Chapter 4: What is Kirby Canon?

IMPORTANT A/N PLEASE READ:

A/N: Welcome to chapter four, guys. We are now officially on to episode two of season 3: Chapter Two: The Mall Rats. I have some mildly interesting news. I added mood music to chapters two and three! I can't get the links clickable, so you'll have to copy-paste them into your search bar, in another tab. I'm not sure if you'll be able to listen while you read, depending on whether you're in mobile or on the computer, but I'm still trying to figure out how this stuff works. It's easier to copy-paste stuff if you're reading this in browser, and not on the app. Perhaps you guys could help me out in the reviews? I'm doing this on mobile. Since I'm working on this chapter in Google docs and not in-app, though, maybe the links will be clickable now, since you can insert things in Google docs. Also, here's a fun little piece of background info. You know how Kirby's internal monologue kept referring to Hopper by nicknames like "dad-human" or "big human" before he learned his real name in the last chapter? That's because, on Popstar, while real names are as common there as they are here, oftentimes, one's name is simply their occupation or a prominent physical trait, followed by their species name. Hence, Parasol Waddle Dees and Bandana Waddle Dee, along with Grand Wheelie and such. Kirby was under the impression it's the same way on Earth. Also, Kirby, Green Kirby, Yellow Kirby/Keeby, and Red Kirby from Kirby and the Amazing Mirror nicknamed their team the "Color Quartet" and you cannot change my mind. A few more important details for this fic: when Kirby inhales an enemy and Star Spits them, they don't die after the Star Bullet explodes, they just reappear. Similarly, when Kirby inhales and swallows an enemy to gain their ability, he gets the ability they yield while they instantly reappear outside his body. He can also choose to send the ability he would get to his Copy Palette for later use, rather than manifesting it on the spot. Also, mayyyjor profanity warning for this one, folks. Anyway, that's all. Please enjoy Chapter 4: What is Kirby Canon?(!)


Nonexistence. Blackness. Hints of a mind, somewhere within the remains. This was what it was. The remains of a recently-slain god of darkness. Now, it was nothing more than a small cloud composed of wisps and blobs of neutral energy.

It tried to think, but it barely had the capacity to even understand that desire, or what desire was, or what thought itself was. It was fragmented; its essence, all that it was; literally nothing but strands and globs of gelatinous energy floating through a black infinity speckled with stars.

It was nothing.

It was everything.

It was… Void.

Nothing else.

Forever.

And then, a feeling.

Something new. Something new had come. Something had changed. No longer did it feel only numbness, no longer nothingness alone. The being felt something warm. Something that, even if it didn't know what that meant, even if such a thing couldn't be felt, felt like Light itself.

Soon, the feeling wasn't simply creeping into the being's fragmented "awareness", if it could even be called that. It was washing over the being, filling it, charging it, enriching its entire existence.

Suddenly, everything felt a lot clearer. It-no-he, could feel his consciousness, his entire being, pulling itself together.

Every inch closer the whispy strands of gelatinous energy drew to each other, the more he could think. The more he realized he could think. And then he realized himself. He existed. He… was.

Just as all the bits of energy touched each other and took form, and life returned to the being, washing into and animating his entire being with an intensity that couldn't be described, a plummeting feeling appeared in his newly-formed stomach. Flames engulfed his entire body, causing pain, yet not burning him.

With his newly-formed voice, he screamed.

And then, impact.

His birth, or re-birth? It didn't really matter. The first thing he felt with his physical body after said birth was excruciating pain. How wonderful. The being blinked with his new eyelids. Did he just… feel something? Annoyance?

He looked up, up from his place at the bottom of the crater formed from his impact. A creature stood at the top of it, the being realized, as the dust cleared. It-she? had bright yellow skin and hair; orange feet, and a green and pink outfit.

The being blinked. Again. How did it know what any of those things were? "Hey!" The thing (girl?) called. She slid down to the bottom of the crater, where he laid on his belly. "What are you?" She asked. "Are you a space-alien?"

And suddenly, the being knew. Like so many other things about himself, he didn't know how, or why; only that he knew. He may not have remembered much about his past life, only that he wasn't happy before, and now he was.

And so, he felt joy for the first, but certainly not the last, time in his existence.

And so, opening his mouth and speaking for the first time while literally jumping for joy, he said:

"I'm Kirby!"


