Chapter 1: Star Warriors in the World of the Living
In the magical world of Dreamland, a certain hero joined by his masked mentor walked up excitedly to the Lor Starcutter, home base of Dreamland's smartest magi-scientist, Magolor. Kirby had one goal in mind as he walked ever closer. Traveling to another world.
Kirby stepped onto the ship and almost instantly called out to the mage. "Heeeyyy, Magolor!"
After a moment he heard some metallic sounds as the mage seemed to run up from the depths of the ship, at first with an annoyed look, which then evaporated upon seeing the puff's face.
"Oh, hello, Kirby! What can I do for you today?"
"I wanna go to where Ichigo lives!"
Magolor smirked underneath his cloak, waiting for when Kirby would ask that.
"Why of course! I'd be happy to send you and Meta Knight there as soon as possible. There's just one, tiny, simple thing I'd like for you to do in return."
The puff tilted his head with a puzzled expression. "What's that?"
"Oh, it's nothing difficult. I just want you and Meta Knight to take notes of Ichigo's world. I'm very curious about it, but as much as I would like to, I can't go myself. Someone needs to stay here to handle the machine and I don't feel comfortable leaving the Lor unattended."
"Oh, that'll be easy! I can do that!" The child smiled.
"Is that really all you want?" Meta Knight asked, a bit more skeptical about it.
Magolor just waved him off and looked bored. "Look, I get that you don't trust me completely, but not everything I do has a secret motive. Just take a few notes, snap a few pictures, maybe even bring back a souvenir or two. Is that fine with you?"
"I'm fine with that!"
The mage nodded at Kirby and then turned to the knight, who didn't say anything. After a moment of silence, he let out a sigh. "If you're that sure that you're not going to do anything suspicious, very well."
"Of course I'm sure. Like seriously, I do not want to be far away from the Lor. Do you know how often Dedede tries to steal my stuff?"
"Somehow, I'm not surprised that you have that problem... anyway, I'll also take notes."
"Excellent! Now just let me contact Urahara."
The mage typed on his keyboard and after a few moments, a video feed appeared on the monitor.
"Well, if it isn't Magolor." Kisuke Urahara greeted with his usual laid back tone. "What can I do for you this fine day?"
"Hello, Mr. Urahara! I hope things are going well for you. I'll get straight to the point, Kirby and Meta Knight would like to come visit your humble world."
"Oh really? Well, I don't really have a problem with it. Just let them know that while they are guests in my world, they'll be expected follow any rules I give them."
Magolor nodded and turned to the duo. "You heard that?"
"Of course! I'm good at following rules!" Kirby exclaimed.
"I'll make sure that he does, too." The knight nodded.
"Well then, I'll get the machine fired up. It shouldn't take too long."
"Alright then!"
With a few taps on the keyboard, Magolor activated his side of the machine. "I'll see you two later then! Have fun!"
With a nod in reply, Kirby and Meta Knight entered the machine.
In a flash of light, Kirby and Meta Knight now found themselves in an unfamiliar, yet strangely welcoming location. It was a lab, that much was certain, and it also seemed to be part candy store, something Kirby took notice of immediately.
"So, you two must be the visitors from Dreamland. Welcome to my humble abode." A man with messy blonde hair and a hat that covered his eyes stated, getting Meta Knight's attention.
"Good to see you again, Kisuke Urahara." The knight replied as the child waved happily.`
"Well if we're being technical, this is our first real meeting. But who cares about semantics? Allow me to welcome you both to the world of the living."
"I see. So where exactly is this place?" Meta Knight said, him and Kirby taking a look around.
"The world of the living of course!" Urahara joked, smirking at Meta Knight's narrowing eyes. "Ok, ok. You're in my humble candy shop. Which doubles as my lab."
"Oh right! You mentioned that! Meta-sensei, can we get some candy to take back then?!"
"We'll worry about that when the time comes." His mentor quickly replied. "I assume that you heard we're here for a visit?"
"Yup. You're free to explore the world of the living-"
Before Urahara could finish speaking, Kirby jumped in excitement.
