Actions

Work Header

Terminal Paralysis

Summary:

It seems this being of darkness will wander the galaxy until one day he is reborn into a new existence. When he returns, hopefully it will be as… a friend.

When the Jambastion Cult discovers that Void Termina has been reborn, it’s up to Kirby and his allies to put a halt to their revenge scheme by finding the resurrected demigod first. Tracking his location down to a quaint lil’ place called Cappy Town, they head there, unaware that their actions have devastating consequences.

Now faced with counterparts hailing from a new society completely unlike that of their home world and having to deal with enemies from both Planet Popstars chasing them at every turn, our perky heroes realize far too late that they just might have bitten off more than they can chew.

How will Kirby and his friends cope with an alternate Dream Land which seems so familiar at first glance, and yet upon closer introspection… is vastly different from their own? Crossover between the Kirby games and the anime, Hoshi no Kaabii/Kirby: Right Back at Ya.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for other works inspired by this one.)

Chapter 1: When One Door Closes…

Chapter Text

Warning: this story contains a whole slew of spoilers from the recently released Kirby Star Allies, especially with regards to the final boss and ending of that game. Yeah, you might want to click away now if you don't want to get spoiled silly.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Kirby series or Hoshi no Kaabii. HAL does, though.

Words in italics indicate character thoughts.

"Born from the total absence of care and composed of dark energy, he has awakened from a state of mere existence to that of true sentience. He now desires only one thing… to CRUSH all opposition!" — pause screen description from Kirby Star Allies.


Chapter 1: When One Door Closes…

If there was a single word that Void Termina could use to express its feelings about the current situation, it would be a rather nasty expletive. Hence, it was probably better for everyone involved that Termina was unable to vocalize said word, since the spherical orb was too focused on trying to defend itself against quite a few pesky intruders. Why is this happening to me, the Termina Core found itself frantically thinking as it erratically scattered wave after wave of energy pellets across the arena in an attempt to try and buy more time for a counterattack. The worst part was that things had gone south for Void Termina in less than fifteen minutes. A mere quarter of an hour! Now that had to be some kind of an insult!

After eons of waiting for what must have been at least a couple dozen of millennia, Void Termina had found himself released from his seal in the Jamba Heart. Relishing at the opportunity of finally being awakened from its ridiculously long slumber, the Termina Core quickly built a protective outer layer to protect itself from harm. Once satisfied that its inner core was securely fortified, Void Termina let out a massive roar as it materialized into existence, emerging from a cocoon of darkness. The form the celestial being took on was that of a huge fifty-foot high armored giant, with its huge form giving it the added benefit of providing the offensive that Void Termina needed to crumble everything into ruin. It was now time for him to irrevocably destroy the universe, until there was nothing left but an empty, inky black void — much like itself.

Nothing would be able to stop the destroyer of worlds from devastating entire planets… no, whole galaxies, until they were left devoid of life and beyond recognition. That was what Void Termina had originally envisioned, at least before he found that there was an immediate resistance to his spree of mass destruction. What was worse was that it had underestimated what it thought to be a puny attempt of resistance against him, and thus he paid the price. The surprisingly powerful Star Allies Sparkler had ended up rendering his outer body immobile, forcing Void Termina to separate the pilots from the Sparkler by sucking them all into its body and utilize his vulnerable core to finish off the nuisances once and for all. It was only when they landed within his body that the Termina Core got its first close look at the irritating pests that stood in his way. They were certainly an odd and diverse squad — a hammer-wielding penguin, a masked knight with a golden sword, and a small orange thing with a bandana atop his head equipped with a spear.

But even Void Termina had to blink in surprise when he saw the leader of the enigmatic group, a small pink puffball who looked eerily similar to his core form. There were exceptions, however. He was much smaller and actually had four appendages compared to his zero. His color was also slightly different — rose pink compared to his magenta purple. He was also wearing an orange and red jester hat and had a glass rod equipped in one of his hands. After being stunned by the sight for a second, Void Termina shook off their physical similarity, beginning to hover around and start attacking the group in earnest. With his very first shockwave attack, he'd managed to catch them off guard and take down almost all of that pink pest's insignificant partners by turning them against one another via brainwashing.

