” The kartana beamed before looping in the air and looking at the indeedee. “C’mon Suji, let’s go already! We don’t wanna let these two hungry legends starve, right?”

“Hey, it’s not like I’m that hungry!” Terapagos spoke before his crystalline shell vibrated with a sparkling sound. He put a foot on it and sheepishly smiled. “Um, yeah, scratch that, hehe…”

Banny blinked for a moment before turning around and muttering for herself. “I’m so glad deities like them don’t prey on mortals…”

During the walk towards the restaurant, the group could hear some of the town's Pokémon gossiping about the three exotic Pokémon that walked through the streets. Kirby could hear all kinds of talk coming from the Pokémon they passed by—basically, more of what he had heard when going to Terapagos’ home, but with him included in the talks.

“Oh look, it’s the elder!”

“Is that what he looks like? He’s such a cutie!”

“Why is there an Ultra Beast with him? Aren’t they known as savages?”

“I dunno, that one looks weaker than the others…”

“Who’s that pink one with them too?”

Even if the kartana didn’t have eyes, her head turned to the Pokémon who said she looked weak. Kirby expected anger to overflow out of her, however, she just laughed sassily before turning forward again. “Oh, they barely know that I could destroy an entire house in a single cut.”

“W-what…?” Banny asked a bit in nervousness.

“Do not worry about that, Banny, Kiri knows better than to do that to demonstrate her potential with such a reckless reason,” Shitsuji stated with a knowing tone. “After all, I already told her that this world is not ruled by strength, unlike hers.”

Karikiri huffed before doing her best to cross her paper arms. “Hmph, I still think your world should have more tests of strengths! I need to rule at least something!”

“I’m sure something like a coliseum or an arena exists around here! After all, Pokémon like battles, don’t they?” Kirby assured before asking the scorbunny.

“Yeah, we do. But, you know… not all Pokémon are battle fanatics, like how I was some time ago.” She answered while scratching the side of her head.

The Ultra Beast put a paper flipper on her chin. “Ooooh, a coliseum, you say?” She slowly turned to the mayor of the town with a needy tone in her voice. “Heeeeeey Suji-”

“No.” The indeedee quickly responded.

The kartana started circling around in front of the indeedee as he kept walking normally with a still face. “OH COME ON, I didn’t even say what I wanted yet!”

“I know what you want, and the answer is no. I will not build a coliseum here. Leave that to the Pokémon in Fengarion kingdom, you shall find lots of arenas and tournaments for you to participate in over there.” He crossed his arms behind his back. “We shall only use Agyneastra’s funding for vital infrastructure for the town to prosper, especially security in these hard times.”

“Aww… but I wanted to fight strong Pokémon…” She dejectedly spoke before adding. “I feel so rusty after staying in that chest for so long!”

“And that is what we are gonna discuss over our lunch,” Shitsuji spoke before stopping and turning to what seemed a random building. However, it was quickly made clear to Kirby that it was a restaurant, called Chef Saki’s Kitchen with the face of a… narwhal, no, it was an otter with the helmet of a narwhal. This otter also had some white whiskers that almost looked like a mustache too. “Right here.”

The mayor entered the establishment, pushing the double doors open with a simple and light telekinetic pulse. Kirby’s eyes glittered in excitement, thinking of all the delicious food he’d be able to eat in there. He dashed right in, followed by an excited Terapagos and Karikiri as well. Banny sighed and muttered to herself while entering the restaurant. “Don’t worry Banny, Kirby knows how to behave himself… deity or not.”

The inside of the restaurant was very elegant, with some stylistic blocky decorations with lanterns, a blue wave pattern on the walls, and some unlit candles on the short tables. The whole place reminded the puffball of a samurai dojo rather than a restaurant, but it was obviously the latter because of the tables lying around and the smell of delicious food, steaming from the kitchen.

A small bead of drool escaped Kirby’s mouth as he continued smelling the delicious smell coming from the food around him. However, he was quickly pulled out of it when more of the gossip (this time inside the restaurant) could be heard. He then decided to ignore it after seeing where Shitsuji was seated.

With everyone seated at a table close to the establishment’s window, Kirby waddled his feet while asking the indeedee. “When can we order? Just having this food all around me just feels like they’re teasing me!”

“Patience is a virtue, Kirby. Do not worry; we will order once the waiter arrives. I assure you, the food here is worth it," he said calmly.

Terapagos lifted a foot with a smile. “I can definitely confirm that claim! This place’s food is amazing, both the herbivore and carnivore’s set!”

“Seriously!?” Karikiri blurted out loud before shaking in heavy excitement on the table. “One thing to come out of me being in the chest was the delicious food waiting for me all these years later!!!”

Banny picked up the menu that was lying on the table and looked at the kartana a bit confused. ”Actually… how did you survive without food or water for years in that chest?”

“It was thanks to my crystals of course!” Terapagos said while raising his claw. “I made some modifications for them so that they could provide energy as an alternate form of nourishment.

“Wait… so those crystals back in Meteorite Woods… they were modified Tera Crystals?” Kirby asked curiously. “And those same crystals could be used as weapons?”

The crystal turtle tilted his head confusedly. “Weapons…?”

The indeedee adjusted his glasses and looked away a bit nervously. “I…” He cleared his throat, putting a paw in front of his mouth. “I may have given a bit of the crystal to it to power it up… I did not want Kiri’s chest to be stolen by any means.”

“What!? But what did I say about not using my crystals for lethal purposes!? I already got my crystals being used by those criminals and cultists to make weapons, but now you do it as well?” Terapagos berated, a furious scowl on his face. However, that scowl did nothing but make him cuter.

This was funny for Kirby considering that Shitsuji fully turned to the turtle and bowed on his hay seat, his horns even touching the floor. “I deeply apologize, Elder Terapagos. Please forgive me.”

“Hmph! Always so impulsive and reckless for just simple causes…” His disapproving face quickly morphed into a smile as he patted the indeedee’s head. “That’s why I like you so much, hihihi!”

Banny blinked in utter surprise before leaning close to Karikiri and asking in a whispering tone. “Are… are they normally like this…?”

“Yep, always have been ever since I met ‘em!” The kartana spoke with a giggle.

During their interactions, another Pokémon Kirby had never seen before approached their table slowly with their tentacles. They seemed to be a big orange octopus with big round eyes and a cylindrical mouth, wearing a blue band around their head. They pulled out a notepad and pen from behind them and held them with their tentacles. “Are you ready to order?” They asked with a male voice. He then focused his stare at Shitsuji and Terapagos. “Mayor? Elder?”

In the blink of an eye, Shitsuji returned to his seated position and immediately turned to the waiter. “Yes, we are.” He adjusted his glasses again and ordered. “I’ll have the usual.”

Terapagos smiled while his tail swished from side to side. “I’ll take the wishiwashi soup please, my good sir!”

Kirby inclined his body close to Banny, wanting to read what was on the menu. Kirby, couldn’t read anything for longer than two sentences, because he would easily get bored while reading anything. But if it was the menu for a restaurant? Ohoho that would be a completely different story. “Ooooh, so much good stuff!” He said while reading the menu and looking at the drawn images of the food. He then pointed his nub to the dish that he wanted, a small mountain of food called: “The Ultimate Wave”. The puffball looked back at the waiter and asked. “Can I have this Ultimate Wave, please!?”

The scorbunny put her paw in front of the astrali. “Woah, woah, woah, Kirby, calm down! Look at how expensive this is! Do you really expect me to pay for all of that? My allowance-”

“There is no need to hold yourselves back, I shall pay for it. This is a special moment, after all. A change in our town that would happen to be for the better.” Shitsuji said with a smile.

“B-but… didn’t you say the town’s funding was low?” Banny asked, obviously in an attempt to turn down the offer.

The indeedee chuckled. “Do not think like that, it makes me look like a bad mayor. I am not corrupt enough to use the town’s funding for my personal needs. This is my own money, of course.” He turned back to the octopus Pokémon. “So yes, we would like The Ultimate Wave too.”

“Um… I’d like just a normal berry salad with a bit of olive oil, please.” Banny ordered. Before the waiter could jot it down completely, Karikiri snatched the menu from the rabbit’s paws. “H-hey!”

“And I’d like… hm… ah! Tauros Slice ‘n Dice sounds delicious to me!” The kartana spoke before lowering the menu and looking at the cephalopod. “Can you grab that for me?”

He noted that before looking up one last time. “Any drinks?”

Terapagos answered happily. “Nothing can go wrong with an oran smoothie, isn’t that right, everyone?” 

Everyone at the table agreed, even Kirby who had also eaten an oran berry on the first day he had been to this world. With that decided, the octopus nodded and left the table.

Karikiri turned her head to Shitsuji. “So Suji… what was that about making me back into shape again? Are we gonna go on missions again? Am I going to the strongest dungeons and defeating the nastiest feral Pokémon out there!? I’m itching for something!”

“Unfortunately… Kiri, times are not like before. Things change and by a lot…” The mayor responded. “I have no time for such things anymore, as the guildmaster and the mayor who wants to oversee the safety of this town by all means necessary. You haven’t seen it yet but the abundance of those cultists acting like criminals is very frightening.” 

“Cultists…? What cultists?” The kartana asked while one of her antennae twitched.

Shitsuji blinked before sighing. “I… forgot you were sleeping throughout the entire conversation back at the elder’s place…”

Terapagos put his forelegs on the table and spoke to the Ultra Beast. “Okay, short of it. Cultists around the entire continent are running amok in concerning numbers. Agyneastra town is getting affected by a lot of them since they are stealing my crystals. Since Kirby is a special kind of otherworldly creature, we asked him and Banny to help us with the cultist problem and he might be the key to solving this madness… at least in our town.”

“Oh, I see.” Karikiri remained silent for a moment before pointing an arm at Kirby and asking while not even looking at him. “What do you mean he’s special?”

“He’s a… demigod apparently,” Banny responded with a shrug.

The kartana stayed silent for a moment before sucking in a massive breath through her weird… mouth. However, before she could release a loud shout, her mouth was held shut by a small flow of psychic energy circling around the folded points of her mouth. And all that left it were muffled sounds. 

“Scream about that another time, however, over here would not be recommended.” The indeedee said with his paw having a small and faint psychic aura before it disappeared completely, releasing the kartana’s mouth.

The Ultra Beast stood there silently before flying directly to Kirby and grabbing his sides, squishing him a little. She whispered a bit loudly. “HOW!?”

“Uh… I was… born one.” Kirby nervously stated. “I discovered that a few years ago…”

Karikiri’s antennae started to run all over the puffball’s squishy body before stopping. She then let out excitedly. “Oh my gosh!!! You’re really the definition of super cute, but super deadly! I can smell the power coming from you very much!” She turned to the guildmaster and mayor after releasing Kirby. “Can I fight him? He seems to be an actual challenge for me!”

The indeedee put a paw up. “And that is what I wanted to discuss. You shall not be fighting him. I would like to request you join Kirby and Banny’s team to help them out with the cultist issue.”

Banny’s eyes widened. Thank goodness she didn’t have a drink on the table or else she would’ve spit everything back out in the moment. “What!?”

The astrali gasped as well, not in surprise, but in excitement. “Are you gonna become a new friend!?”

“Team… fighting against… cultists?” Even though her biology denied her a smile, it was fairly obvious from the way she twitched and shook that the excitement levels in her body were increasing. Before she could manage to let out the biggest squeal she could muster, Shitsuji came in clutch when he closed the four corners of the kartana’s mouth with telekinesis. However, that did not stop her from flying around the table while spinning her body and muffledly screaming. That lasted for a good ten seconds before she stopped flying around and levitated between Kirby and Banny. She then wrapped her two arms behind Team Star Warriors and pulled her closer to her for a hug, the indeedee freeing her mouth from the telekinesis. “Yes, yes, yes, I accept!”

“Yay! Welcome to Team Star Warriors!” Kirby replied excitedly, not minding the sharp edges of the Ultra Beast poking him.

However, Banny did. “Hey, I know you’re excited to be on our team, but please stop with the hug. Your body is like a ferrothorn’s!”

“Oops, my bad!” She let go of the two explorers and rubbed her arms sheepishly. “Sorry, can’t help but be excited. We’re gonna kick so much butt you won’t believe it!”

“Once we return to the guild, I shall sign the official documentation of her inclusion to the team. However, I do hope you take her implementation well with the team.” Shitsuji turned to the scorbunny. “I apologize if this was sudden for you Banny. Desperate times call for desperate measures, after all.”

“I… I understand. It’s just…” The bunny sighed and rested her hands on the table. “It’s just a lot to take in, you know. Not only do I have to come to terms with Kirby’s origins, which… I’ll be honest, but I also haven’t really gotten over it 100%, and now combined with a new teammate while being assigned to combat against cultists? It’s just… a bit overwhelming.”

The puffball frowned before inching closer to Banny and putting a nub on her back. The scorbunny looked at Kirby with a frown as her ears folded forward. “Hey, Banny… it’s gonna be alright. You’re strong, stronger than what you make it out to be! Remember what we did as a team against the mean crystal golem?”

“I… yeah, I remember,” Banny sheepishly spoke while rubbing the back of her head.

“And remember how you held your own during Meteorite Woods and even helped me in the battles there?” Kirby asked another question as his smile increased.

“Yeah, I do…” The rabbit said as her mouth was starting to twist into a smile.

“Don’t worry about a thing, Banny! As a team, we’ll be able to overcome any bad guy on our way! You can count on me to help you!” The puffball said before putting his other limb on his own body and making a spinning gesture with it.

The kartana got in front of them again and raised her arm in the air. “Same! Not only am I Ultra Besties with Kirby, but I can also be besties with you! We’re all gonna be on a team after all! I ain’t like the other Ultra Beasts when they came out of their brainwash, ya know?”

Banny managed to smile fully now, Kirby sensing that she got the motivational boost that she needed. “Thanks, guys! I’ll hopefully not disappoint both of you!”

“I know you won’t because, like I said before, you’re stronger than you think you are!” Kirby spoke reassuringly.

The touching moment was interrupted when the octopus came back again, holding five trays with each tentacle in the air while moving the remaining three. He then put down each tray on the table, the exact food being placed in front of the Pokémon who ordered along with the smoothie. Kirby’s eyes glistened in sheer awe of the mountain of food placed on his plate. Covered in salt and a mix of other condiments, the pile of meat, berries, and vegetables stood tall at almost 20 centimeters of height.

“Oh wow, the food came so fast!” Karikiri said before floating to her side of the table and looking at her own food. “Don’t remember the restaurants being so fast with food delivery. Times really did improve for the better!” The kartana then slowly tilted her head and looked at the obvious mountain of food standing in front of the puffball. “He’s… not gonna eat all of that alone… right?”

Terapagos looked at the pile of food as well and frowned. “Kiri is right… I’m concerned about whether you can eat all of that, Kirby. Are you even sure you’re able to handle all of that with your small-”

Banny put a paw up while saying. “Hold that thought, Elder.” She then pointed another paw at Kirby who began opening his mouth wide. It was then that a great deal of the air in front of him started getting sucked like a vacuum torwards his gaping maw. But it wasn’t just the air, no, it was the entire mountain of food in front of him . 

While Kirby patted his belly for the meal he just ate in a second, Terapagos and (probably) Karikiri held shocked reactions as to what they saw. The entire food piece was gone in a second and directly into Kirby’s mouth. They were even more shocked that, despite swallowing a whole pile of food without munching, Kirby was still the same size as ever, nothing had changed in the slightest. “W-... what…? How is that even possible?” The crystal turtle asked while shocked.

“Are you some type of guzzlord lite or something!? Of all the Ultra Beasts and Pokémon I’ve seen while in this world, you’re the one that least makes sense!” Karikiri spoke while shocked.

Kirby then responded. “How am I not making sense? I was just hungry so I just ate!” Kirby responded with an innocent smile before taking a sip of the oran smoothie.

Blank stares came from the turtle and the origami creature followed before Banny intervened. “Trust me, that’s the least weird thing he could do.”

“I concur,” Shitsuji added as well while rightening his glasses.

Karikiri and Terapagos looked at each other for a moment before both uncertainly nodded and dug into their meals.

After a hearty meal, it was the middle of the afternoon. The sun was a bit above the mountains, continuing to shine its rays upon the world below. The group had left the restaurant and took a wagon ride back to the guild. 

Now back in the guildmaster office, Team Star Warriors with their new member were discussing the cultist situation along with Shitsuji, Krystal, and Terapagos. 

“Shitsuji, are you sure that letting them handle this situation is really a good idea? Not even our best teams are having an easy time with these cultists, why do you think those three will be able to do anything?” Krystal asked, her cautious and questioning personality just making her very inquisitive about the situation.

The kartana floated closely to the espathra and wrapped an arm around the back of her neck. “Buddy, friendo, pal, partner… do you want a very silly and very small demonstration of my power to see if you can change your mind about me and my besties very quickly?”

Krystal blinked as the looming and menacing Ultra Beast offered. She then looked aside with a very nervous frown. “You know what…? You may be good enough for this… go on.”

