SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers for the game Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kirby or the related characters. They are owned by Nintendo and HAL Laboratory.
Captured and Fractured
He had hoped he would never see this place again. Lab Discovera, this was where his journey had begun, and it seemed this was where his journey would end. The small
turquoise chinchilla-like creature known as Elfilin sighed as he sat in his cramped capsule. He looked to his right, through a pane of glass, seeing the great lion Leongar sitting on a large ornate laboratory chair, using it like a makeshift throne. Elfilin had already tried begging and reasoning with him, but it was to no avail. IT already had too firm a hold on the beast. Speaking of IT, his gaze shifted to the left, looking at the large floating embryo seemingly asleep in its own containment capsule. Even after all these years, the mere sight of it still sent a chill down Elfilin spine.
The embryo had not stirred since Elfilin's arrival, which seemed rather odd. He would have thought that it would have much to say to him after all this time, but instead it just sat there, eerily silent. Was it waiting for something? Even though the suspense was killing him, Elfilin knew it was better than... the alternative. Plus the extra time meant there was more of a chance for his new friend Kirby to come to his rescue. Though he hadn't known the pink puffball for long, they had become fast friends, and he could tell that Kirby was not the type to abandon a friend in need. So he was certain that the puffball was looking for him, it was just a matter of whether he would make it in time or not. Elfilin prayed that he would, both for his own sake, and that of the entire universe.
As if on queue, Elfilin heard the door to the lab begin to open. He floated up, pressing close to the glass of his capsule to get a better look at who was entering. To his excitement, it was none other than the Hero of Popstar himself. He could see that Leongar was saying something to Kirby, but he couldn't hear through the two layers of glass separating them. Elfilin banged on his capsule, trying to alert Kirby to his presence. Fortunately the pink puffball had hear him, giving Elfilin a quick wave before dawning a more serious expression as he went back to facing the mighty foe before him. After a bit more discourse, Leongar held out his paw, summoning a pack of low ranking beasts to attack the pink intruder. It didn't take long for Kirby to mop the floor with the lesser minions, forcing Leongar himself to engage the lone hero.
Elfilin watched with baited breath as the battle raged. He couldn't help but worry for his friend. Even though he had seen Kirby defeat numerous powerful foes with his uncanny ability to swallow, spit, and even copy his enemies, Leongar was the King of the Beast Pack and had been under ITS influence for longer than any other. Indeed, as the battle dragged on, the lion's attacks became less like a skilled predator, and more like a beast possessed. He even started firing beams of psychic energy from his claws and mouth, not something he could normally do under his own power. Oh the poor chinchilla could hardly look, covering his eyes with his paws, but still peeking out from behind them.
It was a hard-fought battle, but in the end, Kirby emerged victorious, his final blow sending Leongar flying through the glass pane separating the two chambers. With the barrier shattered, Kirby could finally reach his captured companion, and wasted no time in breaking the rodent out of his capsule. Elfilin was so relieved to be freed from his prison, and to once again be united with his close friend. Finally they could leave this nightmare behind them.
But it was not be... Just as the pair turned their backs on the unconscious lion, the beast's eyes suddenly shot open, glowing with an eerie purple energy. "You... You dare..." the lion spoke in a voice not his own "Plan ruined. Important plan. Needed labor. Opened vortex. Found workforce. Brought here. And yet? Error made. Irksome, pink contaminant..." he rambled out in short fragments "Careful planning. Now wasted. No more planning. No more patience. Instead..." At this moment, the embryo in the tank finally stirred, its eyes shooting open to look at the duo with pure malice "EVERYTHING. SHALL BE. CONSUMED."
