Intro to Painting
A Kirby One-Shot

Notes: This fic is set during the events of Kirby's Dream Land 3. Kirby and Gooey are travelling together, and have ventured up to the boss of Level 4, Cloudy Park.

Pop Star was in a state of crisis.

Dark Matter – the malevolent force of despair that had threatened the Rainbow Islands just two years prior – had returned. And this time, it was targeting much more than just a collection of isles.

Now, it had brought along a swarm of itself, covering the skies with its abundant numbers, and—after shattering the planetary rings of Pop Star in a show of force—began a campaign of terror amongst the denizens of Dream Land.

If rumors are to be believed, Dark Matter seemed to be seeking the mythical Heart Stars – artifacts of positive energy which, if harnessed, have the potential to purge regions of the darkness within.

What it wanted to do with them was unknown – but it was clear that if they were to fall into their hands…

…it would mean the end of peace on Pop Star.

And no one – not on the planet, not even in the galaxy – would be safe.

Kirby and Gooey, of course, were not about to let that happen. And neither were their Animal Buddies, who had assisted the pink savior in the past Dark Matter crisis.

Together, they ventured throughout the land, acquiring Heart Stars from assisting residents with their troubles. But as they did, Dark Matter continued to wreak havoc upon the rest of Pop Star – including those in possession of said Heart Stars whom Kirby had not come across yet.

And when one such bearer is agitated enough, to the point where it seems the world itself is against them, well…

…it's only natural that misunderstandings tend to happen.

[Adeleine]

Cloudy Park – Strawberry Peak

I'm a bit of a wanderer by nature.

As a budding artist, I like to walk around the planet and get inspired by the stuff I see. Pop Star has a lot of really colorful environments; I haven't run out of inspiration for months. Coming here to study all the art was really a good idea, for the most part.

But if there's one thing I don't like about Pop Star (right now, anyway), it's all the weird black blobby… stuff floating in the air.

Normally, I'd just treat them as part of the scenery – but ever since I picked up this weird object (it's a heart, then it's a star, then it's a heart again, and what even is this thing?), they've been chasing me non-stop!

The first time I saw them was a terrifying experience. They—They just swooped down, trying to grab at the thing I found, and they were pretty rude about it too! They didn't answer any of the questions I had at all!

And those eyes…! Those eyes…!

What… What are they!?

They're the stuff of nightmares!

There was no way I could just stand around with t-them on my tail! I ran all about Cloudy Park trying to get away from them—anything to get away from them—but somehow, they just kept finding me again! It didn't matter where I went, or who was around – they'd always find a way back on my trail. And the worst thing about them is that I don't know what they want! I don't know who they are!

What's so important about this… hearty, starry thing that they'd chase me to the ends of Pop Star for it!?

Just what's going on!?

I'm holed up atop the weird strawberry place here, trying not to shiver too much from fright. I—I don't want to get hurt, not by that—that darkness. Nobody should have to deal with that.

So why do I have to!?

I don't know what's going on around here, but I don't like it. Not one bit. And I can't settle down, either; those things could come back to haunt me at any second. I've got a canvas made out of clouds set up here, just in case, too. I've… I've never been in a f-fight before, but… I—I have to t-try, r-right!?

I… I can't just run away forever…! So—So w-whatever comes to f-face me, I'll… I'll…! I'll beat them with my p-painting powers! T-That'll show 'em, r-right!?

But even with that r-resolve, I… I can't stop my h-hands from s-shaking. It's getting harder to get a grip on my paintbrush (which I'm holding with both my hands), and I'm currently hiding behind my cloudy easel and trying d-desperately not to try and escape…

I wailed a little loudly. I'm—I'm just a painter! An ordinary girl! I can't deal with this!

Maybe—Maybe the b-blobs are gone now? It might be safe to come out now…

…but what if they aren't? What if I take one step, and—and then…!

"Ohhhhhhh…!" I whined. "I wish I were home right now…!" But no amount of wishing was gonna get me out of my current predicament.

Just then, I heard some voices approaching my strawberry hideout. Slowly, I craned my ear out in order to get a better idea of what the voices were saying.

"You know… We've had to fight…" The first voice seemed to be of a guy – at least, I think it was a guy; he sounded a lot like a kid, so it was a bit hard to tell (but then again, I'm a kid too). Whatever he was talking about, though… "…infected by them… do things… violently…"

'Infected'? 'Violently'? Were… Were they in league with the weird black things in the sky!?

"That'd be nice… We should… enemies…" The second guy's voice sounded much more… out-of-this-world, and by that, I meant his mind seemed to be not on this world. There was something about it that sounded pretty… airy? Dreamy? I'm not sure, but… either way, the subject material was…! "Share the food… Make food…"

My mind was already filling the blanks. They're here to make food out of me – and in a violent manner, too! I started shaking harder.

I don't wanna be food! I still have so much I want to see in life!

I—I'd taste terrible, anyway! People taste terrible in general! I-Isn't that enough to dissuade them!?

…please?

P-Pretty please?

…

…n-no?

…

…alright, then.

If they—if they don't want to do things nicely, then I'm not gonna do things nicely, either. I'm sick and tired of just running away!

If it's a fight they want, it's a fight they're going to get!

I steeled my face in determination. I'm not gonna let them walk over me now! I've seen a lotta things on my journeys – and I can definitely use them to fight my enemies! They're gonna be so shocked, they'll wish they hadn't tried to torment me!

Their reign of terror ends here. I guarantee it!

Now, I just gotta climb up my canvas…

[Kirby]

Cloudy Park – Strawberry Pass

It's been a pretty rough week, all things considered.

I mean, I thought I had seen the last of this 'Dark Matter' stuff two years ago. It's hard to forget slicing the wannabe dark swordsman—and then its weird flower form, too—with the Rainbow Sword, after all.

