The sun shined brightly as it emerged over the hills and through the royal windows. The warm beams of light gleaming over Kirby's face, turning slightly as he scrunched his eyes. He began to wake up, looking at the guest room he was currently residing in. With a yawn, he slowly got up, rubbing his eyes and dropping down from the large bed.
Admitingly the room was very nice, it was carpeted with tinges of yellow, the pale white bricks decorated with red curtains and an unused fireplace from the side of the bed. Kirby walked out of the room, opening the door as he saw a waddle dee holding a spear, standing on guard.
"Hi!" Kirby says happily, waving at the guard waddle dee, who looked at him, but otherwise, didn't respond much back. Kirby was confused by the lack of response, and walked in front of him. "Hello?"
"Hey Kirby!" A voice called out from behind, surprising Kirby as he saw Tiff and Tuff making their way down the hallway, "Sleep well?" Tiff asked.
"Yeah, it was nice! I liked that room." He says with a smile, before turning back to the waddle dee, "But… why won't he say hello? Bandana Dee doesn't have a mouth but he can talk.."
"Oh!" Tuff grins, getting to Kirby's side, "He's just a guard doing his job, he isn't really supposed to say hello to everyone because he has to focus." Tuff explains, "Anyway, lets go get some breakfast!"
Kirby perked up at the mention of food, "Oh! Are we going to the same place as last time?" He asks, eyes sparkling in response, thinking of what kinds of food he could eat, Tiff shaking her head.
"Nope, we're eating here in the castle, with our dad. Although speaking of that Kirby.." she says, putting a hand on her elbow while pressing a finger to her chin, "You really shouldn't do what you did last time at Kawasaki's restaurant, alright?"
"Oh… I didn't mean to eat everyone's food.."
"Hey don't worry bout it!" Tuff says, speaking up, "At least ya know now. Cmon, I'm hungry!"
Breakfast was… somewhat awkward. Kirby didn't inhale everything like last time, but alongside the King, Dedede and Escargoon were with him, eating away at their own meals, glaring at Kirby.
It was completely silent as well, the large table was covered in a red tablecloth, lined with yellow ribbons, and Kirby felt a bit overwhelmed. He liked the castle, but everything was just so big to him and so new to him.
"So. Kirby, have you thought of a spot for where your new home will be?" The king asked the pondering Kirby, pulling him out of the empty plate he was staring at.
"Uhh… I dunno… everywhere seems so busy for me.. so many shops and other people, I don't know where to go.." Kirby says rather meekly, he genuinely didn't consider where he could fit in the town while Tiff and Tuff was showing him around.
"Heh, why don't we just throw ya in the woods!" Escargoon snickers, earning some dirty looks from Tiff and Tuff.
"Would it kill you to be nice?" Tiff asks, firmly locking eyes at him who seemed completely unfazed, "He just hasn't decided yet and that's fine!"
"Well he's not staying here!" Escargoon remarks, "The King won't allow it!"
"I have not made a decision on that." King Ebrum says as soon as Escargoon finished his sentence, "and I trust that when you say 'The King', you are referring to me." He finishes firmly, Escargoon pulling back.
"Of course your highness, you are the true ruler of this land. But you yourself has said in the past that everyone needs to live on their own, and can't mooch off you forever!"
King Embrum stood up, "Yes, yes, I have said that more gracefully, and I do mean that. Does not mean that I can turn a blind eye towards someone who needs help."
Dedede pressed a fist on the table, "Well I want him out! Don't I get a say in this?"
"Sure wish you didn't."
"Shaddit girl!" Dedede points at Tiff, who was rolling her eyes at Dedede's objections.
To prevent a full blown argument, Kirby hopped up, "Ok! I'll live in the woods, like Esteegoon said!"
"Escargoon, you piece of bubblegum."
The room went silent, everyone looking at Kirby, Dedede amused, but the rest were concerned by his response.
"Kirby, you're not gonna live in the woods, that's just plain unsafe." Tiff says, rather concerned. "Yeah, Escargoon was just being a tool and making fun of you for no reason." Tuff adds on.
"Enough name calling." Ebrum says with a sigh, rubbing his forehead with his fingers, before getting an idea, his mustache sharpening in realization of a nice idea.
"Actually… there is a place for you Kirby, if you feel uncomfortable living in the town, and don't need a lot of space, perhaps we could have you live in Green Greens."
Kirby tilted his head, "Green… Greens?" He asks, with Embrum nodding.
"We have some of our people live in Green Greens, as sort of a place to get away. That land is very calming. The only downside is that it's a bit of a walk to the town, but if that's not a bother, we can go find a spot for you."
Kirby smiles as he hears the idea, "Yeah! Green Greens sounds great!" He says, bouncing in his chair in happiness, earning a chuckle from everyone except Dedede and Escargoon, who were only glaring.
"And I don't mind walking! If I get tired I can just fly!" Kirby says, ever so casually.
Then the room went silent again, everyone looking at Kirby who looked at everyone staring at him, "Huh? Whaty?"
"Did ya just say you can fly?" Dedede said in complete bafflement, "Are ya dumb, or are ya just plain stupid?" He says, before erupting in laughter, much to Kirby's dismay.
However, he was starting to get more annoyed than sad this time, "I can fly! It's… more floating, but I can fly!" He says, gulping a bunch of air and hopping off his chair, with everyone looking in surprise once more, but Dedede broke the silence,
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever seen!" He says, laughing more, patting his belly as Kirby continued to glare at him, all puffed up and floating around in the air.
"Guess his mirror broke." Tuff muttered to Tiff, who sighed in response.
