Chapter 9: A Sticky Situation
My Adventure Log, Entry #3: Wings of Steel
Hai again!
Well, color me surprised… it's Dyna Blade! Now there's a familiar face and a blast to the past indeed! I haven't had to deal with her for more than nine years, in fact!
It looks like this Dream Land has more in common with mine than I thought. Destroying crops to feed her young again, it would seem. Well, at the very least I know what she's after, so I am able to preempt her before she causes any further trouble.
Off to Candy Mountain, I suppose… or whatever the name of the mountain that this Dyna Blade lives is. Although if the complete brownness of the mountain path is any indication, this cliff seems a lot more boring to transverse than the last time I confronted my Dyna Blade. But not to fret… if all goes well, there wouldn't even need to be a confrontation at all! (:
Flying with the Winds,
Kirby
"Just what were you thinking!?"
Bandana Dee flinched back as Captain Waddle Doo shrieked at him. Even though Waddle Doo's voice was cutesy and high-pitched, the commander was still somehow able to incite fear with it… which probably spoke volumes as to how fearsome the Waddle Doo could be despite his nimble appearance.
Bandana had to admit that he had never been so terrified of a Waddle Doo before. Nevertheless, he fought to remain calm as he responded to the captain. "I'm so sorry, Waddle Doo—"
Waddle Doo glared at Bandana, his unwavering stare causing Bandana to freeze up. "When you talk to me, call me 'sir'. Got that, private?" he barked.
"Y-yes… sir!" Bandana stuttered, hastily adding on the term of respect lest he provoke his new mentor any further.
"Good." Waddle Doo's gaze finally softened. "Please don't worry me like that, Private Bandana!" Waddle Doo lightly reprimanded as he gave Bandana a pat on the back in apology. "Going up to the roof to confront Dyna Blade is incredibly reckless! Sure, I might not know much about Dyna Blade myself, but I assure you from what the legends say that it's practically suicide for someone of your stature to do it alone!"
Bandana meekly nodded at his words. He hated to admit it, but Waddle Doo had a point. He had never fought against the Dyna Blade of his world, but from what Kirby had told him, Dyna Blade was certainly not a pushover when the Dream Land hero had gone up against her.
"I understand." Bandana Dee nodded his head, heaving a hidden sigh of relief. When Waddle Doo had marched up to the roof for an inspection after Dyna Blade's flypast and happened to find a stunned Bandana along with a TV saucer that had been toppled over, he knew that he had to come up with an excuse quickly lest they figured out his true intention. And thus, Bandana had blurted out the only thing that had come to his mind — that he went up to the roof to confront Dyna Blade. While such a brash statement was certainly going to get him in trouble, it was heaps better than saying that he had been on the roof to destroy the broadcast saucer dish.
"I understand your enthusiasm, but please keep your eagerness in check!" Waddle Doo continued on. "In battle, always remember that fighting head-on without thinking is a surefire way to get yourself injured. That is why you Waddle Dees must use your overwhelming numbers to your advantage! Surround them as a group to flank them instead of blindly charging in one-by-one! We have to work as a team, not as a lone individual!"
Although Bandana kept his face straight, he actually felt those words cutting deep into him. As Great King's right-hand man, he was usually the lone ranger, the singular Waddle Dee leader that went on epic adventures together with his king! Since the other Waddle Dees were often used as support—or occasionally brainwashed to be the enemy—that normally left just Bandana to be the spearhead of his entire species. As such, if he were to be honest, having to work as a team with other Waddle Dees felt a little challenging for him, since he was so used to being a lone wolf when it came to being with his species. Sure, Bandana didn't find it demeaning, but that was because it was rather unlike what he was used to.
"Hey, Waddle Doo!" The tender moment between Dee and Doo was broken apart by Escargon's nasally voice, the snail marching down Castle Dedede's corridor as though he owned the place. Seeing Dedede's actual right-hand man, Captain Waddle Doo turned around to greet the snail. "Yes, sir? What brings you here?"
"King Dedede wants to see you." Escargon folded his arms. "It's regarding Channel DDD and—" he shook his head before he finished off the statement, "—that overgrown bird, Dyna Blade. It's been about two hours since it flew over us, and we want to make some plans regrading that bird. So come along now, Waddle Doo!"
Before Bandana could follow Waddle Doo, Escargon held up a hand and added an extra few words. "Alone. He wants to see you alone, Captain Waddle Doo." Bandana saw that the snail's glare was directed at him and wisely decided to stay put. From his reaction, Bandana could tell that Escargon hadn't overheard him speaking to Waddle Doo since the captain had been the one talking in the conversation for the past thirty seconds. That was certainly good. Dee very much preferred it that way. There was no need to paint himself to be a bigger target in not-Great King's eyes. Giving Waddle Doo a wave of support as the captain strutted off, he turned around the corner, nervously gripping onto his spear.
Amazingly, Waddle Doo hadn't said a word about his new weapon when he'd been fetched down from the castle rooftop, merely giving a grunt of approval after a simple glance before Waddle Doo had scolded him. Perhaps it was because the Waddle Dees here were all usually armed with spears, while back home only the most elite received spears as a weapon, and even then most of the Dees weren't as proficient with a spear as Bandana was.
Bandana let his body slouch as he let out yet another sigh. "If there's another Great King here, and another Dyna Blade here as well… just how many copies of us are there here…?" he mumbled out loud in an inaudible voice.
Just how different would this Dream Land be from his own?
"Dyna Blade!?"
Curio shook his head in disappointment as the Cappies surrounding the giant metallic feather cried the bird's name in surprise. "Honestly, do any of you young'uns actually study ancient Cappy history?" he asked to the crowd standing before him.
Seeing everyone in the vicinity—from the kids to the grownups—shake their heads with no shame whatsoever, Curio let out a sigh, inwardly grumbling about the younger generation's lack of interest in the historic aspects of Cappy Town. Nevertheless, he trudged on, proceeding to relay the tale of the giant bird as the curator became the center of attention. "Yes, this is definitely the work of Dyna Blade. It is an unmistakable fact. There can be no doubt… this giant feather proves it."
"Giant feather? That's actually a feather?!" Bun quipped, observing the large size of the fallen metal blade on the ground. "You mean this huge thing is the feather of this Dyna Blade? Oh man, if that's the size of just one single feather, then Dyna Blade must be huge!" he pointed out with a tremor in his voice, a few of the Cappies shuddering as they came to the same conclusion.
"You are definitely correct there, Bun. Dyna Blade is indeed one massive being… an unbelievably large avian creature whose multicolored wings shine like the rainbow. The legends vary about what its actual size is, but I guarantee you that it is much larger than you and I."
Iroo folded his arms as he sarcastically shot a remark at Curio, "Yeah, like you couldn't guess that from all the destruction that's surrounding us, Mr. Curio?"
"Iroo, this description is not based from a mere hypothetical guess." Curio grumbled at the child's blaséd remark. "Sure, you might be able to infer Dyna Blade's size if you look at the turmoil that Cappy Town is currently in, but there are Cappies from centuries past who have seen Dyna Blade fly with their own two eyes, recording their experiences in written manuscripts. And according to them, Dyna Blade's wingspan alone puts our infrastructure to shame!"
"Oh yeah?" Chief Borun put his hand to his lip, clearly skeptical and still of the belief that someone else was behind the destruction. "Then how come this time we happen to have no witnesses who saw this 'Dyna Blade' in all of Cappy Town in spite of our increased population compared to a couple hundred years prior?"
"Gah! You're right!" Curio raised both hands to his temple, grabbing the sides of his forehead at Chief Borun's point. "Argh, I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's because of his majesty's newfangled Channel DDD! Why did King Dedede have to release it and keep me home on the day when a once-in-a-lifetime event happens?!" he bemoaned as the reality of the situation hit him in the face. "I can't believe I missed my chance to see an actual Dyna Blade flypast with my own two eyes!"
"See, Professor Curio!" Fumu had a small dignified smile when her ears finally caught wind of the first actual criticism of Dedede's TV network. "I told you that King Dedede's television sets would only keep you all distracted, but no one wanted to listen to me!" she said haughtily, the Cappy girl finally satisfied that Dedede's Channel DDD had suffered its first blow after hearing nothing but universal praise about it for the past eight hours or so.
Curio raised a hand helplessly at the girl as he let out a tired groan. "That's enough from you now, Fumu!" Frankly, the last thing that he wanted to hear right now was the Cabinet Minister's daughter nagging and telling everyone that she told them so. She meant well, yes, but even the calm archaeologist had to admit that it did get grating at times whenever she got petty at Dedede's schemes. "Although it is a shame that I missed seeing Dyna Blade in person, I can at least take solace in the fact that Cappy Town is now in a possession of an actual Dyna Blade feather!"
"Hey!" Honey raised her arm as she pushed through the crowd to get close to Curio. "I have a question, Mr. Curio! How do you know how Dyna Blade looks like if you yourself have never seen it before?"
"Ah, good catch!" Curio gave a small wink at the query. "Remember that I said that Cappies from ancient times have witnessed Dyna Blade themselves? They have left behind records of their encounters from times long past. That being said, there is no one who is currently still alive who has ever seen Dyna Blade in person. No one knows where Dyna Blade comes from, but first sightings of it has been recorded as early as written history, at least a few millennia ago."
