Chapter 10: Unfamiliarized and Stranded

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.