The shock and awe of Samus' spaceship had mostly worn off of Kirby by now. It didn't stand out too much from the Dream Land night sky anyway. Space was full of miracles. Kirby was born in space. It was in space that Kirby was given the gift of life. The gift of Popstar. The gift of food and friends. In the World of Miracles, Samus' Gunship fit right in, glistening under the light of the full moon in the sky. The puffball was nestled in behind the Gunship's dashboard, messing around with a registration slip he'd found in the glovebox. Holding the sheet of paper up with his nubs, Kirby brought the paper to his mouth and blew into it. Like a leaf, the paper let out a squeaky whistle, bringing a smile to Kirby's face. He continued to whistle because it almost drowned out King Dedede's violent kicking and screaming. He'd been strapped to a table for nearly an hour now. Samus had jammed a plastic tube down his gullet and had been emptying his stomach of the icy "soda" he'd decided to try. Eventually, Samus ripped out the tube, leaving Dedede gasping for air with a hand on his throat.

"Christ on rice," King Dedede sputtered, "so that's what it feels like to be Thanksgiving turkey."

"You're welcome," Samus said.

"I most certainly am not!" King Dedede grumbled as he rolled off of the table, nudging his squishy pink friend. "I'm welcome. Get a load of that, Kirby."

"Would you have preferred to go comatose, your highness?"

"Poyo poyo!" Kirby cheered, popping out from behind the dash. King Dedede burst out laughing, much to Samus' confusion.

"What is it?" Samus asked.

"Huh? Oh, Kirby just said I probably would have," King Dedede said. Samus stared at him blankly. "I guess it's a bit less funny now that I'm repeating it."

"That's not what I'm wondering. You've been translating Kirby since we met. How do you understand him?"

"I'm none too sure, it's nothing I ever put much thought to. It's just something-I say it's just something I've picked up on after all our time together. You hear the lingo enough, it starts to stick to you."

"But there is no lingo. He doesn't speak a language. He just says the word 'poyo' over and over."

"It ain't really about the words he's saying, it's about the context he's saying them in. You gotta think about his body language, how he's saying what he's saying, who he's saying it to, all that."

"Hmm…" Samus sat down behind the dashboard, typing away at the controls. "I take it you two have known each other for a while."

"For sure! We've known each other ever since this little screwball first landed on Popstar. Sure, when we first met, we had some personal differences-"

"Poyo," Kirby said, glaring at the king.

"Alright, alright, maybe I kinda robbed Dream Land of its entire food supply and hoarded it up in my castle, but after we settled a few petty grievances, the Kirbster and I have been getting along just fine."

"Poyo poyo."

"Well of course I'm gonna blame you for eating my cake! I don't care if we're friends, you'll eat anything that moves! And anything that doesn't for that matter."

"Poyo poyo!"

"Oh really, it ain't true? Have you eaten-I say have you eaten anything since we got on the Gunship?"

Kirby looked down at the ground as he shook his head. The king glowered in scrutiny, propping himself up against his own hammer. Kirby sighed and opened his mouth. A toothy, toad like monster more than twice Kirby's size rolled out with a splat. The monster dragged itself away, squealing and crying as it crawled back into its own empty containment unit to hide from Kirby.

"Interesting." Samus gave Kirby an exploratory poke. "Why didn't you get a new attribute from integrating that Hornoad?"

"Poyo," Kirby replied, "poyo poyo. Poyo!"

Samus stared at Kirby while trying to process his gibberish. Kirby smiled back, unaware of the miscommunication. Samus turned to look over at Dedede, and the two locked eyes for an entire human minute.

"...What?" King Dedede asked.

Samus gestured towards Kirby. "Would you mind?"

"Mind what?"

"I didn't catch what he said."

"How? I reckon he laid it out in pretty simple terms."

"I can't speak in his fucking terms!"

"Hey now! Hey now! Watch your language in front of the boy! Bless his heart, he's a baby, Ms. Aran!"

Samus looked over at the Hornoad Kirby had assaulted. Still whimpering in its containment vessel, the ferocious beast would likely never recover from the trauma.

"You're trying to tell me Kirby's a baby?"

"Cross my heart! It's the reason-I say it's the reason he eats so much. He's a growing boy."

"You've known each other this long and he's still a baby?" Samus asked, turning to Kirby, "How old are you?"

"Poyo."

Samus looked over at Dedede.

"What did he say?"

"I don't know," Dedede said.

"Dedede!"

"No, no! 'I don't know' is what he said!"

"He doesn't know how old he is? Then how do you even know he's a baby?"

"Well...look at him! He's all soft and tiny! He's gotta be a baby, what with how small and squishy he is!"