"I think this is a good spot!" A rock-like creature said to Kirby, turning around to face him, Tiff and Tuff, alongside some cappy and waddle dee builders, who were all packed up and raring to go.
"Thanks Rocky! We really appreciate you helping us out." Tuff says, Rocky nodding in response. "I'm gonna get to work now, you kids help Kirby plan out his house." He says, marching away to the work bench.
Tuff turns around as he sees Kirby in front of a blueprint, Tiff placing down some small houseguest. "So what kind of house did you pick?" Tiff asks Kirby.
"Well…. the square one looked too sharp, so I asked for the dome one. That was the other option. I don't want a lot, just something I like, poyo!" Kirby explains, the two nodding.
"Hey, Kirby, if you don't mind me asking, why do you say that?" Tuff asks,
"Say what, poyo?"
"That!"
"That?"
"The poyo thing." Tiff asks directly, Kirby's eyes lighting up.
"Ohhhh! I dunno… I just started saying it and I like how it sounds! Poyo, poyo, poyoooo~" he says cheerfully, "Is something wrong with it?" He asks afterwards.
"No, we were wondering why you were saying that all the time, but it's no big deal." Tuff shrugged.
"I think I'm gonna like it here! You two are so nice to me!" Kirby says, seemingly unfazed, to which Tiff nods.
"Yeah, I got you some gifts to decorate your house with." She says, handing Kirby some books and a houseplant. "This will help you pass time every now and then. These are from our library." She explains, as Kirby looked them over, opening one up in confusion.
"What's this…? I haven't seen this before."
"It's a book, we read them all the time…. you can't read, can't you?"
Kirby blinks in response to Tiff's question, which was all she needed to see. Tuff put his arms up and hands behind his head.
"Well wouldn't hurt to teach him, right Tiff?" He asks as she sits up.
"Yeah, the more we hang out with you Kirby, it's like we learn something completely new about you." Tiff says with a soft smile, "Is there anything else we should know about you?"
Kirby took a minute to ponder that question. He showed them his whole inhaling thing, his ability to fly… was there a third thing he was possibly forgetting…
He jolted up, "Oh! What happened to the ship?! I want to keep it!" He says a bit panicked.
"Huh? It's broken beyond repair.. at least, no one here knows how to fix it-"
"I just want to keep it with me! I forgot about it!" He says, running back to Cappy Town, nearly bumping into Plugg who was powering equipment for the house.
"Ack! Kirby!" Tiff shouts in surprise, "Don't run off!
After what felt like so long, Kirby made it back to the town. He seemed to understand that what the king said was true. Cappy Town is quite a way from his new home. He took a minute to breathe from all the running he did, the sun about to set, an orange hue taking over the bright blue sky. Regardless of the day, Kirby began to start running again, finally where his ship was, still in the same wreckage from where it once was, with some Waddle Dees standing over it.
"Sorry! I need my ship!" Kirby calls over to them, who watched in surprise as Kirby brushed right past them, standing on his ship again. They drew their spears at him, which shocked Kirby, "H-huh?! What's wrong?"
"KIRBY!"
He turned to see a bit of a winded Tiff catching her breath, and Tuff running over to the waddle dees, "Hey! What's wrong with you guys, stop pointing your spears at him!" He commands them, and they obey him, looking at him.
"I need to get my ship to my new home.." Kirby says as he hops down, starting to push it, not making even a slight dent in the ground where it seemed firmly locked in place. The two kids and the waddle dees watched as Kirby tried to push his damaged ship, and exchanged looks with each other.
Tiff soon walked over to Kirby, who was clearly struggling. "Kirby, you can't push this ship all by yourself to your new home, besides, it's so damaged that it won't work again-"
"I know! This ship is all I have left… I just wanna keep it, please!" Kirby responds, turning around and trying to push it that way, but soon falls right on his rear, panting a bit.
Tiff and Kirby stared at each other for a bit, "Please let me keep it.." Kirby asks again as she sighed. She clearly didn't want to let Kirby be sad and not keep the ship, but she also knew that there wasn't really a way to get this ship moving anytime soon.
"Listen, Kirby, we'll figure it out another time. It's about time for all of us to go home, we can't stay out too late, so you should head home yourself. I promise, we'll figure this out, ok?" Tiff tries explaining, as Kirby looked up at her.
Kirby slowly got up, looking down at the ground, "Alright.." he says, turning towards his ship, "I flew in this ship for so long… It's so fast! I wish I could fly and be anywhere I want instantly again…" he says, putting one of his nubs on the ship.
After saying that, the ship began to glow gently, much to everyone's surprise, stepping back save for Kirby, who watched the ship brighten up. It began to chirp some electronic notes, lifting itself on the ground before turning into a ball of light.
It spun and orbited around Kirby, who turned to try and keep track of the glowing sphere, before it stopped in front of him, it began to form five curved edges, tinkling a bit as its intense light softened around them.
Gone was the ship, and in front of Kirby was a star with soft edges in its place, much to everyone within the area's surprise.
"My ship… it turned into.."
"A star?" Tuff says in amazement, walking over to touch it, "Woah! It's so warm!"
Kirby touched it as well, as it tilted over, flopping right on top of it. Despite never seeing it before, something about this star connected to him instantly, as he began to hover it all around gently.
"Woah!" He lets out a giggle, spinning it around before hopping off, "My ship! I didn't know it could do that!" He giggles some more, bouncing around, leaving Tiff and Tuff with more questions, now piling them on top of Kirby.
In the distance, the yellow glowing eyes continued to watch Kirby carefully, narrowing at the star that was near him.
"Interesting." He mumbles to himself, "Still not enough information to give to the King, or Dedede, but very intriguing." He concludes, still watching Kirby with a cold, unwelcome gaze.