The angel, the arbitrator and the king
There was only one thing that Sandalphon and Zooey knew about the being they were chasing: they hadn't seen anything like it before.
In the distance, it looked like a dark blue sphere. But the thing that bothered them both the most was that there was something vaguely familiar about its aura. Furthermore, they were not alone in their pursuit. A second, smaller figure flew slightly ahead of them, heading straight for the same target but losing a little height as they went. It also seemed to fly somewhat slower than the sphere, as it gradually gained distance from it.
Sandalphon and Zooey looked at each other and sped up: they had to catch up with these invaders. As they drew closer to them, Sandalphon was able to put shape and color into the small figure. When they were close enough to see what it really was... well, Sandalphon couldn't believe what he was seeing. Or rather, he didn't want to believe what he was seeing. It had to be some figment of his imagination, some vague hallucination, because it was too absurd to be real...
"If you don't look at it it's not real, if you don't look at it it's not real" he repeated to himself mentally, trying to make that illusion disappear. He had had enough weirdness in his life with the mutant sharks incident.
"Sandalphon, is that a blue penguin swollen up like a balloon?" Zooey asked him.
Sandalphon let out a groan. If Zooey could see it too, that thing was real. Why was the world so adamant in making him fight the strangest beings?
Their sudden appearance seemed to have startled the "penguin". Because of that, the being had opened its mouth a little, letting out some air before it quickly closed it again. That was enough to make the penguin's flight lose some altitude.
However, they couldn't pay much attention to the penguin because, in that moment, the sphere slowed down and transformed into a sinister humanoid figure, which for some reason, instead of a torso and legs, had a tornado of pure darkness as its body.
The being being turned towards them, without stopping its flight and going backwards.
"I have been here for barely ten minutes and they've already sent two primal beasts to chase me" the being growled angrily, speaking in a dark, sinister voice."Who are your masters?!" he demanded.
Master? Was that creature familiar with the Astrals?
"We do not serve any master: we serve the order and balance of the Sky Realm" Zooey replied solemnly, offended by the being's comment, as she made his cosmic sword appear and pointed it at the invader.
"I see. You are an envoy of Cosmos, the Arbitrator..." the being commented, thoughtfully.
Those words disturbed Zooey, but she continued to raise her sword firmly. "How can this strange being know that name? Didn't it just come from space?" she thought.
Next, the being looked at Sandalphon's wings, and a disgusted grimace appeared on its face.
"And what about you, despicable angel? Has Lucifer sent you?"
Now it was Sandalphon who was overwhelmed. It was not because the invader knew the name of the former Supreme Primarch ( if the being knew about Cosmos, it was impossible for it to not know of the existence of Lucifer, since he had been a more well-known figure). What had overwhelmed him was the revulsion and venom with which the being had said the name of someone so important to him.
"Keep his name out of your dirty mouth" the angel snapped, furiously. He would not allow such a creature to speak of his predecessor in such a way.
The invader laughed maliciously at Sandalphon's rage, before summoning a hail of star-shaped projectiles at both of them. The attack caught the two beasts by surprise, and they had to stop for cover. The being took the opportunity to get further away from them.
"Damn it" Sandalphon growled.
Below him, the flying penguin tried to regain the height it had lost, but it was losing more and more altitude. Sandalphon contemplated the creature. He didn't know its species, intentions, or if it was connected to that invader, but he couldn't let it fall. If so, the penguin would end up in the Edgelands or, worse yet, in the dimensional boundarie that separated the Sky Realm from the Crimson Horizon. In the first case, the penguin would be trapped forever on the back of a primal beast, in the second case, it would probably just disintegrate... If he wanted to get information, it was pertinent to save it.
"Zooey? Can you take care of that invader for a bit? I'll catch up with you soon"
"Leave it to me" she said, guessing Sandalphon's intentions. She made a crystalline rifle appear in her hands and accelerated her flight towards the invader.
Sandalphon swooped down for the penguin and grabbed him by the shoulders with his hands, as if he were an eagle.
