"So this is for me?"

Meta Knight wasn't known to come to town very often, but he had been trying to do so more frequently as of late—Fumu had told him it would make him seem more "friendly." Even so, the Cappies usually left him alone, not only because they knew well that the knight wasn't very social, but also because they typically didn't need to talk to him about anything. So let's say that the knight was pretty surprised when a young Cappy girl came up to him offering a lollipop.

"Yup! Mommy told me to give this to someone who was alone, so it would cheer them up!" said the girl proudly, clearly determined to complete her assigned task. Once more, she shoved the sugary treat into the knight's face in hopes that he would accept it.

Now, Meta Knight loved sweets (not that anyone else knew it), but this lollipop was just ridiculous. It wasn't one of those lollipops that you would get from the doctor after an appointment—no, it was one of those huge things that were the size of your face, and cost a ridiculously high price at most stores—a treat so sweet and sugary it was enough to make a diabetic cower in fear.

But the Star Warrior couldn't bring himself to upset a child—that would be foolish of him, now wouldn't it?

"Uh, thanks," the knight said, hesitantly accepting the oversized candy. Immediately a bright smile lit up the girl's face.

"Yay! Now I can go tell Mommy that I made someone happy!" she exclaimed, bouncing giddily on her feet. She eagerly scrambled away, leaving the confused knight in her dust.

But Meta Knight's confusion quickly turned into panic: he was in the middle of town, in plain sight for everyone to see him! What would everyone think when they saw him holding a lollipop of that size? He needed to think up a plan before he became the target of any questions, or he was guaranteed to embarrass himself in front of everybody!

"Poyo!"

The knight could recognize that adorable voice anywhere: that was Kirby! He could give the lollipop to the younger puffball! Kirby was known for being hungry pretty much all of the time, so no way would the child turn down a free treat.

Meta Knight carefully scanned the crowd of Cappies, watching for the telltale sign of pink. There! Kirby was sprinting away from the toy store, straight towards him!

Within seconds the pink puff was at his mentor's side, a huge grin on his face—he was clearly happy to see Meta Knight. "Hi, Kni-kni!" was his greeting, to which his mentor responded with a heartfelt chuckle. His smile quickly disappeared, however, and turned into a look of curiosity—he had spotted the lollipop in Meta Knight's hand. He pointed to the candy and babbled something unintelligible, but the blue puffball could tell that he was asking about it.

"I wasn't planning on eating this… did you want it?" Meta Knight said as he gestured to the lollipop, hoping that Kirby would take the hint.

And, much to the knight's relief, Kirby wasted no time in snatching the lollipop from his mentor's grasp. Immediately the pink puff stuck the whole thing into his mouth and made a sound that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a muffled squeal—obviously the little guy was extremely happy.

His student's joy was contagious, as Meta Knight soon found himself smiling too. "Glad you like it buddy," he said as he stooped down and rubbed the pink puff's head. He stood up and started to take his leave, but stopped dead in his tracks when he felt a gentle tug on his arm. He turned to find Kirby, lollipop in hand, azure eyes wide and pleading.

"Kni-kni, beach?" asked the child, his eyes growing wider and more heart-melting.

Ah, the beach—Kirby had been asking Meta Knight to go there a lot lately. The knight wasn't sure if it was because the pink puff liked going there or if he just wanted to spend time with his mentor. Either way, Meta Knight didn't mind; whenever they did go, the two shared some precious bonding time together.

The knight nodded in response to the child, who jumped with glee and started sprinting down the path that led to the beach. Meta Knight was unable to keep himself from smiling again as he starting running across the path, too.


The two puffballs had stopped running after a while, only because both of them had run out of breath. Right now, they were leisurely strolling along the road and admiring the beautiful scenery and vibrant wildlife along the way. Kirby was still enjoying his giant lollipop—well, trying to enjoy it. The candy was a tad too large for Kirby to swallow whole like he usually would. Admittedly, it was very adorable watching the child gnaw furiously on the lollipop.

After a few minutes, they both had reached the beach. They were greeted by the pleasant sight of palm trees swaying in the breeze and the fresh smell of the salty sea air.

Kirby stuck his lollipop back into his mouth and dove into the sand. He took some of the sand in his paws and tossed it up into the air around him, but he lost his balance and subsequently fell onto his back.

The child's antics made Meta Knight chuckle in amusement. It was hard not to; the child acted like this all the time—silly and playful, yet consistently happy. It was part of what made Kirby, well… Kirby.

While the pink puff continued to play in the sand, Meta Knight sat down near a palm tree, deciding that he may as well relax while he's here. He watched the pleasant sight of waves gently lapping against the shore as the ocean breeze brushed up against him, making him sigh in contentment. But that's when something caught his eye—a speck of red, standing out amongst the white sand.

That was no speck of red, either: it was an ugly, large, unruly crustacean—a crab. It was scampering across the sand at a surprisingly quick pace with its razor-sharp claws out it front of it, ready to attack. The worst part? It was headed straight for Kirby—it must've thought that the pink puff was invading on its territory.

