It was so sudden. It's bright and in the afternoon and they were all enjoying a friendly match between Kirby and Mario- a warm up between old rivals while they waited for everyone else to arrive.

Then came a ship that made Kirby look in curiosity and then horror as it started dropping the particles that formed into creatures they'd never seen before but saw the hostile movement of. Both princesses jumped down- their skills would be needed as they fought each and every one of those strange beings, praying that it was just a mishap.

It wasn't. Then a- they're still not quite sure what the dang thing is, it's a bomb but not quite- dropped and a mysterious figure in green robes (I'm so sorry) and then they have three minutes.

Then the princesses are captured and Mario… Mario was launched and Kirby didn't have enough time (why is there never enough?) and so he took care of the immediate threat but damn it all, he was only able to rescue one (and don't let Meta Knight know he used that word- he's heard some of the more adult characters mutter it when they're frustrated and he thinks that in this situation he has enough of a right) and the other is taken by Wario. Then they start running after her, her best friend leading but Kirby has enough of a mind to look at the bomb and see they only have sparse seconds. Grateful that his Warp Star was one of the items that only functioned differently in matches, he shocked the princess by calling out for the first time in the tournaments: "Warp Star!" The air machine made of something Kirby wasn't quite sure of yet answered its warrior's call and picked him up, the puffball revealing surprising strength by snatching the princess and putting her behind him almost distractedly as the star easily outraced the explosion that wasn't quite an explosion.

He ignored the princess's questions until they were (relatively) safe, and that's when he started paying attention.

"Kirby… what…?" She asked, so hopelessly lost, unknowing as Kirby but knowing far less so at least the situation wasn't too horrifying.

Kirby shook his head and directed the Warp Star to where he saw his mentor's ship heading. Meta Knight had pulled odd stunts before but with good reason… Kirby couldn't see the logic in this attack, and he was going to find out what was going on one way or another.

"Where are we going?" She needed to know.

Kirby's frown deepened slightly, worrying the princess. Kirby was usually pretty happy-go-lucky, even in matches. To see him this upset (he was confused, sad, horrified, angry, and so many more emotions swirled through his large eyes, too many she couldn't even name them all, as good at reading people as she was) was startling and not very reassuring. Her gut pulled and she knew that whatever was happening wasn't something easily solved. (There would be time for mourning later. Right now, they need to stop whatever that was from going any further.)

"Answers." Was all Kirby replied, and the princess held on tight as he turned forward again, pushing the Warp Star faster.

Shortly, they had found the Halberd once more. It wasn't surprising- at least, to Kirby it wasn't- that the Warp Star had caught up with the battleship. He already zoomed to it once before but now wasn't the time for remising on days gone by. He tried to land on it but the air was different than what both driver and vehicle were used to and the Warp Star held some alterations from it being a match item so it didn't go quite as smoothly, dissolving down into smaller stars that would come together at the Star Warrior's call after it had time to heal (it wasn't surprising that it outmatched the Halberd but it took a lot out of the machine). He and the princess landed on the bridge and, after making sure she was okay, they both took off with Kirby leading, heading directly toward the wheelhouse where answers lie.

That plan was cut short as some weird, angular, small aircraft was knocked out of the sky and the resulting air current from how close it came to them knocked them overboard as well. Kirby's not sure whether to be proud of his mentor and his apprentices who rebuilt the ship so capably or to curse them for it as they fell down, down, down (curse the Warp Star's need to heal) and battled through the clouds until they reached land again, and then they battled there, trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

As they were walking, Kirby thought he noticed something over the hill and ran to check it out, not telling the princess what he was doing (he wasn't comfortable talking in the presence of others not of his home realm and those two things he said to her meant that the situation was grave indeed). He was glad he looked- the head piece of the Dragoon lied there. While he much preferred his Warp Star, the Dragoon was much faster and much more resilient than his machine, if not more difficult to use as it always split into three once its duty was done. But he heard several large thumps and ran to find the princess (damn his lack of talking- again, don't tell Meta Knight), but she was gone. He ran along the path, not knowing if she had left willingly or not (curse the title of princess. Everyone he knew who held that title was always taken against their will for some reason or another). So he ran, chasing faint noises that he could somehow hear of feet and fists hitting earth and non-rubbery flesh.