Karikiri snorted before floating back to her new team. “As I expected!”

Shitsuji sighed and crossed his arms while turning to the ostrich. “I know this last-minute arrangement might seem like I was desperate, and truthfully, I was a little, but you have to put a little more faith in them. I might seem to take reckless actions in this situation, but I know what I am doing and I do know my limits.”

“Yeah, I’ve known him long enough to know that he is not a rash thinker,” Terapagos added before turning to Team Star Warriors. “Alright then, now onto the main topic of this meeting: the cultists. Obviously, town patrol is not enough.”

Banny put a paw on her chin as she hummed in thought. “We need to conduct an investigation, find out where the source of these cultists is, and strike there.”

“It’s easy to identify them. They are Pokémon fully cloaked with these black cloths with these eye markings on them.” The indeedee explained which made something spark in Kirby’s mind, his eyes widening. “Hm? Something wrong, Kirby?”

Kirby hummed a bit in frustration, trying to remember what he saw. “When… when I was in the jail… I saw one of those cloaked guys in a jail cell. I don’t know if it was my imagination since I was going so fast.”

Krystal tilted her head. “Really? That’s strange, I don’t remember hearing that one of those cultists was arrested at all. And trust me, I have a good memory.”

“Wait, really?” Kirby asked, receiving a nod from the espathra. He looked down, starting to think back on the entire jailbreak. He was not hallucinating at that moment; he knew what he saw. But… if they weren’t even arrested, what were they doing there? 

The indeedee put a paw on his mouth as he thought a bit more about it before shaking his head. “In any case, we need to investigate. Gather clues from the townsfolk, and gather clues on where they are hiding. Any clues to lead at least one cultist are good enough.”

“Ooooh, I see, planning on an interrogation with them? I see!” Karikiri added as she brandished her blade arms. “Guess who’s becoming the bad cop~”

“That is for later. But at least for tomorrow, we are only gathering clues and hints to know where those unjust cultists are hiding,” The mayor said before sighing. “Alright, I feel like this should cover all the bases.”

“Do not forget that those cultists are all after my Tera Crystals, so they must want them for something… something potentially awful.” Terapagos reminded, a small frown adorning his face.

Kirby then smiled determinedly. “Don’t worry guys! Team Star Warriors will do their best to try and stop these cultists from showing up around Agyneastra for good!”

Banny clenched her paw and responded. “Yeah! For the sake of our town, we’ll stop this mess for good!”

Karikiri put her arms together and made small cuts in the air. “Y’all said it, baby! Time to slice and dice those baddies!”

However, while Team Star Warriors were having that discussion with their superiors, it seemed that a certain jigglypuff with a red ribbon was hearing everything behind those doors. One very angry jigglypuff. ‘How DARE that gumball’s team be getting a secret and important mission while my perfect and cutie team doesn’t!?’  

The balloon Pokémon growled silently to herself before starting to manipulate the winds using fairy magic to float away. “So they’re gonna be combating cultists eh? Hah, nothing that Team Cuties can handle! I’ll show that ugly and nasty gumball that there is only ONE pretty and strong puffball on these parts, and that will be ME!”

Chapter Text

“So then, dear gentlemons, do any of you own this supposed magical vessel?”

The Star Allies tensed up, especially Magolor, who indeed owned this specific magical vessel. The group didn’t expect another set of Pokémon to go investigate their ship, especially royal guards from the king of this land. Like, they expected a royal investigation at some point because Energy Spheres falling from the sky one night would be the cause of many concerns… just like what happened in Popstar all those years ago.

Sure, Dedede was nice about it because of Kirby, but unfortunately, whoever this King Solgaleo was probably won’t be as kind and merciful to the alien ship that crashed in his land, which meant… the Lor was in danger. 

Magolor’s fur bristled a bit as he considered blasting these soldiers a bit, but he was held back when he considered stuff in the long run… and because Dedede already stepped forward to start negotiating. “Uh… yes, my friend here owns it. We were all on this ship when we crashed for unknown reasons.”

As the penguin motioned a flipper to Magolor, the magician cat clenched his paws and smiled nervously, thinking a bit madly. ‘You imbecile! You were supposed to lie about it and not tell them the truth for us to be in more trouble!’  

The mushroom cap Pokémon hummed in thought as he eyed the nervous cat. He then sighed before crossing his arms and tilting his head. “Are you aware that your ship has caused massive damage to the forest close to a town belonging to the kingdom’s borders? Not only that, your ship, for some reason, decided to drop these orbs with strange gears in them all over the continent. I hope you’re aware of what these gears do…”

Magolor sighed and took some steps forward, clasping his paws. “Yes, I am indeed very aware of what they do and hold responsibility over each and every one of them. If they are missing, I, myself, will go and find them.”

Bandana tilted his head and asked. “But didn’t you ask us last time-” 

The brown-furred meowscarada inched his face closer to the twin-tailed otter and shushed him, putting a finger on Bandana’s mouth. “Be quiet, kid, the adults are talking right now.”

The buizel rolled his eyes and responded when the furry finger was removed from his mouth. “I’m not even that young-”

Magolor quickly addressed the soldiers, cutting Bandana off as he crossed his arms. “ANYWAY, my dear soldiers! If you want to investigate my pride and joy, go ahead. There is nothing to hide in such a pristine and beautiful ship.”

As Magolor motioned to where the ship would be, the three Pokémon soldiers looked around for a moment in confusion. Even the beedrill started buzzing a little, trying to find it a little higher up. But when nothing was found, the bastiodon with a deep female voice turned around to the cat and said. “You say that, yet I see no ship…”

“Or do you?” Magolor smirked for a bit before clapping his paws together twice. 

Suddenly, the invisibility cloak from the Lor faded away, revealing the giant ship in all its glory and even surprising the soldiers who took a step back from the sudden appearance. The bee spoke first. “W-what!? The ship can become invisible!?”

“What kinda magic is this thing made of…?” The shield dinosaur asked, astounded.

“Remarkable…” The breloom spoke in awe. Meanwhile, the magic cat just continued having his ego a bit inflated as he saw the soldier’s reactions. But before he could gloat about it, the scarf-wearing grass type cleared his throat and turned to the Star Allies. “I guess one of our questions is answered. And now for the next question… why did this ship even fall out of the sky? And where does it come from, along with all of you?”

Meta Knight took a step towards the soldier and bowed curtly. “We apologize for the disturbance we have caused to your kingdom and the neighboring ones. It was not our intention in the slightest. We came from a faraway land, and our ship was suddenly attacked out of the sky, thus causing us to crash into this continent.”

“Another continent, eh?” The breloom said while tapping on his chin with his claws.

The beedrill tilted his head and asked. “Wait, are you guys perhaps from the Gemstone Continent? I heard that a kingdom there is heavily advanced in technology!”

Susie scoffed silently and looked at her hands while posing sassily. “Please, like a place in this world is close to the level of my company’s tech.” She muttered to herself. 

Dedede began speaking again. “We mean no harm. We just wish to fix our ship, find our missing friend, and return to our home.”

As the breloom hummed, the bastiodon commented. “Missin’ crew, damaged ship, and all those bubble gear thingies you gotta get… wow, you guys havin’ it rough there…”

Elfilin sighed and scratched his arm while looking away. “Yeah… almost nothing went our way here…”

“May I suggest something?” The mushroom cap Pokémon suddenly spoke as he raised a claw.

Marx leaned his body forward. “Oh, you're gonna actively search for all the Energy Spheres for us while we sit in this ship, relaxing? Oh, you’re such a buddy!”

All of the transformed Pokémon glared at Marx with a death stare while Magolor just thought to himself with twitchy fingers. ‘Why the heck didn’t I throw him into the depths of Another Dimension already?’

The mage cat immediately looked back at the breloom and bowed very apologetically to the soldiers. “I’m so sorry about his behavior! We cannot control it as much as we want to…”

The breloom soldier chuckled a bit. “We don’t mind a few jokes here and there, as long as you don’t step out of line. But anyway, what I was going to propose was… You search for these… Energy Spheres, as you call them, with the king's help.”

The Star Allies had a surprised reaction to the offer the breloom just proposed, Bandana and Elfilin being the only ones saying “WHAT!?” in pure shock from it. 

“You heard me right. Now that we know why this mysterious ship has fallen out of the sky and the issue with it, we will report back to King Solgaleo about our findings and see if there is anything he can do to aid you. After all, a powerful material was scattered all over his kingdom along with the entire continent, who knows what ill-intended Pokémon plan to do with an object so powerful to power a magical ship?”

Magolor mused after putting a paw on his chin. “If contraptions in this world are powerful and run on magic… add an Energy Sphere into the mix and said contraption is going to have infinite clean energy while powering it up to an unfathomable level…”

“That’s how powerful these things are!?” Elfilin asked, a bit baffled.

The breloom sighed and crossed his arms. “And that’s what our king was worried about the most. Our royal scientists have gathered ten of those magical orbs already, and they have begun testing on them. That’s all we know so far-”

Magolor suddenly got inches away from the breloom’s face and grabbed his arms in utter terror, the soldiers and the Star Allies looking a bit surprised. “YOU GUYS ARE PUTTING THE ENERGY SPHERES THROUGH TESTING!? DO YOU GUYS REALIZE THE MISTAKE YOUR SCIENTISTS ARE DOING!?” Magolor calmed down a bit, but not by much, just enough to release the mushroom fighter from his grip and step away. He then pointed at them. “Go tell your king and scientists about the utter error they are committing and bring these spheres to us!”

The bastiodon growled and took some steps towards the meowscarada. “And who do you think you’re orderin’ while bein’ an outsider to this continent-”

The breloom put a claw in front of her face and continued speaking. “Alright, we’ll do it. If these spheres are as dangerous as you say, then we shall warn the king about it.”

“Woah, wait, wait, wait.” The beedrill said before fluttering in front of the breloom, crossing his arms. “Are you really sure about this? Taking this guy at face value? Are we even sure anything he or his crew says is true?”

Magolor felt the need to hold a curse, but he didn’t need to since the mushroom had already spoken again. “I trust them. These fellows show that they are being truthful because of the knowledge they shared about those gears.” He then pointed at the Lor. “And they have that to confirm their claims as well.”

‘Oh gods of the multiverse, at least they have common sense.’ Magolor thought to himself as he subtly sighed in relief.

The breloom nodded in gratefulness. “Thank you for warning us about the danger of these gears. We shall warn our king right away. We will return to you once he answers and suggest a deal between your crew and him. We shall be seeing each other. Come on, guys.” 

As the breloom walked away, the two other soldiers looked at themselves before they began following the mushroom fighter. And with that, the Star Allies were alone again before Magolor muttered. “Bunch of fools…”

Meta Knight turned to the cat and asked. “Magolor, could you explain why you reacted in such a way to the soldiers?”

The magical cat sighed and turned to the group, crossing his arms while looking at Meta Knight, Dedede, and Bandana. “Do you three remember when you guys came across certain Another Dimension portals where you fought Sphere Doomers for the portals to close, and you retrieved the Energy Spheres?”

The empoleon nodded. “Yes. Those Sphere Doomers consumed the Energy Spheres to gain power and attack us. And once we defeated them, the portals closed. Why… do you ask?”

“Well, about the Sphere Doomers consuming them, that’s… where you’re wrong. Another Dimension, the Sphere Doomers, and the Energy Spheres… they’re all connected.” 

The Star Allies had their eyes widened, even Marx to a certain degree. Bandana gasped and blurted out. “H-how!? How is that possible!?”

Magolor then began explaining. “Halcandrians were smart beings. So smart, in fact, to the point of transforming the very dimension they inhabited into literal energy. As you know, Sphere Doomers and their counterparts are born in Another Dimension, they are created by the dimension itself. But what you guys didn’t know… is that they are part of that place. They sustain that place, and whenever a new Sphere Doomer is born, they expand Another Dimension even more.” The meowscarada then folded his arms behind his back. “And here, where it gets interesting. Halcandrians grabbed these creatures and studied them, and they discovered the amount of energy they held. And by using the doomers, they achieved something powerful, Another Dimension energy in its purest form…” With that, he pulled out the Energy Sphere they retrieved from that cactus Pokémon from his pocket space, making Bandana, Elfilin, and Dedede gasp while leaving the others with a surprised look.

“Wait, so… all of those Doomer creatures we fought to get those spheres back… they were… they were just returning to their original form?” Dedede rationalized, putting the info he received into use. “And by returning to their original form… they created those small pocket-sized Another Dimensions!?”

Magolor flicked his fingers at the penguin. “Quick thinking, Dedede.” He then motioned with his paws again as he continued explaining. “Yes, whenever a Sphere Doomer forms outside of Another Dimension, it generates its small pocket-sized version of that place to live in, sucking in the environment around to create it.”

“Just like we saw when we traveled around Popstar…” Bandana said while looking aside.

The knight then took a step towards Magolor. “And you didn’t even bother to explain it to us then? Why?”

“Hey, hey, chill, pal.” Magolor put his paws in front of him. “I didn’t even know about any of that, and I actually put some research into it right after your… adventures.” He looked aside and sighed. “I was heavily focused on something else during that time…” He then shook his hands and looked back at them, putting a finger up with his free paw. “But hey, let’s not reminisce about bad times; let’s focus on now!” The cat then motioned to the sphere. “Since last time, I figured out that the Lor doesn’t just use these things as an energy source, it also stabilizes them so they don’t have the chance of turning into Doomers again.”

“So basically put… every Pokémon who got their lil’ paws on the Energy Spheres are having their first experience with the Doomers, eh?” Marx said with a giggle.

Elfilin looked at the jester hat-wearing oddish and spoke with a scowl. “It’s not funny, Marx! Those poor Pokémon could be in danger fending off those creatures, they need our help!”

“Ah, yes, the creatures that have magical abilities at their disposal, yes, they definitely need our help, mhm,” Marx sarcastically said while tapping his feet.

“The chinchilla makes a point, Marx,” Susie commented as she crossed her arms. “They don’t know what happens when a Sphere Doomer emerges, and they might get trapped in their own dimension.” She then looked at the cat. “Magolor, do you know what happens when multiple Energy Spheres are turned into Doomers in relatively the same space?”

Magolor scratched his cheeks. “Well, I only read some records of it that happened in the past. The halcandrians didn’t mention what happens to multiple at once, but if my hypothesis is correct… drat…” He then looked at the Lor and ran to it. With a simple flick of his paw, he threw the Energy Sphere in the air. And like it was metal, the sphere got sucked into the ship, getting absorbed by it in the process. But the brown meowscarada didn’t stick around for that; he went back to the group and talked to them a bit hastily. “We've got to follow those soldiers back into the castle, or science lab, whatever!”

“What? Why?” Dedede asked, a bit concerned and confused.

“If they have ten Energy Spheres already, then imagine what would happen if suddenly all of them become unstable because of their testing? We need to clean up their mess before something horrible happens there and a bunch of those Pokémon die.” Magolor said with a sense of resolve. Back then, when he first crashed into Popstar, he couldn’t save the inhabitants of Popstar who messed with Energy Spheres wrong… but now? He could save the ones in this world as well.

He had to prove himself after all that he had become a better person!

“Man, just when I thought I could rest for the rest of the day…” The buizel slumped a bit with a whimper.

“Despite being sudden, it is still an urgent matter.” The dark blue jigglypuff said, resolute on his word. “We may be talking about a catastrophic event that could happen, along with ten of the required objects to go back to Popstar. Even if the rest sounds nice, we need to be there.”

“Besides, think of all the Doomers we get to play with if they are to be released!” Marx giggled mischievously.

Dedede called out. “If we’re actually doing it, we have to hurry then, before it could potentially get worse!” He then began running ahead while motioning for the group to follow. “Come on, guys, let’s do this!”

“Going into a lab, huh…” Elfilin muttered to himself as he looked aside. He then shook it off and began following the group.

As everyone went a bit ahead, Susie thought for a moment, muttering to herself. “Hm… imagine the value I could glean from those scientists… I may be able to finally imbue magic into technology… something Magolor never let me have!” She giggled to herself before running behind them, her powerful legs starting to catch up to them quickly.

The Star Allies ran quickly through the forest, Marx and Elfilin flying in the sky, trying to search for the trio of soldiers. Magolor couldn’t help but grimace at his thoughts when more scenarios of what could happen appeared in his head. Would this new pocket dimension be the size of a mountain? Or would it be the same size as the other ones? How many Doomers would they have to fight? … you know, it’s better to stop theorizing to not make the anxiety increase…

Eventually, they reached Cometon again. Just when they thought they had lost the soldiers, Elfilin shouted from the air, “I see them!” Marx looked at where the chinchilla was pointing, seeing the trio of Pokémon already between the first few buildings of the town.

“Oh, there those fellas are!” Marx said before swooping down along with Elfilin to the other Star Allies. “Pick up the pace, our ticket to the castle is just a bit ahead!”

“Alright, let us make haste then!” Meta Knight nodded before he began sprinting faster along with all the other Star Allies.

