It was a lovely night if ever there was one. The air was quiet and still, the moon's gentle light faintly illuminated Dream Land's grassy fields and sprawling forests down below, and stars glittered overhead in the vast expanses of deep purple and dark blue. What made it especially pretty, though, was the meteor shower occurring that lit up the sky with bright trails of orange, yellow, and red, the streaks seemingly coming one right after the other. Maybe a burning chunk of rock travelling at ridiculous speeds wasn't exactly an innocuous thing, all things considered, but from afar, they were certainly enjoyable to watch- they were like fleeting strokes of paint on an astral canvas.

The night sky had become notably busier in recent times. At first, it was simply a meteoroid or two flying off to destinations unknown, nothing out of the ordinary, but as the days went on, meteor showers had become more frequent, and seeing some Waddle Dees gathering around the top edges of Castle Dedede's walls to watch them was not uncommon. When they'd first begun, it was only for a few minutes, but those minutes turned to half an hour, then an hour, then several hours into the earliest part of the morning when virtually everyone would be sound asleep. Sometimes bright trails of red and orange could be seen even during the daytime, but those were more fleeting. The reasons for such, no one was quite sure- maybe one of Popstar's celestial neighbors had undergone some shifting in its landscape and the unneeded bits were simply making their way to better parts of the galaxy, maybe a large chunk of space debris was simply due to pass through after some astronomical event, or maybe the stars just decided to rearrange themselves. Where they were coming from, or where they were going to, no one could tell.

Whatever the case was, quite a few sets of eyes saw and enjoyed them, and Kirby and a certain Waddle Dee wearing a blue bandana were no different. The two of them sat leisurely on a blanket spread in a grassy prairie situated on the cusp of a forest, enjoying a late night snack of strawberry shortcake and watching the sky light up overhead. Castle Dedede sat further behind them, and surely, the occupants there were captivated by the sky too.

"Oooh! That one's really bright!" Kirby exclaimed, pointing at a flaming red trail before glancing back to his friend. "Waddle Dee! Do you think I could catch one?"

The one next to him watched it sail away too, thoroughly content as he replied, "Well, you probably could! They're a little far away though, so maybe-"

"That one isn't!"

The pink puffball pointed to a large yellow trail directly overhead, which seemed to roar a bit as it coasted by. It was noticeably bigger, and seemed to be getting bigger too as it coasted along, already appearing the size of a boulder even from a distance.

Bandana Waddle Dee gave a little jolt of fright, jumping up and crying with a dismayed voice, "That one's too close! Kirby, don't you think-!"

The pink one too jumped up, but before he could make hardly three running steps towards its path, it seemed something collided with it, for it suddenly burst apart. A crashing sound followed, the meteoroid splitting apart into a dozen pieces that, oddly enough, ceased to be engulfed in flames as they fell into the trees below. Maybe the parts didn't outright burn, but still, they sparkled somewhat as they fell with a light shroud of embers following them down. Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee shared a glance.

"Well, I guess that's the end of that one," Bandana Waddle Dee observed simply.

Kirby, though, wore a big grin. "That was so cool!" he said happily, sitting back down. "It was like fireworks!"

"Were you about to run after it?" his friend nonchalantly inquired, glancing at him before his eyes drifted back to the sky.

"Of course!" the pink one giggled, picking up his cake. "I wanna see one up close!"

Alas, or perhaps thankfully, no more of them came too close for comfort, but the sky was certainly a flurry of pretty colors for quite a bit afterwards, and the two watching it enjoyed it until their eyelids started to droop and the sweet draw of sleep beckoned them back to their beds.

. . .

Someone else was certainly enjoying the meteor shower too, getting a much closer look at them from the air above the trees.

"Sheesh…~ All the way out here, huh?"

It was only one lone voice, one lone figure flitting around in the air. The sun had gone down, which was somewhat of a shame for how enjoyable it was to stare at, but apparently plenty more fireballs had taken its place. That was certainly not a new sight, but here, it seemed less… threatening.

Everything was less threatening, which truly, was a bit hard to make sense of.

