Instincts of a Waddle Dee

by Houdini124

Unlike before, the English names are now used. My opinion on what Bandana Dee was thinking during Kirby's Return to Dreamland, specifically the final battle, so naturally spoilers are within.

I am the odd one out of my group. If a threat appears, I am the one reacting most.

People don't seem to like me. I was fighting with a King Doo who had a bad day and was blasted away by a wave beam, only to be scooped up by two out of three people who don't pay me much mind.

A few days after the King Doo incident, I was fanning His Highness, King Dedede in a field, when suddenly Kirby plopped down some picnic supplies right near us.

King Dedede, as was to be expected, couldn't restrain himself from chasing after the Pink Terror to snatch a strawberry shortcake the latter was about to inhale.

I pursued the two, and as we were passing a large boulder, I briefly caught a glimpse of Meta Knight reading some Popstarian history book against it.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bright light and realized the very air had made way for a huge star shaped portal, a winged, blue ship crashing from the portal toward the grass.

Kirby saw this start to happen as well and skidded to a stop and immediately dropped the shortcake as King Dedede rammed into his back.

Kirby inhaled the shortcake as King Dedede and I raced to the supposed landing point of the ship, and for some reason I glanced back and Meta Knight was jogging behind us.

With a tremendous boom, the ship landed after spilling most of its flying apparatus into the sky.

King Dedede and I arrived at the ship simultaneously, followed closely by Kirby, and after a while of staring at the foreign object that had ruined a perfectly peaceful field, Meta Knight arrived just before the door of the ship opened, emitting a grand light.

The four of us walked into the ship, admiring the cleanliness and pristine shine of the walls and the shiny floors.

On the floor next to a rather large screen and a lengthy keyboard with strange symbols was a blue cloaked brown figure appearing to be unconscious.

Instinctively, I walked a bit closer to my king, knowing he could be merciless with that hammer if a threat were to reveal itself.

The brown stranger's yellow eyes fluttered open, and quick as a flash, the stranger launched himself onto his non-existent feet and rushed to the keyboard.

The stranger typed something in and his ear-like appendages flattened out when a meter with a picture of a gear next to it went down from one hundred twenty to zero.

Kirby hopped up behind the stranger and tapped him on the shoulder. The stranger whirled around, barely realizing anyone but himself was in the ship. Kirby smiled and tapped certain parts of the air and nodded.

The stranger just floated there, as if not believing a small ponyan such as Kirby could single-handedly obtain all the gears lost.

King Dedede did his part and raised his fist to the air, putting on a determined face as he did.

I followed King Dedede's lead, but because I didn't have a mouth it was kind of hard to use facial expressions the way others do.

Meta Knight also accepted the challenge, only he reached back and undid his dark blue cape.

Before we could all rush out the door, the stranger stopped us to give us some advice and information. The stranger said his name was Magolor, and the gears were called Energy Spheres. Magolor also confirmed a few times that we remembered the five ship parts; the oars, the right wing, the left wing, the emblem and the mast were the main priorities, and most of them were scattered about Popstar. Magolor announced the ship's name as the Lor Starcutter.

All these facts in mind, the little party I was officially a part of and I dashed out of the Lor and to the nearest place we could find, Cookie Country.

That was what happened a few months ago. I am now extremely well experienced with the spear, as is King Dedede with his hammer and Kirby with... Well, any of the twenty three abilities we encountered. Meta Knight stayed the same, just because that guy is so powerful, there wasn't any room for improvement.

We have returned all one hundred twenty Energy Spheres, and a feeling that had come out all throughout the journey through Cookie Country, Raisin Ruins, Onion Ocean, Winter Wafers, Nutty Noon, Egg Engines and ultimately Dangerous Dinner is nagging at me once more as we talk to Magolor right before we go to fight Landia for shooting the Lor out of the sky.

Ever since Cookie Country, I have had the odd feeling this Magolor was not who we thought he was. A simple portal, especially one created by the ship itself, could not have broken it. What really made the ship malfunction? Why did Magolor hide his mouth, and why did his voice sound so muffled even through thin summer clothes?

And now Magolor's mood seems to change a bit after mentioning a friend that told Magolor a lot about Kirby. How strange indeed.

