5-1: Green Greens

Popstar, where the burg of Dreamland was situated, had a climate as peaceful as its inhabitants. A regular rainy season in the winter, warm springs, hot summers and cool in the autumn. Within Dreamland was the area known as Green Greens, home of Whispy Woods, whose branches seemed to burst with luscious apples and whose gusts of wind defended his fruit. Soft grass made up the floor, and on either side were yellow blocks, some with stars on them and others with bomb symbols. The latter was explosive.

Resting at the base of Whispy Woods was Kirby, the Star Warrior and Hero of Dreamland. The "filthy casual" to serious Melee tournament players. A blue sleeping cap with white dots on it was atop his head, and small bubbles drifted out of his rounded mouth. Kirby was eight inches tall, could inhale foes and food and had the ability to copy the other fighters in Melee. His round body was pink, with blushes at the cheeks, stubby arms, red shoes and bean-shaped eyes. And what exactly was Kirby dreaming about? Well—cake! His favorite dessert! The fluffy, spongy goodness with creamy, flavorful frosting and filling! Drool slowly spilled out of the corners of Kirby's mouth as his yummy dream continued.

Master Hand floated in and noticed Kirby slumbering. Quietly, he moved over and tapped the puffball with his index finger. "Time to wake up, sleepyhead," he whispered.

Kirby stirred awake and peered with half-lidded eyes at MH. "Poyo?" he yawned.

Master Hand took a handkerchief and wiped the drool from Kirby's chin. "Luigi's going through Adventure Mode, remember?"

Kirby perked up slightly. "Poy!"

"I brought you a tasty treat," said MH, setting a plate of cake with a plastic fork stabbed into it before Kirby.

"Poyo!" cheered Kirby as he dug in.

"L will be here soon, okay?"

Kirby nodded, his mouth full of cake.

Two years. Two years was all it took for Kirby to fall from second to last on the tier list. Life in the tournaments became difficult and miserable. He was heckled by fans old and new and booed for winning. He was harassed and degraded, and his exploits as a young Star Warrior were disregarded. It got to the point that Kirby had been sorely tempted to end it all. And he probably would've, if not for the mustachioed man in green—Luigi.

Luigi had been in Kirby's shoes in 1999. It was what had led him to take on 1P Mode and challenge the powerful Master Hand. The plumber had saved Kirby from himself, pulling him back from the brink. One night, he'd confronted the puffball when he found him with slashes all over his body, his Final Cutter centimeters from his outstretched appendage. He began to give Kirby advice on how to beat the stigma of being last. And whenever he caught someone messing with Kirby, he'd make them apologize and tell them to get lost. The Star Warrior would watch with uncontained delight as Luigi brutally thrashed higher tiers. 20XX. 20BC. 2022. 20GX. Those camps found their regimes crumbling at the hands of a mid-tier fighter. But thanks to Luigi, Kirby learned to ignore the taunts and the whispers of "filthy casual". He practiced fiercely alongside the man in green. And he perfected his "Kirbycide" technique, in which he air-dropped himself and an opponent off the stage or inhaled them and let himself fall. Kirbycide was Kirby's ultimate revenge for the way he'd been treated!

In return for Luigi's kindness toward him, Kirby began to stick up for the man in green, making enemies in Ganon and King Koopa. During a match, he'd copy the Warlock Punch or the Fire Breath and show them how it felt to be knocked around before ending the fight with a Kirbycide. Too bad they didn't learn anything from it.

"POYO! Poyo, poyo, poyo!" squealed Kirby as he sat in the stands with Pikachu and Jigglypuff as his seatmates, watching the five-stock battle between Luigi and Koopa. It was a strong start for the plumber, who held back until his opponent lost patience and rushed headlong at him without thinking. From there, it was bliss and Heaven, like digging into a large slice of cake. Like Linkin Logs or Barrel of Monkeys, Luigi expertly and intricately pieced and strung combos together. Some combos were roadmaps leading to more combos. Other combos led to the opponent losing a stock. They applied pressure on Koopa, frustrating him, challenging his power and authority. Luigi used Koopa's frustration to lure him into another combo. And another. And another. And another. Until the big, bad turtle managed to DI away and try to retaliate. Fat chance at that! Luigi wasn't entirely Superman; he wound up facing Koopa's claws and shell more than once. But his reactions were so well thought-out that the injuries were not dangerous. The blood scared Kirby a little, though. With his eyes, the pink fluffball gobbled up Luigi's impressive combos, baits, reads, punishes and fluid dodges like appetizers. Yummy. More, more, more!

Until it all went rotten.

Luigi had held fast to a strong stock lead. Anyone watching that day smelled a five-stock on Koopa, not necessarily a JV5. The turtle had only two stock remaining, and Luigi hadn't lost any of his yet. But one tiny slip-up—one miscalculation—was all it took for Koopa to grab him and exact his gruesome revenge.

It hadn't been pretty.

Kirby couldn't bear to watch—he could only discern from the horrified gasps and shrieks from the audience, Koopa's roars and Luigi yells of pain that everything was going terribly, horribly wrong. The green-clad plumber tried to hold it together, managing some smash attacks despite now being on the defensive, and for a few breathless moments, hope floated in the air. But Koopa had snatched it away, as Luigi was unable to take those last two stocks. Luigi had gone from a three-stock lead to a one-stock disadvantage and finally—agonizing defeat.

At the word "Game!", Kirby dared to look.

"Poyo…" he said in a choked voice.

There was Koopa, looking as if he'd accomplished something, laughing and mocking the audience who'd rooted for Luigi. As for the man in green, he'd been blasted from the stage by Koopa's blows, but Kirby saw blood on the stage. Koopa was bleeding, too, but the fluffball had enough intuition to know whose blood was marring the Battlefield.

