Chapter 3: Dawn of the Demon Beast
"So, you are the Star Warrior that the villagers have all been gossiping about, hm? Am I right… Kirby?"
The question inquired by the masked knight hung in the air, swirling around the heads of the people situated in the old hut like an unpleasant stench. And just like a horrible stench, the ones who had this question posed to them all backed away, unwilling to confront it head-on.
The normally haughty Fumu found herself at a loss for words. Unlike the overly brash and assertive personality that she'd openly showed to King Dedede earlier, Kirby made the mental observation that she was much more reserved and careful with this individual, which set off multiple alarm bells in his mind straight away. Likewise, the normally-talkative Bun had his mouth wide open, but found himself unable to say any words to the masked newcomer. A stuttered "Ummmmmm…" was all the boy managed to spit out.
In contrast to the flustering Bun, Kirby found that he himself was being very still and quiet at this new development. He continued to stare at the masked knight, transfixed by his appearance. All of a sudden he couldn't help but to feel very inadequate in front of the caped crusader. The pink puffball eventually convinced himself that the knight must have put some spell on him, which would account for why he was unable to tear his eyes away from the man's shiny silver mask.
"Sir Meta Knight! We can explain!" Fumu interjected, quickly speaking on Kirby's behalf as she stretched her hands out to shield the puffball in a protective manner. But instead of replying the girl, Meta Knight chose to remain silent, his eyes locked on the pink puffball before eventually glowing an eerie, vibrant green. "Poyo?" Kirby tilted his head as Meta Knight's eyes continually changed colors, going through many different hues like they were a chameleon who couldn't decide what skin to wear.
After what felt like an eternity, Meta Knight finally grunted a response. "Is it finally time?" he cryptically remarked.
Before Fumu or Kirby could even begin to question as to what he meant, Meta Knight whipped his flowing cape around with a flourish and turned his back on them, walking towards the ajar door. Seeing their master ignore Kirby and head back into the open meadow, both Sword and Blade gave each other a sharp nod, promptly leaving the hut to catch up with their master and flank him on both sides.
"Phew!" Bun wiped beads of sweat off his face as the last of the swordsmen left the area. "Man, I was nervous there for a sec! I thought he totally caught us out! Don't ya' agree, sis?" When he got no response, he glanced around at where Fumu had been standing only to realize that his sister hadn't heard his comment — since she'd ditched him and left without saying a word. "Ah, man!" he moaned in displeasure. "Man, sis is always like that. Isn't that right, Kirby?"
It took Bun a few seconds of silence before it hit him that he had gotten no response from Kirby either. Turning to the back, he saw that an empty burlap sack was all that remained. Lololo hovered up to the boy's face, pointing his gloved hand towards the open door to wordlessly tell Bun that Kirby had also flew the coop. "Ah, come on!" Bun whined, flinging his hands in the air when he realized that the impressionable Kirby was taking on his sister's undesirable qualities.
As it turned out, Fumu was running out in the meadow, chasing after the retreating trio with Kirby following shortly behind. "Sir Meta Knight?" she called out to him with an outstretched arm. Hearing her call, Meta Knight stopped his stroll, which led to his two cronies halting their march as well. "Yes? What is it?" he tentatively asked.
"I have just one question for you, Meta Knight!" Fumu put on a tough front, but Kirby made the observation that her eyes were nervously darting around. She apprehensively looked at Meta Knight, who still had his back turned to her. "Right now King Dedede currently isn't too happy at Kirby, so why did you just ignore him and walk away when you're working for Dedede?" she shot at him. "Just what are you planning?"
Meta Knight slowly and deliberately turned around, his cape flowing in the cool night breeze. "It is of none of your concern. Just because I'm under Dedede's employ does not mean that I have to be on his watch 24/7." Even Kirby had to nod his head at that. He'd certainly raised a good point. "But just to reassure you, I did not come here on Dedede's orders. All I wished to do tonight was to confirm a little hypothesis of mine."
"Nuh-uh! I don't believe that for one second with that smarmy Dedede involved!" Both Kirby and Fumu turned around to the source of the voice, with Fumu unsurprised to see her brother Bun running towards them. Letting out a sigh, she then tried a more indirect approach. "Please. Why are you looking for Kirby, Meta Knight?" she asked, gazing at Meta Knight worriedly.
