(Note: This is a side story, and as such, is narrated in first person and is complementary to the main story.)
In the middle of all that celebration, Kirsy walked to me and said, “Congrats, Kirby! You beat The True Arena!”
“Oh, thanks Kirsy!” I replied, with a timid smile.
But then I realized… Keeby wasn’t around at all. I looked behind Kirsy to try to find him and, surely enough, he was still at the corner of the arena.
Seeing that I looked behind her, Kirsy said, with a frown, “So you noticed Keeby…”
“Of course!” I shouted, looking at her. “He’s my best friend! What’s up with him?”
“He’s…” She looked down. “He’s really upset that he couldn’t help you in any of your battles.”
“Oh, hmm, I see…” I said, a bit at a loss of words.
“And I tried to explain to him but… he can be stubborn at times.” She looked me in the eyes, and then said with a pleading face, “Think you can try to talk to him about it later?”
Not being able to answer any other way, I said, “Oh, yes, of course! I will.”
Indeed… Poor Keeby. He tried to help me in the middle of that battle, but Kirsy stopped him for his safety, after all Galacta Knight is super strong. Still, I knew that made him feel bad, and that he likely wished he was strong to help me… And I mean, he is! But that really wasn’t the time for that. Anyway, indeed, I decided that I would later talk to him better about all that, to even see if he could help me more in the future. But before I could continue thinking about that, once again a voice interrupted my thoughts:
“Ok, sorry for the wait, Kirby! Here is your trophy.”
I looked back and spotted Bandana Dee coming in my direction, holding a shiny gold trophy. He stopped right in front of me, raised it, and said looking at me, “That was your last opponent, so you officially did it, Kirby! You beat The True Arena! Congrats!” He then handed over the trophy to me.
I looked at it for a couple seconds before doing anything else. I was still worried about Keeby, but I couldn’t just ignore my own achievement at the time. So, I decided to focus on the present first, and go back to worrying about Keeby later.
“Thanks, Bandana Dee!” I said to him with a smile, and went towards him to grab the trophy.
But… As soon as I took the first step, we were interrupted by a loud, unsettling shout:
“NOT SO FAST!”
And it wasn’t just any random voice. Immediately recognizing it, we all said in union:
“WHAT?!”
And, surely enough, I looked up in its direction and saw someone flying down in our direction…
“MARX?”
Although, indeed, that was who I expected since I recognized his voice, I was still in shock. The thing is… There… There was no way Marx could be there! Years before, I had defeated him and he was thrown towards Nova, and it exploded! I had never seen him after that, so I just assumed he had… disappeared forever. But then how was he suddenly back like that?! Well, he did look a bit different, in particular looking freakier and scarier than usual, but I had no doubt it was him.
After thinking about that for a couple seconds in silence, I asked him out loud:
“Wait, Marx?! How are you even alive?”
Marx chuckled and said, “No clue, I guess I am undead?”
Only partly satisfied with that answer, I continued, “Even then… how?! It’s been a while, you know! You’re just coming back after all this time?”
“Oh, yeah,” he stopped for a bit, likely to think, then continued, “fair point I guess… As far as I know, all this time I’ve been near Nova’s debris and I was slowly absorbing its power… until I absorbed enough to basically bring me back to life!” He stopped once again, but this time he looked at himself, and then said, “…Or at least part of me back, I guess.”
“But why did you come here?” Kirsy asked.
“Ah, simple…” He stared at me. “I went after Kirby, of course!” He then stared intensely at me. “I want revenge for destroying my plan, and basically killing me!” He then stared even more intensely somehow at me. “So, Kirby, I challenge you to a battle!”
What was even going on?! Marx had suddenly reappeared, and was challenging me to a battle after I had just done many battles in a row like that?! I mean, I was ready to accept, but that was so sudden and random that I didn’t immediately reply. And before I could even try to, someone else spoke up first.
“Hold up!” Banana Waddle Dee said, running in our direction. “Kirby’s last battle was already Galacta Knight, not you! His challenge is over, so—”
“SHUT UP!”