"A few millennia? Dyna Blade is that old?" Fumu asked, her eyes still lingering on the blade-cum-feather.
"Yes, that's right." Curio looked up to the night sky, his face deep in thought. "It is foretold that once every century, Dyna Blade will awaken to nurture its young. Only when its child has fully matured will it go back into hibernation. This cycle continues on for century after century, with each subsequent generation passing down the tale of Dyna Blade to their descendants…"
"Whoa, that's so freaking cool!" Bun muttered in awe at Curio's words.
His sister Fumu nodded along as she added in a impressed voice, "Generation upon generation? Dyna Blade must really be a legend…"
"…a legend that wrecked half of Cappy Town!" Mayor Len cried in protest, pointing at the overturned trees and ruptured roofs. "Look at the ruined roads and infrastructure! It'll take days, no… weeks to fix this mess! Worse still, even if we've got Minister Parm's backing, I'm not sure that King Dedede is willing to cough out the funds for the repair work if he knows that it'd basically been caused by a natural disaster that we couldn't prevent…"
"Well, I know for a fact that Dedede's not going to be funding anything to help us, even if it was within the humanitarian rules for disaster aid!" Fumu turned her head away from the feather as she pumped her fist into the air in a bid to rouse the audience up. "That's why we've got to work together and rebuild Cappy Town without him! Who's with me?!"
After her inspirational speech concluded, there was only an awkward silence that remained, finally broken when Iroo casually mentioned a thought that just about every Cappy around could relate to.
"Man, that sounds like a lot of work… I'd think that I'll rather be watching Channel DDD instead."
Fumu wasted no time in whirling onto the young boy. "Iroo! Not now!" she admonished.
"I admire your tenacity in trying to lead the repair efforts for Cappy Town, Fumu. However, I'm afraid that such an undertaking will all be for naught." All eyes fell on Curio as he suddenly began to speak again in a grim tone. "Since Dyna Blade has awakened once again, it must be rearing its young. That makes one thing certain at the very least… this will not be the last time that it devastates Cappy Town."
"What?!" The indignant yell of the Cappies caused Curio to flinch back. "Everyone, calm down! Listen, listen," he raised his arms, trying to maintain order in the panicking mess of villagers. "This flypast is merely a natural phenomenon. You have to think of Dyna Blade is a force of nature. If it flies past us at the speed capable of causing sonic booms, of course Cappy Town will suffer the full force of its supersonic flight. And thus, we'll be back to square one…"
"So Dyna Blade is like one of Dedede's demon beasts, only worse?!" Chief Borun yelped, his face turning queasy. "I don't like the sound of that bird coming back."
"I agree!" Honey nodded.
"Gosh, I don't feel so good…" Iroo retched.
"Please don't wreck my restaurant, Dyna Blade!" Kawasaki pleaded, gripping onto his frying pan tenderly. "It's my pride and joy! I promise I won't cook your chick, so don't destroy it please!"
Hohhe let his eyes hover towards the grassy outgrowth. "Will my dad's crops ever survive at this rate?" he grumbled.
At the outburst of negativity, Curio glanced back down to the feather on the ground, the innocuous piece of metal now gleaming menacingly under the moonlight, giving it the appearance of a terrifying blade. He cleared his throat to attract everyone's attention, making a grim statement to the crowd once he felt all eyes on him.
"One thing is for certain, though. With it nurturing its hatchling, it will be awake for a while. Hence, I can guarantee that Dyna Blade will return for sure!"
"Uh, your majesty…"
"How dare that Dyna Blade! I spent a whole million deden on that saucer!" Dedede bellowed in anger before Waddle Doo could finish his greeting. To be fair, anger was pretty much the king's default mood ever since Kirby had come to Cappy Town.
Although Captain Waddle Doo noted that on this occasion, the king was directing his anger at someone other than Kirby for once. "If you don't mind me asking, what's so special about that saucer, your majesty?" he asked out of curiosity.
"Hmph!" Dedede sneered, snorting as though his subordinate had just asked him a stupid question. Nevertheless, he still gave Waddle Doo a reply. "That saucer ain't no ordinary saucer! It's been powered by a high-power frequency amplifier, purchased courtesy of the same company that provided me my demon beasts — Holy Nightmare! After all, why simply broadcast my Channel DDD across the mere plains of Dream Land when I can amplify the radio waves until it can be beamed throughout the whole galaxy! Hahaha! There's no reason to settle for just Cappy Town when I can broadcast my charming face out throughout the entire universe instead?"
Captain Waddle Doo nodded in understanding at Dedede's words. "Ah, I see! So that's why the saucer's so powerful!" he exclaimed.
"And expensive, too! Holy Nightmare Corporation claimed that a saucer of that power is worth a ton of dough, so I had no choice but to pay 'em hard cash up front. I was planning on recuperating my losses with advertising revenue from the ratings, but lo and behold, that rotten bird just decides to ruin everything by thrashin' my saucer less than one day in!" Dedede yelled as he added onto Waddle Doo's statement, slamming his palm on the golden throne chair's armrest as he did so. The stricken king then continued to rant in a rather loud and undignified manner, "That Dyna Blade's trashed my saucer and my chance of being an intergalactic superstar! The nerve of that stupid featheredbrain bird! When I get my hands on that overgrown Dyna Blade, I'm gonna personally give it a taste of its own medicine!"
Waddle Doo tilted his head in confusion at what his king was saying. "But sire… what are you talking about? The saucer's safe and sound! There's not even a scratch on it! It just tipped over from being under Dyna Blade's flightpath. A saucer that's this expensive won't break from something as minor as that! A little tinkering with the wires and Channel DDD will be back online!" he reassured the king with a determined glint in his eye.
Dedede's mood switched instantaneously at the surprisingly good news. "Really? Well… okay then." Even Escargon was able to see that Dedede had significantly cooled down after hearing that his broadcast saucer was alright after all. "Well, don't just stand there… get it back online, Waddle Doo!" he ordered in a curt tone.
"Already on it, your majesty! My Waddle Dees are lugging it back up and running frequency tests on the saucer to make sure that it's serviceable as we speak. Soon Channel DDD will be back up, as soon as we iron out a few bugs with the cables! It'll happen in less than twelve hours! By dawn, your network will be back up!"
"Excellent work, Captain Waddle Doo!" Dedede praised the commander in a rare show of respect. He clenched his fist, determination crossing his face. "And then, I will make that Dyna Blade will pay for disrupting my television services—"
"Actually, your majesty…" Waddle Doo raised his arm, interrupting the king's speech as he held up a tape in his other hand. "Speaking of Dyna Blade, I think that you might want to see this, your majesty…"
"What's that?" Dedede raised an eyebrow.
Waddle Doo simply gave a firm nod to Dedede with fiery determination in his eye. "It's a video tape, sir," he informed. "One of the Waddle Dees brought it in. I've watched the contents of the tape and I must say that it's the perfect encore to resume the broadcast service for Channel DDD, your majesty."
"I ain't got time for any of that!" Dedede dismissed as he prepared to dash out of the throne room and head towards the recording studio located at the basement of the castle. "I need to prepare for my glorious re-debut—"
The king however, stopped short when Waddle Doo mentioned something that was music to his ears. "This tape involves Kirby, your majesty." Waddle Doo's eyelid narrowed, giving the impression of a distinct smirk. "And the best part is that Kirby can't refute this! It's full live video proof of his crime!"
Dedede sat back down on the throne chair. "Interesting…" he murmured with an increasingly vicious smile, "Do carry on 'bout this, Captain Waddle Doo…"
The next day…
Kirby let out a tired yawn, the small pink puffball snoozing in the nest on the tree outside of the dome-shaped house.
Such a peaceful morning, Kirby thought to himself as the first rays of sunlight began to break over the horizon. He rubbed his eyes at the light, leaning back on the nest and using the wooden twigs as a sort of makeshift pillow as he glanced up to the stars above, stars that would soon recede from view once the sun fully rose.
"Kirbyyyyyyy!"
Kirby grimaced as the tranquility was promptly shattered like fine glass by Fumu's shrill cry. "Poyo?" he muttered a response, getting up from his laid-back position to wave to Fumu and Bun from atop Tokkori's former nest as the duo ran towards him.
"There you are, Kirby!"
The puffball dropped his smile as he saw the female Cappy run towards him with a half-worried, half-angered expression on her face. He instantly tensed up. The last time she'd had that expression on her face, it had ended with him forced into a duel with Meta Knight.
And sure enough, the tongue lashing soon came knocking, right on schedule. "What did you do, Kirby?" Fumu questioned him with her hands on her hips, causing Kirby to tilt his body in confusion.
"Poyo?" the puffball asked, the single word conveying his surprise. What's going on? I don't know what she's talking about? What did I do?
"Oh, never mind. I'll explain the situation to you soon enough," Fumu placed her hand to her forehead exasperatedly. "But it's not safe for us to talk out in the open. Let's get into Tokkori's house. Now!" she sternly instructed to Kirby in a tone that brokered no arguments. As the trio marched into the domed house, Kirby heaved a tiny sigh of relief to see that Tokkori was absent from the vicinity. Frankly, he was in no mood to deal with another bout of whining from the yellow bird.
