Kirbii's Dark Remembrance
My name is Ethan Lockart, I'm a 15 year old teenager living with my mom and dad in an average sized house in New Jersey. There are a lot of things I love in my life, too many to count.
But if there is one thing I love more than anything else, it's the pink puffball known as Kirby.
I don't know why I love him so much, there's just something about his cute little face and innocent smile that really brings out my inner child in full force.
Today was the first day of summer break, and I was laying in my room thinking of what to do over the summer. I looked over to my video game shelf and waved my hand over the various games, eventually coming across one that brought back some really good memories.
Kirby's Adventure.
Now this was a classic, one of the very first Kirby games ever released to the public besides the original Kirby's Dreamland.
I carefully took the cartridge out from the shelf and placed it into my NES, surprisingly the thing still worked as I heard the console whir to life the moment I placed the cartridge into it.
Turning on the TV in my room I grabbed my controller which thankfully was still charged, and watched with excitement as the iconic "How to Draw Kirby" intro sequence played out before me.
Once the intro sequence finished and I was on the title screen, I quickly selected the new game option and began the first world "Vegetable Valley". Entering the first level I decided to try to beat the world without killing any enemies, since I was feeling a little pacifistic today.
I jumped over the Waddle Dee's and avoided the Bronto Burt's as they tried to swoop at me. I knew this wasn't going to be easy as this was the game that introduced copy abilities, and staying as default Kirby would mean I could only attack by inhaling things and spitting them back out.
But I was never one to give up easily, so I pressed forward and continued through the level. Eventually I reached the goal game and I nailed it as per usual, after which I moved on to level 2.
I played through the rest of the world, dodging all the enemies I encountered excluding the mini-bosses until I eventually reached the first boss level.
Entering the doorway I quickly descended the ladders and prepared myself to fight one of the most iconic Kirby bosses besides King Dedede and Kracko, Whispy Woods.
Upon reaching the evil tree I immediately waited for him to throw down some apples that I could have Kirby spit back at him, which he did since that's what he does best. I repeated the process until Whispy Woods was on his last bit of health.
But right as I landed the final blow, something......disturbing happened.
Right as the star bullet hit Whispy's face the screen froze for a second like normal, but rather than having Whispy don his iconic crying face it instead did something I was not expecting.
Whispy's face went into a default expression only for it to suddenly start melting as the tree himself started writhing in pain, his body looking like it was slowly wilting as the game's color palette started darkening to an almost monochromatic gray.
An almost blood-curdling groan suddenly burst from the TV speakers as the other trees in the background began wilting in a similar way to Whispy, growing ghastly faces as their trunks wilted like wood that had been left out in the rain.
Once Whispy and the trees stopped wilting and the groaning stopped, I turned towards the TV to a horrific sight. Whispy was now nothing but a black writhing mass of pixels with an almost ghastly melted face plastered onto it, the screen had darkened and everything around Kirby was nothing but monochromatic colors.
Then something even more unexpected happened.
Another Kirby walked in from the left side of the screen, this one looked like the original but had a darker pink color scheme and black feet rather than the usual magenta. What really unsettled me about it though was its face, while black eyes on a character weren't unexpected for a pixelated Kirby game this one seemed almost.....eerie.
Rather than too black lines for eyes, the Kirby look alike had wide black squares and a wide eerie smile. Note there weren't any teeth showing, it just had a black line of pixels forming its eerie smile.
As I was trying to clock in what was happening I noticed the Kirby look alike turned its face to look at me, yes......at me. It kept its gaze on me as it slowly walked towards Kirby, a static noise in the background getting louder and louder as it approached the non-moving puffball.
Confused out of my mind I tried to use the controller to move Kirby but to no avail, and I could only watch as the lookalike inched ever closer to the pink puff. When the lookalike eventually reached Kirby, the screen went black as a loud splattering noise burst from the speakers.
I jumped back at the noise, nearly throwing my controller at the TV when a message suddenly popped up written in the font used for the intro sequence.
"Brother......is it really you?"
Before I could even ask what the hell was going on, the screen cut back to regular gameplay as the intro cutscene for Ice Cream Island played out. Regaining my bearings I heard my mom call out to me.
"Ethan, dinners ready!"
I looked at my game and then at my bedroom door before responding.
"Okay, coming mom!"
I paused the game once the intro finished and ran downstairs to eat dinner.
While I was eating my dinner I couldn't stop thinking about that creepy kirby look alike that had appeared after I beat Whispy Woods, and about the message that appeared afterwards.