"Metroids tend to be small and squishy too. Hopefully, you don't go easy on them because of it." Just then, Samus' computer blurted out an alarm, with a hologram appearing before the controls. "Speaking of Metroids, it looks like we found something."

Kirby and King Dedede huddled with Samus around the projection. The display showed a map of the lush greenland below. A red blob was designated as the approximate location of a Metroid signal. It was constantly shifting, but seemed to hover around a rickety set of train tracks.

"Did it catch a train?" Dedede remarked.

"It's possible it went in to investigate and got trapped." Samus rose out of her chair and fished an ice beam upgrade out of her supply. "Either way, we need to get ready. Kirby, when we land, you should find some way to get a hold of that cryogenic ability you had in the cave. Larval Metroids are virtually unkillable unless they're frozen solid."

"Larval? You mean these things ain't even fully grown!?"

"Calm down, your highness, Larval Metroids can only go through metamorphosis on their homeworld SR388. Still, the more of us that can freeze them in their tracks, the better. I don't know if any of those snowmen creatures live in the area, but-"

Before Samus could finish, Kirby sucked the ice beam battery right out of her hand, swallowing it whole.

"Kirby, no!" Samus cried, "We just got done pumping King Dedede's stomach, don't make me do that again!"

Quite to the contrary, however, Kirby giggled after ingesting the battery. He transformed into Ice Kirby, with his frozen crown returning. Beyond that, he looked pretty unaffected.

"...Did he just copy the attributes of a battery?" Samus asked.

"Seems like it," Dedede said.

"This is amazing! I thought this was some sort of endosymbiosis, but somehow, Kirby can integrate inorganic functions into his bodily processes. Could it be some sort of molecular reconstruction?"

"Yeah, yeah, everyone's always so impressed by how much the kid can eat. Let him into your pantry and tell me how amazing it is."

"King Dedede, stock up on these." Samus stuffed King Dedede's open arms with ice beam batteries. "Just in case Kirby or I need a refill."

"What!? I'm the waterboy now!?"

"Hey, whenever you feel like taking a swing at these little monsters, be my guest. Until then, keep your head down and stay close. We're going in."

And so the Gunship landed by the nearest train station. It was rather quaint, with only two ramshackle tracks running beside a vintage wooden building. The ballasts of the tracks were plaid, though, which was a pleasant touch. Spring tailed Bouncies and sedimentary Rockies parsed into the station, shielded by its awning. Where could such peculiar creatures be headed? How could they afford the fare for the train? Did Dream Land even have a system of currency in place? I don't know, man, that shit's stressful. Just let 'em vibe.

After parking the Gunship, the Star Allies made their way towards a small wooden house next to the still kind of small but not as small station. They knocked on the door of the house, and a sunset orange Waddle Dee opened the door. He had a little blue cap on his head that read "Station Master".

"Are you in charge of this station?" Samus asked.

"I am," the station master answered, "How can I help you?" The station master let the Allies inside. His office was decorated with portraits of his Waddle Dee family, and a rusty toy train set ran along its cozy interior. Kirby ran up and fiddled with the train while Samus got to talking.

"Can you communicate with the conductor of the oncoming train from here?"

"I am the conductor. Dreamtrak trains are operated remotely from the stations." The station master pointed his nubby arm at a computer screen, displaying a spider web of trains running all across Dream Land.

"Even better. When this next train arrives, we need everyone on it to get off, and we need everyone else kept off of the train for a few minutes."

"Why, exactly?"

"There are aliens on that train, sir."

"...You're not from around here, are you? There are a lot of aliens in Dream Land."

"Yes, but these are Metroids. They present a danger to everyone on board."

"We're not unfamiliar with dangerous passengers. You see that guy over there?" The station master pointed out a window to a Dream Lander entering the station. Its body consisted of a giant missile with big flappy feet. "We call him Bomber. If he trips, he'll blow up with the force of a cubic meter of C4. If we shut this train down every time a potential hazard hopped on board, the train wouldn't run."

"We're not here to negotiate. We're shutting down the train. It's a direct order from the King of Dream Land."

King Dedede winced at Samus' command.

"The King of Dream Land?"

"That's right." Samus turned to face the king. Dedede's only response was to pump out buckets of sweat onto the floor. "King Dedede, have him shut down the train."

"I can't just tell him what to do," Dedede replied.

"Yes you can! You're the king!"

"Ah...well, uh...about that...it's a little complicated."

"How is it complicated? Are you the king or not?"

"No, no, I'm the king! I'm just, uh...it's not written down anywhere that I'm the king. It's more of a de facto type deal, you know, everyone knows it, everyone calls me the king-"

"Dedede, can you make him shut the train down or not?"

