Chapter 3: The Name You Should Know!


Beginning of this chapter in a nutshell:

https/youtu.be/FBSlMubGHjM

A/N: For Kirby's voice, just imagine it's his game one, but words. Take these for reference (and cuteness). Third clip on the first link sounds like it could be a very young child, imo. That's his voice in this fic.

https/youtu.be/PsDJMncE7-M

https/youtu.be/C8yKcNjc-Hc

Also, just as a side note, his Poyos are a verbal tic that he says commonly, but most commonly subconsciously when he's emotional, whether those emotions are positive or negative. He turned that verbal tic of his into his personal cheering sound.

With that out of the way, enjoy!


"No... Meta... Dedede... Bandana... don't leave me... please..." Kirby whimpered in his sleep. "Magolor, don't... don't put on the crown... Meta!... Dedede... no!" Kirby shot up, wide awake, with a small shout, hitting his head on something hard and wooden, though the blow was softened by his night cap, which had been involuntarily summoned onto his head when he fell asleep.

He had had a... nightmare? But how?! The Fountain of Dreams couldn't- no, it wouldn't-have let that happen! Then it all came rushing back to Kirby. There was no Fountain of Dreams. He was in another world. He was under El's bed, the bottom of it must have been the thing he hit his head on.

Awake as he was, Kirby was still a bit groggy. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and stretched, smiling slightly at the pleasant sensation. Kirby crawled out from under El's bed. He was starving! Time for some breakfast! El was sure to have something! That would cheer him up after his nightmare!

Kirby jumped up to grab the knob and opened El's closed bedroom door, before dropping back to the ground. Kirby walked out and rounded a small corner, taking his night cap off and putting it behind his back, causing it to disappear into his Hammerspace. The first thing Kirby saw after rounding the corner was a kitchen table that seated El and some big Human with a mustache that almost rivaled Mario's.

"Um, Dad, there's something I need to tell you," El said. "'Course, kid," the big human said, ruffling El's shoulder-length hair, causing her to give a small smile and blush. "Well, um," El began, looking off in a different direction.

That direction just so happened to be Kirby's direction. As soon as she saw him, her eyes widened and she gasped. Quirking a brow, the big human turned and looked at Kirby, too. Oh. Time to meet her dad!

"Hiiii~ I'm Kirby!" Kirby said, standing up on his tip-feet and waving both of his stubby arms excitedly.

The dad-Human jumped from the table.

"Jesus! What the fuck?!" The human cried. Kirby tilted his head. Who was Jesus? The human, who Kirby just noticed was dressed in a police uniform kind of like the one Chief Bookem wore in Cappy Town, pulled out a small gun from a holster at his hip and pointed it at Kirby.

Woah! They had guns in this world?! Cappy Town was one of the only places he had ever seen those things! Nevertheless, Kirby side-flipped out of the way just as a shot rang out. That was close. The man took quick, heavy footsteps towards Kirby, continuing to fire at him with the gun. Kirby ran in a zig-zag pattern that he kept unpredictable so as to avoid the bullets.

It only barely worked. Kirby could feel the heat as the bullets whizzed just past him, for NOVA's sake! Kirby jumped from furniture-piece-to-furniture-piece, causing the Human to curse and hold the gun with both hands, firing wildly at him. Even despite his clear panic, he was skilled. That much, Kirby could tell.

Leaping into the air from a coffee table, Kirby landed on a soft green couch. It was pretty cushiony and nice. Maybe he'd be able to enjoy it more if some mad-human wasn't chasing him with a gun! That thought led Kirby to realize that... he wasn't hearing any more gunshots. Kirby looked toward the big dad-Human, who was pointing the gun at him still; though his teeth were now gritted.

Slowly, and shaking all the while, his gun-holding arm lowered all the way down to his side. "El," he grit out. "Let me go." Kirby blinked. She was doing that? Then he remembered. Oh, yeah! She beat me up last night; and now, she's saving me!

"Not until you promise to calm down," Kirby heard El say softly, yet sternly, from the kitchen. With what seemed like great difficulty, the dad-human said "Fine." "Good," said El. "When I let you go, I want you to holster the gun."

Mustache-human's eyelid twitched, and he said, with what seemed like even greater difficulty than before, "Fine." And then the strange buzzing that had filled the air and tickled Kirby's skin disappeared. Glaring at Kirby intensely, and without ever taking his eyes off of him, the mustache-human slowly slid his gun back into its holster. Kirby could see his jaw grinding from here.