Then I got a flashback of a memory that had been haunting me for a long time now.
You see, back when I was 10 my family's old house got burned to the ground in a large fire and while we mostly managed to get out unscathed.....there was one person who wasn't so lucky.
My 5 year old little sister, Fiona.
She was as much of a Kirby fan as I was, hell she would practically beg for mom and dad to get her a plushie of the pink puffball every time she saw one in a store. Unfortunately she died in the fire that burnt down our old house, it saddens me thinking about how we were unable to save her before she was burned alive by the flames.
Pushing that bad thought from my mind, I finished my dinner and washed my dishes and hands before running up to my room and hopping back onto Kirby's Adventure.
When I unpaused the game however I noticed something was different again, I was no longer playing as Kirby but rather as Bandanna Waddle Dee. This confused me greatly as Bandanna Waddle Dee wasn't supposed to be introduced until Kirby's Return to Dreamland.
I shook my head as I pressed the attack button, realizing that the spear wielding Waddle Dee's moveset worked surprisingly well on the NES despite its old age.
"Wow, this is actually pretty cool" I said to myself as I practiced learning Bandanna Waddle Dee's moveset.
Once I was finished practicing I walked into the first level door and began playing again. I decided to not continue with my pacifist run and instead opted to try and just play the game normally.
However as neared the end of the level, I caught a glimpse of the creepy kirby lookalike staring at me from behind a wall only to disappear before I could get a good look at it. Trying my best to ignore it I continued on to the goal game and aced it as per usual.
Despite my efforts however I kept catching glimpses of the creepy kirby lookalike staring at me from either behind a wall, or offscreen. In fact the further I went into the world, the amount of enemies I would encounter drastically declined.
After unlocking the boss door I tried to enter the minigame room only to be greeted by a text box that simply read "NO".
"Well you don't need to be rude about it" I said to myself as I walked away from the door.
I ran over to the boss door expecting to fight Paint Roller, only to find myself in the boss arena of Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright. What was really weird though was that the two bosses seemed to be lacking their faces, and were also frozen in the sky.
Suddenly two large black hands emerged from behind the hills, a distorted drawing music track played as they grabbed the two inanimate bosses and dragged them behind the hills with the sky darkening to a jet black.
The star rod piece then fell in front of me, which I promptly grabbed. The moment I did however the creepy kirby lookalike appeared again, its wide eyes and eerie smile staring coldly into my soul.
Another text box then appeared at the top of the screen, the kirby lookalike pointed to it as if telling me to read it.
"It really is you........"
I looked at the Kirby lookalike with a confused expression before responding.
"Who are you......why are you acting like you know me?"
The Kirby lookalike's face changed into one of disappointment for a second before changing back to its usual eerily wide smile as the dialogue in the text box suddenly changed.
"Oh.....don't tell me you've already forgotten about me"
Before I could ask what the lookalike was talking about, the screen cut to black again and another message appeared.
"Maybe a little game should jog your memory"
Given this had happened before in Vegetable Valley I was expecting the game to take me to Butter Building like normal......but it didn't.
Rather the game played a small cutscene showing the Kirby lookalike and Bandanna Waddle Dee standing in front of what appeared to be the entrance to Butter Building, trees standing on both sides of the two characters.
I watched with curiosity as the Kirby lookalike raised both of its hands. Suddenly a massive column of fire engulfed the building, the entire thing lighting ablaze as the pixels making its sprite rapidly melted.
The entire building soon melted into nothing but burning pixels, it was then the charred corpse of an all too familiar face fell from into a nearby bush. I gasped as I recognized who it was.....it was Paint Roller.
Another text box appeared as the Kirby lookalike pointed to it again.
"I never really liked that place......it was always a hassle to navigate"
I looked at the screen confused as the dialogue changed again.
"You aren't ready to face the truth yet dear brother.....but I'm sure he can give me some time"
The Kirby lookalike turned to face Paint Roller's charred corpse as the dialogue changed again.
"Isn't that right? Paint Roller"
The text box disappeared as the Kirby lookalike raised its hand and a fingersnap noise rang out from the speakers, the screen cutting to black for a second before cutting back to the burning Butter Building ruins.
Immediately I noticed the Kirby lookalike was gone, and then I saw Paint Roller's corpse begin to twitch. I stared at the screen in shock as Paint Roller's charred limbs stretched into much longer ones and his hands warped into sharp black claws.
