(Note: This is a side story, and as such, is narrated in first person and is complementary to the main story.)
Early afternoon in Dream Land… Well, more specifically, Green Greens, in one of its greenest parts. I was finishing telling the story of my latest adventure to two other kirbies.
“And so, I grabbed my hammer, and started changing a Hammer Flip!” I said, lifting both of my arms up, just like a Hammer Flip charge. “I knew this was my opportunity to finish him off!”
“Ohh!” Keedy, the brown kirby who was listening to my story, stared at me in awe.
“And so, just before he got the chance to attack me,” I swung my hands, just like a Hammer Flip, “BAM! I hit him straight away! And sent him flying!”
“Yay!” Keedy, still in awe, shouted in celebration.
“And so, of course, I had to…”
…And I did just like I did back then: I did my signature Kirby Dance in front of them! Exactly like I did after I beat Masked Dedede earlier that day.
I mean, I’m Kirby. How can I not do a Kirby Dance after a win?! I always do that!
Anyway, Keedy was so happy to see my dance that he also tried to dance like me right after… But he tripped and hit Kelmy, the dark orange kirby, who was next to him. With the impact, the two fell down.
“HEY, KEEDY!” Kelmy screamed angry, as usual, as he got up. “Watch out!”
“Ke-Keedy is sorry…” Poor Keedy said, looking down as he also got up, sad.
Kelmy was ready to start seriously arguing with Keedy, but I didn’t do anything because no one else other than Koscy, the light blue and white kirby, came in their direction. And surely enough, she put an end to that fight before it even started.
“Kelmy, please…” she said, looking at him. “Violence doesn’t solve anything.”
I really don’t know how she does it, but Koscy always manages to calm Kelmy so quickly. Which, in fact, was exactly what happened: he just gave up.
“Ugh, fine…” is all he said. He stopped to gang up on Keedy and sighed.
Meanwhile, I was just there, trying to process all that had happened. Indeed, I had finished telling the story I wanted to tell, but I felt bad that I had almost indirectly caused an argument between Keedy and Kelmy. But before I could properly think about that, someone came in shouting:
“HIIIIII FRIENDS!!!!”
It was Kanby, the green and golden Kirby. They had just arrived and of course had to want to talk to us, a lot. The usual. And, as he always does, she was smiling. They never ever stop smiling somehow.
Anyway, she started talking like I thought he would:
“I’m glad I found you! I have so many stories to tell you all and so little time…”
Kanby started talking and, seriously, there is no stopping it once they start. We all just accepted we would have to hear her stories and slowly sat down one by one.
In the meantime, the other kirbies arrived one after another. Kixty, the dark gray one, arrived with their DS and just sat there playing it, not paying much attention to Kanby. Right after, Kirsy, the purple and pink kirby, arrived quietly, and just sat down near everyone as she realized the situation. Last, but not least…
“Hey everyone!”
Hearing that voice, Kanby stopped, and turned back to greet its source, “Hi, Kiggy!”
And Kiggy, the dark blue and yellow kirby who had just arrived, answered back, “Hi Kanby.”
She looked around, like she was looking for something, and asked, “So, we’re missing Keeby and Kawpy. Where are they?”
Hearing that, I remembered about them, and told her, “Well, just before I left for Purple Plains, Keeby had a memory breakdown. Kawpy said she was going to take care of him until he woke up, but…”
“We’re here!”
I looked backwards and saw the two kirbies I had just mentioned coming in our direction: Keeby, my best friend, the yellow kirby, and Kawpy, the red and light blue kirby.
Knowing that he had just recovered from a memory breakdown, as I had just mentioned, I immediately went to ask him, “Keeby, are you better?!” as I ran towards his direction.
“Yeah, don’t worry Kirby,” he said to me. “I’m so used to these breakdowns, in particular when they happen just before one of your adventures…”
I lowered my head. “I knew you wanted to help me battle Dedede…”
“But he challenged you, so… Fair enough.” He looked down. “But I did want to help…”
“Regardless, what matters is that both of you are well, right?” said Kawpy.
“Yeah!” I said, cheerful. “Agreed, Kawpy, that’s the most important.”
I said that lively, but I was still a bit worried about Keeby deep inside indeed. He always wanted to help me on my various adventures, but he was never able to actually do that fully. The few times he was able to help, he helped less than he wanted, and often that was due to him being interrupted before he could truly help me. Usually those interruptions were due to his “memory breakdowns”, basically a name we gave to something he experiences often for some reason: he starts to lose his memory, until he ends up falling asleep, and he wakes up with them all back. Naturally, when they happen, he’s completely defenseless and cannot do anything, so if one happens as he’s about to go help me, he cannot come. This, of course, always upset him, and that’s why he started to want to help me even more… Only to not be able to. This repeated, and the cycle continued… It was pretty much a snowball effect at that point, I guess.