Meta Knight took a step forward, rubbing his feet against the tall blades of grass. "That… is something which I cannot say for now." At that statement, Kirby found himself getting intrigued. Did this guy know something about him? To be fair, regardless of whether he did or not, the mysterious knight has been a walking enigma since he had first made his appearance, raising more questions than answers in a span of a mere two minutes.
Unsurprisingly, the observant Fumu caught on to his open-ended statement as well. "You know something about Kirby, don't you?"
Meta Knight's turned his gaze from Fumu onto Kirby. "Perhaps?" he replied in a zig-zag manner. "Regardless, I assure you that I know enough to tell you that Kirby is not the perpetrator for the missing sheep problem."
"Oh, thank goodness!" Fumu couldn't keep the relief out of her voice before furrowing her brow in confusion. "But just how do you know that, Meta Knight?"
BOOOOOMMM!
Any potential response from Meta Knight was cut off as a resounding explosion rang across the grassy plains. All eyes were drawn towards the bright blossom of red that spontaneously appeared, lighting up the night sky with a daunting glow.
Kirby looked for the source of the huge kaboom that had rocked much of the area, his sharp eyes eventually narrowing down the location when he noticed a funnel of billowing smoke coming from a large structure situated on the top of a hill. Come to think about it, he realized that he didn't actually know what that specific building was. Fumu and Bun hadn't taken him to that part of Dream Land before.
As Kirby contemplated about it, a startled gasp from Fumu snapped him back to reality. "What's going on!?" she asked, turning to her brother. "Well, how am I supposed to know?" Bun replied back in annoyance as he stared at the sight.
Unlike the worried siblings, the swordsmen trio appeared to be completely composed. "Sir Meta Knight…" Blade tentatively took a step forward, his hand reaching for his sword. "Does that look like trouble to you?" he posed the query as his eyes glanced sharply towards his master from underneath his green armor.
"A sudden explosion in Castle Dedede at this hour?" Sword reached to his left to grab the hilt of his sword and draw it in a swift motion, the reflection of the moon glinting off the yellow blade as it left the scabbard. "I betcha that there's a problem brewing, sir."
Those two ominous words from Sword told Kirby all that he needed to know. Castle Dedede. He hadn't even realized that the fatso penguin ruler King Dedede actually had an actual castle as his residence. Now knowledge of that plus an explosion certainly spelled out trouble with a capital T. His face took on a determined look as he jumped into the air and inflated himself to get closer to the place.
"Kirby! Come back!" Fumu yelled as she waved her arms in an attempt to signal him to get back to the ground. But unfortunately for her, it was to no avail as Kirby stubbornly continued to press on. "Oh no…" she nervously twiddled her fingers before her eyes fell on two blue and pink floating orbs. Immediately getting a brainwave, she hurriedly called out to the duo. "Lololo, Lalala! Get Kirby back down here before he goes off and does something reckless!"
"We're on it, Fumu!" They both gave a thumbs-up before taking off and flying upwards. Kirby gave a sideways glance at the two as they rapidly caught up with him, both creatures having been made for constant hovering unlike Kirby's more inefficient use of inhaled air to float. Although he tried to change his course, their superior versatility in the air meant that Kirby didn't gain any speed on them. Rather, it looked like they were gaining on him. His eyes darted back-and-forth as Lololo and Lalala proceeded to close in on him from opposite sides. Just as Kirby was about to give up and let the duo capture him, his brain suddenly flashed back to when they'd both introduced themselves to him.
"We're the servants Lololo…"
"…and Lalala!"
His eyes widened as he looked to his left and right again. Why hadn't he realized it before?
As they both dived forward to try to grab hold of him and force him to descend, Kirby suddenly exhaled and let himself freefall for about three seconds before inhaling another puff of air to stabilize himself. Due to the evasive maneuver completely changing Kirby's flight altitude, Lololo and Lalala's swoop now led to them being on a collision course with each other instead of the puffball. "Ahhhhh!" Lololo and Lalala yelled simultaneously as they tried to turn away. But alas, it was far too late for them to change course. Neither of the two were able to compensate for Kirby's rapid change of position in time, which resulted in the two of them slamming into each other with a painful-looking crash. Dazed and unable to orientate themselves after the impact, the both of them then fell straight down to the ground.