El walked into view from the kitchen. "Thank you," she said. Looking like he was half a second away from jumping across the couch and squeezing the life out of Kirby with his bare hands, the Human said, once more through gritted teeth, "Okay. Now explain." El cringed.

"His name is Kirby," she said. "He showed up last night after Mike left and you went to get groceries. He's an alien."

The big human's left eyelid twitched. "What." "He's from a planet called Popstar," El elaborated. "What," the big Human repeated. "Why... why the fuck does it know English?" The big human whispered to himself in frustrated, astonished befuddlement. Kirby tilted his head. "English?" He asked.

The big Human jumped. "Jesus Christ!" He said, clearly frightened out of his wits. Kirby did his best equivalent of a furrowed brow. "You keep talking about Him. Who's He?" Kirby asked.

The Human stared blankly at Kirby, before beginning to pace back and forth, running his hand through his hair and muttering "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." Kirby looked questioningly at El, who only offered him a small, awkward, apologetic smile.

"How the fuck does it know English; what the fuck..." Kirby heard the human mutter. "Oh! I don't!" Kirby said, hoping to clear things up. The human man snapped his head at Kirby. "What... did you just say?" The man asked, looking just a tiny bit insane. His eyelid was twitching. "I don't know English; I'm speaking Dream Land's language; Somnaic," Kirby said.

Before the man could explode or something, Kirby added, "Where I come from, our speech, no matter what language it is, is just heard by the people we're talking to as whatever language they speak, and vice-versa," Kirby said.

The man stared at Kirby.

Kirby stared at the man.

The man looked downward, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Oh my God," he groaned in miserable disbelief. "You keep saying names," Kirby noted. "Are they like your NOVA?" He asked curiously. For the umpteenth time, the man stared blankly at Kirby.

"Dad, he needs a place to stay while he tries to find a way back home," El said. The man continued to stare dumbly at Kirby. "Can he stay?" El asked. The man continued staring at Kirby, but this time it was no longer in bewilderment. It wasn't quite a glare, but the man's eyes had narrowed, and he was analyzing Kirby very, very closely.

Kirby shifted his eyes around uncomfortably.

Eventually, the man sighed, looked downward, pinched the bridge of his nose, and said, "Fine."

He was immediately enveloped in a hug by El.

"Thank you, Dad," she said gratefully.

The man's eyes softened, and he ruffled his daughter's hair. "Sure thing, Kid," he sighed. Then, he slowly removed himself from her grasp and walked up to Kirby. Kirby had no clue how tall the man was, but he was taller than most humans Kirby had met, and when one is eight inches tall, pretty much everyone else was, (unless they were also that short), pretty intimidating, even when they weren't trying to be.

This man was definitely going for intimidation. And he was succeeding a bit, too. Kirby had faced worse, though, so not much could intimidate him. The man glared down at Kirby, his tall body casting a shadow over Kirby's own. "I catch you doing anything to hurt my daughter, it is your funeral."

Had he the ability, Kirby would've gulped.

He quickly cheered up, though. The man was letting him stay! He could be a new friend! Smiling, Kirby said, "Don't worry, Sir, I won't." The human man smirked a bit. The shadow that had fallen over his face was gone. "Good," he said. Then he turned to walk away. "Wait!" Kirby cried, hopping off the couch and running toward the man. "You didn't tell me your name!"

The man looked somewhat annoyed. "Hopper," he said simply. "Hi, Hopper! I'm Kirby!" Kirby said. Hopper gave a small, amused smirk at Kirby's repetitiveness, but quickly snuffed it out. Kirby had held his right stub out to shake. The man furrowed his brows, then, hesitantly, lowered a hand down to shake. He wrapped his hand gently around Kirby's squishy nub of an arm and shook it once, before letting go and walking back toward the kitchen table, where he had been eating breakfast with El.

"Alright, El. Sorry we couldn't finish breakfast. I gotta go or I'm gonna be late," Hopper said, putting on a big cowboy-looking hat that reminded Kirby of the hats Westers wore (or that he wore when he got the Whip ability from them). El walked over to him and hugged him. He kissed the top of her head, before walking out the door.

As he went through it, Kirby could swear he heard one final "Jesus.".

Kirby and El were silent for a bit.