"Possibly." Dedede threw a smile onto his face as he nudged the unamused station master. "C'mon, pretty please? For me? If you do, I'll name you the Prince of Dream Land!"

"If this is what being the king looks like, I think I'll pass," the station master said, "Listen, Dreamtrak is a quasi-public joint venture between Floralia and Dream Land. The only government entity we have to answer to is Governor Waddle DeeSantis or anyone else from the Floralian Embassy. Until you can get any of them on the line, this train's coming through."

Samus sighed. She shook her head as she walked out of the office.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Dedede scooped Kirby up from the floor and followed Samus out the door.

"To shut down this train," Samus replied.

"How? You're no king, are you?"

"Nope."

Samus strutted to the center of the station, just in time for the train to arrive. Curiously, even the train itself was made of wood. It was wider than it was tall, and had a Waddle Dee face plastered right underneath the smokestack. The train rattled into the station, and Dream Landers hanging around the station began their march onto the train. Just as they rose up from their seats, however, Samus raised her arm cannon into the air and fired a missile into the air. It hit the awning, sending burning wood flying and splintering across the station. The innocent Dream Landers ran away screaming, with the passengers on the train pouring out of any opening they could find.

"Ha ha!" Dedede cheered, "Lord in heaven, lady, you are absolutely looney!"

The station master poked his head out of the door. Samus trained her arm cannon on his office.

"This train is not leaving the station until we're done," Samus barked, "Now it's my order."

"...You win this time," the station master said as he skulked back into his office.

Now left to their own devices, the Star Allies approached the train. A problem quickly made itself apparent; the train barely rose to Samus' hips. Even when she crouched down to investigate, her head nearly bumped on the roof of the doorway.

"Hmm...Even if I get myself in there, there isn't much I can do without destroying the train," Samus said, "and I've already done enough property damage. Kirby, King Dedede, check out the train. I'll be right here if things get dicey."

Kirby and Dedede nodded before stepping aboard the train.

"Now Kirby," Dedede whispered as they entered the first passenger car, "don't forget to keep an eye out for the reason we're here."

"Poyo?"

"No, not Metroids, dummy! My cake! We wouldn't be here if them little gremlins didn't swipe my Popstar Popper! We can help Aran take care of these bean bags, but that cake-I say that cake takes top priority!"

And so Kirby and Dedede started poking their heads under the seats. All they could see were their own faces reflecting off of the lacquered floors. The seats themselves were also empty, with the cushions still carrying the impressions of the absent passengers. They sorted through more cars, but only found the odd piece of luggage left behind.

"Anything in there?" Samus asked from outside the train.

"Nah," Dedede answered, "it's barren. No one in here."

No one? Samus thought to herself. How strange. Surely, if even a single Metroid was stuck on that train for an extended period of time, it would've attacked someone. Maybe the Space Pirates genetically altered their behavior somehow? They had to have planted the Metroids on Popstar for a purpose, after all.

Samus' train of thought was interrupted by the much more tangible train next to her. It took off with a puff of steam, clattering away quicker than it arrived.

"Hey!" Samus yelled, aiming her arm cannon at the office, "I told you to keep that train here!"

Samus lowered her cannon, however, when she realized the office was empty. The door was thrown wide open, with a purple haze wafting out from within. With no time for questions, Samus ran and leapt off of the station platform. She pressed some buttons on her arm cannon, and the Gunship flared to life. It zipped into the air with a flash of green. Samus whipped her cannon, and with a spark, a ribbon of lightning shot out of the tip. The beam wrapped around the Gunship, lifting Samus into the air as it raced after the train.

Kirby and Dedede were now back to back as the vacancy of the train grew more and more foreboding. Out the window, they watched as the train bustled straight off of a cliff. The rickety tracks carried the two over a murky ravine, suspended only by a series of beams and nails.

"I'm not liking the look of this scenario." Dedede took out his hammer, giving it a few preparatory swings in the air. "You know the drill, Kirby. You freeze 'em, I smash 'em."

"Poyo!" Kirby let out a frosty breath when he answered the king. The snuck into the next passenger car. Over the rattling of the train's own creaky body, Kirby and Dedede could faintly hear a rumbling behind the door ahead, and every other squeak of the wheels could almost be mistaken for an ear splitting chirp. Kirby and Dedede nodded at each other before jumping through the door. In the next room, sure enough, a Metroid was lying on the ground! Kirby bellowed out a mist of ice as soon as he saw the creature, freezing it solid.

"Kirby, no!"

