The dark swirled all around Kirby as the tiny mass of land above him shrinking in the distance. Falling. Flailing. He tried to suck in the air around him, to float back up like he always did, but everything hurt so much.

On his cheek, he could still feel where Big Monkey had hit him. And his left hand burned where Red Man had scorched him with a big blue ball. He tried again to fly up, but the darkness pulled him down even faster, like the current of a river sweeping him away from the shore.

Something was terribly wrong with him. He'd stared down mad gods and the ever-changing face of nightmares, he'd fought against giant robot monsters and ripped a giant flying eyeball to shreds. And yet, when he had been torn from his world and thrust into battle by The Hand, everything hurt.

A single poke from Greenie's sword felt like it could pierce through his mouth. A hit from Mister Mustache felt like a planet being dropped on his head. He'd never had to deal with this kind of pain before. Or maybe it had always been there, and he'd just had something that protected him.

Whatever it was, The Hand had taken it away.

Suddenly he found himself surrounded by a storm of red. Above him, instead of a battlefield, he saw a fairy, arms outstretched, horrified as she watched him fall. And behind her, an eye glared down at him. Brimming. Boiling. Burning.

It felt like his whole body was on fire. A light engulfed him, shimmering in green, purple, blue, and yellow.

Then it washed away, leaving him standing on a platform. He looked up, and he saw Big Monkey and Red Man standing on the upper platforms, waving out to the crowd gathered before them. Over the crowd, The Hand watched. Kirby couldn't tell if he was happy or mad. He just floated there.

"Hey."

Kirby turned to the other side. A hand rushed for his face, and he flinched.

"You did well."

Slowly, he opened one eye. Greenie stared back, a big smile on his face. His hand stuck out toward him in an open palm, not a fist.

Of course he wasn't going to attack him. Kirby kicked himself for being so dumb.

He reached out to take Greenie's hand. When Greenie's smile widened, he stopped. What if this was a trap? He certainly had no problem beating him up before, why stop now?

"Ah, I suppose now's not the best time?" Before he could decide, Greenie pulled his hand back. Greenie chuckled, and he scratched at his pointy green sword-hat. "You took quite the beating yourself, huh."

A beating? Was that what it looked like?

Kirby had flown into the core of a wish-granting machine. He had been sucked into a black hole, and he'd been thrown out of a castle.

This felt worse. It shouldn't have, but it did. The Hand had taken everything away. No one here was as strong as him. The Hand had made him weak so they could hurt him. And they didn't hold back. His entire body felt bruised, and it hurt all over.

I want to go home.

Remember me? Yeah you do!

For anyone following Brotherhood of Smash, I haven't found much motivation to write for it. My computer went out the first week, then the weeks after that were just me being lazy.

This new story won't take long. At most, it'll be three chapters long. Very confused about the execution of this, I'll just have to see where it goes.

Update will come sometime next week.