This is the part where Marisa interferes with the Gourmet Race lol
Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Kirby had a wild but strange dream.
Firstly, he dreamed of going on his usual business until he noticed the night sky empty of stars with the exception of one remaining, it pretty much felt like days were passing by really fast until Kirby decided that enough was enough and went ahead to investigate.
He somehow got a spyglass out from somewhere and went ahead to look for the stars, and surely enough his dream showed him King Dedede! - Of all people - stealing the stars! He somehow saw Kirby looking at him and fled, all inflated and stuff. The star that was being stolen fell towards Kirby before he used it as a substitute warp star and flew off.
What happened next was a pretty weird series of dreamy events that had Kirby rolling around like a golf ball, smacking down enemies, transforming into abilities he never thought existed (but perhaps they actually do? He just haven't seen them in the waking world) and compete for a hole in one
Heck, he's even seen a yellow version of himself somehow! He's not sure when but he may have forgotten that part of the dream.
Eventually it ended with him battling Dedede who was in a GIANT mech robot, a cool battle mech that spewed out little Dededes and such.. And that's about it.
The dream pretty much ended with him putting back the stars and reform the constellations.
Perhaps his short lessons with his tutor in Dreamlandian had an effect on his dreams? He did sleep through it once so..
Not to mention the fact that he came back from a trip down the caves, it had tons of cool stuff that Kirby doesn't know where to put so.. He kind of hid it inside a small cave near his house
Anyway, Kirby yawned in his bed, stretching up and plopping down on his comfy resting place, it is the weekends which means he gets to explore Dreamland once again! No tutors to keep him busy anymore, even if he did learn from them.
He would hop out from his bed and rub his eyes before going to his fridge to grab a plate of cake.
Before he promptly inhaled it right into his bottomless mouth.
"Haaah.." He sighed, satisfied as he rubs his mouth of any cake remains with his stubby hand before looking at the door.
The puffball would walk towards it and open, greeting the outsidd world with open arms and a bright smile. He began to run!
Today will be a great day!
...
"Hmm"
King Dedede paced back and forth from inside the throne room, his hands behind his back and his face perpetually thinking about his newfound rival, the puffball himself "Kirby"
"Nguuuh...!" He grunted, bringing a face up to his forehead and rubbing it in frustration as he tried to think of a way to get back at the puffball
"Sire..?" His Retainer Dee walked up to him, tilting his face slightly and a slight downed eyebrow that showed his concern for the king
He had been like this for the past hour and so, thinking about the many various ways he could probably go after Kirby, from clobbering him upfront to sending his henchmen, but he immediately dismissed any of them the moment they came into his mind, saying that it doesn't fit for someone like him.
"Uugh, what makes a good plan!? How can I even humiliate the pink puffball this time?" The emperor penguin placed his hands on his hips with his teeth gritting, he couldn't come up with a plan that can knock his rival down a peg and two.
"S-sire if I may ask?"
"Yeah? What is it?" Dedede turned to his retainer with a frustrated look
"Ah! Uh.. If I may, I would like to recommend challenging Kirby to a Race!"
"A race huh?" King Dedede turned back to his thoughtful self, rubbing his beak with his hand until..
"AHA! I got it!" He points a finger up to the ceiling, grinning madly
"Sire?"
"Think about it! Kirby and I race to the end collecting all the food we can until whoever gets the most food wins! That way I get to eat food right in front of him while he watches in horror!" He chuckled, rubbing his hands together "It would be like a race of food.. A gourmet race! What do you think?"
"Well sire... We do still have a stack of food at the back.. But I don't think that may be eno-"
"Don't care! Just gather food from the surroundings if you wish! Just don't steal food from our citizens this time for now since im just trying to have fun" He smiled as the Retainer Waddle Dee nodded and ran towards the doorway leading to the outside of his throne room.
Oh he's so gonna have fun with this concept he can tell.. He secretly giggled like a child to himself as he imagined of all the things he can humiliate Kirby with during the race.
...His stomach grumbles
"Oh" Right, he has to get breakfast first
"NEED ME SOME BREAKFAST RIGHT AWAY DEES!"
