Bad Bloods: A Kirby Story(HIATUS)

How Things Were

Alice skipped along the cracks in the sidewalk as Marx skimmed across the sparkling water, catching light in the prisms on his wings. Drawcia was gushing about all the sights, and Magolor was spewing questions faster than a news reporter.
"Where are we now?" "Do ya really think the piece is here?" "Do you think Will & Taranza had any l-"
"Mags, I know you really want to go home," Alice chuckled, "but until we get where we need to be, I won't have any concrete answers for your questions."
He sighed, and crossed his arms poutingly. "Okay, fine."
They spent a fair amount of time in silence, kicking rocks and avoiding passerby on the busy, sunny streets. Sometimes, Marx would try to fly up to someone and pluck out their hair, but Gryll always grabbed him before it could actually happen.
Soon enough, they had diverted from the regular path, and began taking a stroll in the woods.
"Seriously, Alice, do you think we'd going to find the hunk of a ship in here?" Marx cackled, and re-adjusted his goofy hat.
"I mean, we might as well try," she sighed, running her hand along the grooves in the bark of the trees. "This place has always seemed... Magical to me, in a sense."
Drawcia eyed her curiously. "So, you've been here before..."
"Magic, shmagic," Marx groaned, "it's all foolishness if y'ask me."
Alice sighed, and dragged them deeper into the forest. "When Will and I were young, we'd beg our parents to let us play here. He was a rebellious prince who could fly, at least I think so, and I was a powerful pirate princess with a big sword. So it always kept that feeling of wonder and imagination, through all these years. It's been a while since I've visited, however..."
Drawcia fiddled with her paintbrush, longing for a canvas. "This place is so beautiful! Why would you stop coming?"
"Well," Alice smiled sadly, a nostalgic look painted on her freckled face, "Things happen, and you... You grow up, I guess."
They continued in silence, before Marx stopped in his tracks.
"Is that a burrow I see?" He asked mischievously.
"It seems so," Magolor answered.
Alice chuckled softly, before tugging Marx's hat. "We can explore that later. We're nearly at the path, I promise."
Sure enough, the woods soon parted in the middle, revealing a steep cliff with plants growing upon every crevice and groove within the rock. "You guys float down, and I'll be right there!" She laughed, a smile creeping back on her face.
Taking a deep breath, she grabbed onto a tree branch and flung herself down.

"Ali!" A young voice called out. "You okay?!"
Alice, wiping the mud off her hands, grinning widely at the young boy above her. "Yup! Get down here, scaredy cat!"
"Is that a challenge, Princess Scarlette Ruby?" The prince laughed, and hopped onto what would seem like an ugly rock to passerby. "Fine! I'll fly my way down to fight you, scoundrel!"

Alice clung to a branch just above the ground, swaying slightly. Deep breaths. It's just a memory. She jumped off, and landed with a thud on the earthy terrain.
Trees lined the sky in a perfect arc, and just in front of her, the Bad Bloods were splashing each other with water from a crystal-coloured lake. Her mouth broke out into a grin, and she jumped in with them, sending a wave of brisk water at Drawcia, who gasped.
"Is that a challenge, Alice?" She laughed loudly. Carefully setting her paintbrush aside, she sent a wave at Alice, Magolor and Marx, who was sent rolling away because of the death grip he had on his multicoloured beach ball.
After a few more rounds of wave battles and other water activities, they flopped on the ground, still laughing. Staring up the sky, Alice could see the sun beginning to set. "Aw, man," she said between breaths, "It's been ages since I've gone swimming." She lost focus of everything around her and began to wander through her memories once more.

"Hey, Ali! See that rock, right there?"
"Uh-huh?"
"That's your pirate ship!" The young boy grinned widely.
"Oh! But don't they have names, like the S. Buggy or something like that?" Alice responded.
"What if yours was called the Defiance?" He suggested after a bit of thought.
"...What does that mean?"
"I dunno. But I heard it on TV once!"

Alice shot up, and began running into the lake once more. A rocky cliff separated it from the rest of the dark yet alluring forest. Before long, she stumbled across a large opening, hidden behind a steady stream of trickling freshwater. "Get over here," she called out, "something tells me we should search in here."
Splashing inside the murky cavern, the only source of light was Drawcia's eye. Outside, the sun was setting quickly. "We need to hurry, or else Will's gonna freak," she chuckled.
Magolor was wringing out his cape, trailing his glove alongside the wet rock. Before he knew what was happening, he lost his grip and began falling down a sharp, rocky decline.
"Help!" He called out frantically, trying to grab onto something.
"Hold on Mags, we're coming!" Alice yelled, and began trying to slide her way down. Eventually, the four of them had landed painfully beside a huge rock, worn down with age.
A flickering light illuminated the pitch-black chamber, and Alice tenderly brushed the scrapes and bruises on her knees.
"Is this..." she muttered, before looking up and stepping back.
A small, tattered flag hung motionless in the centre of the rock, a frayed and faded scarlet. Alice could still make out where she had once seen magnificent oars, and grooves where cannonballs had once been stored.
They had found the Defiance.
"Ugh, my head... Magolor groaned, before gazing up and seeing Alice's stupor. A rock? Before he could react, she shushed him and pointed to the front of the mossy mass of minerals. The names Prince Will and his rival from another land, Princess Scarlette Ruby, were carved into the side of the boulder. Looking above that, he could see a crumbling, glowing mast sticking out of the rocky surface.
"It's... It's a piece of the Lor Starcutter."

Night was settling on the forest as Alice and the others carefully set the heavy mast on the ground outside the woods, panting. "We found the Defiance!" She chortled, tears in her eyes. "I thought it would've been gone!.."
They sat for a bit, keeping an eye out for Will and his group.
Before long, Drawcia caught sight of a scratched up broom twisting through the air wildly.
"Mayday, Mayday!" Gryll called out, Taranza clinging desperately to her hat and someone else. "We've lost a team member!"
All the colour drained from Alice's face, leaving her skin pale. "Where's Will?"
Crashing into a tree nearby, Gryll coughed. "He's fine, I promise! We lost the other dude!"
Magolor had never seen Alice more infuriated before than she was now. "You're saying he's fine?! You dolt, look at him! What on Earth happened to you lot?!" She was screaming now, fury filling the once cheerful air.
Gryll stepped back, tears in her eyes, searching for an explanation. "W-we don't know! T-there were golden sporks, and then Will was gone, then he was being c-chased by some dude and Galacta Knight was gone but we couldn't go back for him because we would of died, and then Will just sat by a telephone pole and passed out!"
Now it was Alice's turn to cry. She curled up on the ground, tears leaking out onto the ground. She became acutely aware of the pain in her knees, and sombrely wiped her eyes. She supported Will on her shoulder and began trudging away. "Let's just... We're going home. I don't want another word from any of you tonight. Understand?"
The Bad Bloods looked at each other. Marx looked like he was about to scream cries of victory, but Magolor slapped him across the face scoldingly. "W-we understand," he mumbled quietly.
Alice sighed. "I... I truly am sorry for all this."
"We know."
And with that, the Bad Bloods (minus one member) walked towards home to sleep on their bittersweet victory.