What really horrified me though was when his head split open and he let out a blood-curdling screech as he revealed a gaping maw of bloody sharp teeth. Looking at the U.I bar on the bottom of the screen I noticed a boss health meter fill itself up below Bandanna Dee's health bar. Realizing this was a boss fight I readied my controller and prepared to fight this monstrous version of a once cute boss enemy.
As the fight began a catchy but heavily distorted remix of the Kirby's Adventure boss fight theme played as Paint Roller swung his claws at Bandanna Dee, which I quickly dodged by spamming the jump button to make the latter jump behind the former.
As I started whittling down the corpse's health I could hear faint screams emanating from the background, Paint Roller's claw strikes and bullrushes started getting more and more aggressive.
Once Paint Roller's health reached halfway, the screen froze for a second before the charred corpse let out another blood-curdling screech as the fire in the background suddenly enveloped the entire forest.
"What the hell!?" I said to myself as I watched the fiery explosion occur on the screen.
Paint Roller then rushed over to the left side of the arena, grabbing a canvas made of burnt bones and using a bronto burt impaled on a pike as a paintbrush. I tried my best not to show the growing terror inside of me as Paint Roller finished his painting.
Pointing the "Paintbrush" at me, Paint Roller ordered his painting which looked like a pile of black sludge covered in eyeballs to attack Bandanna Dee. I killed it easily and started attacking Paint Roller again as he dashed around the burning arena.
Finally I was able to deal the finishing blow as Paint Roller let out one final screech as his corpse disintegrated into bloody ashes, the fire in the background extinguishing itself as the star rod piece fell into the center of the arena.
Feeling tired I grabbed the star rod piece and let the intro sequence for Grape Garden play out before saving my progress and turning off both the TV and the NES.
After getting ready for bed I hopped into my bed and turned off the lights, before I fell asleep though I decided to come up with a nickname for the creepy kirby lookalike in order to distinguish it from kirby. I eventually came up with the name "Kirbii", it had a nice ring to it so I wrote it down to remember it before falling asleep.
The next day I immediately hopped back onto my NES and booted up Kirby's Adventure again. I knew something was wrong with my copy of the game, especially after what happened last night, but I needed to figure out why Kirbii kept referring to me as its brother.
I speedrunned through Grape Garden, obtaining the star rod piece easily due to the rather eerie absence of Kracko and then headed to Yogurt Yard. I speedrunned through Yogurt Yard until I eventually reached the boss door. Just like with Grape Garden however the boss of the world, Heavy Mole was nowhere to be found and the boss arena was just a straight tunnel. Walking through the tunnel I eventually came across Kirbii facing the wall, though it turned to face me as soon as I arrived.
Another text box appeared as per usual.
"So you decided to come back.......thank you...."
I was confused.
"What are you thanking me for?" I said in response.
Kirbii's expression changed to disappointment again as the dialogue changed.
"You still don't remember me.....do you?"
I shook my head, and the dialogue changed once more.
"Very well, let's make this more interesting then....shall we?"
The text box disappeared as Kirbii raised its hand up and another finger snap noise echoed through the speakers. Suddenly the floor underneath Bandanna Dee opened up into a large hole that the poor Waddle Dee was unable to escape from.
The screen cut to show Bandanna Dee falling into the hole, and as I watched him fall into the darkness below I saw text appear on the top of the screen reading "World [ERROR]: Chestnut Chasm".
At first I was confused about the new world but then I saw the background, and I was absolutely horrified. Black skeletal hands with pale white eyes on their palms were wrapped around various wooden support beams, various enemy corpses lay strewn across the walls and floor.
Entering the first level door I immediately was spooked by what looked like a pre-enraged Scarfy lunging straight at Bandanna Dee. I quickly killed it before I took any damage but I now knew I had to proceed with caution, something I would keep in mind for the rest of this world.
Eventually I cleared the remaining levels and unlocked the boss door, entering it I noticed an abnormally large Waddle Dee lying face flat on the ground in front of Bandanna Dee. Upon approaching the Waddle Dee, it slowly began to get up with its hands covering its face.
I immediately covered my ears as the Waddle Dee let out a distorted roar, revealing its face to have been completely ripped off showing a bloody skull behind it. Another boss health bar appeared and I got ready for another fight.
The distorted remix of the boss theme began playing again as the Waddle Dee dove at Bandanna Dee in an attempt to bite him, I tried to dodge but did it too late causing my character to take damage. What disturbed me though was that Bandana Dee was now bleeding and the copy ability icon showed a battered version of him with the caption "Bloodied" written underneath it.