"What in tarnation?!" the penguin exclaimed, startled because it hadn't been expecting to be grabbed so suddenly. "Who the heck are you?" it asked rudely after looking up and seeing the angel.
"Aren't you going to even thank me for rescuing you?" replied Sandalphon, a little irritated not so much by the kinda expected reaction of the penguin, but because it speaked in a proud and haughty way.
"Rescuing me? Heh: I had everything under control" the penguin replied.
"So under control that you were falling straight to the bottom of the sky" Sandalphon replied in a cheeky tone.
"What do you mean by ''the bottom of the sky''?" the penguin asked after swallowing, his voice a little shaky. "Is there no surface in this planet?"
"You're not from around here, are you?"
"I am, it's just that I've spent my whole life living under a stone " the penguin replied sarcastically."Do I look like I am from here?!"
"Keep up that attitude and I'll drop you" Sandalphon warned.
"No, no, no. Let's calm down; we're both a little tense" the penguin replied, nervously. "You and the other person you were flying with before are after Nightmare, right? I can help you: I am an expert in everything Nightmare-related."
Sandalphon frowned incredulously. Nightmare? Was that really the name of that invader or was it just a nickname?
During the conversation, Sandalphon, carrying his "passenger" (to call it something), had once again caught up with Zooey. She had managed to close the distance between her and the invader, and was shooting at it with bolts of cosmic energy. But these only seemed to go through the figure of the enemy without further ado.
"My attacks don't seem to affect it" Zooey informed Sandalphon when he reached her.
"Of course they don't: he is immune to almost everything" the penguin claimed.
"It can speak!?" Zooey exclaimed, surprised.
"Yes. And he won't shut up" Sandalphon replied."Take this nuisance with you for a bit. I'm going to try something."
"Me? A nuisance? Show me some respect: I'm a king! " the offended penguin replied while Zooey grabbed him.
"Pfft. Yeah, sure..." Sandalphon laughed.
The penguin had said that the invader was immune to almost everything, but its body seemed to be made of pure darkness. Pure sacred light should be able to affect him, right?
Sandalphon quickly flew closer to the invader, who had begun to descend towards a nearby island.
"You again? Haven't you seen what happened to your friend? Lowly creatures like you can't hurt me" the being mocked.
Sandalphon ignored the taunts and closed his eyes. His multicolored wings, the four gifted by the elemental archangels and his two natural brown wings, folded back to make way for six pure white wings that shone with their own light.
"That power…Why do you have those wings?!" He heard the being scream, with pure visceral hate in his voice.
Sandalphon did not reply. He raised his hands to the sky, opened his eyes, and shouted:
"Paradise Lost!"
A shower of rays of pure white light descended upon the invader. Sandalphon was expecting to hear the cries of pain from the creature of pure darkness, as it was purified by the holy light that protected the Sky Realm.
But the only thing that reached the angel's ears was its laughter.
"Not even the power of the Supreme Primarch can affect me in this form!" The invader celebrated with euphoria, as if he had just achieved a great triumph.
The being took advantage of Sandalphon's confounded state to approach him at great speed and grab him with its unnatural skeletal hands.
"It's that, or you being a pitiful successor" the invader insulted him perversely, while it squeezed him hard. "What happened to good old Lucifer so that he has such a mediocre replacement? I feel the guilt deep in your soul when I say his name. Is he gone because of you?"
"Stop saying his name or I will shut you up forever!" Sandalphon yelled at him angrily. He couldn't bear to hear Lucifer's precious name said with such venom.
The invader just laughed at him wickedly again, basking in the hatred and pain that lay deep in the angel's heart.
"Know your place, primal beast. Don't get in my way again " the being threatened him with pure evil in its voice, before throwing him against Zooey. The blow almost caused Zooey to let go of the penguin, but the avian quickly clung to her again.
"Have fun trying to stop me!" the invader scoffed, looking at the trio.
The being took the opportunity to descend towards the island at full speed, melting into the night. Despite everything that had happened, the two primal beasts were soon chasing with determination, carrying the penguin along with them.
