King Dedede rushed over to his hovering throne chair, his pace brisk and determined. Plopping down on his seat, the penguin fumed. His mind kept replaying that humiliating scene that just took place down in the basement like some kind of broken replay button, and it only managed to further infuriate him.
"Pah! How dare that insolent little friend of Kirby's ruin my genius television scheme?! I almost had the villagers chase that pink menace out of my village!"
He slammed his fist down on the armrest, since Escargoon wasn't present at the moment.
"I'll show him not to mess with the King of this land!"
Dedede brought forth the button that summoned his widescreen and the rest of the technologically advanced gadgets that followed – the necessary stuff to transfer Demon Beasts and such. After several seconds of whirring and humming, the Customer Service's smiling face blinked into existence, ready to take his next order. Dedede was determined to purchase the strongest, most horrible Beast he could get his hands on, and this time its target wasn't going to be Kirby.
"Dededede..." The king snickered.
"My, you seem to be in good spirits today, Your Majesty." Customer Service informed him.
Dedede scoffed. "Yeah, well I'm not. I've got another little pest to get rid of."
"Oh?" The service man quirked an eyebrow.
Dedede nodded. "So you better get me something useful this time! Not one of those weak little beasts that can't even handle someone like Kirby!"
"With all due respect." The man on the screen began, his smile still very much fake. "You haven't paid your fees yet for your last several purchases, and so I regret to inform you that I can't be of service to you until you do."
"What?! You loan sharks..."
"Our corporation values payment as much as we value our customers, Your Majesty."
Dedede had no choice but to weigh his options. On one hand, the penguin could pay the man and get it over with, which would also allow him to buy other Demon Beasts in the near future. On the other hand, Dedede could rely on his own wit and intelligence, getting rid of that purple child the traditional way.
Dedede reluctantly chose the first option.
"Fine!" He shouted, waving a fist in the air. "I'll pay you, but then you better get me the best of the best."
The Customer Service's smile widened. "But of course. You know our vast collection of Beasts is sure to have one that will suit your needs. We run this business with pride, you see."
"Yeah, yeah. Just get on with it." Dedede sneered.
"If I may be so bold to ask; who is this Demon Beast's intended target?"
"Oh, right. I almost forgot to relay that little pipsqueak's message..."
The strange-looking man's interest seemed to be piqued at that moment, for his smile dropped for just a second before returning full-force.
"My, a message? Now who could have a message for me?"
Dedede shrugged. "Not you, but your boss, Nightmare. The little guy just told me he said 'hi'. Can you believe the gall of that guy? Demanding a King to do his bidding." The monarch fumed again.
"...And what was the name of this person who sends his regards?" Customer Service asked with a careful tone, his smile still unchanged.
"Marx, I think. Something along those lines." Dedede said. "He's gotten in my way three times now, so I won't stand for it any longer!"
Customer Service suddenly choked on his own spit. Dedede watched on with confused amusement as the man struggled to breathe, and when he finally regaining his breath, he righted himself and adjusted his tie like nothing had happened.
Now this was interesting. Dedede hadn't seen this guy react so strongly to a mere name before.
'Who is this Marx anyway? And where did he come from?' The king thought.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty." The salesman said with a cough. "But I must have heard incorrectly. Did you perhaps say Marx?"
"Are ya deaf? Yeah, I said Marx!" Dedede shouted.
There was a brief silence as the screen glitched for a moment. Then Customer Service's smiling face reappeared as soon as it had disappeared.
"I see. How very interesting." The man chuckled. "King Dedede, I am afraid I can't send you a Demon Beast to eradicate this foe. My Boss...requires his presence as soon as possible, so it would be in your best interest to relay this message back to Marx." The Customer Service's face darkened. "Should you refuse...then I'm afraid we can no longer be of use to you."
Dedede startled. "What?! You can't do that!"
"Oh but we can."
"Grr, then what if I pay you extra?!"
"No can do, Your Majesty."
Dedede was at a loss for what to do. Never before had he been denied anything, least of all a Demon Beast (unless his fee was due, of course). If he had been in another state of mind, the penguin might have contemplated what this all meant, but instead his anger rose and he only abhorred that little purple ball all the more. It seemed like that pest was determined to be a thorn in his side – in more ways than one.