Though, I probably should've made sure it was, like, actually, for realsies dead.

Then we might not be in this situation, with the whole planet absolutely covered in Dark Matter.

But it hasn't been all bad! I've got Gooey by my side, and the rest of the Animal Buddies too – Rick, Kine, Coo; and even Chuchu, Nago, and Pitch. And we've helped out a lot of people along the way too; not to mention, we got all these Heart Stars as thanks.

I never thought I'd see authentic Heart Stars myself. I've heard about them on my journeys throughout space, but still—they're the stuff of legend, you know? (I mean, so am I, basically, but—that's different.) You don't just come across concentrated positivity like that in everyday life. They're like the Star Rod, and the Rainbow Drops, and the Sparkling Stars, and…

…huh. I'm only now just realizing the amount of ancient artifacts Pop Star has. That's… weird.

Like, really weird.

(Is there a reason for that?)

'Betcha Meta Knight would have a lot of things to say about that, if he wasn't 'out training' at present. (Would our current crisis count as training to him?) I wonder if he's still sore over me taking down his beloved Halberd.

(If he is, then—you deserve it for trying to take over Dream Land, buddy!)

Anyway—we're coming across the end of Cloudy Park right now. So far, I have about twenty-seven Heart Stars – twenty-four from just helping people out (hurray for the Power of Friendship™!), and three from taking down possessed bosses – and up ahead, there should be a boss with the twenty-eighth Heart Star. I'm hoping I can get there before all the Dark Matter does, but I'm not exactly holding my breath.

"Hey, look," Gooey drooled beside me. "There's a big strawberry, right there." His tongue darted all about him as he stared. "I like strawberries. Do you think we can eat it?"

I raised an eyebrow at my companion. Gooey is… a strange person, to put it mildly. He showed up around the same time as the last Dark Matter crisis, just wandering around and drooling a whole lot. We've become good friends, even if he's a bit airy – though I can't help but feel that he's related to Dark Matter in some way.

His blobby appearance, his suspicious timing, his rather eccentric personality (okay, maybe not that last part)… It's all too convenient not to think about.

But… he's so airy, I don't think it matter even if he does happen to be a piece of Dark Matter, or something. I mean—he's been a good friend, and that's good enough for me.

Friendship matters the most to me.

"Well, maybe after we beat the boss inside," I offered, my broom on my back, "we can try it out. Who knows—it might actually be edible." I hope it is, honestly – I'm getting a little hungry. We've been travelling all this way for a while; anyone would want a break after that. "I just wonder if it's actually strawberry-flavored." Wouldn't it be a hoot, for the thing to appear as a strawberry only to turn out to be grape-flavored instead?

"It looks like a strawberry. It's red like a strawberry. So it's a strawberry to me," he declared. As usual, Gooey's logic never fails to get me chuckling. Where has my life been without him? "Strawberries are nice," he continued. "They're good. We should have some."

"Yes we should, Gooey. Yes we should."

At last, we had approached the entryway into the big strawberry structure. From afar, it could be taken as a little bubbly, maybe. The only thing that could make this more enticing was if this was Candy Park rather than Cloudy Park. Hmm… that gets me thinking. Has Mario seen any food-constructed places during his own adventures? I should ask him sometime. I'd love to see them if he has.

"Here we are," I said. "Strawberry Peak. It looks exactly as I imagined." I went up and prodded the structure; it was fluffy and wispy. Definitely not solid material – or food material, for that matter. Maybe it could be cotton candy? "I think we should be able to pass through the walls here. Hopefully, there won't be anything surprising on the other side."

"Why would there be something surprising?" Gooey asked, his whole body tilting a little in confusion. "Strawberries are strawberries, right? Strawberries aren't surprising at all…"

"This might be a unique strawberry," I offered. "I mean, it's not like we've ever seen a 'strawberry' like this one before."

"Hmm. I guess you're right…"

"You know, though… We've had to fight every boss so far because Dark Matter had possessed them." Whispy, Acro, Pon and Con – none of them were willing to listen to reason because of that, and we had to beat the Dark Matter out of them before we could get to their Heart Stars. "Hopefully, whoever's inside here hasn't been infected by them yet. I'd love to do things a little peacefully rather than violently, for a change." Positivity, rather than negativity, you know?

"That'd be nice," Gooey said airily. "We should all be good friends. Not enemies. Like you always say." He looked back up at the cloudy structure. "We can share food with them, then. Friends make food… I think."

"I think you mean 'food makes friends,'" I smiled.

"Oh. Is that it?" Gooey's tongue continued to drool. "Okay, if that's what you say."

I shook my head. "Right. Enough standing around. We should head in. The Heart Star awaits!" And without any further hesitation, I walked right into Strawberry Peak.

Cloudy Park – Strawberry Peak

Going in, things felt fluffy. Like, really fluffy. It was like laying down on a pillow; that was how soft it was. I wouldn't be surprised if it would make a decent pillow substitute.

Anyway, I emerged into the interior of Strawberry Peak – and what lay before me was a sight in itself.

As expected, I was surrounded by the pink walls that made up the structure. The rather calm color scheme gave the whole place a sort of homely appeal, if I'm being honest. More astounding, however, was the large opening opposite of me, where I could see the sky in all its glory. If it were nighttime, I bet it'd make a great place to watch a meteor shower, or just count all the stars in the sky.

Gooey emerged beside me soon after, though it was clear his mind wasn't quite on our overall surroundings. Sticking out on his tongue was a piece of the cloudy wall, evidently taken off so he could do a bit of taste-testing. I watched as he slurped up the piece into his mouth and gulped it down his throat.

A little silence passed. "Tastes like cotton candy," he said finally. "I like cotton candy."

"Wait, really!?" I was a little shocked. My guess was actually true? "Ooh, now I wanna have a bite—wait, no, no," I shook my head again. "I gotta stay focused. Can't get distracted now." I looked back around at the general area; despite my expectations, the only people in this room seemed to be me and Gooey. Where was the boss?

