Kirby huffed in annoyance as all of five of the group stood or sat under Kabu. "We can't just stay here, poyo. We have to go do something!"

"I know, Kirby. I want to do something, too. But what can we do? Where can we go?" Sakura reminded him with a sigh.

Frowning, Kirby nodded. "I guess so, poyo." He snuggled up closer to his big sis. It was just so cool to know that she was really his sister.

Bandana Dee, meanwhile, glared at them. Kirby is suddenly the best thing ever, and dumb old Bandana is just chopped liver, he thought rather bitterly to himself.

Suddenly, Sakura looked over at him. "Bandana, what's wrong? You've been acting so strange ever since yesterday. You're not jealous, are you, buddy?"

He just wrinkled his face up at her and scooted farther away with an offended, "Dee!"

"Okay, but when you're willing to talk, I'm willing to listen," she told him with a small smile.

"Dwee," he snorted and looked away.

"What's up with him?" Magolor questioned, sitting down on Sakura's other side, a couple of feet away.

"I think he's jealous of Kirby. Kirby's being my real brother really bothers him for some reason," Sakura guessed, then reminded Magolor kindly, "You know, no one's making you stay here, 'Lor. If you don't want to be involved, you don't have to be."

"Well, thanks for offering, but I think where you guys are is probably the safest place to be. So, I'm not going anywhere. Who knows, maybe I'll even end up being helpful," he joked.

"Maybe so," Sakura laughed disbelievingly.

"I highly doubt it," Meta Knight joined the conversation with a derisive snort. He was standing over right inside the door to the small area, his cloak drawn around himself, gazing thoughtfully out at the valley.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Sakura asked him. "I mean, what do you think we should do?"

He was silent for a moment, then replied, taking one glove out of his cloak and pointing out the door, "I think you should come and wonder with me about what on Popstar Yin-Yarn is up to over there."

"What in Dreamland?" Sakura muttered in surprise, quickly hopping up and joining him.

Sure enough, Yin-Yarn was out at the edge of the valley, gray and mopey. "Well, he doesn't look too good, does he, Princess?" Magolor giggled, floating up so he could see over Meta Knight and Sakura. "Wonder if he still does the whole yarn-pun thing?"

They didn't have to wonder long, as moments later, Yin-Yarn suddenly lamented, "Oh, it's as if all the ambition has been combed out of me!"

"Welp, now we know," Magolor shrugged, still chortling gleefully.

"That's just sad," Sakura murmured, shaking her head. "Even bumbling badguys shouldn't have to feel hopeless."

"I have to agree with Magolor, much as it infinitely pains me to say that. It is good to see a villain having to suffer along with everyone else occasionally, like when the king's monsters turned on him," Meta Knight told her with a hint of satisfaction in his otherwise-stoic voice.

"Guys," Sakura huffed with a roll of her eyes. "No compassion whatsoever. I'm going to talk to him."

"Your funeral, Princess," Magolor shuddered.

She made a face at him and took off, flying over to Yin-Yarn in a matter of seconds. "Ah, I see you made it out of Patch Land. I'm not surprised, I'm a lousy villain. A few skeins short of a whole scarf, if you know what I mean," Yin-Yarn sighed when she landed close to him.

"What happened to you?" Sakura asked kindly, but kept her distance.

"Well, I pulled back all the yarn, got rid of all the yarn monsters, stuff like that; because I wanted to fool DeDeDumb into thinking it was his castle again, just so I could laugh at him. But then, I thought it would be even funnier if I disappeared and then returned, so I went and hid in Whispy Woods. But then this fog got to me, and I've been stuck in it for days. And I don't want to be supreme ruler of Dreamland anymore, I don't want to be anything. I just want to lie down and never knit again. Oh, what a world!" Yin-Yarn sobbed, flopping down onto the ground in a comical way.

Sakura heard several snickers coming from Kabu's vicinity. It was kind of funny, and it was the sort of poetic justice she usually loved, but it was still sad. "You sure must be upset if you're not even interested in taking over Dreamland," she commented.

"Oh, I never knew what I was going to do with it, anyway," Yin-Yarn moaned, crying little bead-tears.

"Well, after some time here in the sunlight, I'm sure you'll feel better," Sakura reassured him, then frowned. "How far out from here did you leave the fog?"

"Oh, just about fifteen minutes ago, it's only coming this way very slowly," he sniffled, already starting to feel better.

"Oh, dear," Sakura sighed, sitting down and putting her face in her hands. "We're all doomed. We're all so doomed."

"That doesn't sound like regular hero talk at all. What's wrong with you? Aren't you going to go be a needle in this fog's side?" Yin-Yarn sneered. "That's what you do to all the other badguys, isn't it?"