However, it appeared one yellow-flaming piece of space rock had strayed a bit too close into the atmosphere, for it crackled and roared a bit in its flight downwards. It was sure to crash into the trees below and probably leave a sizeable crater… if it was allowed to hit the ground, at least.

"Why not, for old time's sake.~"

WHAM!

"Gyah-!"

Its surface was hard, making a collision with it something easily felt, and a metal clanging preceded a rocky crashing sound, but the moment it was split by the lone figure, the rock- or rather, something inside it- hissed. Its pieces still blazed on their outer surfaces for a few moments, but the inside was wet and damp, and something fell out of it along with the pieces that went clattering to the ground. For just a moment, what looked like a set of eyes were illuminated by the embers, but those quickly disappeared into the leaves and branches of the tree canopy below.

"… Shut the hell up and know your place.~"

The next morning was a similarly lovely morning, the sun's warm rays radiating down and the slight dew on the grass catching its light. The greens of the field were dotted in purples and pinks from the wildflowers, the sky was clear and blue, and the air was pleasant. The sweet sound of birds serenaded the senses of anyone listening, and to anyone running barefoot through the fields, the ground was soft to touch.

And two figures did exactly that, Kirby and his spear-toting Waddle Dee friend close behind him as he darted off over the fields where they'd gone stargazing, heading for the trees on seeing no stray space rocks sitting in the grass.

"I only told His Majesty I'd be gone for a little while, so we can't stay out here all day," Bandana Waddle Dee noted as Castle Dedede started to vanish behind them.

"Don't worry!" Kirby giggled. "We'll be back in time for a mid-morning snack, I promise!"

"What do you think we should have today? Yesterday morning was sandwiches, yesterday evening was cake…"

The pink one perked right up. "How about ice cream~? Or hamburgers! Or steak, or-!"

Bandana Waddle Dee glanced over, not protesting but not entirely sure of the thought. "Hold on, Kirby- steak is more a dinner food, don't you think?"

Kirby wasn't fazed in the slightest. "What's wrong with enjoying a nice morning steak~?"

The spear-toting one blinked, looking back ahead. "… I guess nothing, when you put it that way."

"But that big meteor that exploded last night! I just gotta see it! The way it came in flaming reminded me of toasted marshmallows! Or bananas Foster! Or cherries jubilee! You know, desserts you set on fire?"

Bandana Waddle Dee perked up too, glancing over with a sparkle in his eye. "Oooh! What if they're candy rocks? We'd have to take some back to share! His Majesty would wanna see it too!"

"We'll save some for him too!"

It was a wonderful prospect- burning sugar meteoroids leaving trails of tasty flaming caramel behind them as they sailed through the sky, maybe accompanied by some cotton candy clouds. Surely, space candy had to taste… out of this world, and if it existed, Kirby was determined to taste it. They darted over the grass, Castle Dedede vanishing on the horizon behind them, and into the trees, where things became a bit dim on account of the thick canopies overhead that blocked out quite a few of the sun's rays. A few little beams of light trickled down, and smallish bunches of tiny yellow flowers enjoyed them as they pointed their blooms up towards it amid the bigger patches of dark green grass and moss. A big Como dangled from a string on one tree limb, a few Bronto Burts flitted about further up, Cappies frolicked whilst flicking their hats into the air, and things were rather quiet save for the quick sound of smallish feet running over the forest floor. A few trees appeared to have fallen or been split in half, some more recently than others- some severed trunks had been covered in moss and deteriorated, but one or two looked to be freshly downed. Maybe the Blade Knights or Sir Kibbles had wielded their pointy edges at a trunk one too many times, or maybe a stray space rock had crashed into a trunk and toppled it, but the latter didn't seem too probable on account of there being no meteorites laying around.

"It was this way, right?" Kirby inquired, pausing for a second and glancing around. "And it was big! We should be able to see it!"

"Maybe we just aren't close yet," Bandana Waddle Dee mused, likewise glancing at their surroundings. "It was this way, but maybe it was farther-"

"GyaaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaah!"

