Chapter 21: Birdon

Kirby was sitting outside his house, waiting for his mail to arrive. Not because he was expecting anything, but because of who was delivering it. His friend, Birdon, worked as a mailman and the puff always took the opportunity to talk with him. But when he saw his friend, he immediately noticed that something was off. It looked like one of his wings was damaged.

"Ah! Birdon! What happened to your wing?" He exclaimed, jumping up and running to his friend.

"Hold up, Kirby, first things first..." Birdon pulled out a letter from his large mail bag. "Here's your mail."

"Thanks, Birdon! Wait, that's not important right now! What happened?"

"Oh, you mean this?" Birdon looked at his wing which was covered with bandages. "This happened the other day when I was traveling on my usual mail route. It was a lot windier than the forecast said it would be and I ended up getting smashed into the side of a mountain." Birdon explained like it was no big deal.

Kirby just looked at his friend in horror and disbelief. He knew Birdon took his job seriously, but this was just way too much for him to accept.

"Why didn't you just take the day off? You should be resting, not putting your wing at risk!"

"I'd love to, but today is one of the busier days for the post office. There's no way I can take off and leave them one person short! Now I gotta get going now, I'm already running really late with my deliveries and Nova-knows when I'm going to be done with my route!"

While Kirby admired Birdon's dedication to his job, he couldn't just leave him alone. The puff quickly jumped in front of him in attempt to stop his friend.

"Then how about I help you? I can be an extra wing for you."

The bird took a moment to think.

"I'd appreciate that, but are you sure? I'd hate to bother you if you have something else to do today."

"Nope, today's a day off and I'm choosing to spend it helping you!"

"Well, then thank you!"

Kirby then noticed just how much Birdon had. Just as the bird had mentioned, it was way too much for a single person and even with his help it would take most of the day, if not all of it.

"Um... do you have any deliveries going to Castle Dedede and the Halberd?"

Birdon then quickly looked through a list that was in the mail bag.

"Why yes, I have a package addressed to Castle Dedede and many letters and one package for the Halberd." He then pulled out a large stack of letters from his bag, all addressed to Meta Knight. "Like a lot of them. Where does he get all these letters from?!"

The puff only shrugged in response.

"Let's go to them first. With my Warp Star, we'll get there in no time!" Kirby said as he summoned the star.

"And hopefully get some help." He whispered as he hopped on.

His friend nodded and joined him before the Warp Star took off.

The first location they decided to stop at was Castle Dedede. Birdon quickly got off the Warp Star and walked to front gate with Kirby close behind him.

"Hello, I have an important delivery for King Dedede." He told the Gatekeeper Dee.

The Waddle Dee looked at the package he was carrying and nodded.

"Alright, come on in."

The gate was raised, and the duo walked through the door into the castle.

"You know, Birdon, I don't mind doing most of the hard work for you." Kirby told his friend as they walked to the throne room.

The bird shook his head. "No, I don't mind doing the work myself, Kirby. I've asked so much of you already."

The puff wanted to argue but he decided against it. He would just have to make sure his plan worked. Speaking of which, they reached the throne room where the self-proclaimed king of Dreamland waited. The king sat in his throne with a bored look on his face.

"'bout time you showed up with my-KIRBY!? Whaddya doing here!? You better nots be stealin' my mail!"

The moment he saw the pink puff, he jumped at least a meter in the air.

"Who'd want to steal your stupid mail anyway!?" The child pouted. "Besides, I'm helping Birdon because his wing was hurt, and he has so much mail to deliver!"

"You!?" Dedede uttered in disbelief before giving a fit of laughter.

"Please! I'd be of far greater help than ya!" The king exclaimed, letting his ego control his mouth.

Birdon was about to say something, but he was cut off by a look from his friend that said, "Let me handle this.". The puff then stepped forward.

"Then you wanna prove it?"

The king scoffed. "Oh please, I don't have to prove what's already obvious."

Kirby gave a cheerful, understanding smile, as if he had realized something. "Ooooh! I get it! You're just saying that because you know you'll lose!"

"What!?"

Dedede jumped down from his throne and stomped over to Kirby and Birdon.

"Gimme that!" He yelled, grabbing about a third of Birdon's deliveries. "Last one back here loses!"

"GREAT KING!"

Immediately seeing this development, Bandana fumbled to grab the king's package as the other two watched him pass it off one of the other watching Waddle Dees before rushing out of the castle after his king.