King Dedede. What was he doing? Often times the self-proclaimed king was misled in his actions, good motives but bad reactions and this was no exception. But Kirby had surprise on his side and knew that they'd need every fighter they could get to join them and used his cutter to, well, cut the two loose from the arm of the stolen vehicle. Kirby knew villains (or non-heroes, as Dedede preferred, seeing as how he did try to do good and just wasn't able to communicate what he was doing) personalized their vehicles (making them oh-so-easy to track down) and this was definitely not Dedede's. The two he freed and the two who tried to break down the machine now looked at each other and Kirby and came to some sort of understanding- all familiar faces except one, but he stood close to Mario and was obviously friendly (the winged person also knew who they were, surprising even Mario as they ran, trying to catch up with the not-quite-king).

Through ruins of an old castle (or maybe fortress) they fought, running where there were no enemies or other obstacles, Pit shooting arrows at things beyond their reach or Link shooting his own arrows or tossing bombs and Yoshi throwing eggs or Mario using F.L.U.D.D. or fireballs. Kirby had no projectiles- just a shock wave from final cutter- so Link allowed Kirby to copy him so that way Kirby could try helping too. But the ruins crashed down around them and they could find nothing but a hole in the wall, so on they went into the cave the fortress was built into. (Mario looked exasperated, slightly, but Kirby knew now was not the time for questions as they ran through the cave, avoiding breathing in the poison gas.)

Then Mario spotted Bowser and, sounding slightly annoyed, chased after the persistent Koopa King. Curse their lot's protective streak- Bowser got away because they didn't want to risk husting the trophified princess. They don't know how much damage those statues could take- they were meant to be aesthetic, ways to prevent your opponent from having to be rescued (as had happened one too many times in previous tournaments) and proof of victory- after all, it was still a trophy, living soul encased in a sturdy element aside. They never thought to test the damage that could be dealt to a trophy without it breaking (using prototypes, of course). They never thought they needed to.

All of them curse, but while the others planned, Kirby investigated something he saw on the cliff. The second piece of the Dragoon- the torso! All he needed now was the tail… he put it into the last extra storage space he had. He didn't need much space, after all- he had another dimension inside him, but he didn't think the Dragoon would take too kindly to being eaten. So he stored it with the other piece and could feel the energy flow between the two. Not quite harmonious yet, but close. Eager. As he walked back to the others, a glint caught his eye. He walked over and found a badge that held the glorified image of Dedede in some gold-colored substance. He didn't have any storage left- just what had been given to him so he could use his special moves without having to swallow enemies from his home world and the extra he had already used for the Dragoon- so he did he one thing he could. He inhaled it, sending it to that other dimension that allows him to obtain Copy Abilities. They'd find Dedede and demand answers later.

They found the Ancient Minister deep in thought, though what it was about Kirby wouldn't know until later (and oh, that's why) and Pit shot at him, but whatever lies underneath that robe isn't human. Very few have dodged an arrow from the bow-sword, or whatever it was. Over the wild terrain they chased, having definitely seen the bomb strapped under the hovercraft.

