Air-Ride-in-Style - Part II is the ninty-seventh episode of Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and is the conclusion of the final two-part episode of the anime. The episode continues from Air-Ride-in-Style - Part I, which left off while Kirby was still facing off against the Air Riders. This episode is notable for the only appearances of the Baton, Water, Iron and Top ability.
Synopsis
Picking up where the previous episode left off, Kirby is in one of his toughest battles ever as he faces off against the four Air Riders. When the Warp Star gets damaged, Kirby must utilize four anime exclusive abilities to overtake the Air Ride Machines and defeat the villains. We also learn that there is more than one Kabu - they're spread across the universe, with jobs of protecting Star Warriors, and the Kabu we see now has learned from others like him that Nightmare has been stealing these Air Ride Machines throughout the universe from the Star Warriors that were felled during the war between Nightmare Enterprises and the Galaxy Soldier Army.
Episode summary
Spoiler alert: The following section contains plot-specific details.(Skip Section)
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The episode starts with a reminiscent of Kirby's main power source, the Warp Star, and how Tiff was kidnapped by Dedede and Escargoon since they know Tiff is the only one who can call for the Warp Star. A Destrayer ship arrives and attacks the village. Kirby attempts to save Tiff, but was attacked, destroying his Warp Star and dropping its power. Customer Service tells Dedede and Escargoon that the Warp Star is destroyed, so he sends out the Air Riders to take Kirby down, but the Warp Star has regenerated its power, and Kirby hops on to stop the Air Riders. Customer Service introduces Dedede and Escargoon to the other Air Ride Machines, Formula Star, Rocket Star, Wing Star, and Shadow Star. They all gang up on Kirby. Meta Knight lets Tiff and Tuff know that Kirby must pull himself together, and use all his strength to defeat the Air Riders. Kirby starts by fighting the Air Rider riding Formula Star. Kirby and his Warp Star get damaged by the Air Rider's staff, and keeps whacking Kirby. Meta Knight tells him to attack from behind, and he does so, inhaling his staff and transforming into Baton Kirby. He uses Baton Twirl on the Rider and takes control of him. He uses his baton to twirl him around, toss him around, and twirl him some more in an oddly hilarious fashion. Kirby then uses Baton Dance and starts swirling him hard, then he throws him in the air, destroying the first Air Rider. Unfortunately, Kirby's Warp Star is badly damaged, so he can't use it, but the Formula Star crashes, so Kirby uses that to fight the next Air Rider, who is riding the Rocket Star. He has a little problem controlling Formula Star, but he gets the hang of it. The Air Rider burns Kirby out, but Tiff tells Kirby to lure him by the river. He inhales the water from there, while Dedede and Escargoon question why. Reason is to transform into Water Kirby and fight back against the Rider. It attacks with its flamethrower, but Kirby fights back with Hydro Fountain. The two blasts collide, but the flamethrower overpowers Kirby and destroys the Formula Star, but he pulls himself together. The Rider tries to ram into Kirby, but he fights back with a few Hydro Fountain blasts, and leaves him helpless in the air. Kirby wraps up with a powerfully blasted Hydro Fountain, and destroys the second Air Rider. He takes his Rocket Star, and fights the Rider riding on the Wing Star, but he attacks Kirby with his iron flail, and is ready to take him on. Kirby gets hit a lot, but pulls himself and dodges the swings. The Rider wraps the flail around Formula Star, and twirls Kirby to the ground, but he veers forward right before he crashes, but the Formula Star is out of fuel, and it gets destroyed. Tiff tells him to run away, but the Rider attacks again. This time, Kirby inhales his flail and turns into Iron Kirby. The Rider pulls another flail and attacks Kirby, but he deflects his swings by swinging with his own iron staff, and knocks the flail out of him. he tries to ram into Kirby, but he uses Iron Golem, while Tiff and Tuff encourage him to roll over the Rider, and he knocks him out of his Wing Star, and destroys him, defeating the third Air Rider. Kirby takes his Wing Star and fights the final Rider, who rides the Shadow Star. He quickly attacks Kirby with a bunch of tops, but flies away. Kirby and the Rider fly through a forest, and the Rider attacks him with tops that explode. They explode on Kirby, but he fights back and takes full control of the Wing Star. The Rider attacks with tops again, but this time, Kirby avoids them. Tiff and Tuff are cheering for him while Meta Knight says that that is the spirit of a true Star Warrior. The Rider throws another top, but Kirby inhales it and transforms into Top Kirby. He uses Hyper Top on the Rider, who fights back with his top that explodes, but Kirby's top breaks a piece of the Shadow Star. Kirby throws it again, and practically reduces the Shadow Star into pieces, and destroys the final Air Rider, which surprises Escargoon and Dedede. Tiff and Tuff cheer for him, but the Destrayer attacks again, and Tiff is thrown off Kabu. Kirby saves her, but the Destrayer destroys the Wing Star. Tiff and Kirby wake up and ask what happened and where they are. Tuff says that they are inside Kabu and that they were knocked out for a while after the Destrayer attacked them. Tiff said that Kirby had fought four Air Riders and had learned to control each Air Machine they rode, but Tuff says that it was just a dream. Kabu then proceeds to tell Tiff and Kirby that he gave those two the dream so Kirby can master control of not only his Warp Star, but for other Air Ride Machines. Tiff says that Kirby dominated into using the Machines. The Destrayer attacks again in an attempt to destroy Kabu. It attacks Dedede as well, so Escargoon drives off. The Warp Star is restored, and Kirby masters full control of it. He flies into the Destrayer's core while Tiff wishes him good luck. He finds himself in the Destrayer's assembly line, and he inhales some of its projectiles, transforming into Crash Kirby. He uses Crash Fireball and destroys the Destrayer, while Dedede and Escargoon get hit by flaming pieces of it. Kirby flies back to Tiff, Tuff, and Meta Knight, and the Warp Star shrinks back. Customer Service informs Nightmare that Kirby isn't invincible with the Warp Star after all, and he replies by saying that now that he knows this, he will attempt to steal the Warp Star from Kirby, then take over the world. Kirby is determined to save the world from Nightmare.
End of spoilers
Changes in the dub
The original version of this episode included the winning entries for a Copy-Ability-Contest the show was holding. After each copy abilities' transformation, the name of the copy ability and the name of the person who sent it is shown. Due to it being a Japan-exclusive contest, the North American release treated the abilities as if they were normal for Kirby. Every scene including contest-information was deleted for the dub.
After Crash Kirby was first appearance in Fossil Fools - Part II since Meta Knight explains Crash Kirby was very rare ability, he usually explains the ability after the transformation sequence is over.
