Chapter 9: The First Mission!

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.”