Kirby grinned in victory as he emerged from the scuffle entirely unscathed. Remembering that they had introduced themselves by finishing each other's sentences was the exact point that the puffball figured out the floating duo's reliance on teamwork as their dominant strategy. Discerning their technique meant that he was able to use their own tactic against them. Just as he'd predicted, Lololo and Lalala attempted to work together, trying to use their numbers as an advantage to pin him down. He then suspected that they would tag-team him, making use of their reliance on teamwork-based attacks. Once they did indeed do so, all Kirby needed to do on his end was to trick them both into locking onto each other so that he could knock them out. The plan had worked like a charm, the best part being that it would never have succeeded had the duo attempted to capture him one by one.
As he heard two soft whump that signified that Lololo and Lalala had hit the ground, Kirby stopped his ascent to Castle Dedede for just a second. Even though he couldn't hear their groans of pain, he was certainly able to feel them. As a silent apology, he turned his head back, before gaining height and taking off for Castle Dedede again.
Bun pointed at the escaping Kirby as Fumu ran towards the fallen Lololo and Lalala. "Woah! Did you see that, sis? Kirby managed to fake out Lololo and Lalala! He somehow managed to get them both to crash together in midair!"
Fumu scowled at her brother's enthusiastic tone as she cradled the two dizzy servants. "Yeah, I can see that," she snapped back at him with a roll of her eyes. After all, she'd kept her eye focused on Kirby the entire time.
As Kirby continued to float upwards, Meta Knight and his two cronies watched wordlessly, with the masked knight giving the puffball a very subtle nod of approval.
Having lost his two aerial pursuers, Kirby continued to determinedly hover up the hill that led towards Castle Dedede. As he closed in on the area, he slowly came to the realization that contrary to looking at the place from afar, the castle was not actually small at all up close. When he neared Castle Dedede, Kirby found himself looking at a very large stone castle with multiple watchtowers, culminating in a yellow dome-shaped citadel at the very middle. It had certainly left its mark, with Kirby forced to admit that it was a place fit for a bragging ruler like King Dedede.
As the beige castle walls loomed ahead, Kirby couldn't help but have his attention suddenly drawn by a surprising flash of yellow that definitely stood out from the dark pastel palette of Dedede's castle. Focusing on the bright color, he was taken aback by what he was seeing. On the balcony of one of the castle watchtowers was his Starship! He found himself confused when he saw that his crashed starship was the source of the smoke, and undoubtedly the earlier explosion as well.
But the real question was what it was doing way up here. As Kirby approached closer and caught a glimpse of a greenish-teal shell next to the smoking wreck, he got his answer.
Escargon.
Kirby's face fell. As he'd suspected, Dedede somehow had a hand in this. Rather amusingly, he also realized that they had to lug his starship all the way up to the open balcony, which was at a height of about ten stories off ground level. Frankly, how they managed to carry up a five-ton spacecraft up multiple flights of stairs—he doubted that the place had elevators—and somehow succeed in bringing it to the very top of a watchtower was a mystery for the ages. For all Kirby knew, they could've warped space-time to teleport the starship up.
Still, regardless of how they'd managed to get the thing up there, it was his spaceship they were meddling with. With an irritated expression, Kirby made haste to push himself to reach the top of the watchtower.
"See, this is why Waddle Dees make such good fodder!"
Escargon wheezed from the smoke as he proceeded to heave a sigh of relief from the close shave. He had been incredibly close to being caught in the earlier explosion. If he hadn't delegated the task to a Waddle Dee servant, then it would have been him instead of a Waddle Dee getting flung off the watchtower balcony due to the shock wave from the explosion. That would definitely suck for him if it had been the case. Ah well, Escargon thought as he saw the flying Waddle Dee land in the moat surrounding the castle's outer walls with a splash, no one would miss the random sucker.
He took back that statement less than a mere five seconds later. Unfortunately for Escargon, the loss of the Waddle Dee that he had used as manual slave labor meant that he was now forced to do the task all by himself. "Why do I have to be the one doing all the work around here? Lousy Dedede… the least that the king could do is share the workload so that I don't have to break my back fixing this ship just for his majesty's revenge scheme!"