"Then let's get going! Come on Meta-Sensei!"
As Kirby was about to take off, Urahara quickly picked him up. "Woah, there, little guy. The enthusiasm is welcomed, but you can't leave just quite yet."
"Huh? Why? Oh yeah! We don't know where Ichigo and the others are, right?"
"No, not that part. Knowing them, they probably sensed you arriving and are on their way here now. That's not why you can't leave yet."
"Huh? Then why can't we leave yet?"
"Think about it, Kirby. Star Warriors like us don't live here. How do you think people would react to something like that?"
The child took a moment to think. "Um... they would freak out?"
"Exactly."
"That's right. While your universe is home to hundreds, maybe thousands of different life forms, our world is much simpler. The regular folk don't even know Hollows exist, as you need to be spiritually aware to see them, and that's not exactly a common trait. And while I know you two won't cause any problems, we need to do something about your appearances first."
"But what can we do?" The child tilted his head.
Meta Knight then began to trace some lines.
"What are you doing?"
"I have a solution to combat this. It'll take me a bit, but my mentor taught me a rune spell that can solve this problem a long time ago. The question is... if I can remember it correctly." He uttered before tracing in one last line.
Once the spell was fully finished, Meta Knight and Kirby's appearances changed into that of humans. Meta was now a tall man with somewhat messy blue hair and Kirby now resembled a human teenager, roughly around thirteen to fourteen years of age, his hair short and pink.
"Wow?! Since when did you learn this spell?!" The child exclaimed.
"A long time ago. I honestly didn't think it would come in handy, but here we are."
"Well, that's certainly simpler than what I had in mind. But hey, can't complain about a good solution. Just keep this in mind, superpowers aren't exactly normal here. So, make sure not to show off anything a normal person would consider bizarre."
"Which means no Copy Abilities, Kirby. Though I doubt you can use them in this state."
Kirby wanted to try to prove him wrong somehow, but he also knew that he couldn't do anything out of the ordinary, so he simply nodded in agreement.
"Alright, that's really the only rules I have. You two are free to go."
"Okkaayyy! Thank you, Mr. Urahara!" Kirby exclaimed as he ran up the stairs.
"Kirby, don't run off so fast!" With a sigh, the knight followed after him.
"You sure it's wise to let them go off unsupervised?" A rather tall man with glasses asked Urahara.
"You worry too much, Tessai. Besides, Ichigo will find them sooner or later, nothing to worry about."
Almost instantly, Meta Knight had to keep a metaphorical leash on Kirby. There were so many new sights and sounds to behold that he had to keep a constant eye on him. This wasn't even taking into account the slight number of people occasionally staring at them, and mumbling questions asking if they were cosplayers... whatever that was.
"Meta-sensei, what are cosplayers?" His student asked suddenly.
"...based on the responses, I'm guessing it's people who dress up in costumes."
"But we aren't standing out too much, right?"
"It's the hair." A familiar voice said from behind them. "And the fantastical clothing. People don't normally wear capes."
The two turned around to see a familiar orange haired teen.
"Ichigo!" Kirby exclaimed, almost instantly tackling him in a hug.
"Hey Kirby." Ichigo replied with a chuckle. "I had a feeling you two would come here sooner or later."
"Indeed. He was extremely excited to come here."
The child pouted. "What are you saying, you were also excited!"
"I was."
"Good to see you too, Meta Knight. But seriously, what's with the get up?"
"I used a spell to make Kirby and I human so we could better blend in with the world of the living at Urahara's request."
"And he just let you go without telling you to change clothes. Typical, he probably expects me to handle it myself. Alright, follow me."
"Huh? Where are we going?" The child asked.
"My house. I have spare clothes I don't mind lending out. You guys stick out too much. Meta Knight looks like a medieval swordsman, and you look like an astronaut."
"Huh? Do we really stand out that much?"
"I trust what Ichigo says, so if we do, we do." Meta Knight replied.
"Yeah, this time it's my job to show you around. Now let's go, the clinic isn't too far away."
Kirby and his mentor nodded and followed him.
