Being friends with Kirby was fairly amusing…most of the time.

See, Marx was the kind of person who liked excitement, and as such he went to extreme measures to stay entertained and avoid the dreadful emotion known as boredom. Alas, once Void Termina had been dealt with and peace returned to Popstar and the universe alike, things went back to its usual cycle of everyday life.

Which included lots of naps and lunchtimes – sometimes even both – for a certain pink puffball.

Again, that kind of lifestyle was boring, and not at all one Marx preferred.

Kirby made sure he was well-fed, at least, which was a good thing. Marx had a habit of stealing more than his fair share, but who could blame him? It took a lot to satisfy his black hole of an appetite, so surely the others understood.

And yet they didn't. But that was their loss – literally. He sometime wondered if they wanted to experience the alternative instead – but hey, what were a few destroyed worlds? Galaxies? Universes? Conquest of Planet Popstar?

The cosmic jester shook his head.

The point was; Marx came here sensing danger. He was ready to assist, rolling across the galaxies on his ball and bringing down the big baddies. That was then.

Now there were no more baddies to fight.

So that was why Marx found himself currently bored out of his mind, jumping up and down on his striped ball while staring at the sleeping form of his only real friend. Kirby lay in the shades of a large tree, the sun's bright rays casting shadows all over the ground in the form of the leaves above. He found himself staring at those instead, watching them swerve in the soft summer breeze. One leaf fell off and floated to the ground.

Boring. Boring.

A few butterflies fluttered by, one landing on Kirby. Then it took off again, following after its other retreating brethren.

Completely and utterly boring.

He might as well cause a bit of mischief before the party pooper woke up.

Bouncing away on his trusted ball, Marx left Kirby behind to prepare a nasty surprise for his little puffy friend.

Kirby didn't like his surprise. Not one bit.

"Hey, hey, hey." Marx said with a bright smile, his two fangs glinting in the sunlight. "You're just gonna leave my surprise here? What gives? Don't you like it?"

Kirby looked mighty conflicted, to say the least. Marx was sure he was having an internal battle between staying positive and appreciating his gift, or being, frankly speaking, revolted by it.

Kirby was just sweet like that, always one to consider other people's feelings.

"Don't you like me?" Marx threw in as an extra measure, and then giggled. He kind of wished Kirby could see his own expression right about now, because it looked hilarious.

"Marx..." The pink puffball said, sending him a disapproving look. "Why did you do this, poyo? Are you hungry again?"

"Oh, no, no. I'm not hungry right now, but...you are, right?" He asked, his voice dripping with sweet innocence. "I just wanted to give you something nice in return for all the food you feed me daily, so go ahead! Eat it. Because you gotta. You love it, right? Right?"

"Right..."

Kirby turned back to gaze at the "gift" in question. It looked like some sort of bubbling, writhing mass of black goo, and it was currently covering the entirety of the snacks Kirby had set aside for his lunch. Marx giggled again. He found the stuff on one of his many travels across the universe. He didn't know what it was or where it came from, but he was certain it wasn't anything edible.

Kirby's face turned into a worrying frown when he lifted a stubby arm, as if about to touch the stuff. He stopped himself just before coming into contact with the sizzling goo.

He turned back around to stare at Marx, who was currently jumping up and down on his ball, looking as cute and sweet as possible.

"Marx poyo." Kirby began. "I don't think this is supposed to be here on planet Popstar. Can you please get rid of it before it multiplies or something even worse?"

"What? Not gonna inhale it?"

"No."

Marx stared. Kirby stared back.

"Hey, hey, hey. No need to get so grumpy about it. I'll get rid of it if that's what you want."

The pink hero gave him a bright smile.

"Thanks Marx! It's very kind of you to give me a gift, even though your taste in them are pretty...well..."

The jester shrugged with his left foot. "I get it. No need to mask your ungratefulness, it's pretty obvious you hate it."

"Err...no, poyo! I just don't know what to do with it. Because I certainly can't eat it." Kirby looked conflicted again.

Marx felt like laughing. His friend was so easy to mess with.

"It's fine, I get it." He continued. "You're not used to receiving such sophisticated gifts."

