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Kirby: Right Back at Ya!

Odyssey of Dreams

Prologue: The Wandering Jester

The sun cast its bright light over the fields of Dreamland and over the peaceful village known as Cappy Town. Two years ago a young, very young round pink creature arrived here and happily made his home here. The citizens were welcoming of the youngster, except for a self-proclaimed king. The young warrior came to be known as Kirby and his arrival was foretold by Kabu, a large stone statue that guarded a safe house for weary warriors. King Dedede, a large overweight blue penguin-like creature that wore red robes and wielded a giant hammer and his adviser Escargoon, a large purple snail and considerably skilled doctor and engineer, grew jealous of the attention Kirby took from them. They were eager to push Kirby from their kingdom, however, Kirby had already made good friends with the denizens of Cappy Town, those which include, Tiff, a bright young alien girl with blonde hair in a ponytail and a body suit that was pink on top and green on the bottom separated by a zigzag and she wore orange shoes. Tuff, who was Tiff's headstrong younger brother who's green and blonde hair covered his eyes and he wore a purple pair of shorts that were held up by a strap of cloth that was slung around his right shoulder. Among them were three other friendly Cappy children and a smart mouthed, wise cracking yellow bird named Tokkori.

King Dedede, jealous of Kirby, was constantly motivated to order monsters from a war mongering company known as Holy Nightmare. Kirby was able to bust and break every monster that was thrown at him, but despite this he was still friendly toward Dedede and Escargoon. Kirby was assisted many times by a mysterious knight aptly know as Meta Knight, he was always dressed in armor and wore a purple cape, his face is currently unknown and two disciples stood by his side, both named Sword and Blade respectively. At times Meta Knight seemed to assist Kirby and at others seemed to be against him. Finally, after months of construction, and during a raid by Holy Nightmare, Meta Knight revealed his largest and most well kept secret. He was constructing a battle ship that lay deep under Dedede's castle in hopes that he could travel to the Holy Nightmare stronghold. After a lot of squabbling, Meta Knight and Kirby, with the help of all his friends entered Nightmare's compound. Kirby and his friends managed to destroy the compound and Nightmare along with it. With the ultimate victory under their belts, Kirby and his friends returned to Dreamland to celebrate their well-deserved victory. The Nightmare War had finally come to an end.

*Dreamland, One Year Later*

Escargoon entered the throne room with a cart full of food, "Here you are Sire, just like you wanted," he said with a grimace. King Dedede began munching on his platter of assorted foods. He seemed rather bummed out as he ate. "What's wrong Sire? You seem down."

"Ah, Escargoon, after Kirby got ridda Nightmare it's been so hard to think up somethin' to get ridda Kirby," he said glumly. The King had a drawl to his speech.

"Well, I don't think stealing all the food in Dreamland is all that good a plan Sire," Escargoon stated.

"I know that ya block head!" Dedede shouted as he slammed his fist into the table.

"Well, y'know Kirby has really grown in the last year," he explained.

"I know, he seems to be gettin' stronger every day," Dedede said depressed.

"Well, maybe if you would actually attack Kirby instead of challenging him to a game of golf or pinball we might get somewhere," Escargoon said with frustration.

"That's what I'm so glum about! I got no more ideas!" Dedede said with distress.

"Well Sire, I've been cooking up a little something in my lab. How about coming to see it after your done gorging yourself?" Escargoon said sarcastically.

"Fine then I will!" Dedede shouted as he threw an empty platter at Escargoon. The platter smacked him straight on the head, knocking him to the ground.

*Escargoon's Laboratory*

Escargoon led King Dedede to his lab and turned on the lights. The room was filled with odds and ends, multiple mechanical devices, junk parts, tools and a picture of Escargoon's mother, who greatly resembles him, hanging ajar on the wall.

"What is all this?" Dedede said puzzled.

"Sire, this is what I've been working on this past year, behold!" Escargoon said with zeal as he opened three capsules. In the capsules, lay three robots that poorly resembled Kirby.