.-.-.-.-.-
"It's not use. That thing has hidden its aura" he heard one of his companions complain.
Dedede was used to having strange adventures. It had something to do with both being the king of Dreamland and having Kirby as your sworn rival / best friend / little brother (sorta). But what had just happened had been strange even to him.
For starters, there were those two flying beings that had been chasing Nightmare. Dedede didn't know what to think of them. Where did they come from? Even Meta wasn't that quick at detecting threats to their land, and he was trained to do so. Besides, as far as he knew, beings of Adeleine's kind didn't fly or have wings, so they had to be something else despite looking like one.
At least, they seemed to be enemies of Nightmare and that meant that he just had to apply the same logic that he had already used with certain members of the Star Allies: the enemy of my enemy is my friend, even if it is a capitalist dedicated to mechanizing planets, a lying magician, a treacherous jester or the evil copy of your "sworn partner".
The second thing was that Nightmare seemed to be familiar with these beings. Not familiar in the sense that he knew them directly, but that he knew what they were. The villain had called them "beasts", but they didn't seem like monsters at all.
Right now, the three of them were in a meadow on the surface of the island Nightmare had descended to, resting by a river from their encounter with the villain, while the girl (or at least she looked and sounded like one) tried to locate his aura. The boy, who had saved him from falling, seemed a little upset. Dedede could understand the young man's dismay: the first meeting with the magician who had become the manifestation of fear was never pleasant. Maybe his savior was upset because he felt weak after his attack failed?
"Don't beat yourself up, feathered boy: I already said that Nightmare is immune to almost all kinds of damage" he tried to cheer the young man up as he patted him on the back."That attack seemed really powerful and cool. Surely any other dark being would have been disintegrated by it."
The boy did not respond to the gesture. He seemed to be a bit lost in his own thoughts.
"What do you know about this being?" the lad said after an uncomfortable silence, in a gloomy tone."You said before that you were an expert in... what did you call him?"
"Nightmare. He is also known as eNeMeE. He is an intergalactic conqueror who feeds on despair and fear " Dedede told the boy." His name and his company, Nightmare Enterprises, are known in multiple galaxies. Have you never heard of him?"
His two companions shook their heads. "I must be in a far far away galaxy or even another dimension entirely. But then, why did Nightmare seem to be familiar with this place?" Dedede wondered.
"Is ''Nightmare'' a nickname or something? Because it kinda is a ridiculous name" the young man commented , after letting out a dry laugh. "What is his main power? To cause nightmares?" he inquired with irony.
"Yeah, that's exactly what that villain does" Dedede confirmed.
"Oh..."
"Well, he also possesses very powerful magic, he can create monsters and it's said that he can corrupt other beings" the king of Dreamland continued explaining. "But causing nightmares is his trademark."
"If he is immune to almost all kinds of damage, what can hurt him?" the girl wanted to know.
"You see, Nightmare not only causes nightmares: he is an embodiment of them. So we can only hurt him in the dream world or by using a magical artifact imbued with the power of dreams."
"How do you have so much information about this creature? Do you know him?" the boy wanted to know, with a little suspicion in his voice.
"Well, if you mean if I know him on a personal level, I don't. But I have had a couple of encounters with him that were the opposite of friendly."
Dedede proceeded to tell them how he and Kirby had stopped Nightmare for the first time, although he sugar-coated his part to make it sound like he had planned the whole thing from the beginning.
"In short, Kirby put together the fragments of the Star Rod and, after freeing Nightmare, gave him such a beating that the Moon of my planet has not been the same since then."
From her thoughtful posture, the lass seemed to be processing the information, but the lad didn't seem to have believed a word of what the king had just said.
Dedede sighed. Perhaps he should have been completely honest with the story. But he wanted to make a good impression!
"I guess you don't have that Star Rod thing with you, right?" the boy said incredulously, as if he was asking for proof of his testimony.
"Oh, right. Give me a second."
