It was a new day.
A new day for him to try to get back on his feet.
Eh, or not.
Truthfully, he was perfectly content doing what he'd been doing for the last past month or so after he left the castle.
…
Sleeping in Kirby's House.
…
He was on the floor, wasn't he?
...
'Can you recall what it is you were doing?'
Bandana Waddle Dee opened his eyes and looked up at the circular ceiling above, the blue blanket of Kirby's bed draping off the side. He didn't know how, but he always seemed to fall out of bed, even when Kirby wasn't sleeping directly next to him, something just attracted him to the floor.
Bandana Dee picked himself up from the floor and looked out the window to see it was around midday, meaning he had around a few minutes before uh... before...
"Ah, shoot, what was I supposed to do again today?" Bandana Dee asked himself, closing his eyes for a split second to think.
'You remember, don't you?'
His mind then focused on wishes and remembered Kirby wanted him to be there, for whatever reason. Kirby said he'd be at Dedede's castle, an invitation from the King apparently. Did he even want to go back there in the first place and see... Dedede... again?
'You'll remember it all. Just think of all the things you can remember.'
…
Bandana Dee looked around, but there was nothing in the house besides the bed and a table with a plant adorned on top. So, what did he just hear exactly, it was a faint voice that seemed to be coming from everyone at once, yet also from nowhere? Was somebody talking to him?
'YES!'
Suddenly a blinding light flashed in front of him, engulfing his view of Kirby's door as he could see a large waning of colors swirling in front of him in a strange vortex spinning clockwise, red, orange, yellow, and all the other color of the rainbow spinning around and being mixed together into the middle, creating a pulsing, vibrant light.
"You... you're Kirby, aren't you?" a voice coming from the light pondered.
"Uh, no, I'm not Kirby," Bandana Dee responded before quickly asking the more important question, "Who... or what are you, exactly?"
"Wait, you're NOT Kirby?!" the voice asked as the vortex began to spin faster. "Why are you in his house then, if you're-" the voice stopped and sighed, "UGH, great, the one bloody risk I take and now I'm stuff with Kirby's boyfriend instead."
"I AM NOT HIS BOYFRIEND, first off-" Bandana Dee began, though was cut off by the voice once more.
"Oh really, then why are you in his house?" the voice asked, seeming just a bit ticked off. "I mean, I assume you slept in his bed, right?"
"I was on the floor." Bandana Dee corrected, "-and once again, not his boyfriend, we're just friends."
"Wow, you and Kirby really need to talk about relationship goals if he has his boyfriend sleeping on the floor." the voice scoffed as the Vortex sped up. "No matter, relationships aside, you'll have to do for now, so just um... you know, walk into the vortex in front of you."
"Okay first off, you haven't even told me who you are, why the heck would I risk jumping into some light-filled void when I have to be over at Castle Dedede in like ten minutes?" Bandana Dee wondered, and after his question the voice grew eerily silent.
…
"Hello?" Bandana Dee asked.
The voice spoke up, "Well." he could hear a low sigh, "Look, Kirby's Boyfriend- or whatever your name is, I'm just..." the voice tapered down and seemed almost sorrowful, "I just really need somebodies help here, and the fact that you're here means you're in danger, and this is all my fault, and now I have to fix it, so could you just like... step into the vortex, it won't kill you, I promise!"
Bandana Dee weighed his options for a moment, as the vortex continued to spin a faster as time progressed. He didn't really... well, know if he could trust whoever this was, random entities that came to Dreamland looking for Kirby weren't exactly the nicest people most of the time.
But... he got a weirdly calm feeling about this.
Maybe it was the vortex, as he looked more into it, the idea of helping became even more alluring, like he was being drawn in... Bandana Dee took a few steps forward and held his hand out towards the vortex.
…!
The entire room ran cold when Bandana Dee's hand elapsed the vortex, and not a moment after, everything seemed to disappear. Kirby's door was wide open, and something was coming in. It was... well, it sort of looked like...
Well, he wasn't sure.
It was multiple sparkling lights connected by a thin rigid red fluorescent wire which made out the shape of an upright silhouette.
"Oh, so that's what you look like." the voice from before spoke as the butterfly fluttered in front of him. "Well, since it's the time for introductions, I'll go first." the butterfly wavered above Bandana Dee's head and promptly landed on top. "My name I. . . s . . . .
..!
