It was a beautiful day in Dreamland.
The usual crystal-clear blue sky was adorned by wisps of white clouds and (a rare occurrence, even for Dreamland) a colourful, spiralled rainbow. The sun shone over the green plains of Pop Star, dotted as usual with bright, multicoloured flowers that created splashes of colour, if one was to look from a Bronto Burt's view. The forest below, next to the fields, created a blanket of dark green over the area. If a Dreamlander ever felt like taking a nap, there wouldn't be any better place to do it than in the shade of the mixture of conifers, pines, and oaks.
However, the peace of the clearing would soon be shattered.
King Dedede had a pretty serious dilemma on his hands. How serious, you ask? Serious enough to warrant the king going out and doing peasant's work.
Kirby had stolen some strawberry shortcake. Dedede was chasing after him.
And this isn't the worst part, he thought to himself as he was running. Once I get my hands on that cake, there'll be hell to pay. Dedede reminisced back to that awful time and shuddered. (Coincidently, it was around the time Squeak Squad came out) I should have listened to that crazy artist girl…the king concluded before putting on a burst of speed (which is quite hard when you're heavier than ten Waddle Dees combined) to attempt to catch up with that damn puffball.
If so much is at stake, then why bother going after the cake? For many Dreamlanders, the excuse would be hunger. For King Dedede, however, the excuse was pride. …but no-one ever raids my castle and gets away with it! Dedede thought to himself as he ran, getting more and more worked up with each syllable.
"No midget will ever eat my food and live to tell the tale!" he roared, shocking Kirby who was several paces in front of him. This shock caused the pink puffball to trip up slightly (don't worry though, he held onto the shortcake), slowing him down.
Dedede, sensing victory, leapt forward but was interrupted by a loud throat-clearing coming next to him. The king stopped and looked to the right, where Bandana Dee was attempting to give him a cold glare. As Dedede knew from his, experiment of sorts on that godforsaken Rock Star however, Waddle Dees – or this one in particular – would always look adorable no matter what, which somewhat spoiled the effect. The penguin royalty had to think for a few seconds over what the Waddle Dee was mad about (and how the heck he managed to follow the king without said king noticing).
"Oh right, the midget thing"
Predictably, Waddle Dees were conscious of the height difference between them and their leader. Consequently, they were quite touchy about the subject. But if Bandana Dee was expecting an apology, he wasn't going to get one.
"…Fine. Vertically challenged" the king muttered before dashing after Kirby, who was several paces in front of him by now. Bandana Dee sighed, more to himself than anyone else.
"…Whatever happened to political correctness?" he murmured before running off after the pair.
This general charade continued. At one point, Dedede picked up a stone and tried to throw it at Kirby, all whilst running. The only result he got from that little endeavour was partially knocking the strawberry (on top of the cake) slightly lopsided. Kirby had resorted to using the shortcake as a shield, and for good reason. Dedede didn't want to ruin the cake, he just wanted to take it back. Then eat it. If he did end up ruining it, then what would have been the point of chasing it?
As Dedede was musing on this philosophical subject, Bandana Dee was busy trying to get the king's attention. This ended in the Waddle Dee holding onto Dedede's sleeve. Unfortunately for him though, Dedede swung his arms a lot when he ran.
"Ah!... Your Majesty! Please…stop!..."
Dedede either didn't hear Bandana Dee or just ignored him. However, a loud crash was enough to divert his attention.
"What the he-" Dedede abruptly ended- or rather, Kirby did it for him. The pink puffball had stopped running when he heard the noise. Dedede, though, kept on running, but he didn't look at where he was running.
"I hate you…" Dedede moaned whilst picking himself up off the ground, but his heart wasn't really in it. Rather, he was too busy watching the scene unfolding in front of him. The gleaming crystalline airship, trailing ash-grey smoke, appeared through a glowing, star-shaped portal. As it flew- no, flew was the wrong word, fell- through the air, parts of the airship appeared to be falling off, leaving a trail of debris behind. First, Dedede noted, the objects were small items, like screws and bolts. But soon, vital parts of the aircraft were disappearing, like the oars (that were previously attached to its sides) which fell first, then the wings at its aft. Finally, the mast of the ship collapsed, and like the shattered parts before it, fell to the ground.