As Bun shut the door behind them, Fumu then pressed the button to turn on the television set, her green eyes glaring at the television as it powered up. "Pay close attention to what's onscreen, Kirby," she said as she stood behind the Star Warrior.
Kirby nodded at Fumu, before turning forward as he curiously looked up at the TV set. When Tokkori had been at home, Kirby had heard the bird laugh at the antics of the shows that were being broadcast. But when his curiosity had finally been piqued and he tried to catch a glimpse of the program himself, Kirby had found himself unceremoniously shooed away by Tokkori's beak.
Sure, he could have walked to Cappy Town to watch the program from another TV set, but Kirby felt that it was too much effort with too little payoff and thus went to sleep instead. As a result, this was the first time he'd actually managed to see Channel DDD. He licked his lips in excitement, crouching down in anticipation to see what would be airing.
Finally, the screen flickered to life. Kirby's face fell instantly when he was greeted by an image of King Dedede. Worse still, Dedede had a smug expression plastered on his face as he made the announcement, a dead giveaway to Kirby that the Dream Land ruler had something up his sleeve.
And sure enough, the Star Warrior's suspicion was proven right.
"On today morning's hot news, we now reveal the shocking real reason that Dyna Blade attacked our beautiful Cappy Town!"
Kirby grimaced at Dedede's exaggerated voice that blatantly screamed that he was vying for attention. He immediately knew that his earlier hunch that this was not going to be good was now 100% right.
Next, Dedede slammed the desk, yelling so loud that his voice clipped the speakers. "It's because of Kirby! And I've got incriminating footage of his crime, now about to be shown to prove this fact!" The king then laughed out loud, the camera zooming in to his laughing face before it cut to an entirely different scene.
"Poyo?" Kirby muttered in surprise as the image switched from Castle Dedede to an aerial view of a tall mountain. He could see that what was being aired now was of different quality compared to what Channel DDD usually aired. The footage was shaky and there was visible film grain on the screen. Thankfully, the night sky gave the recording a monochromatic feel, making the on-screen artifacts not seem so out of place.
Nevertheless, even he was shocked when he caught sight of himself in the tape. Kirby gaped at the screen when he saw his virtual self climbing out of a huge nest situated atop the mountain. Whoa, whoa, whoa! He did not remember doing any of this!
"What is this, Kirby?" Fumu asked with a glower, "I know about this since this is a repeat telecast from the 6:00a.m. morning news when the show went online, but I want to ask you personally. Why were you at Dyna Blade's nest last night?"
"Poyo!" Kirby tensed up, waving his arms about in denial as he backed away, sending a very clear message to the girl — "I didn't do it! I wasn't anywhere near there!"
Even Fumu could tell what Kirby was saying from his body language. "Wait a second! You really didn't do that, Kirby?" She looked back and forth to Kirby and the TV screen in confusion.
"Poyo." He shook his head to confirm her query, even though he still had no idea as to what she was referring to.
"But that doesn't make sense!" Fumu mumbled as she shot Bun a look for help, with her brother merely giving a useless shrug in response.
"Don't y'all see where this is going? This humongous nest is Dyna Blade's!" Dedede's booming voice, hastily dubbed over the footage, caused everyone to focus their attention back on the screen. "And now look at what Kirby's doing!"
Kirby was surprised to see that the 'him' that was on the screen was carrying out something yellow from the nest, holding it atop of his head. As the camera focused, he gasped when he saw what the flash of yellow was.
"That's Dyna Blade's chick…" Fumu stated the obvious as she saw the camera—capturing Kirby and the hatchling from an aerial bird's-eye view—slowly homing in and getting closer to the two. It was as though a flying drone was capturing the footage and zooming in on the two from afar.
Suddenly, the onscreen Kirby paused his trek down the mountain trail. Almost instantly, the tape suddenly cut to the sky, before ending abruptly a few seconds later. Afterwhich, the scene proceeded to cut back to a triumphantly cocky Dedede. "Tapes don't lie," he sneered, "This here is proof that the so-called heroic Star Warrior that y'all have been sheltering this whole time has betrayed you in a most ironic fashion by stealing that overgrown chick and thereby inciting Dyna Blade's wrath!" Dedede declared as he mockingly pointed his finger to the camera. "Heh heh heh! What do you have to say now, Cappy Town? What do ya' have to say!?"
"This is terrible, Kirby!" Fumu moaned as Kirby looked at the screen in shock. "My first reaction when Bun told me about this was pure unadulterated shock! King Dedede's painting you out to be the cause of all the destruction of Cappy Town that had been caused by Dyna Blade!"
"Poyo?"
"Oh, right." Fumu sighed. "I forgot that you weren't there when Professor Curio gathered the villagers. For context, Dyna Blade is a huge bird who'd destroyed Cappy Town late last night." She kneeled down to look Kirby in the eye. "Needless to say, Dedede scapegoating you has worked scarily well, Kirby. When I looked across Cappy Town this morning, I could see that some of the villagers were positively fuming! It's best for you to stay away from there for now at least."
A-All of this was lies! Kirby frowned unhappily as he continued to stare at the broadcast. He hadn't done any of what they were accusing him of! He didn't even know who Dyna Blade actually was before Fumu had told him!
"You know, I just wanted to come here and look for you just to confirm something." She folded her arms. "And based on your reaction, I now have my answer. You haven't the slightest clue about this at all before I told you, had you? You were here all this time, right?"
A nod from Kirby caused Fumu to growl. "That settles it! Something's definitely fishy here! If you were actually here all along, then how could there exist a tape that shows you going up to Dyna Blade's nest?" She then shook her head, knowing that she wasn't going to get the answers to her questions by staying here and doing nothing. "Alright, let's get to the bottom of this! There's only one way to get to that mountain range from Cappy Town… and it's through Whispy Woods' Forest!"
"Whispy's Forest? Wait a moment!" Bun grabbed Fumu's arm to stop his overenthusiastic sister. "Shouldn't we at least tell Mom and Dad that we're headed to such a dangerous place?"
"To do that, we'll have to pass by Cappy Town, and that runs the risk of somebody noticing Kirby! We can't tell or parents! It's up to us to get to Dyna Blade's nest and settle this mess on our own! Come on, Kirby!" she said as she broke free from Bun's grip, grabbing Kirby's hand and dragging the puffball out of the door before he could say a word, with a grumbling Bun following behind.
"Let's head there and find out the truth behind this, once and for all!"
The tranquil silence of the forest was broken by one blunt comment from an annoyed boy.
"We're lost, sis."
"I know that, Bun!" Fumu hissed as she held up a lit lighter—their light source—to her front. "How about you be quiet and try to help me find a way out of this maze!"
"I dunno!" Bun retorted, before groaning. "Ugh… I knew that heading here was a bad idea…"
"Poyo!"
"Kirby." Fumu frowned, a tinge of betrayal creeping into her voice. "You don't think that I was too reckless, do you?"
Caught out by Fumu, Kirby decided to lie so as to not hurt her feelings. "Poyo," he shook his head, even though he inwardly felt annoyed at being lost as well. But to be fair, the alternative of going through Cappy Town and dealing with the villagers would probably be worse.
As the trio trudged through the dense undergrowth, little did any of them realize that they were being stalked by someone from the canopy above.
An eight-limbed creature stared down at the pink puffball and his Cappy companions from his vantage point, high above in a tree branch. As he glanced down towards the undergrowth, the glossy golden hexagonal objects sewn to his hat glistened, giving the illusion that he was a predator stalking his prey — which he pretty much was.
"I've finally found you!" he muttered as he moved his limbs about. "And it's about time too, because you've got some major explaining to do!" he hissed as he stared down to see Kirby making small talk with the Cappies surrounding him. "This is it? You trashed my Comos to come all the way here not even to find what you claim to be looking for… but to befriend some random bunch of nobodies instead!? Gragh!" He bared his fangs, a move which scared some of the nearby avian woodland critters. "Oh, that does it! You're going to get it from me now, Kirby!"
But before he could make a move, someone else beat him to it.
"You!" a booming voice echoed throughout the forest, scaring the three wanderers in the dense undergrowth below.
"P-poy!" Kirby yelped, jumping two feet back into the air when he saw two black dots appear on the tree bark that he had just been leaning on to take a break from his trek. It was only when they blink did the puffball realize that they weren't holes caused by bugs at all, but rather the eyes of a sentient being.
One very upset sentient tree at that.
"You dare to return here after what you've done? You must have a death wish!" the tree said, its voice reverberating all throughout the forest as it narrowed his eyes.
Bun pointed at the tree in shock. "What's that! Who are you?"
Fumu, on the other hand, slowly backed away from the tree. "Whispy Woods…" she mumbled in wonder.
"Whispy Woods?" her brother echoed after her. "Who's that?"
"Hey, Bun!" Fumu brushed her hair aside as she turned to her brother. "His name is in the name of this forest, Bun! According to ancient Cappy folklore, he is the forest deity of Whispy Woods' Forest!"