"WANYA!" the Waddle Dees at the back shouted in response, now hard at work
...
"Mmmmgh..."
Marisa would flip over to the side of her bed, the warm light of the sun hitting her face as she brings up her blanket to cover herself up.
It didn't take long before she brings down the blanket and rubs her eyes, looking around her room.
She had a dream, she dreamt of Gensokyo..
She was a human in that dream, and she flew around casually, waving at the dreamy versions of her friends and visiting the Scarlet Devil Mansion to see if Patchouli had any new books to grab.
The witching keke had to double check her room to see if she was still in her old world, and as it turns out.. Nah, she's still a Keke
She sighed, throwing the blanket away and hopping out of her bed to prepare for the day.
After taking a bath for several minutes and a minute of changing clothes, she would walk out with clothes already prepared, her classic magician look.
She would promptly fix her look by straightening her clothes and fixing her hat, twirling to glance at the mirror and then she looked happy, this is mostly her way of smiling since Kekes don't really have a mouth to express their emotions with.
She would then waddle straight to the storage room of her house, opening the door and taking a peek into her stash to see if anything had changed.. No break ins, nothing
"Good" She nodded, ever since she found out Tacs existed, she would always keep an eye out to see if one of these idiots stole something from her stash, and if they did? Well they're meeting Marisa's hakkero right in the face! Provided that she finds them on time.
She would leave the room, going towards her broom and grabbing it before hopping onto it, this broom is currently the sole reason as to why she can fly for the time being.
The ordinary keke would then hover over to grab her proto-hakkero from the table and attached it on her waist.
Great! Now that's all of it! Its time to do whatever she wants!
That's pretty much the biggest pros of living in dreamland, provided you don't cause as much trouble as before, you're basically able to do anything in Dreamland.
She giggled like a child, oh the amount of books she can borrow from Dreamlandian magicians..
With that, she would open the door and zoom out into the skies, only to promptly stop at the sight of familiar orange blobs walking through the forest, with fruits ontop of their heads
"Hang on.." Is Dedede still after the food??
The witchling keke would zoom down towards the ground with a raised eyebrow, stopping right infront of the Waddle Dees, surprising the servants and dropping their foo into the ground
"Wanya!"
"Alright lil blobs, care to explain the food you're holding?" She brought out her hakkero and shook it, making it's contents glow a bright blue and aimed the jae at the Waddle Dees
"W-wan wan! We're not stealing food this time we swear!"
"Wan wanya!" Another said with visible sweat. Nodding vigorously
"Oh really?" She didn't believe them just a bit
"We're serious this time! The food were holding is not stolen at all!" The Waddle Dee shook his face before clearing up his throat "Ahem! Our king has announced that he will be preparing for a race and us servants are here to gather food for it! He's calling it a Gourmet Race!"
"..Eh?" She lowered her proto-hakkero.
"Basically he's going to challenge Kirby to a race where whoever collects the most food and the most fastest wins!" The Waddle Dee summarizes all the while he picks up the food that was dropped onto the star-decorated ground. "I surely believe our king will win this custom race! After all he thought it up at the back of his mind!"
"Hm.." She brought a hand up to his chin, rubbing it as she thought of their words..
Eh, who cares? Maybe Dedede is finally playing nice for now!
"Ah well, I'll leave you to your own devices" She shrugged "Notify me when the race is startingstarting, my home's that way" She would gesture at where her home is before she eventually fly up into the sky.
"Wanya!" The Waddle Dees all said in chorus. Waving goodbye at the flying Keke
...the day would pass for hours, with Marisa returning home with a sack full of more scrolls that she found along the way.
Apparently there were many duplicates of each scroll found in ruins and chests, so she was basically just hoarding all that she can so at least when something from her goes missing, there's always something that can replace it.
Besides, she's borrowed atleast a few new books from unsuspecting Dreamlandee magicians now. And they seem useful for her application of mirror into her attacks!
Speaking of..
She would walk towards her fridge and opening it..