"Hey… hey…!" Kirby murmured and shifted in his sleep. He had been having a nice dream about when he first met Tiff. But now, was something shaking him? "Hey, marshmallow!" A loud voice shouted. "Poyo!" Kirby screamed as he literally jumped awake, five feet into the air, in fact, flailing his limbs.

"Gah! Jesus," the voice said, emphasizing the second half of the word. When Kirby landed bouncily on the floor, he looked up and realized it was Hopper, on his hands and knees. He tilted his head. Why wasn't he under El's bed?

Sure, he didn't need to hide anymore, because he had already introduced himself to Hopper, but there was no reason to move his big nest of blankets out from under the bed last night, especially considering how late he got back. Thank the Stars El had left her bedroom window slightly open, like the night Kirby arrived.

"Damn, kid, ya okay?" Hopper asked.

"Did you have to scare me awake?!" demanded Kirby. Hopper's eyes hardened. "Yes; actually, because I've got some questions that need answered if you're gonna continue staying here," Hopper said. "I gotta go to work soon, and I sacrificed my designated breakfast time to do this little interview instead, so you better deliver."

Kirby, again, would've gulped, had he a throat.

"It's alright, Kirby, he just wants to know more about Popstar," came El's voice to Kirby's right.

"Wah!" Kirby cried, jumping away and to his feet, before relaxing upon realizing it was El. "Boy, everybody wants to scare me today, huh?!" Kirby said, upset. El was sitting on the bed. She was offering Kirby a sympathetic look, but also looked like she wouldn't mind learning more about him, herself.

After hearing him sigh, Kirby looked over at Hopper to see that he was looking downward in annoyance, pinching the bridge of his nose and clearly trying to keep himself calm. He looked up, meeting Kirby's eyes.

"Look, kid. I'm sorry for waking you up the way I did. Let's just get this over with so that I can go to work and you can go back to sleep… okay?" Hopper said in what Kirby guessed was his best attempt at a soothing tone.

Kirby felt his annoyance fade a bit. It was fair that Hopper wanted to know more about him.

"Okay," Kirby said. "Okay," Hopper repeated carefully. "Now, yesterday, El said something about this "Planet Popstar" place that you're supposedly from. Then, you said something about "Dream Land". I'm gonna need some more info about both of those places," Hopper said.

Kirby perked up a bit. He always loved talking about his home. "Well, Popstar's located in the Gamble Galaxy," Kirby began. "Popstar looks like a big yellow star, and it has two blue rings around it. Dream Land's the biggest country and kingdom on it, and it's ruled by one of my best buddies, King Dedede," Kirby said.

"Daroach says that Popstar's both the brightest planet and the brightest star in space," Kirby continued. "That's why bad guys that like darkness, like Zero and his Dark Matter, and Necrodeus, go after it so much. They wanna get rid of its light and happiness. And that's why I'm there!" Kirby said, pumping his nub into the air enthusiastically.

"Me, Dedede, his best servant and royal advisor Bandana Waddle Dee, and my swordfighting teacher, Meta Knight, are there to save the day and protect Popstar's light and the people of Dream Land's dreams!" Kirby declared proudly.

Hopper looked downward as he stroked his beard in thought, taking in all Kirby had told him. Then his eyes met Kirby's again. "You'll have to tell me more about all the people you just mentioned later, but for now, I wanna know how you got here," Hopper said.

Kirby's brightened attitude evaporated almost instantly. He looked downward sadly. "Well, I was playing with Bandana Dee and Dedede one day, and Meta Knight was there, too; when all of a sudden, this big spaceship called the Lor Starcutter showed up!"

Hopper's eyes narrowed in concentration as he absorbed this information, and he hummed to show he was listening and to encourage Kirby to continue. "Its five main parts fell off of it and went to the five points of Popstar, and it lost all its Energy Spheres-its power source-too, before crash-landing," Kirby continued.

"My friends and I went inside and met this mean liar named Magolor, who was the one flying the ship. He's from Halcandra, a planet on the opposite side of the Gamble Galaxy from Popstar. I was stupid, so I said that me and my friends would help him repair his ship so he could go back home, and he said that he'd even take us on a vacation there as a reward; but he was a liar!"

