Note: re-uploaded chapter because the final part was cut out for some reason.

Taranza sighed in exhaustion. The journey to Dedede's castle had been long, a bit tense due to what had happened earlier between him and Toni, and even kind of chaotic since both of them had had to prevent baby Kirby from running away on his own and thus getting lost. The baby puffball, just like his older counterpart, was curious by nature, and, of course, everything about Dreamland sparked his attention and attracted him like a moth to light. Although this attitude was a bit problematic given the circumstances, Taranza couldn't help but find it endearing. He actually regretted not allowing the little one to explore freely.

But, on a brighter note, Taranza had to thank Lady Luck for cutting him some slack. Up until that point, they hadn't gotten into trouble with any of Dreamland's residents, nor had they encountered any of his acquaintances, which would have put him in an awkward position as he would have been forced to lie about his companions.

And, with that thought, just as if his life were a bad joke, Lady Luck decided to curse him by putting in his path the one person he least wanted to see.

Said person was walking (or rather "bouncing on a ball") in the opposite direction as them, which meant that an encounter would be unavoidable unless Taranza found a hiding spot in the next few seconds. Unfortunately, there wasn't even a single bush or tree big enough for the three of them. Not that it would have mattered, because the person had noticed him and was quicly approaching the group. Taranza gritted his teeth in anticipation...

"Hey, Kirby! Spider-Boy! Whatcha doing around here?"

...as Marx greeted them with a mischievous grin on his face.

Taranza looked at his companions. Toni had entered a state of alert similar to that of an animal ready to pounce on a perceived threat (the only thing she was missing was hissing at Marx as a warning). Taranza clamed her down with a gesture, and although Toni relaxed her posture, she didn't lower her guard. The baby Kirby, for his part, watched Marx hop around, his eyes following the jester's bounces with fascination.

"Hello, Marx," Taranza greeted back, forcing himself to smile once the jester reached them. Why him of all the people in Pop Star? "I would love to stay and chat, but we are in a hurry: we have an audience with King Dedede, and it would be very unpolite to be late," he added as he tried to slip away.

"Old Dedede isn't going to kick the bucket for having to wait a few minutes more," Marx replied with disdain. The jester then paused and looked at the baby puffball. "Hey, what's wrong with Kirby? He looks smaller, and his colours are off..."

"Poyo?" said the baby Kirby, tilting his head in confusion.

"And he is looking at me as if it was the first time we meet," Marx continued. "Is he sick or something ?"

"I accidentally hit him with a rejuvenating spell," Taranza responded with the lie that he had already rehearsed. He found it very easy to tell it, most likely due to him actually believing that it was what had happened before Toni arrived.

"Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying that you turned Kirby into a baby?" the jester inquired. Taranza nodded. " HAHAHA. Now you have really screwed up, Spider-Boy," Marx laughed as if it were the funniest thing he had heard in a long time, falling off the ball. "Imagine what would happen, now that our hero is weak and defenceless, if Dreamland was attacked or someone decided to make the Sun and the Moon fight in order to trick another person into summoning Nova only to steal their wish in the last second to ask to become super powerful..." He paused briefly before ending in a acussing tone: "... or to revive someone."

Taranza was hurt by that final comment. What had begun as a joke about something that Marx himself had done in the past had ended with an accusation in which the jester had also decided to delve into the spider's past.

"Tar, who is this clown?" Toni asked in an aggressive tone.

"Jester," Marx corrected. "And I should ask the same thing. Who is this mysterious and kinda suspicious hooded person?"

"She is my cousin, who is visiting from Floralia for a few days. Her skin is quite sensitive; therefore, she must cover it ," Taranza responded with another lie, one that he had previously agreed with Toni.

"An oddly convenient excuse. But why would our friend and neighbour, Spider-Boy, lie?"

Taranza groaned with frustration. He wasn't sure if Marx was suspicious of him and was attempting to corner him with his words, or if the jester was just getting on his nerves for entertainment.

