"Kid, calm down! It's just a cake! There's at least a zillion of them on this planet alone!"
Kirby was running at full speed towards the castle, passing by cappies and knocking some to the ground without even apologizing. Grill could hardly keep up to the puff on her broom, dodging signs and buildings as Kirby navigated through town, his eyes never leaving the castle. In almost minutes he arrived, not even the least bit tired.
"DEDEDE-POYO!" he roared again, stopping at the drawbridge, which had suspiciously raised itself up, as if Dedede knew he were coming. He attempted to jump across the lake, momentarily forgetting he could float, until Grill caught him from atop her broom.
"Dude, CHILL. What is WRONG with you? I can get you another cake."
Kirby sniffled and covered his eyes with his one free hand stump. NO. He HAD to eat that one piece. It was... It was...
"It was Marx's favorite cake, wasn't it?"
Kirby stared up at Grill with large, begging eyes; ones much more cuter than a newborn puppy's. His unspoken message was so clear, that Grill rolled her eyes in exasperation, setting him onto her broom with one quick pull.
"You're a sweet idiot," she murmured, giggling. "Besides, I WANTED to take down Dedede in the first place. Wanna pelt him with eggs while we're at it?"
Kirby laughed as the broom headed inside the castle.
...
Infiltrating the castle was easy- taking down the Waddle Dees was not. They brandished their usual spears, and going past them proved to be a bit difficult off the ground, and Kirby soon insisted they should go on foot, much to Grill's disappointment.
Every time a Waddle Dee tried to approach them, Grill growled at them like a rabid animal until they backed away, clearing their way, which proved very useful.
"I usually use it against Salt and Pepper when they bully Sugar," she said, a proud grin on her face. "Maybe I'll teach you it so you can use it with Dedede or something."
Kirby nodded absentmindedly, remaining silent until they reached the throne room door. He kicked the door open, revealing King Dedede in mid-strike, his mallet right above Escargon's head, with Sir Meta Knight not that far away. Fumu looked as if she had been yelling at the king, with Bun at her side and her parents calming her down, but when they saw Kirby at the doorway, they looked surprised, first about to greet him, and then noticing his angry aura.
Dedede hoisted his mallet, a boisterous grin on his face.
"Hey, Kirby," he said, as smug as ever. "Long time no see, zoi!"
"Cake-poyo," the puff murmured softly, ignoring Sir Meta Knight, Fumu, Bun, Memu, Pamu, and Escargon, his anger focused on Dedede.
"What, zoi?"
"CAKE-POYO!"
"The guy wants his cake-poyo!" Grill yelled simultaneously.
Fumu, Bun, Memu, Pamu and Sir Meta Knight looked surprised, never hearing Kirby's voice go up before. Escargon just looked fearful, hiding behind the throne. Dedede, however, looked confused for a split second, but then, realizing the advantage, replaced that look with another grin, more sinister than the last one.
"Oh, YOUR cake? That one? I don't think I remember eating it..."
Grill sighed and jabbed Kirby in the side in a 'I-told-you-so' way, and just when the two were about to leave, Dedede held up his hand.
"Actually... yeah! I think I remember!" He watched Kirby stiffen and turn back around, his gaze sharp, unlike his usually perky, calm demeanor. Not realizing this was Marx's death taking it's toll on Kirby, he continued. "It was LUSCIOUS. Each and EVERY fork was like a Shangri-La version of food. And with me talking, that's SAYING something. Now, Kirby, you can either ACCEPT this, or resort to violence, which I hear you don't like doing, right, zoi?"
A long moment passed, the only thing being heard was occasional awkward coughs from Pamu and growling noises from Grill. All eyes were on Kirby.
"Well, zoi?" said Dedede, leaning forward, diverting all attention to him. "What's your decis-"
He was interrupted when Kirby let out an earsplitting shriek, shoving anyone in his way aside and landing a kick right on the king's face, knocking him back into his chair. Kirby himself landed not far away from him, holding his head in his arm stumps.
"Cake-poyo... cake-poyo... cake-poyo..." he muttered over and over again, shaking his head and completely ignoring Dedede's unconscious form.
"Son of a mother," murmured Grill, crossing her arms in disbelief and walking next to Kirby. "That was easy."
"Kirby!" Kirby looked up to see Fumu stomping over to him, arms crossed and eyebrows arched.
Oh, great. Just what he needed. A lecture.
"Why did you do that?" she admonished. "Sure, he deserved it, but why?"
