A/N: Hal, you crazy sons of NOVA'S. You've outdone yourselves, truly. The finale of Return to Dream Land Deluxe was just as epic as the original game (yes, I burned through it in two days, it was only that old at the time of this writing), and the improved graphics, Kirby's anime scream with Ultra Sword, everything... was just... *chef's kiss*. Magolor Epilogue was great.

Spent all day yesterday (again, at the time of this writing, with this A/N having been written WAY before the one at the end of this chapter) maxing my boi out. The finale was the most soul-meltingly awesome thing in the history of ever and it is truly a shame Meteorz isn't around to make a What is Kirby Canon? video on it. IT WILL be referenced in this fic, rest assured. Also, check this guy out; he remastered that old lyric video I linked and dubbed the cutscenes!

https/youtu.be/x4YnFOemhh0

As always, watch if you need a refresher. With the trivia out of the way, get ready for some colorful chaos! On to the chapter!

Kirby had found himself in a bit of a pickle. As usual, even after he'd learned to get along with them, his three colorful counterparts seemed to have forgotten about it all in the five years since their adventure together, if the fact that they weren't listening to him was of any indication.

He sighed as he looked back on what had brought him to this point.

They had all gone back to the cabin after what happened at the hospital, and after Kirby gave Nancy and Jonathan a quick explanation of the fact that, yes, he could, in fact, shoot stars from his mouth, everyone had gone to bed. A lot of people slept on the floor. Kirby slept under El's bed again, but he didn't sleep much. He was much more concerned with how he was going to go about the next day.

As it turned out, he just winged it.

He walked out of the room to find everyone eating a sorry attempt at breakfast, took one look at the bags under their eyes, remembered the abomination from the previous night, mentally said nope, and immediately whipped out his Cell Phone. Three seconds later, three more Kirbies had joined the room. In the initial chaos, Red, who hated the nickname the others had forced onto him, Tuffy, had very nearly burned the house down, because Kirby had summoned him when he had the Fire ability, because of course he did. He always had that NOVA-darned ability.

Yellow, or Keeby as he preferred to be called, had excitedly babbled to his new friends, getting in their faces and talking about how he was so excited to be making new friends. Green, better known by his nickname, Greeny, had just huddled down, rocked himself back and forth, and muttered to himself about staying calm. From the Humans, a constant chorus of what the fuck(s) and what the hell is going on(s), as well as a healthy amount of screams, resounded. It took Kirby screaming at his loudest possible volume to get everyone else in the cabin to quiet down so he could explain everything.

Tuffy had gotten in his face with "What the fuck, twerp? Where are we? Why did you kidnap us? Answer the fucking question!". Greeny kept muttering to himself nervously, mumbling all his questions, and Keeby...

"Oh boy! Is it time for another adventure?! I missed you, Kirby! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! We're gonna make friendship bracelets with all these weird tall creatures, and throw parties, and eat cupcakes, and-and-and!!"

"Hey! Hellooo!? Order in the fucking court, dumbass! Where the hell are we? Is Dark Mind back or some shit? Because I swear to fuck if he is..."

"Oh boy. Not good, not good, not good. Weird creatures. Weird tall creatures. Why are they staring at me like that; why did Kirby bring us here? Oh, NOVA, I'm gonna die. We're all gonna die."

Kirby had eventually managed to restore order. He'd filled his three companions in on the situation, and told them why he'd called them there. Greeny nearly had a panic attack, especially when he'd heard about what Zero (who he'd had to explain was Dark Mind's counterpart for them to understand) was doing (Kirby shuddered at the thought of the monster from last night), but Kirby had managed to calm him down before he could get too worked up.

"How'd you even get here, anyway?" Tuffy asked. "Well, I'm kinda stuck," Kirby answered. "That's not what I asked and-wait. Waaiiit, wait, wait, wait, wait."

Kirby dragged a nub down his face, knowing what was coming.

Tuffy shot forward and grabbed him by the nonexistent collar, lifting him up slightly and shaking him. "WHATTHEHELLIS WRONGWITHYOUNOWWE'RESTUCKHERETOOYOUFUCKINGIDIOTISWEARTONOVAKIRBYIAMGOINGTOCOOKYOU!!!"

