And so it begins, a year after A Rainbow Tale ends and months off the original release schedule (aka February 2019). There's nothing much to say other than... read... if you want to, that is...

Hidden Chapter 1/?: Origins of an Artful Friendship

Hi! It's me again! Elline!

So it's been a few months since Dark Crafter possessed Claycia and invaded Seventopia. I still have fresh memories of the day I met and saved Kirby and Bandana Dee on Popstar. If I didn't arrive there when I did… I don't even want to think of the consequences.

Since then, Seventopia has been peaceful and quiet. Claycia and I have been monitoring each world and the clay life forms that live on each planet.

Even though a lot of time has passed, Claycia's power hasn't been fully restored so she's been taking it easy. After a long day, I come back to our resort to see her staring out into deep space as if she's looking for something. She tends to do that a lot, ever since she and I first met each other.

Speaking of which, I remember the day Claycia and I first met on that starry planet. I woke up in her cave after apparently being unconscious for so long. I… don't remember what happened to cause me black out. The only thing I remember is that horrible nightmare I had before I woke up.

"EHEHEHEHEHEHEE… EEEEHEHEHEHEHE… EEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEEE…"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Elline abruptly awoke from sleep while hyperventilating. Brief, yet familiar memories flash before her eyes as she calmed herself.

"Are you alright!?" A concerned voice asked.

When she looked at the source of the voice she began to panic unwillingly again. This figure vaguely reminded her of something or someone similar… almost as if she is the dark sorceress from her broken pieces of memory who…

"Shh…. Shh… it's okay, it's okay…" The unknown figure placed a hand on Elline's forehead to stroke it gently. This did the trick as the paintbrush was calming down, despite procuring apprehensive thoughts about the figure's appearance.

"Wha-where am I…?" Elline barely choked out.

"We are located on the Eternal Star, HalfMoon." she answered. "I was exploring a vast windy area and I found you face planted on the ground, surrounded by monsters. I destroyed them before they could lay a hand on you and took you to my cave home. Would you like something to drink?"

It took the paintbrush a few moments to realize that she's incredibly thirsty. Negative thoughts about this mysterious being began to wane.

"Yes… please…" she said with a hoarse voice.

Hearing the answer, the robed figure left Elline alone to go to her makeshift kitchen to get a glass of water. Elline took the opportunity to look around the cave. Truthfully, there is nothing special about it other than yellow star rock declarations all over it. The bed she was laying down on was not a part of the cave however. It was a real genuine colorless bed, which feels stiff to her. There's another colorless bed to her right that is the size of the figure. She wondered why the mysterious robed person possessed these comfy mattresses. She didn't realize that the said person came back with a glass of water until the figure cleared her throat, causing Elline to look back up front. Elline quickly noticed that the figure is levitating which is how she didn't hear footsteps coming back.

"Here you go. Drink up." the figure chirped.

Elline grabbed the drink, muttered a 'thank you' and gulped it down. When the glass was empty, she gasped in relief.

"Thank you again. I don't think I deserve your kindness." She said.

The robe figure smiled and nodded, taking the glass back and hiding it in her robe. "Think nothing of it, my fairy friend."

"Friend?" the paintbrush tilted her head.

"Yes, I consider you to be my friend. Unless… you don't want to…"

Elline heard the sad tone in her voice at the last sentence. Whether this mysterious person was playing with her emotions or not, she didn't think much of it. "N-n-no! I consider you to be my friend too. After all, you helped me and I've yet to repay the favor."

"You don't need to repay me anything. Just seeing you happy is enough." The sorceress sincerely replied.

"No. I have an idea." The paintbrush said.

Before the figure knew it, Elline flew out of the bed and morphed into her paintbrush form. Seeing this form, the figure's face immediately paled in fear for something else to occur. Luckily, nothing bad happened and Elline didn't notice her apprehension. She brushed over her new friend's colorless bed and colored it purple which is the color of her robes. Then she brushed over her own bed and colored it pink, the main color of her body. She returned to normal afterwards.

"Seeing these beds without color looked so wrong. I hope you don't mind me adding extra life to them." Elline shyly said.

"…It really does bring life to my current home." she smiled. "Thank you, my fairy friend."

"If there's more places for me to paint, I'll be on it!" she said in triumph, making the figure giggle.

"I'll make sure that your desires will be acclaimed. By the way, what is your name?"

"My name?" Elline lightly gasped upon realization of not telling her. "M-my name is Elline." She spoke slowly, yet already knowing her name despite having amnesia. Speaking of which, she didn't mention that to the figure yet.