All three witnesses were too shocked to move, or do anything, at first, but then Dedede broke the ice.
"Well," the king said, shrugging his shoulders like nothing happened. "Now I know who to get taxes off" At Bandana Dee's quizzical glance, he continued.
"For littering" Dedede smirked. "And when I get those taxes, I'll buy so many cakes…"
"…Which Kirby will eat" Bandana Dee cut in, sneaking a quick glance at the pink puffball, who had suspicious, icing-like white marks around his mouth. The cake was nowhere to be seen.
The king hadn't heard any of this statement however, as he had already started running towards the ship. Both Bandana Dee and Kirby, after sharing a quick look, ran to catch up with the king, and subsequently, the airship.
Little did any of them know, there was someone else who had witnessed the passing events. That someone was standing- not very comfortably, may he add- amongst the branches of an apple tree. The apple tree, like many trees around Pop Star, was very much alive. This apple tree decided it didn't like the intruder, not at all.
Is it too much trouble, the person thought as he dodged an incoming apple, which exploded next to him, to ask for a non-sentient vantage point? After taking this crap for at least two minutes, enough was enough. A flick of the wrist was all it took.
Seems like I'm not worshipped by fangirls for nothing, heheh… he briefly smirked, then shook himself. What was he doing? He needed to focus!
"Right…Let's see…" he spoke to himself, scanning the horizon of Pop Star for the tell-tale flash of pink. Seeing nothing, he mentally facepalmed. Of course. They went after the ship. Way to get distracted! This is why you don't have a job!
Cursing himself, he unfolded a pair of midnight-violet wings and took off, becoming a faint purple spark in an otherwise clear blue sky.
It didn't take all that long to get to the crashed airship- it had thankfully landed nearby. Even though it was close, Dedede was practically winded after all that running. He managed to recover his breath quickly, however. As they approached the downed ship, the wall of the ship started to glow. As the trio covered their eyes and looked away, a circle-shaped opening appeared, with a convenient little ramp leading up to it. Kirby, being a curious one, tried to peer into the doorway but saw nothing.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" announced Dedede as he tried to find a way to walk through the doorway and stand on Kirby at the same time. Neither of the two puffballs responded, and Dedede was about to continue when a low, refined voice echoed through the clearing.
"Me."
Dedede, turned around quickly. He immediately recognised the voice from his earlier, Star Rod-breaking days.
"Oh, for crying out loud…What the hell are you doing here?"
At first, it appeared that Dedede was speaking to thin air. Suddenly though, a small, caped figure around the height of Kirby dropped down from a pine branch above. With a shining silver mask hiding glowing yellow eyes, grey shoulder pads with the well-known crest on and a sheath for storing the sacred sword Galaxia, this was the one character all the fangirls had been waiting for- Meta Knight.
Dedede mentally cursed his popularity. And everything else about him, too. It was no secret that Dedede disliked the honourable knight. No-one really knew the king enough to know why, although Bandana Dee suspected it may have been to do with Meta Knight's ever-increasing popularity on . Oh, and the fact that Meta Knight had once tried to take over Pop Star and dethrone the King.
"Meta!" Kirby squealed. Whilst Dedede knew that Kirby could talk (albeit basically, and with the occasional 'poyo'- Dedede still didn't know what all that was about), it was still shocking to actually hear him speak. One look at the puffball, though, and one could tell that he was rather ecstatic over reuniting with the fellow knight. Indeed, they both shared a fierce passion for candy, one that was unrivalled even by Dedede. Meta Knight was even rumoured to have a jar full of sweets by his bedside. Meta Knight, however, wasn't as tolerant of Kirby- after all, he had taken out a loan out for the Halberd, and look at what happened there.
Before Meta Knight could get a word in edgeways, Kirby had, in effect, glomped him. The knight sighed, more at his incompetence to dodge than at Kirby himself.
"Kirby…get off…stop that!" His attempts at getting Kirby off his back were futile.
"He sounds kinda half-hearted to me…" Bandana Dee muttered to himself. Unfortunately for him, the knight had good hearing. As he glared at the brown puffball, Bandana Dee could feel his soul slowly dissolving. This distraction proved handy for Kirby though, and he used this ample time to push Meta Knight's mask forward a smidge- enough for one, if he was looking at the right angle, to see the face the knight worked so hard to cover.