Before Kirby could turn to look at his friend, something as hard as rock bashed into his fluffy body. Kirby was sent flying into the wall behind him before flopping onto the floor. His attacker was...another Metroid? No, the first Metroid Kirby had frozen wasn't a Metroid at all. Kirby had charged in too quickly to notice before, but he'd merely frozen an empty shell, a husk in the shape of the alien. His attacker must've been the real Metroid, but even then, something didn't look quite right. The Metroid from the cave looked identical to the ones Kirby had fought all those years ago, but this invader had bloated to twice its normal size. It struggled just to move in the cramped train car. More than that, though, a jade carapace had grown on top of its slimy sac, covering a fleshy mass. Spiny arms writhed from beneath the shell, and it had two tiny eyes glowing red like a signal in the midst of a fog.

"Kirby!" King Dedede bashed the Metroid over its shell with his hammer, attracting its attention. "Freeze this creepy crawly!"

Kirby snapped back to his feet. Springing into the air, he twirled around as he sprinkled ice in every direction. The Metroid's jiggly underside was frozen solid, making it cry out in pain.

"Nice!" Dedede reeled back his hammer and swung at the vulnerable parasite. Much to his surprise, however, the frozen Metroid simply rolled out of Dedede's path. It then bashed into Dedede, this time knocking him straight through a window.

Samus, meanwhile, dropped off from the Gunship, landing on the roof of the caboose. She landed just in time to watch Dedede hurtle out of the train.

"Dedede!" Samus cried.

"I can fly!" Dedede yelled as he fell into the ravine.

"Oh shit, okay, cool." Samus hopped across the train cars to investigate the car Dedede was kicked from, only for the Metroid to burst out of the roof. Kirby was trapped in its snapping mandibles.

"What!?" Samus said to herself, "An Alpha Metroid!? But how could it undergo metamorphosis!? Popstar's biosphere isn't even remotely similar to SR388's!"

Kirby spat out ice left and right, but to no avail. The Metroid flew to the front of the train, stuffing Kirby into the smokestack until only his little feet were left to wiggle in the air. This didn't make sense, but there was no time for questions. Instead, Samus reared her arm cannon and barraged the Metroid with missiles. The Metroid cried out in pain, ice splintering off of its delicate membrane. The Metroid tried to dive in at Samus, but Samus swatted it away with a thwack from her cannon. Sparks flew from the wounded Metroid; only a few more missiles should've done it in.

And then, from the darkness of the night, a purple miasma of energy manifested in the air. It crashed into the tracks below, sending the train plummeting into the ravine. Knocked into the air by the blast, Samus no less latched onto Kirby with her grapple beam and yanked him free from the smokestack. The Gunship broke their fall as the train splashed into its watery grave. Samus once again took aim at the Metroid, who was now flying off into the distance. Before she could fire, however, a bolt of lightning came down and struck the Gunship. Samus rolled off of the Gunship as it careened into water, catching onto the remains of the beam that had held up the track. Kirby fell into the water, only to pop right back up above the water. Samus readied her arm cannon a third time, but the Metroid was long gone by now.

"Forgive us for being so direct, but you didn't leave us very many options. We can't allow that poor creature to come into any more harm."

Samus and Kirby both looked around the area at the sound of that voice. Its ringing out somehow made the night sky feel bleaker, with the stars shining duller. Samus turned her head directly up above, and saw her culprit standing on the damaged train tracks. Not standing up, mind you; his lithe figure was suspended by his feet to the underside of the track. The same purple haze Samus had seen earlier was drifting around the man's presence, and his skin was the same tone. He turned a pointed chin down to look at the Star Allies, twirling a spindly moustache wider than his shoulders.

"Allow me to introduce myself." The purple man bowed, still keeping his eyes locked onto his targets. "My name is Arlon the Serene, and it is my great honor to represent Mistress Viridi and the Forces of Nature."

"Hey, don't forget about me!" A young woman flickered into existence beside Arlon. Her blonde hair was standing on its ends, and she wore a scarf which seemed to crackle with power.

"Of course, who could forget Lightning Flash Phosphora."

"'Lightning Flash Phosphora' owes me a ship." Samus readied a missile into her arm cannon as she spoke.

"Sorry! I couldn't help it! Your ship just conducts electricity so well." Phosphora's grin stretched across her dainty face as her skin buzzed with lightning. "You'd best keep your hand off of that cannon; your lightning rod of a dinner suit looks like a pretty good conductor as well."

Reluctantly, Samus lowered her arm cannon. She shot a quick glance at the spot in the sky the Metroid had disappeared into.

"Your boss, Viridi...is she a Space Pirate?"

Arlon and Phosphora shot each other a look, raising their eyebrows before turning back to Samus.