The next few moments seemed to pass by in slow motion: the crab reached its target of attack and immediately pinched the child's paw. Kirby, panic-stricken by the crab's surprise assault, yanked the lollipop out of his mouth and let out a pained scream—it was so loud that it scared Meta Knight onto his feet and made his protective instincts kick in. Before he knew it, the knight found himself by his student's side.

After making sure that the crab was taken care of (speaking of which, it was now fleeing the scene of crime), Meta Knight held Kirby close in attempts to comfort the scared child. The pink puff was whimpering uncontrollably and rubbing his paw, still shaken from the surprise attack.

"Shh, Kirby, it's okay. Here, let me see," soothed Meta Knight as he tried to gently pry Kirby's paw closer to himself so he could take a better look at it.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Kirby held out his paw, allowing his mentor to inspect it. It had become red at the spot where the crab had pinched it, but was nowhere close to being seriously injured.

"You'll be fine, Kirby," assured Meta Knight as he drew the child into one last comforting hug. But as he did, he mentally facepalmed himself for panicking over something so small. After a few minutes, the child calmed down, and the two puffballs pulled away from each other.

What Kirby did next confused Meta Knight, though: the child turned around and looked down at the sand. In fact, it seemed like Kirby was searching for something. What could it possibly be?

That's when both of them spotted Kirby's lollipop in the sand, a few inches away from where they were standing. It was completely covered in sand, making it pretty much unedible.

Kirby didn't appear to care, as he made a break for the candy as soon as he laid eyes on it.

Right before the child reached the lollipop, though, he bumped harshly into his mentor and landed on his bottom. The knight loomed over the child, yellow eyes narrowed and arms crossed. "You're not eating that anymore, Kirby. It's dirty," Meta Knight said sternly.

The pink puff pouted. "Poyo, Kni-kni," he said in protest, trying to walk around his mentor.

"No," replied the knight, stepping in front of Kirby.

"Poyo!" retorted the child angrily, but Meta Knight was having none of it.

"No."

"POY-"

"Kirby, NO!"

Said puffball froze in his tracks after those last words, which were much louder than anyone would expect out of the usually quiet Meta Knight. The child's enraged expression then faded and turned into something indiscernible to the knight…

Wait—that was the dreaded quiver-lip, wasn't it?

Next came the puppy-dog eyes, growing shinier and more heart-melting with each passing second. Then came the sound of whimpering, along with the trembling. Finally, surprisingly loud, heartbreaking sobs escaped the child's lips as Kirby started crying—an extremely rare sight to see. Still, it was enough to painfully wrench Meta Knight's insides with guilt—that sad, twisted grimace did not look right on little Kirby's face. At all.

Thinking quickly, Meta Knight pulled the distraught puffball into a comforting hug – an action he was becoming too fond of – and attempted to soothe the child with both an apology and assuring words. "Ah, Kirby, shh, I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry..."

The knight's words didn't seem to have any effect—Kirby only pressed his face against his mentor's mask and continued his bawling.

That's when Meta Knight realized he needed to toughen up and take action, as the child was basically crying over spilled milk—dropped candy, in this case. "Kirby." No response. "Kirby, buddy, I need you to stop crying and listen to me for a moment."

The child finally looked up at his mentor through his tears, his body still shaking with choked-out sobs. "You need to understand that when food falls onto the ground, it gets dirty. If you decide to eat it anyway, you could become sick. Trust me, you don't want that happening. That's why I don't want you eating that lollipop anymore—it's dirty. Do you understand?" Meta Knight explained softly, carefully wiping some of Kirby's tears away as he did so.

The child remained silent for what seemed like an eternity, making Meta Knight afraid that his explanation had no effect. But he was soon able to breathe a sigh of relief, as Kirby gave him a hesitant nod.

"Alright, good," said Meta Knight as he patted the pink puff's shoulder. Despite the child having stopped crying, Meta Knight couldn't help but still feel a twinge of guilt: Kirby was looking longingly at the lollipop in the sand, with a huge frown and a downcast expression. It was almost painful to see, and the knight didn't like that. Perhaps he could take the initiative in helping little Kirby feel better.

"Okay, Kirby, how about I get you a new one?"

It was like a switch had been flipped: instantly Kirby's sorrowful expression faded into a beaming smile, and he ran into his mentor with brute force and gave a tight hug, making Meta Knight grunt. "Tank-yuuu," he said adorably, causing yet another smile to find its way to his mentor's face.

After shaking his head in amusement, Meta Knight rubbed the pink puff's head affectionately. "Save it for later," he said. With some effort, he was able to pry the clingy child off of himself. Kirby fidgeted with excitement, thrilled at the fact that Meta Knight would be getting another lollipop.

Meta Knight started walking down the path that would lead back to town, but paused when he noticed Kirby wasn't coming. He turned, and a flash of pink instantaneously flew by, startling him and making him lose his balance. He turned back around to see Kirby sprinting down the path at jet-speed, the child's jovial shouts echoing throughout the summer air. "Kirby! Wait up!" Meta Knight shouted, chasing after the child whose energy seemed to know no bounds.

Unfortunately, the already exasperated Meta Knight didn't quite know what he was about to get himself into.