"Excuse me, Marx. Would you be kind enough to go pester somebody else? We're in a hurry..." Taranza requested, his forced polite tone failing to hide his annoyance. He had more important things to do than waste time dealing with Marx.

"It's not my fault that I'm bored because Mags kicked me out of the Lor while he's investigating some weird portals that openened yesterday," the jester complained. Toni got startled when she heard about that, but Marx either didn't notice it because he was focused on Taranza or he chose to ignore it for now. "Well, actually, it was my fault, but he should have known I hate being bored, and when I'm bored, I have to prank the closest person."

"Wait, what did you say about portals?" Taranza asked, feigning ignorance. How much did Marx know about that?

"I got your interest, didn't I?" Marx smirked. "Too bad I don't know much; they closed too quickly, so I didn't arrive on time to have any fun with them. Mags has been glued to Lor's computer ever then, doing analysis and other nerdy stuff. I haven't seen him so focused on a task since he started making final sketches for his amusement park. I wonder if he's trying to prove something..."

That wasn't news to Taranza. On their second call, once the interferences had been resolved, Meta Knight mentioned that Magolor had shared information about the portals, but he did not want to reveal the details over the phone due to the risk of the line being spied on by a third party. Taranza considered this caution to be excessive, bordering on paranoia, yet it could be explained by Meta Knight's distrust of Susie and anything created by her.

Even if the communication system had been a good faith gift, Taranza couldn't blame Meta Knight for distrusting the current CEO of HWC after what she had done to him. He himself wondered why Dedede had forgiven him so quickly after doing something similar. Although, in his own defence, at least he hadn't made non-consensual cybernetic modifications to the monarch's body.

"Oh, it would be sooo easy to beat you in that state, Kirby."

That sentence, delivered in a mischievous tone, took Taranza out of his musings. Someone who didn't know Marx might perceive something spoken in such a manner as a threat rather than a simple prank (although, with Marx involved, the line between the two was often blurry), and Toni didn't hesitate to draw her rapiers.

"Stay away from Kirby," the hooded spider threatened Marx, pushing a surprised Kirby away and pointing her weapons at the jester. "I won't let you put your hands on him."

"Hands? What hands?" Marx replied in a mocking tone. "Besides, I was just kidding. I would never hurt my dearest friend Kirby," he added, approaching the puffball with a gesture so exaggeratedly affectionate that it looked fake.

"Friend, friend, poyo!" repeated baby Kirby, for whom the gesture had been genuine. With his body language, the puffball seemed to be asking Sectonia to calm down and trust Marx (something that, in Taranza's opinion, was a mistake).

"Stop playing games with me. It won't end well for you," Toni warned the jester, receding but not putting her weapons away.

Marx looked Toni up and down before grinning.

"Heh, this cousin of yours is feisty. I like her," he told Taranza. "You should participate with her in the tournament instead of Mags. You may have the same chances of winning, zero, but at least you wouldn't have to wear a Magoland promotional t-shirt."

"She does not intend to stay longer than necessary," Taranza stated. And this time, he did not have to lie. Toni had made it abundantly obvious that he would never see her again when her mission, was completed. He wasn't sure if that made him feel relieved or sad.

"That's a shame," the jester lamented, "I'm sure things would be more entertaining with her around here. "Well, I'm getting hungry, so I'm going to check what Kawasaki has on the menu. See you soon!"

"I hope not," Taranza wished internally.

Marx got back on the ball and began to bounce away, allowing Taranza to let out a breath. However, the relief lasted only two seconds as Marx paused and, without turning to look at them, began to talk once more:

"By the way, this whole thing about you turning Kirby into a baby seems very sus to me. I mean, when did this happen? Yesterday, when Magolor met with him and the others, he was perfectly fine."

Oh no.

