Disclaimer: I do not own Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is property of Nintendo.
And Here We Are
How... could this... be?! He, The Ultimate Life Form, losing to this lowly pink insect? It was an outcome he could not accept. In a desperate attempt to pull victory from the jaws of defeat, Elfilis used every ounce of his dwindling strength, tearing open dimensional rifts without rhyme or reason. He would not allow himself to lose, even if it meant ripping this and every other dimension asunder.
******
It was a peaceful day in Juno's world, the tan furred dragon lounging contently atop his favorite skyscraper. It felt good to get above the hustle and bustle of the city every once in a while. It was like all of the stress of daily life was left below, leaving nothing but the tranquility of the sky. He watched the clouds as they drifted lazily through the air. He sort of envied those clouds, wandering aimlessly across the sky without a care in the world, going wherever the wind took them. What would it be like to just set out like that and leave everything behind?
But Juno's daydream was soon interrupted as the sky suddenly turned dark. The dragon furrowed his brow in confusion. It was the middle of the day, and the clouds weren't thick enough to block out the sun. Nor was there supposed to be a solar eclipse today. What was going on? Things only continued to get stranger as electricity seemed to dance through the air itself before a large star shaped hole opened in the middle of the sky.
Juno was frozen in disbelief. Had he dozed off while relaxing on the roof? No, something told him that despite how impossible it seemed, this was very real. A strong current whipped up around the dragon as if the mysterious hole was acting like a giant vacuum. The suction was so intense that Juno could actually feel his body lifting into the air. This realization was enough to break him from his trance, and cause him to take to the sky in an attempt to escape the vortex. He flapped with all his might, but the suction was just too great, and he was slowly losing ground. Exhaustion was starting to set in, his wings aching and lungs burning from the effort they were exerting. With each passing moment, the vacuum's pull on him felt greater and greater. The final blow was struck when a chunk of debris came hurdling towards the dragon. With no other choice, Juno swerved to avoid it, but in doing so threw off his flight. Like a plane trapped in tailspin, the dragon could no longer regain control, sending him soaring upwards into the sky above. "Nnnooooo...!"
It was all so surreal. As Juno crossed the threshold of the portal, he found himself in an entirely different world. And the scene before him was like something out of a dream, or maybe it was more like a nightmare. Large chunks of buildings, roads, and other debris were scattered throughout the air, like the ruins of a once great city suspended in the sky. What's more, dozens of star shaped portals littered the area, dumping even more debris into the chaotic scene. Juno was so overwhelmed by his new surroundings that he hardly noticed the pull of gravity bringing down. Before he really had time to register what was happening, the dragon slammed down to the ground below. Everything went dark...
"Ugh, my head." Juno groaned. He awoke to find himself on the roof of a building, but the not the one he had been lounging on earlier. What in the world happened? The world, that phrase seemed particularly important for some reason. As his consciousness returned, so too did his memory. A sense of panic welled up in him as he remembered the portal. He quickly looked up to find that all of the portals seemed to be shut, all but one. Through it he got a glimpse of another world, one also shaped like star, before that portal too sealed shut.
Silence fell over the land, but for Juno, it was a somber one. The lost dragon didn't see a single soul around. He was alone and stranded in a foreign world, with no known way to return home. But before Juno could spend too much time pondering the hopelessness of his situation, something suddenly fell out of the sky, crash landing not too far from him. Without a second thought, he rushed towards the impact site, a strange mixture of hope and concern growing in his heart.
Juno wasn't sure what to expect as he approached the smoking crater, but he was still shocked by what he found. It was a creature unlike anything he had ever seen. With a moth-like head, foxlike tail, and massive ears resembling wings, it was like an amalgamation of many different species combine into one sleek package. But by far the most curious feature about the unknown creature was that it seemed to be... melting?
******
Was this... how... it ended? Despite using one last desperate burst of energy to avoid the brunt of the semi-truck, the hit he had taken still left him severely wounded. And without his other half, he could not hold this form for much longer. All those years of planning and plotting, wasted, all because of that meddling pink puffball. He could feel his remaining strength dwindling rapidly, darkness closing in around his consciousness. But then a twinkle of light... It started off distant, but grew brighter as is approached.
"He-, a-e -ou o-ay?!" a voice called out.
Elfilis opened his eyes one final time, the image of a tan dragon looking down at him with concern slowly fading into view. The light... it was him. Elfilis could practically feel the power emanating from his soul, and it awakened a primal hunger within himself. That light... he had to have it...
******
"Hey, are you okay?!" Juno asked with concern, his kindhearted and naive nature making him not even think twice about the potential dangers of offering help to this unknown creature.
He was a bit relieved to see the creature open its eyes, but when those eyes locked onto him, it sent a chill down to the pit of his soul. There was a hunger in those eyes, and he was the prey.
