Sibling reunion
Tiff's first impression of Daroach was not as negative as she had anticipated. The mouse's gentlemanly demeanour reminded her of the phantom thieves she had read about in certain novels. Tiff couldn't help but wonder if, just like those thieves, Daroach would also have a great detective as a rival.
After introducing himself to Tiff, the mouse proceeded to guide her and her companions through his lair. It wasn't the most welcoming of places, as it was cold and a bit dark, but Tiff supposed it was an ideal environment for rodents.
"I'm glad to see that you guys are okay. Did you have a safe trip?" Daroach said as they passed a bridge that crossed over a hangar. Tiff noticed an airship lying on it, being cleaned by green, yellow, blue, and red mouse-eared critters out of the corner of her eye.
"Yes, but it took us some time to find this place. If Tiff hadn't found the trapdoor, we would still be searching for it," Bandana Waddle Dee replied.
"Hey, how come you guys built a slide?" Gooey inquired. "Are you planning to turn this place into an amusement park and compete with Magolor?"
"Ah, that was Spinny's idea," Daroach answered. "He said it was a good way to get into the base quickly and even get the goods directly into the warehouse, so we decided to give it a chance. What do you think?"
"I give it a 10, poyo. It was so much fun!" Kirby exclaimed. Gooey nodded in agreement.
"I find it quite impractical," Tiff argued. Unlike the rest of her companions, she had not enjoyed the slide ride at all. "Delicate supplies and items could break."
"Doc had the same reaction. I think you and him would get along," Daroach chuckled. "Actually, we should have opened the trapdoor when we saw you guys on the cameras, but Tuff thought it would be more fun to give Tiff a little scare."
"Of course, that was Tuff's doing," Tiff grumbled. "Is he okay?" she asked the mouse, her concern overpowering her annoyance.
"He's fine, and he's waiting for you in his room," Daroach responded. "As for his condition, he was quite weak and in pain when we found him, and he has slept for about eleven hours tonight. I don't know how you two ended up in our dimension, but it looks like it was an exhausting experience," he concluded thoughtfully.
Tiff didn't reply. She had given up trying to remember what had happened when, after having one of the nicest rests of her life, she tried to remember something only to get a headache and a dreadful feeling in her stomach. It hadn't lasted long, but it had been enough to discourage her. She'd been told that she shouldn't force herself to remember and that her lost memories would eventually return, but still, she couldn't help being upset. Especially since she felt she had forgotten something very important. Maybe even more important than how they had arrived.
"And here we are," Daroach announced as he came to a halt in front of a door. For some strange reason, Bandana Waddle shivered when the mouse said those words. "Are you okay, buddy?"
"Yeah, it was nothing. Is it me, or is it quite chilly around here?" the Waddle Dee replied. Kirby patted him on the back.
"Mmm, maybe we set the air conditioning cooling too high," Daroach pondered. "I'll tell Doc to raise the temperature a bit." Then he knocked on the door and said, "Tuff, our guests have arrived; can we come in?"
"Sure."
When Tiff heard Tuff's voice, her heart skipped a beat. Even though she knew her brother was inside, she hadn't completely believed it until that moment.
Tiff entered the room, eager to reunite with her brother. It was a small but cosy space, with a bed, a (probably empty) wardrobe and a desk next to which Tuff was standing.
"Tuff!" Tiff exclaimed as she ran towards her brother and gave him a hug. "Thank goodness you're safe!"
Tuff didn't return the hug, causing Tiff to let go of him. Her brother's reaction was oddly quiet, and he seemed distant while staring at her in an odd way. What was wrong with him? She had expected him to, at least, complain about the sudden and effusive gesture of affection.
"Well, I think we should leave," Daroach said to Kirby, Gooey and Bandana Waddle Dee. He had noticed the strained atmosphere that had formed between the two siblings. "We will wait for you in the dining room," he told Tiff.
"But I wanted to meet Tiff's brother," Kirby complained.
"I think it would be better to leave them alone so they can talk calmly," Daroach said. "Also, Storo has prepared a strawberry cheesecake that looks delicious."
"We'll be waiting for you in the dining room, Tiff!" Kirby said goodbye as he ran out.