"EMORY?!" Bandana Waddle Dee asked, jumping up from his position on the floor as looking around. It was Dark, practically nighttime at this point. "Oh crap, was that all a dream, am I going to be late to the Castle?"
"No need to, we're already here." Meta Knight's voice spoke and Bandana Waddle Dee turned around to Kirby's bed to see Meta Knight along with Kirby and Adeleine waiting on the other side of the room with their arms crossed. Well, everyone besides Kirby crossed their arms at least.
Kirby then spoke, "Hi New Guy, you missed a lot of stuff, so- so we talked to this other guy then we went to come and find you but you were on the floor, and I got them to wait here and we've been here for like six hours and now you're awake and-"
"Okay Kirby, I think he gets it." Meta Knight interrupted. "Are you doing alright, Buddy?" he asked, tilting his head ever so slightly.
"Yeah, I'm good, just had a weird dream is all, y'know, probably rolled over here." he guessed, with a slight laugh. Nobody else laughed though, and Bandana Dee couldn't help but notice that they were glaring at him, well, everyone besides Kirby.
"So anyways," Kirby began once more, "Well before that, well- me and- and Meta and Addie met up with Ecal, he's our friend, though he looked really weird for a moment when we met up with him, he's like really cool and- and he said he wanted to grant us wishes, so then we all made a wish and-"
"Alright Kirby, I think he gets it." Meta Knight spoke once more, holding a hand out in front of Kirby. "So, tell us, Pal, did you meet any other butterflies, recently?"
"No, say no, say you did not!" the voice from the supposed dream spoke. "Say you did not meet any butterflies."
Bandee looked around, "Huh, who said that?"
"I said that." Meta Knight responded. "Now, answer the question."
"Just say no, alright?" the voice pleaded with him. "I'll explain later."
"Okay." Bandana dee responded, then he looked back to Meta Knight before clearing his throat, "Um, no, no butterflies, not recently anyways."
Kirby then spoke up once more, "Well, Ecal, he told us his name for some reason- and his name is Ecal like I said and he was like- 'I'll allow you all to make a wish' and I was like 'WOW!' and then he said that in order for our wishes to work we had to find this other butterfly named-"
"Okay, I think This Guy gets the idea, Kirby." Adeleine spoke, standing up. "Let's just cut to the chase here, do you know anyone named Emory?" she wondered, walking close to him. She seemed... kinda taller than usual, and Bandana Dee instinctively took a slight step back.
"Nope, never heard of an Emory." Bandana Dee responded, putting on a more confident demeanor. "It'd probably help if you all explained it to me..." Bandana Waddle Dee trailed off. Something seemed weird, besides the constant glares and arm crossing.
New Guy, Buddy, Pal, and This Guy... why weren't they using his name?
"Hey uh... you guys remember uh..." Bandana Dee turned to the side for a moment. "What's my name?" he asked, deciding to just come out with it.
…
Silence.
…
"I mean," Meta Knight spoke up, "That's a rather silly question, of course we know your name!" he laughed, standing up. "Come on, I mean, how could we possibly forget?"
"Then say it." Bandana Dee spoke.
…
Silence.
…
Bandana Dee didn't exactly take this as a good sign, glances were being exchanged between the group, "Uh, well I actually have somewhere to be right now, so I'll just be taking my leave," Bandana Dee spoke turning towards the door-
"DUCK!" the voice from the dream said, and Bandana Dee obeyed as the door in front of him flung open, a quick look up revealing Meta Knight's sword jammed right around where Bandana Dee's head was. Bandana Dee turned around to see Meta Knight with his hand outstretched, along with Adeleine holding out her paint brush
Bandana Dee fumbled with his words for a moment before speaking in a very clear and fast tone, "I'll show myself out!"
"I DON'T THINK SO!" Meta Knight yelled, and suddenly the knight seemed to almost teleport directly in front of Bandee, blocking the doorway.
"HUH-?!" Bandana Dee asked before Meta Knight's metallic boot slammed full force into his face, knocking him into the wall of Kirby's house with a loud and painful thud. Bandana Dee landed face-first on the wood floor. "Ow-"
"Sheesh, you think he'd put up more of a fight than what EC described, yeah?" Adeleine spoke as Bandana Dee slightly picked himself up to see her boots land directly in front of where he lay. "I'll go ahead and finish this guy off outside."