'How dare he oppose me...' The king thought bitterly.
"Fine." Dedede eventually relented. "But I'm not giving up on getting rid of him. I'll just do it myself then, see if I care about your Demon Beasts! Pah!"
"But you will relay our message, correct?"
"Sure, whatever." Dedede waved him off.
"Great! It has been a pleasure doing business with you, King Dedede."
The connection broke off after that. Dedede sat in the now darkened room, alone with his thoughts.
"Waddle Dee!" He shouted, and as soon as the words had left his mouth, one scurried into the room and stopped just before Dedede with a salute.
He looked down at it. "Go fetch Meta Knight for me. I've got a message for him to relay."
The Waddle Dee hurried out again in search of the knight.
Meta Knight immediately teleported away from the door leading to the room his majesty was in, and then he proceeded to walk calmly back with an air of someone who had business to tend to in that particular direction. His stoic appearance spoke nothing of the internal distress he was currently experiencing, his mind running a mile per hour as he poured over the new information he had secretly gathered.
Meta Knight had known from the beginning that something was off with Marx, and this sudden development only further supported his now completely rational suspicion. That jester couldn't be trusted, not when he had a connection to Nightmare, of all people. Was he a Demon Beast? If so, what was his end goal? To destroy Kirby and take over Popstar, or to lure the younger star warrior away from the planet and take him as captive?
The possibilities were endless…
The knight had to warn Kirby, and Fumu as well. She was a bright girl, and could easily see past the cute exterior this sudden new threat used like a weapon. They would deal with it accordingly, before anything truly bad could happen.
The Waddle Dee that had been assigned to fetch him appeared right as he rounded the corner.
"What is it?" He asked, feigning ignorance once the Waddle Dee beckoned for him.
The Waddle Dee conveyed its silent message, and Meta Knight nodded.
"King Dedede requires my presence? I see. I shall take my leave then." He added curtly.
As he left for the room King Dedede resided in, Meta Knight couldn't help but clutch Galaxia tightly, as if an enemy lurked right behind the door. He pushed it open and entered, taking in the sight of an irritated looking penguin.
"Your Majesty." Meta Knight said, gaining the penguin's attention. "You required my presence?"
"There you are, Meta Knight. Took you long enough!"
"It will not happen again, Sire." Was all the knight said.
"I'll have you know that this mission I am about to send you on is extremely important! You must do as I say, Meta Knight, so prove your usefulness by telling that Marx guy Nightmare wants to meet him."
Meta Knight tightened his grip on Galaxia. That blasted name…
"Your Majesty." He said, his voice sounding slightly strained. "Forgive my insolence, but why do you need me to do this? Surely a servant such as I isn't allowed to know of your business with Nightmare."
Everyone knew he was behind the Demon Beast attacks, but not much could be done about it – for now, at least.
"Sure, sure. That information is highly classified, but you now have a once in a lifetime chance to prove your worth once and for all." Dedede snickered. "So take this knowledge and be useful with it. My entire business with Nightmare is at stake here!"
"...And what would prevent me from not relaying your message? That would rid us of the Demon Beast problem, Your Majesty." Meta Knight stated calmly.
"De-" The penguin startled, not having thought about that from the looks of it. "Y-you'll do as I say, or I'll have to exile you for your disobedience!"
Meta Knight bowed. "As you wish."
"Oh, and tell Escargoon to get here immediately!"
Meta Knight remained silent as he left, his cape billowing behind him.
"Hey, hey! Kirby, did you find any food yet?"
"Poyo..."
"What, you didn't?" Marx giggled. "Well, that's pretty useless, isn't it?"
"Poyo poyo!" Kirby scolded, wiggling his nubby arms in front of the purple jester.
Marx swatted him away with a foot. "Relax," He said. "We'll just have to find something together then, no problem!"
"Poyo!" Kirby cheered.
Both of them were sitting on the floor in Kirby's house, although the pink puffball had only just returned from his food gathering escapee – without the food, of course, which left them at their current predicament.
"What about the watermelon fields?" Marx offered.
"Poyo?" Kirby said, a smile forming on his face. "Poyo!"
Marx gave a smile of his own, although his looked a bit more deranged than his friend's.