Her brother nodded in understanding, before his posture slackened in a "do-I-look-like-I-care" demeanor that was very Bun-like. "Well, excuse me, but I don't read any of that boring stuff. You're a geek, sis! Isn't that right, Kirby?" the boy leaned down to ask the puffball.
"Poyo!" Kirby chirped in agreement, until another loud bellow from the tree caused his face to morph into panic.
"You come to my forest, defile my trees, and yet you still dare to play ignorant?" Whispy bristled his tree branches when he saw that the three were ignoring him.
"Whispy! Please, this is a misunderstanding. We didn't do any of that! Don't jump to conclusions…" Fumu pleaded with the elderly tree as Bun sided with his sister.
"Yeah! We haven't been to this forest in months!"
"Lies!" Whispy's face contorted with anger as his booming voice echoed across the forest. "How dare you try to squirm out of this? This is unforgivable! Prepare to suffer the wrath of Whispy Woods!"
"Yikes! This is very bad!" Fumu cried when she saw that they were in huge trouble. "Kirby!" she yelled, causing the puffball to turn towards her as she held up the silver metallic object. "Suck up my lighter!"
Kirby nodded with a relieved grin, opening his mouth and starting to inhale. As Fumu let go, the lighter spun alongside a few nearby leaves and twigs before being swallowed whole by the Star Warrior.
"Here it comes!" Bun gleefully said as Kirby jumped into the air, a gleeful smirk crossing the puffball's face as the warmth of the lighter became his Copy Ability. As the headband with the adjourned emerald fastened itself squarely on his head, the area of Kirby's head surrounded by the headband burst into fiery flames, completing his transformation.
"What is this sorcery!?" Whispy howled, his voice raspy as the fire atop of Kirby's head alone seemed to light up the entirety of the dark forest.
"Alright!" Bun jumped as Kirby gained his Copy Ability. "It's Inferno Kirby to the rescue!"
"Um, Bun. It's actually Fire Kirby," Fumu corrected.
"I don't care what Sir Meta Knight says, sis. Inferno Kirby is objectively the cooler name!"
Whispy narrowed his eyes at the newly powered-up Kirby. "You think that you can burn down my forest with that pathetic flame? Arrogant fool!" he howled, shaking his branches so vigorously that a barrage of apples enough to fill numerous fruit baskets fell off their stalks, dropping to the ground like a bombardment of guided bombs.
As Fumu clutched her head as she was bopped over the head by one of the ripe falling apple, Fire Kirby quickly decided that he didn't want to be the next target, rolling to the side to dodge an apple. Immediately after, he jumped up into the air and dashed forward towards Whispy by using his Burning Attack. The flame-coated Kirby bashed straight into the bark of Whispy's trunk, the impact knocking piles of leaves from the tree down onto the ground.
"How dare you!"
Although Whispy had uttered that as a retort, Fire Kirby was able to sense the ever-so-slight hesitation as the tree shouted in anger. The puffball thus grinned triumphantly, able to tell from Whispy's tone alone that the elderly tree knew that he was at a disadvantage. Running forward, Fire Kirby situated himself next to Whispy, causing the angered tree to growl, dropping more apples down as his sharp and pointy roots sprouted out from beneath the soft soil.
"Poyo!" Kirby repeatedly dove to the side while maintaining his proximity to Whispy as he dodged the root attack and the multiple falling apples. Once the barrage of attacks stopped, Kirby knew that Whispy was left open and thus began his counterattack by using his Fire Breath technique, letting out a red-hot flamethrower from his mouth at one of the vulnerable bark roots.
"Argh!" Whispy yelled, the old tree visibly wincing from the heat. Fire Kirby maintained his output, continuing to blow flames through his fire breath, the puffball squeezing his eyes shut as the flames rapidly became more and more intense, until…
"Whoa!"
Fumu and Bun used their hands to shield their eyes as a bright flash suddenly illuminated the entire dark forest. Fumu squinted her eyes to turn and look at Kirby, only to see Fire Kirby's entire body completely covered in searing flames, with only his eyes visible in the inferno.
"Wow…" Fumu mumbled in awe. She hadn't seen Kirby use this move the previous time that he had been in this form.
"Look, sis! Whispy doesn't like this attack at all!" Bun observed as he pointed to the tree's pained face.
"Of course he doesn't, Bun! The fire from Kirby is literally roasting him!"
Sure enough, Fire Kirby's Burning Inferno attack did a massive amount of damage to Whispy, the blitzing fire literally roasting the bark of his branch and whatever projectile Whispy futilely tried to toss at him as a counter. The smell of burning bark began to waft around as Whispy was literally burning to a crisp.
Eventually, even Whispy was unable to take the heat. In the end, a sentient tree was still a tree, and timber had a knack of catching on fire very easily.
"Nooooo…" Whispy whimpered softly. "Please… stop… the… burning…" he begged just as a tree branch sheared off nearby. "I admit defeat… please… just stop…"
Sensing no trick or hostility in Whispy's tone, Fire Kirby stopped the blazing fire that surrounded him, winking at Fumu and Bun as they ran forward to congratulate him.
"Great job, Kirby!" Bun cheered, pumping his fist in the air at Kirby's victory.
"You were amazing, Kirby!" Fumu added.
Just as Fire Kirby bashfully rubbed the back of his head at their combined praise, a scratchy chuckle rang throughout the vicinity, breaking up the tender moment. "Ahahahah!" the voice laughed, before continuing on with a humored tone, "Using your Fire Ability on Whispy? Oh, the poor old tree! Man, are you as vicious as ever whenever it comes to disposing of your enemies."
Both Cappies and Kirby jumped at the new voice, looking up to the canopy above from the direction the voice came from, their eyes landing on a large golden-yellow spider wearing a purple bowler hat. Seeing that he had everyone's attention, he cleared his throat and spoke again.
"Step away from the girl, Kirby."
Kirby instinctively jumped in front of Fumu, holding his arms out as a show of protection. Meanwhile, Fumu had a contemplative look on her face, quickly observing that the spider standing on the branch above had acknowledged the Star Warrior by his given name.
"Hmph! So you intend to be defiant to the very end?" The spider let out a sigh at Kirby's response. "Well, I suppose it's only natural considering your feisty personality. Oh, Kirby… why must you insist on being so stubborn? Once you make up your mind, no one can change it even if it means that you have to move literal mountains to get to your goal."
Who is this guy? Kirby tilted his head as the spider kept talking to him in a charismatic voice. Why is he acting like he knows me when I've never met him before in my life! His thoughts were quickly interrupted as Fumu furiously pointed upwards. "Are you after Kirby too? Because you'll have to go through us if you even think about harming him!"
"Grrrrrr!" The spider snarled at Fumu as his trio of eyes narrowed, before his words segwayed into a rant. "You have some nerve to say that to me! Don't act like you know him, girl! You know nothing about Kirby! Heck, even I barely know much about Kirby and yet even I can safely say that I know more about him then you do. And why is that, you may ask? Well, simply put… it's because Kirby's not from this world. He only crashed onto this planet thanks to the stunt that he'd pulled with the spear!" He let out a small snort as he pointed six of his limbs towards the puffball. "And now, I'm going to be taking him back where he belongs!"
Kirby stared at the arachnid as he suddenly dropped that wealth of information. Did the spider really just say that he knew the reason that his spaceship crashed onto Planet Popstar? Fumu gasped, having caught the tidbit of information as well, which caused the Cappy to be too surprised to shoot a retort back. After a few moments of silence, the newcomer from above switched his focus, seemingly losing his interest in Fumu as he turned his head towards the smoldering tree.
"I was wondering what that charred smell was! Why, if it isn't Whispy Woods!" the spider greeted the moaning tree down below with a slight bow of his head. "Glad to see that some things never change… like the fact that you're just as pathetic as ever, Whispy." he said with a sneer at Whispy, with the tree too injured from his earlier beating to give a response back.
Fumu glared up at the spider when she saw him insult the forest deity. Sure, Whispy might have attacked them, but the way that the arachnid coldly dismissed Whispy reeked of sheer arrogance. "Alright, I've had it! Who are you?" she yelled with a slight edge to her voice. The question was then repeated with more force when she saw the spider smugly smiling down at her, "Who are you!?"
"Oh, I really would prefer not to say. You know, what they said about cross-contamination between worlds and all," he replied coolly, his calm demeanor only succeeding in making Fumu more on edge. "But since you asked me so kindly, milady… I simply can't refuse the request of a lady in distress!" As he said that, the arachnid jumped down, landing on his two feet as he bowed with a flourish. "I'm Webby the Como, commander of the Como Tribe!" he introduced himself to the group. "You may refer to me as Commander Webby!"
"Hahahah!" Kirby turned his head only to see—to no surprise—that Bun was the one who had laughed. "Webby? Seriously, are you for real? That's a dumb name! Who on Popstar named you that?!"
The laughter was immediately cut short when Webby gestured directly at the pink puffball. "Of course I remember who named me. It was Kirby, of course!" he answered, much to the confusion of Fumu, Bun, and Kirby himself.