All that was left after the other three fell was that pink thing. He appeared to look briefly stressed upon seeing his teammates fall, but soon that worry was replaced by a determined look in his eyes. He ran forward, but instead of attacking, he proceeded to toss a pink heart towards the core. Void Termina flinched as the thrown heart made contact. The heart making contact had physically hurt him, and it knew exactly why. He recognized it — pink friendly variants of the Jamba Hearts… basically hearts filled with so much love and joy that most sentient beings would be tamed by them.

Friend Hearts.

The core let out a distorted, cruel laugh at the thought. He never would have expected in a million years that the thing was actually trying to befriend him. Someone trying to make friends with him, the lonely Void Termina, the all-powerful destroyer of everyone and everything it came into contact with? He couldn't comprehend the very idea. Joy, love, and care? Such concepts were completely foreign to him.

And now here he was. The core of Void Termina was beginning to fret. The tides were not in his favor at all. As time went on, the pink puffball had slowly managed to gain the upper hand, even managing to revive his fallen allies. Not only were the group of four inside his body still alive, he on the other hand was beginning to feel rather faint from their relentless onslaught of strikes. Shaking off his exhaustion, he transformed his two smaller eyes into one large, singular eye and fired off another laser beam in the direction of the round pink attacker. Void Termina knew full well that of the four who were trying to finish him, this one posed the largest threat to his well-being. Unfortunately for it, the pink one—Void Termina still didn't know its name—nimbly dodged the move by puffing himself up and floating up into the air.

Irritated, Void Termina spun his single eye around, ensuring that the wave of energy would revolve around the area multiple times. It wanted to make sure that the gigantic purple beam that it was currently firing followed the hovering puffball until he was completely cornered. Just when it looked as though the devastating beam was about to make contact, the pink thing shot the core a defiant look. As he exhaled and let himself fall, he twirled around the turquoise rod in his hand and proceeded to let off a charged Wave Beam, timing the release just right so that it phased through the Termina Core's own laser beam and hit it directly in the eye. Void Termina was forced to halt its laser attack, frantically blinking away blurry tears from the direct hit. However, his pink nemesis didn't let up, immediately using the opening to make a dash jump in his direction, swinging his rod at the core and letting loose a barrage of rapid-fire energy blasts at point-blank range.

That was finally the breaking point. After the Beam Blast attack connected, the magenta core found itself giving out with a shattering boom. It didn't even have the energy to float, and hence fell straight to the ground. It groaned as it began to spew out purple lasers in a spastic fashion, ejecting out the intruders. The Void Termina core eventually managed to break out of the explosive chain reaction, slowly rotating around to see the entire inner body in shambles and collapsing in on itself.

I was so close… so close! That pink puffball ruined everything! Must… destroy… threat… must… annihilate… it… FOREVER!

Void Termina found that its sanity was slowly slipping. It was beginning to turn completely primal due to its mind being corrupted by pure anger from its defeat. With a furious shriek, the Termina Core bounced out onto the planet, discarding the lifeless armored body that it had in the process. It didn't care that it was leaving itself open for attack by exposing its round orb-like core out in space for one final last-ditch attack. This was literally his only chance to win! He was so close! He couldn't lose everything that he'd worked for to a mere, tiny insignificant speck!

It locked its own singular red eye on the nuisance and prepared to rid the universe of this threat to its rule, once and for all. His single revealed eye turned bloodshot when he saw the pink puffball clamber back onto the Star Allies Sparkler, taking command of the friend-powered ship once again. He narrowed his eye, glaring daggers at his enemy as he began to charge up a massive attack in the Sparkler's direction. Just as he discharged a huge purple energy beam composed of pure darkness, the Sparkler fired a yellow laser beam in return.

It was all or nothing now. Whoever lost this beam war would be utterly vaporized. After an initial close call, Void Termina begun to focus all of its hatred into the beam, forcing the center of impact between the two beams closer to the Sparkler's side. The Termina Core currently didn't have a mouth since it was currently in its final single-eye form, or else it would be flashing a very menacing smirk at seeing victory within its grasp as his beam continued to gain more and more power, inching closer and closer to the opposite end.

