Raven opened her eyes, and saw the same scene as minutes before: a robot lobster heading towards her. She looked back, and the same wall was blocking her way. There were no windows or doors, nothing. Moreover, the corridor was so narrow, and the lobster was so big that she could not just pass it at all. She was cornered, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it.
“Is… This… Is this the end…?” was all she could think.
Next to her was Dana, who continued hiding behind her parasol. Although she looked quiet from the outside, inside she was whispering a song, but it was impossible to understand. Even she wasn’t fully aware of what she was singing; perhaps it was simply a plea.
The two friends had long accepted their fate, but those three or so minutes that had passed felt like forever. Raven closed her eyes one more time, imagining that would likely be the last time.
“Maybe this is it indeed…” she thought, finally accepting her destiny.
But then Raven heard a quiet sound, and felt something on her right arm. She opened her eyes, only to feel some pain: her right arm had just been lassoed by some kind of rope. “Huh?” she said out loud. “What is this?”
“What happened?” asked Dana, who peaked from her parasol.
“AHHHHH!”
Just as she peaked, Dana heard Raven scream, and saw her rise up in the air. The rope had been pulled, and Raven had been thrown in the air, at an angle good enough to make her leap above the robot lobster without even touching it.
Before she could understand what was going on, something similar happened to Dana: she felt someone grab and throw her at the same angle as Raven. She screamed in fear, “GAHHHHHHHH!!!”
As she was being pulled, Raven got closer to who was pulling the rope… or rather, yo-yo: it was Percy. As soon as she saw him, she asked, “Percy, what the heck is this?!”
“A rescue strategy,” he answered. “What else?”
Raven was really confused. “Rescue strategy? It looks dangerous…”
“Dangerous?” he asked as he put Raven down, and removed the rope of his yo-yo from her arm. “Nah, don’t worry. Yan and I do this every day.”
Raven looked around, still confused. “Crazy…” She looked up and saw someone floating down: Dana.
After being thrown, Dana had opened her parasol in panic, and started floating slowly. She calmed down when she realized she had gotten past the lobster robot.
“Dana!” Raven said, relieved. “You’re safe too!”
“Yeah…” said Dana. She finally reached the floor, and ran to Raven, hugging her tightly.
Percy watched the two friends celebrate, with a smile. However, he was quickly interrupted by Yan, who was upside down on the ceiling, “It looks like it won’t stop walking.”
“I figured as much,” Percy replied. “So it will crash into that wall.”
“Yes. Best to get the girls out of here.”
Yan jumped from the ceiling, and landed gracefully on the floor next to Percy. The two looked at Raven and Dana, who were still celebrating.
“Hey,” Percy called their attention, “I hate to ruin your celebration, but come with us.”
The two stopped, and Raven stepped in, “Why?”
“Because that thing will crash into that wall, and it may explode when that happens. So let’s get away from here.”
“…Explode?!” Just by hearing that word, Dana started to panic. “I DON’T WANT EXPLOSIONS!!!”
“Dana!” said Raven. “Hold up! It will be fine!”
Raven did her best to calm down Dana, but it was very hard. While she was doing so, Percy and Yan slowly guided the two away from the direction the robot lobster was heading to.
Natty and Matt were neck and neck. So close to each other at high speed that from far away they looked like a single kirby flying.
“It’s over, Natty!”
“It’s not over ‘til it’s over!”
The two were seconds from reaching the cannon, their finish line. Whoever got a small lead would win…
“YAAAY! I WON!!!”
The two heard someone screaming in joy. They looked down and saw Tim jumping around like a happy kid. They had just reached the cannon, and were both surprised, each in their own ways.
“But… Where did he come from?” said Natty, going down.
“Hey! What happened?” Matt was angry, and also started flying down. “How did you…”
“I don’t know!” said Tim. “I just ran as fast as I could!”
“But how…” Matt just could not accept what had just happened.
Natty looked at Matt. “Matt, that’s how races work… You win some, you lose some…”
Matt got quiet. He hated losing, and never accepted any loss, at least not easily. He was thinking of what to do in a situation like that, in which he had lost against a stranger. That’s when it hit him.
“Hey! All this and we have no idea where Kirby is!” he said. “Why don’t we see who can get to him first?”
“Huh?” Natty raised her eyebrows. “…Matt, what? We don’t even know exactly where he is!”
“But that’s the fun of it! A race with an unknown finish line! Isn’t it exciting?”
“Eh…”
Tim was still celebrating, when he heard about Matt’s idea and looked at him and Natty. He said, “Wait, another race already?”
