It had started out as a normal night at Dreamland's castle. Escargoon had finished busying himself with King Dedede's orders, and was finally able to go to bed. Slipping into his room, he yawned and sank into the covers. It wasn't until he was about to doze off when he heard a loud rumbling noise—like a giant creature approaching. The snail dismissed this as the castle creaking and pulled the covers back over him.
But it came again—a noise like thunder, almost loud enough to wake all the Waddle Dee up. Now annoyed, Escargoon marched out of his room, down the hall, and to a window, where he peered outside. To a non-observant person, everything might've seemed normal, save for the storm clouds. But wait—were those eyes peeking out from the cloud? Escargoon looked closer just to be sure and felt his blood turn to ice. Those really were eyes, deadly and menacing, and pointing straight at the castle.
Panicking, Escargoon rushed down the hallway to the king's bedroom. Once there, he threw open the door and rushed inside, where he found Dedede sleeping on his massive bed.
"S-sire!" Escargoon stuttered. "Wake up!"
The king made no sign that he had heard the snail. Instead, he lay motionless on the bed, save for the rising and falling of his stomach. Escargoon finally found his voice.
"SIRE! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!" He yelled.
"Wha-?!" Dedede woke up with a start. Looking around wondering who had woken him up, his eyes rested on Escargoon. He reached over and grabbed him by the neck.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, IDIOT?" he roared. Escargoon squirmed hopelessly.
"I n-need to tell you something, your majesty!" He stammered. "S-something's outside…coming to the castle…"
King Dedede dropped the snail, and ran to the window. Sure enough, the storm cloud with eyes was still there, but even closer. Dedede flinched back and turned to Escargoon, his face set grimly. "Don't just stand there! Call out the Waddle Dee, along with Meta Knight. And maybe message that airport star-warrior girl. I will NOT let another monster ruin my castle!"
Meta Knight raced through the castle's dark hallways, feeling the floor shift below his feet. Another tower had crashed after a bolt of lightning from the storm struck it, leaving the castle nearly defenseless. He had quickly sent a mind message to CeCe, and prayed she would be here soon. It would take at least three star-warriors to defend against this beast. Which reminded him—where was the baby star-warrior, Kirby? Meta Knight had told Kirby and his adoptive family to stay hidden away in the safest place in the castle, but there was no doubt the young pink puff would want to help.
Meta Knight veered away from the castle entrance and instead raced to the keep, praying Kirby and his family would be there. A broken piece of the wall almost hit him, but he dodged at the last second and threw himself at the staircase leading to the keep.
Reaching the top of the stairs, he looked around. The keep was madness. Waddle Dee were sprinting to battle an army of mini storm clouds. Squinting, Meta Knight saw the faint shape of Dedede battling with what looked like a lightning monster. He hurled himself into the fray.
A static-imp hisses and lunged at him. Dodging it, he swung his sword at the tiny monster, causing it to vanish into thin air. Feeling something zap his back, Meta Knight turned to see a pack of static-imps running towards him. Pulling a star shard from the quiver on his back, he threw it at the pack, resulting in the same fate as the previous imp. He jumped away as another lightning bolt struck the keep. Meta Knight glanced frustrated at the ramparts. The castle's army was doing its best to fend off the storm monster, but it wasn't enough. If only—
"Follow me!"
Meta Knight recognized the cry. It was CeCe! Flying over to the ramparts, he could see her outline flapping towards the castle, followed by Dreamland's military. CeCe landed on a balcony and raced over to him.
"How's it coming?" CeCe panted when she reached him.
"Disastrous," he responded, pointing grimly to where a group of Waddle Dee had been overrun by storm minions. The Waddle Dee still hadn't gotten up.
"We're on it," The demon girl promised, pulling out her nebula sword and heading toward the nearest group of static-imps. Meta Knight followed her while kicking away storm minions that gathered around. CeCe stabbed her sword through a static-imp and exhaled a plume of fire the rest of the gang. Meta Knight joined her fighting, glancing worriedly at the rest of the army, relieved when he saw the Dreamland military join the fighting.
Suddenly there was a shriek behind him. Turning quickly, Meta Knight was horrified when he saw Kirby and Tiff standing at the edge of the fighting. CeCe turned as well, her eyes widening when she saw the young girl and the baby star-warrior.
"Stay back!" Meta Knight called over to them. Kirby shook his head stubbornly.
"Piyo!"
"He's right!" CeCe called. "You could get killed out here!"
Tiff and Kirby remained where they were, staring at the fighting. Tiff leaned over and said something to Kirby that Meta Knight couldn't make out. CeCe however, seemed to guess. She advanced toward them menacingly.
The demon hissed, "Don't you even think that Kirby's suction ability will be able to take on this monster. It's too risky for both of you." Tiff glanced at her uncertainly, and backed away to the safety of the keep. But Kirby just glared at CeCe, and, to Meta Knight's horror, suddenly dashed toward the battle, his shoes kicking up dust.
"No!" Meta Knight and CeCe yowled simultaneously. CeCe threw herself at the puff, but stopped suddenly at a loud cracking sound. Meta Knight turned to see that one of the castle's tallest towers had been struck. It slowly careened towards the ground—right where Kirby was.
Ignoring Tiff and CeCe's screams of protest, he charged over to the puff. The tower was nearly at the ground, and Kirby was staring up at it in terror. Meta Knight dodged the falling debris and grabbed the young puff. The older star-warrior flew as fast as he could toward the other side. They were almost there, until—
There was another loud crack. The debris was much heavier now, and a falling slab almost hit the two puffs. Meta Knight suddenly realized in horror that they weren't going to make it to the other side. There was only one thing to do.
Right before the tower hit the ramparts, Meta Knight threw Kirby as far as he could to the other side. Another slab hit him in the back, knocking the wind out of him. He could faintly see Kirby crying on the other side, and a pair of Waddle Dee rushing toward him. There was another scream from CeCe, a deafening crash as the tower hit the balcony, and Meta Knight's world went black.