WOAH! That was a lot of reviews! I guess my desperate plea worked. . . anywho, thanks so much! I LOVE YOU GUYS! (hugs Eladard Kikur, Michael J.J, KirbyDjinn, Mav Tails, and Frisbeetarian while siccing rabid squirrels on everyone else)

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No sooner had the group hurriedly gone inside after the volleyball incident (so as to prevent Waddle Dee from getting any more potentially lethal injuries) than Kirby had come up with a brilliant idea to cure everyone of their insomnia. He raced into the bookstore on the ground floor and came out a few minutes later wielding a very thick book entitled Taxes, Retirement, and You: Preparing Your 401(k). Then everyone went up to Waddle Dee and Adeleine's room and Kirby began reading it to the others. All four of them fell asleep within five minutes.

-----

Kirby was the last one awake the next morning, and by the time he got up everyone else was already gone. As he went downstairs, he noticed that very few people were inside the hotel. He glanced out one of the windows and was startled to see nearly everyone hanging out by the pool.

It was a gorgeous day and the sun was shining, but it was also very hot. Nonetheless, the pool itself was nearly empty; most people were lounging on the deck, sunbathing or sipping various beverages. Kirby was a little surprised; the previous day everyone had been racing around and playing games, but it seemed like no one had the energy to do anything today.

That was when he heard several familiar voices coming from the concession stand.

". . .So I was all like, 'What?' and he was all like, 'Yeah,' and I was all like, 'What?' and he was all like, 'Yeah,' and I was all like, 'What?' and he was. . . ."

"Ad, you lost me about five minutes ago."

"'Morning, guys!" Kirby said cheerfully as he walked over to where Waddle Dee, Adeleine, and Dedede were all gathered. "Isn't it a nice day out? We should all go swimming! Nobody's in the pool."

"Uh. . . I dunno. . . swimsuits don't really do me justice," said Dedede.

"Really?" Waddle Dee snickered. "I don't think I've ever seen you in one. . . ."

"OH! MAN! BAD IMAGERY!" Adeleine yelled as she started beating her head against the wall to get the very disturbing picture out of her mind.

"Whatever. . . it was just an idea," said Kirby. "Hey, where's Ribbon?"

"She's over there somewhere." Adeleine absent-mindedly waved in the direction of the pool. "And Kirby, she's being impossible. She's just laying around. We already tried talking to her, but she doesn't want to do anything."

"What? Are you sure that was Ribbon you were talking to?"

Waddle Dee rolled his eyes. "Well, no, it could have been the other pink-haired fairy over there."

"There's another one?" Adeleine exclaimed excitedly, spinning around to look. Kirby, Waddle Dee, and Dedede all smacked themselves in the forehead at the same time.

"Anyway, Ribbon's not the only one, either," Waddle Dee went on as Adeleine ran off looking for the other fairy. "Pretty much everybody is acting like this. Just lounging around and being lazy."

"You don't think there's, like, mono going around, do you?" Kirby asked worriedly.

"If there is, I kinda wish Adeleine would get it," Dedede muttered.

"YOU LIARS! THERE'S NO OTHER FAIRIES AROUND HERE!" Adeleine shouted from the other end of the pool. "NOW I HAVE TO COME BACK OVER THERE AND EXACT MY VENGEANCE!"

"Well, once you're done with that, I'd like to go talk to Ribbon myself," Kirby called back. "Maybe she's not doing anything because she's not having any fun, like the rest of us."

"She looked pretty happy," said Waddle Dee.

"Oh, come on. Yesterday, maybe, but this place has gotten really old since then. And if we're not having fun, I can only imagine how little Ribbon must be enjoying this."

-----

"You can only imagine how much I'm enjoying this!" Ribbon exclaimed. She was laying on a beach towel by the pool, wearing a pair of sunglasses and holding a big smoothie. "I can't remember the last time I've had so much fun!"

"Oh. . . okay. . . ." said Kirby, very conscious of the triumphant "I told you so" looks he was getting from the other three. "I'd like to retract my previous statement."

"It's great that you're enjoying yourself, Ribbon," said Waddle Dee, "but. . . well, we were all talking, and. . . don't you think we ought to get going now?"

"WHAT?" Ribbon sat bolt upright. "Why would we do that? We get a whole weekend here!"

"Yeah, but, we do have a job to do, like you kept saying."

"Yeah. . . those Crystal Shards don't collect themselves, you know," said Adeleine, feigning enthusiasm.

"Forget that!" Ribbon said, sounding for all the world like a spoiled little kid. "This is the first time I've ever gotten to do anything like this, and I'm making the most of it! I'm staying all weekend!"

"Well, that's all fine and dandy for you," said Kirby, starting to get impatient, "but none of us are having any fun here anymore. We all want to go."