"Well, all that only made me more hungry," Kirby said. He joined El by the table where she had hugged Hopper and jumped up into Hopper's chair so he could get a look at what was on the table.

His mouth watered.

"Oh, boy! Waffles!" He said excitedly. He looked at El. "Hey, El? Can I have what's left of Hopper's waffle?" Kirby asked. She blinked. "I could just... make you some," she offered. "Oh! Yes please!" Kirby said. Then he thought a bit.

Why not do both?

"I'll still eat what's left of his, though," Kirby said to El.

And that was all the warning she got before Kirby, who had forgotten his new friend didn't know he could do such a thing, opened his mouth to ridiculously-wide proportions and literally inhaled Hopper's food, plate and all.

El's mouth fell open as Kirby's closed."mm-mm," Kirby said happily, a big smile on his face. Then he opened his eyes, which had closed when he smiled, and saw the way El was looking at him.

Oh, right. He hadn't told her he could do that.

Looked like he'd have some explaining to do.


One explanation (and two Eggos, as El insisted on calling the waffles) later saw a still slightly-disturbed El giving Kirby some exciting news. She was going to meet up with some friends of hers so they could surprise one of their other friends, who was coming home from a summer camp; the "Dustin" El had mentioned last night.

Kirby loved surprises! Dustin would be so happy that his friends were there and that they did that for him; Kirby just knew it!

That's why he had to be there!

"Kirby, are you sure?" El asked seriously for the fifth time in the five minutes between her informing Kirby of her plans and getting ready. "Yep!" Kirby replied, cheerful as ever. "I wanna meet your friends, so I can make them my friends!"

El bit her lip. "But we can't let anyone but them see you," she said. Kirby frowned, tilting his head in curiosity. "Why?" He asked. "I don't know what it's like where you come from, but people here don't... treat different people-people with powers-well," she said in a very grave tone. Kirby's frown deepened. It was really like that here? What an awful place to live!

Then, Kirby remembered she had powers, too. And if the look on her face, the fear and sadness, was of any indication...

Kirby shivered.

Maybe she was speaking from experience?

...

What had happened to her?

The two of them were quiet for quite a while. Suddenly, though, Kirby brightened up as he got an idea. "I could hide in your backpack!" He said, triumphant and proud of his awesome idea.

El blinked. "That... could work," she said slowly. "Yippee!" Kirby shouted, jumping up and down in a circle. El smiled at the sight. "You have to be very quiet and still, though, okay?" She asked. "Okie-Dokie-Lokie!" Kirby cheered.

El couldn't help the smile growing on her face. His mood was... contagious...? That was the word Dad used, right? She shook the thought off. If they were going, they'd have to go now. "Okay. Are you ready then, Kirby?" El asked.

"Heck yeah!" Kirby said, pumping his nub of an arm in the air. El giggled. "Okay," she said. "Let's go." Kirby hopped up onto her bed, which she was sitting on, and climbed into the biggest pocket of her backpack, making himself comfy.

El zipped him up, leaving the zipper open just a little bit toward the bottom. Cool! He could watch everything and decide the perfect moment to pop out and introduce himself! The backpack he was in lifted into the air, and he felt it settle on El's shoulders.

And with that, the journey had begun.


Well, not really. They only went as far as the end of what El called her "driveway". Apparently, this "Mike" she had mentioned during the earlier scuffle with Hopper was coming by on something called a "bike" to pick her up.

Kirby heard a clicking sound, and the sound of something moving on rock, probably the "street" that "cars" (like the one that had hit him last night) traveled down.

Boy, Kirby had to learn more about all these things. When he got back to Popstar, he could tell Dedede all about them, and then he could get smart people like Sailor Waddle Dee, (the Halberd's engineer who, after Kirby took it down eight years ago, left the Meta Knights to work for Dedede instead, even though Captain Vul liked to take credit for the Halberd, that meanie) to make some for Popstar to use. That could... what was the word Meta used for stuff like that? Revolutionize everything!

Oh yeah, it was all coming together.

The sound of a bike peddling down the street was getting louder, though. He should probably pay attention to that. Suddenly, Kirby heard the voice he had heard through the walkie-talkie last night, except it was much clearer now, obviously.

"Hey, El! Ready to go?" The voice said. "Hi, Mike. I'm ready," El responded.

Sweet! Time to really get this show on the road!


This show was taking way too long, Kirby decided what felt like hours later. At least the bike was slowing down. That had to have meant that they had reached Dustin's house. But...