"Kirby?" Dedede's voice rang out in the silence of the clearing. "I think "Meta-kun"-" he smirked as he watched Meta Knight flinch at the much-hated nickname "-has some candy stored under his mask…" No more was needed to be said. As Kirby stared excitedly at Meta Knight's mask, he barely had the opportunity to mutter the word 'prick' before Kirby dive-bombed his face.
It was a bitter struggle. Even though Meta Knight put up a good fight, he was no match for the hope-fueled blitz that was Kirby. It wasn't long until Kirby managed to almost prise the mask apart from Meta Knight's face. As Meta Knight attempted to push Kirby away, put his mask back up and recover his dignity at the same time, Dedede whipped out a video camera from his left sleeve. Smirking, he started to record the tangle, most specifically Meta Knight's face.
"This is totally going on Youtube! I'll get billions of subscribers in no ti-" As he was about to reveal the whole of his evil plan, he noticed Meta Knight rushing towards him, with a mask fully on and a sword unsheathed.
"Ah, cra-" Before he could bring up the rating of this chapter any higher, Meta Knight had cut vertically through the king's camera, cleaving it perfectly in half. Dedede was still holding one of these halves, and Bandana Dee couldn't help but smile (or try, anyway- it's hard without a mouth).
Meta Knight chuckled- a rare occurance. "That is why I have fangirls, and you don't"
"…Piss off…" Dedede muttered quietly. Meta Knight smirked behind his mask.
…That did not just happen, Bandana Dee thought. Who knew that someone could, for lack of a better phrase, one-up the king? Okay, time to divert the situation.
"Meta Knight, what are you even doing here?" Bandana Dee questioned, effectively repeating Dedede's earlier statement. Meta Knight's response was to tilt his head towards the hull.
"Airship" Meta Knight simply said. "And something else, too…"
"Go on." Dedede snapped. "Get it over with so you can get out of here!"
"No chance, mate. This concerns Kirby, really…It's about that sweetshop we often meet up at to get candy…I'm afraid it's shut down. No more buying candy." Meta Knight spoke, a smile on his face and fingers crossed behind his back.
Kirby was obviously devastated.
"No more buying candy, which means no more meeting up AND also no reason to go around to my house and bug me all the time. After all, that candy jar is going to be empty." Meta Knight could hardly stop himself from snickering. He felt a brief flash of remorse, but took it back when he remembered the summer when the sweetshop was selling free candy. It still gave him nightmares to this day.
Dedede finally caught onto Meta Knight's chain of thought. "Hmm…Isn't there that candy shop over at Ice Cream Isl-"
"No. There isn't." Meta Knight hastily cut in. Bandana Dee sensed another fight on the horizon. Distraction time again!
"Why don't we go in the airship? There may be something, or someone, OR SOME CANDY, in there" The idea worked perfectly as a distraction. After all, there was no candy to be had outside. Who knows, there may be some inside!
The gang stepped through the doorway, and each took a second to take in the scenery in front of them. The first thing that they noticed was that absolutely everything was pale blue. The walls, the floor, the ceiling -heck, even the doorway- was covered in the same, shining material. When looking around the room, one would see numerous reflections looking back. It wasn't like anything the group had ever seen before.
The second thing they noticed were the sheer amount of diagrams, books, and the sort cluttered around the room. The books appeared to be written in a different language, and the diagrams were difficult to make sense of. Meta Knight looked around the room with general approval- there wasn't many people in Dreamland who had even looked at a book without pictures, let alone read one.
Speaking of people, that was the third thing they noticed.
A small figure, caped in a light blue material with yellow trimmings, lay slumped on the ground in front of a giant, red, flashing computer screen. On closer inspection, the person had an electric blue headdress of sorts on, which was adorned with a cog-like pattern. The headdress had two points sticking out, similar to the appearance of a cat. The figure had gloves on, but as far as the group could tell, no arms. He also had a buckled belt tied around his body. Kirby was about to get closer when two bright yellow eyes snapped open.
