Kirby slowly opened his eyes, his vision filled with bright morning light as he awoke. The young teen couldn't remember why he was in a bed that wasn't his own at first, but as he stared out the window, watching the sun crawl up the horizon, the events that transpired eventually came back to him.

His wings! He had grown wings!

At the thought of his new limbs, Kirby began to feel them on his back, a new, foreign presence that he knew would take a long time to get used to. Despite that, however, he was eager to see his new wings.

Kirby slowly got into a sitting position, noticing that the sheets were sticking to his belly rather grossly, and that his sides and belly were actually covered in old blood, making his skin stained a dark reddish brown color. He really made a mess, hadn't he… Not to mention, he was aching all over!

As Kirby slowly crawled out of bed, he felt an irritating sensation in his newly grown wings. They itched really bad! Kirby groaned, trying to reach back and itch his wings, but he couldn't reach!

"Dumb stumpy arms…!" As the teen squirmed trying to itch his wings, he felt his body slip and he fell out of bed, landing on his stomach with a gasp and a groan. He pressed his face against the cool floor, sighing in irritation. At least he didn't land on his wings...

"Kirby? What's going on in there?" Meta Knight had opened the door and walked into the room, staring at his student as he slowly lifted a paw.

"I'm alive…"

"Well that's good to hear, at least," Meta Knight chuckled a bit, helping his student up. "It's good to see you awake. That gives me the chance to assist you in cleaning up. You're a mess."

"Tell me about it. I look like I waltzed through a hall decorated with blood and guts."

Meta Knight shook his head, not feeling pleased with the mental image of his student dancing around in a pile of gore. He tucked it away to the crevices of his mind, never to be seen again. "I… suppose, if you put it that way."

Kirby looked up at his mentor, his wings slightly quivering in anticipation. "Can I see my wings, Meta? Do you have a mirror?"

"I do have a mirror, but I would rather you get yourself cleaned up and preened before you look."

"'Preened'? What's that?"

"Right now, you only have the pins of your feathers showing. Once they're preened, the actual feather will be released."

"Oh… my wings don't look very pretty right now, do they?"

"Honestly? No."

Kirby pouted. "Can I get clean, then? My wings itch real bad…"

Meta Knight nodded his head, smirking underneath his mask. "I assumed so. In that stage, the pin feathers can be very irritating." He gently guided his student into the bathroom, noticing with amusement that the teen's wings were twitching and quivering due to being irritated and itchy.

"How do you know so much about wings, Meta? You don't have feathers…"

"When I was a lot younger, I was required to learn about wing care of all kinds in my education. Given that our wing type can be either based on genetics or even completely random, it's best to study and learn to care for wings of all shapes and sizes." Meta Knight made his way to the bathtub, turning the water valve so that warm water would come out. "Okay, get in, Kirby."

Kirby nodded, crawling into the tub. He hissed slightly when he dipped his foot in, as the water was a little hot, but he quickly adjusted to the temperature and sighed, getting both of his feet and the rest of his body in the tub. The warm temperature felt very nice…

Meta Knight had since grabbed a cloth, which he handed to Kirby. "Wipe as much as you can down. Whatever you can't reach, I'll take care of myself."

"Okay …" Kirby got the cloth wet before he began to wipe his skin down. Since he was covered in old blood, he had to rinse the cloth off every now and then. The water was slowly turning a gross brown color as it spiraled down the drain, much to Kirby's distaste. He stuck out his tongue, making a fake, exaggerated gagging noise. "Gross…"

"You slept for over a day after your wings finished growing. The blood is rather old because of that."

Kirby looked up, surprised. "A whole day? I slept for that long?"

"Indeed. Are you done washing what you can reach?"

The teen looked himself over. His belly and most of his sides were a lot cleaner looking. "Uh-huh… is my back messy too?"

"It's not as bad as your belly, as I was able to wash away the blood that was there while you were asleep. Your wings, however, need attention. Let's get you cleaned up and situated, first…" Meta Knight drew closer to the tub, gently urging Kirby to turn so he could reach his wings. "Now, I'm going to touch your wings. Let me know if it hurts." With that, the knight gently stroked Kirby's wings, earning a shudder from the teen.

"That feels weird…" Kirby mumbled.

"It will take a while to get used to." Meta Knight grabbed the cloth Kirby had been using, making sure it was rinsed off and rung out before he gently cleaned Kirby's wings.

Kirby grunted, his wings twitching as the new sensation hit his body. Having two new limbs attached to his back was so strange… and yet at the same time, the cleaning felt rather… pleasant. His itching was finally beginning to cease, even if it was just a little, which greatly relieved him.

"Alright," Meta Knight had finished cleaning Kirby's wings, setting the cloth aside to be washed later. "Do you want the tub filled with water?"

"Yes, please!" Kirby immediately replied, a smile appearing on his face. "Do you have bubbles?"

"Aren't you a little old for a bubble bath?" Meta Knight chuckled softly as Kirby's wings quivered.

"No! You're never too old for bubbles!" Kirby pouted at his mentor, huffing.