They tried, oh, how they tried to disable that bomb. But the robots that all looked the same came and gathered and took it themselves, one of them losing its life force as it forced the bomb down. Mario and Pit tried valiantly to get the robots out of the activation but it was no use. Two more robots came and grabbed them and Kirby was fully prepared to go beat them up until they were nothing but screws and bolts but they did something even more surprising. They placed the two down near their allies despite their struggles and gathered around their two brethren, who looked… almost sad… but there was no time for dwelling. As they waved toward the Ancient Minister Yoshi picked Mario and placed him on his back as Kirby called his Warp Star and picked up Link and the flightless angel (he felt bad for Pit, having the ability to float or even fly if he inhaled the right enemy. To have the needed implements but being forces to rely on someone else's power in order to fly, and only for five minutes seemed like torture) and flew away, surprised at Yoshi's speed. Maybe they'd race one of these days- if "one of these days" was still an option. But now all they had was a brief glimpse of where the Ancient Minister was heading, so off they went, chasing another lead.

Kirby shook sadly as he saw some other, smaller ship start a dogfight with the Halberd. He said nothing, not wanting to crush the other's hopeful spirits of believing the ship could take the Halberd, but knowing that despite the technology and the shields the smaller ship had, the Halberd would triumph. It was, after all, designed to be a battleship forged for war, not so much transportation despite the presence of living quarters onboard. The redesign was larger, better than the one Meta Knight and his students had first built in their world, and the smaller ship, despite any tactics used, would fail eventually. They raced towards the two ships, intent on getting answers.

Kirby got one of his as he saw a discolored dot against the mountain, an odd shape flowing behind it. So Meta Knight wasn't in control of his ship. He wondered if Dedede, who was supposed to be arriving with Meta Knight, had something to do with that. But there wasn't time for thinking right now- they needed to try and get to those ships.

They were too late, however: they saw as the other ship was sent down, but Kirby was confused as to why the harpoon-like weapon came down and grabbed the ship like some oversized trophy. They were too low, and in the direction they were heading they'd run into the mountain top.

The Halberd's attack didn't cease, however, carpeting the area below the mountain in those dark spores that spawned Primids. Kirby's group saw another lot fighting against them. One was a kid with similar looking powers to that of Ness, two more were swordsmen, another used Pokémon that weren't from a match item Pokeball, and the final had apparently just joined them- a tag team of two who were dressed warmly and held simple wooden hammers. But the amount of Primids would slowly overwhelm the group and so the five leapt down, hoping to aid familiar and new faces. But they needed to fight their way there, first.

Kirby saw the same dot leap up the ship. He nodded- Meta Knight would not fail in retaking his ship. The attack near the mountain was done… for now.

"Kirby?" Marth was the first to recognize the help they had received.

Kirby nodded and the old faces introduced the new ones.

"We had another in our party. He looked a lot like you… Meta Knight?" Marth scratched the back of his head. Kirby grinned- ah, his mentor had found fine friends indeed.

"You know him?" Kirby nodded once again. But the meet and greet was short- they had a mission that needed to be completed.

"We need to follow that ship…" Ike trailed off. Everyone nodded and they started off once more. Kirby was filling up with anxious energy- he had a feeling he'd need the Dragoon soon.

All was coming together. Two ships answered the call made by Falco, and Shiek (sorry, Zelda. Geez, almost a decade since learning that. You'd think he'd have it memorized by now) had managed to contact Link by using the arrangement of triangles that rested on both their hands (Triforce. Right. Triforce. He keeps forgetting these things- he hopes that it's just stress causing him to lose these little details). He boarded the Halberd, happy to find his mentor once again in charge of the ship and gleefully hugging him. Meta Knight, not partial to hugs, awkwardly patted his student on top of his head (body?) before nudging him away and looking straight into his eyes. Kirby knew that if there weren't so many people on the ship the mask would probably be lifted and he'd be staring straight into his mentor's white eyes, but alas there are too many people who are not involved in this conversation who are too close for Meta Knight to be comfortable.

"Kirby," he began, sounding sad and accepting all at once, "if this goes to plan… there's one piece… I found the tail stashed in here. R.O.B. … he saved it." Meta Knight's mask blocked most emotion, but Kirby knew he was searching for something in his student.

Kirby nodded, patting his back as best he could, where the extra storage was for all fighters.