But alas, at the very last second, the foolish resistance managed to catch a second wind, slowly managing to reverse the tide. Void Termina widened his eye when he saw the beam being forced back to its own end. This is impossible, it thought in disbelief. All the hatred I've ever felt in all my millennia of existence is in this one attack! How can they possibly be fighting back!? HOW!?

It struggled to hold its own against the impending beam for as long as possible, but all things had to come to an end. His own beam ran out of juice, allowing for his opponent's yellow energy beam to hit him square in the face as he let out a cry of anguish. As the Termina Core found itself knocked out of his single-eye phase and back to his base core form, it helplessly looked at the horizon behind the Star Allies Sparkler to see a breathtaking sight. Clearly wanting to end this battle once and for all, the pink puffball had summoned an entire plethora of holographic allies to support him from afar. Void Termina couldn't even move when he saw just how many he'd managed to amass. From the Driblees of Planet Misteen all the way to the Burning Leos of Star Lavadom, there was no shortage of friends that spontaneously appeared out of the blue to help him out.

"Go for it, Kirby! You can do it!" they all chanted simultaneously. Their supportive voices might have been like an angelic choir to the heroic Kirby, but it was a collective kick to the soul for the weakened Termina.

Kirby… so that's his name. Void Termina knew that this would be one of the last things he would ever learn. It was a foregone conclusion just how things would end for him at this point: the core knew that it would not survive the next bombardment of attacks. But even in the face of death, it couldn't help but lament. I never had any friends. Throughout my entire existence, not a single soul was willing to stand by my side. Even the eccentric leader of those Jambastion mages who'd worshiped me had only summoned me from my prison because he only wanted to use me for his own selfish, indulgent goals…

The Termina Core wept a single, bitter tear as Kirby's face turned firm and resolute, the puffball letting out a determined cry as he pointed his stubby little arm directly at Void Termina. It flinched slightly, bracing itself when he realized that Kirby was giving his entire platoon of friends the all-clear signal to pummel him.

In the final few seconds before the end, even the pain that it was feeling did not matter to Void Termina. All his mind could think about before everything turned a dazzling white was a primal jealousy of him. He was jealous of Kirby's ability to command and befriend so many others from all over the universe. He was jealous of Kirby's fighting prowess, being skilled enough to take someone like him on despite his small stature. And more than anything, he was deeply envious of Kirby's ability to befriend so many around him. It's not fair, he thought to himself in desperation. Why is it that you have everything but I have absolutely nothing? WHY!?

Perhaps if things had turned out just ever so differently for him, it could have been him in the pink puffball's shoes. But unfortunately for Void Termina, he never had the chance, and thus could only wish beyond hope that events had played out unlike the way they currently were headed in now. As he felt his body starting to disintegrate from the multiple impacts that Kirby's helper friends were collectively hitting him with, only one last rational thought went through its mind.

If only I could be you, Kirby…

In his last moments, the large pink core kept his eye locked squarely at Kirby, locking the name and image of the smiling pink ball firmly in its memory banks. It was all for naught though, as Void Termina began to explode the very next second, which had the side effect of taking down the entirety of the Jambandra Base with an earth-shattering kaboom.

Satisfied that yet another godlike celestial being had been stopped once again, Kirby and his friends hitched a ride on a warp star back to Planet Popstar. All was right with the world again. This certainly called for a celebration, and to one hungry puffball, that was all that really mattered.

After all, Void Termina had been defeated for good, and would never again return from its eternal slumber.


He was roused from unconsciousness when he heard an alarm blaring loudly. Blinking open his eyes, he found himself behind the controls of a star-shaped ship with very advanced looking circuitry.

"Demon beast detected on… Planet Popstar. Initializing warpspeed drive."