"Don't worry, help is on the way, you won't be finished off!" the voice from the Dream asked as Bandana Dee could feel himself being dragged, very ruggedly across the wooden floor.
"Help?" Bandana Dee asked, looking around, "From where, exactly?"
"I don't know, but you won't get any from us." Meta Knight's voice responded. "Alright, lets-" Meta Knight paused as he could hear the sound of wind wooshing around. "..."
"What's the matter?" Adeleine asked.
Then, as if to answer that question, what almost sounded like a guitar rift played, and in an instant Bandee felt himself being lifted into the air! He could see a dark blur of a figure with what looked to be a blade swipe in front of him, knocking Adeleine into the air.
"NOW!" a rather rough sounding voice yelled as Bandee felt somebody grab him from behind and quickly toss him on top of Kirby's house. Bandee landed with a thud on top on the house, though he was upright and he could make out the sound of clashing blades between two speeding forces.
"You alright?" someone behind him asked, and Bandana Dee turned around to see Shadow Kirby, Kirby's Mirror World version, with what looked to be the Fighter ability. "Uh, I mean, sorry, I don't think we've met before... um..." Shadow Kirby looked to the side. "I'm Shadow Kirby... hi... nice to meet you."
"LESS TALKING, MORE FIGHTING!" the rough voice from before yelled, and Bandana Dee looked to the side to see Dark Meta Knight, Meta Knight's Mirror World version, fending off against regular Meta Knight's blade.
"Right, sorry Deta!" Shadow Kirby apologized, bowing his head. "Be right back-"
"Uh-" Bandana Dee watched as Shadow Kirby jumped down to help of Dark Meta Knight, with Shadow Kirby attacking the knight's face with his foot before Dark Meta Knight tossed him into the air with an uppercut. Kirby seemed to be watching from the sidelines, just as confused as Bandana Dee was.
"Ok, thank goodness, just in time." the voice sighed.
"Ok wait a minute, first off, who the heck are you, and what's going on?!" Bandana Dee asked.
"Um, didn't I tell you before?" the voice asked. "My name is Emory-"
Before the voice could finish, from behind Bandana Dee Adeleine's voice sounded, "SNEAK ATTACK!" she yelled as Bandana Dee felt a whack to the back of his head with what was most likely a paintbrush.
"Hey, watch it!" Bandana Dee yelled, hoping back and narrowly dodging a full force hit from the paintbrush, paint splattering on top of Kirby house at his feet. "Is there a problem here, why are you both being so hostile!?"
"Because you're hiding that Emory thing-" Adeleine took another swing of her paintbrush horizontally and Bandana Dee jumped back again, getting closer to the chimney of Kirby's house. "-and we're just trying to help a friend out, which you clearly aren't!"
"Not a...?" Bandana Waddle Dee looked at Adeleine for a moment before turning his eyes towards the battle below, Dark Meta Knight summoning sword from the ground to skewer Meta Knight from below. "Do you guys have amnesia, or someth-"
Adeleine interrupted again gearing up for a vertical swing, "TAKE TH-"
"Nope!" Bandana Waddle Dee leapt up into the air and jumped off of Kirby's chimney, grabbing Adeleine's paintbrush from her hands, and doing a flip before landing near the edge and pointing it directly at her.
Probably not the most threatening thing, but still, it worked. "Alright, look, I think there's just been some big misunderstanding here."
The voice from his dream cheered, "Great, we've all got the upper hand, good work, Kirby's boyfriend!"
"I'm not-" Bandana Dee sighed, "Whatever, the point is you need to..." Bandana Dee trailed off as he noticed that Adeleine seemed... oddly flustered with the situation, her face being as red a Maxim Tomato. "Uh, are you okay, do you need some water, or something?"
Adeleine tapped her fingers together, "Water? Huh, no it's I'm, yeah, no- ahaha, sorry, um- NO, I do not need any water, uhhhhhhh-"
"Um... right, well anyways-" Bandana Dee continued, "What did you mean before by you're trying to help a friend, exactly?"
Adeleine laughed, "Well-"
SLAM!
That was the noise Bandana Dee heard rocket into him as he was knocked off the roof, paintbrush still clasped firmly in his hands. By the time he landed on the ground he could see Shadow Kirby and Dark Meta Knight on the ground next to him, though they all quickly got up.