"Well my fairy friend Elline, my name is Claycia and I am a magical sculptress." Claycia proclaimed. "I can create clay out of thin air and use them make new materials or even living beings." The sculptress demonstrated by willfully creating a ball of clay in her palms, then closing her fists to dissipate the built up clay.

"Is that how you made these beds, Claycia?" Elline asked in astonishment.

"Yes, and as you noticed, my power is incomplete on its own." She answered. "I've been travelling throughout the galaxy for some time now. I encountered Halfmoon and remained here for some time to think about… occurrences… in my life. It's the perfect remote planet to get away from everything, yet be close to everything."

Elline tilted her head. "Occurrences? 'Get away from everything, yet be close to everything.'?"

"It's oddly poetic, what I said. Regardless, I plan to start over and begin anew. The best way to do that is to explore Gamble Galaxy to see what is ahead of me."

"Then, I'll come with you." Elline proclaimed before Claycia could continue. "I want to find out what's in store for me. Especially, since I don't remember anything from before I became unconscious. Maybe, exploring the galaxy will help us find my purpose too."

Claycia tensed when Elline mentioned wanting to remember her past. But, Elline didn't notice.

"I like the sound of that, my fairy friend. Tomorrow, we'll depart for the unknown."

"Why not now?" Elline asked. "I'm ready to go!"

"Because it's night time right now. It may not look like it because Halfmoon is eternally shrouded in the curtain of night but with experience, you can tell the difference between day and night on various planets." Claycia explained. Elline yawned immediately after, proving the sculptress's point.

"Well, if you put it like that…" Elline flew back to her newly colored bed. "It'll be fun to sleep in the bed you created and I painted over. The bed feels a lot nicer and comfy too. Almost like its alive…"

Claycia felt her mattress with her palms and nodded in agreement. "Your power is special, Elline. Cherish it and together we'll bring smiles to everyone."

When Claycia didn't hear a response, she turned and found that Elline was asleep with a smile on her face. Claycia smiled too but for a brief moment. She adorned a sad frown as she lay down on her bed.

"I wish to thank the hero who defeated my sister and used the paintbrush for good intentions." Claycia mumbled quietly. "If there really are people out there in this galaxy who do not reek of vile intentions or do not fear kindness, then maybe… I… or we… have another purpose that doesn't involve anything evil. I hope to discover that purpose sooner than later…"

Over the course of various months, the two friends explored Gamble Galaxy. Claycia led Elline through space until she was able to fly at her speeds in space without issue. Despite this, Elline is vulnerable to being swept away by wind velocity on different planets. Regardless, the pair visited many planets and saw many exotic spaceships flying about, including a blue-white color ship with never before seen technology.

The hull is shaped like a seafaring ship with a keel at the bottom and three oars on each side, and a topsail on a single mast. There are two great wings on its aft, flanking its engines. The creature on deck is short with no feet and detached hands with white cream mittens. It bears a regal blue suit that is decorated with a white cape with gold and purple trimmings, gold-trimmed cog designs, and wears a white scarf with an interwoven blue belt. Most of his face is concealed by the scarf and the rest of his head is covered by his hood. The visible parts show his brown face with oval-shaped yellow eyes. The creature happily waved at the duo, the latter eagerly returned the waving, seeing that this creature is a friend. The creature watched them fly away before flying away on the Lor Starcutter itself.

In addition to the travelling, Claycia was teaching Elline how to harness her powers. Elline first learned her signature Rainbow Rope technique. With more guidance from the sculptress, she learned some other tricks inherited from the rope technique such as the Rainbow Rope shield to block attacks. But what really shocked her was that she had the hidden ability to transform almost any living thing into an artful creation of her choice with only a piece of paper to transfer the creation from.

"My, I never imagined that you could perform a feat like this on your first try." Claycia said as she and Elline watched a rocket morphed rock launch into the sky.

"Y-You knew I could do that?" Elline gasped. Claycia lightly chuckled.

"I sensed the potential in you. So I helped you hone your ability to the fullest." Clayca answered truthfully, with Elline blinking silently in surprise. "Anyways, let's go to another planet."

"Finally…!" Elline moaned as they took to the sky. "I'd thought we'd never leave. It's so hot here on Rock Star."

"The heat is annoying but I'm too fascinated by the planet's gravitational forces to not care about it. The structure of the rocks as they implode and explode to and from the center is intriguing to see…" Claycia continued to ramble, with Elline half paying attention to her talking.

Some unknown time later, the duo made their way to an abandoned factory on Shiver Star. Half of the factory is has dangerous and operational moving parts while the other half is a children's playpen of toys. Claycia silently noted that someone was here before them long ago in search of something based on the broken materials around the factory.