"Just as I planned!" Kirby exclaimed happily.

"Kirby, are you sure that's a good idea? Dedede isn't the most... well... competent if you know what I mean." Birdon asked in slight concern.

"Have you seen him when he's motivated? It's like night and day!"

Admittedly, Dedede was very lazy and not the most competent person ever, but when he had something to prove, he worked extremely hard. Plus, he had Bandana Dee traveling with him. He was one of the most responsible individuals Kirby knew. But even so, his friend still seemed to be concerned. There's no doubt it would go away when they reached the next location.

After a few minutes of travel by Warp Star, they reached the Halberd, home of the Meta-Knights. It had landed in the middle of a large grassy field, more than likely for scheduled maintenance work. Thankfully, the person they were looking was outside, possibly observing said work. Before they could land, Birdon jumped off the Warp Star and landed in front of Meta Knight.

"Delivery for Meta Knight." Birdon said holding out every letter addressed to the mysterious knight.

"Oh, there's also a package for you!" Kirby shouted as he ran over after landing and placed it on top of the pile.

"Thank you, Birdon and Kirby, I assume you're helping Birdon out because of his injury?" He turned to his student.

"Yup! There was a ton of mail today and he didn't want to take off, so I decided to help him!"

"I see. Keep up the good work, both of you." Meta Knight replied as he handed off the mail to his assistant, Sailor Dee. It wasn't easy to tell, but those who knew could tell he was proud of his student's act of kindness.

"Umm... do you want to help us?" Kirby asked.

The knight paused to think. Truthfully, he was hoping for an excuse to spread his wings, and it seemed that his student could see that.

"I don't see why not. The rest of the crew can finish maintenance without me. Besides, Birdon's always been a hard worker, sometimes he would have to track us down just for a single letter or package. It's the least I could do to repay him."

Kirby gave a smile in response. "Thank you so much!"

Birdon nodded. "Here's a map of where you need to go. Thank you again, Meta Knight, I really do appreciate it."

"It's not a problem. Thank you for your own hard work." The knight replied as he took the map and their according deliveries. He then unfurled his wings and took to the skies.

Birdon seemed to have gotten a boost of adrenaline from Meta Knight's words as he was already back on the Warp Star. "Come on, Kirby, we got mail to deliver!"

The child nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Let's go!"

Kirby and Birdon landed in the local town square. This was because the bird told the puff that he often liked to start in the center of town. Not only were many of his destinations already around that area, but being in the center also allowed him the freedom to choose where he wanted to go.

"So, Birdon where do we go first?" Kirby asked.

"See all these different business around the square? Most of them get mail delivered to them. We'll go around and when everyone in this square gets their mail, we'll move on to another part of town. Let's start with Kawasaki's restaurant."

"Sounds like a plan!" The puff nodded in understanding, but then thought of another question. "I have to ask, Birdon. You deliver mail to everywhere in Dreamland. Wouldn't it be easier to deliver to certain areas instead of every area?"

"I don't exactly deliver mail everywhere in Dreamland. We have multiple carriers to spread out the work. But if you're wondering why I don't have an exact route, it's because I like to travel."

"Oh, I get it. Then, where do you usually start? Just wherever you want?"

"It usually depends on where I have to deliver that day, but yeah."

"So, my house just happens to be one of the first you always go to then?" Kirby asked playfully.

"Yup. Sometimes the first."

Shortly after this, the two arrived at Kawasaki's restaurant. Birdon opened up his mail bag and took out a comically large box.

"That's even bigger than your bag!" The child exclaimed in surprise. "How does it fit in there?"

There was no way a box that massive would even fit in there!

"After a while, you just stop asking those questions." The bird replied bluntly.

The puff then quickly grabbed the box before Birdon could even move a step. Upon seeing his friend's questioning look, Kirby explained. "Your wing, Birdon. I'm not letting you carry anything this heavy."

The bird nodded in understanding, knowing that it was pointless to argue. He then knocked on the door, which was quickly opened by Kawasaki.

"Sorry but we're closed until... oh hey, Birdon! I forgot today was mail day. Oh, Kirby, are you a mailman now?"

"I am, but just for today! Birdon's wing got hurt so I'm helping him out with deliveries today!" Kirby explained happily.