"It was this morning," Taranza lied nervously. Marx had taken him off-guard. Beside him, Toni had become tense—well, more so than she already was. Baby Kirby only tilted his head in confusion.

"He went alone from Dedede's castle to your house for no reason, given everything that is going on? That is very weird..."

Taranza swallowed. Marx obviously did not believe him. He probably hadn't fallen for Taranza's lies from the start, so the jester had simply been playing with them all along. The spider tried to make a fast excuse, but the jester, who was getting dangerously close to him, didn't let him.

"I don't know what you and your 'cousin' are plotting, Spider-Boy, but it better be something boring if you've decided to keep me out of it," Marx whispered in a tone that sounded somewhat threatening.

"I'm not plotting anything," Taranza said, shoving Marx away firmly. "I'm just trying to help."

"Meh, what a bummer," he said, returning to his usual demeanour. "Tell me when things get fun. I'm actually saying goodbye now. See you soon, Spider-Boy, suspicious cousin of Spider-Boy and 'Kirby'!"

And with that, Marx bounced away on his ball towards Dreamland's central market, as the baby Kirby waved him off animatedly. Taranza decided that they had already lost enough time and told his companions to resume their march.

"Tar, how do you know that guy?" Toni asked as they walked, more irritated than curious. "Is he the same Marx you mentioned during breakfast?" she added.

Taranza was a little surprised that Toni remembered that conversation, given her apparent lack of interest in that world and its residents.

"That's him," he answered. "He is a friend of Kirby and the roommate of another friend of ours. He defines himself as an 'agent of chaos.'"

"He is this dimension's Kirby friend? He doesn't seem trustworthy," she repeated, perplexed.

"Well, our Kirby has some eccentricities when it comes to making friends. Also, Marx is one of those people who are best to have as an ally."

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer," the other spider advised with a pensive motion. "It is an acceptable tactic if the alliance provides significant benefits and the parties involved have the capacity to keep the other in check to avoid betrayal. If your Kirby has decided to take that approach, he must be a strong, intimidating, and charismatic leader.

Taranza forced himself to suppress a laugh. Kirby was hardly a "charismatic, intimidating leader." In reality, he doubted that the young hero considered himself as a leader at all. Although Kirby had been the one who had gathered that strange group to stop the Jambastion, the young hero had seen it more as "all my friends and Dark Meta Knight have come to help!" rather than as an alliance between people with different ideals who had been forced to put aside their differences to prevent the universe from being destroyed.

"Well, you will soon have the opportunity to meet him," he said to Toni and the other Kirby. "I'm sure he will be willing to help you two with that mission."

"'Kaabi, Kaabi, poyo!" Baby Kirby exclaimed enthusiastically.

"For everyone's sake, I hope so."

Taranza was both intrigued and worried by her words. However, he knew that asking would be a waste of time because Toni wasn't going to answer. Instead, he chose to continue towards the castle, followed closely by his two companions. He could only hope that when the spider from another world met with Kirby, Bandana Waddle Dee, Meta Knight and Dedede (Taranza assumed they would all be together), they would let him be a part of the conversation, both because he wanted to help in any way he could and to satisfy his hunger for knowledge. There was a lot he desired to know about those versions of Sectonia and Kirby, as well as the dimension from which they came.

As they walked, Taranza looked at Toni, who was holding Kirby's "paw" with one of her hands. Prompted by their encounter with Marx, Taranza couldn't help but think about the "Star Allies" or "Dream Friends" (Kirby still couldn't decide on a name) and who might be part of the motley group in the dimension from which the two visitors came.

He could imagine Toni taking his place (for obvious reasons), and surely the Meta Knight from the other dimension would also be a member. Probably those people called "Tiff" and "Tuff" the baby had mentioned would also be included, but who else? The baby Kirby didn't know either Magolor or Marx, and because of how Toni had talked about Dedede, he had serious doubts about whether they would count on the king of Dreamland. And what about some of Pop Star's inhabitants, like Chilly, Vividria, or Knuckle Joe, to name a few, whom Kirby had also "recruited"? Would their alternative versions be willing to lend a hand to the young hero in a dangerous situation?