The two of them perked up when a horrible yell graced their senses, followed by a loud whump akin to a hard collision. Some more yelling followed, but the words being uttered were too far away and jumbled to make out, and a few smaller thuds and thumps came shortly thereafter. Wordlessly, Bandana Waddle Dee and Kirby shared a glance, then darted off towards the source of the commotion, jumping over fallen logs and batting the underbrush aside.

"That didn't sound like someone happy to find a big candy rock!" Kirby exclaimed.

"That doesn't sound like someone happy at all!" Bandana Waddle Dee noted.

A Blade Knight waved his sword at the two of them as they dashed through his practice area, likely disgruntled at the sudden interruption, but Kirby and his friend were too quick for the little masked one to properly get after them. The sounds got a bit louder, more akin to someone striking something hard or tree limbs cracking and falling, and the shouting voice became more apparent too.

"Can you leave me alone for like ten seconds, or is that too much to ask?! Gyaaah, to think we ever told people to wish on stars…!"

Whump!

At that moment, Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee burst into a clearing, halfway just a natural place where trees hadn't sprouted and halfway an artificial one from the splintered trunks and stumps in multiple places. What was far more attention grabbing, however, was an oversized bladed weapon that sailed right towards their faces like a deadly boomerang with a staff.

"Uwa-!" Bandana Waddle Dee cried, ducking down in fright.

Kirby was surprised, sure, but just as quick, he opened his mouth wide and sucked the flying object right in. It wasn't tasty, but that was fine- he could swallow it all the same and there would be no problem… or at least, he would have, if that shouting voice hadn't chimed in from several meters away.

"WHAT?! My axe! H-how?!"

The two of them turned their attention to their west, where the source became readily apparent. The voice belonged to a flustered-looking lass with a bright blue body shaped like a rotund rice ball, around twice as big as Kirby himself with one slightly large, oval-shaped and clearly upset solid black eye watching them, while the eye socket on the left appeared to be filled with a chunk of rock that didn't quite fit. Her mouth was frowning, borderline snarling, which revealed some rather jagged white teeth like a bear trap, seeming to catch light and reflect it like the cold steel that would make one too. A tiny golden feathered tail was visible on her backside between her feet, just barely brushing against the surface of the ground. Sleek black armor with golden edging and golden accents resembling a circuit board covered much of her body, and black armored boots with heavy golden soles and similar golden accents covered her feet. A black cadet cap with golden edging covered her head, seemingly held firmly to her form by three small golden tendrils that snaked out from under it- two on either side of her eyes and one between them- and followed the curve of her body to just below where the top of her eyes were, fitting well and resting snugly against her. Her relatively large hands, detached from her body, appeared entirely artificial- they were comprised of the same black metal as her armor for the most part, though the ball joints of her fingers took the same gold color as its accents. Likewise detached from her body were two smallish wings, comprised of a sleek black metal frame which held her rounded gold feathers, bearing some black markings that, when paired with the frame's blackness too, resembled a staring eye.

Probably more concerning behind her was a gigantic tree with bright red apples growing from his branches, his hollow eyes and mouth not looking thrilled in the slightest- Whispy Woods. He started to shake and shiver slightly, and so did the ground.

"You-!" the lass cried, still staring haplessly at Kirby and his full mouth. Her expression contorted for just a moment before landing on a haplessly amused but droopy-eyed grin, a single gold tear coming out of her rock-filled socket and dripping down her face as she laughed oddly. "Oh, so that's how it is…! Gyahaha, of course this happens…!"

"Miss, look out!" Bandana Waddle Dee called as the ground gave way to a spiky set of roots around her.

She barely seemed to care, instead rushing at the pink one whilst hollering, "Give me my axe, you little piece of-!"