Eventually, the group reached the trio of soldiers when arriving at Cometon. The three Pokémon heard the group's footsteps and turned around to meet them. The breloom began speaking when the Star Allies stopped in front of them. “Ah, you guys again? Strange meeting you all this soon again.” He gazed upon their faces before noticing how distraught they were. “Is there… a problem?”

Bandana took a step and pleaded. “Please, take us to where they’re testing the Energy Spheres. We realized something really bad is gonna happen if the scientists touch them wrong!”

“We are talking about multiple casualties in that lab. We must head over there before it’s too late for the scientists.” Meta Knight stated with certainty.

“Woah, woah, wait. Are you guys actually speaking the truth or…” The beedrill said a bit uncertainly.

“Wait, wasn’t the kitty freakin’ out about it before this too? I mean, I don’t trust ‘em fully either, but-” The shield dinosaur spoke before getting interrupted by the loud voices of the Pokémon around them. It seemed like a crowd was gathering around a specific part of town. The soldiers and the Star Allies looked at the crowd, and the bastiodon spoke again. “Huh…? The heck’s all this crowd about?”

Elfilin commented with a paw on his chin. “Maybe there is some kind of commotion going on around…?”

The beedrill buzzed his wings a bit in nervousness. “Why do I have a bad feeling about this…?”

The scarf-wearing breloom motioned with his claw for his teammates to follow. “Only one way to find out.”

The soldiers went torwards the commotion before the Star Allies looked at themselves for a moment. Magolor frowned and dared to ask. “Do you think it’s…”

Dedede sighed before beginning to walk after the soldiers as well. “Like he said… only one way to find out…”

The star allies followed the soldiers to the commotion and went to the small crowd that gathered at the town square. Upon reaching there, they found that in the center of the crowd, there was an alolan raichu with a cute lab coat that was perfectly sized for them. Once they got close enough, they could hear her panicked, squeaky female voice as the mouse floated around on her tail. “We’ve provoked a singularity! E-everyone back at the lab… they just… oh Arceus… the world is doomed!”

“Is… is she okay?”

“Isn’t she a renowned royal scientist of the kingdom? Why is acting like that?”

“W-what does she mean by… the world is doomed. Is… is the world actually…”

The crowd was beginning to go into an uproar, with more whispers and murmurs than ever. The Star Allies looked around the crowd of magical creatures in concern before Bandana commented. “Wait, did one of them say that she was one of the royal scientists?”

“A singularity, eh?” Marx commented as well before looking at the meowscarada with a sly grin. “Hey Mags, does that mean what I think it means~?”

Magolor hummed in thought. ‘Judging by the way this floating mouse is acting and from the rumors from this crowd, not only is she a royal scientist but she probably was one of the Pokémon that made the Sphere Doomers appear, and judging from her panic… it was recent so we have a chance to reverse it.’ He then walked over to the breloom soldier and tapped him on his shoulders. “Hey, would you be so kind as to disperse the crowd for us? She might have the answer to what we warned you guys about.”

The mushroom fighter looked at Magolor for a moment with a slight frown before nodding in determination as he realized the severity of the situation. He then walked a bit more into the crowd, pulling out a badge from his bag. It looked like a sun with the face of a lion engraved in it. “Everybody, go back to your businesses now. This is a royal issue, step aside!”

The Pokémon of the crowd looked at the soldier and widened their eyes once they saw the breloom’s badge. They then moved out of the way, most of them returning to their business, trying not to think much about what the raichu said, while some others decided to stay to see what would happen.

The three soldiers approached, with the Star Allies following suit. The mouse scientist noticed the two groups approaching and tensed up a bit, and a bit of electricity sparked out of her cheeks in nervousness. “Ah, Doctor Jahla,” the breloom began speaking. “Would you be so kind as to explain why you came all the way here to speak those things and frighten the population?”

The mouse trembled, floating a bit back a little, muttering just loud enough for the two groups to hear. “I-I’m sorry…” She then floated to the breloom and began tearing up as she hugged him for comfort. “I’m sorry! I’m so, so, so, so, sorry! I messed up! A-and now, because of those tests… the whole world is going to pay for our sins…”

The beedrill and bastiodon felt a chill go down their spine before the shield dinosaur tilted her head. “Hey Doc, you ain’t playin’ with us, right…?”

Magolor then got beside the breelom and asked. “Excuse me, but… perhaps do your tests involve these gears inside these floating orbs? And did they perhaps become unstable during one of these tests and create a black hole torwards a pocket dimension…?”

The soldiers looked at the brown-furred meowscarada in confusion while the raichu had her eyes widen in shock. She slowly looked at Magolor as if she had seen a ghost. “H-how… how did you… know that…?”

“Call it a mage’s intuition,” Magolor said with a smirk before turning to the Star Allies. “Alright, guys, this is exactly what I suspected, we’re going to act on this one before the situation gets worse.”

Bandana nodded determinedly before speaking with a clenched paw. “Count us in! We’re professionals at dealing with things like these!”

“Believe in us. We have encountered situations such as you have experienced, we will not relent in dealing with them.” Meta Knight reassured, nodding his body while his cape was folded in front of him.

Dedede tried to do as best with a thumbs up with his new claws. “Trust us, this is just another Tuesday for all of us!”

Doctor Jahla looked at the Star Allies in utter bewilderment, seeing how they had just quickly accepted her request despite possibly hearing that she had made a huge mistake that caused the world to end. Yet… they say like they confronted situations like these casually!? “W-who… who are you guys? How can you just call a literal black hole just another Tuesday!?”

Susie stepped in with her arms crossed. “If our hypothesis is correct, the singularity you’re talking about is just a portal to a pocket dimension that was created by the misuse of those gears you guys have been testing.” She approached the floating mouse, who by this point had stopped hugging the breloom. “But if you are so kind as to show us where this black hole problem originated from, we’ll be glad to take care of it with no problems whatsoever.”

The mouse was awestruck, not sure what to say as she stared while blinking a bit, dumbfounded. Eventually, she managed to find her words. “Are… are you guys really doing this? Can you really save us all?”

“Duh.” Marx rolled up to her in his beach ball, bouncing on it without issues. “We wouldn’t be offering all of this if we couldn’t even do it. So what, ya gonna moan around all day or what? We’ll just take back what we said if ya don’t want it~” The oddish said with a fanged smirk.

The floating rodent gasped before flailing her arms wildly. “Fine, fine! I’ll teleport you there, please, I just don’t want the world to end and lose more Pokémon already!”

Elfilin tilted his head and asked. “Wait, you can teleport ?”

Jahla nodded a bit melancholically, scratching her arm with a grimace. “It was the only way I escaped from getting sucked in after all…”

“Well, convenient enough then,” Magolor said with a smile. “Alright, take us there-”

“Wait.” The breloom called out, his arms crossed as he continued speaking now that the Star Allies and the doctor had turned to him. “I said this was royal matters after all, and so, we are going with you.” The mushroom cap fighter stated, which made the group look at him in confusion, as did the other soldiers. “We have to look for survivors of that incident. I became a soldier of the kingdom to protect my fellow Pokémon after all.”

The beedrill soldier flew in front of the breloom and stopped it. “Woah, woah, wait a moment, Mycelius! You sure you want in on this? Like, from what the doctor said. This can potentially be really dangerous, and you could even get yourself killed!”

The mushroom, Mycelius, huffed and crossed his arms. “I’ve made an oath to myself after becoming a servant of the king as one of his many soldiers. I would protect my people as much as I can, even if the threat is impossible to beat!” He looked up in absolute determination before looking back at the beedrill. “You and Fortalina can stay out of this if you want, but just so you know, I’m not backing down from this either!”

The beady eyes of the bug continued staring at Mycelius for a moment before he sighed through his mandibles. “I see… I’ll be staying out of this, but I won’t stop you.”

“Yeh, sittin’ this one out too, sorry. I… uh… still don’t trust these weirdos to win against a blackhole, but well, eh…” The bastiodon turned to the Star Allies. “Hope yous can succeed at least on this one. Wouldn’t wanna have my buddy die in this mission.”

“Oh, and we will succeed on this one, alright?” The meowscarada said with smug confidence. He then turned to the mouse doctor and asked. “So then…?”

Jahla blinked and spoke with a stutter. “O-oh, right! G-gather around… I have the strength to teleport everyone here.”

The cat thought with a hum. ‘So she has enough power to teleport many people at once? How convenient of an ability… just makes me wonder how strong these Pokémon are. Because teleportation magic is a very complex process, especially when teleporting multiple people at once…’

Wordlessly, the Star Allies and Mycelius gathered around Doctor Jahla. Bandana and Dedede touched the rodent’s sides while Marx touched Dedede, and Susie touched Bandana. Meta Knight touched the mouse’s back, followed by Magolor and Elfilin. Mycelius then held the doctor’s paw before she finally spoke. “Is… everyone ready?” The group nodded, and the mouse sighed. “Alright… here we go again…”

And within the blink of an eye, the entirety of the group disappeared with a flash of purple being left in their wake.

From one moment to another, the Star Allies and Mycelius arrived at their destination, courtesy of the psychic mouse. The group opened their eyes and got familiar with their surroundings for a moment, some of them having their mouth agape in awe of what they saw. Stone walls covered the background of their new location, and the planted trees and bushes around them also showed them that this was a very prestigious location.

But of course, not everything was sunshine and rainbows. 

In front of them there seemed to be the remains of a building at the edges, but where that building was supposed to be, there was just one single star-shaped portal. Oh, and it wasn’t the small ones that the Dedede, Bandana, and Meta Knight were already used to. This one was… huge . It was basically the size of a 4-story-tall building.

Doctor Jahla noticed the shape of the portal as she released her paws from Mycelius. She tilted her head. “What the…? Why is it the shape of a star? And why is it not expanding like an actual black hole would!?”

Magolor took a step in front of the doctor and began speaking while pointing a finger towards it. “ That is a portal to a place called Another Dimension. A world between worlds that can only be accessed if you’re extremely unlucky while traversing through portals or trying to actively get to it by all means necessary…” He then put his arms behind him and smugly grinned while turning to the rodent. “Ooooor messing with literal energy that comes from that place and testing on it without even knowing what it does.”

“W-what…?” The lab coat-wearing mouse said with a stutter as she pieced together what the meowscarada just said. “H-how do you know all of this?”

Mycelius then spoke. “So… turns out that these Pokémon are actually the ones that came from that rumored flying ship that dropped all of these bubble gears on the Eclipse Continent. So they actually know what they are and…” He then motioned to the portal in front of them. “What… that is.”

Meta Knight then spoke after approaching Jahla. “Let us cease your worries and tell you that whoever got sucked into that portal can still be saved like we have done many times before. We only have to beat the perpetrators who created this rift.”

“Y-you mean… those… winged orb creatures that summoned the black hole in the first place…?” The doctor asked in confusion.

Elfilin’s eyes widened. “You saw the Sphere Doomers as well!?”

“So… that’s what they’re called…?” Jahla frowned as she recalled what happened, not too fond of the recent memory. “We were just… trying to increase their energy output in one of the tests, and then suddenly… they grew out of control and they transformed into those… things before they… they…”

“Yeah, we can surmise what happened there,” Dedede said with a frown of his own as well. But then he looked at the rodent with a determined look. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of those things and rescue your fellow scientists no problem!”

“Yeah, you keep saying that, yet I don’t know how you guys can solve something as big as this.” The breloom spoke as he motioned to the portal.

“It’s straightforward, actually!” Bandana said with a smile. “We just hop into the portal, gather everyone sucked in to safety and then we go beat the Sphere Doomers that formed the portal!”

Jahla and Mycelius just blinked for a moment as they stared at the buizel, a bit baffled. But instead of any of them speaking, Elfilin spoke. “Wait, it’s just that simple?”

The mouse looked away with an embarrassed blush as she fiddled with her paws. “Feels like I exaggerated back at Cometon then…”

Meta Knight pat the rodent’s shoulders. “There is no need to feel embarrassed about it. You had no way to know what was about to happen during the time of panic. But now…” The masked jigglypuff then took some steps forward, getting in front of the portal and pulling the Galaxia out of the scabbard. “Let us not waste any more time. Let us move, Star Allies.”

With that, Meta Knight ran, with sword in hand, into the portal, getting sucked into it in the process. Susie put a vine hand on her hip and asked the others. ”Are we actually going in like that without a concrete plan?”

Dedede shrugged. “Well, the doomers ain’t that hard to beat once you figure out what elements they are. But I have a feeling this time would be more complicated…”

“Let’s have it like this then.” Mycelius began directing. “How about you guys go deal with the threats while I go scout for survivors over there with a little help, huh?”

“Say no more!” Marx spoke before jumping out of his beach ball and unfurling his wings, surprising both the rodent and the mushroom lizard. The oddish then turned to the bandana-wearing buizel and spoke. “You go help the fungus, meanwhile, I’ll go have fun with the funny birds! Have fun!!!” 

With that, Marx flew towards the portal, getting sucked into it while laughing like a maniac. Jahla blinked for a moment and said with a trembling voice. “What just… that oddish…” She just sat on her tail like a floating seat. “I’ll just… be here, if… well, any other Pokémon arrive here while… you’re doing your work…”

“Alright then…” Mycelius spoke again before looking at Bandana. “What the demonic oddish said… You wouldn’t mind helping me find the other scientists, right?”

“Of course not! I want to help everyone I can! So let’s go already!” The buizel announced, and the breloom nodded. So, the two of them ran to the portal as well and went inside the dimension.

“Let’s get this over with,” Susie said as she cocked her laser blaster. “It’ll be just like last time when we helped that Jambastian folk.” Dedede nodded and followed behind her as the two of them entered the portal.

Elfilin scratched his cheek. “I’m… a bit nervous about this… is it really that simple to fix this?”

“Oh, trust me, it IS that simple,” Magolor said with a smile before starting to walk to the portal and ushering Elfilin to follow with a wave of his paw. “Come on, I’ll teach you all the basics on how to navigate in Another Dimension of this size.”

And with that, the cat and the chinchilla entered the portal, getting sucked into the pocket-sized version of Another Dimension. Their vision warped, the purple sheen of the portal turning white as a bunch of starry objects entered their field of vision, and the white eventually faded away. They were falling a bit as the ground revealed itself. 

Magolor quickly used levitation magic to soften the fall before landing, while Elfilin just floated down beside him. They spotted the other Star Allies a bit ahead of them, gazing at their space-like surroundings. The Star Allies were already familiar with these sights, having their own experiences with them in some way or another. The swirly vortexes that led… somewhere, the stars scattered around the strange cosmos of the place, and of course, the grey landscape of the area that got sucked in.

The masked cat took a deep breath. “Ah, back to this place. No matter where we go, it follows us, it seems like.”

“This place… I remember this place!” Elfilin explained before he turned to Magolor, who looked at him in confusion. “Back in the forgotten land, while I was travelling with Kirby and Bandana, there were sometimes these rifts that appeared all over the place during our travels, and there were some of these… precious materials that Kirby got from those places that were used to upgrade his abilities.” He then looked at the sky again. “Although… I remember having some pretty funny symbols floating all over the place, not just some stars and meteorites…”

Magolor hummed and asked. “Have you seen any Doomers over in those places?” Elfilin turned to the cat and shook his head, making the feline think for a bit more. ‘So… those rifts appeared to be formed either naturally or haphazardly… after all, there was a chance that the same portal that pulled most of Dreamland’s inhabitants was the cause of said destabilization…’ “Interesting… you should tell me more about what happened over there another time, I’m intrigued.”

Elfilin nodded chipperly. “Will do!”

The two of them caught up with the other Star Allies and the Pokémon soldier as they stood in front of what appeared to be a fragmented building. Judging from how the windows were spaced, the building was large, with six floors. The building was grey, like the garden they stood in; the windows didn’t even have reflections on them.

Mycelius adjusted his scarf as he looked at the surroundings, mesmerized and a bit stunned by the view. “My word… what in Giratina’s wings is this place…? How are we even breathing in a place like this? Isn’t this… sort of like the cosmos?”

“Well, Another Dimension is part of many worlds, like a gap between them or an alternate version,” Susie explained. “So, of course, there would be oxygen in a place like this. Especially if it sucked things out of somewhere with oxygen like this entire building.”

“Is this supposed to be the lab?” Bandana asked while scratching his cheek.

The breloom nodded and walked up to the big double doors. “Yes. I’ve been in this place sometimes, being sent to guard this place whenever an important package arrived. But seeing it like this… it just sends a small shiver down my spine, to be honest.” He then turned back to the group. “Say, if we beat those… Sphere, whatever freaks, does the lab go back to the way it was?”

Meta Knight shook his body. “Unfortunately, no. Once something is pulled into Another Dimension, it becomes part of Another Dimension. That is why we have to rescue any survivor that may have been left in this place.” 

Mycelius hummed in thought. “I see…” He then sighed and nodded determinedly. “Right, those scientists are not going to save themselves.” He then turned to Bandana. “Let’s go find ‘em, Buizel.”

“Well, they call me Bandana but… yes, sir!” He said that before both the twin-tailed otter and the mushroom lizard entered the building, they first went inside.

