Far away in a galaxy, on a round planet, on a round continent, was the round town of round people. And like its citizens, the town itself was round- round houses, buildings, foliage, food. The people of the town were always full of energy- children ran around playing games, mammas cleaned, sang and chatted away, papas happily busy.
One night, something extraordinary happened to a pair of the town's residents. A wind stirred the round leaves of the trees circling the round house, and they woke up to hear something strange. They opened the round little door to find a round bundle on their round doormat.
"It's a baby!" they told each other.
"Where did it come from?" the wife wondered.
"Why is it on our doorstep?" the husband pondered.
"Isn't this how babies are delivered to families?" she thought, picking up the little bundle. "That must mean we're Mama and Papa now."
The round baby was pink with little round hands and feet. They named the boy Kirk- Kirk Kirios- and like all the other kids, he was eating before he learned to speak, and running around before he could understand what 'Stop, Kirk!' meant. When his birthday came, he understood only a handful of words- the rest was baby talk.
"Happy Birthday, Kirk!" his Mama and Papa said as they set a round cake down in front of their little pink boy. He bounced with cheerful glee as his papa struck a match and lit a candle on the cake.
"Blow it out, Kirk."
"But don't forget to make a wish!" his mama added. Their son laughed and puffed his cheeks before blowing the candle out.
A gust of wind tore through Mama's curtains, as if the wind wanted to steal Kirk's first birthday wish- but soon the wind was gone.
"Strange weather, huh, Papa?" Mama thought, turning to see Kirk sliding the cake into his mouth.
"I thought I heard something hit the door, Mama," Papa replied.
"Poyo-poyo," Kirk babbled, bouncing in his seat. All three Kirios- Papa, Mama and Kirk, approached the door, and opened it slowly.
On the doorstep was a small bundle, blinking its gray-blue eyes sleepily. All of them put a hand on their cheek.
"A baby?" Mama wondered.
"Just like Kirk," Papa thought.
"Kirk-by!" Kirk exclaimed. "Kirk-by, Kirk-by!" Mama picked up the baby, yep, pink and round, just like Kirk, only a baby.
"Papa, he looks just like Kirk," she said, showing him the baby. Kirk bounced around, "Kirk-by, Kirk-by-poyo!"
"You're right, it's like baby Kirk all over again."
"Kirkby, poyoyo!"
"Kirk seems to like the idea of a little brother. But Kirkby doesn't really sound right, Papa."
"Kirby poyo!" Kirk proclaimed, bouncing to reach the little bundle. "Kirby Kirby poyo!"
"Maybe this is what Kirk wished for!" Mama wondered. "A baby Kirk."
"I think he's wants to name him Kirby, Mama," Papa laughed.
"Kirby... I like that name!"
"Kirby it is, then!" Papa proclaimed.
"Kirby Kirby!"
"Kirk, it's the ice cream man!" Kirk dropped the truck he was playing with and ran after the other boys- leaving little pink Kirby in the dust.
"Hey! Wait for me!" he cried, puffing after them. Even though he was only a year younger than Kirk, Kirby was a shrimp compared to the other little brothers- he could hardly do anything with Kirk and his friends. Huffing, he finally reached the cluster of round boys and girls- purple, blue, lime, magenta, where was pink Kirk? He jumped up and down to see where Kirk was- "Kirk! Where are you?"
Kirk was at the front, holding out some round coins- "I'll have a scoop of salted caramel, Mr. Pop," he ordered. The other kids were bouncing up and down and crying out orders, but Mr. Pop was pretty old, and he could only move very slowly.
"Salted caramel... what about your little brother... Kir-um, what was his name again?" he managed.
Kirk looked around but was being pushed and shoved towards the front, he couldn't see Kirby way in the back, bouncing and shouting. He paid for his candy and managed to get out of the horde-
"Kirk! You didn't wait for me!" Kirby puffed, gray-blue eyes drooping.
"Sorry, Kirby," Kirk hummed as he licked his caramel ice cream. "I thought you didn't want ice cream."
Kirby's eyes burned with red frustration. "I always want ice cream, Kirk!"
"Why weren't you behind me, then?"
"I was! I was behind you- didn't you hear me shouting?"
"If you were behind me, what happened?" He licked his caramel ice cream and started to walk back home, Kirby jumping and running after him.
"Kiiirk! Waaait!" he whined.
The two pink boys waddled home, Kirk eating the cone as he walked inside the door. "Mama, Papa, we're home!"
"Welcome home, Kirk, Kirby," Mama greeted from the kitchen. But Papa didn't join in with her greeting- he was reading a newspaper, but even then-
"Papa, what's wrong? Aren't you going to welcome us home?"
Papa set the paper down, humming- and not the good kind of hum either. "It looks like another section of the galaxy has been taken by NME. Whole planets have been ravaged by monsters."
Kirk and Kirby exchanged a glance- why was Papa using such big words? And talking about monsters?
"Papa?" Mama asked, walking over to the table. "Um... the children have come home, dear."
"Hmm?" he looked up. "Oh. Hello Kirk, Kirby. Welcome home."
Kirk gulped and asked, "Papa, what were you reading about?"
Kirby cowered behind Kirk and whimpered, "You were talking about monsters!"
"Monsters don't exist," Kirk assured his little brother..."Right, Papa?"
Papa flinched, but stammered, "That-that's right, Kirk! Monsters don't exist."
"There, there, Kirby!" Mama laughed- a little too loud- "There's nothing to be afraid of. Come on, let's eat!"
"Hey...Kirk?" Kirby whispered from his bed. "Do...do monsters exist?"
Kirk pretended to wake up for his little brother- he'd been trying not to think about it since Papa read off the newspaper... Monsters didn't exist- monsters were just made up to scare little kids like Kirby, to keep them from being bad, right? But why would Papa be reading about made-up things in a newspaper? And what was NME?
"Kirk? Are you awake?"
"Wha-wha? What's that?" Kirk turned over to see little gray eyes staring at him. "Monsters... they don't exist, Kirby. Go back to sleep."
"O-okay, Kirk. Goodnight.."
Monsters don't exist. Dad was just messing with them. Monsters don't exist. Monsters don't exist...
"Another planet was taken by monsters!" the newsboy cried out as he ran across the village. "The Manmaru council's being visited by members of the Galaxy Soldier Army right now!"
Years after reassuring himself that monsters didn't exist, Kirk nearly spat out his roast ham- nearly. He swallowed the meat and spat out the bone. Monsters! So they were real- and not just a rumor after all. He'd been hearing about the fighting, but he'd assumed-
"Kirk, they're real!" his friends cried out- they'd been having lunch together, even little Kirby was inside the picnic basket, eating candy. "Monsters and nightmares are real!"
"Well, of course nightmares are real-" Kirk puffed, "but monsters? And what's the Galacta...Galactic..."
"It's the army fighting the monsters," another friend chimed in. "My pa says that as long as you stay out of the way of either of them, you won't have to see a monster."
Kirby poked his pink head out of the picnic basket, mouth bordered with cream. "But don't monsters go after everyone?"
Kirk's friend held his head high- "My pa says that as long as you stay as far away from the Galaxy Soldier Army as possible, they don't bother you."
"That sounds cowardly," Kirk grumbled, rocking to his feet. "I'm not afraid of monsters like your pa is. I'm going to go join that Galaxy Army and fight monsters- and stop 'em once and for all!" He started marching down towards his house- Kirby bouncing out of the basket and running after him. "Kirk, wait for me! I wanna fight monsters too!"