Before Juno could even react, Elfilis lunged towards him, engulfing the foolish dragon within his massive ears.
"Hey! What's the big idea?!" Juno protested, pushing back against the wing-like ears in an attempt to break free "Let me go you overgrown mouse!"
Elfilis did not respond to his prey's objections, instead tightening the trap further to pull his catch into his awaiting claws. Despite Juno's struggles, he soon found himself within the monster's grasp. Elfilis looked at his quarry with intense hunger, opening his maw wide and bringing it down towards the dragon's face.
"What are y--? Wait! No! Noooo! Mmfffph! Hllp!" Juno's pleas were cut short as his head was shoved back into the warm moist flesh of Elfilis's throat.
Powerful muscles locked down around his muzzle, and a formidable gulp pulled him deeper into the creature. Elfilis continued to consume his prey like a ravenous beast, scarfing down Juno's body and slurping up his tail in record time. Before the dragon knew it, he was stuffed tightly within Elfilis's gut. He tried to struggle, but the oppressive stomach walls were crushing his body from every angle. It didn't seem like things could get much worse, but then, something truly bizarre happened.
"Nice of you. To come by. Powerful creature. To sustain my form. Until missing half. Is retrieved again." It was like the voice was speaking straight into his head. So this creature was sentient after all.
"Let me out of here! Gah!" Juno demanded as the stomach kneaded his body, slowly working to absorb the hapless dragon.
Elfilis could feel his form stabilizing, his energy revitalizing, his strength resurfacing. With his ravenous hunger sated, clarity returned to his mind. He began to notice just how powerful the dragon's soul really was. Maybe even strong enough to replace the part of him that was missing. "Actually... Yes. Your soul is. Powerful enough. To fill. My missing half. Instead!"
"Wait! What?!" Suddenly stomach around Juno became even more active, the walls now fusing with his cells and violently absorbing them into Elfilis body.
But this was not the only thing to assault Juno's senses. Elfilis had made a mistake when attempting to reabsorb Elfilin. He had only tried to assimilate Elfilin's body, which gave the rodent a chance to resist once Elfilis himself was weakened. But this time he would fully absorb his prey, both body and mind. Juno soon found his head flooded with voices, phrases Elfilis had heard time and time again during his imprisonment in that accursed lab. "And here we are! Welcome to Lab Discovera! And here we are! Specimen ID-F86! And here we are!"
"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" Juno shouted as the incessant voices drove him mad. All the while his body continued to merge with his captor's.
"That's it. No use. Resisting. You shall. Become part. Of Ultimate. Life Form! With you. We shall. Be whole!" Elfilis proclaimed as the bulge in his belly gradually shrank in size "Old half. Escaped. You shall not. Have the chance." The lump in Elfilis's gut disappeared entirely, leaving only a small glowing light where Juno used to be. A second light appeared within Elfilis's stomach, brighter and more imposing than the first. "This time. No errors." The smaller light was inexorably drawn into the larger one, triggering a metamorphosis within Elfilis "You shall never. Separate from me!" His fur changed to match the colors and markings Juno's once had as the dragon's soul was absorbed and infused with his own "Welcome home. Forever more. My new half." With that, his transformation was complete. He was now the Creature Born of Myths: Mythic Elfilis
Elfilis summoned his spear and took a few swings to test out his newfound strength. Maybe losing Elfilin had actually been a blessing in disguise. He felt more powerful than ever. Strong enough to take his revenge on the impudent pink puffball. But as Elfilis moved to raise his claw, he found that this arm did not obey. What was this sensation he was feeling? Was this... fear? As preposterous as the notion sounded, he found that any attempt to open a portal back to that star-shaped world resulted in hesitation, like his most basic survival instincts would not allow it.
It seemed he was not yet ready to face that insufferable interloper. No matter, there were others deserving of his wrath. Those who had captured him, experimented on him, and then left him to rot in that god forsaken lab. They would regret the day they had crossed him. No matter which world they had jumped to, he would find them. Reaching out his claw to open another portal, he propelled himself forward, hatred boiling in his veins. The hunt was on!
******
"And here we are." the smallest shred of Juno's consciousness remained, somehow having survived Elfilis's assimilation. "Welcome to Lab Discovera." But there was no escape for the doomed fragment. "And here we are." It could not resist Elfilis's will. "Specimen ID-F86." It could only watch in horror as countless worlds fell before The Ultimate Life Form, powerless to stop it. "And here we are."
![[Commissioned] Clawroline v. Elfilin](https://va.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/4127/4127137_NefariousMaximus_clawrolinestrap-lowrez_noncustom.jpg "[Commissioned] Clawroline v. Elfilin")
![[Commissioned] More Nimbat Abuse](https://va.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/4232/4232734_NefariousMaximus_more_nimbat_abuse_3_small.jpg "[Commissioned] More Nimbat Abuse")