"Then it's settled. Let's go raid-"
Just then, a huge gust of wind blew in through the window and hurled the two of them aside, Marx hitting the opposite wall with a startled shriek. Kirby flapped his arms like a bird, trying to stop from being sucked out of the window, but wasn't having much luck. As his friend vanished from sight, Marx was unfortunate enough to still be in the house by the time it lifted from the ground and tumbled away, the strong winds lifting it like it weighed nothing.
When the house finally landed – upside down to boot – Marx flung the bed sheets that covered him away. He blinked at the complete and utter chaos around him.
"Wow..." He said. "What the heck was that?"
"Poyo!" A distressed Kirby shouted from outside. "Marx poyo!"
"I'm okay Kirby!" The jester shouted back. "But seriously, what just happened?"
He couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Leaving the more or less destroyed house behind, Marx noticed the whole area around them had been subjugated to those unnatural winds as well. The ground had several barren spots that looked like a tornado had passed through the area, and the grass seemed to have literally been ripped out. The distant sound of crying made its way to Marx's ears like music.
The cosmic jester couldn't care less about all of this, especially since he was still hungry. He turned around to look at a confused Kirby.
"Let's go eat those watermelons while everyone's distracted by...whatever just happened!" He cheered, summoning his ball to balance on.
Without waiting for a reply, Marx tap-tapped away, his destination those cultivated fields bearing the fruits of someone's hard work. Marx could see his friend following behind him in his peripheral vision, and he couldn't help but smirk. This would probably land Kirby in a lot of trouble – not him, of course, because Marx would just blame his gluttonous friend. He was sure everyone would believe him too.
Once there, Marx summoned his wings and wasted no time in cutting several of the watermelons into four equal halves, which he was able to do with the help of his crescent-shaped blades, of course. That attack was pretty handy outside of battle, too.
Being the smart person that he definitely was, Marx then gathered all of the pieces with his wings and teleported back to the upturned house, and then he left said pieces on the ground to enjoy in just a moment. It wouldn't do to eat back in the fields, because anyone could walk by and spot him in his thievery act. So instead he chose to put one of his many skills to use.
By the time he warped back to the fields to fetch his friend, though, Kirby was nowhere to be seen. All that he spotted was an angry gathering of those yellow people standing around while lamenting the loss of their crops. Marx took one good look at the ruined fields and giggled.
It would seem that Kirby helped himself to a few watermelons while Marx was gone, which indeed landed him in trouble, just like he had predicted.
"Oh! Marx!" Fumu shouted, having spotted him hovering above the fields. "What are you doing here? Looking for Kirby?"
"Yep!" Marx nodded.
"Sorry, you just missed him. He ate all of those watermelons, that glutton!" Bun shouted, pointing at the mess he and Kirby had made.
"Yeah, I can see that, hehehe!" Marx giggled again.
"Uhh, well, we gotta go now, Marx. We have to find Kirby before he does anything else he isn't supposed to!" Fumu added, turning around to leave. Bun followed close behind his determined sister, sparing the purple puffball a questioning look.
"You coming?" He asked.
Marx shook his head. "Nope! Not yet, at least. Gotta do something first. I'll join you guys later on, okay?"
Bun shrugged. "Sure, okay."
Warping in and out of existence again, Marx found himself back at Kirby's dome-shaped house, and his next course of action was to enjoy a much-needed lunch break. Much to his extreme frustration, however, Marx only managed to eat one of those savory watermelons before someone not entirely unexpected showed up.
"I have a message for you." Meta Knight said as he entered the upside-down house. He spared the watermelon pieces one glance before returning his gaze on Marx, who now had a frown upon his face instead of his trademark cute smile.
"Oh?" Marx feigned ignorance, his voice dripping with fake cheer. He kind of wanted to hurt Meta Knight for disrupting his lunch. "You have a message for little old me? Hey, hey, hey! Tell me, then, Meta Knight!"
Meta Knight nodded. "King Dedede has ordered me to relay a message from...Nightmare." He said, the name being spoken with pure contempt, although his masked face betraying nothing. "The Holy Nightmare Corporation requires your presence. How you'll do that is of no concern of mine, but listen closely."
With a swift motion, Meta Knight drew his golden sword and brandished it with profession, the tip of the blade mere inches away from a now smiling Marx. Meta Knight flipped his cape back, his eyes briefly flashing red before returning to yellow.