"Ichigo, why are we going to a clinic? I thought we were going to your home?" The child asked, mainly to make conversation.
"My home is the clinic. My dad is a doctor."
"Oooh. That makes sense. Is your dad nice?" He then asked.
"Nice? Yeah, he's pretty nice. Pretty obnoxious, but harmless."
"That's good to know!"
"I believe you mentioned during your time in Dreamland that you had two younger sisters. Would they be home about now as well?" The knight asked, also for the sake of conversation.
"Yeah, same with dad."
"Oh, well I'm excited to meet them!" The child exclaimed happily.
"Will they be fine with allowing two strangers in with you?" The knight asked.
"Trust me, wouldn't be the first time I had to deal with this kind of situation. It'll work out."
"How would they be used to it?"
"I'm guessing it's because of the other Soul Reapers."
"More or less."
"Do your other friends come over often?" Kirby asked.
"Not recently."
"OK. So, they'll be used to it then! Good!"
"Not exactly. Just do whatever I say, and it'll be fine."
"Ok! Got it!"
After saying that, the knight nodded in understanding.
When they arrived at Ichigo's place, they were immediately greeted by Yuzu.
"Hey Ichigo! Who's your friends?" She asked with an innocent tone that reminded Meta Knight of his pupil.
"These are Aoba and his little brother, Kazuma. They were at a cosplay convention and forgot to pack a spare set of clothes, so I'm letting them borrow some of mine." Ichigo explained.
"Aoba and Kazuma?" Meta Knight whispered to him.
"Hey, I have to call you something that won't grab attention." Ichigo whispered back.
The knight nodded in response to that, with Kirby following along. The child then turned to Yuzu. "Oh, so you're Ichigo's younger sister? It's great to meet you!"
"Oh, he's told you about me? What did he say!? Come on, tell me!"
"Yuzu, he can answer after he gets dressed. Why don't you go gather Karin and dad?"
"Alright, Ichigo! But I better get my answer later." She jokingly threatened him as she walked away.
"Now, will you show us to your room?" Meta Knight asked.
"Yeah, yeah. Thankfully, you seem to be around my height, Meta. As for Kirby, I should have some clothes when I was younger still around. I'll just have to dig for them."
"Do you need a big drill for it? Or a shovel?" Kirby asked, not understanding human expression of speech.
"I don't mean literally digging, but thanks for the offer."
The knight then stared at his student. "I understand you're trying to be funny, Kirby, but you definitely knew what he meant."
"Ok!" He cheered, completely moving on from that topic.
"Yeah, just like a little sibling. Now, come on. The sooner we get you changed the better."
The duo nodded and followed him.
"Welcome to-" Ichigo began to say as he opened the door, only to be interrupted by a small creature.
"Ichigo! When are you going to take me to see Rukia!" Kon demanded as he leapt towards the annoyed teen, only for said teen to punch Kon out of the open window.
"I'LL GET YOU FOR THAT, ICHIGOOOOOOOO!" Kon screamed as he flew through the air.
"As I was saying, welcome to my room. You can sit anywhere, just don't touch anything without asking first."
"...who was that?" Meta Knight immediately asked after a moment of silence.
"A nuisance. Feel free to look around, it'll take time to get through my closest." He said, opening his closet door.
The duo nodded. Kirby sat on Ichigo's bed while the knight examined his bookshelf in slight interest.
"Ichigo. I know you said that creature was a nuisance, but what exactly was it?" Meta Knight asked, unable to ignore his rising curiosity and he could tell Kirby was interested, too.
Ichigo sighed, not really in the mood to explain the whole story. "That was Kon, a mod soul. A soul that was artificially created. You can put that soul into a body of any kind as long as that body doesn't have a soul in it currently. Right now, he lives inside that stuffed animal."
The puff tilted his head. "If you think he's a nuisance, why does he live with you?"
"Well, originally I needed him. Right now, I can turn into a Soul Reaper on command. But I couldn't do that at first. To become a Soul Reaper, I had to remove my soul from my body. In order to keep up appearances, Kon would take control of my human body while I was off fighting. Remember, it'd look weird if my body just collapsed in public with no logical explanation, so Kon was necessary."
