Hello fellow Kirby fans, and welcome to A Little Sister's Love!
Ten years ago (!), I wrote a Kirby: RBAY fanfic called Bittersweet Revenge, featuring an OC named Erika. This fic begins as a partial rewrite of that fic, followed by the direction I wanted to take Erika all those years ago, but didn't have the skill or patience to actually write it. (Erika got a glow up on the cover art too, since my art has also improved in the last decade, thank goodness!)
The Kirby anime has always held a special place in my heart, so I'm pleased to finally share this fic with the world. I hope you enjoy~
"Approximately 380 millilitres of warm milk at 98 degrees Celsius…" I recited King Dedede's favourite hot chocolate recipe to to myself as I slowly poured the milk into a large mug, smiling as it began to take on a frothy form. "Perfect."
Rain was hammering hard on the kitchen window in Castle Dedede - it was difficult to see anything going on outside past the fog of condensation on the glass. Still, I didn't have time to be gazing outside. On rainy days like this, King Dedede liked to relax with a warm mug of hot chocolate, and I had to get it to him before anyone else did.
'Anyone else' being Escargoon, of course.
In the few months I had been working as a servant to Dream Land's ruler, I often found myself competing for the King's approval - well, to be honest, I didn't care much for the King's approval. I just wanted to one-up that slithering snail.
Escargoon was another servant of King Dedede's, and was constantly sucking up to him in a sickening fashion. Normally this kind of thing wouldn't bother me, but he clearly saw me as a threat from day one, and made it his mission to embarrass me or make me look bad in front of the King as often as he could. I wasn't about to let myself become his doormat, so pranking him was often my way of retaliating, showing that I wasn't going to let him walk all over me. I still have to hold myself back from laughing too much when I think about some of my old pranks, but the honey incident remains one of my favourites so far.
Escargoon had really irritated me that day - I couldn't remember exactly why, but his arrogant attitude was always chipping away at my patience. I found some honey in the castle pantry at lunchtime, and a devious plot hatched in my head, as they often did. That night while everyone was asleep, I decided to slather that honey all over the castle - on the stair banisters, on the door handles, even on the toilet seats - and told the King it was snail slime. Gullible as always, he believed me, and Escargoon was the target of Dedede's mallet that day, all while I giggled to myself from a distance.
That same evening, the King discovered the empty honey pot in the palace trash, and he was ANGRY. He actually placed a nationwide ban on honey for the next two weeks. I don't think he ever officially lifted the ban, but Dream Land just went back to eating honey after a short while, by which time Dedede had forgotten and was aiming his rage at his sworn enemy Kirby, like usual.
The next day, as payback, Escargoon accused me of stealing a pack of King Dedede's favourite cookies. I pleaded my case, stating there was no proof I had taken them, but the King later found a trail of cookie crumbs leading from the kitchen to my bedchamber, the empty bag left sitting at my door. It didn't take a genius to figure out who set up the false evidence, but Dedede didn't want to hear my protests.
Incidents like these were simply part of everyday life in Castle Dedede.
Finishing off His Majesty's hot chocolate with a generous helping of whipped cream and marshmallows, I cheerfully trotted along to the throne room, where I knew he'd be watching television, as he often did mid-afternoon on a rainy day.
With a knock to announce my presence, I eased myself around the throne room door, taking care not to spill even a drop of the slightly melted whipped cream. "Good afternoon, Sire. I have your hot chocolate."
As predicted, the King was reclined in his throne watching a comedy show on television, barely acknowledging my existence. Escargoon was there sweeping the floor near the throne, also not acknowledging my existence, although this was nothing new.
Proudly sauntering up to the King to hand him his drink, a lavender snail tail suddenly swished its way into my path, sending me crashing to the ground before I even had a chance to react.
Splash.
Oh no.
My heart began hammering away in my chest in panic. I hardly dared to lift my head off the floor, but slowly and shakily raised my eyes to see the furious monarch of Dream Land looming over me. Splatters of cream and chocolatey milk dripped from King Dedede's face, staining his robe and soiling the carpet. My blood ran cold as he gritted his teeth and emitted a low growl.
"What's the big idea?!" he exploded.
I quickly stumbled to my feet. "I'm so sorry, Your Majesty! I'll clean it up right away!"
"You better!" He shrugged himself out of his chocolate-stained robe and aimed the soggy garment at my face. "And get me some clean clothes too, ya hear?!"
"Yes, Sire," I said meekly. "Right away." I clutched the stained clothing and scrambled out of the room before he could get any angrier.