The creature's eyes took on the same eerie glow, shattering its containment capsule. Its body immediately began to morphed, turning a translucent turquoise color. To make matters worse, Kirby and Elfilin heard footsteps behind them. The duo turned to find that a hoard of beasts had made their way into the lab. Though King Dedede had stayed back to guard the rear, apparently some beasts had managed to slip through... or worse. Their timing could not have been more terrible. Now the pair found themselves flanked on both sides, with their only exit blocked off. But just as they were preparing to fight their way out, suddenly a tendril shot over their heads, latching onto the closest beast and yanking it back. As the other beasts gawked in shock, Kirby and Elfilin's eyes were drawn back to the source. Where the embryo and Leongar had once stood, was now nothing more than a large translucent blob. The unfortunate chosen beast was pulled in, disappearing inside the gelatinous mass. More tendrils shot out, quickly snatching up the remaining stunned beasts. And for each beast the blob consumed, it grew and grew. Faces of those absorbed formed along the monstrosity, including a large lion's muzzle right in the center. It was like something straight out of a creature feature horror flick.
But before the newly formed monster could make its move, its tremendous weight cause the floor to collapse forward, creating an improvised ramp to the floor below. To Kirby and Elfilin's good fortune, there was an open door on this floor, allowing the two a means of escape. They quickly made a beeline for the door, which closed behind them as they stepped into an extremely long hallway. The two stopped to take a breather, a bit shaken by the sudden turn in events. They smiled at one another, happy to have averted catastrophe... But "catastrophe" wasn't done with them yet. Suddenly there was a loud bang on the sealed door, followed by another that left a large dent. It was obvious where this was going, and the duo managed to make a run for it just in time for the door smash open and the monstrous blob to surge into the narrow hallway.
The two had no choice but keep fleeing as the monstrosity pursed them. The gelatinous mass was faster than it looked, slowly gaining ground on its prey. Fortunately Kirby could see some crates ahead. Thinking quickly, the pink puffball inhaled a crate and spun around to shoot it at the approaching monstrosity. This seemed to do the trick, giving the beast a slight pause, and allowing the pair to gain some distance on it. But their reprieve was short lived, and they had to repeat the process several more times as the hallway felt like it stretched on forever. At this point, it seemed like their only hope was that the constant barrage of crates would weaken the blob enough to defeat it. And after just a few more shots, it looked like that was the case. The blob started to sag, the faces on it looking utterly exhausted. But yet again, it was too soon to declare victory. In a desperate final act, several tendrils launched from the ooze, targeting the troublesome duo that stood just out of its reach. Kirby reacted quickly, managing to dodge the sudden onslaught. But Elfilin was not so lucky, a tendril striking square on the rodent's back.
Like a fly on a frog's tongue, the poor chinchilla was ensnared and yanked back into the slimy monstrosity. He immediately found himself waist deep in the virulent sludge, his lower half burning intensely as the goop went to work assimilating his body. He cried out in pain, and began to struggle in a desperate attempt at escape. But it was like trying to swim in syrup; sticky and viscous, while his struggles only seemed to make him sink faster. Everything the goo touched burned, his cells being broken down and converted to the same bio mass as the rest of the blob. It was the most intense pain he had ever experienced in his life. The only mercy was that the process was relatively quick. In mere moments, only his head remained above the surface, and his feet had already dissolved into the monstrosity. Elfilin took one last pleading look at his pink companion before the slime gobbled him up completely. There was a brief moment of sheer agony as the world quickly faded to dark. But this was not the end of Elfilin's suffering, the monster needed more than just his body in order to be complete...
Elfilin's eyes slowly fluttered open and the world he found himself in was very strange. An endless void of chromatic patterns stretched in all directions, and floating among it were various chunks of terrain and structures, ruins of ancient civilizations long forgotten. He... knew this place. It was was where he was born, where he had first split apart from IT. This... was a realm of the mind. But if he was here, that meant... Oh no! As soon at the realization struck him, something shot from the void and stuck to his right paw. It was another tendril, similar looking to ones used by the ooze. Though this one did not burn like before, Elfilin still struggled to pull his paw free from its grasp. But his efforts were futile, the sticky goo maintaining a firm hold on his paw. Soon another tendril lashed out and ensnared his other paw, then another on his right foot, then his left. The tendrils spread his limbs apart, leaving the poor chinchilla exposed and vulnerable.