It was only then that I noticed the large easel placed smack dab in the middle of the room. And by large, I meant large; this thing practically towered over me and Gooey. It was definitely out of place. Something like this just doesn't pop up from nowhere. That meant someone had been here before us. But who? And where are they now?

"That's strange…" I muttered aloud. "There should be a boss here…" Cupping my hands to my mouth, I proceeded to shout, "Hey! Is there anybody there!? Please answer us!"

…no reply. Dang, I was hoping someone would call back.

"…hello?" Gooey decided to try his luck, though he wasn't shouting like me. "We want to be friends. Can we be friends? I promise I won't bite. Because I don't have teeth."

…still nothing.

"…maybe we came to the wrong place," I said slowly. My intuition's never been wrong like this before – but I guess there's a first for everything. "Well, we've still got the Ice Mountains left to go," I shrugged. "If there's nobody here then, we'll just have to come back later." That was a good battle plan.

"Okay," Gooey replied. "We can make friends later."

But right as we were turning to leave, a voice cried out and stopped us in our tracks: "S-Stop right there, e-evildoers!"

I froze. (So my intuition was correct.)

The voice seemed to be coming from above – and it seemed like it was from a girl, too – so I looked up. On top of the easel, balanced rather precariously I might add, was the silhouette of a young girl, wielding… something in her hand. Actually, she seemed to be clutching that thing like it was her lifeline. I couldn't see much else, due to the fact that she was being shadowed by the sun.

"Eh?" Gooey drooled.

"W-Who the heck are you!?" I exclaimed, backing up a bit.

"My name's Adeleine!" she told us, holding up what looked like a—paintbrush? Seriously?—into the sky. "And I'm—and I'm here to stop you in your tracks!"

Artful Adventurer
Adeleine

"Stop us… in our tracks?" I repeated, confused. What is she going on about?

"That's right! You've been abusing your powers for far too long!" she was proclaiming, spouting a whole litany of words which I wasn't understanding at all. (And neither was Gooey; but then again, he doesn't seem to understand a whole lotta things.) "So I'm gonna—I'm gonna—! W-whoa, whoaaaaaa!" She started wobbling on one foot, aimlessly trying to keep her balance atop the pole she was on, arms flailing about—and then she fell right off the canvas, face-first onto the floor.

A 'whump!' was the only thing that came from her impact. A muffled mumble came from her mouth right after.

…okayyyyy. That just happened.

"H-Hey… Are you… okay?" I asked, carefully stepping a little closer. "W-Whatever's going on, I'm—I'm sure we can talk it out…?"

Quickly, Adeleine got back up on her feet, and I finally managed to get a good look at her. She wasn't very tall; she's at least twice my height, maybe. Her face was very much that of a young girl's, unsurprisingly, and was accompanied by a pair of captivating purple eyes and a red beret on her head. She was wearing a green t-shirt with a white collar and a yellow button, and on her feet were brown shoes with blue cuffs.

Most noticeably, in one hand was the aforementioned paintbrush – which was interestingly already dripping with paint – and in the other, was a palette of several colors; presumably the place where the dripping paint had come from. She… She can't intend to fight us with those as her chosen weapons, right? (At least a yo-yo would hit hard! What's she gonna do, brush me to death?)

"T-There's no way I'll fall for your words!" she declared, aiming her paintbrush at us (though I could see her hand wavering, as if she were scared). "I-I heard what you were saying before!" Eh? "About—about 'making food' out of me and 'doing things violently' and stuff!" …uhh, when did I say that? "D-Don't think I didn't understand w-what you meant by t-that! You… You're just t-trying to get me to lower my guard!"

She's completely mad! "What!? No, that's not it!" I denied. "W-We don't have any plans like that! Just calm down!"

"Yeah. We just want to share some food," Gooey airily corrected. "I don't see what that has to do with shields."

(That's—that's not what she meant by 'guard', Gooey…)

"Yeah, make me into food and then share it! I bet you think I taste like a sweet tomato, or a riceball, don't you!?" I have no idea where any of this was coming from. Has she been isolated for too long, or something!? (And I don't eat people for their taste!) "Well, let me tell you this," she hissed. "Just because you're allied with them, doesn't mean I'm not in on your schemes!"

"'Them'? You mean… Dark Matter?" I asked.

"Yeah! You know: those black, blobby… flying things in the sky! The ones all over the place! The ones that keep trying to steal t-this thing from me!" Delicately balancing her brush on her palette, she reached into her pocket and brought out—

My eyes widened. "The Heart Star!" I breathed.

That was definitely a Heart Star. It was yellow and pink and switching forms, cycling between being heart and a star at regular intervals. I dunno how she came across it—or how she's lasted this long with it—but there's no denying that's the same as the many I have with me.

"Oh, look," Gooey drooled again. "It's the friendship thing. I like friendship. Is she a friend, too?" Sadly, she isn't – at least not right now.

"Ever since I picked this thing up," she began explaining, "those—those t-things have chased me to the moon and back! I can't get a single second without them trying to swarm me for this! And I bet you're here to do the same thing, you—you jerk evildoers!"

"You've got that wrong! That's not it! C-C'mon, won't you listen to me!?" I tried to plead with her – but something tells me she was a little too wound up for anything to get through to her. "We're not gonna hurt you! We just want the Heart Star, that's it!"

"I'm not gonna do as you want! I'm done running from you!" Ugh, I'm getting nowhere like this! "W-When I take you down, I'm gonna get you to make those things leave me alone!" Adeleine put the Heart Star back in her pocket and regained a grip on her paintbrush. "S-So—you b-better get ready!" She hopped onto her cloud canvas, ready to paint—"Because this is gonna hurt a lot! For you, I mean!"