"Jesus, dude, would you chill out?!" Max asked. Tuffy dropped Kirby and turned to her. They were all standing by the kitchen. "CHILL OUT?!"

"Oh, boy. Here it comes," Greeny whimpered. "I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE OR WHAT YOU ARE OR WHAT ANY OF THIS SHIT IS BUT I WANT OUT!!! DON'T YOU TELL ME TO CHILL OUT!!!" Red roared; well, as much as he could with the same high-pitched baby voice as his three counterparts. The flames dancing on his head had shot upward and were currently roaring.

"Red!" Kirby shouted, using Tuffy's real name to show he was serious, even though Tuffy constantly rejected his nickname anyway. "Seriously, calm down! You're gonna burn the house down and kill us all!"

Tuffy looked like he was considering doing just that for a moment; after all, he was pretty mad at Kirby and didn't know or care about anyone else in the room save for Keeby and Green. Eventually, though, the flames died down and he gritted out, "Ffffine."

He plopped himself down and crossed his arms with a pout. "Aww, cheer up, Tuffy!" Said Keeby. "I've been telling you not to call me that for literally as long as we've existed," Tuffy grumbled. "Okay," Nancy began with her hands up and her eyes closed in what looked like annoyance and tiredness.

"Kirby. What exactly... is going on here? Like... just... what."

"I called Keeby, Greeny and Tuffy-" "My name is not Tuffy!" Tuffy interrupted. "-for help," Kirby finished. "Are these... other members of your species?" Nancy asked. "No, lady, we're 50-foot-long space worms with ten sets of teeth that just so happen to look like the pink dumbass over there," Tuffy said.

Nancy glared daggers at him and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Kirby. I need you to elaborate. Please."

Her patience was running thin, Kirby could tell. "Alright, there's an entrance to another world above Dream Land, okay?" Kirby began. "One day, Dark Mind, the version of Zero from that universe, took over and corrupted everything and everyone, turning that world's version of Meta Knight, Dark Meta Knight, into his servant. I was attacked by him. When he slashed me with his sword, these three-" Kirby pointed behind him at Greeny, Keeby, and Tuffy. "-showed up."

"So he cloned you?" Lucas asked. "Yeah," Kirby answered. "I think he was trying to weaken me by splitting me into four but somehow managed to clone me instead; I dunno. He seemed like he was in a hurry, so it was probably an accident. The point is, they're all just as powerful as I am, even though I'm pretty sure they represent my emotions or something. So that's why I called them for help," Kirby explained.

"Cool. Now that you're done catching her up to speed, how about you enlighten the rest of us? How the hell'd you get here, Pinky?" Tuffy asked, miserably failing to mask the genuine tenderness and concern in his voice with a disinterested facial expression. Considering Tuffy had used the nickname he'd forced onto Kirby, Kirby saw right through him.

"Actually," Kirby began, turning to his Human friends. "I don't think I've told any of you how I got here; except for you, El," Kirby said, pointing to her. "And a shortened version I gave to you, Max," he finished.

"Cool. Enlighten us all, then," Tuffy said, throwing his nubs outward impatiently. Kirby had forgotten just how annoying his red counterpart could be. Kirby gave him a tired attempt at a glare for a few seconds, before sighing, plopping himself down facing the Humans (Keeby immediately came rushing up to sit down next to him, dragging a nervous Greeny and grumbling Tuffy behind him) and saying, "Alright, listen up, guys."

"Yay! Story time!" Keeby cried, waving his nubs in the air excitedly. His voice was higher pitched even then Kirby's. Much to what looked like Tuffy's annoyance at people acknowledging his cuteness, several of the children (and Nancy) smiled at Keeby's excitement and the sight of the four colorful Puffballs grouped up with each other.

"It was a nice day; and me, King Dedede, and Bandana Waddle Dee, the king's advisor, were playing. They were trying to get my strawberry shortcake. Meta Knight was reading, because of course he was."