Pikachu held Kirby's appendage as everyone filed into the reception hall, where the award ceremony would take place. When they found someplace to sit, Pikachu planted a kiss on Kirby's lips, consoling him. Kirby thanked him by returning the kiss with a deeper one, and then they turned back to the ceremony about to begin.

"This game's winner is—Koopa!"

Kirby, Pikachu and the others applauded for Koopa, but their minds were on Luigi. He stood a few distances away from the victor, also applauding. His deep red overalls concealed the majority of his injuries, but Kirby saw the blood on his face and peeking through his pink shirt. A distracted look was in his eyes as he clapped. Of course, the turtle rubbed his victory in nice and deep—along with the fact that Mario, Peach and Yoshi had seen the whole thing. Some Wireframes wiped Luigi's face clean, but his eyes showed disapproval and disdain as he watched Koopa's little victory jig. And then the ceremony was over, and everyone left the reception area.

"Pika," Pikachu said softly, encouraging Kirby to comfort Luigi.

Kirby nodded. "Poyo."

He waited till the crowd thinned out, and then puffed himself into the air to search for the plumber.

That was when he heard the voices in the replay area—

"Poyo!" Kirby yelled angrily, throwing what was left of his cake off the stage.

Then, he closed his eyes and mentally counted to ten. No sense dwelling on the past now. All he could do was hope that one day, Koopa would get what he deserved.

"It's good to see you, Kirby."

Kirby turned and saw Luigi standing there at the other end of the stage. "Hii!" he greeted.

"I'm surprised they let you participate in this," said Luigi, "seeing how they think of you."

Kirby shrugged. "Poy."

"But I'm glad they did," Luigi went on, raising his fists. "Come on, Kirby. Let's dance."

READY—GO!

Kirby shielded Luigi's fireballs, hoping to bait him into dashing at him. Luigi ignored the bait, continuing to flick out fireballs until Kirby's shield was relatively weak. Kirby's shield stance, which grew more visible as his shield shrank, was from his Guard Ability in his universe. When the shield was low enough, Luigi quietly approached Kirby and hit him with a roundhouse kick, breaking the shield entirely.

"Poooyyyy…" moaned Kirby, the shield break leaving him disoriented. Luigi's heel kick popped him into the air, and then he scored multiple hits on him using his Cyclone. Due to Kirby's light weight, Luigi could launch him far just by using his strong attacks. He peppered the fluffball with them before Kirby used his multiple jumps to get away. With a grunt, the Star Warrior swung a hammer at Luigi. He dodged the first few swings, but then Kirby nailed him with a lunging forwards kick and then battered him with the hammer. Luigi rolled away and threw a Trowel Stab, his first smash attack in this battle. Kirby gasped as he was blown away diagonally, but he managed to recover with the Final Cutter.

Luigi was there, waiting for him. After delivering a series of light jabs, he chain-grabbed Kirby before going into his aerial and ground combos, spiking the fluffball back onto the stage with his d-air. Kirby bounced back with Final Cutter and began a combo of his own with his f-air, d-air and quick up tilt, which chained into itself like Luigi's. He'd use Final Cutter each time Luigi attempted to DI out. But when Kirby misread a tech from his opponent, Luigi went in with a Cyclone, an up smash, n-airs, f-airs and a d-air into a grounded combo involving forward and down smashes, his overhand punches and his well-ranged forward kick. Kirby punished with his Vulcan Jab, slashed his Final Cutter a few more times, stomped on him repeatedly with his down throw and used Stone to break his foe's shields. He'd jump and swing the hammer over his body, pelting Luigi with multiple hits and acting like a Screw Attack. He'd use his Burning Ability as a dash attack, but Luigi always dodged it, making Kirby overshoot the stage and waste his jumps in recovering. Here, Luigi would go for misfires, knocking Kirby off the stage again and again.

As Whispy Woods blew periodically, Luigi's methodical attacks continued to thud into Kirby's rotund and rosaceous body. With moves from his different abilities, Kirby showed Luigi that he was adorable, yet deadly. Purple and blue wove with Kirby's pink skin like a marble finish, while Luigi was battered all over from Stone and Hammer and slashed from Final Cutter. But despite Kirby being a whirling pink whirlwind, Luigi's precision squeaked ahead, knocking the Star Warrior out of the air, dodging Hammers and Final Cutters, sidestepping Stones and breaking out of combos. Poking through shields, frustrating Kirby's approaches and combo-ing this way and that. And whenever he could, he read the little puffball like his favorite book.

Kirby made a frustrated little noise and then opened his maw, sucking as hard as he could. Luigi found himself caught in the suction, and Kirby inhaled him. But instead of a Kirbycide, he spat Luigi back out after taking his Copy Ability, now wearing his own green cap with an L on it. Green fireballs flew back and forth before Luigi closed the distance and smash-attacked until Kirby's Copy Ability was knocked away. Their blows volleyed and pounded harder and harder, Kirby's face going as red as his cheeks. Why was he so easy to body?

His frustration was ultimately his undoing. Kirby positioned himself at the ledge and Inhaled Luigi once more. Then, he jumped off. But Luigi managed to escape from Kirby's gullet and meteor smashed him with his d-air before recovering to the stage. Kirby fell helplessly into the abyss and suffered at K.O.

SUCCESS!

Luigi sighed. "You shouldn't have gotten frustrated like that, Kirby," he said softly. "I know you're having a hard time, but patience is a virtue."

He jerked back to attention as 15 Warp Stars zipped around him, each ejecting a Kirby onto the stage. Each Kirby sported a hat pertaining to the Copy Ability of a random fighter.

"Hii!" they waved in unison.

Luigi smiled and once again put up his dukes. "This is gonna be fun," he mused.

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