Dedede opened his coat and started to search for the Star Rod fragment. Thanks to Meta, he had learned to create small dimensional pockets in his coat to store things inside of it, mainly hammers. He was a little worried after not finding it inside one of those pockets, but then he remembered that he had swallowed it. Which explained that strange stomach ache he had been feeling for a while.
Dedede moved a little away from his two companions, hit his belly hard and, after coughing to unclog it from his throat, he spat out the fragment of the wand.
"That has been more disgusting than I thought" he admitted with revulsion. "I will never imitate Kirby again..."
His two companions were looking at him with an expression that mixed perplexity and disgust in a peculiar way.
"Behold: a fragment of the legendary Star Rod. Gather them all and you will have a weapon to smash the ugly face of the lord of nightmares himself" he announced like a narrator, while raising the fragment high. "But only someone with a totally pure heart can wield it and use its full potential."
"And I guess that this someone is that Kirby you mentioned before" the girl commented.
"You are correct. In the case of my world, the one who could use it was Kirby" Dedede confirmed." But if there's someone with a pure heart in this world, they could wield it too. Do you know someone like that?"
"We do know someone that fits that description" the young man said with a warm smile." Although, I would rather keep her away from Nightmare for the time being. So if by chance that Kirby..."
"Yeah, he has come to this planet too" Dedede completed, guessing what his companion was going to say. "In fact, he entered through the portal that Nightmare opened before I jumped in, but after another partner of ours."
"Wait a minute, if the portal that Nightmare opened closed behind me and I was the last one to cross it... Oh no: we've left Bandana in Pop Star with Magolor!" The king realized, mentally worrying for a moment about his second-in-command. "Well, he is strong and I'm sure he'll know what to do. Also, the Star Allies will be there because of Kirby's picnic, and they'll be able to help him if things get bad over there...especially since the Star Rod is broken again."
"Why is the wand broken again?" the lass asked hesitantly, echoing his thoughts by chance, and snapping him out of his worries about Dreamland. That world was in a more inminent danger than his home.
"Nightmare broke it after Magolor brought him back to life, for some reason I don't know" the king growled. Before they asked about Magolor, he added: "he is a lying magician that you cannot trust. We only put up with him because Kirby strongly believes that he has redeemed himself. But after what has happened, it's clear that is not the case!"
"Now that I think about it, you've said many names, but you haven't told us yours" the lad pointed out.
The boy was right. With everything that had happened in such a short time, Dedede hadn't even remembered to properly introduce himself.
"Of course, where are my manners." Dedede pulled a hammer from his coat and struck an epic pose before proclaiming: "I am the legendary King Dedede, monarch of Dreamland, hero of the Gamble galaxy, and destroyer of gods!"
The boy was still looking at him skeptically. Why was he so stubborn?
"Fine: the last one is an exaggeration" he confessed. "I only helped to defeat a godlike being once or twice."
" ''I only helped to defeat a god once or twice'' " the boy repeated with a certain tinkle. "Those words should not be said lightly, and you pronounce them as if they were not a big deal. You must be lying."
"I'm not lying! Why would I lie about that stuff?" the king argued, angry at the attitude of the boy.
"To boost your ego, maybe?" the boy inquired." You seem to have a really big one."
"Sandalphon, please" the lass tried to calm her companion down." I understand that you're a little upset by all of this, but we gain nothing by arguing."
"Do you believe any word of what he says?" Sandalphon replied, a little indignant.
"What Dedede has told us is difficult to assimilate, but he gains nothing by lying to us."
"I guess you're right" Sandalphon relented, his tension fading a bit.
"I promise you can trust me. King's word " Dedede assured them. " Besides, you want to stop Nightmare; I want to stop Nightmare. I don't see why we shouldn't join forces."
"Hmmm... when you put it that way, it makes sense" Sandalphon conceded.
"So now that I've introduced myself, it's your turn" Dedede continued." Because I'm getting tired of calling you two ''boy'', ''girl'' and similar terms in my mind."
"I am Zooey, the Arbitrator" she introduced herself. "My duty is to keep and protect the balance of this world."