"That's rather unlikely," Arlon said, "I'm afraid neither of us have ever heard of a 'Space Pirate'."

"They're the ones who dropped those Metroids onto this planet in the first place."

"Ah, so 'Metroid' is their proper taxonomic designation? They bear a striking resemblance to Komaytoes, but I knew they were different."

"You don't even know what these things are and you're messing with them!?"

"We're not messing! We're protecting them," Phosphora added, "from anyone who might do them harm! That seems to include you."

"Metroids aren't the ones in need of protecting. They're invasive parasites, consuming everything standing in their way until the planet they've been dropped on has nothing left."

"Your concerns are understandable." Arlon adjusted his monocle, glinting under the light of the moon. "Regardless, Metroids are still living beings. As the Goddess of Nature, it is Mistress Viridi's responsibility to protect all living beings from anyone who would do them harm. We're under direct orders to protect the Metroids via any means necessary. Even at the cost of this beautiful ravine."

"What do you mean?"

Just then, a piercing screech tore through the sky behind them. Samus and Kirby turned around to see a bomb crash down into the water. The bomb looked shoddily made, with its cracked red body being entangled in vines. When it hit the water, a blinding flash ripped through the ravine. They could barely tell it was still night.

"That Reset Bomb would be our cue to leave. Its purpose is quite particular. That little pink creature you've brought along with you should be just fine. But if you yourself are a human as you appear, then I'm afraid you'll find yourself wiped from Planet Popstar. Good luck."

Arlon's being then faded away into the air, while Phosphora bolted away in the form of lightning. As the explosion simmered down, a bramble of thorns and branches spiraled out of the bomb. They were as black as coal, and in a matter of seconds, the vegetation was overtaking the entire ravine. Samus made quick work of shimmying her way up the beam. Once on the tracks, she broke into a sprint for a second, only stopping when she looked down at Kirby. The pink puffball was still floating in the water, staring at the approaching forest.

"Kirby!" Samus yelled, "Get a move on!"

But Kirby knew neither of them could outrun the forest; it was splitting the water apart with how quickly it was growing. Instead, Kirby opened his mouth and spat some object out into his hand - a pink Blackberry Pearl. Kirby pressed some buttons on his phone and then threw it onto the track at Samus' feet.

"A phone? Kirby, what are you-"

Before Samus could finish, something tackled her, knocking her off of the track. She held on, even as the foreign object knocked the wind from her lungs. As the burning radiance of the forest died down, Samus noticed a yellow light glowing off of her ride. It was a star shaped disc, no longer than Samus' shin. And yet with no rockets or wings to speak of, it didn't even tremble as it carried the bounty hunter through the air.

Samus felt her back collide with some elastic thing, like a hot air balloon. It went flying off, and Samus saw that it was actually King Dedede, inflated to twice his size. Samus snatched Dedede with her grapple beam, yanking him along with her on the star.

"You know, when you said you could fly," Samus yelled, "this isn't what I had in mind!"

"I'm a penguin! Cut me some slack!" King Dedede wheezed as the beam squeezed the air out of his body. "Hey, where's Kirby!?"

"In there!" Samus pointed her arm cannon at the ever growing Reset Bomb Forest.

"You left Kirby in that!?"

"I didn't leave him there! I don't know how to pilot this thing!"

"How do you not know how to pilot a Warp Star!? They don't even have wheels to steer!"

"That is precisely why I can't pilot it!"

Dedede grabbed onto one of the points of the Warp Star, veering it around the forest. After a minute or so, the forest finally slowed down in its growth. It'd completely overwhelmed the ravine, even tearing apart the rocky walls of the canyon it ran through. Dedede landed the Warp Star at the base of the forest - crash landed, specifically, shattering the Warp Star into little star bits.

"Ugh," Samus groaned as she pulled herself from the brittle debris they'd landed in, "So they're easy to pilot but not easy to land, huh?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that's how you're supposed to land them?"

"Honestly, after what I've seen from this planet, yes, I would." Samus looked into the forest. The black thorns pulsed with an awful red light. The radiance was draining to look at, as if staring at it alone sucked away one's vitality.

"I'll lead the way." Samus ducked her head under the thorny entrance to the forest. "Stay close. Watch my six, I'll watch yours."

"Oh hush, Ms. Aran, it's just-I say it's just a forest." With a chuckle, Dedede twirled his hammer around as he rolled into the forest. "Just your average run of the mill forest that suddenly appeared in the middle of a ravine."

"This is no ordinary forest, Dedede. Kirby and I met these two people calling themselves the Forces of Nature. They've taken in the Metroids like an endangered species, and they dropped a bomb in the water. When it went off, it turned into this."