Hopper's eyebrows went up slightly in interest. On her bed, El's eyes narrowed at the word "liar". "Magolor's ancestors, the Ancients who lived on Halcandra and disappeared thousands of years ago, had built all these super cool things, like the Lor Starcutter, the Galactic NOVAS, the Fountain of Dreams, which is the source of Dream Land's dreams, and the fountain's power source, a special wand called the Star Rod. Dedede, Meta, Bandana and I spent a week traveling all across Popstar to get all the Energy Spheres and ship parts, and it wasn't long before the ship was fully-repaired."

"Magolor brought us all to Halcandra, but after we got there, this dragon with four heads named Landia shot us down." El was paying strong attention, and seemed to trust Kirby so much she believed everything he was saying, if her eyes widening in concern was of any indication. However, one of Hopper's eyebrows raised skeptically when Kirby mentioned Landia. Nevertheless, Kirby continued.

"Magolor had been ex-ca-vating (that's the word he used, right?, Kirby thought to himself) all the things the Halcandrans made, and the Lor was one of them. When he took it out for a spin, though, Landia, who's the guardian of the Halcandran's treasures, thought he was stealing it and shot him down, but he heard of me from a friend of his who met me before so he traveled to Popstar to get my help."

"But he was lying! We stopped Landia for him but he was only after her crown, the Master Crown, the source of limitless power! He actually did steal the Lor Starcutter and tried to fight Landia with it, but she beat him, which is why he went to Popstar to get my help. He put on the crown and became super powerful, so he decided to take over the universe and wanted to start with Popstar."

Hopper's skepticism seemed to have vanished as he payed closer attention than ever before. El looked saddened, concerned, and angry all at the same time. Once more, Kirby ignored the reactions of his friends and pressed on.

"He opened a portal called a Dimensional Rift, which leads to this place underneath reality and between different parts of it. It's called Another Dimension, and it lets you travel from place-to-place faster. He went into it so he could get to Popstar, but Landia, who split into four dragons after we beat her up, since she was actually four dragons all along that used the Master Crown's power to fuse into one, gave each of us a ride so we could chase Magolor through Another Dimension."

"We caught up to him, but he shot us down, separating us from the dragons. Then, we fought him and beat him, but he realized that we would win if he kept fighting us, so he opened a rift to this world that tried to suck us in. I saved Dedede, Bandana Dee, and Meta Knight, but got sucked in, and then I ended up here. I don't think this is just a different planet than my own, though, I think this is a different universe than the one Popstar's in…"

When Kirby had finally finished his story, El was glaring down at her lap, seeming angry at Magolor on Kirby's behalf. Hopper was looking downward, hand paused in its stroking motions on his beard. He looked very, very deep in thought.

"…well… thank you, Kirby," Hopper began. "You're… you're good to stay, kid. I just… wanted to know more about you before I let you, essentially a stranger, no offense, continue to live under my roof, in the same room as my daughter," he continued. "I hope you understand. I'm sorry that… all that… happened to you," he finished.

Kirby sniffled and wiped away a few tears that had gathered in the corners of his eyes. "It's okay, poyo… you just want what's best for the people you love…"

A short while passed in silence.

"Well, I gotta go. I'm gonna be late," Hop eventually said. He stood up from his spot on the floor, walking over to where El sat on the bed, glaring downward as tears shimmered in her eyes. Hopper appeared not to notice it, because her eyes were downward from his point of view, and Kirby was sitting on the floor. He kissed the top of her head, saying "Love you, Kid."

Then he looked at Kirby, gave one more nod of thanks, and walked out of the bedroom. A few moments later, Kirby and El heard the front door close. "I'm sorry, Kirby," El eventually said. "I… I know what it's like to find out that someone you thought cared about you, was actually bad."

Kirby looked up at El. She was looking down at her lap in what looked like a mixture of sadness and anger. Once more, Kirby found himself wondering what had happened to her. Why did such a young girl seem to have been through so many bad things?

(Kirby tried not to think about the fact that he was younger.)

The subject of her name was a sore topic, she clearly knew from experience that people with powers weren't treated well, and she knew betrayal, too? He had to find out what had happened to El. He had to find out what was haunting her, and help her work through it. Because what good would he be as a friend otherwise?

If he hadn't helped Dedede, he would still just be a greedy manchild (that being the word Meta used to use to describe him) of a self-proclaimed king.