"We can still talk this out!" I pleaded, one last time. But she wasn't listening anymore; her paintbrush was dipping into her palette and rapidly covering the cloud which she was using as paper. And I do mean rapidly: she was moving all about the canvas as she drew!

Eventually, she finished her painting, which seemed to be that of… an Ice Dragon?

I remember that creature. It proved itself a pretty formidable foe back on the Rainbow Islands. But why would she sketch that out here, when it's not actually gonna help? I mean, it's a pretty picture and all, but still…

Adeleine stopped from her place on the canvas, turned around, and pointed her paintbrush at us. "Get 'em!" she cried. Suddenly, the painted Ice Dragon started wiggling around, much to my surprise – and then, it hopped right out of the canvas and charged straight toward us!

"Wait, what!?" I yelped, just barely getting out of the way. What the heck is this girl capable of!?

…and how can I make that a Copy Ability?

"Oh, she can make people things," Gooey idly noticed, waltzing out of the Ice Dragon's trajectory. "Can she paint us food? I'd like food…"

"Not now, Gooey!" I replied, getting my broom ready—how strange, that I'm going into this fight with Cleaning, of all things? "We've got a fight to commence!"

VS. Adeleine

This plucky painter's ticked off, and she's taking her rage out on you! Her painting prowess allows her to create enemies to fight for her, though they're not very durable as the real thing. Don't give up, Kirby, Gooey – show her just what you're capable of!

VS. Painted Ice Dragon

A drawn recreation of a spectral dragon. This ancient dragon lifeform has lived through a number of ages. Most dragons breathe fire, but this blue dragon attacks with ice that it produces internally.

[Adeleine]

I hid behind my little cloud canvas as I watched my newly drawn creation come alive onto my enemies. Yes! I thought vindictively. That's why you don't mess with me! It's about time I got back at the weird things trying to chase me – even if it's indirectly!

The little pink guy looked panicked for a bit before he dove outta the way from my Ice Dragon. The blue blob he was with didn't seem concerned for some reason – is he not taking me seriously!? Why that little…!

The Ice Dragon, seemingly nonchalant toward the dodge, spun around and kept charging toward the little puffball, propelling himself forward using its ice breath… somehow. In retaliation, the little puffball lifted his broom and smacked the dragon in the cheek. I dunno how that did any damage, but somehow it did.

"What the heck is this!?" I heard the pink guy say to himself. "Drawings that actually come alive!?"

"That's the power of my paint!" I shouted from my hiding place. "My Ice Dragon is totally real! You'll never be able to defeat it!" I probably shouldn't be bragging like this, but I'm tired, alright!? Cut me some slack here!

The dragon, pulled the other way thanks to its momentum, came to a stop a little while after and turned around. From its mouth, it ejected a miniature hill of ice cubes, and then proceeded to kick them one by one toward the weird duo. Using his broom, the pink guy played hockey with the dragon's ice cubes, the two of them repeatedly sweeping and swinging them back at each other.

The blob guy, meanwhile, grabbed at one of the cubes with his tongue (whoa, that tongue's long!) and summarily began playing with it, bouncing it in the air without a care in the world. I'm getting confused; shouldn't he be fighting?

Eventually though, he released the ice cube into his mouth and… ate it, I think? I can't tell! It just slipped in and he doesn't look any different after! If he can do that to that so easily… then what's stopping him from snatching me with that tongue!?

Ohhhh… What have you gotten yourself into, Adeleine?

With his tongue still swinging around, the blob guy started to wander off-track. Anxiously, I watched his every move. If—If he c-comes over here, then I'll be ready for h-him! S-See? It's—It's not like I'm t-trembling in my b-boots or anything! (S-Seriously, he doesn't scare me! N-Not at all!)

"What is he doing?" I fretted, trying not to let my teeth clatter and attract his attention. While the pink guy and my Ice Dragon kept playing floor hot potato (or would it be cold potato?), blob guy was just zigzagging all over the place. He didn't seem to have any real destination, and his eyes seemed to be crossed, too. Was… Was this a distraction? Was he trying to get me to lose concentration, or something?

My eyes narrowed. Well, I'm definitely not gonna let him do that! I glared at his moving form, determined not to lose. We'll see who's smiling after this ends! Who knows what kind of devious thoughts are going through his brain, behind that ditzy façade? He could actually be a mustache-twirling evil villain of doom!

…what? D-Don't look at me like that!

It—It could totally be true!

R-Really!

I kept watching him as he bumbled about, still with no real purpose, and I kept glaring at him as he did. Then I noticed he was actually getting closer to my Ice Dragon – and it was too distracted with ice cube tennis to notice. I tried to warn it—"Ice Dragon, watch out!"—but by then, it was too late.

The moment the Ice Dragon stopped its game, blob guy jumped in front of his face—and iced him right down his throat. I watched in horror as it was forced to take it, and before long, it went down, blown to pieces with stars flying away.

"Hey, great job there, Gooey!" little pinky complimented his friend(?). D-Don't compliment him; that d-didn't count!

"That felt nice," 'Gooey' drooled. "I liked it when he blew up. You did good too, Kirby." Grrrrrrr…!

I stepped out in front of the chaos, feeling my rage building up. "H-How!?" I stammered, my eye twitching. "T-That was an Ice Dragon! You two can't have been able to take it down like that!" It's one of the most formidable beasts I've seen! Seriously!

"To be fair, we've seen it before," little pinky commented—oh, what did he know!?

"Fine then! If he didn't work, maybe this guy will!" I rushed about the canvas again, the next boss enemy already on my mind. Within seconds, the image of a fish came into existence, a light-bulb-like antenna dangling from its head and a rather sharp-looking back. It, too, became animated and hopped right out of the cloud I painted it on, ready to do battle. "Go, Sweet Stuff!"