"Reading's important, Kirby. It's good for your brain," Nancy said.

"I don't have a brain," Kirby replied.

"Bullshit," Nancy stated simply. "You can't just... not have organs!"

"I'm literally made of energy. Also, most creatures on Popstar don't have organs," Kirby said.

"Then I need to see this so-called 'Pop Star.'"

"All one word, Nancy. Anyway, this portal opened in the sky and a big spaceship came through!"

"Are you sure you're not... you know... embellishing a little?" Nancy asked after Kirby told everyone about his Super Abilities. Particularly, Ultra Sword. Kirby tilted his head. "Embellishing?" He asked. "You know..." she trailed off, gesturing around with one hand. "Making stuff up to sound cooler?" She clarified.

Kirby puffed up indignantly. "No way! This story's nothin' but truth! Except for a certain someone..."

Nancy's eyebrows went up.

"If you say so..."

"And then he was all like, "MUAHAHAHA! Obtaining this crown has been my ultimate goal all along!" Kirby said, imitating Magolor in all his theatrics. "What?!" Max demanded murderously. "It was Magolor all along?" Will asked quietly, with perhaps a bit of sadness. "He sounds like a piece of shit," Mike said angrily. "Ditto," said Lucas. El had crossed her arms, glaring at the wall. "Liar," she grumbled.

"Man, what a douchebag!" Tuffy said, echoing the general sentiment toward Magolor at the moment. "Did I you kill him? Please tell me you killed him!" The excitement in Tuffy's voice was disturbing to Kirby.

"Well, I haven't finished the story yet."

"So then me, Dedede, Bandana, and Meta Knight rode the dragons and chased Magolor all through Another Dimension!"

"Lucky," said a very jealous-sounding Tuffy.

"Awesome!" Said Keeby.

"Scary..." Whimpered Greeny

"Badass," Commented Mike with a grin.

"Cool, I guess...?" Said Nancy awkwardly.

"Bad. Fucking. Ass," Mike insisted with a grin as he looked intensely at his sister. Kirby continued.

"So we caught up to him and he summoned and took control of the Lor Starcutter and made us shoot it down. He was even extra mean about it because he used those ship parts we spent all week gathering as attacks!"

Tuffy seemed to process that little piece of information for about two seconds.

"Can we get to the part where you kill him, already?" he then demanded.

"I'm getting there!"

"And then, after we weakened him enough, he realized he'd lose if we kept fighting him, so he opened a Dimensional Rift that tried to suck us all in. I inhaled and spat out Dedede, Bandana, and Meta as one of those Star Bullets you guys saw last night, which got them to safety. But because of that, I fell into the rift, and this world was what I found on the other side."

"Damn; hell of a week," Mike commented. "Magolor sounds like a real meanie," Keeby said. "Agreed," said Mike. "Although, Kirby, you should probably tell Dustin about all this the next time you see him. The idea of a lost alien civilization with advanced technology would make him flip out."

"I'm still having a bit of trouble believing all your dreams come from some magical fountain that keeps you from having nightmares," Nancy said skeptically, with her arms crossed. Tuffy huffed. "Oh, but the rest of that ridiculous story's believable?" He asked sarcastically. "I mean, I guess," she shrugged. "After all the stuff I've been through, not to mention you guys, I've kind of learned to stop doubting things."

Tuffy huffed again. "Well, then, there you have it. The Fountain of Dreams is what lets us all dream, and keeps us from having nightmares. There's a reason the place we're from-" Tuffy turned to glare at Kirby. "-the place pinky here kidnapped us from, is called Dream Land."

Kirby shrugged. "Sorry, but I needed backup. Trust me, I wouldn't have gotten you guys trapped here too for nothing. You're my last resort; and things are about to get ugly."

Even Tuffy had no argument for that; an uneasy silence had settled over the whole room.

A while later, El had decided to get to work on the ugly situation. She had gone off to her room, asked not to be disturbed, and set to work on finding the confirmed members of the Zeroed. Nancy and Jonathan had said that Mrs. Driscoll hadn't been in her room when they looked for her last night. It was then that they had been attacked by Bruce and Tom, Nancy and Jonathan's coworkers (with Tom having been their boss).

