Chapter 16: Burning Leo

It was a sunny day in Dreamland and Kirby decided to go take a swim at the beach. However, upon reaching the Olive Ocean shores, he noticed an unusual sight. A large cloud of steam was being emitted from a single area in the sea. Curious, Kirby went to investigate. It was then he saw a surprising sight. In the middle of the ocean was his friend Burning Leo, who was shrouded in a cloud of steam. Concerned, the puff swam out to meet up with his friend.

"Hey, Leo, do you need any help?"

"Oh, hey, Kirby." Leo responded, a noticeable edge in his voice.

"What are you doing here, Leo?"

Leo sighed. "It's my anger issues. I've always been a hothead but earlier I almost snapped at Chilly. I didn't, though, but I'm still ashamed that I almost did. So, I'm trying to cool down."

"By sitting in the middle of the ocean?"

"Yeah. I've honestly tried just about everything else with no luck. I figured that, as a last resort, the water would calm my flames down a bit. When I get really angry, my flames become almost uncontrollable. I also thought being in some place quiet would help."

"Has it?"

"Not really."

Kirby probably should have thought that due to all of the steam. That made him think.

"Hm... oh! How about we do a bunch of fun things to try and help you cool down?"

His friend looked at him skeptically.

"Are you really sure that would help?"

"Uh-huh! That's what I do, so it might work for you!"

Leo took a moment to think.

"Well... seeing that what I'm currently doing isn't working, so it's worth a try. What should I do?"

"What's your favorite thing to do?"

"Kirby, I don't think cooking right now is a good idea."

That was true. Being inside somewhere would probably risk a fire breaking out due to how unstable the flames on his friend's head already were.

"Let's just see what else we can think of! There's a ton of stuff we can try!"

With a nod in response, Leo accepted Kirby's help.

The first activity that Kirby thought of was hang gliding. With one look at the glider, Burning Leo was already skeptical.

"Why do you think this is a good idea?"

The puff then looked back at his friend.

"Well, what I sometimes like to do is copy the Wing Ability and just fly around Dreamland. It's very calming! I know it's something Meta Knight likes to do as well to calm down, too! ...other than obsessively train himself."

Honestly, his mentor usually opted to train to vent his anger, but there was no way that would help in this current situation.

"But anyway, I thought that since you don't have wings, we could use a hang glider instead! Hopefully that will help!"

Leo only continued to stare at him. He then got underneath the hang glider, which instantly caught on fire due to how hot his flames were.

"Ok, maybe the glider wasn't a good idea... oh, I know! Wait right there!" Kirby said while sprinting off leaving a confused Leo behind.

When the puff came back, he was now in his Wing Ability and was carrying a bucket of water, which was quickly used to put out the fire.

"Great... so, now what?" His friend asked with a sigh as he looked at the charred remains of the hang glider.

"I'm gonna take you flying with my Wing Ability!" The child replied cheerfully.

Kirby has done this at least once before with Burning Leo on one of his adventures, so his friend was completely fine with it. The puff could easily handle his flames.

"Wait a minute. Where are we going?"

The child only responded with a giggle.

"Just wait and see!"

Thanks to the Wing Ability, the duo was easily able to fly in the sky together. To Kirby, it was fun to simply fly around and look down at the people below. It honestly made all of his problems become small when he thought about it.

"Do you have any idea where you're flying us, Kirby?"

"Nope!" He replied with his usual enthusiastic bluntness. "We're up here to relax, not to think. Whenever I fly by myself, I just fly, and I end up wherever I end up."

Leo gave a sigh, as if to acknowledge that that was something expected of his friend. During this flight, they passed by various locations within Dreamland. Eventually, they arrived around the summit of Candy Mountain, where Dyna Blade's nest was.

"Um...Kirby, you sure it's a good idea to be up and around this area?"

"Yeah, it is! Dyna Blade's really friendly now!"

"That wasn't my point, but..."

"Don't worry! It's fine! Look!"

Leo took a at look at the mountain where his friend was looking. She was looking at Dyna Blade's nest, where the massive bird was sleeping peacefully with her children. Seeing that caused Leo's flames to die down a bit, to the relief of the puff. However, this was honestly going to be a temporary solution.

Kirby knew he wouldn't be able to take his friend around flying as much as he would like to. They had to come up with another solution. Wait... an activity that doesn't involve thinking and can be done anywhere at any time. Kirby smiled as an idea formed, but before he could suggest it, he should probably focus on landing.

"You want me to try dancing?" Leo asked upon hearing his friend's suggestion.

"Yup! Dancing is fun and something you can do at any time."

At the same time, Leo fully understood why this was a recommendation and agreed with it. To a point.

"I don't know buddy; dancing isn't really my thing..." He murmured.

"But you do my dance routine just fine?"

Leo seemed to jump at that response. The truth is, Leo feels embarrassed about being seen dancing. Of course, that was unless it was Kirby's routine after defeating a villain. At this point, Kirby doing that dance in those situations was as accepted as the fact that the sky is blue, or water is wet. Even people like King Dedede or Meta Knight have been known to join in from time to time in their own way. There have been many theories as to why Kirby does it, including it being a twisted ritual of some sort or just tradition from his place of origin. No one knows because every time someone was brave enough to actually ask, he simply answered, "because it's fun"! But that wasn't the point. The point was the fact that he was embarrassed about doing it in front of others.

The puff then gave a concerned look before smiling. "It'll be fine! That's why we're in such a far out and hidden location right now! So no one can see you and you can dance all you want!"