Meta Knight's eyes changed colors rapidly in surprise but calmed too quickly for Kirby to name them. Meta Knight knew his student well. He nodded and returned to the wheelhouse, intent on his goal.

Damn it, if they were all going on this suicide mission he'd at least make sure they got there first and that his fine ship would be remembered not as a Harbinger, but as the glorious Halberd he and his students had built and rebuilt (how dismayed they would be to find out they would have to rebuild it again- but they would know exactly how it met its end and be proud of the workmanship they had done.

Don't tell Kirby he used that word. Curse his time in the army; he never did get out of that mental habit).

Kirby frowned as he saw the… well, frankly, he's not sure what that thing is but it's large, scary, and way more threatening than the Halberd (sorry, Meta Knight). As soon as he sees rapid, open fire on the extra ships, he springs into action, just like he was told. The Dragoon screeches out of the clouds like a banshee possessed, slicing through the complicated ship as if it was made of warm butter. Kirby stretched his (thankfully) unbreakable cutter, slicing through wires and piping as the Dragoon sped through. Rumbles began running through the ship and Kirby couldn't help but grin in savage delight as he felt heat and saw fire take claim over the laser. The Dragoon was destructive, wild, and perfect for this job. Kirby nudged it towards the portal and it decided to obey, dropping him off before exiting once again where Kirby knew it would scatter into three once more.

He gazed around at everyone who had gathered in this unusual threat before his eyes were drawn in by the weird embodiment of this place.

Kirby knew that several of them were frowning behind masks and into the open air. Samus, Meta Knight, Fox, and he were for sure. Perhaps that odd being Game&Watch was as well, and maybe Falco and ROB. But the previous four could see it, he knew:

This man… this thing, was made of code.

And the spreading of motherboard like wings was the last thing he remembers.

He's not sure if he's dreaming or if this is the afterlife. That's when he realizes he knows where he is- or, more specifically, what. As the realization sinks in, he becomes semi-aware of his surroundings, but only through sight, which kind of sucks seeing as he was angled slightly up so almost 97% of his limited vision was sky. Or, at least, he thinks it's sky.

He's been trophified- that is, he's now a trophy. And man that smarts, but he reassures himself that they couldn't have possibly fought back against this guy… thing… whatever. They couldn't know… they didn't know… no one even trusted ROB enough to ask him (there were some exceptions, really, but as a whole the group didn't know whether he was only a double agent or a triple one) and Kirby didn't think the robot would know anyway. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and your trump card unknown. No one knew exactly how good with technology Kirby was… not even Meta Knight (please, infiltrating the Halberd? Cakewalk. The recent giant laser was a little more confusing but if he was given time and a wrench that thing wouldn't be functional and he'd still be on time for dinner). He knew the drill.

It took a while, but eventually Kirby noticed a strange feeling coming from his stomach. Actually, his other stomach- the one that he had stored the Dedede badge in. He notices he's putting off a faint light. Wait, that's not right! What's going on?

And he wakes up, able to hop again and he sets himself on his feet (finally. That sky was boring- no clouds or anything, just swirling purple with the timely streak of orange, a poor mockery of a comet if he ever saw one).

Then another strange sensation comes over him. It's like he inhaled too many objects, so he spits out, only what comes out isn't a star projectile…

It's that weird badge thing he had inhaled earlier.

So that's what it does.

He left it on the ground, no more need for it. The others, though… they'd need his help. And he ran off into this mysterious place, desperately wishing none of this had occurred (and especially not on his mentor's first tournament). On his way, he revives trophies of his friends, old and new, but something's wrong…

Eleven. Eleven. Eleven. Twelve? Oh, no, still eleven, someone just moved and he counted them twice. Ugh, damn it! There were about thirty of them total. Where were the others?