VS. Painted Sweet Stuff

A drawn recreation of a fish-like creature from the Rainbow Islands. This anglerfish can attack its prey by shooting electric bolts from its dangling antenna. Though it prefers to live in water, it can function on land as well.

Contrary to what a fish normally does, Sweet Stuff began to bounce, making long strides as it journeyed toward my foes. "This guy, too!?" the pink guy—Kirby, apparently—grumbled while brandishing his broom. "What's he even doing, jumping around like that? Does he want to be Kine or something?"

"He and Kine might make good friends," Gooey spoke up (Who's Kine? Who are any of you!?). "They both like water, I think."

"Uhh, you know, Kine was—oh, whatever. Let's get to fighting this guy already!"

Sweet Stuff ended up trying to slam Kirby and Gooey into the ground using its movement prowess. (Can the real thing actually do stuff like that? I should find out sometime…) Every now and again, its antenna would light up and shoot spark shots at 'em – and they actually took a couple hits because it was so fast! "Yeah!" I whispered. "Keep at it, Sweet Stuff!"

It was fun, I'll admit, to watch the fish jump and jump and jump.

Bounce!

Bounce!

Bounce!

Tee-hee! I internally giggled. Look at 'em go! These jerks don't know what they're in for!

"Stay still!" Kirby shouted, trying to sweep at the fish with his broom – and failing miserably. Every time he tried, Sweet Stuff hopped barely out of his reach. Serves you right! "Ugh, we're not getting anywhere like this! Gooey, can't you do anything?"

Gooey, I saw, was idly breathing ice away from Sweet Stuff. A lot of ice. So much so that a miniature mountain of it was being created. I didn't know how that was going to help, but after what he did to my Ice Dragon, I wasn't gonna discount anything he was doing.

"…Gooey? Buddy?" And then Kirby got briefly smothered by Sweet Stuff landing on him.

"Oh, sweet NOVA—mmblmlbm!" he yelped, Sweet Stuff taking the pleasure to jump on him a few more times. Ha ha! Take that! I thought, the fish rebounding off of him when it was done.

Kirby looked pretty disoriented from the impact, stumbling about with his eyes spinning. "Well…" he groaned, "screw you too, fishie…"

Finally, Gooey had finished his breathing exercise or something and—oh dear Star Rod, that's a big pile of ice! It's covering a pretty wide area – and it's big, to boot! And sharp! How the heck could he even make that in such a short time!? What is he!?

Using his tongue, he gave the ice a little push forward – and Sweet Stuff proceeded to land right on it. Its eyes immediately widened, but it couldn't do anything more than writhe around in agony. No, no, no, no, no! H-How does this keep happening!?

Kirby managed to shake off his disorientation and looked at the stuck Sweet Stuff with something resembling surprise. (Oh come on, you don't get to be the one with that expression!) "…jeez, you really know how to surprise me, don't you Gooey?" he remarked, his trusty broom spinning around in his hand. "Alright – let's take him out!"

And with that, they started battering the poor fish with everything they had – ice attacks and broom sweeps and all – and I could only watch in horror as my poor creation exploded into stars, just like my Ice Dragon did. I… I knew they were monsters! They really are just like those… dark thingies!

I stepped out again. "T-That was just a warm-up!" I tried to claim, feeling my legs starting to wobble—no, I can't give up here! "W-What I've got next is gonna blow you right away!"

"We can still talk this out," the pink jerkwad said—but that was clearly a lie!

"No way!" I spat. "You can't get out of this now!" I went back to painting, putting my all into recreating the next set of bosses for them to face. Before long, I managed to draw up two figures: one that looked like the sun (and was on fire), and one that looked like the moon (and had feet). Again, I pointed the paintbrush at Kirby and Gooey and shouted—"Mr. Shine! Mr. Bright! Attack!"

VS. Painted Shine & Bright

A drawn recreation of two celestial beings. These two often reside close to the Butter Buildings, and hold the power to temporarily alter the time of day of their general location (though these copies cannot).

[Kirby]

This girl's something else, I swear!

Making an Ice Dragon, Sweet Stuff, even Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright, just like that? I've never seen anything like it! And I've seen quite a lot of things on my journeys, let me tell you that!

And they did a fair job at acting like the real thing, too, even if Sweet Stuff is definitely more of an aquatic creature than a land one. (That jumping ability rivals Mario's, seriously.) The faux-Mr. Shine and faux-Mr. Bright were even moving about the arena in their typical fashion.

Mr. Bright was first in the air, unleashing a flurry of blazing fireballs down from his place in the sky. Sadly for me, no amount of sweeping would be getting rid of them, so Gooey and I had to do some rather fancy footwork. (Though it's more like blobwork in Gooey's case.) "Whoa!" I yelped, one fireball coming rather dangerously close to my position. "T-Too spicy, there!"

This is seriously getting out-of-hand. I didn't ask for an impromptu boss rush, here – the Arena was enough for me! I'm honestly surprised Gooey has been doing as well as he has – I mean, he is a fair bit ditzy, even in battle.

Anyway—"Enough of this!" I shouted at Mr. Bright, still hanging in the air. "Get down here and face us already!"

He conceded—by charging straight into my face. "MMMMMMM!" That was me getting literal sunburns, and my broom basically turning to ash. And lemme tell you this: being on fire hurts. It hurts a lot.

I screamed, "I'M ON FIRE, I'M ON FIRE!"

I started running around like a headless chicken, summoning another broom and whacking my head to try and put out the flames. (It… didn't work. Like, at all.) Gooey waltzed on toward me and helpfully put it out for me using his ice breath (he's getting quite a lot of mileage out of it, huh). As the wave of coldness washed all over me, I calmed down and stopped dashing about.

"Phew!" I wiped the sweat from my head – I hope my little cap didn't get burnt in the process. (…actually, now that I think about it, how did I not lose my ability…?) I turned to Gooey. "Thanks, Gooey," I said to him.