Okay… now this went from crazy to creepy! I swear that I really don't know this guy! Kirby thought as he placed his arms around his temples, trying to rack his brain for any recollection of the Como, only for his befuddled mind to turn up a complete blank.
Fumu herself was also getting unnerved by the newcomer's confidence and prior knowledge regarding Kirby. "Alright, I've had it!" she snapped. "Are you another one of Dedede's demon beasts? How come you are able to speak!?"
"Demon beast?" He chortled at the term, the laugh that he let out appearing creepy to Kirby just by the sole virtue that a relatively large-sized spider was the one who was laughing. "Personally, I don't think that I fit that description, ma'am," he said as he tipped his bowler hat to Fumu. "In fact, in a way, you can say that I'm probably working for King Dedede's former enemy…"
His answer only succeeded in creating even more questions. "Dedede's former enemy?" Bun whispered to his sister, clearly interested in the spider the instant he mentioned that he was against Dream Land's ruler. "Hah! That's a good one! I bet King Dedede manage to amass a ton of 'em!"
"My bigger concern is that this former enemy—" Fumu raised her fingers up, gesturing them to emphasize the words 'former enemy' in large inverted commas, "—is even striking revenge in the first place!" She glared at the Como before leaning down to whisper into Bun's ear. "Cappy Town doesn't need to be caught in the crossfire if this whole debacle is between that giant spider and Dedede! Let them settle it on their own and leave us out of it!"
Not noticing their harsh whispers, Webby proceeded on to answer Fumu's second question. "And as for how I can speak English? Why don't you direct that question towards Kirby? He was the one who'd made me able to communicate in English, after all! I think he of all people should know the answer best!"
Finally, Kirby had had enough of this random person barging into his life and acting like they knew each other when the puffball had absolutely no recollection of seeing him before. "Poyo!" Fire Kirby yelled indignantly, breathing out a small flame as he did so.
Kirby had expected for the arachnid to stop talking and get irritated at being interrupted. What he did not expect was him getting angry for a completely different reason.
"Eh? Speaking in 'poyos'? Are you actually deliberately trying to taunt me? The nerve of you, Kirby!" Webby snarled, taking a step forward. "Aren't we friends? Aren't we!?" he asked the question out of the blue in a rather somber voice, causing Kirby to quizzically tilt his head at Webby's question.
"Friends…?" Fumu asked in a soft whisper, one said so softly that only Bun could hear her quivering voice.
When Webby didn't hear a response, he lowered his head slightly and let out a forlorn sigh. "So that's it, huh? Do I really mean nothing to you? Is the Dimension Mirror and stopping the Jambastion Cult all you care about?" he lowered his voice as he asked one final question to Kirby in an almost pleading-like manner. "Is it, Kirby…?"
Kirby remained quiet. The puffball had no idea what the Como was talking about, but it was clear to him now that Webby was not faking a relationship between them. Kirby could very clearly hear the anguish in his voice as he talked.
Could it be that they really were friends at some point of time? He hadn't remembered a thing about his life before he'd crashed his ship into Dream Land, so there was a very real possibility that perhaps he and the Como might have been friends before all of this.
But if they were indeed friends… then alas, Kirby couldn't remember a single memory of it. The Star Warrior looked down to the ground, feeling a frown beginning to don his face at the harsh realization.
Finally, Webby could take no more, the Como closing his eyes as he spoke to his audience in a somber tone. "Well, I take it from your silence that you don't really care about our relationship. In which case…"
Without any warning, he bared his fangs, causing Fumu and Bun to jump back. Even Fire Kirby took a step backwards from the sheer ferocity of his screech. "…so be it, then!" he spat, before continuing on his statement with anger. "It's truly a tragedy, but just remember that you were the one who personally forced my fang! Looks like I'll have to be loyal to the Kingdom of Floralia and personally take you down myself!"
Although Fire Kirby had no clue as to what the spider had been sprouting about for much of the one-sided conversation, the last statement that Webby made was very clear and concise to him. A fight was all but imminent now. Fire Kirby had his guard up, preparing for an attack of any sort. "Poyo!" he stiffened his stance when he saw Webby inch forward.
"Watch out, Kirby!" Fumu cupped her hands together, throwing her voice. Kirby nodded in agreement, preparing himself. But to all of their collective surprise, the attack that came was not what they were expecting in the slightest.
With a cruel smile, Webby raised one of his spidery limbs up and shot out a small, almost invisible string of web towards Kirby.
…which was then promptly obliterated as Fire Kirby spat out a small ember in retaliation, the fire burning through the web and leaving nothing behind but charred ashes.
Bun burst into laughter at the anticlimactic end to Webby's initial attack. "That was it? Man, all of that hype for nothing!" Fumu had to control her laughter as well as she saw the distraught face of Kirby's opponent. She had to confess that her brother was right this time — the attack was a complete letdown. It looked as though the Como was all bark but no bite.
"Th-that's not fair!" Webby shouted over Bun's laughter as Kirby cheekily shot him a smug grin. "You have the Fire Ability on your side. That's like a complete type advantage over me! How am I supposed to beat you when you can burn through almost all of my attacks like they're butter?"
"Hah! Too bad for you! Probably should have thought twice before challenging Kirby, you cocky spider!" Bun taunted. As Fumu watched on, she realized with startling horror that Commander Webby's eyes had switched its gaze from Kirby to her brother.
"Bun! Look out!" she cried, rushing to her brother and shoving him out of the way right as the Como fired a String Shot attack in their direction. Bun fell to the ground with a whump, the silver string passed over his head harmlessly. But unfortunately, the attack had been directed at the area where he had been standing previously, and thus connected with Fumu instead. The instant the tiny string hit Fumu, the girl felt herself immobilized. "What is this… help!" she shrieked as the tiny string suddenly grew a hundred-fold, encasing her within a pod from all sides.
"Sis!" Bun whirled his head up from the ground upon hearing his sister's cry.
"Poyo!" Fire Kirby copied Bun's sentiments. The measly looking attack suddenly didn't seem quite so pathetic now. As he rushed on over to Fumu's side, a disapproving cluck from his opponent caused Fire Kirby to stop short of the trapped Fumu.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Kirby," Webby said threateningly as he strolled towards the pod. "Once someone or something is trapped in my web, it's completely under my control!"
"How's this for control, you rotten spider?!" Bun yelled as he got to his feet and charged at the Como. "Let go of my sister, you jerk!"
Webby let out a sigh as he simply threw one of his silk strings at the charging boy, immediately trapping him on the spot before he got anywhere within five feet of the Como. "Sigh… kid, you really are a stupid reckless fool," he said at the pod as he shook his head with a mildly amused chuckle.
However, unbeknownst to Webby, Kirby was able to use Bun's charge as a distraction for him to rush over to Fumu's side. As Webby was chastising Bun, Kirby gently blew flames at the cocoon that encased the Cappy girl. Controlling his fire so that he didn't accidentally burn Fumu, Fire Kirby quickly managed to burn all of the webbing that encased the girl, thus freeing her from her prison.
"W-what?" Webby stuttered as his eyes darted towards the freed Cappy, before whirling back around to glare at Bun when he realized that intentionally or unintentionally, the boy had drawn his attention away from his hostage. "You little punk!" he yelled, preparing to give the boy his just desserts by knocking the pod encasing him away, a move that would almost certainly break a few bones of the Cappy trapped within.
"Poyo!"
Before Webby could kick the silk pod away, a sharp cry caused him to look forward. He grimaced at the interruption, before letting out a gasp when he saw Fire Kirby use his Burning dash attack directly at him.
Webby's eyes widened in terror as he saw the ball of flame rocketing towards him. The Como instantly dropped all thoughts of the irritating Cappy in his grip, with his mind instantly switching his train of thought to focus on his own safety instead. Right as the blazing fireball was about to strike him right in the face, he hastily spun together a web from his spinner that quickly surrounded him from all sides.
Barely a second later, the searing fireball blitzed right past the newly-made cocoon. However, instead of burning right through the ball of web, the tough silk webs managed to bear the brunt of the damage. As Webby dropped his guard once Kirby's Fireball Attack passed by him, Fumu and Bun were surprised to see that the Como was relatively unscathed, with only a few minor burns on his body.
"No way!" Bun shouted in amazement, right as a surprised Kirby cancelled his attack and turned back to stare at Webby in shock. "It didn't affect him? But how? That same attack completely destroyed Whispy Woods and that giant octopus monster!"
Fumu found herself surprised as well, the girl gaping at the Como. Kirby's opponent looked like a bug, something which fire would seem incredibly effective on. Webby has said that much as well, the disdain on his face clear earlier on when he saw that he was up against a Fire-powered Kirby. "How that did—" Fumu started, only for Webby to cut her off with a snort.
"You're wondering how I'm still standing, aren't you?" he cut to the chase. "Well, what I just did is something called a Guard maneuver, in essence, a technique that allows me to absorb my opponent's blows." Webby let out a small laugh as he adjusted his hat slightly. "And not to brag, but we Comos have a specialized guard better than that of most of the other species."