"Well, this fog isn't really a badguy. It's just bad. And trust me, I would be doing something to stop it, if I knew something to do to stop it," Sakura told him shortly.

"Well, you'll have something to keep you busy," he laughed evilly, his color having finally started returning. "Won't you have some fun fighting me?" Yin-Yarn suddenly brought out his knitting needles, which were now dark.

"Oh, yippee. Let me guess, they've been affected by the Returning Darkness to have extra powers now?" Sakura guessed anxiously.

"You got it," Yin-Yarn snickered. "Let's get started on this project, shall we?" He sent out a dark tornado, straight towards her.

"Yikes!" Sakura shouted, jumping out of the way. Seconds later, she was joined by Meta Knight, Kirby, and Bandana Dee.

Kirby turned to inhale the tornado, but Sakura shook her head at him. "It's dark, it's probably not safe!" she warned him. She, of all people, should know about the dangers of dark cloud-like substances. Last thing they needed right now was Kirby getting turned into a Yarn Doo, or something.

Nodding, he inhaled some rocks instead. "Hai-yah! Stone!" he shouted, turning into a rock right over Yin-Yarn's head.

Yin-Yarn warped out of the way. "That is new," Meta Knight murmured in nervous surprise. "What other new tricks does he have up his sleeve? Oh, and the fabric pun was not intended."

"Sure it wasn't," Sakura laughed, then frowned. "I don't know, because I won't be able to tell what's new and what's not. I've never really fought him before."

"Well, I have watched him fight Kirby and Prince Fluff, and I have been forced to fight for him before, but I have never fought him myself, either," Meta Knight explained.

"Yeah, Meta Knight was actually a harder boss than Yin-Yarn, poyo," Kirby laughed as he tried again to pound Yin-Yarn into the ground.

"He was not! The only reason you had no trouble with me is you cheated and used a Metamortex, which said knight gave you!" Yin-Yarn disagreed, offended, warping away and reappearing right behind Sakura and Meta Knight. "Boo!"

The two spun around, but not before Yin-Yarn sent another tornado at them. They made it out of the tornado rather quickly, but not before the tornado took her cape and his cloak away from them and to Yin-Yarn.

"Ow," Sakura moaned, rubbing her head.

"Are you all right?" Meta Knight asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I think so. But he's got the Dimensional Cloak and Cape!" she yelped as the sorcerer seemed to inspect the items, then put them in a spot where they couldn't get to them until they had defeated him.

"And I'm not giving them back. Let's see if you can beat me now without your magic toys!" Yin-Yarn cackled.

Sakura ran at him, swinging at him with the Cherry Star Sword. He warped away, then pouted, "Why aren't you scared?"

"I spent several years without my cape, and I only recently got it back. I can fight without it just fine," she smirked.

"And I can as well, even if I am not used to this," Meta Knight agreed as he sent a Sword Beam at the stringy sorcerer.

Bandana Dee snuck in out of nowhere and managed to pin Yin-Yarn to the ground with his spear. "I can still warp, you know," Yin-Yarn sneered at the young Waddle Dee, reappearing behind him and sending a tornado at him, too.

Bandana avoided it, grabbing his spear back in the process. "Nice try, Bandana!" Sakura shouted to him encouragingly. He just narrowed his eyes at her and stuck his nose in the air.

This went on for quite awhile. They couldn't get any strikes in against Yin-Yarn, and he could hardly get any attacks to hit them, either. But, slowly but surely, it began to look like the sorcerer was going to win.

Kirby had given up using Stone, and was now floating above, being their eye in the sky. "The Returning Darkness is starting to get close, poyo," he worried urgently.

"This isn't good at all," Sakura said weakly. Most of the attacks that had actually made it to one of them had hit her, and she was running out of energy.

"Do not give up hope yet, Sakura," Meta Knight told her gently. "Are you all right? Do you need to stop fighting for awhile?"

"No. I'm not quitting," Sakura huffed, offended.

Yin-Yarn took advantage of their pause to send a tornado towards them. It only got Sakura, but it carried her out over the cliffs surrounding the valley. When it died out, she was left unconscious in midair, above a deep chasm.

Without thinking, Bandana Dee shouted, "Dwee!" His shout woke her up, but she was quickly falling. And without her cape, she had no way to fly. She could have floated, but she was panicking too much to remember.

He reached out over the chasm with his spear, and she was able to catch it before she fell further. "Bandana, I-" she started as he pulled her back onto land, but he turned from her before she could finish.

