Hello, lovely readers!

I've done quite a few Kirby stories since I became a big fan of the franchise (and have oddly produced more stories for this than my long-time favourite franchises such as Mario and Pokémon). However, while I've focussed plenty on Kirby and Meta Knight, I haven't done one involving Triple D much. This will now be rectified by having Dedede look back to his past interactions with Kirby and Meta Knight (and of course a bit of Bandana Dee!).

Now before we get to the story, if you're a long-time reviewer of mine, could you possibly do me a favour and tell me if I have some sort of signature style? I believe I must, especially with using flashbacks, but it's easier for other people to pick up on this. It's for my own curiosity more than anything. Many thanks and enjoy!

Royal Reflection: Part 1

10 years since I took the throne, huh?

King Dedede, the penguin monarch of Dream Land, watched the party preparations from the balcony with vague interest. It's a wonder I've managed to stay on this long. I ain't done that great a job as king. Suppose they've only kept me 'cos I've tried doin' good things recently.

Gonna be some people wonderin' whether I even deserve this party. I don't even know if I can answer that.

"Great King?"

Dedede turned round and saw Bandana Dee approach with a delicate cup of camomile and honey tea balanced on a silver tray, an example of the king's more sophisticated tastes nowadays.

"Thanks, Bandana," Dedede said, trying to hide a sigh. He took in the fragrant scent before slowly sipping – not too strong and not too hot either.

Honestly, Bandana Dee was one of the best Waddle Dees in his employ; you couldn't get servants like him these days – although saying that somewhat cheapened his services and status as an actual person. Not to mention the other people he supposed. Really, without them, he could hardly be classed as a king now, could he?

Ugh, having a conscience could be a terrible thing at times.

"Are you OK, sire?" Bandana Dee frowned. "You don't appear to be your usual jolly self."

The penguin monarch glanced at Bandana Dee. While being his retainer already gave him a good status, he had risen remarkably high in recent years. His training sessions with Captain Waddle Doo had finally paid off, giving him great skill with a spear and making him pretty much the best fighter within the whole army. He was the kind of person that everyone seemed to like as well, being an approachable, warm sort of fellow. Also, he had considerable influence in having the king's confidence and trust so whenever something needed to be done or was specifically requested, like a pay rise, people often went to Bandana Dee first to see if he could put a good word in the king's ear. Even if the Waddle Dee sometimes brought issues that very much irked the king, Dedede very much liked Bandana Dee. Heck, even Meta Knight liked Bandana Dee or at the very least took him seriously and valued his companionship. Either was a tremendous achievement.

"Am I a good king?" Dedede blurted out suddenly.

Bandana Dee looked surprised at the question. "Uhh…"

"An' don't just say 'of course you are, sire'. I mean, sure, that would be nice but I don't think it would be the right answer."

Bandana Dee took some time thinking making the king sweat on the spot despite it being a fairly cold day. Dedede fumbled with his gloves and waited for a response.

"Well…" Bandana Dee said finally. "I think you've become a better kind of king if that's what you're thinking. You've become much better at the job and I think there would be many others who'd agree. You've changed a lot."

"Huh? You reckon?" Dedede said thoughtfully. "That's… good to know."

Bandana Dee nodded. "Especially when you think what you were like around the beginning of your reign. Um, if you know what I mean."

Dedede grimaced. "Yeah. I know what you mean."

Dedede grumbled as he examined the coffers' contents: empty. Just like his stomach. Just like the kitchens.

He sighed. He was supposed to be a king and therefore the most important and powerful person in the place yet he barely got the respect he was undoubtedly due. Frankly, he was embarrassed when he had to meet up with rulers from the other kingdoms for their annual summit – he was quite sure that Queen Sectonia from Floralia joked about him behind his back.

OK, OK, so Dream Land was a landscape of outstanding beauty, had a direct connection to the stars and was Planet Popstar's ultimate source of dreams but what did his little kingdom have to offer really? They didn't have much industry, little in the way of excitement and the people – mainly Cappies and Waddle Dees – were not especially bright if he had to be brutally honest. Neither did Dream Land have what you would call a proper army nor a regiment of knights which, in royal circles, was a particularly bad mark against your standing. At least Dedede had Meta Knight whom he had to admit was worth more than 20 knights. The masked warrior had served the previous king his father and, as was Dedede's right of course, now served him. He often took Meta Knight with him to those international royal meetings as about the only trophy worth displaying. He was mysterious though and he always seemed to be training somewhere. That showed dedication though, right?