Marx cackled a bit while still flying. “Oooh Doomers, here I come~!” He said before flying inside, and the rest of the Star Allies followed.

As they entered the fractured construction, something strange happened, as per usual in Another Dimension. They felt the air shift around them, feeling the wind hit them in the face as they were forced to shut their eyes. 

Once Magolor opened his eyes and found himself in a part of the building that was… definitely not the entrance that he saw for a second when he entered through those doors. Grey, large corridors stretched where his eyes could see, crystals of unidentifiable origin floated in contained pillars of the wall, supposedly ones that powered the building… or well, what remained of it. The meowscarada looked around, trying to find the others, but he only found Elfilin by his side, who was also recovering from the strange occurrence.

Elfilin shook his head and asked. “Ugh… what was that…?” He then looked around for a moment before his eyes widened. “Wha- HUH!? Where are the others!?”

Magolor crossed his arms and huffed. “So… that’s their big idea? Separating us? Pfft, if only they knew that only accelerated the process of cleaning this whole mess.” He chuckled before starting to walk forward, motioning for Elfilin to follow. “Come on, let’s go find those Doomers.”

“Uh… right beside you!” The chinchilla floated over to the meowscarada before looking around, seeing the floating crystals, the thick high-voltage cables spread on the corners of the wall and ceiling, and even a map of the place. Elfilin then frowned a bit. “I hope the others will be okay…”

“You’re worrying about them too much. You’re talking about the same people who slayed the destroyer of worlds together, after all. They can definitely handle some annoying elemental birds.” Magolor spoke with a shrug. “Still, speaking of the Doomers, I wonder how many will there be over here. After all, there were ten Energy Spheres in one place.”

“Do we have to beat them all to get out of this place and close the rift?” 

“Pretty much,” Magolor confirmed. “But don’t worry, with us split like this, I’m sure we’ll find those pesky fliers much faster… wherever they’re hiding, of course-”

“Is… someone there?”

The sudden male voice made the duo of cat and chinchilla stop and look around for a moment in confusion. Magolor then activated one of the magical glyphs around the wrist of one of his paws as he called out. “Who’s there?”

They could see a black claw poked out of the doorway from one of the doors down the hallway. Then a furry face popped out, revealing a very scared zangoose with a lab coat. Once he saw the duo, he gasped before asking. “You… you guys are not feral, right? Nor affiliated with those winged creatures…?”

“Feral…?” Elfilin asked as Magolor dropped his magic. “W-wait, we’re not with those creatures that created this place! We’re just trying to fix this and rescue some Pokémon.” The chinchilla floated closer to the zangoose, who got out of the doorway. “You’re one of the scientists here, right? Do you know where the others are?”

The zangoose stared at Elfilin for a moment before muttering. “What kind of Pokémon are…” He then shook his head before responding to the chinchilla’s question. “Well, yes, I’m a scientist here. And uh… I can’t really tell where the others are. We were separated when the incident occurred…”

Magolor asked with a tilt of his head. “Do you know how many more were here when you got sucked in?”

The scientist hummed for a moment, trying to recall. “Well… if everyone in the entire room got sucked in… there should be… six other scientists around here.”

“Well… you’re in luck since one of them actually managed to teleport before getting stuck in here,” Magolor assured with a smile.

The zangoose looked at the meowscarada with widened eyes. “Seriously!? Then that must mean that Jahla…” He then sighed in relief before smiling. “I appreciate the help. But…” His smile then turned into a frown. “How are we getting out of here? It’s clear this place has been turned into a Mystery Dungeon, but… It’s like whatever those winged creatures are, they are keeping us inside this place…”

Magolor hummed in thought, a bit confused. Mystery Dungeon? What is a Mystery Dungeon? Well, more like a question for later, and no time to explain the situation. “Don’t worry about those guys.” He reassured. “We’ll deal with them. Now we just have to find a place for you to stay safe-” It was then that a thought crossed the meowscarada’s mind as he remembered something very quirky about Elfilin that could be very useful right now. “On second thought…” He turned to the chinchilla and asked. “Elfilin, are you capable of creating a portal to where Jahla is?”

Elfilin turned to Magolor, a bit confused before processing what he said. “Oh! Sure, I can do that!” He extended a paw to his side and concentrated. The zangoose’s face turned from confused to shocked in a moment once a star-shaped portal of his size manifested into existence, showing the world outside the rift, even the psychic mouse was visible from a small distance. “There you go, just cross it no problem!”

The scientist blinked in pure confusion and awe. “Woah… how… how can you create portals like this? Are you perhaps Hoopa’s-”

Magolor sneakily got behind the mongoose Pokémon and spoke. “Well, I bet Doctor Jahla would be so willing to explain everything to you, so go on ahead, we’ll take it from here and rescue the others.” 

With that, Magolor casually pushed the scientist into the portal, eliciting a grunt out of him that called the mouse’s attention. And then, the portal closed while Magolor waved a bit. Elfilin smiled a bit. “At least that’s one of the scientists rescued!”

“Alright, let’s get a move on. Hopefully, we can regroup with everyone along the way,” Magolor said before the duo began walking around again.

“Ah, Doomers and their quirky lil’ ways of separation. Oh, they’re in for a treat once I find them, a time of pure fun~!” Marx said he giggled a bit, flying around the hallways of the buildings.

Oh boy, oh boy! So the Doomers actually thought they had a small chance of just separating him from the others? Oh, that’s cute~

Too bad they won’t escape the fun that he had prepared for them!

Marx checked the halls of the place he was trapped in, going from door to door as he tried… surprising the Doomers once he opened them, yet there were none of those fliers to be found. Once he tried out the last door on one of the corridors, he rolled his eyes. “Ugh, where are they!? This is starting to become boring real fast-”

As he was about to close the door with his wing claw, he heard the sound of some object clattering coming from the same room. Once he looked back at the room, he saw a blur moving towards a locker and closing it a bit half-assedly, a small aluminum pot on the ground. 

Marx grinned widely as he entered the room and began hovering slowly, pretending to look around. “Man, sure is boring around here… no friends to play with, nothing to do in these gray areas… such a shame…” While approaching the locker, he began speaking. “Unless… there is something… or someone that could cure any kind of boredom I’d have if they played with me…” The oddish got even closer to the locker, ignoring the flasks and certain machinery that fell by his wings. “Someone that’s hiding away in a locker… specifically one in this room…” He stopped in front of the locker, his grin wide and menacing as ever, as his eyes bulged slightly out of their socket. “It would be so funny…” He then opened the locker. “ WOULDN’T IT!? ”

However, once he saw the contents of the locker, his creepy demeanor was morphed into one of confusion. In the locket, this small purple rodent with thick whiskers was sniffing around. Once it saw Marx, it screeched at him before running away from the locker.

Marx stared at the empty locker for a moment before groaning. “Just when I thought I would’ve found someone-” 

The oddish interrupted himself to grab a claw that was aiming to slash his back, without even looking behind to see it. “W-what the!?” The poor, unknown female voice spoke before managing to free her red claw from Marx’s grip and taking some steps behind.

“Oh, what do we have here!” Suddenly, Marx’s body split in half, revealing this purplish cyan goop that came out of his body. The two halves spun around horizontally and in opposite directions, and Marx could see an absolutely horrified zoroark in a lab coat who began trembling in absolute dread. “Did you honestly think that a cheap trick like this would work on lil’ old me? Hilarious!” He said before plopping his two sides back together with a broad and predatory grin on his face. “Unfortunately for you, in this fun lil’ game of pee-ka-boo, I’m always the champion!”

The black and red-furred fox then curled up on the ground, whining from pure fear. “P-please don’t kill me! I-I don’t wanna die! I-I have kits back home that I need to take care of and-”

And that was just the reaction that Marx wanted… oh, how he loved those! “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Oh, how I missed reactions like this back in my world, hehehehe!” The fox stopped her whining a bit and began looking up in fear and disbelief. “You should’ve seen your own face, it was priceless!” 

The zoroark scientist stared at Marx in disbelief for a moment, their claws still trembling a bit. “T-then… you’re… not going to kill me…?” 

The jester laughed a bit more. He then landed on the ground and made his wings disappear, having a beach ball appear from… somewhere so he could stand on it. “Consider yourself lucky, because if you were born as this lil spherical creature that flies and eats gears for breakfast, I would. But you’re not, so you’re spared, hehehe.” He then tilted his body to the side. “Speaking of those spherical creatures that fly and eat gears for breakfast, have ya seen them?”

The fox glanced aside for a moment and then looked back at Marx in confusion. “Uh… you…?”

Marx sighed. “No, not me. I tried eating gears one day and they tasted bad. Talking about the Doomers that trapped you in this funny dimension because of your poor handling of Energy Spheres, of course.”

The fox tilted her head for a moment before she realized what he meant. “O-oh… uh… no, I haven’t seen them yet. I spent most of the time hidden here. I don’t know where the other scientists are…”

Marx smiled with a giggle. “You are in good luck! Because with your good buddy Marx here, your time of hiding in boredom is finally gone! While searching for a way out of here, you’ll get to have tons of fun with-”

Hisses and growls of angry creatures could be heard outside the room, getting louder and louder until some of the sources of the noise entered the room. The entire room got flooded with feral Pokémon of many shapes and sizes, hissing threateningly at both Marx and the zoroark. “O-oh no… the dungeon ferals we had for study escaped!”

As the same rattata from earlier hopped on a table and growled at the duo, Marx laughed. “Hehehe, seems like the fun came earlier than expected!” He turned to the scientist. “Hey, Foxy, can you defend yourself or something?”

Foxy stared at Marx in confusion and blurted out. “What!? Of course not! I signed myself to be a royal scientist for research, not fighting! I can only do illusions!”

“Great!” The oddish then looked back at the rat with an innocent smile. “Leaves more for me!” He then jumped from his ball and kicked in front of him, hitting the rodent in the face before the ball exploded, launching it onto a wall with the knockback of the explosion. The other ferals then went on the offensive, and Marx just retaliated by laughing and spreading his wings, flying straight at them while shooting a myriad of electric arrows at the enemies that came from the hexagons of his wings.

The arrows pierced the bodies of the feral Pokémon, launching the ones on the front a bit back from where they came and allowing the ferals in the back to step in. A charmander shot fireballs at the jester from the corner of the room while a snorunt shot ice shards at him. However, Marx dodged with ease, looping around in the air while laughing maniacally. He then got above the ferals and curled his wings before shooting four cutter blades that hit the ferals around him, the sharp boomerangs doing a small loop before going back to his body. He then teleported away, appearing above the ferals in the corridor. Meanwhile, the scientist could only ask while in pure shock. “W-what t-the heck is g-going on…?”

“Hey there, lil’ critters! I have a present for you!” Marx then felt this weight in his mouth, his cheeks bulging from the sudden icy object that materialized in his mouth. He then spat it out right below him, this iron ball that suddenly released this icy shockwave that froze most of the ferals on the spot. He then teleported away from them again and appeared in front of the table before diving into the ground, this shadowy spot being where he was. The spot moved while the ferals tried to spot him, some sniffing around, while some completely succumbed to the feral instincts while trying to flee. However, all efforts proved to be for nothing since Marx emerged from the shadowy spot, blowing them all away with his powerful wings as he flew to the ceiling and then emerged from the wall. He soared by the Pokémon while cackling like a maniac, blowing the Pokémon all away as he twirled in the air. He then suddenly teleported away, appearing next to the zoroark. “Hold tight on something, Foxy! My next magnificent act might get a lil bit messy !”

Foxy immediately dug her big claws into the crack between the floorboards, not caring about it anymore since this entire place was a mess anyway. She then had the bravery to ask. “W-what the heck are y-y-you going to do now!?”

As the remaining ferals approached, Marx simply said with an innocent face. “This~”

He then teleported above the remaining ferals, his face already twisted into the manic face he was used to. His body then split itself in half again, the two halves distancing themselves from each other, all the while Marx cackled loudly. Suddenly, this spacial distortion appeared where Marx split before opening even more into a black hole that began sucking all the ferals in. Everything was getting sucked in, the objects lying on the ground, the unfortunate ferals that picked a fight with the wrong Dreamlander-turned-Pokémon, and even the table that somehow didn’t put a plug in the blackhole. Everything got sucked in while the zoroark scientist was trying her best not to get pulled in while screaming loudly in fear.

Once all the ferals got sucked in, the black hole ended once Marx’s two halves rejoined themselves. Marx licked his lips and spoke. “Mmmhmmm! That sure hit the spot!” He said before looking at the zoroark. “You doin’ well over there, Foxy?”

The scientist fox undug her claws from the ground, trembling all the while as she did so. She panted heavily, her ears flattened against her head as she slowly looked back at Marx in pure, unadulterated dread. “W-what… what are you…?”

Marx landed in the air and folded his wings, giggling a bit. “Me? Oh, I’m Marx! Your friendly neighborhood jester!” He winked innocently. “Pleasure to meet ya!” He then looked away, humming as he walked out of the room. “Where was I again…? Oh right, the Sphere Doomers!” He smirked at the scientist. “Ya might wanna follow me in case you don’t wanna be in this place forever~”

“Y-yes, will do!” The zoroark said as she got up in trembling feet, hesitantly following the oddish around as they began exploring the place in search of the doomers.

Dedede looked at the ceiling as he commented. “Those laughs…” He sighed as he scratched his forehead with his free flipper, the other one holding his hammer. “Yep, Marx is at it again… hopefully he doesn’t ruin things for us this time…”

“Hard to ruin things within Another Dimension, to be perfectly honest,” Susie commented as she looked at her tablet. On her tablet, it showed a radar and a beeping signal at a particular spot on the radar. Susie then switched the radar to a rough map of the place, humming in thought. “We’re close to one of the doomers, and from what I’m gathering, this one has two Energy Spheres contained in it… or well, I guess, formed from them.”

“Are you sure we can trust your gizmo? Last time we were in Another Dimension, it was pretty much a pretty big labyrinth of the entirety of Popstar and, well, those other planets we’ve been through.” Dedede reminded. He remembers that entire event well since it was one of the more recent incidents. Hey, at least those Jambastion folk are alright and not trying to resurrect the bad version of Kirby’s… uh… dad? Mom? He was still not sure how all of that baloney worked and if he was to trust what Hyness said that one time. But… if Kirby feels that sort of connection, then… that must mean it’s true, right?

The tsareena shot a small, offended glance at him. “And do you remember that most of the technological advancements of the Haltmann Works Company are designed around travelling said unknown dimensions? So much so that we have created our own expansive digital dimension?”

The empoleon sighed and looked away. “Right, right, my bad.” He then looked around the corridors of the facility, not finding anything else to talk about. He hummed in thought. ‘Gee, these Pokémon fellas were more advanced than I had expected them to be from what I saw in that town. Although I do wonder where they get these crystals from… they seemed to power this place somehow.’

Susie hummed in thought as she stopped all of a sudden and gazed around. She then looked back at her tablet and sighed.

Dedede looked at the tsareena in confusion. “Something wrong?”

The CEO looked back at Dedede and spoke. “We’ve been looping this whole time.”

The penguin blinked for a moment as his beak fell a bit agape. “What!?” He groaned a bit. “I knew your map was really broken.”

Susie stomped on the ground angrily, making a small crack in it. “It’s not my tablet’s fault, you doofus. It’s something else…” She looked around for a moment. “Remember when we entered this place? There was a spatial shift that separated us from the others. This might be the same entity that is making us loop in place…”

Dedede gripped his hammer tightly as he looked around his surroundings more warily now. “So uh… any idea of how to break out of a spatial loop such as this one?”

“Well, obviously, we have to find the perpetrator behind this mess. But since it can warp space, it is likely hidden somewhere around this area.” Susie readied her blaster in the other free vine hand while looking at her tablet. 

“So… how do we find ‘em? Do I just have to break things until I accidentally hit them?” Dedede asked, looking at a certain crystal, having a small urge to smash it into pieces.

“Normally, that would be ideal, or if you were a speedster, run faster than light to break the loop. But fortunately enough…” She began to tap on things on her tablet, having a bit of difficulty doing so with her “hands”. But fortunately enough, the tsareena was able to switch the map of the building into another radar of sorts. “You have me for help. Come on, I figured it out, follow me.”

 As the plant woman began to walk off, Dedede reluctantly followed her. While walking, he began by asking. “What did you figure out?”

“Well, I changed the radar to find the center of the distortion. I noticed we were close to the Energy Spheres, yet, no matter how much we walked, we never seemed to get any closer to them. But… if the Energy Spheres are close, then that must mean the center of said distortion is also nearby.” Susie explained while also looking at the tablet.

“So we just need to find the center and hit it hard to break the loop?” The empoleon asked while following her along. “Will that get us out of this mess then?”

“Yes, that should be the case.”

And so, the two of them kept walking, Dedede being wary of his surroundings as he gripped his hammer hard while Susie followed the radar that scanned for the center of the spatial distortion. Being honest with himself, the eerie silence of the lab was starting to get to him, and Dedede couldn’t help but think that something was watching him, like this little invisible thing that kept an eye on every single step he took.

