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upsidedowndreamland · 2 months ago

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Teasers for Deluxe Extravaganza

I’d like to preface this with an apology for a few of my newest followers. You all, unfortunately, followed right around the time some truly dire things started happening in my personal life, things I’ve already ranted about here and things that have had me near-constantly stressed and worried sick since Thursday night. Most of you probably followed for Kirby and Stranger Things content. After all, that’s, like, my whole thing. So, I’m sorry you probably were met first by [insert last two posts here] instead.

Now, being that the Heroes Across the Stars series isn’t actively being worked on and I don’t know when it will be, for reasons I just stated, I feel those of you who have followed for that content deserve a little teaser of the story you’re all waiting for. I started work on Deluxe Extravaganza before typing my first word for Bloom. I have completed the prologue as well as the first chapter, which covers the entire first world of Triple Deluxe. Both are way larger than they have any right to be, and I consider them a decent headstart on a backlog considering it’ll be awhile before the story itself even hits Ao3. If I’m lucky, I can even finish the whole thing and upload chapters weekly instead of making y’all wait undefined amounts of time, but God only knows if that pipe dream’ll come true, so…

Rambling aside, let the teasers… begin?

——————————————————————————-

Jim Hopper was not a patient man. Now, he tried, let none think otherwise, but his rope was only so long. And as he stared at the weirdest damned idea of a “ship” he had ever seen sitting smack in the middle of his yard on the morning of one of his days off, he found himself nearing the end of it. Kirby and Magolor both had described the appearance of the “Lor Starcutter”, but it had still taken Hopper a great many seconds of stupefied gaping to connect the impossibility he had been seeing to those descriptions.

Once he did, however, he felt anger start to bubble up within him. He’d stomped toward the damned thing, hand on his holster (because no, he still did not trust that feline alien), briefly been given pause when a ramp automatically extended from the closed door to the ground, then resumed his determined march, banging on the sleek metal with his fist.

“HEY!” Hop shouted, pounding on the surprisingly reflective metal. “HEY! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!”

Just as Hop inhaled, filling his lungs in preparation for more yelling, the automatic door slid open. Hop’s eyes widened as he got a look at the interior of the alien spacecraft. There was clearly a large room within, but Hop could only see the white back wall of it from his current position. However, the quiet hum of machinery was ever-present within the ship.

“Hopper! My favorite police chief! And coincidentally the only one I know… To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

Hopper looked down at the source of the chipper voice, spotting the familiar floating egg-shaped creature in green and white. The height difference between them was normally amusing to Hopper, but at the moment, he was all business. He saw right through the little schemer’s cheerful facade, taking note of the way he was rubbing his mittened hands together like some kind of sleazy salesman eager to scam naive customers out of everything they had. As a policeman, Hop noticed these things—and it was (unsurprisingly, considering his history) something of a habit of Magolor’s.

Hop’s eyes narrowed, his grip tightening on his holstered gun. “I could ask you the same thing,” he said evenly, the boiling anger now gone from his voice, leaving something cold and analytical behind, ready to turn dangerous at a moment’s notice. For the briefest of moments, Magolor’s eyes narrowed in turn.

And then the moment was over, and the facade was back up.

“Ah, don’t just stand there, my friend! Come in, come in! How do you like your coffee? You seem like a full-on black kinda guy. Care for a mug?” Magolor rattled on, avoiding Hopper’s question as he floated backward into the ship, eagerly waving Hopper in. Keeping his hand at his hip at all times, Hop cautiously advanced into the craft, looking around with wonder he was attempting to conceal.

“I’ll pass, thanks…” Hop breathed as he fully entered the room and saw what it had to offer beyond its back wall. A large, sleek and slightly concave screen adorned the opposite wall, above and to the right of the door Hopper had just come through. A variety of foreign symbols flashed across the screen as it displayed Earth in all its blue-marbled glory. More of those same symbols—presumably the alien language of Magolor’s extinct people—framed the screen from above and below, telling a story Hop couldn’t read.

Sitting below the screen and adorned on both sides with star symbols was a… a console, of some sort. It resembled some sort of advanced keyboard, as it had more of that alien script all over it, but it was flowing with rainbow-colored light.