Nobody does that to my sister, you bozo, Bandana thought at Yin-Yarn, who of course had no way of hearing him. The young Waddle Dee rushed at the sorcerer, knocking one of the villain's knitting needles from his hands with his spear.

"Hey! You can't do that!" Yin-Yarn shrieked angrily as Bandana held it in a such a way as it was obvious he was going to break it.

The little Waddle Dee gave him a look which clearly stated, "Oh, yeah? Just watch me," and he snapped it in half.

"Why didn't me and Fluff think of doing that, poyo?" Kirby wondered aloud.

Bandana Dee wasn't finished yet. Yin-Yarn rushed at him angrily, but Bandana used his spear to pin him to the ground just long enough to take his other knitting needle and snap it in half, too.

"Nyaaaaaaaargh! Without my needles, I am nothing! Just a useless ball of yarn, with no purpose!" Yin-Yarn mourned as, indeed, he turned into nothing but a pile of string and buttons.

"Dee! Dee dwee!" Bandana shouted at the pile with a satisfied nod.

"Bandana! You did it! You're the hero, Hero Dee," Sakura laughed as she ran over to him. "Thank you for saving me!"

Bandana touched his forehead to hers. "Well, of course I saved you," he huffed, but then his face crumpled. "You're my sister, even if I'm not your brother anymore," he sniffled mentally.

"Oh, Bandana," Sakura sighed with a soft smile as she pulled him into her arms. Mentally, she asked him, "How could you not be my brother?"

"Well, Kirby really is your brother. And since you were never really a Waddle Dee, we don't even have that in common," he cried, hating himself for being all dumb and emotional.

"You probably don't remember, and the only way I can is because I saw it the other day. But the Birthday when you came, the first thing you did after you opened your eyes was waddle over to me and take my hand. Waddle Dee don't usually show attachment to others like that, but from the beginning, I was your favorite. You followed me everywhere, which is part of the reason I started working in the nursery, so you wouldn't get lost," she told him, still mentally, love in her eyes. "Kirby and I may be siblings by blood, but you've been my little brother your whole life. I've known you much longer than I've known Kirby. And, maybe I'm not really a Waddle Dee, but I thought I was one for most of my life. And I think I really was a Waddle Dee for at least a while, because why else am I still able to talk to you like this?"

"I guess so. But all of you guys are Star Warriors. I'm just a dumb old Waddle Dee. I can't be special like you guys," Bandana murmured sadly.

"That's not true. Sure, you're not a Star Warrior, but you're the one and only Hero Dee. If that's not special, I don't know what is," she said to him in her mind. "No matter what, you're my little brother. I love you, Bandana, and just because I also love Kirby doesn't mean you're not special or important. And I'll tell you something Meta Knight told me: Everyone, every single person, is important."

He 'smiled' a little. "You know, you're actually pretty cool, Sis."

She laughed, then said aloud, "And you're really cool, Bro."

"What was that about, poyo?" Kirby asked as the other two joined him and Meta Knight, (who had regained his cloak,) over where they had been watching from a distance.

"It's private Waddle Dee and former Waddle Dee business, right, Bandana?" Sakura asked with a wink.

"Dwee," he nodded, still 'smiling.'

"Well, Bandana Dee, you are the hero of the day. I give you my thanks for saving Sakura, and for defeating Yin-Yarn," Meta Knight told him, then turned to Sakura. "I am assuming that you will want this back," he added, sounding mildly amused, as he handed her cape to her.

"Thanks, I hadn't even thought to go looking for it yet," Sakura laughed as she put it back on, then grew serious. "We may have dealt with Yin-Yarn, but I'm thinking he's the lesser of the two evils we have to face."

"I definitely agree, my friend. Wait, where did Magolor get off to?" Meta Knight suddenly wondered suspiciously.

"I'm still here, under the statue," a pip-squeaky voice answered him. "Staying safe, staying uninvolved, all that."

"So now what do we do?" Sakura worried as the fog began to fill the valley. Only a small space of the sky above was still visible, and it was being quickly covered as well.

"Have you figured out what to do yet, poyo?" Kirby questioned urgently.

Sakura shook her head slowly. "No, I haven't."

Meta Knight turned towards the statue. "Kabu, what should we do?" he asked, his voice full of fear as the heroes pressed close together, all four back-to-back.

"Sakura will know what to do," the statue repeated, then went silent again, leaving the four heroes surrounded by the fog on all but one side, and that way out was blocked by a statue.

"I'm really scared, Princess," Magolor squeaked as he came and joined them, standing close to Sakura. "I really don't know how you all are going to get us out of this one."

"Neither do I," Sakura whispered, terrified, as the Returning Darkness came ever closer.