"Nice to meet ya, Zooey" Dedede replied, extending his hand to her as a formal greeting.
Zooey shook hands with the king with a smile. But, before they let go of the greeting, something came out from behind her back, and quickly crawled up her arm. Dedede looked at the creature for a second: it was a small blue dragon, kinda adorable. Before he could finish saying "hello, little fella" while making a petting gesture, the dragon bit his hand unceremoniously.
"Auch! Let out my hand, you little piece of... !" the king yelled as he tried to shake the dragon off of him.
"Dyrn! What are you doing? Don't be mean!" Zooey scolded the dragon, as she pulled it apart from Dedede's hand." I'm sorry. I don't know what is wrong with him..."
The dragon stuck out its bifid tongue at the king, before flying from Zooey's arms directly to perch on Sandalphon's head, making a nest out of his hair. Immediately, a second dragon came out from Zooey's back, but this one just stayed on her shoulder and let out a deep yawn.
"And I am Sandalphon, as you may have heard" the boy introduced himself.
The king was going to extend his hands toward Sandalphon too, but Dyrn looked at him like it was about to bit him again. After noticing this, Sandalphon made a gesture indicating that it was not necessary for them to shake hands.
"No special title?" Dedede asked him.
"None that I deserve" he replied, with an ashamed sigh. "What worth has my title if I can't use the power that was given to me with it to stop an invader?"
"Hey, no negative thoughts" Dedede reproached him.
Dyrn looked at him with a face that said "if you say something mean to him, I'll bite your ass", which made him back off a bit.
"You need to have a shark-like mentality in this situation" the king continued. A strange expression appeared on Sandalphon's face when he said the word "shark", but he decided to ignore it. " As redundant as it is going to sound, negative thoughts fuel nightmares, and nightmares fuel Nightmare himself. I've already told you that it's not possible to hurt him in the real world, so it wasn't your fault that your attack didn't do anything to him. And those things he said to you before? He was just trying to get into your mind by using your fears."
"Don't talk about things you don't know, ''your highness'' " he replied with a strange grimace on his face, which looked like a crooked smile. "He didn't state my fears: what he said were facts. I'm just the pathetic replacement for someone who was better than me."
Upon hearing those words, Zooey hit him on the head with her fist not too strongly, Dyrn getting scared by the sudden jolt.
"Hey, what was that for?" Sandalphon complained as he rubbed the area where Zooey had hit him.
"That was what Gran and Djeeta would have done if they had heard you say that" Zooey replied. "As the Supreme Primarch, leader of the angels, you have done great things for our sky."
"So this guy is an angel? Where are the rings of light and the hundreds of eyes that those things are supposed to have? 02 looked more like an angel than him..." Dedede thought with confusion: the only thing angelic about that guy was his multiple wings. Maybe the idea that he had of these beings did not apply to that dimension, or maybe Sandalphon was just presenting himself in a more friendly and comfortable form.
Sandalphon, for his part, seemed to be about to reply to the words of his companion, but she cut him off, taking him firmly by the shoulders. She then reminded him:
"We are all with you."
"Yes, I'm with you too, even if I have no idea what you two are talking about" Dedede interrupted, giving his thumbs up in encouragement.
This caused Sandalphon to let out a small chuckle. Zooey released him.
"Whatever. I think we should stop talking about me and talk about how we should proceed now" the angel said as he sat down on a nearby rock. Dyrn slid off his head into his lap.
"Well, I still need to know one thing about you two. What are you? " Dedede wanted to know.
"We are primal beasts, artificial life forms created by beings of advanced magic and technology" Zooey replied, while the other dragon fluttered beside her."Although we two are a little different from the rest of our kin. It is hard to explain."
Dedede thought he had understood what was going on: someone had created Sandalphon, had told him "you are an angel with this duty" and he had adopted that as a sign of identity. Same with Zooey and her Arbitrator title. That his companions were artificial life-forms had disturbing connotations. With what purpose would anyone create such powerful and emotionally complex beings? Did he really want to know?