To Hop’s right and left were long hallways, electronic panels mounted on the walls at the mouths of the corridors displaying glowing arrows pointing down said halls. The rest of the room was made of the same sleek, white metallic material as the door leading into it, Hop’s reflection staring back at him crystal-clear from every surface.

It was all so… sci-fi. And even after all he’d seen and been through, he still couldn’t quite believe what his eyes were currently showing him. That all this was real. That aliens were real and he was in one’s ship.

“Ahaha… I see this is your first time in my not-so-humble abode. It tends to have this effect on everyone, don’t worry. Marvelous, though, isn’t it? Truly the pinnacle of my people’s innovation…”

Hopper looked back toward Magolor, watching his expressive eyes shift from smug amusement to something distant and perhaps a bit sad. He quickly snapped out of it, though, pasting the bubbly look back on as he turned to Hopper. “Anyway, before you ask, yes, I asked Landia this time, like a good person would do. After I finished setting up portals for you all, I went back to Halcandra, explained everything that had happened since my and Kirby’s battle, and we made up! She’s actually pretty forgiving, turns out. Plus, the Lor herself said she was okay with this little arrangement! So! I am now her Captain, sailing the endless sea of stars, bringing wonder and innovative new ways to have fun to the whole universe!”

Magolor made a slow, grand sweeping gesture across the room with one of his hands as he said this. Hopper meanwhile, had furrowed his brow, sorting through the rest of Magolor’s rapidly-told story, churning through what he could maybe trust and setting aside what he probably couldn’t for later consideration… before pausing at the part about the Lor accepting Magolor as “her” Captain.

“…Sorry, the ship gave you permission to be its Captain?” Hop asked, giving Magolor a look similar to the ones he (to his shame) had often given Joyce the week his life had begun spiraling out of control—coincidentally also the week he’d thought Joyce was losing her mind.

Sensing his skepticism, Magolor gave him a pouting sort of look.

“She’s sentient, remember? Kirby, I, and the other three have told you this.”

Oh. …So they had. It was all coming back.

“Sorry, I forgot. I’m not so used to alien spaceships that can think,” Hop deadpanned. Magolor smiled and clapped, cheerfully ignoring Hopper’s unamusement. “Ah, that’s alright! Perfectly understandable considering the primitive little world you were brought up in!”

Hop’s eyelid twitched. “Okay, so, enough with the stalling. Why the hell did you decide to park your spaceship in my yard?” (Translation: “What the hell are you up to?”) Hopper demanded.

Magolor’s joyful demeanor didn’t diminish in the slightest.

“Ah, well, I just felt the need to inform you that your adoptive daughter is currently on an adventure with Kirby, Bandee, and your crush’s son up a magical beanstalk to rescue Steve and King Dedede from a magical spider-thing.”

“…”

“You might wanna take a few days off and call the others over here. Just a friendly little suggestion.”

Hopper stared blankly down at Magolor, the worst migraine he’d had in years mixed with the worst panic he’d felt since El had snuck out in ‘84 already starting to form in his head alongside an unspoken barrage of questions and confusion.

…Powell and Callahan could handle things for a while. Yeah.

——————————————————————————

“YAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!��

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”

A chorus of screams both elated and terrified, accompanied by the twinkling of a star moving at nightmarish speeds, served as the prelude to Floralia’s first encounter with foreign visitors in quite some time. Said star barely avoided smashing itself to pieces on Floralian soil as it (metaphorically) screeched to a halt right above the namesake, swaying grass of Fine Fields.

All was silent except for three sets of heavy breathing and the rustling of grass...

…Until a violent wretch broke the silence.

“Eheh… Sorry, Will, poyo…”

“Ugh…”

Everyone—some more shakily than others—disembarked the Warp Star, which disappeared right afterward. El was still trying to catch her breath, Bandee noticed, but looked relieved to be back on truly solid ground.

Kirby, meanwhile, looked around with a bright smile. Sure, Dedede and Steve were being carted off to who-knew-where by some crazy spider guy working for what sounded like an evil queen, but he knew the day would be saved in the end like always. Therefore, he felt comfortable taking the time to be excited. It was a new adventure!

Kirby gasped.

Because more importantly…

“It’s you guys’ first adventure with me!!” Kirby gushed, jumping up and down with a bright smile directed at El and Will, his wings fluttering slightly in excitement. “Oooh, and you know what makes this even cooler, poyo?! I’ve never been here before! This is completely new stuff! Exciting, right?!”