“Yeah, races are fun!” Matt said with a smile.
“But I just won one, let me celebrate! Also, aren’t you tired too? I know I am…”
“I don’t get tired! Besides, this race was to decide a winner between Natty and I, and since you won, that didn’t happen!”
“Oh… You are right…”
Tim lowered his head, and thought, “What, did I ruin their race by joining it? They are racing buddies and race together all the time… I had no business invading their space…”
“Ready?”
Matt got into a start position, ready to blast off any second. Natty sighed but gave in, and did the same; she was ready to fly any second. Tim looked at both, and realized that, despite his dilemma, he needed to decide whether he would participate in that race, and fast.
“GO!” shouted Matt, as he blasted off. Natty immediately followed him, flapping her wings.
Tim looked at the two, took a deep breath, and thought, “Well, it looks fun… And it would be nice to find Kirby regardless.”
Tim turned around and started to run, transforming into his wheel form. And so he dashed around the Halberd’s deck, looking for Kirby.
Diego could barely believe it, but it was true: they were just starting a battle with Meta Knight himself. They took a deep breath, and thought, “Time to show him what I’m made of!”
Diego ran towards Meta Knight, and sliced their sword, shouting, “Take that!”. The knight swiftly also sliced his, making both clash with a flash and cancel each other. The two jumped back.
“You weren’t fast enough!” shouted Meta Knight.
Diego heard the comment and wasn’t pleased. They decided to try again, and ran towards Meta Knight, ready to slice their sword again, but now shouting, “HI-YAH!”. Meta Knight saw right through them, and jumped over them just as he was about to get attacked.
Still in the air, Meta Knight said, “Make it faster!” Promptly after, he pointed his sword downwards and started to fall at high speed, right above Diego.
Diego noticed they were about to get hit and jumped backwards last minute, saying, “Woah!” Meta Knight landed, with his sword still pointed downwards, stuck in the ground.
Still in that position, Meta Knight smiled behind his mask. As if he was doing something, he said, “Nice dodge, but… can you dodge this?”
Diego looked at Meta Knight while they were still in the air, when they saw a tall tornado appear between them and the knight. The tornado in a blink ran towards Diego, and they had no time to react: it hit them and lifted them up, making them spin. In shock, they said, “AHHH!” The tornado then disappeared, and Diego fell, hitting the floor. Hurt, all they could say was, “Ouch…”
Meta Knight looked at Diego, and unsheathed his sword. He walked up to them, who was still on the floor, and said, “That’s enough for now. That was a good one for your first duel with me, Diego.”
Meta Knight gave his hand to Diego, who saw it and grabbed it. Meta Knight then helped them get up. As they did, they thought, “Wait… how does he know my name?”
“Are you ok?” asked Meta Knight. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Oh,” Diego was caught off-guard by that question, “yeah, I’m fine!”
“That’s great to hear.”
“In fact…” Diego got in a battle position. “Can we have a rematch?”
Meta Knight didn’t react, but deep inside he was amused. “Wow,” he thought, “they already want a rematch? Very interesting…”
“I’m sorry,” he spoke up, “but not today. Perhaps another time.”
“Aww…” Diego was disappointed, but understood. “Fair enough…”
With their head low, Diego turned around and walked towards the other kirbies, who had watched their battle.
“Bleh,” said Daniel. “What a quick battle. But I guess—”
“I battled Meta Knight!!!” Diego said, with a big smile. “That’s what matters!”
Daniel smiled back. “Heh, I figured you would say that.”
“But next time I will win!” Diego said, twirling their sword.
“Maybe… That will depend on how much you train,” said Drake.
“Exactly!” said Daniel. “So don’t hold back, Diego! And we’ll help you!”
“I won’t! And thanks!”
At the same time, the other trio of friends were having their own conversation.
“Could you even call that a battle?” said Larry. “I blinked and it was over…”
“Personally, I thought it was AWESOME!” said Luke.
“…Awesome?”
“Yeah!” Luke started to mimic the battle’s attacks. “That tornado attack… BAM! Perfect finisher!”
“Huh,” Larry tilted his head, “I guess when you put it that way…”
“Oh… It was a battle?” asked Leo.
Larry sighed. “I guess we can’t help you sometimes indeed, Leo…”
Meta Knight observed them all, as he thought, “So, they forgot about the main cabin? …Am I really that popular?” He shook his head. “At any rate, the others should be arriving soon. It is going to be interesting…”
20 Times Kirby! 