Ah. So that was the reason. This child was indeed quite observant. Leo only gave a slight sigh in acceptance.

"Alright, I'll try for your sake then..."

He then gave a shrug as the puff cheered.

"So, what do I do first?"

"Well first, we need music."

Kirby then pulled out his phone. A little-known fact about it is that it could also double as a radio, as shown when he turned on some music.

"Well, now what?"

"Now you dance!" The puff exclaimed happily.

"But how do I start?" Leo asked, trying his best not to sound annoyed.

"However you want! Dancing is about freedom, just do what feels natural."

It was a simple enough answer, but it felt easier said than done for Leo himself. Well, he could at least try.

After this first attempt at dancing, Kirby instantly was able to notice that Leo seemed to calm down even just a little bit. This gave the puff another idea.

"Ah, Leo, could you wait here for a moment? I gotta go get something quick!"

He then ran off, leaving his confused friend behind. In a few minutes, he brought back their other friend, Jammerjab.

"Huh? Kirby, where are you-? Ah, hey, Leo. What're you doing here?" The follower asked, extremely confused as to why their mutual friend brought him to this location in the first place.

"I could ask you the same question, actually."

"Well, Jammerjab, you like music, right?"

"Uh...yeah?"

"And you carry around that radio all the time, right?" The puff pointed to the radio that hung on Jammerjab's staff.

"Right."

"So, do you get what I'm talking about?"

"Nope."

Kirby gave a pout at that response.

"Do you know what kind of music is best for calming someone down?" He then asked.

"Ohh, yeah, I get ya." Jammerjab said in understanding. "Well, that's a tad difficult, honestly. Music is quite subjective. What's calming for one person can be infuriating for another. But I can give it a try."

He then turned to their friend. "Hey, Leo, what music you like?"

"...I dunno."

Jammerjab gave an audible sigh. "...Well, that makes things more difficult. Alright, which do you prefer, something fast or something slow?"

"Hm... I think something fast."

"Alright, then. You want rock music."

After saying that, Jammerjab retrieved his radio from the top of his staff and changed it to a rock music station.

"There we go."

Suddenly Leo started moving his head up and down, or as it's called in the music industry, headbanging.

"Just as I thought." Jammerjab uttered in triumph.

"Wow, thanks, Jammerjab!" The puff exclaimed.

"Eh, no problem. Glad to help."

Just as he began walking off, Kirby began to feel something. It was that feeling of someone being on edge. But... it couldn't be, right? Was his friend still a bit angry? Or, perhaps, could that music be making things somewhat worse. Either way, they had to come up with another solution.

As he had thought, Kirby could still feel that his friend was still a bit on edge after all of that effort. Not only that, but the flames on his head were still going wild, which was drawing the most concern.

"So, what now?" Leo asked.

The puff scratched his head to think as he weighed his options. "Um...can you vent about what made you so angry in the first place?"

"No! Just thinking about it makes me angry!"

While usually that would be a viable option, it was clearly not in this case. Despite this, it appeared that the puff had yet another suggestion.

"How about you let it out in another way?"

Leo only looked annoyed at this suggestion.

"Like how!? If I try to let it out, there's a chance I'm gonna accidentally destroy something! Not even that! I WILL destroy something!"

Kirby nodded in understanding at his friend's concern. "That's why I want you to breathe out as much fire as I can while I inhale it all!"

As much as Leo wanted to act skeptical about this, he honestly had to admit that there was no reason to not trust his friend. Besides, it wasn't like they had any other options readily available.

"Ok. Well, you better be able to inhale it all then!"

"I will! You can trust me on that!"

Kirby gave a determined look. For a moment, Leo looked a bit concerned before he then began to breath out fire. Just as planned, Kirby started to inhale it all. It went on for about a minute, but for Leo it felt much longer. Though, true to his word, Kirby was keeping up with him with little issue. Eventually, Leo had no more fire to breathe out and Kirby stopped inhaling. Quickly, the puff swallowed and copied the Fire Ability.

"How... are you feeling... now, Leo?" Kirby asked in between panting, slightly tired from inhaling for an extended period of time.

Instantly, the puff could feel a change in demeanor from his friend, who gave a smile in response.

"I feel great! Thanks a lot, Kirby!"

It seemed as if letting it all out was exactly what Leo needed. His entire attitude was completely different from before. Kirby gave a smile.

"I'm glad to hear that! You sound a lot better as well!"

Kirby felt like asking what it was that set Leo off in the first place but decided against it. He didn't want to potentially put his friend back into his bad mood. Regardless of that, Leo nodded happily back.

"It's thanks to you, Kirby! Without your help, I probably would've burned down a whole field or worse if it wasn't for you!"

The child didn't want to think too much about that, but he was regardless glad that his friend felt a lot better.

"Tell you what, Kirby, let's go to the bakery. My treat as thanks."

The puff instantly perked up upon hearing that.

"Really!? Thank you so much!" He replied in an excited voice.

"No, no, it's nothing. I'm thanking you for helping me."

With that conversation over, the duo began to set off, with Kirby excitedly talking about baked goods all the way.

Another simple chapter. Then again, Kirby can be a very simple person, so it's fine. As long as everyone enjoys the chapter.

Omake (Bonus)

(Why Leo was angry in the first place)

Leo: Ah, I'm going to be late for work at this rate! No wait, according to my watch I still have time. I should be able to make it and...!

(Leo trips over a big rock and faceplants into the ground.)

Leo: (screaming in anger)