"And when have I ever cared about what you guys want?"

"Touché," Adeleine remarked.

"Come on, Ribbon, please?" Waddle Dee implored. "Haven't you noticed how all of a sudden everyone's just laying around? Don't you kind of get a bad feeling about this place?"

"Wait a minute – I know what this is about!" Ribbon snapped. "You guys only want to leave because I like it here! When we first got here you all wanted to stay just because I didn't, and now that I'm having fun we suddenly have to go!" She glared accusingly at all of them. "You just like being at odds with me, don't you? Come on, guys, be more mature."

"I am mature!" Adeleine whined loudly, stomping her foot.

"Listen, guys, I'm tired of you always having to want the opposite of I want. You already got your way. Now I'm getting mine."

"Does that mean we're not leaving?" asked Dedede, sounding crestfallen.

"Of course we're not leaving, you big stupid penguin."

"And fat and ugly and smelly and mean and grumpy and – " Adeleine went on before Dedede cut her off with one of his trademark smacks upside the head.

"Would you stop making fun of me? I have feelings too, you know!"

"Yeah right. You've only got one feeling: blind fury."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Dedede shouted, blindly furious.

"Ribbon, isn't there anything we can do to convince you?" Kirby pleaded. "If I had knees, I'd be down on them right now!"

Ribbon just rolled her eyes. "Your poetry needs some work, Kirby. Now somebody get me a refill," she ordered, shaking the empty smoothie glass.

Kirby was incredulous. "Get one yourself! The smoothie stand is three feet away!"

"Hey, I didn't pay to move this weekend."

"You didn't pay for anything! We did!"

"More like, Adeleine's inability to land a paying job did."

"What? Oh, that does it!" Adeleine snapped, and was about to do something very regrettable to Ribbon before the other three grabbed her and dragged her away as she wildly kicked and swung at the air.

"Well, you see, Kirby?" she said once they were back on the other end of the pool and she had calmed down. "She won't listen to reason anymore! What are we supposed to do with her?"

"I'll beat her up if you give me another ten bucks," Dedede offered.

"Okay!" Adeleine agreed cheerfully and started digging around in her pockets for a bill.

"Guys! I somehow don't think beating up Ribbon is going to solve our problems," Kirby said sharply. "And furthermore, I. . . wait a minute. . . another ten bucks?" He narrowed his eyes at Dedede. "Did you beat up another celebrity last night?"

"It was self-defense!"

"Uh. . . guys. . . getting back to Ribbon?" said Waddle Dee.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Man, you guys were right!I just can't believe this would happen to her!" Kirby lamented. "She was always the soulless dictator who never let us do anything, but now she's turned into some kind of pampered diva! AND I CAN'T TELL WHICH VERSION OF HER I HATE MORE!"

"I know what you mean!" said Waddle Dee. "I mean, she doesn't even care about the Crystal anymore! What in the world has gotten into her?"

"Oh come on, isn't it obvious?" Adeleine cried, clutching her head in panic. "Ribbon's had her brain wiped by ALIENS!"

"Right. . . ." Dedede started scratching his head. "Except when you think about it, we're the aliens."

Adeleine threw up her arms. "Fine! Crap all over my theory!"

"Well, whatever's wrong with her, I'll bet you anything it's got something to do with this hotel!" said Kirby. "It's getting creepier by the minute. We've gotta get Ribbon out of here, and if we have to do it by force, we will."

"I'll drink to that," said Waddle Dee, emptying a 2-liter bottle of root beer in one gulp and smashing it against his forehead.

"Where did you get that?" Adeleine demanded. "I told you, no more root beer! You have a serious problem!"

"Yeah. She's got black hair, blue eyes, and her name is Adeleine."

"YOU FREAKING – !" Adeleine screamed, and within seconds the two of them were rolling around the ground in as violent a fistfight as a brown puffball and a little girl can get in.

"All riiiiiiiight! This'll be a shoo-in for Dreamland's Funniest Home Videos!" said Kirby, whipping out a random video camera.

"I honestly have no idea who they are," Dedede said to the several confused-looking people who were watching this spectacle.

-----

Ribbon was stretched out lethargically on her beach towel, basking in the sunlight, when suddenly a long shadow fell over her. Startled, she squinted through her sunglasses and realized someone was standing over her. She lifted the glasses off her eyes in irritation, expecting to see Kirby or one of the others, but it wasn't any of them. It was Browning.

"Oh. . . hello," she said.

"Sorry if I disturbed you. I'm just checking up on everyone. Are you having a good time?"

Ribbon smiled. "Oh yes, very much so."

"Glad to hear it," said Browning, throwing a sack over her.