Chapter 4: Together with the Spring Breeze

"Will you be fine on your own, Ensign Ledo?" Chamber asked.

"I should be fine. You can translate for me remotely, I can call upon you at any time, and I have a self-defense weapon with me." He blew off the smoke on the bone flute he was continuing to carve. "Besides, I'll be with Kirby and Meta Knight, and you saw their combat skills yesterday."

He had been waiting outside for the pink puff to finish getting ready for their trip around Dreamland. He was likely making final plans about the areas they would be heading to. "Besides, you can create a whole map of Dreamland during this trip. It might be helpful for later."

"Agreed. I will await your return." That was when Kirby came out of the house wearing a small backpack.

"Ledo, are you ready?" The translation read.

The ensign nodded as the pink puff called a floating star object. According to the translation, Kirby called this the "Warp Star" and it's his usual mode of transportation over long distances. The pink puff was the first to get on the floating star and he gestured to Ledo to join him. The young man hopped onto the star after him. He then read something Kirby had said about holding on tight before being rocketed off.

According to what the puff said, the first area was Green Greens and the Cookie Country border. This was where they would meet their traveling companions. If Ledo hadn't been too busy trying to hold onto the Warp Star, he would've heard that he was close to the area where he and Chamber landed when they first arrived. The Warp Star was fast, and he was having a hard time holding on as someone who has never ridden on it before. It got worse when he noticed Kirby heading towards the ground.

"Why aren't you pulling up?! We're going to crash!" he shouted, hoping his panicked tone would be enough to communicate to Kirby. The pink puff didn't seem to notice. "PULL UP! WE'RE GOING TO DIE!" he yelled again. The response he heard back was in that unknown language he didn't know. It seemed to Ledo he had no other choice. He had to call Chamber. "CHAMB-!" However, it was too late. The Warp Star landed on the ground, causing Kirby to bounce and skid, while the impact sent Ledo flying. "Is this how I die…!?" he closed his eyes until he felt two hands catch him. Shocked by this development, he opened his eyes and looked up to see that his savior was none other than King Dedede.

"Th…thank you…" he uttered; hearing Chamber translate his words.

The penguin monarch laughed "First time riding a Warp Star, princess?".

"Wh-who are you calling princess!?" he shouted upon reading that translation. Dedede frowned in response.

"I'm only joking! Sheesh…" The monarch replied with a sigh before dropping him, allowing him to land on his feet.

What a strange kind of joke that was…

"NAILED IT!" Kirby shouted, picking himself up from the ground. Based on the way he was stumbling, he seemed to be a little disoriented from the crash.

"Whaddaya mean 'nailed it'? Ya scared Ledo half to death!" Dedede shouted.

"Kirby, I recommend that you do not repeat such rashness when Ensign Ledo is your passenger. I detected a significant increase in heart rate a few minutes ago." Chamber spoke up. The young man shook his head, grumbling how his AI partner decided to speak up so late.

"You're not hurt anywhere, are you, Mr. Ledo?" Bandana spoke up. He shook his head. It seemed strange that the king was being so friendly to him.

He spoke up, with Chamber following "King Dedede, why are you suddenly so friendly to me?" "You apologized, didn't you? That's good enough for me." Why the people on this planet appear to be so forgiving, the ensign will never understand. "Besides, didn't I tell ya I'd be a real jerk for not forgiving you after you so sincerely apologized?"

It was then that Meta Knight landed next to him.

"Ledo? Where's Chamber?" the knight asked.

"Chamber is staying back at Kirby's house. I believed it would be easier to travel lightly. He can still communicate with me and interpret for me with this device on my collar." The translation said as he pointed to the device.

"I bet you're having second thoughts after that Warp Star ride." Dedede chuckled. The young man only shrugged as he decided to get a look at the area.

A giant ship that he never saw before was parked next to him. Before he had a chance to ask where they were, he was picked up by the king and slung over his shoulder. The young man could still see in the direction that Dedede was seeing, but he had to raise his head to get a full view. Ledo guessed this was some kind of payback for him using him as a hostage. The king seemed to have not entirely let that go as much as he claimed he did.

Upon entering the ship, he could see that it was very bright and spotless. It seemed to be more advanced than what he's seen from the inhabitants so far.