Before his friend had a chance to reply, the purple jester scooped the ruined lunch up with his feet and formed it into a ball, kicking it back and forth a few times before securing it behind his hat, the two puffs holding it down. Then he was up in the air, having summoned his bright wings. He flew around his puffy friend for a little while, the mirror-like, hexagon-shaped scales hanging from his wings glittering nicely in the sunlight.

"I'll just dump your lunch in space then. Maybe someone out there will appreciate it more."

And then he took off, soaring through the sky like a shooting star, away from planet Popstar.

Once in space, the cosmic jester contemplated where to dump the garbage currently sticking to his back. In hindsight, it probably hadn't been his best plan to date, but it was totally worth it due to seeing Kirby's funny expressions. He could throw it away then and there and be done with it, letting it drift off into the infinite expanses of space, but that sounded boring as well. Marx might as well go full on out with this impromptu prank.

He eventually reached one of the other planets around Popstar, and was determined to dump it onto any unsuspecting victim. Then he'd return home and figure out something else to do, as this escapade was already getting redundant – more like a chore than anything else.

Things didn't go quite as planned, however, because just as Marx was about to blast the ruined lunch away like one of his many balls, the sticky goo suddenly expanded and enveloped the purple jester. He let out a startled cry as it crept all over his body, and once nothing was left uncovered, the goo reduced in size and disappeared with a blip, taking Marx with it as he was blinked out of existence – like he hadn't been there to begin with.

With a shout, Marx reappeared somewhere and crashed face-first to the ground. He skidded several feet before his body stopped, dirt and gravel surrounding his body. One of his feet twitched in the air, and Marx groaned, spitting out some dirt with disgust written all over his face. He got up and hopped to his feet, blinking his large, purple eyes open as he took in his new surroundings.

Where had he crash-landed? And for that matter, why? Marx didn't remember falling in the first place. That stupid black goo had been more than just goo, it would seem.

"Kirby was right about it being dangerous, huh?" He admitted reluctantly.

Everything around him looked very familiar. In fact, it looked so familiar it took him only a second to realize where he was.

Marx blinked again. "I'm back in Dream Land?" He questioned.

Sure enough, the beautiful lush-green scenery of Dream Land surrounded him wherever he looked, the grass beneath his feet swerving with the light breeze from earlier. Tall trees stood before him, adorned with bushes, shrubs, several item flowers, and everything else nature had to offer.

As nice as it was, Marx honestly couldn't care less about such scenery, even though he once upon a time wished to own everything this planet had to offer. This wasn't to say that he still didn't, because somewhere deep down he hadn't forgotten about his failed attempt. He probably couldn't forget it even if he tried.

But just like he instantly recognized the place for what it was, Marx likewise noticed several oddities – things that shouldn't have been there, things out of place. Like how one particular town could be seen from his high vantage point, King Dedede's castle looming above it on a tall hill.

The town seemed to be relatively peaceful, like everything else in Dream Land, and Marx could spot several yellow beings wandering about, back and forth, like scuttling little insects he could squish beneath his feet.

Somewhere not too far from his current location stood a farm with several grazing sheep, and another one of those yellow beings was working on its farmhouse, humming a merry tune.

Marx would have quirked an eyebrow if he had one. Had he traveled to the future or something? Or maybe even the past?

Summoning his wings, Marx jumped off the hill and flew high above the little town, taking note of everything he could – like the location of Wispy's Forest, a strange canyon that looked like a shrine hailing some sort of deity, some volcanoes, a lighthouse, a vast jungle and a few caverns.

His keen eyes then zeroed in on Kirby's little dome-shaped house, situated just outside the town beneath Castle Dedede. Right, Marx should probably go see his friend again, and maybe even figure out what the hell was going on.

Landing swiftly on Kirby's doorstep – seeing as the puffball wasn't sleeping under the tree anymore – Marx kicked it open with zero regard and entered the house like he owned the place.

"Hey, hey, hey. Kirby, what's-"

His sentence died immediately as he took in the sight of his friend.

Kirby looked up at Marx with wide, curious eyes.

"Poyo?" He said, tilting his head to the side.

"Oh." Was all Marx could mutter. How eloquent. "You're a baby now. That's cool."

"Poyo poyo!" Baby Kirby squealed as he neared the jester.

"Welp, I'm screwed."