Kirby: Ability Space

by NancayLeena

Summary:

A strange but harmless portal shows up at the edge of Cappy Town. Meta Knight is sent to investigate, opening a literal new world of possibilities.

Chapter 1: Ability Castle

It was another day in the relatively sleepy-paced Cappy Town, and so long as King Dedede didn’t order another monster, it would hopefully stay that way.

 

Finally having some spare time on her hands, Tiff went with Professor Curio to explore a newly discovered cave outside of town in the field area near Kirby’s house. Much to Tiff’s surprise, her little brother, Tuff, wanted to come along too, Kirby tagging along with him. He claimed it was to see if he could find any cool stuff in the cave when, in reality, his other friends were too busy to come out and play. 

 

From the outside, the cave looked similar to the others discovered in Dreamland, but once they ventured inside, nobody could shake the feeling that something was off. 

 

The walls were strangely soft, not necessarily smooth, but not as craggy as most caves tended to be.

 

“Is it just me, or does this place seem…artificial?” Tiff asked, noticing that the grooves in the cave had a star-like pattern. 

 

‘Come to think of it, the outside is mostly brown with some grass, almost like a hollowed-out hill. But here…it’s like an off-white wall with grooves that have a yellow tint. Strange,’ Tiff thought to herself as they ventured deeper.

 

Before anyone could acknowledge her statement, the end of the cave began to produce a small gleam of light. The light was more surprising than intolerable since the entire trek inside was always at a slight downward angle with no holes to let sunlight in.

 

Upon closer inspection, the light was two stars, one stationary white star and a yellow star spinning moderately. The thing under the stars looked almost like an open room with no discernible door. The ‘room’ was pitch black, making it impossible to see what could be on the other side.

 

“What is this thing?” Her brother, Tuff, asked while unconsciously reaching forward to touch it.

 

“TUFF, NO!” Tiff yelled, jerking her brother's hand away from the strange object. “We can’t touch this thing! What if it’s dangerous?” 

 

“But it’s not doing anything,” Tuff whined, but complied. Arguing with his sister has never been successful for him.

 

Tuff may have had a point, but with the recent fiasco with a seemingly harmless toy dog that Kirby had taken care of that turned out to be a Nightmare Enterprises product, she couldn’t be too sure. 

 

However, that left them at an impasse. 

 

Kirby couldn’t suck up the strange thing; he gave up after two attempts, and Professor Curio wasn’t the most equipped to handle something that could hurt them. The only good thing in their favor was that it was, for the moment, passive and wasn’t doing anything worthy of concern beyond existing for an unknown reason. 

 

With few options, Tiff offered the only suggestion that was almost always considered reasonable. 

 

“Maybe Meta Knight will know something.”

---

“I’ve never seen anything like this before.” Meta Knight said as he approached the thing; Sword and Blade stood by in case anything went south.

 

‘Well…So much for that idea.’ Tiff thought to herself. 

 

Despite his hesitation, Meta Knight went closer to the thing to inspect it more thoroughly. The two stars, particularly the spinning one, looked strikingly similar to Kirby’s Warp Star. The black part underneath it had a soft pull emitting, noticeable up close, but not threatening enough that it could suck you in if you didn’t want it to.

 

“The slight pull that I feel would likely make this some sort of portal. As for where it leads to…I can’t say for certain.”

 

There was a long silence as the obvious solution to the implied question was, ‘Go in and find out.’ But no one wanted to be the one to suggest that out of fear, the newly dubbed portal would suddenly become dangerous.

 

Meta Knight, however, was nothing if not resourceful. Wanting to settle both his own and the other’s present curiosities, he approached the professor with a simple question.

 

“Professor, did you bring any rope by chance?”

---

After convincing Curio to tie the rope end that wasn’t tied around Meta Knight’s waist at one of the surprisingly thick and sturdy stalagmites that looked eerily like a destroyed pillar and instructing the kids, Sword and Blade Knight, and Kirby to pull him back if he tugged on the rope a few times, he carefully stepped through the portal.

---

He wasn’t sure what he expected on the other side, but it certainly wasn’t the familiar interior of King Dedede’s castle. 

 

At first, Meta Knight thought this might have been a convoluted scheme that King Dedede accomplished with something from Nightmare Enterprises. However, upon closer inspection, the castle was quiet. Like, ‘there’s no one here but me’ kind of quiet. With Meta Knight being accustomed to the innumerable footsteps of Waddle Dee servants, at the very least, it made the place seem almost eerie. The next thing he noticed was the doorways, 30 in total. Some were blocked with stone walls where an opening would have been. He noticed in one of the windows that the outside was a sea of black, blue, and purple, with swirls of white dots that were exactly like those in space.

 

‘This can’t possibly be space, right?’ Meta Knight mused, considering he wasn’t floating away or running out of oxygen.

 

Since he didn’t have anyone around to confirm or deny his suspicion, he decided to put the question at the back of his mind and explore.

 

He walked into one of the open rooms to see if anything was suspicious. What he saw was a very familiar hat that Kirby had when he was- 

 

“Fire Kirby.” Meta Knight finished his thought in disbelief.

 

‘If this room only has the Fire Kirby hat, does that mean the next room will have a different ability hat he’s worn?’ Meta Knight theorized.

 

Wanting to test his theory, he immediately left the room, dashed into the one next to it, and was instantly proven correct with the sight of the Stone Kirby hat.

 

The other rooms also held copy abilities that Kirby had used throughout his time in Cappy Town. Once he had left the last available rooms, he concluded that the blocked-off rooms were abilities Kirby had yet to unlock.

He would have loved to have seen if he could break down the walls himself, but the rope was getting too taut, and Meta Knight couldn’t risk the others on the other side thinking he was in danger.

 

Meta Knight silently hoped that the portal would still be there when night fell so he could explore this impossible place more freely.

 

When he returned to the portal, he didn’t expect to be greeted by a pink-haired woman in a well-tailored business suit, face buried in a strange rectangular device, entering from a building just outside the castle look-a-like that looked like a heart being balanced by a white porcelain floor and floating stairs leading towards the building like a branching path.

 

‘Was that always there?!’ Meta Knight scolded himself for failing to notice that. 

 

The pink-haired lady stopped short of her stride ( ‘Was she floating?’ ) when she noticed the rope coming out from the portal. 

 

Curious, she went to pick it up. 

 

‘NO!’ Meta Knight inwardly panicked, his eyes white. Preemptively, he took out his sword to defend against the mysterious woman, prompting her to turn towards him.

 

Her reaction to Meta Knight having a sword at the ready wasn’t what he expected. 

 

Her initial surprise melted into an almost exasperated expression. “Honestly, Meta Knight, I thought we were past this!” She groaned, holding her head as if to massage away an oncoming headache.

 

Not expecting her to address him with such casual familiarity when he was sure they had never spoken before, he asked, bewildered, eyes green, “I’m sorry, miss, but…Do I know you?”

 

It was her turn to look bewildered. 

 

Meta Knight wasn’t entirely sure what made her rethink her stance, but she was quick to recover, “No…No, it would seem you don’t. My sincerest apologies, though I think it’s safe to say I know of you.” She concluded, confusing him further.

 

“Oh, how so?” Meta Knight countered, eyes changing back to yellow. 

 

He could’ve sworn he heard her mumble, ‘Interesting.’ at the action, but tensed up when she began circling him. He wasn’t proud to admit that he flinched when she tugged at his cape and hummed in contemplation.

 

“Pardon me, miss, but what are you doing?!” Meta Knight growled, eyes turning red, forcefully pulling his cape back.

 

“Looking for differences. And I’d say I think I found enough to differentiate you from the knights I do know. Unless your cape can turn into wings, but I suppose the-”

 

“Wait, wings?!” Meta Knight interrupted in complete shock, eyes turning white.

 

Instead of answering him, the woman merely offered her hand for him to shake. “Never mind that. My name is Susanna Patrya Haltmann. President and CEO of Haltmann Works Company and member of the Star Allies.”

 

‘Star Allies…I wonder if it’s anything like the Star Warriors,’ Meta Knight mused to himself, accepting Susanna’s handshake. “Uh…It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Haltmann.”

 

“So formal. Susie’s fine. Now, this next question may seem strange depending on your answer, but I assure you, it’s necessary.” She prefaced, giving him a moment to collect himself before dropping the question on him.

 

“Do you have a Kirby?”

Chapter 2: Impromptu Ability Training

Summary:

Meta Knight brings Kirby to the Ability Castle.

“Come back here with your Kirby when night falls in your dimension. I feel that we will have much to discuss, preferably away from any potential unwanted audience members.” Susie stated, giving the rope around him a pointed look. “Depending on how the day and night cycles work in our worlds, either one of my associates or I will meet you when you return.”

---

Susie’s request repeated in Meta Knight’s head like a record for the rest of the day. By the time night fell, after making sure everyone who could intercept him was asleep, he quietly snuck away from the castle and made his way toward Kirby’s house.

 

However, he realized quickly that Kirby’s ‘roommate’ Tokkori would be a potential snag in his plans. At times like this, he wished Kirby was still forced to sleep in Tokkori’s old nest. 

 

‘Well…Now’s as good a time as any to practice my stealth skills.’ Meta Knight thought to himself as he quietly opened Kirby’s door. 

 

‘It just occurred to me…Why don’t they have a lock on—Ponder it later!’ Meta Knight scolded himself as he crept closer to Kirby’s bed. 

 

Both parties slept soundly, with Tokkori huddled against Kirby for warmth. He carefully placed his hand between Kirby and Tokkori. As he slowly lifted Kirby with his other hand, he gingerly laid Tokkori’s head on the pillow, hoping the lingering body heat would keep him asleep for however long it took to return to the cave portal.

 

With Kirby secure in his arms, he swiftly and quietly left the house and made a beeline for the cave.

---

Stepping through the portal, he was met with the same hauntingly familiar ‘Ability Castle’ as Meta Knight had taken to calling it. 

 

Not seeing Susie immediately, he assumed one of her ‘associates’ would be in her place. The problem was that he had no idea what her other associates looked like, never mind their names. 

 

Meta Knight was starting to regret not asking more questions.

 

Looking down at Kirby, still fast asleep in his arms, he figured he could look around the castle more freely while waiting for Susie or someone to get him.

 

“Kirby…Wake up…You need to see this.” Meta Knight said, gently rocking him to stir him awake.

 

Kirby groaned, reluctant to do as asked, but once his eyes opened to a blurry scene of what looked like King Dedede’s castle, he jumped out of Meta Knight’s arms in alarm and ran mindlessly into one of the open rooms closest to them.

 

“Kirby, calm down! It’s not-”

 

Kirby’s sudden stop cut off Meta Knight as he stared at a statue of himself wearing the Ice Kirby Ability Hat.

 

“Poyo?” Kirby babbled, pointing at the hat in confusion.

 

“Yes, Kirby, that is your Ice Ability.” Meta Knight laughed, his eyes turning pink. “See if you can inhale it,” he lightly encouraged.

 

With a determined nod, he gave himself a running start and attempted to inhale the Ability Hat. 

 

Keyword: Attempted. 

 

No matter how much or how long he inhaled, the hat wouldn’t budge. Once exhausted and out of breath, he looked at Meta Knight and pointed at it with a whine of sadness and confusion.

 

Meta Knight was at a complete loss as to what was happening. “Th-there must be some way for you to get this…Why would it be here otherwise?” he asked himself, helpless.

 

During Meta Knight's internal dilemma, Kirby, in a desperate attempt to get the hat, decided to climb onto the statue of himself and take it from there. 

 

When Kirby touched the hat, a blinding white glow filled the room, forcing Meta Knight and Kirby to shield their eyes until it finally dimmed. 

 

When Meta Knight felt it was safe to open his eyes, he saw an unbelievable sight.

 

Ice Kirby was sitting at the foot of the hatless statue, rubbing his eyes, still recovering from the bright light from earlier.

 

“Kirby…You…You did it!” Meta Knight exclaimed, eyes changing from yellow to blue, barely noticing the Ability Hat respawn on the statue’s head.

 

A slight rumble from outside the room interrupted their celebration.

 

Quickly running out to see if anyone was trying to attack, they were relieved and slightly confused to find the main room had turned into a makeshift arena, with a strange tan and brown sandbag with black beads for eyes and a drooping antenna on its head sitting in the middle of the room. Above the ‘castle’ entrance was a screen displaying two full bars. The first, and larger, pink bar labeled ‘Mr. Sandbag,’ and the other, smaller, bar in blue labeled ‘Kirby.’ Kirby’s portrait had the Ice Ability hat on his head and a blue and white background. Mr. Sandbag’s portrait had darkened, reflecting his powered-down state. Below the screen was a red button with ‘READY?’ etched on it.

 

“Poyo?” Kirby mumbled in a mix of confusion and awe. 

 

“It looks like a training area.” Meta Knight observed, cautiously approaching the ‘READY?’ button. “Would you like to try it out, Kirby?”

 

Kirby squealed, jumped in excitement, and hastily ran to the arena's edge.

 

When Meta Knight pressed the button, Mr. Sandbag’s antenna began to straighten and turn red as the object lumbered itself into a standing position. Its portrait began lighting up in tandem with its powered-up state. It slowly trained its eyes on Kirby and got into a fighting position.

 

Neither Meta Knight nor Kirby understood how this thing would fight, and that was assuming the point was to put up a decent fight. Kirby shrugged at Meta Knight with few other options and tried to freeze it with his ice breath. 

 

Mr. Sandbag was encased by the resulting iceberg, no longer making any, albeit slow, strides toward Kirby. 

 

‘Well…that was…underwhelming.’ Meta Knight thought, noting Kirby’s confusion and disappointment. 

 

Before either of them could move away, the iceberg suddenly exploded with Mr. Sandbag smoking. Whatever it used to melt the ice rapidly began to encase its whole body, almost akin to a Fire Ability. 

 

Meta Knight looked at the screen and noticed Mr. Sandbag’s health bar had gone down by a fourth. However, the portrait had flames in the background, and its physical form was moving faster due to the fire's rapid acceleration, leaving Kirby barely enough time to dodge it.

 

The good thing about it was that it didn’t employ much of a strategy beyond barreling toward Kirby at top speed, so it was fairly easy for Kirby to adapt and lower its health bar with more ice breath attacks and then move out of the way when it got too close. Not that Mr. Sandbag didn’t get a few good hits in, but the winner was obvious, with its health bar drained completely and Kirby’s being less than a fourth gone.

 

“POYO!” Kirby cheered as the Ice Ability faded. He returned to his normal self, and the training area reverted to its empty state.

 

Meta Knight chuckled, eyes turning blue in amusement, and petting him on the head, “Good job, Kirby.”

 

“Wow, I didn’t think your Kirby’s abilities wore off after a fight," a high-pitched voice said behind the two.

 

They quickly turned toward the voice, Meta Knight putting a hand on his weapon, and saw a teal floating chinchilla with large ears; the right one looked to have had a circular chunk taken from it.

 

“Hi! I’m Elfilin. Susie told me to fetch you,” Elfilin said, nonpulsed by the two and ready to attack.

 

Hearing the name ‘Susie’ had Meta Knight let his guard down a little, which prompted Kirby to do the same. “Ah, yes, I take it you’re one of her associates she spoke of earlier?” 

 

“Yup. I’m the newest member of the Star Allies. At your service.” Elfilin said, playfully bowing.

 

Meta Knight nodded, “Well, it’s good to meet you. I suppose we follow you too…wherever Susie wanted to meet next.” 

 

“Yup! Follow me, please.” Elfilin said, flying over to the Ability Castle’s exit.

 

Kirby happily followed the cute creature, with Meta Knight following close behind.

 

‘He doesn’t seem like a fighter…Maybe he’s more of a support person,’ Meta Knight mused.

---

The outside of the Ability Castle was both breathtaking and concerning. 

 

The maybe-space was more expansive than Meta Knight thought possible. However, what caught his attention was the other buildings encircling a big Warp Star they were heading towards. 

 

The other buildings varied in size, ranging from almost absurdly small to almost unreasonably large. Some looked like they didn’t house anything, Abilities or otherwise. In total, there were about 33 buildings. However, of those 33 buildings, 13 acted as main structures, with the remaining 20 being smaller offshoots, connected only by the floating white stairs.

 

“Pardon me, Elfilin, but…What is this place exactly?”

 

“We haven’t decided on a formal name yet. Though most of us have been calling it ‘Ability Space’ if and until we come up with something better.” Elfilin explained.

 

“I see,” Meta Knight considered, his eyes turning green in thought. “I don’t suppose you know how this place came to be, then?”

 

“I’m afraid not, no. Though me discovering this place was quite the happy accident.” He answered, turning to face them, mildly surprised when they froze at that information.

 

“Y-you discovered this place…By accident?!” Meta Knight stammered, not quite believing his ears.

 

“It’s a long story, but the short version is that I was practicing with my powers, and it led me here,” Elfilin explained awkwardly.

 

“...And those powers are?” Meta Knight asked, almost afraid of the answer he’d get.

 

“If I concentrate hard enough, I can make portals to anywhere my mind can think of, " Elfilin said in a cheery but tense tone.

 

Meta Knight could hardly believe his ears. 

 

A being that could create portals to anywhere they wanted. 

 

It sounded almost too good to be true. 

 

“I suppose that means you can’t just will a world of your choosing into existence, then, correct?” Meta Knight mused out loud.

 

“No. If I could…a lot of things would have played out differently,” Elfilin said in a low, mournful tone, prompting Meta Knight to leave that line of questioning for the moment.

 

Fortunately, they had arrived at the giant Warp Star before any more awkward conversation could continue.

 

Elfilin touched the star for a few seconds, closing his eyes in concentration before a white orb materialized in front of them. Satisfied, he went over to the orb and swiped his hand to the right, revealing what looked to be an image of a start-up town.

 

“Hop in!” He instructed before doing so himself.

 

Kirby looked toward Meta Knight as if asking for permission. 

 

He answered Kirby with a curt nod before both followed after Elfilin.

Chapter 3: Knight Vs. Knight

Summary:

Meta Knight vs. Dark Meta (Mirror) Knight.

It felt like the portal they came through just spat them out and let gravity handle the landing as Meta Knight and Kirby were painfully moaning face down on the gray cobblestone plaza.

 

“Sorry!” Elfilin panicked, helping the two to their feet. “I’m still working on that.”

 

“That is fine, just…Where are we?” Meta Knight said, looking around at the relatively new town, which was possibly still in development.

 

“You’re at Waddle Dee village, stranger.” A chipper above him answered.

 

Meta Knight looked up to find a Waddle Dee with a blue bandana hovering over him from— ‘Is…Is that a spear?’ He thought to himself, not quite believing what he was seeing.

 

When the bandana Waddle Dee was low enough to the ground, he stopped the rapid spinning of his spear and landed softly. 

 

“You must be the Meta Knight Susie told us about and…” When Bandana caught sight of Kirby, his eyes widened and sparkled with what Meta Knight could only identify as immense joy. “AW! He’s so cute and tiny!” He squealed as he picked Kirby up above his head and spun him around, earning him a happy laugh from baby Star Warrior.

 

Meta Knight, however, couldn’t understand how a Waddle Dee could talk. “They…They can talk...?” 

 

Elfilin floated next to him and asked, “Are Waddle Dees unable to talk where you’re from?” 

 

“Ah…No…Not that I’ve ever witnessed.” Meta Knight answered, still perplexed by the situation.

 

“I’m sure they have some way to do it, even if non-verbally,” Bandana stated, with Kirby now riding on his head like a second hat. “But anyway, my name’s Bandana Dee, Ban-Dee for short.” He introduced himself, extending his hand for Meta Knight to shake.

 

“I’m Meta Knight…I take it you’re a ‘Star Ally’ too?” He asked, stiffly accepting the handshake.

 

“Yup! And I already knew your name.” Ban-Dee stated with a small chuckle.

 

“Oh…I guess Susie would have mentioned my name already…” Meta Knight awkwardly guessed.

 

“Oh…She didn’t tell you?” Ban-Dee asked.

 

“Tell me what?” Meta Knight said, eyes red, frustrated with the vague language.

 

Sensing it, Ban-Dee decided to clear the air. “There are two knights within our ranks who share not only your name but your appearance in many ways. Obviously, there are differences, so you may have to get used to being referred to by a nickname so that we can keep everyone straight.” He paused for a moment to allow this information to sink in.

 

Meta Knight thought back to his first meeting with Susie, and suddenly, a lot of things about that interaction made sense. How she knew his name, why she thought he had wings. If the Meta Knights she knew spoke differently, his voice alone must have been enough of a giveaway for her to realize that something was off. 

 

Meta Knight could only respond with a stunned, “Oh…” as his eyes changed from red to white.

 

“Speaking of those two.” Ban-Dee continued, snapping Meta Knight out of his thoughts. “Follow me to the Colosseum. Susie was able to talk them into putting on a bit of a show for you.”

 

“You say that like that was a difficult task.” Elfilin giggled in response.

 

Curious at the prospect of seeing…himself in action, he followed behind them. 

 

As he walked through the small part of the town, he saw many things he hadn’t seen in Cappy Town. 

 

Directly behind them were a theater and a small concert stage with instruments left behind by the band. It made him wonder what these Waddle Dees saw as entertainment, since his didn’t seem to show much interest in anything beyond their assigned jobs. 

