Foreword
This is a work of fiction.
I do not own Kirby or Avatar The Last Airbender.
All rights go to their respective owners.
Deep in the vastness of space, a bright yellow star sliced through the black.
It was a starship.
Inside the starship's cockpit, at the controls, was a rather curious-looking creature.
The creature was bright pink with no neck and no chest, with just two stubby flaps for arms.
Rested against the pedals were a pair of feet, directly joined to the creature's body without knees, shins, or thighs.
Suddenly, the jarring klaxon of alarms started blasting away inside the cockpit, jolting the startled creature as crimson filled the interior on and off.
"What the Poyo... ?" exclaimed the creature, his arms a blur across the cockpit interface in an attempt to diagnose the current situation.
Another audible tone grabbed the creature's attention.
A swipe in the screen's corner expanded a tab showing data on a nearby planet, one with blue oceans, green landmasses, and an atmospheric layer mixed with all kinds of gases.
The creature made a split-second decision, then grabbed the starship's controls, and altered his trajectory towards the planet, the third one from a bright yellow sun.
It was nighttime in the land known to the natives of this planet as North America.
While this hour would usually be a time of sleep for a good number of the creatures here, for some others, they could hardly afford such a luxury.
Along the backroads of the state called Montana, a small and lithe shape darted amongst the shadows as it filtered through the numerous wreckages littering the highway headed North, only pausing to scan its surroundings with its keen eyes wide from fear.
The scrawny, bipedal form knelt down beside an abandoned vehicle parked obstructively across the road.
The 23-year-old's heart was pounding like a jackhammer as he scrambled to shovel as many supplies as he could into his duffel bag.
Despite his thick insulating apparel, the young man could feel the frigid North wind chill him slightly.
His heart leapt into his throat the instant a blinding bright light illuminated his surroundings.
Acting on muscle memory alone, the young man went prone and scrambled underneath the derelict vehicle's chassis.
Clutching his suppressed semi-automatic rifle, he internally recited his native Tibetan chant as he prayed that the potential danger would pay no mind to his presence.
Squinting his eyes, he noticed from underneath his hiding place that the bright light did not originate from a searchlight jury-rigged to a vehicle or aircraft as assumed.
And it was moving.
He inhaled, gathering his courage, and gingerly peeked out.
What he could only describe as a shooting star arcing low overhead grabbed his vision, tracing the light's path.
The shooting star descended below the treeline, but no explosion or fireball followed.
Overcome by curiosity, the young man crept out from underneath the vehicle and entered the forest in search of the fallen star.
The pink creature slumped in the cockpit's seat, totally and utterly exhausted.
It was a miracle that he'd managed to land the starship on this Alien planet without sustaining further structural damage or having to endure a crash land that would no doubt spook the natives of this world.
As with the others from his world, now no longer in existence, the pink creature needed neither food nor air nor water.
He shut his eyes, hibernated his body, and automatically initiated the recovery process which would replenish his energy levels.
"Poyo... "
The man rubbed his eyes for the umpteenth time.
Was that a giant yellow star resting in the middle of the woods in Montana?
He ran that question through his mind for a moment, then shouldered his rifle and stealthily approached the Alien craft.
With each heavy breath, the boy inched closer, footstep by footstep.
It was real, all right.
His eyes fell on what he assumed to be the cockpit of the craft, an opaque bulge in the very apex of the giant star.
That was when he heard the Dogs growling...
The starship's systems gave the pink creature quite the rude awakening, urgently disrupting his recuperation process to alert him to the situation developing outside.
A screen expanded.
"Oh, Poyo!" the pink creature exclaimed.
There were perhaps a dozen of them, maybe more, as the young man retreated with his back towards the hull of the Alien craft.
He dared not guess how many more of the vicious feral Dogs were lurking out of view on the other side, but he needed to assume that he was completely encircled.
Four slavering Mastiffs charged, fangs bared.
The young man remembered his training back at the temple.
"Control your breath," taught Gyatso.
"Centre your aim," Pasang had trained him.
Tap, tap.
Tap, tap.
All four lay crumpled in the dirt in half a heartbeat.
The other Dogs lowered their heads and growled, advancing on the young man... as the Alien craft suddenly levitated off the ground!
The feral Dogs stopped dead in their tracks, frozen with fear, then retreated back into the undergrowth.
"Get on the Warp Star, quick!"
The voice of a young boy sounded out from directly behind him!
"The starship?" he surmised.
The 23-year-old threw his arms and rifle forwards as he jumped, his chest thumped on one of the star's arms.
A quick glance to one side revealed a snarling German Shepherd sailing towards him, but a well-aimed kick to the chest sent the killer Dog crashing back down to earth with a whimper.