Eventually, while walking in one of the corridors, Susie suddenly stopped and looked around, spotting a floating crystal that was connected to some high-voltage cables. She hummed before glancing at her tablet again and then at the crystal. “Yep, this is it. It’s hiding right here.” The tsareena then looked at Dedede after holstering her tablet. “Care to do the honors?”

The penguin stared at the crystal for a moment before a grin grew on his beak. “You got it!” Dedede got close to the crystal and arched his hammer back, readying it up for a big strike. And with that, he swung, a noise of glass cracking echoing throughout the entire corridor. However… it wasn’t the crystal that cracked… and more so, the air in front of the crystal. Dedede took some steps back as the air continued cracking even more. 

And then… space shattered.

Fragments of the previous fake reality broke all around them like pieces of glass. And from that fake reality, in front of the crystal, there was this lone ice Sphere Doomer who flapped around in distress. Dedede called out. “There, that’s an Ice Doomer! It can manipulate ice and warp reality to mess with people!”

“Thanks for the info, it should be easier to deal with them now!” Susie exclaimed before jumping back and shooting a laser at the Sphere Doomer. However, it managed to twirl to the side to dodge, screeching at them in pure anger. “Good grief, this one is going to be a hassle…”

“Nothing we can’t handle together! Come on, cover me!” Dedede said before running at the Doomer and jumping, spinning his body and hammer rapidly. The hammer spin attack managed to hit the doomer a bit, launching it a bit back before it teleported away.

It then appeared next to Susie, opening its mouth to shoot an ice ball of pure energy at her. However, the tsareena managed to react quickly by sidestepping the ice ball. She then aimed her gun at it and shot more laser blasts at it, two of three shots hitting the flyer, who screeched in pain. It then teleported away once again, Susie groaning in frustration and preparing her blaster.

Susie and Dedede then rushed towards each other and covered each other’s backs. Dedede gripped his hammer tightly while Susie’s vine hands were touching the trigger. “Keep watch of it, wherever it appears next!”

“No need to tell me twice…” The tsareena argued as her foot began getting covered in grassy energy while the CEO wasn’t noticing. A second later, the Ice Doomer appeared again, slightly above them, before it folded its wings around its body, getting encased in this icy energy as it slowly approached them. “There!”

Susie aimed her blaster at it before shooting at the Doomer. However, despite shooting at the doomer with her laser shots and damaging it, it wasn’t enough to make it drop its charging ice attack. Fortunately, Dedede noticed in time and coated his hammer in pure steel. “I’ll handle this!” He shouted before arching back with his hammer and charging it for a moment. And after charging it… he struck the flyer, knocking it out of its freezing charge and launching it away. 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to defeat it, and in retaliation, it flapped its wings rapidly while screeching. Suddenly, their entire view of space became inverted. Despite both of them still being on the ground, it felt like they were falling yet stuck to the ceiling like a bug. “Drat!” Susie said before aiming her gun at the Doomer. However, because of her warped view, her laser blasts missed, only grazing the spherical winged creature. The Ice Doomer then swooped down, headbutting Susie in the stomach and making her fall on the ground, and making her drop her blaster. “Gyah!”

“Susie!” Dedede called out to the tsareena. However, he didn’t linger on her for long, a scowl plastered on his face as he looked at the Ice Doomer. “Oh, you’re gonna get it this time, pal!” He said before charging in with a hammer swing, spinning around like a top. Unfortunately, for Dedede, it teleported away from him. And as Susie recovered and got up, the flyer reappeared again… behind Susie. “Susie! Behind you!”

The tsareena looked behind her and saw the Ice Doomer charging up for another icy explosion. Unfortunately, Dedede was too far away to reach her in time, and her gun was knocked out of her hands. But before panic could strike, she looked at her legs and seemed to remember something about earlier today. “My legs…” She looked back at the Doomer and looked at him with a scowl. Instead of running from it, she ran to it. With pure instinct taking hold of her body, she jumped and pulled her leg back before making a diving kick towards the Ice Doomer, her feet glowing in pure leafy energy. “Take THIS!”

Dedede’s beak went agape as he saw Susie dive kick the Doomer with her glowing legs. The icy flower cancelled its charge completely as it was dragged down to the floor by the tsareena’s powerful legs. Once the Doomer made contact with the ground, crushed by her foot, it burst into white mist as Susie jumped back, two Energy Spheres floating out of the small explosion while the warped reality returned to normal. “S-Susie… that was…”

The tsareena looked at the two Energy Spheres in silence before looking down at her hands and then at her legs, tapping a foot onto the ground. “Incredible… so this is the true potential of this body? Amazing…” She then walked towards her blaster and looked back at Dedede. “We got what we wanted, let’s grab them and find the others.”

Dedede nodded a bit as he smiled, making him drop the steel coating of his hammer. He walked to the Energy Spheres along with Susie and grabbed one of each. Alright, that was two out of ten around here. Hopefully, the others were lucky in finding them already.

“Gee, your group does know how to make a ruckus, don’t they? I’m still impressed how they didn’t destroy the entire laboratory yet.” A fire and ghost marowak scientist spoke while crossing his arms and walking. 

Meta Knight looked at him and spoke. “Why would we want to destroy the place where there are civilians in need of rescuing, along with the objects we need to go back home? Rather dumb observation there.”

The skull-headed lizard huffed and looked away. “I suppose you’re right.” Silence fell on the two of them for a moment as they continued walking through the silent halls of the grey building. “So then… remind me… what are we searching for again to get out of this place?”

“The fliers you released while researching those gears, as you call them.” Meta Knight replied coldly as usual. He did not need to play it sweet with these researchers. He was here on a mission after all, and he would not stop until he finished said mission. Search for the Doomers, find the others, and get out of Another Dimension with the scientists they rescued. A simple mission that still could be rather annoying by navigating in the enemy’s territory. “Thread carefully. They could appear at any moment to strike. I have dealt with these creatures before, so I do know their weaknesses and how to effectively counteract them.”

“... right then.” The marowak said while scratching the back of his head. “So you’d also be able to protect me effectively, right?”

Meta Knight sighed. Another annoying part of this simple mission. Escorting. As a warrior, the knight of Popstar he was, if there was one thing he was bad at, it was escorting civilians. And it wasn’t because it was difficult to endure their annoyance or anything like that; he was trained to have a calm mind and not be bothered by the things others say. But… when he was in battle? It’s as if a mental switch completely turns on, and he cannot focus on anyone BUT the opponents. “Tell me, do you at least know how to defend yourself?”

“Well… aside from my immunity to electricity… I have great control of my fire… at least.” The marowak scratched the side of his head. “That’s all I know…”

“Hmm… adequate.” Meta Knight said while continuing to walk forward, his cape covering most of his body as he walked.

As they continued walking forward, they passed by some doors, and when they reached one of the doors, they heard the sounds of electricity running behind it. Meta Knight stopped for a moment, along with the marowak who commented. “This sound… do you hear it? It’s not the usual sounds of the Tera Crystal’s energy…”

Meta Knight uncloaked from his cape and drew the Galaxia from its scabbard. He looked back at the skull lizard before ordering. “Stay quiet.” The marowak nodded before the knight went towards the door and opened it quietly. He took in the spacious room for a bit before his eyes were locked on what was at the end of it. It was a big piece of machinery that had the biggest of the crystals he had seen in this facility. And the thing biting on said crystal, sucking some kind of energy from it was none other than a green Electric Doomer. “There it is…”

“Uh… so what are you going to do? Sneak quietly and-”

The marowak quickly interrupted himself when Meta Knight, with a flourish of his cape, suddenly vanished. The skull-headed lizard’s mouth went agape when the knight suddenly appeared again, however, he appeared beside the Sphere Doomer. The masked jigglypuff slashed it with his sword, the knockback of the slash made the Doomer get launched away from the crystal before it corrected itself in the air, recovering from the blow. It looked at Meta Knight before screeching and flapping its wings wildly. 

Meta Knight, already on the ground, pointed his sword at the flyer as it began generating some electricity. “We shall duel to the death. Prepare yourself!” He spoke before twirling his sword on his gloved nub and expertly handling it. 

“Uhhh, odd time for you to be honorable with a wild creature…” The marowak said as he watched the scene, shielding himself behind the door. “But… you do you, I guess-”

The spherical flyer screeched before teleporting closer to Meta Knight and shooting electrical orbs at him. The knight easily deflected three of them with his sword before launching a blue energy cut projectile torwards the fourth and final orb. The Doomer shrieked before swooping down on him, aiming to tackle him in the face. However, Meta Knight easily dodged the attack by sidestepping before speaking. “Predictable.” 

As retaliation, the jigglypuff charged his sword in fae light before spinning around, slashing the Doomer multiple times by spinning. However, Meta Knight did not relent. After finishing the spin attack, he then began by slashing away at the doomer before kicking it away with his feet. The Doomer recovered from the attack and began flapping wildly in the air, crackling with electricity running around its body. The knight could feel the ozone around him getting heavier, so he jumped back, and thankfully so because a plasmatic lightning struck where he was. 

Meta Knight knew what it was up to, so he began running around, just avoiding more thunder strikes from the Doomer, trying to get closer to it. The Electric Doomer then shot lightning that grazed the Meta Knight’s tuft of fur between his ears as he ducked. Unfortunately, for some reason, once the jigglypuff thought he was safe from the lightning attacks and free to strike back, the bolt of lightning that was just shot impacted the Tera Crystal and bounced back, hitting the knight square in his back, making him spazz from the sheer strength of it. The knight then fell on the ground, the tip of the sword poking the floorboards as he held the hilt for support. His body couldn’t move, judging from how he trembled and how the tip of his fur ran that electricity. “Dang it, I got careless…”

“Oh no!” The marowak shouted as the Doomer teleported closer to the knight. The flyer then began spinning around itself as it summoned electric orbs around it, making it spin around it as it approached Meta Knight. “Wait, those orbs! Maybe I can…” 

The marowak then entered the room and began running torwards the scene. Meta Knight averted his gaze from the certain hit, his body still paralyzed a bit, as he looked at the approaching marowak. “What are you doing!?”

“Saving you, of course!” The marowak pulled out from his lab coat a giant femur bone that had both ends of it lit up in teal flames. He then stopped running and pointed his bone towards the Doomer, and suddenly, the orbs spinning around suddenly got attracted to the lizard, getting pulled towards him as the marowak absorbed the orbs. The electric flyer stopped spinning around and madly glanced at the marowak. “You’re welcome, by the way!”

Meta Knight looked a little stunned at what he saw. Did he just… attract the orbs and absorb them like a lightning rod? What a useful ability to have… still, his escort now was in danger! … or was he? “T-those flames… can you use them?” The dark blue jigglypuff asked through his paralysis.

“I said that before, didn’t I? I’ll stall it!” The lizard spoke before he twirled his bony staff around with his hands, before it began twirling by itself and rising by some ghostly powers. From the staff, three orbs of teal flames came from it and were launched towards the Doomer. As the staff came back into his hands, the spherical flying creature began thrashing from the flames that began consuming it. The marowak then looked at Meta Knight and asked. “Can you still fight?”

“O-of course I…” Meta Knight grunted and groaned, trying to move his limbs before finally being able to break from his paralysis. “I can!” He then looked at the Doomer and rushed to it. As he began to cloud his mind with dark thoughts, his sword began glowing a deep blue as he dragged the tip on the ground, scraping it. “Know my power !” He then did a rising slash to the Doomer, and suddenly, Meta Knight started moving so quickly that it almost looked like there were multiple of him at once once slashing the Doomer multiple times from multiple angles; the marowak even had his mouth agape as he saw that move.

Eventually, the knight then did the finishing strike as he launched the Electric Doomer to the ground with one final slash, the flyer exploding into green mist as two Energy Spheres were released from it.

Meta Knight landed back on the ground and looked back at the marowak, nodding his body at him. “I must thank you for your assistance, your bravery will not be forgotten.”

The flames on the marowak’s staff vanished as he rubbed the back of his head. “Oh, uh… like I said, you’re welcome. But… holy Arceus, how did one jigglypuff like you manage to get so strong and handle that sword like a master?”

Meta Knight sheathed the Galaxia and walked to the Energy Spheres. “As a warrior who faced many challenges and hardships in my life, of course that I would be as strong as I am now.” He then grabbed the Energy Spheres, inspecting them for a moment. “But those are stories for another time.” He then put them inside his cape before looking back at the lizard. “Let’s move for now, understood?”

“Yes, sir!” The marowak replied.

“I hope your fellow crew found the other scientists. The fact that we only found two so far bothers me…” Mycelius said while frowning and putting his claw on his chin.

Bandana smiled at him reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I’m sure the others found them already! Trust me, we’re good at this kind of stuff!”

“So this really is a rescue mission after all, huh?” The male tandemaus, who had a small tie wrapped around his neck, commented.

“I’m so glad we’re getting rescued from a creepy place like this…” The female tandemaus, who had a  small bowtie on her chest, continued, shivering a bit before asking the buizel. “Were you sent by King Solgaleo, or are you guys from some sort of guild?”

“Uh…” The twin-tailed otter scratched the back of his head. “No, we weren’t, and no, we aren’t. Me and others were doing this because we wanted to.” ‘And because the things we need to get back home are right here, but rescuing civilians would be very good as well.’ He thought after replying. 

“Well, I would’ve done it as well, even if it wasn’t direct orders from my king.” The breloom added before turning to the mouse couple. “I’m delighted you two are safe, after all.”

They kept walking for a bit, being careful of their surroundings and checking every room they came across, checking for any remaining survivors. However, they found none, so they kept walking to go look for the other objectives, the Doomers. 

Eventually, after passing through two doors, the group entered some kind of outdoor area where they had a full view of the starry warped skies of Another Dimension. It looked like some sort of fragmented garden or backyard, filled with things made for animals to go through. The tandemaus looked around at the sky before the male one asked. “Where the heck did we get sent to…?”

“This place is called Another Dimension,” Bandana answered as he looked around. “It’s a very strange place to be honest. I don’t know much about it, but… anything could happen here, genuinely.” He then observed the contraptions, which basically consisted of large tube labyrinths. “Uh… can I ask something? What is this outdoor area for?”

“This is the feral recreation area.” The bowtie-wearing mouse responded. “It’s the place where we let the dungeon ferals roam free, engage in some fights with each other, and even reproduce.” 

“Oh, I see, just like a… daycare for them? You do overlook the fighting, right?” The otter asked, a bit worried. After all, there was a chance of ferals from different species taking the fight a bit TOO seriously, like if they were in the wilds.

“Don’t worry about that. We have a caretaker for them when we aren’t having them for testing. Fortunately, she wasn’t here today when this whole incident happened.” The male tandemaus spoke.

‘Well, at least that’s nice- wait… testing? Oh yeah, this is a lab, not a daycare center for animals. So they probably do some lethal tests with some of them… eh, I shouldn’t judge them on their culture, despite how weird I think it is to do lethal testing on feral versions of their own kind.’ Bandana thought for a moment.

However, he was cut out of those thoughts when Mycelius suddenly shouted. “Bandana, look out!”

The buizel looked back at Mycelius, letting out a “Wha-” before getting tackled to the ground by the breloom. And just in time since the otter was about to get hit by a dark orb projectile that grazed the lizard’s mushroom cap. Meanwhile, the two mice screamed before hiding away in one of the tubes of the small maze. Bandana grunted a bit before saying to Mycelius. “Thanks for the save.”

“You’re welcome.” The soldier said before getting off the otter who dusted himself a bit. The duo then looked at their opponent, who descended in the air… or rather, opponent s . Two Sphere Doomers cornered the duo, one of them being a dark purple one and the other being a fiery orange one. “So then, are these the fabled Sphere Doomers you guys talked about?”

“Yep, these things are nothing but trouble. Two of them at once is nothing to scoff at either. We’re going to have to be very careful here.” Bandana spoke while taking out his spear, gripping it tightly with his paw. “Are you ready?”

“I don’t know what kind of creature they may be, but… Pokémon or not…” The breloom grinned. “I’m ready!” With that, Mycelius zoomed towards the Fire Doomer, his claw glowing orange as he arched it back. Within a second, he was already in front of the orange flyer, punching it directly in its mouth and launching it to one of the tubes. 

Meanwhile, the Dark Doomer shot a shadowy orb at Bandana, however, the buizel simply stabbed the orb with his spear, making it dissipate with the attack. The buizel then retaliated by running up to the purple flyer and jumping, starting to stab it repeatedly. With one final stab, the Doomer was launched away from the buizel as he landed back down. “That’ll teach it!”

“Huh, expected much more from these guys-” Mycelius was cut off when the Fire Doomer coated itself in flames, flapping its wings widely as it screeched. “Curses, I spoke too soon…” The orange flyer then started spinning, still surrounded by its flames, before charging towards the breloom like a rocket. He managed to dodge the attack, however, the Doomer looped around while still burning like a meteor, aiming to strike the breloom once again, only for it to barely graze the cap of the lizard, who ducked. “Uh… Bandana, care to switch opponents? Your water attacks would be very useful against this guy!”