"Oh, that makes sense. So, if you don't need him now, why does he stay around?"
"Because he doesn't really have anywhere else to go. Talking stuffed animals aren't a normal occurrence. In fact, there's nothing normal about him. But he has his uses." He explained and while he would never publicly state it, he did view Kon as a friend, an incredibly annoying friend, but a friend, nonetheless.
"I can understand that." The knight nodded in understanding.
"That makes a lot of sense!" The puff replied.
"Yeah, now try these on. Hopefully they'll fit. If not, I'll just kick Kisuke's butt later." Ichigo said, tossing clothes at both of them.
"I don't see why they wouldn't. They appear to be the right size." Meta Knight uttered, mostly to himself. "Well, we should probably go get changed then." He added, turning to Kirby, who nodded.
[line break]
Thankfully, Meta Knight had a little experience with human clothing, so he had no trouble changing into his new clothes and thankfully, Kirby's outfit was just a simple t-shirt and cargo shorts.
"It seems they fit us well..." The knight uttered.
"Thank you, Ichigo!" The puff smiled.
"No problem. Also, if they ask for your last name, just say Sakurai."
The child tilted his head. "Why that?"
"Probably because it's strangely fitting."
"Huh. Yeah, it does fit."
"Yeah. Just go with it. Now we should probably get moving before my dad gets impatient and barges in on us."
"Why do I have the vague feeling he'll do that anyway...?" Meta Knight uttered as he began walking towards the door.
Ichigo opened the door and, much to his annoyance, was greeted by a familiar battle cry.
"HELLO THERE ICHIGOOOO!" An adult man with a goatee yelled as he jumped towards Ichigo, only for Ichigo to punch him in the face and send him crashing onto the floor.
"...why did I have a feeling that would happen?" The knight uttered.
"Um... is he ok?" Kirby asked as the man twitched on the floor.
"He'll be fine. We do this every day practically."
"Why's that?" The child asked, clearly confused by this. Even most of his most hot-blooded friends would at least say a word to him before trying to attack him. Well, as long as they weren't possessed.
"It's his stupid way of keeping me on my toes at all times."
"I can understand that." The knight sighed. His mentor had often done something like that while he was training under her, but it wasn't to this degree.
"Ichigo, my boy! I see you haven't been slacking off! And this must be Kirby and Meta Knight." Isshin Kurosaki said as he stood up, acting as if nothing happened.
"Oh, uh... hello!" The child replied.
"Pleasure to meet you." The knight nodded before blinking and becoming serious. "Wait, how do you know those names?" He uttered, now on edge.
"Oh, please, I'm smarter than I look. Plus, Kisuke already told me about you two."
"Yeah, I thought that you would figure that out, Meta-sensei." Kirby added.
"Don't act as if you weren't confused too, Kirby. I can read emotions, remember?" The child pouted in reply to that.
"Alright, enough of that. Dad, don't use their real names. That defeats the purpose of secret identities."
"Oh, relax Ichigo, you worry too much."
"And you worry too little. Whatever, let's just get to Karin and Yuzu."
"Ok!" The duo then followed Ichigo out of his room.
[line break]
As they walked together, Meta Knight leaned over to Ichigo. "You're quite skilled at shutting down arguments before they start."
"I have to be. Two sisters can be a handful." Ichigo joked.
"Considering some of your friends, I can see why, too." The knight chuckled.
When they got down, they noticed a table filled with sandwiches, clearly made just recently.
"Oh, I forgot! It's about lunchtime!" Kirby hopped and was about to go sit down until he was lifted by Meta Knight.
"I'm guessing that Yuzu made lunch?" He asked.
"Yeah, she's the chef of the house. A pretty good one if you ask me."
"Aw, thanks Ichigo!" Yuzu replied, happy with the compliment.
"Oh, thank you for the food!" The child said, managing to free himself somehow and sitting down immediately at the table.
"Hold on. You need to introduce yourselves to Karin first." Ichigo said, pointing at his sister who had been silent up to that point.