 

Next to it was what looked like a woodwork or blacksmith shop. He wouldn’t admit to anyone that he was a bit unnerved by how similar it looked to one of the buildings at the Ability Space. 

 

Kirby’s house, or rather the house that belonged to this universe’s Kirby, was much bigger than the one Meta Knight saw on a near-daily basis. 

 

‘I wonder if this Kirby has a roommate situation, too. If true, do they have to deal with someone similar to Tokkori?’ Meta Knight thought to himself. 

 

Behind that was a sizable pond with chairs, fishing equipment scattered around its edge, and what appeared to be a leaderboard for the largest fish caught.

 

Right before the stairs leading up to the higher level was a cafe, where he could already see Kirby drooling at the prospect of food, and a post office that looked very busy at a glance.

 

At the top of the stairs, the surrounding stands were completely overshadowed by the colosseum, which looked twice the size of King Dedede’s castle. 

 

Meta Knight could hear the bustling noise of the crowd inside, waiting for the aforementioned show to start. It would explain why the town seemed so empty, as he had yet to see another Waddle Dee outside Ban-Dee. 

 

“Tickets, please.” 

 

Meta Knight was brought out of his musings by a Wabble Dee with blue square thick-rim glasses and the same-colored bow tie operating a ticket counter. Before he could properly form any response, Ban-Dee handed the ticket guy four tickets and continued to herd everyone inside.

---

The inside was even grander than the outside. Two flags depicting the opponents fighting were concealed in shadow. 

 

(The fact that both silhouettes resembled Meta Knight sent shivers up his spine.) 

 

The hallway was filled with Waddle Dees selling snacks, socializing, or making their way to their seats. He also saw orange and red dog/cat-like creatures scurrying around the place, with other beings that Meta Knight recognized as enemies he and/or Kirby had fought before, and beings he couldn’t recognize.

 

Among the spectators, however, were 17 others talking, and Elfilin eagerly flew over to join them. 

 

The only one he recognized right away was Susie, leaving him to infer that the rest were the Star Allies he kept hearing about. 

 

He was about to go over and talk to her, maybe ask a few questions that slipped his mind during their first meeting, when Ban-Dee grabbed his hand and began leading him upstairs to a secluded entrance that looked like a VIP section.

 

“Come on! The King made sure we had the best seats in the house!” Ban-Dee exclaimed, not noticing Meta Knight and Kirby freezing in shock.

 

‘The King?! Surely he can’t mean…’ Meta Knight couldn’t bring himself to finish the thought as he unconsciously followed Ban-Dee. He noticed Kirby starting to fuss on Ban-Dee’s head and looking back at Meta Knight with terrified, tear-filled eyes, the closer they got to the ‘best seats in the house.’ 

 

His hand hovered over his sword to defend Kirby if needed.

---

“Great King! Our guests have arrived!” Ban-Dee introduced, moving aside so Dedede could get a better view of Meta Knight.

 

Dedede lazily turned his head to acknowledge them, but was stopped when he noticed the tiny Kirby on Ban-Dee’s head. 

 

“Well, now, what do we have here?” Dedede said, lifting a confused and scared Kirby from Ban-Dee. 

 

Meta Knight’s hand was about to rip his sword out of its sheath when Dedede started to coo and babble at Kirby, who was both relieved and confused by the development. “Aren’t you just the cutest thing in all the known dimensions! I don’t think I’ve ever seen my Kirby this tiny.” 

 

Meta Knight's sigh of relief didn’t go unnoticed by Dedede. “I take your Dedede isn’t a great person in your dimension, is he?”

 

“...Something like that.” Meta Knight reluctantly answered. 

 

He felt a tender hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Dedede with a warm, understanding smile. “I understand. I wasn’t the best either when I first met Kir…my Kirby. And who knows, maybe he’ll turn it around one day.”

 

Meta Knight never thought he’d see the day he would have respect for Dedede, but this alternate had proven him wrong, and he couldn’t say he minded.

 

A chorus of horns drew everyone's attention to the arena. Once the horns were finished, five creatures, one resembling Captain Waddle Doo, approached five separate, torch-like structures. One by one, they used an attack on the structures that made them glow a certain color and emanate what Meta Knight could only assume was an Ability Essence. 

 

Blue for water; done by a blue eel-like creature.

 

White for ice; done by a creature that looked a lot like Chilly.

 

Yellow for electricity; done by the Captain Waddle Doo look-alike wearing a garish jester hat.

 

Red for fire; done by a pinkish-red round being with flames for hair.

 

And green for wind; done by a yellow blob-like being wearing a white bandanna with green stars wielding a broom.

 

“Incredible.” Meta Knight breathed in awe of the scene before him, eyes changing to pink.

 

King Dedede chucked, “You haven’t seen anything yet, Bright Eyes.”

 

‘Bright Eyes?’ Meta Knight thought to himself before remembering what Ban-Dee had said about needing to be addressed with a nickname.

 

Before he could ponder that further, a microphone with legs ran along the balcony edge and stopped in front of Dedede. 

 

“That’s my cue,” Dedede mumbled as he gently picked the mic creature up. “Citizens of Dream Land and Beast Pack! We have gathered here today to witness a spectacle for the ages!” He paused, waiting for the roarious applause to die down. “They may be on the same side now, but their rivalry is legendary!” The lights immediately began to dim, and two spotlights were directed to the right of the stage, illuminating an opening covered in red velvet curtains that led to a narrow ledge. “In this corner, one of the founding members of the Star Allies and my favorite sparring partner, META KNIGHT!”

 

Bright Eyes couldn’t help but look at Dedede incredulously with a statement like that. But any question he might have had evaporated immediately when he saw the native Meta Knight. He wasn’t an exact mirror image, but many of the familiar features he’d seen in his reflection every day were on this Meta Knight. The only real difference was that one of his shoulder pads had an ‘M’ emblem with a jagged sword, most likely this Meta Knight’s version of Galaxia, going through it in an upward position.

 

Kirby couldn’t stop looking back and forth between the two Meta Knights in an almost panicked confusion. 

 

Sensing baby Kirby’s distress, Dedede reassured him while patting his head affectionately. “Relax, there, little one, there’s no witchcraft at play…At least not in this instance.”

 

Bright Eyes wanted to ask about what Dedede meant by that, but then Meta Knight flicked his cape, which morphed in a blurred motion, revealing bat-like wings that he promptly used to glide down to the center of the stage, preemptively taking out his sword in a flourish.

 

“Tsh, show off,” Dedede mumbled fondly to himself before continuing with the introduction. “And in the corner!” He continued with the spotlight moving towards a different ground-floor opening, covered by the same red velvet curtain. “This former minion of Dark Matter and resident of the Mirror World is here to put his counterpart in his place! Don’t look at me like that, Meta; that’s what he told me to say.” Dedede added quickly when he noticed Meta Knight look up at him with a no-doubt sour expression behind the mask. “Give a big round of applause for MIRROR KNIGHT!” 

 

Unlike Meta Knight, he sculked out of the curtain, his tattered wings and silver sword already out for display. He had the same emblem as Meta Knight, but on the opposite shoulder. The massive scar-like crack over Mirror Knight’s mask, where the left eye showed, made Bright Eyes wonder briefly if he was blind in that eye. 

 

Not that it negated the chill in his spine from how…wrong this version of himself felt. 

 

Kirby must have felt it, too, as he wriggled out of Dedede’s grip and ran closer to Bright Eyes for comfort. 

 

“Yeah, he…has that effect on people,” Ban-Dee said, gently petting Kirby’s head.

 

“Pardon me, Your Highness, but…who is Dark Matter?” Bright Eyes asked, eyes white and voice stiff. 

 

Dedede’s slight shiver at the question did nothing to ease his worry.

 

“Just…be happy you didn’t have to deal with that,” Dedede said in a tone that made it clear that discussing it further was out of the question.

 

‘Then why do you trust him?’ Meta Knight thought to himself. 

 

Mirror Knight stopped when he was only two paces before Meta Knight in a show of intimidation. 

 

Meta Knight’s stare didn’t waver, showing no signs of backing down.

 

“BEGIN!” Dedede yelled, prompting the two fighters on either side of the area to quickly jump backward away from each other.

 

The first thing Mirror Knight did was fly through the Fire Ability Essence. 

 

For a moment, Bright Eyes thought he was forfeiting the match until he came out not only completely unharmed but also with his sword having a new wave pattern and completely on fire.

 

“What the-”

 

“I take it you’ve never tried that,” Dedede interrupted with a chuckle. “I can’t blame you. We only figured out how to do that three or four years ago.”

 

Before he could comment on that, his focus was returned to the battle below.

 

Mirror Knight glided straight toward Meta Knight, who quickly parried with so much force that lightning bounced off the blades, and both knights were knocked back slightly. 

 

Meta Knight decided to join Mirror Knight in the air and swiftly maneuvered to get his own sword an elemental ability, preferably Water. 

 

Mirror charged at him, sword glowing like he was going to throw an underhanded sword beam. However, to Bright Eye’s surprise, the upward slash created three reflective plates that immediately produced three larger versions of his burning silver Galaxia.

 

Meta Knight barely dodged out of the way, flying him off course, and crashed into the Spark Ability Essence. Unlike the Sizzel Sword, the Zap Sword’s blade had a much more noticeable jagged pattern resembling a bolt of lightning. 

 

Thinking quickly to catch himself, he broke off a large boulder from the stage to act as a jumping-off point in the air before returning it to refill the gap.

 

Bright Eyes couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. ‘Does this local Meta Knight have more powers than I’m seeing? And Mirror Knight…I suppose he had to get his name from somewhere,' he mused. 

 

“Poyo! Poyo!” Kirby yelled in both excitement and concern.

 

“Don’t worry, little guy,” Dedede said, patting his back soothingly. “Both have taken hits from bigger and badder foes than anything either can do to each other.”

 

“What do you mean by that?” Bright Eyes asked, concern obvious in his voice. 

 

An electrified explosion caused by an elemental sword beam interrupted them, reminding them of the battle.

 

“Uh…Later. We promise.” Dedede reassured.

 

“I’ll hold you to it.” Bright Eyes bit back, eyes red, not bothering to hide his frustration.

 

Meta and Mirror stood opposite each other in a standoff position. 

 

Mirror did his best to keep his high-ground position despite the electrified sword beams coming his way. Once he was a safe enough distance away, six copies of himself split from his body and began to encircle the arena. 

 

One of them landed near the Gust Copy Essence.

 

With no hesitation, the copy (Original?) ran right into it, turning his and all the other look-alikes’ swords into a confined tornado that still strangely came to a point. 

 

“How are any of these sword forms possible?” Bright Eyes question in awe, eyes turning green.

 

“Honestly, we don’t spend much time thinking about it,” Dedede answered nonchalantly.

 

“That’s Great King’s way of saying he doesn’t know.” Ban-Dee stage whispered, much to Dedede’s annoyance. “You’re better off asking Kirby, er, our Kirby anyway. He’s the one who discovered it first before trying it with other Abilities and weapons later.”

 

“Other Abilities..?” Bright Eyes choked, eyes turning white, while Kirby looked at Dedede’s Hammer and Ban-Dee’s Spear, already imagining what they would look like with Elemental Abilities.

 

With the Bluster Sword at hand, Mirror Knight and his copies began to spin rapidly, merging into a big tornado.

 

Meta Knight planted his sword into the stone ground to keep himself from flying off and held on with all his might. Noticing that the cracks were already glowing and crackling with power, he closed his eyes tightly and began to create electrified energy beams that emerged from the ground in a jagged, circular formation. Mirror Knight attempted to counter it by sending more reflective portals that materialized giant, windy silver Galaxia copies to deflect the energy. Unfortunately for him, one of the parried attacks reflected off the blade and into the original, erasing the copies and making the tornado lose its momentum and dissipate. As Mirror Knight fell, he flapped his tattered wings furiously, hoping to mitigate the damage at least. Since the tornado’s leftover momentum still carried his dissent, he unconsciously fell into the Water Ability Essence, changing his sword to resemble a water geyser, and the blade matched the water’s pattern.

 

Seeing the perfect opportunity, Meta Knight lunged into the sky in an upward glide, colliding with Mirror Knight. 

 

The collision resulted in an explosion of green and yellow electrical energy, sending Mirror Knight rocketing into the ground, creating a small crater upon impact.

 

Dedede let the situation sit before grabbing the living mic, “And the winner is…META KNIGHT!” 

 

The crowd erupted in cheers as Mirror Knight struggled to lift himself out of the crater. 

 

Meta offered a hand to help him, “No hard feelings?” He said in a low voice that sounded vaguely English.

 

Mirror contemplated that for a moment before begrudgingly taking his help. “Tch, don’t get too comfortable. One day, it will be you wallowing in defeat!” He bit back, his voice more gravelly and harsh.

 

“And I eagerly await that day.” Meta Knight chuckled, much to Mirror Knight's displeasure.

Notes:

I know that Dark Meta Knight is his name in the game's canon, but in the context of this, and the fact that DMK is supposed to be a good(ish) guy now, I figured it would be better if his nickname reflected that. (Pun somewhat intended.) If anyone has a better nickname suggestion, though, let me know.

Chapter 4: Round Table Discussions

Summary:

Bright Eye's proper introduction to the Star Allies crew.

After the match, Bright Eyes thought he would leave with the rest of the audience until Dedede led him, along with Ban-Dee and Kirby, to another section of the Coliseum. 

 

“Pardon me, Your Highness, but…How big is this place?” Bright Eyes asked, noticing how much it was starting to look more like a castle hall than a coliseum hall.

 

“No need to be so formal, especially if we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other in the future,” Dedede said, approaching a grand-looking castle door. “To answer your question, I may be biased, but I think everything gets done much faster when we’re all in the same room enjoying a meal.” He concluded as he opened the door to a room full of people and a nice spread of food. Bright Eyes had to stop Kirby from immediately sucking up the spread for himself.

 

Either the Star Allies team was bigger than he thought, or not every person there was a full-time member. Almost all of the Coliseum's attendees were present.

 

The site was overwhelming for both Bright Eyes and Kirby. 

 

Seeing that, their two guides led them to a more secluded but lively table of people. He instantly recognized a couple of them: His two other counterparts, Mirror chugging down a jar with a green shield logo, and Susie. 

 

“Consider this the main table, Meta Knight The Third.” A light purple jester jeered while casually popping a donut in his mouth.

 

“Marx, behave!” A blue cat or orb-like floating creature lightly scolded Marx, with a small chuckle at the end, earning a glare from the local Meta Knight.

 

“Don’t encourage him, Magolor.” He bit back sternly.

 

“No idea what you're talking about.” ‘Magolor’ cheekily replied.

 

“Don’t pay them any mind; you’ll get a headache if you do.” Mirror, now maskless, showing off a nasty scar on the eye that indeed looked to be blinded, lamented while a purplish-black translucent orb-like creature with pure white eyes and mouth handed him a tomato-like thing with a black ‘M’ on it. “Thanks, Shadow.”

 

“Poyo?” Kirby squeaked as he cautiously approached ‘Shadow.’

 

Shadow didn’t say anything. Just stared into Kirby with his blank, soulless eyes as he offered his counterpart a silent wave. 

 

Kirby shivered with fright but shakingly waved back.

 

“We really need to work on your social skills,” Mirror remarked, patting Shadow’s head.

 

Shadow turned around and gave him a look that said, ‘Look who’s talking?’ Which led to both Kirby and Marx chuckling. 

 

“Um…Is your Kirby…mute?” Bright Eyes questioned, fully aware of how annoyed with Shadow Mirror looked.

 

“As far as I know. I never heard the little rascal utter so much as a syllable. And before you ask, I’m not entirely sure why.” Mirror spat.

 

“R-right…” Bright Eyes said, backing away from the darker version of him.

 

“Relax, Third, Mirror’s a big softy when it comes to Shads. HA HA HA-ACK!” Marx’s laughing was interrupted by a punch to the top of his head.

 

“Keep talking, and I’ll remove that blasted tongue of yours!” Mirror seethed.

 

Marx rolled his eyes but complied with the demand. 

 

Once the stars from the hit subsided, he finally seemed to notice the little pink blob that reminded him of a smaller version of the Kirby he was familiar with. “Well, hey, hey, hey there, little guy! If I didn’t know any better, I’d’ve thought Kirby was trying out the Mini Ability again.” Marx cooed, flying over a wonderstruck Kirby’s head with his gold wings. Kirby was particularly fascinated by Marx’s multi-colored scales. 

 

“Poyo! Poyo!” Kirby happily exclaimed, jumping up to try to touch Marx’s wings.

 

Marx was hovering far enough to be just out of reach for him; however, it didn’t do much to stop the startled look that crept onto his face. “Uh, Third…How old is your Kirby?” 

 

Bright Eyes wasn’t entirely sure how to answer that without causing an unnecessary scene.

 

Fortunately for him, a wistful voice cut through the tension. “Ah, I remember when I was that age.”

 

The whole table seemed to stop its chatter and give their full attention to the bigger Kirby, who was making his way to his tiny counterpart. 

 

“At least we know which side of the coin you are, right, little me?” Kirby said in an almost hopeful tone.

 

Bright Eyes noticed that the tone of the entire room had shifted from warm, friendly chatter to stiff and heavy with either grief or worry.

 

“Poyo?” Little Kirby questioned, taking a step closer before stopping. “P-poyo?”

 

“Sorry, little guy, just some semi-fresh wounds. Nothing you need to worry about.” Kirby reassured, albeit intentionally vague.

 

Bright Eyes looked over at the person immediately next to him, a large gray mouse with a stylish red cape and hat, and tried his luck asking, “I don’t suppose I can get some level of backstory on this?” 

 

The mouse tilted his hat with a somber look on his face before rifling through his cap and pulling out two coins. 

 

One, a glittering gold, and the other is a vibrant rainbow.

 

“It’s a bit literal, but…Both pictures on the coins are of the same thing.” The mouse said, his dapper voice dulled by something Bright Eyes couldn’t place.

 

Bright Eyes gingerly took the coins offered to him and inspected what was on the surface of each. 

 

The gold coin had what appeared to be Kirby’s face embedded.

 

The rainbow coin would look almost identical if it weren’t for the expression, which appeared to be in the middle of insane laughter, along with an unnaturally wide mouth.

 

“They’re both the same picture? I’m not sure I follow.” Bright Eyes explained, giving the coins back.

 

“It’s not a hard and fast rule, and the story behind it is a bit long, but the simple version is that Dark Matter can either be made by positive or negative energy. Those with negative tendencies tend to become world-ending monsters. The positive ones…well, they’re more likely to be good but are still capable of being world-ending monsters.” The mouse said with a very strained but still amused smile, especially when he noticed Bright Eyes’ color change from yellow to white. ‘We really should get a chart started.’ He silently chuckled. “Like I said, it’s not a perfect rule. That blueish-black blob with the long tongue, Gooey, is made entirely of negative energy, and he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. Or your moody counterpart.” He continued, ignoring the empty bottle of healing tonic lobbed at his head.

 

“I am not ‘moody,’ Daroach!” Mirror complained, indignant.

 

Daroach chuckled, tipping his hat down to, poorly, hide a smile. “Sure, Mirror, sure.”

 

Bright Eyes glanced at Shadow, who looked to be hanging around the talking Kirby while his Kirby made excited gestures. “I take it it’s also true for Shadow?” he asked apprehensively.

 

“Yes, and before you ask, everyone I know in my world is made of negative energy…Don’t bother looking for them. They’re not here.” 

 

Mirror’s somber tone made it clear to Bright Eyes that further questions wouldn’t be appreciated.

 

Bringing his attention back to the table, he noticed King Dedede mingling with the others in a bright and sociable manner. “He’s so different.” He found himself unconsciously saying.

 

“He wasn’t always like that.” Meta Knight said from behind, making him jump.

 

“H-how do you mean?” Bright Eyes stammered, trying to get his composure back.

 

“I can’t speak for what your king is like, but he used to be quite the gluttonous and selfish sort.” Meta Knight recalled, almost fondly, to Bright Eye’s confusion. “Not long after our Kirby showed up to stop him, he started changing for the better.” 

 

“I only wish the same were true for mine…” Bright Eyes lamented. 

 

“Care to talk about it?” Meta Knight probed.

 

Bright Eyes was quiet for a few moments, trying to think of a good way to phrase what he was about to say. “Have any of you faced an entity known as Nightmare?”

 

Meta Knight’s reaction to the question was a lot more subdued than Bright Eyes thought it would be. “We’ve dealt with him here, yes. Though, given your tone, I can only assume that he’s very different than the one I’m familiar with.” 

 

The idea of multiple Nightmares didn’t initially cross his mind. Though, considering he was effectively talking to himself, the thought really shouldn’t have surprised him. “Do I even want to know what he was like for you?” Bright Eyes asked, trying and failing to swallow back his fear.

 

“The Nightmare of my world was, comparatively speaking, little more than a pest. All he did was make it so the people of Dream Land didn’t dream. Hardly the world-ending disasters we would later come to fight.”

 

Bright Eyes could hardly believe his ears. All the pain and suffering his Nightmare had caused, only to be considered barely a footnote here.

 

A hand on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts.

 

“We are well aware that not every person we’ve met in our world is the same across the board.” Meta Knight quickly corrected. “For instance, Magolor has a gig off-world…more off-world than this, where a Nightmare was causing a lot more problems than one I’m familiar with. You’ll have to ask him for the specifics. However, I’m not sure how far you’ll get since, apparently, he wasn’t present for everything. Said he was more of a supplier.” 