"Alright, alright. King Dedede probably has some bath soap somewhere. I'll be right back." With that, Meta Knight quickly made his way out of the bathroom to search for the bubble bath.

Kirby sat down in front of the still running water, sighing before dipping his head underneath the warm water and sighing in content as it ran down his body. It felt very nice… though the healing wounds that his wings created on his back made it sting a little.

Kirby lifted his head as Meta Knight re-entered the bathroom a few minutes later, a bottle of bath soap in his hand. "What kind is it?" He asked, moving back so his mentor could plug the drain.

"Cherry blossom. I know that's your favorite." Meta Knight smirked when Kirby looked away in embarrassment.

"Didn't know you knew that…"

"You forget that I am observant." Meta Knight smiled behind his mask, his eyes flashing pink as he continued. "You're always at the Cherry Blossom Festival. I see your reaction to the cherry trees blossoming each year, you've even tried to climb up the trees to smell the flowers."

Kirby's face flushed, and he gave his mentor a pout. "Yeah, I like cherry blossoms… Can I have the bubbles now?"

Meta Knight chuckled, nodding and opening the cap for the bubble bath, pouring some next to the running water. It instantly foamed, sending a small pile of bubbles near Kirby, who gave Meta Knight a look.

"You call that a bubble bath? I want more!"

Meta Knight rolled his eyes and smirked, deciding to play along. A little fun wouldn't hurt... "You want a bubble bath? I'll give you one." With that, he opened the bottle all the way, pouring the entire contents of the bubble bath into the tub, much to Kirby's surprise. Almost instantly, the bubbles piled up into a massive wave that quickly consumed Kirby, who made a surprised squeal.

The teen was grinning, trying to uncover himself from the bubbles and giggling uncontrollably as he did so. There were so many bubbles! The sweet aroma of cherry blossoms filled his senses, sending him into a state of pure bliss and joy.

Meta Knight felt his lips twitch into a smile at Kirby's reaction to the bubbles, his heart warming up at the sight of his student's happiness. Seeing Kirby happy made him happy, and this was no exception. As soon as the tub was filled enough, he turned the water off. "Are you enjoying yourself?" He asked, continuing to smile as Kirby's face poked from the bubbles.

"Yes!" The teen grinned at his mentor, continuing to giggle as the bubbles tickled every part of his body, including his new wings. "So many bubbles! Thank you, Meta!"

Meta Knight shifted his gaze upwards at the steadily growing pile of foam in the tub, his eyes glowing pink with amusement.

Kirby stared at his mentor, suddenly getting an idea. A smirk slowly made its way onto the teen's face, which Meta Knight quickly noticed.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He rose an eyebrow beneath his mask, seeing Kirby's body wiggle a bit beneath the bubbles. Suddenly, he was well aware of what his student was thinking. "...Don't you dare-"

"BUBBLE FIGHT!" Kirby cried out, whipping his arms forward and sending a large amount of bubbles towards Meta Knight. The foam landed all over his mask, blocking his vision and making Kirby burst out into a loud fit of giggles.

Meta Knight couldn't help but snicker, wiping the bubbles off of his mask to see that Kirby continued to laugh at him. "Very funny, Kirby." He sighed and pulled his mask off, since some of the bubbles had made it through his visor and into the inside of it. He noticed that the smirk returned to his student's face. "What, are you going to throw more at me? Give this poor old man a break!"

Kirby was so happy that his mentor was playing along, his smirk turned into another grin. He reached forward and pressed a bubble-covered paw against Meta Knight's face, quickly drawing back and laughing at his mentor's unimpressed expression.

Meta Knight was fully aware that such activities were rather immature, but he knew Kirby deserved a few moments of happiness after what had happened to him these past couple days. He ignored the bubbles on his face and reached upwards to the top of the stack of bubbles in the tub, pushing them downwards so that Kirby was once again completely submerged in them.

Kirby let out another burst of laughter, getting himself out of the bubbles and throwing more at his mentor, who began to smile and laugh a little himself. It was almost strange seeing his mentor this loose; but at the same time, seeing him happy made him even happier.

After a few minutes of throwing bubbles at one another, Meta Knight closed his eyes and sighed, wiping the suds off of him as his chuckles died down. "Alright, that's enough," he murmured, still smiling slightly. "Your wings need attention, do they not?"

Kirby was slightly disappointed, but nodded anyway. His wings were starting to itch again, now that he thought about them. How annoying…!

"We should try to drain these bubbles before anything," Meta Knight noticed Kirby's wings twitching, the teen's face growing irritated, most likely due to his wings itching. "Try finding the plug so these bubbles can go down."

As the bubbles went down the drain, Meta Knight helped Kirby rinse the remaining suds off his body by turning the water back on. Once Kirby was rinsed off, he moved the teen away from the remaining bubbles in the tub and had him stand with his back facing him. He gently touched Kirby's wings again, making the teen shiver slightly.

"That feels weird…" Kirby mumbled, his bright azure eyes beginning to droop as he grew fatigued from playing.