"In that case, then we should leave this conversation for later. I am satisfied with knowing that you are primary beasts" the king finally said. He wasn't in the mood to think about such gloomy things.
"It's primals, Dedede" Sandalphon corrected him, annoyed.
"And it's King Dedede, feathered boy" the aforementioned corrected back. "You still do not have my royal permission to refer to me by my first name. That right is reserved for VIPs."
The only response he got from Sandalphon was a growl. Zooey for her part just shrugged casually.
"Well, let's get back to focusing on our objective" she said, claiming their attention."Sandalphon, do you think Nightmare is still on the island?"
"Unless he teleported away, which we would have noticed, he should."
"Besides, this island seemed to be his destination since we both arrived to this world" Dedede pointed out.
"Should we go back to the Grandcypher and tell the others?" Zooey suggested.
Sandalphon, caressing Dyrn, seemed to consider his companion's suggestion for a few moments before deciding:
"I don't think it's a good idea: he could take the opportunity to leave, and then we will completely lose track of him. Besides, I'd rather keep Gran, Djeeta, Vyrn, and Lyria as far away from that guy as possible."
"Wait, didn't our two captains have a weird nightmare before we left?" Zooey remembered.
"That is right. Do you think it could have been Nightmare's doing?" Sandalphon asked Dedede.
"I don't know who are those captains you're talking about, but if they had an unusual nightmare, I'm sure he's the one behind it."
"But wait, wasn't that at least two hours before he appeared in our world?" the Arbitrator said.
"Well, Nightmare seemed to have this all planned before Magolor released him. Maybe he sent a nightmare to those two to spy on them or something" explained the king.
Zooey and Sandalphon prompted him to continue explaining with their eyes. Dedede made an effort to remember everything Meta had told him about the villain's abilities.
"Although the mere presence of him in a world causes its inhabitants to have nightmares, he does not need to be physically present to invade the dreams of someone in particular. Are your captains important people?"
"Very important" Zooey confirmed."If something happened to them, the world would not recover. Sometimes I fear what would have become of our sky without them."
"That is easy to answer: I would have destroyed it" the angel answered. He didn't seem to be at all proud of that fact.
Dedede understood many things about Sandalphon upon hearing that sentence.
"I get it now: you're a reformed villain" he commented with a sly smile."Don't worry, I'm also a reformed villain myself."
"You? The great hero and king of Dreamland?" Sandalphon replied with a certain tone of irony.
Dedede took a comical over-dramatic stance before saying:
"Yes. I, the great hero and king of Dreamland, was once an idiot who took all the food in his kingdom, among other questionable things, just because he wanted to get attention. Fortunately for everyone, someone knocked some sense into me, in the most literal meaning of the word ''knocked''. But, since then, I have redeemed myself and I am now the most awesome being on my planet."
The way he had confessed that drew a couple of giggles from the beasts. "Well, that has managed to lift their spirits a bit" Dedede thought.
"We're getting off track again" Zooey cut in.
"True, sorry. Sometimes is just so hard to stop talking about a guy as cool as myself" the king apologized.
"Well, if we are not going to return to the Grandcypher for the moment, we should investigate why that being has so much interest in this island " the angel suggested." I guess a good first step would be to find a village or something and ask about this land's past."
"Also we need to discover why does he know so much about us primal beasts if he really comes from space" the Arbitrator completed." I have a feeling that he has some sort of history with our world.
"Mmmm... If I remember correctly, Nightmare took one fragment of the Star Rod with him" Dedede informed." And, although we can't hurt him, nothing prevents us from setting a trap for him to get it back" it occurred to him.
"So much to do, then. Let's get to work" Sandalphon said.
And so, the trio of unlikely allies began exploring the island. They decided to do it on foot, because they didn't know how the islanders would react if they saw them flying in. The ones that took flight were Zooey's dragons, in order to scout the perimeter from the air.
"So, what is your world like?"Zooey wanted to know, as they walked.
"Peaceful, unless threatened by some interdimensional abomination or invading company" Dedede replied.
"I wonder what those interdimensional abominations actually are..." Sandalphon muttered.