Whatever the case, Taranza was convinced that if the "Star Allies" were to form in Toni's dimension, they would be a completely different group. Whether that was a good or a bad thing, he had no way of knowing. Divination was not part of his academic curriculum.

Taranza had gotten so lost in his own thoughts that he had not realised that Castle Dedede was already visible on the horizon. They would soon arrive at their destination.

º.·.º·

Tiff still didn't quite grasp what had happened.

Although everyone had ended up exhausted, both physically and mentally, Daroach had obviously taken the worst part of the fight. The copy had been especially vicious towards the mouse, and its behaviour after being defeated seemed to have affected him. Daroach couldn't help but glance at the place where his copy had vanished (to call it in a non-morbid way), regret showed in his reflective expression as the Squeaks treated his wounds.

Tiff felt like she was missing important information to fully understand the situation. She doubted Daroach would have reacted that way if what they had faced had merely been an evil copy of him. And then there had been that unintelligible plea that the creature had uttered before disappearing. The previous night's Waddle Dees had done nothing like that. Why was that copy different? Not to mention that creepy eye... She still had goosebumps just from thinking about it.

"Sorry, guys. This may not be the best moment for asking, but... what exactly did we just fight?" Tiff decided to ask. She needed to know.

"Against a copy of Dark Nebula using Daroach's body," Kirby answered.

"Dark who?" Tuff asked, snatching the question from Tiff.

The hero proceeded on to tell the siblings about what had been dubbed "the cake incident," a series of misunderstandings and miscommunications that had caused turmoil throughout Dreamland.

It all began with the theft of Kirby's cake, who caused a ruckus in pursuit of the thief (he even fought a bunch of people, including Dedede, Meta Knight and Daroach), and finished with Daroach opening a chest that he had stolen by taking advantage of the chaos. The chest, however, contained an evil being of darkness known as Dark Nebula, who took over Daroach's body. After a fierce battle, Kirby was able to free Daroach, and in a second battle, he destroyed the dark being for good. Although Kirby saved the day and was thanked by the Squeaks with a cake similar to the one stolen, the original thief was never caught.

After hearing the story, Tiff made a quiet vow to teach her Kirby how to react appropriately to a robbery in order to prevent something similar from happening in her world. Next to her, she heard Tuff mumble, "I will never steal Kirby's pie, not even as a joke." She wasn't sure if he was referring to their Kirby, the one from that dimension, or both.

"But today's fight shouldn't have ended like it did... If I saved Daroach, why did his copy end up that way?" Kirby complained, more frustrated than sad.

"This is going to sound crazy, but after thinking about it for a while, I'm sure that 'my' copy was actually some sort of recreation of what could have happened if you hadn't saved me back them," Daroach said to the hero. "But luckily you did, so you have nothing to regret," he quickly added.

"Really?" the puffball asked the mouse.

"Of course. That thing wasn't real," he insisted.

Those words seemed to ease Kirby's burden, but Tiff had noticed that Daroach wasn't entirely convinced of his own words . Rather than a solid fact, what Daroach had shared was something he hoped was true.

But, for now, that theory or conjecture of Daroach's was the only thing they had, and even if it was not very solid, it did not sound completely crazy either. "It might be a good starting point to figure out what those things actually are," Tiff came to the conclusion.

"Wait. What does that mean for the Waddle Dees from last night? What were they recreating?" Bandee said, with a certain tone of alarm.

"They could be the result of any dark being successfully taking over Dreamland," Daroach responded. "You guys have high capacities to adapt to the environment. I imagine that in a Dreamland plunged into darkness, the Waddle Dees would end up with the look you described."

"And without emotions, nor independent thought," the Waddle Dee shivered.