Gooey stuck out his tongue in appreciation… and then Mr. Shine rolled right into him.

…of course.

Of course he did.

We couldn't have this go easily, could we?

I'm not sure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright weren't doing their usual day-night routine. On one hand, we have less attacks to deal with – but on the other, they can attack simultaneously now. What a double-edged sword.

Well, I'm not letting that stop me now! If Adeleine thinks this is gonna bring me and Gooey down, she's got another thing coming! "Don't worry Gooey, I'll take care of Mr. Shine here!" I declared – and I meant that. I ran over to the rolling moon, briefly catching a glimpse of Gooey – who, per usual, looked fairly unaffected from the collision.

Mr. Shine turned around and tried to bowl me over, but this time, I grabbed my broom and brushed, creating a little gust of wind that sent him tripping and falling to the ground. Since he was bowled over now rather than me, I decided to go in for the kill, slamming my broom on his head over and over.

("Oh come on!" I heard Adeleine shout from behind her canvas. "Can you just, like—not do that!? Go down already, come on!")

A blue light out of the corner of my eye alerted me to the fact that Mr. Bright was doing his laser attack, and I sidestepped away. As he came in overhead, I tossed my broom in the air like a baton – and thankfully enough, it hit him and didn't burn to dust. Or disintegrated by the laser, for that matter.

Gooey followed in right after, flying in to dole another healthy dose of ice-cold… well, ice onto the poor sunshine giver. Thanks to the power of malfunctioning conventions, Mr. Bright was thoroughly affected by it, his never-ending flames briefly seeming to go out. One final broom attack, and he was down (and jeez, these guys seem to be going down pretty easy now). "One down," I stated, "and one more to go!"

Mr. Shine finally managed to get himself back on his feet – I dunno why it took him so long; I mean, he has actual feet, unlike his now-deceased partner – and he looked kind of pissed. He took to the skies immediately and started raining shooting stars down on us at lightning speeds. Unlike Mr. Bright's similar meteor shower, I was prepared, brandishing my broom and deflecting the projectiles away from me.

Gooey wasn't doing half bad himself, discarding his Ice ability and just eating the Recoil Stars instead. Oh, and spitting them out, of course. He's surprisingly good at aiming them too, the incoming Star Bullets hitting Mr. Shine right on target. The boss visibly flinched from each hit, but didn't stop his rain either way – all or nothing, I suppose.

Eventually, I managed to get lucky in deflecting a Recoil Star back onto him, and he was defeated much the same way like his partner. As expected, Adeleine stepped back out from her cover to express disbelief. "Y-You… J-Just how are you able to dispatch them like that!?" she exclaimed, looking increasingly more frazzled as the fight went on. "Y-You should've been defeated by now!"

"I'm the Super Tuff Pink Puff, buddy!" I gave one of my typical smirks. "Like I said: it'll take a lot more than that to bring me down!" Like, I dunno, Marx coming back from the dead or something – but what are the odds that I'll ever see anything like that in my lifetime? "Paint a pretty picture all you want, I'll see through it in a flash!"

"You can act smug all you want," she continued, gritting her teeth, "but I've still got one more ace up my sleeve!" She hopped back onto her canvas, dashing all about as she painted one last boss.

I knew what was coming up even before she finished. The Ice Dragon, Sweet Stuff, Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright… All four of those guys were bosses I faced off against during the first Dark Matter crisis – in that order, too. So by that logic, our final foe should be…

…Kracko.

VS. Painted Kracko

A drawn recreation of a cloud monster who rules the skies. He excels with electrical attacks charged by the atmosphere. Though he may be a fake Kracko, his attacks are certainly very real. Stay sharp, Kirby, Gooey!

And boy, she didn't disappoint. A few seconds later, that familiar cycloptic stormcloud came out of the canvas and prepared to do battle with us. Can't say I've missed him, really. If I'm lucky, this recreation will have problems hitting barn-sized lightning rods, too.

"Hey, look Kirby," Gooey drooled, "it's a cloud. It has an eye. That's cool. What can he do?"

I didn't need to answer; Kracko was happy to let his own children fly after us. The host of Mini-Krackos – can't call them Kracko Jr. now, they're more than just an eye – vainly attempted to ambush us, but they were very easily dispatched. My trusty broom and Gooey's elastic tongue did the job well enough, but that wasn't all Kracko had up his non-existent sleeve.

He ascended on high and attacked with an intense lightning bolt, and I wasn't keen on letting myself stay close to that. Being shocked hurts just as much as being burned (and I mean that in an entirely physical way). It was then that I realized something: This broom isn't gonna work for me.

Cleaning's more of a close-range ability than something like Beam, and Kracko is entirely an airborne behemoth. Sure, I can just spam the baton technique I used earlier, but that doesn't exactly do a lot of damage. I'm gonna need to try my luck with Star Bullets, then, I thought. This is gonna get a little tricky…

Just then, I heard a familiar voice called out, "Hey! Kirby! Gooey!" All four of our eyes – mine, Gooey's, Adeleine's, and Kracko's – shot in one direction to see our incoming visitor.

My eyes lit up. It was one of my Animal Buddies: Chuchu!

"Hello, Chuchu," Gooey dreamily greeted. "Are you here to make friends, too?"

"Chuchu!" I cried with a grin. "You made it!"

"Of course I did," she said, a smile on her face as well. "I'm not about to leave you two alone, after all!" She turned to Adeleine and Kracko, an eyebrow raised at the sight. "Now then, what's going on here?"

Something was going on Adeleine's face now – could it be that Chuchu's presence was breaking through her misconceptions? "H-How can you guys… act so nice…?" she asked, seemingly mostly to herself. She shook her head, trying to get herself back together. "K-Kracko!" she shouted toward the floating stormcloud. "H-Hurry up and take 'em out already!" Kracko looked ready to do as she commanded.

