"This is the last note I'm leaving on this fic." -Cos, January 2019
Hahahaha that's really funny.
I really hate leaving this many notes; I really do. But I think it's necessary here. In the rare occurrence that anyone is still following this fic, I'd like to let you know that the rewrite just isn't happening. I planned for it, and I even wrote parts of it, but a lot has changed since I started writing this story in 2015. I'm…a completely different person in a lot of ways, and that makes it hard to continue an idea that's both long, and that keeps changing. You need to commit to your idea when you write a multichaptered work, and I did not. I was close, but I changed too much stuff along the way, and burnt out from trying to rewrite it 3-5 times before finally settling on something that worked.
Why am I posting this at all? Because I think it's valuable learning experience for those who are thinking of taking on an endeavor like this themselves. This fic was originally going to be 30-40 chapters long, yet I barely made it to posting…12(?) chapters, even though I had about 70% of the fic written before posting. I've mentioned the flaws above (or at least, the major ones; obviously gaining experience as time goes on also changes things), but what I want to put here is my plans for the final rewrite. The one that I was actually going to go ahead with.
…and the ending to the original work, I suppose.
Original Ending/Plot Threads: I didn't bother reviewing the document, but in the original version, Reggie was going to be possessed by a villain who would appear in this fic's sequel. (Yes, I was ambitious enough to plan a sequel before even finalizing the first fic.) However, the fic used gameverse with anime background, as did this fic. Along the way, I switched to pure gameverse, which meant the sequel fic was almost completely scrapped, and the background for this fic changed radically. This not only meant lots of editing work, it meant that the 70% of the story I'd written could no longer be used, and that Reggie (and a lot of other things) had to be completely reworked. I switched him to being controlled by a gameverse villain, but he was freed early on, which canned half of a story arc later and generally threw the story into chaos because I lost the plot. But as far as unsolved mysteries (that weren't included in the rewrite), I think this was it. I think there was also a shiptease with Miki at some point near the end as well, but really, the rest of the plot was just character interactions and fluff. Which. Nothing wrong with that. But that meant the story could be cut down drastically, sooooo…
Rewritten Plot Version: Lots of things changed with the rewrite. My characterizations had changed, and my focus had as well. I'd also learned a lot over the years, and had changed headcanons/background and such. I had more experience. I spent a lot of time critiquing some of the old version of this story (and will hopefully post it someday), and I knew what I wanted to fix. I'd even started writing bits of it. So, below I'll post my outline, and what little snippets I actually wrote for them. Having a plot and an idea of what you'll cover is very important, new writers. It helps you not accidentally leave out crucial plot information that the audience needs to understand the story.
Behold, my scrappy and informal outlines that actually work because they don't take an eternity to make, while letting you actually organize stuff and remember what you're supposed to be doing when you leave off. And some story content:
Chapter 1: All the character intro stuff in this and the next chapter that you spent a freaking eternity stalling on for 10 chapters last time.
"You said 'casual', Bandana."
"Yes. Yes I did. Very casual."
"And is this not very casual?"
Bandana Dee hesitated, looking over Meta Knight's outfit. "…Iiiiiii mean…maybe? It's business casual, maybe…"
Meta Knight sighed, rolling his eyes. "What do you want from me? If there's a dress code, why not tell me upfront?"
"Casual doesn't mean a suit!" The Dee exclaimed, flailing his paws. "We gotta leave soon! Don't you just have some regular gear you lounge around in?"
"Regular gear?" The knight stared at him. "I do repair work and combat training for a nice portion of my day, which requires armor. Which you said not to wear."
"Ughhhh…Well, what do you wear when you aren't doing swordfighting and stuff?"
"There's no way I would ever wear that in public," the puff responded quickly.
"What is it though?" Bandana Dee pressed, taking a step closer to him. "C'mon, I need to know! If you don't show me, I'm gonna have to just loan you a bandana!"
Chapter 2: maybe Meta goes out for a snack, and runs into Miki, and she gives some exposition. He runs into Cody at some point near the end of the chapter after bumping into Kaji.
"Hm? Yeah, the mayor's grandson is my coworker for this job…half the time. Half the time, he does a really good job preparing food; probably the best I've ever had, to be honest. But the other half…" The Dee let out a sigh. "Mmmm, the other half he just runs around and screams or shoves his fat face full of food. Everyone knows he ended up here because he was so finicky about his food that the chefs were frustrated to no ends. It got so bad that his grandfather decided to make him work in the kitchen to appreciate the effort, but…surprisingly he likes it. I should know; I work with him all day. And clean up all his dishes, as you can see."
Meta Knight took a sip of the milkshake, watching her carefully put away some tall stacks of plates into some nearby cabinets. "Do…you need any help?"
"Huh? Nah, I'm fine." Miki spun around and flung the door closed, seemingly unbothered by it slamming against the cabinet walls. "I've been friends with Reggie since we were kids. As klutzy and forgetful as he can be sometimes, he's always so nice that at the end of the day, I can forgive his…minor bursts of incompetence. I'd rather he be here with me than the mayor, like everyone expects him to be. I don't think he cares much for the job."
The sapphire puffball blinked. "Wait. He's going to be the mayor? Isn't that usually decided by vote?"
"It is. But the mayor's family usually wins all the time. They're all afflicted with the Happy virus, which y'know, I don't care about, but I just…never mind. If Reggie's chosen to become the mayor, I know he'll do a great job. I know he will."