"That's right." Meta Knight said, picking Kirby up from the chair and putting him down on the floor.
"I can get up on my own!"
"I know."
"Meta, you should probably stop doing that. Humans don't do that to fourteen-year-olds." Ichigo whispered.
The knight nodded then cleared his throat. "I apologize for that. Your name is Karin, right? It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Aoba Sakurai, and this is Kazuma Sakurai." He said in his usual formal manner.
The girl just stared at them for a moment. "Ichigo, all of your friends are weird."
"And with that, you got the Karin seal of approval."
"Thank you." Meta Knight uttered.
Kirby nodded and sat down excitedly at the table. Thankfully, his mentor could tell that he was retraining himself to not attempt to inhale all the food on the table.
"You can start eating after you say one phrase. Thanks for the meal." Ichigo said, with his family members joining with him.
"Thank you for the food!" Both Meta Knight and Kirby said before they began to eat.
"So, where are you two from?" Yuzu asked innocently.
"We're just a few friends from out of town." Meta Knight replied, looking at Kirby as if telling him to leave it to him.
"Oh really? What town?" Karin asked.
"I met them in Naruki." Ichigo quickly answered.
"Oh, yeah, you were spending a lot of time there awhile back."
The knight nodded in agreement, deciding to ask about it later.
"So, you can see ghosts too, right?" Karin suddenly asked.
"Karin! You can't just ask every friend Ichigo has if they can see ghosts. Even if all of them actually can!" Yuzu lightly scolded her.
"Well, we cannot see ghosts, unfortunately." The knight replied.
"Trust me, you aren't missing much." Karin replied, punching a random ghost that happened to be behind her. Of course, neither Meta Knight nor Kirby could comment on it.
"I see." He simply replied.
Lunch from there was a fairly standard affair. They all sat in silence, occasionally throwing in a small comment.
"I can't eat another bite." Kirby said, both surprised and a little bummed by that fact. Apparently, the spell used to turn him human also gave him a normal human appetite. Meta Knight didn't say it, but he was somewhat relieved by this.
"If you'd like you can take a rest." He said.
"Ok! I'll be outside." Kirby said as he walked out of the house.
"Hey, girls, how about we go do some grocery shopping?" Isshin asked and without waiting for an answer, took them with him, winking at Ichigo at the same time.
This left Ichigo and Meta Knight by themselves. The knight let out a heavy sigh.
"I'm sure my student is a bit down right now..." He uttered aloud.
"Then go comfort him. Or is there something you want to ask me? Like a certain city you heard my sister mention?"
It took a moment for Meta Knight to put the pieces together.
"Oh, yes. What was that Naruki city she mentioned?" Ichigo sighed, knowing he had to talk about this eventually. "Alright, you better get comfortable. It's a bit of a long story."
It was then that Kirby reentered the house. "Ok, I feel better now!" He said happily.
Meta Knight smiled, but noticed Ichigo looked aggravated, but he knew the aggression wasn't aimed at Kirby. "Kirby, Ichigo was about to talk about that Naruki city. Would you care to listen?"
"Oh, I'd be perfectly fine with that! I was wondering what that was anyway!" He smiled.
"Alright. So, I'll start with the beginning. It was during the beginning of the school year. Uryu was attacked by a mystery enemy. It wasn't a Hollow, nor a Soul Reaper. Eventually, I was approached by a man named Kugo Ginjo. He approached me and asked if I wanted to recover my soul reaper powers, so I could fight whoever attacked Uryu."
"But you already had your powers back?" Kirby interjected.
"Yes, but he didn't know that. He was under the impression I was still powerless. There hadn't been any hollow attacks recently, so I had no need to use them. And when they aren't active, it's hard to sense. Anyway, I knew something was up. So, I pretended to go along with Ginjo. He brought me to Naruki city, the home base of his organization, X-Cution. He trained me in a power known as Fullbring, something only humans with Hollow powers can use. In the end, it turns out he wanted to steal my powers for himself. He managed to steal a little, but not all of it. My friends from the Soul Society showed up to assist in taking Ginjo down. And that's why I was in Naruki for a while." Ichigo explained.