"Alright, listen very carefully, Waddle Dee, we're you're allies in this situation." Dark Meta Knight spat, looking at Bandana Dee with a side-eye. "We're the only thing standing between you and imminent game ending, so for the next five minutes you need to do EXACTLY as we say, got it?"
"Right, gotcha!" Bandana Dee accepted. "Wait did you just say game en-"
Shadow Kirby interrupted this time, "No time to explain, sorry, just listen to Deta."
"I told you not to call me that in public..." Dark Meta Knight growled. "No matter, here they come." Dark Meta Knight noted pointing his sword towards Kirby's house as Meta Knight ran in from the left side, Adeleine hopping down from the roof.
"Long time no see, Dark Meta Knight, still up to your usual dirty tactics, I see?" Meta Knight asked, pointing his sword towards the trio. "Even got a new Waddle Dee minion on your side?"
Bandana See spoke up, "I'm not-"
Dark Meta Knight punched Bandana Dee in the face and turned to glare at him once more, "SHUT. UP." he commanded, "Just do what I say and you'll make it out of here alive."
"Yeah, plus all we're doing is stalling, and Deta is really good at that." Shadow Kirby whispered with a slight smile. "He does it all the time when I ask him to come to my-"
"NOT. NOW." Dark Meta Knight said once more, and turned back to the opposing group. "Correct, though my tactics must've been worth something if you tried the same thing on Waddle Dee over here."
"We're doing this for a good cause." Meta Knight excused.
Dark Meta Knight countered, "We're doing it for a better one."
Meta Knight shot back, "Says who?"
"Says the people not being brainwashed by a Black Prism." Dark Meta Knight spat as a few dings sounded from Dark Meta Knight's hand. "But you don't realize that, you're already too far jacked into the matrix of Ecal's illusions, aren't you?"
"What are you on about?" Meta Knight asked, his voice growing angrier. "Ecal has been our friend since he scarified himself for Dedede when he tried to take revenge against Kirby." Bandana Dee was about to speak, but Dark Meta Knight held a hand back and shook his head.
"Yeah, he even helped back when Kirby, Dedede, Ribbon, and I went to find the Crystal Shards!" Adeleine added.
Meta Knight nodded, "He also helped when we all went to repair Magolor's ship, so don't even try to discredit our friend." Meta Knight spoke with extreme confidence.
"Hmpf, no matter." Dark Meta Knight turned around and his wings transformed into a long flowing cape, Shadow Kirby and Bandana Dee following the turnaround in turn. "We've already escaped." he said, placing some sort of device in his hands, one that was pink with a star antenna on the end.
"Unlikely." Meta Knight spoke, beginning to make his way forward.
"Un-fortunate." Dark Meta Knight scoffed as he pressed a button on the device he wielded, and Bandana Dee's device began to buzz as well.
Suddenly, with a gale of wind Dark Meta Knight swooshed into the air and tossed his device as far as he could, the little thing reaching blinding speeds before Dark Meta Knight quicky grabbed both Bandana Dee and Shadow Kirby's hands.
Meta Knight gasped, "HANG ON A MOMENT-!" he cried, but it was too late, and with a blinding flash Bandana Waddle Dee saw the locale he was in disappear and quicky become a new one, what looked to be multiple platforms suspended midair.
Bandana Dee could feel his head spinning, "What the heck just-"
"Woah, bullseye, you were on target this time, Deta!" Shadow Kirby cheered, and Bandana Dee looked to his left, seeing a massive target with Dark Meta Knight's cellular device bludgeoned in the middle.
The room itself was more like a poorly put together medium-sized wooden box (around the size of Kirby's House), with a single open doored room with a sign above that read 'Shadow Kirby's Room :D' in what looked to be crayon.
Dark Meta Knight grabbed his phone from the bullseye point, "I'm always on target."
"Tell that to Kracko, pretty sure you've hit him like fifty times trying to do that." Shadow Kirby laughed, turning towards Bandana Dee. "Well, welcome to our hangout, usually we don't allow visitors, but anything to help a special case like yours and Em's, y'know?"
"Mine's and- AUGH!" Bandana Dee yelled as he felt his face being pulled forward, and soon after something came out of him, what looked to be a glowing bright prism, fluctuating between a yellow and orange hue.
"Okay, we made, it, thank god, I can stop living in your head rent free for now." the prism spoke. "Anyways, yes, it's me, Emory, nice to meet you formally, Kirby's Boyfriend."