"Ah! Welcome! Welcome!" the familiar voice of the mage Magolor chirped as he looked towards the group.

"Igo…?" Ledo spoke up as he stared at him.

"Ensign Ledo is assuming that you are an egg." the AI translated to the mage's confusion.

"Oh! You're the guy that crashed here a few days ago! My name's Magolor! I'm one of Kirby's friends, here to welcome you as a member of the "I Crashed on My First Arrival in Dreamland" Club!" he said, shaking the ensign's loosely hanging hand.

"There's a club for that now?" Dedede asked.

The mage laughed "There is one now!" he then turned to the pilot "We've had a bit of an incident in the past, but it's all water under the bridge now!" An incident? Ledo had never heard about this.

"What incident? Is it important to the history of this planet?" Chamber translated for Ledo.

Bandana scratched his head "Is it that really a necessary incident to talk about? I mean, at least the Fountain of Dreams incident and the one with the food gave more information about Dreamland, which Ledo was looking for…"

Magolor raised his hand and spoke "Regardless of if it's necessary or not, he deserves to know about it. It's water under the bridge, as I said.".

"I believe so, too." Meta Knight nodded.

Magolor began to talk again "A few years ago, this very ship, the Lor Starcutter landed in Dreamland. It lost all its parts and power supplies while it was landing, so Kirby and his friends were nice enough to help repair it."

"Can you shorten it? We've got a whole land to travel today." Dedede sighed.

"Oh…uh…LONG STORY SHORT I USED KIRBY'S KINDNESS TO MY ADVANTAGE TO GET THE MASTER CROWN AND TRIED TO TAKE OVER POPSTAR!"

"Thank you, was that so hard?"

the two puffs and Waddle Dee shook their heads.

"…Jul wan kan nee." The young man on Dedede's shoulder uttered.

"He is expressing lack of surprise." His AI translated.

"Yeah, but he forgave me for that, and I even built him an amusement park as an apology gift!" the mage smiled. Again, the ensign could not understand how forgiving these people were. "Anyway, this ship is amazing! It can travel through space and time!"

Space and time?

"Magolor, could I ask for your assistance at some point? It's about contacting my allies." Chamber translated the ensign's sudden yelling.

"Oi! Settle down! You're still on my shoulder!" Dedede yelled.

"Oh, sure! Just let me know when you're coming! I normally have a lot of free time, but I'd like to still know ahead of time!" the mage replied cheerfully.

"Yeah, we should prolly get going now if we're gonna show the kid around Dreamland…" the monarch grumbled.

"Oh, right! Thanks for letting us stop by, Magolor!" the pink puff said.

"Anytime!" Magolor then turned to the young man "Your name is Ledo, right? Feel free to stop by at some point if you have any free time! Then I'll see if I can get you into contact with your allies!"

Ledo nodded as the monarch began to walk out of the ship. That was when he began to speak, Chamber following with a translation "I can walk on my own."

"I know." The king smirked. It seems he was having too much fun dragging the young man around.

The first location they decided to explore was the nearby forest. There didn't seem to be anything special about it.

"Dreamland has a lot of forests in these grasslands. They might all look the same, but there's always something small that makes each of them different!" the pink puff acted as a tour guide. He continued to talk on and on to the point where Ledo decided to focus on looking at the surroundings. Well, it's all he really could do while the penguin monarch was holding him hostage. He figured he could easily overpower him, but he still needs the energy for this trip regardless.

Looking around, all he could see was trees in the forest. The fresh smell of life was all around him. There were some flowers as well, but there were mostly trees. If it wasn't for the others talking, it would be very peaceful. When they came upon a giant tree, the group stopped walking.

That was when Ledo decided to talk again, with Chamber following "Why did we stop?".

To his shock, a face suddenly appeared on the tree in front of them! The ensign pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the tree.

"It's just Whispy Woods, Ledo. Calm down." Dedede grumbled, trying to make him lower his weapon. The young man stared at the king for a few minutes before looking back at the tree, as if processing if he should just put his finger on the trigger and fire before slowly putting it back into his pocket.

"Hello, Whispy! Good to see that you're back in the Cookie Country forest after so long!" Kirby exclaimed cheerfully.