"Wait, don't leave me behind! I want cake too!" Gooey exclaimed as he jumped after the puffball.
Daroach chuckled as Bandana moaned in frustration. They then proceeded to follow Kirby and Gooey, probably to make sure the two gluttons didn't get lost or cause any trouble, leaving Tiff and Tuff alone.
"Tuff, is something wrong?" Tiff asked him rather abruptly. "You're acting very strange."
"Excuse me, but who are you supposed to be?"
Tiff's heart sank when he said those words.
"Have you... forgotten about me? It's me, Tiff, your sister, "she said, her voice cracking. Tuff shook his head. "It can't be. Did the exposure to dark energy affect you so much that you've lost all your memories? This is horrible..."
Tiff felt like she was about to burst into tears, but then Tuff started laughing. In mere milliseconds, fear and grief turned to confusion, confusion to discovery, and discovery to anger. Tiff grasped her brother's shoulders with a quick movement.
"You... how dare you pull such a cruel prank?! I thought you'd actually lost your memory, you dummy!" Tiff yelled at her brother. Tiff then released him, Tuff softly falling onto the bed.
"You should have seen your face," Tuff said, laughing. Then he noticed his sister's distress and sat up before apologizing. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to give you a little scare so you could see I'm the same Tuff as always. I didn't know it was going to affect you so much..."
"This might have been the worst time for the amnesia joke, Tuff," Tiff reprimanded, crossing her arms in anger. "We are in another world with no idea how we got there or how we can get back. Everybody from our world, including me, has lost a part of their memory, and then you go and do this!" she ranted.
"Wait, isn't it just us?" Tuff cut her off. "Who else has ended up in this dimension?"
"From what me and this world's Kirby friends have figured out, there should be no more than six people, including myself. So far, we've only found you, Dedede, and Escargoon."
"Escargoon and Dedede are also here...What a bummer," Tuff complained.
"I also have the feeling that Kirby, our Kirby, is here"
"So, you don't know anything about him?" Tuff inquired. Although she couldn't see it because of his bang, Tiff could tell by the tone of his voice that his gaze was filled with concern.
"Nothing at the moment," Tiff said, sighing longingly as she sat on the bed. Even though they had only been separated for twenty-four hours, she missed Kirby deeply. "But I have a feeling he's doing well. I'm not sure why; it's almost as if the Warp Star is telling me he's fine," she added, placing her hand on the hidden Warp Start pendant. "In any case, I'm hoping we can find him soon. He must be so confused and lonely..."
"I hope he won't cause a mess by accident. He could get this dimension's Kirby in trouble and he seems pretty nice," Tuff stated.
"Oh, so you noticed he wasn't our Kirby?"
"Well, Daroach had already told me about him. It wasn't very difficult to notice that he's different either: he's bigger, his colour is a little brighter, and he talks."
"When I met him, I thought I was dreaming," Tiff commented, recalling her reaction to the photographs and Kirby himself. It was difficult to imagine that it had just been a day since she had awoken in the bed of the hero of that Dreamland.
"I'm not surprised at all. This strange place, this bizarre situation... it all seems like a dream," Tuff remarked. "But the pain I felt when I woke up was real."
"What kind of pain was it?" Tiff inquired. Daroach's had told her that they had discovered his brother in pain, but the mouse hadn't given any details.
"My head ached like I had a fever, but my body hurt the most. Apparently, when the squeaks examined me, they saw that I had taken a very bad hit and was lucky not to have broken anything," Tuff responded. Tiff was concerned by what he had just said, but also happy that her brother had not come out worse from whatever had transpired.
She was unable to question him more about that because Tuff continued explaining:
"The problem is that I don't remember getting hit at all, and it's not because I didn't try to. I couldn't do much more with the amount of time I spent in bed yesterday. At least, I was able to explore Daroach's lair when I felt a little better. This place is awesome, and the Squeaks are very cool and nice. Storo's enormous size initially frightened me, but he's actually a very chill guy. And Doc even took the time to fix my slingshot!"