Kirby put one of his nubs over his mouth. He had almost just let out what would have been a very loud yawn. Kirby wanted to wait until after they had surprised Dustin to show himself. That meant he could doze off for a while, right?

The second he closed his eyes, Kirby was out like a light. Such was the nature of his naps.


Kirby awoke to screaming. Oh no! His friends-who-didn't-know-they-were-his-friends-yet were in trouble!

Not on his watch!

Kirby, with no small amount of effort, struggled out of the backpack, tumbling onto the carpeted floor. It seemed that El had set the backpack down. When he got to his feet, he saw El and a bunch of other Human kids hiding behind the tallest of them all, who had dark skin, and was being sprayed in the face by something in front of him. Their backs were all to Kirby.

Kirby took off his nightcap and stuffed it into his hammerspace. He ran forward determinedly, intent on charging the threat to El and her friends head-on.

Unfortunately, he realized it was just another kid right before he collided with him, bouncing right off of his leg and onto his back. Kirby opened his eyes, and everybody was staring at him. The screaming had stopped. "Huh?" A male voice asked. Something picked Kirby up off the ground, lifting him up. Kirby saw that it was the kid he thought was a monster of some sort.

Well, as good a time as any!

"Hi! I'm Kirby!" Kirby said cheerfully. Everybody except for El screamed. The boy who was holding him dropped him, instead of hitting the ground, though, Kirby got hit by a foot, sending him flying through the air in an arc, before he hit a bouncy landing on the ground.

Sitting up, Kirby rubbed his back, where the boy's shoe had collided with him. "Owwww..." He said. He was starting to get really tired of being attacked when he tried to make new friends.

"What the hell?" Asked a female voice Kirby didn't recognize. "What is that thing?" The male voice Kirby knew was Mike asked. "That's Kirby," El answered. "He's not dangerous."

Uh, Kirby kinda begged to differ about that last part, but if it would make his new friends stop beating him up, then he'd let it slide for now.

In time, though, he'd have to show them what he could do. That would be pretty cool.

"Wait, you know that thing?" Asked the tall kid who had gotten sprayed in the face by the one with the cap. "He's not a 'thing', and yes," said a somewhat offended sounding El. "What is it-I mean-... he?" Asked the girl with the orange-looking hair. "He's an alien," El said matter-of-factly.

"You're shitting me," orange-hair said with blatant disbelief. Kirby winced. He didn't like curse words. Dedede often struggled to keep from using them when he was around Kirby. "I'm not," El insisted. "Are you sure it-he's-not just some escaped lab creature?" Asked the skeptical-sounding tall one, whose eyes, Kirby noticed, were squeezed shut. "Yeah. What if he's from the Upside Down or something?" Asked a worried-looking boy whose hair reminded Kirby of a coconut. "I dunno, Will," replied Mike. "He looks too cute and colorful to be from there. Not to mention the lack of slime. And no, Dustin, Dart was not cute, even as a larva."

The one with the cap pouted.

"Besides, Will, El closed the Gate months ago."

Coconut-head looked anxiously at Kirby. However, he soon relaxed, almost as if he had been waiting for something and had been relieved when it hadn't happened.

"Yeah, you're right, Mike," coconut (Will?) said.

Before anyone could say anything else, Kirby got to his feet and beat them to the punch. "I don't know what the Upside Down is, but I'm not from there!" Kirby said. He walked happily over to join the Human kids. "I'm from Planet Popstar!" Kirby said.

"Holy shit," the boy with the cap said. "Holy shit."

"Woah." (Orange-hair)

"How the hell...?" (Tall one)

"Oh my God." (Will)

"Holy shit, it's actually fucking talking..." (Tall one)

"Holy shit." (Cap-boy)

"Okay! Everybody, calm down!" Said Mike. Then he kneeled down to get on Kirby's level. "Uh... hi...little guy," he said awkwardly with a small wave. "Hi!" Kirby responded excitedly. Mike smiled.


Kirby, the Far-Flung Hero of the Stars

https/youtu.be/AwKW6Wr3_Wo


"HO... LY... Shiiiiit!!!" Cap-boy squealed. He quickly got on his hands and knees and crawled toward Kirby. "Hey, little guy! My name's Dustin! You're really an alien?" Cap-boy-Dustin asked, each question only a few seconds apart. "Yeah!" Kirby said.

