Oh my gosh, I am SO sorry for not updating this! Life got pretty hectic these past couple of months, and I had lost the time and motivation to work on it! I should have expected to be busy this summer. I'll spare you the details, but I will say I'm still frustrated that I didn't get payed much for babysitting my younger cousin...

Then there's the fact that I was unsatisfied with how the next few chapters were turning out. I originally wanted this chapter to have Kirby taking Shard to his house after getting discharged, but I felt like I made Shard a bit too grouchy and annoyed. I decided to delete those chapters and start from scratch, and I have to say, I am so glad I did.

FreindlyFan: Thank you for the advice! I haven't played most of the games, so I'm having to refer to wikis and such for information. I was unaware Meta Knight didn't have wings in the anime, it's been so long since I've seen it, and even then I've never gotten to watch the whole thing.

MamaLuigi'sFan: Of course I'm going to continue this! I do apologize again for not updating in so long.

So, here is the official first chapter of A Shard of Hope!

Kirby and all related characters, locations, and such (excluding Shard) belong to HAL Laboratory, Inc.

Chapter 1

"So, welcome to Cappy Town!" Kirby said as we walked out of the hospital. I wasn't exactly focused on what he was saying, unfortunately. The nurse may have done an excellent job bandaging my wing, but the wooden splint rubbing against the bare spot was making it incredibly itchy. Unbearably itchy. So itchy that I would have ripped it off if the thing wasn't necessary for it to heal. Kirby was trying to lecture me on Cappy Town, but the only thing I could focus on was relieving my wing.

In fact, I was so focused on it that I hadn't noticed the strangers walking our way.

"Heya, Kirb!" the male shouted, grabbing our attention. "Who's your new friend?"

"Hey Tuff! This is Shard." Kirby gestured to the two. "Shard, meet Tiff and Tuff. They're my best friends!" I simply waved at them.

"Oh! You must be the one we've been hearing about!" The female, Tiff, said. "There's been talk around Cappy Town about a puff with wings in the hospital."

"At first we thought it was Meta Knight." Tuff added. "Until we heard you were purple..."

Geez, this Meta Knight must be popular or something.

"Nah, I found her arguing with Whispy yesterday. Remember that strange meteor that we saw?"

"Oh yeah!" Tuff exclaimed. "Didn't Meta Knight want to meet you about the recent meteor showers?"

"Oh, I forgot!" Kirby gasped, "I was supposed to meet him, Sword, and Blade at Orange Ocean this afternoon! I won't make it on time!"

"Don't panic Kirby." Tiff said, then tilted her head slightly, as if she were thinking. "It's only about 10. If you take the train..."

"Oh no, there is NO WAY I am getting on a train!" I shouted. "Those things are PURE EVIL." I may have come from a different planet, but I sure as heck knew what a train was, and I have had very bad experiences with them.

I could hear Tuff trying his hardest to stifle a laugh. He had both his hands to his mouth, but they didn't seem to be helping much.

"Trains aren't evil..." he took a deep breath, then continued. "They aren't even living things."

I crossed my paws stubbornly. "How would you know? Have you ever even seen one?"

"Of course I have!" he said. "We have to take the train to see our grandparents for Christmas every year!"

I was about to say something, when a thought crossed my mind... What was a Christmas?

"What makes you think trains are evil, anyways?" Kirby asked.

I wanted to tell them about my home. I really did. But I wasn't sure how they would react. The last time I tried to tell someone about a puffball-eating pocket watch that was after me I was laughed at and teased. Until that pocket watch showed up in the town, that is. Even then, they still never took me seriously.

Instead, I took the time to adjust my ponytail. My stupid long hair had flopped into my face. I should consider having it trimmed...

"Well, you outta get going, Kirb." Tuff said. "The next train to Orange Ocean will be leaving soon."

"No! I can't miss it!" Kirby started running, dragging me along with him. "Meta Knight will be disappointed if I'm late again!"

"We'll see you two later, okay?" Tiff asked.

He continued running as he waved his goodbyes to his friends. I was too occupied trying to keep my wing as still as possible. The cloth holding the splint in place had come loose, and I could feel it slip ever so slightly.

"Whew! Just in the nick of time!" Kirby wiped his forehead with a paw as we sat in our seats. We had made it to the station just as the train was getting ready to leave. We were lucky the "conductor" as Kirby had called him was kind enough to wait just a bit longer for us.

You see, as we got closer, my anxiety began to rise at an alarming rate. I instinctively reached out to grab something, anything to stop this mad puffball from feeding me to the rusty metal snake monster. Kirby nearly fell over when I managed to grab a pole.

'Come on Shard! I can't be late!' he had shouted while trying to pry me from the pole. I held on as tight as I possibly could, but unfortunately even my best wasn't enough. The slightly shorter puff was stronger than he looked. I was pried off within seconds, and this time he made sure I couldn't reach for anything else by holding my paws behind me as he shoved me into the train. I'm surprised he managed it without hurting my wing.

I was now sitting next to the window, stiff as can be.

"Dang, woman. Just chill. It's not like the train is going to eat you..."

Eep...

"I mean, seriously. They're just vehicles that transport people from one place to another..."

No, they're giant, psychotic snake monsters that will eat everyone in their path without a second thought.

"In fact, the only thing they CAN eat is oil and electricity."

And puffs, dangit.

"... Why are you so afraid of trains, anyways?"

Kirby finally gave up after that. What he did during the long trip, I have no idea.

The moment we set foot on solid ground was an awkward one. Kirby casually strolled off the train, but I was almost literally kissing the ground. And there were several civilians all around me. I never felt so embarrassed in my life.