"Yer gonna give him toys to play with? I thought we were tryin' to get rid of him! Not give him presents!" Dedede said flustered.

"No, no sire, these are fighting robots, they're going to get rid of Kirby for us. I figure it like this, Kirby defeats his opponents by copying them, right?" he prodded.

"I know that! So what if he does?" Dedede said puzzled.

"Well, I figure that we could turn his strategy against him. You know, copy the copycat!" Escargoon explained.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea at all Escargoon," Dedede said with newfound excitement. He rushed over to the first capsule and looked hard at the machine inside. It was round, bulky and unpainted. The body was made of metal and had welding seams all over it. "The name of this one," Dedede began reading. "He's called, Mecha Kirby Mark I. Neat, I like it! Let's send it for a test drive!" he continued as he pressed a red switch on the capsule.

"Sire, no!" Escargoon pleaded. Mecha Kirby Mark I stirred and began to sputter. It walked out from the capsule and bowed to King Dedede.

"Well at least someone gives me respect 'round here!" Dedede chuckled. 'Now Mecha Kirby, I want you to go get rid of the real Kirby!"

"Poyo," Mecha Kirby said with a mechanical monotone voice. Mecha Kirby fired up jets in its back and flew through the roof.

"Wow Escargoon, ya really outdid yerself! These aren't as bad as the robot copy of yerself you made a while back," Dedede chuckled. Escargoon only sighed with a scowl at Dedede's verbal jab.

*Kirby's House*

Kirby, Tiff, and Tuff were playing ball outside Kirby's house while Tokkori supervised or rather made fun of Kirby whenever he made a mistake.

"Hey Kirby, you forgot to tie your shoes!" Tokkori said mischievously. Tokkori had a sarcastic accent to his speech.

Kirby looked down at his feet, "What Tokkori talking about?!" he shouted back. However, the ball ended up hitting Kirby in the face. Tokkori chuckled at Kirby's naivety.

"Tokkori, you knock that off!" Tiff shouted angrily. Tiff walked over to Kirby and helped him up. "Are you okay Kirby?"

"Kirby okay," Kirby said reassuringly.

"Yeah Tokkori, what was that for?!" Tuff asked also flustered.

"I wanted to see how sharp his concentration was! Junior's gotta stay on his toes ya know!" he explained with a chuckle.

Suddenly, a large round ball came bouncing up to Kirby and Tiff. It resembled a beach ball and stopped completely only a few feet away from Kirby and Tiff.

"Hey, whose ball is this?" Tiff called out.

"That ball… would belong to me!" said a strange yet cheery voice that seemed to be without origin. With a puff of milky white smoke a strange jester appeared. He wore a red and blue jester cap with white puffy bobbles at each end and he had a big red bow tie with brown clown-like shoes. Finally, he had a sweet, and innocent look on his pale purplish face.

"Who are you?" Tuff asked suspiciously.

"Greetings Dream Landers, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Marx. I am a wandering jester simply looking for a little help," he explained.

"Uh, nice to meet you Marx. I'm Tuff and this is my sister Tiff and my best friend Kirby!" Tuff greeted.

"Oh ho, I know exactly who Kirby is. I run into a lot of gossip on my travels and word has it that you're a young Star Warrior. Hmm, simply fascinating to meet you face to face!" he said cheerfully.

Suddenly, the party's attention was driven to a sound in the sky, "Hey, what's that?" Tiff said as she looked at a jet trail that was headed straight for them. Tiff quickly noticed the object heading straight for them, "Everybody hit the deck!"

The object landed, throwing dust into the air from the small crater it just made. Kirby instantly took a fighting stance, getting ready for what might jump out at them. The dust cleared to reveal a mechanical doppelganger of Kirby.

"What is this!?" Tiff asked in fear and confusion. "A robot that looks like Kirby?"

"Poyo, destroy Kirby, poyo," it hummed.

Suddenly, a microphone came on through the robot, uttering two very familiar voices, "Hey Kirby, it's me King Dedede!" he said.

"What are you up to now Dedede?!" Tiff asked angrily.

