“Finding a Maxim Tomato was easier than I expected…” said Kirsy, who was arriving next to Kirby’s house in a Warp Star, holding a Maxim Tomato.
She jumped off the Warp Star and looked around. “Wait,” she said, “where are those kirbies that said they would look after the house?”
Kirsy entered Kirby’s house to see if maybe they were inside, but she couldn’t find any of them. She was relieved, at least, to see Larry and Keeby inside safe and sound, although both were still unconscious.
“Hmm,” she thought, “before I give it to this kirby I best find them, after all I don’t know what he will do when he wakes up, and I can’t leave Keeby completely alone.”
Kirsy walked outside the house, leaving the Maxim Tomato inside, near the exit door. As she headed out, she heard a lot of chatter, and tried to find its source. To her surprise, she recognized some voices.
“Wait, don’t some of these voices belong to those kirbies… Well, no other way to find out!”
And so she ran in the direction of the voices.
“All that chatter… I bet they are trying to find out how to escape,” thought Panee, and he once again decided to head back near the orb right away.
Noticing Panee was coming back, the kirbies inside the orb quickly stopped chatting, one after the other, as Panee approached them.
“I can’t leave you all alone for two seconds, can I?” he asked, with a sarcastic tone, albeit deep inside he was tired of all that.
“Pretty much,” answered Anny, with a quiet chuckle.
“Why do you want to capture us anyway?” asked Zan.
Panee sighed. “Do you want the super short seven seconds explanation, or the fully complete five hours explanation?”
Zan was shocked. “Five hours?!”
“Well, I dunno if it would be five hours, but the full explanation would be pretty long, trust me…”
“Why?” asked Clare.
“What’s going on?!”
Interrupting the talk was no one other than Kirsy, who had just arrived near the orb and couldn’t be more confused.
“What is with this orb? And…”
Kirsy had her eyes fixated on Panee. He realized that, and waved at her.
“Hello there,” he said.
“Who… Who are you?” she asked.
“Seriously, is that what all of you ask when you see me?” Panee said, annoyed.
Kirsy got annoyed by the tone of his voice, so she replied, “Then answer this instead, what are you doing with these kirbies?”
Panee sighed. “And that’s the other question everyone asks… Seriously, this is so predictable.”
“I mean, what else are we supposed to think when we see this situation?” Anny whispered to the others inside the orb.
“ANSWER ME NOW!” Kirsy shouted with an angry face.
Panee took a deep breath. “Okay, fine. I’m capturing them. Happy?”
“So you will try to capture me too?” asked Kirsy.
Panee stopped to think for a moment. “Well… Huh, nah, I don’t need you.”
“Huh?” Kirsy got confused. “Why?”
“Details, details… Anyway, if you really want, you can join them.”
“Never!” Kirsy shouted, as she pointed her right arm right in Panee’s direction.
Panee saw the movement and laughed. “How cute. Is that all—”
Panee was interrupted by a flying Warp Star that flew right in his direction and hit him, dragging him away as he screamed, “WAHHH!”
Having dragged Panee away from the scene, Kirsy quickly turned her attention to the kirbies inside the orb, and asked, “Hey all, what is going on?”
“We don’t really know much more than you do, really,” said Natty. “That kirby is capturing us for some reason, and we haven’t found a way of escaping yet.”
“Hmm, odd…” Kirsy took a closer look at the orb. “Well, this looks like an orb that the Mirror ability can create,” she said, getting closer to the orb, reaching out to touch it. “And if so, this means it’s mad—”
As soon as she touched the orb, Kirsy got forcibly dragged inside it, as if she was sucked by it. She fell down right on Natty.
“Ouch… What the…”
Daisy watched the scene, surprised. “Ohh, so it drags others inside as soon as they touch it? Fascinating…”
“So fascinating that I got captured too, sigh…” Kirsy said, angry.
“I hate all this…” said Matt, still irritated at their current situation.
“Wait, before you were dragged here, were you saying that you knew what it’s made of?” asked Clare.
“Oh!” Kirsy realized, “Right, I did! You see—”
“Oh, hey, looks like you really did want to join them!”
Coming back was Panee, who had managed to destroy the Warp Star after it attacked him. He was pleased to see Kirsy inside the orb with the others.
“You little…” Kirsy was mad.
Panee looked at Kirsy inside the orb. “Well then, I got a bonus kirby now!”
“Bonus kirby?” Kirsy was confused. “You mean me?”
“Yup, purply,” said Panee.
“Alright, alright… You’re just confusing us yet again,” said Anny. “Why is she a ‘bonus kirby’?”
Panee looked at Anny and said, “Ah, well, that’s simple: she doesn’t have a permanent Copy Ability like you all.”
“Oh, so you know about these kirbies having permanent Copy Abilities?” Kirsy asked, intrigued. “Then do you know why they have one? You must know that’s not the norm—” While she asked all those questions, she remembered another. “Speaking of, where did you even come from? I don’t know yo—”
Interrupting Kirsy, Panee said, “Well, they are ‘she’s cheese is’ and you are not. That’s all.”
Kirsy blinked twice. “‘She’s’ what? What the heck?”
“‘She’s cheese is’,” said Panee. “Dumb name, I know. It’s what my boss calls the kirbies with permanent Copy Abilities for some reason.”
Clare heard that and had to ask, “Boss? You have a boss? Who are they?”
Panee sighed. “Alright, at this point I’ve said enough.”
“Can you at least explain how you know all our names, and even our past and weaknesses?” asked Jake. “We don’t even know who you are!”
Panee closed his eyes, annoyed. “I just said I said enough…” He opened his eyes. “Well, have this as a treat: I don’t know anything about purply’s past. I don’t even know her name.”
“Hmm…” Kirsy mumbled, still confused about Panee.
“So, what I’m gathering is that your boss asked you to capture us, these ‘she’s cheese is’, whatever that means, and to do so you learned a lot about us to know our weaknesses…” Tim said, trying to connect the dots.
“But how would he even know so much about us…” Natty thought out loud.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Panee said, and then sat down.
“Huh? What are you doing?” Anny asked, confused.
Without looking at them, Panee said, “You lot keep trying to escape, and at this point it looks like the remaining kirbies I need to capture will come here to try to save you, so I should just wait here, don’t you think?”
“Hmm…”
Indeed, the kirbies inside the orb agreed with the logic… But that was very bad for them. With Panee nearby, the kirbies couldn’t try to find a way of escaping anymore. So, they ended up staying mostly quiet inside the orb this time around, as Panee continued sat down near the orb.
20 Times Kirby! 