Shadow Kirby let out a weird almost-choking noise, "Woah, you and Kirby are dating?!"
"NO, I just sleep in his house sometimes is all!" Bandana Dee quickly corrected. "Okay and before we get into that nonsense, can any of you explain to me what the HECK is going on around here?!"
"To keep it real with you, and no thanks to you being honest, we have no idea." Dark Meta Knight explained. "We thought we'd have Kirby here, not you, so we have to figure out how that happened."
Shadow Kirby interjected, "Yeah, you're honestly lucky Em contacted us instead of just leaving you there and letting you get game ended."
Dark Meta Knight let out a slight cough, "..."
"Did you just say game ended?" Bandana Waddle Dee asked.
Shadow Kirby tilted his head, "Is there another word for it?"
"Regardless," Dark Meta Knight spoke, "You better thank Emory you're even alive right now, as he said." Dark Meta Knight said, pointing to Shadow Kirby.
"Why'd you help her in the first place?" Bandana Dee questioned, "Aren't you more the type to deny help to those in need?"
"..." Dark Meta Knight turned away.
Shadow Kirby responded, "We... only met two days ago, but birds of a feather tend to flock together, y'know?" he asked with a laugh, walking towards the open room. "Well, we're not birds, but it's a metaphor." he muttered. "Regardless, I have an idea on how to help both of you out here, but we'll have to go on a short road trip to get there, so we'll do that tomorrow."
"Can't we go now?" Bandana Dee asked, looking towards the distance. "Wouldn't they find us here?"
"No." Shadow Kirby responded to both questions. "I'm tired, and as for why they won't find us, at least for now, anyways, in order to-"
"Don't let him explain it, you'll be here all day." Dark Meta Knight said, walking up to Emory. "Anyways, follow me, I have a place for you two to sleep." he said, beckoning Bandana Waddle Dee forward. "Don't get the wrong idea, this is purely for Emory." he added.
"You don't have to be rude to him," Emory huffed, floating next to Dark Meta Knight as Bandee quickly caught up and followed him to a platform floating on a cloud.
"Get in." Dark Meta Knight said bluntly, pointing to what looked to be a shard of glass.
"Uh... how?"
Dark Meta Knight sneered, "Oh right, you're not from here." he sighed, "Just look at the shard until you're in, you'll KNOW when you're in." he said, picking it up and shoving it in front of Bandee's face. The piece of glass warped, and Bandee could sort of see his face in the reflection... warping...
…
Huh.
...
He felt different, to say the very least, in that he could only see the sky above... and there was this vignette of black slowly encircling it... he felt... tired... almost.
"Good night, Bandee, see you in the morning."
King Dedede woke up from his bed and saw he had overslept AGAIN. He grogged over to the mirror in his bedroom and taking a sip from a coffee one of his Waddle Dee's made for him.
…
It needed sugar.
Dedede looked over to a bell in his room, and went to reach for it to call over his number one servant, Bandana...
"Oh, yeah..." Dedede bemoaned, pulling his hand away. Bandana Dee left at the start of the month.
….
For whatever reason the idea seemed to slip his mind that something like this could happen, that he could mess up so hard to make one of his... no, his best buddy just up and leave, but so was life, cruel and unjust.
Dedede looked over to his nightstand where a picture of him and Bandana Dee pulling a prank on Meta Knight stood proud, Meta Knight covered in yogurt and flour looking like he was going to kill them, while Bandana Dee and Dedede took a selfie in the foreground.
…
No.
No, something looked off.
Dedede grabbed the picture and looked at it once more, focusing in on Bandana Dee.
It... was very subtle, but it was almost like Bandana Dee in the image was changing... to some sort of black prism, flickering back and forth between the actual Waddle Dee he knew and the prism. Dedede didn't know why, but... he got the feeling he should go check on him.
On Bandana Dee...
"Yeah, I'll just pop over to Kirby's house and-"
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK
There was a knock at his bedroom door, a loud and dreadful knock which didn't sound like something a Waddle Dee could make. Dedede put on his coat and stashed the image of him and Bandana Dee in his coat pocket before clearing his throat.
"Who is it?" Dedede asked, looking through the peephole.
He couldn't really... see anything, and nobody answered, but... for whatever strange reason it was almost like he could smell something burning.
This is to get me back into writing and make up for a mistake of a Kirby fanfiction I made prior. See you next chapter, friends.