 

“I think I will. Which one is Magolor?” Bright Eyes asked.

 

“Wow! How remote is your dimension?” The blue and white cat thing from earlier lightly chided, literally jumping in between the two. “I’m only the greatest magician the multiverse has ever seen!” 

 

“Right…Never mind that Hyness came closer to reaching his goal with magic than you did.” Meta Knight jabbed back, ignoring the blond, perpetually floating humanoid figure whose eye twitched at the mention of this ‘Hyness’ figure.

 

“Still salty that he can’t remember your name, eh, Zan?” Magolor asked, avoiding Meta Knight’s statement.

 

“Shut up.” Zan sulked while the other two with blue and red hair comforted her, glaring at Magolor.

 

“Do I-”

“No.” A chorus of voices answered him. 

 

“...So, Magolor was it? About this other Nightmare?” Bright Eyes asked hesitantly.

 

“Oh, from what I heard, he was a real slippery figure!” Magolor begins. “The guys that dealt with him said they mistook him for a tornado at first, along with other misdirection tactics. Including making them think he was different people entirely.” Bright Eyes took a cautious step back when Magolor got uncomfortably close to his face to stage whisper, “Even taking the form of people in this very room.” 

 

He pointed out two people in particular: One who looked very similar to a spider, his appendages floating, and the other, Susie.

 

“Off topic, but do most of your associates have floating disembodied limbs?” Bright Eyes couldn’t help but observe.

 

“Yeah, most off-worlders tend to have this trait. I have no idea why,” Magolor answered off-handedly. “The guys who dealt with it weren’t too specific, but they did say that his MO was to send out waves of enemies before finally dealing with them himself.”

 

‘It doesn’t sound too different from what I’m familiar with,’ Bright Eyes begrudgingly acknowledged. “I don’t suppose you know if he was manufacturing them himself?” 

 

Magolor looked confused by the question. “Manufacture? What, like a company?” 

 

Susie’s head shot up at the mention of ‘company,’ now paying attention to their talk.

 

“I don’t think they would know one way or the other. They just hear about some problem and fix it, no questions asked. Is that how yours operates?” Magolor asked, either genuinely curious or concerned; Bright Eyes couldn’t tell which one.

 

“Something like that.” Bright Eyes said bitterly.

 

“Let me see if I understand you correctly,” Susie interjected, surprising them both. “Your Nightmare is essentially a CEO that creates and sells monsters to the highest bidder?”

 

“I don’t know about the highest bidder.” Bright Eyes humorlessly stated, rolling his red eyes. “My Dedede is quite stingy with his money. I’m more than convinced the only reason they put up with it is because they want to get rid of Kirby and, to a lesser extent, me.” 

 

Susie paused for a moment, absorbing the information. “Forgive me if this sounds a little tone-deaf, but that’s not a very good business model.” 

 

“How do you mean?” Bright Eyes asked, apprehensive. 

 

“Oh boy,” Magolor mumbled beside him.

 

“Well…I’m not proud to admit it, but before I was reformed, my father’s business relied on how well we could take over the planet’s resources to aid in our production output.” Susie paused, letting the information sink in, and continued before anyone could derail her point. “Now, hold your questions; there’s a point to this. What we were doing, while ultimately evil, served a larger point of providing more resources for our products. So the fact that this Nightmare of your home is only prioritizing vengeance instead of the bottom line makes me think that his ‘business’ isn’t anything more than a front, so anyone smarter than your king doesn’t ask too many questions.”

 

Bright Eyes was embarrassed to admit that he hadn’t thought of that. He always figured that the business was less than legitimate, but to make it nothing more than a front to get rid of the rest of the resistance that had scattered across the galaxy…He had to admit, it was definitely something Nightmare would do. 

 

Although…

 

“Not to detract…but about your exploits?” Bright Eyes asked tentatively.

 

Before Susie could address the question, Magolor took it upon himself to answer it instead. “You may want to learn this now instead of it being a surprise down the line. A good portion of the people in this group were villains. Some of us were very close to achieving our goals before our inevitable setback. Honestly, it’s a miracle any of us were forgiven at all.” Magolor concluded, mumbling the last part.

 

Bright Eyes couldn’t think of anything to say, especially after being told that he was, essentially, in a room full of former villains. “How…how close are we talking here?”

 

“Well…Marx nearly destroyed Pop Star by having the sun and moon fight as a distraction for his own power grab. Don’t ask; it makes about as much sense in context. I made a bit for ultimate power by tricking Kirby and Co. into thinking the guardians of the MacGuffin were the real bad guys. Susie already said what her villain role ultimately was. Daroach and his crew were, and still are, thieves. Mirror tried to take over Dreamland at least once. It’s still unclear what other attempts he actively participated in. Dedede almost caused a famine. That spider guy, Taranza, helped a tyrannical, beauty-obsessed queen take over and enslave both her own kingdom and Dreamland. Those three colorful mage sisters nearly destroyed the universe in the name of a crazy cult leader. And Meta Knight tried to take over Dreamland because he wanted people to stop being so lazy.” Magolor finally stopped his rapid-fire list of crimes to a now eerily quiet dining hall.

 

Bright Eyes, eyes white, gave a little credit that Magolor included himself in that list, but it didn’t distract from the weight of what the majority of the people, his own counterparts included, had done/tried to do.

 

“When you put it like that, Mags, I forgive quite a bit, don’t I?” Kirby said, trying to lighten the mood.

 

“Just because that’s true doesn’t make what we did less bad, Kirby,” Marx said, any cheer in his voice gone. “‘Sides, Mags is right; this guy seems like the nosy type, so he’s going to find out about our less-than-charitable exploits sooner or later. It’s better that he finds out now.” 

 

Bright Eyes took a deep breath, trying to calm down. His eyes returned to their normal yellow hue. “So…why the heel turn?” 

 

Marx shrugged, followed by a heavy sigh, “Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend?’”

 

“I’m aware of that concept, yes. In the early days of the war, a lot of alliances began on that rickety foundation before they evolved into something more genuine or devolved into betrayal.” Bright Eyes stated, recalling a few people he thought were friends who had betrayed the Star Warriors.

 

Marx nodded solemnly, “Right…Well, I can’t speak for everyone here, but for me, that’s how it started. Can’t take over what isn’t there, but then…I don’t know, it felt…nice…to be seen as the good guy after a while.” 

 

“Can’t say I disagree.”  Magolor concerred with Marx.

 

Marx scoffed, “Oh, hush, you were already working on getting back into their good graces by the time the Jambastion Cult crisis happened.” He spat with no real malice behind it.

 

“Maybe, but building an amusement park as an apology can really only go so far…The fact that Dedede found me in rags when I was doing my unauthorized construction probably helped my case a little.” Magolor countered.

 

Bright Eyes looked over at Susie, silently asking what had changed for her. 

 

“Mine was more of an inside job that no one here was aware of until the very end. The original guy in charge of all the invasions was my father, not that he remembered.” She grumbled, fists clenching. “It’s a long story, but the gist of it was a long con that only worked out because someone, that is Kirby, finally was able to do what I couldn’t. Stop him and that machine for good.” 

 

Bright Eyes wanted to ask more, but the fact that she looked like she was about to cry made him put his questions on hold. Instead, he turned to Taranza, who seemed to wear his grief a little more freely than Susie did. “I…I followed a misguided friend for a little too long and…I only saw what was wrong when…When I realized she didn’t care about me and…threw me away when I…failed…once.”

 

Clearly seeing the touchy subject for what it was, he turned to Daroach for his and his crew’s answer. “My occupation leans more on treasure hunting than straight thievery. Though not every thief has bad intentions,” he answered as vaguely as possible.

 

“What of you, miss, um, Zan, was it?” Bright Eyes asked gently. 

 

Neither she nor her two companions said anything right away. After a deep breath, Zan spoke first, “We shouldn’t be alive right now.” She began ominously. “When we were defeated, in a last-ditch effort to regain some of his power, Hyness sucked us into Another Dimension. That place, though…It was more than any of us could handle. Our powers were warped along with our minds. We didn’t seem to lose loyalty to each other, but after how quickly we abandoned Hyness…It was probably only a matter of time.” Zan looked down at her hands, seeing something Bright Eyes couldn’t. “I don’t know how Kirby and the others knew we were there or even if we had anything to do with it, but…When they did find us…” 

 

“It seems like getting beaten up and the good energy from Jamba Heart that Kirby had for a while did Hyness and us a lot of good.” The blue mage stated, voice sounding almost wistful.

 

The red mage didn’t offer much other than a reluctant scoff in agreement.

 

Bright Eyes looked over at Mirror and Meta Knight, “And you two?”

 

Neither said a word but not-so-subtly looked over at the three Kirbys interacting with each other. Mirror Knight tried to hide his fond smile with his drink, but it told Bright Eyes all he needed to know.

 

“I take it your Kirby had a similar effect on your king?” Bright Eyes asked Ban-Dee, who was standing next to Dedede as if awaiting orders.

 

“Something like that. A lot more of it involved Kirby saving him from being possessed…Multiple times.” Ban-Dee informed, much to Dedede’s discomfort.

 

“You didn’t have to tell him about that part, Dee…” Dedede whined playfully.

 

Bright Eyes chuckled at the display, but then his eyes turned green, followed by a contemplative look on his face. “As…lovely as having this heart-to-heart is with all of you, what’s the end goal here?”

 

“How do you mean?” Dedede asked, dropping his faux embarrassment.

 

“What is my and my Kirby’s purpose here? We can’t stay here, so I don’t know how much use we would be to you when you’re in any sort of trouble. If we’re going to be seeing a lot more of each other, I’d rather this be more than a one-sided affair where only I benefit.” Bright Eyes said, strained.

 

“Well…” Kirby started, being followed by his smaller counterpart, “I’m not going to lie and say we definitely thought about this beforehand. And I wasn’t too concerned with this being a ‘one-sided affair,’ as you put it. And who knows, maybe your help in our affairs will come up later, maybe it never will. Here’s what I do know: You want help dealing with your Nightmare. If I can help you with that, then…That’s more than enough for me.”

 

“Poyo!” Cried Bright Eye’s Kirby happily, as if in agreement.

 

Kirby chuckled at the Tiny Kirb’s antics, ‘Hmm, Tiny Kirb, that nickname might work.’ 

 

“So, Bright Eyes, what do you say?”

Chapter 5: Planting The Seeds

Summary:

The Star Allies are slowly making their presence known in Cappy Town.

It had been a month since Tiff and Co. found the portal inside the hill, and things were starting to get strange. The changes started out so small that most would be forgiven for missing them.

 

The vegetation surrounding Cappy Town gradually became more vibrant and healthy. It was an interesting conundrum when everyone finally noticed it, as the weather hadn’t done anything irregular lately. 

 

The next thing that seemed off was when small things would be moved from where people swore they had last put them. No one would have put much thought into it normally; everyone was bound to misplace something now and again. However, the simultaneous actions of so many people were cause for concern. 

 

The fact that they were found to still be in the original owner’s possession meant that Chief Bookem couldn’t do anything about it, as theft couldn’t be proven. So, most people were left to speculate on the phenomenon, with theories ranging from reasonable to wild.

 

The final straw for Tiff was when King Dedede began yelling about a building permit that Meta Knight delivered to him. What surprised her wasn’t the refusal but how hard Meta Knight was fighting back.

 

“Your majesty, please reconsider!” Meta Knight pleaded with the irate monarch.

 

“And why should I?” Dedede barked back.

 

“Yeah, what good is some random factory in the middle of some field going to do for us?” Escargoon agreed, standing behind Dedede.

 

“You didn’t even read the proposal! I’m more than certain the benefits would be written there if you had just looked through it!” Meta Knight growled through gritted teeth, his eyes red.

 

“Is that any way to talk to your king, Meta Knight.” Escargoon chided, phrasing it more like a statement than a question.

 

“Besides, if I need something, I’ve got my own provider for that kind of thing.” The king retorted, no doubt thinking about the odd time N.M.E. sent him something non-monster related. 

 

“Need I remind you that your ‘providers’ products have backfired on you quite often? Essentially, in the food department?” Meta Knight retorted.

 

The King, Escargoon, and the eavesdropping Tiff winced at the memory of the time both King Dedede and Kirby had to go on a diet and exercise/fight for their lives with the help of a different monster. While it was ultimately helpful in the end, it still had to be dealt with when it became a threat to Kirby AND King Dedede, never mind that N.M.E. started the problem in the first place.

 

“You…You’re not wrong.” Dedede reluctantly agreed.

 

“Please, just read this and consider what this could offer you and the people. I saw that she was even willing to split the profits with you as payment for using your land…Something to consider.” Meta Knight concluded, handing the scroll to Dedede, who looked a little more willing to read through it.

---

After the meeting at the castle concluded, Tiff went to the forest to clear her mind and maybe talk to Whispy Woods. The old tree had a calming energy that most of Cappy Town's children appreciated. However, when she got within sight of the talking tree, she saw a round, floating, blue cat-like creature wearing white and gold robes, talking to Whispy about something while holding a beautiful red gem in the shape of an apple. She didn’t want to interrupt, so she hid behind a nearby rock and listened intently to what they were discussing. 

 

“Wow! Bright Eyes wasn’t kidding when he said you were nice! I can’t say I’m used to that, " the cat creature said with a slight, albeit nervous, chuckle.

 

“Bright Eyes? I’m afraid I am unfamiliar with that name.”

 

“Hm? Oh, sorry, that’s what we’ve been calling your Meta Knight.”

 

“Ah, Meta Knight. It’s been a while since I’ve spoken to him, admittedly. By the way, traveler, what is your name? I don’t believe you said it yet.” Whispy questioned, relieving some tension he didn’t realize he had.

 

“Of course; where are my manners?” The creature fake wondered while half-heartedly tossing the gem from one disembodied hand to the other. “Name’s Magolor! The greatest magician in the known and unknown multiverse! But just Magolor works fine.” 

 

‘Gee, arrogant much.’ Tiff thought to herself, rolling her eyes. However, the fact that Meta Knight apparently knew this Magolor person well enough for him to be this familiar with the no-nonsense knight did interest her. 

 

“Anyway, as much as I’d like to keep chatting with a nicer version of you, I’m here to ask you if I have your permission to plant my wonderful Gem Apples in your forest. I’m not looking to plant an entire field; that’s largely unnecessary, but these things are quite an important commodity for me and a few others from my home away from home. Plus, they are good for my arsenal to protect people as well, if you wouldn’t mind a demonstration.” Magolor asked. The business-like poise he displayed almost gave Tiff a mental whiplash.

 

“I…suppose that would be alright…So long as it’s not too destructive.” Whispy reluctantly agreed, hoping he wouldn’t immediately regret it.

 

“Oh, don’t worry. I wasn’t thinking of going full throttle unnecessarily.” Magolor reassured, holding his Gem Apple close, making both himself and the apple emit a faint glow. “Just a little taste.” He mumbled before tossing the gem in the air, which produced a small, harmless bang not too unlike a firecracker that Tuff and his friends would let off during the festival season.

 

Despite the small scale, the action was enough to leave Tiff impressed. “Obviously, that’s not the best the blast can be. It’s all in how much of my magic I put into it. So, it’s not like these trees will produce bombs on their own. I or some other mages have to add the magic in them to do that. Without that,” He explained before producing another Gem Apple from his robe, “they're just pretty gems…So, what do you say? May I plant an apple or two here?” 

 

Whispy took a moment to think about it, eyes still trained on where the original apple had exploded. Even if they weren’t guaranteed to be bombs from the start, the benefits beyond that were hard to ignore. If the local gemologist got their hands on the Gem Apples and found that they were worth good money, the townspeople would never go without again, even after Dedede’s taxing, if they played their cards right. On a lesser note, it could make fine jewelry, but those were things for the townspeople to figure out themselves. 

 

“I’ll allow it. Do you already have a place in mind, or do you need me to help find a good place to plant…however many you were going to plant?” 

 

“I have a place in mind already: That little field outside your Kirby’s house. I think that should be out of the way enough not to disturb any of the existing plant life here. At least that’s what Taranza said you might be most worried about.” Magolor answered with a hint of worry in his tone.

 

His worries proved to be unfounded, as Whispy proceeded to chuckle good-naturedly before responding, “I don’t see any problem with that. I have to wonder, why there? Seems a bit out of the way of the town itself. Plus, Kirby is very likely to try and eat them regardless of the fact that they aren’t real apples.”

 

‘Good point.’ Tiff wondered to herself before remembering that the field was where Meta Knight said that factory would be located.

 

Magolor chuckled at the idea, “Oh, I don’t doubt that. However, if my other teammate’s plan gets approved, I’m sure we’ll have a way around that.”

 

‘Other plan-No way?!’ Tiff thought, immediately connecting the dots.

 

“What other plans? Could they pose any problems for the forest?” Wispy asked, frantic.

 

“Shouldn’t, especially since Taranza’s been helping with that end of the building process. I’ll have to have those two come out and ease your worries, though, as my expertise in business starts and ends with a sales stand and some form of payment.” Magolor explained, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. It was almost like he was embarrassed to admit he wasn’t knowledgeable about something.

 

“I’ll meet with them.” Whispy quickly retorted, feeling the tense emotion return.

 

Sensing the change, Magolor gave a curt goodbye and promised to bring Susie and Taranza with him to discuss it with Whispy.

 

Tiff was about to move from her hiding spot when she was sure he was gone, but she noticed a strange blue blob next to her, looking at her with a dopey smile and what looked like googly eyes.

 

“Hi. My name’s Gooey. What's your name?”

 

“Uh…My name’s Tiff.” She answered, not sure what to make of the creature in front of her.

 

Before Gooey could answer that, he was picked up by a large purple owl that strangely reminded her of Coo. 

 

Not that it seemed to bother him. “Bye! See you soon!” He shouted, using his whip-like tongue to wave his goodbye.

 

‘There’s no way he’s part of…whatever is going on right now, right?’ Tiff thought to herself. ‘Then again…I thought the same of Kirby when he first got here…’ 

 

Since the two were too far away for her to follow, she decided to go back to the castle and try to get some answers from Meta Knight.

---

Standing before Meta Knight and his two loyal servants' door was making Tiff’s resolve waver a bit. She’d talked with him many times before, especially when it involved Kirby in some manner. 

 

However, after finding the portal, something in Meta Knight changed. 

 

When Meta Knight emerged from the portal and was asked by everyone present what was on the other side, he tensed up and said that it was nothing that any of them needed to worry about. He even doubled down by saying it was just a bunch of cold, empty rooms not worth exploring. Tiff didn’t believe it for a second, but she had no real basis to argue with him, so she left it be for the moment. 

 

With everything that’s been happening, though, it was getting harder to ignore the sudden change.

 

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves again and quickly knocked on the door before she lost them again. It took a few seconds before Meta Knight opened the door.

---

Meta Knight seemed mildly surprised to see Tiff on the other side. He knew it was only a matter of time before the observant girl caught on to something going on. He hoped he would have a little more time, maybe when the factory started getting built, before having to spill the beans to Kirby's unofficial caretaker. “Ah, Tiff. I was expecting you. Please come in.”

 

“You were?” Tiff questioned as she cautiously followed instructions. She stopped mid-stride when she saw two other individuals who looked almost exactly like Meta Knight.

 

Sensing the tension, the brighter of the two doppelgangers broke the ice, “You may want to sit down for this, little one. This may take a while.”

Chapter 6: Loose Ends

Summary:

Tiff gets the rest of the info from the source.

It took a minute for Tiff to get over the fact that there were three Meta Knights in front of her, but once she did, it was relatively easy to tell the difference between the one she knew and the two she didn’t. Especially the darker-colored one that was somehow more aloof than Bright Eyes. 

 

“So…why ‘Bright Eyes?’” Tiff asked, mostly to break the awkward tension.

 

“It was between that or ‘Mood Ring’ and…well…”

 

“If we’re both unlikely to like that nickname, Bright Eyes is guaranteed to hate it.” Mirror interrupted his brighter counterpart.

“Anyway!” Bright Eyes interjected, embarrassed that his eyes couldn’t stop portraying how he felt at any given time. “You were right. That portal you and your brother found is indeed part of what’s been happening lately. It would probably be better for you to see it for yourself, but I can assure you it would be an immense help to Kirby.” 

 

“That's great and all, Sir Meta Knight,” Tiff started, ignoring Mirror Knight's strange look he gave her when she called Bright Eyes ‘Sir,’ “but…Why didn’t you tell us? The King wasn’t there to eavesdrop, and he still doesn’t know about it, so…” Tiff stammered, not knowing how to phrase the question to him.

 

“I wanted to be sure I wasn’t making a mistake. It doesn’t matter how desperate I am. None of it will matter if I make a mistake so recklessly.” Bright Eyes began, the strain in his voice not going unnoticed by Tiff.

 

“Desperate?” Tiff asked, trying to think of a time the Knight was anything other than serious and sure of himself.

 

“I don’t expect you to understand since you’ve never been a part of a war of any kind, but…When you fight for so long, only getting sleep when you’re absolutely sure that nothing will happen, or want to bond with your troop but don’t because there’s a very real chance that you’ll never see them again…” Bright Eyes paused, eyes purple with both grief and tiredness, “At some point, you get tired of fighting the same battle every day for years and never getting any closer to a solution.” 