Tuff approached the desk and took the slingshot Iro gifted him for his birthday, much to their parents' discontent. Although Tuff had promised them that he would not make bad use of the toy, he had taken a liking to using it to play pranks on Dedede. Tiff had scolded him several times because if Dedede caught him, he was going to get in big trouble. Even Meta Knight had warned him about it.
"Wait, when did it break?" Tiff wondered. The last time she saw the slingshot, it was in one piece.
"It was already broken when they found me. I've tried to recall how did it happened, but it makes my head hurt. Maybe that hit gave me some amnesia."
So Tuff was in the same boat as she was, unable to remember what had happened before their arrival in that world. It was highly likely that both of them had gone through the same thing, whatever it was. The exhaustion and pain, Tuff's broken toy (which could be used as a weapon), the hit he had received, the exposure to high amounts of dark energy... Were they attacked by something?
"Is something wrong, sis?" Tuff interrupted her thoughts.
"I'm also having trouble remembering what happened before I woke up in this Dreamland," she revealed. "And I have the feeling that it wasn't a good thing, especially after what Magolor told us."
"Who?"
"I think I should tell you from the beginning."
Tiff then started to tell her brother everything that had happened the day before, beginning with the moment she woke up at Kirby's house. Tuff was perplexed when she told him about the grumpy Whispy, but not as much as when she told him about the battle between the two Dededes. Just as Tiff had predicted, Tuff lamented having missed such an event. She also shared with him what Magolor had explained about the portals and the dark energy that could be the cause of their temporary memory loss.
Finally, Tiff recounted the encounter with the "glitched" Waddle Dees, prompting Tuff to ask a question that baffled her:
"Don't those Waddle Dees look like the monster that attacked us?"
"The what?" she asked. Could it be that, just like Dedede, her brother remembered something she didn't?
"The monster who attacked us back at our world. It happened shortly after it began to rain. That thing also looked like a corrupted old video game," Tuff said. He seemed confused by Tiff's reaction. "Don't you remember that part?" he asked. Tiff nodded in confirmation. "Well, you were furious because you thought Dedede had found a way to buy monsters again, and he had ruined the day Meta Knight was coming back from his mission," he tried to remind her.
Hearing that last sentence, something clicked in Tiff's head.
"That's it, Tuff! Meta Knight's mission!" Tiff joyful exclamation startled her brother. "With all of yesterday's chaos, I didn't have time to even consider that it could be related to what is happening! I'm sure that if we find him, everything will make sense!"
"If you say so..." Tuff stated, sounding unconvinced.
"Do you remember anything else? What happened to the monster?" Tiff asked, hoping to find more clues in her brother's testimony that could help her solve the mystery behind their interdimensional travel.
"It started chasing us. Because it was raining heavily, you thought it was very dangerous for Kirby to use the Warp Star without a proper plan, so we decided to retire to the castle, and... I'm sorry, I can't remember anything beyond that," Tuff said, sounding a bit frustrated at the end.
"It's okay," Tiff reassured him. "Do you at least remember what it looked like apart from the 'glitch' effect?"
"It was almost identical to that cloud-shaped monster that Dedede once rented, the one that attacked with thunderbolts. Was its name Kracko? It happened a long time ago, so I don't remember it very well."
"Did you say Kracko?!"
Tiff would never forget the day Kirby fought Kracko, no matter how much time had passed. The aggressive cyclops cloud had attacked them by controlling a storm and relentlessly pursuing them in order to destroy the infant Star Warrior. She and Kirby ended up splitting up during their escape. It was at that time that Meta Knight revealed to Tiff how Dedede obtained the monsters, the history of the Star Warriors, the true nature of NME and its leader, as well as the reasons why the knight was in "service" to Dreamland's immature King. The biggest reveal, though, had been the importance of Kirby's Warp Star and Tiff's role in the development and growth of the young Star Warrior.
It would be her responsibility to protect and summon the Warp Star until Kirby grew up, but what would happen when he no longer needed her? Will he leave her behind to go on his own adventures? And if she decided to accompany him on those, wouldn't she become a burden?
Those troubling ideas had been plaguing her mind for some time, and meeting the Kirby of that dimension and witnessing how independent and powerful he was despite the fact that he was still a kid had only intensified them. "What kind of future awaits us if Kirby is fated to face ever-increasing dangers? Will we end up... taking separate ways?"