I tried to speak to Meta Knight about it, with all the war experience he's had I thought he might have noticed, but as I have no mouth Meta Knight would only stare at me waving my arms trying to use sign language then abandon me and walk off toward the others.

Kirby leads King Dedede, Meta Knight and I out of the Lor as my nerves soar ever higher as we travel to Landia's volcano.

Landia is a lot smaller than I thought she would be, considering I actually remember catching a glimpse of her as my face slammed against a window while I was freaking out about the Lor crashing again.

Kirby is nabbing the Leaf Ability from the array set out before Landia's obsidian beach and her lava ocean.

I am shaking so hard as I run alongside King Dedede, Meta Knight and Kirby. The only two people I could think of from outer space who had fled from a former battle between anyone from the aforementioned group were Marx and Galacta Knight, and Magolor claims to have had contact with one of them before. If Magolor was listening to either one of those baddies, who knows what evil, vile thoughts they put into Magolor's mind about Kirby, Meta Knight, or even the entirety of Popstar!

I met both of them at once before, and it is not an experience I like repeating.

We enter the battleground.

Landia descends from above and roars deafeningly loudly before swooping down and engaging us in battle. I set my fight on auto pilot as I ponder the consequences of angering Landia, and if Magolor is truly being misled by Marx's or Galacta Knight's opinions.

Before I know it, Meta Knight does a Condor Head that defeats Landia, the Master Crown falling from the head of the supposed leader as we all cheer in victory. As I am standing slightly behind Meta Knight, I can see Meta Knight glance up at the sky and put his celebratory fist down, causing I and the others to look up at Magolor hovering above us.

"Bravo, Kirby. You've truly earned your reputation as a hero. Your help defeating Landia was invaluable. Ah... At long last, it's mine! The source of limitless power... The Master Crown!"

Kirby tilts his head, King Dedede's jaw drops to his chest, Meta Knight surprisingly steps back, and I am petrified in fear except for the dreadful quaking.

Magolor sets the Master Crown on his head and transforms into a demon with a bang and a quick flash of light, "Obtaining this crown has been my ultimate goal all along! What's with the weird looks? Fine. Let me explain everything. I fought Landia by myself and lost. So I fled to Planet Popstar. That's when the thought struck me... I could have you defeat Landia for me! A stroke of genius, I know. You even helped me repair my Starcutter. I really did appreciate that, by the way. Anyway... MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The time has come for your planet... NO! The time has come for the ENTIRE UNIVERSE to bow down to me. And for being such a big help in this, your planet gets to go first! Prepare to bow, Popstar! Welcome your new overlord!"

Magolor creates a portal to Popstar and I almost lose consciousness as my balance fails me and I flop onto my back. I breathe heavily for a few long moments, trying to gain control of my body again.

This is a perfect example of how I always have the most vivid reactions; all three of my companions are standing, one seems to not be shaken at all.

I pull myself up off the ground and jump back as I see one of the Landiae stomping up behind Kirby, taking him in her mouth and launching the ponyan on her head.

The Landia straightens up and turns back to nod at Kirby as if in forgiveness. The other Landiae thunder up to Meta Knight, King Dedede and I and we jump on.

All four Landiae simultaneously spread their wings and fly through the portal as it disappears.

The Landiae are incredibly fast in the cold vacuum of space as we speed through a navy blue wormhole, the silhouette of Magolor growing as we near it.

I get out my spear and hold it at the ready as Magolor prepares two spheres of pure energy- Energy spheres! I should have known Magolor didn't need them in the first place!

Magolor blasts the first two cerulean orbs at us and luckily Meta Knight stops using his Landia and uses his own wings to fly high enough to meet the arc of the spheres, batting them skillfully away with the sacred golden sword, Galaxia.

Magolor narrows his eyes and prepares two larger red energy spheres.

I barely have any time to react as I fall off my Landia, struggling to air jump as I lose track of where my Landia is and witness King Dedede plummeting toward me without his Landia.

I can barely keep my eyes open as I see Meta Knight block an energy sphere, then get blown off his Landia, leaving Kirby to watch and get struck by a sphere himself.