"Oh… You two didn't tell me you were in a fight!" Chuchu perked up. "I'll be glad to help you out then, Kirby!" She ran forward to me and hopped on my head. "Now, let's get ready to fly!"

"Never thought I'd hear you say it." I sat on my broom and—empowered by Chuchu's… Chuchu-ness (how does this work exactly?)—I took to the skies. Now I can fight Kracko with style!

"Hey! You—You guys can't be f-flying like that!" Adeleine protested. "W-W-What are you t-trying to d-do!?" She's sounding more frightened now, as if her whole world was crumbling before her eyes—okay, maybe it's not that dire a situation. "S-Stop it!"

"I'm afraid we can't do that!" Chuchu replied as we flew around. "Don't worry, girl—this'll be over before any more trouble happens!" We charged toward Kracko and slammed into him, the gusts of wind surrounding us doing the damage for us. He attempted to retaliate with his signature dual beam whips, but we easily manage to weave between the incoming sparks.

Incensed, Kracko began to swoop down toward us, continuously spitting out his miniature minions, each of them shooting out little lightning bolts of their own toward us. We soared through the sky as they tried, Chuchu letting out a little "Whoop!" and a cheer as we continued to duck and weave and even take out a few Co-Krackos that got too close to us.

Down below, Gooey was putting his long tongue to good use, snatching Co-Krackos out of the sky to toss right back into Kracko's form. The cycloptic stormcloud was too occupied with chasing us to properly react to the potshots Gooey was taking, so his health just kept draining and draining with every passing second.

Adeleine had gone entirely silent, doing nothing more than staring at the fight happening above her and clenching her paintbrush and palette tighter in her hands. I don't know what's going on in her head right now, but what I do know is that this fight should be almost over.

"I think he's almost down, Kirby!" Chuchu informed me as we made another rotation. Indeed, Kracko was noticeably wobbling as he continued to fly after us, the amount of Co-Krackos by his side drastically reduced from before. "One more hit should do the trick!"

"You're right," I said. "Let's do it then!"

One last time, we gathered our energies and rammed into Kracko once more. Just as she said, this was the final blow. At last, the faux thunderhead cloud finally exploded into several stars, his Co-Krackos disappearing right after him. With our final foe down, Chuchu and I took the time to land and high-five each other (well, a very loose definition of high-five, anyway). "We did it!" she cheered.

"Yay, we did it," Gooey joined in, waddling up beside us. I grinned – when we're together like this, we can conquer anything that stands in our way!

"Alright, that's it!" Adeleine exclaimed, truly riled up at this point. We turned to look at her, standing in front of the canvas again. "You may have taken out all five of my bosses… but that doesn't matter!" She glared at us fiercely. "If those guys can't do it – then I will! Here I come!"

Suddenly, she hopped off of her beloved cloud canvas, and began to charge at us guns blazing, her paintbrush wailing wildly from palette to air and back again. Chuchu and I tensed up for whatever she had to throw at us. If she could paint a litany of bosses to toss at us, then who knows what else is left?

And then she tripped.

And now she's just rolling uncontrollably past us.

The three of us watched as she continued to roll on and on… and eventually bounced right off of the nearby wall, totally defeated.

I winced. Ouch.

…I should probably go help her up.

[Adeleine]

I felt myself impact something, and then I ended up sprawled all over the floor. My eyes spun. "Ohhhhhh…" I groaned aloud, my senses going haywire from exhaustion. That was—that was crazy. I—I think the adrenaline's wearing off now; my limbs feel a little numb now. Ow. Ow. I feel so sore.

Vaguely, I heard a girl's voice call out to me. "Omigosh," she was saying, "are you okay?" Soon thereafter, the girl—Chuchu—came over to me and… started checking me over for any injuries? Huh? Kirby and Gooey followed over soon after as she continued blabbering, "You didn't get too hurt too badly, right? I wouldn't want you to get hurt over what I'm sure is a misunderstanding!"

"W-Wha…?" I said aloud. I didn't get it. Weren't… Weren't these people supposed to be the bad guys? "You mean… you guys… aren't here to eat me?"

"Heck no!"/"Good heavens, no!" Kirby and Chuchu replied at the same time.

Chuchu added, "I'm not the type of person who'd go around eating people! What would make you think that?"

"It's strange, how you just… panicked all of a sudden when we came," Kirby mentioned, "when you don't even know who we are. What's all this about us being with Dark Matter, anyway?"

Well, now that I'm thinking about it… "Okay, it's kind of silly," I started to explain, albeit reluctantly, "but… I just kind of got paranoid, you know? All of the—black blobby things—"

"Dark Matter," he supplied.

"—y-yeah, those things. Anyway, they just wouldn't stop chasing me no matter where I went, and… I got scared and really panicked. I-I mean—I'm not exactly cut out for this, you know?" I gave out a weak chuckle. When I came here to Pop Star, I didn't exactly expect this kind of stuff to happen. All I wanted to do was study all the beautiful art here, and instead I got an alien invasion or whatever all the 'Dark Matter' in the air is. "So… S-Sorry about that."

"Hey, it's alright!" Somehow, Kirby was taking it all in stride. "We all have our off days. There's no reason to apologize when you were just scared. C'mon—let's start over! I'm Kirby, and this is Gooey," he pointed toward the blue blob, whose tongue was still sticking out, "and Chuchu," he concluded, the slime-like person in question smiling widely and waving with one of her… hands?

Since they're being so polite, it's—it's only right I do the same, right? "I'm Adeleine," I greeted, standing back on my feet. "It's… It's nice to meet you too."

Gooey cocked his head. "Adeleine. That's a long name," he remarked. Huh? No it isn't! It's a perfectly short name. A-At least, that's what I think… "Can I call you Ado instead? Ado's nice."