Orange-hair got to her hands and knees as well. "I'm... uh... Max," she said awkwardly, looking like she still couldn't believe what she was seeing and hearing. "Nice to meet you!" Said Kirby. The tall one kept his eyes squeezed shut with one hand on his hip and the other pinching the bridge of his nose, but simply said "Lucas," then exhaustedly muttered, "Jesus." For NOVA's sakes', who was that?! Even though Kirby already knew his name, Will then got down to Kirby's level. "I'm...Will," he said. "Hi, Will!" Said a smiling Kirby.

Lucas rubbed at his eyes. "Okay...now, Max... I... need your help." Then he walked away, toward a nearby sink in the kitchen. Wow, more rare stuff! Kirby had only seen sinks in two places: Castle Dedede and a good amount of the houses in Cappy Town.

Now it was only Kirby, Mike, Will, El, and Dustin in the room.

Kirby heard Dustin squealing and looked over. Finally, the curly-haired boy burst. "This... is... the coolest welcome back surprise, ever."

"Poyo!" Kirby cheered. He jumped onto Dustin's head, much to the boy's surprise and delight. "And it's only gonna get cooler!" Kirby said. It was true.

He hadn't even show them his Copy Abilities yet.


After the big get-together in the living room, Dustin had led Kirby, El, Will, and Mike into his room and showed them some of his inventions. It was all so cool to Kirby! The most technologically-advanced thing they had in Dream Land was the Halberd. Metal tools and such weren't really a thing.

Even if they were, though, Kirby was still impressed that Dustin, a kid, had been able to build stuff like that. Kirby may not have been older than Dustin (Dustin had said he was fourteen years old, while Kirby was only twelve), but it didn't mean he couldn't still be impressed by the skills he had at such a young age!

El and Mike didn't seem very impressed, though. They were... what would Dedede say? Something funny for sure. Ah! Glued at the hip. El and Mike were glued at the hip. Only Will and Kirby seemed sincerely curious about Dustin's projects.

Then, Dustin brought out the big guns. He had built this huge radio called Cerebro, all by himself! He just wanted their help putting it together so that he could contact (Kirby was squealing just thinking about it) his girlfriend!

Kirby was proud of him!

It reminded Kirby of the butterflies he got in his stomach every time he thought about Ribbon. He had messed around with romance before; the first time he had gotten a girlfriend, she was a puffball, just like him. Her name was Susie; just like Dustin's girlfriend; though Dustin's Suzie was spelled with a 'z'. Unfortunately, there was a reason (several) that Susie was Kirby's ex.

Demanding, selfish, and just downright mean, to name a few. He and ChuChu had briefly crushed on each other when they first met, during the second Dark Matter catastrophe. Kirby was pretty sure that Ribbon would be the one, though. The feeling he got with her was unlike Susie or ChuChu.

It was true love.

Well, and their relationship was literally official.

Enough about him, though. He had to go help Dustin contact his girlfriend! Kirby, El, Dustin, and Will were filing out the door, Kirby once more hidden in El's backpack with the zipper slightly open, when they passed by the sink, where Max was holding Lucas's head under the water.

When they asked where they were going, Kirby and Will cheerfully replied, "To see Dustin's girlfriend!", in unison.

They were already out the door when the two astonished teens who were left behind asked incredulously for confirmation.


Soon enough, everybody had arrived at the foot of the big hill overlooking Hawkins, which was called Weathertop. Kirby forced open the zipper of El's backpack and tumbled out, landing on the grass.

Ah, this was more like it! More like Dream Land, that was. A nice, peaceful field, green grass, big hills, and maybe some Chips and Waddle Dees roaming around, a Bronto Burt or two flying through the air in the warm spring breeze to finish the picture.

He tried not to think about the noticeable absence of his three bestest friends, Dedede, Bandana Dee, and Meta Knight. Wait! No time to be sad now, poyo, I've gotta help my new friends build something! I'll... find a way back soon.

I don't know how... but I will.


https/youtu.be/uj9hqmywdgQ

They had been walking for quite a while at this point, but still had a ways to go to make it to the top of the hill. "Aren't we high enough?" Complained Lucas. "Cerebro works best at a hundred meters!" Dustin said cheerfully. "You know, I'm pretty sure people in Utah have telephones," said an annoyed Max. "Yeah, but Suzie's Mormon," Dustin said.