"Sounds like home... my old home," Gooey commented in a dull and distant tone. Kirby walked up to hug him, the glob recovering almost instantly. "Good thing we have Kirby."

Despite Gooey's quick recovery, Tiff and Tuff couldn't help but look at him with concern. In what kind of conditions had he lived before moving in with Kirby? That question would have to wait, however. Not only would it divert the focus of the current discussion, but it was also a very personal question, and they weren't as close to the blob to dwell on what possibly were his familiar affairs.

"If we follow Daroach theory, I wonder what was being recreated with Kracko's attack," Tiff said, remembering what her brother had told.

"Did you say Kracko? What does that angry cloud have to do with any of this?" Daroach asked, confused. "Did you guys have to fight it your way here? I paid it to stay away from my base..." he added in an angry tone. Kirby shook his head, and he, Bandana Waddle Dee, and Gooey looked at the siblings, waiting for an explanation.

That Kracko's name was known in that dimension didn't faze Tiff as much as she would have expected. Although, considering that eNeMeE had not had that much impact in that dimension, she was still a little surprised that the others had met one of the wizard creations.

"The monster that we told you about earlier was a copy of Kracko," Tuff explained. " The original was one of the many eNeMeE monsters that our Dedede ordered to get rid of our Kirby, but he destroyed it."

"And who is this 'Enemy' guy? Someone from your dimension that we should worry about?" Daroach inquired warily.

"Nah. He was just Nightmare, the guy Kirby beat up so hard that he made a hole in the moon," Gooey answered.

"I had heard that the nightmare wizard was terrible at naming things, but calling himself just the word 'enemy' sounds ridiculous. Enemy of what? Good names? Not getting wrecked by kids?" Daroach mocked with a laugh (ignoring that he was also wrecked by the same kid), which was followed by a moan of pain. "Auch, my ribcage..."

Seeing that, Doc said something to Spinny, who ran off to, probably, look for more healing items for their leader.

"So Kracko worked for Nightmare in your dimension... That is interesting," Bandee commented.

"It is not like it had other choices as monster," Tiff responded. "It was one of his creations... right?" her tone shifted when she realised that the others had not reacted as she had expected.

"Nope. As far as we know, Kracko is a force of nature, originally from Pop Star," the Waddle Dee explained. "It is said that wherever there is sky, Kracko may appear..."

"To ruin the day," Kirby interrupted, annoyed. "Kracko and I don't get along well," the puffball explained with a disappointed sigh. "Whenever I try to invite it to my picnics to make amends, it attacks me with lightning for simply entering its lair without letting me speak. And if I don't invite it and it finds out, it will obscure the sky or, worse, create a storm."

"In short, Kracko is Kirby's number one hater," Gooey summarised.

"But, despite all that, I don't think he's a monster, so don't call him that, poyo!" Kirby exclaimed, surprisingly defending the cloud.

Tiff folded her arms thoughtfully. That was a significant difference between both dimensions, but she might have an explanation. It was likely that eNeMeE had turned the Kracko from their dimension into one of his monsters, as he had done with other creatures in the past. Tiff couldn't help but shudder at the idea of how many inhabitants of her own planet they would have actually fought against if that were true.

"Hey Tiff, don't think too much about it," Bandana Waddle Dee told her, guessing what she was thinking. Was Tiff that easy to read, or maybe Bandee was a very empathetic person? "Knowing Kracko, it may have joined Nightmare of its own free will if he offered it something good in return. In the days when he was not as Great as he is now, our king bribed it several times to help him on some of his plots."

"Oh? Are my ears deceiving me, or have you finally admitted that Dedede was a terrible ruler in the past?" Daroach said in a petulant tone, after drinking a cup of what Spinny had brought. From the way he had said it, Tiff could deduce that those two had had the same argument in the past.

"I didn't say that!" Bandana Waddle Dee protested. "I only said that he is much better now. Besides, whether he was a good or bad king does not justify your thievery!" he snapped.

