Hammer Kirby landed skillfully on his feet and looked around. There were trembling Waddle Dees holding spears and the occasional Simirror or Waddle Doo with their powers charging or wands ready respectively.
Kirby made a little grunt. That was his competition? Piece of shortcake.
One brave Waddle Dee rushed Kirby, but was met by a flaming hammer to the face.
Kirby had used his most powerful attack, the Hammer Flip, right at the beginning.
The mob tensed, and a Simirror used its telepathy powers to communicate with the crowd.
"On my mark, charge."
Kirby started running at them full speed.
"Charge!"
The entire mob slammed into Kirby at once, but just before contact, Kirby jumped, and was able to do his running jump Hammer ability; Ultra Hammer Spin.
All the enemies that had once been attempting to attack Kirby were destroyed in an instant, the only survivors being a few tough Simirrors.
Kirby landed and saw his last targets, which he dealt with quickly using his regular dash; Hammer Swing.
Kirby dashed through an archway and saw many Waddle Dees, Waddle Doos, Simirrors, and now a few Wheelie mini bosses and Wheelies alike.
Kirby dashed through them all, occasionally using Hammer Swing but mainly just trying to reach the king.
Meanwhile, pacing in his throne room, the king had a wicked idea. King Dedede sat on his swivel chair-like throne and peeled back a covering concealing about six or seven white buttons. King Dedede pushed the biggest button on his control pad and the lights of the throne room went dark as a secret trapdoor was removed from the middle of the room and the ceiling. From these trapdoors sprung a huge device. Two more trapdoors opened on either side of the throne, and a friendly face popped up.
"Well hello, Your Majesty in all his greatness," Customer Service greeted, "What may I do for you today?"
"Send me something that turns nice guys bad. I have an ally in my dungeon who turned on me… He was too powerful to lose."
"Of course! Right away! That will be one thousand deden."
The king's jaw dropped. "But I just saw that in the catalogue yesterday! It was only two hundred deden then!"
"That was an old catalogue. The prices change, Sire."
"Fine! You'll get the deden, I just need the stuff!"
"Alright…" Customer Service pressed a button on his control panel and the strange machine in the middle of the room glowed eerily.
A small bottle appeared, and the king took it with a dark chuckle before he sprinted down a safe hall to the dungeon.
Back with Kirby, almost a quarter of Castle Dedede's defensive units have been defeated within around fifteen minutes.
Things were not looking up for the king.
Kirby was almost at the halfway mark to the middle of the castle where he presumed the king would be when he entered a room even his Crash ability couldn't help him with.
In the room were spikes lining the walls and ceiling and floor. The floor and ceiling had indentations and mounds making maneuvering more challenging, as the only way to get past was to fly.
The spiky surfaces weren't even the biggest threat the room had to offer.
Jolting up and down like it was a bounce house were Gordos. On the ceiling were Ticks, smiling and anticipating, and on the floor crawled tens of Needlice.
Kirby was worried. One hit from anything but a Needlouse would force him to drop his ability.
Kirby started to plan his route carefully, and was about to go for it when a red and white lollipop with a star on the corner fell into his mouth. Kirby got a massive sugar rush, and immediately dashed forward on the spikes, instantly defeating all the Needlice in his path.
Gluttony is the answer for everything, is it not?
Kirby's invincibility streak almost lasted him until the end of the room, but his foot snagged on a spike and his Hammer ability fell below a Tick, whose face filled with malice as it impaled the ability. The Ticks were too high to inhale and too far in the middle of the room, so Kirby moved on.
In the next room was a T.A.C. guarding the place where Kirby walked out of, and it tried to grab him, but Kirby reacted too quickly and the T.A.C. felt almost as if its arm was about to fall off, so it succumbed to the swirling vortex that was Kirby's mouth.
Kirby gained his Copy Copy Ability, which he immediately discarded by making another T.A.C.
"Take And Copy, ready to react!" The new Helper yelled confidently.
Kirby glared into the room he was about to go through. Kirby immediately felt bad for his T.A.C., because not only did his species' name be an acronym for "Take And Copy", it was also "Cat" spelled backwards.
This new room was a column of water, as it was flowing from the ceiling into a pit, there was no choice but to get a bit wet.
Kirby looked back sympathetically at his T.A.C. and dashed up to the water and jumped in.
Kirby's T.A.C. did the same, albeit hesitantly.
Kirby rushed through the door at the other end of the room with his T.A.C. following closely.
The next room was filled with Bonkers, Simirrors, Parasol Waddle Dees, Walkies, and Plasma Wisps.
Kirby found the nearest Walkie and inhaled it, while his T.A.C. copied a Simirror and gained the appearance of the latter in an instant. Kirby now had a magician friend to help.
Kirby used his first Microphone charge, Megaphone, and all the Walkies, Parasol Waddle Dees and Plasma Wisps in the room met a swift end. Kirby used his second charge, Desk Microphone, and all the Simirrors were blasted out of existence. Kirby used his last charge, what would generally be known as Standing Microphone, had he not stood his ground longer, slowly nodding his head faster to the currency he wanted his final attack to be, one thought to be a myth, but was about to take place.
Kirby lowered his voice and performed an Encore, shrieking "DEATH ALL!" into his Standing Microphone. Kirby's Microphone ability left him, and he inhaled a defeated Bonkers laying on the ground from the sheer volume and quality of Kirby's "singing".
Kirby regained Hammer, unknowing that one especially tough Bonkers was still alive murmuring into his walkie-talkie.
"He WHAT?!" King Dedede screamed after hearing that Kirby had wiped out an entire room without a scratch on himself.
Kirby heard the scream come in through the radio and saw a Bonkers faking defeat. The Bonkers didn't realize this however and continued to soothe into the walkie-talkie until a konk on the head defeated him for real.
King Dedede yelled to his loyal servant, Bandana Dee, and asked him what he should do to defeat Kirby. He was only two rooms away, after all.
"Well, Sire, you could take him yourself. You did order that Dedede hammer from the Nightmare Corporation."
"I could do that or I could send you out to defeat him! I'll bet he's tired after sacrificing my servants."
Bandana Dee's eyes widened.
"S-Sire, this is the Pink Terror we're talking about here. His stamina is endless, his vigor unquenched by anything one could throw at him."
"Oh, yeah? Well I'm the king here and I'm commanding you to go try."
Bandana Dee bowed. "As you wish, Your Majesty."
Kirby rushed into the next room and puffed himself up to avoid falling into the pit that lay before the door, his Simirror Air Jumping close behind. Kirby landed on the platform and entered the next room easily.
The next room was void of everything but the walls, ceiling, floor and Bandana Dee.
"Kirby, I challenge you to-"
Kirby had walked to Bandana Dee and used his Triple Hammer to smash him flat without the slightest "Poyo".
Meanwhile, King Dedede had found the last piece of his Dedede Hammer set and awaited Kirby in the adjoining room…
Kirby and his Simirror exited and found themselves in an electrified cage. There was a Copy Essence of Hammer in the middle of the cage, and as Kirby already had Hammer, his Simirror ran up and grabbed it, becoming a Bonkers.
"This will be the last time you face me, puny Star Warrior. You will never have your friend back…" With that, King Dedede himself jumped into the cage and the battle begun…
Even though it was already lost…