A-Ado, huh? "S-Sure," I agreed, rubbing the back of my head with a blush. "I… I've never gotten a nickname like that, before…"

"That means he likes you!" Chuchu stated. "And I think I like you, too! You're pretty cute, you know? And you're pretty brave, having stuck it out here this long all by yourself. I don't think I could do that myself!"

I blinked in surprise. "R-Really?" I babbled. "Y-You… You really think that?"

"Of course we do!" Kirby replied. "We're friends now! And friends can compliment each other if they want to. It's only natural!"

"F-Friends…" I felt something warm go through my heart at the sound of that. You know, these guys… I think I'd like being friends with them. They're… They're really not all that bad. I mean, if they can just forgive me getting into a fight with them just like that, then… maybe there's room for me in their group. "A-Alright. If… If you really want me to be your friend," I said, "then… I guess I can do that."

Kirby gave a wide smile – one that looked so happy, I wouldn't want to do anything to make it go away. "Great!" he vocalized. "I'm always up for making new friends!"

"Friends are good," Gooey agreed. "Friends are nice. I like having friends. You're a good friend, Ado. That's what I think."

"Yeah, what Gooey said!" Chuchu exclaimed.

I blushed. W-Wow, they're so sweet to me already. "S-Say, while we're at it…" I dug around in my pocket and brought out the heart-star-artifact-thingy I showed them earlier. Somehow, it was glowing a little brighter (though I'm not sure why?). "I think you guys should have this," I told them. "It's not really doing a whole lot for me, and you should get a whole lot more outta of it than I did."

Kirby accepted it easily. "Hey, thanks!" As soon as he did, six of the same thing—he called them 'Heart Stars' earlier, right?—burst out of his… wherever he was keeping those, and started floating around in the sky together in a circle. I looked at them in awe as they orbited around each other. "They're so pretty…" I said. They feel… They feel pretty warm, too, and I'm not even holding them.

Kirby's eyes, however, were being drawn elsewhere – specifically, to the hole facing the sky in Strawberry Peak. "And just in time, too," he muttered.

What did he mean by that? I thought. I turned to look, and saw a huge swarm of Dark Matter coming right for us, getting bigger and bigger as they soared through the sky toward our positions.

I'm—I'm not gonna shy away from this, I… kinda freaked out a little when I saw them. "Oh no, t-they're here!" I yelped. I was about ready to run around in circles like a little baby by this point – but luckily, that didn't have to happen.

The second they tried to get in, the seven Heart Stars glowed even brighter, and they immediately bounced off some sort of barrier. Afterward, they started to spin even faster, and all this black gunk just started coming away from the ground. Actually, I could see the weird darkness rising in the sky beyond as well. It went for a while, until all of it had been expelled from the area.

Kirby danced in celebration. "Aw, yeah!" he cheered. "That's the fourth region cleared of Dark Matter! We've just got the Ice Mountains left to go!"

"That's a relief," I said. This whole crisis will be over and done with soon! I can't wait for when that happens, honestly. I've had enough of not being able to relax. "I'll paint you a whole picnic if you can get that done soon enough."

His eyes widened at what I said. "W-Wait. You can paint food, too?"

("Oh boy," Chuchu said. "You're in for it now, Adeleine."

"What's that mean?" Gooey asked. "Is she gonna be okay?"

…what are they talking about, exactly…?)

"Uhh… yeah," I replied. "Anything I paint comes to life. Is… Is something wrong?"

He stared at me for a little bit longer, before he declared, "…you have to come with us, now. Screw waiting; I'm getting hungry already! If you can cook a picnic like you say, then that'll be a treat!" He grabbed my hand and immediately started to drag me outside of Strawberry Peak. "C'mon, I'll show you everyone else, too! They'll want to see your food too!"

"W-Wait!" I tried to say. "S-Slow down!" It was no use though. He was so excited; I couldn't resist him at all. "G-Guys!" I cried to Chuchu and Gooey, "h-help me out over here!"

It didn't take too long before they started following me and Kirby out, but even they were having trouble keeping up with the 'lil pink puffball. And by then, we were already long out of the monument.

He's really persistent, isn't he? I thought. Then again… There's something about it—and him—that I really like.

…is this what friendship is really all about?

If so… I'll take it.

Maybe… Maybe this crisis has done some good, after all.

It's gonna be a pretty wild ride from here on out!

And I can't wait to make some good art out of it, too!

Have I mentioned how much I really like Adeleine? No? Well, here's more proof for you, just in case.

The idea behind this fic has been rummaging around in my head for a while, much like The First Rival had been. In the vein of that fic, I thought it'd be interesting to reimagine Adeleine's first meeting with Kirby (and Gooey) during the events of Kirby's Dream Land 3, since it's been officially confirmed that she is, in fact, the fourth boss of the game.

Of course, there needs to be a solid reason why she'd get into a battle with Kirby – this isn't Kirby 64, where she was controlled by Dark Matter (and while I could do that here, that'd just be lazy). And she's not the type of person to just jump into a fight out of the blue, either. As such, I retconned things so that the game's bosses were all in the possession of Heart Stars, Dream Land 3's primary collectibles – and from there, things just kind of took off.

I took a few liberties with the boss movesets this time around. Dream Land 3 has Adeleine's recreations sport some rather watered down movesets, which wouldn't be very fun to write. Beefing them up means I can get a little more creative in how the fights play out, which is always nice.

Originally, I wasn't going to have any of the Animal Buddies in – but I think it'd be weird if they weren't present for Dream Land 3's boss fights, so I threw in Chuchu. Why not? It works alright, I think.

Since this fic ended up being longer than expected (I'm not doing this on purpose guys, I'm serious), I decided to throw in some Star Allies-styled boss descriptions. The Ice Dragon's is recycled from Planet Robobot (because I'm lazy), but the rest are all original. They were pretty fun to write, all things considered – I should really do them more.

Well, that's all for now – see you guys around elsewhere!