But now to the present problem.

The kingdom was very poor and more to the point, Dedede was very poor. The previous king his father had spent money like it was going out of fashion even though there was little of it to begin with. While there were bills and such things to be paid, Dedede couldn't realistically expect his subjects to stump up much extra cash, particularly as they would question what he was spending that money on. Not that they should of course; questioning the monarch should be illegal anyway. Really, the only thing they should be asking was questions like: "What would your Majesty like for lunch today?"

Suddenly, a lightbulb switched on in Dedede's head. Of course! He could take a portion of the people's food as a form of taxation instead! Not only that, it would also solve his problem of feeling starving as he was now. Maybe some non-perishable foodstuffs could be stored as collateral, he could sell some to the other kingdoms but the important thing was that he would also be fed.

Dedede walked onto his balcony and surveyed his kingdom. The sun was beginning to set so now one could easily see the Sparkling Stars in the darkening sky. Huh, aren't they used to help the citizens find food they don't grow themselves? Dedede thought quickly. Hey, maybe he could take those as well and help achieve his goal! He didn't know how they were used exactly, such business obviously being left to the lower people, but he was pretty sure he could figure it out if it would help bring more food, and thus more money, into his coffers.

"Bandana Dee!" the king yelled.

After a couple of minutes, Dedede realised the Waddle Dee couldn't have heard him from out here. Can't even get the proper servants, he moaned as he returned to the castle interiors and rang a bell. The summons were soon answered and before the penguin king stood a young Waddle Dee now panting for breath.

"G-Great K-King!" Bandana Dee gasped. "How m-may I serve you?"

Dedede looked down at the Waddle Dee. Couldn't he even have a slightly more impressive retainer? He'd only picked Bandana Dee because he stood out with his penchant for wearing a blue bandana and had some skill with a spear. One honestly couldn't have the staff these days.

"I need you to get Captain Waddle Doo an' get the army together 'cos we need to gather Dream Land's food an' Sparklin' Stars to solve what I call a little cash flow problem."

He explained the rest of the plan to Bandana Dee whose eyes widened with shock.

"Just… how much food are you planning to take, sire?"

"Well, I done got to support you lot as well," Dedede answered curtly by not really answering. "I ain't gonna eat all the food by myself am I? I'll furnish everyone with the details later. Gonna need my strong soldiers fer this. Oh yeah, I want that there Meta Knight as well."

"He's away training, sire."

"Again?!" Dedede cried. "He don't need to keep trainin'! He's supposed to be here an' wait fer my commands at my beck an' call. He's lucky I don't reprimand him much since he's excellent in a fight." Also, I ain't got much choice since he's my only proper knight. What's that say about me, huh?

"Maybe he's not training himself but training someone else?" Bandana Dee offered. "I don't actually see Sir Meta Knight in the training grounds much."

"If he were trainin' anyone from my army, I would know about it. Probably don't like to be seen trainin' by other people; he doesn't even like anyone seein' him without that mask." Huh, even I haven't seen Meta Knight without that mask. I'll find out what he actually looks like some day; he is supposed to be open with me. "Anyway, enough talkin'! Get crackin', Bandana!"

"I… uh… don't think the people will like this at all," Bandana Dee mumbled knowing that he could receive a demerit for not obeying his liege's commands straight away.

"They won't like anythin' I do anyway," the king blustered. "They ain't got much choice; I've gotta support this kingdom somehow, especially when you compare it to the others on Popstar. Now I ain't repeatin' myself, Bandana. Get on with it!"

"Y-yes, Great King!"

As Bandana Dee scooted off, Dedede folded his arms and scowled at the paintings of his ancestors in the hallway. Why did they leave him in this situation? Couldn't they have sorted Dream Land's issues out before he became king? Couldn't they have made Dream Land a better sort of kingdom, one he could be proud of?

Dedede stomped away to address his army in the Great Hall. They shouldn't have too many difficulties accomplishing their work. It wasn't as if the kingdom had a hero or anything to stop them anyway.

"WHAAAAAT?!" Dedede yelled. "There's somebody beatin' the Sparkling Star guardians an' they're makin' their way right here?"

Bandana Dee cringed as Dedede ranted and pleaded with the king that he was only the messenger. He relayed the details he'd been provided with so far.

Dedede had been unable to figure out how to use the Sparkling Stars to his own advantage and so temporarily entrusted them to some chosen beings while he figured out what to do. That hadn't been his only problem either.