"I see! Ah! That box must be my new grill!" Kawasaki exclaimed happily. He took the box and opened it to reveal that it was just that.

"Ah, are you preparing your summer menu, Kawasaki? I can't wait to try it!" The child exclaimed in excitement.

"Yup. Tell you what, I'll reserve some seats for you two later as thanks!"

"Really!? Thank you so much!"

"Yes, yes, that's great. Now, not to be rude, but remember we still have a lot of deliveries to do, Kirby." Birdon quickly said, looking at his list.

"Ah right! Sorry! Bye Kawasaki!"

"See ya later, Kirby!" The chef waved them off.

"Ok now where to?" The puff asked as he caught up to his friend.

"Every place of business here is getting mail, so we'll just have to hit each one. Starting from here, we'll basically just circle around the entire square."

The puff nodded in understanding as he took out a few letters from the bag. "Ok, then let's get going!"

As the two continued to work, Kirby noticed a few things about his friend. The first thing he noticed was that Birdon was really quick to leave from location to location. While it made sense due to the job requiring him to not waste time, his friend in particular seemed to be in a hurry. The second thing he noticed was that Birdon seemed down about something. Most likely something regarding his injury.

"Hey, Birdon, what's wrong?"

His friend seemed to jump before returning to normal. "Oh, it's nothing, don't worry about it."

The puff tilted his head in doubt. "...you're upset 'cuz you can't fly at the moment, right?"

His friend gave a slight sigh. "Yeah, I am. It's kind of hard to keep in the air if one of your wings is out of commission, you know?"

"Then, do you want to control the Warp Star when we get back on it?"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah! If it'll help you feel better, I don't mind it!" The child replied with a smile.

The bird gave a nod.

Admittedly, Kirby did know how Birdon felt a bit. He had once been in a similar situation when he and his mentor were training during a thunderstorm and they both were struck by lightning. While Kirby was fine due to dropping the Ability, Meta Knight could've been better and had to stay the night at his house due to it being closer to than the Orange Ocean base. Needless to say, Kirby loved that impromptu sleepover.

Thankfully, Birdon's mood seemed to pick up after hearing that response.

"Thank you, Kirby. Now I have even more of a reason to get this over with. Let's go!" Birdon said, now doing a full-on sprint.

The puff looked surprised for a moment, but then he gave a smile as he ran after him.

After an hour of deliveries, the pair was done delivering the mail in town and were ready to visit the few locations they had left.

"Alright, there's a few houses on the outskirts of town and Castle Lololo. Huh, don't deliver to that place very often."

Kirby looked confused. "Do they just not get mail that often?"

"Yeah. Considering how they mostly keep to themselves it's not that surprising. I usually deliver to them at least once a month."

"Hmm... that's interesting."

It was also extremely true. The only person that Kirby could think of that kept more to themselves than those two was Meta Knight. But even then, Meta Knight still frequently received mail, though he always changed the subject when Kirby asked about it for whatever reason.

"I suppose it is. Now if you don't mind summoning that star of yours..." Birdon said, barely hiding his excitement.

The child nodded and did so.

"Then let's go!" He hopped on.

"Great!" Birdon joined him, but soon looked at him in concern.

"How exactly do I operate this, Kirby?"

The puff just scratched his head. Honestly, he himself didn't know how to explain it.

"Um... you just tell it to go, and it goes...?"

While this normally unhelpful advice would be infuriating to hear, Birdon instead had a thoughtful expression. In a way, that was how used his wings. Flying was so natural to him that he didn't even need to think about it.

"Ok then. Uh... please go up?"

Instantly, the Warp Star began to move.

"Yay, it listened to you!" Kirby cheered, happy for his friend.

Birdon smiled at him. "Alright, I think I can handle it from here!"

"Just make sure not go too fast. It can be a bit hard to control on your first time. Trust me, I've crashed multiple times myself." Kirby explained.

Just as he said that, the star began to speed off. Birdon seemed to be a natural at it, as he quickly got the hang of things. This was most likely the results of all the flying experience he's earned over the years. Though Kirby was impressed, he was even happier at seeing the smile on Birdon's face. It honestly made everything worth it.

Going through the outskirts of town took only five minutes or so. Mostly thanks to the teamwork between the two friends.

"You know Kirby, I've never given it much thought before but maybe I should get myself an Air Ride machine. This is way more fun than I thought!"