Without missing a beat, Kirby spat out what he'd swallowed- an axe, alright, and a big one- that whopped their company with a metallic clank as it hit her. She let out a cry of protest but nonetheless quickly took it up in two hands, and it wasn't hard to see why she'd be upset at the prospect of losing it. The axe had a staff slightly taller than she was, comprised of a bright blue carved crystalline rod split in two, one piece twice as big as the other, connected on their ends to a rounded black rod with the smaller piece on top and the longer one on bottom, all three parts held together by two golden rings around the junctures. The blades were mostly black and slightly wider than she was, fitted into the top crystalline part of the staff and shaped something like a pair of bat wings with golden edges akin to her armor. Around the top of the staff, just above where the blades joined and just below the point of the crystal piece, floated a golden gear that didn't quite touch the staff but nonetheless apparently was not going to be removed from around it. The thing looked expensive, and if not expensive, then clearly having been crafted deliberately by someone who knew how to make a fine tool.

Nonetheless, the spiked roots missed her in her dash, and though she still looked flustered, having her axe back in hand seemed to calm her considerably as she turned back around to face the tree.

"Miss, are you okay?!" Bandana Waddle Dee inquired, holding his spear but shooting her a concerned glance.

"Oh, I'm fine," she replied, her voice sounding less angry and more matter-of-fact. She took one hand off of her axe's staff and held that hand out, extending only her middle finger while balling up the rest and shouting, "You suck!"

"Hey, now, that's just Whispy," Kirby nonchalantly piped up. "He can get upset at visitors to the forest, but don't worry, he won't stay mad for long!"

The lass eyed them both a bit, taking up her weapon in both hands again, and Whispy started shaking his limbs to make some of his fruits come loose and whack the ones below… but abruptly stopped before any actually fell. His hollow facial features turned to an expression more of dismay, and his trunk bent slightly so that he could look downwards towards his base. The ground underneath him was shaking and they could see roots starting to come above the ground, but it wasn't in an aggressive gesture- the tree himself didn't seem to know what was going on, and moments later, they saw why. His trunk came perhaps half a meter off the ground, his roots ripping up the ground slightly too, and a pair of glowing green eyes peeked back from the fresh hole in the ground.

The armored lass started to grin wildly, drawing her axe back in preparation to make a move. "Now this, I can do!"

She took a few running steps, giggling as she did so, and Whispy seemed to look right over her and to Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee as he frantically nodded "no." Their armored company's blade wasn't aimed at his trunk, so surely that couldn't have been the cause of his dismay, but that too became apparent as he was entirely uprooted by the creature underneath him and hurled aside as it crawled out of the ground. His entire body, the entire giant tree making him up, flew into the air and crashed down not too far away, shaking the forest and causing some loud cracking sounds as smaller trees and underbrush snapped from the impact. The blue lass took a swing at the pair of beady eyes, still giggling, but was quickly thrown back by the force of a mighty roar coming from a gaping, fanged maw. Kirby and his friend both flinched, shielding themselves as some pebbles and twigs flew through the air along with their company.

Whump! Thud!

Her back clanged against the trunk of another tree, and the sound of her boots hitting the ground when she fell was easily audible too. The source of the yelling, crashing, and thumping- apparently, it was all her and her heavy armor. Still, she grinned as though absolutely nothing was amiss, evidently not bothered in the slightest.

The creature that stared at them, however, was a sight to behold for all the wrong reasons. Its quadrupedal, draconic body was primarily black, but that was only readily visible on its underside where thick brown scales with the colors and the vague shape of, but not necessarily the rough texture of, tree bark weren't covering it like thick armored plates. Its head was heavily coated in those scales, two solid green eyes staring back and two long, branch-like horns that did have a bark-like texture snaking from its brows and towards its back. Its claws held clumps of dirt, the reasons for which were obvious, but with a quick flick of them to fling the clumps of earth off, their long and sharp forms were readily apparent. Two wings sprouted from its back, but unlike the rest of it, their skin was green and brown which, coupled with the veins naturally visible in their thin membranes already, made them resemble leaves. Its tail moved and coiled up freely, but from the way it was covered in a layer of mostly smaller scales with a few larger, thicker ones made it resemble a growing branch. It wasn't as tall as Whispy, but it nonetheless towered over the ones present regardless, its eyes narrowing on them and fanged maw big enough to cause some harm if allowed to snap down on anyone.

