(Note: This is a side story, and as such, is narrated in first person and is complementary to the main story.)
Myself and that simirror, Simis, reappeared somewhere. Even though I was a bit dizzy, I looked around to try to figure out where we had gone. Turns out I was still inside that small rainbow orb. Feeling less dizzy some seconds after, I also finally recognized where we were: Bubbly Clouds.
Before I could even ask the simirror why we were there, he started walking forward, dragging the orb with me inside.
“H-Hey!” I shouted, while I knocked on the orb. “Let me out!”
But it was in vain. He simply ignored me and continued moving forward.
I continued screaming, demanding to be freed, but he continued ignoring me. After screaming for a while, I got tired, and I immediately noticed we had arrived near some sort of machine. And also…
“Marx! I’m back with Kirby!”
Indeed, next to the machine was Marx! I was really surprised; I didn’t expect to see him that soon again; I guess he was really not going to admit defeat that soon. But I was wondering what he was scheming…
“Oh, hi there Simis!” Marx said to Simis, turning back to him. He then looked at the machine and said, “Ok, put Kirby inside here.”
Promptly after, Simis raised his wand, which made me and the orb I was in float towards the machine that was next to Marx. With a wave of his hand, I once again started to glow multicolorly and I disappeared, and reappeared inside a glass tube attached to the machine. I was freed from the orb, but now stuck elsewhere.
Still not understanding what was going on, annoyed and trapped, I shouted, “Hey! Marx! Let me out!” as I punched the glass tube from inside, trying to break it.
Marx smirked at me and said, “Hah! As if! You are critical to my plan! Hehehe…”
“What?” I asked, confused at what he had just said.
“Yeah, what?” Simis also asked.
“My plan, duh!” Marx looked at the machine. “And this machine is key too…”
Curious about what he was talking about, with a mix of confusion and fear, I asked, “Okay, but what is this machine even?” I hit the glass I was in a couple more times, and said in a low voice to myself, “Well, whatever! I will still break this glass soon and escape before you can even do anything…”
“Yeah, Marx, what is this machine?” Simis asked the same as me, once again. “And what are you plotting?” He looked directly at Marx, and said with an impatient tone, “I want to know already.”
Hearing our questions, Marx laughed out loud, then said, “Alright, alright! I can explain now.” He took a pause, like he was organizing his thoughts to explain. For some reason, right then, I started to feel uneasy.
“Who can beat Kirby?” Marx asked, and immediately answered, “Well, no one has managed so far… But maybe other kirbies can?” He stopped for a second, then continued, “But we really only have two other kirbies around Popstar right now, and it’s such a rare species… So how can I do it?” He stopped once again for around a second, then continued, “That’s when I found this machine…”
Marx took a quick pause again, and looked at the machine. He chuckled to himself, and then continued his monologue:
“It is a cloning machine!” Marx shouted with a mad smile. “I will clone you and make my own army of Kirbys, not of kirbies, Kirby!” He smirked, staring at me fearlessly.
“WHAT?!” I shouted together with Simis, somehow.
CLONING MACHINE?! WHAT?! What the heck was that even?! That was madness! Clone me? What the? How was that even possible?! And… I couldn’t allow that! Not at all! But… How was that even happening?! Was Marx really serious, or had he gone even crazier?!
While I was lost in my confusion, Simis said, sounding as shocked as me, “Clone Kirby?! Are you insane?!”
Marx laughed and said, “Indeed, I am!”
“Bu-But…”
Marx glared at Simis. “What, Simis? Do you not like that idea?”
Simis, after hearing that, got shocked and stopped talking. He stood there for a few seconds, as if thinking about it. After that, he said, almost as if avoiding the subject, “Wait, so, since you want to beat Kirby with many kirbies, but his species is rare and most don’t even live here anymore, you decided to clone Kirby instead? Brilliant!”
I found it a bit odd that Simis said that, since seconds before he appeared to indeed not like the idea as Marx suggested, due to how he reacted to it. But I decided to not worry too much about that, after all I had other more important things to worry about.
Anyway, after hearing Simis’ new answer, Marx smiled. “Indeed!” He turned towards the machine itself and said, “So, let’s see about turning it on…”
Noticing Marx was about to reach out to the machine, desperate, I shouted, “Wait! But I don’t want to be cloned!” Remembering that my only hope was escaping from the glass I was in, I hit it once again. However, no matter how hard I hit it, nothing happened.
“But who cares?” Marx said, with a sadistic smirk, looking towards me. “Hehehe… Anyway, time to turn on the machine!”
Marx said that and went towards the machine, to do as he said, turn it on. Realizing the situation, I tried to once again break the glass tube, and managed to, after a few strikes, crack it a little. Seeing that happen, I had a little hope that I could indeed break it and break free eventually. However, I soon realized I had no time to escape before the machine would be turned on…
And indeed, when I looked to see what was happening outside the glass, a crash noise came from behind me as the machine shook a little, and I lost my balance for a bit. Maybe it was Marx that crashed on the machine? Well, I’m not sure. Anyway, a second after, a very bright light was emitted from the top part of the machine, and I just closed my eyes instinctively.
Once the light faded, I opened my eyes and… I saw a very strange scene. Well, yeah, in front of me were many kirbies, as expected, as that was a cloning machine, but…
“Why are these kirbies TRANSPARENT?!”
20 Times Kirby! 