If he hadn't helped Meta Knight, he would still be what Dedede called a "militant extremist". Or, in other words, someone who believed that they and their military knew best for the people of Dream Land, and were willing to hurt and kill to rule it.

If he hadn't helped Bandana Waddle Dee, he would still just be Waddle Dee, just another guy in a sea of others who looked just like him, forever struggling to overcome his anxiety and find an identity of his own.

Kirby had to help El, and to do that, he needed to know what was wrong. When the time was right, Kirby would find out.


A few short minutes later, El had realized Mike was late for his usual visit. She had gone out to the porch to see if he was peddling down the road, but had come back with no luck.

She picked up what she had explained to Kirby yesterday was called a "telephone". It was sort of like Kirby's Cell Phone, which he occasionally used to call Warp Stars or, during his Mirror World adventure, his fellow members of the Color Quartet, but it had to be connected to a wall and it wasn't portable.

Boy, this world just continued to disappoint.

Anyway, El had had a short conversation with Mike on the phone. El had annoyedly told Kirby afterward that his Nana was apparently sick. She had a feeling he was lying, though, because Hopper had gotten the news from Mike's mom the previous night while Kirby was still up on Weathertop with everyone else, and Hopper had told her it was a false alarm.

Mike's story begged to differ, though.

So Kirby had, once more, at his own insistence, found himself in El's backpack. They were going to Max's. Why, Kirby didn't know. El just thought she could help. Kirby was just glad to hang out with his friends.

https/youtu.be/ON9XAIZzn2A

Kirby heard the sound of something on the street, and it wasn't El's footsteps. It couldn't have been, because she had stopped walking. Suddenly, the sound stopped, and El continued walking. Soon enough, Kirby heard her soft voice say, "Hi." Then, Kirby heard Max's voice: "Hi?"

Then El asked, "Can… we talk?"


After that, they entered Max's house. Kirby felt El take her backpack off and set it down on something soft. Kirby pushed his way out and landed face-down on a bed. Once he righted himself, he sat down next to El, to her left, to see Max standing in front of the recently-closed door to what Kirby guessed was her bedroom.

Max was looking at Kirby in mild surprise. "Uh… hey, Kirby," she greeted awkwardly. "Hiiiii~" Kirby responded. Then El summed up her earlier phone call with Mike. Kirby tuned it out, because it was pretty boring if he was being honest (not that he wouldn't pretend to be interested if he noticed that his disinterest was making his friends sad), and stared off into space for a while, eventually dozing off. He had gotten back to El's and to bed rather late last night, of course, and then had his rude awakening and story time with El and Hopper, so he was pretty tired.

He awoke when El gently shook him back into the land of the living. "Hey, Kirby." Kirby whined as he sat up groggily, looking at El through half-lidded eyes. She seemed apologetic at having woken him up. "Max and I are going to the mall. We'll be back later." Kirby's eyes opened fully. He didn't know what a mall was, but if his friends were going to one, then it must be fun!

But then he remembered that no other creatures but humans seemed to exist here. Thus, he couldn't show his face in public. El seemed to notice his disappointment, because she said, "Don't worry, I'm sure we won't be gone for too long. You can just go back to sleep, and I'm sure we'll be back when you wake up."

Then she and Max had left in a hurry, Max practically dragging El away by the hand.

Kirby would be lying if he said he hadn't seriously considered going back to sleep. But… since he had to tell Hopper his life story and then left with El immediately afterwards, he hadn't gotten a chance to eat today. And boy, was he starving.

Kirby whimpered. The two things that defined his lifestyle were at war with each other. He was so tired, yet so hungry…

But, Kirby wouldn't be able to get back to sleep on an empty stomach. He knew that. So, he stood up, stretched, and hopped off of Max's bed. He wandered out the open bedroom door, which had been left that way in Max and El's hurry to leave. Surely Max would have some food.

And surely she wouldn't mind if Kirby… borrowed it.

If it really came to it, he could save some food for her in his Copy Palette and give it to her later; because, unlike the food Kirby swallowed with the intention of eating, the things he stored there could be returned.

There was a reason other than his Inhale ability that he was compared to a black hole. Not only was his hunger endless, but his stomach was, too. That was actually the reason Kirby's hunger was so... insatiable (the big word Meta liked to use).

In other words, it was hard to really stay full when one's stomach was infinite in size.