"W-what is that?!" Kirby exclaimed, studying it uncertainly.

"I don't know!" Bandana Waddle Dee haplessly replied, gripping his spear with frightened eyes.

The lass next to them, however, laughed. "There we go! Gyahaha, come here, beastie!"

The dragon had no issue doing so. With a snarling hiss, it snapped its jaws and rushed at them, Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee both diving out of the way while the armored lass grinned some more. Their draconic company reached for her with its gaping jaws, but without flinching, she gave a hard swing of her axe into the side of its head that elicited a pained roar and caused it to get no more than a mouthful of dirt. It stumbled, its claws trying to find a place to grab and coming rather close to both Kirby and his friend. The pink one quickly turned to a fallen log and opened his mouth to inhale it, while Bandana Waddle Dee gave a thrust of his spear at the creature's front foot nearest them. It didn't break scales, but it certainly made the creature flinch and growl, that set of claws quickly reaching out to swipe at the source of discomfort.

"Uwagh-!" Bandana Waddle Dee cried, feeling the strong grip and sharp points of the dragon's claws curling around him.

Kirby spit out the log, which became shrouded with a bright yellow energy as he did so, getting an odd look from his armored company at the act. The dragon growled again, toppling over slightly from the blow, but before the axe-toting one could strike again, it flared its wings out and haphazardly rose up on its hind feet.

"You guys…!" Bandana Waddle Dee exclaimed, the set of claws still curled around him as he tried to jab them off with his spear.

"Waddle Dee!" Kirby exclaimed, taking note of his friend's precarious position in the dragon's grasp before looking around to find something to inhale. "Hold on!"

And just like that, with a flick of its claws, the dragon hurled Bandana Waddle Dee under one wing, pressed its wings back down against its body, and turned to dart off. They couldn't hear exactly what the spear-toting one was saying under the wing, but they could see something shuffling around under its membrane and the muffled cries coming from under it certainly sounded dismayed and flustered.

"Hey!" the armored lass hollered, running and taking a swing at its tail. "You think you're gonna run?!"

… Yes, it certainly did. Before she could land her hit, the creature took off, crushing underbrush and battering tree limbs with its large frame. Kirby spit a rock towards it, which did indeed hit its hindquarters, but didn't stop it as it vanished deeper into the woods. He turned to the armored lass, who in turn looked to him as well.

"We've gotta go save Waddle Dee!" Kirby exclaimed, countenance concerned. "You looked happy to see it- do you know what thing was?"

His company shook her head, still grinning. "No idea, and I have no idea what you are either! But if it's a fight, I'm always down, gyahaha!"

Kirby started smiling, reaching one stubby hand out. "I'm Kirby," he said amiably. "And you are?"

She studied him for a moment, then reached out with her thumb and forefinger to shake his hand on account of hers practically dwarfing his. "… Nem.~ Nice to meet you, Kirby.~"

"Nice to meet you, Nem! C'mon, let's go!"

The pink one turned to run in the direction the dragon had taken off, his feet scurrying as fast as they could go, and Nem eyed him for a second longer before taking off too, her axe still gripped firmly and her boots making a slight clanking sound as she followed.

… It was certainly shaping up to be an eventful day in addition to a lovely day, that was for sure.

Author's note: Well, hello everyone. Here I find myself writing stuff on the internet again after an idea pops into my head. I've become quite engrossed into the Kirby fandom for a bit less than the last year or so, but again I find myself with ideas in my head that just keep growing and growing until I feel obligated to write them. I should say, I'm pre-emptively slapping a T rating on here because of my propensity to swear and because, frankly, I'm entranced by grotesque things and I fully intend to lean into that for all it's worth later on. (What can I say- I was initially drawn in by the bleeding eyeball bosses and I work in a field where gangrene and crusty smoker lungs are a totally normal conversation topic.) I'm sure I'll end up adding another note here at some point in the future detailing what is included so folks can decide if this is their cup of tea or not, but for now, should you choose to continue, I hope you enjoy.