Escargon continued to grumble to himself as he carried on sifting through the wreckage of what remained of the crashed ship, before suddenly stopping when he noticed something out of place. In the burning spacecraft control panel was a small blue cushion pouch, just like the sort that a person'd keep a wedding ring in. The snail reached for it to save the burning case before it turned to ashes, throwing it to the ground to smother out the flames. Once the flames were put out, he slowly flipped open the casing, before gasping when he found a small yellow star-shaped object embedded within the cavity inside.
"Heh! Looks like some sort of a fancy space jewel to me!" Escargon chuckled with triumph as he took the object out from the cushioned casing. "Well, finders keepers!" he declared triumphantly as he clasped the star stone in his hand and strode off to toss it in with his other hidden jewels. However, just as he was about to leave the vicinity, a mumbled "Poyo!" made him stop dead in his tracks.
"Gah!" he jumped up two feet in the air before turning towards the voice. "Ki-Ki-Kirby!" he yelped as the pink puffball exhaled and landed on the watchtower. "Um, uh, well… this isn't what it looks like?" he mumbled, quickly placing his hands behind his shell to hide the tiny star that he was holding.
Kirby took one look at the smoking wreck that used to be his spaceship and proceeded to shoot Escargon a grumpy expression. "Hey, don't look at me!" he piped back at Kirby's accusatory look. "I was trying to fix ya' spaceship there, sonny!"
"Poyo?" There was a hint of skepticism in his voice this time.
"Honest!" Escargon claimed. "Cross my heart!"
Kirby then smiled, nodding his head in thanks. "Poyo!"
Remarkably, it seemed that he'd managed to smoke Kirby by making his voice sound convincing enough, since he appeared to have bought the excuse. Intrigued by his new surroundings instead, Kirby took one last lingering look at the starship before running out of the balcony and into the castle itself.
"Phew! That sure was close…" Escargon wiped beads of sweat away from his brow with his free hand once Kirby was gone. "Ha! Kirby's really a naive fool! And to think I was actually worried there for a second. I needn't have bothered!" Deciding to play it safe, he placed the star back into its casing and hurriedly made away with his prize. Sabotaging the starship could wait, especially now that Kirby had stumbled onto him tinkering with the spacecraft. Keeping the glittering yellow star in his possession was now Escargon's topmost priority.
"And just where is King Dedede anyway?" he asked as he walked down the stairs to head to his hidden treasury, "Wouldn't want to run into him with such a valuable find."
Escargon didn't know it, but the royal king was not actually very far from him at all. Just a couple of rooms away, Dedede was marching into his throne room with an agitated look on his face.
"Hmph! Dare to throw me off a cliff, you little pink punk? Wait until that good-for-nothing Kirby get a load of this!" He sat down onto his throne chair, reaching under the armrest to push down on a concealed button.
The brightly lit room immediately turned dim as all the lamps puttered out at once. Various whirls and mechanical beeps starting to sound off as a large hidden device was revealed from underneath the floor. A large television screen then swung into view from a hidden panel, booting up to show a well-dressed man with tinted glasses on his face. "Welcome back to Holy Nightmare's specialized demon beast delivery service," he greeted the seated Dedede with a wide grin. "How may I serve you, your royal majesty—"
"You might begin by explaining ta' me why the demon beast that you sent me was worthless!" Dedede didn't waste a second before beginning his rant, making sure to immediately yell at the sales representative who was on the screen before he was even able to finish his introduction. "I don't have the slightest requirement for a demon beast that can gobble up sheeps!" That part was actually a lie. Dedede had wanted to ruin the town's livestock lamb supply so that he could disrupt the market equilibrium for wool and sell off his own personal stockpile at a massive gain to recuperate some of his recent spendings, but he wasn't going to tell that to the man on the screen. Dedede needed to use all the ammo that he currently had with him for this argument, adamantly refusing to give the smarmy salesman any leeway lest he turned everything around.
He continued on even as the salesman tried to raise his hands up as a symbol of surrender. "You told me that this guy was a terrifying beast that would haunt my people's nightmares, but then you send me this thing!" he gestured by putting two of his fingers close to each other just so he could emphasize the octopus' tiny size. "And ta' make matters worse, you made me shell up some big dough for this huge machinery just to bring this absolutely tiny demon beast here! I demand that you compensate me! I want you to refund me all the money that I spent on the delivery system right this minute!"
The flustered salesman leaned forward, his demeanor completely cool in spite of Dedede's rage. After all, it was the job of a sales representative to remain calm under any circumstances. "Whoa there. You better watch your blood pressure, Triple D."