I beats me why Meta Knight doesn't just use the wings on his back to save all of us from falling, because I know he's strong enough to hold up a stone nine stories tall and five stories wide, but I was already unconscious by the time I could react to the thought.

My eyes open to Kirby poking me in the shoulder, King Dedede and Meta Knight staring at me. I hop up and we all progress to the place Magolor is in after Kirby gets the Leaf ability.

We enter the place, the ground at our feet glowing with the light of good as Magolor approaches, his dark shadow coating the ground.

Magolor shoots eight rounds of energy spheres at us and it comes at us in a wave; only these ones are small and purple and are easily deflected.

Kirby stays where he is and shoots barrage after barrage of razor-sharp leaves at the beast, King Dedede risks a few Hammer Swings, Meta Knight divebombs Magolor and I just stay underneath upstabbing him until he moves.

Magolor floats a few feet away and the attackers follow, weaving over every obstacle he shoots.

Magolor seems to go all out on every attack, and I let my natural instincts kick in yet again. I thread past everything he shoots at me and when I get hit, it only scratches my arm or cheek then I get right back in it.

Magolor swipes a hand at me as I jump and I hit the ground and skid for a while.

When I have the power to look up, I see that only Kirby is still fighting, and he wasn't doing too well. The battle is rather far away and there are a few fellow friendly Waddle Dees around me, apparently they were space-wanderers and had stumbled across the fight and decided to spectate.

I lumber up to them and ask, "You guys have any Maxim Tomatoes? The fate of the universe kinda depends on it..."

Come to find out, all four of them have a Maxim Tomato box, which I gladly accept.

I rush back to the battle with Kirby after saying a thank you to the Waddle Dees. Now, how did I do this when I couldn't talk, you ask? It's a Waddlekin secret.

I set down all the boxes and share a tomato with Kirby while Magolor teleports.

Magolor appears and shoots a beam the instant he is in the position to do so, and due to my significant flying skills that differ greatly from Kirby's, I am in the air above the beam while Kirby gets caught in it.

Kirby struggled and kicked as he tried to break free of the beam's hold, but Magolor finally ran out of enough energy to continue and the beam collapses, Kirby tumbling to the ground in a much weakened form without his ability.

"Ban... Dee..." Kirby mutters as he struggles to lift himself up. "Almost. Finish him." Kirby collapses in a heap and turns gray as his body teleports to the lobby, where the abilities are.

Almost. Finish him.

My eyes widen as I realize that I am all alone in this fight.

I had noticed King Dedede's and Meta Knight's absence already, but now the leader of the group is gone. I start to panic, having never been on my own in a situation like this. All the memories of the members of the castle flow back into my head, always teasing me, saying things like, "Look out, it's the toughest boss in the game! Be careful, he might bump into you!" Or even calling me a "joke boss." I have no idea how to handle situations like this, what do I do?!

I dodge quickly as Magolor swipes a hand at me. I can't just let my friends down! They hadn't been very considerate to me, but I feel I have to pay them what's due! Magolor teleports a few dozen feet away and as I run to continue the fight, I launch myself into the air and throw at least seven spears from a hidden compartment I won't be telling anyone of anytime soon.

All my Spear Barrages strike the particles of Magolor's... Darkness? Just his underside, I have no idea what got hurt... But he seems to take damage even if the particles of his cape, darkness, whatever gets hit.

I skid and power up for a stronger attack I can do. Magolor summons enemies from earlier in our adventure as I release three powerful spears at the wizard, one strikes his head, another strikes his chest and the other strikes his cape. He seems to tire after this, so before I could slide under him and up-stab the beast, he spins into the background to my left and traces a peculiar pattern in the air. My feet won't allow me to walk near or towards Magolor, all I could do was jump, attack and walk in a straight line.

Magolor finishes his pattern, a box, like a picture frame, and it comes right at me. I jump just in time to avoid being enveloped by a black hole, but I am caught in the middle of it. Luckily, the black hole wears off quickly.

Magolor comes back to where I can hit him and charges a beam of some form, but I Air-Jump above him and Moondrop into his head. He seems to be finished, almost unconscious, but suddenly a rather large, star-shaped, purple shield covers Magolor. I try to stab him, but to no avail.