Anyway, I didn’t have time to continue thinking much about that, as Kiggy soon spoke up:
“So, everyone ready for the meeting?”
“Oh!”
That was when I remembered: we were there in Green Greens because we had scheduled a meeting! I had completely forgotten because, earlier that day, King Dedede challenged me to a duel, and I had been so focused on that ever since, so much that I forgot about everything else.
“Is this like those ‘Kirby Conventions’ we used to do?” asked Kirsy.
“No,” Kiggy shook her head. “This is more of a… moving proposal.”
“A what?” Keeby asked, confused.
Kiggy explained, “You see, all this time we’ve lived on Popstar. Popstar itself is very good and full of life, but it’s also the target of so many evil forces exactly because of that. So I’ve been wondering if we should perhaps move elsewhere to be safer?”
“Wait, what?!”
That was so sudden! Why was Kiggy suggesting we move away from Popstar?! I love Popstar! Besides, sure, it isn’t always safe, but I’m the one that defends it all the time, I couldn’t just leave the planet behind like that! But before I could even say something, Kiggy actually continued talking:
“And I mean, Popstar is just soooo quiet and peaceful. Frankly, I’m tired of it at this point. That is why I think we should move away to some other planet!” She looked around, towards everyone, and asked, “What do you all think?”
I still thought that was crazy. And I was also confused as to why Kiggy was suggesting that in the first place. Again, it was so sudden; I had never ever thought Kiggy had even the smallest thought to move to another planet. On top of all that, there was no way anyone else there would want to go along with her wild idea, I thought.
However… Somehow, most of my friends there started talking, saying they agreed with her, and how they felt it was a good idea, and that they were up to it, one after another. But what the heck?! Why would they want to leave Popstar?! Was I not protecting it well enough?! I just… couldn’t believe all that was happening, really.
While I thought about all that, trying to understand the situation, Kirsy spoke up:
“I’m not leaving Popstar.”
“Huh?” Kiggy looked at Kirsy. “Why not, Kirsy?”
“I like it here!” Kirsy said, firmly. “And I don’t really see a reason to move.”
“Well, you could b—”
“Me too,” Keeby joined in and said.
“Huh?” Kiggy looked at Keeby. “You too, Keeby?”
“Yes…” Keeby looked down. “But if I stay… Then…”
I had a guess at what Keeby was thinking and, surely enough, I was correct.
Keeby looked at Kawpy and said, “Kawpy, do you really want to leave?”
“Huh?” Kawpy appeared to have been taken by surprise by that question. “Oh… Well…” She looked down and closed her eyes. “Sorry. The thought of living in Aquarius or perhaps Aqua Star is just tempting to me.”
Keeby replied, “But… I want to stay. What about when I have my memory breakdowns? You are the one who takes care of me when one happens…”
“I can take care of you, Keeby!” Kirsy spoke up, suddenly. Knowing her, she likely wanted to make sure Keeby wouldn’t worry if he stayed but Kawpy didn’t.
Hearing that, Keeby looked at Kirsy and said, “Oh… Alright.” He smiled. “Thanks, Kirsy.”
“And why do you want to stay, Keeby?” Kiggy asked.
Keeby looked at Kiggy. “Well… Because Kirby will stay, and I can’t leave my best friend behind.”
“Huh?” Kiggy looked confused. “Did Kirby say he will stay?”
“No… But I’m sure that will be his decision,” Keeby said, looking at me.
Keeby was indeed spot on. I hadn’t said a word yet, but he knew my answer, like any best friend would. Realizing I had to finally speak up, I took a deep breath and said, “Yeah, I will stay. I can’t leave Popstar alone.”
Kiggy looked at me, and started saying, “But, Kirby…”
But I didn’t let her finish, and I said firmly, “Sorry, Kiggy, but there is just no ‘but’ here. I love here, and I love protecting my home. And that’s what I will keep doing.”
My mind was really made up. There was no way I would leave Popstar. Ever. Plus, again, that was so sudden! I wouldn’t make such a life-changing decision in just a couple minutes; that was crazy, even for me.
And Kiggy, surprisingly, just shrugged to me and said, “Well, your loss.”
She then looked at the others and said, “Y’all, I’m actually leaving in a few minutes. Who is coming with me?”