As Bandana Dee tried to tell Marx that he couldn’t battle me, Marx just attacked him with a blast from his mouth. That blew off Bandana Dee and he was thrown at a corner of the arena.
“Dee!” I shouted, in panic.
“Bandana Dee!” Kirsy shouted, also panicking.
As I looked in his direction, Kirsy went running towards him, desperate. I was about to ask if she needed help, when I was interrupted once again:
“So, it’s only us two now…” Marx got close to me, and continued, “Do you accept my challenge?”
I looked back at Marx and gulped. I was tired, and worried about Bandana Dee and Kirsy. At the same time, I knew I had to protect them, so I was ready to accept that challenge request despite the circumstances. But once again, before I could speak…
“Hold it!”
…To my surprise, Keeby interrupted me. He had just arrived at where we were.
“Marx, before you battle Kirby, you will have to battle me first!” Keeby said firmly.
Marx laughed and said, “How cute! Defending your friend?”
Keeby closed his eyes, as if he was thinking. Seconds after, he opened them and said, “Yes, but more importantly, I am showing I can also be useful! I am always in his shadow, not being able to help him, I want to change that!”
I felt… really bad for Keeby, and in a way he was right, even though he was exaggerating a bit. I could tell he really wanted to help me to overcome his insecurities, in particular due to how earlier he tried to help me against Galacta Knight, but was stopped. Still… I wasn’t sure if it was the best for him to do it. I was about to speak to him about that, when someone spoke up before me:
“I don’t care!”
It was Marx, and that was all he said in reply to Keeby’s words just then. That was harsh, ouch! And I noticed that hurt Keeby too, as his face changed from determined to sad. Seeing my best friend in that situation, right after all he had said before that, I knew exactly what I had to do.
“But I care!” was what I shouted.
That caused both Marx and Keeby to look at me, and in particular I noticed Keeby’s sad face disappeared, which already made me happy. Anyway, having drawn the attention of both, I continued.
“Keeby,” I looked at him, “I know and acknowledge what you said, but this is not the time for that! Kirsy needs help treating Bandana Dee, and Marx specifically has his eyes on me, as he wants revenge. This match is a bit personal, you know?” I took a quick pause to take a deep breath, then continued, “So, Keeby, please, go help Kirsy, and leave the Marx battle to me. You said you wanted to help me, so that is what I want help with.” I looked at him straight in his eyes, pleading, “Please!”
After finishing saying that, I continued looking at Keeby, waiting for his answer. He stood there for a while, likely thinking what to answer, and I was getting a bit nervous that he wouldn’t answer that soon, after all we were in a dangerous situation, as Marx could attack any minute. Thankfully, however, he started talking before anything bad happened:
“…Fair enough, Kirby.” He looked at me and smiled. “Anything for my best friend. Good luck!” Saying that, he ran towards Kirsy and Bandana Dee, leaving me behind with Marx.
I was… absolutely flattered. Friendship is so important to me, and Keeby’s words touched me so much. All I could think after hearing that was how much I loved him, and how I was lucky to have someone as kind and authentic as him as my best friend.
But no matter, sadly I didn’t have time to engross in those thoughts at that moment, so I quickly brushed them off and went back to focusing on the matter at hand: Marx.
I pointed my sword, Master, towards him and said, “Well then, Marx, now that’s settled, are you ready?”
Marx grinned at me and said, “Of course. Bring it on.”
And so, we started to battle. It was a really tough one. It lasted around half an hour, and I fought really hard. Marx did as well, and he even had some new attacks up his sleeve somehow. But it was fitting, as I had new attacks against him too; I used basically all the attacks I knew of Master, in particular of all four elements. It was fun, but it was so tiring.
At one point, after lots of battling, I was basically defenseless and Marx was heading in my direction in a last ditch effort: he was pretty much out of energy, but still hadn’t given up. Seeing that, I also gathered all my energy and charged a regular Crescent Shot, but with all my might. I fired it in his direction and…
I fainted.
20 Times Kirby! 