"Oh, shit," Lucas said, sounding sincerely concerned. Kirby frowned a bit. Was "Mormon" a bad thing? "She doesn't have electricity?" Lucas continued. Oh. Kirby guessed it wasn't. Having no electricity was better than having some, in Kirby's opinion. You could spend all day in the sunshine with your friends! What could be bad about that?

Then Kirby remembered that this place wasn't exactly Dream Land. No offense to this place, but it had nothing on Kirby's home. Dream Land was a paradise. Kirby sighed. There I go missing it again...

Kirby was walking in front of Mike and El, just behind Will. When Will heard Kirby's sigh, he must have thought the puffball was as exhausted as he and everyone else were; because he turned around and said, "Don't worry, Kirby, I'm sure we'll reach the top soon," with a reassuring, if awkward, smile. Kirby smiled back, and Will turned back around to face toward the top of the hill again, but Kirby wasn't reassured about the thing Will thought he was.

"Anyway, Dustin, what are Mormons?" Will asked. "Super religious white people," Dustin replied. "They have electricity and cars and stuff, but..." He trailed off briefly, probably to catch his breath. "Since I'm not Mormon, her parents would never approve," he finished.

Kirby frowned. "Awww, that sucks..." he said. He could practically feel Dustin's disappointment himself, for Stars' sakes! He couldn't imagine not being able to be with Ribbon just because he didn't worship the Crystal of Joy like the other fairies on Ripple Star did...

"Yes it does, little man..." Dustin said, shaking his head in disappointment at his situation. He soon perked back up, though. "It's all a bit..." He looked backward at all of them, meeting Max's annoyed eyes. "Shakespearean," he finished with a smile that looked both like he believed what he said and like the smiles Dedede gave Meta Knight (or anybody, really, but mostly Meta Knight) when he knew he was annoying him.

Kirby may not have understood what "Shakespearean" meant, and thus didn't get the joke fully, but he still huffed out a laugh. As Dustin turned back around, Max playfully asked, "Shakespearean?" "Yeah," Dustin said. "Like Romeo and Juliet?" He pushed. "Right," Max responded, sounding both annoyed and amused. "-Star-crossed lovers?" Dustin asked, pushing further. "I got it," Max said, apparently now no longer amused and fully annoyed and exhausted.

"Hey, guys!" Mike suddenly called. His voice sounded more distant than it should. Kirby and the others turned around. Mike and El had fallen behind, and were way down the hill. "This is fun and all, but, uh..." Mike trailed off, pointing at his watch. "-I have to go home," A smiling El said, finishing the sentence for him.

"We're almost there," an annoyed and astonished Dustin said, pointing to the top of the hill, which was indeed close at this point. "Sorry, man!" Mike responded in a strangely cheerful tone. "Curfew!"

"Are you, um, coming, Kirby?" El asked. "Nope!" Kirby cheerfully replied. They clearly wanted some romantic alone time, and he wouldn't get in their way. Besides, it was great to be outside, and he wanted to talk to Dustin's girlfriend! She wouldn't be able to tell he wasn't a Human, after all...

El furrowed her brow. "How will you get back later?" She asked. Kirby thought for a moment. He was pretty sure that, on his flight last night, he had seen this very hill, El's house wasn't very far away from here, actually.

"I'll fly!" Kirby said happily. He also could just do the easier and quicker thing and ride a Warp Star, but he'd rather not blow everybody's minds just yet. Besides, people were more likely to see that from the ground than if he was hovering. Snapping out of his thoughts, though, Kirby looked up to his human friends to see that everyone had gone quiet. El and Mike were no longer smiling. They were staring at him like he just said Nruff's could fly, for Stars' sakes! Then Kirby remembered that he hadn't told them he could do that.

"Did... did you just say, you'll fly?" Will asked. Kirby turned around to face him. "Yep!" He said. Then he opened his mouth and inhaled some air in; though not enough to trigger his Inhale ability. After sucking in the air, he closed his mouth, causing his body to instantly inflate. He flapped his stubby arms and rose high into the air.

Just to prove his point, he continued flapping, keeping himself at the same height to demonstrate that he could do it for as long as he wanted. Then he stopped flapping and slowly floated toward the ground; made sure to face away from anybody, and spat the Air Pellet out, causing his body to go back to normal.

Everyone was silent.