"…did something bad happen in Dreamland again? I don't remember anything bad happening." the tree asked "Normally, when you people come to see me, something bad has happened in Dreamland!" And the tree could talk!? While nothing should surprise the ensign at this point, he was still surprised.

"You're not possessed or holding any type of thing we need to collect, are you?" Bandana Dee asked, looking up at the leaves.

"Not that I know of…" Whispy responded. Their tones made it seem as if it was a common event. "If you're not here to attack me, what are you in this forest for?" the tree asked.

"Oh, we're just showing this guy around Dreamland!" Dedede shrugged the shoulder he had Ledo on to draw attention to the young man. He assumed that was his cue to introduce himself. The ensign began to speak, with his AI partner translating

"My name is Ensign Ledo. I crash landed here two days ago."

"Oh? Is he a robot?" the tree asked, noticing the AI's voice.

"Ledo is still learning how to speak the language, so the AI to his mecha, Chamber, is translating his words so we could understand him." Meta Knight explained.

"I see. Well, hopefully, he can learn it soon. I'm sure he'd like to be able to converse without needing a translator." Whispy Woods sighed.

"Oh, uh…Whispy? You mind if I take a few apples for the road? We'll need to keep our energy up since we're going around Dreamland!" Kirby asked.

The tree seemed to be thinking for a moment. "Very well."

"Thank you!" The pink puff said as he floated up into the tree to collect a few apples to put into his bag.

"You are welcome." The tree replied before the group decided to head off again.

They continued to walk until they reached a clearing with a giant tower in it. "This place is Butter Building!" Kirby pointed out.

"Is there anything significant about it?" Chamber translated.

The king began to explain "Well, ya see, if you look at the WAAAY tippy top, you can see that this is where Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright live."

"Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright?"

"Oh, the sun and moon of Popstar, but not really."

First talking trees, now talking celestial bodies? Whatever could be next?

"You can talk to the both of 'em at the same time, but it's super rare. Despite not being the actual sun and moon, they do influence the time of day. As of right now, you can only talk to Mr. Shine, since Mr. Bright is up in the sky." Dedede finished his explanation.

The group stood around in silence. "So, are any of you in the mood to climb a tower today?" Meta Knight began to speak.

"PASS!" the king shouted.

"What about without carrying Ledo?" Bandana Dee asked.

"Still, PASS!" The young man only shook his head.

"Well, I guess we can head to our next stop!" Kirby said as he called forward the Warp Star.

"Sola naken yo…" they heard Ledo utter.

"Expression of dread of another event happening again." Chamber translated.

"You'll be fine, princess! I'm here with ya!" Dedede grinned as the ensign readied another rant. The monarch only patted his head as he and the others boarded the Warp Star and headed off.

The next place to go was a large tropical island, a place known as Ice Cream Island, according to the translation of what Kirby said. Now that he can hope for Dedede to break his fall, Ledo was able to look down at the seas below. They were clear and pristine, almost like it wanted him to jump in. That was when he began to get the feeling of falling again. Were they going to have another crash landing?

As they approached the sandy beach, Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana Dee jumped off and into the water. The young man did not remember exactly what happened, perhaps it may have been because of the sudden abandoning of the Warp Star, but somehow the monarch let go of Ledo as he jumped into the water. It wasn't until he could feel the rush of the sea over him that he remembered that he couldn't swim. It's fine…all he would have to do is yell.

"Someone help! I can't swim!"

Oh, that's right. They can't speak his language.

All he could do now is thrash about and hope they notice him before he falls under the waves. Dedede was right, he should've taken Chamber with him. Just as he felt the water closing in on him, a gloved hand grabbed him, pulling his upper body onto some kind of ring. He tried to see who it was, but all he could do was cough up seawater until he threw up a bit of the salt water he had swallowed. Thankfully, he was able to keep his breakfast down. Then he continued coughing. His throat felt like it was burning.

"Biisa re deray, redo?" he finally looked up to see Meta Knight pulling the floating ring through the water.

All the young man could do was nod. He then began to hear static until the voice of Chamber was coming through the device on his collar again "Ensign Ledo, is something wrong? I had lost contact with you for a moment." It was likely the impact of the seawater that cut him off.

"I'm alright, Chamber." He said, looking at the blue puff who saved him.