As Bandana Dee had said, the people hadn't liked the idea of their food being taken one bit. The concept was understandable to an extent but Dedede had taken far more than his fair share and while the monarch was now well-fed, his people were hungry and hungry people very quickly became angry people. They insisted that he had taken too much but Dedede stuck to his guns and claimed royal prerogative, saying that desperate times called for desperate measures. His army obediently carried out the king's will although notably, Meta Knight wasn't amongst them. He definitely would need disciplining for his abandonment of duty later.

Funny. He ain't never done that before.

Anyway, Dedede's bigger problem was that someone had taken back a couple of the Sparkling Stars already from the forest guardian Whispy Woods and the floating beings Lololo and Lalala. Presumably he would then destroy Kabula, Dedede's inherited personal airship, take out Kracko and then finally come for Dedede himself. OK, maybe giving a Sparkling Star to Kracko was a bad idea in hindsight considering the electrical, raging menace it was but if it stopped the storm cloud from disturbing the kingdom for some time, fine. It was impossible to tame otherwise. Surely this person couldn't defeat that.

To Bandana Dee's surprise, his liege gave a mighty laugh.

"It's a pink puffball you say? Cute lil' fella, huh? You sure you ain't makin' this stuff up, Bandana Dee?"

"He has managed to defeat a lot of monsters on the way though," his retainer pointed out, "so I guess he must be pretty tough."

"A sword or a hammer?"

"Uh… I don't think he can use either according to the reports."

"Pffft! What is it, a kid? Is it a Waddle Dee or somethin'?"

"I hear he is supposed to be very young," Bandana Dee said doubtfully, "but he's definitely not a Waddle Dee; we don't come in pink, sire. Maybe he's a Batamon?"

"Better check the citizen records. There should be somethin' in there."

As Bandana Dee went through the files, Dedede thought to himself how amongst other things Dream Land also had a problem with monsters roaming practically everywhere which was why he had an army in the first place (though it was basically just a bunch of half-trained Waddle Dees and Waddle Doos really). The whole of Popstar had this issue truth be told but that was just nature and it was the responsibility of the ruling monarch to protect their citizens against such things. When things got a little much, he did send some of the soldiers to deal with the problem so that the people didn't suffer too much from monster attacks. Those monsters could often attack food supplies as well; all the more reason to gather the food in one place then. Maybe they should have remembered that before they got all angry with him!

Have I gone too far maybe? Dedede questioned himself. He stood in silent thought for a moment before dismissing it quickly. He wasn't about to change his mind now and apologise. He had to be consistent, he had to show authority; how else was he supposed to demonstrate he was a proper king otherwise?

"Um… it's a bit hard finding the information without a name, sire."

Dedede rolled his eyes. Did he have to do everything himself? "You didn't get a name? My spies could have at least asked for one! I dunno, check under 'Batamon' or 'Pink' or 'Puffball' or something. If it's either of those, it should be under there."

"Um, Great King, it's more correct to refer to the individual as 'he' in this case until we find a name. It's more… kingly."

"I thought you said 'he' was a pink puffball anyway. How can you even tell if it's a male or not?"

"The voice I guess? It's best not to think about it too much, sire."

King Dedede grunted and examined his hammer whilst Bandana Dee continued his work. He had a feeling he was going to need it.

King Dedede tapped his foot impatiently. He was expecting that fiend any time now. He was waiting in his other castle on a mountain that was obviously his since it had his name on it. Gah, he hated waiting! He wanted to pulverise this pesky puffball to a pulp already and be back in time for a very substantial dinner.

How on earth had that thing managed to defeat his Sparkling Star guardians anyway if he was, as they said, some little kid? (He had to let him pass on Whispy Woods though; it was a stationary tree at the end of the day and why he gave it a Sparkling Star in the first place he had no idea.) What if the thing ended up properly revolting against his rule some day? If the puffball thought it was strong, maybe it would think it was more entitled to the throne than Dedede was! Better put a stop to it now and make sure the puffball knew its place.

At that moment, the door opened to admit a figure in what Dedede considered his fighting arena.

What? ...That was it? The penguin king gawked at the individual, unable to believe that this was the thing uprising against him. Then suddenly, he gave a belly laugh and pointed at the foe with his hammer.

"So! You're the one takin' back the Sparklin' Stars, huh?" he demanded. "Well, I can't let you do that. I'm gonna have to clobber you where you stand!"

The pink puffball, whatever its name was, tilted its head to the side.