I was so CLOSE!

The stars that decorate the shield are the same stars that decorate the breakable landscape we had seen earlier in our adventure, and there's only one person I know that can break things like this. I know I'm defeated, there's nothing I can do, but I'll at least try. I am about to drill into Magolor when three enemies pop out of a black hole.

There must have been a malfunction in the spell, because instead of a full-grown Super Bonkers popping out of the rift in reality, the Grand Hammer hits the ground and I have to jump so the shockwave created by the Grand Hammer doesn't hit me.

I glance at the hammer and Magolor, who is teleporting around in an attempt to keep himself out of reality for as long as possible as a defensive mechanism. He won't be doing anything for a while. I consider whether to take the hammer or not. I had seen King Dedede swing his hammer at Kirby and the servants of his castle, not to mention all the enemies on our journey thus far, and I seem to have a good hold on how to use it and the proper hand positions, as well as at least one signature move.

Making up my mind, I scoop up the Grand Hammer as I sheathe my spear. If there was one thing I had learned about the Grand Hammer from the last time we used it on a big enemy, it's that it cancels all enemy movement.

I feel fairly confident knowing this as I leap into the air, charge the hammer and bring it down on the crown of Magolor's head, effectively destroying a part of Magolor's shield. Magolor shakes his head and does a hand movement that makes me recoil back as if hurt.

"What?" Magolor does the hand movement again and I flinch back, but it was not the desired result as he rumbles with that terrible voice of his, "Blast! That confounded ability should be gone by now!"

Why would it be gone?

I leap and charge the hammer again, but for not as Magolor summons a herd of Gordos directly underneath my landing point, but I am too far into the attack to stop my plummet and I crash into the pile of Gordos.

I jump out of that mass as fast as I can and come out feeling weak, so I take out one of those Maxim Tomatoes from earlier and devour the fruit, instantly feeling revitalized. I swing my hammer at a particularly large Gordo and it flies across the battlefield to strike Magolor in the unprotected portion of his face. One of the points of his shield flickers a little bit from the blow.

I start Air Jumping to smash him again. Still dazed from the attack and possibly with damaged sight, Magolor makes an attempt to teleport behind me but ends up directly below me as I charge up my hammer again.

Two points, one of which is flickering, disappear from his shield as I jump back.

Magolor opens vortexes in the world again and four enemies stream out, one of which is a Nruff that tries to ram into me. I had had some experience riding Nruffs, almost every Waddle Dee had, so I know what I'm doing as I hop on its back and charge Magolor after snatching a sword from a Super Blade Knight that was recovering from her teleport. The Nruff charges right into Magolor with me on it.

Because that Nruff's running speed is slower than I can swipe a sword or hammer, it takes both weapons extended without my effort to demolish a part of Magolor's shield, the fourth. Magolor seems to get antsy, I can see in how he teleports that this is true. My Nruff bucks me off its back and runs out of my sight.

As I pick myself up off my face, all I see is a tremendous flash of white in my eyes before the beam catches me, holding me there and jabbing at me everywhere like needles and a straightjacket tied to a wall. I am released and I feel absolutely terrible, like I was run over by a tank, stapled by my limbs to a wall, and experiencing pins and needles everywhere on my body.

A high-pitched pulse rings in my mind as I pull out a Maxim Tomato and gobble it up, fearing very much for my own well being at this point. My hammer and sword are missing, no! I wildly glance about the battlefield and see the broken shards of the hammer in a pile and the sword perfectly intact a few feet away. It appears that it fell just before I got caught by the beam, but no matter!

I swipe the sword and swing at Magolor, but miss because he is out of reality. Once he returns I swing at him again, but I just miss because he went away again. This continues for an unknown period of time before I snap my sword just at the right time, and Magolor's shield fails, leaving him extremely weak, too weak to teleport.

And so, I take my stand and power up the sword for the final blow; not surprisingly, the first hit to him is a fish, then a frying pan, then Galaxia, then many other things that can be used to hit with, including a bamboo rod. Content my work is done, I watch in pride as Magolor dissipates slowly- Then POW!