"One hell of a bomb...Hey, speaking of Metroids, that Metroid in the train looked a little different. And Kirby froze the darn thing, but it just got madder than a wet hen!"

"Freezing temperatures are only fatal to Larval Metroids. That Metroid had grown into an Alpha Metroid."

"But I thought-I say I thought you said they can't metamorpholize or whatever unless they're on some planet!" Dedede's exclamation echoed throughout the bowels of the forest. The walls almost seemed to writhe against the reverberation for a second.

"They can't, not normally. But this one did. I don't know how it happened, but that Arlon guy told me that his boss is the Goddess of Nature. Maybe she has the power to make lifeforms grow outside of their natural habitat."

Dedede furrowed his brow.

"What?" Samus asked.

"I don't know, it's just strange to hear you talking about Goddesses and all that. You've got a fancy schmancy robot suit, guess I figured you wouldn't believe in that type of stuff."

Samus looked down at her suit. The patterns engraved into the plating of her suit were alien to Popstar, but to Samus, they were as familiar as the English language. Running her fingers over those patterns brought her back to her childhood - back to when she could brush her hands against the ruins she called home.

"For most of my life, I was raised by the Chozo, a highly advanced interplanetary species. They valued knowledge in every form. Sure, they were scientific masterminds, but they were also well versed in spiritualism. My suit - the Varia Suit - isn't purely technological in nature."

"Varia Suit. Nice. Think I could get one?"

"I don't know, ask the Chozo."

"Where could I find them?"

"You can't. They're dead."

"Oh."

The two were interrupted by a high pitched scream from Kirby ringing through the forest.

"There he is! Let's go!"

Samus and Dedede bolted after the sound of Kirby's voice. Just around the corner, however, a horde of vegetal monsters were waiting for the duo. Giant acorns buzzed through the air, purple flowers wiggled out of the ground, and they all stared at the two through twitching yellow eyes. Dedede grinned as he gripped onto his hammer.

"Ready to commit a little herbicide, Ms. Aran?" he said.

"Ready when you are."

Kirby, meanwhile, found himself hanging upside down from a tree, his foot snared by a branch during the explosion. His scream wasn't for the forest or its monstrous army, however; he was face to face with the Alpha Metroid. It must not have strayed as far as everyone had assumed. The Metroid screeched and snapped its pincers at Kirby before diving in to attack. Kirby forced his pudgy body to fold enough for him to freeze the branch around his feet. He kicked the frozen branch into pieces, flopping onto the floor and evading the Metroid. While Kirby rolled out of the way, the Metroid hovered in the air, rocking back and forth as it let out a miserable groan. Watching the pained creature gave Kirby an idea. He whistled. The Metroid turned. Kirby planted his feet in the ground, stretching his nubs out as wide as he could, and the Metroid took the bait. Just as the Metroid dove in, though, Kirby sealed his lips and activated his ice powers. He froze his own body from the inside out, and when the Metroid slammed into him, Kirby's now rigid body cracked the parasite's shell. As the Metroid tried to find its bearings again, Kirby shed his copy ability in the form of a tiny star and opened his mouth. With one hearty gulp of air, he sucked up the Metroid into his endless stomach.

And yet, he felt totally empty. Kirby spat out the contents of his stomach, only to find a papery husk on the floor before him. Kirby looked at the Metroid in horror. With its shell ripped off, the Metroid grew in size once more, this time blowing up to the size of a cow. Its carapace was now jagged, its legs wrapped around its squishy underside. Its whole body crackling with a ghostly blue energy, the Metroid screamed as it charged at Kirby.

Samus and King Dedede tore their way through the Forces of Nature. Samus blasted row after row of flying acorns with her missiles, while Dedede knocked them out of the air with his hammer. The scent of burning cellulose wafted over the battle, but the Forces of Nature didn't even blink their corpse-like eyes at the stench of their fallen brethren. Just then, a walking pillar of stone charged at Dedede. It leapt into the air with its stubby roots, ready to crush the king under its titanic weight. Dedede rolled out of its way and struck it with his hammer, but the blow didn't even dent the rocky creature.

"Oh, it's gonna be like that, huh?" Dedede gritted his teeth as he pressed a button on the handle of his hammer. The backside of its head flipped open, and a clunky rocket engine poked out. Plumes of blue flame poured out. The hammer rattled with the energy building up inside. Dedede held back the furious power of the hammer until the stone picked itself up and pounced at Dedede again. Dedede let his hammer loose to batter the stone, shattering it into pieces. Dedede had just raised his fist to cheer when a worm burst out of the ground before him. With a husky body as wide as a car tire and a beak made of corn, the worm snapped to action, wrapping itself around Dedede's body before he could even blink. The worm managed to keep its head out of the range of the king's flailing hammer. Dedede tried to call out to Samus, but the air couldn't even leave his lungs.