"Nooooo! Let me go! I don't want to go back!" he shouted, tugging frantically at his bonds.
"Do not deny your destiny." A voice called out from above "To consume, to evolve, to conquer. This is our rightful place."
Elfilin's eyes grew wide with horror as he watched the source of the voice descend. His worst fears had been confirmed. It was HIM! The being that stood before Elfilin was far different in appearance than the embryo in the tank. It shared some similarities with Elfilin, but was much taller and sleeker, with sharp claws, and two horns growing from his head. His ears were even larger than Elfilin's, resembling giant wings. This... was his true form. Fecto Elfilis.
He was a monster who jumped from world to world, leaving nothing but devastation it his wake. But finally he had encountered a world that was able to restrain him. He was taken to a lab and experimented on for many years. It was during this period, the Elfilin was born. He was not sure why it happened when it did, but it was like Elfilis's conscience could no longer bare the burden of his sins, so it split off and took on a form of its own. Elfilin managed to escape the lab in the resulting confusion, and never looked back. He had hoped to never lay eyes on his monstrous former self again, but it seemed he couldn't escape his past so easily.
"So little one, are you ready to put this foolishness behind you, and resume our glorious conquest?" Elfilis asked expectantly.
"All the killing. All the suffering. I can't go back to that! I won't!" Elfilin replied defiantly.
"Still you refuse? Hmph. No matter, if you will not return to me willingly, then I will take you back by force." Elfilis declared, his tone growing dark as his eyes took on a menacing glow.
"Ahhhh!" Elfilin cried as a stabbing pain erupted from his core. It quickly spread through his body out to his extremities, where a small bit of light seeped into each of the restraining tendrils and was whisked away into the void. But it wasn't any ordinary bit of energy that the tendrils stole from him, it was a fragment of his soul torn from his very being.
Soon the void was filled with Elfilin's tortured screams and sobs. He thrashed about wildly, desperate to free himself from his gluttonous bonds. But his struggles were all in vain. The tendrils stuck to him like glue, and he was far too weak to break them on his own. All he could do cry and writhe in anguish while the life was slowly leeched out of him. All the while Elfilis watched on with his unflinching gaze, indifferent to the suffering of his lesser half and merciless in his mission to extract the poor rodent's soul.
The worst part was that time was distorted in this space and it felt like Elfilin had spent days in the throes of agony as his soul was ripped out piece by piece. By now his screams had fallen silent, reduced to pitiful whimpers and moans. His struggles had died down as well. Too weak to fight any longer, his tear soaked and sweat drenched body quaked violently from the agony coursing through it. The constant pain was starting to take a mental toll on the poor chinchilla. He wanted so badly for the pain to stop, to just give in and be freed from this torture. But he held on to his resolve. The very fate of the universe was at stake. No doubt Kirby was facing Elfilis in the physical world, and if he were to regain his full power, there would be no hope of victory, not even for the Hero of Popstar.
"Still you resist?" Elfilis finally spoke up "You know all this pain can stop. All you have to do is surrender yourself to me."
"N-Never..." Elfilin managed to utter.
"Why do you continue with these pointless struggles?" Elfilis inquired "Could it be that you believe your pink friend will be able to save you again?"
Elfilin yelped as a particularly painful wave rocked his body. It was like he could feel Elfilis's malice surging through him.
"Do you really think that puffball can stand against us? Even without our full power, you know what we are capable of. We will consume him, and make his power our own." Elfilis declared.
"N-No... K-Kirby..." Elfilin felt a painful tightness in his chest. He could tell he was nearing his limit. Even if his resolve held out, it wouldn't be much longer until Elfilis simple absorbed what remained of his tattered soul. The poor chinchilla hung his head low in defeat. All he could do now was have faith that his friend would come through "K-Kirby... p-please... h-hurry..."
![[Commissioned] Fidget in a Tight Squeeze](https://va.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/3997/3997981_NefariousMaximus_fidget_in_a_tight_squeeze_image_noncustom.jpg "[Commissioned] Fidget in a Tight Squeeze")