"Now, now, I just want to play a little game with Kirby that's all!" Dedede said innocently.

"Yay, Kirby like games!" Kirby said excited.

"All ya have to do Kirby is spar with my little toy here and if ya win I'll give ya some goodies!" Dedede said deviously.

"Sire you can't!" Escargoon pleaded. "Mecha Kirby's not…," Escargoon was interrupted by a mallet swing.

"Shut up Escargoon, you ain't the boss 'round here!" Dedede commanded. "Now let's begin our little game!"

Kirby dashed towards his metallic copy and he jumped into the air and performed a flawless flip kick. Kirby's kick struck the hunk of junk with ease and made his landing. Mecha Kirby sparked and sputtered and finally exploded into a myriad of shards and broken parts. "Hahaa, Kirby win!" he said cheerfully.

"What the-! Hey Escargoon, why did it just blow up like that!? Wasn't it supposed to block or fight back or somethin'?" Dedede asked angrily.

"That's what I was trying to tell you! Mark I was just a prototype!" Escargoon shouted.

"Well what about Mark II? Is he ready?" Dedede asked with irritation.

"Well it's not perfect, but yes, this one is actually ready!" Escargoon bellowed. With out hesitation King Dedede push the switch on the Mark II capsule, activating him. Mark II was sleeker with a sliver finish and looked a little more like Kirby than Mark I.

"Go Mark II avenge your fallen brother!" Escargoon shouted. Mecha Kirby Mark II activated jets, but Mark II had jets in its feet rather than its back. This one was a lot faster then Mark I.

"Way to go Kirby, you showed that tin can whose boss!" Tuff cheered.

"What a marvelous performance Kirby!" Marx congratulated.

"Poyo, poyo!" Kirby cheered as he blushed from the compliments.

"Don't relax yet Kirby I think another one is headed this way!" Tiff warned. Mecha Kirby Mark II landed only moments later, also stirring up dust in its wake.

When the dust cleared, King Dedede spoke over the microphone again, "Not so fast Kirby are ya ready for round two!?

Mark II was the first to launch an attack this time. Kirby jumped over Mecha Kirby's lunge and counterattacked with a back kick. The metallic monstrosity slammed hard into a tree; however Mark II was a little more durable. It dashed at Kirby again and Kirby countered with a Slide Kick that threw the robot into the air. As it attempted to recover, Kirby grabbed his doppelganger in a hold and jumped to an incredible height while holding it. At the peak of the jump Kirby started heading back down to the ground and slammed Mark II so hard that he violently exploded as Kirby jumped out of the crater left behind.

"Kirby win goodies now?" Kirby asked with excitement.

"Not again, the robot was doin' well that time!" Dedede said with shattered hope. "Oh well, Mark III should be ready to go!"

"No sire, not this one, I still have to work out the bugs! The emotionizer is only eighty percent installed!" Escargoon pleaded.

"I don't care!" Dedede said as he pushed the big red button. Mark III resembled Kirby much more than the other two predecessors and was even colored properly. Mark III was different as it was made from high quality parts instead of scraps. "Now this is what I'm talkin' 'bout! This one is really good lookin'!" Dedede said impressed. "Now you, go and get Kirby and don't fail!"

"B-but sire I!" Escargoon stuttered.

"Come on we ain't missing this!" King Dedede said as he grabbed Escargoon by his eye stalk. Mecha Kirby Mark III used its jets as well and began heading towards Kirby's house. King Dedede exited his castle in his white classic Rolls Royce Limousine.

"Marvelous Kirby, marvelous, what a great show you put on!" Marx cheered with excitement as he jumped up and down on his ball.

"Hey look, in the distance!" Tuff warned. "It's King Dedede and that rat Escargoon!"

"Yeah and it looks like a third one of those robots is also headed this way," Tiff said. Within a few short moments King Dedede arrived as well did Mark III. "Doesn't he know when to give up?!"

"Get ready for round three Kirby!" Dedede announced confidently.

"How many of these things did you guys make?" Tiff asked angrily.