"Since when did you, of all people, ever care about my blood pressure!?" Dedede glared daggers at the green-haired salesman as his blood began to boil, instantly recognizing the usual signs that showed that he was trying to squirm away by diverting the topic.
But even with Dedede in the know about the salesman's regular tactic, nothing was actually keeping the well-dressed customer service representative from doing exactly just that. Ignoring Dedede's yells of anger, he continued to speak, "And as we have told you before, your decision to purchase a Demon Beast delivery system from us is certainly money well spent, your majesty. Definitely a worthy investment once you break down the costs. Two hundred million deden is a small price to pay for a subscription to a service that could instantly bring any demonic monster to your planet as per your personalized request." He rubbed his hands together with a gleeful chuckle, "As a matter of fact, if you continue to patronize Holy Nightmare, you will soon be able to take charge of your very own personal arsenal of demon beasts in your native kingdom of Dream Land!"
"Well, some arsenal this is!" Dedede scoffed at the pretty picture that the man on the screen was portraying to him. It appeared that their definition of 'arsenal' greatly differed. He barreled on, jabbing his thumb inwards to point at himself, "Because in my opinion, you sent me worthless doo-dung! You think that the tiny little octopus you sent me is able to strike fear into people's hearts? That's a lie and you know it! What I really need in my so-called arsenal is something truly terrifying… something that would rock a person to the very core!"
The well-dressed customer service representative gave a small condescending laugh at Dedede's request. "Pardon me, but you already have a demon beast that matches that very description currently in your possession. He shook his head with a small sigh. "Oh, if only your majesty is aware of the true power that Octacon wields within him…" As the man straightened up, his orange-tinted glasses reflected off an ominous glint of light.
Dedede didn't miss the retort, the king immediately giving an unamused snort in response, "The worthless shrimp? Don't make me laugh!" His finger hovered over the 'off' switch for the transmission, the threat of him cutting off the conversation implicit. "Because I'm certainly not laughing!"
"My dear king, might I advise you to never underestimate Holy Nightmare Corporation." The normally fast-talking salesman sinisterly lowered the tempo of his speech, slowing down the words of that specific sentence so much that Dedede almost swore that there was a hidden edge of anger to his voice.
However, the agitated reply was not enough to intimidate the angry king. "Then give me something good!" he retorted back, shaking his fist at the screen. The service rep—personally, Dedede and Escargon called him Customer Service given that that was their impression of his job scope—gave Dedede a reassuring smile, one that almost seemed to retract back all of his previous agitation. "Well, it'll cost you about—"
"Then forget it!" Dedede made a shooing motion at the screen with his hands the moment he realized that there would be mounting costs. "No deal! I'll make do with the shrimpy octopus."
At that, Customer Service gave a snap of his fingers. "Ah, but it won't remain a tiny shrimp for that much longer…"
"What was that?" he asked, staring at Customer Service in confusion. Once it was clear that he wasn't going to get a response, Dedede lost his patience and pushed the button to turn off the entire get-up in annoyance, letting the demon beast delivery machine and TV screen slip back into the castle walls and floor. "Lousy service…" he grumbled as he got to his feet once the lights turned on, which was the signal that showed that the entire contraption had disappeared out of sight. "Now I can't even get a good demon beast to get rid of Kirby. Gah! I need that Holy Nightmare salesman to pay for his disrespect once and for—"
A sudden splash coming from the water tank interrupted Dedede mid-rant. He shot a passing glance at the area only to double-take and yell in horror as he witnessed the appalling sight ahead of him.
"Wh-what in the hell is that thing!?"
Only then did it strike Dedede that Customer Service snapping his finger wasn't meant to be a rude gesture to him at all. Rather, it had been a signal to the demon beast in his room, who was now over four times his original size and beginning to overflow the little tank he was kept in. "Get back into your cozy little tank! You're flooding my throne room!" he yelled as the growing Octacon displaced even more water, making a mess of the bright red carpet that covered the floor.
"Waddle Dees! Waddle Dees!" Dedede yelled for his servants. "I'm not vacuuming that dirty wet carpet! Hurry up and get that octopus out of my personal throne room before it turns into a flippin' swimming pool!" Immediately as he finished his order, six Waddle Dees charged forward. But before they could cart the water tank away, the octopus monster eyes flashed green with fury. It began to enlarge itself, squirming its body out of the top of the tank before extending its tentacles out and swinging them towards the Waddle Dees, flinging them away like they were rag dolls. It knocked aside all the Waddle Dees trying to move it away, the swinging attack unintentionally taking out a support pillar in the process.