"King Dedede!" Samus blasted a missile at the worm of maize, but before it could make contact, a mossy little gremlin intercepted the attack. The missile exploded harmlessly, leaving the gremlin swaying with tranquility. Even its wooden mask was left untouched. Samus tried firing an ice beam at the little thug, but the result was no different.

"Damnit, get out of the way!" Samus tried sidestepping around the thug, but despite its stout little body, it kept itself squarely between Samus and Dedede. Digging her heel into the ground in frustration, she spun around and struck the thug with a firm roundhouse kick. Just before it made contact, however, the thug's green body turned red. Its mask flipped around to reveal the grotesque grimace of a monster, and it caught Samus' foot with ease. Samus gasped, ripping her foot from the thug's grasp and firing another missile at it point blank. The thug turned green again, tanking the blast with ease.

"So it has different forms that are immune to melee and ranged attacks?" Samus tried all sorts of combinations of missiles and kicks and punches and beams, but no matter what she did alone, the thug was always one step ahead. While his vision began to flicker in and out, he could still see Samus fending off the thug. His hammer grew heavier by the second in Dedede's weakening grasp, but he still managed to press another button on his hammer. The front latch flipped open this time, and a spiky metal creature popped out. As it hovered in the air, Dedede mustered the last of his strength and whacked it at the thug. The thug, who'd turned red to block a forearm club from Samus, was too distracted to see the spike ball flying towards him. The thug was obliterated, leaving nothing but a cloud of algae. Her path clear, Samus blasted the corn worm right in the head with a missile, frying its beak into popcorn and freeing Dedede from its grasp. Dedede fell to the floor, gasping for air.

"Dedede!" Samus helped prop Dedede onto his feet. "Are you alright!?"

"How am I...supposed...to answer that!?" Dedede answered between pants. Just as more of the Forces of Nature began to surround the two, they heard Kirby scream again. Samus and Dedede turned around, facing a hole in the wall. Blue lights spasmed out from the opening, along with the stench of burnt wood.

"We have to get in there!"

"But how?" Dedede ran up and investigated the hole. Even his tiny, squishy body had a hard time fitting through. "The hole-I say the hole's too small! If only one of us had the ability to compress our body into a sphere roughly 0.8 meters in diameter."

Dedede then looked over at Samus. As it turns out, her suit had compressed her body into a sphere roughly 0.8 meters in diameter.

"Oh no shit," Dedede said. Samus rolled and jumped through the hole. Her suit unfolded, and she stood up to look at Dedede. Dedede glanced over at the oncoming army, and then shot Samus a smirk.

"Go help Kirby! I got this one." Dedede readied the thruster in his hammer to prove his determination. Samus nodded and headed deeper into the forest. Dedede turned back to face the encroaching horde. "Man, I so do not got this one."

Samus ran and snatched up Kirby from the ground, saving him from a beam of electricity from the Metroid. The Metroid screamed again. Dribbles of some green liquid spattered out of its toothy mouth, bubbling and smoking when they hit the ground. Samus fired a few missiles at the parasite, but it rolled over in the air so that the missiles burst harmlessly over its shell. Samus removed the ice beam from her arm cannon and threw it over to Kirby, who inhaled it to become Ice Kirby.

"Ice won't kill it instantly, but that underside is still vulnerable," Samus said, "King Dedede and I just tag teamed some thug. Maybe if we do the same, we can get its underside exposed. Can you fly like your friend?"

"Poyo!" Kirby puffed his body up and floated into the air. The Metroid's six red eyes pulsed, fixing on the little balloon like the scope on a rifle. The Metroid hissed, ready to charge, but was cut off by another missile barrage from Samus.

"Watch your ascent!" Samus warned. The Metroid torched the ground with another ray of electricity, forcing Samus to roll out of the way. Kirby flapped his nubs as hard as he could, but he couldn't float much faster than a noodle in a pool. By the time he'd made it up to the creature's eye level, he didn't even get to open his mouth before the Metroid zipped across the entire room. Samus tried ambushing the creature as it bolted through the air, but the Metroid flipped itself over just like before. Samus opened a hatch on her cannon. Its chamber was empty, save for one more missile.

"I've only got one more shot, Kirby. You've got to keep up with that thing." But Samus knew her encouragement could only do so much. The brief second Kirby had opened his mouth had sent him halfway back down the distance he'd ascended, and he hadn't gotten much higher in the time since. Samus felt as though the neural pathways in her brain had been blocked off - not a good state to be in when you're sidestepping around an extraterrestrial leech's thunder storm. "Just one more shot...Hey, Kirby, can you really inhale anything?"