The chef stared at a note on the fridge, and Meta Knight's eyes followed. The handwriting was on the large side, but not sloppy, and penned in a marker on a heart-shaped notepad. It was written in a different language, however, and the puff had no guesses on what it could possibly mean. Miki sighed, turning away from it and back to her visitor.
"But enough about us. I hope you enjoy your time with us. Bandana's talked a lot about you and your companions."
"Wait."
Chapter 3: have him run into Kaji and the quartet for the first time. Maybe keep the campfire scene in here, build some character and Bandana Dee's family.
Chapter 4: Have Kaji drop the exposition bomb on Meta.
Chapter 5: Interlude with the quartet? Or maybe Bandana's family, and he decides to take a tour of the place, and imagine what his life could have been like, and maybe end the chapter with a vague threat, and it turns out to be from Cody.
Chapter 6: Maybe have Cody confront him after talking with Kaji and beat the shit out of him, and do that for the recovery scene instead. Have him be out walking through the special garden, and Cody stops him from going back and threatens that she doesn't want Kaji to run away again.
"You know I'm a star child too,"
Cody looked unimpressed. "Then you should know how powerful I am."
INTERLUDE: YEAH CODY WAS A STAR CHILD THIS WHOLE TIME THAT SHOULD EXPLAIN A LOT. This plot thread was actually going somewhere, because she's Kaji's adoptive mom and didn't realize she went off to start a family with an alien, and naturally freaked out when her daughter vanished for a few years. In the original story, she was just getting rubbed the wrong way because lots of reasons, but ended up fighting Meta and Kirby at some point because that's what grumpy old mentors are contractually obligated to do. There was also a boss battle later she teamed up with them on. However, since there's no boss battles or anything in the rewrite, Cody can go all-out fighting Meta because he's not injured. She's also a lot more salty in this version because of all the years of hero business. At this point in the story (and in my gameverse), she's super salt at Kirby and Meta getting the limelight and asks for an old-fashioned duel with no magic (which…doesn't last.) She only asks Meta in this version, and ends up losing her shit and hurting him pretty bad. This was admittedly the part of the fic I was most nervous about, considering how overpowered puffs are in most fics (and even in-universe at this point), but being honest that kinda makes me wish I'd written it, because there are plenty of other characters and species with unique skills that kinda get completely overshadowed in the face of Kirby getting to use every ability they possess and then some. Cody does end up making peace with them and the hero biz, though. That should wrap up that extremely obscure plot thread that never happened. Have fun looking back and trying to figure out me executing it.
Chapter 7: could be someone finding Meta (maybe Reggie, if you're gonna go with him still knowing about his parents?) and taking him to the doctor's. The chief and Kaji hear, and maybe get some thought process on them and Cody, but end off before they can talk)
Chapter 8: conflict resolution. Kaji comes clean about her past love affairs, and maybe have some people listening in. If you're feeling ambitious, have Dedede overhear Kaji saying he worked at the castle. Maybe include some of Meta in here? It'd feel weird leaving him for two chapters.
INTERLUDE: Oh yeah, Meta's dad used to work for Dedede's dad in my gameverse.
Chapter 9: Reggie sneaks in the back door with some food for Meta, and they have a somewhat awkward conversation. Reggie laments about not wanting to be mayor, and Meta questions thing, and eventually Reggie decides to confront his grandfather over things. Then maybe have Miki come in with some food as well, or Kaji and/or Cody at the end.
INTERLUDE: I thought I wrapped up everything with Reggie, but there was actually a mini-plot with him not wanting responsibility of leadership and just wanting to live life as a goofball. Bandana Dee ends up taking group lead position, if you didn't read/remember my futureverse fic Cowardice. This was one of the few things that stuck in from the original story.
Chapter 10: Cody apologizes for what she did, and maybe explains herself. Maybe release Meta in this chapter or the latter, and have some time with Kaji of the two of them talking. Maybe some quartet gossip in this chapter or the next? Quartet gossip somewhere.
Chapter 11: Maybe some quartet time with Meta, and Bandana's family. If Bandana's mom realizes something is wrong, maybe have her find Kaji in the flower garden and talk to her, or if you want tea, maybe Kaji stumbles into her instead.
Chapter 12: Some final bonding, Meta showing off his gear, Kaji telling him to take his medicine, overall a lot of fluff and tying up the themes.
…Annnnnnd I think that's it.
Honestly, I am incredibly disappointed I couldn't write this new version, but just having this closure is enough. I know it's not much, considering the circumstances, and the years of dragging this out (if anyone's still left), but I wanted to leave something here instead of just letting the fic die mysteriously with no closure. That pains me as a reader, and I don't want anyone who finds this to feel the same way. Plus, I think it's useful to see what worked and what didn't work for other writers, and how they handle situations and plots and such. So I hope you enjoyed what I had written (even if I would have done things completely differently now), and…thanks for reading this, regardless of when. Seeing the feedback on this really warmed my heart, and it was what drove me to try so hard to rewrite this, if only for a few people. Hopefully you learned something from my years of mistakes with this story lol.
If you miss my Kirby content, though, I plan on rewriting it into a personal project called Wish, where I can do what I want with my interpretations and headcanons without having to worry about conforming to canon. I've not posted much because of the rocket science thing, but I love all my projects dearly and want to finish them someday. I still make content, just very slowly, and not all Kirby. But if you want any content at all…I'm still here if you poke me, haha. If not here, than other websites. FFN is getting pretty old.
But I'm truly grateful that anyone is reading this. I hope you got something of value from this, whatever it may be. Thanks for reading, whether it be all these years, or just a day.