Pulling his legs up onto the Alien craft, the young man aimed down the sights and squeezed off a couple more shots.
The alien craft angled deftly, then unleashed a fusillade of laser shots at the Dogs.
Tree trucks exploded into a shower of splinters, toppling over, as the entire pack felt their resolve drain away.
A couple more bright bolts zapping by overhead were all that was needed to send them all into a frantic retreat.
The young man sat on the Alien craft as it hovered noiselessly above the ground, panting from his harrowing escape.
After about an hour or so, it set itself down inside an abandoned aircraft hangar, far away from prying eyes.
Startled by a loud hiss, the young man twisted around to see the cockpit open like a clamshell.
Out emerged a creature he could only describe as a pink spherical blob over a metre wide.
"Hello," greeted the pink creature.
The young man gasped.
"You... you can talk!" he exclaimed.
"I can," replied the creature. "Thanks to my translator software."
"You're... " the young man held his rifle closer to his chest, muzzle pointed at the roof. "You're an Alien?"
"That's one way to put it!"
The creature paused, averting his eyes for a moment. "Oh, where are my manners? I haven't introduced myself yet!"
"My name is Kirby!" He replied, turning his attention back to the young man. "And you are... ?"
"Aang," the young man answered. "I don't mean to be rude, but why have you come here?"
Kirby cocked his head to one side.
"To this planet, I mean," clarified Aang. "Earth."
A blink later, Kirby's face fell.
"My planet was destroyed. Planet Popstar."
Aang felt as though Kirby's sadness was flooding into his chest, a bitter and sour feeling that made his tense body loosen up in a way.
"My friends and I all had to flee," Kirby continued solemnly. "I got separated from them during the evacuation and ended up here."
Aang looked away, frowning.
"I lost my home too," he said. "My temple in Tibet was under attack, but the elder monks sent me away to find help."
Kirby looked at the Human, who's apparently suffered a similar tragedy as he did.
"I arrived in San Francisco when the mountain was obliterated," Aang finished with a grimace, as if his words tasted like ash. "Saw it all on the news."
Kirby didn't notice until now, but he couldn't stop himself from staring at Aang's forehead.
"What's that?" asked the pink creature.
Aang glanced upwards, pointing a finger at where Kirby was gesturing to. "Oh, this?"
"It's my tattoo. I earned it when I completed my training at the temple."
At that moment, Aang sank to his knees.
Kirby saw tears drip down from the young Tibetan man's squinted eyes.
"But I failed! Pasang and Gyatso are gone... and I did nothing to save them!"
He stopped sobbing when he felt something soft and tender embrace him.
It was only at this moment that Aang noticed how large Kirby was compared to him.
If they were standing side by side, the pink creature would barely be up to his chest.
For that few moments, neither said a word.
Aang felt as though Kirby's hug made all the pain in his heart wash away, as if they never were.
Wiping a tear, he managed a small smile and gently curled his arms around Kirby's round body.
It felt no different from a young toddler cuddling his favourite plush toy.
Kirby seemed to have this magical presence that dispelled any presence of anger and sadness.
"Hey, Aang?" Kirby finally spoke up.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry if this seems sudden... I know we've only just met, but I want to be with you. I know what it feels like to be alone. I don't want to lose another friend."
Aang lowered his head as he closed his eyes.
"I don't want to lose you too. Ever. Meeting you was the best thing that's happened to me in a long time."
The Tibetan's mouth curled ever so slightly into a weak but warm smile. "So... I want to promise you something."
"A promise?" Kirby's eyes widened a fraction as he glanced at Aang with piqued interest. "What kind of promise?"
"I promise... to stay by your side. No matter what happens, I want to finish this journey... with you."
Aang gently separated and stuck out his right hand, fingers outstretched and slightly splayed out.
Kirby, lacking hands, simply extended his stubby flap.
They shook, hand and... flap, Human and Alien.
Soon, fatigue took over.
A young man from Tibet and a pink creature from Planet Popstar lay together, sleeping side by side.
It was a friendship unlike anything the universe had ever seen, but it was a friendship all the same.
A/N
Isn't friendship the most precious thing in the whole wide world?
Ever since I got acquainted with Kirby, I've been placing the characters from Kirby with those from Avatar The Last Airbender in the same setting.
This story was the result.
I've always wanted to place Aang and his friends in a modern setting.
None of them will be benders.
I envision Kirby as this story's version of Appa, an adorable, round, huggable friend.
According to official sources, Kirby is only 20.3 centimetres/8 inches tall.
Such a size discrepancy doesn't really suit me, so I enlarged Kirby.
Now he's about 1.3 metres tall, roughly the same height as Doraemon.