Meta Knight saw his student's frustration, having run into the same thing himself. A few of the allies he had made were present but the two who had stuck with him through most of it- the two Kirby had met as well, Marth and Ike- were nowhere to be seen. But something told him they were okay (and maybe, maybe it was that dream that he couldn't remember from when he was transformed into a trophy) and he passed this onto Kirby, who nodded.

"I still want to find them," Kirby muttered, his eyes shifting around. Wait. What was over- it was Luigi! And Ness! And Dedede! And… and… and!

It was everyone else! Everyone they were missing! Kirby nearly sobbed in relief and he saw Meta Knight's shoulders drop in peace as their eyes alighted upon Marth and Ike walking with them. Everyone dashed together; short, cheerful greetings being exchanged after that awful experience, but their gazes shortly turned to the bubble-like entities that lay before them. They couldn't even guess as to what lay before them, but they all trudged up the staircase, best friends and mortal enemies now sharing a common goal.

Minutes, hours, days, weeks, Kirby couldn't tell, but they finally cleared out all those odd clones and weird trophies blocking the grand door right in the center of the Great Maze (Kirby didn't know the origin of the name but it stuck, short and accurate. Kirby's never felt this tired, and he remembers how much he slept when he was far younger) and they all walk through, only to gaze on in horror as the wings spread once more.

Damn it, he really wished he had that badge now. But maybe it was only one use. Either way, they were all screwed now.

Oh. No they weren't. Kirby's heard of this guy before… Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog! Mario talked about him sometimes. They were rivals but were actually pretty good friends too, often challenging each other to friendly matches when the chance arose. Kind of like himself and Meta Knight, only Mario and Sonic were a bit more like good friends than teacher-student.

Oh. Mario also mentioned the cockiness that he was now showing, wagging a finger at the code man who they had dubbed Tabuu. His wings were destroyed. Or, at least, the most dangerous ones were.

Now it was time for battle. Kirby saw Meta Knight adjust his grip on Galaxia. He frowned as he shifted his gaze back towards Tabuu.

These were supposed to be fun events, these tournaments. Humorous if the items were on, a weird way of showing off the different residents of interconnected universes, a way to show what you've learned in your realm and in the last tournament. A social event for people who knew actions better than words. A great event for Meta Knight to participate in and he finally got invited after applying for the first time.

And this is what he gets? A fight for his life in some realm no one could name? A fight for those he only met short days ago?

Is this what he, Kirby, gets? A fight that he didn't see coming, old friends and new ones settling into roles they shed before arriving, those glints of battle-hardened leadership in their eyes that made Kirby sad because he knew he had it too.

Is this what they deserved? Friends who fought not because of dislike, but because of wanting to show off in a friendly manner, of blowing off steam, of getting better. To teach and to learn and to spend times with others they'd never get to normally, people who have been in similar boats. To laugh, to learn, to show off, to have fun was the purpose of them meeting. Not fighting a war in a realm they barely knew.

Is this what they deserved?

Hell no. And go ahead and tell Meta Knight about the recent cursing. Right now, Kirby couldn't care less.

Kirby was one of the first to charge into battle, those he had met way back in the first tournament right beside him. They would not let this being conquer them. They've fought long and hard and nearly lost several times, but they're here now and it's now or never, and it's not so much never as now.

(Meta Knight will later reflect on how he's never seen his student that angry. When asked, Kirby's eyes flash, eerily similar to his own only without the color change, and the other puffball will simply reply "he deserved it". The conversation is dropped after that.)

Later, when they're all lying down with eyes hardly open because they're too exhausted to move, Master Hand addresses them. Kirby knew that it was only recently he (it?) became hostile and then isolated from those he brought together, and so he's the one who gets everyone to listen to the disembodied hand (after all, he's the only one who fought him outside of this realm. Or, at least, would be… having an odd memory doesn't help him distinguish what he's already done from what he may have to do later on. He stopped worrying about it a long time ago- Meta Knight was the same way). After the explanation (which is backed up by Kirby, who's backed up by all the "original" fighters and his mentor) they rest. It's been a long, trying time, especially since they were woefully unprepared.