Kirby had jumped back out of surprise, but was now watching in curiosity as the mysterious figure looked around as if to get his bearings. Seemingly satisfied, he rushed back over to the computer screen and started typing furiously on the keyboard below, apparently unaware of the four visitors.
…Seriously? But we're standing right here in front of him! Dedede was about to voice his thoughts when Bandana Dee nudged him in the side and tilted his head towards the screen. Intrigued, Dedede looked up. What he saw on the screen was a picture of a cog with some numbers next to it- 120/120. As he watched, the number rapidly decreased to 0/120. A red cross appeared over the cog, and the screen flashed red as in a warning.
From what the group could see of his back, the figure didn't react. All he did was type even more. At first, the screen burst into static, but then the screen flashed to a diagram of the ship in perfect condition. Red crosses appeared over every part of the ship, save from the hull. The parts covered in the red crosses flew off screen.
Only then did the figure react. He jumped backwards in shock and froze. "…And just after I got my license, too…" he said, slumping to the ground dejectedly. Meta Knight's eyes, which had been glued to the screen, flicked towards the small figure. Finally, he had found a kindred spirit.
"…I know how you feel" The masked knight spoke into the silent room.
The effect was instantaneous. The figure, so still before, jumped around in shock to face the entire group. It was obvious, due to his wide eyes, that somehow he hadn't noticed the group at all. Dedede literally felt like face-palming.
"W-What are you doing here?" The figure spoke quickly, barely leaving room for thought or breath. "Are you the ones who crashed my ship?"
Yeah, mate. We thought we'd just come over and say hi! Dedede thought sarcastically. Unfortunately for the group, no-one else had bothered to answer.
"You are, aren't you!" Without stopping, the figure clenched his fists and glared angrily at the group. It was obvious he had no weaponry, but that wouldn't stop him if there was a brawl.
"Great! Meta Knight, you got his attention, so you fix it!" Dedede hissed. The knight himself thought it would be a bad time to feint deafness.
"...We didn't destroy your ship, and we're not here to fight. We simply wanted to see what was wrong, and if possible, help." Meta Knight explained, making sure he didn't look threatening. It was hard work with the mask, but one could manage.
"Yeah! We saw it crash and we wanted to see if everything was alright!" Bandana Dee interrupted. Dedede coughed sheepishly. He hadn't forgotten his main reason for coming along, but looking back on it, it was rather a jerk-ish idea. Looks like I'll have to get the cake another way…
The figure still looked indecisive. It was at that moment that Kirby walked over to the figure, and started to do wild hand motions towards the screen (which still had the broken airship on it). Kirby then pointed at himself, and then at the broken parts of the ship which had appeared on screen. It was only after ten minutes of hardcore miming that the figure understood.
"You…want to help recollect the broken parts of my airship?" The figure asked. Kirby nodded and pointed to himself again. Suddenly, Dedede had a great idea. He rushed over to the pair and skidded to a halt.
"I'll help. For a reward." Dedede smiled. Indeed, this wasn't a trick of any kind- although the king hoped cake would be involved. Even though Kirby was with him, he really enjoyed kicking some ass whilst collecting the Crystal Shards. Who knew, there may be opportunities to prank the little pink puffball.
Bandana Dee decided to act as well, for very much the same reasons as Dedede- except he harboured no ill will towards Kirby, despite having to fight him under an order from Dedede that fateful night. The situation wasn't as bad as the Waddle Dee expected- Kirby had recognised him from the Crystal Shards adventure, and so had taken it easy on the brown puffball.
"I'll offer my services as well," Meta Knight said, walking towards the rest of the group. "I'm sure this would be advantageous towards my training"
The figure, surrounded by the four people wanting to help, smiled and grabbed Kirby's arms, doing a little dance of sorts. He then stopped and took a step back.
"Alright, it would be a great help! But if I find out this is a trick of some sort, I'll-"
"Beat us with your disembodied fists, we know. Anyway, kid, what's your name?" Dedede cut in.
"My…name?"
Dedede snorted and folded his arms. "Well, we can't just keep referring to you as 'the figure', can we?"
The figure looked away. "I don't think I have a name…I don't remember one, anyway…" This gathered some responses from the group.
"No name? Seriously?" Bandana Dee asked.