He then demonstrated the move for a second time, briefly ducking into his cocoon for a second before immediately breaking out. "This move is known as Pod Guard, if you want to be exact. With this defensive move in my arsenal, I'm practically invulnerable!" Webby boasted, before jumping into the air and shooting three small webs in Kirby's direction.
As the webs thrown by Webby's Web Scatter began to enlarge, Fire Kirby performed a slide to avoid being entrapped, before breaking into another dash attack in retaliation. But alas, the instant Webby's eyes caught sight of the telltale red that showed that he was beginning his Fireball Attack, he instantly retreated back into a Pod Guard and managed to tank the attack again.
Fire Kirby narrowed his eyes, halting his attack when he saw that once again, it was ineffective the moment his opponent raised his defense by using his Pod Guard technique. At the rate this was going, he could see that they were quickly approaching a stalemate.
As long as they both remained out of reach, their ranged attacks would be ineffective on each other. He had enough reaction time to burn or dodge his opponent's webs, while the Como could put up his Pod Guard as long as Kirby used his Fireball Attack from a distance.
Kirby tapped his feet in annoyance. He was going to need to use an attack that was less telegraphable, or else his opponent was always going to manage to get his guard up before Kirby was able to burn him. The only way to break the stalemate was to get closer, but that entailed the risk of Kirby being unable to react in time to Webby's own attack and getting himself trapped. However, the opposite also held true — while striking from a closer range meant that Kirby was more at risk, the same applied to the Como as well.
Deciding to goad his opponent into an attack, Kirby taunted Webby with a sarcastic cry. "Pooyyooo~" he said, elongating the word to Webby's annoyance.
"Quit messing with me!" Webby lunged at Kirby, scattering about even more sticky traps with his Web Scatter.
Bingo! Fire Kirby grinned as he dove down to dodge the three scattered webs, finding himself next to Webby. Checkmate, he thought. From such a close distance, his opponent had no way of being able to aim his Pod Scatter attack as it required the Como to jump up into the air. To give Webby a further disadvantage, Kirby could also avoid his String Shot attack easily at point-blank range, leaving the Como completely vulnerable, much to Kirby's glee.
Just as he was prepared to launch a Fire Breath at the Como from close range, Kirby yelped as he suddenly felt himself being hoisted into the air. "Poyo!" With a cry of terror, Kirby found multiple sticky threads of web surrounding him as a large spider web was created around the Como.
"Oh no! Kirby!" Fumu shouted in horror as Kirby was caught in his opponent's web. "Wow!" Bun gasped, having the opposite reaction as his sister, much to her annoyance. "That's a new attack! What's that move?"
"Net Work." Webby informed the curious boy, the Como grinning viciously as strong silk threads wrapped themselves tightly around Kirby. "Hahahaha! Oh, Kirby, Kirby… you were trying to lure me to attack you in close range so that you could counter with a melee attack, weren't you?"
A surprised Fire Kirby jerked in shock—or tried to at least—when he realized that Commander Webby had read him like an open book.
The Como simply chuckled at Kirby, shifting his eyes slightly to see Fumu and Bun gaping at him as he outsmarted the Star Warrior. "How careless of you. I can't believe you forgot that I had a way to attack from up close," he snorted. "Honestly, it might have worked if you didn't use the exact same tactic yourself when you transform into the Spider Ability. You think I forgot you using this same exact technique on my men when I had my army surround you in Royal Road's palace? Well, think again!"
What? Spider Ability? Kirby was astonished that there even was such an ability. But when he tried to open his mouth to express his surprise, all that escaped his lips were muffled cries. "Po-mmmfhhht!"
"Hmhmhm!" Webby laughed sinisterly as Kirby futilely tried to break free. With the web covering his mouth, Kirby was unable to spit fire to burn it away.
"Noooo!" Fumu yelled out as she saw Kirby's predicament, running forward to try and stop the Como before he could strike at Kirby. Webby simply leered at Fumu as she approached. "Don't you get in the way, girl!" he sneered menacingly, "This is between me and Kirby!" Seeing her continue to approach despite his protests, Webby simply grimaced and used his Net Work attack again to surround the area around him and Kirby with a giant web. This stopped Fumu dead in her tracks, the girl knowing that she couldn't get anywhere near the two now without getting trapped in Webby's clutches herself.
As Fumu and Bun helplessly gaped on in horror from the sidelines, Webby proceeded to let out a triumphant declaration of victory. "Hahahaha! This ends now, Kirby!"
"Kehhhhhhhhhh!"
The sudden screech emanating from the air caused the Como to look up above the trees, only to be greeted by a horrific sight in the darkened sky.
"D-D-D-D-Dyna Blade!" Webby's fangs chattered with fright as he let out a scream at the gigantic rainbow bird that was now swooping past the forest, the resulting winds from its flyby so strong that it caused swaths of leaves from the undergrowth to be blown all over the place.
Meanwhile, Fumu and Bun stared at the flying bird up above with complete awestruck. "That's Dyna Blade?" they asked in unison. This was the first time that they had ever seen the legendary bird in person, and even though it only appeared as a relatively tiny speck due to its high altitude, they both could tell from one look that the avian was not one to be trifled with.
"Oh, to hell with this!" Webby cried out, snapping the Cappies out of their stupor as he suddenly fled, heading further into the forest towards where the canopy above was thicker. "I don't know if Dyna Blade wants me for dinner, but I am not going to risk finding out the answer! A Como like me knows when to cut their losses! But mark my words, Kirby…" he yelled from the distance with a vengeful voice, "I'll be back for you!"
As Webby disappeared from sight, Fumu took the opportunity to run to the trapped Kirby. She took out a spare lighter from her pocket, lighting up a small flame to burn away the silk threads that held Kirby within. The flames slowly licked the ball of web, burning away the threads slowly but surely. Once Kirby's mouth was free, the puffball managed to use his Fire Breath attack to burn away the remainder, freeing himself from the pod.
"Kirby!" Fumu hugged him, taking care to keep her hands away from the flames that were emanating from his head. As Kirby nuzzled against the girl, she continued in a relieved voice, "Oh, I'm so glad you're safe!"
"What was that all about?" Bun finally asked, breaking Kirby and his sister apart. Frankly, the boy just appeared confused by the turn of events.
"To be honest, I don't know…" Fumu muttered with trepidation as she reflected on the past ten minutes, making sure to burn the name of the arachnid that had faced off against Kirby to her memory — Commander Webby.
It was definitely worrying to her that someone of his relatively small stature had been able to go toe-to-toe with Kirby, putting up a better fight than some of Dedede's demon beasts, actually. In fact, the only reason that they had won was because Webby had abandoned Kirby despite having a prime opportunity to win the fight right there and then. If Dyna Blade hadn't interfered by swooping above the forest, it was likely that he would have come out on top.
Fumu's face grew serious as she realized how just close Kirby had come to losing the fight. Now this definitely was a powerful foe that they would have to keep in mind. He was certainly more threatening than Dedede, and unlike Sir Meta Knight, he was definitely not on Kirby's side. To further add to the mystery surrounding him, he was someone who seemingly had previous relations with Kirby, even though she herself didn't know a thing about what he was talking about. And judging from Kirby's puzzled expression from earlier, the Star Warrior didn't either.
"I can't say it for certain, but I don't think that we've seen the last of that Webby guy…" she finally admitted, with Fire Kirby nodding his head in agreement at her statement.
While Webby was certainly a problem that they'd have to deal with in the future, it currently wasn't the main issue on hand. Right now, they still had to deal with Dedede's claim that Kirby had been the one who had stolen Dyna Blade's chick from the nest.
"Kehhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
And not to mention that the group would still eventually have to settle with Dyna Blade itself. As the bird let loose another screech of anger, Fumu realized that it must currently be looking for its child.
"Sis, I think that Dyna Blade's really, really mad."
Fumu rolled her eyes. As if that much wasn't obvious! "You're right, Bun," she said, not wanting to rain on his parade. "It's a bad idea to approach its nest for the moment. Although we might have to hide from some of the villagers, we have no choice but to return. It isn't safe over here, so we best retreat back home for now until Dyna Blade calms down."
"Poyo…" Fire Kirby murmured as he continued to stare up into the sky at the soaring Dyna Blade. In his mind, he was still pondering about why everyone in Cappy Town believed the recording that showed him bird-napping the child of the bird that was currently flying in the air.
He let out a sigh, before focusing on another issue. Namely, the words that the Como from earlier had said to him.
"Well, simply put… it's because Kirby's not from this world. He only crashed onto this planet thanks to the stunt that he'd pulled with the spear!"
Just who was this mysterious figure from his past whom he had no recollection of, and how did the Como know so much about him? Were they really friends before, in a reality that Kirby could not recall? It would seem that way…
Fire Kirby continued to peer in the direction that Webby had scampered off in. Eventually, he reluctantly tore his eyes away and walked away from the scene with Fumu at her request.
But now, Kirby found himself more curious than ever before about his origins. His life before Cappy Town had been a complete blank. Webby was literally the first link that the Star Warrior had to a past that was completely shrouded in mystery. All the confused Kirby knew for a fact was that he, Fumu, and Bun had only scratched the surface of this rapidly growing enigma.
K-Kirby?!