Meanwhile, the buizel was busy dodging tackles from the Dark Doomer and retaliating a bit with his spear and a few kicks with his new legs. He then looked at Mycelius and asked. “W-water attacks?”

“You’re a buizel, you know, fire beats water, all that thing! After all, I’m not fit for fighting fire types!” The breloom shouted before jumping away from a fireball shot by his opponent.

Bandana was a bit confused with what Mycelius was saying, but that didn’t matter at the moment since… if that meant that Mycelius was in danger, then he needed to do it. Bandana turned his back on the Dark Doomer and began to run towards Mycelius, who did the same to his opponent. Both tagged themselves as they passed each other, switching their opponents. While facing the Fire Doomer now, Bandana asked. “So uh… how do I… do water attacks then?”

“Aren’t you a buizel, though? I thought you would know how to!” Mycelius shouted before he focused on his opponent again, watching out for its projectiles before dodging one of them. 

Bandana struggled to come up with a response, stuttering a bit as he dodged the flaming Doomer and stabbed it in retaliation. “Uh… I only fought with my spear for like… a majority of my life!”

“Well, at least you should know Aqua Jet, then. It’s a buizel staple!” The breloom shouted before looking back at its opponent, just in time to see it diving in towards him. Once the Dark Doomer swooped in, Mycelius side-stepped and used the momentum to tackle the doomer out of the air and grab it while dragging it onto the floor. He then shook his mushroom cap, letting out some poisonous spores from it, poisoning the flyer, which flapped its wings wildly.

“How the heck do I even do that move!?” Bandana asked a little bit, stressed out a little. Like seriously? Why did he even need to do that when he was fighting just fine with his spear? Sure, he guessed water would work wonders against the Fire Doomer, but wouldn’t it be just slightly more effective?

The buizel was cut out of his thought process when the Fire Doomer shot some fireballs at him. His eyes widened before he began to dodge some of the fireballs, although a bit sloppily. Unfortunately for him, the last fireball hit his arm, making him drop his spear from the sting of burning fur. “Gah!”

Mycelius punched the Dark Doomer by stretching his arm for a moment, using the same quick punch from before. While his opponent recoiled from the punch, the breloom retracted his arm and looked at Bandana, his eyes widening upon seeing his struggles. He then shouted to the twin-tailed otter. “Bandana, listen to me!” With a burning arm, Bandana looked at the mushroom lizard. “Think of water for a moment! I don’t know how to explain it well, but I’ll try! Try to imagine like you’re swimming, propelling your tails around like usual! After all, as long as there is water around you, you can swim in it! That’s your Aqua Jet!”

Bandana blinked for a moment, his arm stinging a lot from the fire on it. As he processed Mycelius' words, he slowly looked back at the Fire Doomer for a moment as it teleported above him, beginning to drop embers at him. However, time stopped for him as he thought about swimming for a moment. He closed his eyes as he thought about how calm the water felt, how weightless he felt underwater, and how peaceful and serene the water felt. His instincts kicked in and his tails began turning and turning like a screw.

The sound of something sizzling made his eyes open. Bandana saw that he was covered in some kind of veil of water, submerged in it, like a curtain protecting him from the world outside. “Woah… what is…” He looked at his arm, the fire burning away at his fur was gone, and even the fire attack raining from below dissipated as well. “Is this… Aqua Jet…?”

“Ngh!” 

The buizel turned around, seeing Mycelius getting his feet slightly burned by the dark geyser, the Dark Doomer summoned. The lizard shook his foot and tapped it against the ground. “Would love teaching you more, but unfortunately, kinda busy over here!” He said before running towards the Doomer and shooting explosive seeds from his mouth at it.

“Right, good luck on your end!” Bandana shouted through the water bubble he was currently submerged in. He then looked at the Fire Doomer with his newfound power, preparing himself. 

The Doomer screeched at him before beginning to spin around with its mantle of flames around it, preparing for a charge. Bandana then prepared his tails as well. If this was going to be like swimming in normal water, then he had to try it out as much as he could with his propeller tails. 

And with that, both of them charged. Both the Doomer and Bandana did a loop in the air as they left a trail of water and flames behind them. Once they finished the loop, they flew at each other until they clashed. It was a battle of fire and water. The Fire Doomer spun around, its charge was like a flaming meteor. Meanwhile, Bandana was like an aerial torpedo, from the way his tails spun around endlessly, propelling him forward, pushing him against his winged opponent. 

However, it was obvious who would win the clash from the start. 

Bandana managed to push the Doomer backwards a bit, just enough so it dropped its fire mantle entirely and slowed down its spinning. Bandana grunted and groaned before coming out of his own mantle. He punched the Doomer towards one of the tubes in the area, making it pierce the side of the tube entirely. Once it came out on the other side, its body exploded in orange mist as two Energy Spheres came out of its body. “Nice!” The buizel said as he landed.

The otter then looked to see how Mycelius was handling his opponent. His eyes widened when he saw the mushroom lizard kick the Doomer into the air before stretching his arm to unnatural lengths to punch the Dark Doomer, piercing its body entirely. Once he retracted his claw from the flyer, it exploded in purple mist, letting two Energy Spheres float in its place. “Ooh boy, that was a good workout session I needed.” He then turned to Bandana. “You weren’t kidding, these guys don’t mess around.”

“Yeah, they can be annoying, sure, but they aren’t pushovers,” Bandana said before looking at his paws while he hummed. “That power… it felt so… natural, even though I never felt like that before…” He muttered to himself. So that’s what comes with having a new body to get used to… well, he could work with that if he could gain an advantage over his foes.

As the mouse couple left one of the tubes, looking at their surroundings, Mycelius stretched his arms again and grabbed the two Energy Spheres. He glanced around a bit. “So… did we do it or…”

Bandana looked at the ground and then at the tubes after jumping on one of them. “No… once we do it, all the color returns to this place, and the portal back to the normal world appears for all of us.”

“I see… so there is still one or some more to beat, huh?”  Mycelius stated uncertainly before looking at Bandana while the Tandemaus approached them. “Are you sure your crew can handle the others?”

“If they haven’t handled them already, I’m definitely sure.” Bandana smiled as he grabbed the two Energy Spheres.

After a few more minutes had passed, Elfilin could definitely say: he didn’t like this place.

This place brought back a lot of bad memories to him when he was back at the lab, the place where he was born, the place where they kept him imprisoned… the place he had a part of his ear chipped away from him by those people . He pleaded for them to stop with the tests, the pain, yet they continued, clearly not paying any sort of attention to him.

This building reminded him of that place. He saw cages meant to contain some creatures in some of the rooms. He saw medical equipment meant to hurt , he also saw chambers that were shaped similarly to those tubes back in Discovera…

Elfilin was trying so hard to suppress those memories. For some reason, not only were those memories coming back to him, but they were also affecting him, despite him not suffering nearly as much as his other half. What was happening? Why were these memories starting to get to him?

“Elfilin? Are you okay?”

The psychic chinchilla snapped out of his trance as he looked back at Magolor, panting a little bit. For some reason, his fur was on edge, he was hyperventilating with his paws on his head. Elfilin was clearly not okay, but as always, he responded: “Y-yeah, I’m alright. It’s just… things I’m remembering…” He then scratched his cheek a bit as he looked away, a bit sheepishly. “Anyway, um… what do you think they uh… researched in this lab?”

Magolor hummed in thought as he stared at Elfilin for a moment. He then relented and answered his question as he kept walking. “Well, usual lab stuff, I suppose. The environment, flora, fauna, and all of that stuff. But I’m no scientist, so I can’t really confirm.”

Thankfully, this wretched place is destroyed already.

Elfilin’s head snapped around as he tried to find the source of the alien yet familiar voice in his head. Once he didn’t find it, he looked at the meowscarada who walked a bit in front of him. ‘That voice… it wasn’t Magolor’s… then, who was-’

A screech interrupted the rodent’s train of thought as he yelped in surprise. Magolor’s ears flickered as he processed it. “That screech… It’s a Doomer!” He then motioned for Elfilin to follow with his paw. “Come on, that screech means it is under heavy strain of holding this place together. That must mean the others have defeated other Doomers in the area!” 

“R-right! I’m backing you up!”

With that, the duo picked up the pace, following where they kept hearing the panicked screeches of the Doomer, the noises just getting closer and closer. Eventually, the two entered through a big set of double doors that led into a strange area. They were in some sort of pool room with some cables going through the ceiling. There were some fish Pokémon in the pools, just lazily swimming away in the area. But it wasn’t the fish they were searching for, but rather… “There!” Magolor pointed at the Water Doomer in the distance, just flapping away and hitting the walls, like it was desperate for something.

“It looks pretty lost… or confused,” Elfilin said as he stared at the Doomer, floating a bit forward, above the pool. However, when he hovered a bit above the water, his big ears flickered once something came from the water. He looked down while sidestepping, seeing this blue and red fish with sharp teeth trying to get a bite out of him before diving back underwater. “Woah!”

The Water Doomer snapped its attention torwards Elfilin before screeching at him. Magolor then got beside Elfilin, standing on magical hexagonal platforms so as not to fall into the water. “It’s desperate, so it’s coming with everything it's got. Be ready, Elfilin!”

Weakling.

Elfilin gripped his head for a moment before getting into a battle position, shrugging off his headache. “Yes, I’m ready!”

The Water Doomer covered itself in a bubble of water before teleporting with it and appearing above the cat and the chinchilla. It began spinning around, shooting high-pressure water jets all around it. “Get behind me, Elfilin!” Magolor said before summoning a star-shaped shield. Elfilin floated behind the meowscarada, just in time as the shield protected him and the chinchilla from the high-pressure jets. Once the attack was done, Magolor shouted. “Attack it, now!”

With that, Elfilin summoned his winged spear and floated away from Magolor. He pointed his weapon at the ceiling as blue magical spears appeared around him. The spears were launched at the Doomer, stabbing it a bit until it began dodging the spears. However, Magolor covered it for Elfilin by shooting out dark orbs of electricity from his paws, homing in on the flyer and doing major damage to it. Elfilin decided to follow it up by entering a portal and appearing behind the Water Doomer as he came from another portal. But right as he struck, the Doomer teleported away, making the chinchilla miss. “Wh-what!?”

Elfilin looked around for a moment before spotting the Doomer at a bit of a distance from him and Magolor. It flapped its wings wildly before water geysers like rising whirlpools began forming from the pool, even lifting some of the fish swimming around it. The water geysers got close to them, and the meowscarada yelled out. “Dodge!”

Elfilin and Magolor danced around the geysers, making sure to stay away from them as best as possible to avoid getting hit. Magolor ran along his platforms with his powerful legs, avoiding the geysers with ease, while Elfilin used his portals to not fly into the geysers. Both were getting closer to the Doomer as the flyer began getting more panicked. It then began charging its last resort, covering itself in its water bubble again and curling itself as the mantle of water bubbled with power. “Is it preparing that attack again!?” Elfilin asked a bit in panic.

“It seems like a stronger version than the one before!” Magolor spoke before making a summoning rune with his paw, summoning his Ultra Sword. “Come on, let’s finish it off before it can unleash it!”

“Alright then! Let’s do it!” Elfilin said before summoning a portal in front of him. He then stabbed his spear into it and manifested four portals around the Water Doomer.

From the four portals, four gigantic versions of Elfilin’s spear appeared from the star-shaped rifts, beginning to stab into the Water Bubble. Elfilin grunted and groaned as he put all of his strength into popping the bubble, but as much as he was trying, it was so hard to do it…

Is this what the Ultimate Lifeform has been reduced to? I expected more from you, Elfilis.

The chinchilla growled in sheer strength as he poured everything he had into his thrusts. And eventually, the spears managed to pierce the bubble, popping it entirely and stabbing the Water Doomer. “NOW, MAGOLOR!”

The meowscarada arched his arm back before slashing the Doomer diagonally with the sword, slicing it in half. And with that, the Water Doomer exploded in a blue mist as two energy spheres were released from it. 

As the building around them regained its original color, it told Magolor all he needed to know. Meanwhile, Elfilin pulled his spear back and undid the rifts. However, he didn’t notice the two very small horns retreating back into his forehead. He sighed for a moment and looked around, seeing the building in its original color instead of the gray shade it once had. “Did… did we do it? Was this the Doomer we needed to defeat?”

Magolor nodded before dissipating his massive sword. “Yep, that’s the problem solved.” He walked towards the Energy Spheres and grabbed both of them. He inspected them for a moment before looking at Elfilin. “Let’s regroup with the others, maybe they have already rescued the scientists here.”

They should’ve left them to rot-

The chinchilla suppressed that alien thought by clawing his head a bit and shaking it. He then sheepishly smiled at Magolor. “Y-yeah, let’s do that.”

With that, the two of them started going torwards the exit of the room. As they did that, Elfilin looked at his paws and wondered to himself. ‘What are these thoughts in my head…?’

Chapter Text

Night befell the Eclipse Continent. The moon rose slowly from the horizon as it cast its shimmering light towards the earth below. Many Pokémon knew that wandering around at night was dangerous, especially with those nasty hooded Pokémon running amok in the region. So because of that, during the evening, Pokémon stayed inside their abodes most of the time. Yet, that didn’t stop some nocturne Pokémon from strolling around, especially ghost types, which were attuned with the night.

Banny hoped that Kirby wasn’t one of those Pokémon who were attracted to the night sky… then again, judging from the three days she had known the puffball so far, that apparently wasn’t the case. Good enough, she really didn’t want him to get caught in that sort of business in the wrong way.

The scorbunny kept staring out of the window of her new room, just looking at Agyneastra from above. She still couldn’t believe that this rare sight she only got to see during some visits to the guild was now a common one. She almost felt like she was on top of the world– well, kinda. She knew that there were way higher places than this, but, at that moment, she felt like she was at the peak.

‘I’m really here… I finally became an explorer. After all this time of looking up to my parents, just daydreaming of the day when I would take over their role, here I am, ready to make them proud.’ Banny took a deep breath, getting to terms with their current situation. ‘Tomorrow, my team is going to truly begin with our work. But not just any ordinary guild work - important work. We need to be extremely careful with this, after all, the mayor is having difficulties, and he is plenty strong… I need to step up my game fast.’

“H-Hey, Banny!”

The scorbunny looked back to find Kirby and–... oh yeah, that Ultra Beast, Karikiri, was also part of our team for now… or would she be a permanent team member even after we defeat the- what the heck was she doing to Kirby!?!?

The bunny had just realized that the kartana was trying to open Kirby’s mouth and poking her head inside of it. “W-what are you doing!?” She asked in pure shock and worry.

“Don’t worry, lil’ rabbit, I’m just trying to see if our godly bestie here has a black hole inside him!” The Ultra Beast said while continuing on her endeavor, her limbs managing to open his mouth more and more. “If only he’d open his mouth so I could check!”

Kirby spoke while trying to struggle and not move his mouth a lot. “I-I already told you, m-my belly i-isn’t… infinite!!!”

“O-only one way to find out, pinkie! Open up!” The kartana said as she gained more and more ground on Kirby. 

Banny was unsure of what to do or how to stop this. She didn’t expect a situation where one of her teammates literally wanted to get eaten! Well, sure, Kirby told her that any being he ate got teleported somewhere nearby, so there would be no issue, right? … ugh, she didn’t feel confident that would be the case, after all, why would Kirby even be protesting against the Ultra Beast???

Then again, even if Banny decided to help Kirby, she’d be no match for Karikiri’s supposed strength, would she-

“O-okay…. if you want to see it that much!” The astrali suddenly said as he stopped struggling against Karikiri. “You can!” He then opened his mouth wide, sucking a lot of air in front of him. And with that, the paper-made being was sucked right into his mouth. 

Banny froze, her face a mask of utter shock as Kirby swallowed the Ultra Beast. Suddenly, Kirby’s body changed in an instant as the puffball copied a bit of Karikiri’s form. His round body suddenly became a piece of folded paper with sharp edges, his face being blastered into his new origami body. His body turned into a folded, tilted square with sharp edges, and his nubs turned into purple, sharp, blade-like edges. He also grew folded orange antennas, and his feet turned into folded triangles.

He had gained the powers of kartana from the looks of it.

The scorbunny looked horrified at the situation that had just unfolded. She just saw Kirby eating one of their teammates, and from his face, he didn’t even seem phased by that! Was… was he telling the truth then? Or did… did he not care enough for the Pokémon he ate!? “K-Kirby… wh-what did you just…”

Kirby inspected his new form with intrigue, and the… drawn-in face of the puffball morphed with his expression. “Oooh, this looks so cool!” He said as he began looking over his new blade limbs. “So powerful too… so many new moves!” He then looked at Banny. “Banny, don’t I look-” He noticed the fearful look that she had and sheepishly smiled. “Whoops, I guess you’re not fully used to it like all my friends are. Don’t worry, Kari’s fine! She’ll come back at any moment now-”

Suddenly, a thump on the window could be heard, making Banny jump in fear as her fur stood on end while Kirby looked at it, confused. They both saw Karikiri floating on the other side of the window. The rabbit gasped at what she saw as she thought to herself. ‘W h a t…? He… he was actually speaking the truth… he didn’t really eat Karikiri… how the heck is that even possible!?’