"You see Elline, Shiver Star is an abandoned planet with a lost history. Nobody knows the origin of these vast factories. Some say the planet underwent an ice age which removed a habitat here."

Elline said nothing, only looked around and absorbed the sight of the machinery.

"The reason why we're here is not so much about exploring, rather this area is the best place for me to tell you something of upmost secrecy." Claycia's usual friendly tone was absent. She created a ball of clay that's roughly Elline's size and tossed it on the ground. "Paint this in any color you wish."

Elline nodded before doing what she asked. The color of the ball is pink.

"Something about the colorless clay you created made me remember something very vague. The color popped up in my mind." Elline mentioned before Claycia could say anything.

The sculptress widened her eyes in surprise. Elline obviously didn't see it because of Claycia's concealed hair. "I see. Well, stand behind me."

Elline tilted her head. "What are you going to do Claycia?"

The sculptress took a deep breath. "…Something that I hopefully will never have to use again after this."

Elline gulped and flew behind Claycia and waited for her to do something. Once Claycia made sure Elline was safe, she created another clay ball albeit a much smaller one and tossed it in the air.

The fairy stared at the clay ball with anticipation. Claycia sat in the air with her legs crossed and mediated for a few seconds.

"Redire ad originem ubi sit color nisi unus."

The orb fired a colorless light at the pink clay ball. Elline gasped in fear as the ball instantly lost its color and reverted back to the gray color it had before. Claycia held the pink coloring in her spare hand before dissipating it.

"Wh-Wh-Wh-what did you do?" Elline stuttered.

"Return to the origin where only one color existed. The Draining Light." Claycia mumbled fearfully.

"The Draining… Light?"

Claycia turned to Elline and looked her in the eye. "It is a dark technique that allows the user to siphon the color from anything whether they are living beings or not. If they are living beings, then they'll be petrified after losing their color. The only way to restore them is to return their lost color or paint over them with your special power, Elline."

Elline gasped lightly. She tried to say something but her tongue was caught in her throat.

"Even though you cannot use it yourself… because being hit by this technique would end your life instantly." Claycia thought that last part to herself. "…I showed you this technique because I want to share with you a piece of who I am. And… if something wrongfully gets taken away, you must rightfully return it. You'll never see me use this power again under any circumstance."

"Claycia… what were you doing before you found me?" Elline asked fearfully.

"I was afraid she would ask that." Claycia remained silent to choose her next words carefully. "I… was with my evil sister in another dimension. My sister wanted to create a world… in her own image that's similar to the dimension we used to live at. I followed her ideology before realizing how ridiculous it was. I didn't want to commit to a life of stealing from others and have static and sour moods everywhere."

Elline slowly nodded, accepting the answer. "So… what happened to your sister?"

"She was destroyed by someone heroic. I don't know who it was but I'm deeply thankful to the one who put my sister to rest." Claycia smiled sadly.

"Oh… I'm sorry." Elline looked down with soft eyes. "I didn't mean for you to bring up the past like this."

"Oh nonsense." Claycia's happy tone returned slowly. "Besides, I can create a bright future with my new sister right here."

Elline brightly smiled and tightly hugged Claycia with the sculptress returning it instantly. Thoughts of the Draining Light evaporated in her mind.

"Claycia, I hope we'll always be together forever…" Elline smiled.

"This is a promise that I can keep, Elline." Claycia said. "Come. There is more I must teach you."

Elline's smile faded. Claycia anticipated this, however.

"Do not worry, my fairy friend as the next techniques will are not evil. I'm sure that you can replicate them yourself." The sculptress reassured. This did uplift Elline's spirits but she was still a bit apprehensive. "One day, I'll tell you more about my past. But today, we talk about the future..."

"A… new host… at last." an unknown voice echoed.

Claycia suddenly turned around and stared at the ceiling, her blood running cold at the sound of a mysterious yet disturbing voice. Confused by this, Elline flew in her vision.

"Umm, what's wrong Claycia?" she asked.

"…It's nothing, my fairy friend." She shook her head to clear her mind, silently grateful that Elline didn't hear what she heard. "I thought I heard something, but it was just my imagination."

Contempt with that answer, Elline began to pull the sculptress's hand elsewhere. "Okay, well, let's go continue my training!"

Smiling at the eagerness of the reincarnated Power Paintbrush, she nodded and accompanied her deep into the factory. Still, the thought of a dark being potentially watching them from elsewhere remained at the back of her mind. She shuddered at the thought. The last thing she needs is a reminiscent of her past stalking her.