While he could choose to send certain things he swallowed to his Copy Palette, things he ate to satisfy his hunger were sent to a different pocket dimension inside his stomach (because yes, as impossible as one sounded, he did, in fact, have two) where, like a black hole, nothing that entered could leave. Meta had said that the stuff that went there probably floated around for a bit while his pocket dimension did its version of digestion, before the food just turned into pure energy that provided nutrients to his body.

Also unlike his Copy Palette, that place was infinite in size, which was why Kirby could only store five things in his Copy Palette but could (thank the Stars) eat as much food as he wanted, even if he felt full for an hour or so after a good enough meal.

It wasn't that bad, but Kirby had always been somewhat annoyed that his Copy Palette wasn't infinite as well. Not only would he be able to keep every cool thing he found, he could store every Copy Ability he knew of and call on it any time he needed, rather than have to look for and inhale something that could give him whatever ability he needed at any given time.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, though, Kirby wandered out of Max's room. He soon found a pantry. When he opened it, he, frankly, lost it. Control, that was. Cheese puffs, cheese balls, crackers, chips of all different flavors, including triangular nacho-flavored ones. All of those and more awaited him.

Never let it be said that Kirby kept people (or anything, for that matter) waiting.


A full Kirby slept contentedly on Max's bed, after devouring three bags of chips, two sleeves of saltine crackers, one soda from the fridge, and one bag of cheese puffs. Kirby had considered eating the cheese balls, but it looked too much like he was eating little orange Puffballs without limbs or faces for his liking.

Okay, maybe it was a bit of a stretch to say they resembled Puffballs. After all, only the general shape was the same; they lacked all other features of a Puffball.

Still, though, the similarities (similarity, just one) were a little too unsettling for Kirby. So he left those alone. He had… completely forgotten to save anything for Max. If this was Dream Land, where fully-cooked meals just popped into existence every now and then thanks to the Sparkling Stars, he'd just go out and find some for her.

However, this was not Dream Land. Thus, he'd have to find some other way to make it up to her.

Anyway, his nice dreams of strawberry shortcakes were interrupted by the slamming of a door; the house's front door, he guessed; a slam so forceful the walls of the house shook. Kirby jumped up with a cry of surprise. He jumped so high, in fact, that he hit his head on the ceiling before falling back onto the bed.

"Fuckin' nine at night, and that bastard's nowhere to be found," said a very angry-sounding adult male voice. The sound of the fridge opening. The clinking of glass bottles. The sound of the fridge closing. "Damn; at least Maxine's havin' a sleepover with a friend, so at least there's one duty that motherfucker ain't neglectin'."

Maxine? Ah. Max's name must be short for her full one.

The man must have seen the note Max left on the fridge door, which Kirby saw when he got his soda, which stated that she would be out with a friend and that if she hadn't returned by dark then she was sleeping over.

Kirby whimpered. This guy cursed a lot. And he sounded so angry…

"Neil, please, calm down…" an adult female voice said. "I can't, Susan, my son's out way past his damn curfew, probably causin' trouble," the voice said. "Matter of fact, come to think of it, he's probably out with some whore, the son of a bitch."

A slight glare settled onto Kirby's small face. He didn't know who this guy's son was, but surely he didn't deserve to be spoken of in such a mean way.

"Hah! And ain't that the truth! Son of a bitch! Haha!"

Kirby now felt sick to his stomach. What was wrong with this guy?

Suddenly, though, he realized. That must have been Max's dad. And the female voice, her mother. He really needed to talk to Max about her horrible dad.

But wait.

This guy, Max's dad, was talking about a son. That meant Max had to have had a brother.

Huh.

Suddenly, though, Kirby snapped out of his thoughts. He had to get out of here before he was found! Turning around, Kirby crawled across the bed, opened Max's window, and dove out. Then, he looked up toward the sky, the night sky, inhaled, inflated, and rose, hovering off into the night.


When Kirby finally made it back to the cabin, there was practically steam coming out of his nonexistent ears. First, he got scared awake. Then, he had to tell a story he really didn't like. Then, his friends went off and did something fun without him, because he couldn't even walk around in this world. Then, those friends ran off back to the place he was supposed to be staying too, to have more fun and a sleepover, leaving him at Max's house and almost getting him discovered by another person, and one who was clearly angry and dangerous, at that!