And promptly saw that it was empty
"Darn.." She scratched her hair "I think I might need to cook up a few dishes, but I barely got no mushrooms this time.." Yeah once she goes to that "gourmet race" she's definitely borrowing a few food that she can snack on
The keke would walk back to her couch and hop into it, looking at the now newly installed TV and remote.
Ever since Reimu got one, she's gotten at least a tad bit interested in owning one herself, at least until she's harvested enough Star Coins in the wild to buy at least one now.
With the help of her mom, who promptly came over for a visit, she set up the TV and pretty much learned how to use it. Outside world technology seemed pretty simple to use now that she thought about it.
She pressed buttons on the TV, switching channels as she took a passing glance at each channel before shrugging them off.
Well until one channel stood out
Channel PPP once again.
"This is another breaking news live from Channel PPP!"
"Oooh! I wonder what they got this time!"
"King Dedede has challenged Kirby to a more unique race! This time with cakes and food mixed into the very essence! This is Reporter Dee reporting this very event unfolding before our eyes!"
"..."
Of course they didn't tell her
"THEY DIDN'T TELL ME!" she shouted, tumbling down to the down before scrambling to the broom and sack and took off immediately "GAH! LET ME SEE IN PERSON!"
What was on her mind again?
Oh right! Taking a few snacks back home
...Girls are interfering.. Please wait warmly...!
The keke would soar through the sky, looking around with a hand covering her eyes from the sun so as to see what she was searching for
A chorus of cheers and yells would be heard from this high up, her cat ears picking it up and the witchling turning to wherever the sound was coming from, this was one of the perks of being a cat-like creature that she likes!
She would see a crowd hop and cheer from the sidelines as they spectated two particular participants duke it out in a full blown on-ground race, a pink gumball and a chubby emperor penguin being the two of them.
Marisa turned to see the course, having be littered with food and plated dishes on the ground, she rubbed her hands. She's been looking forward to filling up her fridges for the time being, so she's definitely asking! Time to interfere!
The keke would fly down, a Waddle Doo looking up to see the witch fly towards the course and shout at her.
She didn't really hear most of it but she's pretty sure they're calling for her to stop, in that case. Nope!
"Hello familiar faces!"
"Eh!?" King Dedede would speak out, looking up to see the soaring keke all the while he ran "Hey! You the witchling that hosted a party!"
"Hai!" Kirby yelled, picking up a dessert and a banana along the way simultaneously
"Hi there guys! Care to ask if I can have some of these dishes? I've been looking forward to filling my fridge"
"Hey! Don't you think you can get some of them! They're for race purposes! Oi!" He immediately noticed Marisa swiping a floating food out of the air and into her hands, where she placed it within a sack.
"Oh!? Looks like we got an adversary in the form of a thief! What a show! Never thought Kekes can be this bold!" An announcer shouted out, a camera holding dee would hold the camera at the Keke
"Hey! It's called borrowing! I only want to see how the food is tasted"
"Poyai!" He spoke out, grabbing a Maxim Tomato and swallowing it "Food delish!"
"Ah! So you've actually did learn from your Dreamlandian teacher!" She gave him her signature wink "Nice job Kirby! Now if you excuse me.. Yoink!" She would snatch one more food from the air and into her sack
"Hey! That's it come here!" Dedede would grit his teeth before bringing out his hammer and swinging it at Marisa, surprising the Keke and making her drop a few food pieces into the ground
"YAAH! OW!" She rubbed her body before taking a glance at the food that was dropped onto the ground, unsurprisingly Kirby would rush in and collect them all into his mouth
"Oh it's on you two!" She chuckled with vigour before flying up
"Oooh things are REALLY spicing up here! With a kleptomaniac in the race it's starting to look dire for the two contestants! Luckily the finish line is not far from here!"
The announcer laughed before clearing his throat "I have a feeling we're definitely seeing more of her in the race sooner enough"
"Im not going anywhere you all!" She shouted from the skies
...It didn't take long for Kirby to reach first place, with Dedede throwing a short tantrum as a result.
COURSE 1 - KIRBY!
...
"On your mark!"