Suddenly, the kartana unfolded herself into a flat piece of paper with multiple incomprehensible surfaces. After that, she easily slid under the window before folding herself back into the form she was known for, flying around while looking in all directions. “Where’s that eldritch puffball!? Where is he!?”

Banny shot a small glance at Kirby, unsure what to say. “Uh…”

Kirby raised one of his sharp limbs up. “Hi!”

Karikiri stood in silence for a solid moment before the whole guild reverberated because of her voice. ”WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?!?!”

Banny had covered her ears while gritting her teeth, while Kirby just stared at the kartana innocently. “Ugh, too loud, you know–”

The scorbunny was cut out when Karikiri floated over to Kirby and began floating around him, inspecting his body up and down. “What the heck are you??? I swear, when I was inside you, your entire mouth consisted of literally 90% of your body, I could feel it! And when you swallowed, ohoho when you swallowed… I couldn’t feel anything for a solid second, and lo and behold, I suddenly could feel everything again! Just one small issue… I WAS OUTSIDE THE GUILD!!!” She motioned wildly with her arms.

“Well, it’s just–”

Kirby was immediately interrupted when the kartana continued to ramble more. “And what happened when I came back to the guild after your stomach, for some strange reason, teleported me away? I see you trying to copy my whole style! And is that…?” She then began running one of her sharp arms through Kirby’s new paper-like body. She then gasped as she recoiled slightly backwards. “My goodness . That’s… pyranium! A material only found in my world!” She flew slightly back before pointing accusingly at the puffball. “Again, what are you!?”

Banny just stared for a moment before trying to answer, yet the more she thought about the Ultra Beast’s explanation, the more she realized it didn’t make sense, like in both the mystical AND scientific sense. After all, despite being the son of an actual god, he was still a mortal with needs and wants, right? So, then, the question returned: what was Kirby?

Kirby stared at Karikiri for a moment before saying cheerfully. “I’m Kirby!” 

The kartana’s mouth hung open for a moment as she was stunned by the astrali’s response. However, Banny was just a bit unsure about it all and asked him. “Uh… are you sure that’s just it or…”

Kirby then giggled for a bit and spoke. “Oh, come on, it was just a small joke!” He then ejected his new ability, instantly turning back into his regular body and making the kartana recoil in shock. Kirby grabbed the star with an icon of a kartana from the air. It was clear that the Ultra Beast had so many questions, but she was not in her right mind to ask them all. Kirby continued speaking as he stashed the star in a chest that was on the wall of the room. “To be honest, I don’t really think about my origins and the way my body works much. I just accept it, and let it be since it doesn’t cause much trouble to any of my friends!” He then looked back at Banny. “I hope you come around, not to mind it as much as well!”

Banny looked aside as she thought about Kirby’s words for a moment. Such a positive way to view his powers and circumstances of birth. He didn’t mind it since his powers not only don’t hurt others when not needed, but they also can help people instead… that’s when scorbunny realized something about Kirby.

He really was everything that she looked up to in an explorer. Despite his childish antics and ways, he was still a very kind-hearted creature, fueled by hope and positivity in others.

Her mother would’ve loved to meet him; they would’ve gotten along so nicely.

Banny couldn’t help but smile; she really did get the perfect partner to start her career as an exploration team. She then spoke. “Don’t worry, Kirby, I’ll get used to your powers in no time. As long as you stick to your ideals and your powers don’t really hurt anyone that badly, I won’t mind them at all!”

Kirby grinned back. “That’s good to know!”

Karikiri cut in while putting her arms together. “Great, awesome, amazing. Now that’s done with…” She then slowly floated over to Kirby. “Could you please explain how your body works in excruciating detail, along with all your powers~?”

Kirby hummed in thought for a while before he said with a wide smile. “No! I don’t think I can explain them.”

The kartana froze in the air for a moment before she just said. “... What-”

Banny thought it was a good idea to interrupt now. “Well, it’s best we go to sleep now. Tomorrow is the first part of our mission regarding the cultists, and we'd better be well-rested.” The rabbit then looked at the origami creature. “Although… I’m not sure if you need any more rest since you spent cycles in a chest.”

“Well, you’re right, I’m not feeling sleepy at all. In fact, I’ve never felt this much energy before, even after a long nap!” She then raised one of her arms. “Watch out, world! Best girlie Kari is gonna get ya with her new and renowned infinite energy!” She then looked at Kirby with a motion that expressed confusion. “Actually, you’re a demigod. Does that mean you don’t need to sleep either, or…”

Kirby lifted his nubs in protest. “I do need to sleep! The second thing I love, other than food, is good naps… right after eating, of course!”

The scorbunny couldn’t help but giggle. “You know, if you didn’t speak, I think I would’ve seen you as a very strange wild Pokémon.” She continued giggling along with Kirby before she suddenly yawned. Once she finished, she spoke. “Yeah, that’s a sign for me to head to bed.”

The kartana shrugged while floating to the door. “Well, while you two sleep, I’ll go around and about do some strolling on the town, see what new stuff I missed, so goodnight ya two-”

Banny blinked and interrupted Karikiri. “W-wait, really??? But what about the cultists? What if they see you and think of a powerful Pokémon and try to-”

Suddenly, Karikiri burst out laughing for a moment before she floated towards the scorbunny and pat her. “Oh, girl, I appreciate the concern for me. Despite being rusty, I can assure you that anyone who tries to get a piece of me is going to end up with a new cut or two if ya know what I mean~” She flashed her arm blade, which made Banny flinch a little and shiver. With that, the kartana began to float out the door. “Tata for now, goodnight, my new besties~!”

Kirby waved. “Bye, Kari, see you tomorrow!”

Banny awkwardly mirrored the puffball. “Goodnight…” Once the paper creature was out the door, Banny yawned and stretched before speaking to Kirby with a smile. “Well, I’m off to bed, goodnight Kirby. Sleep well.” 

“Goodnight, Banny! Sleep well, too!” The puffball said with a grin as well.

With that, the fire rabbit hit the hay (quite literally). She lay on her bed and closed her eyes tightly while resting her paw on her inherited scarf. Kirby did the same as he slept on the other bed in the room, sleeping soundly as well.

It was the next day. After waking up from their sleep by an alarm known as Karikiri, Team Star Warriors began their day normally. They ate breakfast before they moved on down the halls of the guild.

While walking, Kirby hummed in thought as he tried to remember something that seemed important… but all he could remember right now was all the delicious food he had just eaten. “What are we doing today again? I can’t stop thinking about that carrot cake we just ate, it was so good!”

Banny looked surprised at the puffball while Karikiri just giggled a bit. She then blurted out. “What do you mean you forgot!? This is an important mission, there’s no way you could’ve forgotten-”

“Forgotten what?”

The trio looked at the source of the other voice and saw Purina and Marionne approaching them. Purina had a smug face for some reason while the mimikyu looked awfully nervous… well, more anxious than he usually seemed to be. 

Kirby smiled cheerfully and waved. “Hi, Purina! Hi, Marionne!”

Marionne blinked a bit from the sudden wave before he tried to wave awkwardly. “Hi–”

The jigglypuff then shouted at him. “Don’t give in to his cuteness! He’s just pretending so he can only seem cuter than me! ”

The mimikyu recoiled a little, the cloth around him shaking a bit. “S-sorry…”

Karikiri slowly drifted to Banny and asked in a whisper. “So uh… who are these weirdos?”

“They’re just… very annoying explorers. That’s all you need to know about them.” Banny whispered back, already preparing to endure any sort of insults thrown their way.

The green-eyed balloon Pokémon scoffed and spoke. “Anyway…” She looked at the scorbunny. “I heard you were saying something… about forgetting some kind of… important mission, perhaps?”

“Yeah!” Kirby beamed and glanced at Banny. “What mission were you talking about-”

“N-not now Kirby…” The rabbit interrupted the puffball by waving her paw. She then stared back at the jigglypuff and asked with her arms crossed. “What’s even with the sudden curiosity? That’s none of your business, you know?”

Purina scowled. “None of my business!? How dare you say that to the cutest Pokémon of the guild!?” She said, almost looking like she was going to pop a vein from the way her body inflated a bit. However, she then deflated as she scoffed away. “You know what? Never mind. So much for asking nicely.” She huffed before beginning to walk by them. “Let’s go, Marionne. We have a mission to complete anyway.” She then stopped and inspected the kartana for a moment before rolling her eyes, muttering as she continued walking away. “Another one of those ultra freaks…”

Karikiri’s arms twitched as she asked in anger. “What was that!?”

“W-wait up!” The mimikyu said before beginning to crawl quickly after the jigglypuff. As he passed by Team Star Warriors, he meekly waved before he scurried away. As he did so, Kirby tried to take a small peek at what was hiding beneath his cloth. Although he couldn’t make anything out concretely, he was pretty sure he saw some sort of black tendrils in the shadows of it.

Once they were out of sight, Karikiri spoke. “Holy moly, you were right! What an annoyance and a half!”

Kirby looked at the kartana in confusion. “What do you mean by they are annoying? I find them funny!”

Banny stared at Kirby in confusion for a moment before just sighing. “Well, anyway… cultists. Now, do you remember the mission?”

Kirby tapped a nub under his mouth as he hummed. It was seconds later that the realization hit him, and he rubbed his back a bit sheepishly. “Oh yeah… that mission. Oops.”

Karikiri chuckled before speaking. “My goodness, what even fills your head to forget something so important? Don’t tell me it’s food, right?”

Kirby blushed a bit and looked aside.

The kartana stood silent for a moment before she spoke. “Ain’t no way, bestie…”

Banny called their attention back. “Still, on the topic of the mission… we don’t even know where to begin. Neither Elder Terapagos nor Guildmaster Shitsuji told us about a good starting point either.”

Karikiri put an arm on her chin as she hummed. “Hmmm… they said that those cultists love stealing Tera’s crystals, didn’t they?” An idea came to her before she said to the others. If she had lips right now, she would be grinning. “Oh, I figured it out! Ooooh, I hope that place is still there after all this time…”

“Oh? What is that place?” Kirby asked in curiosity while tilting his body. “Does it have lots of Tera Crystals?”

“Hihihi!” She leaned close to Kirby. “You’ll see soon~!” She then turned away and began to float towards the exit of the guild. “Come on! Let’s go, I need some action to pump me up!”

Banny extended her paw before running after her. “W-wait a moment!!!” 

Kirby then followed up as well, excited to know what would await in this new place. Hopefully, it would have some clues to the cultists’ motives or something of the type.

Team Star Warriors was led by Karikiri through the town, taking their time and keeping a close eye on the place. Kirby just smiled cheerfully as he eyed the places he had never seen before, since he had never been to this part of town before. 

Among other parts of Agyneastra, of course.

The astrali awed at some of the Pokémon he saw along his walk with his teammates, along with the buildings that made up the street. Ah, the wonders of being in a new world. Every time he went to a new and exciting location, the cycle repeated itself: he wanted to try all the things he could, was in awe of almost everything he saw, and, of course, wanted to eat every single food item a place like this had to offer.

Speaking of food, he just couldn’t stop smelling all sorts of delicious smells coming from cafes and other restaurants in the area. Since it was still early in the morning, some foods were being prepared or steamed on the shelves of the establishments. Oh, Kirby wanted so much to go to those places and gobble those delicacies up in no time!

Sadly, however, he was on a mission at the moment, and even though he kept dreaming about even more delicious food, he had already eaten. Oh well, he could potentially go to these places and eat after the mission… yeah, that would be a good idea, if Banny lets them.

Eventually, Team Star Warriors reached a place on one of the hills of the town’s edge. They stood in front of a fenced place with iron barbs coiling around the fence. On the other side of the wall and gate were basically small mounds of scraps and rusty objects, along with some crystals sticking out of some of the objects. 

Banny looked around for a moment before asking the kartana. “Why are we in the junkyard? I thought you’d bring us to some kind of… secret Tera Crystal place or something like that.”

Karikiri turned to Banny. “If there was such a place, then how would the cultist have an easy time knowing where such a place existed and stealing from it?” She then giggled before motioning her arm to the junkyard. “THIS would be an ideal spot for the cultists to run rampant! All I needed to know was if this good ol’ slicing ground was still up and running!”

“Slicing… ground?” Kirby tilted his body and asked in curiosity.

“Hihihi, don’t you see?” She floated over the gate before motioning her arms wildly to the mounds. “This very place has so much unused scrap that I can use to slice and dice! And now that I was away for a long time, this place gotta have even more than there was in the past before I napped in that chest! Hehe… this will be where I’ll be spending most of my time if we’re not on missions-”

Banny interrupted with her arms crossed. “Speaking of missions. What does this place have to do with the mission? Sure, there are some Tera Crystals here and there on these old objects, but… I don’t think it’s enough for cultists to want to go here to steal.”

“Oh, Banny, my bestie… did you ever enter this place? Or, like, have your parents told you what usually happened here?” The scorbunny shrugged and shook her head. “As expected, heh. Come on in, I’ll show you why this is a prime Tera Crystal spot!” She floated to the other side of the gate, making Kirby and Banny look at each other in curiosity before they went to open the gate–

… it was locked.

“Darn… how are we gonna get in now?” Banny asked before looking around the gate and the fence. She grimaced upon coming to a realization. I don’t think my jumps are high enough for this wall, it’s too high…”

Kirby hummed for a moment before he smiled. “I have an idea! Grab my feet!” Kirby said, making Banny look at him a bit in confusion. Suddenly, Kirby jumped and inhaled a bit of air through his mouth, closing it afterwards. He then began to float in the air like a balloon, flapping his nubs a bit to stay afloat.

Banny’s mouth went agape at what she saw, surprising her and making her step back in shock. “No way…” She blinked before she pointed at the puffball. “You really ARE an alternative universe jigglypuff! You can inflate like a balloon and everything and-” Kirby didn’t speak as he just waggled his feet a bit more while continuing flapping his nubs. At that, Banny just… well, forced herself to accept this as a reality and walked to Kirby. “You know what? I shouldn’t have thought that your oddities just stopped at the part where you eat Pokémon and copy their powers without killing them.”

With that, the scorbunny grabbed onto the astrali’s soft feet, telling him that he was ready. With a few more flaps of his nubs, Kirby rose even more, and soon enough, the rabbit felt her feet leave the ground. Slowly but surely, the two continued to gain altitude until they were over the gate.

Banny shivered a little bit as she continued looking at the ground for a moment before looking up at Kirby. “Wow… it almost feels like you can do anything, Kirby. You’re amazing.”

The puffball blushed a bit before it began descending slowly to the ground. Banny jumped off his feet, and Kirby released a puff of air, deflating and falling to the floor. With that out of the way, they inspected their surroundings a little bit. Yep, still lotsa junk lying in mounds with some cracked Tera Cystals lying around; however, they could still see a building in the distance.

They also saw Karikiri standing in front of one of those mounds, having her arms clasped together for some reason. Banny approached the Ultra Beast and began asking her. “So then… what is it you wanted to–”

SLASH

Suddenly, the kartana swiped her arms diagonally while they could hear the sound of the wind being cut. Kirby and Banny just stood in place, staring at Karikiri before the puffball eventually asked. “What just-”

Suddenly, the duo’s eyes widened as they saw the mound of trash the Ultra Beast was floating in front of being sliced completely in half, the top part slowly sliding off the bottom part. The scraps that were not caught in the cut just rolled down to the floor. Meanwhile, Karikiri sighed. “I knew it, I’m really rusty, aren’t I? Not even enough to cut through a stakataka…”

Kirby ran to the Ultra Beast, his eyes glistening with excitement at an all-time high. “Kariiii! That was amazing! You cut so fast that I didn’t even register that you cut it!!! That’s so cool!”

The kartana turned to the astrali and sheepishly giggled. “Thanks, bestie!” She then looked back at the pile of scrap she had just destroyed and spoke. “It feels good to get back in action like this, especially after sleeping for so long in that chest. Ugh, just after that Sacred Sword, my arms feel kinda sore…”

Banny shivered and muttered to herself. “So that’s the true power of an Ultra Beast… and that’s when she says she’s rusty.” She then shook her head before asking Karikiri. “So then… where’s that spot of this place you said that had lots of Tera Crystals?”

“Oh, right, yeah! Come on, follow me, I’ll show ya two!” Karikiri said before she flew away, weaving between the mounds of scraps all the while.

Team Star Warriors then followed after the paper-folded creature, hoping that her hunch would be right on the money.

“Purina, are you really sure this is a good idea…?” 

“Why are you doubting me? At this point, you might as well just leave our team, if you want to…”

“W-what!? No! It’s just… are you sure that chasing after the most dangerous Pokémon in the continent is the right idea? What if we get our souls sucked or we get sacrificed to whatever creature those deranged Pokémon worship?”