"This is the last one, thanks to you little brats," Escargoon said as he began salvaging the parts from Mark I and Mark II as Dedede gloated. He soon collected all the parts and loaded them into the trunk of the limousine.

Mecha Kirby Mark III stared Kirby down for a few seconds, sizing each other up. Kirby could tell this one was the one that would pose a greater threat than the last two. Mark III and Kirby had enough of the stare down and charged at each other. Kirby executed a side kick, but it was promptly dodged by Mark III as it jumped over Kirby. Mark III took the opportunity to counterattack with a back kick. Kirby flew backwards, but was able to catch himself in midair by flying. He landed and they rushed at each other again. The two collided in a stalemate and they backed off each other. Kirby looked around for anything he could use. He spotted a nicely sized boulder and he began to inhale it. He swallowed the stone and began reacquainting himself with an all familiar power he commonly used. "Pound, pound, CRUSH, Stone Kirby!" he shouted strongly. After the transformation Kirby's skin was tanned and he wore a samurai-like dark blue helmet with a red tuft of hair on top, a guard on the back and a star on the forehead piece. Mark III continued his assault on the little pink hero. Mark III lunged at him with a solid punch, but before it could connect Kirby encased his body in solid rock. Stone Kirby rammed the lunging robot causing its armor to crack slightly and fly back and over the cliff into the ravine.

"No way, Kirby defeated this one too!?" Dedede shouted angrily.

"I told you I had to work out the bugs!" Escargoon shouted sadly. Stone Kirby turned his attention to the King and Escargoon. "Waah, let's get out of here!"

"I agree!" Dedede stated. The two got back in the limousine and tried to start it. However, Stone Kirby picked up the car, "Let go, here take this!" Dedede shouted as he tossed down a watermelon. Kirby instantly put down the car and they sped away. Kirby then discarded his stone ability.

"Yay, Kirby wins prize!" He said happily as he began munching on the watermelon.

"Ah, that was a great performance Kirby!" Marx cheered yet again. "I'm glad I got to witness your prowess first hand!"

"Thank you!" Kirby said with a mouth full. He finished the watermelon in a single gulp.

"Now that, that's out of the way, did you say you needed help with something Marx?" Tiff asked politely.

"Oh yes, down to business. It all started in Vegetable Valley just north of here, I was traveling in this direction and there was a field just on the outskirts of this town. I was carrying a large jewel that my dying grandmother gave me just before she passed away."

Tiff and Tuff began to grow sad as Marx went deeper into his story, "My grandmother told me the gem brings good luck so I want to do some research on it. I heard an elderly Cappy archeologist by the name of Professor Curio could help me. Can you tell me where I can find him?" Marx asked.

"Oh, hold on I have a map of our town in my bag you could use," Tiff said kindly. Tiff walked into Kirby's house and came back out with a red bag. She reached into her bag and took a map out and handed it to Marx.

"Thank you kindly, may good luck fallow you wherever you go!" Marx said joyfully as he hopped away. "Oh, and one more thing," he said as he looked back. "On the outskirts of this town I met a crazed Waddle Dee that tried to attack me, so he might be headed to this town. I would keep an eye out for him if I were you. He is wearing a blue bandanna and is wielding a mean parasol."

"Um okay, we'll keep an eye out for him. Isn't that right Kirby?" Tiff asked cheerfully. Kirby nodded happily. With that, Marx hopped away on his ball and into town.

"Well, that's it for me today," Tuff said adjusting his shoulders. "Boy I am hungry. I'm going home to grab something to eat, you coming sis?"

"Yeah, but I gotta run into town for a few things first," Tiff said. "You want to come along Kirby?"

"Poyo," Kirby agreed happily. Tuff headed back to the castle in a hurry.

"Well Kirby, I guess it's just you and me now," Tiff said with a smile. "Let's take the scenic route Kirby it's a lot more relaxing," Tiff suggested happily.

"Poyo, okay!" Kirby agreed once more. With that, Kirby and Tiff headed into town via the scenic and peaceful road.

*End Prologue*