Dedede took a stance while Kirby stood there unmoving. The penguin would glance at Kirby and smirked "this time im winning you piece of gum!"
"..." Kirby gave him a short glance, only acknowledging the king with a nod
"Get set!"
Both racers would spot Marisa flying by and stopping midair, the keke rubbing her hands, right before flying right up into the sky.
"Go!"
Both racers immediately dashed forward with Kirby way ahead of Dedede
The puffball would snatch most of the snacks in front of him, angering Dedede as he sped up and got a a few food on his own, from there the path pretty much led into a cubic-shaped hill, with Kirby suddenly sliding down and yelling all the way
It made Dedede laugh.
"Uh oh! It looks like Kirby slid down the slope leading into the cave!"
"Out of my way you two!" Marisa would zoom into the cave and past the contestants, where she began snatching a few snacks here and there.
"Hold it there you runt!" King Dedede would shout at the keke
Kirby shook his head and looked at Marisa, noticing that he's far behind, he picked himself back up and ran, inhaling a stone and shot it at the kleptomaniac keke.
The ordinary magician promptly dropped some of her ill-gained food from being hit hard, making her grumble as she flies away from the course, eating a banana along the way to heal up.
"Sari!"
"Nah! It's fine, this is a race between you and Dedede after all!" She shouted. All the while she was surprised at the fact that Kirby spoke again
"And the Keke was chased away once again! Dropping food along the way, and Kirby is taking advantage of her dorpped food!"
Kirby picked all of her dropped food up, before catching up with Dedede who was ahead of him.
"Hey how did you-" King Dedede would gasp at the speed that Kirby was running at, grimacing before he tried to pick up the pace.
After a series of turns and traversing the cave..
Kirby unsurprisingly crossed the finish line again. With Triple D throwing another tantrum as a result.
COURSE 2 - KIRBY!
Kirby and Dedede stared ahead at the massive sky course ahead of them, spiked walls, water pits and bells that hung onto floating.. whatever these bubble-shaped things are.
This course was located just right next to Bubbly Clouds
"On your mark!" A Waddle Dee ran infront of them, holding a cone-shaped party popper in hand. The two racers would compose themselves as they made their stance, Dedede being as ready and ever and Kirby? He's just doing his own thing.
"Get set!"
Marisa would fly in, looking around as she whistled "So much food... Would you all mind if I take some of them?"
"No!" King Dedede yelled at her, to which she chuckled in response
"Alright, sure why not!"
"Why you oughta-"
"Go!" The Waddle Dee promptly popped the party popper, promptly making Kirby run and King Dedede stumble, he wasn't prepared ouch..
The king would get back up before running to catch up with KirbyKirby
Marisa soared up into the sky to monitor the race.
Along the way Kirby would be in the lead right before Dedede would catch up with the puffball, it didn't make a reaction from him whatsoever as he was focused on grabbing snacks in his tracks.
They would reach a hallway where a Birdon would reside, said birdon was distracted at a bell until he heard both Kirby and Dedede rushed in
"Oh- WAIT SORRY!" The Birdon immediately began to flutter away, leaving behind feathers.
Kirby had a bright idea to swallow the bird feathers and see where it goes for him.
He stopped in his tracks, leaving Dedede to advance ahead and laugh at the puffball, and inhaled the feathers before gulping it all down!
It gave him the Wing Ability, Kirby would examine his features from a feathery headdress to his wings behind his back.. It made him awe
"Ooaaahh.."
"Whats this!? Kirby inhaled the bird feathers and turned into.. That!"
"Say what!?" King Dedede promptly stoppee in place to turn back and look at the puffball with widened eyes, right before he saw Kirby fly ahead, smiling at the king and fluttering away.
"OI! CHEATER!" He got back to running in a few miliseconds.
Along the way, Marisa would finally interfere, taking away a few snacks that Kirby missed. Though once Dedede would catch up with the flying gumball, he caught a glimpse of Marisa taking a maxim tomato out from the corner
"Hey you! Take this!"
"Eh?" The keke turned around just to promptly yelp and dodge the hammer swing, dropping a few food on the ground "YIKES! how foul!"