Steeling my resolve I began attacking the skull faced Waddle Dee, red pixels leaping off its sprite with every jab of Bandanna Dee's spear. Eventually I got it down to half health and it entered its "enraged" phase, it let out another distorted roar as more of the hands from the earlier levels appeared around the arena.
The skull faced Waddle Dee then grabbed one of the hands and began swinging it at Bandanna Dee as a weapon, which I had no choice but to take the hit due to its immense range. Eventually after a long and grueling battle I managed to kill the skull faced Waddle Dee, with it letting out one last defiant roar before exploding into red pixels.
After the explosion Bandanna Dee was teleported straight to King Dedede boss arena, which confused me as the game had practically skipped over both Orange Ocean and Rainbow Resort. I then saw Kirbii with a large skeletal hand coming out of its mouth strangling King Dedede himself.
I watched in horror as with a quick cut to black and a loud snap, Kirbii snapped King Dedede's neck, his dead body being the first thing I see when the screen cuts back to the arena. The sky was black and the fountain of dreams in the background was completely destroyed.
A text box appears again but this time the text in it seems more broken and distorted.
"You've done well......I think your ready to face the truth now"
Kirbii snapped its fingers again and the game suddenly cuts to the credits. I was about to turn off the game and take a break when the credits abruptly ended with an eerie message.
"Come to the sound test.....I have something to tell you"
The message in my mind, I went to the now unlocked sound test only to be greeted by a picture of my old family house.
"What....that's....what!?"
I was flabbergasted at the image on the screen in front of me, then I noticed the arrow on the right side of the screen flashing orange. Selecting the arrow took me to another image, this one was an image of my little sister's gravestone, which only disturbed me even more.
I continued looking through the images, all of them were related to the incident that killed my sister until eventually I came across a door with a sign above it that said "Come in".
I selected the door and the screen cut to a pitch black void with Kirbii standing in the center, shrouded in shadow and facing away from me.
Text appeared underneath Kirbii, clearly indicating that it was talking directly to me.
"You don't know how happy I am to see you again"
I just watched, not daring to interrupt the puffball on the screen.
"Do you know how many years I have spent locked away inside this game?"
I shook my head.
"Too many to count...."
As the text appeared, multiple images of a girl burning in a fire flashed on the screen, accompanied by loud screams.
"I have spent years searching for you.....hoping that one day we can finally be together again"
As I read the text, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place in my head.
"All of that horrible imagery you saw......was a test....to see if I had finally found who I was looking for.....and you passed it"
I noticed Kirbii slightly begin to turn around as more text appeared.
"Ethan.....what I am about to do may seem cruel......but please understand"
Kirbii turned around more and I began to feel nervous as the lights in my room flickered.
"I am doing it for one reason, and one reason only"
The lights flickered more and the air went cold.
"I love you"
Kirbii was almost fully turned around, the lights went out as one last line of text appeared in red text.
D E A R B R O T H E R Kirbii fully turned around revealing an almost human-like face, and upon me getting a closer look at it...I immediately could tell whose face it was.
It was Fiona's face.
Before I could do anything else, a loud scream echoed from the speakers as the face lunged at the screen and landed in my bedroom. I backed away in horror as the charred spirit of my deceased little sister slowly got up, the TV screen filled with nothing but static as she looked at me with a manic look on her face.
I tried to run to the door but Fiona's spirit grabbed my leg and began dragging me towards the TV. I screamed in pain as I felt myself being sucked inside the TV.
"SOMEONE, ANYONE.....HELP!"
It was no use.....no one was coming to help me, and I was eventually dragged into the TV....then everything went dark.
A few hours later I woke up in what appeared to be a grassy meadow, looking around I noticed some hills that looked eerily similar to the ones from Kirby's Adventure. Dusting myself off I looked at my hands and was horrified to see they were now tiny blue knubs.
I ran over to a nearby lake and looked at my reflection, and what I saw....shook me to my very core. I was now a blue version of Bandanna Waddle Dee, complete with the spear and everything!
I desperately tried pinching myself hoping this was a dream, but then I heard something that hit the nail in the coffin for me.
"Hello there Ethan"
I slowly turned around, and there was Kirbii standing there with its eerie smile and wide eyes. What terrified me more though was when I looked up and saw Fiona's ghost staring back at me, various strings descending from her fingers and connecting to Kirbii, as if she was controlling the puffball like a puppet.
As I stared at them in terror, I heard them say one last thing to me before I passed out from the overwhelming stress.
"Welcome home.....Dear Brother"
Credited to CorruptedData42
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