"Mmm!" Kirby tried to nod while floating.

"Open wide."

Samus closed the hatch on her cannon and shot a missile at Kirby. Kirby shed the ice ability and swallowed the missile whole. A red and yellow plate appeared, bolted to the top of Kirby's head; he was now Missile Kirby. With a blink of the eyes, Kirby transformed into a pink rocket and zoomed at the Metroid. The Metroid rolled around to hide its jiggly underside, but Kirby changed his trajectory midair to loop around its carapace and hit the beast's belly. Kirby exploded, with his normal squishy body flying out of the explosion harmlessly. The Metroid, meanwhile, was knocked to the ground, crying in pain on its downward path. Before it could scuttle back into the air, Samus ran up and lassoed it with her grapple beam. With a yank, she whipped the monster over to her feet. She dug her heel into the pulpy flesh of the Metroid's head. Green saliva and translucent blue blood spilled onto the floor. The Metroid writhed as it began to hover back into the air, but Samus slammed it back onto the ground, kicking it over to reveal the underside.

"Now, Kirby!"

Kirby turned into a missile and rocketed straight into the Metroid! Kirby blew up again, and the parasite burst into a mess of goo, flesh, and carapace. Samus let out a faint sigh of relief while Kirby jumped up and danced in joy.

"Well that settles that," Samus said, "Would've been settled a lot quicker if it weren't for those Forces of Nature, though. Who knows what their next move is. Let's regroup somewhere safe."

"Poyo!" Kirby stopped cheering and tugged on Samus' leg. "Poyo poyo, poyo?"

"Kirby," Samus replied, "I have no fucking idea what you're saying."

Kirby sighed and swung around his nubs, mimicking the motion of throwing around a hammer.

"Oh, King Dedede. He's right outside, handling the Forces of Nature." Samus walked over to the hole in the wall. "Hey, King Dedede, we're ready to head out."

Dedede was currently being constricted by another corn worm. His clothes had been tattered and scorched by one sided "combat". He spoke through a raspy voice as he flailed around his hammer.

"No way...I-ack!" Dedede replied, "I'm just...g-getting started!"

Kirby rocketed into the corn worm, freeing Dedede. The three then bolted out of the Reset Bomb Forest, escaping the scene on Kirby's Warp Star.

The Star Allies regrouped at Dedede's castle. By now, the sun had begun to shine on Dream Land, casting light on Mt. Dedede and the castle atop it. The Allies crashed into the ground before the castle and headed inside. The castle was filled with Waddle Dees running about, standing guard, or just vibing in general. One Dee in particular, covered with a blue bandana, frantically ran up to the king.

"Great King!" Bandana Dee said, "How did it go!?"

"Hmm, I don't know, fellas," Dedede said, looking over at his friends, "how did-I say how did it go? We found out parasitic aliens have invaded the planet, some goddess named Verizon or something is out for our hides, and a nearby train track just got blown up into a forest. Overall, things could've gone worse. Let's see now, what to do…" Dedede looked amongst his horde of Waddle Dees. "You there, be on the lookout for bombs travelling through the air. You, ready the shotzos in case those other three Metroids follow us back."

"And me, Great King?" Bandana Dee asked.

"You…" Dedede said as he threw Bandana Dee a set of keys, "can go pick up my limo. I kinda left it by a mountain somewhere."

"You got it!" Bandana saluted the king before running off to the mountains. The Allies followed Dedede onto a balcony overlooking the rocky hillside.

"We need to wipe out the last three Metroids as soon as physically possible. The Metroid Kirby and I took out was in its Gamma stage. After that, they enter their adult stages, becoming exponentially more durable."

"I think I've got a ship for that." Dedede nudged Kirby with a smirk. "I'm sure Kirby remembers all of the anti-aircraft equipment I've got on that baby. It should do fine if the Forces of Nature hurl another one of those-"

"Bomb! Bomb!" Bandana Dee screamed as he ran up to the Allies. "Great King! We detected a bomb in the air! It's massive!"

"That must be a Reset Bomb," Samus remarked, "The one in the ravine looked as big as a house."

"Aha! Now that we have a head start, not only can we gun down this thing, but we might be able to follow it to its source!" Dedede picked up Bandana Dee and shook him with pride. "Boy, this is amazing news you got for us! Where-I say where did you see this bomb?"

"Up there!" Bandana dee pointed one of his nubs up in the air. The Star Allies turned their gaze to the sky. A viny Reset Bomb hung above the castle, hurtling towards its final destination.

"Well, maybe it's not amazing news per se."