They'd managed to defeat them, but they had then (Kirby once more felt like never eating again) melted together into the monster from last night and attacked.

Kirby was starting to feel very homesick. Just what had his life become? Sure, he'd faced horrifying things before, but not a corpse monster! And it was being controlled by a member of his species, for stars' sakes! A very selfish part of Kirby wished that he hadn't ever been sent here, but he kept pushing it to the back of his mind.

He had to have been meant to come to this world. Zero, his long-time enemy, was here. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing that Kirby was stranded here. Now, this world's inhabitants had the best help they were going to get, and now that Greeny, Keeby and Tuffy were here, the odds were only looking better.

After all, was no way one Void could stand up to the power of four, right?

Right?

Maybe once he could wrangle his team together, he'd find out. As of now, though, Kirby sat in the living room with Max and Lucas, Mike lacing in front of them all; which seemed to be a hobby of his; with his team very much not together.

Keeby and Tuffy were running around causing chaos, as usual; Keeby aggressively suggesting friendship-related activities and Tuffy being angry and in people's faces about... something. Greeny was just sitting nearby, trying to call as little attention to himself as possible. Kirby could see it was starting to get on everybody's nerves.

"Kirby. Dude," Mike eventually said. "You've gotta stop busting out new powers like this, man," Lucas said. "There's been a few times when your help has been appreciated, and there's been other times, like now, where it is very not appreciated," Max said.

Kirby's eyelid twitched.

"You know what I don't appreciate? You guys' constant complaining," he snapped. Everyone in the room paused and looked at him. "I know Tuffy and Keeby are annoying and I know I've made things harder a few times but I'm trying, alright? Besides those three-" At this, Kirby gestured at his three colorful clones. "-I haven't had to deal with people this uncooperative and annoying since Dedede! I didn't even ask to be here, alright? I'd really rather be home but I'm helping you guys anyway; and apparently you don't even appreciate it! Would you rather me just leave you to deal with Zero alone?! Stars-damn!"

Mike had stopped pacing, Max had her hands up, and Lucas just stared at Kirby in surprise. "Alright. Alright," Max said. "I'm sorry. Really."

Kirby sighed. He hadn't meant to let the mounting frustration he'd felt ever since he'd found out Zero was back and he wasn't able to stop him the normal way, and the stress he'd felt ever since getting stranded here, get to him like that...

He'd been trying to keep his cool; to be his normal, happy self; the optimistic person his friends needed. But it was... hard. It was hard; knowing he couldn't just run around and beat up villains like he was used to. And it was hard being away from his friends in Dream Land, the ones he knew how to work with.

These Humans weren't as powerful or physically durable as most of his friends back home, though. They were fragile, and because of that were more scared for themselves and their loved ones than most Dream Landers tended to be, and were acting irritable because of it. It was fair they weren't as unconcerned with injury as most Dream Landers. It kind of came with the fact that food could heal any injury on Popstar. Kirby was the one out of place here. Kirby was the one who needed to adjust to the Humans' needs, not the other way around; and Kirby was the one who was out of line.

Kirby was the one who needed to apologize.

He sighed. "Look. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blow up like that."

Mike sighed. "No, it's fine. You're not used to dealing with stuff that's quite this scary, I'm sure. From what you've described of Dream Land, it sounds like some fairy tale paradise; and if I had been ripped out of it and thrown into a world like this, I wouldn't be very happy, either."

Mike walked up to where Kirby sat next to Lucas on the couch, putting his hand where Kirby's shoulder would've been if he was a Human. Kirby looked up at him, feeling his eyes watering. "We'll get through this; I know we will. You've done it a bunch back in Dream Land, and we've done it a few times here, ourselves; and we'll all do it again."

Kirby gave a small smile.

"Together, okay?" Mike asked. Kirby chuckled a bit as Mike took his hand off of Kirby and offered it for a shake. Kirby set his nub into Mike's hand, and the two boys shook on it.