He didn't even have a chance to utter a sentence in protest against the mechanized voice before the ship proceeded to go unbelievably fast. When it finally stopped zooming at warp speed, he was so lightheaded that he had to vehemently shake his head to dispel the dizzy spell. When his vision was no longer blurred, he found himself enchanted by a fascinating sight. He uncontrollably gave a coo of delight when he looked out of the glass and saw the beautiful, vast nebula of space. The view entranced him, distracting him so much from the controls that he didn't even realize that his spaceship was out of control until he felt it begin to violently shake.

Despite not knowing much about the ship, even he knew that crashing it was not a good outcome. He pushed a lever in an attempt to try to control the falling ship, immediately regretting his decision when he felt himself spinning along with the spaceship. The ship's computer announcing, "Gyroscopic Lock Disabled," a few seconds later hit home to him just how stupid that decision was.

Mercifully, the shaking and rolling eventually stopped. With a hiss, the cockpit glass opened, allowing him to fall to the hard rock beneath. Unfortunately for him, he didn't even have one second to relish being on solid ground before he felt himself being lifted up by the leg. As he got his first good look at his surroundings, he saw that the one who had picked him up was a large sized blue penguin wearing red robes. When the penguin noticed that he was conscious, he let go of him, unceremoniously letting him fall back down. "It's some kind of an invader from outer space!" he cried out, turning towards a snail-like… snail.

"Eliminate it immediately, great King Dedede!" The snail exclaimed as it whirled towards the penguin. "Mash it with yer' mallet!"

The penguin, who evidently went by the name Dedede, immediately whipped out a large wooden mallet. "With pleasure, Escargon." Dedede wasted no time in preparing to swing his hammer towards him in a downwards arc. He widened his eyes, bracing for impact just before Dedede found himself interrupted by a shrill cry.

"Wait just one minute!"

A girl with a ponytail firmly held her hand up to stop Dedede before the hammer could connect with him. Heaving a sigh of relief, he proceeded to make a mental note that she was on his side. The girl then held her hand out to him, as if beckoning him to take it. He bashfully chose to decline, remaining on the ground.

After realizing that he was ignoring her, she took the verbal approach instead. "Hey, you. Who are you?" she asked, before rolling her eyes slightly as though a new silly thought came across her mind. "It's absurd," she began, putting her hand by her hips as she peered closely at him, "But you couldn't possibly be… Kirby?"

He was about to answer the girl when he abruptly realized that his brain turned up a complete blank on the subject. He could barely remember anything about himself, his mind turning foggy to the point that he didn't even know who he was. Still, something about the name that the girl had said earlier clicked in his head. Gears began to turn as he concentrated hard. His hazy mind slowly began to recall a faint image of a smiling, pink heroic puffball. While deep in thought due to the sudden memory, he unintentionally glanced back to the starship's cockpit window, before double-taking when he realized that he was able to see the exact same image his mind had conjured up in the reflection of the glass.

Yes, his mind exclaimed as he put two and two together. He was the splitting image of what his memory told him, which meant that the memory was telling him about who he was! And the answer to that was simple… he was Kirby!

"Kirby, Kirby!" he repeated merrily in confirmation of his identity, much to the shock of everyone in the vicinity. The newly-christened Kirby merely blinked after he completed his affirmation, gazing around when he noticed that everybody was tensing up. Just why was everyone staring at him like he was a fish out of water?

He got his answer a second later after he found himself bombarded by an entire array of stunned outbursts.

"No way! You're kidding!"

"Th-that's Kirby?"

"The Star Warrior!?"


Author's Note:

Lore. All of the lore.

The final boss of Kirby Star Allies, Void Termina, has an entire wealth of potential for lore that is just begging to be capitalized. Since the fandom has begun their crackpot theories on Void Termina, I've decided to add my own spin on it with this story. And yes, this is a game and anime Kirby crossover. I really like the concept and there aren't a lot of them anyway.

Will this fic be a serious one? Truth be told, I'm still indecisive on this one. On one hand, we have Hyness and Void Termina, as well as the anime's Holy Nightmare Corp. But on the other end of the spectrum, just thinking about all the potential satire and snark that a gameverse version of Kirby can wreck upon the Hoshi no Kaabii version of Dream Land… yeah, it's a close call. We'll see as this goes along.