Meanwhile, in the orbit of Shiver Star, an unusual purple sun shade had been observing Claycia, including the phenomena she demonstrated, despite the height, distance and location relative to where she is.

The duo continued onward, exploring the factory while simultaneously teaching Elline about the Secret Phrases. Trusting Elline to keep the information between them, Claycia teaches her the implications and the meaning of the words. Later on at night, while Elline is sleeping. Claycia carefully sculpted two diaries for their use. The next morning, Elline was ecstatic to see the diaries she made and quickly painted them blue and tan before Claycia could react.

"Let's take a picture Claycia!" Elline suggested. "We could have them in the front pages of our Secret Diaries!"

"A marvelous idea, my fairy friend. I just so happen to—" As Claycia pulled out an unpainted camera, Elline snatched and colored it, already making it functional and returned it at sonic speed with a massive smile. "Y-you're eager, aren't you?"

Elline giggled. "Yep, I'm just excited!"

The duo took four selfies and placed one copy on the front page of their diaries. The other two copies were placed in the respective pockets.

The duo continued onward, eventually arriving at an abandoned city. They were both amazed at the wrecked HR-H and HR-E robots, leading to their belief that someone destroyed them at a recent time relative to the age of the factory.

"As you see Elline, this city or rather, planet has been populated by an unknown race. No one in Gamble Galaxy knows what has happened to this race. I believe that they relocated themselves elsewhere in search of a better home." Claycia explained.

"A better home… like what we're doing right now?" Elline asked. "I mean, we haven't found a proper place to settle yet."

"That is the case. Though you see, my goal is to create a planetary system for people who are searching for homes. I want them to find the place they are looking for and settle there." Claycia reminisced.

"Wait… you can create a planet? How?" Elline gasped, leading Claycia to chuckle.

"It's simple… well the process doesn't look simple but it's something that I can do. It's just that it won't be complete without someone to help me."

At that, Elline realized that Claycia has been training her powers to help her achieve her dream of providing a haven for other life forms.

"'You must always give to others, rather than take' or something like that." Elline quoted inaccurately. Claycia giggled.

"Yes! My gift to the galaxy is the planetary system for all. And I would want you to help me achieve that dream, my fairy friend."

"Claycia, I'd love to do so… but how can I? I don't know if I can paint an entire planet by myself…"

"Nonsense, if you focus your power into me, we can channel it together. Everything will go smoothly; you'll see when we began. Just remember everything you've learned and you'll be fine."

Hearing these words of comfort brought a smile to the fairy girl's face.

"Okay, Claycia. Let's go create a planet!" she cheered.

Claycia smiled warmly and brought her into a hug. Elline returned it immediately.

Back in the orbit, the mysterious black shades overheard everything from their conversation. With a silent chuckle, the shade began putting its plan into motion...

Diary Entry

We eventually planned out and constructed Seventopia and its inhabitants. Well, Claycia did all the planning while I just waited for her to execute her ideas.

Claycia wanted to create habitats for all the general life forms. So that means that the worlds we create should suit everyone. Green Valley for the green scenery, Yellow Dunes for the sun baked desert, Indigo Ocean for the aquatic and seafaring type, Blue Sky Palace for the blue birds, Orange Woodland for the safari jungle and Red Volcano for the hot and molten types. Ways of transportation in the worlds would be the rainbow bridges that link one world to the next and a flying cruise ship that would orbit Seventopia called Bastron. The last world is our personal mansion, The Rainbow Resort.

That was the plan for Seventopia. Everything seemed so well and good until that fateful day after we finished the worlds. After Claycia created the evil Purple Fortress, bad things began to happen. Those monstrous Grab Hands led everything into disarray and at the time, I was scared of what would happened to the sportles and cottas.

I knew I had to get outside help somehow before those Grab Hands could capture me.

Elline quickly flew behind a lone asteroid to catch a breath. Once she felt comfortable, she slowly peeked around it to examine the Grab Hands leave the orbit of Blue Sky Palace and scout the area. The fairy quickly hid back behind the rock.

"Oh Claycia… what have you done…" Elline cried and huddled herself close.

As the fairy contemplated what to do next, she saw a portal slowly open up far ahead of her. The portal revealed a large yellow star planet on the other side.

"Could that be…?" Elline gasped. "Yes, that has to be Planet Popstar!" she sighed in relief. "Maybe I can find him. The hero of Popstar possibly who can save my friend."

Flashback

"Yes… Planet Popstar… it's said to be special in some way. And whatever makes it so special attracts dangers from all over Gamble Galaxy and beyond."

"Danger? I feel really bad everyone living there."

"But they have nothing to worry about. The planet has a hero living on the planet."