"Tryin' to play cool? Nice try, pinky, but it won't work on me. I've got all this food an' you're not gettin' any of it back!"

"Poyo!"

Dedede blinked with confusion. "'Poyo?' Is that some foreign language? Are you even one of my citizens? You some foreigner tryin' to invade my kingdom or somethin'?"

"Poyo?"

Dedede was quickly losing his patience. "Gah! Say somethin' properly ya eejit, whatever your name is!"

The pink creature regarded the strange penguin before him and said: "Kirby!"

"Kirby?" Dedede snorted. "What kinda name is that? Ah, forget it. You want a battle, I'll give you a battle!"

Dedede launched himself forward to grab Kirby and throw him about. At least that was his intention. He moved towards Kirby rather sluggishly as would happen when one is not used to combat, considerably out of shape and has eaten too much rich food too often.

Ah, maybe I should cut out on the snacks a little.

Before he could land a blow, Kirby dodged to one side and floated to somewhere behind the king. He frowned as if trying to work out how to defeat his opponent.

"Alright, so you can float about, so what?" Dedede huffed. "I like to have a movin' target!"

Dedede swung his mighty hammer and managed to strike Kirby hard sending him flying against the side of the ring with a loud cry.

"HA!" Dedede crowed as he desperately tried to ignore how soft his target felt and how young that cry sounded. This… Kirby... really was a child. "That all you got? I was expectin' someone a bit better not to mention bigger."

He made to attack Kirby again though his opponent evaded the hammer and this time inhaled a couple of the stars that flew out of the weapon. (This being a planet shaped like star, stars were literally everywhere.) He then spat them straight back at the king who staggered with the unexpected force.

"OK, OK! I let you have that one!" Dedede said while internally wincing. That hurt more than he thought. "No more Mr Nice King!"

The rest of the battle involved Dedede alternating between trying to slam the child into the ground and using his beloved hammer. He caught Kirby a couple of times and made sure to give him a good bruising, nothing major, but more often than not, the pink puffball slipped from his grasp and trapped air in order to float some distance away. He didn't seem to have any particular warrior-like skills and Dedede wondered how he'd made his way across the rest of the kingdom, not knowing of his ability to take substantial energy from food power-ups. What he was able to do though was forever inhale the stars that Dedede couldn't avoid producing without ever getting out of breath and launch them back at him with no small amount of power.

What is this Kirby?!

Dedede was soon panting for breath and though Kirby looked a little winded from the damage he'd already taken, he still had more than enough energy to continue the fight.

"Al-alright…" Dedede panted. "Gonna deliver a massive blow now… Give up already, pinky…"

Large stars flew out of Dedede's hammer as he attempted to smash Kirby into the ground. Kirby squeaked a little, narrowly avoided the attack, but wasted no time gathering up the stars for himself. If Dedede had properly noticed, he might have started laughing at Kirby's bulging cheeks packed with stars though even if he had noticed, it would have been a great error. Kirby spat the shining stars straight back at Dream Land's monarch and Dedede stumbled backwards.

Finally, he fell heavily onto the floor of his own battlefield, unable to get up again.

"I can't… believe it," he mumbled. "How… how did you beat me? You're jus' a stupid kid!"

Kirby came wandering over, looking fairly healthy for one who had just fought several back-to-back battles.

"Wha—? What are you gonna do? Assassinate me? You… you can't!" Dedede gulped heavily. "I'd… I'd be avenged by the whole kingdom!" Or at least my army. Maybe?

Is… is he gonna swallow me? In there? I'd rather be run through with a sword!

"DON'T KILL ME!" Dedede wailed.

Kirby curiously prodded the king's robe and again titled his head as Dedede looked at him.

"What… are you doin'?"

Whatever it was, Kirby looked satisfied and, knowing what he had to do next, plucked the last Sparkling Star from Dedede's possession and ran to the storeroom that contained Dream Land's food.

That kid's… got some kinda weird power. I guess I better be careful. An' he didn't try to assassinate me or anythin'… but he did humiliate me! I'll have to do somethin' about that.

Before Dedede could consider a fresh plot or whatever, the ground suddenly began shaking violently and to his absolute shock, the castle had been uprooted from its very foundations and was now floating above Dream Land.

"HEY!" Dedede yelled as he struggled to get up. "I let you beat me but that does not give you the audacity to move my castle! You hearin' me, pinky?!"

Dedede's shouts though were in complete vain as from the floating castle, the kingdom's food was returned to the people once more and the Sparkling Stars were restored to the endless skies.