"Weird Dreamland calling Tiff," Tuff's voice jolted her out of her reverie. "You seem upset; are you okay?" her brother asked, concerned.
"Yes," Tiff half lied, swallowing and concealing her anguish. "I was thinking about the day the original Kracko attacked us. It's understandable that we had to flee; it was already difficult for Kirby to defeat him in a dry storm... But now I can't stop wondering what those things are," she continued talking, choosing to concentrate on the present. "I mean, the 'Waddle Dees' weren't really such, or at least this world's Dedede claimed they were just mimicking his subjects looks. If, as you said, that Kracko was similar to them, it's quite likely that they share the same origin. Maybe they're tied to how we got here."
"I think we should share this with this dimension's Kirby and his friends," Tuff suggested.
"You are right," Tiff agreed. "We should mention Meta Knight's mission too. I just think that it's too much of a coincidence that something like this happens on the day he came back ."
After making their decision, the two siblings left Tuff's room. Tuff then led Tiff to the dining room. They were not surprised to find Kirby and Gooey eating while the former chatted animatedly with Daroach and Bandana Waddle Dee drank juice. Tiff could see more peculiar-looking rodents on another table. Tuff soon informed her that they were Storo, Spinny, and Doc. The rodents were playing cards while wagering on what seemed to be crystal gems. Given the number of rewards on his side, it looked like Spinny was winning.
"So, Daroach, how have you guys been?" Tiff heard Kirby ask.
"We've been fine. We have been going from one place to another in our airship, which is still better than the Halberd, looking for treasures and doing some other errands," the mouse replied. "Is it true that portals to a new world known as 'The Forgotten Land' opened a couple of months ago? We were on another planet when the incident happened."
"Yes, it was quite an odyssey," Kirby replied. "But we returned safely, and on top of that, we made new friends!"
"I see. That place must be full of abandoned treasures begging to be rescued, then," Daroach said, with a mischievous smile on his face.
"Rescued or stolen?" Bandana Waddle Dee inquired, his eyes reflecting distrust as he looked at Daroach.
"Can it be called stealing if their former owners disappeared a long time ago?" Daroach argued.
It was then that Kirby noticed Tiff and Tuff, thus cutting short a possible discussion about the morality of "collecting" objects that lost civilizations had left behind.
"Ah, Tiff and Tuff! Hiiiii, poyo!" the pink puffball greeted them. "We've saved you some cake!"
"It took a lot of willpower not to eat it all," Gooey remarked.
Tiff and Tuff sat at the table and Daroach handed them each a piece of cake.
"I don't think we've been properly introduced," Kirby said to Tuff. "I'm this dimension's Kirby! And these are my best friends, Gooey and Bandee," he added, pointing to those in question, who smiled at Tuff.
"Nice to meet you all," Tuff said. "I hope my sister hasn't given you a headache with her smarty talk," he laughed.
"Tuuuff!" Tiff was upset. "Now is not the time for a joke." We have something important to share with you," she told the rest.
The residents of that Dreamland stayed silent, the joyful spirit that once reigned in the dining room turning serius.
"Don't worry, it's nothing bad. We think we found a couple of clues about what's going on," Tiff calmed them before she and her brother began to share what they discovered from their previous conversation.
Tuff first told them about the glitched Kracko's attack; however, to keep the story brief, he didn't think it was important to reveal the monster's identity. He just said that it had taken the form of a monster that his Kirby defeated in the past.
"So you think those things could have followed you from your world?" Banda Waddle Dee was curious.
"It's a possibility, but I can't confirm it. At least we now know they first appeared in our dimension," Tiff replied. "There's something else, too, and it has to do with our Meta Knight."
"Meta Knight always gets involved in everything, regardless of the universe," Daroach grumbled. Between that comment and the one regarding Halberd, it looked like those two had some rivalry, despite the fact that they were allies. This phantom thief's rival wasn't a detective in the end, but a meddlesome knight. "I'm sorry for the interruption. Please continue," the mouse apologised as he noticed the others looking at him reproachfully.