Hopefully, this will be the last time he has to do so…

"It's shallow here, your feet should be able to touch the bottom." Meta Knight said as he began to walk onto the beach. Ledo did so and walked up to the beach alongside him.

He began to talk, Chamber following "Thank you for helping me.".

The masked knight shook his head as he wrung one of the sides of his cape before turning it back into wings. "It's not a problem. Why didn't you tell us you couldn't swim earlier?" he spoke, pulling out a thermos of water from the subspace in his cape and giving it to Ledo. It was likely a gesture so he could rinse out the taste of bile in his mouth.

"I believe Ensign Ledo did not expect an emergency evacuation of the Warp Star over the water." Chamber stated as the pilot swished the fresh water in his mouth before spitting it into the sea.

"SOMEONE GET ME OUT!" The two turned to see Kirby stuck in a log sitting on the beach.

It took a few minutes for the group to pull him out.

"Okay… I think I really do need to work on the landing…" the pink puff sighed.

"Seeing how we all had to jump into the sea to avoid crashing and Ledo could've drowned, yeah." Dedede grumbled.

"That's an idea we have for another day!" Bandana Dee said, "We'll have a pool party at the castle where we can teach Ledo how to swim!"

The thought of going in the water in such a short amount of time made the young man want to vomit.

"Yeah, sorry, guys…" Kirby apologized, feeling guilty at the fact that one of his friends almost drowned.

"Just please try to land more softly, Kirby. Remember, pull up before you hit the ground, so you land on your feet." Meta Knight lectured, with Kirby nodding.

Looking around the area, it was indeed, a very pretty area, almost exactly like the tropical paradise he heard it being described as. Ledo likely would've fully agreed with such a statement had his first experience here was anything but the risk of drowning.

"Come on, let's get going!" Bandana Dee yelled, running towards the island.

In the inner parts of the island was a lush tropical forest. He remembered also seeing what Chamber had called 'mangroves' from the air. Those were apparently on the coastline. While traversing the terrain, they had to stay clear of any paths that would require them to go underwater for Ledo's sake. Speaking of which, he had something on his mind.

He began to talk, with Chamber translating "Meta Knight, how does your cape turn into wings?". The masked knight looked back at him.

"It's quite simple. It's magic. I can freely transition between the two if needed, and even remove it if I have to."

Magic? Well, this might be the most believable thing this day after seeing a talking tree and hearing about a sun and moon that could talk.

"So…if your wings are removable, can you feel if they're hurt or not?" Ledo spoke while Chamber translated.

"Of course, I could..." Meta Knight began until he felt the gentle brush of a few fingers. He quickly turned around to grab Ledo's wrist. "Please do not touch my wings without my permission." The knight growled.

"Sorry…" Chamber's translation said. Thankfully, it was less icy than when he was caught staring at his half-unmasked face, but it still startled him.

"Last time I checked; you don't even do that…" Dedede grumbled.

"Most was his cape, but that was when I had to beg him not to go to the store the one time…" Kirby laughed in embarrassment.

"Ah right, the time you had a cold…which you gave to me a few days later…" his mentor recalled with a sigh.

"At least I tried to take care of you then!" Kirby tried to brighten the mood.

That was when the young man decided to talk again, followed by his AI partner "Kirby, how much further are we going into this is-" he was cut off by a net trap that encased him and the two puffs.

"Ah! Ledo! Meta Knight! Kirby!" Bandana Dee ran back to try to help them.

"Wait…BANDANA! DON'T COME THIS WAY! THERE'S A ROPE ON THE GROUND!" Kirby shouted, but it was too late.

The rope wrapped around the Dee's ankle and hoisted him up into the tree.

"Well, at least I know now not to go that way! Now, if you excuse me, I shall go around and attempt to get you out!" Dedede walked around where the net had popped out of only to get captured by another net. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" he shouted.

Meta Knight and Ledo simultaneously sighed, as if acknowledging that they should've been more alert. The young man tried to grab his pistol, but he couldn't due to the two puffballs sitting on top of him. He grabbed the top of the net and slowly pulled himself up to a kneeling position. The two puffs noticed this and tried to push the sides of the net to make it wider.