Just as he is about to disappear, Magolor shoots a black hole at me, like the square one from earlier. I get swallowed into another dimension- Not the one I am leaving, that's Another Dimension- only this separate universe is a beam. The force of the black hole chokes me while the beams bouncing in it pins me against others, and I don't even bother eating a Maxim Tomato because I know I can't get out of it, it would only extend my torture, that and I couldn't if I tried because there is no ground to open the box on.

I know one thing: I defeated Magolor. I saw him ascend just after he shot the black hole. I mentally smile as I faint.

When I wake up, I am in the lobby where the rest of the gang is. Kirby is backing away from my mouth and I can taste a Maxim Tomato on my tongue and Meta Knight and King Dedede kneel concernedly by me.

"Are you all right?" Meta Knight is the first one to speak as he adjusts my somewhat cattywampas bandana.

In truth, I feel like I was run over by twenty trucks stuffed with taco sandwiches and Rockies, and I nod and attempt to stand, only for a wave of gut-wrenching nausea to overtake me and make me double over in pain. "It doesn't look like it..." King Dedede mumbles half to himself.

Kirby sits me back down and motions for Meta Knight to follow him to the assorted Copy Essences before he selects the Sleep Kirby Essence. Kirby falls asleep and Meta Knight takes the magical hat off his student before giving it back. They return to my resting place and Kirby gives me the hat in way that says, "Rest up, you deserve it." I nod at him gratefully and attempt to sign-language, "Why we are still in Another Dimension and not shoving off toward home?" but they do not understand what I was trying to say.

Instead, Meta Knight stays behind as Kirby and King Dedede part off, Kirby grabbing an ability as he goes. "You did very well out there, Dee," he compliments me, which is unlike him and grabs my attention. "You could not have known, however, that Magolor... Now has a second form, or should I say, third. You dealt such a blow to him in his 'second' form that it affects him now. Well done." With that, Meta Knight jogs off to follow Kirby and the king back into the arena, not staying long enough to accept my nod of thanks.

I ache, even the Maxim Tomato did not heal me completely, despite that being its purpose. I glance at the sleeping cap in my hand and put it on, hoping all the extra pain would go away as I drift into a troubled sleep, the cap's magic shutting down the functions of my body, lulling me into oblivion.

I do feel bad for not eliminating Magolor completely, but as Meta Knight stated, I couldn't have known that Magolor had many forms. I am actually more knowledgeable than many people make me out to be, and I once studied baddies that take on many forms; using the castle library is what tended to get me teased by the other Waddle Dees, calling me a nerd and such, but I truly do like to learn and I am now glad I do. The chapter I read said that enemies who take on many forms cannot be hurt in their next form if it was the one directly before it, the exceptions being an incredible amount of force behind the attack or attacks.

Did I really use that much force? I know I had studied fighting techniques and tried them out many a time, but never did I think I was that strong. After a while of sleep, I wake up on my own accord... Or so I think.

The ground underneath me is trembling! I shake the sleep out of my eyes and dash into the room where the gang is fighting Magolor. Looking up, I see Magolor in his first, friendly form, slowly being lifted into the sky as he slowly turns transparent until he disappears entirely.

The ground cracks beneath us, our circles of light breaking formation and wildly bouncing about the area off floating chunks of space. About this time, gravity breaks, and we're all left to drift in space, slowly floating away from each other.

In the distance, I can see the Waddle Dees from earlier waving their arms frantically, shouting for help and admitting last words only the Waddlekin can understand, and one of them shrieks, "Amber! Before I die, I need to tell you that I dropped your toothbrush in the toilet and put it back on the counter without washing it off first!" But that is not what is on my mind.

A red blur crosses my sight, and another, then one comes right at me and forces me to mount it. I am moving so fast I cannot barely keep my eyes open, but I can tell I am riding on a Landia, who must have reoriented herself from the fall. I notice a nasty cut on her front, right leg and a few small perforations in her wings.

Once I get used to the high speed at which I am flying, I can open my eyes. King Dedede is riding on his Landia right next to me, and Kirby's and Meta Knight's Landiae, a few feet in front of us, seem to compare observations with each other, for what, I don't know.