Tiff and Tuff exchanged glances before continuing their story.
The week before, the siblings had come across their dimension's Meta Knight, along with Sword and Blade, in the garden. The knight was carrying some luggage while his assistants were dragging an Air Ride machine. Fearing that Dedede had fired him and forced the knight to leave the castle, the children raced up to beg him to stay.
"Don't be worried. I'll only be leaving for a few days. The GSA has assigned me a mission," Meta Knight assured them. "Blade and Sword will assist you with everything you need," he added, his two apprentices nodding.
"Aren't you going with him?" Tiff questioned, surprised. Normally, Blade and Sword followed their master wherever he went.
Blade responded something in his almost impossible-to-decipher accent, but Tiff was miraculously able to understand that he was saying something along the lines of "we would have liked to go, but someone has to watch Dedede." Sword, meanwhile, was fine-tuning the Air Ride machine.
"I'm surprised Dedede let you go," Tuff remarked.
"I had to exchange seven years' worth of vacation days to convince him," Meta Knight disclosed, making no effort to hide his frustration.
"No way! He was lucky that the GSA did not punish him despite his involvement with NME, and yet he continues to cause problems for you and them," Tiff exclaimed indignantly.
"I know, but I don't want to lose my position here, so I had to comply," Meta Knight replied. "Besides, the mission is more important than a few days off. It's not like working for His Majesty requires much effort in the first place."
"But where are you going? To a different planet? How long exactly is 'a few days'?" Tiff inquired.
"This shouldn't take me more than a week. My mission is in Floralia, so there is no need for me to leave the planet. If something serious happens, I should be able to come back quickly."
"Oh, I remember reading about Floralia in a book that Professor Curio gave me," Tiff commented, very interested in the knight's destination.
"What is Floralia?" Tuff asked.
"It's a kingdom of floating islands located in the atmosphere of Pop Star. According to the book, it is inhabited by flower fairies and other insect-looking species, and some of them are capable of doing magic," Tiff explained. "But I thought that land was nothing more than a legend," she added sceptically.
"Floralia exists, but its magic keeps it hidden from the rest of the planet and thus the universe," Meta Knight stated. "There are only two ways to get there. One is that the sky people gather their dreams and hopes into a seed, which then will grow into a massive vine capable of connecting Floralia to the surface. The other is being allowed passage by a member of the royal family.
"And why did Floralia contact the GSA?" Tuff was curious. "It must be something big if they need the help of a Star Warrior."
From the green colour of his eyes, Meta Knight seemed to be debating with himself about what he was going to tell. His eyes returned to their usual colour when he finally decided to satisfy the children's curiosity.
"During the war against eNeMeE forces, the GSA maintained a secret alliance with Floralia's royal family. Although they did not actively engage in battle, they supplied us with a wide variety of medicinal plants from which we were able to create medicines and even antidotes against the poisonous monsters of eNeMeE. They were highly valuable allies until our downfall, so, now that we are opperative again, it's only fair that we repay them when they ask for our aid."
"But what happened to Floralia after the GSA fell? Did eNeMeE ever find out they were your allies?" Tiff asked with a slightly trembling voice, fearing the worst. She doubted that someone as ruthless as eNeMeE would not retaliate against a kingdom that had collaborated with his enemies. Tiff was hoping that the next thing Meta Knight said was "luckily, NME never found out that Floralia helped us."
Those hopes, however, were completely crushed.
"The last thing I heard about Floralia was that NME had devastated and taken control of the Sky Islands. It occurred sometime after the GSA's demise. Apparently, a traitor among the royal family agreed to collaborate with eNeMeE, revealing the connections between the kingdom and the Star Warrios and promising NME access to Floralia's resources. In exchange, the traitor sought assistance in unrightfully claiming the throne. eNeMeE, however, had no intention of making the traitor the ruler of Floralia, therefore once the invasion was over, he and his people got rid of that person."
Tiff shuddered. She was always distressed whenever she heard stories about the war between eNeMeE and the Star Warriors, but she would never have imagined that something like that would have happened on her own planet, so close to her home.