Lucas spoke up. "Y-you know what, man? Fine. Whatever. That's weird but I've seen weirder and that's cool as fuck so... whatever." "Agreed," a wide-eyed Max said. Will just stared at Kirby with a dropped jaw, and further up ahead, Dustin had the widest grin on his face Kirby had yet seen from him. "Alllright, well, uh, let's-uh-let's go, El!" Mike said in a slightly crazy-sounding tone. El, eyes wide, lips slightly parted, forced out a soft "Good luck," before tearing her eyes away from Kirby, turning around, and following Mike down the hill.

"Byeee~" Kirby said in a happy, yet slightly teasing tone. El and Mike were such lovebirds.

Kirby turned around to face his remaining friends, and said, "Alright, let's keep going!" as he skipped happily up the hill.

With only Lucas, Max, Dustin, and Will left, Lucas uttered a quiet, "What in the everloving hell is my life?" before Lucas started trudging up the hill as well. Dustin, Max, and Will soon followed.


The sun was now setting as the group had finally reached the top. Dustin reached the very top of the hill, put his hands on his hips, and said a simple, "We made it."

"Yeah, only took five hours," noted an upset Max. It had been years since his last adventure with Adeleine, so Kirby had forgotten how easily and quickly Humans got tired. It had probably only been about two hours.

Regardless, nobody except for Dustin and Kirby were happy.

"Why couldn't we just play DND...? Asked a winded Will. Kirby barely stopped himself from chuckling out loud at his own thoughts. Heh, winded Will. While Lucas loudly gulped water and had a short conversation with Max in the background, Kirby curiously waddled over to where Dustin and Will were laying out the pieces of Cerebro that they had lugged up the hill.

Kirby would've offered to help when they first started up the hill by storing the bags that had been holding the parts in his Copy Palette, but just hovering had freaked these humans out. Even two hours ago, Kirby knew that displaying his Inhale and ability to store things that were way bigger than him in a personal pocket dimension inside his own body would've probably made everyone else (except for El) pass out and Dustin start dissecting him.

He had only just met them today. Considering Humans seemed to be both the only intelligent creatures on this planet and its dominant species, it was no wonder they were so freaked out when they first saw him. They had been taking it surprisingly well since then, probably because they had prior experience with that "Upside Down" place that Will had hinted other weird creatures had come from.

Still, though. He had only met them today. He didn't want to overwhelm them.

Eventually, Lucas and Max had joined them and started setting everything up. Kirby couldn't really help with all that. He may have probably been physically stronger than all of them combined, but with how short he was, and how tall all those metal parts, rods, and antennas were, that wouldn't help him, or anyone else, for that matter, very much, so he just sat back and watched.

Eventually, the job got done. And boy, was Cerebro cool! From Kirby's point of view, that antenna might as well have been as tall as Butter Building!

Okay, maybe not that big, but still.

Seeing the look on Kirby's face and hearing his awed and overjoyed coo, Dustin turned around, smiling.

"Pretty impressive, right?" He asked.

"You betcha!" Kirby replied, jumping to his feet and walking over to join his human friends, closer to the big radio. "Now, you ready to meet my love?" Dustin asked.

"Okay, sure," Max said.

"Yeah." Will.

"Poyo!" Kirby cheered.

Dustin sat down and switched on the radio. "Suzie, this is Dustin, do you copy? Over," he said.

No reply.

Dustin looked awkwardly up at his friends. "One sec. She's probably... she's still there. Suzie... This is Dustin, do you copy? Over."

No reply.

Dustin looked up at Kirby and the others once more. " I'm sure she's there. It's just-" "Yeah," Lucas said tiredly. "-You know, maybe she's, like, busy, or-" "Yeah." Lucas said again, in a tone that made Kirby think he was starting to doubt Dustin's claim of having a girlfriend. "It's around dinnertime..." Dustin trailed off.

"Mmm..." said Lucas.

"Yep," said Max.

"...here," Dustin said, finishing his earlier sentence.

Dustin shrugged and went back to his radio; and his 'do you copy's. Lucas looked down at his feet, hands on his hips. Max crossed her arms, looking up at the sky. Will stared down at Dustin, looking too tired to feel anything else. And Kirby...

...felt sorry for Dustin.

Kirby sat down, and waited.