Kirby looked at Fumu and his anger faded. What was he DOING? He was getting so worked up about WHAT? A piece of cake? He turned to Sir Meta Knight to see if he had anything to say, but his teacher had instead turned to look at where the king was laying, his throne, which had gotten pretty unstable from the impact. Did he look... worried? His eyes had turned into a green hue, and he looked around frantically, as if searching for something.
"KIRBY!"
Kirby blinked and turned back to Fumu, whose face had turned red, as if she had been ranting.
"Did you listen to ONE word I just said? Could you AT LEAST tell me why you did it?"
Kirby nodded and turned to Grill, who nodded back and opened her mouth to speak.
"Didn't you listen, fancy girl? The puffball only wants his cake."
...
Kirby blinked again and stared at Grill, who still had her mouth open. The voice had sounded manly, and very gentleman-like, but also had a manipulative feel to it that made Kirby shudder.
So either Grill had turned into a man in the last ten minutes, or...
Kirby turned the doorway along with everyone else, eyes widening. Four extremely large mice stood at the doorway, their eyes never leaving Kirby. One, obviously the leader, pulled his ripped top hat down by hardly an inch, covering his left eye. He used his other hand to pull his cape around him, partly covering his devious smirk. And one tiny detail caught Kirby's eye that made his blood run cold- one being the fact that he didn't have any arms or legs; his feet and hands levitates all on their own. This wouldn't naturally bother Kirby, but seeing that 2/3 of the other mice had them, an idea bugged him that this mouse had an accident. Another thing bugged him, but he just couldn't point it out...
The shorter one, a yellow mouse with red, pointed glasses and a short knife in her hands gave him a glare from behind her glasses that made his blood run cold. The stockier one seemed like the completely blue mouse version of Dedede, his eyes not visible, although an eyepatch on his supposed left eye was. The final member had no visible arms or legs whatsoever, floating in some kind of small UFO, his eyes, like the knife-wielding mouse, hidden behind a large pair of thick-lensed circular glasses with swirls on them.
Kirby met all their eyes fearlessly, keeping his gaze on their leader the longest. Something REALLY bothered him about this mouse...
Suddenly, the leader's smirk became even more twisted as he pointed towards Dedede.
"There!"
He vanished in one second, leaving everyone but the mice exclaiming in surprise. But suddenly, he reappeared right next to Escargon and Dedede, who still appeared to be unconscious. Escargon yelped in surprise and ran away to the corner, leaving Dedede vulnerable, yet...
The mouse, with possibly no effort at all, flipped him away as he landed not that far away with a sickening thud, meanwhile staring at the throne as if it were the meaning of life. Meta Knight stiffened and lunged at the mouse, Galaxia drawn, as the other mice warned their leader, seemingly named Dorocche, who seemed to give no regard to the Knight.
Finally, at the last second, just when it looked like the mouse was about to be cleaved in two, he turned to the Knight with the speed of light and blocked him with something that looked like an ordinary wand, sending the Knight flying backwards by a few feet and landing on the floor.
The Knight's eyes widened as Dorocche spun the wand in his hand, ultimately pointing it back at him. "That's-"
"The Triple Star," said Dorocche, holding it in his hands as if it were a baby. "Every one of you Star Warriors knows what it is."
He leaned towards Meta Knight in interest. "Kept a couple of thieves, didn't you? That's strange for a warrior so highly viewed."
He moved the unstable throne away from it's original place, revealing a large turquoise chest with a gold and red lock. Although Meta Knight had tried to protect it before, he made no attempt to protect it now, watching Dorocche's eyes light up like a child on Christmas Day as he gingerly lifted the chest out of the hole, as if afraid that he would break it. Once in his possession, Dorocche flicked the Triple Star once, sending out an attack that blasted the ground open.
"Let's go, you three!" yelled the leader, his expression triumphant. "We'll let the Squeaks know where we end up lat-"
He never finished. At speeds still unknown to him, Kirby had been flung at Dorocche, knocking both of them into the hole and knocking the chest out of the mouse's hands. The three mice jumped in after them, followed by Grill on her broomstick.
"Dorocche, get it!" yelled the short yellow mouse, who had begun to run on the wall.
Dorocche, who had a both surprised and intimidated expression, regained his composure and kicked Kirby to the side, knocking him into the wall. He clutched the chest almost angrily.
"This is MINE! Get your own!"
Kirby's eyes widened. His cake!
He poyo-ed back in protest, latching onto the chest as well to prove a point. This, instead, caused him to be thrown towards the ground and land with a blood-lurching crack.
The last thing he saw was Dorocche land in front of him, hear Grill scream his name, and the whole world went black.