"Once Kirby defeated eNeMeE, it was only a matter of weeks before the Resistance that had formed against the invaders managed to retake their lands," Meta Knight concluded, giving the story a bittersweet ending. It was evident that the people of Floralia would never be able to recover everything they had lost, but they had been liberated from the clutches of Nightmare Enterprises. "Shortly after, their leader managed to contact Sir Arthur and tell him everything. They've been working on rebuilding their home for the past few months."
"Oh, so you're going there to help with the rebuilding efforts?" Tiff assumed.
Following eNeMeE's defeat, the few surviving Star Warriors (along with their two newest recruits) dedicated themselves to carrying out reconstruction projects in areas that had suffered under the tyrant's oppression, as well as driving the villain's weakened allies from the lands they had seized. Because there were so few of them, the task was taking a long time, but they had been successful so far, and light and hope were slowly but steadily returning to the galaxy.
"Not exactly," Meta Knight denied. "Apparently, during the reconstruction, they found something they were unable to identify. There is a risk of it being an abandoned Nightmare Enterprises experiment, so the leader of the Resistance has requested our help to discover the true nature of that thing. The other members of the GSA are busy, so since I was already on this planet, the responsibility has fallen on me."
"But how will you get there? Didn't you say that only a member of the royal family could grant you access? Because, to be honest, the seed thing sounds a lot like a children's tale," Tuff said.
"I know! There must be at least one member of the royal family among the Resistance," Tiff guessed.
"In fact, the leader of the Resistance was once the legitimate heir to the throne." She has, however, expressly instructed that we not treat her with royal courtesy. I have a feeling that after seeing her kingdom destroyed, she has renounced her title," Meta Knight declared in a sorrowful tone that lowered Tiff's spirits. Tiff had imagined the leader of the Resistance as a heroine who rose above adversity to reclaim her crown, but given what Meta Knight had told, it was highly likely that the story of Floralia's former princess was not a heroic tale but a tragedy.
"Sir, everything is ready," Sword suddenly announced.
"Thank you for your help, Sword," thanked Meta Knight as he approached the machine. "Anyway, it's time to leave. The sooner I go, the sooner I'll be return."
"Aren't you going to say goodbye to Kirby?" Tiff asked him with an accusatory tone. "If you leave without telling him anything, he's going to worry,"
"I was going to stop by his house and give him a brief explanation before leaving," Meta Knight responded in a conciliatory tone as he hopped on the machine. "I had also written a letter for you three in case I left before any of you awoke. I may be cryptic and sometimes even 'extreme' in my teaching methods, but I am not so insensitive as to leave you three in the dark about where I am going." Once he finished saying that, the Air Ride machine began to float. "Take care, you two, and Tuff, be more cautious with that slingshot. Dedede is beginning to suspect that it is you, not a ghost, who is behind the mysterious paper balls that hit him in the back of his head."
"Oh, I thought he would never notice," Tuff lamented.
"Take care of yourself too, Meta Knight," Tiff girl requested.
"I have faith in you, Sword and Blade. I'll see you all soon; goodbye," the Star Warrior stated before he flew away in the Air Ride machine, his cape waving in the wind as his apprentices and the two children watched his silhouette fade into the distance.
And so, Tiff and Tuff concluded their story. Although none of them could recall the exact moment they were reunited with Meta Knight, they knew, thanks to Dedede, that the knight had kept his word and had returned a week later. But the circumstances surrounding his return remained a mystery.
Tiff looked at the residents of the alternative Dreamland. Except for Gooey, everyone had a thoughtful expression on their face.
"Floralia..." Tiff overheard the alternate Kirby mutter, a troubled expression on his face.
"What's wrong, Kirby? Does that kingdom exist in this dimension as well? Have you been there before?" Tiff was intrigued by the unusual behaviour of the pink ball. Why was he so upset?
"Yeah. I was there on one of my adventures," he said glumly.
"Why is he acting this way? Did something bad happen in this dimension's Floralia, and Kirby got involved?" Tiff pondered, but she didn't dare to ask.
"So you say that Meta Knight was going to meet with the survivor of the royal family of Floralia, the one who would have become queen?" Bandana Waddle Dee asked, a little nervous. Tiff nodded in confirmation.