I glance behind myself and see the dreaded purple wall from earlier when we went through all the purple portals that led to the bleak, monochrome landscape of the Sphere Doomers. To my surprise, I also see the Lor, and I almost consider informing the others of it, then I recognize the color difference from before and the fact that Magolor isn't here anymore to control her.

The Lor fires an intense beam that completely misses the Landiae before forming into a star-shaped portal, through which the green hills of Cookie Country lay untouched by any of the apocalyptic surroundings on our side of the portal. Kirby's and Meta Knight's Landia soar through the portal with a twink of white light, then King Dedede's, and mine lags behind a bit.

The Lor passes us and the void gets within twenty feet of me. Without warning, a small, crystalline meteor impacts my Landia's wing, rendering it almost too torturous to use. I can see in her eyes the pain she is in, her wing bleeding down her back and onto my foot a little. The void is within five feet. The portal is so close!

My Landia heaves a tortured sigh as she flaps her wings once more, just barely making it into the portal as it closes against the force of the void. At this point, I was knocked out from the force of which the void had exerted on us, even though my Landia still continued gliding, if a bit lopsidedly.

I wake up in a field on my back.

I sit upright upon remembering about my injured Landia, only to be met with Kirby's bright-eyed face staring right at me. We both look around the area and see Meta Knight shakily rolling his body into a regular standing position, but he is doing it stiffly, like he is rusty.

A muffled groan catches our attention and we turn to see King Dedede with his head caught in the ground, struggling to lift his own weight out of the crater he had made. He eventually pops out and shakes his head to rid it of the dirt, a flower in his crown, which a butterfly flutters over and lands on.

Despite all the hardships of the journey, all the losses and pain, the moment is heartwarming enough that Kirby laughs his babyish laugh, Meta Knight his deep, nearly unused bell-like one, and me a silent chuckle that can only be seen in my movements and face. King Dedede looks at us in slight confusion as we walk over to him to help him out, but Meta Knight's attention is grabbed by something in the sky, and we all naturally look to it, following his lead.

In the distance, the four Landiae and the Lor fly in a circle as if to say goodbye, and then the Lor creates another portal and all five figures disappear into it, one after the other. We all wave our goodbyes to them, knowing we wouldn't be anymore if it wasn't for them.

I lower my arms afterwards, thinking of the four Waddle Dees that didn't make it. I wonder if they are still in space, if they had... I shake the thought out of my head and focus on the present. I had helped save the universe, I should be happy. But I hadn't saved everyone.

While Kirby and King Dedede race each other to the nearest place they can find some food, I continue gazing up at the sky, wondering about the wandering Waddle Dees. I tense slightly when I feel a gloved hand touch my shoulder. "They could still be alive, you know. I saw you get the Maxim Tomatoes from them. It is best not to worry, wherever they are, they are alright. It was not your fault."

I nod, still saddened by the loss of fellow Waddlekin. Meta Knight must see it in my eyes, but he sighs quietly and let go of my shoulder, murmuring, "'This too shall pass.'" I can feel the breeze his wings make as he turns and walks away, his armor clanking slightly.

"This too shall pass..."

I turn on my heel and push off, none of the others in sight, not even Meta Knight is in my range of sight nor in the air, despite him just being behind me. I just hike through the seemingly everlasting fields for a while until I come to a hill, around which I stop and stare in awe.

The same four Waddle Dees are sitting just behind it, unconscious but stirring. I rush over to one and nudge her, and she opens her eyes slowly as I move onto the others.

"Urg..." One of them groans.

"Are we dead yet?"

The first one stands uncertainly. "Hey, you're that guy from earlier," she speaks softly, as if speaking too loudly would hurt either her throat, ears or both.

"Yes, I am," I straighten up a bit when she addresses me.

"Thank you for saving us..." She thanks shyly as she tiptoes over to me and lightly brushes her lips against my cheek.

Taken aback and thoroughly surprised at her gesture of affection, I have a few silent seconds of swooning before I faint for the third time today.

After all that had happened today, I am relieved it's all over. I feel a lot more strong and brave, and maybe I will be noticed as more than a joke boss, especially when the others at the castle find out. Now I just have to figure out how to be around girls...