Purina stopped dead in her tracks before turning to face her mimikyu partner. “Did you forget that you are a Pokémon that hides in cutesy pikachu cloth just because your species kills anyone who stares at your true body?”

Marionne shot back at the jigglypuff. “It’s just a dumb folklore from long ago, okay? I just wear this stupid costume because…” He then blushed and looked aside. “I just think I’m that ugly…”

Purina huffed before petting the head of the cloth. “Good, keep that costume up then, or else you wouldn’t even belong to Team Cuties.”

Marionne looked aside and spoke. “I know…”

The balloon then returned to walk again, letting the meek mimikyu to follow in her footsteps, although reluctantly. With that, Purina spoke again. “What were we talking about again? Oh yeah! Our plan. We go to the Tera Crystal vault over at the junkyard and just nab a couple of them so we can set up a trap for the cultists! Easy and simple enough for us to trap them and capture them!”

Marionne sighed and muttered to himself. “I still don’t think this is a good idea…” He then asked the jigglypuff. “Are you sure we’re not going to encounter Team Star Warriors there? Because if they’re also investigating the cultists, they would probably stop in that place as well.”

“Nonsense! There’s no way a team led by that fake ball of air would be this smart as I am!” She said while throwing her nubs in the air. “We’ll get those crystals, trick the cultists and capture them, boom, hog all the credit! Simple enough!”

The mimikyu rolled his eyes and spoke again while continuing to crawl behind her. “If you say so…”

“And here we are! The Tera Crystal vault!” Karikiri happily announced as she motioned with her blade arms to the building between the mounds of scrap metal. It was a medium-sized building with several windows located near the roof. There was also a large sliding door in the front.

“So… there’s a vault full of this stuff? I didn’t know that…” Banny said while scratching her cheek. “Thought this was just a place to put the objects that didn’t work anymore so they could be reused… or an aggron’s snack.”

“Heh, think again!” Karikiri beamed while spinning in the air. “This place is where the magic with the Tera Crystals happens! If a device is not being used anymore or it broke, well, the junkyard is the place for it. And since all of the devices in this town are powered by a never-ending, clean, and resilient energy source, of course, they would have to remove the Tera Crystals to put them on other devices, wouldn’t they?”

Banny put a paw on her chin as she thought more about it. “Yeah… that does make sense… man, I should’ve put the pieces together at least once about how this place worked.”

Kirby giggled a bit and spoke. “Too many exploration dreams on your head, I take it.”

The scorbunny whined while blushing in embarrassment. “Kirby…!”

The kartana giggled a bit before humming in thought. “Wait, so what were we doing again? Nostalgia trip took me out of the mission for a moment.” Kirby and Banny just fell face-first on the ground.

Banny got up and asked with a groan. “How can somebody forget such an important mission…?” 

Kirby reminded the Kartana as he also got up. “We’re here to investigate the cultists. You said this place would attract them if they were after the Tera Crystals.”

The Ultra Beast had that moment of realization. “Ooooh, you’re right, you’re right! So… how are we gonna investigate those cultists despite them not being here right now?”

The scorbunny put her paw on her side and reasoned. “Well, you showed us a place where they would most likely show up so we could have the upper hand and spy on them… or maybe even capture one of them.”

“Oooh, good idea, Banny!” Kirby complimented before looking around and tilting his body. “So do we just… wait until one of them arrives?”

Banny sighed and agreed a bit hesitantly. “Seems like it’s our only option so far.” She then looked back at the entrance of the junkyard. “And hey, since we left the door locked, they’ll think that nobody had entered this place, so we’ll have a moment to catch them unaware!”

“Yeah, let’s do this, Team Star Warriors!” Kirby cheered while the others cheered as well.

Karikiri then quickly pointed to the roof of the vault. “Let’s hide over there so we can see who enters the junkyard!” As the kartana began floating over to the roof, she stopped and looked back down. “Wait, now I realize. You two can’t fly. How are you gonna get up there? Actually… how did you pass over the gate since it’s still locked?”

Banny sheepishly smiled as her eyes drifted to Kirby. “Well… about that…”

Kirby, with no further prompt, just jumped and inflated his body like a balloon again. Karikiri had the four folds of her mouth widen to the max as she just let out a quiet “What the f-”

“And here we are… the junkyard!” Purina happily announced, motioning a nub to the gate of the area before groaning in disgust. “Ugh, someone as cute as me shouldn’t be in a disgusting place like this!” She sighed and then shrugged. “But that’s the heavy work of an explorer, I suppose…”

Marionne scratched his cheek (the one on the torso of the cloth) and asked. “I mean, we could be doing other stuff, couldn’t we? After all, there are some dungeons to explore and actual missions with rewards and-”

“Not when my pride is on the line!” Purina shouted at the mimikyu. “That stupid gumball, for some reason, has the recognition of the guildmaster despite me being undoubtedly cuter than him! So, if I can’t get the guildmaster to notice me and our team for being the cutest of the guild, we’ll show him we’re more than capable once we show him a captured cultist!” She then looked back at the gate. “But first… let’s just hope whoever the Pokémon who runs this garbage place doesn’t mind a missing Tera Crystal or two.”

With that, the jigglypuff inflated and began floating up. However, she paused in the middle of the way and looked back at Marionne. “Don’t open the gate. I wouldn’t want the poor sod who runs this place to think that it was ransacked by us, of all Pokémon. Just go through it.” With that said, she floated over the door.

Marionne sighed before focusing for a bit while stretching his shadow under the gate and then, in the blink of an eye, teleported to the other side of it. Shadow Sneak was such a useful move for this sort of scenario, even escaping some unpleasant situations.

Purina then fell on the ground, landing gracefully and even posing afterwards. “Alright, now that we’re here, let’s go grab those crystals!” As she walked further into the junkyard, she added. “Also, you’re carrying them.”

“What!? Why me!?” The mimikyu blurted out as he began following the jigglypuff. 

“A cute Pokémon like me shouldn’t be carrying heavy things all by herself. Besides, I have nubs while you have claws or… whatever weird stuff you have under there.” The jigglypuff reasoned before adding once more. “By the way, you’re also going to be bait for the cultists.”

Marionne sighed and muttered to himself. “Sometimes I hate being in this team…”

One of Banny’s large ears twitched before she looked to the edge of the vault’s roof. She was hearing something, some muffled voices and movements coming from the entrance of the junkyard… and she didn’t even hear the gate opening!  

‘Goodness, that was fast, thought we were waiting a lot longer than expected.’ Banny thought before looking back at her team with a whisper. “Guys, guys, I think they have arrived… I didn’t hear the gate opening, so it probably wasn’t the Pokémon that runs this place.”

Kirby tilted his body while sitting. “Wait, really? That was sure quick!” Kirby cheered excitedly.

“Great, I was tired of waiting! I wanted to kick some butt real soon!” Karikiri said as she raised her blade arm in front of her face.

Banny blinked for a moment. “But it hasn’t even been ten minutes…” She then sighed before crouching down. “Alright, guys, let’s try to jump them. I can know if they’re close enough with my hearing, so you guys won’t need to stick your head out to see if they’re near or not.”

Kirby crouched while Karikiri floated down close to the roof, both nodding in response to Banny.

Banny focused on her hearing, trying to focus on all the sounds in the area: the sound of the wind passing by, Kirby’s breathing, the humming energy of the Tera Crystals below them, the sounds of feral bird Pokémon flying by, and, of course, the footsteps of the approaching Pokémon. 

The footsteps were soft and graceful, indicating that the Pokémon was either short or lightweight. She couldn’t hear more talking, but from judging from the two voices she heard earlier, she assumed there would be two Pokémon. She could only hear one of the footsteps, so she supposed one of them would be a crawler or a flyer.

Whatever the case, the footsteps were getting closer.

“Get ready, you two,” Banny whispered to her team members, continuing to hear the increasingly louder footsteps. “On… 3… 2… 1…”

Karikiri readied her arm blades while Kirby scowled in preparation.

The footsteps were now clear in Banny’s ear, sounding close enough that it felt like they were beside her. “Go!” Team Star Warriors got up and jumped from the roof, with the kartana floating down. Banny, without looking clearly at the intruders, landed and commanded while pointing a finger at the thieves. “Kirby, suck ‘em up!”

Kirby opened his mouth and began inhaling the air in front of him like a vacuum. However, while Kirby had his mouth open and eyes closed, Banny and Karikiri noticed who they were as the Ultra Beast spoke. “Wait a sec, aren’t those the annoying ‘mons–”

“Team Cuties!?” Banny asked while the team was struggling, trying not to be swallowed by Kirby.

“W-what the heck is this!?” Purina asked in shock, trying to move away. “I-I’m being pulled!!!”

Marionne, meanwhile, was also struggling. However, unlike his sturdy body, his cloth was sucked into the vacuum, making him stick a claw to it. “M-my costume!!!”

Banny turned to Kirby and called out to him. “Kirby! Cut it out, it’s not the cultists!”

Kirby inhaled the mimikyu’s costume, shutting his mouth and blinking at the situation he had just caused. Purina had recovered a bit and shouted at Kirby angrily. “WHAT IN THE NAME OF GIRATINA WAS THAT!? Were you actually gonna freaking eat us!?” Kirby didn’t respond since his mouth was stuffed with a certain Pokémon’s cloth, while the girls just stayed silent for some reason, staring at… something beside Purina. “Ugh, you’re not only a faker, but you’re also some strange Pokémon eater!”

No response from Team Star Warriors.

Purina tilted her body as she noticed the strange looks. “Why are you staring at us like that? Ugh, you know what? Whatever! I don’t have time to entertain idiots like you. Let’s grab those Tera Crystals already, Marionne.” No response from him either, which prompted the jigglypuff to turn to her partner. “Marionne-”

She screamed at what she saw.

Instead of the poorly made Pikachu costume they were already used to, they saw something else. Marionne was this… pitch black, round blob with four arms with claws, and had multiple small tentacles coming out of the bottom of his body. His mouth was jagged with some sharp teeth, too. Marionne was shivering while attempting (and failing) to cover his face with his arms. “D-don’t look at me! Please, don’t look at me! I’m hideous!!!”

Banny blinked and thought to herself. ‘So… that’s… that’s how mimikyu’s usually look like? Strange how- wait a moment… shouldn’t I faint and… die the moment I see one without their cloth?’ She felt a shiver on her spine and patted herself in different parts of her body… she didn’t feel ill or anything, nor any fatal magic cast upon her.

Kirby, unaware of the whole myth, spat the costume onto his nub and walked towards the exposed mimikyu. Kirby smiled, unbothered by Marionne’s true body. “Hey, Marionne, sorry for trying to eat you and Purina! Here’s your cloth!” He offered it to the pitch-black blob while continuing to smile. “Sorry for before.”

The mimikyu took one claw off his face and opened his… his many yellow eyes . They reminded Banny a bit of a galvantula’s eyes, which was… very unnerving. And yet… Kirby didn’t seem to mind it at all!

Purina just fainted on the spot, her face frozen like a statue in pure horror.

Karikiri then commented. “You know… I’m loving this world the more days I live in here!”

Banny side-eyed the kartana with an unamused frown. “You don’t say…”

“Gimme that!” The mimikyu demanded before he snatched the costume from Kirby’s nub and started putting it on again. 

Kirby said innocently. “I think you’re cute enough!”

Marionne froze on the spot while trying to wiggle its round body into the cloth again. However, he stopped and slowly looked at Kirby, blinking with all of his eight eyes. “... you’re lying.”

Kirby shook his head and raised a nub. “I’m not lying! I have this friend back where I’m from called Como! He kinda had the tendency to scare other people just because of his spidery look, but yet, he was a nice guy, and he helped me this one time! You remind me of him, and you’re cute in your own way!”

The mimikyu blinked, seeming unsure of what to say. Now that Banny thought about it… and with a size like that… yeah, she could kinda see it. 

The scorbunny approached Marionne and smiled a bit, folding her arms behind her back. “To be honest, yeah, you’re not half-bad. And as long as you don’t kill anyone for simply looking at you, I don’t see an issue.”

Marionne slowly lowered the costume and looked back slowly at Team Star Warriors. “Are you… Are you really telling the truth?”

Banny nodded. “We are. But still, that’s beside the point now. What were you and Purina doing here?”

Before Marionne could respond, a different voice could be heard. “Interesting…” 

Marionne yelped and immediately put the costume back on while Team Star Warriors looked at the newcomer. The figure resembled a bipedal Pokémon covered in a black hooded cloak with eyes surrounding it. Banny squinted a bit and noticed the Pokémon under the cloth was a scizor… although, she couldn’t see his face correctly because of the eerie hood.

Karikiri floated in front of her teammates and pointed one of her blade arms at the hooded mantis. “Who the heck are you?”

The hooded figure chuckled a little bit before speaking again. “I think it should be me asking that question, but… it doesn’t matter, what matters is…” He pointed a pincer at Kirby. “You, Chosen Vessel.”

The scorbunny, kartana, and mimikyu tensed while they looked at Kirby, the puffball just tilting his body in confusion as he asked out loud. “Chosen Vessel?”

Marionne turned to the hooded Pokémon as a realization struck him. “W-wait a second… the hooded cloak, this talk about this 'Chosen Vessel’ crap… you’re a cultist, aren’t you…?”

The scizor lowered his arm and replied. “The term you address me as matters not to me. Your eyes have not been open like mine have. But do not worry, the Dark Father shall grace every single Pokémon on the Great Summoning has been made. All we need is you, Chosen Vessel.”

Great Summoning? Dark Father? Chosen Vessel? What did all of that mean!? Ugh, so this is how a normal cultist behaves, isn’t it? Kinda creepy, but she should’ve expected it from the rumors… and what the heck do they want with Kirby!? Whatever the case, she wouldn’t let them lay a finger on him! 

Banny took a step forward; however, before she could say something, she was interrupted when Purina suddenly pushed her aside and pointed at the cultist. “Aha! So, you have fallen right into our bait! Now, it’s time for Team Cuties to steal the spotlight and capture you!”

Team Star Warriors blinked in utter confusion as they saw Purina get into a battle stance. Kirby then asked out loud. “Wasn’t she… unconscious just a moment ago?”

“She was… at least I think she was,” Banny replied while rubbing the back of her head.

Marionne slithered close to the jigglypuff and put a claw on her side. “Purina, I-I’m starting to already regret this! That guy is giving me some very bad vibes-”

“Duh! Of course, he’s a cultist, if you haven’t noticed yet!” She said as she shifted out of the mimikyu’s grip. “We’re gonna give this brainwashed idiot a piece of our cuteness! Watch this, Team Star Losers!”

Purina curled on the floor and began rolling in place, charging a Rollout. Meanwhile, the hooded mantis only smiled as he spoke again. “Oh, child, you do not know what you are messing with… perhaps I ought to teach you.” 

“Why you!” Purina shouted as she began rolling at high speeds towards the scizor, her partner screaming at her. However, before she could truly land a hit on the bug, he reacted quickly, simply sidestepping over the incoming attack before shooting a String Shot directly at Purina, silk coming from his pincer and trapping the jigglypuff in a cocoon. 

“Purina!!!” Marionne shouted before getting his claws from under the cloth and beginning to run after the scizor. “Don’t you dare!!!” The mimikyu jumped and tried to claw the mantis; however, the cloaked bug was faster.

He quickly spun around while still holding Purina in the cocoon, making her silk cage bash against the covered Pokémon before they were launched away quite comically, the two members of Team Cuties screaming as they were launched out of the junkyard. Banny was sure she heard Purina saying something like: “This isn’t the last you’ll see of me!”

Team Star Warriors watched as Team Cuties were flung away before Karikiri spoke. “Alright, now that the annoyance is gone…” She pointed her blade arm at the cultist. “Time to kick your butt~!”

The scizor didn’t react; instead, he just spoke again… addressing Kirby. “Chosen Vessel, you must know that siding with these unenlightened Pokémon is pointless and a waste of time. You have a prophecy to fulfill, and the Dark Father yearns for you. You are gifted, you will guide the world to a better place…”

Banny put a paw in front of Kirby and spoke defensively. “Don’t listen to them, Kirby! They probably don’t have good intentions!”

“I know, I know, I met a cult before. They were very misguided and stuff…” Kirby said a bit sheepishly before taking a few steps forward. “Sorry, Mister Bug! I’d like to turn the world into a better place and all, but you’re doing it the bad way! I don’t want to join your group if you kill people! Besides… I’m pretty sure this… Dark Father guy just wants to take over or destroy the world, judging from my last experience with a cult!”

The scizor remained quiet for a long and agonizing moment before speaking. “I see…” He turned aside before continuing. “It seems my mission has changed from gathering more of the crystals…” He then began to lower his hood slowly. With that, he slowly looked back at the team, making them gasp in horror at what they saw.

The scizor had empty eye sockets, leaking a black, viscous-looking liquid.

“I’ll ensure you come along with me and be enlightened. ” 

Team Star Allies tensed as Karikiri spoke with bravery. “Come and get it, sucker!”

The cultist began emanating a dark aura before lunging at the trio.