"Does that mean that Sectonia is still alive in your dimension?" Kirby asked in a sorrowful tone that made her heart ache.
Sectonia? Tiff... had heard that name before. Some words echoed in the girl's mind:
"Nice to meet you, Guardian of Star Warrior Kirby. My name is Sectonia and I will protect you during the mission. Also, sorry for taking Meta Knight away for a few days... I hope it didn't cause any inconvenience."
Tiff's mind began to rush at that moment. When did that conversation take place? Given the time frame, the only thing she could think of was Sectonia being the mystery seventh person Dedede had mentioned. She had stated that she had "taken Meta Knight away for a few days," so was she also the leader of Floralia's Resistance? Why would someone so significant to that land accompany Meta Knight back to Dreamland? And what was that about protecting her during the mission? What mission? And why had the alternate Kirby asked if she was still alive?
Tiff had no idea what was going on. She thought he'd found a piece of the puzzle, but she'd stumbled into an even bigger mystery. What was the goal of that mission? Was it related to Meta Knight's? Could it be connected somehow with those "glitched" monsters? Had they ended up in that alternate universe as part of the mission, or had it been an accident?
If Tiff had been worried about what she couldn't remember before, she was now terrified.
"Tiff, you need to calm down. Take a deep breath," she heard Daroach's soft voice say.
Tiff then realised she was hyperventilating as a result of all the thoughts that had abruptly invaded her mind. The rest of the group, including Daroach's gang, were looking at her with worry. The girl did as Daroach instructed until she calmed down.
"I remembered something," she said slowly after regaining her composure. "The name of the person my Dedede mentioned is Sectonia."
A dead silence fell over the dining room until Gooey broke it by saying:
"Hey, the Sectonia Tiff is talking about isn't the same as the tyrannical bug queen Kirby had to kill, right?"
Kirby's face darkened when he heard that.
"Gooey! Could you please be a little more sensitive when we talk about this topic?" Bandana Waddle Dee scolded the blob.
"I'm sorry," he said, realising the mistake he had made by blurting out that comment without thinking.
Tiff and Tuff stared at Kirby, who still had that painful expression. "Gooey called her tyrannical. I assume she had to be a villain as bad as Nightmare; otherwise, I doubt Kirby would have finished her off…" Tiff deduced. "Does this mean that she is actually evil or just another of the weird differences between this and my world?"
"It's okay. I'm fine," the pink puffball tried to smile.
"Kirby, remember that..." Bandana Waddle Dee began to say
"I know, Bandee. I know," he replied after sighing. "But I can't help but feel sad when I think about her."
Suddenly, the lair's lights began to flicker. Tiff once more felt the sensation of being cornered while, the rest, except Gooey, were put on alert.
"Something's wrong," Daroach said as he observed the blinking lights. "Doc, can you check if we're running out of power?" he asked his subordinate, who shook his head after pulling out and studying a pad. "This is definitely not normal..."
Suddenly, the small, bright mouse-like animals that Tiff had seen before dashed into the dining room.
"What's wrong, little ones?" Daroach asked the newcomers, who responded with squeaks. "What? Have you heard an intruder? Hand me the pad, Doc; I need to check the cameras."
Doc floated on his UFO to Daroach and handed him his pad. Everyone gathered around the mouse to try to see the cameras with him, with Kirby and Gooey leaping onto Storo's shoulders. Tiff and Tuff, for their part, leaned over the right side, while Bandana and Spinny leaned to the left. The camera feed flickered continuously, and when the image didn't contain a lot of visual noise, it only showed static. Daroach changed the active cameras in annoyance till he came to a halt at one where something could be seen.
"What in Shiver Star?!" Daroach exclaimed when he noticed the figure in the camera and turned immediately towards it, as if it knew it was being observed.
Because even if their colours were different, the semi-distorted figure staring back at the group through the camera was that of Daroach himself.
At first, the previous chapter was going to end when Tuff said "Excuse me, who are you supposed to be?", but I didn't want to leave a cliffhanger in a part that was going to end up being a joke. This has caused this chapter to be quite long.
Also, I have updated my ao3 username to match the one I have here