El smiled somewhat uncertainly at Kirby, before looking around a bit more, closely followed by Bandee and Will. This new place was just as pretty as the rest of what she’d seen of Dream Land so far. This location, though, looked especially magical. The strangest-looking trees she’d ever seen grew up from the ground in twisting patterns, and were full with pink and orange leaves, many different kinds of beautiful flowers she’d never seen before poking out from them. Many more flowers lined the path ahead, fuzz from the countless blooms blowing past her face as a strong, warm spring breeze blew by.

Farther off, for as far as El could see, there were colorful mountains and hills—squares of pink, blue, purple and yellow checkered all over them and reminding her of something Dad had once shown her, called “patchwork”, the shadows of the clouds moving over them.

“It’s so pretty…” El breathed, body relaxing as the warm sunlight beamed down all around her. This world was so much… better than her own—she realized that more and more every time she visited. But—she reminded herself—it wasn’t the time to be thinking of that again. All that mattered was catching up to the weird creature wearing the spider web cape that had kidnapped Steve and Dedede.

“Let’s go,” She urged the others, face settling into a look of determination as she started forward at a brisk pace. After a few moments, Kirby ran up next to her, at her right, with Will and Bandee following at her left. Will looked… uncomfortable. His brows were furrowed oddly, and while he was examining his surroundings anxiously, Bandee was giving every tree a suspicious glare, being the soldier on a rescue mission in unfamiliar territory he was.

“Will? What’s wrong?” El asked, frowning as she looked over at him. Will seemed to jolt out of his thoughts, looking over at her with wide eyes, before he seemed to settle down and gave her that same, weird look he always did. El still didn’t know what that look meant, but she felt like it was something bad.

“It’s just… You guys heard what that guy said, right? He’s working for someone. Queen… Sec… Tonia…?” Will furrowed his brow as he worked his mouth around the strange name, before shaking his head to get his thoughts back on track. “Anyway, this sounds like some kind of… political prisoner situation, right, Bandee? I mean… this guy implied he was taking Dedede so that Dream Land would fall apart, then praised this “Queen” of his. Do you think the Queen of this… ‘Floralia’ place is trying to take over Dream Land or something?”

Bandee’s glare sharpened as he listened to Will’s speculation. El in particular blinked; most present weren’t used to such a genuinely scornful look from the normally gentle young general. “T—That would make sense… this phony monarch is out to get our Kingdom… like everyone always is. Zero and Yin-Yarn always went straight for Great King first, t—too. Tactic as old as time. If you c—compromise the leader, everyone else falls like dominoes…”

“Yin… Yarn…?” El frowned as she spoke the unfamiliar name. “Long story…” Kirby said, waving his nub around in the air in a lazy circle, indicating disinterest. “He was this dark wizard from another world called Patch Land. If his and Patch Land’s names haven’t gotten it across yet, the whole place is made of yarn! Isn’t that cool, poyo?!”

Kirby jumped up and down while El furrowed her brow in confusion and Will leveled an unimpressed stare at Kirby.

“Alright, now you’re just screwing with us.”

“No, no! It’s real! I know the Prince! He’s my fourth bestest friend under Bandee, Dedede, and Gooey! Anyway, Yin-Yarn stole these evil knitting needles the Royal Family was guarding and they made him wanna take over everything, so he split up Patch Land and then stole one of the Magic Socks that led to Popstar and started trying to turn our planet into yarn, but me, Fluff, Dedede and Meta stopped him! And now I have the other sock here on Popstar so I can go back to Patch Land and visit Prince Fluff anytime I want, poyo!”

Everyone went dead-silent, even as Kirby remained the only member of the group still smiling, the pink glow of his wings gently pulsating with fondness as he mentioned Prince Fluff.

Will looked down at Bandee.

“Okay, since you’re the most level-headed person I know from around here besides Meta Knight, was any of what he just said actually true?”

Bandee briefly peeled his scrutinizing gaze away from the treeline and looked up at Will, both of them ignoring Kirby’s indignant “poyo!”