As soon as I was out of sight and earshot, I leaned back against the wall, squeezing my eyes shut and releasing a breath I didn't realise I was holding. Tears of frustration leaked out from my eyelids. My hands balled up into trembling fists, wanting to punch something - or rather, someone - but with nothing nearby fit for venting my anger, I simply slumped onto the floor, cursing the existence of that disgusting mollusk I was forced to work with.
Once again, he had successfully made me look incompetent in front of King Dedede, despite my best efforts to please the short-tempered penguin. No matter how many pranks I pulled, no matter how many sarcastic remarks and thinly veiled insults I churned out, he always seemed to be one step ahead of me, to the point where even something as simple as tripping me was a move I didn't see coming. I mentally slapped myself for being so blind and letting him gain the upper hand, yet again.
I was so wrapped up in my own miserable thoughts that I barely heard the throne room door creaking open. A gross slimy thing emerged from the room. I prayed that the gross slimy thing wouldn't notice me in such a downtrodden state, but my silent wishes went unheard.
"Crybaby," Escargoon hissed triumphantly, snickering to himself as he sauntered down the hall.
I hated his smug face so much.
I sat in at my dressing table up in my bedchamber that evening after dinner, brushing my orange pigtails a little too harshly. I was still so angry at the events that transpired earlier that day. Brainstorming the occasional prank was something that helped keep me sane working with someone as vexing as Escargoon, but it wasn't enough anymore. I didn't want to just pull another stupid prank. I wanted to come up with something that would knock him down a peg, for good.
My mind began racing with vengeful thoughts. King Dedede plots against Kirby all the time. What does do when he wants to show Kirby who's boss?
Easy, I thought. He orders a monster from NME.
A small gasp escaped me. I stopped brushing my hair and stared at myself in the dressing table mirror, wondering if I dared to be that devious.
I cast my mind back to the way I felt earlier that day, and watched my thoughtful reflection turn to a scowl, my eyes darkening with anger. Oh yes, I did dare.
I knew it was strictly forbidden to enter the King's throne room without permission, but for once I didn't care about the risk of getting in trouble. That night as the big clock in the castle courtyard struck twelve, I rushed inside the throne room before any patrolling Waddle Dees caught sight of me, gently closing the door behind me to keep noise to a minimum.
I swiftly dashed up to the special seat reserved only for the King and pressed a button on the arm. Immediately a giant screen emerged from the wall and the NME salesman flashed up on the screen. Up until this point, I hadn't actually spoken to him myself, but I'd overheard many conversations between him and the King, so I knew who he was.
"I wanna get a monster!" I declared, stamping my foot.
"You must be Erika," said the salesman. "You look a bit young to be handling monsters. Come back with King Dedede or Escargoon and then we can talk."
"No, wait! I'm not too young!" I quickly insisted before he turned the screen off. "And I can't get His Majesty or Escargoon either."
"Of course, I expect they'll be fast asleep. You'd better wait 'till morning."
"That's not what I meant." I thought as hard as I could to come up with a good excuse. "I want to surprise them with a strong monster to get rid of Kirby. Something cute but deadly. I don't want to be seen with something too scary."
"You're in luck, Erika. A monster called Cream Puff arrived just this morning. It's not big and it's not scary, but its powerful bite can be lethal."
"Great! Send it!" I looked at the buttons on Dedede's throne. "Er, which one brings up the monster downloading thingy?"
"Left arm, bottom right button."
"Thanks."
I pressed the button and the gigantic monster delivery system rose from the middle of the room. The room filled with clouds of fog, buzzing sparks, and flashes of blinding light so bright I winced and covered my eyes.
I uncovered my eyes once the lights and noise had subsided. There, floating atop the platform of the monster upload system, was a small fluffy ball with cute little eyes not much bigger than my head.
"What does it do?"
"Whatever you tell it to do," said the salesman smoothly. "Cream Puff is the most loyal and obedient monster you could wish for, providing you're an experienced monster handler."
I decided to put this to the test. "Cream Puff, do a backflip!"
Cream Puff did a floating midair backflip.
"See what I mean?" said the salesman.
"Yeah, this is perfect! Thanks!"
"But watch out," he warned. "Once Cream Puff tastes blood, things can get a little… wild."
"Oooh." My eyes lit up at the sound of this. "That sounds exciting."
"Just don't say I didn't warn you." With an eerily maniacal laugh, the screen switched off and the machinery tucked itself away with a whirr, hidden from view once again. Cream Puff and I were left alone in the quiet throne room.
"You're pretty cute," I whispered. "It's hard to believe you're a monster."
Cream Puff seemed to understand me and began happily floating around my head like a fluffy planet in orbit.
"Come on, buddy," I giggled, gesturing for it to follow me. "We've got work to do."