“Hurry, Dana, or we’ll be late for the meeting!” shouted a white kirby with a gray cap, not too far away from where Tim, Matt and Natty were. She was looking directly at a purple kirby who was hiding behind her white and red parasol, a couple meters away from her.
“I… decided that I’m not going to this meeting anymore.” Dana answered.
“Why not?” her friend wondered.
“For starters, we don’t know who invited us there, and we don’t know either why this meeting will happen.”
“I know that, but aren’t you curious to know what this is all about? Besides, it looks like something important to me. We better just go.”
“For me it looks like a trap…” Dana twirled her parasol a couple times. “Look, I’m just being cautious, and I don’t want to take the risk.”
The white kirby stopped for a moment, thinking of what her friend had just said. “She does have a point,” she thought, “but… I still think it’s harmless.” She then had an idea, “Ah, and it’s easy to bring her with me.”
“Fine then,” she finally replied back to Dana. “I will just go by myself. See you later!” She turned around and started walking towards the meeting’s location.
Dana peeked from behind her parasol, and was surprised to see her friend just walk away without her. They were best friends, and were together basically all the time. She knew she had to say something, however, so she just said, “Huh… Later?” as she continued being confused.
As she watched her friend get further and further away, her anxiety started to kick in. She started to sweat, getting more and more nervous. Her mind started to get filled with hundreds of different scenarios, all picturing terrible outcomes for her next minutes if she continued alone. She was constantly on the verge of snapping out, but it was never enough; since she was hiding behind her parasol, deep inside she knew she was safe from most of her terrible predictions. Indeed, most.
“We’re almost there, guys!”
Dana suddenly heard a voice. A faint one from far away, but still a voice, and one she recognized. Almost immediately after hearing it, she withdrew from her protective position, and started running towards her friend, shouting, “Raven! Wait for me!”
Raven was already far away from her friend, but heard her screams, so she stopped, and turned around. She saw Dana getting closer, and said to herself, “I knew it! You just can’t stay alone for too long.”
Dana slowed down until she completely stopped, and started to pant. “I… I…”
“Hey now Dana, it’s all good.” She got closer to her, aiming to make her feel protected. “Geez, I’m sorry, I didn’t expect you to get this scared, but now you’re not alone anymore.”
“Y-Yes… B-B-But…” Dana just wasn’t calming down at all; in fact, her breathing was only getting faster.
“But what? Did something happen?”
“T-T-T-” Dana tried to say something, but didn’t finish it. Instead she froze for a second, raised her head with a scared face, and slowly turned her eyes around, trying to look behind her. She then quickly looked back to Raven, and started to tremble.
“Dana, are yo—”
“IT’S THEM!! IT’S THEM!!” Dana said, as she started running away, accidentally bumping into Raven as she did so.
Raven lost her balance, but managed to not fall down. When she was standing up normally again, she looked back at Dana and shouted, “Dana, wait!” but it was too late; she was already too far away.
“…’Them’?” Raven thought, trying to figure out who Dana was talking about. That’s when she realized something, only to be interrupted.
“Oh, hey, it’s Raven!”
Hearing that voice, Raven froze, startled. She recognized it right away, much like Dana did earlier. Her immediate thought was to run away, yet again like her friend, but before she could do so, a different idea struck her.
“What, are you just going to stand there?” the voice asked, as Raven hadn’t moved ever since she was called out earlier. “I thought you were just going to run away like Dana.”
Raven took a deep breath, grabbed her paintbrush, and turned around. She pointed her brush directly at three kirbies that were behind her, and said with determination, “I’m not running away this time, Larry! I’m going to fight you!”
Larry, the yellow kirby with a yellow hat with two small white wings, laughed for a moment, and replied back, “With your stupid paint?! Hah, that’s funny! I want to see you try! We have the best weapons ever!” He proudly looked at the golden blade at the top of his hat.
“Well, but…” the red kirby with a fiery crown next to him started talking. “I once got paint in my eyes, and it hurt.”
“Then just don’t let it get in your eyes, Leo!” Larry replied, annoyed at his friend.
“Ok…”
“Oh, she’s coming,” said the third kirby, a green one with a tiara full of plasma. “Get ready!”
“Oh shoot, good call, Luke. Let’s stop her for good this time!” Larry said, as he grabbed his blade from his hat, and got in an offensive position.
The three friends were all ready to strike Raven at any moment, just waiting for the perfect opportunity. She noticed that, but continued walking towards them regardless, also getting ready to strike. She wasn’t the best at battling, but she was fed up with this trio, and knew that today was the best day to finally start doing something regarding them, so she went for it, despite the risks. However…
“GAHHHHH!”
Just as Raven was about to swing her paintbrush to throw some paint at them, she noticed that one of the three, Luke, had been pulled back suddenly, and was screaming in pain. Larry and Leo noticed that too, and looked behind, trying to find out where he was being dragged to, and by who.
“Let me go!” screamed Luke.
“If you say so…” said whoever had lassoed him. He threw Luke back to where the others were, hitting Leo. The two were knocked out and fell down.
Raven noticed the commotion, and directed her vision towards where Luke came from. She could see a green kirby with a purple cap heading towards them. As he got closer, she also saw he was holding a red yo-yo. She then realized she had to say something, and said, “Hey you, thanks for helping me!”
An answer came quick, “Sure thing. This is just my job.”