"Yeah. Together," Kirby said firmly.

Several minutes had passed after that, and El had still not come out of her room. Mike was probably pacing enough to ruin the carpet with his sneakers. Kirby would know, since he'd been taking a ride on Mike's shoulder ever since their heart-to-heart. "It can't be good for her to be in there this long," he eventually said. "Mike, you need to relax," Max said. "Actually, I'm pretty worried, too," Kirby piped up. "Doesn't her nose bleed when she uses her powers? What if she bleeds out or something?" He asked worriedly.

"Oh shit," Lucas said in mild alarm. "I actually never thought about that. Is that like a real thing?" He asked. "No, it's not; he made it up. According to Kirby, most people don't even have blood in Dream Land. Remember that?" Max asked smugly. "Clearly he has no idea what he's talking about."

Kirby flinched. That actually stung a little. Not a lot, but it didn't exactly feel great.

"Both him and Mike are just big worrywarts," Max concluded.

"Well, shouldn't we be?" Mike asked defensively. Kirby frowned. "El's my friend, poyo! I don't want her to get hurt!" He said. Max rolled her eyes. "Oh, sure, pretend like that's what you're worried about. The guy who can heal gruesome injuries by eating tomatoes is worried about the possibility of injury."

Kirby glared. He had finally just about reached his limit with Max and her complete lack of concern for others; her ignorance of danger. Kirby was pretty impulsive, himself, and used to be a lot more like her, with his tendency to ignore logic and get caught up in his feelings, like when he was too butthurt about Dedede's theft of the food and Sparkling Stars to hear him out when he'd broken the Star Rod. Meta's training had helped a lot with taming that side of Kirby, which Tuffy seemed to represent. It was still who Kirby was; but he was getting better.

Remembering her lack of mention of a father and Kirby's impression of her stepfather, it wasn't that hard to see why Max was the way she was, unlike Kirby, she didn't have a Meta Knight in her life to help her grow.

Still, she was ultimately in charge of how she acted, and she wasn't acting very smart or nice, so Kirby was still pretty mad at her. "I know plenty of people who bleed! Even if they aren't from Dream Land, or even Popstar for that matter! I fight some of them in tournaments! I know what happens when someone loses too much blood!"

Max scoffed.

Kirby hmph'd. "What's your problem, anyway?" He asked bitterly. "Every time someone thinks something's wrong, you don't listen! You just ignore problems until you're forced to deal with them! Are we not allowed to be worried while there's a monster made of dead people on the loose?!"

"It's not that, Kirby! It's the fact that you and Mike are always 'worried' about El! Last time I checked, neither of you are El, so why are you claiming to know her limits?" Max demanded. "Neither of us said we did! She's just been in there forever, so we're a little worried! Are you okay with that?!" Kirby asked. Ignoring his sarcastic rhetorical question, Max said, "You don't think she'd have stopped by now if it was hurting her?" Then, looking and directing her next question at Mike, she said, "And you don't think she knows how to handle herself, that she can't walk around in public like a normal person and snap the neck of anyone who might try to hurt her?!"

Max crossed her arms and sat back. With a sarcastic edge to her tone, she put a finger to her chin in mock-thought and said, "Huh. It's almost like you two don't trust her!"

Something in Kirby snapped at that. That was going too far.

He front-flipped off of Mike's shoulder and landed on the coffee table in front of Max. "Don't EVER talk to me about trust! I trust everyone I meet! It's because of that that I'm even in this mess and have to deal with YOU in the first place! I trust and I trust and I trust and sometimes I get hurt but I keep trusting! Bandee once said I'm shaped like a friend, and like any good friend would, I trust all my friends, and El's my friend!"

Max's eyes had widened quite a bit during Kirby's outburst. Kirby faintly recognized the fact that Will, Jonathan, Keeby and Tuffy, and Nancy's conversation in the kitchen had stopped, but was too fired up to care.

"Have you ever thought that maybe she does know her limits, but just doesn't care? From the horror stories she told me, it sure seems like that doctor guy didn't care a whole lot, and guess who she grew up with? Yeah, she's getting better, but as Dedede would say, old habits die hard! If I was the key to stopping all this and saving the people I loved, I'd go beyond my limits, just like El's probably doing right now in that stars-damned room!"