That was when they heard someone laughing "HA HA HA! YOU GUYS SHOULD'VE SEEN THE LOOK ON YOUR FACES!".

"Of course…" Meta Knight grumbled as a familiar jester-hatted ball came into view.

"MARX, YOU GREMLIN! LET US DOWN FROM HERE! THAT'S AN ORDER FROM YOUR KING!" Dedede shouted.

"Whaddaya mean "your king"? You're only a self-proclaimed king! I don't hafta listen to you!" The jester grinned.

Ledo fumbled a bit to pull out his pistol and used a small beam from it to cut the ropes around them, causing him to fall on the ground while his companions floated down. Scrambling to get back onto his feet, the ensign pointed the pistol at Marx.

"What're you gonna do with that? Shoot me?" he smirked until Ledo fired a laser at his feet, which he dodged. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, chill out, it's just a prank, bro!" the purple ball uttered.

"Ledo, you have my full permission to roast this gremlin." The king grumbled from his net trap. The young man was aiming to take another shot before Kirby interrupted "Calm down, guys! He said it's a prank, right?" The ensign paused for a moment, as if processing the information that was told to him. "Besides, we should get Dedede and Bandana down, shouldn't we?"

Ledo appeared to think for a moment before speaking, Chamber following. "You, the gremlin, let the king and Bandana down." He ordered.

"Or else what?" Marx grinned before the ensign shot another laser at his feet. "ACK! I got it! I got it! Jeez…a bit trigger happy, aren't ya?" he grumbled as he cut the ropes holding Dedede and Bandana.

"OH NOVA, MY BACK!" the king shouted.

"Ugh…couldn't you have let us down a bit more slowly?" the Dee mumbled.

"What do you want, anyway?" Meta Knight glared at him.

"Nothing! I just thought it'd be fun to prank you guys!" he laughed.

"How did you know that we would be here? I don't recall Kirby or Meta Knight mentioning you when they were planning this trip." Ledo's words were translated.

"Oh, that? I just happened to be at Castle Dedede and overheard you guys would be here!"

"Bandana, remind me to strengthen security when we return to the castle…" the monarch groaned.

"So, what're you guys doing here anyway? Y'all don't look like the touristing type." Marx questioned.

"We're showing Ledo around Dreamland!" Kirby explained happily.

"Ledo? That's the name of this pale-looking wreck?" he looked over at the ensign.

"Lay off, he almost drowned today." Bandana sighed.

"So, you guys wouldn't happen to have room for one more in this party, would you?" Marx grinned.

"No, we're good." Meta Knight replied, covering Kirby's mouth so he couldn't object.

"Oh, come on! I swear I won't do anything else! I'll be on my best behavior!" he tried to give an angelic expression.

"I will literally pay you a hundred gold to go away!" Dedede yelled.

"Deal. Cough it up." The monarch sighed as he took out his wallet and threw him the money.

"Danke schön." Marx said as he walked off. By the utterly tired look on everyone's faces, Kirby could tell it was time to move on to a different area.

Their trip to Yogurt Yard was steeped in silence. No one outside of Kirby really spoke up until they began the trip up to Grape Gardens.

"Who was that person we met on Ice Cream Island?" Ledo's AI translated his words.

"That was Marx." Kirby said.

"A friend of yours?"

"Yup!"

"I don't see why, he caused ya so much trouble in the past." The king mumbled.

"It's just Kirby's nature to be so trusting…" the masked knight sighed.

"What happened with Marx?" the ensign asked.

"Long story short, he's the first person to ever use my kind nature to his advantage." The pink puff said, but his tone was on the borderline of shameful and sorrowful. "He got the sun and moon to fight and asked me to summon Galactic Nova to stop them. Galactic Nova has the ability to grant the wish of anyone who summons it. Turns out, he wanted to summon Nova just so he could rule Popstar." He continued "But at least he seemed to have learned his lesson from that!" He laughed.

"It…doesn't really seem like it." Meta Knight shook his head.

"Yeah, at least Magolor made some kind of effort. All that gremlin does is cause problems for everyone." The king crossed his arms.

It seems the people of this land aren't as forgiving as Ledo first thought they were, if King Dedede and Meta Knight's attitudes towards Marx are any indication. Maybe the ability to forgive just about everything was just a Kirby thing.