"Yeah, you should! Sometimes I like to just fly around on my Warp Star and see how fast I can go!" Kirby exclaimed happily.

"I prefer using my wings but, something like this would definitely come in handy if I get injured again. You know a lot about Air Ride machines, right? Do you have any recommendations?"

"Hmm... what would be good indeed..." The puff uttered to himself as he pondered his friend's question.

Birdon definitely seemed like someone who values speed above all else but if he was going to use one for his job, a machine with good handling would be important to have.

"Preferably something that handles well in the sky." Birdon said, seemingly noting his friend's intense thinking.

Kirby's eyes sparkled in realization upon hearing that. "In that case, you'd want a Jet Star!"

"Hmmm... the Jet Star, huh? Sounds like something I'd be interested in!"

The puff nodded enthusiastically.

"It's perfect for speeding around in the air, there's nothing better than it! Well... besides my Warp Star and the Dragoon but that's beside the point." Kirby said.

"Hmm... yeah... I might look into getting that one then."

"You should! Oh, there's the castle! We're almost done, Birdon!" He pointed in the distance at an old-looking castle.

"Alright, let's get this over with." The bird gave a sigh as he parked the Warp Star in front of the castle door.

"Get this over with? Do they give you trouble?" Kirby questioned, noting his friend's tone.

"Yes and no. It's more aggravating if anything. They make you solve a block puzzle in order to give them mail. Yeah, I don't get it either."

"Oh, it can't be that bad!" Kirby exclaimed before walking inside.

Then he saw the puzzle. The puzzle in question required them to push blocks into specific spots. The main issue was that there was no way to visually tell what goes where.

"...I see what you mean now, Birdon." The puff uttered bluntly.

"Yeah, and it's the same type of puzzle every time. What's their obsession with blocks anyway?" Kirby only shrugged in response. Then he thought of something.

"Wait right here, Birdon. I'm going to grab an Ability real quick. Something that will ESPecially come in handy."

His friend only groaned.

Shortly after, Kirby returned with the ESP Ability.

"Ok, step back, Birdon, this hopefully shouldn't take too long."

His friend did as he said, and Kirby got to work. He then effortlessly picked up every block and got to work, placing blocks into squares one after another. After a minute of trial-and-error, Kirby finally got the correct placements for each block.

"There! Now, let's go!"

"I normally don't get jealous of others, but darn what I wouldn't give to have ESP." Birdon muttered.

"It's actually kind of difficult to use. Like even Meta Knight says he's seen only one person completely master it."

"I don't doubt that. Though it would still be useful for small things. Like obnoxious block puzzles."

"Yeah, good point... ah! If you want, you can call me next time you have to deliver here!"

"Well since you're offering, sure thing."

"Yay! Then I get to spend more time with you!"

The bird nodded as they reached the center of the castle, where the owners should be.

"Aw, what? How did you-"

"Two get done so fast?"

They heard two voices shout, and saw that it was the owners of the castle, Lololo and Lalala.

"I brought him with me." Birdon replied, pointing to Kirby, who waved.

"That's cheating!" They both yelled.

"Yeah, whatever here's your mail." The bird bluntly replied as he handed them the letters.

Lololo simply took them with a slight sigh. "Come on, Lalala, let's start thinking of new puzzles right away!"

"Yeah!"

They then ran off, leaving Kirby and Birdon behind.

"I guess we should be getting back to Castle Dedede, huh?" The puff said.

"Wait. Would it be fine if we just flew around for a bit?"

He took a moment to think. "Hmmm, sure! I think we got done way earlier than we planned anyway!"

"Alright, let's get out of here!"

With a nod in response, they left the castle.

Before long, the two were back in the air, simply flying around with no destination in mind. They were simply enjoying the scenery, the cool wind, and each other's company. Nothing else. Suddenly, Kirby spoke up.

"Hey, Birdon, what made you want to be a mailman in the first place?"

His friend took a moment to think. "Well, I first became a mailman because I wanted to travel all over Dreamland."

"But, couldn't you have done that already?" Kirby asked, tilting his head.

"Yeah, but I wasn't that smart back then. It wasn't until after I started doing it that I found my true calling. Once I started delivering mail, that's when I realized something. I really liked seeing people being happy. Y'know, their happy faces when they get a letter or package from someone they love or care about. It's a great feeling."