 

Tiff had never seen or heard Bright Eyes sound so…lost and in pain before. She wanted to try to comfort him, but the look on the other doppelgangers told her there wasn’t anything she could do that would help.

 

“Deep down, I think I knew that this undercover gig I have here would only work for so long. I’ve reached a point where I can’t glean anything more regarding Nightmare’s dealings on my own. I need help…and with any hope…Maybe I’ve finally found a solution.” 

 

“Only time will tell, " the friendlier-looking doppelganger started. “But once these plans actually get off the ground, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that progress will be made.” 

 

“Speaking of plans,” Tiff interrupted. “What’s a factory got to do with your plans or those Gem Apple Trees, for that matter?”

 

“The factory has a few uses.” Bright Eyes began. “First, it is to provide for the town. Admittedly, that part is mostly a ruse so that Dedede doesn’t think anything untoward is happening, but it will produce a number of things that the townsfolk will no doubt find useful.” If the two other Knights rolling their eyes was anything to go by, Tiff could safely assume that whoever this factory owner was had Bright Eyes have a bit of a fondness for them. “The second, and primary one, is more of a hub or meeting point to discuss plans without prying eyes and ears.” Bright Eyes instinctively looked at the door as if waiting for someone to barge in unannounced. When nothing happened, he continued, “Plus, it would give me a convenient reason to be over there more often. As daft as the King is at times, he is going to notice if things get harder for him after the factory’s completion.” 

 

Tiff couldn’t help chuckling at Bright Eyes's honesty about his thoughts on the reigning monark. She always knew, or at least suspected, that Bright Eyes' overall opinion of Dedede was less than positive. However, to hear him be this open about his negative feelings was quite a refreshing surprise. “And the apples?”

 

“Weapons.” The doppelgangers answered flatly.

 

“Really? That’s all?” Tiff questioned, almost aghast. “They're made of gems, right? Wouldn’t they also be valuable?”

 

The two looked at each other as if the thought had never occurred to them, “I’ll be honest, jewelry isn’t really something Mirror or I worried about in our worlds…Or accessories in general, for that matter.” Meta Knight awkwardly explained.

 

“Also, not to say we don’t have any sort of currency. We just aren’t the ones in charge of converting money. Dedede or Ban-Dee might be able to answer those questions.” Mirror concluded.

 

“Wait, Dedede?! But I thought-”

 

“Quiet, child!” Mirror scolded, his voice dripping with malice. Tiff unconsciously took a few cautious steps back.

 

“The Dedede we’re referring to is the one we know, which I can assure you is very different than yours.” Meta Knight quickly and calmly explained to Tiff while giving Mirror a nasty glare, which was promptly dismissed with an eye roll.

 

“R-right, sure.” Tiff choked out, still freaked out by the harsh tone of the darker knight. “So, uh, when will we be seeing more of your, uh, teammates around?” 

 

“It's likely when construction on the factory and the tree planting get approved,” Mirror answered before Meta Knight could. “Though, don’t expect to see all of us out in the open. We’d like to have a leg up on your pitiful king for as long as possible.”

 

“...Essentially.” Meta Knight reluctantly concurred with his counterpart.

 

“Speaking of,” Bright Eyes interjected, turning Tiff’s attention back to him. “While this is in early development, I would appreciate it if you kept this under wraps.” 

 

Tiff wanted to ask if she could tell her brother, Tuff, but dismissed it almost as quickly. Tuff wasn’t exactly known for keeping secrets, especially if they were deemed important. “I’ll try my best, Sir Meta Knight.”

Notes:

This is the part where I'll be a little loose with the canon of the anime. Some things that happened earlier in the show's run have not shown up yet as far as this story's concerned, mostly when it comes to other character's introductions. So be warned.

Chapter 7: Town Tour

Summary:

Susie gets a tour of the town by Tiff and Tuff.

The fact that the King Dedede of this world agreed to the factory plans with caution, considering what other things he readily accepted with N.M.E. with very little fuss, did surprise Susie, but not enough to question it. 

 

‘Can’t look a gift horse in the mouth.’ Her father always said…

 

Her first order of business was to scope out the land with Taranza and Magolor. She didn’t want to admit to anyone, Magolor especially, that talking to Whipsy’s nicer counter sent her more on edge than the tree she was more familiar with. With that talk to reassure the tree out of the way, she and Taranza began to plot out the field with stakes and rope to both make a rough area of the factory layout and to make sure any curious townsfolk didn’t get too close when construction really got going. Then, while Taranza and Magolor were out tilling the spots where the Gem Apple trees would grow, she took the time to look over the blueprints Adeleine drew up for her. Given the vague castle/fortress-like imagery, her Dedede had a hand in the designs. 

 

‘Never change, King. Never change,' she thought fondly to herself, playfully rolling her eyes. Seeing as her two companions didn’t need her help with the planting process, she decided to take a trip into town to gauge what type of products the townsfolk would prefer to receive from her factory.

---

The Cappies were initially startled by the appearance of this strange, humanoid-looking person wandering in from the wilderness. She obviously wasn’t a local, but she also didn’t appear to be a monster. 

 

‘Hmm…It looks like Bright Eyes wasn’t kidding. Perhaps an introduction is in order,' she thought to herself as she approached a giant tree in the middle of town. ‘This will suffice.'

 

Turning herself to face the growing, concerned crowd, she began her opening speech. “Greetings, Cappy Town!” Susie’s voice didn’t appear to be amplified by anything, so the town was surprised at how far-reaching her voice was. “My name is Susanna Patrya Haltmann, President and CEO of Haltmann Works Company. Do feel free to call me Susie. I was never a fan of formalities.” 

 

The Cappies all began murmuring to themselves after her introduction. Specifically at the word ‘company.’

 

“I imagine you’re all very curious as to why I have come here. I’ve just been granted a permit by your reigning king to build a factory here.” She took note of the crowd’s returning apprehension. “Now, I’m not going to pretend to know how everything in this town works. In fact, that’s why I’m here. Haltmann Work has a wide variety of products we can make and sell; however, I would like to know what type of products you would see the most use of.” She paused, letting the information sink in, “I’m not the type to just throw things at the wall and see what sticks. I would like to know more about your culture if you’ll allow me. It would be in my company’s best interest if I had an idea which products I should prioritize making for you.” Susie concluded, hoping that was enough to sway the townsfolk.

 

After a few minutes of tense silence, a member of the crowd wearing an official-looking suit stepped forward, “Well, Ms. Susie, that’s a nice introduction. My name is Len Blustergas, Mayor of Cappy Town.” He greeted, holding his hand out for a handshake.

 

“Ah, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Mayor, " she said, happily accepting the handshake.

 

‘Well, at least she’s polite,’ Tiff thought to herself as she watched Ms. Susie interact with the mayor.

 

“Must be up to something fishy if the King’s allowing this,” Tuff said, immediately suspicious of the newcomer. 

 

‘Oh, no…’ Tiff panicked. Normally, she wouldn’t hesitate to agree with Tuff, but since her talk with Bright Eyes, she hasn’t been suspicious at all. 

 

Tuff, noticing his sister’s lack of response, asked bluntly, “Don’t tell me you’re falling for this too?”

 

“O-of course not!” Tiff denied it in a panic. “It’s just…Well…” Tiff stumbled over herself, trying to come up with an explanation. “I overheard Sir Meta Knight vouching for her when the permit was delivered. From the way he was talking, it seemed like they knew each other well.” Tiff half-lied. 

 

Tuff hummed, not quite believing her, but if Bright Eyes approved of her, who was he to argue? “If you say so. I wonder what made Dedede let a friend of Meta Knight’s move in?”

 

“Something about paying him for using the land. You know, like how our parents pay rent to Dedede to live in the castle.” Tiff explained, hoping it was enough to ease her brother’s curiosity. 

 

Tuff chuckled in understanding, memories of the two of them overhearing their parents grumble about the cost of rent. “I wonder how much her ‘rent’ is then.”

 

“Oh, nothing short of extortionate, I’ll say that much,” Susie’s voice said above them, startling them both. “However, Bright Eyes did warn me that might…Who am I kidding? That it would happen. Honestly, I’m more annoyed than upset at the prospect.”

 

“...Who’s Bright Eyes?” Tuff asked, bewildered, when he finally noticed that Susie didn’t have any legs and just floated everywhere. 

 

“Meta Knight. Sorry, that’s what my other associates and I have taken to calling him, " Susie said with a small chuckle.

 

“Oh…You guys are friends?” Tuff asked, still weary of the newcomer.

 

“Something like that,” Susie said with an awkward chuckle.

 

“...Right…” Tuff said, suspicion clear in his voice.

 

Susie's eyes seemed to soften in understanding, something neither child expected, “I know it seems strange for someone new to come around so suddenly, especially after Bright Eyes told us what’s been going on. I promise you, all of you, that my associates and I will do everything in our power to make things a little easier here.”

 

Tuff wasn’t entirely sure if he bought that from her, but he could admit that her speech wasn’t bad.

 

“Now, enough about that tyrant. Might I get a quick tour of your cozy little town?” Susie asked, her bubbly voice putting many of the townsfolk at ease. 

 

“Sure!” Tiff exclaimed, enthusiastic about learning more about the otherworldly ally, much to Tuff’s surprise.

 

‘Seriously?!’ Tuff thought to himself. ‘You’re that quick to trust her? Isn’t this what you always scold me for?!’ He badly wanted to point out that hypocrisy, but with the other villagers rallying around Susie, he had a feeling that voicing that would backfire. ‘Is this what Tiff always felt like?’ Tuff lamented to himself. “Um…I’ll tag along too!”

 

Susie chuckled, amused by Tuff’s apprehension, “If you think that will help with your suspicion.”

 

Tuff was a little bummed that she saw through him that easily, but followed behind Susie and Tiff regardless.

---

The tour started with the town’s best, only, restaurant. 

 

“Welcome to Kawasaki’s. A…place to go if you want a quick bite…” Tiff announced, conviction dying the more she spoke.

 

“Hm, interesting,” Susie mumbled to herself. ‘I guess Kawasaki isn’t a species here…And he’s apparently a terrible cook.’

 

“What’s so interesting about it?” Tuff stiffly asked.

 

“Oh, nothing you need to worry about,” Susie remarked offhandedly, heightening Tuff’s suspicion.

 

“Humph, right,” Tuff mumbled, which thankfully went unnoticed by both Tiff and Susie.

 

“One question, though,” Susie wondered out loud. “If his cooking is that bad, how is his restaurant still in business? I understand he has a monopoly here, given his lack of competition, but that can only do so much.”

 

Neither child had ever thought about that before. After a bit of thought, Tiff offered an explanation, “Well…You’re already aware of how Dedede likes to…‘tax’ people for superfluous things, right?”

 

Susie didn’t say anything for a moment, and her lack of a mouth made her expression hard for them to read, but when she finally responded, it wasn’t what they expected. “So, he’s forced to use lesser quality ingredients because that’s all he can afford after tax?”

 

“Um…I guess I…Yeah, I didn’t think of it like that…” Tiff contemplated out loud.

 

“I don’t suppose you know, or are aware of, any ways around this tax?” Susie inquired.

 

“Um…Maybe if the supply is outside of Dedede’s influence. But given how much he has to have everything that comes into Dreamland with his name on it, I don’t know how that would go unnoticed for too long.” Tiff mused, mostly to herself.

 

Susie hummed in compilation, which drew Tuff’s attention. “You have an idea?” 

 

“Perhaps. Nothing concrete, but…Well, no point promising something not even on the discussion table yet. Shall we continue?”

 

The two siblings looked at each other, almost daring the other to ask her another question. With a shrug, the two went back to leading her around town.

The next location that intrigued Susie was Gus’s Workshop.

 

“This is where everyone goes to have their TVs or other trinkets fixed,” Tiff said, opening the door to let Susie Tuff in.

 

“He can do cars, too, but the mayor, chief Bookem, and Dedede are the only ones who have cars,” Tuff excitedly added.

 

Gus was working on Dedede’s tank car as they walked in, which prompted Susie to inspect the vehicle. She remembered Bright Eyes telling her that his Dedede rode in an assault vehicle, ready to blow Tiny Kirb back into space. Her expectations of such a vehicle were clearly diminished once it was finally in front of her.

 

“Am I correct in assuming that the king was the designer of this car? Not to be rude, but this is very…clunky and impractical.” She asked, hands itching to take the car apart to study it more thoroughly.

 

“Yeah. He was quite specific about what he wanted, regardless of how badly optimized those choices were.” Gus answered as he wiped the oil from his hands before presenting it to Susie to shake. 

 

“Susanna Haltmann, but please, call me Susie.” She greeted, accepting the handshake.

 

Gus chuckled good-naturedly at her formal yet friendly demeanor, “Well, my name’s Gus, Ms. Susie.”

 

Susie chuckled before looking back at the tank car, “It’s a shame your talents are wasted on a short-sighted monarch.” 

 

Gus couldn’t help but notice how tight her voice and fist were. “Is everything okay, Ms. Susie?”

 

She took a deep, calming breath before answering, “Nothing you need to worry about. Just…Just some personal pet peeves I still need to work through.”

 

The three people in attendance weren’t sure what to make of that. 

 

“Um…Why don’t we, uh, continue with the tour?” Tuff asked, gently leading her away from the car.

 

Susie shook her head as if that would clear it before clearing her throat, “Right…Yes…yes we…We should do that…”

---

After leaving Gus’s Workshop, still tense after Susie’s…reaction. Tiff and Tuff decided to take her somewhere that could hopefully help her relax.

 

“This is Samo’s bar.” Tiff stiffly introduced. “You can come here to decompress after a long-”

 

“I know what a bar is for.” Susie curtly interrupted.

 

“You didn’t have to be rude about it,” Tuff mumbled bitterly, which Susie overheard.

 

“Ah…Sorry. I just…Let’s just go inside.” Susie stammered, silently going inside with Tiff and Tuff awkwardly following behind her.

 

The bar looked to be winding down, with only a few patrons left before closing. The only people of note were the bartender cleaning a glass behind the counter and a lady wearing a peculiar headdress and other jewelry.

 

“Hey Samo! Hey Mable!” Tiff and Tuff greeted happily.

 

“Greetings, children.” Mable greeted before noticing the floating woman behind them. “And who might you be?”

 

“Hm? Oh, Susie Haltmann, ma’am.” Susie fumbled, shakily raising a hand for her to shake.

 

As soon as Mable grabbed Susie's hand, she knew that Susie wasn’t feeling well emotionally. Her grip was limp, her eyes tired, and, if the verbal greeting was anything to go by, her mind unfocused. “Is everything alright, Ms. Haltmann?” 

 

“...I suppose I’m not as over…Certain things as I thought I’d be…” Susie explained to Mable, intentionally being as vague as possible.

 

“Hm…” Mable paused, thinking about what to say to help her. “I sense an event from your past is troubling you quite a bit. Am I correct?”

 

Susie breathed a humorless chuckle, “That’s putting it mildly.”

 

Mable hid her surprise with a calming smile, “I see. Well, I’m sure that you’ll get through it if you keep good company.”

 

Susie chuckled again, but this time with a bit more sincerity, “I was told that before by Kir-, um, by a close friend of mine.”

 

Tuff noticed her almost slip with Kirby’s name. ‘What is she talking about? Kirby can’t talk, never mind give advice.’ He thought to himself, suspicion returning in full force.

---

“Well, as much as I’d love to see more, it’s getting late. I think I have a good start on data to work with products-wise.” Susie proclaimed, punctuated by a yawn.

 

“Safe travels, Ms. Susie. Hope to see you soon.” Tiff bid farewell.

 

“Yeah…See you soon.” Tuff stiffly reiterated, vowing to keep an eye on her and her ‘associates.’

Chapter 8: Reconvene

Summary:

Susie and Dedede catch up.

Notes:

If there is anyone interested in being a beta reader for me, feel free to contact me about it in the comments.

“Let me see if I understand this right,” Dedede began, strolling through Ability Castle’s halls with Susie. “You want me to commit forgery?”

 

“Is it really forgery if it’s still your name?” Susie retorted, semi-joking.

 

Dedede rolled his eyes semi-good-naturedly, “Perhaps not. But what exactly is going to stop the other king from finding out about this?” 

 

“Admittedly, not much. However, it may take a while for him to notice that anything is amiss. If there’s anything you two have in common, it’s that it takes you a disturbingly long time for you to realize something’s wrong.” Susie explained, not even trying to hide the mischievous glee in her voice.

 

Dedede groaned in annoyance, “I’ve gotten better about it!”

 

“You have. Your doppelganger, on the other hand…Well, if what Bright Eyes says is true, we may be able to do things under the table for a few years if we’re lucky.” Susie said, looking over her tablet for items that the Beast Pack had approved for the chef to start with. “It’s strange that they don’t have a lot of the food that we have. The lack of the Maxim Tomato, in particular, is interesting.” Susie mused to herself, pleased to see the miracle healing food on the list of approved ingredients. “Hopefully, Taranza can find a way to grow more there so that outsourcing won’t be so cumbersome going forward.”

 

“Yeah, but you know how hard it is for Taranza to keep that cafe in Waddle Dee Town stocked. So don’t hold your breath.” Dedede lightly warned her.

 

Susie nobbed, “I understand your concern; however, I should note that Magolor and Taranza have informed me that Gem Apple Trees have already begun to sprout. From what Magolor said about the original tree, it took a few months to get that far.”

 

“Really?” Dedede questioned, eyebrow raised, “Huh, that makes things interesting. I wonder how good their soil is compared to all the other places we’ve been to?”

 

“Taranza’s looking into it as we speak,” Susie informed, lazily strolling through the Ability Castle halls.

 

“It’s eerie how much this place reminds me of the castle I gave the Squeaks all those years ago.” Dedede mused, mostly to himself. 

 

“Is that so? Well, if the real castle is anything like the one you gave the Squeaks, then you should already be familiar with the layout.” Susie conquered. 

Dedede hummed in semi-agreement, “I’ll have to see for myself to be sure. Still, the resemblance is eerie.”

 

“Don’t all of these places in Ability Space resemble a place you or Kirby have been to at least once?” Susie questioned with a chuckle.

 

“Not the point,” Dedede grumbled, intentionally ignoring that she had a point. “Do you think…He can…Maybe…” He stammered, not trusting himself to finish the thought.

 

“I don’t know.” Susie began, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder, “I’ve yet to formally meet him. Much like you, all I have are stories and well…” 

 

Dedede was quiet, not wanting his voice to betray him in front of his friend.

 

“Hey.” Susie interjected, interrupting his thought, “You changed, didn’t you? Maybe there’s hope for him, too.”

 

“Mirror me didn’t.” Dedede lamented.

 

Realizing the conversation wasn’t going anywhere, Susie turned her attention to the boarded-off room they were in front of, “It’s interesting how not all these rooms are accessible. I wonder what will trigger them to open?”

 

“I take it smashing them won’t work?” Dedede asked, happy for the subject change.

 

“Bold of you to assume we haven’t already tried that,” Susie remarked, pulling out her laser gun and shooting at the wall. 

 

The wall left no evidence that anything had been done to it. Not even a burn mark.

 

“Whoa…” Dedede breathed out, unconsciously feeling the unharmed wall. “Got any other ideas on how to crack this egg?”

 

“A few. Though I don’t hold hope the more physical ones will yield any results.” Susie mused out loud.

 

“And the non-physical ones?” Dedede asked tentatively.

 

“To put it simply, Kirby wanted to give his little counterpart a tour of the Ability Biomes and see if certain abilities within the other buildings work for him.” 

 

Dedede blinked owlishly, trying to come up with a comment to that. “That…That might actually work. But wait, doesn’t Kirby have, like, thousands of abilities? How are we going to have time to test them all?!”

 

“Oh, no need to exaggerate that number, Dedede.” Susie chided, checking her tablet. “He has about 196 abilities. However, that doesn’t include all the yarn forms and vehicle types. We’re still getting those logged as we speak.”

 

“Still…That’s going to take a while. Are we testing for the evolved or fused abilities, too, or..?” Dedede questioned, remembering that a few on that list were special types Kirby couldn’t get naturally.

 

“No. That’s a bit overkill, don’t you think? Besides, Tiny Kirb is too young to be introduced to all that power so soon.” Susie explained. “The vehicle ones are definitely a no-go for him as well. From what I understand, Tiny Kirb is basically a baby! The fact that he can handle the normal Warp Star is already quite impressive. Besides, I’m sure we can find other uses for other Warp Stars, as well as mass produce them to not only be used as normal vehicles to the general public but also maximize our profits to be better allocated for—”

 

“That all sounds great, Susie, really, it does, but that’s not what we’re talking about.” Dedede interrupted, knowing she’d go on that tangent for hours if he let her.

 

“Ah, right…Sorry.” Susie awkwardly mumbled before getting back on track. “Anyway, we’ll mostly be focusing on normal abilities for him. Maybe when he’s older, we’ll see how he does with super/evolved abilities.” 

 

“And…If he has abilities that our Kirby doesn’t?” Dedede asked, apprehensive.

 

“Hm…You’re right; that is a possibility. I think that’s more of a ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.’ type of scenario.” Susie waved away.

 

“That could work,” Dedede mused. “I hope whatever new Abilities Tiny Kirb gets aren’t too difficult to obtain.”

 

“Let’s hope.”

Chapter 9: Coming To A Head

Summary:

Tuff seeing more and more that need to be answered.