The group flew through Grape Gardens as Kirby pointed out the airships that fly through the area. The most common feature of this place seemed to be the big fluffy clouds all around them. If he wasn't so concerned about holding on to the Warp Star, he probably would've reached out his hand to touch one of them. That was when the star landed in a pile of puffy clouds.

"Not bad of a landing, Kirby." His mentor mused.

"Yeah, at least we had the clouds to break our fall this time!" Dedede grumbled.

"Use caution, Ensign Ledo, I detect you are at a high altitude." The voice of Chamber came through his device. When he looked off the side of one of the clouds, he could see that he was right.

They were high in the sky, on a big cloud with…was that a palace?

"This is Bubbly Clouds. It's part of Grape Gardens. Anyway, who wants lunch?" Kirby said as he handed out five apples.

"Yeah, this ain't gonna be filling enough…" Dedede mumbled.

"You're in luck then." Bandana Dee said, gesturing to Meta Knight. The knight reached into his subspace and pulled out a picnic basket.

"Good thing Bandana gave me this to hold on to." He said.

"Good job, Bandana! This is why you're my best advisor!" the king grinned as he began to unpack the basket.

"The Dees were busy last night making food for everyone, so eat up!" the Waddle Dee said.

The young man wanted to question how they were able to walk on clouds, but he chalked it up to just Dreamland working against the laws of reality that he knew. He grabbed one of the lunch boxes and began to eat one of the dumplings that was inside. It was delicious, but it was probably a given for the cooks of a monarch like King Dedede. There was something different about it from Sailor Dee's food, but he couldn't put a finger on it. It was likely just the difference between a large-scale kitchen staff and one Dee.

As he ate his lunch, he couldn't help but think he was being watched. He scanned the area. There wasn't anything out of place from what it seemed.

"It must just be my imagination." He thought.

Kirby had been talking about the area of Grape Garden and how it had a lot of nice castles. These castles were apparently where the airships were going to. It was actually quite informative, even with King Dedede's occasional interruption to say that his castles were way better.

"Ensign Ledo, I detect a strange presence above you." Chamber's voice startled him out of his thoughts.

He slowly looked up above him. The sight made him shudder. Above him was a giant unblinking eye.

"Minbii' dede?" he heard Kirby ask. Ledo slowly placed his lunch aside and pulled out his pistol.

"Chamber…what is this thing?" the ensign asked.

"I do not know, ensign. I am not present with you." The AI responded.

It was then he heard Dedede talking "Calm down, princess. It's just Kracko.".

"I thought I told you not to call me that!" the ensign shouted upon reading the translation.

But the king mentioned a Kracko. Another case of an inanimate object being alive?

"Hi, Kracko! Are you here to eat lunch with us?" Kirby asked happily.

"I don't think he would show up here if he just wanted to eat lunch…" Meta Knight sighed.

"What are you doing here?" the cloud began to speak.

"Just having lunch here. We needed a break from our trip around Dreamland." Dedede explained.

"I see. And who is this…sassy lost child?" he looked over at the young man with his pistol still fixed on him.

"That's Ledo. He's new to Dreamland, so we're showing him around." Bandana Dee explained and shouted to him "Calm down, Ledo, he's not going to hurt you!".

The young man seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at that statement and put his pistol away.

"I see." He then turned to the ensign "Ledo, is it? Do not aim your weapon at me like that again. Otherwise I'll be sure to strike your house next time it rains."

Would that mean that he'd strike Chamber with lightning? He might have to warn the Machine Caliber about that if he didn't already hear about it.

Upon finishing lunch, the group began to fly through their next location, Rainbow Resort.

"Ledo, you might want to put your helmet on." Meta Knight warned. Taking the recommended action, he could soon see why. From the fact that he could see stars and nebulas above him, he assumed he was close to space.

"Ensign Ledo, I detect that the area around you has little atmosphere. Reasonable course of action: leave the area and return to where there is more oxygen." The ensign looked towards his friends.

"We aren't going to stay here too long." Kirby explained.

"…oh. I see where we're going!" Dedede grinned.

"Can you tell me about this place we're flying through?" Chamber translated Ledo's words.