Meta Knight could tell there was something Ichigo wasn't telling them, but he figured he could ask Ichigo about it in private.
"Kirby, don't you have to go to the bathroom?" The knight suddenly asked.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Do you have to go to the bathroom? Or are you feeling tired?" He asked again.
After blinking for a moment, the child nodded. "Yeah, I think I do have to go to the bathroom. Where is it, Ichigo?"
"Down the hall, to the left, second door you come across."
"Ok!" The child got up and ran there.
Meta Knight then looked at Ichigo. "There's more to Naruki city, isn't there?"
"Yes. Tsukishima." Ichigo said, anger evident in his voice. "One of Ginjo's allies was named Book of the End. It was a sword and anything he cut, he could insert himself into. He used this power to manipulate the memories of my friends and even my sisters. He manipulated them and turned them against me. Orihime and Chad got the worst of it. They kept trying to fight against his influence and if not for Urahara, they would have suffered brain failure." Ichigo explained with a grim tone. "Thankfully, both he and Ginjo are gone. And when a Fullbringer dies, so does the ability. All of his victims recovered, but it was terrifying."
"I see..." It became obvious to the knight why he didn't want to discuss this particular subject while Kirby was around. Admittedly, he didn't know what else to say himself.
"Yeah. Ginjo, as it turned out, was the first ever substitute Soul Reaper. After finding out the soul society was spying on him and planned on killing him, he became too much to handle, desired revenge. That's why he wanted my powers, to reclaim the ones he lost. We fought and I took him out."
"Ichigo...you don't seem angry towards this Ginjo, not to the same extent as you are with Tsukishima. Why is that?"
"Common ground I suppose. In the end he wasn't too different from me, he just let his anger control him. I pitied him more than I hated him. He was just a guy who wanted to protect others, just like me. He just lost his way in the process."
The knight nodded. "I see... I can understand how you came to that conclusion."
"Yeah. You're probably wondering why I don't hate the Soul Society, knowing that they are also monitoring me at all times."
"I would like to assume it's from a perspective of concern, but is there a bit more to that?"
"It's simple. They know what they're doing. If they think I need to limit my power, so be it. I'd rather use what I have than fight a losing battle. Besides, I have friends there, I know they'll have my back, and I'll have theirs."
Meta Knight smiled. "I'm honestly glad to hear that."
Suddenly a knock could be heard at the door. "Who could that be?" Ichigo asked.
"Would you like me to go see?" The knight asked.
"No, I'll take care of it." Ichigo spoke up, walking towards the door and opened it up. Quickly, a smile made it to his face as he saw who it was. "Well, this is an unexpected surprise. What's up, Rukia?"
He asked the woman standing in front of him. Rukia Kuchiki, current lieutenant of the 13th division smiled at her close friend.
"I'm here for business, but I also came in to check up on you. Good to see that you're the same as ever." She said with a teasing smile, getting an eye roll from the teenager.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for the concern though. I have a feeling about why you're here, so come on in. We can discuss it in the dining room."
As they were walking back, Kirby ran back into the room. "Sorry I took so long, I-" Immediately noticing Rukia, he stopped and tilted his head. "Who's this, Ichigo? Another friend of yours?"
"Yeah, just sit at the table. She'll explain everything."
"Ok!" The child said happily as he sat next to his mentor.
"Thanks Ichigo, this makes my job easier." Rukia said with gratitude and looked at the two otherworlders. "My name is Rukia Kuchiki, lieutenant of the 13th squad of the Soul Society. I assume you two are from Dreamland? Before you ask how I know, Kisuke notified the Soul Society of Dreamland's existence."
"Oh, he has?!" Kirby said, surprised about this.
"The existence of another universe is a fairly big deal. But that's not important. I'm here on a mission given to me by the head captain himself. I'm here to escort you two to the Soul Society." She said, and upon noticing Meta Knight tensing up she sighed. "Not right this instant, just at some point during your visit to our universe." She added, which made Meta Knight relax.
