Chapter 6: Meanwhile, in Popstar

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…