That was the singular thought on Bandana Dee's mind when he caught a glimpse of the familiar face waltzing around Castle Dedede. He had reacted with a stunned double-take at first, but it turned out that his eyes hadn't been playing a trick on him — it actually was his friend, right in the flesh.
What wasn't quite so familiar though, was the two Cappies who were parading around his good friend.
Wait a second! I… I think I know those Cappies as well! As Bandana racked his brain, he suddenly remembered that he had seen those exact same two Cappies yesterday when he was assisting with the rolling out of not-Great King's television sets. In fact, Captain Waddle Doo had even stated a grouchy comment to him with regards to the determined girl.
"Minister Parm's daughter is a real troublemaker at times…"
That was what Waddle Doo had said about the girl, whose name was Fumu if he recalled correctly. As they turned the corner to head downwards, Bandana made up his mind to follow them.
"You sure about this, sis?" he heard the boy say.
"No one uses the basement in Castle Dedede, Bun!" the girl replied as she held Kirby by the arm. "It's safe to hide Kirby in here for now until it's safe to venture to Dyna Blade's nest."
Bandana tiptoed behind them as they took Kirby to the basement, opening a door and entering inside. As the door swung shut, Bandana opened the door by a slimmer and glimpsed within what he had learned was the recording studio for Channel DDD, eavesdropping on the group as they explored the area.
Who would have expected a simple hunt for a hiding place in Castle Dedede to turn up this treasure trove?
"Whoa, sis!" Bun exclaimed, drawing his sister's attention to a large table situated in the middle of the large refurbished room. "Look at that!"
Fumu walked forward to see what Bun was looking at. When she finally saw it, she gasped in surprise, feeling a little impressed herself.
The "table" was in actuality, an elaborate stage set of a scale model of a miniature Cappy Town, one so obsessively detailed over that it even had miniature toy models of vehicles propped on it. The architecture of the model Cappy Town screamed "perfectionist" — the scale model of the town being wholly accurate right down to the tiniest nook and cranny.
"I didn't know that Dedede liked model sets." Fumu couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice.
"You mean toys!" Bun said in a teasing manner, exaggerating the word. "Man, King Dedede playing with stuff like this? This will be prime blackmail material if word gets out!"
"Well, if Dedede is actually able to feel even the tiniest shred of shame, then maybe your blackmail idea might work," Fumu shot back sarcastically.
"Hey, sis!" Bun pointed at a camera mounted on a tripod stand next. "Why would Dedede even want to tape this table anyway? That makes no sense at-woah!" As the boy walked towards the camera, he tripped on an object on the ground. Fumu and Kirby ran up to help him up, glancing at what was on the floor as Bun held up a purple cloth with a scary face stitched to its front. "What's this?" he asked out loud, staring at the object. "A costume of a monster?"
Hearing his words, a sudden memory of the newsflash that had blared when Dyna Blade had struck immediately sprang to the forefront of Fumu's mind.
"We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news!" Dedede spoke to the camera as the feed was broadcast live over Cappy Town. "Yes, I repeat… breaking news! We have just received incoming reports that an enormous demon beast has just appeared on the fields outside Cappy Town!"
Oh, heck no.
"I know what the scale model is for!" Fumu exclaimed as the answer hit her in the face. "It's so that Dedede can fake footage of Cappy Town in his show! Caught on film it looks as real as the actual Cappy Town! This monster costume was supposed to be the demon beast he was talking about on the news yesterday night!"
Bun kicked at the ground. "But if that was supposed to be false, then that means…"
"…King Dedede faked the tape of you going up to Dyna Blade's nest, Kirby!" Fumu finished, turning to the puffball in shock. "That's the real reason he gave everyone in Cappy Town a television set! It was all propaganda just so he could further his own agenda!" She slammed her fist down on the model Cappy Town set, causing a few toy vehicles to rattle from the vibrations. "Argggghh! I knew from the very start that he was up to something!"
"No way! How dare he!?" Bun stared at the scene as a feeling of raw anger began to rise in the boy. After all, he had been a fervent supporter of Channel DDD, so for Bun to find out that his sister was right all along and that it really was a scam? Needless to say, the realization hit the boy hard.
"But I don't get it…" Bun finally mumbled after he had calmed himself down enough to think coherently. "How did Dedede know about Dyna Blade in the first place?" he pondered, right before his sister slapped her forehead at his words.
"Wait! That's it, Bun!" Fumu exclaimed as all the pieces of the puzzle finally fit together. "King Dedede simply improvised when a real disaster actually happened! He must have changed the scene on the fly to include Dyna Blade into the scenario, all so that he could make the news report and the later tape with Kirby seem more realistic!"
"That utter jerk!" Bun stomped his foot. "Does that mean that all the giant mecha monster battles that he aired on Channel DDD were all faked too?"
"Uh… yes?" Fumu deadpanned at her brother. "Come on, those are most certainly fake."
Bun clenched his fist as his fantasy was shattered apart piece by piece. "This is unforgivable!" he declared, the absurdity of his statement causing Kirby to smile, the puffball's mood improving ever so slightly.
As the trio continued to explore the stage set with growing apprehension, none of the group noticed the lone Waddle Dee poking his head from around the corner of the ajar door.
Bandana gave a wistful sigh as he looked upon the sight. It appeared to him as though the curious Cappies had managed to find out about not-Great King's treachery. The whole matter saddened him greatly, their words about Dedede hitting Bandana where it hurt since it reminded him very much of a different Great King.
Those words being used to describe King Dedede—even though it wasn't his Great King—had hurt him. It really, truly did.
"Psst… hey, Bandana… Bandana!"
A muffled greeting caused Bandana to turn towards the top of the stairs, where his eyes widened when he saw the person walking down the steps to confront him.
"Heh heh!" A puffball that looked almost identical to the one in the room had a cheeky smirk on his face as he descended down the stone staircase. "You're looking at the wrong Kirby!"
"Ki-Kirby!?" His eyes darted back and forth as his body whirled between the two pink puffballs. Bandana felt his knees wobbling, the Waddle Dee clutching both hands onto his spear for support as his mind took in just what he was witnessing.
Two Kirbies? There were two Kirbies? If the Kirby behind him was the Kirby whom he recognized from his own Planet Popstar… then who was the other one with the Cappies?
"Hee hee!" The Kirby who Bandana knew giggled good-naturedly as the pink puffball strode forward to greet his good friend. "Yo! I've certainly missed you, Dee! How have you been doing over here in Dream Land, version number two?"
Too speechless to respond, he simply stared at Kirby, in spite of the fact that his mind actually had an answer that wasn't able to escape his mouth.
I-I've been better, Kirby… I've certainly been better…
Castle Dedede was not a place where a Waddle Dee wanted to be stationed in today. Not when the important "Peace Between Friends" conference was underway, at least.
Their king had given them a single explicit order as he woke up in the morning, sipping from a cup of coffee and looking like he was half dead. That order was idiot-proof and straight to the point: do not make any mistakes or offend any of the guests.
King Dedede himself wasn't faring all that better when compared to his servants. The chubby ruler was literally dragging his feet when he finally walked into the conference room — which was basically just his throne room, except that it had now been fitted with an extremely long table that his Waddle Dees had set up in the carpeted area in the middle of the floor to give the place the appearance of a meeting boardroom.
He was the last to arrive… not that it really mattered. He was going to be the one who chaired the meeting anyway, so that position gave him the right to arrive exactly on the dot. His face remained impassive as he stared down the approximately thirty people gathered in the room, all patiently seated at their seats in various spots across the long table.
Dedede's eyes swept across the room as he mentally did a roll call, only to see that one wouldn't be needed. All the seats were taken except for five spots, signifying that attendance was full with the exception of five absentees. He already knew the grim reason as to why Bandana and Kirby were unable to attend, and the same went for Rick and Kine after Coo had briefed him yesterday.
But surprisingly, the final absentee was Meta Knight, who was somehow still missing in action. Dedede made a mental note to find out just what had happened to the knight after the meeting concluded… right after he was done making plans regarding Bandana and countering whatever plot that utter scumbag mage from the Jambastion Cult was up to, at least.
As he ascertained that everyone was present, Dedede then proceeded to clear his throat, putting his left hand to his mouth to focus his voice forward as he spoke. "Ahem! This meeting will commence very soon. Should you have any business to do, please finish it quickly and be back in five. If you are thirsty, some refreshments are provided on the table in front of you, so feel free to have one," Dedede said, gesturing to a can of drink in front of every chair. At his signal, several committee members reached forward and took their drinks.
Drebly opened the can, leaning forward to take a small sip. However, before he could swallow the mouthful of drink that he had gulped from the can, his face turned pale. He retched on instinct, spitting liquid out on the table, much to the annoyance of those seated around him. The Driblee wheezed and hacked as he tried to catch his breath. "Gack! Wh-what is this abomination of a drink!?" he finally managed to splutter.
Dedede raised his eyebrow as he saw Drebly looking at the can with an expression of pure hate. Of course, given that this was the perpetually happy Drebly that they were talking about, his definition of 'pure hate' was the equivalent to a mildly annoyed face. "It's… soda." Dedede muttered bluntly as the Driblee continued to fiddle with the can.