This made the child think for a moment. "So, you get to make people happy while also making yourself happy?" He then asked.

"Yeah, that's exactly it!"

Kirby just smiled. "Now I'm really glad I decided to help you today."

His friend smiled back. "Well, having you come with me made it better, so thanks for coming with me today!"

With happiness in their hearts, they continued to fly around Dreamland.

For the next hour, they continued, nary a care in the world.

"Well, I guess we should get to Dedede's castle, huh, Kirby?" Birdon asked as he turned to his friend.

"Yeah, probably, since I think Dedede wants us to meet up again there." He scratched his head.

"Alright. Let's go, Warp Star!"

The star quickly zoomed towards Dedede castle and arrived in under five seconds.

"I seriously need to buy myself that Jet Star." Birdon muttered.

Kirby only laughed as he hopped off the Warp Star. He then turned to the door and began to run towards the castle.

"DEDEDE! ARE YOU BACK YET?!" He shouted.

Silence was the only thing that greeted him. Not even a single servant standing around either.

"You don't think he commanded all of his servants to help him, do you?" Kirby asked, though he already knew the answer.

"...does having Bandana help him count?" Birdon questioned, entering the castle after his friend.

Suddenly they heard booming footsteps coming from behind them.

"OH, COME ON, THERE AIN'T NO WAY YOUSE GOT DONE FIRST!"

The puff turned around to see that it was, of course, King Dedede. He was running towards them at full speed, panting heavily from running so much. The moment the king reached where they stood, he simply stood there wheezing for about three minutes, attempting to catch his breath.

"You... two musta... cheated or... something!" Dedede uttered in between breaths.

"Isn't it hard to cheat if we didn't make any rules to begin with? All you said was last one here loses!" Kirby said, imitating Dedede's voice.

There was clearly a bulging vein on Dedede's head, like he wanted to get angry, but he didn't have the energy. Seemingly catching his breath, the king gave a slight growl.

"Whatever. At least it was a close race." The king grumbled, crossing his arms.

Kirby and Birdon just looked at each other, silently agreeing not to mention that they had finished over an hour ago. The king then turned his head.

"HURRY UP, BANDANA! I'M STARVIN' AND I AIN'T GONNA WAIT FOR YA TOO LONG!" He suddenly shouted behind him.

"Right away, your highness!" Bandana shouted back weakly.

Seeing this, the puff quickly ran to where Bandana was, picked him up, and ran back to the castle.

"Thank you, Kirby..." The Waddle Dee uttered with an exhausted sigh.

"Not a problem! Just be sure to take a long break now!"

There was a slight groan from him, but it sounded more relaxed than anything.

After dropping off Bandana, Kirby and Birdon left the castle.

"Oh, we should go check on Meta Knight and see how he did." The bird suddenly said.

"There will be no need for that."

The knight in question suddenly landed in front of them.

"I finished in an hour. I also happened to see Dedede delivering mail, so I figured that you had some kind of competition with him."

"Yeah, Birdon had a ton of mail and was running late, so I kinda got him to help out..." Kirby explained with a slightly timid giggle.

"So, you tricked him into doing what you want, in other words. Good work, Kirby."

"And thank you for helping out as well, Meta-sensei!" The child replied with a smile.

"No need to thank me. Birdon, here's your map." Meta Knight said, handing it back to the bird.

"Thank you, Meta Knight. I really appreciate your help!"

The knight silently nodded and took flight, leaving their sights almost as fast as he entered.

"Is he always like that?"

"Like what?"

"Suddenly appearing just to say a few words before leaving?"

"Yup. He's always like that."

The bird then shrugged. "Well, at least he's more helpful than Dedede. But no one is as helpful as you are, Kirby."

The puff gave a smile as he scratched his head timidly. "Aww... it's nothing! I just like to help my friends when they're in need! So, if you're in trouble again, just let me know and I'll come help you!"

Birdon nodded with a smile and held out his uninjured wing, signifying a desire for a handshake. Kirby took his friend's wing and shook it.

This was actually one of the few chapters where I didn't need to think up a chapter concept on the spot. I actually thought of it ahead of time. All I did was expand on it and this is what I got.

Hope you enjoyed!

Omake (Bonus):

MK: Now that I finished that, let's look at my mail. A love letter from Shinonome... another love letter from Shinonome... another one.. a-are all of these love letters from Shinonome!?"