Kirby sat down and waited so long, in fact, that when Will gently shook him awake, he realized that... well... he had been not awake. Oh. And it was night, too. The nearly-full moon shone high above. Woah, Kirby thought. It wasn't often he saw a moon this full. Popstar had two moons, but the one that most commonly showed itself to the residents of Dream Land was the one that had a third of itself blown up when Kirby had defeated Nightmare ten years ago.

"Kirby, c'mon, buddy," Will said. Kirby sat up and yawned, pulling off his nightcap and putting it into his hammerspace. Will's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, but he eventually just shook his head, muttered a quiet "whatever" and stood up.

"Everyone except for Dustin and I have already left. You should probably head back to El's," Will said tiredly. "Okay," Kirby yawned, getting to his feet. Suddenly, he remembered something and felt a bit more awake. "Oh! Did you guys get to talk to Suzie?" He asked excitedly.

Will looked away awkwardly. Kirby met Dustin's eyes, before he looked away, too. Oh. "Goodnight, Dustin. See ya tomorrow," Will said. "Yeah, tomorrow," Dustin sighed as Will ran off down the hill. Kirby frowned. He didn't want his friends to be sad!

Kirby walked up to Dustin and laid a nub on his back. "It's okay, Dustin, I'm sure she'll pick up next time," Kirby said. Dustin met Kirby's eyes and smiled. Remembering what had happened earlier, Kirby said, "And, even if no one else does... I believe you."

Small tears appeared in the corners of Dustin's eyes. "Thanks, little buddy," he said. "Any time!" Kirby replied with his best impression of a grin, considering he had no teeth. "That's what friends are for," Kirby declared. "It was nice meeting you today, Dustin; goodnight," Kirby said before turning around and inflating himself.

Kirby heard Dustin call out a soft "It was nice meeting you, too, Kirby," as he hovered off in the direction of El's house.


A/N I KNOW ITS LONG BUT PLEASE BEAR WITH ME AND READ IT ALL! And there you have it, my friends, the third and longest chapter yet! Kirby and our main group of heroes have now met, and they're off to a good start! This Author's Note (hopefully) won't be as long as the last, but there are a couple things I want to clarify. (1): Though this is not the world of Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Cappy Town, sans Dedede's castle on the nearby mountain, still exists. That includes its residents, such as Chief Bookem, Tiff, and Tuff, though Lololo and Lalala are, obviously, not around they way they were in the anime. The Cappies living there are, and you'll know this if you watched the anime, different than the Cappies in the games. They're a subspecies that grow to be larger and lack caps. Kirby has a history with Cappy Town that will be revealed later on. For now, though, just know it used to be where he lived before he moved to Dream Land's mainland (Cappy Town is on an island). The mention of the town's firearms is a reference to the well-known and well-memefied moment of the anime that was censored in the 4 Kids dub, where Kirby plays with the guns. Also, the existence of an ex of Kirby's named Susie is a reference to an obscure official Nintendo Kirby comic from the 80's/90's (not sure which it was), in which, Kirby had a Ms. Pac-Man-esque female clone of himself as a girlfriend, and her name was Susie. (2): Will had his little chat with Dustin, we just didn't see it because Will woke Kirby up right after, and this fic will pretty much be locked into Kirby's point of view. So there will be certain moments from the show that Kirby, simply by merit of not being able to just waltz around in public and because he's gonna be with El, and thus, you, the reader, won't be around for. None of those moments are too plot relevant, though, and Kirby will either get filled in or deduce things himself. Either way, he's gonna be around for major plot events and will remain the central character of this fic. (3): Yes, El will be calling Hopper "Dad" for this entire fic. It was a habit she developed between season 2 and now. I know she just calls him by name in the show but we don't do that here, lol. Their relationship is precious to me.

One more thing...

I know the enemy I mentioned in this chapter that Kirby gets the Whip ability from, Wester, doesn't appear until Kirby Triple Deluxe, which takes place after this fic, but I'm headcannoning that they can be found all over Dream Land and aren't exclusive to Floralia, so Kirby's encountered them before.

Well, that Author's Note ended up being even longer than the last one. So much for trying to keep it short. With so many details having just been clarified, though, future Author's Notes won't be this long. I am writing this the night before this chapter is posted. That's what I did with the last chapter, too. But I won't be writing one tomorrow to post the following day. I'll start on chapter four the day after tomorrow (Saturday) and hopefully have it up by Sunday. As always, please review, so I know what you guys think and I can improve with the help of your constructive criticism. With all that said, though...

I, as always, hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you guys...

Next time...