It had been a month since Susie’s initial visit to Cappy Town, and the shift in atmosphere was subtle but still noticeable to anyone paying attention. One of the more notable changes was that the border of the factory construction site was growing at an unusually rapid rate. Some other townspeople noted how the leaves, in particular, have an almost shiny, gem-like quality. Another more predictable change involved the factory’s construction being underway. Seeing Waddle Dees around the construction site wasn’t all that strange, all things considered, but whenever anyone happened to pass through the site, they could swear they heard them talking. 

 

Another change that didn’t seem related was how interested Kirby was in inhaling everything around him. That in itself wasn’t strange until you realize that most of what he was trying to inhale wasn’t food. Tiff saw Kirby become overly immersed in an ordinary leaf in the forest, to the point where he would suck in everyone who happened to fall near his face. The look of utter disappointment when nothing happened made her heart ache.

 

“I wonder why Kirby’s acting like that lately?” Tuff asked her while he fiddled with a beach ball he found in their parents’ storage.

 

“Hard to say.” Tiff began, “I want to say this started not long after we found that cave.”

 

‘And not long after all these new faces started showing up.’ Tuff bitterly thought to himself.

 

“POYO!” Kirby yelled as he tried to balance on the beach ball that Tuff left alone for a moment.

 

“Kirby?! Be careful; you might fall!” Tiff warned, jumping up from her seated position and running over to him, Tuff not far behind her.

 

They weren’t fast enough to stop the inevitable fall, but they did catch him before he hit the ground.

 

“Great! I better not find that thing popped.” Tuff groaned, leaving the two to chase after it.

---

Running off into the woods may not have been one of Tuff’s better ideas, but he didn’t really have much choice if he didn’t want his parents mad at him for the lost/damaged ball. Ignoring some of the sharper brush around him, he began his search by looking into the tall grass and loose bushes to see if it was hiding there first. After searching through his fifth patch of grass/bushes, he felt a tap on his shoulder from a furry paw that made him remember that Rick lived in these woods with a few other woodland creatures.

 

“Is this your ball, child?” said a gentle voice that didn’t sound anything like Rick.

 

Turning around, Tuff was met with the familiar sight of Rick, but something felt…off. “R-Rick?” Tuff asked, cautiously, at the slightly bigger and strangely warmer hamster.

 

Maybe Rick tilted his head in confusion, “Sorry. Do I know you?”

 

Tuff gulped, “S-sorry, sir. Y-you just look like…Someone I know?” He stammered.

 

Maybe Rick nobbed, “Regardless, is this ball yours? If not, it looks a lot like a friend of mine’s. Though…He's a little-”

 

Tuff grabbed the ball from his paws before he could finish the thought, “Yes, it’s mine. Thank you. Bye!” He blurted out quickly, getting as far away from the Rick look-alike as quickly as possible.

---

“Tuff! There you are.” Tiff said, relieved that her brother was okay. 

 

“Poyo!” Kirby cheered, jumping out of a bush and startling Tuff momentarily.

 

“Don’t scare me like that, Kirby!” Tuff snapped.

 

“Are you okay, Tuff? You seem tense.” Tiff asked, concerned.

 

“Is there more than one talking hamster that we know of?” Tuff asked, still shaking from the encounter.

 

“Um…Not that I’m aware of. Why? Did something happen?”

 

“I think there might be more Ricks…or at least…more creatures like him.” Tuff attempted to rationalize.

 

“Fwoosh!” Kirby yelled upon hearing Rick's look-alike’s description and rolling around like a ball.

 

“What’s Kirby doing that for?” Tuff asked, with his only answer being a shrug from Tiff.

---

The two, with Kirby in tow, decided to leave the forest and go into town for a reprieve. What they didn’t expect was a big crowd gathering around Kawasaki’s place.

 

“What’s going on?” Tiff questioned.

 

“I don’t know.” ‘I hope it has nothing to do with that Susie character,’ Tuff mentally added. While his curiosity was winning over his caution, he had enough sense to be careful about his inquiry. “Hey, what’s going on? I’ve never seen this place so busy,” he asked one of the nearby adults.

 

“Haven’t you heard?” an older resident began. “That Susie character had one of her, um…co-workers, I think, bring crates of new ingredients for Kawasaki’s place. Had the king’s signature and everything!” He concluded, clearly excited.

 

“Okay…So what, Kawasaki’s good at cooking now?” Tuff asked, incredulous.

 

“...I’ll admit, while the food does taste better, it’s still nothing great…” He ruefully admitted.

 

‘Ha.’ Tuff inwardly chuckled. Not that he was happy that Kawasaki's food still sucked, but he was glad that Susie's idea wasn’t the fix she was hoping it would be. However, “So, why are you guys surrounding the place?”

 

“See for yourself.” The older Kappy said, stepping aside so the kids could get a better look.

 

When he saw that the guy putting on a show was a spider-looking noble with disembodied limbs, he knew that he was connected to Susie in some way. It was standing in front of one of Kawasaki's portable stoves with a table/cutting board extension. Two of its hands were chopping a strange-looking tomato, another two were stirring/flipping some other ingredients from the stove, and the final two were keeping other items, be it food or utensils, over its head with a ball of pinkish-purple webbing. 

 

“Who is that?” Tuff asked, stunned. 

 

“I think I heard him say his name was Taranza.” 

 

Tuff hummed as he watched ‘Taranza’ do his admittedly impressive cooking demo with apprehension. 

 

“So, is Mr. Taranza going to replace Kawasaki?” Tiff nervously asked.

 

That had Tuff worried. Sure, Kawasaki wasn’t great with his chosen career, but that didn’t mean he wanted him replaced! Especially if his replacement was going to be connected to Susie. 

 

“Don’t be silly,” Taranza answered, not looking up from his work. “I’m far too busy to be the town’s dedicated chef. I just agreed to assist for now.”

 

The two kids jumped at the response, not realizing he was listening in. “Ah…Sorry, we didn’t mean to offend…” Tiff nervously replied.

 

“Think nothing of it, little dear,” Taranza said, looking up at them, inadvertently showing off his fangs. 

 

Before either of them could react to that, Kirby barreled past the two toward Taranza.

 

“Kirby, no! Don’t-” Whatever protest Tiff was building up to died when Kirby came to a full stop just in front of Taranza, not even paying attention to the food he was preparing. Instead, his entire focus was on the web ball Taranza held over his head. 

 

“EeeS…ESP?” Kirby eeked out, staring at the ball with a sparkle in his eye.

 

Taranza smiled fondly and patted Kirby’s head, “Maybe when you’re older, little one.”

 

“ESP? What’s that mean?” Tuff whispered to Tiff, who, again, only shrugged.

 

“Extrasensory perception, maybe. It can’t be, though, because…Well, why would Kirby know anything about that?” Tiff somewhat explained. Not that Tuff understood what that meant either.

---

The day couldn’t end quickly enough for Tuff. After dropping Kirby off at home, the events of the day wouldn’t leave his mind. From the Rick look-alike to Kawasaki's new cooking teacher, both of whom he was sure had connections with Susie, made him feel very uneasy about everything. And that wasn’t even getting into the possible way Dedede was involved. 

 

“I don’t like this!” Tuff exclaimed after pacing his room for a bit. 

 

“I mean…Things are a little different, but is it really a bad different?” Tiff gently questioned.

 

Tuff stopped dead in his tracks when he heard his sister’s question. “What?” Tuff choked out.

 

Instead of answering, Tiff gently asked, “Tuff, are you okay? You’ve been awfully tense lately.”

 

Tuff was really getting frustrated with his sister’s blasé attitude to this entire situation, “And you aren’t?! Aren’t you the one who’s always overly cautious about these things?!”

 

Tiff jumped back from his outburst. He wasn’t wrong. She was usually the one to caution Tuff and the others, often unsuccessfully, from potential danger. She wanted to reassure Tuff that there truly was nothing to worry about so badly, however…On the other hand, a more petty side of her did want Tuff to know what she’d felt like all this time. Unfortunately for Tuff, her petty side won out. “Just give them a chance, Tuff. After all, Meta Knight seems to know them, and we can trust him, right?”

 

“Yeah, because Meta Knight’s never done anything wrong, right?!” Tuff angrily rebuffed.

 

Tiff jumped back, shocked by the outburst. However…She couldn’t say he was wrong either. “Well…Um…”

 

“You know what?” Tuff exclaimed, getting up from his chair, “I’m going to Kirby’s house!”

 

“Tuff wait!” Tiff called out, with the door slamming shut being her only answer.

---

Tuff was beginning to think Tiff knew more than she let on. Not that her knowing more than him was a foreign concept to him, something he begrudgingly acknowledged. But…this situation seemed different. He couldn’t put his finger on why, but it felt like he was being lied to. It didn’t help that everyone around him didn’t see the potential problem. Tuff was getting a headache at the thought. Tuff was nearing Kirby’s house when he noticed another strange creature that seemed to be playing with him. The creature resembled a light purple blob wearing a jester's hat and bouncing on a ball. 

 

The pit in Tuff's stomach was getting worse the closer he got to them. ‘Oh no. Kirby, not you too,' he dreaded to himself. “H-hey, Kirby!” He squicked out, hoping to get some answers from the jester creature at least.

 

“Well, hey, hey, hey there, buddy!” The jester called out, balancing one foot on his beach ball. “Name’s Marx. What can I do ya for?”

 

Tuff wasn’t sure what to make of Marx, other than that he looked silly. “Um…Hey…I, um…”

 

At that lack of response, Marx shrugged and turned his attention back to Tiny Kirb. “Okay, Kirbs, like I suggested earlier.” He lightly ordered, doing a showy backflip off his ball and then launching it towards Tiny Kirb. Without further prompting, he sucked up the beachball. 

 

As worried as Tuff was about this new face, he was curious what Ability Tiny Kirb would get from a beachball, of all things. When Tiny Kirb was done with his transformation, a blue hat with white trim and a pom was the last thing he thought would change about him. “What Ability is that?”

 

“The Bomb Ability!” Marx yelled in excitement, with Tiny Kirb following suit. “I knew it! I knew it would work! Eat it, Susie!”

 

‘Well, that’s one point in his favor.’ Tuff inwardly chuckled, ‘Although…’ “How did a beachball give him bombs?” He asked.

 

Marx chuckled, bouncing another beachball he somehow produced, “My ‘beachballs’ are a little different.”

 

“Different, how?” Tuff asked, apprehension clear in his voice.

 

“Glad you asked, kid!” Marx exclaimed, jumping off the ball and readying himself to launch it. In his excitement, however, he didn’t take the time to aim away from Tuff. The beachball whizzed near Tuff’s head, exploding as it hit the land elevation behind him.

 

Marx curbed his excitement when he saw tears unconsciously drip down Tuff’s face. Tiny Kirb noticed Tuff's distress a little quicker and ran over to comfort the shell-shocked boy. “Come on, Marx, you're the good guy, now. Act like it.” He mumbled to himself with a deep breath, “Hey…Let’s start over. What’s your name, kid?”

 

Tuff wiped away his tears in a futile attempt to calm himself and act like his namesake, “My…My name’s Tuff.”

 

Marx nodded, “Cool. Now, what are you doing here? I can’t imagine it was to watch Tiny Kirb get a new Ability.”

 

“I…I’m l-looking for answers.” Tuff choked out, reflexively petting Tiny Kirb for comfort. 

 

Marx sighed, not even bothering to have Tuff clarify what he meant. “I had a feeling Bright Eye would pull a stunt like this.”

 

That got Tuff’s attention, “What do you mean?” 

 

“How about we start with what you do know.” Marx countered.

 

“All I ‘know’ is a bunch of new people just showed up out of nowhere claiming to know Meta Knight and that you all apparently know him well enough to get him a nickname.” Tuff ranted, frustration seeping through.

 

“Actually, we don’t know him that well at all. We mostly do that for…Why don’t I just show you?” Marx cryptically replied, leading away from Kirby’s house and closer to a familiar cave surrounded by caution tape and tree sprouts.

 

Tuff was conflicted as he and Kirby followed Marx. On the one hand, he desperately wanted to be informed about this, as it was clearly important, but…Was he really going to trust someone who, albeit unintentionally, threatened him not that long ago? 

 

“You coming or what?” Marx called from behind the caution tape before entering the cave.

 

‘Well…It’s not like Tiff’s going to tell me anything useful.’ He thought to himself, arriving at his answer, and ran after him, Kirby in tow. “Wait up!”

---

Marx jumped through the portal and landed on another one of his seemingly endless supply of beachball bombs. Followed by Tiny Kirb lightly landing on the floor in a single leap. Finally, Tuff landed less gracefully on his face, over-correcting his cautious lean into the portal entrance.

 

Marx chuckled at his misfortune, “Nice landing there, buddy.” 

 

The only reply he got was a groan as Tuff lifted himself back up. Immediately, he recognized the surroundings as Dedede’s castle. ‘I knew it.’ Tuff seethed to himself.

 

“Up and at ‘em, kid!” Marx goaded, already rolling further into the castle, Tiny Kirb following close behind.

 

Tuff cautiously followed. ‘I’m already here, might as well see where this goes.’ He mentally sighed.

 

Marx rolled around on his ball/bomb in the strangely quiet halls, seeming to be looking for something. When he found it, he happily giggled and ran into the room, jumping off his ball. It casually bounced against a blocked-off room, exploding on contact. 

 

Tuff was surprised by the lack of damage. ‘Wait…Why didn’t that damage anything? And where is everybody?!’

 

“Tuff, Kirb, come on! You’re gonna wanna see this!” Marx cheered, running into the room with the same excitement as earlier when Tiny Kirb got his new Ability.

 

Tuff warily followed them inside the room, Tiny Kirb running just ahead of him. He stopped in his tracks, completely unable to process what was in front of him. “Is that..?”

 

“The Bomb Ability! I knew Tiny Kirb would have this one; I knew it!”

 

“Are…Are you a star warrior?” Tuff choked out, still processing the statue of Kirby wearing the same blue hat with white trim and pom.

 

“Close. Try Star Ally. We’ve dealt with a few more crises than Bright Eyes’ group has.” Marx boastfully corrected.

 

“Oh? Like what?” Tuff asked, slightly afraid of the answer he would get.

 

Marx stared blankly for a second before taking in a deep breath, “A crazy king that nearly caused a famine. An entity made of negative energy trying to take over the galaxy three times, but not without leaving a piece of itself that’s somehow friendly and dumb. A guy who just stopped people from dreaming. A mirror dimension with beings on the other side trying to kill everyone. A merry band of thieves that ironically didn’t do anything wrong; Kirby just wanted his cake back. A uh…crazy wannabe ruler who made celestial bodies fight as a diversion for a power grab. A crazy mage that turned the world and its inhabitants into arts and crafts. Another crazy wannabe ruler of the universe that tricked Kirby and co. into helping him achieve his goal. A tyrannical beauty-obsessed eco-terrorist. A mind-controlled mage who tried to turn the world into lifeless gray clay. A mage with a skull army that ripped Kirby into 10 weaker versions of himself. Another eco-terrorist that used machines instead of plants, all in the pursuit of profits. A crazy cult trying to remake the world. And an entity that tried to eat the multiverse.”

 

Tuff could barely comprehend all of that, “Huh?” He eloquently asked, too stunned to come up with anything better.

 

“Yeah…It’s…A lot…Woo…I hope I don’t have to explain all that again anytime soon.” Marx panted, regretting saying all of that in one breath.

 

“So…How do you know Meta-Bright Eyes?” 

 

“It was a chance meeting,” Marx began, leaving the Bomb Ability room, Tuff and Tiny Kirb following close behind. “He found this place and happened to find Susie, which led to him meeting the rest of us. He asks for our help in fighting his big bad, yada, yada, yada, the rest is history.” 

 

Tuff wanted to ask more, but was dumbfounded by the vast space before him as they stepped out of the castle entrance. “What is this place?” Tuff breathed out in amazement.

 

“Hey, T.K., do you still have that thing Kirby gave you?” Marx asked Tiny Kirb, who immediately pulled out a silver oval with a yellow star-shaped button in the middle. “Good. You remember what to do?” 

 

Tiny Kirb nodded, then pushed the button. The star glowed for a few seconds before growing into a synthetic Warp Star that looked like one of the vehicle stars in the garage-looking biome.

 

Marx waited until Tiny Kiby jumped onto the Warp Star before heading over to an even more bewildered Tuff. “Hop on, kid! It’s better seen than described.” Marx exclaimed, having his gold and multi-scaled wings sprout from his back. 

 

“You can…” Tuff shook his head, figuring the obvious question was stupid, and tentatively climbed on Marx’s back.

 

“Hold on tight!” Marx warned as he jumped into the air and began to glide, Tiny Kirb following close behind. “To start, we call this place the Ability Space. One, because this place houses all of Kirby’s abilities, and two…Honestly, we couldn’t come up with anything better.”

 

“Is this place actually space?” Tuff asked, enthralled by the number of buildings, which varied from normal architecture to nature.

 

“Honestly, we’re not entirely sure. I’ve been to space before. It’s not quite the same as here, but I’ve also lived in space with little issue, so…Hard to say for certain.”

 

Tuff nodded in acknowledgment before turning back to the environment around him. It was hard to tell which one was first with the orbital layout, but he got the feeling that the small grey castle tower that led from the tip of the star was probably it. “What abilities are in that one?”

 

“My Kirby said they weren’t abilities, technically, but they apparently kick-started all of this,” Marx informed robotically, moving closer to the building entrance so Tuff could get a closer look. 

 

“You weren’t there?” Tuff asked as he dismounted, Tiny Kirb not far behind them.

 

“I, uh…Joined later…Much later.” Marx stammered awkwardly.

 

Tuff wanted to ask more about that, but was stopped by the sight of two pillars. Encased in bubbles were two food items: Curry and a Mint Leaf. Both were a monotone grey, much like the building itself. Upon closer inspection, the Curry had a burning aura that made his eyes tear up, and the Mint Leaf gave off a strong after-dinner mint smell. “Do they still work?”

 

Marx shook his head, “Nope. My Kirby said that they don’t do anything for him anymore. Apparently, they still taste good.”

 

“Heh. Classic Kirby.” Tuff chuckled in agreement. “Wait, your Kirby? There’s more than one?”

 

“Jeez, you’re slow.” Marx mumbled, “Yes. They're my and your Kirby, obviously. Then there are the Kirby-like guys, like Prince Fluff or Shadow. Then there are the times my Kirby gets split into multiple, sometimes different colors, clones of himself. You probably won’t meet the palette swaps. They tend to just mill around unless there’s some tournament or big game. It’s weird.” Marx rattled off, barely noticing Tuff getting pale at the thought of more Kirby’s, especially if they all had insatiable appetites. Marx rolled his eyes when he noticed Tuff’s expression, “Relax, kid. We’ve never been in a famine…At least not one that was their fault. But I’m getting sidetracked. The point is…We’re here to help.”

Chapter 10: Enter Knuckle Joe

Summary:

A new challenger approaches.

“You could’ve at least let me in on this whole thing!” Tuff protested to Tiff while Tiny Kirb played with Marx and Elfilin. He had gotten the whole story after returning to Pop Star properly. Needless to say, he wasn’t happy with how he’d been left out, looking like a fool for distrusting people who clearly had better intentions in mind than he’d expected.

 

“I know, and I’m sorry, but Meta Knight said to keep this as under wraps as possible.” Tiff tried to explain gently. 

 

“Even from me?!” Tuff indignantly complained.

 

She sighed. She hadn’t enjoyed trying to pull the wool over his eyes, but…He’d also proven more perceptive than she expected out of him. That was on her, and she felt bad about underestimating him. Even still… “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re not great at keeping secrets,” she pointed out. 

 

Tuff opened his mouth to protest…For only a moment before he closed it, huffing in frustration. He wanted to argue, but he knew deep down that she was right. That didn’t make it hurt any less, though. Instead of acknowledging that, he brought his attention back to Tiny Kirb playing with the other two. “I wonder what Kirby could learn from these guys?” he mumbled.

 

“You mean, like, what new Abilities he might get?” Tiff asked.

 

He shrugged. “That, but also, what do you think he could do with new or existing Abilities, huh? From how Marx explained it, it seemed like their Kirby could do more with his Abilities than ours can,” Tuff explained.

 

Tiff blinked in surprise. “That’s…A great question, actually…” Tiff took a few moments to think of a response, trying her best to ignore her shock. She’d apparently been SERIOUSLY downplaying or ignoring her brother’s cognitive ability. Maybe he’d just never had something interest him like this… “Possibly. It's hard to tell, given that ours is just a baby, and theirs seems to be older,” she wondered out loud. “If he just has more experience, that’d make sense, but if that’s not the case…” She started to muse.

 

Before anything more could be said on the topic, a roaring, loud noise followed by a bright light bursting through the sky was both heard and seen from the castle. The suddenness caused them all to turn in shock and surprise.

 

“What was that?!” Elfilin said worriedly, landing on top of Marx’s head in his confusion. Marx glanced up at him but said nothing about it.

 

“Probably another monster ordered by Dedede!” Tiff explained in alarm, already prepping to leave.

 

“Well, what are we standing around for?” Marx stated with a grin, unfurling his wings. “Let’s see what your ‘Great King’ has in store for us!” With that, he took off towards the window where the noise and light had come from moments before. 

 

Tiff and Tuff were about to follow, only to jump back when two blue and white star-shaped portals materialized in front of them out of nowhere. 