As he said that last part, Kirby flung his nub behind him to point at the closed door to El's room. "And who are you to get on Mike and I about trusting her? Unlike right now, when this whole mess started, she actually saw what was going on and it still took forever for you to believe her! Why are you so NOVA-damn stubborn?!" Kirby screamed, his frustration with Max's uncooperativeness at times when it wasn't needed finally reaching fever-pitch and exploding out of him like the Crash ability.

Max's eyes were very wide now. Kirby was panting. He could hear Greeny whimpering in the corner he'd claimed.

"Look... Max," Mike began awkwardly in the wake of Kirby's outburst, but also tiredly. "It's exactly like Kirby said. We all know she'd sacrifice herself to keep us safe, even if she knows it's hurting her. I... I...love her, Max, and I... I can't lose her again," Mike said, sounding on the verge of tears, his voice wobbling dangerously.

Kirby, who had turned around to face him, felt any remaining anger drain out of him at the sight of Mike's red face. "Mike... I..." Max began. Whatever she was going to say didn't have the chance to be said before El's door creakily opened and the girl stepped out.

"What's... going on?" She asked. "Nothing! Nothing!" Mike said. Lucas, who had been sitting awkwardly to the side the whole time Kirby, Mike, and Max had been arguing, grinned awkwardly and said, "Just... family discussion."

"Oh," she said, though Kirby could tell she'd heard everything. How could she not have, with how loud it had gotten? Kirby narrowed his eyes. She was pretending like she hadn't heard what Mike said about her. Hopefully, that wouldn't come back to bite him later, but if it did, it was Mike and El's problem, not Kirby's. As much as he wanted to tease and scheme ways to get them back together, the thing they were going through was serious, the overall current situation was serious, and even Kirby knew when to stop joking.

Unfortunately, Keeby seemed not to.

"He said he lo-" he began loudly and excitedly as he waved his nubs around, only for a surprisingly considerate Tuffy to slap a nub over his mouth; Keeby's muffled voice continuing regardless. El looked at Keeby and Tuffy (the latter, Kirby knew him and could tell, doing his absolute best to look casual but panicking inside) for a tense few moments, but eventually got a funny look on her face and decided to spare them all as she said, "I found him."

"Found who?" Nancy asked. Very obviously relieved due to the change in topic, Tuffy jumped straight back into his usual antics, uncovering Keeby's mouth (which caused panic to briefly flare up in Kirby) and yelling at Nancy about how El was obviously talking about Billy.

Kirby sighed. Though he knew deep down it would, he hoped things wouldn't get any worse from here.

https/youtu.be/ErsqTu90Bhc

A/N: Happy Monday, my dudes (and dudettes). I hope you enjoyed this one. Sorry I didn't end it on the note E Pluribus Unum did, that comes next time. I just didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer, so I decided to cut this in two. Especially now that we're entering the final stage, I'm starting to procrastinate quite a bit on this baby, and am getting a bit burnt out. However, I have no plans to abandon this story, rest assured. And unlike several authors I've read, I actually mean that. I have a vision for the very last line of this story and I'll be darned if I don't bring it to life. Just know that, especially because fight scenes and alterations to canon plot are going to be happening, the next chapters will very definitely be taking longer to come out. Stay tuned, though, because in the middle of writing this, I just got hit with the coolest idea and, well... let's just say that come Starcourt, Kirby's gonna be having a bad time ;). (SIDE NOTE: Red Kirby's nickname, Tuffy, was inspired by a very, very old Amazing Mirror fanfic I read when I was like ten). Keeby was obviously inspired by the yellow Kirby you play as when playing as a second player in Dream Course.

Please review. It makes my day more than you know, and even the smallest little comments inspire me to get chapters out quicker. Give me thoughts, (constructive) criticisms, opinions on character actions and behavior; anything. The smallest thing means the world to me. With that said...

I hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you guys...

Next time...