Dedede instinctively cringed when he saw his throne room getting wrecked apart as collateral damage. "Does this thing think that my place is its own personal aquarium? It's destroying my castle! Don't just stand there, you useless Waddle Dees! DO SOMETHING!" he yelled in fury at a trembling Waddle Dee who was too frightened to even respond. Upon realizing that the Waddle Dee was too scared to do anything of use, he stomped his foot against the damp carpet in anger. "You worthless cretins! You can't fight worth a darn without your leader!"
The king ran back and dove for his throne chair, grabbing hold of his intercom microphone at the side to page the commander of the Waddle Dees up to the throne room. "Alright, this here is an emergency announcement, so listen up! We've got ourselves some big trouble in the throne room, so I wanna see your singular eye right this minute, Captain Waddle—"
Swoosh!
Dedede didn't get a chance to complete the announcement, a looming shadow sweeping across the area interrupting his train of thought. Glancing up, he gave a startled yelp and jumped to the side, just in time to avoid a large pink tentacle coming down on where he'd just been standing.
Stunned that he himself was being targeted, Dedede dropped the microphone, abruptly cutting off the announcement. His feelings of anger at being attacked and fear of further provoking the beast lay in a delicate balance, before his usual fiery personality took command of his behavior again. With reckless abandon, Dedede fearlessly glared at the rapidly growing octopus. "How dare you defy me, you slimy worm! I am your master, so you better do as I say or else!"
Another attack aimed at Dedede had the wondrous effect of shutting his mouth up as the king was forced to hastily dodge the tentacle by diving to the left in a faceplant. "Gargh!" Dedede clutched his head in pain as he clambered to a sitting position on the floor.
However, the force of the moving tentacle proved to be the last straw for the supporting glass. Unable to take the weight of the demon beast any longer, the glass tank imploded, sending a shower of glass all over the room. "Yow!" Dedede cried, wincing as a large shard nicked him in the cheek. The Waddle Dees weren't spared either, the flying shrapnel hitting many of the room's occupants. Now completely terrified out of their wits, all six of the Waddle Dee servants ditched their posts, fleeing the room with bleeding cuts.
Now unimpeded and without a barrier to stop it from enlarging, Octacon continued to grow in size unopposed, its outer skin turning from a pale pink to a menacing maroon red as it did so.
"S-So that's how ya' managed to gobble up all those sheeps…" the trembling king stuttered. Now humbled by the fact that his demon beast was uncontrollable and that calling more Waddle Dee minions just weren't going to cut it, Dedede quickly moved on to Plan B — running for his life. "Yaaahhhhhh!" he yelled as he got to his feet, flailing his hands wildly about as he proceeded to dash out of the throne room at a speed that was surprisingly fast for someone of his large stature.
As Dedede rounded the corner that led out of the throne room, he banged right into Escargon, knocking the velvet box that the snail had been holding out of his hands as they both fell to the ground. "Ahhhhh!" Escargon shrieked as a large red tentacle poked out of the throne room door and headed towards them. "What the heck is that thing!?" he yelled as he got to his feet and ran in the opposite direction of the approaching appendage, the box containing the star left forgotten in the hallway.
"It's my demon beast, ya' doot!" Dedede yelled back as the penguin quickened his pace, overtaking the snail.
Escargon chanced a glance back towards the dangerously fast-approaching tentacle. "That's the demon beast? Your majesty, when was it ever so big!?"
"That's the point, ya' nincompoop! The octopus isn't supposed to be this big-yaargh!" Dedede yelled in fright as he was almost caught by the tentacle. "Oh, I take back everything I said! I liked it better as a tiny shrimp!" As Dedede whirled around the next corner and hid behind a supporting pillar, he happened to notice Kirby strolling down the same hallway by sheer coincidence. With a devious smirk as an idea hit him, he took out his hammer from under his robe and swung it down hard on the tentacle.
"UURGGHHHHHHH!' Octacon moaned, which managed to catch Kirby's attention. "Poyo?" he cocked his head in confusion as the end of the tentacle curled up, the monster proceeding to give Kirby the octopus equivalent of an anger-filled shaking fist.