"And you don't say anything about what he stole?" Daroach insisted, his anger quelled only by exhaustion.

"He... had his reasons."

"Of course. They were gluttony and greed."

That discussion had left Tiff stunned. While she was aware that the Dedede of that dimension had a past not unlike to her Dedede's current shenanigans, what exactly had he done to earn the repulse of Daroach, a thief?

Bandana Waddle Dee was about to respond, but Kirby interrupted him.

"Are you guys seriously going to argue about that now?" the puffball scolded both Bandana Waddle Dee and Daroach, who calmed down and looked away from each other. Kirby sighed before continuing, "I think we are all tired and stressed from that fight. We should go back to the castle and tell Meta Knight and Dedede what happened." Then he added, "I need a good nap..."

"I second that," Gooey agreed.

"I would gladly fly you there, but the airship took too much damage in the combat." Daroach lamented. "Is this how Meta Knight feels every time the Halberd falls?"

"And even if the ship was fine, I would refuse. You need to rest, poyo!" Kirby scolded him.

"Uh? But I'm fresh as a flower," the mouse stated, trying to get up despite the Squeaks telling him not to do so. "Don't you see...?"

Before Daroach could finish the sentence, he fell asleep right into Storo's arms. Doc nodded in relief. Tiff deduced that the drink that Spinny had brought Daroach was some sort of sedative for the pain.

"Well, I think this means it's time to go," Kirby said. "The bed is calling me."

"Wait, we can't just leave like that," Tiff exclaimed. Then she asked the Squeaks: "Do you need help fixing this place? Perhaps we could lend you a hand before leaving. After all, if we hadn't come here, your secret base wouldn't have ended so messy."

"I thought it was no longer a secret base," Gooey mumbled.

The Squeaks shook their heads at Tiff's question; they could take care of everything.

"Thank you for taking care of me. You guys are so cool!" Tuff said to the Squeaks. "I hope Daroach gets well soon."

Tiff wasn't sure what to make of her brother saying that to a band of criminals (they were good people, but they still disregarded laws), but she was grateful to them for taking in and caring for her brother. Hopefully, he wasn't so influenced and impressed by them that he decided to follow in their footsteps and become a treasure thief when he was older. "I must avoid mentioning the Squeaks' occupation to Mom and Dad when we tell them about this adventure," she decided.

"Don't worry. Daroach is strong. He just needs to rest," Kirby comforted Tuff.

Tiff and the others returned to the surface after saying their goodbyes and receiving instructions on how to get out of the base. Kirby went ahead and quickly returned with a Warp Star large enough for everyone to ride on. Tiff noticed how Tuff looked at her, as she was the one who summoned Kirby's Warp Star in their universe.

"Warp Stars don't work the same in this dimension. Besides, an older Kirby doesn't need anyone to summon it for him," she explained to Tuff, guessing what he was thinking, as she helped him get on the Warp Star.

"It still weirds me out..." he commented. "This dimension is very different, isn't it?"

Those words made Tiff think of the Dedede and Meta Knight, who were awaiting their return at the castle. She had already told Tuff about them, but words didn't do justice to how different they were from the ones they knew, especially Dedede.

"Believe me, Bun. You still have a lot to see," Tiff said with a smirk. She couldn't wait to see her brother's face when he met them in person.

She just hoped that nothing bad had happened in their absence.

Hi. Sorry for the delay. A lot has happened between the previous chapter and this one. I got sick, my neck was hurting again for at least two weeks, I lost the second part of the chapter TWICE (and they say cloud saving if the future), I stopped writing on the holidays due to celebrations and family reunions, and Granblue Fantasy Relink was finally released after 8 years. So yeah, I have been busy, and a loss of motivation didn't help. But we are back in business.

I wonder what Anime!Dedede and Anime!Escargoon have been doing all this time. Probably nothing too bad...