"Yeah, well…those jerks over at HAL haven't given me a name yet…I mean, 'the alien'? Seriously, Nintendo?" The figure muttered under his breath, intending for no-one to hear. Kirby, being the closest to him however, overheard bits and pieces of the conversation.
"…Hal?" Kirby spoke, looking at the figure in curiosity. All heads swung around to face him. Finally making a decision, he pointed at the figure and spoke again. "Hal!"
"Kirby, you know this guy?" Bandana Dee misinterpreted the situation, having not heard the previous statement made by the figure. Dedede and Meta Knight were just as confused. Kirby, realising what they meant, shook his head.
"Hmm…Hal makes a good name though, wherever it came from…" Dedede spoke to himself. "Okay, it's decided! Your name will be Hal!" Dedede announced, pointing dramatically at the bemused and newly named Hal.
…Let's just be glad the pink guy didn't say Nintendo…Hal thought.
"And we're Bandana Dee, His Majesty King Dedede, Meta Knight and Kirby!" Bandana Dee presented, pointing to each person in turn.
"King? Seriously? Uh, nice to meet you sir! And you guys too!" Hal spoke, hoping that they would forget the threat of sorts he made earlier. After all, he didn't want to have to explain to his relatives at home that he had gotten into trouble for treason.
Speaking of home…
"So…anyways…" Glad to be out of that situation, Hal spun around and presented the computer screen with a flourish. There was now a map of Popstar with the diagram of the damaged airship in the middle. The vital parts of the ship- the bank of oars, two wings, part of the bow and its top mast- appeared on screen, separated from each other in different regions of Dreamland. The oars moved apart from where it was positioned before, and then the computer zoomed in on it so it would be more identifiable.
After watching the presentation, Kirby performed a backflip and a pose. Not wanting to be outdone, the other three struck a pose too- Bandana Dee struck one close to Kirby's, Dedede raised an arm in the air and Meta Knight flourished his cape so it floated down around him.
"…So what now?" Bandana Dee asked. Kirby responded by pointing to the map and then to the great outdoors.
"Okay then, see you guys around!" Hal smiled as he turned around to the computer.
"Hold up a sec, buddy" Dedede put a hand on Hal's shoulder and spun him around. "Whilst we're doing all the dirty work, what will you be doing?"
"Doing repair work, of course!" Hal replied flawlessly.
"Without any par-" Dedede didn't even have a chance to finish as Hal showed them out of the door.
"Good luck and watch out!" Hal said, waving as the group finally got the message. Finally, he thought as they left. Now I can enjoy some strawberry shortcake and some Oprah.
The group, once they had been ushered out by Hal, were running swiftly away from the hull of the airship into the bright expanse of Popstar.
"Where to, people? I wasn't looking too closely at the map he showed us…" Dedede asked, rubbing his forehead as he ran.
"Thataway" Kirby said, pointing north towards yet another spotless green field.
"…It still creeps me out how he can talk…" Dedede muttered to Bandana Dee. The Waddle Dee shrugged. Having been friends with Kirby for as long as he had, it wasn't really too surprising anymore. Meta Knight, overhearing this conversation, decided to butt in.
"I guess I'll just teach him the entire comprehensive English language then. Shouldn't be too hard." Meta Knight quipped.
"…I'm honoured you'd do that for my sake. Maybe the education will stop him from recklessly destroying your precious Halberd." snapped Dedede.
…Oh dear…was all Bandana Dee had to contribute to the conversation.
A/N: Meh, I'm disappointed with the humor in this. Ah well~
I'm surprised that there doesn't seem to be any Kirby Wii fanfictions yet. Oh, and the title is based on the European name for the game, Kirby's Adventure Wii. If I'm being honest, I prefered Kirby: Return to Dream Land. It doesn't sound like a remake then. Ah well, time to cram this story into a Meta Knight-filled fanbase!
About Meta Knight...I made him a jerk on purpose. Sorry guys, but I just don't like him that much. If you want to read a story about chivalrous MK, then I'm sure there are quite a few on the front page.
I'm not really going to have a schedule for updating this- I'll update it when I feel like it. As said in the summary, this'll be a three-shot, with the two chapters after this being based on the two levels presented at E3 and whatnot. Hope you enjoy/ed reading!