Marx darted through the galaxy, ducking, zooming, diving, swirling, and even occasionally teleporting to avoid the laser beams that were being directed at him. His gaze was frantic, swinging towards one barren planet to another — Nope, nope, nope, can't hide there. No shelter here. Completely inhospitable over that way. He grit his teeth. Oh, come on!

Then, he saw it. His one chance of escape. Not only was it a planet that appeared lush with life and full of all sorts of nooks and crannies for him to take cover in, but, unbeknownst to him, this place would completely change Marx's life.

o-o-o

Tiff, Tuff, Kirby, Falala, and Fololo were practicing jump rope when they heard Meta Knight's voice, causing Kirby to trip on the rope and smack into the ground. The small knight had, as usual, materialized on a random rock.

"Something is coming," Meta Knight spoke, voice sharp and mystery-clad as ever. "Someone, in truth."

Tiff blinked, looking quite bewildered as she stepped towards the star warrior. "What do you mean, Meta Knight?" she queried. "Who's coming? Is it a monster? Maybe even another star warrior?"

"I don't believe it is either," came the response. "It is a creature of similar species to Kirby — but its power may prove to be far more devastating, for it is beyond even its own control. Whatever it may be, we should be wary."

A deep silence fell. Everyone seemed at a loss for words, as if afraid to speak.

"Poyo! Poyo!" Kirby exclaimed out of the blue, breaking the deathly quiet with his questionable cheeriness. "Marrrr-exxx!"

They all turned to face the pink ball of joy. "Say what?"

And, as if on cue, a great big BOOM! resonated throughout the region's farthest reaches.

o-o-o

Every square inch of Marx's body ached and throbbed; he had completely lost all sense of the laws of physics when he had come hurtling towards the planet. His vision faded in and out, his conscious barely able to support the agony he felt. Although he had few bones to break, he still had a ridiculous number of nerves; and they certainly sharpened the pain coursing through his spherical body.

Surprisingly, nothing on or attached to his body had burned up on impact with the atmosphere, as far as Marx could tell, but his injuries distracted him far too much. He tried to sit up, but ended up giving out a loud yell of pain.

Eyes closing tightly, Marx whimpered, tears filling his eyes. So, this is it . . . Just because of my idiotic choices, I'm going to die here . . . in pain . . . I would far prefer being incinerated by lasers, in comparison to this agony . . .

o-o-o

The instant the group heard the pained cry, they began rushing off in its direction, Kirby included. Once they reached the source of both the booming sound and the aforementioned scream, time seemed to slow. Everyone froze and stared at the shivering, agonized, hopeless pink ball of despair. Countless scrapes, bruises and burns covered both his body and his accessories, suggesting that he had made a crash landing of some sort.

There was a small nngh sort of sound, and the creature wriggled slightly, only to yelp out a "gah!" and freeze up the best he could.

Tuff frowned at the ball. "Shouldn't it be dead?" he asked, and received a cuff to the head from his sister.

"It will be dead if we don't do something!" she exclaimed, which gained a response of "okay! okay! okay!". Tiff then turned to Meta Knight and queried in a fairly concerned tone, "What should we do, Meta Knight?"

Meta Knight looked towards the castle. "Give it the best care it can receive," he replied after a short silence, "regardless of the consequences."