 

“This should be faster. Let’s go!” Elfilin explained to the siblings, with Tiny Kirb safely in his grasp before he darted through a third portal.

 

With a determined nod each, the two followed suit.

---

Marx wasn’t sure what he was expecting to find when he peeped in through the balcony window, but an oddly colored Knuckle Joe wasn’t it. Aside from said color, it seemed…Unimpressive. When the other four joined him shortly after, he made his underwhelmed feelings known. “Is this the kind of thing you guys deal with all the time? Kinda small potatoes, to be honest.”

 

Tiff looked on in confusion herself. “N-No. They’re usually…Bigger,” she quietly clarified, not really knowing how else to describe the monsters they saw most often. 

 

Not that King Dedede seemed to know either, from the rumbling noise that sounded, indicating he was running for the throne room down the hall. “What the-I DIDN’T ORDER NOTHIN’! WHAT IS THE MEANIN’ O’ THIS?!” King Dedede shouted indignantly after he threw open the doors and looked inside, Escargoon not too far behind. 

 

The Knuckle Joe simply glared at him. “And just who might you be, Tubby?” Knuckle Joe snarked, rubbing his nose as he spoke.

 

The others had to hold back a laugh at the ‘greeting.’ Not that the local monarch thought it all that funny. “Tubby?! YOU DARE ADDRESS ROYALTY LIKE THAT!?” Dedede roared, readying his mallet and ‘accidentally’ hitting Escargoon in the process.

 

The only response was a lightning-fast punch and a yell. “Smash Punch!” Knuckle Joe shouted as a blueish-white ball of energy shot from his fist toward Dedede. The self-styled king barely managed to dodge it by diving to the ground ingloriously. Escargoon had a front-row seat as it shot past him, and in a surprisingly big explosion, it ruptured the wall behind him in the hallway. 

 

Tiff and Tuff could only gape in surprise at the casual power exhibited…though glancing at Marx, he seemed none too impressed himself.

 

“I’ll make this quick, King Tubby,” Knuckle Joe warned, staring down at the corpulent king dismissively. “I’ve searched a long time for the Star Warrior that killed my fada years ago. The database on my ship said that this was one of the last known sightings of the last of ‘em. So if you know somethin’, you better cough it up now, or we’re gonna have trouble!”

 

That, however, seemed to restore some of the bombast to the monarch. “A Star Warrior, eh?” Dedede began. He slowly started to get up after the shock of the attack had faded, a nasty grin on his face as a quick plot came to mind. “Well, it just so happens that the only Star Warrior on this planet is a fella named Kirby.”

 

Elfilin reared back in surprise. “He can’t be serious!” Elfilin whispered, shivering at the thought.

 

Fortunately, no one heard him. “Kirby, eh?” Knuckle Joe sneered, already deciding that was the correct answer.  “Alright, King, know where I can find this Kirby fella?”

 

Dedede just made a ‘tch’ sound. “No clue, but he can’t be too hard ta find. Little rascal’s bound ta be ’round town, at least.” Dedede mused. When he noticed Knuckle Joe’s fist building up power again, he quickly put up his hands in dismay, “Whoa now, there! Really, he’s prolly somewhere hereabouts! If’n you want, I can have Escargoon ‘ere help in the search!”

 

Knuckle Joe hummed in compilation before nodding. “I’ll take ya up on that offer. Anything to avenge my fada.”

 

They kept quiet as the trio seemed to talk a bit more before leaving the throne room, making sure to stay out of sight. Marx gave a wry glance at Tiny Kirb. “Either you’re more hardcore than you look, or he’s got the wrong guy.” he mused softly, not really considering the first option.

 

“Is he even old enough to possibly know that guy’s father?” Elfilin asked, already searching environments with his portals to hide Tiny Kirb until they could come up with a plan.

 

‘Given that he can’t even properly talk yet-’ “I’m going to with no.” Marx verbally finished blandly.

 

“What I want to know is, ‘Why doesn’t he even know the name of the guy he’s looking for?” Tuff asked. The logic this Knuckle Joe guy was working with just didn’t make sense to him.

 

“Folks with a single goal for too long tend to skim over important details.” Marx stated just as blandly.

 

“Speaking from experience?” Elfilin cheekily asked, already knowing the answer. Tiff glanced at him, somewhat surprised.

 

“Maybe…” Marx reluctantly admitted through clenched teeth. “Have you found a hiding spot yet?” He asked, hoping to draw attention away from that line of questioning. Tiff raised an eyebrow but decided the situation wasn’t the best time to question him about that obvious dodge.

 

“I think so…how about here?” Elfilin asked quietly, the port in front of him settling on a melon patch.

 

“POYO!” Kirby proclaimed, happy that the hiding spot had a food supply. That immediately got him a face full of glowing golden wing as he and Elfilin tried to shush him up.

 

“Quiet, T.K.!” Marx whisper-yelled as they were still on the castle balcony where the King, Knuckle Joe, and Escargoon were all still within hearing distance.

 

“Did you hear something, your majesty?” The group heard Escargoon ask. A tense moment kept them all quiet as they feared being found out, but before Dedede and Co. could spot anyone, Marx pushed Tiny Kirb into the portal, and the rest quickly followed suit.

---

The townsfolk were quite unsettled by the Waddle Dee guards and the strange purple creature wandering into town, demanding to know where Tiny Kirb was hiding. Many had taken to nervous answers or outright hiding, and answers in the negative about Tiny Kirb’s whereabouts were beginning to wear thin on Knuckle Joe’s patience.

 

“We’ve been at this for hours!” he seethed. “None of these people seemed to respect my quest for vengeance, for whatever reason.”

 

“It’s only been 20 minutes, kid,” Escargoon stated, annoyed at the fifth time that Knuckle Joe whined about the word ‘no.’ “Exercise a little patience!” 

 

“I’M NOT A KID!” Knuckle Joe yelled indignantly. “AND I’VE ALREADY WAITED LONG ENOUGH TO GET MY REVENGE! WHY SHOULD I WAIT ANY LONGER WHEN I’M SO CLOSE?!” His skin was closer to red than purple with the level of his anger, but it was nothing the slimy snail hadn’t seen before.

 

“At this point, I hope Kirby beats this guy…” Escargoon mumbled under his breath.

 

“What was that?!” Knuckle Joe seethed, rounding on and casting a vicious glare at him.

 

“N-nothing ki—uh, Knuckle Joe,” Escargoon backtracked, not wanting to be on the receiving end of one of his energized punches. Those REALLY looked like they hurt…

 

“Well, hey hey hey there!” they heard someone call, thankfully ending the discussion. It sounded altogether too jovial and mocking, and it quickly put them all on edge.

 

“Who’s there?” both of them shouted at once as the Waddle Dees readied their spears.

 

The only answer they got was a colorful beach ball bouncing innocently toward the group of Waddle Dee guards before coming to a dead stop in the middle of the semi-circle formation. The guards weren’t quite sure what to make of the underwhelming answer. However, when one of them experimentally poked it with their spear, a loud and painful explosion happened, sending everyone gathered’s ears ringing and leaving them all stunned for a precious few moments.

 

Knuckle Joe was the first to recover, and as he did, he heard a manic laughter sound in the distance.

 

At that point, Knuckle Joe’s heart began to race. “That must be Kirby!” Knuckle Joe shouted as he sprinted toward where the wild laughter originated. 

 

“Kid, wait!” Escargoon called after, but it was of little use.

 

“I’M NOT A KID!” he haughtily interrupted the snail before bounding off.

 

Escargoon scoffed, watching the youth chase after a bad lead. “Fine! Waste your time! See if I care! Kids these days, I swear…” he mumbled in frustration as he began to round up the stunned guards.

---

“Sooo…you’re sure he’ll be able to handle it?” Tiff asked in concern.

 

“Pretty sure!” Elfilin said easily. They had taken refuge in the watermelon patch, not exactly the safest spot. Still, it was out of the way, and Knuckle Joe would likely waste a lot of time searching the town. Which he had said was the plan before warping off himself. “Marx can…Do a lot.” Elfilin broke eye contact for a moment as the siblings both struggled to understand what he meant by that. “He’s probably going to mess with them for a while before he tries to beat Knuckle Joe. Uh, b-but don’t worry, he means well!”

 

“...What kinda guy is he that you sound more worried for the guy he’s protectin’ us from?” Tuff snarked. Tiff frowned but privately admitted she was also curious about that question. 

 

“Oh, no, he’s a lot better nowadays,” Elfilin quickly defended, “Just…Sometimes old habits die hard, y’know?”

 

“I guess…” he mumbled before turning away. “I just hope this isn’t somethin' else you guys are keepin’ from me,” he groused, sending a spike of guilt through Tiff.

 

“Sorry about that…” Elfiling said softly. “We really didn’t know how you all would react, and from what I hear, Tiff kinda found out about it by accident, too, right?” He looked to her for affirmation.

 

She nodded readily, even if Tuff wasn’t looking her way. “Yeah, they were going to keep it from me, too, if I hadn’t been so insistent on barging into his room,” she admitted.

 

That DID make him feel a touch better…but not by a whole lot. ‘So what, none of ‘em trust us?’ He mentally grumbled. Before the argument could continue, a small blast interrupted the otherwise quiet evening. Then, two more sounded from the town in the distance, catching their attention.

---

Knuckle Joe may not have been willing to admit that he jumped the gun when he decided to try to follow the sound, especially since he didn’t instantly have a face to attach the sound to. Once he arrived at where he thought it came from, the possibility had crossed his mind. “Now, where could…Huh?” When he did find someone, he wasn’t quite sure what to make of the light purple blob wearing a jester’s hat and bouncing on the same beach ball that blew up earlier. “Are…Are you…Kirby?” A guy like this, the one who offed his father? It was hard to believe.

 

But with how the clown made a show of pretending to think about his answer, complete with an exaggerated hum, he was starting to believe otherwise. “Maaaaaybe.” He finally answered, a sharp grin flashing on his face.

 

Knuckle Joe’s eye began to twitch. “It’s a yes or no question.” He countered through gritted teeth. If he were trying to rile him up, he wouldn’t.

 

“Ha!” The jester interrupted. “Well, if those are my only options…No.” He cheekily replied.

 

‘Cool it, Joe…He’s tryin’ to get to ya,’ Joe reminded himself. “Okay…Then, do you happen to know where Kirby is?” Knuckle Joe seethed.

 

For a being with no real shoulders, he made a remarkably effective shrugging motion. “Maybe I do. Maybe I don’t. What’s it to ya, kid?”

 

And that was the last straw as all thoughts of ‘calm’ left Knuckle Joe. “I. Am. Not. A. KID!” he screamed in indignant rage before letting loose a series of serious attacks. “SMASH PUNCH! SPIN KICK! VULCAN JAB!”

 

A dodge, a jump, and a quick drop meant all his attacks hit only air. “Do you always shout your attacks before you do them?” Marx asked rhetorically. “Not the best way to fight, just saying.”

 

That didn’t help Knuckle Joe’s mood, to say the least. “Shut up! VULCAN JAB!”

 

Another burst of effort was exerted, like he’d done thousands of times before, as Marx tutted. “Great comeback. You sure showed me, kid.” Marx retorted sarcastically; at this point, his dodges were looking more like a circus act than anything related to combat.

 

That only incensed him further. “STOP CALLING ME THAT!” Knuckle Joe screamed while attempting to throw a non-powered-up punch, his rage debilitating his ability to concentrate. 

 

Which was exactly why he was caught so off guard when he found out he couldn’t seem to bring the punch forward. “What the-?!”

 

“Might I suggest not acting like one, then?” A sophisticated English voice said from behind.

 

When Knuckle Joe turned to look behind him, he noticed his fist was encased in a light purple web string. “What the—What are you—AH!” He was thrown in an upward arc, spinning through the air once, twice, three times before face-planting to the ground. “Gah!”

 

“Hey, hey, hey, Taranza!” Marx called, balancing on his ball with one foot. “About time you showed up!”

 

“Marx.” Taranza simply nodded in acknowledgment before turning back to the aggressor. “Now you, young man, have caused quite the stir. Care to explain yourself?”

 

“WHERE’S KIRBY!?” Knuckle Joe yelled as he dragged himself up in lieu of an actual explanation.

 

Taranza shook his head in dismay. “...That’s the best I’m going to get, isn’t it?” 

 

Marx did his not-a-shrug shrug again. “Supposedly, Tiny Kirb killed this guy’s dad. Now he wants to kill him in the name of revenge, blah blah blah, you know how this story goes.” he explained, occasionally switching which foot was balancing on the ball. “Didn’t even check his sources.”

 

Taranza could only hum in understanding. “I see…” Turning his attention fully to the young man, he fixed him with a steady stare. “I don’t know what that daft king has told you, but it seems he neglected to mention that Tiny Kirb is little more than a toddler.”

 

Knuckle Joe blinked. “...You’re lying.” he said in disbelief. 

 

“...Marx, where is Tiny Kirb now?” Was all the response the spider-boy gave.

 

“Last I saw, he was with Elfilin and the kids at the watermelon field,” Marx rattled off casually. “Figured we’d try talking sense into him before throwing T.K. into the trenches.”

 

Taranza nodded in understanding before turning to the now confused youth. “Would you allow us the chance to prove it? It can’t hurt to at least verify your sources, as Marx stated earlier.”

 

With both of these strange people clearly having an edge on him skill-wise, Knuckle Joe sighed, “Fine. Lead the way…Mark, was it?”

 

“Close enough.” Marx said with a shrug, jumping off his ball and taking flight. “Follow me, kid.”

 

“I’m not…Oh, forget it.” Knuckle Joe said he dragged himself towards Marx’s retreating form with Taranza following close behind.

Chapter 11: Soul Duel

Summary:

Knuckle Joe vs. Tiny Kirb.

Knuckle Joe had never felt more stupid in his life. Seeing Tiny Kirb for himself, innocently playing with a chinchilla-like creature while rolling around on a melon like that Mark guy. It made him feel very foolish to jump the gun the way he had. “So…’ow is this, um, kid a star warrior, anyway?”

 

“That’s what Kabu said when he got here.” The young girl answered. “Plus, Meta Knight’s been training him up to this point.” 

 

“Meta Knight?” Knuckle Joe questioned, idly wondering if Meta Knight was who he was looking for instead.

 

“Don’t even start.” Taranza scolded. “You’ve already gone off the deep end chasing a false lead. Do you really want to risk another?”

 

“But what if he is?!” Knuckle Joe retaliated. “If he did kill my fada, I can’t let ‘im get away with it unpunished!”

 

Everyone present was quiet for a few moments, not sure how to respond to that.

 

“You’ve got quite the one-track mind, don’t you?” Mark stated, almost sounding bored despite the jovial smirk.

 

“What’s dat supposed to mean?” Knuckle Joe spat.

 

“You may be brash, but surely you’re not stupid.” Taranza interjected, leveling Knuckle Joe with an unimpressed look.

 

“Who are you callin’ stupid?!” he responded quickly. The way these weirdos kept putting him down was starting to get on his nerves…

 

Taranza signed in defeat. “...I’ll call Bright Eyes.”

---

Bright Eyes wasn’t sure what to make of the scene before him. Tiny Kirb watched the stand-off between himself and Knuckle Joe with concern while Elfilin tried in vain to distract him. Marx simply lazily bounced on his beach ball while Taranza hung back on standby as if to mediate a debate. The kids stayed back to avoid any damage from a potential blowback if a fight broke out. With so many volatile (and fragile) parts to this altercation, all that tension made him keep one hand on his hilt, just in case.

 

“Well?!” Knuckle Joe spat impatiently. “Did ya kill my fada or not?!”

 

The subtle shifting of Meta Knight’s body gave him the answer even before he responded. “...I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but…Yes.”

 

His body was moving before Knuckle Joe could even think about it. “SMASH PUNCH!”

 

Bright Eyes wasted no time blocking the attack with Galaxia, a single swipe of the blade deflecting the projectile and sending it careening off into the sky.

 

“WHY?!” Knuckle Joe shouted, readying another attack—before being completely entangled by pink webs, courtesy of Taranza’s quick reactions.

 

“I had no choice! Nightmare had taken him and warped his mind into a mindless slave. I didn’t enjoy a single second fighting your father!” Bright Eyes screamed, eyes morphing from red, then orange, and then finally settling on purple.

 

“What are you talking about?! And what is this stuff?” Knuckle Joe asked while trying to unsuccessfully wriggle free of his sticky confines.

 

“It’s enchanted webbing.” Taranza answered blandly. He certainly didn’t feel the need to elaborate.

 

Meta Knight continued a bit more stoically. “Your father, Jecra, was one of the greatest friends I had fighting by my side. We were ambushed one night, and they took your mortally wounded father to Nightmare. I don’t know what he did to him, but when he came back…He was no longer the warrior I knew. In his final breaths…” Bright Eyes’ eyes were still purple as he held out an ornate pendant to Knuckle Joe, opening it to reveal a picture of Knuckle Joe as a baby, “His last thoughts before he died…were of you…” Taranza put a comforting hand on Bright Eyes’ shaking shoulder. Taking a moment to compose himself, he continued, “I tried to find you, but…The War made finding time for that…impossible. I’m so, so sorry.”

 

After making sure he wouldn’t attack again, Taranza carefully unraveled his webs and handed Knuckle Joe the locket. “So, that’s it, huh? My dad was too weak to escape from Nightmare and had to be killed?” Knuckle Joe concluded bitterly.

 

“Weak?” Bright Eyes asked, bewildered by the word choice.

 

“Well, how else would you describe it?!” Knuckle Joe spat.

 

“Your father being slain doesn’t automatically make him weak!” Bright Eyes argued, eyes slowly going from orange to red.

 

“Indeed.” Taranza interjected, looking at him pointedly. “Are you weak just because I’ve been able to tie you down more than once?”

 

“THAT’S DIFFERENT!” Knuckle Joe rebutted, if poorly.

 

The spider raised an eyebrow in response. “Oh? How so?” Taranza countered.

 

Instead of answering, a growl and Knuckle Joe’s fists glowing with light blue power were the response. The instant afterward was a high-speed fist shot at the spider. “SMASH PUNCH!”

 

Taranza immediately threw up a heart-shaped web shield to deflect the attack; however, if the inhaling vortex was anything to go by, Taranza knew it was no longer needed.

 

In a flash and a flip, Kirby was ready for battle. “Poyo! Fighter Kirby! Poyo!” Tiny Kirb jumped up in excitement while admiring the red headband tails in his hands.

 

Knuckle Joe had to fight the urge to blanch. “How did—Oh, whatever! Take this!” Ignoring it, he readied his fist to deliver a regular punch, only for Tiny Kirb to spin-kick him away from Taranza in a shockingly fluid maneuver, for Knuckle Joe, that is.

 

As he recovered, he noticed, to his surprise, that the spider seemed fairly nonplussed. “Good job, little one.” Taranza praised while getting ready to web up Knuckle Joe again.

 

Knuckle Joe scowled, not wanting any of that experience again. “OH, NO, YOU DON’T! SPIN—” 

 

“HI-YA!” Tiny Kirb interrupted Knuckle Joe with a glowing energy ball of his own, colliding right into him.

 

“HEY! That’s my move!” Knuckle Joe yelled. He really didn’t appreciate the beach ball exploding in his face as soon as he was done speaking.

 

“Welcome to the wonderful world of Copy Abilities, buddy. I’ll get you the T-shirt.” Marx joked, readying another beach-bomb.

 

The fact that they didn't seem to take him seriously still grated at him. “I don’t care! JUST STAY STILL! SMA—”

 

“ENOUGH!” Bight Eyes yelled, his voice cutting through the chaos as everyone stopped and stared at him. “If this is how you are when told of your father’s death, then maybe it’s a good thing he isn’t here to see the monster you’ve become!”

 

“Monster? I ain’t no monster!” Knuckle Joe protested.

 

“And these are the actions of a reasonable person?” Taranza countered, putting himself in front of Tiff and Tuff.

 

Knuckle Joe clenched his fists and looked away in lieu of an answer.

 

“Say, T.K. here wants to try out his new ability, right?” Marx asked, his wing playing with Tiny Kirb’s headband tails.

 

“How will that prove anything?” Tiff questions, snapping out of her surprise.

 

“It’s part of being a good guy to fight fair, right?” Marx inquired, getting confused confirmation from Taranza and Bright Eyes. “Well, what’s fairer than a one vs. one with the same powers?”

 

“I…suppose that’s one way to solve this…What do you think, Tiny Kirb?” Taranza gently asked. 

 

“Poyo!” Tiny Kirb answered, jumping with excitement/determination.

 

“Well, that settles it. Let’s find an empty field!” Marx cheered.

---

They didn’t have to go very far to find a flat, empty field. The unfortunate part was that it wasn’t very far from Dedede’s castle. Or ‘King Tubby’ as Marx had taken to calling him.

 

“I call being the ref!” Marx exclaimed with seemingly boundless energy in spite of the twilight hour.

 

“You’re not exactly impartial, though.” Taranza tentatively reminded Marx.

 

“Oh, and you are?” Marx rebutted smugly.

 

“...Elfilin’s the ref.” Taranza commanded blandly.

 

Marx opened his mouth to protest. “But-”

 

He didn't get far. “CAN WE GET ON WITH IT?!” Knuckle Joe loudly interrupted.

