Kirby made his way to the next hall before he realized that the clink of armor had stopped following him. He turned around to see the black puff edging closer to one of the damaged rooms. He rushed back to him, eyes wide in fear.

"Morp-o poy!" he skidded to a halt between them and the hallway. "Broken glass! Is too dangerous!" he tried to explain. They reacted by stepping back, holding up their hands protectively.

"Heh, you're right… Do you know what happened?" They relented, smiling.

Kirby's eyes lit up, jumping at his chance for story time! "Mister Haltmann came with a hUUUge amount of robobots." Morpho held his laughter over the boy's pronunciation of 'robots,' and the dramatic waving of hands that ensued.

"He wanted Popstar for… Something! But he had bad plans, und he tore down Dedede's castle. I fought him und Susie, she ended up on my side… I think, und I used one of the robobots to take control of Meta's ship!"

Despite the puff's strained speech, Morpho was completely engaged. They had continued walking as he told the tale of the ship's damage.

"Haltmann was used by… Star Dream, und had wanted Popstar to get his wish done." He paused, looking back at Morpho. "Do you know who NOVA is?"

They nodded, taken back by the name of the ancient technology. "Ot-kay, I think NOVA is Star's bwother… Star was silver though. We went into space und Star turned out to be Haltmann's entire base! My robobot was shot during the fight, und the damage had stayed with the Halberd when we det-deta… Separated!" He giggled, "Meta was so mad! I could hear him yelling from the front of the ship… He won't let me help fix anything though!"

"You… Fought a NOVA?" The strongest warrior wasn't surprised; the butterfly was.

"Yes? No? Mm… I fought Marx. He took my wish und wanted to rule Dreamland. He crashed und destroyed NOVA. Star Dream isn't the NOVA."

"Hey hey hey! Did somebody say 'Marx?'" A strongly-inflected voice echoed from around the next corner. A small, lavender-skinned jester and a wobbly blue ball appeared in the path.

"Marx! Gooey!" Kirby cried out, running into a hug from both figures.

"Hey you goof! How ya doing?" Marx smiled, showing off small fangs. He looked up at Morpho briefly. "Did Meta get a new mask? Wait a sec…"

The jester sprouted a pair of wings and vanished in a puff of purple smoke. A pair of glowing, purple eyes overtook Morpho's vision. They reached for their sword again, holding their ground.

"Tsk tsk, that won't work here, friend!" The snake eyes responded. Morpho looked over to see the embers of their power frozen in time.

"Now then, I can feel that energy of yours." The jester backed away, revealing that his body had changed slightly. His bow was unraveling, his shoes were longer, and his hat's pom-poms were spiked. A purple aura had taken over his body. "Don't try anything funny with Kirby, I'm the trickster here, buddy."

Morpho stumbled back upon hearing the garbled laughter that erupted from the boy.

"Oh!" Marx's laugh caught in his throat, "No, I was teasing!" He turned back to normal, yet the purple fog still radiated from his body. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't know you would…"

"It's okay. I get it." Morpho took to their feet, listening to the strain in their own voice. "There was a reason Galacta was sealed. I understand." They were bitter.

The boy sat down in front of the knight. "You're Galacta Knight?! I thought that NOVA was acting weird!"

"I was, now I am…" Different. Changed. Morpho? Where had the name Morpho even come from?

"Not quite what you were? Saaaame dude. NOVA's power didn't quite kick the bucket for me when I blew it up."

"I am not the result of a NOVA." Morpho explained, "I was already powerful before meeting that cursed machine. I- we- we had a second chance by meeting each other. I am a butterfly and a warrior in one body."

"Your eyes change colors!"

"Huh?"

"They were pink, then they changed to orange, now they're white again!"

"I… didn't know that." Interesting.

On that note, Marx warped to where he was before their conversation. He winked at the knight and unfroze time. The knight's blade clattered to the ground.

Kirby flinched and turned back to Morpho. "What was that?"

"Nothing, sorry." The sword flashed away yet again.

Gooey stuck out his tongue and poked Kirby in the back. He warbled something quietly as the pink puff turned, and jumped into the air. Orange spheres phased through his body as he hovered. Kirby laughed and jumped too, inflating himself with air to float with his friend.

Metal-against-metal footsteps drew close from behind the black puff. They turned to see Meta Knight- flanked by two armed swordsmen. His eyes churned between green and orange as he walked by.

"Oh, hey blueberry!" Marx called, grinning cheekily.

"Did you install that horrendous noise into the locks?"

"Maybe."

Meta sighed, "Good job, then. It took more work to remove than we thought it would."

"Was that a compliment?"

"Do not do make modifications to the Halberd again."

"Yessir!"

The blue knight led them to the kitchen once he felt his point to be made. The green knights flanked him directly, while the rest left themselves in a disorganized mess. Gooey and Kirby babbled to each other, their voices low and their language incoherent. Marx was walking at the same pace as Morpho, but neither attempted to start a conversation.