"You're the foul one here, speaking of which I'll be taking these back with me!" He then snatched away the food dropped on the ground before running to try and catch up with Kirby.
"...Eh whatever" She shrugged, taking a look at her sack and seeing a few fruits and snacks still in her bag "This will do! Thanks for the food you all!"
Then she promptly flew away
"And so the Keke dropped her food again! Allowing for Dedede to snatch back the food she got! Now all he needs to do is to catch up with Kirby!"
As Dedede went ahead to swim in the floating waters, his head popped out of the surface as he took a breath before looking around, seeing Kirby just right ahead, he smiled and inhaled a bunch of air into his mouth and flapped away.
Months of training went into effect as he floated just like how Kirby does. The King had been trying to imitate the puffball at least a while now once he saw what he was capable of in his base form and look where that led him to!
The Emperor Penguin would flap towards the platform before exhaling all the air and running straight for Kirby.
"Ohoho! Looks like Dedede finally caught up to Kirby! Things are spicing up once more as he tries to outpace the now winged puffball!"
The two would then speed up, trying their best to outpace each other with Kirby happily laughing and Dedede grimacing as he tried to speed up.
They would reach a section where clouds were most plentiful, Kirby decided to fly ahead while Dedede ran on the clouds
"They're near the finish line! Looks like Kirby's about to wiiin!"
"You're not winning this time Kirby!" He shouted, balloning back up as he inhaled even more air and flapped upwards, trying to catch up to the pink puffball.
He tried his best to catch up..
But in the end..
"AAAND KIRBY GETS THE LAST CHECKPOINT!"
King Dedede puffed out a cloud of air, and stomped towards the finish line where he stomped the cloudy ground below
All the while Kirby posed at the camera with a happy smile!
...
"Huahahaii!"
Kirby happily waved at the crowed before him as he stood ontop of a pedestal with a sign that said "WINNER!!" all the while Dedede stood back, slumped while he held a 2nd place badge on his clothes.
Meanwhile with Marisa, Channel PPP managed to get an interview with the Keke, the Reporter Waddle Dee bringing up a question as to why she interfered with the competition.
"Eh, it's not serious, my fridge was empty after all and the mushrooms that I see around these parts tend to be either Cappies or Nruff food.. I had to borrow at least a few of them!"
"I see.. So you were starving?"
"Hey it's not like that! I just wanted to fill up my fridge-"
"LITTLE MARISA!"
She shrinked "Oh dear.."
A white-haired keke would fly down before she flew towards the ordinary magician and pinched her ear "How many times do I have to tell you to not steal!"
"OW OW OW! MA! IT WAS BORROWING- OOOW!"
"DON'T TELL ME THAT IT'S BORROWING LITTLE MISS! THIS HAS GOT TO BE YOUR WORST EVER YET!" After all, she saw the entire thing happen on TV..
"hey hey!" The Reporter Dee spoke "We're fine with her taking a few food from the race! It's not that serious!"
In the end, Marisa got scolded by her mother, who furiously commented about her kleptomania while Channel PPP desperately tried to calm down Keke.
All the while Kirby ate cake in victory
...
Meanwhile in the rubble of Mallow Castle..
"Uurgh.. Ow ow"
"Can't believe he fought like that"
Two heads popped out from the rubble, rubbing their heads in confusion
"What even happened?" Trident Knight asked
"Did you forget!? We fought a pink puffball!" Axe Knight scolded, before groaning as he placed a hand on his face "But still, to think he was that strong.."
"With a sword nevertheless" Trident Knight nodded, now clearly remembering how the fight ended.
"Ugh.. Hey, wheres Mace Knight?"
The two Meta Knights looked around before seeing a spot of blue peek out from the rubble
"Ah, there he is.." Trident Knight spoke, right before turning to Axe Knight "Should we report the puffball to..?"
"Yes.. We should"
...
And as for the Meta Knights back at the old tower in the Great Cave?
Yeah they were still knocked out
Gourmet Race but what if a Keke flies down to steal food but attacking said Keke makes her drop food
That's gotta be a fun mechanic