Heroes of Dreamland, Book 6: Kirby and the Fountain's Fate (OLD)

Fighting Our Reflections, Part 2

Sakura's POV:

(not too much earlier:)

As I leap through my door, I can hear Kirby doing the same thing behind me. Pretty much the instant I get inside, though, my door slams shut, leaving me in complete darkness.

"Kirby!" I shout out, just like we agreed to do, but there's no answer. "Ha ha, very funny. This is not exactly a good time to be channeling your inner Magolor, bud!" Still silence. Could it be that he and I were somehow taken to completely different places? And if that's the case, is he safe?

Shivering a bit, I hold the hilt of my sword tighter and take a couple of steps forward. "Where am I?" I wonder under my breath, mentally questioning whether holding up my sword for light or making a sphere of Light would be safe, but before I can do either one, a whole bunch of lights come on, rendering me pretty much blind for a second. "Great. Just peachy. Lovely. Wonderful. All that, y'know?"

No one answers my disgruntled inappreciation of the light, but after my eyes adjust and I can see where I'm at, I don't mind the brightness at all anymore. "A Copy Ability room?..." I wonder slowly, recognizing it from my quest to defeat the Monstrous Lightning. I can't help but giggle as I remember how many times we paused in rooms just like this, only with only maybe three Copy Abilities, waiting for Kirby to make up his mind over which Ability would be best. And, of course, there were a few times when his ever-so-judiciously selected Copy Ability turned out to be hardly helpful at all against whatever boss or mid-boss awaited us. It's so easy to re-imagine Meta Knight standing and staring at the wall in impatience, while me and Bandana Dee did something like play hacky-sack with a rock covered in leaves bound around it with some vines. Good times, good times, even if it did always get really old really fast back then.

Shaking off the trip down memory lane, I look down both walls, both of which are absolutely covered with Copy Abilities. There's all the ones I know, and even a couple that I'm not too familiar with, like Ball and Light. (Light turns out to only make a bright flash that has nothing to do with our Lights, unfortunately, and Ball... Let's not talk about Ball. It was... interesting. I'll say that and leave it there.)

Several minutes later, once I've ejected the Ability and got my arms and feet back (thank goodness), I pick up my sword from where it fell on the floor and take one last look at the Copy Essences before slowly shaking my head and moving on. Sure, I can use the Abilities at times, but this is one time when I have a feeling that only Cherry Star will make for a good ally.

At the end of the hall-like room, complete with velvet draperies and torch-shaped lamps on the walls, one in between each Copy Pedestal, waits a few Maxim Tomatoes, which I carefully stick in my cape. Even if I make it through this coming battle just fine (which I have a feeling it's not going to be too easy, somehow,) it's always a good idea to have some of these things on hand.

Finally, I stand in front of the three-star door and take a deep breath before stepping through it. These things always make me feel a bit dizzy, because there's this strange sort of... pulling sensation. It's kinda like warping, but not quite. And then, before you know it, you're who-knows-where. Although supposedly these doors can't move you very far, I always have a bit of a silly fear that one day I'm gonna go through one and end up on some deserted asteroid. (Hey, give me a break. We all have entirely illogical paranoias of our own... Don't we?)

On the other side of this particular door waits a calm, quiet forest. At first it seems peaceful, but as I cautiously begin to move along, I realize that it actually feels more like there's a frightened atmosphere about the place. No birds sing, there's no breeze, and I can't hear any sort of running water. It's almost like the whole woods have fallen silent, afraid that any noise might cause something terrible to happen.