“O—Oh yeah, that actually happened. It w—wouldn’t be the first time we went through an art-related catastrophe, e—either. About four years ago, a painting of an evil witch called Drawcia c—came to life, turned all of Popstar into paint, and then took Kirby’s limbs away so he couldn’t stop her. The only reason we made it out of that one is b—because the Magical Paintbrush Drawcia was using, the same one that created her, actually had the ghost of the guy who painted her inside it, and he h—helped Kirby get around and eventually defeat her.”

The Puffball in question, over near El, shuddered and wrapped his wings around himself, thousand-yard stare directed straight ahead, disturbing El.

“I thought we all agreed we’d never speak of that again, p—poyo…”

“Hehe, s—sorry, just making sure our new friends kn—know the kind of stuff they could be getting into by coming with us this time…”

Skepticism gone, Will looked skyward, seeing the other floating islands looming precariously above him, and groaned in a mixture of disbelief, anxiety, and resignation.

“Mom’s gonna kill me...”

——————————————————————————

“I want a Miracle Fruit.”

“Dustin, you’re the last person who needs that kind of power.”

Dustin pouted at Max’s retort.

Hopper ran his hand through his hair, huffing out a sigh as he stared up at the screen with wide eyes. He wanted a smoke. Badly.

——————————————————————————

Will took deep breaths to both steady himself and prepare for a possible fight, calling on the desire to protect in order to manifest the tiniest little sparks at his fingertips—Ready to turn deadly at a moment’s notice. Bandee abruptly held his free nub out behind him, signaling them all to stop.

The Waddle Dee then took his spear in both hands and cautiously leveled it at the grass, pulling it back slightly in preparation for a stab at the spider that could be lurking within.

Suddenly, a green, silver and pink blur shot up out of the grass, and a pink ball of energy sped toward them all at high speeds. Bandee just barely managed to dodge it, and the blur—sure enough, the spider-guy from that morning—paused long enough to glare down at them all.

Then he shot away.

Everyone scrambled into action.

“H—HEY! STOP! COME BACK HERE WITH GREAT KING THIS INSTANT!” Bandee commanded, lobbing the spear currently in his nub at the spider’s retreating back—which was currently beelining straight for the edge of the island, no doubt intending on heading up to the next one.

Hell if that was going to happen.

As Will looked at the unconscious forms of Steve and King Dedede, lying limp and helpless in the spider’s web-like nets, he felt the already strong sparking at his fingers grow even stronger, his hands tingling. He raised his hand up, a large arc of electricity shooting from it straight to the spider.

The arachnid being cried out in pain as his body convulsed in midair, supernatural bioelectricity dancing across his form, before he fell to the ground. Will’s eyes widened. Had his bolt really been that powerful? In any case, he and the others obviously capitalized on the lull in the chase, all of them beating feet toward where the spider had fallen, wanting to subdue him before he could recover.

Unfortunately for them, luck was not on their side.

Once they were within a few feet of the spider, he picked himself up off the ground, whirled around at them, growling, and fired another pink orb of energy. This one, though, was larger, pulsating violently, vaguely spider web-shaped, and glowing blue-ish at the center. It moved slowly, but halted them all in their tracks regardless, all of them backpedaling wildly as the orb approached.

Rather than heading for any of them, however, the ball of energy instead seemed to gravitate, as if it were alive, to a small, red flower sitting between them and Taranza. The flower shook violently as the orb made contact with it, glowing the same color as the energy it had just absorbed, before it shot upward, its stem elongating to impossible levels. Everyone cried out and jumped backward as it then instantly expanded and transformed from a once-small flower to a relatively short, but mighty green-barked tree bearing a multitude of the same colorful leaves in star-shaped canopies as the other trees on this island.

This tree in particular, though, Will noticed, looked rather familiar.

A pointy stick protruded from the very front of it, terminating in the same kind of flower the tree had been before it had been transformed by whatever Taranza had done. The subsequent opening of two hollows above the stick for eyes and one below for a mouth confirmed the stick’s status as a nose. All of them were too busy noting the tree’s uncanny resemblance to another living tree they already knew to notice Taranza, hidden behind the tree he was, pick himself and his two captives up, dust himself off, and giggle wickedly behind one of his hands before flying away.

“WHISPY?!”

#kirby #stranger things #will byers #eleven hopper #dustin henderson #max mayfield #jim hopper #magolor #lor starcutter

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