As Kirby drifts off near his mentor and their friends, he sighs, finally content.

Maybe now they can get to the fun.

A/N: So… uh… hey guys. How's it going? I only recently got Brawl and through the Subspace Emissary again and actually knew who everyone was for the first time in… well, forever. But in honor of my little Kirby reign, this is the novelization of what happened on his end, hopefully explaining a few things. Well, maybe not the official explanation but at least straws to grasp onto.

I like Kirby's story arc in this a lot. Maybe it was biased how much Kirby was there, seeing as how Sakurai was the one who made Kirby and the Smash Bros. series, but even if it was I have to say it was pretty ingenious. I tried to string together every cut scene Kirby was a part of while accounting for the parts where he was missing and I feel like I did a good job (I know that there's a scene that's sort of slapped in there but that's because I don't feel like searching through 1hr and 43min worth of YouTube video at 3 in the morning, so it has to wait until I can play SSE that far again).

The trophified scene (and I'm not sure if I'm the only one who uses that term or if someone came before me, but I don't really browse through the Smash tag on this site or AO3, so apologies if you think I'm not giving you credit that you deserve) was inspired by a fic called "You, Me, and Him" by ZeroGravityDog on this site. Rated "T" and at 114, 315 words, it's a great read if you like the friendship between Marth, Ike, and Meta Knight and wanted it fleshed out a little more along with some of the other Smash characters. I highly recommend it. The particular chapter I'm talking about is chapter 47, "SSE: Dreaming With Eyes Open". It's a tear jerker, especially if you've watched the anime or can recall some details about it. But yeah. A HUGE thank you to them in this block of text I call an A/N (sorry about that) for writing that! Go read it. Right now. I triple dog dare you.

But yeah. This was typed up in (roughly) two hours because when I play story modes, I look way too deep into everything.

So explanation time, because some of these things might not make sense. Most of what's in parenthesis are Kirby's thoughts, sometimes dealing with events in the present or that of hindsight. It may get a little confusing, but so do the thoughts of our favorite pink puff.

As for Kirby's deal with technology, this is based off what I saw in the anime. Kirby doesn't even blink at the monsters Dedede orders (I think they're some kind of robot… at least, in the English dub I think they are…), or at his starship, or even at the Halberd. Maybe it's the fact that he's a baby, practically, and so it doesn't really matter to him but I like the idea that Kirby is a major mechanics junkie. So he fills his spare time with tinkering and learning as well as training. Even heroes get breaks.

More with the characterization of Kirby, he's meant to be roughly teenage years, maybe early twenties. He's definitely not the oldest character there but he is one of if not the youngest "original", though he's trumped age wise by several characters. This is partially based on the way he acts in game in his taunts but also how old Kirby is here. I think he's about… 23 this year? Give or take, I did the math a while ago and can't remember.

As for the relationship between Meta Knight and Kirby, I hope that I got through that this is them from the anime but with quite a few years between then and now. They're meant to have a teacher-student-rivalry but while still being friends, which is really different from the anime where it was just Meta Knight teaching about Kirby and occasionally teaching him. In the Japanese version (I was curious about the differences I had heard about, so I looked it up for myself), he seemed to be more involved with Kirby's life, but maybe I'm just overanalyzing things.

Lastly, this was meant to be somewhat open-ended as there are some slightly different scenes that play out in SSE through different options- the princess, for example. You have to choose between Peach and Zelda, and then the princess you rescued is the one you have as a playable character through a few different levels. As mentioned, though, she eventually gets captured and this leads to who sees who in a cutscene, as well as who you play as in the Mario and Pit versus Link and Yoshi fight. Rescue Zelda, you play as Link or Yoshi. Rescue Peach, you play as Mario or Pit. It doesn't have an effect on the story, really, but there are options so I tried to leave it open.