"Oh, ok! That'll be exciting! I remember Ichigo mentioning it to use when he was in our world and talking about the 13 Squads! I'm excited to see what everyone is like!" Kirby happily said in his usual innocent manner.
"Kirby, calm down. Why does your leader want to see us?" Meta Knight asked, knowing that there was some sort of purpose for it.
"If you're worried about the two of you being in trouble, don't be. The head captain wants to see you for two reasons. The first is simple curiosity. The head captain is well over a thousand years old. It's not often that someone that old learns of something they had no knowledge of. The second reason is also simple. Due to your involvement with helping out Ichigo, that technically makes us allies, the head captain simply wants to meet the ones that helped the Soul Society's hero."
The knight blinked almost dumbly while his student giggled. "See? You're overreacting!"
Rukia smiled at the interaction, then gained a more confused expression. "Ichigo, why do they look like humans? I was under the impression they looked...different."
"Oh right, they are using magic to disguise themselves." Ichigo replied as he ate a sandwich.
"I see. In a sense, no different from a gigai. Oh, that reminds me, you're coming with us, Ichigo."
"Yeah, I figured as much."
"What's a gigai?" Kirby asked.
"It's what I'm in right now. An artificial body used by Soul Reapers to walk around the world of the living like a normal human."
"Oh! That makes sense!" The child smiled.
Meta Knight then cleared his throat, seeming to have recovered from his slight shock from earlier. "Well... those reasonings do make sense."
"Ichigo, why don't you call over the others? They are free to come with if they want." Rukia asked, somewhat surprised they weren't already here.
"Don't need to. Knowing them they'll be here any minute-"
"HEY ICHIGO! WE'RE OUTSIDE!"
"-now. See? Told ya. Come on in, Orihime!"
As the group entered the house, Kirby immediately called out to them. "HEEYYY EVERYONEEEE!" He exclaimed while waving, only for Meta Knight to quickly grab hold of his arms, as if subtly asking him to calm down.
"Hello, you two! So that's what you two look like as humans, just about what I expected! Both of you look so cute!" Orihime exclaimed, smiling at them.
"Aww, thanks!" Kirby smiled in response, while his mentor seemed to blush as he quickly hid his face.
"We would have been here sooner, but Urahara wanted to feel us all in on what's going on." Uryu explained, with Chad nodding in agreement.
"Oh, that makes sense." The child replied.
"Well, now that we're all together, shall we be on our way? The head captain is a patient man, but we should meet with him as soon as possible." Rukia mentioned.
The knight nodded. "Lead the way."
"First, we must go outside to a remote location. No one should see us summon the gate to the Soul Society."
"But I thought people can't see people going to the Soul Society." Kirby said.
"When were you under that impression? One might not see the gate itself, but they can still see humans pass through it."
"Oooohhh." The puff replied in understanding.
"It's like walking through an invisible door! The door can't be seen, but the person walking through it can. Or say two people sitting on an invisible bench! The bench is there, you can see them sitting on it, but you can't see the bench. It would look weird from an outside point of view." Orihime explained in her usual enthusiastic way of speaking.
"Oooh! I can see why people from this world would find that weird! But I think that would be normal in Dreamland!" The child's eyes sparkled.
Meta Knight wanted to say otherwise, but stayed silent.
"Yeah, the less people know about the Soul Society, the better. Let's go everyone." Ichigo stated. The knight and his student nodded as they followed out of the house.
Once they all reached the outskirts of town, Kirby and Meta Knight dropped their human disguise, knowing that they wouldn't be needing them in the Soul Society. Rukia raised her hand and in a second, a gate opened.
"Now, let's go everyone."
"Yay! I'm excited!" The puff said, practically jumping up and down in an eager manner.
With that, everyone jumped through the gate and the hero of the stars vacation to the Soul Society has begun.
Author's Note: It's time for the sequel to begin. We had so much fun with the first story that we knew we wanted to make another adventure involving this cast. This time it's Kirby's time to be a guest in a strange world. I hope all of you have fun with this story!