In a few minutes?! What was that?! No one decides to move and then just does it!! I was so confused, like, what was going on?!
To surprise me even more, everyone who said they would move agreed to follow Kiggy in the next few minutes. I just… could not understand what was going on. It was all happening too fast, and it was all so absurd. It felt really, really off. Like, how could that all be happening?!
When I came to, they were all already on Warp Stars, waving at us. Although I was still in shock, I waved back to them, after all that was the least I could do to them. However, I felt bad that I hadn’t properly said goodbye to any of them, but it was too late: after waving to everyone, the seven kirbies left on their Warp Stars.
With them gone, I looked back to Keeby and Kirsy and said, “What… What just happened?!”
And they were as confused as me.
“I… I don’t know, Kirby,” Kirsy said, looking down with a very sad face. “That was so sudden…”
“Yeah! And I didn’t hear about this before. Did you?” Keeby asked both of us.
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Not at all,” Kirsy said.
We were all at a loss. And it was something really, really hard to digest. All ten of us had lived together for as long as we remembered. Well, not exactly together: each of us had our own homes, but what I mean is that we were all together. Plus, we were the only known members of our species, which I guess is part of why we always stuck together. This is why us three that stayed were in shock that the other seven had decided to just leave us behind like that and so suddenly like that. It was very sad for me personally, seeing almost all of my friends leave.
I think Keeby and Kirsy shared the same feelings as me, because they also stood there, looking deep in thoughts. And surely enough, all three of us did that for a while, and the silence was uncanny. However, a voice soon cut it short.
“Kirby!”
It was a voice I partly recognized, but couldn’t remember from where. I looked at its direction and then remembered.
“Bandana Dee!”
He was running in our direction, like he had something important to say. I wondered why he was coming after me, after all I had met him earlier that day just shortly before I battled King Dedede.
“Kirby! Found you!” he said, continuing running in my direction.
Dee, I mean, Bandana Dee, stopped in front of me and looked at Keeby and Kirsy.
“Oh and hello… Keeby and Kirsy, was it?”
“Yeah!” Kirsy said.
“You got it right,” said Keeby.
“Great!” Bandana Dee looked at me, then back at Kirsy and Keeby. “Alright, so huh, this is for Kirby specifically, but you two can listen.”
“Oh?” I was curious about what he wanted to tell me.
“Anyway!” Bandana Dee looked at me again. “Kirby, the Great King would like to invite you to a challenge.” He struck a pose, and said, “In other words, yes, another Arena challenge!”
That was my guess. For context, often after I have a big adventure King Dedede calls me to those Arenas. They mostly consist of rematches of bosses I battled along my adventure, but with some exceptions of course. Not sure why so many want to rebattle me, but I don’t mind!
“Cool!” I said. “But wasn’t this basically what I just did today? So I will rematch everyone?”
Bandana Dee nodded. “Yes! And also… there will be a surprise. In fact, get ready Kirby, because this will be the hardest one yet. So much that I decided to call it…” He struck a pose again, and continued, “The True Arena!”
Hearing that name, I was confused: “…True? So does this mean the other ones were fake!”
Hearing me, Bandana Dee tried to explain, “It’s just a fancy name, don’t think too hard about it! I just thought it sounded cool…”
But I was mostly teasing him originally, so I explained with a smile, “Heh, don’t worry, I’m just messing around.”
“Anyway, yes!” Bandana Dee promptly continued. “That is it.” He looked me in the eyes with a serious face, and asked, “Do you accept the challenge, Kirby?”
Naturally, I struck a pose and answered, “Of course! Bring it on! When will it be?”
“Well… Tomorrow, actually!” Bandana Dee said, excited.
“TOMORROW?!”
I was so shocked. Tomorrow already?! I immediately said what was in my head, “Then this means I have no time to waste! I gotta start training now!”
Saying that, I ran towards my second house, which was the closest to where we were. I was supposed to go back to my main house that day, but since it was far away and I had no time to lose, it made sense to stay there.
As I entered the house, after running for a while, I realized Kirsy and Keeby had just caught up to me: they had followed me!
“Kirby!”
“Kirby, we want to help you train!”
I was happy to see that. “Oh, thanks! Yes, any help I can get is good! So, let’s get started!”
And so we trained, and trained a lot for the rest of the day. We only took breaks every once in a while for food and water whenever we felt we needed them. We only really stopped late at night, when I felt the best moving forward was to just rest. I said goodbye to Keeby and Kirsy, and as they headed to their homes, then I simply grabbed my sleep cap, put it on and fell asleep instantly.
20 Times Kirby! 