"It will take a while to get used to, and preening your wings will help lessen that feeling," Meta Knight carefully observed Kirby's wings; there were dozens of pins, big and small, that needed his attention. This was going to take a while... "Now, I'm going to have to go through each individual feather and break the pins. It might feel strange, so be ready." He decided to start from the end of Kirby's right wing, taking one of the many pins and gently rubbing it , flaking off the dead pin from top to bottom and revealing the white feather beneath. "Interesting…"

"What?" Kirby's wings twitched again as Meta Knight moved on to the next feather.

"Nothing, I'm just observing your feather's color… they're white."

"White, huh…?" Kirby closed his eyes as Meta Knight worked at his feathers, humming in content. "That feels good…" He felt a faint purr begin to rise in his throat.

"I'm sure it does," Meta Knight responded, making sure to be careful and gentle when preening Kirby's wings. The feathers that were released were very soft and brightly colored, meaning that they had grown in rather smoothly, which was good.

However, Meta Knight soon noticed that Kirby was severely lacking in feathers near the base, with only a few pins sticking out. The feathers that came out appeared ragged and fragile. This concerned him greatly, but he decided not to say anything to his student.

His wings are still new. Perhaps the feathers just haven't grown in there, yet.

Kirby had long since closed his eyes, experiencing great pleasure as his wings were being taken care of. He didn't think it'd feel as good as it did, but he loved it. He couldn't even really describe it, it just felt good. Amidst his pleasure, Kirby found himself growing more and more exhausted, and he just wanted to lay down.

Meta Knight noticed Kirby's growing exhaustion and chuckled softly. "You look tired," he observed, his misty white eyes bright with amusement as Kirby yawned and stretched, his wings and new feathers quivering at the movement.

"...Yeah…" Kirby nodded his head, his eyes staying closed as he turned towards his mentor slightly. "Can I go to bed now?"

Meta Knight hummed in thought, looking over Kirby's wings very closely and checking for any pins he may have missed. It didn't appear that there was any, however. His wings were full of beautiful white feathers, save for those bald patches at the base… "Yes, I think you're done."

Kirby sighed in relief, rubbing his eyes and yawning again. "It feels better, Meta… thank you…"

"It's no problem. Now, let's get you dried off." He went to grab a towel as Kirby tiredly crawled out of the tub, standing on the floor with his eyes still half closed as mentor returned. He gently draped it over his student, who gripped it with his paws and sluggishly dried himself off.

"Hey, Meta?" Kirby lifted his face from the towel, gazing up at his mentor.

"Yes, Kirby?"

"When do you think I'll learn how to fly?"

Meta Knight smiled gently, placing a hand on top of his student's head. "It will take a while, child. You must give yourself a few months for your wings to mature and grow a little more before you can learn."

"Oh," Kirby looked a little disappointed with that response. "I really wanna fly again, I wish I hadn't lost my ability to float…"

Meta Knight frowned, removing his hand from Kirby's head. "Our kind all lose that ability as we mature, Kirby. You'll be back in the skies again before you know it."

"I know… I can't wait," his eyes shone with excitement, his new feathers getting slightly ruffled in anticipation as he began to ask more questions. "It isn't the same to use my Warpstar, I wanna fly all by myself! Do you think my Copy Abilities will have new stuff thanks to my wings? Could they change like the rest of my body does?"

"I'm sure they will. We'll have to look into that as soon as you're fully recovered. How does that sound?"

Kirby's eyes grew brighter as his excitement increased. "That's gonna be so cool! I can't wait!" Despite his eagerness, however, he yawned very deeply once again, his eyes drooping back down. "As soon as I get some sleep…"

Meta Knight nodded, helping Kirby dry off his back and wings before leading him out of the bathroom. "The sheets and blankets you used are a mess, so I'm going to get new ones, alright? Just wait here while I do that."

Kirby sat down on a chair that was nearby as his mentor took care of the old sheets, closing his eyes again. Learning how to fly sounded like so much fun… and the new possibilities he had with his Copy Ability! It was so exciting… but he was so tired…

The teen wrapped his new feathered wings around himself, humming in content due to how soft they were. He couldn't see much of them, but the feathers he could see were indeed a bright white, like Meta Knight had said.

Kirby closed his eyes, his wings still wrapped around himself as he began to doze off. He tried to stay awake until Meta Knight returned with new sheets and blankets on the bed, but found himself falling asleep regardless.

Meta Knight had returned a few moments after, smiling and chuckling softly at Kirby's sleeping form. The knight hastily put the new sheets on the bed before quietly walking over to Kirby and lifting him up. He gently set Kirby onto the bed, draping a clean blanket over him and sighing in relief that his student had stayed asleep. Now, he had a mess to clean in the bathroom…


King Dedede grumbled to himself as he trudged town the halls of his castle. He hated the fact that Kirby was in his castle! What was so important about Kirby that his highest knight completely disrespected him? Why was Kirby screaming that night? So many questions… questions that had been bothering him all day long! One of these days, he would find out!

The penguin king entered the closest bathroom, grumpily shutting the door behind him before looking over at the toilet. His eyes suddenly widened, and he looked around confusedly at what he saw.

Where did all those bubbles come from?!