Drebly gasped, his jaw dropping at Dedede's words. "A-Are you kidding me? This is soda!?" the Driblee spat the word out, backing away from his seat in horror. "Soda is carbonated water! Who on Popstar would pump carbon dioxide into fresh clean water!? This is a crime! It is, it is!"
"I concur with Drebly!" Dedede saw a female Chilly on his left getting to her feet, the icicles in her cap glinting from the morning sun as many of the helpers looked at her. "More carbon dioxide means more greenhouse emissions! More of that would damage our precious ice caps further! Iceberg is already diminishing in size! We don't need any more global warming affecting this planet! I say that these canned drinks be banned!" the Chilly said passionately, the determined conviction in her voice causing many of the others around her to nod their heads in agreement.
"You are absolutely right there, Snowy!" Drebly nodded merrily at the Chilly in approval as he sat back down on his seat. "I completely agree! Yep, yep, yep!"
Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit! Dedede felt like hitting something as he glanced to his right to see the Driblee adding on to the Chilly's statement.
Honestly, this was ridiculous. He wasn't even able to serve freaking canned drinks without it somehow turning into a debate, all thanks to the fact that he had more than twenty different species all clustered together, each with their own personal outlooks, perspectives, and goals. As he had feared, the conference was a disaster waiting to happen.
"Yeah! If we ban canned drinks here on Popstar, there would be much lesser pollution!" Brenda the Broom Hatter nodded her head-sorry, her body.
"But that also means less stuff for me to blow up!" Lil' Pop, the Poppy Bro Jr., grumbled with an unhappy frown. "Not cool! I want to explode things! I want things to go kaboom!"
"CANNED DRINKS ARE MADE OF METAL." A golden-colored robot spoke in a robotic monotonous voice. "METAL GOOD. METAL MASTER RACE. HAIL METAL."
The Beetley seated next to the Gim buzzed his wings threateningly at the words. "Say that again, Robert! I dare you!"
"I WILL SAY IT AS MANY TIMES AS I WANT, BENNETT. YOU CANNOT DENY THE TRUTH."
Bennett slammed the table with his horn in response, the Beetley furious by the response he had gotten. "You annoying piece of scrap metal!" he snarled.
Lil' Pop, ever the mischievous Poppy Bro, chose this moment to add fuel to the escalating argument. "Hey, if Robert's scrap, does that mean I can blow him to smithereens? With a Bluster Bomb, preferably?" he grinned as he held up a small unlit bomb in his right arm.
"COME AT ME, LIL' POP." Robert held up his yo-yo as a threat, preparing to knock away the thrown bomb if necessary. "I DARE YOU, POPPY BRO."
"You're on!"
"Hey! Both of you stand down, now!" Dedede pushed his chair back to stand up, nearly screaming at the squabbling duo. "Nobody is blowing anything up in my conference room!"
After dealing with the immediate threat of Lil' Pop and Robert's brawl, the king then let out a long groan as he looked around the room to see that the floodgates of bitter debate had been opened, leading to multiple helpers beginning to chatter and quarrel amongst themselves. Before he could even utter another sentence in protest, the entire place began to turn rowdy as the volume of the voices began to increase in amplitude.
As the noise level started to become unbearable, Dedede sharply inhaled, taking in a deep breath to cool down the agitation he was feeling inside. He knew that he had to be strong. If his audience sensed weakness from him, Dedede knew that they would waste no time in exploiting him.
When he and Kirby had agreed to set up a committee to settle the Friend Heart dilemma caused by twenty-odd capable Helper leaders moving to Planet Popstar, Dedede had not expected for the Helper union to collectively make such a stupid decision in such a short span of time. For Pete's sake, the meeting hadn't even really started and he was already begging for it to end. The Dream Land king began to picture a dartboard with Kirby's face on it and proceeded to throw imaginary darts at the imaginary dartboard in his mind to relieve the tension.
Bandana wouldn't want you to snivel over him and wind up a completely useless wreck as a result… Dedede's mind yelled at him. Now get out there and prove to all these fools exactly why you're the glorious king of Dream Land!
When he next looked at the seated members of the audience, his face was impassive, showing none of the turmoil that he had gone through earlier or during the previous night.
"That is it! Enough of this canned drink fiasco! We will discuss the matter later!" Dedede yelled as he swung his hammer down like a gavel, lightly bringing it down on the table to keep order. As the crowd quietened down, the king began to speak, standing up firm as he became the center of attention.
"Thank you for maintaining order," he muttered in relief. "First of all, let me extend a sincere thank you to all of you for coming here to Castle Dedede on such short notice. Especially to those of you that don't cause any trouble," he hissed, directing a glare at the Gim, Beetley, and Poppy Bro Jr. in particular. "I, King Dedede, am proud to be the host of the 'Peace Between Friends' conference on Dream Land's behalf!"
Dedede heaved a tiny sigh of relief when he felt all eyes focusing on him. Finally, it was time to get the show on the road—
"Hah! Is that all you got in you, buster? How disappointing… you don't deserve to be the host of this conference!"
Goddammit. Dedede groaned, feeling a painful headache coming to his head, one that was even worse than when Coo the Owl had dropped the Bandana and Zan bombshell on him yesterday. Somehow, it had inexplicably slipped Dedede's mind that inviting every single friend that had tagged along with Kirby for the Jambastion Cult incident meant that they also had to invite… him.
"What's the matter, Dedede? Cat got your tongue?" The jester chuckled as he bounced atop his colorful beach ball. "Look at your king, gentlemen," he said in a mocking tone as he leaned forward to point everyone's attention to the fuming king. Normally a person would use their arms to gesture to Dedede at this point, but rather unfortunately he was lacking such appendages for the time being, and thus was forced to use his body instead.
"You better keep your trap shut before I personally kick your sorry hind out of this conference. This is a conference of peace, not anarchy! You got that, Marx!?" Dedede made sure to hiss the jester's name with as much disrespect as he could muster.
"Oh no… the terror!" Marx gasped in horror… or he at least tried to, anyway. Even Drebly could tell that the jester was faking said gasp from how much he was exaggerating. "Hahahaha! Is that really all you've got, Dedede?" he jeered.
Dedede held silent as he glared vicious daggers at the jester, daring him to make the first move. No one else dared to speak up, the entire room deadly silent as everyone kept their eyes on the feuding two.
Finally, Marx let out another chaotic laugh after sensing that he was going to get no response from Dedede. In return, Dedede let out a pitiful groan, cupping his ears as Marx's earsplitting cackle reverberated throughout Castle Dedede's throne room. "Oh, Stars… I need aspirin. I need all of the aspirin." The day had barely even started and yet Dedede already knew that he was going to utterly despise the next hour or two of the conference.
After what seemed like forever, Marx eventually stopped his laughter. Dedede hesitantly uncovered his ears and heaved a relieved sigh as he enjoyed the mild reprieve that he was given. However, Dedede's relief was short-lived, lasting only until the jester proceeded to turn to the remaining Helpers and make a startling declaration to the entire crowd.
"Hmph! Guess you aren't in a playful mood, eh? Because if that truly is the best retort that you can come up with, then me think that I have a better idea on how to run this meeting instead!" As Dedede and some of the more reasonable helpers looked on the scene in horror, Marx began to laugh like a maniac, his demented cackle echoing throughout the conference room.
"This conference is my show now, Dedede! Muhihihihi!"
It was at the exact point that Marx squealed out his declaration of intent that Dedede faceplanted, slamming his head on the table to his front while letting out a pitiful moan as the clownish jester continued to howl in laughter. Dedede continued to groan as his mind began to shut out the noise and focus on one singular thought.
Curse you, Kirby! How could you possibly leave poor ol' me behind to deal with all of this chaos instead of handling it together with me? Did you have to ditch me by absconding up to Floralia with Bandana?
And more importantly, Dedede thought as he stared at the demented Marx, am I even able to clean up your mess!?
Author's Note:
And thus the Dyna Blade arc continues. If you squint a little, you'll see that Fumu, Bun, and Kirby going through Whispy's Forest and Castle Dedede is sorta like going through Peanut Plains and Mallow Castle.
Beware: Whispy Woods actually gets referenced very briefly in this chapter, but the star of the chapter isn't the Whispy Woods battle, but rather the return of Kirby's Como helper Webby with a vicious vengeance. I hope you guys didn't forget that he's stuck in the wrong Planet Popstar as well! Yes, the Helpers/Friends make their big debut after a test run with both Webby and Drebly. I did say that I wanted to write in helpers since Chapter 5 and well, here you go! I hope you like the way they're written in.
I suspect that those of you who are in this story for the 'Void Termina reborn' concept set up at the very beginning will be pleased by the developments in this chapter. With a crafty foe from the other Popstar eyeing on and interacting with the wrong Kirby, things will get ugly very quickly.
As you can see, things are steadily heating up after the slower pace of the previous chapter. Dyna Blade roams around Dream Land in anger, a Como commander isn't too pleased, Kirby and Bandana Dee are reunited, and a coup seems imminent in the gameverse Dream Land's so-called peace meeting. So how will things play out? Find out next time!