"Well, mostly Dreamland and Pop Star have been threatened by Dark Matter, beings born from purely negative energy, and the like" Dedede began to enumerate after hearing the angel's skeptical comment." We've also had to deal with treacherous wizards corrupted by ancient artifacts, mice thieves corrupted by beings locked in ancient cursed chests, insect queens corrupted by ancient cursed mirrors... We have way too many cursed ancient artifacts around there. Oh, and there is also that one time when a sect revived a god of destruction. All of this, and more, after Nightmare was defeated for the first time.
"And what about that ''invading company''? Is it the same company that belongs to Nightmare? You mentioned before that he had one" the Arbitrator said.
"Not at all. They are totally unrelated, as far as I know" the king denied."Those despicable people were dedicated to mechanizing planets and keeping their resources. On the other hand, Nightmare Enterprises was focused on selling monsters, and I was never dumb to fall for their scams when they were still in business... at least not in this universe."
"Well, with all that stuff that you have mentioned, your Dreamland doesn't seem very peaceful" Sandalphon noted.
"I assure you that the rest of the time it is the best place in the universe to live. Besides, my subjects make it worthwhile."
"Subjects?" Sandalphon asked. It seemed that he still did not believe that he was a king.
Luckily, the monarch of Dreamland had something that would definitely remove doubts about his title. He reached into his coat and pulled out a photograph that they had taken at the Forgotten Land's amusement park. It featured all of his Waddle Dees (yes, all 300+), Bandana, and Kirby, with Meta keeping watch from a lamppost.
It was one of his favorite photos: Elfilin had taken it the day before they returned to Dreamland. The Beast Pack had prepared the amusement park so that all the Waddle Dees and the heroes could enjoy it. Meta Knight had to be almost dragged away, since he was still determined to watch over the city from a danger that no longer existed. But, in the end, even the stoic knight had fun.
"Aren't my Waddle Dees the cutest thing you've ever seen?" Dedede asked the other two, a goofy smile appearing on his face as he thought of his subjects. "The one with the bandana is my precious child... I mean, my right-hand man."
"Yes, they indeed are" Zooey commented."By any chance you won't sell stuffed animals based on them, right?" she added. Zooey seemed to be quite fond of cute things.
"What is that pink ball?" Sandalphon wanted to know.
"Ah, that's Kirby " Dedede introduced his rival." That little pink menace has been a thumbtack in my foot ever since I met him."
"So this little guy is actually the famous Kirby you mentioned so much? He doesn't seem like a big deal. And given how you speak of him, you don't seem very upset with that thumbtack" pointed out the angel.
"In the end, you end up enjoying that particular pain. And don't judge him by his looks: Kirby is as powerful as his heart is good."
"And what about the other ball-like being? The one wearing the mask?"
"That's Meta... Knight" he introduced his sworn partner, adding the "Knight" at the last moment. The knight only tolerated Dedede, Kirby and Bandana calling him Meta (although the third never did because he was too respectful)." He is the knight who protects my kingdom: an antisocial who likes to tease me with his comments. And I could trust my life to him."
"You speak of them all so tenderly..." Zooey remarked."They must be very important to you. I'm pretty sure you love them a lot."
"No. Nope. No way" Dedede replied, his face turning red. And that was a lie that no one would ever believe.
It was then when Zooey's two little dragons descended: they had found something.
That brought Dedede's thoughts back to the current situation. This time, he would not stand aside or be controlled like a puppet. This time, he was determined to protect this kingdom and his new allies. This time, he would the one to have an amazing tale of epic adventure to tell Kirby about.
Nightmare, looking at Sandalphon: "I'm about to end this angel's whole mental stability".
Okay, now it is time to adress something: even if usually keep ships out of my fic, there will be mentions of Lucifer and Sandalphon's kinda canonic relationship in future chapters. This will also apply to other characters with canonical romantic interests that may appear or be mentioned in future chapters. Either way, as with my other fics, ships are not the focus of this fic and I prefer to leave them open to interpretation.