"Heheheh!" He whipped his hammer back with a laugh, "Now Octacon's gonna think that Kirby there antagonized him and proceed to finish that pesky pink lump off for good! Yahahahah!" Dedede guffawed as Kirby began to panic and run off in the opposite direction once the puffball realized that the tentacle was anything from friendly.
A loud bellow rang across the night sky, catching the attention of many of the Cappy Town residents.
"Oh man, I don't like the sound of that…" Bun muttered under his breath as he ran towards the castle with the rest of the group.
Just then, a loud rumbling sound caused everyone still awake to look up in the direction of Castle Dedede. "What is that thing!?" Fumu cried out, pointing her finger at the monstrosity that she was witnessing. A giant red tentacle that looked like it came out of absolutely nowhere had wrapped itself around one of the tall watchtowers.
"Looks to me like that's the trouble we were worried about!" Sword Knight responded by pointing his blade at the giant tentacle.
Bun jumped up and down as he pointed rapidly at it. "This thing must be absolutely humongous! It must have been the monster who had eaten the sheep! No wonder nothing but bones were left!"
"Oh no!" Fumu quickened her pace as the monster let out another deep bellow. "Kirby's over there!"
As the group ran across the drawbridge and headed for the front doors of the castle, two others running in the opposite direction caused Fumu and Bun to stop dead in their tracks in the middle of the bridge. "King Dedede!" Fumu yelled, pointing at the running penguin.
The girl's shout caused the king to halt in his tracks, although he was the only one to do so since the scaredy-cat Escargon continued to make his way to safety. The Meta Knight crew, Lololo, and Lalala all also didn't slow down, zooming past the three who'd stopped to enter the front doors. As Dedede gave a cautionary glance back to the ragtag team that just entered his castle, he soon snapped his gaze front so that he could glare at the two who were blocking his way forward. "Well, well, well… if it isn't little Fumu and Bun!" Dedede greeted the children with a sneer. "What's wrong? You two seem rather worried. Are you looking for something?" he asked, the smirk never leaving his face as he spoke.
The expression that Dedede had was all the proof Fumu needed for her accusation. She pointed a quivering finger at Dedede, rage visible in her eyes. "You did something to Kirby, didn't you!?"
"Hahaha! That's right, little girly!" The callous Dedede didn't even attempt to deny his involvement in the matter. "The last I checked, Kirby ran all the way back to my throne room in a feeble attempt ta' escape the giant monster ya' see over there." He pointed at the large red tentacle that could be seen even from outside Castle Dedede, which had begun to tighten its vice-like grip on the castle watchtower that it had entangled around its tentacle. Seeing the destructive force of his demon beast as the appendage caused parts of the tower's outer wall to visibly crack, Dedede proceeded to laugh maliciously as Fumu and Bun gaped on in horror at the destruction. "Hahahaha! Look at all of that power! You're too late! Kirby's done dinner!"
"Grrrr!" Bun growled. "You won't get away with this, Dedede!"
"I already have!" Right as Dedede finished his cocky declaration, a loud rumbling noise could be heard throughout the castle. "Would you look at that…" Dedede remarked as tiny pieces of stone and rubble began to cascade down into the moat under the bridge they were standing on. "The whole place is falling apart! I bet that that giant octopus is having an excellent dinner with Kirby right now. You better hurry if you want to save him! Hehehehehh!"
"Let's go, Bun!" Fumu grabbed her brother by the arm and stormed off, refusing to stand for another second of Dedede's words. The king merely watched as she entered Castle Dedede and ran up a flight of stairs.
She never noticed Dedede's crafty smirk.
As another violent rumble vibrated through Castle Dedede, the shockwaves so strong that they could be felt even from Dedede's position on the drawbridge, the king clenched his fist as he was forced to debate in his mind on whether to run for safety or stay to watch the carnage.
"Your majesty! What are you doing?"
Still deep in thought, Dedede turned around to see Escargon by the foot of the bridge. He slowly walked towards the snail with an expressionless look.
Escargon began to ramble. "There you are, sire! I looked back because you weren't with me, so I backtracked to see if the demon beast got you. But you're perfectly fine, so what gives-wargh!" He yelped as he felt Dedede grab hold of his shell and lift him up. "Hey, lemme go!"