"A hero…" Elline thought.

"I don't recall his name." Claycia admitted. "But he is described as someone who is brave and strong with a happy-go-lucky personality. Don't take him too lightly or he will chew you up and spit you out." Claycia chuckled.

"Brave and strong with a happy-go-lucky personality…" Elline said to herself. "I wish I could meet him together with Claycia…"

She was forced out of her thoughts by the sound of ominous laughter closing in on her. The fairy peeked around the rock again and saw the Grab Hands closing in on her. This immediately prompted the terrified fairy to fly away before they could get her.

"Please, leave me alone!" she cried on deft ears.

Meanwhile, back at the newly formed Purple Fortress, Claycia is mediating in front of a large ball of gray clay. The clay had a sinister gray aura to it.

"I am about to drain the planet dry. Make sure you catch that fairy pest. We must not let her interfere with out plans." Claycia commanded the hands telepathically.

"Yesss… Claycia…" they both said before cutting off the telepathic link.

She continued to focus her power onto a large ball of clay that is perfectly aimed in the direction of the portal.

"Redire ad originem ubi sit color nisi unus."

The Draining Light was fired towards the Popstar portal. A while later, a wave of rainbows was sent back through the portal and into the fortress, forming the large and unstable rainbow orb.

Claycia laughed with no shame at the act she did. "Now all I have to do is wait for the Hands to capture that fairy so I can force her to help me use this color to my bidding… if necessary."

Claycia reached out to the color and touched it with her spare hand. She could feel the power surge through her.

"Yes… this color is truly one of a kind. Planet Popstar truly does have the power that would make my Wonder Space dominance a reality…"

The orb shook violently, as if it didn't want to follow what Claycia yearned. The sculptress ignored the action.

Some time later, The Grab Hands reported to Claycia about their failure. She then sends them to capture Kirby instead; their description of the puffball began to slowly return memories of a past encounter.

"So the fairy girl managed to escape my grasp. No matter, she won't be able to stop me, even with the help she has acquired. Once I get a hold of this, all the color in the universe will be in my hand… quite literally." Claycia chuckled lightly.

She turned and faced the rainbow orb which was looking dangerously unstable.

"Now then… shall we begin?" She muttered ominously.

The sculptress raised her hand and muttered words under her breath. The rainbow orb reacted in a blinding light. Yet, Claycia did not mind this due to her concealing blue hair and sunglasses.

"Amisso colore stella, audite me."

The color responded by firing a laser beam in Claycia's direction. Anticipating the attack, she teleported to the other side of the orb to avoid it.

"Did you not hear what I said!?'" Claycia screeched. "Audite me!"

You are following the path of your evil sister, are you not? Are you not aware that she once transformed my origin planet into paint? Now you've extracted me to do something similar?

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm not, in any way, related to that painting witch." Claycia replied.

I am aware that I am not speaking to Claycia. Rather, I am speaking to the Dark Matter sentinel hosted in her body. Yet, you have drawn out her most evil ambition from her dark past that she wants no part of anymore and used it for your desire, no?

"Because her ambition matched my ambition." "Claycia" gritted her teeth. "A world to rule without opposition!"

It matched only before the sorceress was defeated. And even then, she had doubts long before then. You have simply used the dark side of her mind to fuel your lost power. The good side of her mind wished for a world where everyone lives together happily. For that, I will not assist you in any task you attempt.

"Oh, I have ways of making sure you'll do my bidding!" the sculptress promised.

You'll have to destroy me before I can succumb to your desires, Dark Crafter.

"Even if I wanted to, a priceless embodiment of life cannot be easily destroyed, even if I have my full strength." "Claycia" admitted. "But I have another idea. One that involves a four way split of reincarnation..."

Despite your ideas and promises, I will not falter to you. Instead, I shall await the coming of the heroes who will stop you. At that point, my true power will be revealed to them and them alone. The color faded and remained silent.

Chuckling at the last statement, "Claycia" turned back and went to the balcony of the ruined resort. Though she stares at the depths of Wonder Space, with the resort being surrounded by a mysterious purple fog, she can sense work being done for her ultimate plan in the newly crafted Purple Fortress.

"After all, you take what is vulnerable, and give nothing back." Claycia chuckled darkly before an aura radiated from her being.

The colorful orb rotated faster and began blinking rapidly…

This was actually supposed to be the fourth chapter in this story. But alas, it's the first one, simply because I'm more… confident of my work on this chapter compared to the remaining chapters. Since this takes place before the events of my first story, the order doesn't matter. What matters is that I finally released a part of something from my document that has been incubating since August 2016.

Better late than never… I suppose…