 

Tiff blanched at the noise before quickly turning to Joe. “Quiet! You’re going to wake-”

 

“WHAT'S GOIN’ ON OUT HERE! IT’S NEARLY BEDTIME!” King Tubby yelled from his bedroom balcony, already dressed in his lime green dressing gown and nightcap.

 

“Beat it, Tubby! This doesn’t concern you! Especially not after you sent me on that wild goose chase!” Knuckle Joe yelled, for once justified in his frustration.

 

That just got him a scowl and more yelling. “Why, you disrespectful little-”

 

“Relax, sire. He’s still fightin’ Kirby, after all, right?” Escargoon gently tried to reassure the King.

 

Knuckle Joe’s eye twitched at the statement. “They’re not gonna leave, are they?”

 

“No. No, they most certainly are not.” Tiff sighed in defeat. “Just…try to ignore the sudden extra audience.”

 

“‘K…” Knuckle Joe gritted out through clenched teeth. “Alright, Kirby. Let’s get this over with.” He said, mostly to himself as he rubbed his nose. “And prove I ain’t some weak kid.” He angrily mumbled at the end.

 

Tiny Kirb merely mimicked the nose-rubbing motion.

 

Knuckle Joe had to struggle to hold himself in check. ‘Relax, Joe, he’s just a baby.’ He thought to himself, trying not to take it as a taunt.

 

“Is everyone ready?” The blue floating chinchilla asked, putting himself in the middle of the two combatants. When he got a confirmation nod from both of them, he began again, “Alright. On the count of three. One…Two…THREE! BEGIN!”

 

At the signal, Knuckle Joe wasted no time firing a barrage of smash punches, yelling them all off in quick succession as they burst forth. Tiny Kirb quickly reacted, a flurry of rapid-fire spin kicks meeting the lot of them to null the attacks. 

 

Quickly abandoning the strategy, he rushed forward to interrupt Tiny Kirb’s spin kick with his own strong yell, and he named the move accompanying the strike as they clashed. They were quick to bounce off of each other after the mutual strike. However, Kirby was faster on the draw afterward, a Rising Break meeting Knuckle Joe's second attempt to close in.

 

Knuckle Joe didn't expect the force behind the impact, nor was he able to recover while airborne; he wound up crashing to the ground in a little shock. He did manage to come to his senses enough to see his opponent bearing down on him from the air, a kick outstretched to make sure he stayed down.

 

Fortunately, Knuckle Joe had enough wherewithal to roll out of the way just as the kick landed, sending up dust and debris. As he jumped back on his feet to try and quickly think of his next move, Tiny Kirb managed to hit him with a weak power shot, knocking him off balance. 

 

Fortunately, it wasn't enough to topple him or stop his attempt to get back on offense. “Stay still, will ya?!” Knuckle Joe yelled, trying to tackle Tiny Kirb with little success as the latter began leaping to dodge his grapples.

 

He couldn't help but overhear Marx as he fought. “Hey, Taranza, does saying that ever actually work?” he asked the spider in a mocking tone.

 

“No. In fact, I would say it has the opposite effect.” Taranza answered, fully aware of what Marx was doing, not that he minded his pettiness.

 

‘They’re makin’ fun a me!’ Knuckle Joe fumed, shaking in rage. He was so distracted by this that he failed to notice Tiny Kirb going for a leg sweep until he was already on the ground. 

 

“Oops! Somethin’ botherin’ you?” Marx taunted.

 

“SHUT UP!” Knuckle Joe shouted, throwing a Smash Punch at them and forcing them to move. ‘I’ll show them. I’LL SHOW THEM ALL!’ As soon as his angry thought concluded, however, he began to glow a blinding white. ‘What is-’ Before his thought could finish, he felt something shift in his form, painfully bunching him into a ball-like shape. His ability to scream was hampered by a strange strap that originated from his newly formed helmet head with spikes that were the same color as his hair previously, breaking through his helmet/skull. His feet curled in on themselves, and he barely realized he was floating.

 

The fact that Marx seemed to lose all humor at the situation proved to be too big a red flag for Tiff to ignore. “What’s happened to him?!” she asked, completely horrified by the sudden transformation.

 

“He’s become a Soul.” Marx answered, voice devoid of any glee or mocking tones that it once had.

 

“What’s a Soul?” Tuff asked, just now noting how unsettled Marx looked. 

 

The jester didn’t say anything for a few moments, only staring at Knuckle Joe with an unreadable expression before turning to Taranza. “Be ready to jump in if we need to.”

 

Taranza nodded solemnly as Marx took his position next to Tiny Kirb. 

 

“Mr. Taranza, what’s going on?” Tiff asked, freaked out by Marx’s sudden, serious tone.

 

Taranza just shook his head, “It’s not my story to tell…Even if it was, I don’t think that it’s something I should tell to children.”

 

Tiff wasn’t sure how to take that statement. If it was truly as bad as Taranza was implying, then… “Is Kirby going to be okay?!”

 

“...He should be.” Taranza replied after a moment’s thought. “Especially if Marx is helping him.”

 

Keeping that in mind, Tiff brought her attention back to the fight.

 

“T.K., get rid of Fighter! He’s too much of a hazard for melee combat now.” Marx ordered, simultaneously dodging the spike projectiles that came from Knuckle Joe’s head. ‘At least he’s not shouting his attacks anymore…Assuming he even still can anyway.’

 

Tiny Kirb didn’t understand what he meant by getting rid of his ability. It’d always gone away on its own. Before he could ponder it any further, a spike shot past him, grazing the side of his head and forcing Fighter away anyway. 

 

“...We’ll work on that.” Marx sighed, “Now see if you can get Needle!”

 

With a determined nod, Tiny Kirb inhaled one of the discarded spike projectiles. To his delight and everyone else’s surprise, his body accepted the spike, and he began to change accordingly. His body became yellow, with orange feet, followed by a pink helmet with yellow spikes emerging erratically from it before settling onto it. 

 

‘Wow…’ Tiff thought to herself in amazement. ‘Two abilities in one day.’ She was brought out of her thoughts when more spike projectiles shot out from both sides. Both sides' aim wasn’t very good, with Tiny Kirb and Knuckle Joe only receiving glancing blows; if anything, they were about as dangerous as paper cuts. 

 

“Right. Showtime! Taranza!” Marx yelled, holding his beach ball over his head. “Give me a boost!” 

 

With a nod, Taranza raised his already glowing hands to create a beautiful translucent royal bee/wasp. Lightning shot out from her scepter and hit Marx’s ball along with the surrounding battlefield, the shockwave stunning both combatants instantly. 

 

Tiff and Tuff had expected to see Marx’s ball destroyed with that kind of force. Instead, they were surprised to see that the ball had not only turned from multi-colored to a simpler green and yellow, it had sparks of electricity crackling around it. The ends of his hat, in fact, looked just like his ball, to both of their surprise. “Whoa! Did Marx just get an Ability?” Tuff asked, bewildered. Tiff had to admit her own surprise; she didn’t think anyone else could do that!

 

“Sort of?” Elfilin awkwardly answered. “It’s more like he’s added the Zap Ability Essence to what he can already do.”

 

‘What’s an Ability Essence?’ They both wondered. Elfilin had made it sound like it was something that should’ve been common knowledge, but in their case, obviously not. There was no time to ask, however, as Marx made his move.

 

“T.K.!” Marx yelled, rolling over to Tiny Kirb as he regained his senses. “On three, fire those spikes!”

 

Tiny Kirb nodded, glaring in determination as he bowed his head, spikes facing Knuckle Joe as he began to rise.

 

“One…”

 

Knuckle Joe’s head/body began to stir.

 

“Two…”

 

Knuckle Joe slowly floated back into a ready position, unaware of his situation but ready to fight regardless. Unfortunately…

 

“THREE! NOW!” Marx yelled, sending off a barrage of electrified arrows, quickly followed by Tiny Kirb’s spikes in a unified effort.

 

The force of the projectiles sent Knuckle Joe slamming into a nearby rock as quickly as he’d stood up. Attempting to shake off the onslaught, he tried to fire back his own spikes, but the sheer amount of projectiles assailing him gave him no room to even tilt his head in their direction. By the time Tiny Kirb and Marx were done, he was covered in cuts and scorch marks; while a few scratches were nothing, thousands of them did more than enough. He could only tumble down from the rock, exhausted and defeated. 

 

Thankfully, the bright glow that restored him to normal seemed more instantaneous and, hopefully, less painful.

 

Tiff flinched at the results of their counterattack. “Is he—”

 

“No.” Marx interrupted Tiff. “But he’ll be out for a while, most likely.”

 

“...So, what now?” Tuff asked tentatively, trying not to look at Knuckle Joe’s unconscious body. 

 

“Now…” Taranza answered, putting his cape around Knuckle Joe like a blanket. “We wait.”

Chapter 12: Soul History (Elfilin/Magolor)

Summary:

A brief history of Elifin and Magolor's time as a Soul.

After much back and forth with King Tubby, they decided to move Knuckle Joe’s sleeping form into the castle’s infirmary to keep a closer eye on him. 

 

“Not sure why we’re goin’ along with this. He did fail to get rid a’ Kirby after all!” King Tubby grumbled as medical Waddle Dee servants got Knuckle Joe situated.

 

“Well,” Taranza interjected, “It was either this or the townsfolk will get to hear about every last detail as to why some bloke was pestering everyone, on top of causing a huge ruckus at night.”

 

“YOU TRYIN’ TA THREATEN ME?!” King Tubby yelled, wishing he had his hammer within arm's reach.

 

“Yes.” Taranza spat, hands sparking with electricity. “Care to keep going?” 

 

Before King Tubby could try to retort, Escargoon began to frantically tug on his arm, “Let’s just go to bed, sire. It’s been a long day. And an even longer night. ” He mumbled at the end, which, thankfully, King Tubby didn’t catch. 

 

“...Fine!” He relented like a petulant child and slunk back to his bed chambers, with Escargoon following close behind him.

 

The awkward silence that followed was palpable.

 

“...So…” Tiff began, trying to break the tension. “You mentioned that he became a…Soul? What does that mean?”

 

Marx looked uncomfortable at the prospect of having to explain himself, his expression turning into something close to a grimace. “It’s…awful. There isn’t an elegant way to explain this, and…here may not be the best place to do it, bein’ frank.”

 

“Marx is right.” Elfilin concurred, just as tense as him. “Besides, it’s late.” He continued with a yawn. “This might be received better once we’ve had a good sleep.”

 

“But-” Tiff began before interrupting herself with a yawn of her own. 

 

“Come on, sis, we’ll get answers in the morning. We will get them, right?” Tuff nearly hissed out, almost accusatory.

 

Taranza held his hands up in mock surrender. “You will, young man, you will...Though I can understand your hesitance to believe that.”

 

Tuff huffed in both frustration and agreement.

---

The next day, everyone who had been present for the fight before, except King Tubby and Escargoon, along with Susie and Magolor, gathered at the factory site. 

 

“So, we going to get told about what Souls are or what?!” Tuff bit out, tapping his foot impatiently.

 

“Tuff!” Tiff admonished.

 

Taranza sighed, “I suppose we should get this over with. Who wants…rather, who’s willing to start first?”

 

The tense silence that preceded was telling. 

 

“I-I’ll start.” Elfilin stammered, making his way in front of the group. “Well…t-to start…I’m mostly able to control my Soul form.” Before anyone could question him on the statement, his body began to glow and change in front of everyone. 

 

Once the light died down, Elfilin no longer looked like a cute little creature. He remained the same size, but his proportions were substantially different. The best way anyone could think to describe the new form was if a moth were a mammal. His ears looked like they were melting yellow, magenta, and purple goo from the now spikey light blue arcs. Spiky yellow and magenta antennae sprouted off his head with yellow and orange feelers. His eyes were light blue with magenta pupils, and his neck appeared to be wrapped in a fluffy, light brown scarf. His body was longer and thinner, and he had a long, bushy tail with orange fur at the tip. His arms were longer, too, and he had big hands and large pink claws. In his left hand was a blue spear with a yellow and magenta spiral, making the staff meet at the point with a decorative blue and yellow wing on one side and a blue and magenta wing on the other.

 

After a few seconds of letting the image sink in, Elfilin began talking again. “My real Soul form was much bigger. However, this is as much as I can handle without going crazy. The story behind this is a bit complicated, but the long and short of it is that I, or part of me, wanted to destroy the multiverse. I don’t remember if there was a reason beyond destruction, but ultimately, I was captured and imprisoned. At some point, the two of us separated. My bad self wanted to take revenge on everyone who imprisoned us, but…if what Magalor and the Mage Sisters told me is true, the original people who would even know who we were are long gone.”

 

“How…how old are you?” Tuff asked, trying to wrap his head around all that information.

 

“I lost track a long time ago. I know I’m older than everyone here, but beyond that…I can’t say for certain.” Elfilin answered, very forlorn.

 

“You said ‘the other you.’ What did you mean by that?” Tiff asked, honing in on a specific line. 

 

Elfilin shrugged, shaking his head softly. “I’m not entirely sure how, but I split myself in two. My bad self, or the Soul form, Fecto Elfilis, was continuing to destroy the multiverse, and my good self was trying to stop it. But I was too weak. If Kirby wasn’t sucked into one of Fecto Elfilis’ test portals…I don’t wanna think about what could’ve happened…” Elfilin clenched his fists in an attempt to calm himself down. “Speaking of, that’s why I wanted to tap into that Soul power. So I could be of use to this team and provide transportation, at the very least. I’ve been working on getting my more combat-oriented Soul powers to work, too, but that’s slow goings at the moment.” 

 

“If it’s not too much trouble…” Magolor interrupted with a lot of trepidation. “Could I…Could we use your powers as a shortcut for some of this? I feel a visual may be appreciated.”

 

With an affirmative nod from Elfilin, Magolor faced the group, “He’s not the only one with experience being a Soul. However, when it comes to mine…let’s just say there wasn’t any part of me that had any good in me originally.” He paused to take a steadying breath before turning back to Elfilin, “Can your portals just show them, Halcandra? The place isn’t exactly safe to just casually visit.”

 

Elfilin nodded before holding his hand out to Magolor. Once they made contact, the arrowhead on Elfilin’s staff began to glow. As soon as Elfilin thought there was enough power to work with, he let go of Magolor’s hand and drew a circle in the air, forming the portal.

---

The landscape shown was a wasteland of hot magma and metallic structures, most likely industrial plants. Any semblance of life was utterly destroyed by the seemingly endless lava lazily streaming from the numerous volcanoes, like rivers or streams.

---

“...Yeah. Not the most scenic planet in the multiverse.” Magolor stated after letting the image of his homeworld sit for a moment, “I wanted out. I wanted…I wanted to be better than the wasteland I came from. Not because I wanted my home to be saved…I just wanted to be so powerful that where I came from wouldn’t even matter anymore. People would just see me. Be amazed by me. You get the idea. Just a selfish desire to be the best. The only way I could think to do that quickly…was to steal it from someone else.”

---

The portal's image then changed to a four-headed red dragon with pink and red spiral horns, green eyes, and a small crown on the topmost head.

---

“That is Landia. The guardian of Halcandra and the keeper of the Master Crown. I made it my mission to steal it and become the most powerful being in the multiverse. What I didn’t know, or rather…what I refused to acknowledge…was that the power can corrupt anyone who doesn’t have the best of intentions.”

---

The image on the portal changed once more. It looked nothing like Magolor! His ‘face’ looked like a goopy orb with a carved smile, with what material it was made of dripping down the opening. Some were horrified to discover that the mouth had a pink and red eye within, matching the normal ones. His purple and blue horns were downturned and had gold rings around them with dark green spikes. The Master Crown on his head was significantly larger and featured two sets of decorative golden horns. His hands were still detached from his dark green body, pointed like claws, and held together by what looked like summoning bracelets/cuffs. All of this was seemingly held together by a golden dragon claw.

---

“As you can probably gather, that’s me. Or rather…that’s my Soul form.” Magolor solemnly explained. “I don’t remember much of my time in Soul form. One thing I do remember was an innate instinct to destroy. When I saw Kirby and the others, it only intensified that desire. When I was defeated, I was right back where I started.”

---

The image changed once again. This time, it was the Magolor everyone was familiar with, but his clothes were bleached and tattered to the point they were barely held together by tied-up scraps of cloth and a huge hole where his right ear (horn?) was located. The portal showed Magolor fighting enemies with very weak magic attacks.

---

“The next time I woke up, I was as weak as a newborn mage.” Magolor explained, looking at the window with an almost nostalgic expression. “By that point, my goal was simply to survive. That was…until I found a Gem Apple piece.” Magolor said as he pulled out one of his Gem Apple Bombs just as the portal window showed Fallen Magolor inspecting a shiny Gem Apple piece. “I don’t know why, but as soon as I saw that, I knew I had to put it back together and see if it could help me get at least some of my powers back.”

 

“So…w-what happened when you fixed it?” Tiff asked, her hands beginning to shake. The information became overwhelming, but the need to know more overshadowed her discomfort.

 

“Well…” Magolor started with hesitation before grabbing Elfilin’s hand once more.

---

The image changed to that of an uprooted monster tree wearing the Master Crown in a similar style to Magolor’s time with it. The biggest difference was that the gold of the Master Crown had encased the tree’s limbs and made an antler pattern that made way for green, blue, and dark purple clover wings. 

 

The window fast-forwarded a bit into the fight, where both participants were nearing the end of their ropes. When Fallen Magolor noticed a sword embedded in the dirt, he made a desperate grab for it. To the native Pop Star’s residence's surprise, Fallen Magolor was able to get the sword to gargantuan size and glow with power before bringing it down with a mighty swing, destroying the corrupted tree.

---

“As you can see, I got the Gem Apple sprout back.” Magolor narrated as the tree reverted back to the sprout. “After that, I…” Magolor stopped himself before getting a look of determination in his eye. “Actually, Elfilin, could you just take us there? I feel like a more hands-on approach might get the point across better.” 

 

Elfilin nodded before dissolving the viewing window and raising his staff again. Instead of a glow, the staff became a strange mix of purple, red, and gray. Once the colors enveloped the whole staff, Elfilin drew a star pattern in the sky that filled with colorful energy until all the star’s points were created and connected. “Hop in.” He commands, jumping in first, followed by Magolor.

 

The remaining folk in the field felt a little uneasy until Susie began to get closer to the star-shaped portal. “Well? If you’re worried about possible trouble, don’t. I know where this will lead; I’ve done trade deals there plenty of times. It’s safe enough.” She stated frankly before entering the portal.

 

“Well, you heard the lady.” Marx said, for the first time since everyone arrived, “Let’s go.” 

 

With few options, the rest followed Marx through the portal.

---

The sound of a bustling town square was a nice surprise for those unfamiliar. The multiple Kirbys were an…interesting sight. 

 

“I wonder what their food supply is like?” Tuff stage whispered to Tiff, both as a joke and genuinely curious.

 

“Don’t worry.” Magolor’s voice said behind them. When they turned to look, his outfit was green where blue used to be and a bit simpler in design to boot. “These guys don’t appear to be quite as gluttonous as every other Kirby-like creature I’ve met.” 

 

“Okay…but why do you look…different? And how’d you do it so quick?” Tiff asked hesitantly. 

 

“Magic.” Magolor answered the second question bluntly. “As for the reason for the outfit change, this is just what the locals here are used to seeing me in.” 

 

That answer made everyone refocus on the town square. It was a lot like Cappy Town, with a very sleepy vibe and not much going on. The most notable differences were that most of the citizens were Kirbys and the giant Gem Apple tree in the middle of town.

 

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Magolor said once he noticed everyone's focus was on the tree.

 

“Is that…” Bright Eyes began, eyes white with too much shock to finish the question.

 

“The very same.” Magolor answered the implied question. “When I stumbled upon the dimension, there was barely anything here. However, it was a lot safer than where I came from, so I figured, ‘Why not?’ and started to settle here. Though I’m sure you figured out from the Kirbys around here, it didn’t stay that way for long.” Magolor concluded, gesturing to a giant quest board. 

 

As everyone scanned the board, they noticed that the enemies tended to be described as bigger versions of other things the Cappy Town residents had seen before. “I thought you said this place was safe?!” Tuff angrily questioned, ignoring Tiff's attempts to calm him down.

 

Magolor rolled his eyes at the outburst. “Kid, it is safe. Most of those are far away from the town. These are just here for anyone available to take care of them at their earliest convenience.” He then floated over to one of the requests and pointed to it. “See these numbers? That denoted threat level. At the worst, a threat level can be designated as an ‘EX,’ and as you can see, none of them have that description.” 

 

“Aside from presumably a max-level threat, what does EX mean?” Bright Eyes asked, gaze still fixated on the board. 

 

“...That’s actually partly why I wanted to bring you here. EX level is a very minor version of a Soul. They don’t come up often, but they do happen every once in a while. If…When another one turns up…I’d like Tiny Kirb to be part of that raid team.” Magolor summed up quickly as if expecting a negative response.

 

He was correct to assume that.

 

“WHAT?!” Both Tiff and Tuff yelled in alarm. “You want him to take on Souls here?! Are you crazy?! He couldn’t even defeat Knuckle Joe Soul on his own!” Tiff continued, completely outraged.

 

“Exactly. Hence why I want him to go with a raid TEAM.” Magolor reiterated with special emphasis on the word ‘team.’ “I’m not just throwing him in water and hoping he doesn’t drown. Every single Kirby in this village has dealt with an EX threat at least once. Having that guidance in dealing with minor Souls will likely help him more than another Knuckle Joe incident ever will.”