“Hey, you…” Larry turned towards him, holding his blade, ready to strike. “What are you doing here?”
“Protecting this girl, of course.” He got closer, and stopped right in front of Larry. “And since I see this isn’t getting clear to you…”
He threw his yo-yo, and it surrounded Larry, lassoing him without fail. Larry tried to resist, but he just couldn’t move anymore. Leo and Luke were about to get up and help him, but it was too late. The yo-yo kirby screamed with an angry face, “I will CRUSH you if you don’t go to the meeting right now and stop attacking innocent kirbies!”
Larry froze, and felt fear for what felt like the first time in his life. He had no idea who he was up against, but he could sense he wouldn’t stand a chance under the current circumstances. Realizing that it would be best to just focus on the meeting right now, he gave in. “Okay, okay! But let me go first!”
The green kirby smirked, and said, “Ah, of course. See ya!” And so he threw Larry, much like he did earlier with Luke, but this time much farther.
“Larry!” Luke said, as he got up and ran towards him. “Hang in there!”
“Oh, wait!” said Leo, who also got up and followed the two.
Raven just watched the three panic, with a timid smile. Deep inside she knew it wasn’t right to be happy about others’ pain, but she excused it as the three had done pretty terrible things to her and her friend Dana in the past.
“Are you okay?” the green kirby asked.
“Ah, yes, I am! Thanks again!” Raven replied, very relieved.
“Hey Percy!” called someone from behind him.
“What’s up, Yan?” Percy replied back, as he turned around to look behind him.
Yan, a light purple kirby with a purple cowl and a metal headband, was heading towards the two, with some kirbies behind him. He said, “I found these three boys who didn’t plan on attending the meeting, so I convinced them to come and I’m now directing them to it.”
“Perfect!” Percy said, with a smile. “We should get going then. Hopefully everyone else is coming as invited.”
“Do you know how many were invited?” Raven asked, curious.
“Yeah,” Percy answered, “but that’s not really important. Let’s go.” He went after Yan, who was already getting ahead of the others, walking towards the meeting’s location.
“Alright, alright.” Raven followed him.
As the group walked towards the meeting, the three kirbies who were following Yan started whispering to each other.
“I suppose they really need us, huh,” said the green one with a red bandana.
“Yeah…” said the light gray one with a green hat and a sword.
“You know, I’m more surprised that he somehow managed to convince Drake to come.”
“I’m still not sure if it’s a good idea… But I’m sticking with you, Daniel and Diego,” Drake, the red kirby with a blue and white striped bandana and a hammer, said.
“Yeah, friends stick together!” Daniel, the green kirby, exclaimed, albeit quietly.
“So let’s see what this is all about soon…” the gray kirby, Diego, said, pensative.
Around the same time those kirbies were chatting as they headed to the meeting, a group of three kirbies wasn’t that far from them, and was also heading that way. The trio was on schedule, but kept having to stop every once in a while due to something.
“Oh, they slept again!” the light brown kirby with a blue bandana similar to a wrestling belt said, facepalming.
“Oh no!” the dark gray kirby said, as he looked towards his two friends.
The third one, as expected, was fast asleep. The brown kirby with a hat full of stones seemed to enjoy the little nap they were having, but the same couldn’t be said for their two friends.
“That’s, what, the fourth time Valoo slept already?” the gray one wondered.
“I think so…” the light brown one said. “This time, however, I finally have an idea on how to make sure they won’t sleep again.”
“Great!” exclaimed the gray kirby. “And knowing you, I’m sure it will work!”
“Hah, I hope so.” The light brown kirby smiled.
“So, may I wake them up?”
“Yup, go ahead. I’ll put my plan in action as soon as they get up.”
“Gotcha!”
The gray kirby took out a megaphone, and a white cap showed up on his head. He took a deep breath and then screamed through the megaphone, “HEY, WAKE UP!!!”
The screech went through Valoo’s ears, and they woke up jumping in panic. “WH-WHAT WHO WHY?!” They fell off but quickly got up, and saw their two friends surrounding them. “Hey, why do you keep waking me up?!” they said, furious.
“We need to go to the meeting!” the light brown kirby said.
“Yeah, Jake, but I’m sleepy!” Valoo retorted. “So I will go back to sleep.”
“Ah… What a shame…” Jake said, with a sad voice. “So you will miss all the chocolate the meeting will have…”
“…Chocolate?!” Valoo suddenly got extremely interested in what Jake was saying, and stared at him passionately.
“Yeah, the meeting will serve tons of chocolate to everyone that attends! From chocolate bars, to chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, chocolate donuts… chocolate everything!” He then looked at the other kirby, “Right, Zan?” as if giving him a hint.
“Oh,” Zan noticed, and joined in, “Jake is right! It will be full of chocolate!”
Valoo started to drool, as they imagined all the chocolate Jake had described to them. As if hypnotized by their own imagination, their sleepiness was suddenly all gone, and they started running towards the meeting’s location, saying, “Chocolate! Yes! Sweet chocolate!”
“Yay, it worked!” Jake said, and he started to run, following Valoo.
“Good job, Jake!” said Zan, as he ran after the two.
“Now let’s just hope they do have at least some chocolate there… Or else I have no idea how to calm down Valoo when we arrive.”
“Oh,” Zan realized, “right…” He got worried, but tried to not show it in fear of also worrying Jake. “I also hope so…”
20 Times Kirby! 