"You should have no business with someone like Nightmare, Marx. You have no idea who you are dealing with. I can't be certain, but I know you are trouble. I won't let you lay a finger on Kirby."
Marx giggled. "Oh, but I'm allowed to mess with Popstar, right? As long as I don't hurt Kirby. Hehehehe!"
Meta Knight's sword lowered slightly. "Bringing harm to Popstar will make you an enemy of not only I, but Kirby as well. Whatever you are planning, it won't work. You working with Nightmare will only bring you doom."
Marx scoffed. "Sure, whatever, Meta Knightmare."
Meta Knight's eyes widened slightly. "What? How do you-"
"Hehehehe, I read that little nickname of yours in a book a few days ago! I must say, you really suck at being a defender of the galaxy. How weak is the GSA, to lose as badly as you did? You must feel pretty bad, being one of the only survivors, right? Haha, you should have died along with them – that's probably what you're thinking, right?!"
Marx ducked just before Meta Knight's sword could cut him in half, giggling all the while.
Meta Knight stood silently, the air around him feeling heavy and oppressive, and then he turned around and left without another word.
Marx stared as he left, and then went back to eating his watermelons. It wasn't his problem Meta Knight had a stick up his ass.
"This is great!" He cheered. "I knew Nightmare would take my bait! And all because his precious Demon Beast has seemingly come back from the dead, hehehe!"
He left one of the watermelon pieces untouched, deciding that he would share one with Kirby. It would make the little one happy, for sure, and a happy Kirby was more useful than a sulking one.
"I'll just have to figure out how to contact him." Marx shrugged with a foot. "Hmm, I know Dedede has that screen he uses to order those Demon Beasts...I guess another trip to his castle is in order, but...maybe later."
For now, Marx had a friend to find.
Marx thought it would have been funnier if Kirby actually ate Dyna Blade's chick. But noooo, he just had to raise it instead. Kirby of the Stars, forever destined to be the Hero everyone loved and worshipped.
Or, at least, that's how it was supposed to be. Here though, it seemed as if the villagers weren't all too fond of the pink puffball, which was surprising. Marx guessed it must have been due to Kirby being a baby – and as a baby he was likely more inclined to cause trouble for those around him.
This was actually perfect, in a way. Marx could use this wavering distrust between Kirby and the villagers when the time was right.
But for now, the cosmic jester just watched as Kirby left with the villagers, waving goodbye to the retreating Dyna Blade and her chick.
Cute. And also boring.
Marx flung a ball at the chick and sent it blasting into its mother with a startled cry, and festive confetti showered its prone form as a bonus.
The sight made him laugh hysterically.
"Marx!" He heard Fumu and several others shout.
"Whoops, I've got an appointment with myself, so see ya!"
Marx turned to look at Kirby just as Dyna Blade let out an enraged cry, her enormous wings already getting ready to blast him away.
"Hey, hey, hey." He said. "See ya at your house, Kirby. I saved something for you!"
And then he flew away like his life depended on it.
Back at the house, Marx waited for Kirby to arrive. It didn't take too long, thankfully, when his heroic friend floated into the open door and sat on the roof of the still upside-down house.
"Poyo?" Kirby asked once he landed before the jester.
"Here." Marx replied, and then he proceeded to kick the last of the watermelon pieces straight at Kirby's face, who in turn immediately vacuumed it up with that black hole of a mouth he had. Marx expected nothing less.
"Poyo!" His little friend cheered, looking thoroughly pleased by the sudden turn this meeting had taken.
Marx laughed, feeling satisfied with sharing his food instead of gobbling it all up. He wouldn't share with just anyone though. Food was important to him for more than one reason.
"Poyo..." Kirby began. "Poyo!"
The jester nodded. "Yeah, yeah. You're welcome. Tomorrow I'll introduce you to Pop Flowers I guess. Oh, and I'll also teach you how to talk, because your 'Poyos' are getting kind of repetitive."
"Poyo?" Kirby said, looking curious.
"...Yeah, it might take a while though."
"Poyo! Marx poyo!"
"Yep, that's my name." Marx said, and then he smiled widely, his fangs showing.
"And it's also the name everyone will fear one day."