"This place is Rainbow Resort. As you can see, it's always icy here." Meta Knight began to explain.

"And if you look above you, as you probably saw, you can see a majority of Gamble Galaxy."

"Gamble Galaxy?"

"That's the name of the galaxy Popstar is in. I believe the view from here is quite beautiful, don't you think?"

"I see…it is quite beautiful…" the ensign tried to hide the depression in his voice. That was when the knight and king turned directly around. The Waddle Dee looked directly up at him.

"Yo, Ledo, you don't seem so hot, something the matter?" the king asked.

"It's nothing." Chamber translated.

"Are ya feeling homesick?" Dedede questioned.

"I just didn't recognize the name of the galaxy I'm in." he tried to explain.

"You're still worried about your allies, aren't you?" the masked knight questioned.

"Yeah, I guess I am." The ensign looked back up at the sky.

He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had the chance to actually look into space. Normally whenever he was in space, he was too busy fighting the Hideauze to pay attention to how beautiful it looked. But space was…huge. He couldn't believe that a place that allowed him to just walk into near space like Rainbow Resort existed. That was when it hit him. This place was freezing, even more so when this pilot suit he wore was his main source of protection from the elements. Dedede seemed to notice this and pulled him under his robe.

"We're almost there, just hang in there a bit more." The monarch uttered. Thank Nova Meta Knight rejected Kirby's suggestion of going to White Wafers…

Ledo couldn't believe his eyes. Before him stood a large, beautiful fountain with sprouting water. Around the actual fountain was a sort of basin that collected the water that flowed out. On the top of the fountain he could see a rod with a star on it. The whole area was picture-perfect against the backdrop of space.

"This is the Fountain of Dreams." Kirby explained.

"The Fountain of Dreams…the one you mentioned a few days ago?" Chamber translated.

"Yep! That very one!" Dedede exclaimed. "If you take a look at that water, that's actually all the hopes and dreams of the people that live here!"

"Do you know if there are fountains on other planets?" the ensign asked.

"Yeah, they all serve the same purpose. But I still think Popstar's is the prettiest." Kirby chuckled a bit.

"Don't they all look the same?" Dedede asked. So, Kirby has been to other planets before? Again, the ensign felt he shouldn't be surprised by that.

"Why did you bring me here?" Ledo asked as Chamber translated.

"Because the Fountain of Dreams is not only an important place for Dreamland, but an important place for me, personally." Kirby explained. "It reminds me of my friends. All those years ago, I fought Dedede here after he broke the Star Rod. It's the incident where I first met Meta Knight-sensei. It's the first time I was able to use my Copy Ability. I guess you could say I see it as the beginning of all my friendships. It's a bit hard to describe."

"It's the same for me." King Dedede began "This was the turning point for me. Where I decided I'd try to change my ways and actually try to help my kingdom!"

"That wasn't until after I tried to take it over with the Halberd, Dedede."

"Shut up, Meta Knight."

All the young man could do was give a small smile.

There was one last place to go. According to Kirby, it was Orange Ocean. The view from a cliff overlooking the ocean was the only thing needed to explain why it was called that. The way the sun was made the sea below look orange. The sky was various shades of red, orange, and yellow making it look like it was constantly setting. Ledo couldn't help but stare in awe.

"Yeah, I was the same way when I first saw this place!" Kirby laughed "I still kind of am like that when I see it…". The five people stood to watch the sunset in silence.

"Welp, we should probably get going! Thanks for the trip!" Dedede said.

"Yeah, even though there were a couple of hiccups along the way, it was a lot of fun!" Bandana Dee joined in.

"Kirby, could you take them back to the castle? I'd like to talk to Ledo alone." Meta Knight spoke. His student seemed a bit surprised by that.

"Um…okay…" Kirby scratched his head.

After the pink puff left to take Dedede and his aide home, Meta Knight turned to the ensign.

"What did you want to talk about?" the young man asked, Chamber translating.

"You mentioned on our way to the Fountain of Dreams that you were worried about your allies. Do you also want to see more of Dreamland?"

The young man nodded. "I would like to do both. What about it?"

"I believe I may have a solution to your problem." Ledo was silent, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"Come join me on my ship."

This was another chapter that I enjoyed writing. I hope the area transitions aren't too confusing.