Yeah, Kirby was (and he didn't like to curse, even in his head, but screw it) pissed.

Lowering down, Kirby spat out the Air Pellet and practically dove toward the ground, bouncing on his head and landing on his feet. He ran at full speed around the side of the cabin. He looked up and saw El's open window, music and light pouring out of it into the dark and relatively quiet night.

Oh, wooow! Quite the party they were having in there!

Kirby jumped up to the window and hoisted himself onto it. Then, he positioned himself in a diving position and, with an angry cry of "Po-yo!" he shot himself through, landing on El's bed to the right of the girl herself, who was sitting on her knees reading a magazine.

Wow, without a care in the world, huh?!, thought a very angry Kirby.

El had flinched and dove to the side in shock when Kirby had shot himself through the window, so she fell off the bed and ended up tripping Max, who had been dancing around to the song that had been playing.

In the end, the girls had ended up in a tangled heap on the floor together.

Kirby stood over the edge of the bed, glaring down at them with his nubs crossed and his left foot tapping impatiently on the bed.

"This better be good, poyo!" Said the particularly pissed-off Puffball.

"Kirby!" Cried El in surprise at the same time as an equally surprised Max hissed "Oh, shit!" in realization. "Well?!" Kirby demanded, glare intensifying. "Kirby, I'm so sorry!" El said, shooting to her feet. "Ah, shit, dude, we totally forgot!" Max said in what looked like crushing embarrassment and guilt.

Kirby did his best impression of a raised eyebrow, clearly wanting an explanation. El and Max somehow correctly interpreted his facial cue, because they began to explain soon afterwards. Rather rapidly, in fact.

"We went to the mall and we were having so much fun and then I broke up with Mike-(hold up, what? thought Kirby)- and then we just decided to have a sleepover and-" El started in a rush.

"-and we were so caught up in it all that we completely forgot to swing back by my house and pick you up!" Max said.

Kirby was still glaring.

El sighed.

"We're-I'm-sorry, Kirby." Said an ashamed El. "Will you forgive me?" Kirby's face softened. He couldn't stay mad at his friend. Not when she was so clearly sorry.

"Yeah," Kirby sighed.

"To be fair, I'm not completely innocent, either," he continued. Then he cringed, rubbing the back of his head, or rather, the upper portion of his body. "I kinda raided your pantry, Max," he admitted sheepishly. Max snorted. "You're good, dude."

Kirby sighed. "Phew," he said. Then, he remembered his close call. "I, uh, almost met your dad, Max," he said. Max's face went pale. "He's my stepdad," she began. "And thank whatever god you believe in where you come from that you didn't meet him."

Kirby cringed harder. It might have had more effect, if he had any teeth. "Yeah, he kinda gave off that feeling."

An awkward silence ensued.

Then Kirby perked up. "So, what have you guys been doing?" He asked happily, all traces of anger gone almost as quickly as they had came as he hopped off of El's bed and onto the floor with them.

El and Max shared a look.

This Puffball really was something special.


A while and an encounter with a strangely-behaving Hopper later saw Kirby, El, and Max sitting on El's bed in a circle, a red sheet of paper acting as a surface for a bunch of smaller yellow pieces with names on them, surrounding a small glass bottle at the center.

Kirby did love a good game of spin-the-bottle, but apparently this game was determining who El was going to spy on with her psychic powers! He did not know she could do that!

Kirby had never thought about it before, but she and Ness really needed to meet. Sure, their powers didn't work the same way, but they were still both psychic! That had to count for something, right?

Regardless, the bottle had landed on "Billy", and Max seemed to know an awful lot about him and his apparently gross habits.

Kirby couldn't help but wonder why.

El had ended up sitting cross-legged on the floor, a blindfold tied around her head to take away her sense of sight. Apparently it made her powers work better. All Kirby knew was that it reminded him of Bandana Dee, and made his heart hurt.

El had instructed Kirby and Max to be very quiet so she could concentrate. El sat still for a few minutes, breathing evenly. Then, her breathing began to pick up; slowly but surely, El's deep calm was breaking.

Then, she yanked her blindfold off, breathing heavily. She looked scared out of her wits. Billy. That's who she was looking for. Billy. Max knew him, warned El that he might be doing something gross if he was in his room.

Max's house. The man. His son. Max's brother. He was out past curfew. That wasn't normal.

Billy.