"Um, ma'am? Are you okay?"

I looked up at the conductor. The young Cappy looked concerned.

Standing up and dusting off imaginary dirt, I responded with a rushed "Yeah, I'm fine" before trotting up to the pink puff.

"I'm not getting back on that thing." I whispered harshly once we left the station.

"I don't see why you're so afraid of a vehicle." Kirby said.

"You wouldn't understand until you've been to my home planet."

Kirby blinked. "Your home planet? What, are trains like, giant, psychotic snake monsters that will eat everyone in their path without a second thought?"

I stared at him with my mouth agape. Had he read my mind?

"Oh my gosh, was I right!? That is SO COOL! What are they like? Are they big? Do they breathe fire?"

Wait, he actually believes me?

"Are they intelligent? Please tell me they're intelligent. I'd love to train one to guard the house, in case Dedede ever finds another monster selling maniac to wreak havoc on Cappy Town... Hehe, I'd love to train a train. That's a good one! I need to write that down..."

I was about to question his sanity when I felt something... unusual... below my feet. And by unusual, I meant nothing at all.

"Wah!"

I fell face-first into some water. Luckily it wasn't very deep. Unluckily I bumped my injured wing on one of the wooden beams of the dock, and it freaking hurt!

Kirby was quick to help me up. "Eh heh, you okay?"

You're kidding, right? I literally just fell about three feet, face first into water that stung my eyes a bit, and injured my wing in the process. Does that sound okay to you!?

I wanted to yell that, but the breathtaking view had distracted me. This was the ocean? It was so huge, and there was so much water!

The scent of salt finally got to me. Salt water? That would probably explain the stinging in my eyes...

Kirby smirked. "Yeah, Orange Ocean is beautiful, but I've seen better."

So this was Orange Ocean? What a lovely... wait.

"Huh. No wonder it's called Orange Ocean." I didn't realize until now, but the water really was orange.

"Well, it's not actually orange. I've heard it looks like that because of the sun or something." Kirby shrugged. "To be honest, no one really knows why it's colored like that."

Kirby allowed me some peace as I continued to admire the place. There was so much orange, and I have never seen so much water. Even back on my home planet, there wasn't much of it where I lived.

A pair of strange pink creatures leapt out of the water, making this noise that sounded like laughing. I turned to ask Kirby what they were, but to my dismay, he was nowhere in sight. No wonder it was suddenly so quiet.

I started to panic. I was alone, in a place I knew nothing about, with people that could possibly hurt me. Why did Kirby leave me?

"Over here!"

I turned to see the puffball waving at me. He gasped as I tackled and nearly death-hugged him.

"Kirby! Please don't leave me alone like that!"

The pink puff could only pat my head, unsure of why I was reacting like this. I was shaking lightly, but it was just enough to tell him I was frightened.

"Um, Shard?" he tried to pry me off. "Why are you so scared?"

That was something I was not comfortable with sharing just yet.

"Hey, Kirby? When did you get a girl?"

This was when I noticed he was accompanied by two others, one in teal armor, and the other in green. They had swords sheathed at their sides. Once my brain processed what was said, I quickly shoved the pink puff away.

"And she's taller than you! I'd have gone for a younger woman..."

"Sword! Blade! She's not my girlfriend!" Kirby shouted, annoyed.

"Aw, come on, Kirby! We're just teasing ya!" the green one said.

"I wonder how Sir Meta Knight is going to react." the teal one said. "What'cha think, Blade?"

"Is Kirby even old enough for 'The Talk?'" the one addressed as Blade teased. I assumed the teal one was Sword...

Wait, Sword and Blade...these were two of the guys Kirby was meeting with, right?

"Guys, you're making Shard nervous." Kirby said.

I wanted to correct him, I wasn't nervous at all. Up until they glanced at me. I couldn't even see their faces under the masks they were wearing.

"Shard, is it?" Sword asked. The two bowed to me.

"Our apologies, Miss Shard. We mean you no harm." Blade said.

"Um, it's... okay?" I wasn't a princess, so why were they bowing? This must be one of those polite gesture things.

They stood up. "So, Kirby. You're pretty late, you know."

Kirby's eyes widened. "Gah! I'm so sorry! Shard was being stubborn at the station, and..." without finishing, he grabbed my hand and dragged me to where I hoped was our destination. I glanced back at Sword and Blade. They stayed behind briefly before running after us.

"I'm so blaming you for this, Shard!"

"ExCUSE me!? How is this MY fault!?"

We argued for the rest of the run.

So, I should probably explain a few things real quick. Shard comes from a planet that isn't in the games, rather I decided to make one up. The train thing was something random. It kind of comes from my fear of trains in real life, though my fear came from movies and stories and such of trains crashing, exploding, or catching on fire. Since I haven't gotten to watch most of the anime, I've decided to alter Sword and Blade Knight's personalities a bit. They're going to be kind of like goofy big brothers to Kirby. Meta Knight should be easier to work with, since I've done more research on him, plus I remember him far better than Sword and Blade (nearly ten years, and I still remember he had that accent).

Anyways, I hope this chapter was decent. I'm having to resort to a dictionary, thesaurus, AND Wikipedia to help me with a few things. I'll do my best to update more often. Hopefully now that my cousin is back in school and I'm stuck at home with nothing to do I will have the time to work on the story. If you have any questions, I would appreciate it if you would send then via Private Message, as I will most likely see them there first than in your reviews. Please and thank you :)

Again, if you have any advice, I would greatly appreciate it!