 

“Oh…Of course…That…that makes sense, Mr. Magolor.” Tiff stuttered, feeling ashamed for jumping to conclusions.

 

Tuff wasn’t so considerate. “So what? Do we just wait for another EX to show and have Kirby practice with that? What if another Soul shows up before that happens?” Tuff exclaimed, visibly frustrated.

 

“Tuff!” Tiff blurred out in surprise.

 

“Don’t lambast him, Tiff.” Susie interjected before any sort of fight could break out. “You’re right, Tuff; waiting around for a big bad to show up isn’t all that practical as far as training’s concerned.” Susie quickly acknowledged Tuff’s concerns, “Which is why we may have a solution in the meantime.” She continued, going over to Elfilin with her hand extended, “If I may?” 

 

Elfilin answered with a nod and grabbed her hand, his spear charging up in power again.

Chapter 13: By Golly, Ms. Moley

Summary:

This training exercise is brought to you by The Haltmann Works Co.

The next thing anyone was aware of was the hard, cold surface of a metal floor. Once the uneasy feeling subsided, they were able to take in the bustling factory around them. The assembly line made it obvious that they were producing round mech suits that resembled those piloted by Kirby or a Waddle Dee. 

 

Tiny Kirb approached a more completed-looking suit and observed it with rapt fascination. “Poyo…” He breathed out in amazement before attempting to touch the suit. Only to be stopped by Susie picking him up.

 

“Sorry, little one. Maybe when you’re older.” Susie lightly chided as she brought him back to the rest of the group.

 

“Where…are we?” Tiff asked, unsure where to focus most of her attention in this busy place.

 

“This is one of my many factories. Specifically, we’re at my most recent one on Shiver Star.” Susie clarified. 

 

“Shiver Star?” Bright Eyes echoed, noticing how barren the landscape was through one of the factory windows.

 

“Yes. And before you ask, no, this place looked like this long before I got here.” Susie explained.

 

“Right, um…What…are these things?” Bright Eyes asked, indicating the suit Tiny Kirb was recently pulled away from. 

 

“That is called the Robobot Armor. Patented by none other than…my…father…” Susie tapered off at the mention of her father. “I suppose now’s as good a time as any…” She mumbled, facing away from the group, her fist clenched. “My experiences with Souls are not quite as personal as the other two, but…it still had a great impact on me.” 

 

Wordlessly, Elfilin floated over to Susie, offering his hand. 

 

She accepted, with some reluctance, and Elfilin’s staff began to charge up with power to make another viewing window, similar to the one he had made for Magolor.

---

The viewing window showed what appeared to be the aftermath of a battle. An egg-shaped man was angrily addressing Kirby, who was in a fit of rage, resembling a toddler having a tantrum. (A sight that the kids, and Marx to an extent, found very amusing.) After that tantrum, he summoned a tube-like structure with a small balcony-looking seat. Once he floated up to the seating area, he began to monologue about something called a Star Dream while pulling out an odd-looking helmet/hat. However, just before he put the hat on, something fast collided with him before bouncing off of him with the hat in its grasp and knocking him out in the process. It turned out to be Susie, who told her father that she planned to sell Star Dream for both a profit and to put an end to the madness. The next thing that happened was that the lights began to flicker, and an error warning blared throughout the room. Then, without warning, all the noise and chaos stopped. The lights finally stopped flickering and stayed on long enough for Mr. Haltmann to regain consciousness. His eyes were pale and cloudy, like there wasn’t any more life behind them. Not helped by the fact that when he finally started to speak, he sounded as robotic as the scenery around him.

---

“That’s enough!” Susie said, voice cracking as tears began to leak from her eyes.

 

“Susie?” Bright Eye asked gently, taking a few cautious steps forward.

 

“Don’t.” Susie aggressively interrupted. “This may not be easy for me, but…” She took a deep breath to steady herself before continuing. “In the best interest of the children here, I won’t go into too much detail, but…what I will say is that the machine I was talking about selling in that window, Star Dream…It took everything from me, and from him.” Susie began, her eyes welling up with tears. “It took me from my home when we discovered the damn thing first, sending my father into a mad, desperate search for me by using that cursed device!” Susie yelled, letting her emotions get the better of her, but saw no reason to stop herself. “In doing so, Star Dream began to erase his memories bit by bit. By the time I found my way back to him…He couldn’t even remember my name, never mind who I was to him.” 

 

The only sound in the building at that point was Susie’s deep breaths and the mechanical workings of the factory floor.

 

“That’s terrible, Ms. Susie…” Tiff acknowledged, mostly to cut the awkward tension.

 

“Indeed.” Susie curtly agreed. “More to the point, I brought you here for more than just a trauma dump. This place is used for a lot more than making Robobot armor. Please, follow me.” She instructed, leading them further into the building. 

 

“Do you think he’s…” Tuff began to ask Tiff before stopping himself.

 

“I…I don’t know, but…probably.” Tiff replied, understanding what her brother was trying to ask. “It might be for the best if we don’t ask. At least…not right now.” Tiff concluded gently as they came up to a large metal door with a myriad of locks on it.

 

“This seems like overkill, Susie.” Marx commented as Susie began to remove all the locks from the door.

 

“Maybe. However, the paranoia is justified when you have workers here needing a little more than a ‘Do Not Enter’ sign.” She explained, almost sounding more bored than frustrated.

 

Once the last lock was undone, she opened the heavy door and gestured to them all to head inside. The interior resembled an old stage, not dissimilar to an arena. Susie floated over to what looked like a breaker box and began to fiddle with the controls until the lights came on.

 

“This is our simulation room.” She explained once the lights all clicked on. “We use this to simulate any enemy we’ve faced in the past…excluding the world-ending threats. Those tend to be reserved for stadium arenas if someone desires to train on them.” Susie awkwardly amended at the end. 

 

“...Why?” Bright Eyes asked, eyes purple, almost afraid of the answer he’d get.

 

“Mostly sheer mass. It would be a bit of a disadvantage on both sides if neither opponent could move properly.” She answered blandly.

 

“...Are these simulations…dangerous?” Tiff asked stiffly.

 

“I mean…you’re going to feel it if you get hit, but it shouldn’t get you killed.” Susie explained while messing with the projector panels.

 

“Shouldn’t?” Tuff echoed with heavy skepticism.

 

“What can I say? My Kirby, Meta Knight, and Mirror Knight prefer for the simulation to be as real as possible without the possibility of death.” Susie reassured them.

 

Marx snickered, unable to help himself, “Hasn’t stopped Mirror, edge lord that he is, to try and convince Susie or Magolor to make it more deadly.”

 

“Magolor? You can do that too?” Tiff asked, astonished.

 

“If my ship, the Lor, were around to see, then yes.” Magolor answered, beaming with pride.

 

Before anyone else could comment, the room layout had changed. Instead of the industrial, stage-like environment, it transformed into a lush, green field with a few large, freshly dug holes dotting the landscape. 

 

“Ooo, this is an old one.” Marx commented. “Wasn’t this when Kirby was looking for a cake?”

 

Susie giggled, “Yes. The very same.”

 

“I’ve heard about this cake incident a few times now. What’s this about?” Bright Eyes asked, eyes green, mildly intrigued.

 

“Oh, that? None of us were there for that particular fiasco, but from what we heard, it was…a lot to go through just to get a slice of strawberry shortcake. How many biomes did Meta Knight and Daroach say he went through? Seven? No, wait, it was eight!” Susie said, chuckling the entire time.

 

“Yeah, and if memory serves, the last biome went all the way to space!” Magolor interjected.

 

“Didn’t Kirby end up not finding his original cake anyway after all that? Daroach and his gang just sent him a replacement after it was all over!” Marx finished, unable to contain his mirth.

 

Tiff, Tuff, Tiny Kirb, and Bright Eyes watch them chatter amongst themselves, seemingly forgetting they were there. 

 

“Gee…” Tuff stated, cutting some tension, “And I thought our Kirby was a glutton.” He chuckled nervously.

 

Tiff answered with a nervous laugh of her own, “Yeah…”

 

The earth rumbling beneath them cut any further conversation short. A mound of dirt began to form right in front of them, then broke apart in a cloud of dust. When the dust cleared, the first thing everyone saw was a giant gray mole’s head with bright pink flowers where hair should’ve been, with a prominent red flower that was taller than the others wearing red sunglasses/goggles, a red handkerchief scarf, and grey overalls. Before anyone could move, Ms. Moley jumped out of her hole, tossing out rocks and spike balls in her wake, some nearly hitting Tiff and Tuff, and buried herself in an already-made hole.

 

“Marx! Give T.K. one of your beach ball bombs! Taranza! Magolor! Create a barrier for the others, quick!” Susie ordered.

 

Marx produced a ball from…somewhere and lobbed it at T.K. to inhale before sprinting over to everyone else inside the safety of the barrier.

 

“...WHAT THE HECK?!” Tuff yelled after some of the shell shock had worn off.

 

“It’s all part of the simulation. It’s just dangerous enough to get the point across, but not so dangerous that you’ll lose your life.” Susie answered the semi-unsaid question while she observed Tiny Kirb transform with the Bomb Ability. “Besides, this is one of the least threatening fights in the system. Figured it would be a good introductory example of what this is capable of.”

---

Outside the barrier, T.K. waited for Ms. Moley to resurface. The ground shaking and the dirt being disturbed in an already opened hole were enough for T.K. to prepare a bomb. She burst out of the ground once more and was greeted by a bomb to the face, staggering her a bit. She roared in rage before digging at the ground for something to throw at T.K. This time, she found a spike ball with a face and, with an almost twisted grin, threw it directly at T.K. His attempt to dodge was hampered by him getting grazed by the spike-face ball, which increased its spikes, not allowing T.K. to get away completely.

---

“KIRBY?!” Tiff yelled in alarm while Tuff was stunned speechless.

 

“Relax.” Marx said blandly. “Look at what’s floating on his head.”

 

Following his instructions, they noticed a small pink bar with a small chunk taken out of it. The same was true for Ms. Moley, except it was orange and slightly bigger, still with a small chunk missing. 

 

“What are those things?” Tuff asked once his voice came back to him.

 

“We call them ‘Health Bars.’” Marx answered. “That may sound scary, but if it gets draining enough, it only makes you sleepy. Once one of them hits zero, the simulation’s over.”

 

“...Y-yes, what Marx said.” Susie stammered, not expecting him to explain anything that clearly without making it into a joke.

 

“Still…” Tiff started, not entirely sure what to ask at this point. This was what they trained against? And it was the EASIEST fight they had? If that was the case, then what was actually hard for them?

---

Shaking off the shock and sudden bout of drowsiness, T.K. pulled out another bomb and looked for an opening to aim it at Ms. Moley. That opportunity arose when she emerged from a different hole to throw more objects at him, specifically large boulders. Most of T.K.’s bombs were aimed at breaking up the large rocks. Ms. Moley quickly dove back underground, giving T.K. only a small reprieve. He barely noticed the Bomb Ability flickering away until the earth began to move again. After an attempt to throw another explosive, he found himself stuck without a reliable way to fight back.

---

Taranza’s face expressed surprise at that point. “Oh, dear. Are you lot aware if he’s gotten the Spark or Plasma Ability yet?” Taranza asked, readying a lightning spell just in case.

 

“Huh?” Tuff asked, snapping himself out of a trance. “Y-yeah. H-he has used Spark before…I think…”

 

“Only one way to know for sure.” he noted to himself before throwing a green lightning strike at T.K. 

 

Taking the chance, T.K. sucked up the blast before changing into Spark Kirby.

 

“Oh, he turns green.” Susie lightly noted. “Cute.”

---

Feeling impatient, T.K. waited for Ms. Moley to emerge from a hole, throw whatever she had available, and then follow her down the next one. In executing that plan, T.K. began to run around to dodge the projectiles. After some time, he’d begun unconsciously conducting a charge. By the time the charge reached its peak, T.K. gave off the appearance of a large, greenish-yellow orb of pulsating light. Coincidentally, that was the moment Ms. Moley decided to jump into another hole. T.K. was quick to pursue, diving down and following close behind. After a few seconds of silence from all involved, an electric charge erupted, surprising the gathered spectators as several electric blasts, almost like multiple volcanic eruptions, emerged from every visible hole. With a powerful last ZAP, Ms. Moley was rocketed out of one of the far holes, only to soon collide with the ground with an earthshaking THUD. Her Health Bar was drained to zero in moments, while T.K.’s, who soon popped out of the same hole, was only a fourth of the way gone. 

 

 With a sudden whirr, the simulation ended, the faux-field fading out entirely. 

 

“Poyo! POYO!” Tiny Kirb celebrated as the Spark Ability faded. 

 

“Hm…” Taranza began to ponder to himself. “That might be something we’ll have to work on.”

 

“What do you mean?” Tiff asked, holding T.K. in her arms since he still looked tired. 

 

“Well, our Kirby can keep his Abilities for longer.” Taranza began.

 

“And if he did lose it, it was usually because of a particularly bad hit, or he expelled it himself in favor of a different one.” Susie concluded, half mumbling to herself like she was already trying to work out how to train that.

 

Bright Eyes couldn’t help but agree, eyes turning green. “It would be helpful. I do wonder why there is a time limit for him.” 

 

“What if it’s to do with him being a baby?” Tuff interjected.

 

“That is a possibility.” Magalor agreed. “Still, it would be beneficial to try to do something about it. The last thing we need is this little guy losing his Ability in the middle of an intense fight.”

 

“Especially not in front of a Soul.” Marx stated in an almost whisper.

 

“Marx..?” Elfilin asked, tentatively floating towards him.

 

Instead of saying anything, he unfurled one of his wings and offered it to Elfilin in lieu of a hand. Without another word, Elfilin created another portal for the gang to go through.

Chapter 14: Marx My Words

Summary:

Marx tells all.

When they stepped out of the portal, the next thing anyone was aware of was a barren, desolate landscape that resembled the surface of a moon.

 

“Where…are we?” Tiff asked, unsettled by the world’s lack of life.

 

“Where my Soul form happened.” Marx answered, not looking at anyone. 

 

“Marx-” Elfilin was interrupted by another wing thrust into his face. “Are you sure?”

 

Marx’s only reply was a curt nod. Without another word, Elfilin held on to his wing and created another viewing portal for everyone.

---

The first thing everyone heard was an ear-piercing laugh. Once the ringing subsided, they were able to get a good look at him, and…Marx didn’t look that different from what he looked like now. His wings were fuchsia with blue heart accents. He wore a gold, spiky necklace with a pink jewel in the center. His brown shoes came to a point. His hat’s colors were darker and didn’t have any poka-dots on it, and the poms were spiky. Fangs were from his open mouth, with his tongue always hanging out. His eyes were a deep purple, vibrating, making him appear crazed.

---

“...That’s it?” Tuff asked, unimpressed. 

 

“TUFF?!” Tiff admonished, appalled by her brother’s thoughtlessness.

 

“To his credit, I don’t look that different.” Marx lamented blandly. “It’s probably why the transition to fighting at full power isn’t as taxing as Elfilin’s.” He concluded by retracting his wing to dissipate the image.

 

“I…I was so power hungry and…I couldn’t even tell you why I wanted Dreamland or…why I even wanted the powers I have…The best I can say is 'I wanted to be something that other Noddies were never able to be,’” he admitted.

 

“Noddy? Why does that sound familiar?” Tuff wondered out loud.

 

“Wait, wasn’t it that mini-monster that would have made our Kirby sleep for 100 years?!” Tiff remembered, horrified.

 

Marx and the other Star Allies stared at her outburst in disbelief. 

 

“Huh…” Magolor hummed, breaking the silence. “The Noddies we deal with are little more than a minor hazard…no offence, Marx.”

 

Marx did what might have been a shrug, but it was hard to tell with the lack of arms. “None taken.” There was an awkward pause, however, before he started talking again. “This is where me and Kirby fought…the first time, anyway.” He squeaked out stiffly. “The second time…” Marx stalled before looking back at Elfilin with a wing extended.

 

Without another word, Elfilin created another viewing window.

---

The arena that Kirby and Soul Marx were fighting in was vastly different from the lifeless planet everyone was standing on. The ground was a collection of disconnected, multi-colored hexagons that seemed to be held together by an invisible floor, if Kirby not needing to jump from hexagon to hexagon was any indication. The background resembled either a blue and purple galaxy/nebula or a strangely colored black hole.

---

“I don’t know exactly where that is…was? I actually can’t remember if that place is still there…or how we actually got there now that I’m thinking about it.” Marx pondered, somewhat to himself. However, it was only a moment before he shook himself out of memory lane. “A-anyway, we need to train Tiny Kirb to deal with…with villains like me…” Marx concluded mournfully. 

 

“Poyo?” T.K. interrupted, having jumped out of Tiff’s arms to try and comfort Marx.

 

Marx couldn’t help but smile at the baby’s attempt. “It’s alright, buddy. Things are different now.”

 

“So, what changed?” Tuff asked, breaking some of the tension.

 

“There was a threat not too long ago that tried to reshape the world to their liking. By the time I joined the fight, I still wanted revenge and to complete my original goal. Plus, I hadn’t had a good meal since that last fight with him, and I wanted to bum some rations off the team during my travels.” Marx, at first, answered bluntly before his demeanor softened. “Over time, though…it just felt nice to be seen as the good guy. I…liked being seen as a savior. So…once it was all over, I thought to myself, ‘Does it have to stop here?’ ” Marx finished wistfully.

 

“It hasn’t stopped your mischief-making habits, though.” Susie interjected with a bit of mirth in her eye.

 

Marx rolled his eyes at the jab, “Oh, can it, Susie. Like you’ve stopped running your dad’s company.” He playfully retorted.

 

“Oh, I suppose you’re right.” She continued in a similar tone. “Regardless,” Susie continued, clearing her throat. “I assume that there is a bigger reason for talking about this beyond…us sharing our tales.” She awkwardly concluded.

 

“Right…” Marx agreed stiffly before facing Bright Eyes, “If…When Knuckle Joe wakes up…I want to help train him! Magolor, too, if he’s willing?” Marx added awkwardly, receiving a thumbs up from Magolor in agreement.

 

Bright Eyes thought for a moment before answering, “I’m not saying no, but…why you specifically?”

 

Marx gave Bright Eye another of his best attempts at a shrug. “Mostly experience in being a former bad guy, but also…maybe another way to prove I’ve changed. I’ve never been very good at being a traditional good guy without an ulterior motive.” He continued, looking around the group with unease. 

 

“Aw, Marx…” Magolor stated, floating over to him to put a comforting hand on his ‘shoulder.’ 

 

Marx shook off the gesture and stepped closer to Bright Eyes with a determined gleam in his eyes. “So what do you say?” He asked, offering his wing to shake in lieu of a hand.

 

It took Bright Eyes a moment to consider what Marx was asking of him. He turned his attention to the kids and Tiny Kirb to gauge their thoughts on the idea. Tiff gave a reassuring smile, accompanied by a small nod. Tiny Kirb just stared at Marx with both pity and determination, as if willing to help somehow. Tuff’s expression was harder to read, though. It didn’t help that his hair covered his eyes.

 

“Tuff? What do you think?” Bright Eyes asked gingerly.

 

Tuff jumped, not expecting to be addressed. “Oh, uh…” He stammered, looking back at Marx. “You just want to prove you’ve changed?” 

 

“It’s a reason. Aside from Magolor, I’m the only one with any real experience with being a Soul. It doesn’t matter where you’re at mentally when it’s over; that kind of experience drains a person. Both mentally and physically. I’d like to offer him something I never got. Help. Help in understanding what happened to Knuckle Joe and how to prevent it from happening again. I feel…oddly qualified to help him with that.” Marx explained, hoping that was enough to get a yes from Tuff.

 

Tuff wasn’t sure what to make of any of this. For one thing, most people didn’t consider his opinion on matters. Usually, that honor went to his sister. Whether or not she was actually listened to is a different thing entirely, but that’s besides the point. Having this kind of power, no matter how small, was an interesting experience. “I…I guess you know best…” Tuff stammered, hoping he made the right call. 

 

“YES!” Marx exclaimed in pure happiness. “I swear none of you will regret this!”

 

‘I hope not.’ Both Tiff and Tuff thought simultaneously.

---

Once the excitement of interdimensional travel and the information dump had calmed down, everyone returned to the factory construction site. Susie couldn’t help but notice the lack of progress on the building and found it disappointing. “I don’t think we can afford to hold this off anymore.” Susie stated mostly to herself.

 

“It’s just a front anyway, right? What does it matter if the factory part’s not done?” Tuff asked, still trying to process everything that had happened that day.

 

“While true, it would help sell that front if it functioned as promised.” Susie stated as she turned to face the group properly. “Your king may be dense, but he will realize something’s wrong if we don’t produce goods and make him money through rent and/or tax.” 

 

“Oh…I guess that’s true…” Tuff awkwardly agreed.

 

Susie sighed. “Sorry, it’s just…It’s been a long day.”

 

“Indeed.” Taranza concurred as Elfilin transformed back to normal. “Perhaps a good night's rest will help process things better.”

 

“You’re probably right.” Tiff agreed with a yawn, worn out by the day. “Should we just regroup here tomorrow?” She asked.

 

“That should be fine.” Susie concluded as everyone dispersed to their homes/sleeping arrangements.

Notes:

Let me know how I could improve.