Max's brother.

Billy was Max's brother.

Billy was out late, and that wasn't normal.

El was looking for Billy. She saw him. Something scared her.

A deep, cold pit worse than anything Iceberg or White Wafers could offer settled into Kirby's stomach, and he knew.

As Max continued trying to get an answer out of the panicking El, Kirby's certainty and dread grew.

Something is wrong.


A/N: El and Max, kneeling before the bed as Kirby looms over them: "Worms! We are worthless worms!" (If you know where that's from I love you)

[SERIOUS MODE:

And so it begins! The plot, that is. Buckle up, boyos, and ready your poyos, it's gonna be a wiiilllld ride. Just fyi: I unfortunately couldn't include the scene of El spying on Mike, Will, and Lucas and hearing Lucas' fart because Kirby stopped El and Max from having the conversation that led to that happening in the show. Also, though it's not something I'm actively striving for (I want to take my time so this fic is the best it can be) I'd like to finish this by the time Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe releases. That would be awesome. Just as a small warning, these last two chapters have taken a lot out of me, and I will likely take a small break, so you may have to wait more than a few days for the next chapter, but rest assured, the wait won't be too long. SIDE NOTE FOR THOSE WONDERING: The "Hammerspace" I keep mentioning Kirby putting his nightcap into is the word people use to refer to wherever invisible place cartoon characters spontaneously summon things from (or put them in). Since, whether he has the Sleep ability or not, Kirby is always seen with a night cap on when sleeping, I headcannon that it's his personal one that he just keeps in his Hammerspace and he's slept with it for so long it's just automatically subconsciously summoned from his Hammerspace when he falls asleep. I know I said Halcandra is on the opposite side of the Gamble Galaxy from Popstar, when canonically, it's supposed to be in Another Dimension. I say that because of what Hyness said in Kirby Star Allies about being banished to the other end of the galaxy, near Popstar. Since Halcandra is where he was banished from, it stands to reason that it's on the other side of the galaxy from Popstar. I know Return to Dream Land Deluxe says in the Pause Screen Description of Sphere Doomers EX that it can only be reached through other dimensions. I headcanon this to mean that it's physically located on the other side of the galaxy, but similarly to how Europe is on the other side of the ocean from America. That's where it physically is, but you can only travel from here to there by crossing water. Much like how Halcandra is on the opposite side of the galaxy from Popstar and is in the same dimension but can only be reached by crossing through Another Dimension. Just so the timeline's clear, most of Return to Dream Land (the Popstar half) took place over the course of six days. In Nutty Noon, the sun is setting. When it's dusk on Popstar, it's dawn on Earth. During Nutty Noon, it was early morning on Earth. Ignore the fact that it's day when Magolor takes Kirby to Halcandra, lol. The seventh day takes place mostly on Halcandra, right after Nutty Noon, and then Magolor battles the group and sends Kirby to Stranger Things, and it's night there, the night of the day that started there when Kirby was in Nutty Noon. It probably doesn't actually line up that way, but I wanted to give this some kind of lineup of events. I do like exploring what's happening in the separate worlds before they meet.

Also (I'M ALMOST DONE I PROMISE), Revenge of the King happened in this fic's universe. However, in this fic's universe, it happened after the events of Squeak Squad; because even though Super Star Ultra exists, the same series of events obviously didn't happen twice (and I don't consider Spring Breeze canon to that game's events, just a retelling of the original Kirby's Dream Land). I know Dedede was still abrasive to Kirby (namely in Crystal Shards) even after they gave up rivalry after Revenge of the King, it just took a while for him to warm up to Kirby, a process, helped by Kirby continuing to reach out and try to be his friend; that took a while; and that process was pretty much complete by the time of Return to Dream Land (and by extension, this fic's events). It doesn't matter in this fic anyway, though, since Revenge of the King takes place after Crystal Shards in this canon. Also, Bandana Dee is, of course, the Waddle Dee from Crystal Shards. His adventure with Dedede and the others in that game made him and Dedede close, so after that game's events, he started working for Dedede, who made him his royal advisor because of how close they were. He received his bandana as a sign of his high rank, and, since his adventure helped him develop a greater sense of self, something he struggled with before, he used the bandana as a way of displaying his unique identity and changed his name to what it is now.

With all that said, though, I, as always, hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you guys…

Next time…