"You ain't chickening out of the finale, Escargon!"
"What're you doing, sire? Let me down!" Escargon yelled when he saw that Dedede was preparing to charge back in. "Are you crazy, your majesty!?"
Dedede hobbled across the drawbridge, ignoring Escargon's shrieks and attempts to get free as the snail desperately struggled against the king's grip. "Hmph! I'm perfectly sane! You and I are gonna watch as I finally get my revenge on that meddling brat for sending me off a hill!"
"You really are crazy, sire!"
"Shut yer' trap, Escargon!" Dedede snapped. "Payback will be mine! You hear me, Kirby!? Ahahahha!"
The moon was high in the sky, shining bright rays of white moonlight over the airborne palace.
In the lavish jewel-laden palace, there was a single lone person wandering about the grand hallway that led up to the royal throne. For over the past year, the throne chair had been empty, with no one sitting on it. There was not one person who dared to approach the seat out of an equal mixture of fear and respect. After all, the position had been vacated ever since that incident.
But there were some who swore that on a night where the moon was roundest, one could feel a faint presence of the country's former ruler in the air, flowing along the soft breeze like a lost soul.
Tonight was one of those nights for the person in the palace throne hallway. "Heh…" he let out a somber chuckle, "It looks like summer's giving way to autumn back down in Dream Land. But you know as well as I do that it's always spring up here, the perfect weather for flowers to bloom."
If anyone watching were to witness the sight, they would be wondering why a crazy person was talking to himself. But they wouldn't understand. They would never understand.
He gazed upwards towards the full moon with a sense of longing in his eyes. As if in response, the wind gently blew on his face, causing him to close his eyes in mourning. "Yeah, I know. The last time that Dream Land's seasons were like this was about a year ago… you know, when it all went down…" With a sigh, he placed one of his hands to his forehead. "To be honest, it's still hard for me to believe that an entire year has flown on by since then. Can you believe that it's been one whole year since the whole incident happened?" he asked out loud in an exhausted voice.
He grimaced when he heard his own voice sent back to him in an echo, his question reverbing across the marble-laden walls as if to mock him by throwing the query back to him. Ironically, he himself knew that the question that he had asked out loud was a rhetorical one. After all, there wasn't a single person in the surrounding kingdom who didn't know exactly how long it had been since the whole episode had occurred. He blinked away a single tear shed from his eye as he continued to look at the shimmering moon. "I know that it's unlikely, but I sincerely hope with all my heart that you're finally in a better place now."
Letting out a tired sigh, he threw a rose that he had been holding high up into the air, letting the gentle wind currents carry the flower downwind. As his eyes followed the flower's slow descent, he suddenly noticed a lady dressed in black floating towards the palace. Quite amusingly, she was carrying a burlap sack hoisted over her shoulder, which reminded him of the old days when he'd had his fair share of situations where he'd played kidnapper.
He shook his head to rid his mind of the morbid thoughts. He was probably overthinking the situation. The woman was most likely carrying supplies in the sack, or something along those lines.
"So this is where the trail leads… I must say, you've been an excellent help indeed!" The female let out a small chuckle as she gazed around the area. Tugging on the bag, she continued to monologue. "But still, I should thank you for leading me all the way here. I assure you that we Jambastions appreciate your help, regardless of whether you like it or not. Bahahaha! Think of it as one last favor to the Dark Lord…"
He raised his eyebrows at her words. From his perspective, it was almost as though she was talking to herself. Aside from her, there appeared to be no one else except for him in the vicinity. He knew this for a fact — he'd given all of the guards the night off to give himself some personal privacy.
His curiosity now piqued, the small being found himself hovering forward to get closer to her. "Hey, miss!" he called out as he got close, raising one of his many arms to catch her attention. "What are you doing all alone here on a beautiful night such as this?"
Author's Note:
Rather amusingly, I should say that I never had any plans to adapt the Octacon fight, but circumstances meant that I just had to write it in. It just sort of… happened.
But to be fair, I honestly wasn't going to adapt the entirety of Kirby Comes to Cappy Town aside from the little snippet that you guys got in the first chapter. However, I ended up loving the few bits and scraps I wrote as a story outline, which then slowly became paragraphs and finally entire chapters which spans this mini story arc. But in case you're anxious, the next chapter should finish off the first episode for good, so stay tuned!
